Promise of Joy

Dedication

To Ken McCormick
Editor sapiens et patiens

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Major Characters In The Novel

In Washington

Orrin Knox of Illinois, President of the United States

William Abbott, ex-President of the United States

Mrs. Ceil Jason, widow of the Governor of California

Robert A. Leffingwell, Secretary of State

Blair Hannah, Secretary of Defense

Fred Van Ackerman, chairman of the Committee on Making Further Offers for a Russian Truce (COMFORT) and chairman of the National Anti-War Activities Congress (NAWAC)

LeGage Shelby, chairman of Defenders of Equality for You (DEFY)

Rufus Kleinfert, chairman of the Konference on Efforts to Encourage Patriotism (KEEP)

Mr. Justice Thomas Buckmaster Davis of the Supreme Court

Robert Durham Munson, Senator from Michigan

Dolly, his wife

Tom August, Senator from Minnesota

Arly Richardson, Senator from Arkansas, Majority Leader of the Senate

Representative J. B. “Jawbone” Swarthman, Speaker of the House

Representative Bronson Bernard of New York

Lafe Smith, Senator from Iowa

Mabel Anderson, widow of Senator Brigham Anderson of Utah

Walter Dobius, a columnist

Frankly Unctuous, a commentator

Other members of the media

Other members of Congress

Members of NAWAC

At the United Nations

Lord Claude Maudulayne, the British Ambassador

Raoul Barre, the French Ambassador

Krishna Khaleel, the Ambassador of India

Nikolai Zworkyan, Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Sun Kwon-yu, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China

In Moscow and at the United Nations

Alexei Shulatov, President of the United States of Russia

In Peking and at the United Nations

Lin Kung-chow, President of the United Chinese Republic

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Publisher’s Foreword

The fate of the country, and even the planet, can turn on a dime, a branchpoint where two different courses of action can lead to wildly different outcomes. Allen Drury left us with one such crux point at the end of
Preserve and Protect
, in one of the most compelling cliffhangers in all of 20th Century fiction. Drury brought us to a climactic showdown that resulted in the death of a pivotal character and changed the course of U.S. history.

But in which direction?

At the end of
Preserve and Protect
, readers don’t know who survives—is it the weaker, more pacifistic Presidential candidate Edward Jason, or the more hardline Vice President Orrin Knox? The survivor will succeed to the U.S. Presidency and lead the country in a time of ever-increasing threat against foreign enemies. One man can make a difference, perhaps a tragic one.

The Advise and Consent saga is one of the most compelling and influential works of political fiction ever published.
Advise and Consent
(1959) itself is one of the best-selling novels of the 20th Century; it won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a highly successful film starring Henry Fonda. Drury followed that novel with
A Shade of Difference
(1962),
Capable of Honor
(1966), and
Preserve and Protect
(1968).

And then Drury did something even more astonishing—he wrote two endings to his series, alternate histories of what would have happened if one or the other man became the next President. Though starting at the same point,
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward Jason
and
The Promise of Joy: The Presidency of Orrin Knox
, are entirely different extrapolations, with the depth of character development and political nuances that readers have come to expect.

Drury’s intent was that both alternate endings be released simultaneously, so that readers could make their own choice. The author felt it important that the wildly different consequences of these two paths be presented simultaneously, but that did not prove to be possible at the time.
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre
was originally released in 1973 and
The Promise of Joy
in 1975. The former remained on national bestseller lists for six months, and the latter was a bestseller for four months.

Now, though, we have a second chance. WordFire Press has been releasing the entire
Advise and Consent
series throughout the 2014 election season, culminating with the final two volumes, which include never-before-published supplementary materials. We are publishing both alternate endings to the saga at the same time—as was the author’s original intent. Read them both, and decide for yourself.

Kevin J. Anderson, publisher
WordFire Press

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Note to the Reader

Most of the Characters in this concluding novel of the
Advise and Consent
series, and the background of most of its events, will be found in its predecessors,
Advise and Consent, A Shade of Difference, Capable of Honor, Preserve and Protect,
and
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason.

In
Advise and Consent
(written in 1958, published in 1959) will be found the nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell to be Secretary of State; the accession of Vice President Harley M. Hudson to the Presidency; the death of Senator Brigham Anderson of Utah; the appointment of Senator Orrin Knox of Illinois to be Secretary of State following Bob Leffingwell’s defeat by the Senate. There also will be found the marriage of Orrin’s son, Hal, to Crystal Danta, the marriage of Senate Majority Leader Robert Munson of Michigan to Washington hostess Dolly Harrison and many other episodes leading into later books.

In A
Shade of Difference
(written in 1961, published in 1962) will be found the visit to South Carolina and the United Nations of His Royal Highness the M’Bulu of Mbuele, ruler of Gorotoland, with all its explosive effects upon the racial problem in the United States and the United Nations; the beginnings of the war in Gorotoland; the early stages of Ambassador Felix Labaiya’s activities in Panama looking toward seizure of the Canal; the opening moves of California’s Governor Edward Montoya Jason in his campaign for the Presidency; the death of Senator Harold Fry of West Virginia and his decision to entrust his son, Jimmy, to Senator Lafe Smith of Iowa; and many other episodes leading into later books.

In
Capable of Honor
(written in 1965, published in 1966) will be found the bitter convention battle between President Hudson and Governor Jason for the Presidential nomination; the selection of Orrin Knox for the Vice Presidential nomination; the escalation of the war in Gorotoland, the outbreak of war in Panama, and their effect upon the Hudson-Jason battle. There also will be found the activities of Walter Dobius, columnist all-knowing and all-powerful; and the ominous formation of the National Anti-War Activities Congress (NAWAC), which turns the convention into a near battleground and puts Edward M. Jason increasingly in pawn to the lawless, the sinister and the violent.

In
Preserve and Protect
(written in 1967, published in 1968) will be found the violent aftermath of the sudden and mysterious death of just-renominated President Hudson; the furious contest in the National Committee between Orrin Knox and Governor Jason in their struggle for the vacant nomination; the open civil rebellion of NAWAC in its drive to nominate—and dominate—Ted Jason; and the climactic episode at the Washington Monument Grounds, where Orrin Knox, nominee for President, and Edward M. Jason, nominee for Vice President, meet the destiny that forms the basis for
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre
and
The Promise of Joy.

In
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason
(written in 1972, published in 1973) will be found his first unhappy weeks in the White House, with all their attendant perils for the country and himself; how he meets them; and what such methods as his might portend for the United States; and in
The Promise of Joy: The Presidency of Orrin Knox, his
first unhappy weeks in the White House; and how he meets perils dissimilar in nature but perhaps even greater in scope; and what such methods as his might portend for the United States.

Running through all six novels—as it runs through our times—is the continuing argument between those who would use responsible firmness to maintain orderly social progress and oppose Communist imperialism in its drive for world dominion; and those who believe that in a reluctance to be firm, in permissiveness and in the steady erosion of law lie the surest path to world peace and a stable society.

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