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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