Chapter 23 General can rest -2

After an eight-week course in guerrilla warfare (these skills, they were told, would be used to train a Cuban Liberation Army), they moved again, this time to Guatemala.Here, I don't want them to know where they are.When they left Panama, they only knew the code name of their destination was "Small Farm".They knew what the codename was about shortly after two limousines ferried them out of the San Jose airport in Guatemala.The trainees were originally experienced people, many of whom had traveled extensively.Cobblestone streets, dirty houses in Indian villages, it is a scene of Central America at first glance; coupled with a large number of symbols of American power - "Coca-Cola" and "Pepsi" billboards on both sides of the road, as well as many sales of Texas Petroleum, Shell A gas station for Petroleum, American Oil, or Standard Oil—that could only mean it was in Guatemala.Soon the limousine began to climb the surrounding mountains, through the tropical foliage, the Sierra de Madrid on Guatemala's Pacific coast.The place they were going was a large coffee plantation that belonged to Roberto Alejos, brother of Guatemala's ambassador to Washington.After Guatemalan President Miguel Idigoras agreed to play dumb, Alejos allowed CIA agents to use part of the plantation for training (as one of the sordid consequences of the operation, Idigos Golas insisted that the United States had agreed to support his territorial claims in British Honduras; Washington strenuously denied this).This camp was named Trax Base.The location of the training happened to be on the most inhospitable part of the plantation which had become a hallmark of the operation.From the base's headquarters, the still-active San Diego volcano could be seen, and the grounds of the camp were lava spewed out by the volcano, in some places six feet thick, and turned into a pot of gruel when it rained.That year was the most rainy in living memory, so the Cubans spent a lot of time wallowing in the mud.

At this point, some of them were beginning to openly express doubts about the omnipotence of the CIA.Others suppressed their opinions.Most people have complete trust in their Yankee advisors.They assumed that the mighty conquerors who had defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan must have known what they were doing.They also agreed that the "Cuban brigade" was small, but after all Castro started the July 26 movement with just a dozen guerrillas.At the time, the analogy between themselves and Castro made sense.CIA advisers planned to divide them into guerrilla groups and train them separately in order to infiltrate the six provinces of Cuba.They are preparing to act before the U.S. presidential election, with a deadline of Sept. 19.The plan might have been successful.Even if you suffer setbacks, you can afford the consequences.Defeated jungle guerrillas were usually able to disperse and escape.Failure leaves no trace.Castro will have a hard time proving that they are backed by the US, and they can go back to fighting later.

In August, the task force in Washington began to doubt the wisdom of creating guerrilla forces in the new Cuba.Castro's army is much stronger than Batista's, with the State Department estimating that he has 400,000 troops and militia, ten times Batista's.A protracted jungle guerrilla war from the Sierra Maestra seemed impossible.In addition, Castro's army was superbly equipped by his new friends in Moscow and Beijing, who, State Department studies estimate, sent him 28,000 tons of military supplies.What's more, the alert and deployment of Castro's coastal sentries and aerial observers shows that he has learned from Batista's past mistakes in this regard, so that he will now use airdrops to supply guerrilla forces will be extremely difficult.

If these reasons were valid—and the events of the following year proved them to be, quite rightly so—then it would appear that they should have been dissuaded from any military expedition.But again not so; those directing the operation in Washington began betting on amphibious landings, with Cubans flying U.S. military planes to provide tactical air support for the brigade landings.Some people pointed out that during the Second World War in Europe and the Pacific battlefield, landing attacks from ships were very effective. MacArthur landed in Incheon with the 1st Marine Division and destroyed North Korea's supply lines.no one seemed to point out to the task force that the Cuban Brigade was equal in size to a battalion of US infantry, and that a major amphibious landing has never involved fewer than nine battalions, along with artillery, air superiority, and a fleet Back up.In World War II, the last battle of Okinawa, which was a landing attack from a ship, used 1200 ships.

Confident that he had won the day, Washington abandoned plans for guerrilla activity, convinced that as soon as the "Cuban Brigades" established a beachhead, all of Cuba would gather under its banner.In a long telegram from CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to Base Trax, the order was to reduce the number of jungle guerrillas to 60 and to have Guatemalan agents "only send Conventional weapons and general and conventional training".The Cubans understood that the order meant that as soon as they landed, an American force would land after them.Only then, they reasoned, could the change be justified.Not only did the CIA advisers fail to correct their thinking, but the leader, "Frank Bender," told Pepe San Roman and his fellow Cuban officers that they "would have cover by sea, air, and even under water." .CIA staff all embraced the new plan enthusiastically, and they have since said that any doubts about victory were a sign of weakness.Frank Bender even thought this matter was more important than his loyalty to the President of the United States.He told Pepe San Roman that certain dignitaries in Washington were trying to call off the invasion and it was believed that such orders might come from the White House. "If that happens," he said, "you come here and pretend you're imprisoning us advisers, and after you've got us all arrested, carry out the whole plan." People understood what he meant, and he gave some specific instructions.He explained that it was necessary to place an armed "Cuban brigade" at the door of each CIA adviser's room, cut off their communications with Washington, and carry out the invasion plan himself.He'd tell them when and how to leave Trax Base for the staging area.He laughed and said, "In the end, we will win."

No doubt Frank's superiors in Washington knew nothing of this.Like all those involved in the operation, they did not ascertain the truth until much later through many scraps of material.In fact, Dwight Eisenhower in the White House, Fidel Castro in Havana, Allen Dulles in Virginia at the time, Frank Bender in Guatemala, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon, the Front in Miami , and the warriors trained on the coffee plantations below the hills of Madrid, were all confused, in varying degrees.Communications are broken.The special team did not report to Eisenhower the action plan of changing guerrilla tactics into amphibious landings. The "Cuban Brigade" still believed that they were only the vanguard of an invasion, while the "Front" always believed that the Americans had said that they would not attack with less than 5,000 troops.

The CIA sought to recruit as many fighters as possible.A monthly salary of 175 yuan per person, 50 yuan for the wife, and 25 yuan for each child.In this case, confidentiality is bound to be affected.When the news spread, everyone knew it.Castro often predicted an imminent "mercenary" invasion, but the Cuban people didn't need him to tell them that the lowliest "guajiro" (Cuban farmers) who cut sugar cane knew that the counter-revolutionaries were coming.Articles on the "Cuban Brigade" had been published in the Guatemala City "Times" and reprinted by most Spanish-language newspapers, several of which still circulate in Cuba.New Cuban militiamen slept with their rifles beside them, gunners by their cannons.

Americans could read reports of this in the English-language newspapers, the Miami Herald and the New York Times, although Americans were generally less concerned about the impending battle than the Cubans.They knew something was going on over there, but something else was distracting them.It wasn't their country that was going to be invaded anyway.They were more concerned with the dramatic struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination and Eisenhower's imminent White House climax—the momentous Paris summit and ensuing visit to the Soviet Union.An advance team of secret agents had checked the security measures at the Elysee Palace, but on May 1, 16 days before the meeting scheduled to be held in Paris, a strange plane suddenly appeared over Sverdlovsk. It is an industrial complex in the Ural Mountains, about 1200 miles inside the Russian border.Like the Cuban Brigade in Guatemala, the flight was part of a CIA operation; the aircraft, which was custom-built by the Lockheed Aircraft Company at the CIA's request, was formally designated U-2, and soon the world was flying They're called "spy planes."

The U-2 aircraft is black in color, has a long fuselage, a high tail, and wide wings. It is equipped with a turbojet engine and the cockpit can only accommodate one person.Strictly speaking, it is not a military aircraft.There is no artillery device on board, only a sensitive infrared camera that takes pictures through the seven hatches under the fuselage.These cameras were able to capture the entire ground scene 125 miles wide and 3,000 miles long, which could be developed into 4,000 double-frame photos.The clarity of the photos is almost unbelievable.When photographs were zoomed in to high magnifications, interpreters could recognize newspaper headlines from planes at nine or ten miles in the air.Other equipment can test the air for evidence of clandestine nuclear tests and determine the effectiveness of Russian radars. U-2 aircraft rely on flight altitude as a means of protection.Taking full advantage of aerodynamic and structural achievements, the U-2 aircraft was able to maintain effective endurance at very high altitudes, and is believed to be beyond the detection range of Soviet radars.In short, it is the most sophisticated reconnaissance device the world has ever seen.The pilot who flew the plane on May Day was Francis Gary Powers.

Powers belongs to a new class of adventure-seeking professional soldiers.He flew not out of patriotism, but for money.For him, flying is a career, and a good one at that.He can earn 30,000 yuan a year on this job, while before working for the CIA, the couple's combined income was only 8,400 yuan a year.That was four years ago, when he was a 27-year-old Air Force lieutenant.Stocky, with a crew cut, he looked a lot like a professional football player—a defensive lineman, maybe, hard-working, dependable, but with no brains. However, Powers is not stupid.Earlier that year, he also asked an intelligence officer: "What if something happens and one of us falls into Russia? That country is so big that it's fucking enough to get to the border. Are there any Can you give us a few names and addresses…" According to Powers, this was the first time the question had been raised, even though the so-called "overflight" was about to enter its fifth year.The answer Bowles got was: "No, we can't bring it up." Bowles refused to stop: "Well, assume the worst happens. A plane goes down and the pilot is captured. He should How should I say it? Specifically, how much should he say?" According to Powers' memory, the intelligence officer's original words were: "You tell the whole truth, anyway, they will force you to tell it all." ——So far, no one has come forward to correct this statement.

The most absurd thing about this kind of thing is not only that there is no prearranged excuse. Sherman Adams was already in the White House when the "overflight" began in 1956, and he knew full well that there had never been a "overflight" that had not been approved by the President.After Powers' accident, he posed the question to Eisenhower.Ike said: "You're right. I made the decision. I knew about all the flights in the past and I approved them myself. When they sent the flight plan over Russia, I thought it was nothing wrong. was one of several actions within the established intelligence policy and was approved. It never occurred to me that it might have any effect on the summit or on my upcoming trip to Moscow. Unless something happens Unexpected circumstances, this matter will not have any impact." Eisenhower undoubtedly believed this, but it is not true.Some situations are expected, at least within the realm of possibility that should be carefully considered.Powers' last flight was not a routine one.It was one of two "overflights" that began after a long cessation of flying, and it was the first attempt to fly over the entire territory of the Soviet Union.Powers flew 3,800 miles from an American base in Peshawar, Pakistan, to Bodø, Norway.Taking off from one country and landing in another requires two sets of ground crew.This is also without precedent, so I think it is worth a try because I think that if the U-2 plane can go deeper into the Russian border than in the past, it may fly over important targets that have never been photographed before. The pilots of the U-2 aircraft had mixed speculation about the timing of this mission.One theory is that the Russians were close to a breakthrough in missile guidance, and the CIA was trying to get as many targets as possible first.Another theory is that Eisenhower needed all the latest information he could get his hands on before sitting down to negotiate with Khrushchev.It was also speculated that the impending détente with the Russians would make any further covert activity inappropriate.The pilot was fully aware that he was participating in shady activities.Suspicion among pilots that Soviet radar had advanced enough to track them continued unabated.They also discussed the possibility of various mechanical failures.Powers once said: "A loose screw in a vital place can cause the plane to fall." In fact, this situation has also happened.In the autumn of the previous year, a U-2 plane made an emergency landing near Tokyo.A Japanese reporter determined after investigation that the plane was carrying out a spy mission, and reported it in detail in a subsequent issue of his publication. Knowing the extraordinary risks such an aircraft would run, the designers fitted it with mechanisms to self-destruct in time.Later, for further insurance, a device called "farmer" was installed to confuse radar reconnaissance.Although the intelligence officer's attitude towards Bowers' question of how to deal with unexpected situations was rather hasty, the issue of forced landing was not unconsidered.Colonel William Sheldon, the Air Force officer in command of the Overflight team, told Powers that if he found himself running low on fuel while flying over the city of Kandaraksha in the Soviet Murmansk region, he could close the flight to Finland and Sweden. Alternate airport.Shelton added, "It's better to land anywhere than the Soviet Union." The CIA even considered whether it would be a good idea for the crashed pilot to commit suicide.Apparently, the intelligence agency hadn't made up its mind at that time, so it had to be decided by the pilot's camera.Cyanide tablets were readily available, and anyone who wanted them could take some, and later they were shown something that looked like an auspicious lock.This is a silver dollar with a metal ring that can be attached to a key chain or necklace.The metal ring is unscrewed, and inside is a straight needle, which is actually an outer sheath, and when pulled out, a thin needle is exposed.There are some small grooves near the tip of the needle, and in the grooves are a sticky brown substance-nuxychon poison, which kills instantly with a light stab.Most pilots, including Powers, wanted neither cyanide nor nuxy poison, but as Powers was preparing to fly for the last time, Colonel Sheldon asked him, "Do you want that silver dollar?" Bowles changed his mind, thinking the needle might be useful as a weapon. "Okay, I want it." He said, and slipped it into the pocket of his flight suit.He also brought shaving kits, civilian clothes, a half-pack of filter cigarettes, a photograph of his wife, some Deutsche marks, Turkish liras and Russian rubles, some gold coins, a watch and a ring (to bribe or barter if help was needed), Approximately $100 in cash, several U.S. postage stamps, a DoD ID card, a NASA ID card, various instrument inspection certificates, U.S. and international general driver's licenses, military service card, Social Security card, and On the poster with the American flag, the words "I am an American" are printed in 14 languages ​​including Russian.Much later, Powers recalled, when he was asked if he was American after his capture, "it seemed pointless to deny it at the time." The CIA's facilities in Pakistan are surprisingly poor.The pilots slept on rollaway beds and ate military canned food by themselves.Good thing they don't get there very often.They spent most of their time playing poker or hanging out at the US Air Force base near Adana, Turkey (one of the most interesting topics in the chat at the time was how the upcoming summits and conferences would reduce tensions in the world ).By March 1960, they were all fretting.For nearly two years, the number of flights has decreased dramatically.And the fewer times you fly, the more fearful you will be about the next flight.Later, after a long pause, the two flights in 1960 were fixed for April.Powers was the backup pilot for the first flight on April 9.The flight went well, and it was Powers' turn for the second flight. As soon as Powers arrived in Pakistan, he found that things were not going well. He learned that the best U-2 plane reserved for this flight had been grounded for maintenance inspections.He had to use the spare U-2·360 for this flight.This is bad news. The 360 ​​was a crappy one, a "mangy dog" as they called it, and something always went wrong.The most recent one was a fuel tank failure, sometimes not supplying fuel to the engine.Colonel Sheldon authorized Powers to land in Finland or Sweden if necessary because of the unreliability of the fuel tanks. If the tanks were filled and everything else was going well, Bowles' entire course would look like a big zigzag.After taking off from Peshawar, he was supposed to cross Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush, an offshoot of the Himalayas, and enter the Soviet Union near Stalinabad.Then he had to fly over the Aral Sea, Chulatan Sputnik and Cosmodrome, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Kirov, Arkhangel, Kandalaksha and the Kola Peninsula Murmansk; after passing through the Soviet Union, he will also fly over the Barents Sea and the northern coast of Norway, and finally reach the Bodø base-which includes some of the most inhospitable places in the world.The flight will take about nine hours.3/4 of the entire voyage, or about 2900 miles, would be in the Soviet Union.After takeoff, he will terminate radio contact with the mobile air crew controller.After that, no more noise can be made during the entire voyage.It was "lonely," Powers said. After three unsettling days, it seemed as if the flight would never take place.Washington grumbled about giving the final instructions.Finally, Thursday, April 28 was finally confirmed as the departure time.So Colonel Sheldon and Powers flew from Turkey to Peshawar with 18 other professionals and crew.Bowers goes to bed at 4 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon.At 2 o'clock on Thursday morning, he was woken up to be informed that the departure time was delayed by 24 hours.The next night, it was the same again.This time he was up and was "receiving free entertainment"—breathing oxygen, but he was ordered to wait another 24 hours.Saturday, is the third extension of 24 hours.Someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue couldn't make up his mind. Finally, at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 1, Powers finally climbed into the plane for preflight inspections.However, it continued to delay the time, and the original scheduled take-off time was 6 am.At 6:00, there was no signal to take off.It was scorching hot in the cockpit, and when Colonel Sheldon came to explain, Bowers' long shirt and pants were soaked with sweat.They are awaiting final orders from the White House.This has never happened before.In the past, the order for presidential approval came long before the pilot got into the cockpit and was ready to go.Another excruciating 20 minutes waiting for the order.In the end, Powers finally got the green light.His plane left the ground with a roar, and immediately after rising into the sky, he immediately filled out the flight log: aircraft number, 360; sortie, 4154; and takeoff time.It was 6:26 a.m. local time, 1:26 a.m. GMT and 8:26 p.m. Washington time.In Moscow, it was 3:26 a.m. When the plane entered Soviet airspace, the clouds were extremely thick.It didn't matter, the CIA had no interest in the area.The sky over the Aral Sea was cloudless, and he looked down to see a white plume of a single-engine jet flying in opposite directions on a parallel course.After a while, he saw another trail of smoke, this time in the opposite direction.Probably still the same plane.Guessing that Soviet search radar had spotted him on the screen, he dispatched a patrol plane.He is not alarmed.Those two trails of smoke were so far below him that the Russian pilot could not have seen him. Flying about 30 miles east, I came to Cape Canaveral in Russia, above the Chulatan launch site. Looking down, I could see the launch pad where the Soviet Union launched artificial satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles.He flipped a switch to turn on each camera.The clouds ahead thickened again, and he turned the camera off.Fifty miles south of Chelyabinsk, in a cloudless sky, he had a clear view of the snow-capped Ural Mountains, once the dividing line between Europe and Asia.That's when the plane started to malfunction, with the autopilot failing badly and the fuselage tipping upwards.He turned off the autopilot, held it manually for a while, then turned the autopilot back on.The plane is still tilted.He considered going back to Pakistan - the pilot has the right to decide if the mission cannot be completed.But he was 1,300 miles into the Soviet border, and the visibility ahead was excellent.He resolved to continue flying with his hands.Passing over a huge oil depot area and a comprehensive industrial area, he turned the nose sideways and flew in the direction of Ruhr and Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union.Here, at 65,000 feet, he turned another 90 degrees and headed north.He filled in the flight log item by item: altitude, time, speed, exhaust gas temperature and engine instrument data, etc., when he suddenly felt something hit the fuselage with a bang.The plane jerked forward, and a blinding orange fire burst into the cockpit. At that time, it was about half an hour after midnight in the White House.It was 7:30 in the morning in the Kremlin.Bowles thought, "My God, I've hit it this time!" Once out of control, the plane began to dive.He reached for the switch of the self-destruct mechanism, changed his mind, and wanted to gain access to the ejection bay seat first.But he couldn't make it, the metal canopy crossbar kept clipping his leg.If it is ejected in this way, the two legs will not be able to hold, and they will be cut off three inches above the knee.By this time, he had descended to 34,000 feet and was still descending rapidly.In a flash, he thought of the self-destruct switch again, but he had to unbuckle his seat belt first, but after undoing it, gravity dragged half of his body out of the cabin.But the oxygen tube held him back, and he forgot to disconnect the oxygen tube.In a panic, he kicked and rolled and finally broke free and was floating in the air. Just as he was about to open the parachute, he suddenly felt a violent tremor.At 15,000 feet, the parachute deployed automatically.Suddenly he saw the plane fly by.The fuselage is intact and falls rapidly.He thought of the silver dollar.He unscrewed the metal ring, pulled out the thin suicide needle, and considered whether to stab himself.But he stuffed it in his pocket anyway.He wants to live. It was Sunday.By Thursday, Nikita Khrushchev was giving a three-and-a-half-hour report to the Supreme Soviet.At the end of the report, he made a statement about U-2 that caused an uproar that lasted for two weeks. USSR 〓USA AND ALLIES 〓〓〓Khrushchev said on May 5: "It is my duty to report to you the ... Place.The alleged mission of the operation was "aggressive provocation designed to disrupt the summit." Careful to avoid blaming Eisenhower himself. 〓〓A weather observation plane went missing over Turkey after the pilot reported a malfunction in the oxygen supply, NASA announced.It also said that the driver may have drifted over the Russian-Turkish border. 〓〓 State Department spokesman Lincoln White said on May 6: "Absolutely not—there was no intention to violate Soviet airspace, and there never was such an intention." NASA confirmed that the "weather observer" pilot The member is Francis Bowles.This was the news Khrushchev was waiting for. May 7th〓〓Khrushchev told the Supreme Soviet that Powers was "flying alive" when he was captured. Russian rockets shot down the U-2 plane from 65,000 feet. The plane was far from the Soviet-Afghan border 1300 miles.He said Powers had fully confessed. 〓〓The State Department admitted that it lied yesterday.It is said that this kind of "surveillance" flight has begun since the Soviet Union rejected Ike's "open skies" proposal in Geneva in 1955. The scheduling of the flight on May 8, the fact that the United States was exposed as lying, and the suggestion that the President of the United States was ignorant of such an important matter all alarmed the allies. May 9〓〓Khrushchev warned that Soviet rockets would attack countries that allowed US spy planes to use their territory. 〓〓Secretary of State Herter said that Ike approved the flight plan, but the specific flight does not require the President's approval. U-2 flights will continue. May 10〓〓The Soviet Union formally protested the actions of the U-2 aircraft and stated that Powers would stand trial. On May 11th, 〓〓 Khrushchev said in a speech at the U-2 aircraft wreckage exhibition: "If I welcome someone who sends a spy plane here, the Russian people will say that I am crazy." 〓〓President Eisenhower admitted that U-2 -2 The flight of the aircraft shall be his personal responsibility. May 12〓〓Eisenhower told members of Congress that unless the invitation was revoked, he still planned to fly to Moscow. 〓〓On May 14th Khrushchev's arrival in Paris raised hopes that the summit would go ahead as planned with assurances that he would try to make the summit a success. May 15th 〓〓 Khrushchev said he would not participate unless the United States stopped all U-2 flights, apologized for past "aggressions" and punished those responsible for such flights Summit talks. 〓〓Eisenhower said that such flight activities have been stopped and will not resume in the future. May 16〓〓Khrushchev, Eisenhower, President Charles de Gaulle and Harold Macmillan held the opening meeting of the summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris.The atmosphere is indifferent. 〓〓Khrushchev made a speech.Arrogant and rude.He proposed to postpone the summit meeting for six months, condemned Ike's "treacherous" and "robbery" behavior, and revoked the invitation to Eisenhower to return to Russia. 〓〓 Ike looked gloomy. He said that the overflight was over, but the United States could not accept Khrushchev's "ultimatum". 〓〓 Khrushchev arrogantly walks out of the Elysee Palace, shattering Ike's hope of detente and world reconciliation. 〓〓 Eisenhower returned to the US embassy in Paris, trembling with anger. May 17〓〓 Khrushchev boycotted the meeting.One of his aides called the Elysee Palace to ask if Ike was going to apologize for the U-2 incident and punish those responsible. 〓〓De Gaulle and Macmillan made a last-ditch attempt to save the meeting.At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Eisenhower, de Gaulle and Macmillan gathered for the first working meeting of the conference. Eisenhower said: no apology, no punishment.5:00 p.m.: adjournment of the summit. May 18〓〓At a noisy and chaotic press conference attended by 3,000 people, Khrushchev denounced the United States as "like a thief," "like a pirate," and "cowardly."Declares that the Soviet Union will sign a separate treaty with communist East Germany to resolve the Berlin issue. May 25〓〓US Air Force Chief of Staff General Thomas White said that the U-2 gamble was unnecessary, and if he had known in advance, he would have suggested that such overflight be suspended before the summit meeting. On his way home, Eisenhower landed in Lisbon: he deliberately chose this special moment to pay homage to the 70-year-old Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.Walking through the handsome gardens of the Palais Clos, he saw an American journalist lazily throwing some French coins into the fountain.The President asked him listlessly: "Is this how you avoid being idle?" "No, Mr. President!" the reporter replied, "just for the sake of luck." As he turned to walk away, Eisenhower said, "Then you'd better drop a few more for us all." However, the president still couldn't get rid of the bad luck caused by the U-2 incident.America's most powerful Asian ally, Japan, was originally scheduled to be the last stop of his personal diplomatic journey.If the summit goes well, what a glorious trip to Japan it will be.Now this trip has become the last chance to save the prestige of the president.Yet even this fell through.Everyone knows that Japan is the Asian base for U-2 overflights.Three of these notorious spy planes are currently parked there.Japanese leftists took inspiration from Khrushchev, so they used it to create riots. On June 11, Jim Haggerty flew into Tokyo's Haneda Airport to arrange the visit.Like Nixon in Caracas, he narrowly escaped his life. A crowd of 20,000 trapped him and Ambassador Douglas MacArthur Jr. in their car for more than an hour before they had to be freed by a Marine Corps helicopter. Eisenhower had arrived in Manila at this time, and the Japanese cabinet held an emergency meeting and decided to ask him not to go to Japan for personal safety.Embarrassed, Eisenhower had to visit Taiwan instead.The Seventh Fleet dispatched 125 ships and 500 aircraft to escort.The warship broke through the waves at a high speed of more than 30 nautical miles per hour, not because they were afraid of keeping Chiang Kai-shek waiting for a long time, but because they were worried about encountering unfriendly submarines.In mainland China, Radio Beijing cursed the president as a "plague god."To give him some color, the Chinese bombarded the offshore island of Quemoy with some of the heaviest artillery fire in years.The sound of rumbling guns was clearly audible on the ships of the Seventh Fleet.Sarcastic journalists complimented that no head of state had ever been saluted by 80,000 guns. Eisenhower returned to Washington on June 27, ending the trip.He traveled 60,000 miles for a year and a half in search of peace, only to return empty-handed.Facing the endgame and tracing back to the source, he said with a tired face: "In the final analysis, Communists do things like Communists do." Emmett John Hughes lamented: On his whimsical globetrotting, the glimmer of political gain once hoped for is gone forever.He did not spare his energy and prestige, in exchange for the rewards of the people - millions of people cheering, millions of people waving colorful flags.The hard-earned political capital has been invested in Paris and Tokyo, hoping to gain something, but now, even the old capital has been lost. The dark clouds of the Cold War began to gather from all fronts again.Traveling to the Soviet Union became difficult.Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin has been hit repeatedly.After the rubble of the summit meeting was cleared, the East-West Ten-Power Disarmament Conference, which had been going well all spring, resumed in Geneva. However, the chief Soviet representative Valerian Zorin spent an hour and a half criticizing the West. Then leave the meeting place, and the meeting will be dispersed. In July, the Russians shot down a U.S. RB-47 reconnaissance plane over the high seas; the U.S. put forward a proposal to ask the United Nations to conduct an impartial investigation into the matter, but the Russians rejected it. Then, in August, after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions were over and the United States had some peace, Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage in Moscow, bringing Americans back to the U-2 incident. embarrassment.鲍尔斯降落的地方是个很大的国营农场，农场工人缴下他的手枪，把他看管起来，直到克格勃——国家安全委员会，即秘密警察——的官员到来，把他押送进监狱。他在苏联法庭上说，他知道由于他的飞行，最高级会议和艾森豪威尔预定对苏联的访问均被取消，并且加剧了世界的紧张局势。他说：“我不幸对此事有所影响，实在感到痛心。”他被判处十年徒刑。 17个月之后，俄国人用鲍尔斯换回被美国法院判刑的、苏联间谍鲁道夫·艾贝尔上校。洛克希德飞机公司雇用鲍尔斯担任试飞驾驶员，直至1970年把他解雇。 ——译者总统任职的最后几个月，常显得非常沉默，若有所思。本届政府的开支，使得富兰克林·罗斯福以政府资金刺激经济的计划都显得微不足道——政府的全部开支，包括国家和地方开支，现已高达1700亿元，几乎占国民生产总值的1/3——他的党竟然未能把曾经支持他的无党派年轻选民争取到共和党方面来，这也使他痛心。他的前助手谢尔曼·亚当斯有一次到宾夕法尼亚大道1600号来看望他，他问道：“那些在1952年为我们放气球，走访选民的优秀青年，现在怎么啦·” 第二年1月，离开白宫的前三天，他对选民讲了一席临别赠言。50年代，五角大楼，特别是空军，扶植起越来越多的大公司，这些公司领导人全都是些退休的陆海军将领。艾森豪威尔对这方面存在的危险提出警告。他在对美国人民告别的广播和电视演说中说：“在相互尊重、相互信任的条件下实现裁军，仍是一项刻不容缓的事。由于这一需要是急切而又明确的，因而在即将离职的时候，我承认心中痛感失望。”他接着说：“我但愿今天晚上能说持久和平已经在望。幸而我还可以说战争已经避免了。”然后他谈到军火公司的惊人发展，接着说： “庞大的军事机构和巨大的军火工业相结合，这在美国是一种新的情况……我们承认这种发展的急切需要。但是我们决不能忽视其严重含义……在政府的各种会议上，我们一定要警惕军事-工业集团有意无意地要取得不恰当的势力。大权旁落形成祸害的可能性，现在存在，时刻都将存在。” 这是一篇非同寻常的演说，但是赞成美苏之间进行军备竞赛的各种势力实在过分强大。苏美两国尽管有许多不同之处，实质上都是世界上最大的工业国。到了1966年，美国军事-工业集团的规模，及其对国会拨款的依赖程度，都令人大吃一惊。在那一年，波音飞机公司和通用动力公司向政府出售全部产品的65%，雷锡昂飞机公司出售70%，洛克希德飞机公司出售81%，共和飞机公司则是100%。六年后，加尔布雷思在《新工业国》一书中告诫读者说，只举一个例子，如某一公司能够制作某种新一代的战斗机，它便处于一种可以左右这种飞机的设计和装备的十分有利的地位。进而对于这种飞机适宜担任何种任务，需要制作多少，如何部署，而且，不言而喻，这飞机应该用来对付哪一种敌人，该公司都可以有一定的发言权。 " 1960年的总统选举，形成一场典型的二人决斗。两个候选人都属于摇滚舞音乐的一代。在第二次世界大战时都是年轻的海军军官，都在第二次世界大战结束后几个月内进入政界，而且都不过四十多岁，精力旺盛。理查德·尼克松从一开始，还在1960年的1月时，就认为即将到来的这场竞选将是美国大选史中最为势均力敌的。结果也确是如此；不过，当时关于这次选举所作种种预言，后来证明正确的，几乎也就只此而已。 当时的美国已不是1952年德怀特·艾森豪威尔和艾德莱·史蒂文森到处发表竞选演说时的美国，更不同于在那之前两年进入朝鲜战争时的美国。到1960年，向新开发的郊区移居的活动正处高潮。国家较前更为富足。新的人口普查表明，华盛顿已成为第一个黑人占多数的美国城市——由1950年35%变成了54%。到1960年，4000万个美国家庭，也就是全部美国家庭的88%，至少拥有一架电视机。充分意识到亿万电视观众的存在，两位候选人都设法要取得他们的欢心。后来，大都认为，得到显像管的帮助最大的是肯尼迪。马歇尔·麦克卢汉以为他了解个中缘由，他说，肯尼迪的形象颇似一个西部打斗片中“沉默寡言的年轻警长”，而尼克松却像一个“铁路公司的律师，专门签署不利于小城市居民的占地契约”。麦克卢汉没有注意到，美国人愈是富足，他们便越趋于保守；而且越来越多的人在向铁路投资，因而是站在律师一边，而不是站在警长一边的。 两个候选人各有自己的一套战略计划。肯尼迪求助于青年人，求助于蓝领阶层的选票和罗斯福在30年代拉到民主党方面来的自由派选民。肯尼迪的两大重要基地是民主党人占优势的南部——掌握这个地区是他的竞选伙伴的任务——和工业集中的东北部。他的竞选活动主要是集中在九个大州：马萨诸塞、加利福尼亚、纽约、得克萨斯、新泽西、伊利诺伊、俄亥俄、密执安和宾夕法尼亚。如果在这几州能够获胜，那他就将获得当选必需的269张选举人票中的237张。他采用的手段包括对700万未登记的选民进行集体登记——新登记的选民，十人中就有七人是民主党人——由名牌大学智囊团中施莱辛格、加尔布雷思等人宣传他们的观点，并依赖以劳伦斯·奥布赖恩和肯尼迪·奥唐内为首的马萨诸塞州的青年爱尔兰裔美国人的出色战术。 肯尼迪原有的有利条件有：有组织的劳工的支持、他父亲的巨大财富、他的普利策奖、对他友好的报界、他个人的魅力——当时记者们已开始称之为肯尼迪“风格”；以及他身为多数党成员的身份。 他的不利条件是：他父亲在20年前曾支持绥靖政策至今人们记忆犹新，他年纪太轻——尼克松已47岁而他却仅只43岁，经验不足；还有从1928年艾尔·史密斯被提名以来，一般人都认为，罗马天主教徒不能当选总统。 肯尼迪决意全力以赴，尽力而为，坚持到底。尼克松却采取了不同的方针。他认为一项政治竞选运动有其高潮和低潮时期，忽略了这一点就会令人生厌，因而失去选民支持。据他看来，中心目标是在选举日使竞选运动“达到顶点”——进到高潮。和肯尼迪一样，尼克松也计划集中力量于关键性各州，对他来说是七个州——纽约、加利福尼亚、密执安、得克萨斯、宾夕法尼亚、俄亥俄和伊利诺伊。他也曾保证要到所有其他43个州去竞选，后来显然后悔做出这种表示。他没有智囊团，尼克松现在一如既往，仍是一个孤家寡人，乐于自行其是，沉于内省。当时肯尼迪大肆宣扬的主题是，美国的威望正江河日下，美国人必须努力争先；而这位共和党候选人却鼓吹自由企业的好处、个人的责任感、顽固的反共精神以及艾森豪威尔时期的繁荣的和平。 尼克松原有的有利条件是：工商业大亨的支持、较丰富的经验(例如，在总统生病期间解决钢铁工人罢工，他与赫鲁晓夫的厨房辩论)，强大的中产阶级的根基，以及艾森豪威尔当时仍在白宫。 他的不利条件是，较老的选民对胡佛身居白宫的时代记忆犹新，他在斗争中不择手段的名声——“老家伙尼克松”——是这次竞选运动中始终脱不开的噩运，以及他身为少数党成员。 美国的共和党人数每年都有所减少。“老大党”的候选人在1950年的中期选举中赢得全部票数的49%。1954年，47%；1958年，43%。1960年发表的一份盖洛普民意测验表明，在过去八年内，不同职业集团对共和党的忠诚情况下降。在回答哪个党“最能满足”他们的利益的问题时，1950年农场主中的28%的回答是：共和党。而在1960年，这样回答的则只有18%。在白领阶层中，下降的情况更为显著，从44%降到29%。所有的人都愿意艾克身居白宫，但是这种感情并不能转移到充当配角的共和党人身上。同时，这个党的较次要人物的不断减少的程度也十分惊人。 由于艾森豪威尔对他的副总统态度暧昧，使他对1960年的竞选运动所能发生的影响也进一步减弱。他显然喜欢尼克松，而不喜欢他认为是一个年轻的暴发户的肯尼迪(他把他称做“那孩子”)，但是他对许多人讲过“迪克根本不是总统材料”，这句话已经传开。艾森豪威尔在这方面何以如此漠漠无情，令人纳闷。他一而再再而三地表示看不起尼克松。在他第二任期间讨论谁可能继任时，他明确表示支持他最后一任的财政部长罗伯特·安德森，他说：“哈，1960年我倒愿意为他竞选一番!”在他随口拟出的心目中的名单中，他还加上了“其他一些新起的优秀人物”，其中包括司法部长威廉·罗杰斯。他忠于友谊地把谢尔曼·亚当斯也列了进去，“当然到1960年他将是61岁，担任这一工作未免太老。”他只是在最后才说：“……还有迪克·尼克松。”艾森豪威尔1960年8月24日对尼克松的竞选活动给了最为沉重的打击。在记者招待会上，有人问他：“在你执政期间，副总统曾经参与过一些什么重大的决定·”总统的几乎令人难以置信的回答竟是：“如果你给我一个星期的时间，我可能会想起一件。”尼克松在《六次危机》一书中提到，艾森豪威尔曾打电话向他道歉，说他只不过是想“开个玩笑”。这样的辩解很奇特的，而且他也并没有做过公开的解释。 1958年中期选举之后，盖洛普进行了一次竞选预测，选民中赞成肯尼迪的人超过了尼克松，比数是59对41。到了这位副总统1959年7月访问莫斯科前夕，则变成肯尼迪占61%，尼克松占39%——比1956年艾森豪威尔对史蒂文森的优势还要大。访苏之后，比数为肯尼迪52，尼克松48。到1959年11月，尼克松第一次居于领先地位，以53对47。在3月8日第一次总统预选前夕，这个六分比差依然未变。 新罕布什尔州的预选和民主党洛杉矶全国代表大会之间相隔四个月，这期间，由于肯尼迪证明自己已立于不败之地终于取得了民主党的提名。谋求获得提名的其他民主党人是：休伯特·汉弗莱、林登·约翰逊、斯图尔特·赛明顿以及此番为其最后一试的艾德莱·史蒂文森。预选时汉弗莱在和肯尼迪争夺提名的人中居于领先地位。4月5日肯尼迪在威斯康星州挫败了汉弗莱，取得了56%的选票；接着5月10日在一般认为是反天主教的西弗吉尼亚州，以3∶2的优势彻底击败了汉弗莱。到此，汉弗莱退出竞选，他已无钱再干。于是，肯尼迪领先的势头越来越大，先后在马里兰、印第安纳和俄勒冈州获胜。到6月27日，肯尼迪在蒙大拿州议会发表演说寻求支持时，他已取得提名所必需的761选举人票中的550票。 在民主党全国代表大会的前夕，盖洛普民意测验表明，肯尼迪已以52∶48对尼克松领先。 当他搬进洛杉矶竞选总部，比尔特摩旅馆8315号的那套房间时，这个出生在马萨诸塞州的年轻的爱尔兰裔美国参议员，已经取得了600张选举人票。像历次民主党的全国代表大会一样，这次也是闹哄哄的，但又颇能反映出政治才华。即将退休的芝加哥党魁杰克·阿维和他的继任者迪克·戴利都出席了这次大会。参议员尤金·麦卡锡为史蒂文森争取提名的一篇演说显得最为出色。罗斯福夫人是支持史蒂文森的，玛丽安·施莱辛格也是。(鲍勃·肯尼迪立即写了个字条给她的丈夫：“你难道管不了你的妻子——还是你也和我一样·”)史蒂文森的人马是组织得很好的。他们挤满了四周顶层楼座，楼下大厅里也到处是为他们扛标语牌的人，其中一个大腹便便的临产孕妇手执标语牌，上写：史蒂文森真能干!这未免使她的候选人都乐开了。 史蒂文森的竞选活动是激动人心的，有时场面很有气派，但结果并无济于事。约翰·肯尼迪在第一轮投票时，以806票获得提名，威斯康星州的15票使他越过了800票大关。他选择林登·约翰逊当他的竞选伙伴——这两个人究竟怎么会搞到一起，在场的人说法不一，但是肯尼迪懂得，在11月大选时他需要南部的支持，而最有可能给他这种支持的是约翰逊。肯尼迪在接受提名的演说中讲到“新边疆——60年代的边疆——吉凶叵测、利害难卜的边疆——充满希望、遍布威胁的边疆。”他告诫说：“我所讲的新边疆，并不是一套好听的许诺，而是一系列需要应付的挑战。总而言之，并不代表我要向美国人民做出的贡献，而倒是我要向他们提出的要求。”最后，他说：“现在，又一次的长途进军已经开始，使我可以遍访全美各地的城市和家庭。请你们帮助我”(群众欢呼)，“请伸出你们的手来”(群众再次欢呼)，“请你们提意见，请你们投票”。群众全体起立，欢呼声经久不息。 民主党全国代表大会后的盖洛普民意测验表明，肯尼迪以55对45的优势领先。 尼克松于下一周在共和党全国代表大会上获得提名后，根据盖洛普的报告，他以51比49对肯尼迪领先。在其后一周，他更加拉开了领先的距离，成为53比47。到8月末，两人还是并驾齐驱。9月份，犹豫未决的选民数字增多，使得两个候选人的比数都降至50%以下，不过尼克松仍然以49对46比肯尼迪领先。 这时民主党的竞选活动进入低潮。满以为自己会得到党的提名的林登·约翰逊，事先安排了一次国会特别会议，希望在那里一显身手。尼克松于8月26日兴高采烈地在亚特兰大州开始了他的第一轮旅行，而肯尼迪却让那会给纠缠住了。六天后，特别会议结束了，肯尼迪才出发到缅因州去。盖洛普的最新比数是，尼克松：50，肯尼迪：50。 也是运气作弄，尼克松南部之行的第三天，在北卡罗来纳州的格林斯博罗，被汽车车门撞伤右膝盖。伤处一时不愈，经沃尔特·里德医院检查，发现伤口已受到溶血性葡萄球霉菌感染。他必须留住沃尔特·里德医院两个星期，接受大剂量抗生素治疗，否则就会破坏膝关节软骨。因此，从8月29日至9月9日，他只能仰卧在床，一条腿牵引着，为平白失去的时间懊丧不已。恢复活动后，他又在圣路易斯得了感冒，嗓子嘶哑了。真是祸不单行，这时又发生了宗教问题。 尼克松曾一再指示他的工作人员，在任何情况下，都不要与任何人讨论肯尼迪的宗教问题。不幸的是，他却未能制止住他自己的一个朋友，全国最著名的新教牧师诺曼·文森特·皮尔博士。皮尔博士带领着一群牧师，发表了一篇声明，表示怀疑一位信奉罗马天主教的总统，能够摆脱罗马教廷的影响。尼克松不便抨击皮尔博士，但他在那个星期日的“会见新闻界”节目里，几乎制止不住自己。这时，肯尼迪却抓住时机来对付这个他知道迟早必须正视的最微妙的问题。大休斯敦传教士协会恰好已邀请他9月12日到休斯敦的赖斯旅馆讲讲他的信仰问题，他接受了这个邀请。在那里他庄严、明确地宣称，他坚信政教完全分离的原则，并说如果他发现自己无能解决良心和职务之间的矛盾，他就辞职。牧师们对此报以掌声。 两个星期之后，盖洛普宣称双方选民的人数又趋于接近。尼克松是47，肯尼迪46，尚有7%未定。 竞赛的关键时刻已经临近。在9月的两个星期里，两位候选人从东海岸到西海岸跑遍了全国作竞选演说。这时，尼克松已在25个州里旅行了1.5万英里，对两百多万选民发表了演说，但是他发现，如他后来所说，“不管你接触的群众有多少或走过的地方多么广大，那也不过是沧海一粟：而在9月25日以前所取得的效果，同第二天，9月26日星期一晚上举行的第一次通过全国电视网广播的面对面辩论相比起来，简直是微不足道。” 预定将举行四次辩论——其他三次是：10月7日、10月14日和10月21日，但第一次最为重要。这次辩论吸引的听众最多，大约有七千万美国人收听，比其他各次要多两千万人。这是肯尼迪的一大胜利，使尼克松十分沮丧，也是他没有料到的。他本人原是辩论能手。他在电视中看到肯尼迪接受提名的演说时，不知道肯尼迪当时劳累不堪，竟以为他的对手讲话太快，声音太高，讲的内容太复杂，一般美国人不能理解。这也正是尼克松所以接受进行辩论的挑战的原因。两人都为这第一次辩论全力以赴做准备，仿佛要去参加律师资格考试一般。就说话技巧和思想内容来说，双方打了一个平手，而这本身就是肯尼迪的胜利。因为直到举行辩论的那个晚上为止，两人中，尼克松的名气更大，担任的职位更高。现在在这里，在公断人霍华德·史密斯的面前，他们却全然不见高下，肯尼迪竟然略无逊色。更为重要的是，他更中看一些。在收音机里听到他们辩论的人，认为两人都干得不错，但是电视观众更多，却能看到参议员肤色黑红，身体健康。而另一方面，尼克松在沃尔特·里德医院掉了五磅肉。他显得面容憔悴，衬衣领口松松地大了半个号码。他无精打采，表情严酷，而且由于考虑不周，意欲掩盖午后初生的胡子茬，在脸上涂了一层隐须膏，弄得油光闪亮。 盖洛普最新的民意测验表明，肯尼迪已经以49对46领先，5%未定。 尼克松按医生的指示，每天喝四杯可可牛奶，恢复了体重。在以后的几次辩论中，他的健康情况看上去已和他的对手相当。他在辩论中也得分较多。但这已全然无济于事；成百万的人已经看到了自己所想要看的一切，主意也已拿定。 最后一次辩论之后，尼克松最后一分钟的进展之前，盖洛普的调查结果是：肯尼迪51，尼克松45；4%未定。 随着竞选运动接近最后阶段，有两项关键事件影响了黑人的选票。洛奇未与任何人商量于10月12日在哈莱姆区发表讲话时说：“……内阁里应当有一名黑人……这是我们的既定纲领的一部分，我在这里向大家保证。”尼克松忿怒地否认这是他的纲领的一部分——这就毫无道理地但却不可避免地激怒了黑人。一星期后，10月19日，马丁·路德·金的一次“入坐”运动再次触犯了佐治亚州的法律。在亚特兰大一家百货公司里，金由于拒绝离开该公司的餐馆被当场逮捕，被判处四个月的苦役。有记者询问尼克松对于此事的意见，他说他没有意见。私下里，他觉得金的宪法权利遭到了侵犯，打电话给司法部长罗杰斯，请司法部进行调查。罗杰斯同意，但艾森豪威尔不想介入，此事遂被搁置。肯尼迪兄弟的反应却与此不同。这位民主党候选人亲自打电话给科雷塔·金，向她表示慰问并表示愿意尽力给予可能的帮助。接着和他商量了一番之后，他的弟弟鲍勃打电话给审理金案的佐治亚州法官，第二天，这位黑人牧师就被保释出来。当时，报界对这一切倒并不知情，但是金太太却把这情况告诉了其他黑人领袖，他们把这话传扬开去，这无疑对肯尼迪11月8日在北部各城市取得席卷多数起了相当做用。临时改变主意的投票人中就有马丁·路德·金的父亲在内。他对记者说，他从来没有想过会投一名天主教徒的票，但是他儿媳的电话说服了他。肯尼迪不禁自言自语地说：“想不到马丁·路德·金的父亲竟是一个老顽固。”接着，他又补充了一句：“是呵，我们大家谁没有父亲啊·” 在10月的最后几天，盖洛普的结论是，这次竞选势均力敌，难以逆料。埃尔莫·罗珀、路易斯·哈里斯和克劳德·鲁滨逊等民意测验机构都一致同意这种说法。劳伦斯·奥布赖恩对肯尼迪也说是“吉凶未卜”。不过，情况也并不是始终难解难分的。双方的笔杆子和政界人物都认为在10月里双方势力互有消长。在选举之前两周，出现了倾向肯尼迪的明显趋势，紧接着又出现了一股在最后一分钟推向尼克松的浪潮。尼克松因而认为肯尼迪过早地把竞选活动推上了“顶峰”，但是还有另一种解释。形势的转折是随着艾森豪威尔总统加入竞选活动而来的。U-2事件，或在日本受到的羞辱，都未能削弱艾克在国内的崇高威望。但是，尼克松和他的关系却仍不很和谐，副总统之所以直到10月21日(星期一)才能请求他给予帮助的原因正在于此。总统在那时突然投身竞选，使整个运动顿时改观。可以想像，再多一个星期，甚至几天，结果就可能会完全不同。 到竞选末期，选举的情况越来越模糊不清，仿佛成了许多景物和音响胡乱重叠的镜头：肯尼迪用他的冷静而简洁的腔调提醒观众说，卡斯特罗已使共产党人到了“离佛罗里达只有八分钟的喷气机航程的地方”；尼克松说，美国决不能让人利用白宫“作为一个训练基地来学当总统，而以牺牲美国利益为代价”。肯尼迪几乎像念咒一般一次又一次地说，“我国是一个伟大的国家。可是我认为还可以更加伟大。我认为我们能够做得更好。我认为我们能够使国家再度前进”；杜鲁门满口脏话，尼克松回答时发誓他在白宫决不咒骂而玷污总统的身份；艾森豪威尔反复申述共和党八年来的政绩：个人收入增加48%，国民生产总值增长45%，社会保险事业的扩大，圣劳伦斯河航道的开辟，4.1万英里州际公路的修建——“朋友们，美国人从来没有在这样短的时间里取得过这样多的成就”——在汽车队所经之处，十几岁的姑娘们，为了一瞻候选人的风采，在群众队伍中蹦蹦跳跳。副总统许诺说，尼克松政府决不容许红色中国进入联合国，从而使“这个共产党政权增加光彩，大大提高它在亚洲的力量和威望，甚至不可挽回地削弱那一地区的各个非共产党政权；”当肯尼迪说到即将来临的，“充满挑战的革命的60年代”时，在大学校园里出现热烈场面；尼克松赞成恢复原子弹试验；在竞选末期肯尼迪的一位宾夕法尼亚州的拥护者和他握手时用力过猛，把他已经被捏伤的手捏得鲜血直流。尼克松指责肯尼迪说，他宣称美国威望空前低落，是在“灭自己的威风，使我们产生自卑感。”肯尼迪每一提到他怀孕的妻子，就在妇女中引起微笑；还有尼克松敦促听众的话：“你们认为在这危急时刻，美国和世界需要的是谁，就投谁的票。不论你们最后决定如何，我知道那必将是对美国最有利的决定，我们大家都一定遵守，我们大家都一定支持。” 突然间，这一切都成为过眼云烟。天朗气清，再加上竞争双方的势均力敌，使参加投票的人数创造了历史上最高水平，共达68832818票，比1956年多11%。投过票后，尼克松为求得片刻轻松，和三个朋友驱车前往加利福尼亚海岸，带他们参观墨西哥边境小城蒂华纳；肯尼迪则在海恩尼斯港自己家庭大院，玩了一天橄榄球。鲍勃·肯尼迪家的阳台上装了精巧的电子设备，当夜和星期三早晨，这位民主党候选人就是在这里观看投票结果的。 一架国际商用机器公司-哥伦比亚广播公司的电子计算机，根据截至当晚7时15分的资料预告尼克松将获胜，使得当晚气氛相当活跃，它预告的双方比差简直令人难信，100∶1——以尼克松的459选举人票对肯尼迪的68票。接着，随着具体的数字倾泻而来，全国看来犹如山崩似的倒向民主党一边。在一向票数统计最快的康涅狄格州，肯尼迪以9万票的多数取胜。他以巨大的优势赢得纽约市的拥护，并以33.1万票，即全部票的68.1%夺得费城。在库克县，在迪克·戴利的严密监视之下，民主党的票数大大领先，似乎使共和党占优势的伊利诺伊州南部已无法赶上。到10点30分，肯尼迪所得选民票数已领先150万张。这时，一般估计他可能将以超出对方400万或500万票的多数获胜。国际商用机器公司——哥伦比亚广播公司的计算机推算他将获得311张选举人票；全国广播公司和美国广播公司501型计算机则算出401张。美国东部的电视观众到这时纷纷关上电视准备睡觉，认为大局已定。杰奎琳·肯尼迪在她丈夫的耳边低声说：“哦，邦尼，现在你已经是总统了!”他平静地回答说：“不……不……现在还言之过早。” 确实言之尚早。肯尼迪得票的高峰出现在午夜之后不久。这时他领先的票数在200万票以上，而且洛杉矶县的报告表明，他可能以800万票在加利福尼亚州获胜。可是也正是在这个节骨眼上，他的选票开始出现了麻烦。在阿巴拉契亚山脉的那一边发生了意想不到的事情。例如，在肯塔基州摇滚音乐盛行的列克星顿县，肯尼迪所获票数不及1952年的史蒂文森，更大大落后于1948年的杜鲁门。而堪萨斯州的初步报告却表明尼克松已超过或相当于艾森豪威尔在1956年时所获得的优势。其后两小时内，情况逐渐明朗。而这却使在海恩尼斯港看电视的人继续感到不安。共和党的选票势如卷席：堪萨斯州60.4%，南达科他州58.3%，北达科他州55.4%，内布拉斯加州62.1%。在历次民意测验中都有利于肯尼迪的威斯康星州，也以6万多票的多数倒向共和党，而当洛杉矶郊区的选举结果报上来的时候，民主党在加利福尼亚的领先地位也在消失。从全国来说，肯尼迪所获选票的优势已逐步下降到170万、160万、110万。显然，它将下降到100万以下。也可能全部绝迹。 凌晨3点钟，全国已经获悉尼克松取得胜利的州将比肯尼迪多。但这并不能给共和党人多大的安慰，他们实际上无法得到能使尼克松当选所必须的269张选举人票。更重要的问题在于肯尼迪是不是能够得到这个票数。四个大州胜负未定：伊利诺伊(27张选举人票)，密执安(20)，加利福尼亚(32)，明尼苏达(11)。尼克松必须在这四个州全部获胜，才能当选为总统，而在当时看来这种可能性很是渺茫。对肯尼迪来说，在其中任何两个州获胜，都将保证他当选。但如果仅得其中一州，那他的票数也就不够。十四五个南部各州反民权派民主党选举人的阻挠就足以挫败他的胜利，而改由众议院决定谁个优胜。 黎明时，海恩尼斯港所有的人都已入睡，只有鲍勃·肯尼迪还在守望着电传打字机、电视机和电话(那一夜，肯尼迪的电话费用是1万美元)。9时半，密执安州的共和党人承认失败，认为，肯尼迪领先6.7万票的优势已无法动摇。他在明尼苏达和伊利诺伊两州也已获胜。这已足以使美国特工处处长鲍海姆认为大局已定。他从华盛顿打电话给住在海恩尼斯港度假坪旅店的16个特工人员，让他们进驻肯尼迪大院。竞选运动已成历史，肯尼迪已是当选总统。 12月正式公布的选举结果：肯尼迪得34226925票，尼克松34108662票——相差112881票，不到人民总投票数0.66%。这对尼克松，真是伤心事。如能在全国每一选区多得半张票就会使他获胜。他获得的选票比共和党国会议员候选人所得总选票数几乎多出5%，在全国八个地理区——新英格兰、中大西洋各州、南部、各农业州、落基山各州、中西部的工业区、太平洋地区五个州和边境州——除前三地区外，他都获胜。他的某些顾问建议他对选举结果提出异议。有一些州，特别像伊利诺伊和得克萨斯，显然有作弊情况，如加追究，大有可能转败为胜。他原想一试，但决定不干。障碍重重难以克服。以库克县为例，如重新计票，需时一年半，而得克萨斯就根本没有重新计票的规定。这期间，国家却不能无人管理。 1