More reports flooded in from around the globe. From military base to obscure outpost, soldiers, sailors, and marines were dropping like flies. Not one of his staff or advisory counselors had found an explanation and the leading theory from the Department of Defense had all fingers pointed at the U.S.S.R. That all but solidified into fact when similar reports came in from NASA. Everyone connected to the Apollo missions had collapsed, their hearts stopped beating for no medically discernible reason.


“Military conquest, slaughtering America’s best and bravest, isn’t enough for these animals? Those red commies also want to beat us to the moon!”


United States secretary of defense, Robert S. McNamara, took the brunt of Kennedy’s rage. “It’s too early to tell for sure, Mister President. But we have—”


“We have what, Bob? Give me some honest-to-God answers or what good are you to this great nation?”


“Yes, Mister President.” McNamara stormed out like John-John after being disciplined.


“How could those Russkies be doing this? Someone tell me how they developed this type of weaponry right under our noses. What the hell am I paying the CIA for, anyway?”


Answers ricocheted off the walls in the ‘War Room’ with none of them assembling into evidenced fact. Not knowing who the enemy was, even though Kennedy had no doubt, and with absolutely no idea how they carried out such dubious treachery against the most powerful nation on Earth, the room fell silent. Overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the moment, the POTUS called a recess and summoned Jackie to the Oval Office. For the first time in their marriage, she had no sage advice to offer.


That wasn’t true, she counseled him to remain calm and not to act before he had the facts. “If this isn’t Russia,” she said, “you don’t want to start a war with them that will surely escalate to nuclear detonations.” But that wasn’t what he wanted from his wife, and he hung his head in shame for the ‘need for release’ that consumed his next thoughts. How could he think of her at a time like this?