Monday Morning With The Admiral

That was why and how Breckinridge understood Taylor and Wye. That was why the one picked Blake as chief of maintenance on the flight line and why the other had insisted on the Negro mechanic checking his plane. Duty demands the best men be chosen.

Yes, the Admiral knew. He had done the same kind of thing. He recognized that regulations, even traditions, had to be bent or quietly ignored. As an executive officer and then as a captain he had moved Negroes from the galley and the wardroom to gun stations, bridge duty and damage-control teams. He had at least put his feet on the road from racism towards prejudice, and that was not something to be dismissed as tokenism.

But there remained the ancestral and Annapolis duty to maintain order. That was the way he resolved his dilemma. He remembered Burton's cruel education of the FBI agent. Control the rate and direction of change. Maintain my own integrity but control Taylor and Wye.

Hence he was standing to receive Taylor's salute. Then he became casual.

"You didn't need to dress, Mitch."

"You are the Admiral, Sir."

"Sit. This shouldn't take us long. I was too rough Saturday night, but I don't like to hear about changes like that second hand....

-- Point taken, Admiral.

"...Anyway, your change of flight plan was imaginative and the young men handled it very well. I hear scuttlebutt that Wye made the best landing in his career."

-- You've got more spies quicker than I anticipated.

"He does like to fly."

"Perhaps you should remind him that everyone has to get down for gas if nothing else."

They laughed easily. But the Admiral came right back.

"He is also an unusually good navigator. That squall line was very tricky."

-- What the hell is going on here?

"Yes, Sir. It was and he is. But I take no credit for that except to trust him. A few of them have that magic."

"Yes, indeed, including finding his way to the Negro church on Sunday."

-- Mistake, Admiral.

"He believes in his own way in the Grace of God."

"So do I, but I don't think we can push it right now. We need to ease up a bit here on those matters. Specifically, Commander, you or Lieutenant Wye or anybody else must in the future go through Personnel or myself about any racial matters."

-- Well, either I do it or I don't.

"Admiral, there are two things at issue here. One is a pilot's command of his aircraft. Wye was wholly within his rights. The other is that we both know what's coming. We are going to integrate the flight line and the rest of it. That's the politics of the situation. I think it is better to ease into it than be caught by an All-Nav."

"You mean the President's speeches and the Commission on Civil Rights?"

"Yes, Sir. But really about the way it was during the war and should be now. We had Negroes tuning engines and...."

"I know more about that than you may realize, Commander, but Texas is not the place to jump the gun. I want you to slow it down until the orders come through."

"My first responsibility is the safety of the flight line, Admiral, and your order may cause some problems."

"I'll take that responsibility."

Mitch stood and snapped a salute.

"Sir."

-- Good luck, you duty-bound southern gentleman.

"If Lieutenant Wye is there, please send him in."

Table of Contents

• Introduction

1. Maggie and Mr. Hank
2. The Reverend
3. Squalls Along the Flight Line
4. Flying Home to Church
5. A Visit with The Judge
6. Communion
7. Afterthoughts
8. Monday Morning With The Admiral
9. Into the Dining Room
10. On Toward Walking the Streets
11. Glimpses of An Election
12. The Dream and The Reality of Violence
13. The Admiral Loses More Than a Few Good Men
14. Down That Lonesome Road

• Cast of Characters
• Credits and Acknowledgements