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II.

“Mr. President, it is vital and urgent you sign this bill. Sam and I agree, if we don’t move on this fast, there could be a ton of loose nuclear weapons, and I’m sure there are some remnants of that failed coup that would love to lob a few at us,” said Senator Richard Lugar. Lugar was the minority ranking member on the Senate Armed Services committee, and Sam was Senator Sam Nunn, the chairman of that committee.

“I don’t disagree with you, Richard, I’m just concerned about sending a message to President Gorbachev that we’re planning to move into his country and start taking their nuclear weapons before they’ve decided how to handle their future,” replied President George H.W. Bush. “He barely survived that coup in August, and had the plotters been smarter, we could’ve been facing a retrenchment from the Soviets.”

“I understand, sir, but if we don’t plan for this, and the Soviet Union breaks up next week, there will be a small window to reach agreement with the various republics on this before they decide they might want to keep them for leverage. You need statutory authority to move ahead when that moment comes.”

“Okay, Richard, just please let me work out some agreement with Gorbachev and Yeltsin first. He’s likely to take Mikhail’s spot, and we need to be on his good side for this to work.”

“Yes, sir, I respect that, and I will keep our people in line so they don’t make any inflammatory statements. Bob will do the same. We’re on the same page when it comes to these things. The idea of even one missing nuclear weapon makes our skin crawl,” Lugar assured the President, and he gathered up his briefing materials and left as Bush sat down behind his desk.

1991 had been a very trying year for the President, and the strain was showing. First was the Gulf War, leading a UN coalition against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, then reveling in one of the most one-sided military victories of all time, as Iraqi forces were crushed by American air power and Gen. Barry McCaffrey’s soon-to-be legendary drive across the Iraq desert with the 24th Mechanized Division, destroying everything in his path for over 300 miles.

Then came August 18th, breaking the good mood. Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union, had flown to his dacha by the Black Sea, only to be placed under house arrest, all outside communications cut, as a coup was launched against him by revanchist elements inside the Soviet government, including the supposedly liberal Marshal Sergey Akromeyev, KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, and Defense Minister Marshal Dmitri Yazov. For three days, the Soviet Union teetered on the brink of civil war, as Boris Yeltsin led protestors in the streets, and the coup plotters were uncertain of how to proceed, perhaps unwilling to fire on so many of their fellow countrymen. It was an ill-bred coup, and it showed when it fell apart on August 21st, greatly relieving Bush and his national security advisers, who were having to make plans for many scenarios, none of them pleasant.

The economy had gone into a slump during the year, and Bush had been accused of being too focused on foreign affairs while Americans were being laid off. How could anyone understand, though, that while Communism had fallen apart and the Soviet Union was soon to be no more, that the safety of the United States was perhaps more in peril than it had been five years ago?

It was a pity that Bush didn’t know just how perilous things had become.