It was quite late when the Press Secretary asked for an audience. He was one of the very few who made direct contact—a trusted friend of the President as well as an able buffer between the chief executive and the fourth estate. The President said, "Why certainly—if it's that important. Come right up." As the line went dead, the President put down the phone and picked up the western story anthology he had been reading. He thumbed the pages pensively, then laid that down too and sat back in his ch