Tell Me 'Bout That Day In Dallas

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

June 23rd, 1964

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"I guess it was a good thing you got sick and I was called back," Jack said after sipping his coffee. Turning the paper toward Jackie he said, "Look at this."

Jackie leaned over to read the headline: Pro-War and Anti-War Mobs Clash at Vice President's Speech in Bismarck, North Dakota.

"I'm glad you weren't there too," Jackie replied as she moved back and took a drink from her glass of water. "What exactly happened?"

"Well according to Pierre, he called me this morning, Johnson got up on stage to give his speech on advancements in our military. At the end he asked for questions and a young man shouted out something like, "What's the deal with Vietnam!?". Lyndon said that currently he had no comment but that we were staying out of it for the most part. That's when things got crazy. 

 Another man shouted out "Communist Sympathizers!" and another one punched him because he saw that as extremely disrespectful or something. Calling it a mob is misleading, though. Pierre just said it was two small groups who got in a fist fight over whether we should be in Vietnam or not."

Jackie shook her head before finishing her water and leaning back in her chair. "I don't know enough about Vietnam to say anything," Jackie began in her soft voice. "But...it's a war between, what...the North and South Vietnamese? So shouldn't it stay that way? Why should we fight someone else's fight?"

"Jackie, I couldn't have said it better myself!" Jack grinned at her.

"Oh I doubt that," Jackie scoffed rolling her eyes.

"What I meant was that's exactly how I see it. I'm willing to support the fight against Communism over there, sure, but not by fighting it for them. Besides, in all honesty, they hate us over there."

Jackie nodded her head in understanding before slowly standing up. "So I take it Lyndon is coming straight back, huh?"

"Oh yeah. Apparently he must've panicked when that riot started," Jack answered, trying to cover up his amusement as he pushed his empty coffee cup to the side.

"Well...it was a nice three days of peace without him here," Jackie sighed with a small stretch.