James A Michener's "Space" (novel), Chapter 2: "Four Women" (part 2 of 2)

Context: novel main page; part 1 of this chapter.

This is the story US taking charge of the spoils of war: German engineers transferred to US as prisoners, along with German weapons design documents & actual physical missile hardware. Initially to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas; later to Huntsville, Alabama, where they will begin settling down.

A lot of text is devoted to prisoners' hardships because (apart from their status as prisoners):

1. They were brought without any documentation but 'With the knowledge of the President.' To get the paperwork straightened, they will eventually be driven in a bus to Mexico without exit formalities, & immediately reenter on temporary permits - to be regularized in 3 months!
2. Their wives are still in Germany. This will let the story wander for a while over ruined Germany immediately after war - a lot of broken families & misery.

This part will also see the beginning of US Army's interest in German missiles. Initial tests are with looted hardware. Original US work begins in ch 3 - that's past 1950.

There are 6 major characters that we'll likely see more of in later chapters:

1. Prof Stanley Mott & his wife Rachel Lindquist. We meet Rachel for the first time in this chapter. We're also told Mott is "a genius in aviation" & "he wasn’t a real professor, only an assistant". The couple will help German prisoners settle down.
2. Dieter Kolff, the brilliant German mechanical genius captured in ch 1, & his wife Liesl Koenig. We met both in ch 1; here they will be reunited after much drama.
3. General Helmut Funkhauser, one of the more brutal Hitler men we met in ch 1, & among the prisoners. He will be a man to reckon with in US aviation industry by the end of this chapter - "a troubleshooter for Allied Aviation, specializing in their rocket and space ventures".
4. von Braun, the brilliant German ideas man whose fate was indeterminate at the end of ch 1 is among the prisoners.

There are two male babies born among them, first of which will have a distracting role in next chapter: Millard of Motts & Magnus of Kolffs.

Notes.

1. Union of Dieter & Liesl drags on for a while because she doesn't have marriage papers. "Marriage papers"! Sounds weird in India where hardly anyone has marriage papers. In fact, court registration is looked down upon & signifies rebellion.
2. Once US Army decides to get into rockets in a big way, they choose Huntsville, Alabama, for building their big facility.
   
   "Why there?"
   
   "Because Senator John Sparkman lives in Huntsville."
   
   I thought this happened only in India!
   

Quotes.

1. "Hitler appreciated me for the same reason your people do. I can fix rockets, that's all."
2. "We are all Americans now, even General Funkhauser, and I want to hear no more about the past... Now we must occupy ourselves with other matters."

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James A Michener's "Space" (novel), Chapter 2: "Four Women" (part 1 of 2)

This post is about the second chapter, titled "Four Women", of this novel. Novel page gives overall background, links to other chapters, & gives very short chapter overviews.

I'm splitting this ch 2 post into 2 because there is some material here worth commenting on. Contents that went into my 2 parts are actually intermingled in the novel text. This is the first part - story of two couples: Norman Grant & Elinor Stidham, & John Pope & Penny Hardesty. All except Elinor were introduced in ch 1. Second part is here.

This chapter advances the story on one crucial front: the promise that Grant will get involved in legislative affairs that will eventually affect space travel.

Story summary.

Norman Grant will be elected to US Senate from Fremont, an imaginary state in western US, in 1946. USP of his electoral campaign will be his war-hero role.

He will bring to Washington two key characters who ran his election campaign: Tim Finnerty & Penny Hardesty. Penny will be the cause of Norman's friction with his jealous wife Elinor. This will ensure she moves from Senator Norman's office to Senator Glancey's.

Penny, a lawyer, will be married to John Pope, just qualified as a Navy aviation man, by the end of this chapter. That's about 1950.

By the end of this chapter, Norman will get advise on choosing a specialty in the Senate if he wants to make a mark - getting involved in the just emerging fields of "advanced aviation and rockets and what they're calling space".

Quotes.

1. "an election between honest men is like a battle between sovereign nations. You better win."
2. "Norman has a fighting chance to be a fine senator, but I expect he’ll turn out to be only average. Never a distinction, never a scandal."
   
   I once saw a comparison between Heinlein & Poul Anderson using very similar words. Both started about the same time, & were equally prolific; yet Heinlein is considered a different class. Probably applies to all sorts of professions.
3. On the career of a US Senator: "When a freshman comes in here, he's wise to keep his mouth shut. Norman's done that. But he's also wise to start chopping out a niche for himself. And you haven't done that, Norman.
   
   ... men seem to attain stature in this body not by attending to the issues that please the people in their home state. We're all obliged to do that. What counts is the way a man tackles the big issues, the ones that affect us all."
4. "Can you keep getting him elected?"
   
   "There's not a cloud on the horizon."
   
   "There's always a cloud on the horizon... It's just that sometimes we don't recognize it."

Notes.

1. Details of US electoral system: it's sufficiently different from India that substantial parts went over my head. Basics of getting elected & running the campaign, of course, are the same.
2. For Indian readers: Parts of Grant's election campaign sounded like a variation of the fantastic Hindi movie "Aaandhi" that was based on a hypothetical election campaign of a fictionalized Indira Gandhi. I personally prefer "Aaandhi" because it was more colorful & comprehensible.
3. I noticed a funny thing about the US election system - a Senator can be there for life, if he can keep on getting elected! And many apparently do. This is the case in India too, & is sometimes considered one of the major flaws of our system.

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James A Michener's "Space" (novel): Fictionalized history of US space program till about 1980

This post begins an experiment. During the last few months, I've abandoned a lot of novels half way through - just don't have patience to finish. Where I have finished them, I don't feel like writing about them - takes too long. So I keep posting about short works, but keep avoiding posts of longer ones. May be doing it in small units will help.

I'll be posting on this novel a chapter at a time, & link specific chapter posts from here. Chapters themselves are big - probably more than novella length each.

From the look of it till the end of first chapter, it promises to be a hard sf book - even if by a man without science background!

Chapters.

1. Four men: Introduces Prof Stanley Mott, Norman Grant (a US WWII hero), John Pope (a young prodigy), & Dieter Kolff (a maverick with the gadgets). They're presumably key characters in rest of the story.
   
2. Four women - part 1 & part 2: Part 1 is about Grant getting elected to US Senate, & suggests that he will specialize in legislative affairs of aviation. Part 2 is about absorption of German engineers & missile technology by US. Title comes from their wives, two of whom we meet for the first time: Elinor Stidham is wife of Grant & a woman of low self esteem; Rachel Lindquist is Mott's wife. Other two women were already seen in ch 1: Penny Hardesty will not only marry Pope & become a lawyer, she'll get involved in US Senate offices in Washington; Liesl Koenig will join Dieter in US & will lead the Germans establish a settlement in Huntsville, Alabama.
   
3. Korea: Not read.
4. Pax river: Not read.
5. Intellectual decisions: Not read.
6. Twins: Not read.
7. The moon: Not read.
8. Real time: Not read.
9. Dark side of the moon: Not read.
10. Mars: Not read.
11. The rings of Saturn: Not read.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1983.
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James A Michener's "Space" (novel), Chapter 1: "Four Men"

This post is about the first chapter, titled "Four Men", of this novel. Novel page gives overall background, links to other chapters, & very short chapter overviews.

This chapter is really 4 generally independent stories - each introducing a male character that will presumably play a key role later. All stories are set during the fading days of WWII; in fact, all begin about 24 October 1944. All but one are actually set in one of the war theaters.

Since war stories are described from US perspective, I suspect reaction to them will depend reader's home country.

Thread 1: Stanley Mott.

On 24 October 1944, US & British joint operations are planning major attacks during the night on 2 German towns: British will level Wassenaar, & Americans Peenemünde. Wassenaar is residential town that has a missile launch site, Peenemünde has a missile research facility (though Americans suspect it is a nuclear weapons research facility).

Mott is 26, & a professor of aeronautics at Louisiana State (University?) He is one of the 11 men the US President Roosevelt has sent to European front to make sure 3 specific Germans are not killed in Allies attacks:

1. General Eugen Breutzl is "the managerial genius. We have reason to believe he's not a Nazi, just a technical wizard who could move our program ahead by generations."
2. "Count Wernher von Braun, a relatively young man who seems to be the genius of the rocket operation."
3. "Dieter Kolff, if we have it correct. He's about thirty-five years old, and the reason we must get him is that he may prove to be the real genius of the team. He's their expert on the A-10."
   
   A-10 is still under development German missile with trans-Atlantic range.

US wants to recruit the three for its own military work!

All three are stationed at Peenemünde, & Mott is trying to impress upon the US commander in charge of the night's attacks that he should leave the researchers' living quarters alone.

As things happen, mistake in the field levels the researchers' living quarters. Breutzl dies. von Braun & Kolff are saved by a miracle as they happened to be off site.

Thread 2: Norman Grant.

This is the story of a US/Japan navel battle, again on 24 October 1944. Japanese are trying to evict Americans from Philippines.

There is just too much US patriotism here for my taste. Norman Grant is the captain of DE Lucas Dean, one of the US defending ships. By the end of the story, he will emerge a US national hero.

Thread 3: John Pope.

John is a 17 year old US prodigy. Great football player, & budding astronomer. Story is basically introducing the guy, his girlfriend Penny Hardesty, his parents, & his environment.

A scene here reminded me of something very familiar in India - a politician walking in at an event he's not welcome, & others having to act polite while the proceeding are shut because of this obnoxious visitor.

Thread 4: Dieter Kolff.

This is (or felt like!) the longest of the 4 threads, told from the point of view of Kolff - the mechanical maverick. This story is set around the German missile research facility in Peenemünde, though it moves around other German towns too. We are introduced to German side of war, & obviously very biased accounts. But I liked it because of its colorfulness, though at times it felt draggy.

Breutzl, the superb manager, will be killed in US air attack. By the end of it, we will be uncertain of the fate of von Braun - the brilliant ideas man. Perhaps killed, perhaps not...

Story ends with the Allies walking into Germany. Kolff, with his girl Liesl, is running to defect to Americans - with the German designs for the transcontinental missile A-10! He will run into Mott, & is to now face US military interrogation.

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