Was reading This the place to affix the stamp (again) and Alfred mentions his worry on the files of him and his phone call with Ivan in the 60s getting declassified and that makes me wonder what specifically was said between the two. And then it makes me wonder how the internet and everyone would react. God it would be so bad especially if the lobotomy after is also mentioned
Thank you for the reread! The thing about how the UN deals with their classified information (and I’m talking from memory here) is that after 10(? Can’t remember exactly) years, documents are automatically up for declassification. At that point they are reviewed and it can be decided to continue keeping it from the public, but then it has to be reviewed again every 5 or something years forever until it’s eventually declassified. So Alfred is worried that his interview with the UNNC and his account of the lobotomy (and phone call) will go public one day, and it probably will in ~50 years or something. So there’s that 🫠
The record of the phone call is something separate but it probably is something that the state department still has on hand so they can point to it when presidents ask about why amendment 14 is a thing. It’s probably being kept with the constitution of national identity (that’s the official name for Alfred’s thing) along with any other documents about him, and that’s probably why DOGE never came across it when they were doing their efficiency checks in salt mines and stuff (American politics you’re crazy)
But. I think it’s highly likely the phone call transcript will come out at some point. The UN is working on their NP protections which will end up making the constitution of national identity null and void, which might lead to it finally being publicized (as it is a founding document of the United States and it’s technically illegal to keep it a secret), which might lead to people asking about 14, which would lead to the phone call coming out. This is all going to happen eventually, maybe in the next 10 years. Alfred’s only worried about the UNNC transcript right now but he needs to worry about this instead.
And then when the UNNC transcript comes out everyone will finally know the whole truth about what happened, and Alfred won’t be pleased about it, and I don’t even know what would happen in Russia concerning this.
Concerning what was said on the phonecall: Alfred was essentially having a manic episode from the stress of the Cuban missile crisis and thought the world was about to end, so he wanted to somehow find a way to see Ivan a final time before that happened. He wasn’t thinking clearly and was saying just about anything and everything he could think of that might get nuclear war not to break out. And he was also really really upset that if America had to dissolve, it would be at the hands of Russia. Lots of crying and I love yous and begging for life on earth to continue.
From Ivan’s perspective, this happened and then he did not hear from Alfred for 3 years. They were never able to discuss the disarming of Cuba and Europe that happened after, and Ivan felt like he was being ghosted. :(. And this leads to them having a cat fight at the next world meeting Alfred was able to attend. More on that in like ten chapters of the fic, sorry
Maybe I’ll write a oneshot about this event one day :) it’s pretty important soooo