On the evening of February 12, the day before the Independent Commission of Investigation reported the preliminary conclusion of the "protection fee" incident to Congress, Robert E. Hannegan, the Democratic National Chairman of the St. Louis Democratic Party, who is also a member of the Commission of Investigation, found Truman to exchange opinions. The two of them had a close relationship on weekdays and had always supported each other, so they did not have too many circles.

"The conclusion is very clear now. All details, inquiry, and archival research cannot make the 'protection fee' a reality. In other words, no matter the truth, at least the evidence of conviction is insufficient!" Hannigan said, "In the face of facts, I believe that Republicans have nothing to say."

Truman nodded: "We spent so much effort, so much brains, and so many complaints, and finally we wanted this result, which is great."

"But Turner's case is tricky, and everyone is still arguing. There is an opinion that even if Turner does this, it seems that General Ingersoll alone takes responsibility. Turner should resign, but this is inconsistent with the president's request. Not only does the Republican Party have this attitude, but several other members of our party seem to have such a sense, which is nothing more than not being revealed. In addition, Republicans are inciting the dissatisfaction of the Army's grassroots troops with the Navy, saying that if there is no factor in dealing with injustice, why did the two divisions "rebellion in front of the front line" instead of surrendering calmly? Trying to deduce the navy's bad intentions through counter-evidence..."

Truman nodded and smiled bitterly: "In fact, there is a more obvious statement that sows the disagreement: Turner said that the army had many such divisions, and only one naval fleet, which implied that two army divisions were not as important as the fleet. So in the future, the navy may continue to give up the army troops when encountering an emergency in the future? Many middle and lower-level officers have dissatisfaction."

This is still a headache. Is it important to be a fleet or two army divisions important? Anyone who knows military knows how to choose. Just like in daily life, whether it is a young man with a prime and promising future is more valuable or an old man who is about to die is more valuable. In fact, it is easy to judge, but this obvious conclusion is not "correct", or does not conform to the principle of "political correctness". Because the Constitution says that everyone is equal, no one is more noble and more important than anyone. On this occasion, can it be clearly stated that the army is important or the navy is important?

"So Turner's matter is very troublesome, I don't know how to say..." Hannigan sighed, "especially after checking the information, they found that Turner had proposed many combat plans, including the crazy idea of ​​using 50-60 escort aircraft carriers to attack Azores and breaking the German aircraft to open up a road for subsequent fleet landings."

Truman shook his head and said, "I don't think so. I actually think Turner is right. Not only that, the reason why we suffered a series of losses is because we didn't play our best."

"Can you tell me?"

"I checked the combat command records of the Joint Association and compared the campaign communiqué, and found a very interesting scene: when the United Fleet fought with the Germans and us on the front line of Africa last year, General Nimitz's Pacific Fleet and General MacArthur's ground forces were continuing to counterattack in Southeast Asia, and the Japanese troops on the island died one by one, completely isolated and helpless. If it were my team, the army would have protested angrily. What about our planes? What about our fleet? But the Japanese used tens of thousands of casualties to drag our pace, creating a good opportunity for the victory of the United Fleet. Although I don't like the Japanese, I have to admit that this crazy spirit of sacrifice is much more wise than our damn 'political correctness'. Is it the Japanese Army willing to die for the Navy? Is the Army's life a little cheaper? It's possible that there is no upper layer?"

Hannigan nodded. He was not very familiar with the army. This was the first time he heard this statement, which was very fresh.

"Let me give another typical example. This is what I learned after communicating with the Soviets in the past few days..." Truman explained, "Hoteiki launched a coup in Tokyo. Who will execute the specific instructions? He was a lieutenant general named Shibasaki Eji. He commanded a US-armed land brigade. He didn't know this person, but when you mention it, you will understand that he was the supreme commander of the Japanese defenders of Tarawa at that time. In the Battle of Tarawa, General Nimitz annihilated the Japanese army on the island from 5,000 people to the point of not being able to do so.

There were dozens of people, he was one of the few survivors. Then I checked the naval battle minutes and found that Hori Teki led the joint fleet to sweep away Australia and New Zealand instead of directly saving him. In other words, the reason why Shibazaki Keiji was so miserable was entirely due to the slow rescue operation of Hori Teki. But this is such a person who served Hori Teki in turn. What do you think? Will there be such an officer in our army and our system who has the spirit of self-sacrifice and serves the superior without hesitation?"

"Scary, terrible..." Hannigan murmured to himself.

The tradition of the US team is to call for loyalty to the country and the American people. How can we emphasize loyalty to the superiors and die for the superiors? This is not democratic!

"If everyone thinks they are important and cannot be sacrificed, then who will sacrifice?" Truman said in a relaxed mood. "The president has arranged someone to appear tomorrow, hoping to use his speech to boost morale, thwart the Republican conspiracy, and then drag Turner's affairs to see if there is a turning point. He can only do this. I understand the president's thoughts, and I can understand what Dewey means. I just don't understand why Republicans use this incitement to mess up the army. What benefits does this do to them? Are they not Americans? Do they never want to be president?"

"This is just a means of fighting for power and profit. The president is in poor health, and our party has produced traitors like Wallace, so they not only focus on the general election, but also focus on the congressional election." Hannigan sighed, "I understand the president's idea of ​​keeping Turner, but you have performed a bit too much in the past few days. Not only is the Republican Party deeply surprised, but even the military that does not know the truth also has complained about you. Of course, I think the senior military understands it, and understands that this is a kind of political skill and high standards. If it is strictly required to be handled, it will not be able to turn the case in the future."

"Well... this is very good. If I have to do something in the future, I will be ruthless."

"Start?" Hannigan said in surprise, "What are you going to do?"

"Do you think this war can be won?" Truman asked in a playful tone.

"This...I can't say it well."

"I think it's hard to win." Truman smiled slightly, "not only do I think so, but the president may think so too."

"Then he?"

"He has 11 months left in office. He is very tough in his words. In fact, he doesn't want to be a failed president, so he has to delay this year regardless of life or death. As for future negotiations..." Truman smiled, "That's not his business."

Hannigan nodded: "No wonder he gave up re-election so readily. On the eve of Thanksgiving, he still cares about his side."

"This is also the real reason why Wallace wants to jump out and rush to wash away. He doesn't want to sink with this big ship, but he jumps in the wrong way and is used by Dewey."

"Then what are your considerations? Didn't the president nominate you as vice president? You're not doing it?"

Truman smiled sly: "Of course the vice president has to do it, but the next president is not easy to do. The next president has a mission that is likely to be to go to Berlin to kowtow to Hitler and beg for peace. What should you do?"

"I..." Hannigan was so embarrassed, not sure how to answer this sentence.

"Then the senior executives of the Joint Conference will definitely resign. No one knows better than me. They are all snatchers. Even the most honest Eisenhower is now learning bad things." Truman smiled. "If I get the party's election to run for president, I will face the situation of whether I want to withdraw from the war. Maybe I can't stop this war immediately and have to be delayed for a while. Can Dewey shout the slogan of isolationism again? Can we shout with it? Even if I can shout, no matter what my relationship with the military is, they will jump out to maintain the decent military attitude to express their opposition after all, no one is willing to be a general who surrenders after defeating the war."

Hannigan vaguely guessed Truman's idea, who did not think how glorious it was to be a president representing the surrender of the United States, nor did he think that close relations with the military could make the latter frankly accept failure.

"Of course, we still have to depend on the situation. Maybe the situation will improve?" Truman smiled slightly. "As long as Congress can smoothly issue 50 billion treasury bonds, we will have more money to build warships and equipment, and we can continue to fight with the Germans and the Japanese."

"Now the oligarchs are dissatisfied with such high tax rates and hope to cut taxes."

"This is impossible, don't even think about it!" Truman said firmly, "The Germans have extended their hands to South America. Even if they are isolated, you can't ignore South America? Don't look at the strong opposition of capitalists against expansion spending, if they really stop aiding the UK, they will scold them even more."

"Why?" Hannigan said in surprise. "If there is no such thing as aid to Britain, can we save funds for other places?"

"Didn't you figure it out?" Truman smiled sly, "How many kinds of materials does the aid UK include? From daily necessities to logistics products, from energy to raw materials, military equipment only accounts for a small part. If we stop focusing on the production of arms, arms capitalists will of course be more satisfied, but can the capitalists who produce civilian products be satisfied? Can the freighter manufacturing bosses be satisfied? After all, how much these materials are sunk has nothing to do with the capitalists. The government and the American people pay the bill. Whether the loss rate is high or low, it does not affect their profit margins. Sometimes I even wonder whether the profiteers want all the materials to be dried up by the Germans, and then the government has to spend money to purchase a batch again."

Hannigan was shocked, but he had never thought about the problem from that perspective.

"So you see, Wallace demanded to stop aiding the UK and the Soviet Union, stop all foreign aid, and responded to him with very few oligarchs, all smart people, and only this idiot naively thought that he was really speaking for the fundamental interests of the American people."
Chapter completed!