Chapter 676: To pacify the country before fighting against foreign enemies
The outbreak of war between the two major camps in Europe certainly had an impact on the United States. When Sheffield was directing the League of Nations to launch public opinion attacks on Belgium and Britain, the New York Times published former President Roosevelt's views on the European war, calling on the United States to give full support to the Allies. The Allies, especially Britain and France, were symbols of modern civilization, and the United States should stand with Britain and France without hesitation.
War once again became the theme of this midterm election, and Sheffield had to contact the Democratic National Committee to add the element of war to this election in order to win votes.
"My friends, you should know that the population of Irish and German immigrants combined is larger than that of the British. At the same time, British culture is the mainstream culture of our country. Any rash action to let the country join the war will cause internal disputes among us. Therefore, we must advocate staying away from war. At the same time, this is also a good opportunity to reshape our country." In front of Alice Roosevelt, Sheffield contacted the members of the Democratic National Committee for him by phone.
Moreover, the newspapers accusing Britain and Belgium have already been printed. It is too late to reprint them at this juncture. What will the citizens of the United States read tomorrow? Most importantly, won’t it cost money to reprint them?
Alice Roosevelt knew that her man's response was in response to her father's call. She listened with some worry on her face until the calls that could affect the entire Democratic Party were over. Then she said, "Is this a response to my father's statement? No wonder some people say that you are the shadow president of the Democratic Party."
"My dear, you can't say that. It will have a very bad impact on the citizens." Sheffield stretched out his hand and pulled Alice Roosevelt into his arms and whispered, "Your father and I have different political views at best. In fact, we only need to communicate once. Some things should be discussed in depth once, so that there will be no misunderstandings in the future."
"What do you mean?" Alice Roosevelt blushed and thought of a possibility, but she felt a mixture of information and fear in her heart and did not dare to really say it out loud.
"I'll go meet your father once. It's not good to hide all the time." Sheffield smiled as he touched Alice Roosevelt's cheek. "Today, I can say that there are not many things that I'm afraid of. In the past, I wasn't afraid either, but I just hid my purpose before I achieved my goal. Now it's no big deal."
The slave owner and the president's daughter were secretly pregnant. As a man, he took all the benefits, while Alice Roosevelt took all the risks. Originally, the conditions did not allow it, and Sheffield hid aside, turning a deaf ear to the citizens' whispers about Alice Roosevelt's private life. Now he felt that he could take on some of the responsibilities of a man.
You have to know that Alice Roosevelt was born in 1884, and now the world war has broken out. A 30-year-old woman who has never been heard of getting married, who is mysterious every day, especially in New York where her exposure rate is always high, how could it not cause controversy.
Although it doesn't matter what the citizens say, the upper class does have some speculations that are very close to the facts.
Sheffield was really ready to have a good talk with this former president who was unwilling to be lonely. This world war was extremely important to the United Company, and the slave owner hoped that everything would go smoothly, even smoother than in history. For this reason, he had a long talk with Roosevelt and got his cooperation.
"Let the Kuwait base be on guard. Protecting my territory is the most important thing. I have been saying be careful of the British!" In Roosevelt's apartment, Sheffield reminded Jasra, like a gossip, for the umpteenth time to keep in touch with Kuwait. After talking with Roosevelt, he also had to check whether the goods shipped to Kuwait had been completed.
Old Roosevelt had never been mentally prepared for this meeting. Looking at the intimacy between his daughter and the richest man in the United States, even if he had Alzheimer's disease, he could see that this was not a relationship that could be cultivated in a short period of time. He suppressed his anger and asked, "Are you humiliating me? When did this happen?"
"The St. Louis Olympics!" Sheffield gave Alice Roosevelt a reassuring look and replied with a smile, "I didn't want to hide it from you, but you were the president at the time, and I had to consider the impact on you. Although I could sacrifice Alice's reputation and create a huge scandal for the Roosevelt family if I was shameless enough, and maybe even drive you out of office, I can trade anything, but I never bother to hurt women. Of course, I won't object to others doing so when it doesn't involve my interests."
With just a few shameless words, the image of an extremely self-centered slave owner comes to life on paper. In fact, it does not need to be so abstract. Old Roosevelt had already experienced the slave owners' despicableness. If there was anything he regretted during his presidency, it was that he did not overcome all difficulties and split up the Sheffield United Company.
But once an opportunity is missed, it is missed. Sheffield bringing his daughter here today can prove many things. If he was really determined to dismantle the United Company when he was president, would this person go all out and destroy his daughter in exchange for a huge scandal to bring himself down?
Now Sheffield says no, who knows if he will do it if that happens? Everything is unknown!
Sheffield reached into his arms, took out a newspaper that was to be published tomorrow, put it on the table and pushed it in front of Roosevelt, saying, "This is one of the reasons why I came to see you. Of course, the main purpose is to confirm my relationship with Alice. I heard that Mr. Roosevelt has some opinions on the war in Europe, but my opinion is different from yours."
Old Roosevelt flipped through the newspaper that would be published tomorrow with confusion. He was shocked when he saw it. The content almost refuted his report calling on the United States to stand on the side of the Allied Powers. There was no doubt that the instigator was his daughter's lover.
"What do you mean?" After reading the contents of the newspaper, Roosevelt was very angry. He didn't understand why the man in front of him had such great malice towards the Allies. He accused him bluntly, "You are inciting anti-British sentiment."
"I don't deny this, Mr. Roosevelt, don't be angry. Considering the relationship between Alice Roosevelt and I, I formally acknowledge it in front of you this time in the hope of getting your blessing rather than a breakup." Sheffield said calmly.
Alice Roosevelt also helped, "Father, William is the most successful businessman, just listen to him first."
"Alice said it well. Even if I am not the most successful businessman, there are not many who are more successful than me." Sheffield crossed his fingers and held his chin up and said lightly, "Since you are a successful businessman, you must maximize your profits. The same is true from the perspective of the country. But Mr. Roosevelt? To be honest, you are a very emotional person, whether you were the Deputy Secretary of the Navy or the President. All citizens should be grateful that it is not you who is in power now, but the Democrats."
"The Democrats will adopt an evasive attitude and forget the United States' responsibility to the world," Roosevelt said sarcastically.
"This is slander. Mr. Roosevelt should recall carefully that when the Democrats were in power, the United States expanded its territory most rapidly. The Venezuelan crisis during President Cleveland's term was a direct confrontation with the British Empire." Sheffield shook his finger to express his disagreement with the other party's view, and finally concluded, "No one understands war better than us, at least better than you Republicans do."
"You want to call on the country to support the Allies? Shouldn't you at least know something about your own country? The Irish hate Britain, and the motherland of German immigrants was the other party in this war. The two ethnic groups combined are more numerous than the British immigrants." Sheffield spread his hands and asked with a smile, "What do you think of this?"
Why did the United States, which had blood ties with Britain, join the Allied camp only late in the war? On the one hand, it really needed to do business with both sides, and on the other hand, it really could not fully support Britain.
The First World War was a reshaping of the national spirit of the United States, and this is absolutely no joke. Even the First World War was not completed, and it was during the Second World War that the citizens of the country really stopped being attached to their European motherland.
"Even so, you cannot openly incite anti-British ideas." Roosevelt still seized this point and refuted the slave owner.
Sheffield took a tactical step back and asked with a strange look on his face, "A president shouldn't be so naive, right? As long as Britain doesn't step down from its position as the world's hegemon, it will be a potential enemy of the United States. Now that the Germans are helping our country to weaken the British, can't we say a few good words?"
"And it shouldn't be like that. The Roosevelt family is the descendant of Dutch immigrants, and their early surnames had the suffix "Van". Based on my understanding of various nationalities, the Roosevelt family must be the descendants of the Germanic people. Even the city of New York was snatched by the British from the Dutch. How dare you speak for the British like this? Huh? There is a word called convert fanaticism. What do you think, Mr. Roosevelt?" Sheffield also specifically explained a word that had not appeared in this era, and mocked Roosevelt, you are not the descendant of British immigrants, why are you pretending that blood is thicker than water?
The one who is truly qualified to say that blood is thicker than water is him, the richest man in the United States! The slave owner is an outstanding representative of British immigrants. His wife is French, and his most beautiful mistress is the descendant of imperial Russian immigrants. It is a family version of the Franco-Russian alliance of the Entente.
But even so, the slave owner still handled things impartially. In the eyes of a man of noble descent, what qualifications did Roosevelt have to support the British Empire?
Roosevelt was speechless. Compared with this despicable slave owner, his moral level was surprisingly high. He was no match for him in the conversation. Then he heard Sheffield say, "I only know that the British should not continue to be the world hegemon. The most ideal result is that the Germans are defeated, but the British will never recover and lose all their colonies, becoming an insignificant country that no one cares about. I will keep working hard for this, and this is the real patriotism, not calling on the United States to shed blood and sacrifice for the British. Mr. Roosevelt, don't even think about replicating the Spanish-American War and organizing troops to join the war. The federal government will not agree!"
(End of this chapter)
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