Chapter 1029 The Future of America (2)

The third round of public debates on policies of presidential candidates in the 1944 election was originally scheduled for late August. Due to the sudden change in the war in South America, Truman proposed to postpone it, and Dewey readily accepted it. The postponement was extended for one month.

By late September, the debate was finally held, but it had lost its original meaning for Truman: he had expected the troops to fight a good turnaround in South America, which would not only improve the war situation, but also his personal political future.

But the result was worse than expected. Although the newspapers and radio broadcasts boasted about being outnumbered and resisting bravely all day long, he knew the truth very well: the United States suffered an unprecedented defeat in the three battlefields of land, sea, and air. Except for the rockets or silent submarines owned by Germany, other battles were also a mess. As for being outnumbered, it was not the truth when you look into it - except that the navy was indeed a little worse than Germany, the army and the army aviation had more troops than the German army. Moreover, the United States had been operating in Brazil for many years. Even if it could not defeat the German army, it should not be a one-sided situation!

Dewey was well aware of these inside stories, but Truman knew that the other party could not reveal this shady secret because Dewey's election was basically a foregone conclusion. In this situation, there was no need to pursue him relentlessly. If he broke the rules, the Democratic Party in the opposition would not let him down in the future.

Truman is Truman, and the Democratic Party is the Democratic Party. These are two different things!

Although the key issues of the third election are domestic social, economic, and livelihood issues, the two candidates obviously have no intention of dwelling on these details. After a few rounds of hasty talks, they shifted the focus to the war situation that voters are more concerned about.

"Mr. Truman, what do you think of our situation after the Battle of Brazil?"

"Don't be shy, it's very bad. The German army occupied a large area of ​​Brazilian territory, not only splitting its territory to form colonies, but also supporting the Brazilian puppet regime..."

"Who do you think is responsible for this?"

"Without a doubt, it's me!" Truman said in a deep voice, "I am the President of the United States and the Supreme Commander of the U.S. Armed Forces. I take full responsibility for the deterioration of the war situation. Our soldiers, represented by General Patton and Major General Roosevelt, have done their best. They are not responsible, I take all the responsibility!"

Dewey was stunned, as if he didn't expect Truman to admit it so readily, and after hesitating, he didn't pursue it. Fight, and asked a relatively mild question: "How do you plan to improve and improve the leadership policy in the next term so as to..."

"I have deeply reflected on the Battle of Brazil and a series of other battles before the Battle of Brazil..." Truman said slowly, "We paid a huge price and the soldiers fought bravely, but the overall situation of the Allied forces was deteriorating. After Britain and the Soviet Union were forced to withdraw from the war, the United States was almost alone in supporting this war against aggression and defending democracy and freedom. The pressure, challenges and difficulties were great, but I never lost confidence. I believe that justice is always on our side."

The audience listened to him calmly.

"It is impossible for people to not pay a price for doing wrong things and not take responsibility. In view of the unfavorable performance of the US military and the overall strategy during this period, I am determined to take full responsibility. For this reason, I officially announce today..." Truman glanced at the audience and uttered a word slowly and firmly, "Withdraw from the election!"

The host and the audience were suddenly confused, and the voters who were listening to the broadcast in front of the radio were also confused: one presidential candidate withdrew from the election?

The host Carter asked in an unbelievable voice: "Mr. Truman, if I heard correctly, you just said you want to withdraw from the election?"

"Yes, withdraw from the election! My partner and I will withdraw from this presidential election together and no longer seek re-election." Truman reiterated, "This is a very difficult decision. Before making this decision, I asked myself countless times, communicated with my running mate and members of the campaign team many times, and also had formal communication with the Democratic Party. Although everyone felt very sorry, they finally respected my decision.

For this, I want to say, sorry! I have failed my running mate, Mr. William Buckley, the vice presidential candidate; I have failed the delegates of the Democratic National Convention who nominated me as the presidential candidate at the party convention; I have failed the members of the team who have always supported me; I have even more failed the voters and supporters who have always expected me to play better and lead the country to victory..."

At this point, Truman's voice choked up. He walked to the center, bowed deeply to everyone, and then returned to the podium, wiping the tears on his face. glasses, and continued: "As everyone knows, I was not elected president through the last presidential election and by popular vote. I was appointed vice president by Mr. Roosevelt after the Wallace incident. I succeeded the president because of the president's rapid deterioration in health and his unfortunate death - this is a very rare political event in American history.

As for me, I have never participated in a general election before. This is my first time to participate in a general election. Due to the difficult situation facing the country, I have to devote all my energy to handling political affairs. Voters who pay more attention to me know that since May, I have rarely gone out to participate in campaign activities. Most of the time, Mr. Barkley and Mr. John Kennedy, deputy director of the campaign office, can only promote relevant political ideas for me. At that time, it was very important for me to do everything well in my presidency, and even many times it was more important than the election - the American people will always welcome a new president next year, maybe me, maybe Mr. Dewey or someone else, and I, and only I, will be responsible for the present of America!"

These words earned him sympathetic applause.

The audience suddenly recalled: President Truman took office under a state of emergency. When he became president, the situation was already very unsatisfactory. However, he did not shirk responsibility, let alone argue for himself, but readily acknowledged all the consequences. , and publicly announced his withdrawal from the election - this is a responsible political leader who does not seek power and gain!

Dewey certainly knew that Truman wanted to gain some political capital for himself in the future, but the fact that the other party gave up so readily and quit meant that he had almost won the election in advance. At this time, it would be a bit underhanded to "pursue the victory", so he only said one sentence : "Thank you to President Truman for everything he did for us. He did his best."

Truman quickly changed the topic and talked about something else: "In view of the recent situation and Mr. Dewey's consistent views, I highly agree with some of his views - such as the view of armistice with the European Union and all-out efforts to deal with Japan, but I would like to borrow Today I take this opportunity to emphasize three points:

First, our armistice negotiations with the EU group are not our surrender to Europe, but a political strategy based on a humanitarian and pacifist stance. Otherwise, we will fail the Allied forces who fought bloody battles;

Second, armistice negotiations with the EU group should start as soon as possible, but the United States has always adhered to the political principles - such as 'democracy and freedom', 'not to invade or threaten to use force', 'not to unilaterally change the regional political situation', 'not to Principles such as "seeking regional hegemony" and "respecting all countries in the Americas" should be maintained, and the spirit of the "Monroe Doctrine" should be reaffirmed. We cannot abandon or betray the countries in the Americas with which we have maintained close ties for more than a hundred years;

Third, the armistice negotiations need to meet requirements such as no compensation, no ceding of territory, respect for each other's sovereignty, and the early release of prisoners of war..."

Everyone nodded. These principles were generally good. Even if Dewey came forward to speak out, he could not say that he expressed an attitude that deviated from this requirement.

But Truman’s next words caught people off guard: “Considering the huge advantage Mr. Dewey will have after I withdraw from the election, even if he is not the next President of the United States before the voters and the citizen corps vote, I think he is very close to that goal. In order to give Mr. Dewey more and earlier opportunities to familiarize himself with the political situation and participate in the decision-making of national affairs, I will nominate Mr. Dewey as a special ambassador before he is sworn in as president, with full authority to handle armistice negotiations with EU countries, so as to make all matters Let’s get things back on track as soon as possible. Dear voters and listeners, if you are willing to support Mr. Dewey and allow him to perform some of the presidential duties in advance, please welcome him with warm applause!”

Truman himself took the lead in applauding, and then thunderous applause broke out, and all eyes in the audience turned to Dewey.

The latter felt as if he had eaten a fly. He knew that Truman arranged this errand for him with bad intentions, but he could not refuse, no matter what the reason was - didn't you, Dewey, propose peace with Germany yourself? Why are you unwilling to take responsibility for peace with Germany?

"I think the following debate has lost its meaning. Let me give the microphone to Mr. Dewey and listen to him explain his future governance concepts and political decisions... I will learn from him in depth, accumulate more experience, and make a comeback in the next presidential election! "

After that, Truman handed over his microphone to Dewey, shook hands and hugged him warmly, and said to the audience: "I hope President Dewey can lead the United States of America and all the people to create a new and different situation!"

Dewey had a wry smile on his face, but he had to cheer up. He first expressed his gratitude to Truman for his "appointment", his understanding of the former's work, and his gratitude to the entire audience...

The debate ended around 10:30 with Dewey doing a stand-up comedy.

Everyone was worried and hurried home. "Voice of Europe" had announced several days in advance that the head of state would deliver a political speech to the United States at 12 o'clock tonight - "Patton's Death and the Future of America." All patriotic people who care about politics and worry about the future of America believe it is necessary to listen.