U.S. President Roosevelt was sitting by the fireplace, holding a cigar in one hand and reaching out to the fire with the other. Next to him was a middle-aged man with a half-bald head, who was U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr.
A symphony came from the radio, and Morgenthau, accompanied by the music, began to report the progress of the work to the president: "The negotiations with the Chinese envoys have basically entered the right track. But they changed from their old attitude and asked for a loan of US$150 million...
…”
"These are details. You don't have to inform me," Roosevelt interrupted. "The key is the reaction of those consortiums."
Morgenthau smiled and said: "The Rockefeller, Kuhn-Loeb, Mellon and Morgan consortium reacted the most violently. They tried every means to prevent this loan to China. But please don't worry, all this is still under control, I will let them change
Be honest. DuPont, the Boston and Cleveland consortium are firm supporters of borrowing from China, and they will definitely stand up and deal with each other for their own interests."
Roosevelt nodded and said: "I hope the negotiations can be completed before New Year's Day. China is in urgent need of help and cannot delay it any longer."
As the saying goes, everything is for profit.
The four major consortiums of Rockefeller, Kuhn-Loeb, Mellon and Morgan oppose borrowing money to aid China, not because they are hostile to China. But because their oil, steel and aluminum products, etc., are strategic materials that Japan urgently needs, and they do not want to be affected by aid.
China is at odds with Japan.
As for the three major consortiums of DuPont, Boston and Cleveland, they are either mainly engaged in light industrial products and have fierce competition with Japan in the local and Asian markets, or they are mainly engaged in the chemical industry and have huge demand for China's tung oil.
Kong Xiangxi sent Chen Guangfu to the United States to obtain loans, mainly because Chen Guangfu had a close relationship with the Morgan consortium and wanted to obtain more favorable results through personal relationships. But the actual situation was very embarrassing, because the Morgan consortium strongly opposed borrowing money to aid China, and they were more inclined to support Germany.
The Three Kingdoms of Italy and Japan.
Roosevelt had to use various political and financial means to convince several major financial groups, including Morgan, otherwise the tung oil loan would not be able to pass Congressional discussion even though it was ostensibly a commercial loan.
Several major financial groups in the United States fight against each other for their own interests, and see back and forth between aiding China and aiding Japan. However, they also have a common appeal, which is to oppose the United States' involvement in the war. Only a few families mainly engaged in the arms business can't wait to fight the war.
Roosevelt was an excellent chess player, and all major conglomerates and families were pawns in his hands. Sometimes he was cautious, and sometimes he was drastic, taking advantage of the contradictions and interests of all parties to play the American plutocrats at his fingertips.
The big American capitalists have very complicated feelings towards Roosevelt, including respect, hatred, submission, resistance, appreciation, anger... just to name a few.
Roosevelt and Morgenthau discussed repeatedly by the fireside and finally came up with specific countermeasures.
That is to let the Morgan consortium take the lead in borrowing money from China, and use the penetration of the tung oil trade into the U.S. chemical industry to lure the Morgan consortium into becoming a "traitor" and thereby support the loan to China. At the same time, several medium and large-scale
Large-scale banks and some institutions on Wall Street serve as reins around the neck of the Morgan consortium to prevent accidents.
In this way, the Morgan consortium will inevitably choose to stand on the hostile side of the Rockefeller, Kuhn-Loeb and Mellon consortiums for the sake of greater interests. And involving more banks and institutions will distract the Morgan consortium's energy and
Attention, let a hungry wolf compete with a group of hungry dogs for fat, and Roosevelt can sit back and watch the results with peace of mind.
Even if the Morgan consortium knew it was a trap, they would still dive right in. Because dominating the tung oil trade means extending its hand into the chemical field, in the future DuPont and other consortiums will need to look at the Morgan consortium's face. And the DuPont consortium will not do it for its own interests.
Completely opposed to the Morgan consortium's dominance in borrowing, it would instead compete and cooperate at the same time, making Roosevelt, the referee, more comfortable.
While the two were chatting, they suddenly heard "Kristallnacht" and other content coming from the radio, and Morgenthau immediately turned his attention.
The current U.S. Treasury Secretary Morgenthau, whose father is a German Jewish immigrant, naturally pays close attention to Kristallnacht.
Historically, it was not until 1943 that Morgenthau discovered that the German Nazis were attempting to exterminate the Jews. He spent a lot of time and energy putting together various clues and discovered an astonishing fact: Roosevelt had long known about the Nazis' plan to exterminate the Jews and had taken
The attitude of sitting back and doing nothing.
Morgenthau was very hurt by this. He and Roosevelt were good friends who had known each other for many years. It was simply unforgivable that such a thing was hidden from him!
Morgenthau finally chose to forgive, but his anger remained. He spent half a year coming up with the "Morgenthau Plan" in an attempt to completely eliminate Germany's industrial potential. To put it bluntly, he wanted to turn Germany directly into an agricultural country after the war, so that the Germans would never be able to survive.
Turn over.
However, due to the strong opposition from the U.S. military and Congress, as well as the Soviet Union's uncooperation, Roosevelt had no choice but to abandon the "Morgenthau Plan."
The host's voice came from the radio: "Just a few days ago, members of the German Nazis beat, smashed, looted, and burned Jews. Countless synagogues, shops, and homes were turned into ruins. Hundreds of thousands (data does not match) in Germany and Austria
The Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Not only that, the German Nazis counterattacked, believing that the incident was caused by the Jews, and forced the Jews to pay 1 billion marks to the Nazis. Now, the Jews in Germany and Austria not only cannot find jobs, but also have to pay
The German government paid compensation, and their lives have fallen into despair. Today, we invited the famous historian and writer Mr. Zhou Hexuan, and the great physicist Mr. Einstein to ask them to interpret this incident from different perspectives
."
Zhou Hexuan: "Hello American listeners, I am Zhou Hexuan."
Einstein: "I am Einstein."
Moderator: "Mr. Zhou, you are a famous scholar who studies history. Can you analyze why anti-Semitism appears from a historical perspective?"
Zhou Hexuan: "The causes of anti-Semitism are very complicated. The first is the religious issue. I must declare that I am not hostile to any religion. I understand and respect any religious belief. The following content is discussed from a historical and academic perspective. The initial life of the Jews
In the Egyptian region, they left due to oppression, which is the source of the biblical story "Exodus". The powerful Alexander the Great did not allow extremely conservative and xenophobic nations under his rule, so Judaism faced Hellenization
Threat. So the Maccabean Rebellion broke out, successfully preventing Judaism and the Jewish nation from being assimilated. However, where there are conservative orthodox people, there are also development and reformers. At this time, Jesus appeared. Under Jesus’ explanation, Jehovah is no longer unique to the Jews.
not the God of God, but the God of all mankind, so non-Jews could also practice Judaism, and Christianity appeared on the earth.”
Host: "So, Christianity was a branch of Judaism at its very beginning?"
Zhou Hexuan: "Yes. After the death of Jesus, Hellenistic Judaism turned into Christianity. In order to clear up the relationship, Christians began to attack Judaism. For example, in the Book of Jude, the Jewish people are described as greedy and cruel, and they believe that Jews kill
Jesus died. For thousands of years, Christian believers have spread all over the world. Under the natural influence of the Bible, religious hostility towards the Jews is inevitable."
Host: "Besides religion, what other reasons are there?"
