Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 81



Only Noblemtl

#081

Harry S. Truman.

It was the name of the little boy I remembered.

When I heard his story during the war in Europe, I thought, could it be that Truman?

To be honest, Truman is not someone who has a unique feature that allows me to recognize him without having to know his face, unlike Eisenhower or Roosevelt, and I am not someone who can memorize the faces of other countries’ presidents.

But when I met him again, it seemed like he was the one.

In fact, in Truman’s case, I remember him because of his unique anecdotes, but his actual service period in the 42nd Division was not long because he was soon transferred to the 35th Division.

But seeing that he came to me after such a short time, it seemed that he was definitely not an ordinary guy.

And Truman wasn’t the only one who came to see me.

I am running for governor and I am a member of the Democratic Party, but because my personal name carries so much weight that it transcends the party line, not only people who are Democrats like Truman, but also people from the Republican Party have come to me.

A representative figure among them was Wilbur M. Brooker.

His father was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, but his son, Wilbur, was a Republican.

Unlike Truman, Wilbur was a member of the 42nd Division who fought with distinction in the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne.

He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

“Your name is still on the reserve officer list.”

“okay?”

After returning home after the war, Wilbur’s career was quite impressive.

He was said to have worked his way up through the ranks of Saginaw County District Attorney, prosecutor, Michigan Attorney General, and in 1932, Governor of Michigan.

“Here it is, I guess I should call you senior. The governor has already done it.”

“Haha, I guess you can’t say you’ve accomplished anything good in just two years.”

However, having lost the 1932 election,

“I was unemployed. Then I heard the governor’s story.”

“Governor? The election hasn’t even started yet.”

“Don’t we all know the election results? Then should I call you division commander like I used to?”

“under.”

I thought that the person who was so sly had become a politician.

Anyway, it wasn’t bad. There was Roosevelt, who served as governor several times, but he’s so busy these days as president, building up the entire United States.

If I went there and asked for help, it was obvious that they would use that as an excuse to take away my liver and kidney.

It would be better to have an experienced person like Wilbur by your side.

I especially liked the fact that he had experience in various positions, from prosecutor to attorney general to governor.

Another capable person arrived there, William J. Donovan, a man with an intellectual background as a lawyer, despite his nickname Wild Bill.

“Who is this?”

“Ha, ha. Thank you for welcoming me.”

“You rejected me outright last time, but are you a bit more relaxed this time?”

“Wow. Have you been keeping that in mind all this time?”

It was Donovan who introduced me to Marcus when I first started the Rainbow Foundation.

“Yeah. Didn’t you know that I’m a man with a lasting impression?”

“Huh? Ha, ha.”

It was a joke that could be passed around because we fought together, entrusting our lives to each other.

“You are still very cheerful, Commander.”

“Right. Are you also the division commander’s song?”

“Then how should I call you governor?”

“The election hasn’t even started yet, what the heck. Okay. Okay. Just call me Mr. MacArthur. No, Doug would be better.”

“No, once a division commander, always a division commander.”

Although they were joking around in front of me, Donovan’s resume was just as colorful as Wilbur’s.

Donovan, who became an aide to Harlan Stone, who was President Coolidge’s advisor during his tenure as Attorney General, was even mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate in 1928.

But Hoover chose Curtis over Donovan.

“At the time, Hoover promised me the position of Attorney General. But, as you know, politicians’ promises are not to be trusted.”

“Tsk. They’re all like that.”

Hoover broke his promise and offered Donovan the governorship of the Philippines instead, but Donovan declined and returned to New York to open a law firm.

“I came here because Marcus said he was having trouble finding someone to do the work, but I guess I’m a little late.”

“Ha, ha. That’s right. You were so lively when you were wearing your military uniform, but now that you’re gone…”

In Donovan’s case, ability is one thing, but I especially liked the fact that he was a native New Yorker.

In addition to those from the 42nd Division, there were quite a few who came to see me through their connections or because they saw the value of my name, MacArthur.

Thanks to these people who came to me one by one, the manpower shortage was resolved in an instant, making my worries seem meaningless.

“The election isn’t a big deal, so I think I should think about what happens after I become governor.”

“First and foremost is New York City.”

“Yes, other regions are not without problems, but they have the largest population and the greatest symbolism.”

“Hmm. The unemployment rate is much higher than the national average.”

The situation was particularly dire in New York City, the most populous city in New York State.

One in three New Yorkers was unemployed, and the number of people receiving some form of relief exceeded 1.6 million.

“Didn’t you say that it was okay because Roosevelt handled it well?”

Hubbard H. Lehman, who had been lieutenant governor of New York when Roosevelt was governor, and who took over as governor in 1932, was a staunch supporter of New Deal policies.

Therefore, even during his term, the New Deal policies and various support systems created by Roosevelt were being operated in New York.

So, actually, when I chose New York over other regions, I had hoped that I would be able to serve as governor more comfortably.

But what the heck.

The situation in New York that I realized after running for governor was so chaotic that it was difficult to describe it with the word worst.

I also confirmed that the situation in New York City, the largest city in New York State, is not good when I stopped by for a trip not long ago.

However, the scenery I saw as an outsider and the scenery I saw as a party that had to somehow resolve the situation felt completely different.

The shantytowns that filled Central Park, known as Hoovertown, were a common problem in large cities like New York.

This was due to the collapse of rural areas that coincided with the Great Depression.

In fact, the rural areas were already in bad shape even before the panic struck.

During this period, farmers farmed like racehorses, running forward without looking back.

When he made a profit from farming for a year, instead of investing it, he used it as leverage to borrow money. With that money, he bought the latest farming equipment and acquired more farmland to farm.

What if the crops fail one year?

It’s like becoming a beggar.

In the early and mid-1920s, this kind of investment without a backstop worked.

Europe, devastated by war, had no room for farming, so crops were sold as soon as they were grown at high prices. It was a time when the more farmland one could secure through loans, the more money one made.

However, after European agricultural productivity recovered in the late 1920s, agricultural product prices began to plummet.

I tried to solve this problem by peeling it and selling it, but of course I failed.

As a result, bankruptcy due to inability to repay debts has become common in rural areas.

Well, here’s the problem.

What about the farmers who go bankrupt and lose all their farmland?

If it were a normal year, I would go around selling my daily necessities, but everyone went bankrupt. Even the bank that confiscated the farmland went bankrupt because it couldn’t handle it.

The Great Plains, which until recently was a healthy farmland, has now become a sand desert where it is difficult to live, let alone farm.

Rural areas in New York State were equally devastated, except that they were spared from natural disasters like the Dust Bowl.

And these ruined farmers, thinking that the city would be better, flocked to nearby cities and became residents of Hoover Village, which we are struggling with.

“It is entirely thanks to the Rainbow Foundation that we have been able to maintain this level of stability without any large-scale epidemics.”

Originally based in New York, and thanks to the Rainbow Foundation’s experience gained from the Bonus Army incident and the support projects they carried out in collaboration with then-Governor Roosevelt, they’re able to maintain a semblance of a human life…

“Wouldn’t the fundamental solution be to give them a way to make a living?”

“But even if jobs are created···.”

Some people shook their heads at the suggestion that creating jobs in the city would only result in more people flocking there after hearing rumors.

I thought the same thing.

“In the end, it’s a story about how we need to revive rural areas.”

“but···.”

It wasn’t an easy task. The countryside was in a state of total chaos.

Although often mistaken for its namesake city, New York City, one of New York’s main industries was agriculture.

“But you can’t build the Empire State Building in the countryside, right?”

However, there was no terrain suitable for building something like the Boulder Dam.

“Road maintenance and such are already in progress···.”

“That’s not enough.”

Simple public works projects such as road maintenance could not rebuild the devastated countryside.

But there was a corner where I believed.

New Community Movement.

If it’s about rebuilding rural areas, there’s nothing better than this.

After looking into it a bit, I found that there was a reasonable excuse.

“You’re going to provide water pipes and electricity to rural areas?”

“okay.”

Europe, which had been devastated after the war, was rebuilding and installing various convenient facilities in rural areas.

In contrast, the United States, especially rural areas, were still struggling to escape poverty.

Starting with the 102-story, 381-meter-tall Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, 40 Wall Street, and the currently under-construction Rockefeller Center.

Unlike big cities like New York City, where skyscrapers line the streets and skylines look like they’re straight out of the 21st century, rural America still has a standard of living that’s not much different from the 19th century.

The current electricity penetration rate in rural areas is only in the 10% range, and the capital city is at a similar level.

“With such differences in living infrastructure, wouldn’t people prefer urban living over rural living?”

“Hmm. If you listen to it, that makes sense.”

“Well, I can’t live without electricity anymore either…”

Air conditioning, which blows away the scorching summer heat, has become an indispensable necessity for city dwellers like me.

And that’s not all.

The home appliances that came out in the 1920s were diverse. They included radios, phonographs, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and even refrigerators.

Although they were very different in appearance and performance from those of the 21st century, their essential functions were the same.

And for city dwellers, especially the upper class who gathered here, it was already a familiar necessity.

What this means is that it is possible to live at a similar level to the 21st century even now.

And the prerequisite for all this was electricity.

“Isn’t the key electricity?”

“But it’s impossible to power the entire state of New York.”

“That’s right. We have to do it sequentially. How can we do it all at once?”

“Then how do you plan to decide the order?”

New York State is a larger piece of land than you might think.

It’s hard to do a perfect calculation because I don’t remember the exact number, but it looked quite a bit larger than South Korea.

however,

I looked at the faces of the people gathered in the conference room.

One would later become president, one would later be governor of Michigan, a state larger than New York, and one would later become the founder of the CIA.

Besides these, there are many people who currently boast similar abilities to those guys.

Even I, who saw the future, was clumsy.

Well, wouldn’t it be worth a try?

“Didn’t you say New York is the new York? How about the Newtown project?”

Wouldn’t this be a business name that fits your name perfectly?

There’s a church bell here too, so it would be perfect if it rang every morning.

Governor of New York