Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 87



Only Noblemtl

##087

“I’m sorry. I have to go, but I have a lump in my throat.”

I nodded to Mary, who was sitting on the floor of the hotel room playing, and she waved her hand, saying that it was not Guardia.

“No. Oh, I have prepared something for you, young lady…”

The gift he brought was a toy for Mary.

“Oh my goodness. It’s the best.”

Thanks to that, I was able to receive Mary’s warm welcome.

Guardia, who was happily looking at Mary playing happily with the toy he had given her, opened his mouth.

“By the way, you really took a child like that in front of those mobs···.”

I made an awkward expression at the words, “I would never have thought of that.”

In fact, if it had been possible, I wouldn’t have taken that child with me. Of course, I took him because I was confident that he would be safe, but you never know what will happen in this world.

But you can’t pretend to be weak in front of Guardia.

“There is no way I wouldn’t be able to raise a daughter.”

“Ha, ha. That’s true.”

“Let’s do well from now on.”

“I am the one who needs to be treated well. Please call me Fiorello.”

“You can call me Doug too.”

With only a one-year age difference, we quickly became friends because we both agreed to do well together for New York.

“Fiorello, I have a favor to ask.”

To my words, Guardia smiled and replied as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

“Aren’t you asking me to play the villain?”

As expected, my memory was not wrong.

It’s so clear and clear that I can understand it…

“This riot has made you and I into objects of comparison, and as a result, into competitors. And you’re a Democrat, and I’m a Republican, so it’s even worse.”

“that’s right.”

“If it seems like I’m picking a fight with you, then everyone who opposes your work will probably gather around me.”

With the halo of Roosevelt and the image I had built up over the years, I was elected governor of New York by an overwhelming margin. But that didn’t mean there was no opposition.

Unlike in the 21st century, when the Dixies of the South were traditional strongholds of the Democratic Party, the North, especially urban areas, were a Republican stronghold.

And the Republican Party still believed in the invisible hand and opposed the New Deal.

The Newtown policy that I advocated last time was also opposed by such Republican figures.

“It would be much better if I could step forward and moderately control the opposition.”

However, it was not possible to just ask Guardia to do this.

My approval rating was already high, but it has risen even higher due to this riot.

Politically, it could be quite burdensome to stand up to me.

“It’s actually better for me. I, who barely made it as the mayor of New York City, am now on equal terms with you, a man of national fame.”

But Guardia chuckled, saying that it was more beneficial to him.

He said that since his name value is much higher than mine, fighting in the same weight class would actually help raise his name value.

“Thank you.”

“No, it’s me. Oh, but are you really going to leave the Triboro Bridge construction as it is?”

I shook my head at Guardia’s words.

“No. We have to do it. If we’re going to do it, how about restoring it according to the original plan?”

“As originally planned?”

Triboro Bridge.

The Triborough Bridges refer to three bridges connecting Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.

Triboro, which was initially planned in 1916 and began design in 1925 with a capital of $50,000, was delayed due to construction funding problems and finally broke ground in 1929.

But the Great Depression broke out as soon as construction began.

In 1930, New York City, like other major cities, was close to bankruptcy.

Eventually, due to continued cuts in the construction budget, construction of the bridge was halted.

Since construction was impossible with just the New York City budget, a loan for construction costs was approved by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, but the Jimmy Walker corruption scandal broke out in the middle and a by-election was held, so the loan was eventually suspended.

Afterwards, in order to somehow complete the construction, the original construction plan was revised and the size of the bridge was reduced.

“You know. Right now, there’s a panic and all, so the volume of goods has temporarily decreased, but when the economy improves, the number of vehicles will quickly increase.”

“That must be true.”

“It’s better to build a big bridge from the beginning than to build another bridge later.”

“Isn’t the problem the budget?”

“I’ll look into that more.”

Guardia, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded.

“Good. I guess I’ll have to fight you anyway, so I can use this.”

“That wouldn’t be bad either.”

After that, Guardia and I talked about our future plans late into the night.

One of them was the issue of race.

I never thought I could eliminate or resolve deep-rooted racism overnight.

But if we left this problem as it was, it was clear that it would explode at some point.

Fortunately, this Harlem riot was resolved without major incident, but what about the next one?

Moreover, even within the United States, which is known as a melting pot of races, New York was a city where people from various countries gathered, to the point that it was called the gateway to immigrants.

Of course, the most severe discrimination was between blacks and whites, but there was also discrimination among white people.

“It’s not an easy problem because it’s racial discrimination.”

“I’m not trying to say something radical like treating blacks exactly the same as whites. That’s not something that’s going to be solved easily even in the next hundred years.”

Isn’t liking those similar to us and rejecting those different something like a survival instinct engraved in human genes?

“But think about this riot. If the thief had been white instead of black, would it have been so serious that people would have thought he was killed?”

“Hmm.”

“At least not so many people would have run out into the streets believing the false rumor that the clerks had beaten a thief to death.”

“I see.”

Although it was a misunderstanding that arose by chance and the resulting riot, if you look closely, the root cause was the deep-rooted inferiority complex of black people who felt discriminated against.

“But are black people the only ones who feel discriminated against?”

My question brought regret to Fiorello’s face.

Behind Fiorello’s declaration to take down the mafia guys was anger at having his family tampered with, but as I said, there was also the fact that they were also Italians.

“Yeah, we Italians aren’t treated so well either.”

“What about Irish? What about Polish? If you ask them, I don’t think they’ll all say they’re discriminated against?”

When the United States was first founded, there was tension between the Anglo-Saxons and the Spanish and French, who were fighting over territory.

But things began to change as America’s territory stabilized and immigrants from other countries began to arrive.

A class divide began to emerge between immigrants who had arrived long ago or who originally came from strong and wealthy countries, and immigrants from weaker or poorer countries within Europe, such as Italians.

People of Italian, Greek, Irish, etc., although they were also white, were treated differently.

“Yes. This tendency is especially severe in New York City, where there are many immigrants from all over the world.”

“That’s what I’m saying. But what will happen if we leave this discrimination as it is?”

“It’s going to be a problem. Just like the last riot. But it’s not like we don’t know about it and just leave it alone.”

Of course so.

The problem was that this was the 20th century, not the 21st.

In the 21st century, racism was a crime, a very low-level crime, and people of sense tried to keep their feelings to themselves.

But the savage 20th century was different.

Look at Germany right now.

They were discriminating against Jews on a national level.

The 20th century was a time when eugenics was treated as an academic discipline and people were proud of being from a superior race.

“How about giving me a chance to prove my worth?”

“Useful?”

“Since we are all the same, it won’t work to talk about treating us the same. So instead of saying we are the same or hiding our backgrounds, let’s show them and prove that despite our differences, we are useful to America, to New York.”

“A useful being. How can I say that?”

“How about using public rental housing?”

In the 21st century and even now, racial discrimination is most severe among the lower class rather than the upper class.

It’s not that the upper class doesn’t discriminate, but rather, if it’s done in a more subtle and sophisticated way, the lower class tends to directly project their anger.

“Isn’t it the poor white people, not the rich, who are most angry at black people?”

“Oh, oh, that’s right, they stole our jobs. That’s what the Irish say to us Italians all the time.”

To be exact, those who frequently encountered similar situations often criticized and trampled on each other.

“What if Italian immigrants pooled their money and built a rental home in their hometown?”

“Hoo.”

“There is a story about a parasite who came to America from poor Italy, received subsidies, committed crimes, and sucked the blood of the country…”

“I guess I can give you a proper rebuttal.”

We may be poor and uneducated, but we are not parasites that are eating away at the country. We could argue that we are also trying to contribute to this country.

No, I was going to set the mood so that it would happen like that.

“Then there will be a lot of people who will follow suit.”

Similarly, the Irish, Poles and Greeks, who were discriminated against, would have started raising funds immediately.

Guardia seemed to immediately realize what I was trying to say.

“What if people with completely different skin colors, like Filipinos or Koreans, also come forward?”

“that···.”

There would have been an uproar, probably because they didn’t want to hear that they were inferior to Yellow Monkey.

“First, the budget problem will be solved. Second, one of the excuses for racism will be solved.”

“Hmm. That’s true, but I don’t think that’ll be enough.”

“Right. So I thought of something else. How about the Olympics?”

The Olympics, which are held as a competition between countries, stimulate a strong sense of belonging to one’s country.

“Wouldn’t it be quite fun if we opened it as a weekly competition?”

Isn’t it the magic of the Olympics that makes even the most extreme conservatives, who ignore black people and despise women who play sports, cheer for black people and women who compete under the American flag?

“It’s a sports festival like the Olympics where people compete every week…”

“Since we have to select the Olympic team anyway, wouldn’t it be okay to hold the National Sports Festival between the Olympics and select the national team there?”

Guardia stroked his chin as if it wasn’t bad.

“Well, the plan sounds good, but this isn’t a business we can handle.”

“Hey, it’s MacArthur. That little kid over there is nicknamed the White House Bad Boy.”

It was only then that Guardia shook his head, saying that he had worried for nothing.

Many people predicted that the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics would be a failure.

The prediction that the Olympics would not receive much attention because they were being held during the Great Depression was only partially correct.

In the aftermath of the actual panic, athletes who felt burdened by the cost of long-distance overseas travel did not participate, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of participating countries and athletes compared to the previous Amsterdam Olympics.

But the audience’s enthusiasm was different.

Contrary to expectations, it was a huge success with over 1.5 million spectators in attendance.

“Panic, it’s hard. So don’t you think we need entertainment that can comfort the people even more?”

There must have been a reason why 3S appeared.

It’s good to create jobs, do various civil engineering projects, and revive the economy.

However, people do not become happy just by solving the problem of eating and living.

If what Hoover County residents needed was hope for a future beyond jobs, then frustrated Americans also needed something to keep them occupied.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could also increase the sense of unity and belonging among the members on a weekly basis?

The First New York National Sports Festival