If it had been a year ago, John would have never had the confidence to take Hathaway seriously. Pen, Fun, Pavilion www.biquge.info is also a veteran company with a market value of tens of millions of dollars. Even if its internal shareholding is dispersed, there is no need for John to pursue absolute control, but in order to control the company, he will have to spend at least two or three million dollars of real money to buy the company's shares.

But now, two or three million dollars is completely out of the question in John's eyes. John was able to get so rich because the day before his meeting with Gavin, he had listened to President Roosevelt's twelfth "fireside chat" with Hughes and other Hughes Aircraft executives.

Since he came to power in 1932, whenever the federal government wants to issue an important decree, Roosevelt will first sit in front of the fireplace in the reception room of foreign guests in the White House, and "brainwash" the entire American people through ABC, CBS, and Common Broadcasting.

This kind of highly congenial policy advocacy was very effective in the thirties and forties, and after every "fireside chat", the public's support for the White House's policies increased significantly. So much so that in history, Roosevelt delivered a total of 30 such "fireside chats" during his 12-year presidency.

By 1940, Americans had become accustomed to hearing the president's own interpretation of White House policy on the radio when something major happened. Later, in Washington's Roosevelt Square, a statue was erected dedicated to this "political story" for several years: a man sat at the radio, listening intently to the "fireside conversation" with his head tilted.

The "fireside chat" on the evening of December 29 was Roosevelt's first radio address since winning his third presidential term. Unlike a few months ago, Roosevelt was a blunt articulation of his new foreign policy, proposing to turn the United States into an "arsenal of democracies."

Of course, people like John and Hughes don't need a "fireside chat" to learn about changes in White House policy. The reason why they would get together and listen to Roosevelt while drinking champagne was more to celebrate the phased victory of their plan.

John and they all knew very well that Roosevelt's phrase "turning America into the arsenal of the main country" was not a casual remark. Just before he spoke, Viscount Halifax (the new British ambassador to the United States) had already submitted to the United States an order list of war materiel totaling $750 million on behalf of the British government.

Of this amount, $120 million was used to order 60 10,000-ton cargo ships (to be delivered within 12 months), $300 million was used to purchase 12,000 combat aircraft of various types, and the remaining $330 million was used to purchase artillery, tanks and other army equipment.

Needless to say, the 120 million cargo ship orders all fell into the hands of Kaiser Shipbuilding. Hughes Aircraft Company also successfully grabbed a super large order of $170 million in this procurement, becoming the biggest winner among American aviation manufacturers. Although this deal still needs to be considered by the U.S. Congress,

John did a rough math, and those two deals alone would be enough to bring him nearly $100 million in revenue. What's more, this is just the beginning, as the war progresses, there will be more massive orders pouring in to John. If Hughes Aircraft goes public next year, John's net worth can at least double again.

However, all of this is only on paper. John has a lot to do to keep the money in his pocket.

First, the order needs to be approved by Congress before it can take effect. For this reason, John and the other arms dealers have invested heavily in gaining public support. In a sense, Roosevelt's "fireside chat" was itself one of the fruits of the efforts of these arms dealers.

In response to Roosevelt's speech, John and the others mobilized almost all their forces in the past two days to organize a huge signature support drive. In just over a day, more than 1.5 million people and hundreds of prominent political figures signed an open telegram calling for the "defeat of the Axis powers as the country's established policy." And this number is growing rapidly, causing a huge sensation in American society.

Even at his family reunion with Bradley and others, the autograph was talked about. Although Bradley, they are not clear about John's role in it.

"In less than two days, 1.5 million support signatures. This posture is no weaker than the one in 1937. Clark, who has always been enthusiastic about politics, was quite emotional about the sensation caused by Roosevelt's "fireside chat." "It's only been a few years, and public opinion has completely reversed."

The "1937 one" that Clark refers to was an anti-war signature event organized by six isolationist groups in the United States at that time to oppose Roosevelt's "isolation speech" against Japan. The two-month, two-month signature event called "Keep America Out of War," attended by 25 million Americans, scared Roosevelt's idea of sanctioning Japan back.

"Yes, in the last year, more and more people have begun to recognize Hitler's threat." Crawford picked up the conversation: "I read a recent Fortune poll showing that more than 60 percent of respondents supported the government doing everything possible to help Britain resist Hitler, even though they still wished they didn't have to fight. ”

John couldn't help but pout at the 60% figure, and Henry Ruth (the famous American media tycoon, owner of Time, Fortune, and Life magazines) moved quite quickly. As soon as the money arrives here, the poll results will be published. However, the figure of 60% is really a bit small, and if you blow more, will you die?

"There is no market for isolationism now. Didn't you see that even Hamilton Fisher (Republican congressman, former chairman of the isolationist group) came out to sign it? Martin Ye sighed: "Even Lindbergh hasn't come out to speak recently, has the signature been so popular in the past two days, and I haven't seen any action from the America First side." ”

Thinking of Lindbergh's old brother, John almost laughed. In the past year, Hughes and he have quarreled in the media. But this time, Hughes made a bad move, inviting out the big Buddha, so that Lindbergh didn't dare to speak.

"Lindbergh didn't speak because Mrs. Moreau signed the public telegram." John was overjoyed to tell everyone why Lindbergh was dumbfounded.

"Mrs. Morrow? Dwight? Mr. Moreau's widow? Bradley was also interested. This Dwight? During his lifetime, Morrow was not only a senior partner of JPMorgan Chase, a confidant of President Coolidge, but also served as the chief civilian assistant to General Pershing, and was also well-connected in military circles.

"That's right, it's her. Lindbergh was her son-in-law. John nodded. John also didn't expect that Hughes would invite Mrs. Morrow through the Morgan family. The old lady had only one daughter, and when she married Lindbergh in 1929, she would treat Lindbergh as if she were her own son. A million-dollar trust fund was prepared for his daughter and son-in-law early.

Now that Hughes has moved her out, Lindbergh is left with a shrunken turtle. Could it be that he still dares to openly disagree with his mother-in-law? Many of Mr. Moreau's friends are still alive, and if Lindbergh dares to do so, he will be shot to death by the old fellows.