Putting aside the subsequent machinations of the Morgan family, at least in the spring of 1938, John could truly be regarded as a spring breeze. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info wasn't because he got the Ford proving ground in Dearborn for free, or because the Vanderbilt family's successful entry into the Pennsylvania Railroad Board helped him open up the market in the south-central states of the United States, allowing FedEx to successfully complete the layout of the logistics network covering the United States. Rather, it was because Henry Ford Sr. apologized to him "publicly".

It's so scary, there's wood. Henry Ford Sr., as a generation of automobile tycoons, the strongman who pushed the whole of America into the automobile age, actually bowed his head to John, a young man who was only 34 years old, and admitted his mistake. If this matter spreads in society, I don't know how many people's jaws will be shocked.

Of course, neither the Ford and Vanderbilt families, nor the middleman, Kermit Roosevelt, made a big deal about it, and the matter was only circulated in small American high society circles. But even that was enough to make John famous.

In the circle of the "rich N generation" where he was originally stayed, John is now regarded as a legendary-level monster. You think, a guy who originally looked similar to himself suddenly became powerful, and he was a big guy with the same status as his own family. Isn't this guy a monster who "pretends to be a pig and eats a tiger"? Worship or fear, but now they don't dare to treat John as one of their kind. Even Tom, the assistant he gets along with day and night, is now much more respectful.

It can be said that John stepped on the old Henry's head this time to reach the edge of a higher circle. Although before, the family had been trying hard to stuff him into this circle. But the bigwigs in this circle don't rub sand in their eyes, everything has to rely on strength to speak. Now, John can be regarded as initially recognized by them, and is no longer regarded as a hairy boy who relies on the power of the family. At least, when John appeared as a representative of the family at the White House reception dinner on March 6, the other bigwigs in attendance didn't think he was pulling him down.

In order to attend this dinner, John made up a lot of political "common sense" with the help of Lawrence. Originally, he was still looking forward to the legendary "state banquet", but after experiencing it once, he felt that it was nothing more than that.

It was John's first time at the White House, although he had been there before. Of course, he wasn't here for any political event at that time, he was a tourist at that time. The White House has a tradition of being open to visitors every Tuesday through Saturday. But while it claims to be the only official residence of a head of state open to the public, visitors can only visit a dozen rooms in the East Wing of the White House. The West Wing, the main building and core office area of the president's family residence, is closed to the general public. And the East Wing of the White House, which John visited, won't be built until 1941, so it's not wrong to say that he never came.

The reception dinner was held in the ballroom on the first floor of the White House and was attended by about 40 bigwigs from various industries. It was clear to everyone who attended the dinner that President and his wife had invited them to dinner in the hope of appeasing their grievances and making a last-ditch effort to save their own fiscal balance.

In late 1936 and early 1937, the United States experienced a sharp upward trend in commodity prices, stimulated by large government investments under Roosevelt's New Deal and huge arms orders from Europe. At that time, the price of copper jumped from 10 cents to 16 cents per pound in five months. Many businessmen believe that "inflation" may be coming, and they start hoarding inventory in large quantities.

But by the time Roosevelt took his second presidency in 1937, the government had implemented a new fiscal policy and began to try to reduce the deficit and balance the budget. Now that the budget is balanced (if the ongoing Social Security tax is included, government revenues are temporarily greater than spending), but the government's cessation of the spending war has had another immediate consequence: the flow of goods piled up on the shelves has begun to slow down.

If this situation were placed in any other period, it would not be a problem. But in 1937, everyone still remembers the economic crisis a few years earlier. The capitalists knew all too well what the Great Depression was all about, so when the first signs of deflation appeared, they made up their minds not to hold out any unrealistic hopes again this time. The capitalists began to cut production in a hurry, and within a few months, 2 million people lost their jobs. This move made the backlog of goods even more unsellable, and a new Great Recession began.

While the Roosevelt administration ministers tried to remain calm and hopeful, issuing statements predicting that the situation would soon improve, the collapse of the economy rolled down like a tsunami. Roosevelt himself had always tried to balance the budget while trying not to over-irritate the frightened capitalists. However, the "New Deal" faction that embraced him blamed the Great Recession on the "monopolist" and the so-called "60 families". They made a series of statements denouncing large corporations, which in turn angered the American business community again.

John knew that Roosevelt's attempts to appease these business leaders were futile. In just over a month, the Democratic president will throw in the towel, give up on his plan to balance the budget, and once again support increased government spending. Historically, on April 14, Roosevelt told the nation over the radio that he was asking Congress to allocate $3 billion for relief, utility projects, housing, flood control, and other recovery efforts.

So he didn't pay much attention to the discussion at the table about the current economic situation and policies, and focused all his attention on Scotch whisky and lamb chops. Fortunately, he was not the only one who was not interested in President Roosevelt's rhetoric at the dinner party, so his seemingly rude behavior was not too conspicuous.

Truth be told, the White House dinner wasn't a good one. If it weren't for the lifting of Prohibition a few years ago, and the drinks on the table were excellent, this dinner could have been described as terrible. John once heard Lawrence say that one of the main reasons Roosevelt liked to leave the White House frequently was to escape from the terrible meals of Mrs. Nesbitt, the housekeeper of the White House.

"Mrs. Nesbitt was a serious and uninteresting German woman, hired by First Lady Eleanor in the mid-20s, when she could only make pies and Austrian-style apple strudel. Roosevelt was a lifelong fond of good food, with a particular fondness for half-roasted, bloodshot quail and pheasant, as well as oysters, crabs, rustic cheese and peach pies. But Mrs. Nesbitt arranged the same meals day after day, so much so that visitors to the White House could guess what they would have for dinner for a week. On Monday it is horse betel nut soup, on Tuesday it is boiled beef, and on Wednesday it is roast beef and potatoes...... Roosevelt used to eat chicken six times a week for several weeks, and then six beef patties a week for the next few weeks. ”

At the time, John thought Lawrence was telling a lame political joke, which now seems likely to be true.

Roosevelt himself soon found that all attempts to ease the relationship between the big capitalists and the government were in vain. So he wisely changed the subject at the right time, and the atmosphere at the table was much more harmonious at once. At some point, the topic of their casual conversation turned to the ongoing war between China and Japan. Well, in retrospect, it seems to have extended from the set of Chinese-made porcelain tableware on the table.

Roosevelt liked to talk about some of his special ties to China, believing that he knew China better than any other American politician. But when the president, who had never been to China once, gushed about his understanding of China at the dinner table, John snickered to himself. In fact, when President Roosevelt brought up his grandfather's storied story, John almost burst out laughing.

Roosevelt's maternal grandfather, Warren Delano, was a senior partner at the largest U.S.-China trading firm, Qichang & Co., leading the firm's operations in Macau, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. By the time he returned to the United States in 1846, he had amassed a fortune of more than $1 million, making him one of the richest people in the United States at the time. In 1857, Warren Delano lost all his money in a financial catastrophe and went bankrupt to Hong Kong again, where he soon became a millionaire again.

The reason why this Mr. Warren Delano has such a legendary experience is very simple - he is in the opium trade in China. He himself admitted in a letter to his family: "I never pretend that the opium trade is a moral and benevolent trade. But as a businessman, I think it's a fair, decent, legal trade. ”

Roosevelt's mother lived in Hong Kong as a child, and her dowry included many furniture and ornaments brought back from China. Roosevelt's stamp album was originally full of Chinese and Hong Kong stamps, which his mother gave him as a birthday present when he was 10 years old. Perhaps because his mother told him about that China experience as a bedtime story since he was a child, Roosevelt always considered himself a "China expert". Although many of his views are very superficial and ridiculous in John's opinion.

But even the president of the United States has the freedom to brag at the dinner table, doesn't he? John had no intention of standing up and correcting the president's misconceptions. He was still waiting to hear Roosevelt's views on the Sino-Japanese War, which was very important to his "Volunteer Air Force for China" program.