The White House, the Cabinet Boardroom, is adjacent to the President's Oval Office, and looks out the window at the White House's Rose Garden.

U.S. Vice President Harry S. Truman stood by the fireplace, looking at the two busts on the alcove, with a complicated expression.

The two busts, one of George Washington and the other of Benjamin Franklin.

At this moment, when Truman looked at the portraits of these two ancestors, the first thing that came to mind was not the $1 and $100 bills, but the heavy sense of duty.

Shoulder the responsibility of the United States of America.

Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives, walked over and asked softly, "Sir, it's seven o'clock at once, we're almost ready, can we begin?" ”

"Okay, let's get started!" Truman nodded, but his mind went back to a few hours ago.

It was Truman's 82nd day as vice president of the United States, and on this day, he presided over the Senate as usual, and when the meeting was adjourned, he was about to have a drink to relieve his tension, and Senate President Sam Raiburne hurried over to tell him the shocking news that President Roosevelt had died!

Truman was on the spot, he didn't know whether to say bad news or good news, for the whole of the United States, the loss of such a great president is obviously bad news, but for Truman it may not be so, because he is going to become the president of the United States!

It is no secret that Roosevelt's physical condition is getting worse day by day, and even Truman, the vice president, felt that Roosevelt would not live more than his fourth term, and Truman also thought that he was very likely to become the president of the United States. It's just that when the day really came, Truman still felt very sudden, which caught him a little off guard.

When Roosevelt returned to the United States from the Yalta Conference, he was already old, emaciated, frail, and weak when he spoke in the House of Representatives.

On March 29, Roosevelt arrived in the hot spring town of Georgia, and for him, it may have been a kind of rest to get away from the quarrels of the hated congressmen in Washington, and to clear his ears, but on April 12, Roosevelt said "I have a terrible headache" and fell unconscious, which became the last words of the great president.

Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage, which was extremely dangerous even in the current medical environment, and with the medical conditions at the time, such a situation was a certain death.

As vice president, Truman received the news of the president's death more than an hour later, and he dared to forget about the White House for the first time, informed the president's wife of the situation, and asked the president's wife what he could do for her, but the president's wife replied: "Can I do anything for you?" People who are in trouble because of you. ”

It wasn't until that moment that Truman realized that the president's wife had already been mentally prepared for the president's death, but the person who was not prepared was herself!

The thought of becoming president of the United States and leading such a large country forward made Truman feel scared and even more confused.

U.S. High Court Chief Justice Harlan Stone appeared in front of Truman, interrupting Truman's thoughts, and Truman knew that the presidential inauguration was about to begin, and he forced himself to look less timid, and walked over.

Chief Justice Halland Stone will be the officiant of Truman's swearing-in ceremony.

There are only two forms of the inauguration of the President of the United States, the first is a question-and-answer format, where the Chief Justice will change the first person to the second person, such as "You, George Washington, solemnly swear ......", and the President only needs to answer "I swear" or "I do" to complete the oath. Some devout believers will also add the phrase "God bless me." Beginning with George Washington and continuing with President Hoover, the oath of office was taken in this way.

The second form is also the one used today, when the oath is taken, the chief justice says a word, and the president reads a word, and this oath began with Roosevelt.

By this time, Chief Justice Harlan Stone was already standing in front of Truman, holding a Bible in his hand, and after the two of them stood still, the oath-taking ceremony began.

Truman raised his right hand and placed his left hand on the Bible.

At this time, Harlan Stone was heard to say, "I, Harry Shipp Truman, solemnly swear. ”

Truman was slightly stunned, but the next second he reacted, and he said, "I, Harry S. Truman, solemnly swear. ”

This time, it was Harlan Stone's turn to be stunned, and then he realized that he had mistaken Truman's name, and he thought that Truman's middle letter "S" was an abbreviation of "Shipper", when in fact that "S" was his real name.

Harlan Stone's face suddenly turned red and he felt a little embarrassed, as the chief justice, he didn't know the president's full name, and he was embarrassed on such an important occasion as the president's inauguration, it was simply too bad, this will be written into the history books and ridiculed by future generations!

However, as Chief Justice, Harlan Stone has also seen the big scene, and he quickly recovered his form, but continued: "I will faithfully carry out the office of President of the United States, and I will do my best to observe, preserve, and defend the Constitution of the United States." ”

Truman followed suit: "I will faithfully carry out the office of President of the United States and do my utmost to observe, preserve, and defend the Constitution of the United States." ”

The oath of the president of the United States is such a simple sentence, in addition to the president's name, a total of 35 words, but these 35 words are often said wrong, when the president was sworn in office in history, there were about seven or eight oath accidents, Truman's oath in 1945 was one of them.

In addition, when President Hoover took the oath, the justices said "preservation" as "preservation"; When Eisenhower took the oath of office, he understood "the office of the president" as "the office of the president", and one word was missing, "the office of the president" became "the office of the president"; When President Nixon was inaugurated, the justices mispronounced the oath, but Nixon read it correctly, apparently he had been rehearsed beforehand; The most recent accident was when the president of *** took office, the chief justice also made a slip of the tongue, and *** also followed the "mistake", and the legal profession believed that the wrong oath had no legal effect, so *** could not be regarded as the president of the United States, so he re-took the oath in the White House the next day.

The chief justice's mispronunciation of Truman was just a minor episode in the oath-taking process, after which Truman kissed the Bible, another traditional item in the oath of American presidents.

When George Washington took the oath of office, he borrowed a Bible from the church and kissed the Bible after the oath was taken, which became a must-have item for the president of the United States when he took the oath of office, until Eisenhower replaced the kiss with prayer when he took office. Beginning with George W. Bush, the president began taking oaths using two Bibles.

When Truman was sworn in, Americans did not know the sad news of the president's death, and it was not until the next day that the news of Roosevelt's death appeared on the front pages of all newspapers, and people realized that the greatest president in American history had died!

By this time, President Roosevelt's body had been packed into a coffin, covered with the national flag, and transported back to Washington by train.

……

The flag hoisted at the White House was only half raised, and not only the White House, but the entire United States lowered the flag at half-mast in honor of President Roosevelt.

Seven white horses pulled a carriage down the streets of Washington, flanked by motorcyclists and patrolled by patrolmen on the side of the road, and on the carriage was a coffin covered with an American flag, which contained the remains of President Roosevelt.

In front of the White House, more than 300,000 people had gathered, all of whom had come to see off Roosevelt.

The sound of crying continued to sound in the crowd, and for these people who came to bid farewell to Roosevelt, they really did not want Roosevelt to leave them forever.

In the eyes of Americans, Roosevelt was not only a great leader, but also a great savior. Fifteen years ago, when the United States fell into the Great Depression, it was Roosevelt who saved the United States, and perhaps many of those in the crowd who were crying were bankrupt because of the Great Depression. In the American concept, leading the United States out of the Great Depression was Roosevelt's greatest contribution, and as for the attack on Pearl Harbor and the war with Japan, that was what any American president should do, and the victory in World War II was not Roosevelt's political achievement, but only that he conscientiously fulfilled his duties as president of the United States and protected the United States.

Americans evaluate a president primarily by his economic achievements. For Americans, being able to win a war is not necessarily a good president, but being able to do a good job in the economy is necessarily a good president. So Bush Sr. won the Cold War, but he couldn't get re-election because he didn't solve the economic problems; During his tenure of office, Clinton reported all kinds of scandals, but because he made the US economy thriving, he was loved by many American people. I have to say that the Americans are really realistic, whoever can make me money is a good president.

However, the vast majority of Americans did not realize that Roosevelt's contribution to the United States was not only to lead the United States out of the Great Depression, nor to enable the United States to win World War II, but to establish a new world order with the United States as the hegemon after World War II. After the outbreak of World War II, the Trident Conference allowed the United States to take over military command of the West, and the Bretton Woods Conference allowed the United States to establish a global financial system with the dollar at its core, which were the keys to America's global domination in the coming decades, both during Roosevelt's tenure. Without one of them, the United States will become a lame duck. The Americans of the future are also well aware of this, they use military force to maintain the international status of the dollar, and the dollar to maintain a strong military power, and the two complement each other.

……

Roosevelt's funeral was held at the White House.

Of course, there is only a funeral ceremony in the White House, and Roosevelt's coffin cannot really be buried in the White House, otherwise the president of the United States walks in the garden of the White House and encounters a tombstone of a former president.

A memorial service was held at the White House, and after the memorial service, Roosevelt's body would be transported to the Princewood Rose Garden, where Roosevelt had already made a will and would be buried after his death.

Chen Qiang was also invited to Roosevelt's funeral, on the lawn of the White House, he was wearing a black suit, standing among the guests, looking at the coffin covered with the American flag in the distance, Chen Qiang's mood was also a little low.

In fact, Chen Qiang and Roosevelt can only be regarded as superficial friends, the two do not have much deep friendship, and the identity gap between the two is huge, but when Roosevelt left, Chen Qiang was still very sad. After all, in the year of the Los Angeles Olympics, Chen Qiang had already met Roosevelt, and the two had known each other for more than ten years. An item that has been used for more than ten years, and when you throw it away, you will feel reluctant, let alone a person who has known each other for more than ten years!

"An era is over!" Chen Qiang sighed, although he is not an American, but he has lived in the United States for many years, but he can deeply feel Roosevelt's influence and understand what Roosevelt means to this country.

"Old friend, let's go all the way!" Chen Qiang sighed silently in his heart.

……

Not far away, also in the guest area, a Chinese-faced person was looking around.

This person's surname is Wei, and he is the Chinese ambassador to the United States, and after Hu Shih resigned, it was this Ambassador Wei who took over Hu Shi's position and became the new ambassador to the United States.

As China's ambassador to the United States, Master Wei was of course invited to Roosevelt's funeral.

It's just that Ambassador Wei's mind is not on the funeral at all, and for a person like him who is engaged in diplomacy, Roosevelt's sudden death also means a reshuffle of power in the US government. Therefore, Ambassador Wei has also been pondering how to obtain greater benefits in the next power reshuffle of the US government.

Unconsciously, Ambassador Wei's eyes fell on Chen Qiang's body, as a Chinese, standing in a group of foreigners is indeed a little conspicuous, and it is difficult not to be noticed.

"That's Chen Qiang, you really came to Roosevelt's funeral! I've heard that you have a good personal relationship with Roosevelt. But now that Roosevelt is dead, you have no value, and you don't need to be a bodhisattva in the future! What's more, I heard that you are still doing business in partnership with Prince Kong, isn't this deliberately demolishing Minister Song's platform! Ambassador Wei said secretly in his heart.

Chen Qiang and Roosevelt have some personal relations, this is something that the embassy has known for a long time, so after Ambassador Wei took office, he did not dare to offend Chen Qiang, and he had to give special greetings every New Year's holiday, if Chen Qiang needed the embassy to help solve something, Ambassador Wei did not dare to postpone, after all, among the Chinese, there are not many people who can speak in front of Roosevelt.

Now that Roosevelt is dead, and the person in charge of the United States has been replaced by Truman, Ambassador Wei feels that Chen Qiang has no use value for the embassy and can be thrown away as an outcast.

Moreover, Chen Qiang's partnership with Kong Dagongzi to do business also made Mr. Song very unhappy. Mr. Song was the Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time, and he was Ambassador Wei's immediate boss, and from a certain point of view, Ambassador Wei was also promoted by Mr. Song, so he was naturally part of Mr. Song's family. In the past, when Roosevelt was still alive, he was forced by the situation, but now that Roosevelt is going to tea and cool, of course, Ambassador Wei doesn't have to give Chen Qiang a good look, and it is already very good if he doesn't give Chen Qiang small shoes to wear.

At this time, Ambassador Wei already had a bad idea: "The domestic war is tight, and this Chen Qiang is a rich master, go back to find an opportunity, go to him to fight the autumn breeze, and ask for money to spend!" ”

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