Chapter 370 The spoiler is here again
Washington, Presidential residence, a press conference is underway.
There were many people in the audience, because the person answering reporters' questions today was not the press officer of the past, but President Truman himself.
A "trustee" from NBC just stood up from the front row of reporters, "Please review the government's achievements in the past year, Mr. President."
"Thank you for your question. I'm pretty sure the United States has entered an era of long-term prosperity. Economic growth has brought widespread social welfare. The income of each family has risen. We now produce eight million vehicles per year, and five million vehicles per year." One in two households began to own a television, and these consumer goods gradually became a part of American life," Truman said with obvious improvement in his face when facing his political achievements.
"Okay, thank you Mr. President, please name the next person to ask questions."
After the press officer spoke, his arms behind him were raised as high as a forest.
Truman took a casual look and found a capable girl with short hair in the back row who was very eye-catching, so he pointed at "the lady in the third row behind."
Seeing the people standing up, the press officer's face suddenly turned bad. The president’s first choice was April Monica, a beautiful female reporter from the Washington Post who is a typical naysayer.
Sure enough, although the female reporter's exquisite facial features made people feel like spring breeze, in contrast, the questions from her mouth shot towards her like a razor blade.
"Mr. President, what do you think of Congressman Joseph McCarthy's claim that more than half of our Congress is involved in red politics?"
Truman's smiling face just now froze. Everyone knew that this year there was a loud voice in the Republican Party - McCarthy, who had been pointing at the members of the Democratic presidential team for almost the whole year and calling them traitors. He would kill anyone he caught. Button on the Tongsu hat.
"It's nonsense. McCarthy's accusations are groundless. I fully believe that members of Congress have the most basic political ethics." Truman directly denied it.
"So you respect the opinions of Congress?" the female reporter began to trick the other party.
"Of course, ever since I laid my hand on the Constitution." Truman raised a hand as he had sworn in when he took office.
"But in the war on the peninsula, you did not obtain authorization from Congress..."
Truman's face suddenly turned livid, and he suppressed his anger and said, "As the President of the United States, I think this is extremely necessary. We cannot allow the democratic world to undergo serious regression because of meaningless political quarrels..."
The female reporter raised her lips slightly, "But you just said you should respect the rights of Congress."
"This is an isolated incident." Truman was already getting angry.
"Does that mean that every time a war breaks out in the future, the President's residence can claim it to be an isolated incident?" The beautiful female reporter seized on the loophole and chased after him.
Just when Truman felt that he could no longer suppress his anger, a staff member on the side stepped forward and whispered a few words to the first assistant, and then the press officer walked to the front.
"Sorry, today's press conference can only end here. Mr. President has important matters to deal with later..."
After speaking, the press officer prepared to leave after a brief exchange with Truman.
"Mr. President! Mr. President! Last question! Please answer the last question!" The female reporter jumped on her feet and raised her hands high in the crowd.
Perhaps feeling that leaving like this was too ungraceful, Truman stood at the door and made a gesture of please say something.
The woman quickly sorted out her notes and then said, "Mr. President, General MacArthur once said that the entire Peninsular War could be ended before Christmas, but Christmas will be in one month, and that doesn't seem to be the case."
"Yes, the situation on the battlefield on the peninsula has changed, but everything is within control. We will use all means to stop our opponents." "Any means? Including nuclear weapons?" The female reporter seemed to have discovered a new continent, Even the others got excited.
"I said it, by any means necessary." Truman repeated again and left from the door, the flash behind him continuing to capture the film in the murder camera.
Use nuclear weapons? Big news is coming.
——
When I walked into the conference room, seven or eight people were already waiting there.
Deputy Secretary of State Dean Acheson, nuclear expert Leslie Groves, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff William Lehi,...except for Marshall, who was talking to MacArthur, basically everyone from Truman's staff came.
What was somewhat surprising was that the retired former commander-in-chief of the Marine Corps, General Alexander Vandergrift, was also there.
"Mr. President, bad news, we have found signs of unknown activities in the northern waters of the peninsula." Acheson handed over a telegram first.
"Unidentified person?! Are they Soviets?" This was Truman's first reaction and what he was most worried about.
"Unlike, one of our Balao-class submarines encountered it, but it was not until the two sides were close that they discovered each other. According to intelligence feedback, the other party was very large and should be more than 10,000 tons. The existing ship code is 10,000 tons. The only submarines of this class are..."
"Former British Royal Navy nuclear submarine HMS Fearless." William Li Hai silently picked up the conversation.
"Are these troublemakers coming to East Asia?" Truman raised his eyebrows when he heard the news. He now regretted his decision before World War II extremely. If he could do it again, he would definitely throw Marshall's ill-fated plan directly into the toilet.
"Mr. President, although the intelligence has yet to be confirmed, I am worried that the other party may be looking for trouble." Acheson analyzed with some concern.
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"Do you have any basis for this?" Truman looked at his assistant.
"Please ask the Admiral to explain this to us." Acheson gave up his position, and the door to the side room behind him was opened.
A dark object appeared in the sight of all the senior White House officials.
Is this... a gasoline barrel? ! Why did you bring this thing to the Oval Office?
"Mr. President, this is the secret weapon of the Chinese army that we just captured." Acheson explained from the side.
"Using gasoline barrels as weapons? I remember April 1st was still early." Truman thought his aides were making an April Fool's Day joke.
"No, this is a weapon. It has an effective range of 300-500 meters. It can throw explosive packets of less than 10 kilograms. The power of the explosion is no less than that of a cannon of ordinary caliber. During the battle between the Chinese army, Doug's vanguard was eaten Big loss." General Vandergrift, the former commander of the 1st Marine Division, said with a serious expression on the side.
"Alexander, do you know this stuff very well?" Truman touched the outside of the gasoline barrel, and there was black dirt on his hands.
"Of course, because this weapon was invented by He himself. I even fired a cannon myself on Guadalcanal back then." Vandergrift said in a somewhat tangled tone.
"That guy did it?" Truman's expression became serious and he circled the gasoline barrel twice.
"You mean He gave the weapons he developed to his home country?"
"This possibility cannot be ruled out." Vandergrift "And another situation may be more serious..."
"That means he is originally from there."
(End of chapter)