White House.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sat by the fireplace, holding a cigar in one hand and reaching out to the fire with the other. Next to him was a middle-aged man with a half-bald head, none other than U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr.

A symphony came over the radio, and Morgenthau, accompanied by the music, began to report to the President on the progress of his work: "Negotiations with the Chinese envoys are basically on track. But as soon as they went against the old way, they asked for $150 million in loans......"

"These are the details, and I don't have to be told," Roosevelt interrupted, "and the key is the reaction of those consortia." ”

Morgenthau laughed: "The Rockefeller, Kuhn-Lobb, Mellon and Morgan consortium reacted the most violently, and they did everything possible to prevent this loan to China. But don't worry, it's still under control, and I'll make them honest. The DuPont, Boston, and Cleveland consortiums are staunch supporters of borrowing from China, and they will certainly stand up and negotiate with each other for their own interests. ”

Roosevelt nodded: "I hope the negotiations can be completed before New Year's Day, China is in urgent need of help, and it cannot be postponed any longer." ”

Again, it's all for the sake of profit.

The four major conglomerates, Rockefeller, Kuhn-Lobb, Mellon, and Morgan, opposed Chinese borrowing not because they were hostile to China. Rather, it is their oil, steel, aluminum products, etc., which are strategic materials that Japan urgently needs, and they do not want to tear their faces with Japan because of their aid to China.

As for the three major conglomerates of DuPont, Boston and Cleveland, they are either mainly engaged in light industrial products and have fierce competition with Japan in the domestic and Asian markets, or they are mainly engaged in the chemical industry, and the demand for tung oil in China is huge.

Kong Xiangxi sent Chen Guangfu to the United States to get a loan, mainly because Chen Guangfu had a close relationship with the Morgan consortium and wanted to obtain a more favorable result through personal connections. But the actual situation is very embarrassing, because the Morgan consortium strongly opposes borrowing from China, and they are more inclined to support Germany, Italy and Japan.

Roosevelt had to use all kinds of political and financial means to subdue the major conglomerates, including Morgan, otherwise the tung oil loan would not have passed Congress, even if it was ostensibly a commercial loan.

Several major conglomerates in the United States are fighting each other for their own interests, and they are going back and forth between aiding China and helping Japan. But they also have a common demand, that is, to oppose the involvement of the United States in the war, and only a few families whose main arms business are eager to fight.

Roosevelt was an excellent chess player, and the major consortia and families were his pawns. Sometimes he is cautious, and sometimes he is bold, taking advantage of the contradictions and interests of all parties to play the American plutocracy in the palm of his hand.

The feelings of the big American capitalists towards Roosevelt were complicated, respect, hatred, obedience, resistance, appreciation, anger...... And so on.

Roosevelt and Morgenthau debated it around the fireside, and finally came up with a concrete response.

That is to let the Morgan consortium lead the borrowing to China, and use the penetration of the chemical industry in the United States brought about by the tung oil trade to lure the Morgan consortium to become a "traitor", so as to stand on the side of supporting China's loans. At the same time, a few large and medium-sized banks, as well as some institutions on Wall Street, were used as reins to prevent accidents around the neck of the Morgan consortium.

In this way, the Morgan consortium will inevitably choose to stand against the three consortiums of Rockefeller, Kuhn-Lobb, and Mellon for the sake of the greater good. Involving more banks and institutions would distract the Morgan consortium from a hungry wolf and a pack of hungry dogs, allowing Roosevelt to sit back and watch with ease.

Even if the Morgan consortium knew it was a trap, it would dive headlong into it. Because it dominates the tung oil trade, it is equivalent to reaching into the chemical field, and DuPont and other consortia will need to see a little face of the Morgan consortium in the future. For the sake of its own interests, the DuPont consortium will not completely oppose the Morgan consortium to lead the borrowing, but will compete and cooperate at the same time, so that Roosevelt, the referee, will be more comfortable.

The two were chatting and chatting, when they suddenly heard something like "Kristallnacht" on the radio, and Morgenthau immediately turned his attention away.

Morgenthau, the current U.S. Treasury Secretary, whose father was a German Jewish immigrant, naturally has a strong interest in Kristallnacht.

Historically, it was not until 1943 that Morgenthau discovered that the German Nazis were attempting to exterminate the Jews. He spent a lot of time and effort assembling all kinds of clues and discovered the astonishing fact that Roosevelt had long been aware of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews and had taken a side-by-side attitude.

Morgenthau was very hurt by this, he and Roosevelt were good friends who had known each other for many years, and it was unforgivable that this kind of thing was hidden from him!

Morgenthau eventually chose to forgive, but his anger did not subside. It took him half a year to come up with the "Morgenthau Plan" in an attempt to completely eliminate Germany's industrial potential, and to put it bluntly, he wanted to directly turn post-war Germany into an agricultural country, so that the Germans would never be able to turn over.

However, due to the strong opposition of the US military and Congress, as well as the non-cooperation of the Soviet Union, Roosevelt had no choice but to abandon the Morgenthau Plan.

The host's voice came over the radio: "Just a few days ago, members of the German Nazis smashed and looted Jews, and countless synagogues, shops, and homes were reduced to rubble. Hundreds of thousands of German and Austrian Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Not only that, but the German Nazis bit back, believing that the incident was caused by the Jews, and forced the Jews to pay the Nazis 1 billion marks in compensation. Now, Jews in Germany and Austria, not only unable to find a job, but also having to pay reparations to the German government, are in a desperate situation. Today, we have invited Mr. Zhou Hexuan, a famous historian and writer, and Mr. Einstein, a great physicist, to interpret this event from different perspectives. ”

Zhou Hexuan: "Hello American listeners, I'm Zhou Hexuan. ”

Albert Einstein: "I am Albert Einstein. ”

Moderator: "Mr. Zhou, you are a well-known scholar of history, can you analyze why anti-Semitism has arisen from a historical perspective?" ”

Zhou Hexuan: "The causes of anti-Semitism are complex. First of all, there is the issue of religion, and I must state that I am not hostile to any religion, and I understand and respect any religious belief. The Jews originally lived in the area of Egypt and left because of oppression, which is where the biblical story "Exodus" comes from. The powerful Alexander the Great did not allow an ultra-conservative and xenophobic people under his rule, and Judaism faced the threat of Hellenism. The Maccabeean Revolt broke out, which succeeded in preventing the assimilation of Judaism and the Jewish people. But there are conservative and orthodox, and there are reformers, and then Jesus appeared. Under Jesus' explanation, Yahweh was no longer the exclusive god of the Jews, but the god of all mankind, so that non-Jews could also practice Judaism, and so Christianity appeared on earth. ”

Host: "So, in the beginning, Christianity was born as a branch of Judaism?" ”

Zhou Hexuan: "Yes. After the death of Jesus, Hellenistic Judaism became Christian, and Christians began to attack Judaism in order to dissociate themselves. For example, in the book of Jude, the Jewish people are described as greedy and cruel, and it is believed that the Jews killed Jesus. For thousands of years, the followers of Christianity spread throughout the world, and under the natural influence of the Bible, religious hostility towards the Jews was inevitable. ”

Moderator: "What are the reasons other than religion?" ”

Zhou Hexuan: "Money ......"