The White House, the cabinet meeting room is adjacent to the president's Oval Office, and looking out the window is the White House's Rose Garden.

US Vice President Truman stood by the fireplace, looking at the two half-body portraits on the niche with a complicated expression on his face.

These two half-body portraits are George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

At this moment, Truman looked at these two portraits of his ancestors and the first thing he thought of was not the 1 dollar and 100 dollar bills, but a heavy sense of responsibility.

Be responsible for the United States of America.

House Speaker Sam Rayburn came over and asked softly: "Sir, it's already seven o'clock, we've prepared almost all the time. Can we start?"

"Okay, let's start!" Truman nodded, but his thoughts returned to a few hours ago.

This is Truman's 82nd day as Vice President of the United States. On this day, he presided over the Senate meeting as usual. When he was on recess, he was about to have a drink to relieve his tense mood. Senate Speaker Sam Rayburn hurried over and told him something shocking news about Zhao that President Roosevelt had passed away!

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

Roosevelt's physical condition is getting worse, which is not a secret among the top politicians in the United States. Even Truman, the vice president, felt that Roosevelt would not survive his fourth term, and Truman had thought that he would likely become the president of the United States. But when this day really came, Truman still felt very suddenly, which caught him off guard.

When Roosevelt returned to the United States from the Yalta Conference, he was already old. He was thin and weak, and was also weak when he gave a speech in the House of Representatives. At that time, many people just thought that the President was probably too tired, so he was like this.

On March 29, Roosevelt came to Hot Springs Town, Georgia. For him, staying away from the quarrels of the members of Washington, and letting his ears be purified, perhaps it is also a rest. However, on April 12, Roosevelt said "I have a great headache", and he fell into a coma. This sentence also became the last words of the great president.

Roosevelt died of cerebral hemorrhage, which was extremely dangerous even in the current medical situation. With the medical conditions at that time, it was undoubtedly a matter of death.

As Vice President, Truman received news of the president's death more than an hour later. He dared to forget the White House, informed the President's wife of the situation, and asked the President's wife what he could do for her. However, the President's wife's answer was: "What can I do for you? Because of you, the person who is in trouble."

It was not 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 himself!

Truman was scared and even more confused when he thought of becoming the president of the United States and leading such a large country to move forward.

Harlan Stone, chief officer of the U.S. Supreme Court, appeared in front of Truman, interrupting Truman's thoughts. Truman knew that the president's oath of office was about to begin. He forced himself to cheer up and make himself look less timid, and then walked over.

Chief ** Officer Harlan Stone will serve as the host of Truman's oath ceremony.

There are only two forms of the inauguration of the US president. The first form is a question-and-answer. The chief officer will change the first person to a second person, such as "You, George Washington, solemn oath...", and the president only needs to answer one sentence "I swear" or "I will", even if the oath is completed. Some devout believers will add one sentence "God bless me." Starting from George Washington, until President Hoover, the presidential oath was still in this way.

The second form is also the one used now. When taking oath, the Chief Official said, and the President read it. This method of oath began with Roosevelt.

At this time, Chief ** Officer Harlan Stone was already standing in front of Truman, holding a Bible in his hand. After the two of them stood still, the oath ceremony began.

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

At this moment, Harlan Stone chanted: "I, Harry Ship Truman, take a solemn oath."

Truman was slightly stunned, and then reacted the next second. He spoke, "I, Harry-s-Truman, take a solemn oath."

This time it was Harlan Stone's turn opposite, and he was stunned for a moment. At this time, he realized that he had made Truman's name wrong. He thought that Truman's middle letter "s" was the abbreviation of "Ship", but in fact, that "s" is the real name.

Harlan Stone suddenly turned red and felt a little embarrassed. As the chief officer, he didn't even know the president's full name, and he also made a fool of himself on an important occasion such as the president's inauguration ceremony. This would be written into history books and ridiculed by future generations!

However, as Chief ** Officer, Harlan Stone has also seen big scenes. He quickly recovered and continued: "I will faithfully carry out the post of the United States, do my best to abide by, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Truman also read the sentence "I will faithfully carry out the presidency of the United States, do my best to abide by, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The US president's oath is just such a simple sentence. In addition to the president's name, there are 35 words in total. However, these 35 words are often wrong. In history, when the president was sworn in, 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 ** official said "maintenance" as "preservation"; when Eisenhower was sworn in, he understood "the office of president" as "the office of the president", and one word was missing, and "presidential position" became "the presidential office"; when President Nixon took the office, the ** official read the oath wrongly, but Nixon read it correctly, obviously he had a drill in advance; the latest accident was when President *** was in office, the Chief Official also had a tongue error, and the ** also "make a mistake". The legal community believed that the wrong oath had no legal effect, so *** could not be considered the president of the United States, so he took another oath in the White House the next day.

The Chief ** Officer named Truman the wrong name, which was just a small episode in the oath process. After the oath, Truman kissed the Bible again, which is another traditional project in the oath of the US president.

When George Washington was sworn in, he borrowed a Bible from the church and kissed the Bible after the oath was completed. This became a must-have item for the US president to take the oath, until Eisenhower used prayer instead of kissing. Since Bush Jr., the president began to use two Bibles to take the oath.

When Truman was sworn in, Americans did not know the bad news of the president's death. Until the next day, news of Roosevelt's death appeared on the front page of all newspapers. Only then did people realize that the greatest president in American history actually passed away!

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

...

The flag flying by the White House was only half raised, not just the White House, but the entire United States lowered the flag to President Roosevelt to express condolences.

Seven white horses were walking on the streets of Washington with a carriage. There were guards riding motorcycles on both sides of the carriage, and patrolmen were maintaining order on the roadside. There was a coffin covered with the American flag on the carriage, which contained the body of President Roosevelt.

More than 300,000 people had gathered in front of the White House, all of whom were here to see Roosevelt off.

Crying sounds kept ringing in the crowd. For these people who came to see off Roosevelt, they really didn't 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. Perhaps many of the people who were crying in the crowd had gone bankrupt due to the Great Depression. In the American concept, leading the United States out of the Great Depression was Roosevelt's greatest contribution. As for the attack on Pearl Harbor and going to war with Japan, that was what any American president should do. The victory of World War II was not Roosevelt's political achievement. It could only be regarded as his conscientious performance of the duties of the US president and protecting the United States.

Americans' evaluation of a president mainly depends on economic achievements. For Americans, being able to win a war may not be a good president, but being able to do a good economy must be a good president. So Bush won the Cold War, but he was unable to get re-election because he did not solve economic problems. During Clinton's tenure, various scandals were reported, but because the US economy was thriving, it was loved by many Americans. It has to be said that Americans are really realistic. Whoever can make money is a good president.

However, most 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 win the United States in World War II, but to establish a new world order with the United States as the hegemony after World War II. After the outbreak of World War II, the Trident Conference allowed the United States to take over the Western military command, and the Bretton Woods Conference allowed the United States to establish a global financial system with the US dollar as the core. These two points are the key to the United States being able to dominate the world in the next few decades. These are all things that were accomplished during Roosevelt's term. If one of the powerful military power and the international status of the US dollar, the United States will become a lame duck. Future Americans are also very clear about this. They use military power to maintain the international status of the US dollar and use the US dollar to maintain a strong military power. The two complement each other.

...

Roosevelt's funeral was held in the White House.

Of course, it was just a funeral ceremony in the White House. Roosevelt's coffin could not be really buried in the White House. Otherwise, the US president would be in a walk in the White House garden and encounter a tombstone of the former president. He was so heartbroken that he would not say anything. Just bowing one by one tombstone is enough to be tiring.

The White House was just a memorial service. After the memorial service, Roosevelt's body will be transported to Princewood's No. 1 Roosevelt had already made a will and would be buried there after his death.

Chen Qiang was also invited to attend Roosevelt's funeral. On the White House lawn, he was wearing a black suit and standing among the guests. Looking at the coffin covered with the American flag in the distance, Chen Qiang was also feeling a little depressed.

In fact, Chen Qiang and Roosevelt can only be regarded as superficial friends. They don’t have much close relationships, and the identity gap between them is huge. However, when Roosevelt left, Chen Qiang was still very sad. After all, Chen Qiang had already met Roosevelt in the year of the Los Angeles Olympics, and the two had known each other for more than ten years. A handy item has been used for more than ten years, and when throwing it away, he will feel reluctant to leave, 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, he has been living in the United States for many years and 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, in the guest area, a Chinese-faced person was looking around.

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

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

However, Ambassador Wei's mind was not at the funeral. For people like him who were engaged in diplomacy, Roosevelt's sudden death meant a power reshuffle in the US government. There is a saying that one emperor and one minister, the president has been replaced, and those senior politicians may have to change. So Ambassador Wei has been thinking about how to get greater benefits from the next power reshuffle in the US government.

Before he knew it, Ambassador Wei's eyes fell on Chen Qiang. As a Chinese, standing among a group of foreigners was indeed a bit conspicuous, and it was difficult to not be noticed.

"That's Chen Qiang. You really came to Roosevelt's funeral! I've heard that you had a good personal relationship with Roosevelt. But now that Roosevelt is dead, you have no value anymore, and you don't have to treat you as a Bodhisattva in the future! What's more, you heard that you are doing business with Master Kong. Isn't this intentional demolishing Minister Song's platform?" Ambassador Wei said in his heart.

Chen Qiang and Roosevelt had some personal relationships, which the embassy had known for a long time, so after Ambassador Wei took office, he did not dare to offend Chen Qiang. He had to greet him specifically during festivals. If Chen Qiang needed the embassy to help solve anything, Ambassador Wei would not dare to postpone it. After all, among the Chinese, not many people could speak in front of Roosevelt.

Now that Roosevelt is dead, the American ruler has been replaced by Truman, so Ambassador Wei feels that Chen Qiang has no use value to the embassy and can be completely discarded as an abandoned son.

Moreover, the business of Chen Qiang and Master Kong's joint venture also made Mr. Song very unhappy. Mr. Song was the Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time and was Ambassador Wei's immediate superior. From a certain perspective, Ambassador Wei was also supported by Mr. Song, so he was naturally a member of Mr. Song. In the past, when Roosevelt was still alive, he was forced to do so due to the situation. Now that Roosevelt is leaving, the tea is cold. Of course, Ambassador Wei no longer has to give Chen Qiang a good look. It would be great if he didn't wear Chen Qiang's shoes.

At this time, Ambassador Wei had a bad idea: "The domestic war is in a tight situation, and this Chen Qiang is a rich man. Let's look for opportunities to go to his place to fight Qiufeng and ask for some money!"

—————
Chapter completed!