Chapter 392 Roosevelt's Trouble

Churchill had more than one or two worries. First, he received news that the ship carrying American pilots was missing and was likely to have been sunk by the German army.

He could only inform Roosevelt of this matter. Although it was a telegram (during World War II, there were only telegraph cables under the Atlantic Ocean between Britain and the United States, but no telephone lines. It was not until September 25, 1956 that the first transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1) from Britain to North America was opened), he could still feel Roosevelt's anger.

But what can be done if the people are dead, because these pilots were sent secretly, and Roosevelt could not make it public; if this matter was known to Congress and the public, it would be a troublesome matter for him who was preparing for a new round of elections.

Just when I thought the matter was over, I didn't expect that the newspapers and radio stations of the German propaganda department published news at the same time the next day; saying that a group of fighter pilots supported by the United States were captured when attacking the British transport fleet. It also listed everyone's name, date of birth, home address, family members, current position, etc. in detail. The newspapers also published photos of these pilots and their handwritten "confessions", which showed that they were secretly sent by the US government to support Britain.

This caused an uproar in the United States, and large-scale demonstrations broke out again in the capital Washington and other major cities. The last time was to protest against the British submarine attack on the "New Jersey" passenger ship. The Roosevelt government has not made a clear statement on this incident so far; now this has happened again, and the people want to settle "new and old grudges" together.

Roosevelt's opponent Willkie took the opportunity to shout the slogan "Never send American children to fight abroad." He also threatened voters that if Roosevelt was re-elected, he would immediately send the United States into war.

This is simply shocking for the American people who are in isolationism.

You must know that American isolationism is a long tradition.

At the beginning of the founding of the United States, Washington required the United States to remain highly vigilant when making friends with allies, even though isolationist ideas were not supported in the United States at the beginning. However, as John Adams lost the second presidential election for avoiding the United States from being involved in the Napoleonic Wars, his successor Thomas Jefferson's approval rating plummeted during his second term because he interrupted trade with Europe to avoid the United States from being involved in the Napoleonic Wars. Then James Madison encountered the disastrous War of 1812 during his administration; since then, "don't get involved in European wars" has gradually become a kind of tacit understanding reached by all American rulers.

There is a saying that World War I made a fortune for the United States, but by the 1920s, many Americans began to believe that it was absolutely a wrong decision for the United States to participate in World War I. And when Germany began to rearm in the 1930s, more people realized that a large-scale war would break out on the European continent sooner or later. Isolationism is not incompetence, and Americans are still foresighted, including many isolationists. So many rumors about arms dealers profiting from wars began to spread, and many Americans also felt that their country should avoid being involved in wars again at all costs this time. This anti-war consciousness became stronger with the arrival of the Great Depression. The prevailing anti-war views and the mourning for the soldiers who died in World War I prompted many people to firmly believe that the United States must never be involved in any European war again. People began to focus more on domestic events and became indifferent to changes in international politics.

And now President Roosevelt actually risked the world's disapproval and violated the obligations of a neutral country to send pilots to help Britain?

Roosevelt hurriedly stated that "I hate war, and now I hate it more than before", "We will never participate in foreign wars, and we will never send our army, navy, and air force to fight in foreign countries outside America unless we are attacked."

He also explained that the pilots went to Britain voluntarily, but unfortunately he did not notice that the pilots' "confessions" mentioned that they also went with the latest American P-38 fighters. Such a lame lie made the people even more angry. The pilots were voluntary, so were the fighters also "voluntary"?

The president who was elected by his own vote actually wanted to fool himself? A large number of people surrounded the White House, shouting slogans for Roosevelt to get out.

Congress was not idle either. After the attack on the USS New Jersey, the isolationists in Congress proposed to change the Neutrality Act and stop selling even a bullet or a barrel of oil to Britain. At that time, the number of people who agreed to this proposal did not reach 1/2 of the Senate and the House of Representatives. (When the number of people who agree with each bill exceeds 1/2 of the number of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the bill will be sent to the President for signature and becomes law. If the President approves the law passed by both houses, he must sign it. If he does not approve it, he should return it to the House that originally proposed the bill along with his objections. The House should record the objections in detail in the minutes and then reconsider it. If after reconsideration, two-thirds of the members of the House still agree to pass the bill, the House should send the bill along with the objections to the other House for reconsideration. If the other House also passes it with a two-thirds majority, the bill becomes law.)

This time, the members were quite angry about the President's action of bypassing Congress, and the proposal to change back to the neutral bill was approved by more than 1/2 and formally submitted to President Roosevelt.

The isolationists in Congress clamored that if President Roosevelt did not agree to this proposal, they would initiate the impeachment procedure of the president. You know, impeaching the president of the United States is easy and difficult. It is easy because the procedure is not complicated. As long as someone in the House of Representatives thinks that the president is a bad person and wants to initiate impeachment against the president, everyone will discuss and vote. As long as more than half of the people also think that the president is a bad person, the impeachment clause can be passed to start the formal impeachment procedure against the president.

Then the baton of the procedure is passed to the Senate, and the Senate will try the president. How to try? Still vote. But this time the requirements are stricter. More than two-thirds of the senators must vote that the president is guilty. This president can forget about doing it and step down.

As for why it is difficult, there are only three presidents in American history who have been on the verge of impeachment, and none of them stepped down because of successful impeachment.

The first person is Andrew Johnson, the 17th president. He was impeached in 1868 for dismissing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton during the American Civil War, which involved complex conflicts of interest between the North and the South. He was impeached, but failed to pass because of one vote.

The second person is Bill Clinton. He was exempted from impeachment in the 1999 trial due to insufficient votes.

The third person is Nixon, the protagonist of the famous "Watergate Incident". However, this president wisely chose to resign and thus escaped the fate of being impeached, and also avoided becoming the first American president to step down after being impeached and found guilty.