By the time Joseph Patrick Kennedy returned, Washington had been covered in a white snowfall.
The banks of the Potomac River are covered in snow.
Looking through the light snow, even the surface of the airproof balloon floating high in the air seemed to be covered with a layer of white snowflakes.
Compared to New York, which was threatened by German missiles, the city looked very peaceful, with far fewer anti-aircraft guns in the streets, few fortifications and tanks, and not many people in uniform.
After becoming interim president, Wallace ordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff to deploy the defenses of the East Coast, not only against German missiles and bombers, but also against their sudden landing somewhere on the East Coast.
As a result, large cities like New York and Boston, bordering the Atlantic, now look like they are on the verge of an enemy, with fortifications built or under construction everywhere, tanks and heavily armed National Guard soldiers.
Many factory workers or company employees working in Manhattan have also begun to receive short-term but effective military training, which is not too difficult for the United States, where everyone has a gun, and many have received old-fashioned Springfield rifles, grenades and steel helmets, while others have purchased Thompson submachine guns and Browning-style automatic rifles at their own expense.
Mortars were also stored in designated locations, and special personnel were designated for their custody and use.
Theoretically, all it takes is an order from New York Governor John Dewey, and a New York City alone can immediately organize an armed militia of hundreds of thousands of people In addition, the legislatures of the 14 East Coast states have passed resolutions authorizing state governments to arm their populations and ensure that all adult male citizens in the 14 states who are mentally sound and free of internment have at least one gun, as much as possible But in the capital of the United States of America, the situation seems to have eased considerably, and Washington, D.C., is not a coastal city, but some distance from the Atlantic Ocean.
And the city is also small in population and size, so it has little value other than being the political center of the United States.
But as vice president-elect, Kennedy knew something insider, and behind Washington's "defenselessness" was a top-secret plan to move the capital.
Once Washington, D.C., was within the combat radius of German long-range bombers, the political center of the United States of America would be moved to Chicago in order to prevent the United States command center from being destroyed by nuclear weapons.
While the plan to move the capital was secretly being prepared, the inhabitants of Washington, D.C., were organized to dig bomb shelters in case Germany suddenly developed missiles or ultra-long-range bombers that could drop atomic bombs on D.C.
However, as the "spare tire" of the US president, Kennedy did not have to live in the capital city that was at risk of atomic bombing, and he would lead a "spare tire cabinet" composed of "spare tire" officials from various government departments to Chicago after he was sworn in.
And ready to become commander-in-chief of the United States of America after Truman was killed by the atomic bomb Before his inauguration, Truman and Kennedy could not be present in Washington at the same time, and only one of them could leave, and the other could travel to the capital from Mount Cattoktin, which was later Camp David, located 120 kilometers northwest of Washington.
Now Truman was taking his family on a "vacation" at Mount Cattoktin, and Kennedy had come to the capital to discuss peace issues on behalf of Truman with Wallace and the Republican and Democratic bigwigs.
Although the bombing of Buenos Aires by the US Army and Navy Air Forces a few days ago dealt a heavy blow to fascism in South America, the Germans still displayed a disappointingly tough attitude at the negotiating table.
Not only were they unwilling to compromise on war reparations or other nominal amounts, but they also demanded the question of "national self-determination of the Americas", and the Germans demanded that the European colonies in the Caribbean be merged with the many independent island states of the Caribbean to form a completely neutral and fully independent Caribbean Federation Obviously, the Germans wanted to raise up a few great powers in the backyard of the United States that could confront the United States, and the new Federation of Asbania in the south of South America was one, and the Caribbean Federation was probably one, and maybe they would also support Mexico to unify Central America.
In addition, it is very likely that the Kingdom of Canada, which became independent from the British Empire, will also be supported by the European Community, because the future heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Canada is also a princess, and her husband can only come from the ancient royal families of the Protestants on the European continent, according to the practice of the British royal family.
And almost all such families are from Germany Therefore, the leading figures here in Washington, D.C., after learning of the latest peace terms of the Germans, were all indignantly opposed.
At the same time, the shocking photographs of Buenos Aires on fire and burning published in Roman newspapers have given an illusory hope to policymakers at the highest levels of the United States.
Many believe that the continued bombing will force a radical change in the political situation in the new Commonwealth of Asbania.
The military dictator will be overthrown by an angry populace, and then the whole country will fall into collapse and turmoil.
This would greatly affect the German military deployment in South America, and the attack on the Caribbean would be delayed.
And that is the best time to achieve a decent peace.
Kennedy himself was not sure about this somewhat wishful thinking, and he was a banker and Wall Street speculator at heart, not an expert on South America.
And out of the instinct of a financial speculator, Kennedy was also inclined to let the United States fight again.
Because when he met Mussolini and Hess in Rome, he still felt the goodwill of the fascists and Nazis.
Even though the Americans turned Buenos Aires into a sea of fire, Hess agreed to Mussolini's offer to exchange prisoners of war.
The two sides will first exchange prisoners of war who are seriously wounded or seriously ill, which is a tailor-made exchange for Kennedy Jr., who has broken his hands and legs, but it is also more advantageous for Germany, who are now holding 20,000 or 30,000 American wounded and sick, and the monthly medical expenses are a huge expense.
And in the conditions of the exchange of prisoners, Germany also demanded that the Americans pay for the food and medical expenses of the released prisoners.
Since there were far more American wounds to be released than the European Community, politicians in Washington saw this as a sign of "weakness" and "eagerness to conclude a peace treaty" on the part of the Germans.
At the same time, Hess's position that he would not use atomic bombs to kill American civilians was not known to be true or false, but it was also considered a form of weakness.
"The Germans are getting weak."
Wallace, who is still president and soon to become secretary of war, told Kennedy and other senior U.S. officials in the White House cabinet room, "And we must continue to show toughness, and the air strikes on Europe and Buenos Aires should continue." ” The U.S. campaign to drop bombs on the potato fields of Ireland began when Roosevelt was still alive and has continued to this day, and I don't know how many large craters were blown up in the potato fields in the western part of the island of Ireland, and more than 100 B29s were missing, but even at a staggering cost, the Americans still insisted on bombing the potato fields, because such an action showed that the United States was capable of counterattacking.
If necessary, the B29s that are now bombing potato fields will carry bacteriological bombs to bomb the big cities of the European Community In addition, air raids on Irish potato fields were effective in containing the strength of the Luftwaffe.
The Germans were forced to massively increase the number of heavy fighters that could be used for night interceptions, usually twin-engine, two-seater and with radar.
The Americans' daytime air raid on Buenos Aires was equally costly, with 177 planes of all types not returning in the first 1,000-plane raid.
The loss rate was more than 17 Such a high rate of losses must be unbearable for a long time, which is equivalent to an average of six missions for a plane to be shot down, but the thought of the possibility of blowing up the new Federation of Asbania, a South American fascist country, Wallace, who is currently the secretary of war and the secretary of the navy, Forrestal, and William Leahy, Marshall, Ernestkin and Arnold, the top military officials, unanimously agreed to continue this costly air raid.
"Their forces are also strained," Wallace told Kennedy, "and according to credible intelligence, the Germans have asked Olga to send an air expeditionary force of the Russian puppet army to Argentina to fight." ” Kennedy was a little puzzled, "How could it be that the Germans had so many planes, how could they not come up with hundreds of fighters to protect Buenos Aires" Arnold, commander of the Army Air Corps, knew that Kennedy would ask this question, and immediately explained: "The number of shore-based daytime fighters in Germany and France is at most seven or eight thousand, although there are quite a few, but the battlefield to be responsible for is also very large, Europe has to defend, many islands in the Atlantic Ocean have to be deployed, and they also send a large number of planes to Belém, Brazil, and Guyana, which are bases for invading the Caribbean. ” Kennedy understood: "That is, the Germans deployed the main forces of their shore-based fighters to northern Brazil and Guyana, and prepared to attack Trinidad from there" "yes, that's it."
William Leahy replied, "Germany has been attacking the Caribbean since 1942, building many airports and docks in Guyana, taking control of the port of Belém in northern Brazil and then expanding it aggressively, and now there are no less than 50 large German airfields known in Guyana and Belém, which can deploy 5,000 aircraft" t1706231537: