Creating America: My campaign manager was Roosevelt

Chapter 41 The Lion, the Fox, and the Sheep

Outside the window, the construction site's spotlights were still on, illuminating the newly paved roads and the newly installed basketball hoops.

All of this is the result of their joint efforts over the past few months.

Now, the small team that created all of this has fallen apart overnight.

Leo felt exhausted.

He posed a question to Roosevelt.

"Mr. President, did I really do something wrong?"

"Frank is right. We shouldn't get too close to politicians like Murphy. We should maintain our fighting spirit and continue to challenge those oligarchs."

"But Sarah is right. We have worked hard to win this opportunity to rebuild our homes, and we should focus on doing practical things and fulfilling our promises to the people."

"They both make sense, so who should I listen to?"

Roosevelt's voice echoed in his mind.

"You've asked the wrong question, Leo."

"A true leader should never ask, 'Whom should I listen to?'"

"He should be asking, 'How do I manage them?'"

Roosevelt's voice pulled Leo out of his weariness with reality.

The scene before his eyes changed.

He was now in a spacious, solemn, and historic oval office.

The White House, the Oval Office.

It was the winter of 1933, shortly after Roosevelt took office as President of the United States, and the whole country was still shrouded in the shadow of the Great Depression.

Leo found himself standing in a corner of the office, like an unseen bystander.

He saw Roosevelt sitting behind a huge desk piled high with documents and reports.

He wore a helpless, bitter smile as he listened to the heated argument between the two men in front of him.

One of the men was tall with messy hair and wore round-framed glasses. He was excited, spoke quickly and urgently, waved his arms, and spat everywhere.

"Mr. President, I reiterate! We must immediately take the harshest action against Wall Street! Put all those bankers who profited from the national crisis in jail and completely dismantle the financial empires of Morgan and Rockefeller! Otherwise, all our efforts will be in vain!"

The other man was the complete opposite.

He was slender, dressed in a sharp suit, his hair was neatly combed, and his face carried a calculating calmness.

"Harold, calm down," he retorted in a steady tone. "Of course we need to restore order to the financial system, but not with your revolutionary methods that will only cause more panic. What we need most right now is to stabilize market confidence and balance the federal government's budget, not to wage a war that will scare away all investors."

"Henry, you coward!" the tall man roared angrily. "You only care about the interests of your banker friends; you don't care at all about the unemployed workers starving outside!"

"It's not that I don't care, I just understand how a country's economy works better than you!" The thin man raised his voice.

"Enough, gentlemen."

Roosevelt spoke, and the arguing in the office immediately stopped.

"Harold, Henry, both of you sit down."

The two men glared at each other, then reluctantly sat down in the chairs in front of the desk.

"In my cabinet, there are lions like Frank, full of fighting spirit and revolutionary fervor," Roosevelt's voiceover echoed in Leo's mind. "For example, that tall man you just saw, his name is Harold Ikers, my Secretary of the Interior."

"He is a tireless reformer, a fighter who hates all vested interests. I need a lion like him to charge into battle for me, to gnaw on the toughest bones, and to fight against the most powerful enemies."

"But at the same time, my cabinet also has foxes like Sarah who are good at calculation, practical, and know how to build and manage."

"Like the other thin man you see, his name is Henry Morgenthau, my Secretary of the Treasury. He is a prudent banker and a staunch budget balancer."

"I also need a fox like him to guard the country's purse strings and ensure that our grand plans are not abandoned halfway due to financial collapse."

"In my government, there are many more sheep responsible for carrying out specific orders. They don't need to have many ideas, just enough loyalty and execution ability."

"Leo, a good leader, doesn't try to turn all animals into the same type; that's a stupid thing only a dictator would do."

"A truly great leader knows how to build a balanced ecosystem."

"Let the lions roar freely on their battlefields, let the foxes shrewdly calculate in their granaries, and let the sheep graze quietly in their pastures."

"Let them each do their job, let them check and balance each other, let them compete with each other, and ultimately let them all serve that ultimate goal that only you know."

The scene in the office continues.

Roosevelt looked at his two capable lieutenants, who were still sulking with each other, and smiled.

"Harold, you're right. We must make Wall Street pay for their crimes. So, I authorize you to immediately draft a securities trading regulation bill to put all those financial fraudsters in cages."

A victorious smile spread across Iks' face.

"But Henry, you're right, we can't trigger a new financial panic." Roosevelt then turned to Morgenthau. "So, before Harold's bill is formally submitted to Congress, I will invite the most important bankers on Wall Street to the White House for a frank discussion. I will make them understand that cooperating with the government is their only way out."

"You two are my most trusted partners. I need your passion, and I also need your rationality."

"Now, stop your pointless arguments, go back to your departments, and get to work."

The two men stood up and left the president's office.

They still didn't speak to each other when they left.

After the office door closed, Roosevelt's smile vanished, replaced by a weariness Leo had never seen before.

"So, Leo, do you understand now?" Roosevelt's voice-over rang out again. "The argument between Frank and Sarah is normal and healthy. It proves that your little team is full of energy and diverse ideas."

"But their problem is that they can only see their own small piece of land. Frank only saw the necessity of struggle, while Sarah only saw the importance of construction. They were both right, but they were also both one-sided."

"And you, as their leader, must see the whole forest."

"You can't let yourself get caught up in their specific arguments. You must always stand above these arguments, look at the big picture from a higher perspective, and then make the final decision that is most beneficial to the whole cause."

"This is the loneliness of a leader."

"You must take responsibility for making the final decision and for all the consequences that decision may have."

"You must be the only one who can point the way through the whole forest when everyone else can only see the trees."