Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 100 Sadness
Subtitle of this chapter: This generation of people is not good enough!
On Singles' Day in 1918, the Armistice of Compiègne Forest was signed.
In December of the same year, President Wilson left New York on the ship "George Washington". The crowd on the dock cheered for him, the ships in the harbor blew their horns for him, and the warships fired salutes for him...BOOM!
In Britain, he became the most popular foreign leader in history, and the reception he received on the streets of London was comparable only to the coronation of a king. In Rome... in Paris... at this moment, he must have been full of confidence, the goddess of peace favored him, the whole world supported him, and a bright future full of hope had dawned.
It seemed that if he just stood on tiptoe, a peaceful earth would be within his reach like a ripe apple...
But he was immediately slapped in the face by history. Later he wrote in his diary that in some aspects this treaty was terrible. Unless it was absolutely necessary, I should not have accepted the Shandong clause or the Italian border clause. I should have determined the amount of reparations Germany had to pay and should have prevented France from plundering a large amount of German territory. But under the circumstances at the time, this was the best result I could have achieved.
Hey, if the president of this prestigious university could really deal with those old foxes in old Europe, there would have been no World War II, and even the May Fourth Movement might not have happened.
Of course, the most fundamental reason is that America is not strong enough to dominate the world at that time.
However, as a politician, he can write this in his diary, but he can't say it to the public. The problem is that the American people are a bit naive, but they are not really stupid. Even if they are stupid, journalists who write political reports are not stupid, and American politicians, especially Republicans, will not admit it so obediently.
Regarding the Treaty of Versailles, Marshal Foch, the Allied commander-in-chief, said, "This is not peace, but a truce of twenty years." Can't the Americans see that?
Before leaving the United States, Woodrow Wilson was the conscience of all mankind; after returning to the United States, he made Americans feel upset because he actually failed but never refused to admit his failure.
Once a politician loses the public's trust, he or she loses his or her place of survival.
In order to defend himself and urge Congress to join the League of Nations, President Wilson went on a nationwide tour after returning home. He had to give one or even two speeches a day in huge, hot and stuffy auditoriums without loudspeakers, travel to cities by car, face a large number of reporters and bright spotlights, and at night, he could only toss and turn in the bumpy train.
At this time, the American people were also tired of war and world peace.
In September 1919, his health collapsed, and a stroke left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body, unable to stand up. With his serious illness, the Democratic government was leaderless and the entire executive branch almost came to a standstill.
In addition to the disastrous failure of foreign policy and the chaos of the administrative system, the United States was undergoing a critical economic transformation from 1919 to 1921. Of course, economic transformation inevitably has some side effects.
In the long run, the United States is evolving from primary heavy industry and processing industry to high-tech industry. This is because a large number of European capital and enterprises have fled the war-torn old Europe to the safe new continent. It can be said that this has laid the foundation for the global hegemony of the United States. However, in the short term, American domestic enterprises have lost a large number of war orders and are no longer prosperous. Market funds have been invested in emerging industries and have not received returns for the time being, which has caused economic development to stagnate.
If we only look at the stock market performance, the past two years have been a big bear market, with the Dow Jones Index falling by 47% and not recovering until next year. This is known in history as the "big bear market after World War I" and is the sixth worst "stock market crash" in the century-long financial history of the United States.
This naturally made the American people even more dissatisfied. The Treaty of Versailles could be said to be a story that happened in "distant" old Europe, but economic stagnation was something they experienced firsthand.
Therefore, the classroom was silent.
“Ahem…” Professor Klein coughed a few times and said, “In that case, let me explain my point of view.”
He leaned on the podium with his arms folded, and said in a shrill voice: "President Wilson called this election a 'great and solemn referendum', and the masses would stand up to defend him, the country, and the unprecedented League of Nations! But now it seems that he was wrong, and he was wrong outrageously."
Professor Klein suddenly pointed out the window and said loudly: "We can regard this election as a test, a test for the American people!"
"How sad!" He sighed, shook his head sadly, and said with great sorrow: "This time the American people failed the test. This time they gave up their bravery and honor..."
Our Master Yuan was sitting in his seat, thinking about his own things. The US election had little to do with him. But after hearing what the Jewish professor said, he couldn't help but be inspired.
Oh, don't these words mean "this generation of people is no good"? This professor is quite interesting. I have to listen to what he says.
All I could hear was the people continuing to loudly accuse: "This time they chose to live in mediocrity and comfort!"
Wow, this guy really has some of the style of the white left in later generations, he just loves to talk nonsense. In the 1916 presidential election, Wilson's slogan was "He keeps us out of war", which is how he defeated the Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes with difficulty. In fact, New York Governor Hughes was also a progressive. Old Ross commented on the two: The only difference between them is whether they shave or not (Hughes has a big beard).
If American voters really "chose compromise and comfort", they did it in 1916. Why say that?
But our Master Yuan liked this kind of nonsense tone, so he perked up and listened carefully.
“So as economic workers we must know that the masses cannot be trusted. Individuals who enter the group will undergo an essential psychological change under the influence of the “collective subconscious” mechanism. Just like animals, dementia, infants and primitive people, such individuals will involuntarily lose their self-consciousness and completely become another kind of creature with a very low level of intelligence…”
That's right, it's the same saying as in "The Crowd". White leftists are really interesting. If people support you, then you have many supporters. If people don't support you, then you have become another kind of creature with very low intelligence.”.
