I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 187

The Japanese Empire, which had been hit by dozens of nuclear bombs, finally surrendered unconditionally the next day, when the surviving Prime Minister Tojo Hideki declared defeat.

V-J day, headlines and banners celebrating the victory over Japan were everywhere, and people cheered.

“The war is over! Long live America!”

“Hooray! Hooray! Victory hooray!”

From the new recruits who had been anxiously waiting for the day they would have to go to the battlefield where death awaited them, to the veteran marines who were about to set foot in Japan. 

One by one, they started to return to their homeland by port or airport.

“Wow! Johnny! Johnny! I’m here!”

“Oh, Daisy!”

Men cheered, boys shouted, women ran out to welcome the returning soldiers. America was happier than ever.

And this victory parade reached its climax with the arrival of General MacArthur.

“Wow!!! MacArthur! MacArthur!”

[MacArthur for President]

MacArthur, who walked down from the Enterprise, the most decorated ship of this war, waved his hand to the crowd with a satisfied smile on his lips.

The people shouted louder.

“MacArthur! MacArthur!”

“MacArthur for President!”

“Ha ha… Thank you. Thank you.”

As the soldiers who had prepared a makeshift podium for MacArthur saluted and stepped back, he grabbed the microphone and opened his mouth.

“Thank you for arranging this place for me, fellow citizens of America!”

“Wow!!!”

“This is a place to celebrate our glorious victory. Please give a round of applause to the proud army that led this war!”

Once again, a huge wave of applause, cheers, and frenzy passed by, and Eisenhower, who was sitting behind MacArthur, smiled bitterly.

He had been fussing over the contents of the speech until this morning, but his superior was giving a fairly skillful speech. He felt guilty to the Americans that he had written that for him.

MacArthur was proudly boasting how great a soldier he was and how great a general he was, and how his leadership led the US army to victory in the war against Japan. 

The countless supporters who had been charmed by MacArthur clapped no matter what he said.

“Thank you, thank you, fellow citizens. And on this occasion… I, Douglas MacArthur, solemnly declare that I will run for the Republican nomination for the United States presidential election!!!”

“!!!”

Eisenhower, who had been thinking about his wife Mamie whom he had not seen for a long time, was startled when MacArthur suddenly announced his candidacy.

‘No, there was no such thing in the manuscript I wrote for him?’

Somehow, MacArthur was not reading the manuscript, but looking straight at the public and making a speech. 

No matter how close a general was to a politician, he should have avoided being involved in politics as an active-duty military officer, but MacArthur did not care about that.

He grabbed his throbbing head and tried to quietly hint at him, but MacArthur was already lifted up by his supporters and shouted hooray on top of the crowd. Like making the victorious general lead the parade on a shield.

And the victorious general always challenged the ruler with their popularity. Fortunately, the US army was not MacArthur’s soldiers, FDR was old but a wise leader, and America was a country with an electoral system.

“God…”

“God bless America!”

He did not know if the god that the people who cheered for MacArthur and Eisenhower who rubbed his throbbing head were looking for was the same god, but if it was, he might have a headache.

***

The Republican primary to decide the candidate for the US presidential election scheduled for November 1944 was held first in Wisconsin.

The Democratic Party naturally elected the incumbent President FDR, who boasted overwhelming power and authority within the party, as the presidential candidate once again, and according to Roosevelt’s strong will, Wallace was tentatively nominated as the vice president. 

The Republicans desperately wanted a ‘strong candidate’ to counter this.

The US presidential candidate primary was mainly a method of determining the support rate of each candidate by state. As in any election, the first support rate that appeared often determined the future plan and direction of the floating layer.

So the eyes of the whole US were focused on Wisconsin. 

This typical Midwest rural state, where conservative and progressive tendencies were moderately mixed, the candidates who thought that the first winner would eventually go to the road to the president, competed with all their might in Wisconsin.

But here, the Republican primary candidates met an unexpected and worst enemy.

“There are hundreds of thousands of communists hiding in this great nation! They must all be found and sent to concentration camps. Americans! Beware of the enemy within!”

Joseph McCarthy, a Wisconsin congressman, captivated the people with a speech calling for finding communists at the place where the party’s presidential candidate was decided.

None of the presidential candidates could surpass the fervent support that the crowd gave to McCarthy. Wendell Willkie, a heavyweight politician who ran against FDR in the 1940 election, and Thomas Dewey, who had been running for the Republican support rate until recently, looked at the public’s frenzy with their eyes wide open.

The Republican moderates did not like FDR’s pro-Soviet line. 

Nevertheless, they had to admit that it was President Roosevelt who ended this world war, that interventionism was right, and that the New Deal was an appropriate choice, though they hated to admit it.

But McCarthy denied all those achievements and put a red sticker on them. And yet the public was enthusiastic about him.

With the power of enthusiasm, McCarthy raised his voice even higher and shouted with blood in his throat.

“I think the most suitable person to lead this nation out of this crisis, the crisis that our great nation has fallen into, is General MacArthur, no matter what anyone says. We must save America from the deception of the leftists with his leadership and determination. God bless America!!!”

“?!?!?!!”

As if he knew everything, MacArthur, who was leisurely watching the situation with a corn cob pipe in his mouth, got up from his seat and waved his hand to the people as the spotlight turned to him.

The sunglasses that he used for flying only after the Philippine Army General’s conspiracy, and the corn cob pipe that could be called his trademark. 

The people saw the ‘great commander MacArthur’ that they had seen in the newspaper until now, the same as the picture, on the podium.

“Wow!! General MacArthur! General MacArthur!!”

“Ha ha, thank you.”

MacArthur began his speech leisurely. He praised himself and his ‘MacArthur Command’ for their great achievements. He talked about the miraculous victory over Japan, the brave soldiers, and the competent commander MacArthur who led them!

The other candidates could only sigh. They had never received such cheers in any public speech.

As veteran politicians, they knew. 

The Wisconsin primary was already over. They had secured a large number of supporters locally, and two rising stars with national fame had joined forces.

“And, I have a surprise for you.”

Ha, what now… As the candidates resigned themselves, McCarthy, who had given an enthusiastic speech of support for MacArthur earlier, walked out of his seat.

The people seemed to cheer whenever they saw McCarthy. He climbed up to the podium and stood next to MacArthur, looking down at the people with a pleased face.

“I nominate Joseph McCarthy, the congressman of Wisconsin, as my vice presidential candidate. I ask for your support for Congressman McCarthy and the Wisconsin Republicans in the upcoming primaries!”

“Wow!!!”

The two men held hands and shouted hooray, and the crowd cheered more fervently than ever. 

Their support was overwhelming, as if the vote was a mere formality.

The first primary ended like that. MacArthur, who reaffirmed his support with a huge margin in the Wisconsin primary, left for Illinois with McCarthy, where the next primary would be held. 

The other candidates could only watch their backs in silence.

“What are you going to do…?”

“…”

They were all influential politicians who could compete for the presidential candidacy, and they had their own networks of supporters in each state.

According to their surveys, MacArthur’s support rate in Illinois, where the next primary would be held, was no lower than in Wisconsin, if not higher.

If they won the first two primaries by a landslide, the road to the election would be unstoppable, like a snowball rolling down. 

The candidates were now seriously wondering what to do.

Elections were money, and every moment they attracted people and showed off their power, they ate up a huge amount of money.

As politicians who had to borrow money and receive donations as investments based on victory, they could not afford the situation that seemed to have already decided the outcome. 

They felt like they would receive letters of withdrawal of support as soon as tomorrow.

“…There’s also a way to support General MacArthur, isn’t there?”

Of course, the ‘losers’ also had their own choices.

Even if they continued to weaken, they could push their party organization and fundraising money to the candidate who declared their support and promise a powerful position in the cabinet or somewhere else in the future.

MacArthur was not an established politician, and he would definitely need a collaborator who knew the market well. 

Even more so if he chose McCarthy, a fresh and troublesome newcomer, as his vice president. 

The veteran politicians were calculating in their minds what they could promise and what position they could get.

Some of them, who still had a decent support rate, were still bouncing another board for the next primary, the next next primary.

One of them was Thomas Dewey, who had been wearing the title of ‘support rate 1’ until a while ago.

‘No matter how I look at it, MacArthur is too reckless…’

He was also one of the big politicians who had hands and ears everywhere. And what he found out was that McCarthy’s ‘communist list’ had no basis at all. 

He was popular with a claim that was vague even in substance, but he knew best that his popularity could evaporate like a mirage at any moment.

He felt that he needed some adjustments to his plan due to the rise of the conservatives, but his original victory plan did not seem to be too far off.

“Hmm, I’ll go now.”

He might have to give up a little more in tonight’s negotiations.

But the one who laughs last is the real winner. 

With my own trick, I could make even a mastermind suffer from a headache.