"I think President Truman should formally invite the Soviet Union to join when implementing the Marshall Plan."

Leffenwell repeated his opinion once again before starting to explain his opinion.

"Of course, I don't mean that we Morgan wanted to get together with Red after we got into ill-proper relationship with ***."

"If you think so, either you are stupid, or you think I am stupid."

"Of course, it's obvious that no one who can sit here can be a fool. A fool cannot be a banker."

"As capitalists, we are born to be together with the Soviet Union, unless there is a lunatic like Hitler in the world. This is our consensus, but why should I ask President Truman to invite the Soviet Union to join?"

"Because, like our consensus, the Soviet Union also felt that they could not sit with us, and even their attitude should go a step further, and their purpose was to destroy us."

"Based on this judgment, I think that even if the Soviet Union clearly recognizes that our support is beneficial to them, they will still decisively and without hesitation to reject the White House's proposal."

"In this way, the Soviet Union will bear the condemnation of splitting Europe... Originally, this hat should be ours."

Finally, Leffenwell summed up his point in one sentence: “If we don’t invite the Soviet Union to participate, the price we pay is like passing the gates of hell; and if we invite them, they will say ‘Let’s see your ghost, American!’”

Leffenwell's words were very convincing, and everyone present nodded silently and agreed with his point of view.

A few days later, when George Kennan heard Leffenwell's words reposted by others, he laughed and said, "This is a confidant!"

Soon, he used the signature "X" to publish an article titled "The Roots of Soviet Action" in the magazine "Foreign Affairs", proposing the "containment strategy" that was later adopted by the United States.

After the disagreement was eliminated, Dean asked several more questions, and everyone here gave positive questions. Finally, when Dean asked how much support Wall Street could provide in terms of funds, the seven chairmen each gave a number.

Dean thought about it and found that the total amount was quite different from the figures proposed by Marshall.

Dean questioned: "Everyone, is this the largest amount you can provide? This is not like Wall Street's style!"

The seven chairmen looked at each other, and finally Lamont replied as a representative: "Dean, in terms of numbers, Wall Street will never go wrong."

"However, if the Ministry of Finance wants more funds, there is no way."

Dean naturally understood that this was making a request and said with the flow: "What's the solution? Please speak out!"

Lamont said with a blank expression on his face and answered some questions: "Since the outbreak of the war (referring to World War II), the Federal Reserve has fixed the long-term interest rate at 2.5%, and it has not changed yet."

"Lovitt, you've worked in the bank before, and your wife is from Brown, and you must understand how unreasonable this policy is."

"Interest rates have been so high for a long time, the Federal Reserve has had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to maintain the Treasury's high prices and low returns... This practice is undoubtedly a waste of money!"

Dean certainly understood what Lamont meant: "You want to restore interest rates to be determined by the market?"

Responding to him was silence.

After a moment, Dean said, "I understand, I will convey it to President Truman."

In less than five o'clock, the "Banker's Salon" ended.

At the same time, President Truman left the Senate Hall angrily on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, nearly 400 kilometers away from Wall Street.

Just now, the Senate passed the Taft-Hartley Act again with a vote of 68 to 25. Before that, on June 20, the House of Representatives had passed the bill with a vote of 331 to 83. This means that the bill, which was rejected by Truman once, will be officially implemented in one month.

As soon as the result came out, union protesters gathered near Capitol Hill immediately became excited.

Previously, President Truman's approval rating fell all the way because he did not handle the wave of strike last year. For the sake of next year's election, Truman tried to win back the support of the vast number of workers at the bottom, so he chose to reject the "Taft-Hartley Act". Of course, Truman knew in his heart that he could not stop the introduction of this bill, because behind the bill was almost all business people.

However, Truman did this, and the result was...

When he left the Senate Hall and returned to the White House, he received greetings from Philip Murray, the leader of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

"Mr. President, I don't know if you will participate in the general election next year. I hope that's for sure, because by then all the votes of the IUF members will only fill in one person's name."

Hang up the phone and Truman burst into laughter.

It was June 1947, and there was only a little more than half a year left before the start of next year's general election. Almost everyone, including the Democrats, had already determined that Truman could not be re-elected and was discussing who to send to fight against the Republican Party, which won a complete victory in the midterm election last year.

Not to mention the Republicans, they feel that Truman and the Democrats, who have made the economy mess, cannot be accepted by voters, and the next president is also the Republican.

Faced with this situation, if it were an ordinary person, he would probably choose to withdraw with a decent choice and no longer seek re-election. But Truman was not. When his approval rating dropped to 32% in the poll, a Democratic Arkansas senator suggested Truman resign, but he replied: "I don't care what the Senator said in the middle of the night."

Truman aims at next year's general election, and the support of the Industrial and Commercial Union is undoubtedly excellent news for him.

However, Truman's happiness failed to last long, and a call from Dean Lovett made him angry.

Unlike what he pretended at least half just now, this time he was really angry.

"Restore free interest rates? These conspirators, greedy money slaves, really think beautiful!"

Truman remembered the past in the early 1920s when he caused his U.S. government bonds to fall when he held then-Reserve Bank President Benjamin Strong raised interest rates. He did not think it was just a matter of luck, but that bankers betrayed bond holders.

This is also why Truman supports fixed interest rates.

"They are trying to restore the kind of monetary policy that was the same as the past, including the two companies of Morgan Bank and the New York Reserve Bank."

"No, I can't compromise."

Truman was furious and a staff member persuaded him: "Sir, if you don't agree to them, the Ministry of Finance may not raise enough funds..."

Truman thought for a while and said, "Then increase the share of commercial loans in the plan."
Chapter completed!