Chapter 5 worst year-3

Has the power to seize our land.We're going to give some color for them to see. Ameringer also told the House of Representatives Labor Committee: "Many people who had a good life and didn't talk casually before have made such comments now." " Will Rogers said: "Paul Revere was a native of Boston. On the night of April 18, 1775, the British army set off to attack the North American Revolutionary Army. He rode from Charles Town to Lexington Town overnight, calling the police loudly along the way. Get everyone ready in time.—The translator just woke up Concord, but these guys woke up America.” And listen to the Iowa folks sing along Route 20:

Let's have a Farmers' Day, Have a good time on Farmers' Day, We eat our wheat, our ham, our eggs; Let them eat their gold! Near the town of Cherokee, 48 miles east of Sioux City, Milo Reno's Peasant Army camp was shotgun-fired, and Sioux City was quickly relieved.Renault fled, and the peasants surrounding other cities followed suit.But Reynolds said, "You can't stop the peasant movement, just as you can't stop the American Revolution in 1776." It is in line with American tradition that farmers use force to resist the government, and no one dares to punish them.Sixty people were arrested in Council Bluffs, but a thousand armed peasants besieged the prison and the authorities had to hurry to release them.Realizing that direct action works, the farmers decided to find a way to get their foreclosed land back.

Outside a village in Kansas, police found a body.Killed was the lawyer who had just declared foreclosure on a 500-acre farm.Two hundred thousand farmers in Cheyenne County, Nebraska, were so deeply in debt that their leaders declared that if the state legislature did not do anything to help them, they would rally and knock down the statehouse.During the last winter of Hoover's presidency, riots broke out in Iowa over foreclosures in Storm Lake, Priingal, Van Buren County, and Le Mas.The Lemas incident was particularly frightening: self-defense troops in black shirts stormed the courthouse, pulled Judge Charles C. Bradley from his high seat, blindfolded him, pulled him into a car, and drove to a remote intersection.The head of the Self-Defense Forces said to him: "Will you swear that you will never sign the foreclosure document on the farm again?" The judge refused.I asked him again and again, but he still didn't answer.Then they slapped and kicked him, knocked him to the ground; tied a rope around his neck and looped it around a signpost; put a greasy hubcap on his head, and someone Said loudly: "This is his crown!" The judge never agreed to their request.However, although the judge was stripped and beaten, he did not dare to prosecute those people afterwards.

After the courts signed the foreclosure documents on the farms, often hundreds of farmers showed up at the auction, yelling, "No sale!" Preparing bidders were pushed aside and neighbors of those whose land was seized They bought the original land with a few dollars and returned it to the owner.Once, when the county sheriff presided over an auction, a horse was sold for a nickel, a Holstein bull for a nickel, three pigs for a nickel, two calves for a quarter, and so on, until all When the property changed hands, the total value was only one dollar and eight cents.The purchaser returned the land to the original owner, and was issued a title deed by the government, confirming that he had 99 years of property rights.Lawyers sent to litigate on behalf of insurance companies in the eastern states were often kidnapped and threatened with hanging, so that the head office relented and agreed to a stay of seizure. In late January 1933, John A. Simpson, president of the National Farmers Association, told the Senate Agriculture Committee: "The largest and best revolution is now breaking out across the country." Edward A. O'Neill, president of the American Farm Service Federation The third added: "Unless there is some way for American farmers, otherwise, within a year, there will be revolutions in the countryside."

During that eventful winter, many sensitive young people gradually became sensible, and 30 years later, they will become leaders of the United States.Although they reacted differently to the events around them, none could forget the Great Depression.They have witnessed many crises in American history in their lives, but this earliest crisis has the most profound impact on the formation of their characters. Let's take a look at the list. In 1932, Robert F. Kennedy was 7 years old; Frank Church and James Baldwin were 8 years old; Mark Hatfield and Norman Mailer were 9 years old; John Lindsay, Nicholas Katzenbach and Flo Ed McKissick was 10; Whitney Young and John Glenn were 11; James Farmer, Stuart Udall and Charles Percy were 12; Edward Brooke, George Wallace, McGeorge Bundy and Russell Long 13; Billy Graham, Orville Freeman and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. 14; John F. Kennedy, Robert Taft, John Connery, and Lawrence F. O'Brien at 15; Arthur Miller, Robert McNamara, Eugene McCarthy, and John Tower at 16; David Rockefeller, Peter Dominique, Herman Walker, Saul Bello, Walter Heller and White Xiude 19; William Westmoreland, Tennessy Williams, Jonas Salk 18 with Stuart Alsop; 19 with Gerald Ford and Richard M. Nixon.

In the fall of 1932, Nixon was a third-year student at Whittier College, majoring in history, while selling fresh vegetables in his family store.Every day before dawn, he rushes to the Los Angeles Public Market to negotiate prices with vegetable farmers to buy vegetables.He had food at home (he was one of 80 million people in the United States who were neither starving nor on relief at the time), so there were no complaints.However, he was a college student, and this status was different from others; because at that time, less than 1/8 of the young people aged 18 to 22 had gone to college, and only half of them had gone to middle school.For most, formal education is still limited to one-teacher primary schools, which number 143,391 across the country.

If we could go back to 1932, we would find that most of the typical middle class lived in the city; the suburbs had begun to form, but only 18% of the population.At that time, it was still possible for a person to live comfortably with his family not far from the workplace.If a person in the 1970s goes back to visit the residential area in 1932, he will first find that there are many things on the street that are different from today: the "Stop" traffic sign is yellow, the mailbox is green, the milk bottle is thick and heavy, The exterior of the house is dilapidated.It turned out that few houses had been painted since 1929, and work had stopped on some houses before they were finished.For example, on East Jefferson Street in Detroit, the 11-story building originally planned by the Elk Club was not completed. For 34 years, the roof beams without tiles have been facing the sky.

Most of the utensils, gadgets and creature comforts of the 70s are still rare.At that time, there were no electric lawn mowers, household air conditioning devices and automatic dishwashers; no clothes dryers, electric blankets, radios with automatic on and off timers; no thermal glass windows, nylon stockings, easy-to-wash and dry clothes, and refrigerated food; No automatic coffee pots, electric razors with dry batteries; no filter cigarettes, electric toothbrushes, vinyl floors; no ballpoint pens, electric typewriters, dictating recorders, xerographic copiers; no Styrofoam, hi-fi stereo radios, sticky tape ; no household refrigerators, cassette recorders, color or instant film; no fiberglass fishing rods, garbage disposals, tape recorders; no snowplows, electric scalpels; no household hair dryers, no Electric canning knives, no music broadcasts in public places.Although Gilbert Selders predicted in "Harper's" magazine: "We will probably have a simple and cheap mechanism (currently being improved) It's on the little screen next to the home radio." But there were no televisions then, not even black and white.But without that, the middle class survived the Depression through the 1930s.It's like the life of a pioneer!

Most Americans heat their homes with hot-air furnaces, artificially stoked with coal, twice a day.In one winter, the country needs about 400 million tons of coal, which is delivered by a swarthy man. The coal truck drives to the basement window, and the coal is poured into the chute and rolled into the coal box next to the stove.At that time, the so-called "refrigerator" was not a refrigerator, but a box containing ice cubes, which was delivered by an ice delivery person.How many pounds of ice a housewife needs is written on a card in the kitchen window, whether it is 100, 75, 50, or 25 pounds, and you can see it at a glance.Only a wealthy husband could buy his wife a new electric toaster oven that seared both sides at once (it was the so-called "extra toaster" in the Sears Roebuck catalog that year).In most homes, bread is baked in a gas, coal or wood oven.The stove is also used to heat the big iron and iron the washed clothes just brought back from the laundry; if there is no hot water tap in the house, the stove is also used to heat hot water for bathing in big buckets.

The phonograph had to be wound by hand, and it was called a "vitrola" or a "grammer wind," not a record player.Housewives put on their dust caps before they start doing that heavy cleaning; there's usually only one machine that can help, and that's the carpet cleaner. In December 1932, there were only 185 vacuum cleaners in households and households powered by the Alabama Power Company.Most farms are lit by kerosene lamps.Only 10% of farmers nationwide have access to electricity (1% in Mississippi). 90% of farmhouses have neither bathtubs nor showers. 75% of farmhouses do not have running water indoors. 50% of farmers fetch water from wells or small rivers, wash clothes outdoors, and bathe children. (Millions of urban households have only one washboard, which the whole family uses, and usually hangs the clothes out the door on Mondays.) Bugs are plentiful and a problem every summer.There was no DDT at that time, and the only insect repellents, regardless of country or city, were sprayers (“Henry, hurry up and get the ‘Flytto’ finger spray gun. — come translator!”) and flypaper.Mothers have to do it themselves to get some fruit juice for their children. They buy "Citigroup" tangerines, put them in an aluminum juicer, and spend half a day squeezing out the juice one by one.

Before the girls knew how to hold their hair with barrettes (and the boys put on long trousers for the first time at about the same age), her mother made it clear to her what distinguished women of social standing from those of no rank.A woman of status has these advantages: men open the door for her to let her walk ahead, people stand up and give up their seats on buses and trams; men take off their hats as soon as she enters the elevator; She can cut any meat; the grocery store will deliver the goods to her door when she hears the phone call; if she gives birth to a child, she will stay in bed for ten days as usual (the total cost, including the doctor, is 25 yuan).But on the other hand, she had to submit to her husband's will, because she had sworn to "love him, respect him, and obey him" at the wedding.She behaves well in front of everyone.Middle-class women can’t smoke on the street, and they can’t go out to meet customers with curly hair clips all over their heads; they can put a small powder box with a mirror in their handbags to hold some cosmetics, but they can only be used when there is no one or women. You can only use it in the toilet; you can't swear, and you can't tell dirty jokes. (Sometimes she also wants to know what the so-called homosexuality of women means, but who to ask?) The writers of the advertisements tried their best to scare her, making her afraid of one thing and another: afraid of bad breath, afraid of body odor, Afraid of smelly underwear, afraid of sitting in the office and making the butt bigger, afraid of clogged pores, afraid of bleeding after brushing teeth, afraid of breath smelling of cigarettes, afraid of colon failure, afraid of sagging breasts, and afraid of athlete's foot.Skirts should be lower than the calf (if the skirt does not reach the knee, you must be a bitch).A respectable woman cannot go out without a bonnet, just as a husband cannot go out into the street without a fedora.She could use Ipana toothpaste (which was said to give her a "smile"), a Dr. West toothbrush, and even Tangy lipstick, but not nail polish or hair dye.Barbers didn't know how to dye hair then, a thing that decent women dared not even talk about.There was a bright young student majoring in chemistry at New York University who sold his homemade "Clairol" hair dye from door to door. Mothers of middle-class families often have to take care of the sick.At that time, the patient was ill for several days and was in great pain.Even if you go to the dentist, you have to suffer for an hour.The anesthetic commonly used by dentists is procaine (novocaine was introduced later), and the patient is given the medicine temporarily while sitting on the operating chair, and the injection has various adverse side effects.Tens of thousands of patients' teeth are still drilled with a burr creaking.Because high-speed drills hadn't been invented yet, one visit to the dentist won't solve much.Anesthesiologists in many hospitals used chloroform and then switched to ether shortly thereafter, which was not necessarily much better than chloroform.There were no sulfa drugs and no antibiotics.Ninety-five percent of meningitis is fatal, and pneumonia is often fatal.Even viral infections (then called "Glip disease" or influenza. - Translator) were serious illnesses.While hospitalization was inexpensive, there was no sickness insurance—the American Medical Association didn't agree to create the Blue Cross, a nonprofit health care organization, until 1933. ——Translator, so most patients can only stay at home, that is, let the mother watch over.She has very few medications to help with treatment.Only a few barbiturates are available by prescription, mainly phenobarbital. Today, 40 years later, people take too much medicine, but the medicine could not be sold at that time. From 1932 to 1934, a total of 3,512 pharmacies closed down and owed more than 59 million yuan in debt. Being a mother is harder than it is now, but the role a mother can play is also greater than it is now.Parents had a great influence on their children at that time.There is no such thing as a teenage subculture; Webster's Dictionary defines the word teenage as "shrubs used for fences and hedges."Young people are called "young men", and young men are loyal to their families.The ubiquitous teen cliques that fret now were not there, so children rarely felt conflicted between friends and parents.None of the kids thought of talking to other kids about their parents' conflicts.If a middle-class family was going for a Sunday afternoon drive into the country (as it often did), the kids didn't play baseball, "jumping the grid" a game. ——Translator, I went out with my parents.During the Great Depression, entertainment at home increased.According to the results of a survey of more than 100 white-collar and professional families in Pittsburgh, most of the families have more recreational activities: playing table tennis, jigsaw boards, playing checkers, living room games, playing bridge, especially the Listen to the radio. The radio is often the most visible piece of equipment in the living room.Whether it is "Atwater Kent", "Phico", "Silver Star", or "Luxury", it may be the "Great Waterfall" brand that is no longer fashionable. City" style floor radio.Those who arranged the radio program took into account the living conditions of the family, so during the day there were segmented programs for mothers, and in the evening there were news, burlesque and vaudeville, interspersed with an hour-long program for children. In the winter season from the end of 1932 to the beginning of 1933, almost all middle-class teenagers wore wool caps, sheepskin-lined tan cloth jackets, corduroy bloomers, and high lace-up boots with a big fold in the side of the boots. Knife (shorts and "Kurz" basketball shoes in summer).If he's lucky, he also has a Ranger 28-inch bike with foot brakes and leak-proof pad tires.When the car is not in use, it is locked with a padlock of one yuan and fifty cents.In those days, he could not fail to understand how useful money was and how much it could buy.Five cents can buy a three-color ice cube, a "Holden" brand cup of ice cream, a candy bar, or a loaf of bread; A copy of The Saturday Evening Post, The Currier, or The Freedom.A penny can buy some candy, a pencil, a postcard, a stack of paper, a marble, and even get your best friend to speak out. If Papa gave pocket money (say, five cents on Sundays), or earned a few bucks by shoveling snow and cutting grass (a field for twenty-five cents), the easiest place to spend it was The small pharmacy on the corner is a small street pharmacy that also sells cold drinks, snacks, cigarettes, books and newspapers. — translator.There, you can sit at a marble-topped table with metal legs and drink a bottle of Coca-Cola.But kids in Youngstown, Ohio, loved buying popsicles from a confectioner who drove through the suburbs in a white truck, ringing his bell and calling himself "Jolly Man."Boys could buy the latest issue of the Tom Swift comic strip if they saved up fifty cents.As David Riesman has pointed out, the heroes of children's literature "are ambitious. These heroes have a purpose, and readers think they are like them, so they do their best to imitate them. . . The hero wins, It is often due to the virtue of being good at controlling oneself, for example, not being afraid of danger.” It is meaningful that the favorite book of middle-class families is Charles Lindbergh, who first flew across the Atlantic from New York in 1927 and arrived in Paris. A hero of the time, leaning toward the Nazis in the 1930s. ——Translator's "My Generation". Kids have minds of their own (or, as Paul Elmer Moore put it at the time, "inner checks and balances") and always want to make a difference, although the Depression wasn't good enough to be too ambitious . In 1931, "Digest" magazine surveyed children's favorite occupations: eight-year-old boys hope to grow up to be a cattle rider, pilot or military officer in the West; girls hope to be movie stars.By the age of 18, boys want to be lawyers, electrical engineers or architects; girls want to learn shorthand and become secretaries.In adolescence, children gradually wake up, but this is not fun.Dorothy Dix explained the situation of youth in this way: "Childhood is so short, and the period after it is so long. Mothers can only let their children be comfortable for a few years before they have to face reality. .It would be a great mistake if she did not raise her children to be strong, but to make them impotent and unable to cope with all kinds of difficulties. Because of the parents' mistakes, the children have to pay the price of pain." The first thing children should learn is to pay attention to appearance and manners, because this will be of great help when looking for a job in the future.Dad told him, "Sit up straight," and "Here's a dime, take it to get a haircut." He probably wanted to buy a "light" sled or a "convenience" typewriter, but in the end The first thing I got was a set of navy blue serge clothes worth 8.95 cents, including a jacket, a vest, a pair of bloomers, and a pair of "Golden Coupon" brand black leather shoes for 2.98 cents.Wear this costume every Sunday and school day.Mothers look their kids up and down, like a sergeant sergeant inspecting every soldier in his squad before the white-gloved parade (somehow the kid keeps forgetting the white handkerchief) .The mother wants the child to make a good impression on the new teacher, but the child does not understand this. When going to school, the child brought a "Masterpiece" card book (with a vaguely famous painting printed on the cover), and laboriously copied homework on it, using Palmer's typeface with thick strokes and round lines.Seats in classrooms are often arranged alphabetically by student name.At least one classroom in the school has Pompeii on its walls, the ancient Italian city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. —An etching of the remains of the translator or a bust of Caesar in Rome.These things, as Riesman puts it, "show that school decorations are irrelevant to the psychological needs of children." Some of the texts in the textbook are interesting to read today.Lyndon Johnson read these words in his geography textbook as a boy: The climate and the character of the inhabitants of French Indochina are similar to those of Siam.The forested hills are rich in valuable teak and hardwoods, and the valleys are rich in rice.Other products are silk, cotton, tea and spices, as well as extensive underground coal seams. There is a textbook in the civics class that says: If a child is disobedient, he will suffer for the rest of his life.He was disobedient at home when he was young, and he will not abide by the laws of the country when he grows up, although he also participates in elections and elects those who make laws.The young men and women who study our constitution will soon discover that obedience to the orders of the government is as necessary in a democracy as in a monarchy. In Professor Thomas Marshall's new and widely adopted History of the United States (Macmillan & Co., 1930) there is the following passage: Slaves: Although blacks were slaves, they were generally happy on the plantations.They like to be around people, they like to sing, dance, talk and laugh, they like bright colors, and they are proud if they have a red or yellow bandanna wrapped around their heads.He is eager to be praised, and is always loyal to a benevolent master or overseer.He is always slow and wants to put off everything until tomorrow.Most planters realized that the best results were not whipping but valuing slaves, treating them well, and rewarding them so that they could win their loyalty. But the style of breaking away from reality is not limited to this. In schools everywhere in the 1930s—even in the capital for a few years—teachers were forbidden to mention the Soviet Union.The Russian locations on the map are left blank and unmarked, like those "unexplored" areas in Africa.Going to school every day, first of all, you must show your loyalty to the national flag and pray in a Christian style. Children who believe in Judaism and Catholicism also participate. People in 1932 often realized that there was a God, and that God was a bit like Mr. Doctrine.In October of that year, "Time" magazine published a critical article, reviewing Earl Carroll's "Vanity", saying that it was indecent.The dramatist Carroll was just as odious as the novelist Erskine Caldwell, and Luce, the owner of Time Magazine, couldn't bear it.Luce said: "Mr. Carroll's comical dialogue, which is almost obscene, has long been second to none in the theater. Milton Burleigh, the buffoon, was so vulgar that he blushed. Some burst out laughing. Burleigh imitated the tones of men and women, talked about the asses of actresses, and said a lot of obscene things loudly into the loudspeaker, as if he thought it was fun." Burleigh was particularly happy and "Time" magazine was particularly angry that the bras of some actresses in the chorus could be seen clearly. At that time, the middle-class districts in the United States were in a dying state. Against this background, "Night after Night" shaped the two characters of Mai West and George Lafayette.When talking with a friend, George said: "God, what a beautiful 'gem'!" Mayi replied: "Honey, God has nothing to do with 'it'." Ho Hayes is watching this change.In the music "Forty-Second Street" by Busby Berkley, a girl in the choir who sang the music said, "I'm afraid I'm going to 'spread'." The second said, "The first on your left A 'door'." The former said again: "No, it's in my 'sock'." Such shameless and lewd things are not everywhere.For teenagers, sex education is the most taboo of all subjects.Like the devil in the fairy tales and the employees who are often absent from work, on the first day of every new year, they often vow to change their past mistakes, and within a week, they will revert to their old ways.In terms of the handling of the sexual reporting, it's almost unleashing a huge criminal mind.Every adolescent boy knows that masturbation is debilitating and, over time, impotent, as the saying goes: "Hair grows on the palm of the hand." The girls are also very worried.They are afraid of being called "sluts" and "broken shoes" at school.Their situation is made even more difficult by the fact that young people's societies are largely male-centric.Few asked girls to ride their bikes in circles, exchanged steel marbles or gummies, discussed Cleveland's national air races, played "Knives in the Knife," "Capture the Hill," "Capture the Flag," "Catch Playing Truant." "(unless they are their own sisters or naughty girls) and so on game.From time to time, boys and girls may chat unnaturally, commenting on the merits of the Ipana Folk Choir, the Cricket Club Eskimo Choir, and the Two Oceans Gypsy Choir.But every year on the National Day of July 4th, the boys are blowing up firecrackers, throwing cannons on the ground, and blowing up the tin cans into the air with two-inch heaven and earth rings and "cherry cannons", but most of the girls can only play in the Look aside, screaming in fright when the cannon fires. In summer, if middle-class families can afford the eight yuan a week (which is not too much), they will send their children away for at least ten and a half months.If for nothing else but the annual polio epidemic, it must be done.When polio hit, people stayed at home, afraid to go to the movies, afraid to go to rallies, some even afraid to go out without masks.In this way, many middle-class children in the city learned to swim at Boy Scout camp or YMCA camp, and grew to love the scent of honeysuckle and the fireflies and Junebugs flying around campfires.They get it, the grasshoppers call in August, and the frost is six weeks away. Sometimes families hitch their suitcases to the running boards next to their brand new Chevrolet ($445, FOB Detroit) and go on a "trip."The so-called travel is very risky, and there is a possibility of accidents on the road.The spare wheel mounted on the back of a two-seater sports car or sedan is often taken off for use. Tires from the 1930s exploded as soon as they broke.The car ride was not comfortable, and the quality of food in the "roadside hotels" was not reliable.Staying overnight is a hassle as rooms are hard to find.According to AAA, travelers typically take a week to get to their destination and another week to get home.It may seem like a lot to see, but you have to know that the average day on the road is only 234 miles.Highway 1 passes through the center of Washington, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, and when it reaches the Delaware and Hudson Rivers (the George Washington Bridge is still under construction), you must take a ferry to cross the river, and during the Great Depression, Maine In winter, there is a lot of snow in the middle of the road in the state, and the soil on both sides is loose. If the car is driven too fast, accidents will happen.There were no interstates back then.Driving across the country from the East Coast, the only road is along Route 30 (Lincoln Road) into downtown Chicago, and then along Route 66.Both of these roads have only dual carriageways, and several sections are only dirt roads, not asphalted. Route 66 climbs through the Rocky Mountains, with sharp turns and steep grades. If this sounds a bit like primitive life, then we have a few more words to add.As Caroline Byrd points out, certain aspects of American society at the time were delightful.Of course, it takes money, but it doesn't have to be a lot.With an annual income of five or six thousand yuan, or even a little less, one can live a comfortable life that cannot be obtained today.The living environment of the middle class is much quieter than it is now.There were no ear-shattering noises of supersonic jets, pneumatic rock crushers, high-impact rock drills, air compressors, or chainsaws; no hi-fi radios, tape recorders, recording amplifiers; no 125 Decibel crystal groups, and very few rivet guns.People don't communicate that much with each other, the FBI has only more than three million fingerprints; Social Security has no numeric codes, there are no ZIP codes across the country, there are no long-distance telephones installed, and there are no credit card computer deposit banks.It was quite easy to go to university at that time. In 1932, only 35,000 people were admitted to university.If you want to fly, there are very few flights, but the passengers are very hospitable, because there is a surplus of labor at that time, and the airlines can require those waitresses with nurses' licenses to be extra attentive. You don't have to give advance notice to a hotel, fancy restaurant, hairdresser, or hospital to reserve a place for you.Nobody worries about pollution because the factory chimneys don't emit smoke at all.Tutors, barbers, dressmakers, music teachers, and even physicians were on call.If you work in an office, the secretary will come to work on time every morning and never go out for coffee.They don't make personal phone calls in the office, and they don't give advice because of overtime. "As long as there are people waiting in line at the factory gate, the factory will be efficient." Samuel Insall said it (he would have said it).John Kenneth Galbraith put the principle more implicitly: the more the economy goes down, the better the job. In addition to the comfortable environment, from the perspective of the 1970s, the most gratifying thing about life at that time was foreign affairs.Not only does the United States not have to worry about crises abroad, but to the vast majority of Americans, it seems that nothing has happened abroad at all.The Japanese are running amok in China, but who has the time to ask about it Germany held a presidential election, 84-year-old Paul von Hindenburg defeated 43-year-old Adolf Hitler; but Americans were equally unimpressed by either interest.In London, the Prince of Wales fell in love with a woman named Mrs. Wallis Simpson. Not long ago, she entered the palace to meet the King of England. Later, Mrs. Simpson divorced her husband and married the Prince of Wales, who would later become Edward VIII.Mrs. Simpson was a commoner and remarried, which was not allowed by the British royal family, so Edward VIII abdicated in 1936.This incident was a sensational news at the time and aroused all kinds of discussions. ——Translator But of course this will not have any results, because she is a married woman.Saigon was so far away at the time that it could only be the backdrop for a Hollywood movie, and the title, starring Clark Gable, was escapism.The Middle East is calmer than the American Midwest.As "Time" magazine reported on April 4: "In Palestine, the Jews are a minority with only 16.9% of the residents and do not have any political power. It was only ten years ago when the League of Nations appointed Britain to rule the land that it had given the Jews The agency has some rights to put forward reference opinions." Although it was the second year of the 1930s, many famous people who would later be considered to represent the 30s were not famous at the time.Winston Churchill's name appeared in books and newspapers only because he was the author of an anti-communist pamphlet, In the Tempest. (Other writers in 1932 were William Faulkner, Christopher Morley, Aldous Huxley, John Dospassos, Robinson Jeffers, TS Stribling , Hendrik William Van Loon, James M. Barry, Charles Nordhoff, and James Norman Hall.) Those whose birth dates are well known—such as George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, George M. Cohan, and John Galsworthy—they were looked upon as men of the past.This is especially true in entertainment, where the five highest-grossing movie stars are Mary Dressler, Janet Gaynor, Joan Crawford, Charles Farrell, and Greta Garbo.Irene Dunne was just coming to the screen at this time; Claudette Corbett (with Maurice Chevalier in the film) was just starting out.Ginger Rogers was just a tap dancer in Busby Berkley's cabaret.Nelson Eddy and Fred Astaire arrived in Hollywood a year later.Four-year-old Shirley Temple just made her debut on the domestic standard screen (18 feet high by 24 feet wide), and her films were single-reel short films called "Baby Play."Benny Goodman shared a flat with Tommy Dorsey, worked in bands in various New York theaters, and played clarinet on radio shows promoting Hoffman's Ginger Ale, performing many new tricks.In Beaumont, Texas, sixteen-year-old Harry Hage James ran to a traveling band leader named Lawrence Welker and asked him, "Aren't you looking for a trumpeter?" Asked him to perform, James picked up the trumpet and played desperately.韦尔克摇头说：“孩子，你吹得太响了，我们乐队不好用。” 回头看来，那时美国人好像完全看不到未来的发展。奥古斯特·皮卡特教授坐着气球穿过了同温层，便在飞行日志里写道：“我们已经达到了54120英尺的高度，打破了人类的一切纪录!”那时人们无法知道，再过一些时候，这件事就成了明日黄花了。威廉·毕比博士坐在潜水器里，在百慕大群岛附近海里下沉到2200英尺，人们觉得他真了不起。他们谁会相信，30年后，海底观察员能够在同样的深度生活整整一个月呢·1932年美国海军举行演习，有一艘航空母舰在瓦胡岛的东北面从几艘担任警戒的驱逐舰旁边溜过去，拂晓时“袭击”珍珠港，“炸沉”了停泊在那里的好些军舰。那时有日本人在檀香山窥探，可是没有人注意； 东京还有关于这次演习中“袭击得手”的长篇官方密报，可是也没有人知道。 最可惊的是，报纸读者竟不知道剑桥大学的詹姆斯·查德威克爵士发现了中子。这是原子裂变的关键，可是这一发现的重要性却无人懂得。 根据当时的物理学说，只有极大穿透力的冲击物才能使原子核分裂。打破原子核被认为完全是理论性问题。人们觉得，用不带电荷的中子打破原子核肯定是办不到的。拉瑟福德勋爵在一个会上说过，那些以为有朝一日能放出大量原子能的人，不过是“白日做梦”。艾伯特·爱因斯坦那时正从德国逃出，到美国加利福尼亚理工学院去，他也说，要放出原子能，是“异想天开”。铀只有惟一的一个用途值得一提，就是涂在时钟上，使数字夜里发光。钟表原来是用镭涂的，1932年改用铀了，因为新泽西州有个钟表厂发现涂镭的工人得了不治之症。他们查出，吸收了镭积聚在骨头里，就必死无疑，因此吓坏了。改用铀做涂料之后，钟表厂的人放心了。铀是那么保险，那么无害!谁都没想到它也会使人丧生，甚至没有想到它会使人得病。 罗斯福! 大选结束不久，纽约东65街49号突然来了一帮共产党。当选总统接见了他们，他听到有个人说，“我们要你告诉胡佛总统，联邦政府必 须……”罗斯福就不客气地打断了这人的话，说：“我不能叫总统干这干那，对联邦政府来说，我现在只不过是一个普通的公民。”他说话是算数的。在没有接掌大权以前，他绝不过问政府的事，却只顾坐着文森特·阿斯特纽约皮毛业和房地产业巨商。——译者的游艇出去钓鱼。 他挑选了一个不甚起眼的内阁班子，不论谁来见他，他似乎总是点头称是。休伊·朗格(此人当时同阿肯色州参议员约瑟夫·鲁滨逊的保守势力正闹得不可开交)在谈到罗斯福时说：“我同他谈话，他说，'好!好!好!'可是，第二天鲁滨逊找他谈，他还是说，'好!好!好!'大概他对谁都说'好!好!好'!”当时美国社会上分崩离析的情况如此吃紧(连罗斯福夫人埃莉诺都怀疑，事到如今，还有谁能“有办法挽救美国”)，而罗斯福却一味采取谦恭、含糊、事不关己的态度，未免不负责任。大家都认为他应该有所作为，其中心情最迫切的莫过于那位即将离任的胡佛总统了。 11月间，胡佛打电报给罗斯福，建议面谈。于是罗斯福便在前往佐治亚州途中过访白宫。两人谈了大半个下午，却是什么问题也没有解决。早在这次会晤之前，罗斯福就风闻胡佛手下某阁员说过：“我们现在已经把这家伙弄进洞里来了，他再也脱身不了啦。”然而使罗斯福无法脱身的洞何尝挖成了呢·胡佛接连好几小时只想拉对方上政府这条快要没顶的船，罗斯福都搪塞回避了。这次访问后，罗斯福更感到自己表态不得了。他回到佐治亚温泉，看看全国各报，就越发感到这个做法有理。 胡佛这时已向国会送去了最后一次国情咨文，无非只是老调重弹，说什么要增税啦，欧洲各国应该还战债啦，又说：“我们所建立的制度是个人自由的制度。我们美国制度的基础是：让各种社会力量和经济力量都能自由发挥作用。”美国应该“对前途有信心”! 但是，美国的耐心已经快耗光了，美国的资金也快耗光了。1933年圣瓦伦丁节2月14日。——译者——当晚10点，胡佛正在共和党全国委员会发表临别演说，美国整个银行系统终于开始总崩溃了。当天下午，密执安州州长威廉·A·康斯托克接到紧急电话，请他去底特律市商业区参加银行界会议，这一去就脱不了身了。这时底特律的联合监护信托公司已经到了山穷水尽的地步，它一倒，全市银行很可能跟着纷纷倒闭。银行家们要求康斯托克下令全州银行一律暂停营业。商量到半夜，康斯托克同意了，便坐车到首府兰辛市，宣布全州550家银行一律休业八天，说是“银行放假。” 胡佛在华盛顿匆匆给罗斯福写了一封信，只因心慌意乱，信封上连他的继任者的名字都拼错了。这一阵子罗斯福对于种种意外事情，倒习以为常了(一周前有一个失业的泥瓦工向他开枪，结果误中芝加哥市市长舍马克，因伤致命)，不过这封信却不免教他分外恼火。他细读来信，不禁大骂胡佛“无耻”。事情正是如此。原来胡佛竟大言不惭地说，举国都在担心，不知新政府要干些什么。他说，他从爱国以及维护“信心” 的立场出发，要求罗斯福公开表示：对于现政府的方针政策，他将不作变动。胡佛要干什么，他自己心里明白。他在给宾夕法尼亚州参议员戴维·A·里德的信里写道：“我知道，如果当选总统果然发表这样一个声明，他就认可了共和党政府全部主要的施政方针，也就是说，他那些所谓新政，便十亡其九了。”胡佛早对朋友说过，他认为罗斯福是个无能之辈，好对付，现在则更进一步，把他当傻瓜了。可是罗斯福不发表这样的声明，胡佛的看法又变了，他对亨利·史汀生当时任国务卿。——译者说，罗斯福是“疯子。” 倘若罗斯福当日竟然同胡佛的政策搅在一起，那就确有神经失常之嫌，因为这时已经很清楚，胡佛的政策把整个美国搞破产了。 密执安州的金融危机，由于房地产价直线下降，情况的确特别严重，但问题却是全国性的。自从股票市场大崩溃以来，全国倒闭的银行已超过5500家；可以想见，群众的心情是多么惶惶不安。他们的对策是囤积黄金、货币。这时银行黄金库存每天要减少2000万元，储户搞不到黄金就要纸币。结果是：一方面，作为货币储备的黄金越来越少；另一方面，财政部又不得不增发纸币。 银行挤兑，照例带着自杀意味。加之这次危机发生在通货紧缩已经三年之日，形势就更加复杂了。当时即使是情况最好的银行，手里的抵押品和各种证券，其市价也只落得原来的一个零头。全国18569家银行， 库存现金不过60亿元左右，却要应付410亿元的存款。为了准备现金应付提款，银行不得不出售抵押品和证券，因此损失惨重。 密执安州的银行垮台以后，全国各地银行每天的黄金支付总额陡然增加到3700万元，提款数增加到1.22亿元。各银行门前无不人山人海， 争提存款。纽约市布朗克斯区有一位少妇，把孩子出租给排队提款的妇女，每次收二角五分，因为抱着孩子排队，能排在前头。从2月20日开始的那一周间(这时国会两院兴高采烈地通过废止禁酒法)，巴尔的摩信托公司已经付给储户1300万元，其中将近半数是在星期五一天之内付出的。当天深夜，马里兰州州长艾伯特·C·里奇宣布全州200家银行休假。 第二个州沉下去了。 为了响应胡佛总统“保持信心”的号召，有责任感的人都极力故作镇定。《底特律新闻》评曰：“我辈眼前种种经历，过后思量，当必哑然失笑。”《巴尔的摩太阳报》的口气更是轻松：“人生尽多如意事、 不如意事，昔日如此，今亦如此。这倒也好，日后大家都添了一些闲谈的资料。”巴尔的摩商会主席表示，他认为没有理由不照常营业。国内收入署这时也发出措辞强硬的通知说，再过半个月又得缴所得税了。 海德公园没有出来消除这些不切实际的幻想。正如罗伯特·舍伍德所说，罗斯福知道“好戏还在后头”。他一向精于审时度势，这时更认识到，胡佛下台下得越难看，自己上台就上得越光彩。如果说他不到桥头不同意过桥(他要过桥也难!)是不负责任的表现，那么这样做倒也符合美国政界一条老规矩。查尔斯·A·比尔德指出，当年林肯在被迫下决心以前，“也始终没有采取无条件解放黑奴的办法。他明知势在必行，却不急于表态。”话虽这么说，可是罗斯福之挑选威廉·伍丁当财政部长，却不免近于开玩笑。伍丁个子矮小，精灵，是一位铁路设备制造商，此人假发遮秃顶，好说双关语，收藏各式各样的五元金币，闲时爱弹吉他作曲。一周以后，新政府上台，人们就会领教到伍丁是怎样雷厉风行，足智多谋了，但在这之前，他的名声只限于为儿童编过这么一首歌，歌曰： 我们是蓝色小鸟， 整天笑笑闹闹； 唱个快乐的歌儿， 忘掉一切烦恼。 2月26日星期日，印第安纳波利斯市和阿克伦市各家银行同时宣布， 提款不得超过存款的5%。当晚，俄亥俄州的十来个城市也跟着照办。临到星期一——是日也，德国国会被纵火焚毁，日军在风雪中侵入满洲指我国东北各省。——译者——宣布限制提取存款的城市已经增加到100 个。与辛辛那提市隔河相望的肯塔基州的卡温顿市，也有五家银行实行了同样的限制。星期一晚，宾夕法尼亚州州长吉福德·平肖签署了一项法案，准许银行自行决定歇业与否。托马斯·拉蒙特让人捎口信给罗斯福说，据摩根看，“情况之紧急，已经到了无以复加的地步。” 其实情况并非“无以复加”，而是很快就进一步恶化了。3月1日星期三，已经有17个州的州长急急忙忙宣布全州银行休假。平肖州长只因宣布得过于匆促，五天后他赶到首都参加新总统就职典礼时，口袋里竟只有九角五分钱。路易斯安那州州长奥斯卡·K·艾伦是预支了旅差费，口述全州银行停业的布告交别人发出，然后乘火车上华盛顿的。当选总统罗斯福在星期三坐汽车到了纽约市内第65街自己的住所，同伍丁商谈(据阿瑟·克罗克在《纽约时报》上报道，这时好些有地位的人要求罗斯福马上把政权接过来)。两人直到星期四下午才露面，同乘汽车，由20辆响着喇叭的摩托车前导，风驰电掣地驶过第五大道，然后朝西向哈得孙河渡口驶去。那天早上，纽约下了小雪，市民们默默站在雪地里看车队驶过。在无线电城音乐厅外，立着一块用纸板做的名叫“金刚”的大猩猩， 龇牙咧嘴，对人狞笑，原来这是同名的电影在曼哈顿区首次放映。在哈得孙河码头边，静静地停泊着的法兰西轮船公司的“巴黎”号吨位已经有人定下了，要把价值900万元的黄金偷运出境，不过罗斯福一行人却不知情。渡口对岸，一列巴尔的摩-俄亥俄铁路公司的专车升火待发。下午，罗斯福登上专车，在寒雾中向华盛顿隆隆驶去。他在车上时而同伍丁谈银行问题，时而同法利谈宗教问题。 罗斯福一行在雨雪交加中到达华盛顿联邦车站。总统临时办公处设在五月花饭店，那里有一大叠电报等着罗斯福来处理：21个州和首都华盛顿的银行，不是已经停业就是停业在即；联邦储备银行的数字说明， 仅在一周间，黄金库存就减少了2.26亿元；财政部缺钱，弄得联邦政府人员的薪金都发不出去，更不用说偿付3月15日到期的7亿元短期公债了。这边罗斯福行装甫卸，那边伍丁就把他请到一旁，告诉他说，胡佛政府的财政部长奥格登·米尔斯和联邦储备委员会负责人尤金·迈耶尔来电话，建议宣布全国银行一律停业。胡佛总统认为还不必采取这样激烈的措施，想征求罗斯福的意见。罗斯福摇头不语，他这时仍然对谁也不提意见。据天气预报，星期六总统就职之日天晴，但是这会儿气压却还在不断下降。 3月3日星期五，《纽约时报》在最后一版登了一幅广告，主题是约翰·多伊和简·多伊代表美国普通男女的姓名。——译者夫妇如何称赞鲍厄里储蓄银行“经营有方”。看来广告的用意是想让储户放心。但是办不到啊。正午，中央车站前面排上了长龙。无数纽约市民拥向这家全球首屈一指的私营储蓄银行，要提现款。下午3点，银行大门关上了， 可是一大群人还没有拿到钱。这时只见伊利诺伊州州长亨利·霍纳坐在芝加哥市联邦储备银行里，神色紧张，一边捻胡子，一边看统计数字：两星期以来，芝加哥各家银行已经付出了3.5亿元。这场风暴在内地各州肆虐17天之后，此刻转向纽约和芝加哥这两大金融堡垒，猛扑过来了。 当天上午，财政部的交通员凯瑟琳·谢伊小姐给赫伯特·胡佛送来一张500元的支票，这是他最后的一笔薪金。胡佛收到支票时，兴致似乎很好，因为根据午前收到的报告，金融恐慌可能正在减退。但是过午以后，就知道这不过是幻想而已。明尼苏达州和堪萨斯州已经垮了，北卡罗来纳州和弗吉尼亚州也快了。照例，新总统就职前夕，卸任总统是要请新总统共进晚餐的，但是胡佛这时精疲力竭，满腹烦恼，实在鼓不起劲来，便只请罗斯福全家在下午4点来出席正式的茶叙。就胡佛而言，他生罗斯福的气不是没有道理的。据他说，美国已经“处于金融恐慌和混乱的边缘”，可是这个局面却完全是由于罗斯福这个纽约佬缺乏信心所造成的。饮茶之际，他提出许多数据，要求罗斯福答应跟他一起采取两党联合行动。罗斯福还是说，他还想等一等。可不是嘛，一到明天，他就是总统了。他把病腿上的支架整了一整，准备告辞。这时他对胡佛说： “总统先生，我知道照例是要回拜的，但是你要是不想回拜，那就别麻烦了。” 胡佛从客厅那一边大踏步走来，气势汹汹地站在罗斯福面前，用极其刺耳的声音说道：“罗斯福先生，等到你像我这样在华盛顿待上四年，你就会知道，美国总统是从来不去拜访谁的。”说罢就转身要走出客厅。 罗斯福的儿子吉米瞟了父亲一眼，他从没见过罗斯福这样生气的。 这时罗斯福夫人不等丈夫开口，霍地站了起来，连忙说：“谈谈很好嘛，不过此刻我们也该走了。” 不过，两位总统一交一接，要完全断绝往来是不可能的。伊利诺伊州和纽约州都已濒于崩溃，伊利诺伊州长霍纳和纽约州州长赫伯特·莱曼认为不可能离开本州去参加新总统就职典礼了。回到五月花饭店后，罗斯福同胡佛保持电话联系，直到凌晨一点才由罗斯福建议双方都睡一会儿。两位总统休息了，双方的顾问就乱糟糟地聚在财政部大楼会商，替他们两位做出各种决定。顾问面前摆着联邦储备委员会刚送来的报告， 说情况不妙。过去两天，全国银行储户总共提走了5亿元现金。他们认为纽约各银行还不理解目前的灾难有多严重，应该设法保护他们才是。米尔斯和伍丁都认为，必须说服纽约州州长莱曼命令全州银行停业，霍纳州长也必须宣布伊利诺伊全州银行停止付款。凌晨2时，霍纳宣布全州银行休假，莱曼也在4时20分做出了同样决定。清早6时，胡佛接到了报告。他说：“我们已经山穷水尽，再也没有别的办法了。” 全国金融的心脏停止跳动了。各州的银行业务有的完全停顿，有的部分停顿。华尔街街头虽然国旗飘扬，庆祝新总统就职，但证券交易所却正式关闭了。芝加哥的商品交易所也关了，这是85年来第一遭。曼哈顿第五大道的诺曼·文森特·皮尔牧师正在草拟他第二天上午要讲的布道辞，要求银行家和公司经理跪在上帝面前忏悔罪恶。堪萨斯州的兰登州长大骂企业家是“奸商”。阿瑟·克罗克把当时华盛顿的气氛说成无异“战时的围城”，天空一片灰色。国会东边那40英亩的园林和空地上，黑压压站着十多万群众，等候新总统就职典礼开始。负责指挥阅兵式的是麦克阿瑟，他预料有人会闹事，便在所有要害地点都派军队架上了机枪。邮政部长沃尔特·布朗虽然马上就要卸任了，只因戴着高顶礼帽坐在汽车里直不了腰，特地调来一辆新的高级轿车，由此可见胡佛政府的气派。从许多方面看，就职典礼显得很草率。新任副总统约翰·南斯·加纳不耐风寒，临时借了一条围巾。新任财政部长伍丁因为人挤，没法就座，只好同摄影记者高踞在栏杆上。 国会山钟鸣正午12时，富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福终于成为美国第32届总统。 罗斯福不戴帽子，不穿大衣，挺着宽阔的胸膛，随着最高法院法官查尔斯·埃文斯·休斯宣读誓词。他把手放在家传300年的《圣经》上，翻到《新约·保罗致哥林斯人的第一封信》第13节念道： 即使我说得天花乱坠，如果没有慈心一片，那也犹如钟鸣钹响，徒有其声而已。 即使我预见未来，深通奥秘；即使我信念十足，力能移山；如果没有慈心一片，我又算得了什么呢!· 他走上了讲台。不顾欢声雷动，径从口袋里掏出手抄的讲稿，那是他上星期天在海德公园书房里写的。这里没有一句话因袭别人，纯粹是罗斯福口吻： 首先让我明确地说，我坚决相信，我们惟一引为恐惧的只是恐惧本身，一种无名的、丧失理智的、毫无道理的畏惧心理。它能把我们搞瘫痪，什么事也办不成，使我们无法由退却转为进攻。 罗斯福洪亮的声音通过广播网响遍了水深火热的美国大地：它传到血汗工厂和凄凉客店，传到“胡佛村”和流浪汉的栖身处，传到佃农们辛苦耕耘的不毛之地，传到在工厂外寒风中打哆嗦的褴褛人群。 我将要求国会授予我一件惟一足以应付目前危机的武器，这就是， 让我拥有足以对紧急事态发动一场大战的广泛行政权。这种授权之大， 要如同我们正遭到敌军侵犯时一样。