Chapter 14: Rounding up the Spies


    July, 1941


    Despite Hector showing his physical strength on many asions. There were still many to talk badly about him, often the stupidest of mouths were the loudest.


    Some papers and radio media were calling for his resignation, for being too old. The oldest president at the time of inauguration previously was William Henry Harrison, in 1841. Now, with Hector, he has made a new record, being 70, the oldest U.S. president to take office.


    Hector, meanwhile, grunted, all these usations were baseless, he shows the country his fitness on his regr visits to public gyms and lifting with othermon men. For him, these demands were funny, as, in his previous world, some presidents took their office in their 70s or even theirte 70s.


    ~It seems a few of my political opponents and some businessmen have joined hands to pull me down.~ he realised. His policies were slightly anti-capitalistic after all. But they were actually normal, the thing was, businesses were just too capitalistic, entering the category of crony capitalism.


    Hector had one simple rule, Capitalism is good as long as the cost is not the lives of Americans, or a child... or human life in general. Sure, you can exploitbours and cut sries, but you can never exploit them so much that they die, starve or are unable to feed their family.


    Meanwhile, Hector had another aim in his head, which was to stop unions from forming and gaining too much power. These unions were the reason why in the future all the production would leave the country and China and the rest of Asia would be major producers.


    These Unions would act like mafias. Forcingpanies to pay them more and more while demanding extra benefits. If that continued and thepaniesplied, there would not be many profits. Meaning ack of research funds,ck of funds to expand thepany.


    He silently worked towards his goals. At the same time, he had the idea of using mass media. He decided to be history''s most well-connected president with the citizens.


    Heunched a television and radio programme, called "Smart America". In this, he exined the problematic policies of the country in mostyman''s terms that even a middle schooler would understand. Heck, he taught them how to do their taxes. His goal was to get all the people to his side, to convey his reasoning and establish an idea before he even takes a step.


    Slowly, the country started to realise, the zoningws around their cities and areas were hampering growth. Zoningws were the reason housing prices were increasing. As a majority of thend in many big cities gets reserved for single-family homes, instead of high-intensity apartment buildings.


    Then there was the education problem. The amount of money a public school gets is based on the wealth of that district and how much tax it pays. This often creates a problem as once all the tax is collected, poor smaller localities get fewer funds and richer localities get more, even when they don''t need that much.


    Then there was the biggest problem Hector could see, and solving it was going to be one big headache. Jim Crow Laws were still popr in many southern states and overall the entire country.


    Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system. It was more than a series of rigid anti-ckws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second ss citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-ck racism. [A/N: I''m no SJW, trying to force an agenda. In the story, it is the 1940s, all this is real history.]


    It was an ideology, that the cks were racially inferior. Yup, to Hector, this sounded the same as Nazi Propaganda, but, Nazis were new, Jim Crow Laws were old, based around the centuries-old mindset. It was much deeper rooted.


    Under thesews, a ck male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a ck male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being used of r*pe.


    cks and whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be ced between them.


    Under no circumstances was a ck male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female -- that gesture implied intimacy.


    cks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing.


    These were just a few of the uses, there were many more. And in the previous decades, thesews have started a lot of riots, killings, arsons. It was bad for business. For Hector, this was one of the biggest challenges. In the original timeline, only after mass protests, a lot of race riots, Lynchings and general anger, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ouwing legal segregation, racial discrimination and anything rted to Jim Crow Laws.


    Hector didn''t want all this Civil Movement unrest to erupt in the country. For progress, stability was needed. And the best way to remove an ideology from people was to change it with another ideology, which proves that their previous belief was evil.


    "Hehe, and I have one beautiful moustached boy in Germany to help me," Hector muttered, nning.


    He was going to first tell people the history of very, that in ancient times, all were ves, whites, cks, browns, it didn''t matter what skin. Kings in Africa, India and other Asian countries liked to own pale-skinned Greek women ves for their considered beauty, while the Greeks did the opposite. Then, in Europe, very turned into serfdom, basically ves with extra rights but still not fully free.


    Hector would slowly bring the matter towards modern very, which was a return of ancient tradition.


    Still, he didn''t get too much into the details yet. He first started to talk about Nazis, their Aryan race theory, then he swiftly debunked, that none were pure Aryans anymore. As the entire world is a construct of the mingling of the poption. Possibly, right now, the entire world is a descendant of a ve in the past, no matter who. Even he himself. Hence, blood purity was out of option, none of them was pure.


    But, he didn''t push it too much, brainwashing happens slowly after all. He had a thousand things to focus on. But he did make sure that no newspaper wrote anything that supported segregation and very, if they did, well... he controlled the SSR now.


    ...


    Brooklin, Hell''s Kitchen


    Steve Rogers was a scrawny boy, 21 years old, yet looked like a 15-year-old senior with medical conditions. He was looking for an aim in his life, something behind which he can stand, give his everything.


    His only friend, Bucky Barnes, was a normal man, Steve secretly envied him, for having a fit tall body and the strength hecked. But, he was not a vindictive person.


    "I''m telling you, we are soon going to enter the war. That Hitler is bad news. I just read in the paper yesterday that he''s rounding up all the Jews in camps." Bucky spoke to his friend, both of them worked in a restaurant, flipping burgers. Their shift wasing to an end and they were about to head home.


    "Then we should join the army when the nation calls upon us," Steve suggested.


    "Haha, I knew you would say that. I saw your room, the walls are filled with President Washington''s posters. You are mad about him like a teenage girl for her sugar daddy crush." Bucky made fun of him constantly.


    Steve was ustomed to it by now, he sighed and looked at the sky as they walked home, "I just feel that he''s very inspiring. He seems like a man out of ce, his thoughts are so different from other politicians. You heard his radio show, Smart America. I want to follow the same path and stand by the principles he has instilled in me."


    Bucky nodded, "Steve, he''s been in the military and has fought for more than twice our age, of course, he''s like this. He must have seen things beyond what normal people can fathom. Now stop fangirling and let''s go to the strip club, it''s about time you pop your cherry."


    Steve, however, froze, "I... I''ve got something else to do. See youter."


    "FOR HOW LONG WILL YOU RUN, BOY?" Buckyughingly shouted towards him.


    The first thing Steve did was to head to the nearest recruitment office. He there asked for a brochure, he had to request it in fact, as they were reluctant to waste it on him.


    In it, he read about the minimum height, weight and health requirements. In every single category, he saw himself failing. Gloom filled his heart, realising that no matter what, he can not serve the nation.


    ...


    Slowly, the date of the attack was approaching. Did Hector have any kind of regret by letting the attack happen? No, he didn''t. If he doesn''t let it happen, Congress will never allow a deration of war, if that does not happen, too many things could change, maybe Hitler could win.


    So, by doing what he was right now, he was saving a lot of lives without stopping the Japanese attack.


    "Yes, it is an order. I want anti-aircraft guns all around the Hawaii Base. I want it done within this month and the biggest part, I want it done discreetly, understood?" He ordered Colonel Phillips.


    Phillips even nodded seriously. Reason? Well, the codebreakers they sent to Hawaii did intercept some pretty suspicious messages. It was clear that Japanese activity was increasing for some reason.


    "It will be done, sir. This is the report for Project Rebirth, we caught 16 Spies, both from Germany and USSR, inside SSR. Thankfully, they were caught before they could do anything. Meanwhile, we caught 50 german and Soviet Spies, who had infiltrated the Manhattan project on various levels. But we have not caught all of them as we aim to root out their entirework.


    "To keep secrets, we have created 1500 false paper trails, and only a select few know the correct locations for all the important documents," Phillips reported.


    Hector nodded, but he could help further. Hmm, write these names down, "us Emil Julius Fuchs, will be entering the US in a few years. Morris Cohen and his wife, they holdmunist beliefs. Harry Gold, David Greenss, Theodore Hall, George Koval, Irving Lerner, n Nunn May, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Saville Sax, Oscar Seborer, Morton Sobell, Melita Norwood, she needs to be eliminated immediately. She is employed as a secretary in the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, andst, Arthur Adams.


    "All of these people are either already employed in secretboratory in Los mos, or are college students. You haveplete authority, do whatever you need, if you can''t extract information, kill them. It is the safest route to keep the Manhatten Project a secret."


    Colonel Phillips wrote in his diary quickly. He had no idea how Hector knew all this, he didn''t ask either. All this was for national security and he had noints that Hector had the best interest of the nation in mind.


    In reality, Hector didn''t originally know all these names in his previous life, maybe a few famous ones. The reason he knew so many human names was because he met all of them in Hell. Being third inmand, it was his job to remember all inmates there. And since there was an infinite number of Earths, meaning infinite versions of the same sinner, it was important to remember all this. As they are repeated offenders across the multiverse.


    "That would be all, Colonel. Ah, one more thing. I am rmending you for a promotion. The scope of your work has increased significantly, much beyond a Colonel. So, congrattions in advance, Brigadier General Phillips." Hector shook the man''s hand.


    Phillip wasn''t expecting this. He was in his 60s, basically thest years of his military career, and it didn''t make sense that he''d get a promotion. But, this was a wee surprise."


    "All right, I need to go out and show my face in an elementary school. Bye." Hector quickly packed his bag and left his office. He hated all this stupid work, but since it was for kids, he relented. They deserved to see their awesome President, after all, they were the soldiers, businessmen and politicians of tomorrow.