Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 53 - 41: The Lion, the Fox, and the Sheep

Outside the window, the construction site’s searchlights were still on, illuminating the newly paved roads and recently installed basketball hoops.

All of it was the culmination of their hard work together over the past few months.

And now, the small team that had built all this had fallen apart overnight.

Leo felt utterly exhausted.

He posed his question to Roosevelt.

"Mr. President, was I really wrong?"

"Frank is right. We shouldn’t get too close to politicians like Murphy. We should maintain our fighting spirit and continue to challenge the oligarchs."

"But Sarah is also right. We fought so hard for this chance to build a better home for our people. We should focus on getting things done and delivering on our promises."

"They both make sense. Who on earth am I supposed to listen to?"

Roosevelt’s voice echoed in his mind.

"You’re asking the wrong question, Leo."

"A true leader never asks, ’Who should I listen to?’"

"He should be asking, ’How do I harness them?’"

Roosevelt’s voice pulled Leo from the exhaustion of his reality.

The scene before his eyes changed.

He now found himself in a spacious, stately Oval Office, steeped in history.

The White House. The President’s office.

The time was the winter of 1933, not long after Roosevelt had been inaugurated as President of the United States. The entire country was still shrouded in the shadow of the Great Depression.

Leo found himself standing in a corner of the office, like an invisible observer.

He saw Roosevelt sitting behind a massive desk, piled high with all sorts of documents and reports.

He wore a wry, resigned smile as he listened to two men arguing heatedly in front of him.

One of the men was tall, with disheveled hair and round-framed glasses. His expression was agitated as he spoke quickly and urgently, waving his arms and sending spittle flying.

"Mr. President, I’ll say it again! We must take the harshest possible action against Wall Street immediately! Throw every last banker who profiteered from this national crisis in prison! Completely dismantle the financial empires of Morgan and Rockefeller! Otherwise, everything we’re doing will be for nothing!"

The other man was his complete opposite.

He was slender, his suit was sharp, his hair was combed immaculately, and his face held a calculated calm.

"Calm down, Harold," he retorted in a steady tone. "Of course we need to restore order to the financial system, but not with your kind of revolutionary methods that would only incite more panic. What we need most right now is to stabilize market confidence and balance the Federal Government’s budget, not to launch a war that will scare off every single investor."

"Henry, you coward!" the tall man roared. "You only care about the interests of your banker friends! You don’t give a damn about the unemployed workers out there who are starving!"

"It’s not that I don’t care, I just understand how a nation’s economy actually works better than you do!" the slender man shot back, his own voice rising.

"That’s enough, gentlemen."

Roosevelt spoke, and the argument in the office ceased immediately.

"Harold. Henry. Both of you, sit down."

The two men glared at each other, then reluctantly sat in the chairs before the desk.

"In my cabinet, there are lions like Frank, full of fighting spirit and revolutionary fervor," Roosevelt’s voice-over echoed in Leo’s mind. "Take the tall man you just saw. His name is Harold Ickes, my Secretary of the Interior."

"He is a tireless reformer, a warrior who despises all vested interests. I need a lion like him to lead the charge for me, to tackle the toughest problems, to confront our most powerful enemies."

"But at the same time, my cabinet also has foxes like Sarah—calculating, pragmatic, and skilled in building and administration."

"Just like that other slender man you saw. His name is Henry Morgenthau, my Secretary of the Treasury. He’s a cautious banker and a staunch proponent of a balanced budget."

"I need a fox like him just as much, to watch over the nation’s purse strings and ensure our grand plans don’t fall apart halfway due to financial collapse."

"In my administration, there are even more sheep, responsible for carrying out specific orders. They don’t need to have many ideas of their own; they just need sufficient loyalty and the ability to execute."

"Leo, a good leader doesn’t try to make every animal the same. That’s a fool’s errand for a dictator."

"A truly great leader knows how to build a balanced ecosystem."

"Let the lions roar to their hearts’ content on their battlefields, let the foxes be shrewd in their granaries, and let the sheep graze peacefully in their pastures."

"Have them each perform their duties, check and balance one another, and compete with each other, all while ultimately serving the final goal that you, and only you, know."

The scene in the office continued to unfold.

Roosevelt looked at his two capable lieutenants, who were still sulking at each other, and smiled.

"Harold, you’re right. We must make Wall Street pay for its crimes. Therefore, I will authorize you to immediately begin drafting a bill for securities regulation, to put those financial swindlers in a cage."

A triumphant smile spread across Ike’s face.

"However, Henry, you’re also right. We cannot trigger a new financial panic," Roosevelt said, turning to Morgenthau. "So, before Harold’s bill is formally submitted to Congress, I will invite the most important bankers on Wall Street to the White House for a frank discussion. I will make them understand that cooperating with the administration is their only way out."

"Both of you are my most trusted partners. I need your passion, and I need your reason."

"Now, stop this pointless bickering. Return to your departments and get to work."

The two men stood and left the Oval Office.

They didn’t speak to each other on their way out the door.

When the office door closed, Roosevelt’s smile vanished, replaced by a weariness Leo had never before seen on him.

"So, Leo, do you understand now?" Roosevelt’s voice-over sounded once more. "The conflict between Frank and Sarah is normal, even healthy. It proves your little team is full of vitality and diverse ideas."

"But their problem is that they can each only see their own small patch of land. Frank sees only the necessity of the fight, while Sarah sees only the importance of building. They are both right, but they are also both seeing only part of the picture."

"But you, as their leader, must see the entire forest."

"You cannot allow yourself to get bogged down in their specific arguments. You must always remain above the debate, surveying the bigger picture from a higher vantage point, and then make the final decision that is most beneficial to the cause as a whole."

"This is the loneliness of a leader."

"You must shoulder the responsibility for making the final decision, along with all the potential consequences."

"When everyone else can see only the trees, you alone must point the way forward through the entire forest."