14. Rounding up the Spies

July, 1941

Despite Hector showing his physical strength on many occasions. 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 accusations were baseless, he shows the country his fitness on his regular visits to public gyms and lifting with other common men. For him, these demands were funny, as, in his previous world, some presidents took their office in their 70s or even their late 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 exploit labours and cut salaries, 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 become major producers.

These Unions would act like mafias. Forcing companies to pay them more and more while demanding extra benefits. If that continued and the companies complied, there would not be many profits. Meaning a lack of research funds, lack of funds to expand the company.

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

He launched a television and radio programme, called "Smart America". In this, he explained the problematic policies of the country in most layman'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 zoning laws around their cities and areas were hampering growth. Zoning laws were the reason housing prices were increasing. As a majority of the land 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 popular 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-black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-black 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 Blacks 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 these laws, a black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of r*pe.

Blacks 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 placed between them.

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

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

These were just a few of the clauses, there were many more. And in the previous decades, these laws 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, outlawing legal segregation, racial discrimination and anything related 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, planning.

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

Hector would slowly bring the matter towards modern slavery, 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 population. Possibly, right now, the entire world is a descendant of a slave 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 slavery, 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 he lacked. 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 was coming 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 accustomed 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 place, 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 you later."

"FOR HOW LONG WILL YOU RUN, BOY?" Bucky laughingly 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 declaration 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 entire network.

"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, "Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs, will be entering the US in a few years. Morris Cohen and his wife, they hold communist beliefs. Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Theodore Hall, George Koval, Irving Lerner, Alan 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, and last, Arthur Adams.

"All of these people are either already employed in secret laboratory in Los Alamos, or are college students. You have complete 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 no complaints 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 in command, 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 recommending you for a promotion. The scope of your work has increased significantly, much beyond a Colonel. So, congratulations in advance, Brigadier General Phillips." Hector shook the man's hand.

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