Chapter 714 - 334: Leo, You Need to Get Married

"His political rivals at the time claimed that a man who had never started a family or experienced the joy of raising children couldn’t truly sympathize with the struggles of the common folk."

"Public opinion held that he was too focused on his career and legal affairs, and they even spun the death of his fiancée in his youth as proof of his cold and heartless nature."

"What was even crazier was that he was suspected of being a secret agent or a foreign operative."

"It sounds absurd, but in those days, single men were sometimes suspected of being more susceptible to temptation or blackmail from foreign powers. Because he had no family to worry about, people thought his loyalty to the country was less steadfast than that of a man with a wife and children."

’But he was still elected President in the end, wasn’t he?’ Leo replied in his mind. ’That proves being single isn’t a death sentence.’

"That was largely due to the exceptionally unique political climate of the time."

Roosevelt responded swiftly.

"It wasn’t that the voters didn’t care about his bachelorhood. Rather, the United States was on the brink of collapse, and the electorate desperately needed a man with a flawless political resume who could mediate the conflict between the North and the South. Buchanan happened to check all the boxes."

"Despite the questions about his private life, Buchanan’s resume was practically the gold standard for a presidential candidate at the time."

"He had served as a Representative, a Senator, and Secretary of State. He had also been the minister to Russia and the United Kingdom."

"Before the 1856 election, the United States was in an uproar over the issue of slavery. At the time, Buchanan was far away in the United Kingdom, serving as minister."

"Since he wasn’t in the country, he hadn’t taken a public stance on the most controversial bills. This made him a ’clean’ candidate, acceptable to both the North and the South."

"In contrast, his opponents were all saddled with heavy political baggage from their involvement in domestic disputes."

"He was a Northerner but held a moderate stance on slavery. This allowed him to appeal to both sides, winning most of the Southern States and several key northern states."

"Furthermore, he leveraged the tragedy of his late fiancée’s death to craft the image of a deeply devoted and wounded widower, which garnered him a fair amount of sympathy."

Roosevelt concluded.

"Leo, you don’t have these advantages. You don’t have a forty-year resume, and you don’t have a tragedy to peddle. Therefore, you must get married."

Roosevelt continued, "What you’re doing now—whether it’s industrial revival or healthcare reform—is all part of a blueprint for the next twenty, or even fifty, years. You need the voters to believe that you’re thinking about the future of the United States."

"A candidate with children is more readily seen as having a stronger sense of purpose when it comes to policies concerning the future, such as education, the environment, and social security. Why? Because they have skin in the game."

"When a father signs an education bill, voters believe he’s thinking of his own children. When he drafts environmental policy, they believe he wants his descendants to be able to breathe clean air."

"But with a Politician who has no children, voters will subconsciously assume he only cares about his own power in the here and now. ’After I’m gone, let the world burn.’"

"You must have descendants. You must have a stake in this country’s future."

Roosevelt finished his argument.

The car glided to a smooth stop in front of the Willard InterContinental Hotel.

A doorman hurried forward and pulled open the car door.

Leo grabbed the briefcase from the seat, stepped out of the car, and his leather shoes sank into the thick welcome mat at the hotel entrance.

After checking in without a hitch, Leo stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his suite.

He had just mentally accepted Roosevelt’s demand.

He needed a wife. He needed to build the kind of family model that American voters expected.

Intellectually, he accepted it completely.

He understood how Washington worked. He knew that a political figure’s private life must be subordinated to the construction of their public image.

He turned, walked over to the bar, and poured himself a glass of ice water.

Tilting his head back, he downed the ice water in one go.

The chill spread down his throat, a forced attempt to suppress the churning resistance deep within him.

But deep down, he resisted.

The resistance stemmed from a profound exhaustion.

"Mr. President," Leo said, setting the glass down hard on the bar. "I’ve already given up so much."

He confronted the image of Franklin Roosevelt in his wheelchair, there in the space of his own mind.

"To get things through the State Assembly, I had to push that idiot William Saint Cloud into the Governor’s office. For healthcare reform in Pennsylvania, I’m about to trade the retirement age of every senior in All of America in a deal with Big Pharma."

Leo paced around the room, his steps quick and agitated.

"I’ve surrendered my political principles and my personal safety. I even put myself in the line of fire, literally bleeding for a bump in the polls."

He stopped walking and stared up at the ceiling.

"And now, you’re telling me I have to give up my marriage, too."

"I have to package up the last shred of my personal space, the final say over my own genuine emotions, and sell it all to this goddamn political machine."

Leo’s breathing grew ragged.

He didn’t mind making deals, but he felt a debilitating weakness, as if he were being completely hollowed out.

He felt like he was becoming a mannequin, pieced together from polling data and voter preferences.

"I think this is going too far," Leo confessed, his frustration boiling over. "Can a single man not govern a country? Is an unmarried Politician doomed to never receive the mandate for the highest office? It’s completely illogical."

Roosevelt’s voice rang out.

He completely understood Leo’s pain. Every person who walked the path to the pinnacle of power had to endure this agonizing process, this death by a thousand cuts that stripped away the self.