My Uncle Roosevelt

"My uncle?"

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the newly elected president of the United States of America. And you, my dear Feilan, are the son of his brother James Roosevelt. Though you were born out of wedlock, blood is blood. Now your uncle is about to enter the White House. I imagine many people across America will want to get to know you!"

Lucy bent down until she was nearly at his ear. "Please take care of me in the future, Mr. Roosevelt."

Feilan suddenly threw off the covers and staggered into the bathroom.

He turned on the tap. Icy water poured out, and he scooped it up and splashed it hard across his face. Once, twice, three times...

Unfortunately, the scene he had hoped for—waking from a dream—never happened.

When he opened his eyes, the face in the mirror froze him in place.

It was a young face, no more than twenty-five years old.

Light brown hair clung wetly to his forehead. His features were deep-set, his jaw sharply defined, and his handsome face carried a blend of scholarly refinement and rebellion.

"No... this isn't me!"

Before the words had even faded, a piercing pain tore through his skull.

A torrent of memories forcibly flooded into his mind.

They began with the scene of a birth in a secluded estate on the outskirts of New York.

Among the crowd stood a steady-faced man in a suit, whose brows and eyes bore a seventy percent resemblance to Roosevelt. It was a face Feilan had seen in archives from his former life.

Franklin Roosevelt's elder brother, James Roosevelt!

The fragments of memory continued to assemble.

Feilan saw the original owner's life unfold, yet because of his status as an illegitimate son, he had always been unable to hold his head high.

Later, his father secretly sent him to Harvard to study law, but his temperament was restless, and he dropped out halfway through.

After that, he drifted through life, relying on allowances from the Lineage trust and occasionally speculating in stocks through family connections, wasting his days amid wine and women until now.

"I really transmigrated..."

After digesting all the memories, Feilan's face trembled slightly.

But in the next instant, wild joy swept through his entire body.

In the modern era, he had merely been a professor at the Roosevelt Institute.

He had been full of ambition, yet could only watch the United States of America be devoured by capital, while the common people struggled desperately on the brink of survival, powerless to do anything.

But now, he had transmigrated to 1932.

This was the turning point of America's destiny!

Roosevelt was about to take the stage, and the New Deal was about to set sail!

He knew every major event of this period, understood the character of every key figure, and was intimately familiar with the origins and details of every law. Such an unparalleled advantage meant limitless possibilities.

Perhaps he had a chance to change everything with his own hands!

Perhaps after that uncle died, he could continue choking the capitalists by the throat and prevent the tragedy of a century later from repeating itself!

"Feilan, what on earth is wrong with you?"

A crisp voice came from beside him.

Feilan snapped back to his senses and saw that Lucy was already standing in the bathroom doorway, her eyes full of confusion.

He swiftly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, strode over, grabbed Lucy by the wrist, and pulled her to the door. "Listen, I think you should leave."

A resentful expression immediately appeared on Lucy's face. She pouted coquettishly. "All right. Remember to contact me, my lion, Mr. Roosevelt."

Feilan nodded perfunctorily.

Watching Lucy disappear through the doorway, he immediately shut the door, walked to the sofa, and sat down. He picked up a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table and lit one.

As his reason gradually returned, Feilan clearly realized that his situation was far from optimistic.

He had not transmigrated into Roosevelt, with his innate power and prestige. He had transmigrated into an illegitimate son whose name had not even been recorded in history.

In his memories, the original owner had only visited the Roosevelt Estate in Hyde Park a few times as a child, accompanying his father, and met that famous uncle.

And now, that uncle had long risen from a state legislator to president-elect.

After all these years, he had probably forgotten he even had such a nephew.

If Feilan wanted to get close to his uncle, enter his decision-making circle, and fulfill his ambitions, he needed an opening!

"I've got it!"

A sharp glint flashed through Feilan's eyes.

On October 29, 1929, the Wall Street stock market crashed, igniting America's economic crisis.

In 1931, the second nationwide financial crisis swept across the country.

And in a few months, by early 1933, during the power vacuum before the Hoover administration left office, financial panic would reach its peak.

Michigan would be the first to suffer a massive bank run.

After that, core financial cities like New York and Chicago would fall one after another. More than 4,000 banks across the country would be forced to suspend operations, and the American banking system would be pushed to the brink of collapse.

After Roosevelt took office, his first major measure would be the Emergency Banking Act.

If Feilan could find a way to meet Roosevelt now, warn him in advance that the bank run was about to reach its peak, and draft a Crisis Response Plan for the president-elect, then perhaps he could win Roosevelt's trust with this foreknowledge!

And the ticket into his uncle's decision-making circle would be the coming banking crisis!

Having made up his mind, Feilan no longer hesitated. He immediately stood up and searched the room with his eyes.

Before long, he spotted an old-fashioned typewriter sitting in the corner of the desk.

After sitting down, Feilan closed his eyes and recalled every detail of what was about to happen.

He had read the Congressional records from March 9, 1933, in the institute archives. He remembered the fierce debates, Treasury Secretary William Woodin's testimony, and the final version's four chapters and twenty-seven articles...

But that was not the point.

He did not need to reproduce every detail of the later Emergency Banking Act. That would require an entire team of lawyers and bankers working for weeks.

He only needed a blueprint—a sufficiently precise and persuasive outline of a plan—to prove that he understood the nature of the crisis and had an idea of how to solve it.

Feilan immediately opened the typewriter and inserted a sheet of paper.

He began typing, his fingers awkwardly adjusting to the feel of the old keyboard:

Title: <Preliminary Recommendations for Addressing the Imminent Nationwide Bank Run Crisis>.

I. Crisis Assessment

United Guardian Trust Company in Detroit, Michigan, would be the first domino to fall.

The company had close ties to Ford Motor Company, but its asset quality had deteriorated severely...

The crisis would reach its critical point in mid-February 1933. At that time, states would be forced to declare local bank holidays, but scattered responses would only intensify the panic...

The clacking of the typewriter echoed through the room.

Feilan became completely absorbed, forgetting time and hunger.

He was transporting knowledge across ninety years.

He was turning a twenty-first-century historian's analysis of a crisis into an action plan for 1932.