Status Updates From Joe Steele

Finished Chapter 28. The House and Senate impeached President Garner. In the vacuum of leadership, J. Edgar Hoover appointed himself as Director of the new leadership. Charlie was fired and given a 3 month severance. Hoover's maneuvering made Steele's look tame by comparison.

Finished Chapter 27. Funeral proceedings were held for Joe Steele. After the funeral, President Garner met with Charlie and Joe Steele's 3 friends. He had all 4 sign resignation papers. He accepted the 3 from the friends and made them ambassadors to far away countries. He kept Charlie.
Mike read in the newspaper what happened to those 3. When he got home, Midori told him she was pregnant.

Finished Chapter 26. Mike helped his girlfriend Midori teach English to Japanese kids. Later, he proposed to her.
Charlie couldn't believe that 1952 was here at last. Time seemed to just fly by.
Mike and Midori arrived in San Francisco to file paperwork for marriage and took a train east.
President Steele was reelected again for the sixth time. However, he suffered a stroke and died a few days after Jan 20, 1953.

Finished Chapter 25. Mao ran Chiang out of China. Some discussion about the use of A-bombs was said but Russia threatened to use some in Europe if they were.
A bunch of Chinese scholars were rounded up and sent to prison. Charlie and Esther watched a news conference on their new TV.
Mike was back at the demilitarized zone. He soon met an English teacher named Midori Yanai.
President Steele had a health scare.

Finished Chapter 24. Mike is hunkered down and contemplating the new AK-47's that North Japan is using.
Charlie talked to Stas Mikoian about President Steele running for election again in 1952.
Still in his foxhole, Mike witnesses the first Atomic bomb drop on Sendai.
The next day, President Steele tells the people over the radio about the bomb.
Mike got new orders to go back to the demilitarized zone.

Finished Chapter 23. Mike trained soldiers in Japan to reform their army, but had some problems.
Charlie's son got in a fight at school when the other kid accused him of being a 'Red'. This scared the teacher and the boy's parents because Charlie worked at the White House.
Coming back from R&R, Mike found out that a few hours earlier North Japan attacked the South part.
President Steele got reelected to a 5th term.

Finished Chapter 22. Mike decided to stay with the Army. Having been in an encampment, his prospects at a job in the civilian world were bleak.
Charlie kept working for the president. President Steele asked Charlie for help with a speech about Russia. Charlie came up with a doozy describing what the Russians were doing as a Red Curtain. The phrase was a hit.

Finished Chapter 21. Mike and his men walked around when 4 tanks with a car between them came into sight. Then a couple of planes came down and shot the tanks and car. Mike and his men went to investigate and found that Japan's Emperor was in the car, dead. They notified the higher ups.
The war was over, Charlie followed the President to Japan for the surrender. Charlie and Mike were reunited.

Finished Chapter 20. News came in that Hitler had died. A few weeks later, the war in Europe was over.
Mike was still fighting island to island in southeast Asia. He and captain Magnusson were two of a very few who remained from the beginning.
Charlie was still working at the White House. He got a card from Mike telling him he was still alive.
Mike and the other troops invaded Japan.

Finished Chapter 19. Mike was fighting Japanese island to island. He was extremely lucky to only have had minor scrapes here and there while many other soldiers died.
Charlie was dealing with writing speeches for President Steele and life in general.
Over in Europe, the Axis were losing ground as the Allies pushed forward.

Finished Chapter 18. The Germans gained a bit of ground against the Russians but the Japanese lost ground to the Americans.
Mike had been in the Army for a few months before his group of soldiers were shipped West.
Charlie went with the President and his men to Basra, where the President would meet with Churchill and Trotzky to discuss the war and what should happen afterwards.

Finished Chapter 18. Mike went to the guard center and signed up to join the war. He was put on a list. General Douglas MacArthur was ordered from the Philippines to Washington. When he arrived in Washington, he was arrested, tried, and shot dead for dereliction of duty.
Charlie and Esther had a baby boy, Patrick David Sullivan. Later, Mike was allowed to leave and join the Army.

Finished Chapter 16. Winston Churchill met with President Steele to convince him to deal with Russia and give them supplies to help them fight the Nazis. Steele did so. Later, the Japanese sent an envoy to get the embargo lifted, but Steele said no. A few months later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. Steele had Admiral Kimmel and General Short tried and killed for dereliction of duty.

Finished Chapter 15. President Steele was up for reelection. The Republicans nominated Wendell Wilkie. However, as much as Wendell campaigned, it wasn't enough and Joe Steele was elected to a 3rd term.
In the encampment, Mike helped mess up the count. By the time the guards found out, 4 men were missing. However, they only brought 3 back.
Germany invaded Russia and Japan attacked China.

Finished Chapter 14. Charlie kept writing pieces for President Steele. Germany and Russia made a deal. Then Hitler invaded Poland. England and France declared war. President Steele made an announcement that condemned Hitler but promised to stay out of the war.
Mike did what he had to to survive in the camp. He'd been there for 2 years. Unfortunately, he got a letter from some layers that Stella filed for divorce.

Finished Chapter 13. Mike was getting used to using an axe. He was also used to being tired and hungry all the time. He sent a card to Charlie telling him he's doing alright and that he can write out once a month.
Charlie and Esther had a baby girl named Sarah. Later, Charlie got a call from the White House. After working on a paper for the President, he offered Charlie a job and he accepted.

Finished Chapter 12. Mike was in a crowded railcar headed to Montana. When they got there, the men were herded to get a buzz cut, a shower, and a set of clothes. Over the next few days, Mike made a friend of a guy from Wisconsin named Jonathan Dennison. They put Mike cutting trees.
Stella and Charlie's parents begged Charlie to get Mike out. Try as he might, there was nothing he could do.

Finished Chapter 11. Mike and Stella went out to the movies. Watching the reels gave Mike an idea for an article. After the movie, Mike and Stella went home and he wrote the article. The next day, he turned it in to the editor and they decided to run it. The article caused a stir. A few days later, Mike was arrested and sent to an interment camp.

Finished Chapter 10. President Steele was shot at during a speech in Chattanooga. The bullet scraped his side, cracking a rib. The would-be assassin was an Army captain. President Steele had J. Edgar Hoover investigate the military. After a few weeks, a dozen high ranking generals and admirals were arrested. At a briefing, Hoover said they would be court-martialed.

Finished Chapter 9. A bill utilizing prisoners for building projects. Mike wrote a column criticizing it. The White House wasn't happy and asked Charlie to write a more favorable paper. The bill passed the Senate. 1936 was an election year. Joe Steele was running for reelection against Alf Landon. Joe won by an avalanche.

Finished Chapter 8. Warrants were sent after Father Coughlin and Senator Huey Long. Long went to Louisiana to gather support but was later assassinated. The four justices were killed by a firing squad. Father Coughlin was eventually caught, tried, pled guilty, and also killed by a firing squad.

Finished Chapter 7. The White House got mad that Mike published a story about the fire that killed Roosevelt. Charlie got some heat from it.
Later, the 4 Supreme Court judges finally went to court martial. When the judge asked each of them how they pled, each of them said guilty. Later, the verdict came down that each of them would face the firing squad.

Finished Chapter 6. President Steele suspends Habeus Corpus and 4 Supreme Court Justices are arrested. Later, Mike receives some papers in the mail. They are copies of the missing fire report from when Governor Roosevelt died.

Finished Chapter 5. Charlie and Esther got married. Many of President Steele's bills passed. Unfortunately, lawyers got involved and had many of them deemed unconditional. The President made a few radio announcements criticizing the lawyers and the Supreme Court.

Finished Chapter 4. Charlie sees an amazing sight: a hard-nosed senator change his vote because Joe Steele told him to. Later, at dinner with Stas Mikoian, he learned how it was done.
Mike enters the Albany FD records to see the arson report, but it's missing. Later, he tells his girlfriend he plans to publish a story and she asks him if he thought about his safety. However, his editor refused to publish the story.

Finished Chapter 3. Mike has dinner with his girlfriend, Stella Morandini, when his brother and girlfriend join them. Later, Mike tells them his suspicions about Vince Scriabin. A couple of days later, Joe Steele was elected President. Four months later, he took the oath of office and his speech resonated with the common people.

Finished Chapter 2. Mike Sullivan was in Albany covering FDR. After attending a baseball game, he headed back towards the Governor's Mansion. However, when he got there, the place was in flames. FDR and Eleanor died in the fire.
Back in Chicago, they were informed of FDRs death. After a few more votes, Joe Steele became the Democratic nominee.

Finished Chapter 1. Charlie Sullivan is in Chicago covering the 1932 Democratic Convention. As he is heading back to his apartment, Joe Steele (a nominee for President) joined him in the elevator and left before Joe. Later at the Convention, the ballot ran til the morning and was continued in the afternoon. At the end of the night, FDR was leading.