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As Halstead approached the podium, he looked to his side and slowed his steps to wait for the Darbeitpartei guard who had come running from one side of the gate as soon as the oath had been completed. He accepted the two sheets of paper handed to him by the guard, two sheets which had resided rolled up in a false pen that had been inserted into the man’s rectum for ultimate safekeeping. Halstead began to smooth both sheets out as he smiled at the crowd from the podium. “My fellow Germans!” Halstead turned to his left. “Leaders of the Reichstag!” He turned to his right. “Leaders of the trade unions!” He turned to face straight forward once more. “Today is a great day in German history! Today this great nation has finally found the proper course for a return to its former glory! Indeed, for the attainment of a glory the nation has never seen!” To this the crowd in front of Halstead roared with approval, while the brigade standing at attention and the nation’s leaders sitting on the platform with Halstead remained silent. “In my left hand,” Halstead raised that hand high in the brisk wind that had set in from the north, “I hold a proclamation from President Friedrich Ebert himself, proclaiming me, Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of the Reich!” There was applause from the crowd, and gasps of astonishment from the members of the Reichstag that the crowd could not hear. Halstead, with yet another smile, reached over to hand the sheet of paper to Gustav Stresemann, the head of the German People’s Party, and gave a reminding glance to his guard on that side of the platform to retrieve the document once the conservative leaders of the Reichstag had finished scrutinizing it. “And in my right hand,” Halstead continued, “I hold yet another proclamation from our dear President, declaring an end to the strike which has paralyzed this great nation!” Again, Halstead handed a document to the nearest seated figure for perusal under the watchful eye of a guard. The trade unionists made poor attempts at surprise, attempts poor due to the fact that they had already met with Halstead an hour before and had, in exchange for agreeing to end the strike, received assurances which only now would Halstead make public. “Yes, the putsch and the counter-putsch are both over. This is a watershed moment in German history! The representatives of the conservatives,” Halstead spread his arms wide to indicate the fifty-by-hundred phalanx of troops between himself and the crowd, “have spoken with their might, and we have wisely listened! |