Tail-Gunner in the Pilot's Seat 2.0

Wolfpaw

Banned
TAIL-GUNNER
IN
THE PILOT'S SEAT



"The tragedy of Joe McCarthy isn't that he had so little, but that he had
so much and did so little with it . . . He was sometimes brilliant, frequently
likable demagogue who destroyed many a good thing by the intensity of his
hatred for the bad things."
[FONT=&quot]—[/FONT]Leroy Gore


​
"He was an opportunist who happened to stumble onto an idea. He climbed
on a political horse and rode it to death, his own included."
[FONT=&quot]—Stuart Symington[/FONT]
​


"He was one of the great crusaders of his age. His courage and sincerity in
battle against all subversive elements were great contributions to the
protection of our American way of life. History will record him as one of
our most outstanding presidents."
[FONT=&quot]—[/FONT]William E. Jenner​


"Joe McCarthy became the center of the country's darkest period because
he had the strength and defects of organic innocence."
[FONT=&quot]—[/FONT]William S. Schlamm
​


"Joe McCarthy[FONT=&quot]—[/FONT]and he was "Joe" to everyone who knew him[FONT=&quot]—[/FONT]was
compounded of many elements. He had strength. He had courage. He
had daring. Joe McCarthy had a rare quality which enabled him to
touch the hearts and the minds of millions of his fellow men."
[FONT=&quot]—[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Lyndon Johnson


[/FONT]​
 
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Medicus

Well, I was hoping for v 1.0 to be finished, but if you can add more to the timeline, don't let me discourage you. 1.0 was fantastic, 2.0 should be even better.:)

Personally I loved how you had things happening realistically and slowly, rather than nuclear war breaking out the day after McCarthy's inauguration.

I assume those quotes are from OTL?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Medicus said:
Personally I loved how you had things happening realistically and slowly, rather than nuclear war breaking out the day after McCarthy's inauguration.
Click to expand...
Well, my research has shown that things would probably have gone downhill faster, but I'm still going to try and make this as realistic as I possibly can. :)
Medicus said:
I assume those quotes are from OTL?
Click to expand...
All of them are real quotes from OTL, though I had to a fudge a word or two here and some of the speakers.

I will say, though, that the LBJ quote is 100% OTL ;)
 

Dr. Strangelove

Banned
I liked 1.0 and I'm sure 2.0 will be even more enjoyable. :)

More merit to you since I tend to consider the alternate-presidents-of-the-US the most boring AH subgenre imaginable.
 

Historico

Awesome, I can't wait to see how TTL'd differs from the original version, which we all know nothin short of amazing. I really think we're starting a more researchh driven TL approach on this board(I think that has to do with most of our members now being in college) and itll be cool to see how you new findings will effect the TL.:DKeep it comming
 

stevep

Wolfpaw

Subscribed. I'm going to be on holiday for a couple of weeks but will catch up when I get back.

Sounds like its going to be an even rougher ride this time around.

Steve
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Tricky Dick. That’s what we called him. Never to his face, though. Well, maybe a few times to his face; the man was one hell of a poker player. Back when he was in the Navy, Dick bluffed a senior officer out of $1,500…with a pair of twos! Can you believe that? Fifteen-hundred gone on a pair of twos! Still, that’s peanuts compared to what he did to us in Chicago.

Those of us working the Warren campaign had high hopes in ’52. We thought the Governor could get the nomination as a compromise candidate. Taft was too conservative, and Eisenhower…well, we didn’t know what to do about Eisenhower.

“Eisenhower’s an unknown,” Nixon would say. “You don’t even know where the man stands most of the time.” And as much as I hate to say it, Dick had a point. Hell, we hadn’t even known whether Ike was a Democrat or a Republican till a few months before the convention. And that Kraut name of his didn’t help.

All these years and I’m still not sure how Nixon managed to pull it off. Lot of backroom deals, I guess. You know, cigars and midnight phone calls and all that. Me? I was out on the floor the whole time, fighting hard for the Governor. So imagine how I felt when I heard California was throwing in with Bob Taft. And the second those undecideds heard, well..."avalanche" doesn't even come close.

You know, I almost felt sorry for Dick. I think he really thought that he was going to get the V.P. slot right then and there. But we’d just nominated Bob Taft, for crying out loud! I mean, the man could make that egghead Stevenson look like Marlon Brando. No, no, we needed a running mate that could really fire the crowd up. And boy did we find one…

Tricky Dick. [Laughs] I tell you; by the time that convention was over, I was calling him a lot worse.

—James “Jim” McEvoy, quoted in Better Dead than Red: An American Memoir, by Studs Terkel
 
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Wolfpaw

Banned
July 14, 1952

UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL NEWS​

TAFT
ACCEPTS​

VOICE: ED HERLIHY​


Ed Herlihy: The Republican Party presents a united front following the bitterly-contested 25th
Republican National Convention which saw Senator Taft win over General Eisenhower on the
first ballot, 768 to 438.

[Footage of Taft and Eisenhower smiling and shaking hands]

EH: The two chief rivals clasp hands in a symbol of party harmony and to the General's announcement
that he relinquishes presidential aspirations.

[Footage of the crowded convention floor]

EH: A tumultuous convention greets the nomination of Senator Taft. A second ovation follows when
Senator Wiley of Wisconsin pays tribute to the vice presidential nominee.

[Footage of Wiley standing on the dais]
Sen. Wiley: And I wish to say to you that I know of no person who could have been selected for
this high position and high honor by the Republican Party of the nation than my junior colleague,
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.
​
[Footage of a smiling McCarthy wading through a crowd of cheering people]

EH: The vice presidential nominee who is the nemesis of Communists everywhere receives the accolade
supreme from his fiancée, Miss Jean Kerr.

[Footage of McCarthy and Kerr kissing on the dais. More cheering.]

EH: Twelve-hundred delegates, once divided, cheer to echo the convention's choice. As he once led the
Senate, he now stands on the eve of leading the nation.

[Crowd cheering Taft as he mounts the dais]

EH: An excited convention awaits the official acceptance speech of the main who promises to take
America back to her roots.
Sen. Taft: Ladies and gentlemen,

You have nominated me on behalf of millions of your fellow Americans to lead a great sweeping out
of government to correct the mistakes, the bunglings and the failures of the Truman Administration.
It is an Administration that seeks to curtail our liberty. An Administration that allows the Communist
threat to spread both abroad and at home. An Administration that spills American blood in a region of
the world where we do not belong in a war that this Administration does not know how to fight.

This is an Administration that is bent on leading this country away from free enterprise and towards socialism.
We have got to break with the corrupting idea that we can legislate prosperity, legislate equality and legislate
opportunity. All of these good things came in the past from free Americans working out their destiny. That is
the only way they can continue to come in any genuine sense.

I am ever mindful of the fact that our nation stands at a crossroads between tyranny and freedom. It is therefore
with great humility that I accept your nomination. I will lead this sweeping out of creeping socialism in every
domestic field, I will find an honorable end to the war in Korea, and I will take this nation down the golden road
of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
​
[Footage of crowd cheering wildly as McCarthy lifts Taft's hand into the air as the two wave]

EH: Republican hopes soar with the nomination of their two new standard bearers.

​
 
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RogueBeaver

RogueBeaver

I look forward to seeing how Taft is on the campaign trail. With two ineffective campaigners, it's going to give Teddy White precious little material to work with. :p
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
"While I have nothing but respect for Senator Taft, I cannot help but mention how utterly shocked and appalled
I am at his choice for running mate.

"The Republican Party's nominee for the vice presidency is a purveyor of a hysterical form of putrid slander, and
I think it one of the most unwholesome manifestations of our current disorders.

"There are among us those who use 'patriotism' as a club for attacking other Americans. One of the most shocking
examples of this are the attacks which have been made on the loyalty and the motives of our great wartime Chief of
Staff, General Marshall. To me this type of 'patriotism' which is, in Dr. Johnson's phrase, 'the last refuge of scoundrels.'

"The tragedy of our day is the climate of fear in which we live, and fear breeds repression. Too often sinister threats to
the Bill of Rights, to freedom of the mind, are concealed under the patriotic cloak of anti-Communism."

 —Gov. Adlai Stevenson (D-IL) at a rally in Santa Fe, NM, September 8, 1952
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
"Mr. Stevenson, in three of the speeches which you have made since you were nominated on the Democrat ticket,
you went out of your way to viciously berate me. Why, Mr. Stevenson? Why the bitterness? Could you be disturbed,
Mr. Stevenson, because I am checking your record since the day you entered government service at about the same
time and in the same department as the Hiss, Abt, Witt, Pressman group? Are you getting worried about what we are
finding?

"You voluntarily submitted to the Hiss judge and jury an affidavit in which you swore to your Almighty God that
Alger Hiss (1) has a reputation for truthfulness—you say McCarthy is a liar; (2) you swore under oath that Hiss had
an outstanding reputation for integrity; (3) you swore under oath, Mr. Stevenson, that Alger Hiss is a great American
—you say McCarthy is un-American. Well, after your entire record is given them, if the American people want you,
they can have you. I don't think they do.

"So there can be no doubt, America. Let me assure you that the Republican Party will need your votes in November.
It needs them badly."

—Radio-television broadcast by Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI), September 12, 1952

 
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