Irrevocable Determination

[RogueBeaver]

‘This is a special bulletin from BBC television in London. Buckingham Palace announced a few moments ago that His Majesty the King has died, peacefully in his sleep, at the age of 77. Normal programming has been suspended for the remainder of the day…’
Robert Dougall, 28 May 1972

Irrevocable Determination
A collaborative TL by RogueBeaver and Meadow

‘V. troubling day at Balmoral. HMK was shooting pheasant until very late in the day and his coach was held up on the way back in frosted mud. He retired to bed immediately on his return and complained of a bad cough and aching cold. If my fears are correct, he is developing pneumonia. I dare not think what will come of it if this is the case.’
Personal diary of Bertrand Dawson, Viscount of Penn and Physician-in-Ordinary to George V, 27 January 1930

The King in his study, 1929.




‘They want me to go all the way to Balmoral tonight? What could possibly be so important?’
Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 28 January 1930

‘It is as I feared.’
Scrawled note on an otherwise blank page of personal diary of Bertrand Dawson, circa. 29 January 1930

‘As the days went on, he grew weaker and weaker, often lapsing into unconsciousness for hours at a time. He would return to lucidity only for a few brief moments, and even then only to make some kindly but irrelevant remark inquiring into someone else’s whereabouts or health. On one occasion he did ask his secretary the somewhat queer question of “how is the Empire?”, the response to which pleased him. By the first day of February, it was clear to all present what was going to happen, and I was taken to one side by Stamfordham (to this day I swear I saw the beginnings of tears in his eyes) and asked to “make the necessary preparations”.

I contacted the Accession Council personally the following morning.’
Ramsay MacDonald, interviewed in The Passing Of A King, 1935



‘David had this unfathomable look in his eye when the doctor was explaining everything to him. Bertie was, as ever, like an open window through which all his thoughts could be seen. David, though – I could not put my finger on what it was that bothered me. To think that he’d delayed coming up to the castle for a day so he could arrange to make some of the journey in one of those wretched flying contraptions! But I think it was the contrast between that and the man I saw now, who, like so many men before him, was being told his father was dying. He looked almost sorry that he’d not come up earlier, but at the same time there was something in his eyes that unnerved me – something powerful and determined, something… burning. Burning from the back of his irises. I never quite looked at him in the same way after that.’
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, interviewed in The Windsors, 1973 (segment modified prior to publication)



‘It is done.’
Single-line diary entry by Bertrand Dawson, 7 February 1930

‘The King is dead. Long live the King.’
Part of proclamation issued by the Accession Council, 8 February 1930

‘What now?’
His Majesty, Edward the Eighth, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, 8 February 1930


The Prince of Wales on the causeway, 24 January.





The Prince of Wales with Stanley Baldwin outside No 10, 6 February. Prime Minister in all but name, Mr Baldwin is widely suspected to be the Prince's closest ally in Cabinet.




Of all the Democrats then considering a presidential run for what was likely to seem an easy victory over President Hoover, the one who most Democrats favoured was New York Gov. Franklin Roosevelt. However Roosevelt, who for many years had cherished presidential ambitions, had lost by a razor-thin margin- 12,542 votes [1]- in the 1928 gubernatorial election to Republican Attorney General Albert Ottinger. His subsequent victory in 1930 had been too late and now he had to hope that the eventual nominee would be amenable to offering the vice-presidential nomination. Or at least that 1940 would be the year he won the presidency on his own. It had been a hard-fought campaign, with then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover easily holding the White House for the Republicans, crushing New York Governor Al Smith by twenty points, 59.1-39.6, in the popular vote and 474-57 in the Electoral College. [2] By 1930 the Republicans’ hold on the presidency interrupted solely by Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson for 13 of 17 elections since the Civil War was greatly weakening due to the severe recession that was well underway. Smith had lost his home state of New York and traditionally Republican Massachusetts, despite widespread Catholic support, by 2 points to Hoover. Even staunchly Democratic Alabama, which had never voted for a Republican since the party was founded 72 years earlier and despite the presence of Senate Majority Leader Joe Robinson (D-Ark.) on the ticket, fell to Hoover by 2 percent [3], a Republican breakthrough in the heart of the old Confederacy. Or at least it was thought a breakthrough at the time: Hoover had ordered the GOP’s Southern operatives to focus on outreach to the white-collar, pro-business professionals [4] instead of the largely disenfranchised African-Americans who had long been the bedrock of Southern Republican support.

Newt Gingrich, The End of A Mirage

Franklin Roosevelt concedes the gubernatorial election to Attorney General Ottinger shortly after midnight on Election Night. The Republican wave that swept President-elect Hoover into office also washed over the Empire State this evening.




NEWT GINGRICH, Hoover biographer, Professor of American History, Princeton University:



“In retrospect historians see it as the birth of the modern Southern Republican Party, an event that is usually postdated to after World War II. At the time it was dismissed as a fluke due to Smith’s Catholicism or the national wave. In the short term, the Democrats carried the 10 largest cities in America by a net margin of 24,000 votes where Coolidge had won overwhelmingly, despite a three-way race four years earlier. [5] The urbanites were awakening. So were the farmers, as Hoover knew well: that is why both parties supported higher agricultural tariffs, especially the Republicans. But Smith could not access them, and in 1928 the Republicans’ message of peace and prosperity outweighed all the other factors- anti-Catholicism, Smith’s wetness or Tammany association." [6]

From Ken Burns' "American Experience: The 1930s"

[1] OTL margin of roughly 26,000 votes. The Congressional elections went as per OTL.

[2] OTL 58.1-40.6 and 444-87.

[3] OTL margins of 2% in Alabama and 3% in Massachusetts.

[4] Otherwise known as "Hoovercrats."

[5-6] Black, Champion of Freedom

[Meadow]

I am very excited to get this going at last. It promises to be a fruitful partnership!

[Mikestone8]

Does Edward still marry Wallis Simpson?

I've heard it claimed that after George VI's death from lung cancer, she bullied her Hubby into giving up smoking, which may have significantly prolonged his life. Without her, does he still last until 1972?

[RogueBeaver]

By this time he'd been smoking since his Oxford days pre-WWI. He was a moderate smoker, but counterbalanced by being a fitness fanatic obsessed with his weight and never eating lunch as a result. As the pic shows you, it wasn't necessary.

Simpson: he met her in 1931 IOTL, and in '30 he's seeing Lady Furness, mostly a positive influence, but in the view of some made over-democratic and too common. IOW, too casual. Those traits were there long before that though, which annoyed his father to no end. You won't see that notorious bad American accent from the abdication speech which came from Simpson.

[Wendell]

This is interesting, and the application of butterflies here is rather liberal thus far. Things are sure to get interesting I suspect, particularly with the foreshadowing that has occurred thus far.

Originally Posted by RogueBeaver

By this time he'd been smoking since his Oxford days pre-WWI. He was a moderate smoker, but counterbalanced by being a fitness fanatic obsessed with his weight and never eating lunch as a result. As the pic shows you, it wasn't necessary.

Simpson: he met her in 1931 IOTL, and in '30 he's seeing Lady Furness, mostly a positive influence, but in the view of some made over-democratic and too common. IOW, too casual. Those traits were there long before that though, which annoyed his father to no end. You won't see that notorious bad American accent from the abdication speech which came from Simpson.

But won't she carry some of the same baggage Wallis Simpson did given that both women were divorced?

[RogueBeaver]

I am just discussing what the situation is ab initio, not giving anything away. Yes, Freda Dudley Ward is a widow and Thelma Furness is a divorcee. Right now there are other things on the King's mind, like a teetering Labour minority government when the Tories are waiting for the right moment to call for a non-confidence motion.

[Brian Roastbeef]

Edward VIII in 1930... Very interesting. Mosley is still part of the MacDonald government at this time, isn't he. I'll be following...

[RogueBeaver]

Mosley was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i.e. Minister Without Portfolio. No influence whatsoever in the Cabinet despite being close to MacDonald. Not liked by HM either.

[Wendell]

Originally Posted by RogueBeaver

Mosley was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i.e. Minister Without Portfolio. No influence whatsoever in the Cabinet despite being close to MacDonald. Not liked by HM either.

Why was Mosley even in the cabinet then?

[Brian Roastbeef]

Originally Posted by RogueBeaver

Mosley was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i.e. Minister Without Portfolio. No influence whatsoever in the Cabinet despite being close to MacDonald. Not liked by HM either.

Well, I doubt anybody did or could actually like Mosley... I was wondering though if Edward would give buoyancy to his unemployment proposals, keeping him from leaving the party for a little while longer. Quick look on the Genocide shows that the die was probably cast on that by this time, though so a moot point...

[Meko]

Does Bertie still have Elizabeth and Margaret in this TL or is Margaret butterflied out

[RogueBeaver]

Mosley was close to Ramsay MacDonald. He wanted one of the Offices of State but was far too junior: he was first elected (as a Tory) in 1922 and only joined Lab a year later. So basically as a harmless personal favour. Mosley left because his proposals were far too radical. Economic policy was bipartisan. Philip Snowden was a Gladstonian and diametrically opposed to it.

Edward's own solution to that problem was more a mix of voluntarism and some government housing for the unemployed. He did care about them and the working class: that's where the bedrock of his support could be found. However with that partial exception he was a fully paid-up and partisan (less subtle about it than his sister-in-law) member of the Tory right.

The next update should be up sometime this weekend.

[THE OBSERVER]

What about A Land of Milk and Honey? Are we gonna see any updates now that February 25 has come?

[John Fredrick Parker]

Presuming the Great Depression still happens and his reaction is the same, I'd be fairly certain Hoover is still going to lose re-election in 1932...

[Meadow]

Originally Posted by Meko

Does Bertie still have Elizabeth and Margaret in this TL or is Margaret butterflied out

Butterflies will be kept under control, worry not. Rogue and I have a few vague ideas for the TL's course but generally we're going to see where things go. Ed becoming King six years earlier is not going to have cataclysmic effects immediately, but certain things will come out differently as butterflies that result from his accession begin to tip the balance. I shan't list any at this time, but to answer those with questions about Mosley, I can tell you he has been considered (as anyone who has read The People's Flag will tell you, he's a character I can't get enough of) and has had some sort of fate determined within the TL. Some may like it, others may not.

To clarify how we're doing this collaboration - RB, in his infinite knowledge regarding all things across the pond, is handling the American side of things. I'm handling the British updates. Between us, we're throwing ideas at each other when we want to synchronise. But this way, two quite separate PoDs (George V dying in February 1930, and FDR losing the 1928 NY Gubernatorial election) come together in what should be a very different (but recognisable) 1930s and beyond.

[KahukuMan10]

Looks promising! Although I admit i am disappointed with no FDR. Is this a TL with no New Deal?

[Mikestone8]

Originally Posted by Meko

Does Bertie still have Elizabeth and Margaret in this TL or is Margaret butterflied out

Margaret was born 21 August 1930, so with a PoD in January she is already (just) on her way.

The only possible butterfly is if this leads to a third pregnancy for the Duchess of York. If the third child is another girl, no great matter, but if it's a boy, that's more important as it means Princess Elizabeth is displaced in the line of succession.

[King Nazar]

Originally Posted by KahukuMan10

Is this a TL with no New Deal?

Seems to be

[Readman]

Oh noes! King Edward VIII...Readman no like, Bad Medicine

Maybe he will still end up as an Epic Fail without Wallis around, but oh well I like this so I shall be keeping an eye on it

[Kurt_Steiner]

Yikes! This looks promising!