Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline
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.Thanks for the feedback @gap80 only two
more criticisms: Why is an extremely Conservativie guy like Buchanan backing a Pro Civil Rights supporting governor instead of Goldwater?
2. Rocky's foregin policy was actually rather similar to Goldwater, so his "Goldwater making Indochina glow in the dark" my guess is that he would of gone after him sloppe
more criticisms: Why is an extremely Conservativie guy like Buchanan backing a Pro Civil Rights supporting governor instead of Goldwater?
2. Rocky's foregin policy was actually rather similar to Goldwater, so his "Goldwater making Indochina glow in the dark" my guess is that he would of gone after him sloppe
Chapter 20: July 1964 – November 1964
Chapter 20: July 1964 – November 1964
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
– Pericles
[pic: imgur.com/HVpTwEH ]
– Campaign button from the Kentucky delegation at the 1964 R.N.C.
I invited in Rockefeller, Spencer, and one of Spencer’s interns who brought over some photographs and laid them out on the hotel bed. We stood around the impromptu gallery to discuss who would be my running mate. I liked George Romney of Michigan, but the people of his state wanted him to stay on as Governor; plus, Spencer and his intern mentioned his religion and being born in Mexico to American parents as possible detriments. It wasn’t clear to me exactly why, but as I still remembered then and now the qualification heck of 1955, I decided it was best not to run the risk of experiencing that hooey again. Prior to the meeting, Senator Keating joked “if you want to win over Goldwater’s supporters, maybe you should pick Senator [George] Allott from Colorado – from afar, he and Goldwater look exactly alike!” Not wanting to dismiss a potentially wise pick over a gag, I met with Allott, but he was not too interested. After considering Senators Carl Curtis, Maurice J. Murphy, Norris Cotton, and Everett Dirksen, Senator Margaret Chase Smith was a very tempting choice – a longtime U.S. Senator who openly opposed McCarthyism and I, being seven years older than her, saw her as being fairly young – but to woo-in old-fashioned folks such as myself, I needed to go with a less bold choice. Nixon had passed over Senator Lodge in 1960, and after much consideration, so did I that year.
The final two options ended up being Governor Bill Scranton of Pennsylvania and Senator Jacob Javits of New York. Rockefeller favored Javits, so we quickly met with him. To our surprise, he declined, believing he would be more helpful to a Sanders administration if he stayed in the Senate. He also believed that his Jewish religion, and his recorded early support for the War in Cuba, would cause controversy that would only bog down the ticket. His wife wasn’t keen on the idea, either.
That left Scranton, who I thought fit the criteria just fine. His connections to donors would benefit the ticket financially. His connections to the rust belt would balance out my rural image despite my own history of urban development endeavors. At 47 years old, Scranton balanced out my much-higher number of years on this Earth, and he had developed leadership skills and experience by quelling protests in his state over the past year-and-a-half. But I wanted to make sure that we could work together. Spencer’s intern got Scranton up to the room, and we talked for about half an hour. The man, just a few years younger than my son, was convivial, courteous and optimistic that great things would come from us working together, whether it be for four or eight years, or even just for the remaining 14 weeks of the race. He seemed like a fine choice to serve as my running mate, and within hours “Sanders-Scranton” posters and pins could be found all over the place!
– Colonel Sanders’ Life As I Have Known It Has Been Finger-Lickin’ Good, Creation House publishing, 1974
[pic: imgur.com/AJE8CsP ]
– clickipedia.co.usa
With the Presidential nominee finally chosen, a cascade of balloons were released from the top, filling the huge interior in a lighter-than-air flood of red, white and blue. The banners, signs and hullabaloo brought the idea of Daddy Warbucks’ birthday party to mind. Even with the Colonel on the premises – or maybe because of his support for Civil Rights – I would not have been able to get into the convention center had I not met Jackie Robinson outside because some of the more, ahem, “conservative” members of the party were hardly okay with letting me, or even Jackie, join their political circus…
[snip]
…Deafening boos and jeers enthralled the room as the South Dakota delegation vocally confirmed Scranton for the Vice-Presidential nomination. The cacophony grew in even greater intensity as both Sanders and Scranton approached the main podium. I heard a man, still wearing a Goldwater pin, shout “Get that joke out of here.” I even saw a man ready a tomato in a slingshot, though honestly, it was not the weirdest thing I had seen that day. But still, it looked like a riot would break out, and I was genuinely frightened; Jackie leaned over from his seat behind mine and warned “if we have to get out of here, don’t let go of my hand.”
But then Colonel Sanders caught the attention of the enraged political fanatics. And he calmed their blood by calling for party unity: “Democrat fat-cats would be happier than pigs in mud if they saw us tear ourselves apart before the real race even started… Remember the words of Abraham Lincoln – ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand’! Right now, his Grand Old Party is in danger of falling apart at the seams. But we must stay united as a party in order to bring America closer to being truly a land of justice and freedom! In the words of a wise writer named Publilius Syrus, ‘Where there is unity there is always victory.’ And with your support, we will unite this party to be the strongest messenger of democracy that it can be, and that shall lead us all victory in November!”
– Belva Davis’ The Ultimate Gamble: The Election That Changed The Nation, 1984
After hours of on-the-floor negotiations, a “soft-c” conservative platform was finalized on the 16th, calling for a vague “change in the execution of America’s foreign policies” and what would later be described as a libertarian stance on social issues, with the biggest and most notable plank being a call to “keep government bureaucracy out of all American businesses, big and small.”
…With the convention finally behind them, Republican operatives shifted to the general election. Selling the idea that a businessman with government experience could use his organization skills to rein in the chaos seemingly run amok in D.C. over issues at home and abroad required canvassing swing states and reaching the undecided voters that lied within them. Additional focus was placed on the notion that a Sanders administration would be beneficial to everyone, which explains Sanders ’64 memorabilia having tags such as “vote for efficiency, not ideology,” which were most likely meant to lure in traditionally Democratic-favoring voters. …Most of the campaign’s focus was on the northern and southern states, as Sanders’ backstory as a railroad man and his get-the-government-out-of-your-business positions were sure to win over the west. Meanwhile, Sanders utilized local television and talk radio stations and other forms of free media to dispense in campaign messages for minimal costs. A Zenith-number (the precursor to the toll-free telephone number) included on some campaign material allowed people to call their regional campaign headquarters to receive additional information…
…It should also be noted that upon starting his campaign travels, Sanders experienced territorial crowds of both the welcoming and hostile variety in both the South and Midwest. This was because most Americans in the north and out west consider Kentucky to be part of the South, but Americans in the South do not (especially the people of the Deep South, an area which is, essentially, Mississippi clean through to South Carolina). To them, Kentucky was too far north to be part of the ‘real’ south, as they call it. But the biggest differentiation they make is the fact that Kentucky did not join the Confederacy during the Civil War...
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
Remembering the controversies of his 1955 campaign, Sanders immediately began the process of divesting his interests in K.F.C. to a temporary trust fund. Additionally, upon discussing the matter with Pete Harman and Dave Thomas, Sanders sought to make his company’s advertising a non-issue from the start. The FCC’s Fairness doctrine policy required radio stations to present contrasting viewpoints, and so Sanders instructed that only the company’s “Colonel-free” commercials – which instead focused on customers and celebrities praising the company – would air until November 4, the day after the election.
– Anne Meagher Northup’s Chicken and Politickin’: the Rise of Colonel Sanders and Rational Conservatism in the Republican Party, 2015
“Harland Sanders ain’t a southerner at all! Not only was he born in Indiana, but he once served as the Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce of Columbus, Indiana! If you believe Sanders isn’t just faking being a Southerner, then I’ve got some beachfront property in Idaho to sell ya.”
– Farris Bryant at a rally in Greenville, SC, 7/17/1964
“The Colonel has worked all over the country, so he is not just a Kentuckian. He’s lived in Alabama, worked in Tennessee, and has extensively invested into the economies of Utah, Florida, and all the 50 states – he’s an all-round American.”
– Senator Barry Goldwater, KAZM 780-AM radio, 7/18/1964 broadcast
“Now I don’t hate Governor Bryant, we both oppose many of President Johnson’s policies and believe in this country and that this country needs to be driven in a new and better direction. But I find it very ironic that I was born in the nineteenth century and live in the twentieth, while Farris was born in the twentieth century but lives in the nineteenth.”
– Colonel Sanders, Meet the Press interview, 7/18/1964
[pic: imgur.com/qdxNxAl ]
– Congressman Gerald Ford and Senatorial candidate/former Vice-President Richard Nixon campaigning for Colonel Sanders, Lansing, MI, 7/19/1964
COLONEL CAMPAIGN CROWD CLIMBS TO 15,000 IN BETHESDA
– The Baltimore Sun, 7/20/1964
CHICKEN KING TOUTS JOB CREATION, HISTORY OF WORKPLACE EQUALITY FOR WOMEN
…The Colonel’s company employs breeders, hatchers, growers, slaughterers, processers, packagers, distributors and deliverers, and storage facilitators across 4 continents, 27 countries, and all 50 states, not to mention his advertising staff… However, the credit for KFC leading the way in equal pay for men and women should really go to his daughters Mildred Sanders-Ruggles and Margaret Sanders, whom have been at the helm of several responsibilities in the company since 1955...
– Newsday, 7/21/1964
DOZENS OF U.S. TROOPS IN ANOTHER VIET-KONG ATTACK NEAR INDO-CHINA BORDER
– The Sacramento Union (Ted Kennedy’s newspaper), 7/21/1964
The lack of progress in Cuba and Laos-Vietnam during the spring and summer of 1964 troubled Johnson’s campaign staff. Many voters showed they were still upset that not only did Johnson fail to delivery on his now-broken promise of ending military activities on the island by Christmas 1963, but many were now doubting the Christmas 1964 mark would be reached either. Senator Goldwater successfully branded the nickname “Lying Lyndon” to Johnson by repeatedly using it in conservative circles, followed by it becoming better associated with the Bryant/Patterson campaign, where it would occasionally arise at rallies in chant form…
– Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President: 1964, Atheneum Publishers, 1965
A three-day protesting of American warfare in both Cuba and Indochina in Chicago turned deadly today when police sprayed the protestors with hoses; two of the protestors are in critical condition at Cook County hospital, reportedly from falling down marble stairs after being blasted with the water… The protests came about after another attack along the Laos-Vietnam border lead to the deaths of more American troops…
– NBC news report, 7/22/1964 broadcast
“Don’t put down a salt lick and say you ain’t got cows. There is a crisis growing at the Laos-Vietnam border and the President knows it!”
– Colonel Sanders at a rally in Arlington, VA, 7/22/1964
On July 23, Sanders went on Face the Nation and expressed dissatisfaction with Cuba and more so with Laos-Vietnam. Cronkite also essentially condemned the actions of Mayor Daley, which ultimately led to the deaths to two young activists, calling it a “deplorable and violent response to the call for peace abroad.” When asked why he disagreed with the event when he had defended a very similar incident four years prior, Sanders remarked “My daughter convinced me that tumbling’ folks down staircases is fine in some cases, but not when a policeman is tumblin’ young students for demonstrating peacefully, because that kind of violence ain’t needed, and it ends the respect people have for officers of the law.”
– Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President: 1964, Atheneum Publishers, 1965
“Walter we have to run a tight ship around here! Walls can have ears, Walter – there could be Republican spies anywhere, listening to everything we say!” [1]
– President Johnson to aide Walter Jenkins on a White House phone, 7/25/1964; segment from phone conversation courtesy of the FBI public A-V library, declassified 4/15/2005
[pic: imgur.com/Tq2Ys5c ]
– President Lyndon B. Johnson speaking at a U.S. Army base in Florida, 7/27/1964
LATEST CAM BOMB KILLS 17
The town of Boyeros, Cuba was shaken this morning when a bomb, planted in a parked car, threw debris and flames onto three buildings in the city’s financial district, killing 17 people and wounding “as many as 35,” according an administrator at the hospital, where the current Minister of Health was recuperating following a bout of fatigue and dehydration. …This is the largest assault on innocent Cuban civilians this year, and its scale, spectacle and magnitude demonstrate the level of disregard the Communists have for the citizens they claim they seek to liberate…
– The Free Cuba Press (translated), 7/30/1964
GALLUP: ELDERLY VOTE COULD DETERMINE ELECTION
…Historically, citizens over the age of 65 vote much more frequently than younger voters… As this latest poll suggests, Colonel Sanders is winning over WW2 veterans who disapprove of the shoutniks, though the elderly population overall is split over President Johnson’s healthcare programs. Only roughly 5% of elderly voters polls voiced support for Governor Bryant…
– The Sacramento Union, 8/1/1964
The campaign heavily focused on jobs: “This campaign is for the factory workers, assemblymen, welders, bus and truck drivers, beauticians, firemen, police officers, steel workers, plumbers, bakers, receptionists, typists, oilmen, butchers, meatpackers, and of course the small business owners.” Unemployment was still shaky in the aftermath of the 1963-1964 recession, and Father’s background gave hope to people that if anyone could protect their jobs, it was The Colonel. Father’s campaign appealed to young and old alike; when reviewing his gubernatorial experience, he was rightfully seen as a man of honor that always kept his promises. …Mags enjoyed life on the campaign trail with her mother-in-law; the two loved to travel, and I think the trips made things better between the two of them... “His folksy charm is infectious,” Goldwater once told me when we were stumping in Phoenix. For example, during that trip, Father went on a brief tangent during a speech on water sanitation to comment, “Did y’all know ‘water fountains’ are called ‘bubblers’ in eastern Wisconsin? That’s still amazing to me!” Father did not like to micromanage but he did have trust issues, and so he was sure to put people he could rely on to oversee the major sections of the campaign. …At a campaign stop in the deeply anti-Johnson city of Dallas, Texas, Father serenaded an enthusiastic crowd with the declaration that the President’s foreign policy was “out of control,” but then received jeers for promising to protect the lives and rights of African-Americans. While other politicians may have backtracked or left early, father held his ground and finished his speech, winning enough of the crowd back for him to end up spending several minutes shaking hands on his way out.
– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991
Sanders was still privately insecure about his academic shortcomings. “Many of us, especially the Colonel, thought Johnson would spend most of the campaign trying to hammer into the voters like crazy that his sixth grade education disqualified him,” deputy campaign manager James Reston later explained. In an interview on CBS on August 2, Sanders was pressed to defend his light academic background, leading him hollering a famous soundbite: “I never made it to middle school and yet I still created a global food business and did a heck of a job as Governor. So just imagine how successful I’d be if I had made it through to high school!”
– Anne Meagher Northup’s Chicken and Politickin’: the Rise of Colonel Sanders and Rational Conservatism in the Republican Party, 2015
NARRATOR: The worse the situation becomes along the Laos-Vietnam border, and the more that soldiers return to their families in boxes, the more the young people fresh out of high school and planning to enter college next month take to the streets to protest “the bureaucratic killing of our peers.” The rise in the numbers of protesting youths can be attributed to the rise of Hitler, says one expert:
CLIP: “The protestors turning 18 this year are the children born during the Baby Boom that immediately followed soldiers returning from fighting in World War Two; over 3,200,000 children were born in 1946 alone… Quite simply, these young people don’t want to be forced into fighting in an unofficial war with an already-high casualty count that’s happening halfway across the world, and many of them go further, and see little reason for the war even existing in the first place, whether because of war fatigue or because of their principles. …We are seeing a younger America transform here, and it is more liberal and more anti-war than the nation’s past forms.”
– NBC News report, 8/2/1964
“The youth rebellion is a worldwide phenomenon that has not been seen before in history. I do not believe they will calm down and be ad execs at 30, as the establishment would like us to believe.”
– William Burroughs, American writer and beatnik leader, c. August 1964 [2]
His travels in ’64 contrasted sharply with his 1955 business journeys, in that this time he was joined by an entourage – the inner circle of the Colonel’s “War Room People,” a combination of longtime allies, veteran party workers, and personal friends and family: strategists, organizers, managers, volunteers, phone operators, and speechwriters. Whether by plane, train, or the Colonel’s preferred method of bus, a group ranging in size from 20 to just four always tagged along... Harry Jaffa, a speechwriter from the Goldwater primary campaign, thought to invoke Lincoln, while fellow speechwriter Bill Baroody focused on foreign policy, coming up with the oft-quoted line “Yesterday it was Cuba, now it’s Vietnam. What country do you want to send our boys to die in next, Mr. President?” The Chief of Staff was Gene Pulliam, while the campaign spokesman was the spritely 25-year-old Ronald Ziegler.
…Throughout the campaign, Sanders repeatedly met with military policy experts to better familiarize himself with the modern army, with the wall of one room in the campaign headquarters becoming completely covered with maps of Southeast Asia and Cuba. The Colonel was also given tours of various Army bases with his campaign’s foreign policy advisers...
– Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President: 1964, Atheneum Publishers, 1965
Bryant took his campaign north to try to win over blue-collar workers in a sort of coalition endeavor between southern and northern populists that seemingly dug more into Sanders’ numbers than Johnson’s. An August 2 speech in Chicago, the sight of “the Democratic party’s rejection of Patterson’s common sense policies” saw a turnout of 5,000 supporters and roughly 3,000 hecklers and protestors. The event lead to a violent confrontation between beatniks and hippies that saw several injuries before Bryant’s security whisked him away. Further speeches in Indiana, Ohio, and New York saw further bellicose hubbub. It was this very “riotous discord” as Bryant put it that led to him finally choosing a running mate. “Until then, we did not know if we should double down or try to win over some more moderates,” former aide Asa Carter described in his memoirs, “but after seeing how much clamor and hatred there was for us in the north, Bryant decided that focusing on winning over the South was more realistic. If he won enough of those states, he could deadlock the election and play kingmaker at the least. Of course, beating Sanders for second place in the Electoral College and then becoming President through the E.C. was Plan A from the start. Bryant was in it for the win.” To reaffirm his dedication to the concerns of the region, Bryant convinced former Governor Patterson to be his running mate, matching anger towards refugees with anger towards desegregation…
– Dan T. Carter’s Politics of Rage: The Political Actions, Philosophies and Ramifications of Thurmond, Bryant, and Beyond, Louisiana State University Press, 1995 (Second Edition 2001, Third Edition 2009)
California U.S. Senate Primaries, 8/3/1964:
Republican Primary Results (13.2% Total Population):
Richard Nixon – 1,120,925 (54.1%)
George L. Murphy – 654,737 (31.6%)
Leland M. Kaiser – 190,619 (9.2%)
Fred Hall – 105,669 (5.1%)
Total votes cast: 2,071,950
– ourcampaigns.co.usa
…It is ironic then that back in 1964, was Colonel Sanders was the Republican nominee for President, Reagan refused to actively campaign for the Colonel in California, going so far as to even decline being in any television ads. …According to his son Ron, Reagan “saw there was already enough ‘Hollywood spectacle’ to his [the Colonel’s] campaign, what with Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley voicing support for him, and so he believed the campaign wouldn’t be taken seriously no matter how grave the subject matter.” Instead, Reagan appeared in several more short television spots promoting conservative talking points. Ron further explained that “Dad wanted to run for public office someday, and to him that meant separating himself from his acting career to prove such a run was sincere. He thought he’d fail to do that hanging around Elvis.” This distance from the Colonel may explain the events of 1966, where…
– SacramentoUnion.co.usa/archived_articles/2004
…Johnson and the Colonel separately agreed that the most appropriate number of hours worked in a week should be determined on an industry-by-industry balance in order to strike the right balance between costs and inflation rising from too little work and “consistently excessive use of overtime caus[ing] increased unemployment.” [3] …Johnson won endorsements from all the prominent unions despite the President voting for the Taft-Hartley Act. His support among union embers was nevertheless challenged by Sanders’ appeal to voters of the working class, not to mention the groundswell of support the Colonel received from low-educated voters (those without a college diploma, and others without even a high school diploma)…
– Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President: 1964, Atheneum Publishers, 1965
In August, Johnson’s latest Great Society proposals were shelved amid the melee of juggling the two foreign policy fronts, the election, and economy recovery efforts, with Johnson telling Jenkins, “They’ll be introduced right after the election if not sooner.”
– Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon: Book Four: The Power of the Presidency, A. A. Knopf Inc., 2018
SANDERS & BRYANT AGREE TO 1 DEBATE
– The Washington Post, 8/10/1964
“The free market allows people to choose. Giving a business your money for a good or service you want is like voting for the politician you want. It’s the freedom of choice that makes a Democracy. And to ignore two of the three choices for President that exist in this race is a disservice to the customers of our democratic process. President Johnson may have refused Bryant’s offer, but I will not.”
– Colonel Sanders explaining to reporters why he agreed to debate Bryant, Lexington, KY, 8/10/1964
HEAVY CASUALTIES REPORTED IN FAILED TRY AT RETAKING CITY
…The battalion bravely gave it everything they got – tanks, grenades, machine guns – but in the end the Communists outnumbered them. After the fighting moved out of the streets and into the neighboring foliage, Sergeant Lee gave the order of retreat, realizing that they would be unable to recapture the city from Communist forces that day… The city had fallen back into Communist hands in November 1963…
– reporter Tad Szulc, The New York Times, 8/11/1964 special report
Boston’s, better known as Boston Pizza in the states and once known as Pizza House, was founded on August 12, 1964, when a Greek immigrant named Gus Agioritis opened Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House in Edmonton, Alberta.
– www.pizzahalloffame.co.can/boston’s
L.B.J. DECLINES TO DEBATE SANDERS, BRYANT
The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN, is preparing to host the first-ever televised debate between general-election Presidential candidates, but in this three-person race, the stage will only feature two podiums. After Bryant suggested that he, Republican nominee Colonel Sanders, and President Johnson all meet together for a debate on foreign and domestic policy, the White House Press Secretary announced that the President was too busy running the country, and would not consider a debate. “This administration’s goals are perfectly clear to the average voter, and any information or details are obtainable at local campaign headquarters, from press releases, and from other forms of public documentation.” While Bryant had earlier suggest that he would not debate the Colonel without Johnson also in attendance, he has since backtracked that notion with the public statement “I look forward to my chat with the Colonel this Monday.” The University was chosen as “neutral ground” between the three candidates…
– The Chicago Tribune, 8/13/1964
SANDERS: Immigrant folks are just like us lifelong Americans – they’re studious, industrious, ambitious and hard-working dreamers and democracy-lovers.
BRYANT: That is a very naïve thing to say, Colonel. The immigrants seeking refuge from Cuba in my state are lazy loafers who are stealing American jobs.
[Snip]
SANDERS: I think we need to rethink our strategy in Indochina. It’s obvious the fightin’ is of the war kind, not the protectin' kind, so if we’re going to end up with another war on our hands – and I really hope we don’t – but if we do, I say give it three years. We defeated the Japs in less time, '42 to '45, and they had more firepower than these Viet Congo fellas. I think if there is no absolute path to peace or victory by January 1968, then we should perform an admirable withdrawal by January 1969.
BRYANT: that is not the kind of thinking we need in the White House. Rome wasn’t built in a day; you cannot put defending democracy on timetable. We do need to rethink our strategy in Indochina, and in the lingering issues facing our involvement in Cuba, but we cannot withdraw our troops from either because withdrawing is the same as surrendering. Democracy can never surrender to the evil forces of communism and oppression. Not in Cuba, not in Indochina, not anywhere!
SANDERS: Then when should we stop killing people overseas?
BRYANT: When those people are free!
SANDERS: Dead but free isn’t a good deal, Farris!
MODERATOR: Gentlemen –
SANDERS: I might have the goatee, but Byrant’s the stubborn ol’ goat in this race!”
MODERATOR: Gentlemen, please. So for the record, do both of you agree on withdrawing from Indochina as being conceivable or not?
SANDERS: If the war is not winnable, then yes, absolutely.
BRYANT: If the people want to be free, which they do, then no, absolutely not.
MODERATOR: And Cuba?
SANDERS: Four words, sonny: bring our boys home.
BRYANT: I agree with the Colonel that we must preserve America’s history of strength and victory, but not at the cost of an entire generation of American lives. However, Cuba’s proximity to our borders means that we cannot in good conscience leave the island without absolute assurance that it is clear of any remaining threatening elements.
SANDERS: Bryant, if I may, but in light of how the conflict in Cuba has descended into “acre-by-acre” guerilla warfare, I just have to say that if you become President and go through with your notions of warfare, you’re gonna need a whole truckload of Ajax to get the blood off your hands.
– Transcript of the Bryant-Sanders debate in Knoxville, TN, 8/17/1964
By mid-1964, Indonesia’s leader, Sukarno, had become too reliant on the Soviet Union for the comfort of the US’s national security personnel. The CIA soon devised, organized, and executed the August 17 [1964] “Independence Day” coup that overthrew Sukarno and replaced him with the pro-American General Suharto. Suharto used Indonesia’s war with the neighboring nation of Malaysia and the political entity of East Timor since January 1963 (which had gone largely ignored by the US as it tackled issues in Cuba and Vietnam) as excuses for the need for “a temporary emergency government.” Sukarno had privately planned to expand the warfare to mainland Malaysia on August 17, but instead of visions of conquest Sukarno met the day with a violent removal from power. Naturally, Communists loyal to Sukarno took to arms, and quickly the Indonesian Civil War had begun.
– Michael Richard Beschloss’ At the Highest Levels: The Cold War At Play In Southeast Asia, Crown Publishing, 1997
GALLUP: COLONEL SEEN AS WINNER IN LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE
…millions of Americans watched and listened to last night’s riveting exchanges…
– The Hollywood Review, 8/18/1964
The Colonel was friendly to reporters much more so than L.B.J., who was having trouble balancing governing with campaigning. Johnson, while visiting a veteran’s hospital in California on the 23rd, sparked rumors concerning the Colonel’s physical and even mental health, and complained that his rhetoric has been “uncouth and tactless in the most polite of ways.” …Johnson seemed to have virtually no support among young voters, and hoped that promises to expand Medicare/Medicaid benefits would boost support among older voters in several battleground states…
– Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon: Book Five: The Power of the Presidency, A. A. Knopf Inc. New York, 2012
“…We did our best to stay impartial, but that was not always successful. I remember, on the one side of the political aisle, there were two restaurants that sold our chicken, both of them being up north a ways, were both owned by very passionate L.B.J. supporters, and while they openly disapproved of the Colonel’s run, they didn’t sever business ties with us. They’d be getting rid of their best-selling product if they did that. On the flip side, though, some of our business partners were avid Sanders supporters. Both sides were problematic due to legal issues with the FEC, so I had to ask them to limit how much they supported The Colonel’s campaign to just banners. By September, though, we, uh, the company, had firmly established rules to separate The Colonel the Chicken King from The Colonel the Candidate. We made it so managers could promote the Colonel’s chicken on properties selling it, but could only promote his campaign off of said properties…”
– Pete Harman, 60 Minutes interview, 1999
ANTI-COMMUNIST PURGES PLAGUING CIVIL-WAR-TORN INDONESIA
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 8/28/1964
MORSE DECLINES TO MAKE “A FOUR-MAN RACE”
Portland, OR – The Beaver State’s more famous U.S. Senator has spent most of the past several weeks contemplating whether or not to run an independent campaign in the fall. …Two days ago, Morse met with President Johnson. Today’s announcement will come as a disappointment to his more ardent supporters; however, Morse assured the assembled crowed “I will criticize whoever is sworn in next January, however they are, if they fail to protect the American people.” Morse also discouraged a proposed write-in campaign already underway in some states, and added “He’s not perfect, but I believe Johnson is the best man for the job out of the three men in the ring.”
– The Washington Post, 8/29/1964
EXTRA! SANDERS FIGHTS OFF WOULD-BE ASSASSIN!
Dothan, AL – Sanders campaigning in certain parts of the South had been hostile for him. At a campaign stop in southern Virginia last week, for instance, an empty beer can struck the Colonel in the back of the head, and while leaving a rally in Louisiana last month, young activists tried to throw cans of paint on the Colonel, but missed the surprisingly sprite septuagenarian. This incident however, was much more severe. Sanders was in the particularly hostile territory of Alabama, where the state’s current moderate Governor, George Wallace, urged for those passionate for politics to treat Sanders with dignity. The FKC magnate was shaking hands in the conservative city of Dothan, shortly after finishing a speech, when a man pushed his way through the crowd on the side opposite the Colonel and charged for Sanders with a knife. Turning and seeing his assailant’s weapon, Sanders reacted swiftly, waving forward his cane to knock the knife out of the assailant’s hand and striking the would-be harmer square in the jaw – all with one effective gesticulation of his cane!
– The New York Times, 9/1/1964
The assailant was taken into custody and identified as Jerry Ray James of Austin, Texas [4]. James claimed he wanted to kill Sanders “for betraying the South,” later clarifying that he disapproved of the Colonel’s stance on Civil Rights. …James believed his actions would make him a martyr or even a hero to the “true American patriots” of the nation. Instead, all of the glory and praise went to Colonel Sanders for demonstrating quick thinking and bravery in the face of such an assault… The incident also neutralized claims that the 74-year-old man was far too old and frail to be President.
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
“Bat Masterson would be proud.”
– Actor Gene Barry, referring to a historical character he played on TV in the 1950s, 9/3/1964
SANDERS LEADING JOHNSON BY 10% IN LATEST POLLS
– The Washington Post, 9/7/1964
“When I deliver the South to Johnson, he will owe big time for it. Hell, maybe I can get a cabinet position out of it! I think Secretary of State Wallace has a nice ring to it…”
– George Wallace to speechwriter Asa Earl Carter, 9/10/1964 (allegedly)
“Under a Colonel Presidency, we can kiss Civil Rights goodbye! I am a Kentuckian through and through, and I know for a fact – and you can go ahead and look into this if you don’t believe me – that Sanders’ home town of Corbin, Kentucky, where Colonel Sanders got his start, is strife with racial prejudice. Why in 1919 nearly every n****r – sorry, I mean Negro – was kicked out of that town. Forced onto a freight train, they were [5]! And Sanders was not an opponent of this kind of violent behavior, not at all. For Sanders, it’s business before people. Hell, Sanders once shot a man over business! Can any of you all really see yourselves voting for a man like that? I hope not. I hope instead that you all will vote for President Lyndon Johnson!”
– Happy Chandler (D-KY), introducing President Johnson at a rally in St. Louis, MO, 9/12/1964
“Oh, he’s still sore from when I whooped his rear end back in ’55. To clarify the record, I didn’t live in Corbin at the time of the 1919 incident, and I would never support such an act no matter where I live. While Corbin has had a less-than-glamorous racial past, I’ve always treated my fellow man equally. …It don’t matter what color you are – if you have the money, or are good for it, meaning you can be trusted to pay when you can, you’re a welcomed customer, and if you can do the work, you’re a welcomed employee… [Snip] I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything but to answer the question I don’t know if I’d have voted for or against the Civil Rights Act because I haven’t read it, but once I get into office, I’ll take a good look at it. And if any part of it does more harm than good – wham! – off it’ll go!”
– Colonel Sanders, answering questions at a press conference, 9/12/1964
“We can’t afford to toy with the idea of havin’ a poultry-pluckin’ President. I’m voting for Bryant/Patterson and so should all the people of South Carolina.”
– US Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC), 9/15/1964
BOB DYLAN ENDORSES COLONEL, PERFORMS AT FUNDRAISER FOR NOMINEE [6]
– The Los Angeles Times, 9/16/1964
DYLAN: Traitor To The Movement?
– Tumbleweed Magazine, 9/19/1964
…Sanders, the most active of the candidates, is still picking up steam, with the latest polls showing the former Governor defeating President Johnson in November by a margin of 13%...
– NBC broadcast, 9/19/1964
“That move to Little Rock was a milestone in my life. I was there for three years studying law, reading the material La Salle U sent me, and reading up whatever I could in the office of Judge Iscreed. When any of my cases had to go to a higher court, a court above the Justice of the Peace Court, if I didn’t win in the J.P. Court, I turned them over to the judge. He’d take them from there on in and we’d split the fee. It was a slim living, but I was getting by. Then, after my, heh, slipup in front of a judge that landed me in hot water, I decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer anymore. I may have moved out of it, but I still love this city and I don’t think I’ll ever not stop this city.” …Sanders may be gaining approval in parts of the Deep South, where the GOP nominee is stressing his time living in the states of Arkansas and Alabama both in his rallies and in informal campaign advertisements on radio and TV…
– Colonel Sanders at a rally in Little Rock, Arkansas, 9/20/1964
– Part of an informal video short concerning Colonel Sanders’ work ethic, c. September 1964
– Part of an informal video short concerning Colonel Sanders’ connections to Alabama, c. September 1964
In mid-September, Sanders took a tour abroad to demonstrate his geopolitical prowess: the Colonel met with Dutch, French and West German officials to discuss a multitude of issues. Ultimately, actions taken during the 1961-1963 “Chicken War,” a tariffs-and-trade confrontation that ended the selling of U.S. chickens in Europe and European trucks in the U.S., were brought up. In 1963, Senator J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Democratic Senator from Arkansas – a chief U.S. poultry-producing state – had interrupted a NATO debate on nuclear armament to protest trade sanctions on U.S. chicken, going so far as to threaten cutting U.S. troops in NATO. Sanders remarked that the move was “valiant.” In response, Fulbright reiterated his endorsement for Johnson but nevertheless publicly thanked the Colonel for the compliment. Politicos in Arkansas were not exactly ignorant of the warm exchange as the Colonel’s approval ratings in the state continued to rise…
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
“That autumn was wonderful series of zigzags around the country… But there were unpleasant times, for sure. The most famous, or infamous, was the time when that Tennessee cad went to one of those tabloid papers to claim on the 21st of September that Harland had stolen the 11-Herbs-and-Spices formula from him in 1949. Oh, and it was soon all over the news! Harland was privately outraged, of course. When he realized some were taking the accusation seriously, I remember him tossing over a table and pounding his cane on any surface he could, calling him a “lying scoundrel with no honor.” Immediately, our lawyers drew up papers to charge the man with slander. Gene [Pulliam] soon publicly made the claim that the cad was being put up to it by supports of either Johnson or Bryant. Nelson [Rockefeller] and Barry [Goldwater] also came to my husband’s defense, but if I recall correctly, Goldwater had to stop himself from directly accusing President Johnson of sabotage. Us and Sanders’ manager worked magic. We organized a petition and radio interview after radio interview to get the truth heard. Within a few days, hundreds of people stepped forward to attest that KFC tasted the same then as it did when Harland made it in the early 1940s, when he created the formula. Soon the negativity and suspicion toward my husband simmered down and the press began depicting Harland in a more sympathetic light. The pressure then shifted to that awful man from Tennessee, and, well, he felt the walls closing in and that was too much for him.”
– Claudia Price Sanders, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) interview, 1979
…The latest breaking news: …now admits that he did not really create Kentucky Fried Chicken’s 11-herbs-and-spices secret recipe… Sanders’ campaign spokeman Ronald Ziegler says that Sanders will now withdraw charges for slander as a showing of letting bygones be bygones…
– NBC News, 10/3/1964 broadcast
We never did find out if he was just desperate for fame or money, or if somebody did put him up to it…
– Claudia Price Sanders, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) interview, 1979
CHARLENE JUNE HARGIS, WIFE OF EX-CONGRESSMAN, KILLED IN CAR CRASH
…the wife of former U.S. Congressman Denver Hargis (D-KS) drove off the road when attempted to avoid hitting a deer on the road, according to witnesses… Hargis is survived by her husband and their four young children, three daughters and a son…
– The Fort Scott Tribune, obituary section, 10/7/1964
….The Bryant/Patterson campaign is becoming embroiled in even further controversy and is facing widespread condemnation by many politicians over reports of African-Americans being harassed by Bryant supporters… reports that attendees of his rallies openly exclaim racist and anti-Semitic slurs have persisted for weeks… These controversies may be behind his slip in the polls in the northern states, though his numbers have not suffered in the Deep South, according to Gallup polling…
– ABC news report, 10/10/1964
“I’m kind of proud of how good I am at organizing things. In the 1920s, I established a Young Businessmen’s Club in Jeffersonville, Indiana, a town very much like the towns around these here parts. Yes sir, I got the local businesses to close up for a large picnic in the park, even a few folks who didn’t want to close up shop ended up there. And like how my presidency will be, those picnics were the ‘daggonest’ [7] that Jeffersonville ever saw.”
– Colonel Sanders at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, 10/12/1964
DOUGLAS-HOME WINS ELECTION BUT ONLY NARROWLY
London – Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home led the Conservative party to victory in today’s parliamentary elections. Labour made large gains but failed to win enough seats to place their leader, Harold Wilson, in charge; Douglas-Home held onto power with 326 seats, just ten more seats than needed to hold a majority. Fear over democratic collapse in France and support for returning capitalism and peace to Cuba (such as supporting the US Navy using the Bahamas for military purposes in 1961 and 1962) swung the election into Sir Douglas-Home’s favor.
– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 10/15/1964
“I would like to take this moment to congratulate Prime Minister Douglas-Home… The British know to keep their man in office. I might be biased in this opinion, but I really think we all would benefit from remembering that on November 3rd. …Well, let’s face it, Sanders would do a terrible job as President!”
– Lyndon B. Johnson at a televised White House function, 10/16/1964
“(chuckles) Oh, I couldn’t possibly do a worse job than you, Mr. President. …A nation can’t be strong overseas without first being strong at home, and right now the American people are still feeling the effects of the Salad Oil Recession. We need to spend our nation’s fortune helping them get back up on their feet first and foremost, Mr. President.”
– Sanders at a rally in Milwaukee, WI, 10/16/1964
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is the President. What is it?”
“Mister President, this is the pentagon. It’s the Chinese, sir.”
“The Chinese? I thought you just said this is the pentagon.”
“No, sir, I mean… it’s me, Director Dulles.”
“Oh. Allen. Hey. …Christ, it’s two in the morning, what’s wrong?”
“…We have reason to believe the Chinese have successfully tested a nuclear bomb.”
“What?!”
“The U-2 planes and subs are picking up the info. They finally detonated that atomic weapon they’ve been working on.”
“How powerful?”
“Not too powerful, but the rest of the men here are a bit worried.”
“Well of course they are, Allen. This is a really big game-changer. If China’s gone nuclear, we’re going to have to really show ’em who’s boss over there…”
– telephone conversation between President Johnson and CIA Director Allen Dulles, 10/17/1964, nature of recording classified until 2029
CAM BOMB STRIKES U.S. EMBASSY IN HAVANA: US Ambassador “Seriously Wounded”
– The Washington Post, 10/19/1964
EXPLOSIVE REPORT!: EVIDENCE OF US TROOPS MASSACRING UNARMED VIET-NAM CIVILIANS UNCOVERED
“Believed To Be Communist” Order Leads To At Least 90 Dead
– The Los Angeles Times, 10/21/1964
General Westmoreland: “We Need to Know What Went On Over There!”
– The San Diego Tribune, 10/23/1964
POLL: WAR, LBJ APPROVAL RATINGS DROP AFTER BRIEF RISE
…The most recent Gallup survey results indicate that the President’s boost in approval ratings following the attack on the American Embassy in Cuba last Monday is already dissipating… This was a busy week for the President as he travelled to Miami to meet with the U.S. Ambassador severely injured in the bombing… Sympathy for the administration was quickly truncated by an expose on civilian murders being printed only two days later. Rallies once again are popping up across the country... In light of the recent “acts of horror” on what is technically American soil, President Johnson has reaffirmed his notion that “routing out the remaining Communists in integral to our nation’s security” However, the lack of a longer-lasting “rally-around-the-flag” is likely due to the attack being viewed as only furthering the notion that it is unwise for American troops to still be in Cuba, according to the latest polling... Colonel Sanders has been more critical of the situation abroad in recent weeks, most recently declaring at a campaign event in North Carolina, “I understand the need to defend our borders, but not at the sake of an entire generation of our own people; that’s not defense, that’s murder.”
– The Wall Street Journal, 10/24/1964
“I believe it is best to follow in the wise words of Abraham Lincoln: it is best to not switch horses in mid-stream.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson in televised address in Washington, D.C., 10/25/1964
“You do if your horse is drowning!”
– Colonel Sanders at a rally in Dayton, OH, in response to Johnson’s comments made earlier the same day, 10/25/1964
Guest of former Presidential candidate Frank LAUSCHE (D-OH): “The Colonel is a sacrificial lamb of a candidate. He’s simply being offered up by the GOP party bosses so the Republican leaders can focus on winning in 1968, when incumbency fatigue will make the Democrats more vulnerable to losing the White House.”
Guest and former U.S. Senate candidate George L. MURPHY (R-CA): “Incumbency fatigue is already here, Frank. Between riots stemming from Civil Rights, protests sprouting up over the Cuba War, and turbulence arising everywhere in response to the Salad Oil Recession, Lyndon Johnson has been a disaster for the country. If The Colonel is a lamb, then he’s a lamb with sharp claws and teeth, because poll after poll shows the Colonel narrowly winning this race.”
LAUSCHE: “But there are also polls, if not more polls, showing Johnson winning.”
Host Roger MUDD: “Well all the polls together indicate that the race is going to be very close. But I’d like to ask you both right now, do you think control of the Senate and House hinges on who wins?”
MURPHY: “No.”
LAUSCHE: “No.”
MUDD: “Alright, um, George, how about you explain why first, and Frank can add to it if he wants.”
MURPHY: “Roger, given how lopsided control of both chambers are, even if The Colonel wins in a landslide, it will not be enough for the Republican Party to take back majority control. That will take another, two, maybe three more biennial election cycles of continuous seat gains –”
LAUSCHE: “Yes, you can thank FDR for that.”
MURPHY: “– But Republicans could significantly diminish the Democratic majorities.”
MUDD: “Alright, so let’s talk for a moment about the upcoming downballot races in this biennial election cycle. The closest races, such as the one being held your home state, George. In California, former Vice President and former Senator Richard Nixon is running to return to that chamber. Nixon sat out a bid for Governor in 1962 to better focus on a potential Presidential bid earlier this year, but failed to gather any momentum heading into the primaries or the convention. He is challenging incumbent appointee Alan Cranston. Do you think he can win, George.”
MURPHY: “Yes. He’s a very experienced and well-spoken man.”
LAUSCHE: “Yes, but Nixon has hitched his wagon to the Colonel’s, so how well the Colonel does could influence or be reflected in how that Senate race unfolds.”
MUDD: “Indeed.”
LAUSCHE: “Similarly, in Arizona, Barry Goldwater is running for a third term against Roy Elson, and in that state’s governor’s race, Goldwater ally incumbent Paul Fannin is being challenged by Democrat Art Brock. Both Fannin and Goldwater could feasibly lose their respective elections if Johnson wins that state.”
MUDD: “Yes, and a third state out west worthy of watching is Nevada’s US Senate race between Republican challenger Paul Laxalt and incumbent Democrat Howard Cannon, as polling suggests that that race is dead-even. The same can be said for Ohio’s race between Republican Bob Taft and incumbent Democrat Stephen Young, for Oklahoma’s race between Republican Bud Wilkinson and incumbent Democrat J. Howard Edmondson, for Tennessee’s race between Republican Howard Baker and incumbent Democrat Ross Bass, and Wyoming’s race between Republican John Wold and incumbent Democrat Gale McGee.”
LAUSCHE: “Another interesting Senate race that I think is worth watching is the one between incumbent Republican Hugh Scott and his Democratic challenger, Genevieve Blatt, who would be Pennsylvania’s first female Senator if she can unseat the better-funded Scott.”
– CBS Roundtable discussion, 10/27/1964 broadcast
“Folks, I, like many Americans right now, including the people here, am unsatisfied with the current state of this great nation. But I’m more than unsatisfied, I am grossly disappointed. Disappointed that President Johnson refuses to confront the difficult situations facing our great country. Perhaps he has fallen to fear. Perhaps he has fallen victim to the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1959. Regardless, we are losing men every day in foreign theaters due to a complete lack in organization of our forces and a lack of a basic understanding of the enemy. With such poor execution of operations in Cuba and the Indochina Border, we are embarrassing ourselves on the world stage, in front of our allies and our enemies. Our defense has become a shadow of its former self. Four years ago, no one dared to even challenge the power of the United States. Now, America is repeatedly ransacked by Cam bombs sent by Communist forces only 90 miles from our shores. The carnage of these conflicts has our younger generations in an uproar. They have lost the respect and dignity for the United States government that had been in surplus before Johnson entered office. But this is not just how I alone see these issues. These are the same opinions thought by millions of Americans across the country. This all is not how America should be! And so I must say to you, my fellow Americans, that with your help, we will bring America back from the edge of insanity and instability, and defeat its decline into destruction and despair.”
– Colonel Sanders at a campaign event in Fort Lauderdale, FL, 10/29/1964
“With two days left to go, all three candidates are heavily campaigning across the country, visiting several states that could swing into either the Republican, Democratic, or “HIP” column come this Tuesday… Colonel Sanders is currently leading in the polls, but only by under 5%, meaning President Johnson could still squeeze out a victory, while Governor Bryant, focusing heavily on the Southern states, could possibly win enough states to throw the election to the House of Representatives…”
– Walter Cronkite, CBS, 11/1/1964 broadcast
ANNOUNCER: Direct From CBS News Election Headquarters in New York, this is the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite!
CRONKITE: Good evening… Across this nation of ours it appears that the populace has gone to the polls in record numbers, perhaps more than 71 million of us have trooped to our polling places today… With the polls still open, [8] we can say that Colonel Sanders is the winner in Kentucky, the first state called tonight and the former Governor’s home state. Our system of selected precincts suggests we can give him the state with roughly 70% of the vote there… We’ll be back in a moment, right after this message… Now we have the popular vote, and so far Colonel Sanders is in the lead by 5,000 votes. We will keep you updated in what should be an interesting and dare I say fun evening and night, and if necessary the early hours of tomorrow…
[snip]
Lisa Howard is watching the Senate elections, Roger Mudd is covering the Congressional bids and Mike Wallace the governor races… Whatever the popular vote will be, it won’t be popular with everybody… It is now 7:30 PM, and the polls have just closed in Ohio, West Virginia, and North Carolina. As of this moment, the Bryant/Patterson ticket has won zero states… Here’s another bulletin now, and it seems a win has just been called: Johnson is projected to win Illinois with around 55% of the vote…
[snip]
The probable winner of the usually Democratic state of Virginia will be the Republican nominee this year. Virginia previously voted for the G.O.P. candidate in 1952 and 1956 but voted for President Johnson in 1960. …The IBM machine will likely make less mistakes than us, but the machine and the lot of us here rely on the BPA analysis and the county results being sent in from across the country… It is now 8:30 PM, and while New Hampshire still too close to call, precincts are calling Pennsylvania for Colonel Sanders, likely due to the presence of Governor Scranton on the Republican ticket...
[snip]
It is now 9:00 PM, which means that the polls are now closing in several western states. The West has a history of voting for conservative candidates, and Sanders is expected to sweep the central states of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas… The margins of victory in the early states such and Pennsylvania imply that Sanders has a strong chance of winning. Farmers in the west are favoring Sanders but rural counties in the south seem to be preferring Governor Bryant, especially in the rural parts of Florida… We’ve just received another projection, this one from Indiana, which has gone to the Colonel over the President… Johnson is leading Sanders by 10,000 votes in Texas… Paper ballots are being used in South Carolina after the breakdown of several ballot machines…
[snip]
WALLACE: …Former Governor Collins will return to the Governorship despite the large volume of people voting for Bryant for the Presidency. Governor Bryant is calling his more active supporters “the front lines of the quiet and resentful Americans who want what is best for their families only for their voices to be drowned out by the oppressive nature of liberal interest groups.”
CRONKITE: Thank you, Michael. We take you now to Dan Rather, who’s with the presidential party headquarters in Johnson City, Texas…
[snip]
MICHAEL SHUMACHER: Colonel Sanders, having already voted in Corbin, Kentucky, a town very excited about his presence, is now working the phones with other members of his campaign team…
SHUMACHER: Here in South Carolina, public servicemen are working to repair further machine breakdowns. In a statement that has been scrutinized by several Democrats, Senator Goldwater warned yesterday that, quote, “events that could discourage certain voters could be intentional in some areas,” unquote. The comment came in light of early voting suggesting an unprecedented number of Negro voters would cast their ballots tonight. Indeed, despite claims of voter intimidation in many southern precincts, long lines of Black people like the kind behind me show that they are adamant, um, and are persevering to exercise their right to vote, most of them for the very first time.
CRONKITE: Thank you, and we have another bulletin, we are reporting to you now that the Colonel has won the state of West Virginia, a state the Johnson was expected to win... The indicated winner of Missouri, commonly seen as a bellwether state, is now leaning to the Republican column. Johnson, meanwhile, is doing well in the industrious areas of the Midwest and in Maryland, a state he lost in the primaries, though it is still too early to tell if the current numbers are indicative of the final results… How are things in your area, Dan?
RATHER: The question here, Walter, is whether or not Governor Bryant can block out the major party candidates in what seems like a three-person free-for-all. Many Southerners here are bitter at Johnson’s actions on Civil Rights, while many others are enthusiastic for him for the exact same reasons… In Arkansas, the vote is split almost exactly into three parts…
[snip]
Now a brief break for this message: “Try Marlboro Country.”
[snip]
CRONKITE: It is now 11:30 PM… this just in, the state of Arkansas is being called for Colonel Sanders. The state was very narrow, but we finally can confirm whom has won it. The Colonel had campaigned on his connection to the state, as he lived there for a number of years before moving to Kentucky. Bryant was hoping to win the state, as with this calling, it seems Bryant’s window for more statewide victories is closing. …Michael, how are the gubernatorial races going?
WALLACE: Walter, we can confirm that in Illinois, a state that has voted for President Johnson, has narrowly chosen Republican Charles Percy over incumbent Democrat Otto Kerner Jr. for the Governorship. Another call just made was for the state of Indiana, where Republican Richard Ristine has won over Democrat Roger Branigin.
CRONKITE: And Lisa Howard, how about the Senate?
HOWARD: Walter, the Democrats are defending two-thirds of their seats this year, meaning tonight’s map heavily favors the Republicans. Already, early precinct results are hinting at a Republican victory for Richard Nixon in his bid for California’s Class 1 Senate seat, albeit by a margin much narrower than expected…
– CBS Evening News, 11/3-4/1964 broadcast
– Lyndon Johnson impatiently awaiting the election results, 11/4/1964 broadcast
CRONKITE: ...It is now 3:47 AM, and with that state result, its victory has passed the number of electoral votes needed to win. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!
– CBS Evening News, 11/4/1964 broadcast
NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S):
[1] Johnson’s paranoia is inspired by the OTL details found in this interesting read: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/21/magazine/president-lyndon-johnson-the-war-within.html
[2] Famous Burroughs quote from OTL (albeit about the youth activities of 1968 OTL)!
[3] A bit from LBJ’s OTL 1/8/1964 State of the Union address
[4] This guy: https://www.statesman.com/news/20180209/after-snitching-ex-austin-gangster-collected-reward-money-vanished
[5] Real event!: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7772527
[6] Bob Dylan was a Goldwater supporter in 1964 IOTL!
[7] Phrase and story found here: https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/ (page 9 when printed out)
[8] Opening lines taken from CBS’s OTL 1964 election night coverage (found via YouTube)
Next Chapter to be posted tomorrow!
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Awesome update. I'll wait to see who's won, and the cabinet they plan to put together.
I wonder who's won, too...
Besides Bat Masterson, Gene, a certain cane-wielding president would be proud, too: Andrew Jackson (remember, after both of Richard Lawrence's pistols misfired, Andrew Jackson beat him so hard with his cane, IIRC, that his aides had to pull him off)…
I like how events that are forgotten are covered ITTL, and waiting for more...
Besides Bat Masterson, Gene, a certain cane-wielding president would be proud, too: Andrew Jackson (remember, after both of Richard Lawrence's pistols misfired, Andrew Jackson beat him so hard with his cane, IIRC, that his aides had to pull him off)…
I like how events that are forgotten are covered ITTL, and waiting for more...
Chapter 21: November 1964 – January 1965
(Can't sleep, and I managed to finish this early, so here ya go!):
– Geoffrey Chaucer, 1390
[pic: imgur.com/OvZyYup.png ]
All other votes: 290,186 (0.4%)
Total votes: 72,546,545
– clickipedia.usa.org
SANDERS BEATS JOHNSON; GOP GAINS SEATS IN HOUSE, SENATE: With Turnout Heavy, Sanders Projected to Win Plurality of Pop. Vote
– The New York Times, 11/4/1964
“Well if that don’t beat all…we did it. Ha-ha! We did it!”
– Colonel Sanders reacting to the election results, 11/4/1964
“Hello?”
“[sigh] Congratulations, Colonel.”
“Oh, uh, thanks, um, how do?”
“I’ve had better days.”
“Well, uh, gee, Mr. President, I really don’t know what you’re supposed to say in a situation like this. Um…I’m sorry you lose your job.”
“Heh. Well, it’s not entirely your fault.”
“I just wanted to fix – ”
“It’s alright, I get it. You know, maybe if I’d loosened up some of the red tape, you’d be spending your time right now opening up that airport in Corbin.”
“No, that was only a tiny little piece of what got me to run. No bigger than a duckling’s eye.”
“I probably would have won it anyway if it hadn’t been for Bryant and his damn state-splittin’. And all the people in my party stirring up divisiveness. I didn’t have their support this time.”
“Well, Mr. President, there’s no use lookin’ behind you when your horse always walks forward. You just got to figure out what you’re going to do next.”
“Yeah, you’re right, crying – uh, crying out about it, uh, it won’t change it. Besides, those are probably the same people that’ll now come to blamin’ you whenever something like don’t like happens. Remember that.”
“Don’t worry about me none, Mr. President.”
“Oh, trust me Colonel, you don’t know what you’ve signed up for. The Presidency changes you. It wears you down.”
“Ah, you’re just trying to wig me out is all.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Colonel, because I’m telling you, if you don’t want to be on this end on this kind of phone call in four years, you’ll learn fast, because the Presidency, well, it’s the most consequential on-the-job training there is.”
“Well thank you, Mr. President for the heads-up, and while I have your ear let me tell you that I commend you for all the great things you did do for this country during your many decades of national service. It’s quite a legacy, sir.”
“Yeah, thanks, Colonel.”
– Sanders and Johnson in a recorded telephone conversation, 11/4/1964 [1]
And I remember, I looked over as he slammed the phone down and he muttered, “my legacy is not over yet, Colonel” and before I knew it he was pushing everyone out the door, even me. Asked him “What’s going on?” He glanced at me, then the windows, then me again: “We’re going all in.”
– Bobby Baker, RNN interview, 1979
Will? It’s Lyndon! …Okay, okay, save your condolences for when I’m dead, but for now, shut up and listen. How’s the search for Cienfuegos coming?... That’s exactly what I’m calling about. I’m right now making it official: I’m increasing the flow of troops into Cuba for you… Double… Yes, that’s right. … Yeah, that’s correct… because-well… Listen, Westmoreland, I’m still the President until the twentieth of January, and I’m not going out without a bang. I’m also ordering an increase in ammo… Yeah, whatever you need to wrap things up down there before I leave office, I’ll get ya… okay… eh–hey just shut up and find and kill the bastard! Burn all their jungles to the ground if you have to! The Colonel might have stolen my job, but I’ll be damned if I let him steal this victory from me, too! [2]
– Transcript of Johnson’s dialogue from a secured telephone conversation with General Westmoreland, 11/5/1965, declassified and disclosed in 1991
United States Senate election results, 1964
Date: November 3, 1964
Seats: 36 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Mike Mansfield (D-MT)
Senate minority leader: Everett Dirksen (R-IL)
Seats before election: 62 (D), 38 (R)
Seats after election: 55 (D), 45 (R)
Seat change: D v 7, R ^ 7
Full list:
Arizona: incumbent Barry Goldwater (R) over Roy Elson (D)
California: Richard Nixon (R) over incumbent Alan Cranston (D)
Connecticut: incumbent Thomas J. Dodd (D) over John Davis Lodge (R)
Delaware: incumbent John J. Williams (R) over Elbert N. Carvel (D)
Florida: incumbent Spessard Holland (D) over Claude R. Kirk Jr. (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Hiram L. Fong (R) over Thomas Ponce Gill (D)
Idaho (special): Len Jordan (R) over Vernon K. Smith (D)
Indiana: incumbent Vance Hartke (D) over D. Russell Bontrager (R)
Maine: incumbent Edmund S. Muskie (D) over Clifford McIntire (R)
Maryland: incumbent James Glenn Beall (R) over Joseph D. Tydings (D)
Massachusetts: incumbent Eunice Kennedy Shriver (D) over Howard Whitmore Jr. (R)
Michigan: incumbent Philip A. Hart (D) over Elly M. Peterson (R)
Minnesota: incumbent Eugene McCarthy (D) over Wheelock Whitney (R)
Mississippi: incumbent John C. Stennis (D) unopposed
Missouri: incumbent Stuart Symington (D) over Jean P. Bradshaw (R)
Montana: incumbent Mike Mansfield (D) over Alex Blewett (R)
Nebraska: incumbent Roman L. Hruska (R) over Raymond W. Arndt (D)
Nevada: Paul Laxalt (R) over incumbent Howard W. Cannon (D)
New Jersey: incumbent Harrison A. Williams Jr. (D) over Bernard M. Shanley (R)
New Mexico (special): Joseph Montoya (D) over incumbent Edwin L. Mechem (R)
New York: incumbent Kenneth B. Keating (R) over Samuel S. Stratton (D)
North Dakota: Thomas S. Kleppe (R) over incumbent Quentin N. Burdick (D)
Ohio: Robert A. Taft Jr. (R) over incumbent Stephen M. Young (D)
Oklahoma (special): Bud Wilkinson (R) over incumbent J. Howard Edmondson (D)
Pennsylvania: incumbent Hugh Scott (R) over Genevieve Blatt (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent John O. Pastore (D) over Ronald R. Lageux (R)
Tennessee: incumbent Albert Gore Sr. (D) over Dan H. Kuykendall (R)
Tennessee (special): Howard H. Baker Jr. (R) over Ross Bass (D)
Texas: incumbent Ralph Yarborough (D) over George H. W. Bush (R) and Bruce Alger (HIP)
Utah: incumbent Frank E. Moss (D) over Ernest L. Wilkinson (R)
Vermont: incumbent Winston L. Prouty (R) over Frederick J. Fayette (D)
Virginia: incumbent Harry F. Byrd (D) over Richard A. May (R) and James W. Respess (Independent)
Washington: incumbent Henry M. Jackson (D) over Lloyd J. Andrews (R)
West Virginia: incumbent Robert C. Byrd (D) over Cooper P. Benedict (R)
Wisconsin: incumbent William Proxmire (D) over Wilbur N. Renk (R)
Wyoming: John S. Wold (R) over incumbent Gale McGee (D)
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa [3]
Walter CRONKITE: “So which victors in tonight’s Senate races do you think are going to significantly impact and effect things on Capitol Hill starting in January 1965?”
Roger MUDD: “Well, Walter, the night was really good for Republicans, so there are several incoming Senators from that party that could certainly shake things up with either new ideas, fresh perspectives and experience, or with their presence and prestige. For example, Richard Nixon, the former Vice President of the United States, has been elected back to the US Senate, marking the first time that such a thing has happened since former Vice President Alben Barkley was elected back to the US Senate in 1954. The elections of Republicans Len Jordan of Idaho, John Wold of Wyoming, and Paul Laxalt of Nevada could signal that the party is rising in popularity out west, while the sole incoming Democratic freshman, Joseph Montoya of New Mexico, was elected thanks to high voter turnout among Hispanic voters in his home state. That could suggest a rise in Hispanic voter influence in the southwest. Now, Republicans Thomas S. Kleppe of North Dakota and Robert A. Taft Jr. of Ohio – a relative of President Taft, mind you – they narrowly won their respective races, and that could be because of the presence of Hubert Humphrey on tonight’s Presidential ticket. Humphrey campaigned hard for President Johnson across the Midwest, and this could have inhibited Taft and Kleppe’s margins of support. One rising star in the GOP that I think we might want to keep our eyes on is Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, who is a former professional football quarterback. Another Republican I think we should watch is Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee…”
– CBS Evening News, 11/3/1964 broadcast
United States House of Representatives results, 1964
Date: November 3, 1964
Seats: All 437
Seats needed for majority: 218
House majority leader: John McCormack (D-MA)
House minority leader: Charles Halleck (R-IN)
Last election: 254 (D), 183 (R)
Seats won: 224 (D), 213 (R)
Seat change: D v 30, R ^ 30
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa [4]
...Bryant's poor performance, demonstrating a public rejection of his rhetoric and policies, was reflected in races beyond his stronghold in the South. For instance, in the state of New Jersey, Robert John Morris was running for the Garden State's 1st U.S. Congressional District on the American Values Party, a state affiliate of the national Heritage and Independence Party. Our correspondents over in that state have confirmed that Morris just conceded that race, after receiving less than half of one percent despite being one of the better-known and better-funded Bryant allies on a ballot somewhere tonight...
– NBC News, 11/3/1964 broadcast
FROM COP TO LAWYER TO CONGRESSMAN IN JUST FOUR YEARS: MARIO BIAGGI AND HIS SUDDEN RISE TO FAME
NYC, NY – Mario Biaggi knows a thing or two about law and order. A police officer for more than twenty years, Biaggi, a Detective Lieutenant, joined the NYPD in 1942, and has in the line of duty been wounded 11 times and received dozens of citations for valor, making him one of the department’s most decorated officers. He has a permanent limp from an incident in which he saved a woman from a runaway horse, which he reflects on as “a sort of battle scar, a sign of the kind of work I’m in.” Biaggi, 47, was inspired by the war efforts in Cuba to become politically active – working with local Democratic organizations to the point that he was convinced to run for Congress in late 1963 – while also seeking to compliment his resume with a law degree. Starting in 1962, he attended the New York Law School, taking classes on nights and weekends, and he completed the three-year law degree program in only two-and-a-half years; demonstrating his ability to multitask, Biaggi was admitted to the New York Bar just weeks before winning the Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat. Biaggi defeated liberal incumbent Democrat John M. Murphy of the 16th district in the primary in an upset and then defeated David D. Smith in the general by a 10% margin, in a night not too kind to the Democratic Party. “Only in America could I go from where I was to where I’m now heading so quickly,” Biaggi notes as he hands in his letter of resignation at the station. His coworkers celebrate his job change with a simple cake and good-luck cards.
– The New York Post, side article, 11/3/1964
United States Governor election results, 1964
Date: November 3, 1964
State governorship elections held: 25
Seats before: 36 (D), 14 (R)
Seats after: 29 (D), 21 (R)
Seat change: D v 7, R ^ 7
Full List:
Arizona: incumbent Paul Fannin (R) over Art Brock (D)
Arkansas: Winthrop Rockefeller (R) over incumbent Orval Faubus (D)
Delaware: David P. Buckson (R) over Charles L. Terry Jr. (D)
Florida: LeRoy Collins (D) over Charles R. Holley (R)
Illinois: Charles Percy (R) over incumbent Otto Kerner Jr. (D)
Indiana: Richard O. Ristine (R) over Roger D. Branigin (D)
Iowa: incumbent Harold Hughes (D) over Evan L. “Curly” Hultman (R) and Robert Dilley (HIP)
Kansas: William H. Avery (R) over Harry G. Wiles (D) and Kenneth L. Myers (HIP)
Massachusetts: John A. Volpe (R) over incumbent Endicott Peabody (D) and Francis X. Bellotti (Independent)
Michigan: incumbent George W. Romney (R) over Neil O. Staebler (D)
Missouri: Ethan Shipley (R) over Warren E. Hearnes (D)
Montana: Tim M. Babcock (R) over Roland Renne (D)
Nebraska: incumbent Frank B. Morrison (D) over Dwight W. Burney (R)
New Hampshire: incumbent John W. King (D) over John Pillsbury (R)
New Mexico: incumbent Jack M. Campbell (D) over Merle H. Tucker (R)
North Carolina: Dan K. Moore (D) over Robert L. Gavin (R)
North Dakota: incumbent William L. Guy (D-NPL) over Donald M. Halcrow (R)
Rhode Island: John Chafee (R) over incumbent John A. Norte Jr. (D) (rematch)
South Dakota: incumbent Ralph Herseth (D) over Nils Boe (R) and john F. Lindley (Independent)
Texas: incumbent Price Daniel (D) over Jack Crichton (R) and John C. Williams (HIP)
Utah: Mitchell Melich (R) over Calvin L. Rampton (D)
Vermont: incumbent Philip H. Hoff (D) over Ralph A. Foote (R)
Washington: Daniel J. Evans (R) over incumbent Albert Rossellini (D)
West Virginia: Cecil Underwood (R) over Hulett C. Smith (D)
Wisconsin: Warren P. Knowles (R) over incumbent John W. Reynolds (D)
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa
…Several notable Governors rode The Colonel’s coattails into office. …Winthrop Rockefeller became the first Republican elected Governor of Arkansas since the Reconstruction Era, winning on a platform calling for the complete racial integration of the state’s schools and addressing low-income issues with deregulation and creating jobs. …Republicans David P. Buckson of Delaware, John Chafee of Rhode Island, John A. Volpe of Massachusetts, and Charles Percy of Illinois were elected on platforms to the left of The Colonel, while Republicans Richard Ristine of Indiana, Ethan Shipley of Missouri, and William H. Avery of Kansas were elected on platforms to the right of The Colonel; all seven of them had strongly endorsed their party’s unexpected national standard-bearer. Meanwhile, Republicans Tim Babcock of Montana and Mitchell Melich of Utah had embraced The Colonel’s populist talking points and had added them to their respective campaigns... Even Republican gubernatorial candidates who were not very much affiliated with Sanders, such as Daniel J. Evans of Washington, Cecil J. Underwood of West Virginia, and Warren P. Knowles of Wisconsin, won their respective races due to the “R” next to their names on the ballot in what turned out to be a very good night for the Grand Old Party…
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
“Now, I just want to remind everyone that the President is President of all of us, of each and every citizen of the U.S.A., not just the ones that voted for him. That’s why my administration will work with Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and everyone in between to ensure the security and prosperity of each and every American. …I can’t thank y’all enough for giving me your votes, because your vote is a symbol of your trust and faith in my abilities, in the idea that I will be an excellent President. I will keep my end of it; I’ll prove y’all were right in voting for me! I will not let you down!”
– excerpt from Colonel Sanders’ victory speech, Florence, KY, 11/4/1964
HOWARD: Walter, this election cycle saw an unprecedented number of African-Americans run for public office, in both the north and the south… City Councilman-elect Edwin King of Jackson, Mississippi, has stated he is not surprised by the state Democratic Party challenges the election results… The rise in African-American political involvement could be compared it to the number of African-Americans serving public offices after the Civil War, and Reverend Martin Luther King warned earlier tonight that a drop in vigilance of rights can lead to this ending in the same way that the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era ended, with one form of injustice being replaced by another.
FILM CLIP: “We must not let history repeat itself and allow anyone to suppress anyone else’s civil rights if we are to move forward and beyond racism in this country.”
[snip]
CRONKITE: After a swell in participation in the Presidential primaries, young voters either stayed at home in protest, or voted for Sanders or wrote in Senator Morse to protest President Johnson… The Colonel won more counties in the South and more of the Black vote than anticipated.
HOWARD: Yes, he also possibly won over Arkansas despite it bordering President Johnson’s home state thanks to a televised speech he gave at Little Rock a week before the election, where he pointed out his connection to the state. Here is some footage from it:
SANDERS IN CLIP: “At age 21, I began a law correspondence course, and I studied in a judge’s office in Little Rock. I eventually found work in the justice of the peace court, hoping to bring some justice to the long-abused poor of the region. I’m particularly proud of the time I was able to negotiate better settlements for the mostly-black victims of a train wreck, and my efforts to stop courts from pressuring defendants into settlements.” [5]
HOWARD: …While Republicans narrowed the gap in both chambers of congress, many G.O.P. leaders such as House Minority Leader Charles Halleck are blaming the presence of many “H.I.P.py” candidates spoiling several races where the Republican candidate was more not more liberal than the Democratic opponent… The Heritage-Independence Party failed in its endeavor to win any Seats in the House…
– CBS Evening News, 11/4/1964 broadcast
The next several hours of that busy Wednesday saw Sanders receive congratulations from heads of state around the world. President de Gaulle of France seemed to be the most enthusiastic for the upcoming Sanders administration, expressing interest in working with the Colonel on resolving international conflicts in Southeast Asia during a private phone call to The Colonel and in a public statement de Gaulle gave in Paris the next day. The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the Philippines also expressed similar sentiments in regard to US involvement in the region.
In the rest of western Europe, the PM of the UK was surprised by the results, as he had expected Lyndon Johnson to narrowly prevail and had been looking forward to working with him on future international issues such a trade and NATO defense. Nevertheless, the PM was cordial to Sanders, as were the leaders of Italy, West Germany, and even Spain and Portugal.
Canada, Mexico, and most of Latin America had mixed views on Sanders’ election victory. Because of Johnson’s work on immigration reform, many feared the more conservative Sanders would reverse many of Johnson’s policies and program. Still, the leaders of these countries congratulates Sanders, almost as a type of common courtesy.
Behind the iron curtain, Communist leaders looked on with confusion and hatred – confusion over not being sure how aggressive The Colonel would be against them, but hating him blindly nevertheless…
...Amid the press coverage and everyone wanting to chat away into the Colonel's ear and shake his hand, The Colonel became overwhelmed and had to sneak off to the ticket for a glass of water. "Whoo-wee!" He exclaimed, before taking a deep breath and happily walking - almost skipping - back to his adoring public...
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
…It seemed that all of our family members were both shocked and elated by how Father had gone from a businessman to President-Elect in just a decade of time. I was ecstatic, as were Mags and Millie. Our stepsiblings Billie and Elvis were delighted that their mother hadn’t gotten remarried to, to use Billie’s words from when Claudia and Father got engaged, “a hick” after all. Father’s siblings, Uncle Clarence and Aunt Violet, were more elated than shocked. Ma, on the other hand, was more shocked than elated that her ex-husband was moving into the White House.
“I don’t think he’ll accept it,” I remember her telling me over the phone when I informed her from the summer convention that Father was being considered as a compromise candidate, someone with Nelson’s grace and Barry’s commitment to conservative ideals. “He’ll chicken out like he chickened out of his lawyering career. He won’t commit to a commitment as big as the Presidency.”
Of course, Ma denied such uncertainty come the November results, instead coolly congratulating Father over the phone; but according to Father, she was just hiding anger and outrage. “I can tell when something’s eatin’ away at her,” he told me, “And right now, she’s real jealous – more sour than a lemon patch!” According to Elvis, his and Billie’s father, Charles Howard Price, was in a similar mood after realizing that his ex-wife would soon become the next First Lady of the United States.
Each time Father became more famous, more relatives – distant cousins and nieces and nephews and many, many in-laws – came out of the woodwork, with many asking for favors. The first “wave” of these relatives showed up after Father was elected to the governorship. The second “wave” arrived more gradually after he was nominated for President. The third “wave,” though, hit like a tsunami. All five of Claudia’s siblings, two of whom were younger than Margaret and I, started to drop in all the time, sometimes even wanting to spend the night. Same went for the three half-siblings of Mildred’s husband [John F. Rugged Jr.]. While Margaret’s husband [James Trigg Adams] had been involved in the company since the 1940s, his two siblings had not been, and yet, they soon showed up out of the blue, too. And don’t even get me started on the members of my ex-wife’s family!
Mother’s side of the family, though, saw many stick to their guns that continue to believe that Father was still “no good.” Only some of them swallowed the bitterness and grinned warmly to lie and tell Father, “I always knew you had it in you.” A more honest statement would have had “…somewhere” at the end of the sentiment. Ma’s Aunt, Mary Alice Alventine Ables (1878-1966), and her own kids and their families, were the biggest committers of this shallow attitude-changing. And, unsurprisingly, it came before so many requests – for help with businesses or paying for things or making connections to people; it was really quite shameless, if I do say so.
Mother’s three siblings, Uncles James Clyde King and John Preston King, and Aunt Grace Olivia King Poole, and their adult children, and those children’s spouses, and those in-laws, and our nephews (who were our father’s grandnephew) practically overwhelmed central northern Kentucky. At one point, Margaret spend an entire evening telephoning political allies to warn them of relatives coming around to congressional and senatorial offices in Frankfort and DC trying to work their way in to positions and bank loans or out of parking and speeding tickets through unsanctioned nepotism. Father acted soon after by meeting with many of these more opportunistic relatives and “setting them straight.” I think it is safe to say that, due to these preventative actions, Margaret and Father avoided any sort of scandal regarding nepotism allegations from occurring, showing off both of their skills at damage control before Father had even entered office.
In the business side of things, Uncle Clarence’s sons James and Chuck, who were in their 40s at the time, suddenly showed up expressing interested in getting involved in KFC, with James even going so far as to begin to dress in white suits [6]. At first, I was offended by this, as I felt that it was a shallow and somewhat desperate attempt to win over Father in order to get some sort of favor done for him. As I just said, lots of relatives were doing that; when “The Godfather” came out in the 1970s, people discussing the opening scene gave me a sense of déjà vu. However, years later, James became an actual Kentucky Colonel because of his success in entrepreneurial work and business achievements. Looking back on Father’s time as President-Elect, I now see that James was donning the getup as his way of showing how Father had truly become an inspiration for him.
Other relatives became legitimately involved in the company, and more directly, too. For example, Aunt Violet’s son Aaron married Jean Starnes, whose younger sister Mary Lolita Starnes Hannon, currently works for KFC. [7] Furthermore, Aunt Violet’s daughter, Violet Lou, married Harold Kenneth Omer, who also ended up working at several high-ranking positions with KFC [8] and its parent company…
– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991
7 November 1964: On this day in history, at an annual parade for new weapons held in Moscow’s Red Square, the USSR’s military displays the first anti-ballistic missile, referred to as the ABM-1 Galosh by NATO and the A-350 by the Soviet military; the new weapon is 18m (60 feet) long, 2.4m (8 feet) in diameter, and driven by four motors; described as being capable of destroying incoming missiles at great distances, the unveiled was an unexpected surprise to American and Western intelligence analysts; the unveiling influenced how President-Elect Sanders viewed US-Soviet relations ahead of him entering office in January 1965…
– onthisday.co.uk
SANDERS MEETS WITH GOVERNORS IN POSSIBLE CABINET DISCUSSIONS
…the outgoing Governor of Utah was today seen walking into Sanders campaign headquarters in Kentucky… According to trusted sources, Walter Judd is being considered for a position concerning foreign policy or international diplomacy… “The President-Elect was to build coalition that reaches across all internal party factions to united the GOP like he did in this election.” While it has not been confirmed that a Democrat will serve in the administration, Sanders has reportedly met with Governor Wallace of Alabama, a Democrat that Sanders has held in high regard in the past, more than once since Sanders was officially declared to be the President-Elect. …“The Colonel seems to be relying heavily on the thoughts and opinions of Senator Goldwater,” Senator Thurmond alleges, “Sanders has met with him at Barry’s office several times, and they apparently spend a lot of time talking to each other over the phone,”…
– The Washington Post, 11/12/1964
…A French student was killed by police earlier today when an anti-de Gaulle protest turns violent. After months of tension between student workers, leftist organizations and unions over President De Gaulle’s unwavering support for French funds being used to support the States’ Involvement in Cuba, this deadly incident has led to infuriated protestors taking to the streets once more. Even with the upcoming changing of the guard in the United States as American voters elect Harland Sanders to the Presidency on an anti-war platform, riots are still escalating across the French countryside…
– BBC broadcast, 11/14/1964
The French activist group “Les Jeunes Pour la Justice,” or “Youth For Justice,” has the anti-de Gaulle movement on the warpath: students are occupying buildings, and production has come to an abrupt halt across the nation, with further investigative reports suggesting that “at least” 2-and-a-half million workers, or roughly 5% of the total population of France, are currently on strike over “misuse” of their taxpayer money. …a French university administrator is facing pressure to resign for saying “they should bring back the guillotine,” while police officers beating a student in Paris in front of a tourist couple from Manchester highlights the threats of the student-worker actions on the nation’s tourism industry... French President Charles De Gaulle has yet to openly respond to these recent developments…
– BBC special report, 11/16/1964
…Kentucky Fried Chicken opened up another outlet in Australia on 17 November 1964. This one opened in Guildford, in Sydney’s western suburbs, with a staff of 25. It was operated at first by a Canadian KFC manager named Bob Lapointe. The advertising line at the launching was the classic “Finger-Lickin’ Good,” and the launch commercial, which was shot at the Guildford store, featured marching girls and all the fun of the fair. KFC-Australia outlets were controlled by franchise holders. Mildred Sanders and John Y. Brown Jr. of the parent company, FLG Inc., were at the time enthusiastic about the idea of Kentucky Fried Chicken becoming the very first billion-dollar food organization in the world by the start of the 1970s.
The offerings on the Kentucky Fried Chicken menu in Australia ranged from one “piece” of chicken and chips (they were not called fries at this point) or a “barrel” of 21 pieces of chicken. Today’s menu is considerably more diverse. Back then there were no sliders or burgers – just fried chicken, chips, and, a bit later, apple pie and coleslaw. …Not too long after, Canadian-born Jack Cowin bought the right to open ten KFC franchises in Western Australia. His business, Competitive Foods Australia, went on to own around 50 KFC outlets in Western Australia and the Northern Territory… [9]
– AustralianKFC.co.au/history
21 November 1964: On this day in history, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens to traffic in New York City, NY, US; at 4,200 meters (13,700 feet), it is the world's longest suspension bridge at the time, crossing over "The Narrows" (the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City) between the Upper and Lower sections of the New York Bay, the bridge directly links Staten Island and Brooklyn for the first time (more specifically, at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn); prior to the bridge opening, direct access between the two boroughs was on the 69th Street Ferry; over 100,000 cars cross the bridge during the first 24 hours of it being open...
– onthisday.co.uk
…On November 22, the People's Republic of China proposed a "no first use" agreement to the United States government. However, at the time, the two superpowers had no diplomatic relations. In order to maneuver around this, discussions were held in Warsaw, Poland between the two nations' ambassadors to Poland, with John M. Cabot representing the U.S. and Wang Guoquan making the proposal on behalf of China. US President Lyndon Johnson enthusiastically supported the secret, behind-the-scenes agreement due to him seeking to salvage his Presidential legacy before leaving office on January 20th…
– Yafeng Xia’s Negotiating With Enemies: U.S.-China Talks During The Cold War Part I: 1949–1968, Indiana University Press, 2006, p. 124 [10]
[pic: imgur.com/HW7rgfu.png ]
“This isn’t from K.F.C., is it?”
– Outgoing President Johnson attending a public function, 11/25/1964 (the day before Thanksgiving)
1,000 SERENADE WINSTON AT 90
…Sir Winston Churchill celebrated his 90th birthday today…the festivities honoring the occasion including “at least” one thousand well-wishers standing outside his home in Hyde Park, London to sing “Happy Birthday to You" and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow” to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom…
– The Chicago Tribune, 11/30/1964
1 December 1964: On this day in history, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz entered office as the 49th president of Mexico, succeeding the term-limited incumbent President, Adolfo López Mateos; having been elected to, and being limited to serving, a single six-year term, Díaz Ordaz serves until December 1, 1970…
– onthisday.co.uk
POLICE BRUTALITY “MAKING THINGS WORSE” IN FRANCE
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 12/2/1964
EARL WARREN: WHY HE TRIED TO RETIRE AHEAD OF SANDERS INAUGURATION
…Following the clearly politically-oriented move shunned by Republicans and even several Democrats, Chief Justice Earl Warren rescinded his letter of resignation on December the third…
– The National Review, early December 1964 issue
Warren feared that Colonel Sanders would appoint a conservative successor if the Chief Justice vacated the seat during his administration. In mid-November, Warren submitted a letter of resignation to President Johnson, which stated it would become effective upon the confirmation of his successor. Upon the letter becoming public information, Senate Republicans derided the act as a last-minute power grab – as the Senate was in its winter recess, a successor could be confirmed without Senate approval. Such a successor would then have to face confirmation hearing during the next Senate session, which would allow for the successor to have at the very least several weeks or even months to participate in any rulings that came before the court. Under bipartisan political pressure, in which Republicans threatened “retribution,” i.e. opposition to laws passed under Johnson, Warren withdrew his letter after realizing that it would prove his resignation was politically-motivated.
– Ed Cray’s Chief Justice: A Biography on Earl Warren, University of South Carolina Press, 1997
In mid-December, de Gaulle appeared to flee the capital, which in retrospect was a poor move – it made him seem cowardly, and de Gaulle claiming the “trip” to Nice was an early Christmas vacation made the situation worse, as it made it seem like he was enjoying himself while France’s people took to the streets in what had started as an anti-war protest but had evolved into something more. Ultimately de Gaulle returned to Paris 15 days later, on the 28th of December. The fact that his leadership was so unpopular that he had to flee in the night led to comparisons to King Louis XVI, an image that lingered in the French peoples’ minds…
– Jean-Pierre Rioux’s De Gaulle’s Republic, 1989 (English translation edition)
11 December 1964: On this day in history, 33-year-old African-American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke is arrested at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California; the motel’s manager called police claiming Cooke had tried to kick in her office door in attempt to assault her in response to her accusing him of hiding a prostitute in his motel room, but was stopped by a lock on the door that the manager had installed after a Cuban refugee had been arrested for attempt theft at the motel just three months earlier; the manager also confessed to firing a gun at Cooke through her door, but “I missed him twice”; at the subsequent trial in 1965, the jury acquitted Cooke due to the lack of forced entry (which was due to the motel’s non-English-speaking cleaning staff cleaning the crime scene before police could study it, for which the staff received a fine for accidently destroying evidence); the court case sullied Cooke’s reputation and effectively killed his career; Cooke would die from the effects of alcohol poising 31 years later, in 1995, at the age of 64.
– onthisday.co.uk
“France is falling to fate.”
– American historian Samuel Flagg Bemis, 12/13/1964
…Take the case of another victim of the civil conflict here in Indonesia. Lolo Soetoro, a recent graduate from the States’ University of Hawaii, was summoned home in September upon the outbreak of the war. His family sided with new regime and for that Lolo was killed later that month for helping his family reach the American embassy. Here was a man whom gave his life for his family’s safety in a situation that has only arisen due to the lack of the UN doing its intended purpose of maintaining peace via mediation…
– The Guardian, opinion article written by Asia correspondent, 12/14/1964
BURNHAM TAKES OVER AS GUIANA PREMIER: Queen Approves Change in Law; Jagan Out
…Forbes Burnham has been sworn in as the new Premier of British Guiana after the British colonial government was forced to remove his predecessor, Cheddi Jagan, from office following the December 7 assembly elections. Jagan, who had held office for 11 years, had refused to resign, charging that the election was fraudulent. Queen Elizabeth II signed a parliamentary order amending British Guiana's constitution to allow the colonial governor to remove the premier. The new law provided that "if any time before the House of Assembly meets the Governor informs the Premier that he is about to reappoint him or to appoint another person as Premier, then the Premier, and all other ministers and parliamentary secretaries, are forthwith to vacate their offices." The Governor, Sir Richard Luyt, then informed Jagan that Burnham would be appointed as the new Premier, and Burnham was sworn into the office a few hours later that same day…
– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, side article, 15/12/1964 [11]
[pic: imgur.com/TcR11M0.png ]
– President-Elect Colonel Sanders (R) meets with Alabama Governor George Wallace (D) in the latter’s office in Birmingham, Alabama, c. December 15, 1964; the two discussed the possibility of Wallace vacating the Governor’s seat to serve somewhere in Sanders’ cabinet; Wallace, seated in a wheelchair due to him recovering from back surgery after falling in his home several weeks earlier, declined interest in serving in any “lower level” position, considering his gubernatorial seat to be more powerful and influential (he also may have wanted to stay politically relevant, and was concerned that he would lose political momentum in a cabinet role that had “low visibility”); however, Wallace was “enthusiastic” about working with The Colonel on policies to promote racial reconciliation
Before The Colonel even entered office, his election had a positive effect on the economy. With his touting of pro-businesses policies, Wall Street reported Stock Market conditions improving in the days that immediately followed his victory being declared and confirmed. The business community was excited to welcome the next President, as they expected him to pass laws that would greatly benefit his fellow “captains of industry,” as Nelson Rockefeller’s brother David called him during one friendly visit to The Colonel’s homestead in December 1964. …Even KFC’s rivals such as McDonald’s looked forward to the new administration, albeit for a different reason – they privately hoped that the competition that was KFC would fall apart with The Colonel at the helm of a different ship…
– Anne Meagher Northup’s Chicken and Politickin’: the Rise of Colonel Sanders and Rational Conservatism in the Republican Party, 2015
On December 22, some drama unfolded in the Electoral College count when faithless electors in Georgia and Louisiana defected to Bryant, narrowing Sanders’ lead by seven votes, dropping his count to 279 – just ten votes away from a deadlocked college. Sanders supporters immediately sought contact with the remaining states, particularly North Carolina and Virginia. Fortunately, the chaos and trepidation was momentary, as the only other electors to defect were two of Lyndon Johnson’s votes from the state of Oregon, whom voted for Senator Morse.
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
[ pic: imgur.com/Jx0eJl1.png ]
– President-Elect Colonel Sanders visiting the White House Grounds, c. late 1964
On January 1, for the second time in his life, Colonel Sanders divested his investments and personal business from KFC, and returned operations to Mildred. The Colonel, remember his son’s job performance as his right-hand man from 1957 to 1959, asked Harley to join him in the White House as his Chief of Staff. According to Lee Cummings, a relative of the Colonel in charge of KFC’s Midwestern franchises, Harley accepted despite knowing it would lead to accusations of nepotism.
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
2 January 1965: On this day in history, American footballer Joe Namath, quarterback for the University of Alabama, signs a three-year contract with the New York Jets of the American Football League (AFL) for an unprecedented $400,000 – the highest amount ever paid to a professional football player at the time; Namath signs the contract at a hotel in Miami, the day after completing his college football career in the Orange Bowl; the deal proves to be a breakthrough for the AFL in its attempt to compete with the established NFL, and would be a major reason for a major contract offer by the NBC television network for the rights to broadcast the newer league's games. [12]
– onthisday.co.uk
“The U.S. executive branch is organized much better than Kentucky’s is. My home state has so many commissions and departments it was almost overwhelming a times. This, though, I can work with so much better.”
“Colonel Sanders, can you tell us how you are going about picking people for your cabinet.”
“Well, when I sold my chicken to franchisees it was with a handshake instead of a contract. The fact that I was never once swindled by any of them proves that I am an excellent judge of character. So I’m meeting with many fine folks and pretty soon y’all will get to see which character’s will be choosin’ to work with.”
– President-Elect Sanders and a reporter at a press briefing at KFC headquarters, Florence, KY, 1/3/1965
JOHNSON GIVES HOPEFUL FAREWELL IN FINAL STATE-OF-THE-UNION ADDRESS
– The Washington Post, 1/4/1965
Throughout this past year Cam has survived multiple assassination attempts; so I couldn’t see why see was so nervous.
“Are you blind?!” he shouted to me, “Look at all those helicopters circling around us like vultures!” he remarked as he gestured to the makeshift window. “And you’ve seen the reports – they’re closing in!”
I approached him, “Camilo, what are you saying?”
He sat down and sighed, “I am afraid that we have run out of options.”
“Don’t think like that! We can still repel them.”
Cam looked at me, the way a teacher looks at a student trying and failing to prove wrong the instructor, “Care to explain how?”
I thought for a second, “We could sneak past them and regroup – ”
“With who? Everyone’s gone. Apart from a few uncaptured operatives, there’s only you, me, Vilma and Rafael [del Pino]. From millions to 200 or so.”
Recruiting had been slow; most people are stuck, too afraid to resume the warfare, resigned to defeat at the hands of the American pigs and the traitorous collaborators. They have killed the island. “Well, then we can sneak away and continue the fight from abroad. Go to Haiti or Russia or – ”
“Padre… supplies are low. We’re surrounded, and nobody is coming for us.”
“This…this can’t be the end, spending our last meals holed up in this mountainside…”
He sat closer to me, “Don’t feel bad; you’ve been a most loyal compatriot,” and then he called me by my first name. Finally. “We gave a noble stand and it was the reluctance of the Russians to help more that has led us to this place. You could not have done more, dear friend.”
It’s now or never, then, I thought. Just as I was turning to lean closer to him, a blinding roar threw us down.
“This is it!” Vilma ran past us from her post, “Grab a gun! They’ll never take us alive!” Then a second grenade killed her.
A swarm of Americans invaded our location. Grabbing an automatic, I crawled to the nearest exit. I charged down the south tunnel with Cam right behind me, and we tried to make it out but the bastards kept coming, like cockroaches in the night. At the clearing at the mountain’s edge, one of them got me twice in the shoulder.
But they didn’t pay attention to me once they recognized the man behind me.
I screamed in horror as Cam – oh, my dear Cam – he was cut down by the bastards.
In the chaos of their sadistic destruction I slipped away into the underbrush. I could hear the gunfire being replaced with faint cheers as I made my escape.
I am now by a river and I think the bullet wounds are infected. It is getting dark.
I am alone.
– 5 January 1965, final entry of The Diary of the Unknown Fighter (1958-1965), published 1996
Johnson was sure to have all the major news sources cover the announcement that the last of the Communist Cubans had been “found, trialed and executed by firing squad” over the weekend. …Johnson would continually mentions this during the 1966 midterms, attempting to salvage his legacy by crediting himself for “ending” The Cuban War.
– Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon: Book Four: The Power of the Presidency, A. A. Knopf Inc., 2018
“Charles Halleck was a moderate who in his many years as House party leader had failed to lead the party back to majority rule. Prior to the election, I planned on running against him to his right. But when we gained all those seats in 1964 – though we still lost, it was an amazing increase in seats – Halleck was untouchable. Still, the fact remains that I had not exactly been quiet over my discontent with Halleck, and that came back to bite me. The party bosses hadn’t appreciate it and they didn’t forget about it. Soon enough, I sensed that my time in public service would be of better use to the American people elsewhere.”
– retired politician Gerald Ford speaking at Conservatism Calls, a political think tank, 1993
HOUSE RE-AFFIRMS RULE TO PREVENT COMMITTEE BLOCKADE
Washington, D.C. – The United States House of Representatives voted on bipartisan lines, from 221 to 204, to preserve a 1963 Democratic-led change to its legislation-reviewing rules. The alteration in question prevents the House Rules Committee from blocking legislation that the committee opposes. Under the revised system, in place for the past two years, bills must be either cleared or rejected by the Rules Committee within 21 legislative days of it being introduced to the committee. If neither event happens, the Speaker of the House is then authorized to bring the legislation directly before the House for a direct vote to either pass or reject the bill…
– The Chicago Tribune, 1/8/1965
9 January 1965: On this day in history, the “Hope Slide,” the largest landslide in Canada's history, occurred in the Cascade Mountains near Hope, British Columbia, killing free people; the landslide buried British Columbia’s Highway 3 under 47 million cubic meters (1.66 billion cubic feet) of rock at 7:00 in the morning; the four people who died were driving their vehicles, a convertible car and a pickup truck, along the highway and were unable to avoid being buried in the debris; when the landslide enveloped that portion of the highway, a Greyhound bus driver was able to back up quickly before he and his passengers were caught in the avalanche; the driver, David Hughes, put the bus into reverse at full speed for 1 1/2 miles, driving the vehicle backwards along the twisting, dark highway until they were out of danger, all while most of his passengers slept. [13]
– onthisday.co.uk
COLONEL SANDERS REVEALS POSSIBLE CABINET PICKS: Rocky, Civil Rights Leaders, Many More Weighed
Washington, D.C. – With their boss’s permission, Colonel Sanders’ transition team today released a short “incomplete” list of prominent politicians that he and the team are considering for his Presidential cabinet. The most prominent person on the list is Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, whom is written down as a possible pick for Secretary of Labor, Commerce, or Health, Education and Welfare [14]. Other prominent politicians included are Senator Carl Curtis and former National Security Advisor Gordon Gray for Secretary of State and former US Congressman Eugene Siler of Kentucky – a “fiscal watchdog” and early opponent of US military actions along the Laos-Vietnam border – for Secretary of the Treasury; Siler, a fiercely conservative politician from Sanders' home state, ran for Governor of Kentucky in 1951 on an anti-corruption campaign. …George Dewey Clyde, the outgoing Governor of Utah, is written down as a possible pick for Secretary of Interior (likely due to his work improving his home state's infrastructure and preservations of natural resources during his two terms), and Senator Hickenlooper is being eyed for Secretary of Agriculture (possibly due to his work on the US Senate Agricultural Committee)… In step with the President-Elect’s style, the list features several less conventional potential nominees as well. State Senator Philip Willkie of Indiana, for instance, is under down under “diplomat.” …In step with his socially liberal strides, US Congresswoman Florence Dwyer is listed under Health, Education and Welfare. Two African-Americans are listed, too – Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. of DC is written down under “foreign policy,” and civil rights activist and employment reform advocate Whitney Young of Kentucky is written down under “domestic policy”. …while Arleigh Burke is suggested to lead the Navy, the position of Secretary of Defense is noticeably vacant. Nevertheless, the releasing of this list suggests that the upcoming Sanders administration may be more open to the public in regards to the bureaucratic goings-on in the nation’s capital.
– The Washington Post, 1/11/1965
…While Alfred Gruenther declined [the role of Secretary of Defense], he did point us in the direction of US Army General Chuck Bonesteel of Virginia… …After a looking over his reports on American health, a continuation of his predecessor’s 1957 report, I asked US Surgeon General Luther Terry to stay on in that role under my administration – “my administration,” a phrase I was still getting used to if you can believe it – because Terry, like myself, was very critical of all vices, and called for an increase in people understanding the dangerous effects of smoking…
– Colonel Sanders’ Life As I Have Known It Has Been Finger-Lickin’ Good, Creation House publishing, 1974
…Meanwhile in France, de Gaulle’s attempts to talk to protest “leaders” are reportedly failing while attempts to scale back the police hostility are only emboldens the protestor’s spirits. The nation’s industry is continuing to suffer…
– BBC broadcast, 1/12/1965
On January 1, 1965, Malcolm X survived a jail bombing while serving awaiting his trial verdict. Twelve days later, X was acquitted. …Even today, the “self-defense-in-advance” plea is met with either ridicule or understanding, pending which neighborhood you visit…
– Herb Boyd and Ilyasah Shabazz’s Malcolm vs. Martin: Violence and Peace After the End of Segregation, Chicago Third World Press, 2013
DE GAULLE STEPS DOWN!
Paris, France – In a surprising turn of events, Charles de Gaulle, the President of France, has agreed to step down as President in a deal struck with labor leaders. As per the rules of their constitution, the vacancy of the Presidency automatically leads to the implementation of a new Presidential election. De Gaulle will be eligible to run in this election in what is being seen as a test of his political popularity and strength. In exchange, the protest leaders are urging all protestors to return to their classrooms and workplaces as plans for a candidate to oppose de Gaulle are formed. The exact date of this new election has yet to be officially determined…
– The Observer, 1/16/1965
“We have yet to declare war on poverty, illiteracy, and the worst of Earth’s diseases, and are yet to end the threat of nuclear war. But in the past four years we have created programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start, to move America into becoming a truly greater society… I must once again thank all who worked towards making these dreams become realities. Presiding over them has been the greatest honor.”
– Excerpt from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s farewell address, 1/20/1965
And that is how Sanders, a foulmouthed mountain man, a hot-tempered old coot whom once had “an insatiable libido” in his younger years, a sixth-grade dropout who worked as a farmhand, army mule-tender, fireman, railroad hand, lawyer, insurance salesman, ferryboat operator, Chamber of Commerce secretary, tire salesman, midwife, gas station owner, motel owner, and restauranteur because he couldn’t hold down a job, ended up becoming President of the United States.
– narration from political activist Cris Ericson in her allegedly unbiased documentary Feathers and Blood: The Myth of Colonel Sanders, 2016
The Five Best and Five Worst Aspects of the Lyndon Johnson Presidency
The Best Aspects
1 The Civil Rights Act of 1962 – As a master of legislative ways, his Administration ended up doing more for Civil Rights than any Presidency since Lincoln.
2 Gender Wage Gap Narrowed
3 Education Programs Expanded
4 Medicare/Medicaid – The popular expansion of government involvement in healthcare to ensure insurance to the nation’s seniors, disabled, and low-income contributed to the improvement of the quality of life in the United States.
5 The Space Program – Johnson’s passion and generous funding for NASA culminated in the American Moon Landing and launched the U.S. ahead of all other nations in the fields of METS (math-electricity-technology-science) research for years.
The Worst Aspects
1 The Salad Oil Recession – Failure to detect Tino De Angelis’ fraud snowballed into the US entering a recession that contributed to Johnson losing re-election.
2 Rise in Involvement in Indochina – After recovering from warfare in Cuba, Americans were divided over increasing hostilities along the Laos-Vietnam border, and fear another war contributed to Lyndon being a one-term President as well.
3 US Tariffs on European Products – Meant to support the American auto industry, the 1963 “Chicken Tax” instead limited trade between the US and its political allies in Western Europe, which did not exactly help when the Salad Oil Recession occurred
4 Raising the National Debt – While the social programs of his term have remained popular, they came at the cost of adding almost $39 billion, or roughly 12%, to the national budget, creating a dangerous precedent for future administrations.
5 The Cuba War – the most divisive part of his Presidency, Johnson’s decision to oust a Communist dictatorship headed by Fidel Castro (and later, Che Guevara, and later still, Camilo Cienfuegos) led to a war that took much longer than anyone expected it too, and left tens of thousands of Americans dead. Even after the war unofficially ended in 1963, deadly Communist bombings plagued the island, and the US military remaining there ultimately proved too unpopular to too many people.
Overall: Johnson’s legacy is mixed and polarizing; scholars consider him an above-average leader due to domestic achievements, while public opinion is divided over those and his foreign policy. With these consideration combined, Johnson is often placed him in the top and (more-often) middle tier of best US Presidents.
– The President Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Site website, c. 2025
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am more than humbled. …We are gathered here to celebrate the peaceful transition of power that is a starling example of the democratic process that we in America relish and enjoy. That same privilege, though, is not shared by our fellow members of mankind the world over, and as the greatest nation on earth, and a testament to democratic ideals, we owe it to ourselves and the earth to fix this injustice and support foreign fights for freedom... Strengthening our allies will strengthen ourselves, and ensure that our free way of life will never disappear... As we start this new administration, we will all remember throughout the next four or even eight years that our strength and unity and love for one another is what makes the United States of America one great big country and not fifty little ones.”
– Sanders inaugural speech, 1/20/1965
Colonel Harland David Sanders, the 36th President of the United States of America
NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S):
[1] This interaction was written after listening to how Humphrey talked to Johnson after conceding to Nixon IOTL: ( youtube video: YttmffiWyjA ) Of course, the situation here is different, but it gave me an idea of how Johnson conceding to Sanders would go in terms of what they would possibly say to each other.
[2] Johnson’s unruliness here is based on the testimony on his OTL behavior found here: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/21/magazine/president-lyndon-johnson-the-war-within.html
[3] 8 new Republican senators minus 1 new Democratic Senator = a net gain of 7 seats for the GOP. Possibly notable altered results: Conn.: 54%-45%; IN: 50.1%-49.5%; MD: 50.3%-49.7%; Mich.: 54.4%-45.3% as Elly Peterson’s down-to-earth personality was similar to the Colonel’s; MN: 55.3%-44.3%; PA: 57.6%-42.1%; TN: 50.4%-49.6%; TX: Alger split the conservative vote (Yarborough 49.8%, Bush 41.5%, Alger 8.7%); UT: the Colonel’s connections to the state boosted Wilkinson enough for him to win 50.5%-49.5%; Wisc.: 52.2%-47.7%.
[4] Changes from OTL: Due to the Colonel’s rising popularity, the following 61 Republicans won their respective elections: Robert French (AL-5), Lowell Thomas Jr. (Alaska at-large), Sam Steiger (AZ-3), J. E. Hinshaw (Ark.-3), Robert C. Cline (CA-22), Jerry L. Pettis (CA-33), Patrick M. Martin (over John V. Tunney!) (CA-38), Donald G. Brotzman (CO-2), John Chenoweth (CO-3), incumbent Abner W. Sibal (Conn.-4), Roscoe Pickett (GA-4), Edward Y. Chapin (GA-7), John Mattmiller (ID-1), Roger H. Zion (Indiana-8), incumbent Earl Wilson (over Lee H. Hamilton!) (Indiana-9), Don A. Tabbert (Indiana-11), incumbent Fred Schwengel (Iowa-1), incumbent John Henry Kyl (Iowa-4), incumbent Ben F. Jensen (Iowa-7), incumbent Gene Snyder (over HIP candidate Louie Nunn!) (Kentucky-3), Clyde Middleton (KY-4), Walter Clay Vaan Hoose (KY-7), David C. Treen (LA-2), Floyd O. Crawford (LA-6) (after a recount due to narrowness), William S. Walker (LA-8), George Meader (Michigan-2), incumbent August E. Johansen (Michigan-3), incumbent Victor A. Knox (Michigan-11), Richard D. Kuhn (Michigan-19), Robert J. Odegard (MN-6), incumbent Ralph F. Beermann (Neb.-1), incumbent Louis C. Wyman (NH-1), incumbent Milton W. Glenn (NJ-2), Marcus Daly (NJ-3), incumbent Frank C. Osmers Jr. (NJ-9), incumbent Steven Boghos Derounian (NY-3), Luigi R. Marano (NY-15), incumbent Robert R. Barry (NY-25), incumbent Katharine St. George (NY-27), incumbent J. Ernest Wharton (NY-28), incumbent R. Walter Riehlman (NY-34), incumbent John R. Pillion (NY-39), James C. Gardner (NC-4), W. A. Armfield (NC-5), incumbent Don L. Short (ND-2), incumbent Carl W. Rich (OH-1), incumbent Paul F. Schenck (OH-3), incumbent Homer E. Abele (OH-10), Oliver P. Bolton (OH-at large), Bayard C. Auchincloss (OK-6), incumbent George Atlee Goodling (PA-19), incumbent James D. Weaver (PA-24), incumbent Irene Baker (TN-2), Robert B. James (TN-9), Ed Foreman (TX-16), Robert Price (TX-18), incumbent Walt Horan (WA-5), incumbent Thor C. Tollefson (WA-6), incumbent K. William Stinson (WA-7), incumbent Henry C. Schadeberg (Wisc.-1), incumbent William Van Pelt (WA-6), and incumbent "legacy" politician William H. Harrison (WY at-large). 31 incumbents defend their seats, plus 30 more win seats. The presence of H.I.P. candidates on some ballots siphoned off votes from conservative/populist candidates here and there.
[5] This “clip” is a paraphrase of a snippet found here: https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/ (page 8 when printed out)
[6] Seriously! His tombstone has his face on it and he looks like a stunt double for his famous Uncle Harland!: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60614535/james-wilbur-sanders
[7] Family connection discovered on findagrave
[8] Ibid.
[9] Much of this section is based on or directly pulled from the OTL information, data, and statistics found here: https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/kentucky-fried-chicken-opens/
[10] OTL, and found/pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964
[11] Most of this was pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964#cite_note-62
[12] Pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1965#January_2,_1965_(Saturday)
[13] And this was pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1965#January_9,_1965_(Saturday)
[14] I'm actually uncertain if Rockefeller would go for a cabinet spot or not. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?
Chapter 21: November 1964 – January 1965
“Many a true word is spoken in jest”
– Geoffrey Chaucer, 1390
[pic: imgur.com/OvZyYup.png ]
All other votes: 290,186 (0.4%)
Total votes: 72,546,545
– clickipedia.usa.org
SANDERS BEATS JOHNSON; GOP GAINS SEATS IN HOUSE, SENATE: With Turnout Heavy, Sanders Projected to Win Plurality of Pop. Vote
– The New York Times, 11/4/1964
“Well if that don’t beat all…we did it. Ha-ha! We did it!”
– Colonel Sanders reacting to the election results, 11/4/1964
“Hello?”
“[sigh] Congratulations, Colonel.”
“Oh, uh, thanks, um, how do?”
“I’ve had better days.”
“Well, uh, gee, Mr. President, I really don’t know what you’re supposed to say in a situation like this. Um…I’m sorry you lose your job.”
“Heh. Well, it’s not entirely your fault.”
“I just wanted to fix – ”
“It’s alright, I get it. You know, maybe if I’d loosened up some of the red tape, you’d be spending your time right now opening up that airport in Corbin.”
“No, that was only a tiny little piece of what got me to run. No bigger than a duckling’s eye.”
“I probably would have won it anyway if it hadn’t been for Bryant and his damn state-splittin’. And all the people in my party stirring up divisiveness. I didn’t have their support this time.”
“Well, Mr. President, there’s no use lookin’ behind you when your horse always walks forward. You just got to figure out what you’re going to do next.”
“Yeah, you’re right, crying – uh, crying out about it, uh, it won’t change it. Besides, those are probably the same people that’ll now come to blamin’ you whenever something like don’t like happens. Remember that.”
“Don’t worry about me none, Mr. President.”
“Oh, trust me Colonel, you don’t know what you’ve signed up for. The Presidency changes you. It wears you down.”
“Ah, you’re just trying to wig me out is all.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Colonel, because I’m telling you, if you don’t want to be on this end on this kind of phone call in four years, you’ll learn fast, because the Presidency, well, it’s the most consequential on-the-job training there is.”
“Well thank you, Mr. President for the heads-up, and while I have your ear let me tell you that I commend you for all the great things you did do for this country during your many decades of national service. It’s quite a legacy, sir.”
“Yeah, thanks, Colonel.”
– Sanders and Johnson in a recorded telephone conversation, 11/4/1964 [1]
And I remember, I looked over as he slammed the phone down and he muttered, “my legacy is not over yet, Colonel” and before I knew it he was pushing everyone out the door, even me. Asked him “What’s going on?” He glanced at me, then the windows, then me again: “We’re going all in.”
– Bobby Baker, RNN interview, 1979
Will? It’s Lyndon! …Okay, okay, save your condolences for when I’m dead, but for now, shut up and listen. How’s the search for Cienfuegos coming?... That’s exactly what I’m calling about. I’m right now making it official: I’m increasing the flow of troops into Cuba for you… Double… Yes, that’s right. … Yeah, that’s correct… because-well… Listen, Westmoreland, I’m still the President until the twentieth of January, and I’m not going out without a bang. I’m also ordering an increase in ammo… Yeah, whatever you need to wrap things up down there before I leave office, I’ll get ya… okay… eh–hey just shut up and find and kill the bastard! Burn all their jungles to the ground if you have to! The Colonel might have stolen my job, but I’ll be damned if I let him steal this victory from me, too! [2]
– Transcript of Johnson’s dialogue from a secured telephone conversation with General Westmoreland, 11/5/1965, declassified and disclosed in 1991
United States Senate election results, 1964
Date: November 3, 1964
Seats: 36 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Mike Mansfield (D-MT)
Senate minority leader: Everett Dirksen (R-IL)
Seats before election: 62 (D), 38 (R)
Seats after election: 55 (D), 45 (R)
Seat change: D v 7, R ^ 7
Full list:
Arizona: incumbent Barry Goldwater (R) over Roy Elson (D)
California: Richard Nixon (R) over incumbent Alan Cranston (D)
Connecticut: incumbent Thomas J. Dodd (D) over John Davis Lodge (R)
Delaware: incumbent John J. Williams (R) over Elbert N. Carvel (D)
Florida: incumbent Spessard Holland (D) over Claude R. Kirk Jr. (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Hiram L. Fong (R) over Thomas Ponce Gill (D)
Idaho (special): Len Jordan (R) over Vernon K. Smith (D)
Indiana: incumbent Vance Hartke (D) over D. Russell Bontrager (R)
Maine: incumbent Edmund S. Muskie (D) over Clifford McIntire (R)
Maryland: incumbent James Glenn Beall (R) over Joseph D. Tydings (D)
Massachusetts: incumbent Eunice Kennedy Shriver (D) over Howard Whitmore Jr. (R)
Michigan: incumbent Philip A. Hart (D) over Elly M. Peterson (R)
Minnesota: incumbent Eugene McCarthy (D) over Wheelock Whitney (R)
Mississippi: incumbent John C. Stennis (D) unopposed
Missouri: incumbent Stuart Symington (D) over Jean P. Bradshaw (R)
Montana: incumbent Mike Mansfield (D) over Alex Blewett (R)
Nebraska: incumbent Roman L. Hruska (R) over Raymond W. Arndt (D)
Nevada: Paul Laxalt (R) over incumbent Howard W. Cannon (D)
New Jersey: incumbent Harrison A. Williams Jr. (D) over Bernard M. Shanley (R)
New Mexico (special): Joseph Montoya (D) over incumbent Edwin L. Mechem (R)
New York: incumbent Kenneth B. Keating (R) over Samuel S. Stratton (D)
North Dakota: Thomas S. Kleppe (R) over incumbent Quentin N. Burdick (D)
Ohio: Robert A. Taft Jr. (R) over incumbent Stephen M. Young (D)
Oklahoma (special): Bud Wilkinson (R) over incumbent J. Howard Edmondson (D)
Pennsylvania: incumbent Hugh Scott (R) over Genevieve Blatt (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent John O. Pastore (D) over Ronald R. Lageux (R)
Tennessee: incumbent Albert Gore Sr. (D) over Dan H. Kuykendall (R)
Tennessee (special): Howard H. Baker Jr. (R) over Ross Bass (D)
Texas: incumbent Ralph Yarborough (D) over George H. W. Bush (R) and Bruce Alger (HIP)
Utah: incumbent Frank E. Moss (D) over Ernest L. Wilkinson (R)
Vermont: incumbent Winston L. Prouty (R) over Frederick J. Fayette (D)
Virginia: incumbent Harry F. Byrd (D) over Richard A. May (R) and James W. Respess (Independent)
Washington: incumbent Henry M. Jackson (D) over Lloyd J. Andrews (R)
West Virginia: incumbent Robert C. Byrd (D) over Cooper P. Benedict (R)
Wisconsin: incumbent William Proxmire (D) over Wilbur N. Renk (R)
Wyoming: John S. Wold (R) over incumbent Gale McGee (D)
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa [3]
Walter CRONKITE: “So which victors in tonight’s Senate races do you think are going to significantly impact and effect things on Capitol Hill starting in January 1965?”
Roger MUDD: “Well, Walter, the night was really good for Republicans, so there are several incoming Senators from that party that could certainly shake things up with either new ideas, fresh perspectives and experience, or with their presence and prestige. For example, Richard Nixon, the former Vice President of the United States, has been elected back to the US Senate, marking the first time that such a thing has happened since former Vice President Alben Barkley was elected back to the US Senate in 1954. The elections of Republicans Len Jordan of Idaho, John Wold of Wyoming, and Paul Laxalt of Nevada could signal that the party is rising in popularity out west, while the sole incoming Democratic freshman, Joseph Montoya of New Mexico, was elected thanks to high voter turnout among Hispanic voters in his home state. That could suggest a rise in Hispanic voter influence in the southwest. Now, Republicans Thomas S. Kleppe of North Dakota and Robert A. Taft Jr. of Ohio – a relative of President Taft, mind you – they narrowly won their respective races, and that could be because of the presence of Hubert Humphrey on tonight’s Presidential ticket. Humphrey campaigned hard for President Johnson across the Midwest, and this could have inhibited Taft and Kleppe’s margins of support. One rising star in the GOP that I think we might want to keep our eyes on is Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, who is a former professional football quarterback. Another Republican I think we should watch is Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee…”
– CBS Evening News, 11/3/1964 broadcast
United States House of Representatives results, 1964
Date: November 3, 1964
Seats: All 437
Seats needed for majority: 218
House majority leader: John McCormack (D-MA)
House minority leader: Charles Halleck (R-IN)
Last election: 254 (D), 183 (R)
Seats won: 224 (D), 213 (R)
Seat change: D v 30, R ^ 30
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa [4]
...Bryant's poor performance, demonstrating a public rejection of his rhetoric and policies, was reflected in races beyond his stronghold in the South. For instance, in the state of New Jersey, Robert John Morris was running for the Garden State's 1st U.S. Congressional District on the American Values Party, a state affiliate of the national Heritage and Independence Party. Our correspondents over in that state have confirmed that Morris just conceded that race, after receiving less than half of one percent despite being one of the better-known and better-funded Bryant allies on a ballot somewhere tonight...
– NBC News, 11/3/1964 broadcast
FROM COP TO LAWYER TO CONGRESSMAN IN JUST FOUR YEARS: MARIO BIAGGI AND HIS SUDDEN RISE TO FAME
NYC, NY – Mario Biaggi knows a thing or two about law and order. A police officer for more than twenty years, Biaggi, a Detective Lieutenant, joined the NYPD in 1942, and has in the line of duty been wounded 11 times and received dozens of citations for valor, making him one of the department’s most decorated officers. He has a permanent limp from an incident in which he saved a woman from a runaway horse, which he reflects on as “a sort of battle scar, a sign of the kind of work I’m in.” Biaggi, 47, was inspired by the war efforts in Cuba to become politically active – working with local Democratic organizations to the point that he was convinced to run for Congress in late 1963 – while also seeking to compliment his resume with a law degree. Starting in 1962, he attended the New York Law School, taking classes on nights and weekends, and he completed the three-year law degree program in only two-and-a-half years; demonstrating his ability to multitask, Biaggi was admitted to the New York Bar just weeks before winning the Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat. Biaggi defeated liberal incumbent Democrat John M. Murphy of the 16th district in the primary in an upset and then defeated David D. Smith in the general by a 10% margin, in a night not too kind to the Democratic Party. “Only in America could I go from where I was to where I’m now heading so quickly,” Biaggi notes as he hands in his letter of resignation at the station. His coworkers celebrate his job change with a simple cake and good-luck cards.
– The New York Post, side article, 11/3/1964
United States Governor election results, 1964
Date: November 3, 1964
State governorship elections held: 25
Seats before: 36 (D), 14 (R)
Seats after: 29 (D), 21 (R)
Seat change: D v 7, R ^ 7
Full List:
Arizona: incumbent Paul Fannin (R) over Art Brock (D)
Arkansas: Winthrop Rockefeller (R) over incumbent Orval Faubus (D)
Delaware: David P. Buckson (R) over Charles L. Terry Jr. (D)
Florida: LeRoy Collins (D) over Charles R. Holley (R)
Illinois: Charles Percy (R) over incumbent Otto Kerner Jr. (D)
Indiana: Richard O. Ristine (R) over Roger D. Branigin (D)
Iowa: incumbent Harold Hughes (D) over Evan L. “Curly” Hultman (R) and Robert Dilley (HIP)
Kansas: William H. Avery (R) over Harry G. Wiles (D) and Kenneth L. Myers (HIP)
Massachusetts: John A. Volpe (R) over incumbent Endicott Peabody (D) and Francis X. Bellotti (Independent)
Michigan: incumbent George W. Romney (R) over Neil O. Staebler (D)
Missouri: Ethan Shipley (R) over Warren E. Hearnes (D)
Montana: Tim M. Babcock (R) over Roland Renne (D)
Nebraska: incumbent Frank B. Morrison (D) over Dwight W. Burney (R)
New Hampshire: incumbent John W. King (D) over John Pillsbury (R)
New Mexico: incumbent Jack M. Campbell (D) over Merle H. Tucker (R)
North Carolina: Dan K. Moore (D) over Robert L. Gavin (R)
North Dakota: incumbent William L. Guy (D-NPL) over Donald M. Halcrow (R)
Rhode Island: John Chafee (R) over incumbent John A. Norte Jr. (D) (rematch)
South Dakota: incumbent Ralph Herseth (D) over Nils Boe (R) and john F. Lindley (Independent)
Texas: incumbent Price Daniel (D) over Jack Crichton (R) and John C. Williams (HIP)
Utah: Mitchell Melich (R) over Calvin L. Rampton (D)
Vermont: incumbent Philip H. Hoff (D) over Ralph A. Foote (R)
Washington: Daniel J. Evans (R) over incumbent Albert Rossellini (D)
West Virginia: Cecil Underwood (R) over Hulett C. Smith (D)
Wisconsin: Warren P. Knowles (R) over incumbent John W. Reynolds (D)
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa
…Several notable Governors rode The Colonel’s coattails into office. …Winthrop Rockefeller became the first Republican elected Governor of Arkansas since the Reconstruction Era, winning on a platform calling for the complete racial integration of the state’s schools and addressing low-income issues with deregulation and creating jobs. …Republicans David P. Buckson of Delaware, John Chafee of Rhode Island, John A. Volpe of Massachusetts, and Charles Percy of Illinois were elected on platforms to the left of The Colonel, while Republicans Richard Ristine of Indiana, Ethan Shipley of Missouri, and William H. Avery of Kansas were elected on platforms to the right of The Colonel; all seven of them had strongly endorsed their party’s unexpected national standard-bearer. Meanwhile, Republicans Tim Babcock of Montana and Mitchell Melich of Utah had embraced The Colonel’s populist talking points and had added them to their respective campaigns... Even Republican gubernatorial candidates who were not very much affiliated with Sanders, such as Daniel J. Evans of Washington, Cecil J. Underwood of West Virginia, and Warren P. Knowles of Wisconsin, won their respective races due to the “R” next to their names on the ballot in what turned out to be a very good night for the Grand Old Party…
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
“Now, I just want to remind everyone that the President is President of all of us, of each and every citizen of the U.S.A., not just the ones that voted for him. That’s why my administration will work with Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and everyone in between to ensure the security and prosperity of each and every American. …I can’t thank y’all enough for giving me your votes, because your vote is a symbol of your trust and faith in my abilities, in the idea that I will be an excellent President. I will keep my end of it; I’ll prove y’all were right in voting for me! I will not let you down!”
– excerpt from Colonel Sanders’ victory speech, Florence, KY, 11/4/1964
HOWARD: Walter, this election cycle saw an unprecedented number of African-Americans run for public office, in both the north and the south… City Councilman-elect Edwin King of Jackson, Mississippi, has stated he is not surprised by the state Democratic Party challenges the election results… The rise in African-American political involvement could be compared it to the number of African-Americans serving public offices after the Civil War, and Reverend Martin Luther King warned earlier tonight that a drop in vigilance of rights can lead to this ending in the same way that the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era ended, with one form of injustice being replaced by another.
FILM CLIP: “We must not let history repeat itself and allow anyone to suppress anyone else’s civil rights if we are to move forward and beyond racism in this country.”
[snip]
CRONKITE: After a swell in participation in the Presidential primaries, young voters either stayed at home in protest, or voted for Sanders or wrote in Senator Morse to protest President Johnson… The Colonel won more counties in the South and more of the Black vote than anticipated.
HOWARD: Yes, he also possibly won over Arkansas despite it bordering President Johnson’s home state thanks to a televised speech he gave at Little Rock a week before the election, where he pointed out his connection to the state. Here is some footage from it:
SANDERS IN CLIP: “At age 21, I began a law correspondence course, and I studied in a judge’s office in Little Rock. I eventually found work in the justice of the peace court, hoping to bring some justice to the long-abused poor of the region. I’m particularly proud of the time I was able to negotiate better settlements for the mostly-black victims of a train wreck, and my efforts to stop courts from pressuring defendants into settlements.” [5]
HOWARD: …While Republicans narrowed the gap in both chambers of congress, many G.O.P. leaders such as House Minority Leader Charles Halleck are blaming the presence of many “H.I.P.py” candidates spoiling several races where the Republican candidate was more not more liberal than the Democratic opponent… The Heritage-Independence Party failed in its endeavor to win any Seats in the House…
– CBS Evening News, 11/4/1964 broadcast
The next several hours of that busy Wednesday saw Sanders receive congratulations from heads of state around the world. President de Gaulle of France seemed to be the most enthusiastic for the upcoming Sanders administration, expressing interest in working with the Colonel on resolving international conflicts in Southeast Asia during a private phone call to The Colonel and in a public statement de Gaulle gave in Paris the next day. The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the Philippines also expressed similar sentiments in regard to US involvement in the region.
In the rest of western Europe, the PM of the UK was surprised by the results, as he had expected Lyndon Johnson to narrowly prevail and had been looking forward to working with him on future international issues such a trade and NATO defense. Nevertheless, the PM was cordial to Sanders, as were the leaders of Italy, West Germany, and even Spain and Portugal.
Canada, Mexico, and most of Latin America had mixed views on Sanders’ election victory. Because of Johnson’s work on immigration reform, many feared the more conservative Sanders would reverse many of Johnson’s policies and program. Still, the leaders of these countries congratulates Sanders, almost as a type of common courtesy.
Behind the iron curtain, Communist leaders looked on with confusion and hatred – confusion over not being sure how aggressive The Colonel would be against them, but hating him blindly nevertheless…
...Amid the press coverage and everyone wanting to chat away into the Colonel's ear and shake his hand, The Colonel became overwhelmed and had to sneak off to the ticket for a glass of water. "Whoo-wee!" He exclaimed, before taking a deep breath and happily walking - almost skipping - back to his adoring public...
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
…It seemed that all of our family members were both shocked and elated by how Father had gone from a businessman to President-Elect in just a decade of time. I was ecstatic, as were Mags and Millie. Our stepsiblings Billie and Elvis were delighted that their mother hadn’t gotten remarried to, to use Billie’s words from when Claudia and Father got engaged, “a hick” after all. Father’s siblings, Uncle Clarence and Aunt Violet, were more elated than shocked. Ma, on the other hand, was more shocked than elated that her ex-husband was moving into the White House.
“I don’t think he’ll accept it,” I remember her telling me over the phone when I informed her from the summer convention that Father was being considered as a compromise candidate, someone with Nelson’s grace and Barry’s commitment to conservative ideals. “He’ll chicken out like he chickened out of his lawyering career. He won’t commit to a commitment as big as the Presidency.”
Of course, Ma denied such uncertainty come the November results, instead coolly congratulating Father over the phone; but according to Father, she was just hiding anger and outrage. “I can tell when something’s eatin’ away at her,” he told me, “And right now, she’s real jealous – more sour than a lemon patch!” According to Elvis, his and Billie’s father, Charles Howard Price, was in a similar mood after realizing that his ex-wife would soon become the next First Lady of the United States.
Each time Father became more famous, more relatives – distant cousins and nieces and nephews and many, many in-laws – came out of the woodwork, with many asking for favors. The first “wave” of these relatives showed up after Father was elected to the governorship. The second “wave” arrived more gradually after he was nominated for President. The third “wave,” though, hit like a tsunami. All five of Claudia’s siblings, two of whom were younger than Margaret and I, started to drop in all the time, sometimes even wanting to spend the night. Same went for the three half-siblings of Mildred’s husband [John F. Rugged Jr.]. While Margaret’s husband [James Trigg Adams] had been involved in the company since the 1940s, his two siblings had not been, and yet, they soon showed up out of the blue, too. And don’t even get me started on the members of my ex-wife’s family!
Mother’s side of the family, though, saw many stick to their guns that continue to believe that Father was still “no good.” Only some of them swallowed the bitterness and grinned warmly to lie and tell Father, “I always knew you had it in you.” A more honest statement would have had “…somewhere” at the end of the sentiment. Ma’s Aunt, Mary Alice Alventine Ables (1878-1966), and her own kids and their families, were the biggest committers of this shallow attitude-changing. And, unsurprisingly, it came before so many requests – for help with businesses or paying for things or making connections to people; it was really quite shameless, if I do say so.
Mother’s three siblings, Uncles James Clyde King and John Preston King, and Aunt Grace Olivia King Poole, and their adult children, and those children’s spouses, and those in-laws, and our nephews (who were our father’s grandnephew) practically overwhelmed central northern Kentucky. At one point, Margaret spend an entire evening telephoning political allies to warn them of relatives coming around to congressional and senatorial offices in Frankfort and DC trying to work their way in to positions and bank loans or out of parking and speeding tickets through unsanctioned nepotism. Father acted soon after by meeting with many of these more opportunistic relatives and “setting them straight.” I think it is safe to say that, due to these preventative actions, Margaret and Father avoided any sort of scandal regarding nepotism allegations from occurring, showing off both of their skills at damage control before Father had even entered office.
In the business side of things, Uncle Clarence’s sons James and Chuck, who were in their 40s at the time, suddenly showed up expressing interested in getting involved in KFC, with James even going so far as to begin to dress in white suits [6]. At first, I was offended by this, as I felt that it was a shallow and somewhat desperate attempt to win over Father in order to get some sort of favor done for him. As I just said, lots of relatives were doing that; when “The Godfather” came out in the 1970s, people discussing the opening scene gave me a sense of déjà vu. However, years later, James became an actual Kentucky Colonel because of his success in entrepreneurial work and business achievements. Looking back on Father’s time as President-Elect, I now see that James was donning the getup as his way of showing how Father had truly become an inspiration for him.
Other relatives became legitimately involved in the company, and more directly, too. For example, Aunt Violet’s son Aaron married Jean Starnes, whose younger sister Mary Lolita Starnes Hannon, currently works for KFC. [7] Furthermore, Aunt Violet’s daughter, Violet Lou, married Harold Kenneth Omer, who also ended up working at several high-ranking positions with KFC [8] and its parent company…
– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991
7 November 1964: On this day in history, at an annual parade for new weapons held in Moscow’s Red Square, the USSR’s military displays the first anti-ballistic missile, referred to as the ABM-1 Galosh by NATO and the A-350 by the Soviet military; the new weapon is 18m (60 feet) long, 2.4m (8 feet) in diameter, and driven by four motors; described as being capable of destroying incoming missiles at great distances, the unveiled was an unexpected surprise to American and Western intelligence analysts; the unveiling influenced how President-Elect Sanders viewed US-Soviet relations ahead of him entering office in January 1965…
– onthisday.co.uk
SANDERS MEETS WITH GOVERNORS IN POSSIBLE CABINET DISCUSSIONS
…the outgoing Governor of Utah was today seen walking into Sanders campaign headquarters in Kentucky… According to trusted sources, Walter Judd is being considered for a position concerning foreign policy or international diplomacy… “The President-Elect was to build coalition that reaches across all internal party factions to united the GOP like he did in this election.” While it has not been confirmed that a Democrat will serve in the administration, Sanders has reportedly met with Governor Wallace of Alabama, a Democrat that Sanders has held in high regard in the past, more than once since Sanders was officially declared to be the President-Elect. …“The Colonel seems to be relying heavily on the thoughts and opinions of Senator Goldwater,” Senator Thurmond alleges, “Sanders has met with him at Barry’s office several times, and they apparently spend a lot of time talking to each other over the phone,”…
– The Washington Post, 11/12/1964
…A French student was killed by police earlier today when an anti-de Gaulle protest turns violent. After months of tension between student workers, leftist organizations and unions over President De Gaulle’s unwavering support for French funds being used to support the States’ Involvement in Cuba, this deadly incident has led to infuriated protestors taking to the streets once more. Even with the upcoming changing of the guard in the United States as American voters elect Harland Sanders to the Presidency on an anti-war platform, riots are still escalating across the French countryside…
– BBC broadcast, 11/14/1964
The French activist group “Les Jeunes Pour la Justice,” or “Youth For Justice,” has the anti-de Gaulle movement on the warpath: students are occupying buildings, and production has come to an abrupt halt across the nation, with further investigative reports suggesting that “at least” 2-and-a-half million workers, or roughly 5% of the total population of France, are currently on strike over “misuse” of their taxpayer money. …a French university administrator is facing pressure to resign for saying “they should bring back the guillotine,” while police officers beating a student in Paris in front of a tourist couple from Manchester highlights the threats of the student-worker actions on the nation’s tourism industry... French President Charles De Gaulle has yet to openly respond to these recent developments…
– BBC special report, 11/16/1964
…Kentucky Fried Chicken opened up another outlet in Australia on 17 November 1964. This one opened in Guildford, in Sydney’s western suburbs, with a staff of 25. It was operated at first by a Canadian KFC manager named Bob Lapointe. The advertising line at the launching was the classic “Finger-Lickin’ Good,” and the launch commercial, which was shot at the Guildford store, featured marching girls and all the fun of the fair. KFC-Australia outlets were controlled by franchise holders. Mildred Sanders and John Y. Brown Jr. of the parent company, FLG Inc., were at the time enthusiastic about the idea of Kentucky Fried Chicken becoming the very first billion-dollar food organization in the world by the start of the 1970s.
The offerings on the Kentucky Fried Chicken menu in Australia ranged from one “piece” of chicken and chips (they were not called fries at this point) or a “barrel” of 21 pieces of chicken. Today’s menu is considerably more diverse. Back then there were no sliders or burgers – just fried chicken, chips, and, a bit later, apple pie and coleslaw. …Not too long after, Canadian-born Jack Cowin bought the right to open ten KFC franchises in Western Australia. His business, Competitive Foods Australia, went on to own around 50 KFC outlets in Western Australia and the Northern Territory… [9]
– AustralianKFC.co.au/history
21 November 1964: On this day in history, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens to traffic in New York City, NY, US; at 4,200 meters (13,700 feet), it is the world's longest suspension bridge at the time, crossing over "The Narrows" (the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City) between the Upper and Lower sections of the New York Bay, the bridge directly links Staten Island and Brooklyn for the first time (more specifically, at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn); prior to the bridge opening, direct access between the two boroughs was on the 69th Street Ferry; over 100,000 cars cross the bridge during the first 24 hours of it being open...
– onthisday.co.uk
…On November 22, the People's Republic of China proposed a "no first use" agreement to the United States government. However, at the time, the two superpowers had no diplomatic relations. In order to maneuver around this, discussions were held in Warsaw, Poland between the two nations' ambassadors to Poland, with John M. Cabot representing the U.S. and Wang Guoquan making the proposal on behalf of China. US President Lyndon Johnson enthusiastically supported the secret, behind-the-scenes agreement due to him seeking to salvage his Presidential legacy before leaving office on January 20th…
– Yafeng Xia’s Negotiating With Enemies: U.S.-China Talks During The Cold War Part I: 1949–1968, Indiana University Press, 2006, p. 124 [10]
[pic: imgur.com/HW7rgfu.png ]
“This isn’t from K.F.C., is it?”
– Outgoing President Johnson attending a public function, 11/25/1964 (the day before Thanksgiving)
1,000 SERENADE WINSTON AT 90
…Sir Winston Churchill celebrated his 90th birthday today…the festivities honoring the occasion including “at least” one thousand well-wishers standing outside his home in Hyde Park, London to sing “Happy Birthday to You" and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow” to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom…
– The Chicago Tribune, 11/30/1964
1 December 1964: On this day in history, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz entered office as the 49th president of Mexico, succeeding the term-limited incumbent President, Adolfo López Mateos; having been elected to, and being limited to serving, a single six-year term, Díaz Ordaz serves until December 1, 1970…
– onthisday.co.uk
POLICE BRUTALITY “MAKING THINGS WORSE” IN FRANCE
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 12/2/1964
EARL WARREN: WHY HE TRIED TO RETIRE AHEAD OF SANDERS INAUGURATION
…Following the clearly politically-oriented move shunned by Republicans and even several Democrats, Chief Justice Earl Warren rescinded his letter of resignation on December the third…
– The National Review, early December 1964 issue
Warren feared that Colonel Sanders would appoint a conservative successor if the Chief Justice vacated the seat during his administration. In mid-November, Warren submitted a letter of resignation to President Johnson, which stated it would become effective upon the confirmation of his successor. Upon the letter becoming public information, Senate Republicans derided the act as a last-minute power grab – as the Senate was in its winter recess, a successor could be confirmed without Senate approval. Such a successor would then have to face confirmation hearing during the next Senate session, which would allow for the successor to have at the very least several weeks or even months to participate in any rulings that came before the court. Under bipartisan political pressure, in which Republicans threatened “retribution,” i.e. opposition to laws passed under Johnson, Warren withdrew his letter after realizing that it would prove his resignation was politically-motivated.
– Ed Cray’s Chief Justice: A Biography on Earl Warren, University of South Carolina Press, 1997
In mid-December, de Gaulle appeared to flee the capital, which in retrospect was a poor move – it made him seem cowardly, and de Gaulle claiming the “trip” to Nice was an early Christmas vacation made the situation worse, as it made it seem like he was enjoying himself while France’s people took to the streets in what had started as an anti-war protest but had evolved into something more. Ultimately de Gaulle returned to Paris 15 days later, on the 28th of December. The fact that his leadership was so unpopular that he had to flee in the night led to comparisons to King Louis XVI, an image that lingered in the French peoples’ minds…
– Jean-Pierre Rioux’s De Gaulle’s Republic, 1989 (English translation edition)
11 December 1964: On this day in history, 33-year-old African-American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke is arrested at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California; the motel’s manager called police claiming Cooke had tried to kick in her office door in attempt to assault her in response to her accusing him of hiding a prostitute in his motel room, but was stopped by a lock on the door that the manager had installed after a Cuban refugee had been arrested for attempt theft at the motel just three months earlier; the manager also confessed to firing a gun at Cooke through her door, but “I missed him twice”; at the subsequent trial in 1965, the jury acquitted Cooke due to the lack of forced entry (which was due to the motel’s non-English-speaking cleaning staff cleaning the crime scene before police could study it, for which the staff received a fine for accidently destroying evidence); the court case sullied Cooke’s reputation and effectively killed his career; Cooke would die from the effects of alcohol poising 31 years later, in 1995, at the age of 64.
– onthisday.co.uk
“France is falling to fate.”
– American historian Samuel Flagg Bemis, 12/13/1964
…Take the case of another victim of the civil conflict here in Indonesia. Lolo Soetoro, a recent graduate from the States’ University of Hawaii, was summoned home in September upon the outbreak of the war. His family sided with new regime and for that Lolo was killed later that month for helping his family reach the American embassy. Here was a man whom gave his life for his family’s safety in a situation that has only arisen due to the lack of the UN doing its intended purpose of maintaining peace via mediation…
– The Guardian, opinion article written by Asia correspondent, 12/14/1964
BURNHAM TAKES OVER AS GUIANA PREMIER: Queen Approves Change in Law; Jagan Out
…Forbes Burnham has been sworn in as the new Premier of British Guiana after the British colonial government was forced to remove his predecessor, Cheddi Jagan, from office following the December 7 assembly elections. Jagan, who had held office for 11 years, had refused to resign, charging that the election was fraudulent. Queen Elizabeth II signed a parliamentary order amending British Guiana's constitution to allow the colonial governor to remove the premier. The new law provided that "if any time before the House of Assembly meets the Governor informs the Premier that he is about to reappoint him or to appoint another person as Premier, then the Premier, and all other ministers and parliamentary secretaries, are forthwith to vacate their offices." The Governor, Sir Richard Luyt, then informed Jagan that Burnham would be appointed as the new Premier, and Burnham was sworn into the office a few hours later that same day…
– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, side article, 15/12/1964 [11]
[pic: imgur.com/TcR11M0.png ]
– President-Elect Colonel Sanders (R) meets with Alabama Governor George Wallace (D) in the latter’s office in Birmingham, Alabama, c. December 15, 1964; the two discussed the possibility of Wallace vacating the Governor’s seat to serve somewhere in Sanders’ cabinet; Wallace, seated in a wheelchair due to him recovering from back surgery after falling in his home several weeks earlier, declined interest in serving in any “lower level” position, considering his gubernatorial seat to be more powerful and influential (he also may have wanted to stay politically relevant, and was concerned that he would lose political momentum in a cabinet role that had “low visibility”); however, Wallace was “enthusiastic” about working with The Colonel on policies to promote racial reconciliation
Before The Colonel even entered office, his election had a positive effect on the economy. With his touting of pro-businesses policies, Wall Street reported Stock Market conditions improving in the days that immediately followed his victory being declared and confirmed. The business community was excited to welcome the next President, as they expected him to pass laws that would greatly benefit his fellow “captains of industry,” as Nelson Rockefeller’s brother David called him during one friendly visit to The Colonel’s homestead in December 1964. …Even KFC’s rivals such as McDonald’s looked forward to the new administration, albeit for a different reason – they privately hoped that the competition that was KFC would fall apart with The Colonel at the helm of a different ship…
– Anne Meagher Northup’s Chicken and Politickin’: the Rise of Colonel Sanders and Rational Conservatism in the Republican Party, 2015
On December 22, some drama unfolded in the Electoral College count when faithless electors in Georgia and Louisiana defected to Bryant, narrowing Sanders’ lead by seven votes, dropping his count to 279 – just ten votes away from a deadlocked college. Sanders supporters immediately sought contact with the remaining states, particularly North Carolina and Virginia. Fortunately, the chaos and trepidation was momentary, as the only other electors to defect were two of Lyndon Johnson’s votes from the state of Oregon, whom voted for Senator Morse.
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
[ pic: imgur.com/Jx0eJl1.png ]
– President-Elect Colonel Sanders visiting the White House Grounds, c. late 1964
On January 1, for the second time in his life, Colonel Sanders divested his investments and personal business from KFC, and returned operations to Mildred. The Colonel, remember his son’s job performance as his right-hand man from 1957 to 1959, asked Harley to join him in the White House as his Chief of Staff. According to Lee Cummings, a relative of the Colonel in charge of KFC’s Midwestern franchises, Harley accepted despite knowing it would lead to accusations of nepotism.
– Josh Ozersky’s Sanders in 1964: An American Discovering America, University of Texas Press, 2012
2 January 1965: On this day in history, American footballer Joe Namath, quarterback for the University of Alabama, signs a three-year contract with the New York Jets of the American Football League (AFL) for an unprecedented $400,000 – the highest amount ever paid to a professional football player at the time; Namath signs the contract at a hotel in Miami, the day after completing his college football career in the Orange Bowl; the deal proves to be a breakthrough for the AFL in its attempt to compete with the established NFL, and would be a major reason for a major contract offer by the NBC television network for the rights to broadcast the newer league's games. [12]
– onthisday.co.uk
“The U.S. executive branch is organized much better than Kentucky’s is. My home state has so many commissions and departments it was almost overwhelming a times. This, though, I can work with so much better.”
“Colonel Sanders, can you tell us how you are going about picking people for your cabinet.”
“Well, when I sold my chicken to franchisees it was with a handshake instead of a contract. The fact that I was never once swindled by any of them proves that I am an excellent judge of character. So I’m meeting with many fine folks and pretty soon y’all will get to see which character’s will be choosin’ to work with.”
– President-Elect Sanders and a reporter at a press briefing at KFC headquarters, Florence, KY, 1/3/1965
JOHNSON GIVES HOPEFUL FAREWELL IN FINAL STATE-OF-THE-UNION ADDRESS
– The Washington Post, 1/4/1965
Throughout this past year Cam has survived multiple assassination attempts; so I couldn’t see why see was so nervous.
“Are you blind?!” he shouted to me, “Look at all those helicopters circling around us like vultures!” he remarked as he gestured to the makeshift window. “And you’ve seen the reports – they’re closing in!”
I approached him, “Camilo, what are you saying?”
He sat down and sighed, “I am afraid that we have run out of options.”
“Don’t think like that! We can still repel them.”
Cam looked at me, the way a teacher looks at a student trying and failing to prove wrong the instructor, “Care to explain how?”
I thought for a second, “We could sneak past them and regroup – ”
“With who? Everyone’s gone. Apart from a few uncaptured operatives, there’s only you, me, Vilma and Rafael [del Pino]. From millions to 200 or so.”
Recruiting had been slow; most people are stuck, too afraid to resume the warfare, resigned to defeat at the hands of the American pigs and the traitorous collaborators. They have killed the island. “Well, then we can sneak away and continue the fight from abroad. Go to Haiti or Russia or – ”
“Padre… supplies are low. We’re surrounded, and nobody is coming for us.”
“This…this can’t be the end, spending our last meals holed up in this mountainside…”
He sat closer to me, “Don’t feel bad; you’ve been a most loyal compatriot,” and then he called me by my first name. Finally. “We gave a noble stand and it was the reluctance of the Russians to help more that has led us to this place. You could not have done more, dear friend.”
It’s now or never, then, I thought. Just as I was turning to lean closer to him, a blinding roar threw us down.
“This is it!” Vilma ran past us from her post, “Grab a gun! They’ll never take us alive!” Then a second grenade killed her.
A swarm of Americans invaded our location. Grabbing an automatic, I crawled to the nearest exit. I charged down the south tunnel with Cam right behind me, and we tried to make it out but the bastards kept coming, like cockroaches in the night. At the clearing at the mountain’s edge, one of them got me twice in the shoulder.
But they didn’t pay attention to me once they recognized the man behind me.
I screamed in horror as Cam – oh, my dear Cam – he was cut down by the bastards.
In the chaos of their sadistic destruction I slipped away into the underbrush. I could hear the gunfire being replaced with faint cheers as I made my escape.
I am now by a river and I think the bullet wounds are infected. It is getting dark.
I am alone.
– 5 January 1965, final entry of The Diary of the Unknown Fighter (1958-1965), published 1996
Johnson was sure to have all the major news sources cover the announcement that the last of the Communist Cubans had been “found, trialed and executed by firing squad” over the weekend. …Johnson would continually mentions this during the 1966 midterms, attempting to salvage his legacy by crediting himself for “ending” The Cuban War.
– Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon: Book Four: The Power of the Presidency, A. A. Knopf Inc., 2018
“Charles Halleck was a moderate who in his many years as House party leader had failed to lead the party back to majority rule. Prior to the election, I planned on running against him to his right. But when we gained all those seats in 1964 – though we still lost, it was an amazing increase in seats – Halleck was untouchable. Still, the fact remains that I had not exactly been quiet over my discontent with Halleck, and that came back to bite me. The party bosses hadn’t appreciate it and they didn’t forget about it. Soon enough, I sensed that my time in public service would be of better use to the American people elsewhere.”
– retired politician Gerald Ford speaking at Conservatism Calls, a political think tank, 1993
HOUSE RE-AFFIRMS RULE TO PREVENT COMMITTEE BLOCKADE
Washington, D.C. – The United States House of Representatives voted on bipartisan lines, from 221 to 204, to preserve a 1963 Democratic-led change to its legislation-reviewing rules. The alteration in question prevents the House Rules Committee from blocking legislation that the committee opposes. Under the revised system, in place for the past two years, bills must be either cleared or rejected by the Rules Committee within 21 legislative days of it being introduced to the committee. If neither event happens, the Speaker of the House is then authorized to bring the legislation directly before the House for a direct vote to either pass or reject the bill…
– The Chicago Tribune, 1/8/1965
9 January 1965: On this day in history, the “Hope Slide,” the largest landslide in Canada's history, occurred in the Cascade Mountains near Hope, British Columbia, killing free people; the landslide buried British Columbia’s Highway 3 under 47 million cubic meters (1.66 billion cubic feet) of rock at 7:00 in the morning; the four people who died were driving their vehicles, a convertible car and a pickup truck, along the highway and were unable to avoid being buried in the debris; when the landslide enveloped that portion of the highway, a Greyhound bus driver was able to back up quickly before he and his passengers were caught in the avalanche; the driver, David Hughes, put the bus into reverse at full speed for 1 1/2 miles, driving the vehicle backwards along the twisting, dark highway until they were out of danger, all while most of his passengers slept. [13]
– onthisday.co.uk
COLONEL SANDERS REVEALS POSSIBLE CABINET PICKS: Rocky, Civil Rights Leaders, Many More Weighed
Washington, D.C. – With their boss’s permission, Colonel Sanders’ transition team today released a short “incomplete” list of prominent politicians that he and the team are considering for his Presidential cabinet. The most prominent person on the list is Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, whom is written down as a possible pick for Secretary of Labor, Commerce, or Health, Education and Welfare [14]. Other prominent politicians included are Senator Carl Curtis and former National Security Advisor Gordon Gray for Secretary of State and former US Congressman Eugene Siler of Kentucky – a “fiscal watchdog” and early opponent of US military actions along the Laos-Vietnam border – for Secretary of the Treasury; Siler, a fiercely conservative politician from Sanders' home state, ran for Governor of Kentucky in 1951 on an anti-corruption campaign. …George Dewey Clyde, the outgoing Governor of Utah, is written down as a possible pick for Secretary of Interior (likely due to his work improving his home state's infrastructure and preservations of natural resources during his two terms), and Senator Hickenlooper is being eyed for Secretary of Agriculture (possibly due to his work on the US Senate Agricultural Committee)… In step with the President-Elect’s style, the list features several less conventional potential nominees as well. State Senator Philip Willkie of Indiana, for instance, is under down under “diplomat.” …In step with his socially liberal strides, US Congresswoman Florence Dwyer is listed under Health, Education and Welfare. Two African-Americans are listed, too – Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. of DC is written down under “foreign policy,” and civil rights activist and employment reform advocate Whitney Young of Kentucky is written down under “domestic policy”. …while Arleigh Burke is suggested to lead the Navy, the position of Secretary of Defense is noticeably vacant. Nevertheless, the releasing of this list suggests that the upcoming Sanders administration may be more open to the public in regards to the bureaucratic goings-on in the nation’s capital.
– The Washington Post, 1/11/1965
…While Alfred Gruenther declined [the role of Secretary of Defense], he did point us in the direction of US Army General Chuck Bonesteel of Virginia… …After a looking over his reports on American health, a continuation of his predecessor’s 1957 report, I asked US Surgeon General Luther Terry to stay on in that role under my administration – “my administration,” a phrase I was still getting used to if you can believe it – because Terry, like myself, was very critical of all vices, and called for an increase in people understanding the dangerous effects of smoking…
– Colonel Sanders’ Life As I Have Known It Has Been Finger-Lickin’ Good, Creation House publishing, 1974
…Meanwhile in France, de Gaulle’s attempts to talk to protest “leaders” are reportedly failing while attempts to scale back the police hostility are only emboldens the protestor’s spirits. The nation’s industry is continuing to suffer…
– BBC broadcast, 1/12/1965
On January 1, 1965, Malcolm X survived a jail bombing while serving awaiting his trial verdict. Twelve days later, X was acquitted. …Even today, the “self-defense-in-advance” plea is met with either ridicule or understanding, pending which neighborhood you visit…
– Herb Boyd and Ilyasah Shabazz’s Malcolm vs. Martin: Violence and Peace After the End of Segregation, Chicago Third World Press, 2013
DE GAULLE STEPS DOWN!
Paris, France – In a surprising turn of events, Charles de Gaulle, the President of France, has agreed to step down as President in a deal struck with labor leaders. As per the rules of their constitution, the vacancy of the Presidency automatically leads to the implementation of a new Presidential election. De Gaulle will be eligible to run in this election in what is being seen as a test of his political popularity and strength. In exchange, the protest leaders are urging all protestors to return to their classrooms and workplaces as plans for a candidate to oppose de Gaulle are formed. The exact date of this new election has yet to be officially determined…
– The Observer, 1/16/1965
“We have yet to declare war on poverty, illiteracy, and the worst of Earth’s diseases, and are yet to end the threat of nuclear war. But in the past four years we have created programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start, to move America into becoming a truly greater society… I must once again thank all who worked towards making these dreams become realities. Presiding over them has been the greatest honor.”
– Excerpt from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s farewell address, 1/20/1965
And that is how Sanders, a foulmouthed mountain man, a hot-tempered old coot whom once had “an insatiable libido” in his younger years, a sixth-grade dropout who worked as a farmhand, army mule-tender, fireman, railroad hand, lawyer, insurance salesman, ferryboat operator, Chamber of Commerce secretary, tire salesman, midwife, gas station owner, motel owner, and restauranteur because he couldn’t hold down a job, ended up becoming President of the United States.
– narration from political activist Cris Ericson in her allegedly unbiased documentary Feathers and Blood: The Myth of Colonel Sanders, 2016
The Five Best and Five Worst Aspects of the Lyndon Johnson Presidency
The Best Aspects
1 The Civil Rights Act of 1962 – As a master of legislative ways, his Administration ended up doing more for Civil Rights than any Presidency since Lincoln.
2 Gender Wage Gap Narrowed
3 Education Programs Expanded
4 Medicare/Medicaid – The popular expansion of government involvement in healthcare to ensure insurance to the nation’s seniors, disabled, and low-income contributed to the improvement of the quality of life in the United States.
5 The Space Program – Johnson’s passion and generous funding for NASA culminated in the American Moon Landing and launched the U.S. ahead of all other nations in the fields of METS (math-electricity-technology-science) research for years.
The Worst Aspects
1 The Salad Oil Recession – Failure to detect Tino De Angelis’ fraud snowballed into the US entering a recession that contributed to Johnson losing re-election.
2 Rise in Involvement in Indochina – After recovering from warfare in Cuba, Americans were divided over increasing hostilities along the Laos-Vietnam border, and fear another war contributed to Lyndon being a one-term President as well.
3 US Tariffs on European Products – Meant to support the American auto industry, the 1963 “Chicken Tax” instead limited trade between the US and its political allies in Western Europe, which did not exactly help when the Salad Oil Recession occurred
4 Raising the National Debt – While the social programs of his term have remained popular, they came at the cost of adding almost $39 billion, or roughly 12%, to the national budget, creating a dangerous precedent for future administrations.
5 The Cuba War – the most divisive part of his Presidency, Johnson’s decision to oust a Communist dictatorship headed by Fidel Castro (and later, Che Guevara, and later still, Camilo Cienfuegos) led to a war that took much longer than anyone expected it too, and left tens of thousands of Americans dead. Even after the war unofficially ended in 1963, deadly Communist bombings plagued the island, and the US military remaining there ultimately proved too unpopular to too many people.
Overall: Johnson’s legacy is mixed and polarizing; scholars consider him an above-average leader due to domestic achievements, while public opinion is divided over those and his foreign policy. With these consideration combined, Johnson is often placed him in the top and (more-often) middle tier of best US Presidents.
– The President Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Site website, c. 2025
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am more than humbled. …We are gathered here to celebrate the peaceful transition of power that is a starling example of the democratic process that we in America relish and enjoy. That same privilege, though, is not shared by our fellow members of mankind the world over, and as the greatest nation on earth, and a testament to democratic ideals, we owe it to ourselves and the earth to fix this injustice and support foreign fights for freedom... Strengthening our allies will strengthen ourselves, and ensure that our free way of life will never disappear... As we start this new administration, we will all remember throughout the next four or even eight years that our strength and unity and love for one another is what makes the United States of America one great big country and not fifty little ones.”
– Sanders inaugural speech, 1/20/1965
Colonel Harland David Sanders, the 36th President of the United States of America
NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S):
[1] This interaction was written after listening to how Humphrey talked to Johnson after conceding to Nixon IOTL: ( youtube video: YttmffiWyjA ) Of course, the situation here is different, but it gave me an idea of how Johnson conceding to Sanders would go in terms of what they would possibly say to each other.
[2] Johnson’s unruliness here is based on the testimony on his OTL behavior found here: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/21/magazine/president-lyndon-johnson-the-war-within.html
[3] 8 new Republican senators minus 1 new Democratic Senator = a net gain of 7 seats for the GOP. Possibly notable altered results: Conn.: 54%-45%; IN: 50.1%-49.5%; MD: 50.3%-49.7%; Mich.: 54.4%-45.3% as Elly Peterson’s down-to-earth personality was similar to the Colonel’s; MN: 55.3%-44.3%; PA: 57.6%-42.1%; TN: 50.4%-49.6%; TX: Alger split the conservative vote (Yarborough 49.8%, Bush 41.5%, Alger 8.7%); UT: the Colonel’s connections to the state boosted Wilkinson enough for him to win 50.5%-49.5%; Wisc.: 52.2%-47.7%.
[4] Changes from OTL: Due to the Colonel’s rising popularity, the following 61 Republicans won their respective elections: Robert French (AL-5), Lowell Thomas Jr. (Alaska at-large), Sam Steiger (AZ-3), J. E. Hinshaw (Ark.-3), Robert C. Cline (CA-22), Jerry L. Pettis (CA-33), Patrick M. Martin (over John V. Tunney!) (CA-38), Donald G. Brotzman (CO-2), John Chenoweth (CO-3), incumbent Abner W. Sibal (Conn.-4), Roscoe Pickett (GA-4), Edward Y. Chapin (GA-7), John Mattmiller (ID-1), Roger H. Zion (Indiana-8), incumbent Earl Wilson (over Lee H. Hamilton!) (Indiana-9), Don A. Tabbert (Indiana-11), incumbent Fred Schwengel (Iowa-1), incumbent John Henry Kyl (Iowa-4), incumbent Ben F. Jensen (Iowa-7), incumbent Gene Snyder (over HIP candidate Louie Nunn!) (Kentucky-3), Clyde Middleton (KY-4), Walter Clay Vaan Hoose (KY-7), David C. Treen (LA-2), Floyd O. Crawford (LA-6) (after a recount due to narrowness), William S. Walker (LA-8), George Meader (Michigan-2), incumbent August E. Johansen (Michigan-3), incumbent Victor A. Knox (Michigan-11), Richard D. Kuhn (Michigan-19), Robert J. Odegard (MN-6), incumbent Ralph F. Beermann (Neb.-1), incumbent Louis C. Wyman (NH-1), incumbent Milton W. Glenn (NJ-2), Marcus Daly (NJ-3), incumbent Frank C. Osmers Jr. (NJ-9), incumbent Steven Boghos Derounian (NY-3), Luigi R. Marano (NY-15), incumbent Robert R. Barry (NY-25), incumbent Katharine St. George (NY-27), incumbent J. Ernest Wharton (NY-28), incumbent R. Walter Riehlman (NY-34), incumbent John R. Pillion (NY-39), James C. Gardner (NC-4), W. A. Armfield (NC-5), incumbent Don L. Short (ND-2), incumbent Carl W. Rich (OH-1), incumbent Paul F. Schenck (OH-3), incumbent Homer E. Abele (OH-10), Oliver P. Bolton (OH-at large), Bayard C. Auchincloss (OK-6), incumbent George Atlee Goodling (PA-19), incumbent James D. Weaver (PA-24), incumbent Irene Baker (TN-2), Robert B. James (TN-9), Ed Foreman (TX-16), Robert Price (TX-18), incumbent Walt Horan (WA-5), incumbent Thor C. Tollefson (WA-6), incumbent K. William Stinson (WA-7), incumbent Henry C. Schadeberg (Wisc.-1), incumbent William Van Pelt (WA-6), and incumbent "legacy" politician William H. Harrison (WY at-large). 31 incumbents defend their seats, plus 30 more win seats. The presence of H.I.P. candidates on some ballots siphoned off votes from conservative/populist candidates here and there.
[5] This “clip” is a paraphrase of a snippet found here: https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/ (page 8 when printed out)
[6] Seriously! His tombstone has his face on it and he looks like a stunt double for his famous Uncle Harland!: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60614535/james-wilbur-sanders
[7] Family connection discovered on findagrave
[8] Ibid.
[9] Much of this section is based on or directly pulled from the OTL information, data, and statistics found here: https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/kentucky-fried-chicken-opens/
[10] OTL, and found/pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964
[11] Most of this was pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964#cite_note-62
[12] Pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1965#January_2,_1965_(Saturday)
[13] And this was pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1965#January_9,_1965_(Saturday)
[14] I'm actually uncertain if Rockefeller would go for a cabinet spot or not. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?
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Goldwater might throw a shit fit over Rocky being given a Cabinet post, leading to the Colonel deciding against Rocky in the end.
If Rocky is given a post, it can't be the ones that the Colonel promised Goldwater to have a say over.
If Rocky is given a post, it can't be the ones that the Colonel promised Goldwater to have a say over.
This was really cool. Sanders humor will be considered among the top among presidents with some of those Homespun sayings, much like Lincoln.
Johnson's warming reminded me of the joke oh, I think from Johnny Carson, about Carter leaving President Reagan three envelopes. The first envelope he opened when a major crisis came, it said "blame me". The second envelope came after another major crisis, it said "blame the other party." Finally another crisis came right around election time and Reagan open the third envelope. It read, "prepare three envelopes."
Johnson's warming reminded me of the joke oh, I think from Johnny Carson, about Carter leaving President Reagan three envelopes. The first envelope he opened when a major crisis came, it said "blame me". The second envelope came after another major crisis, it said "blame the other party." Finally another crisis came right around election time and Reagan open the third envelope. It read, "prepare three envelopes."
When did the war in Cuba "officially" end and is there currently a DRF president, or is the island just under US military rule?
Maybe Warren Burger, Alan A. McDonald, or even Howard Johnson.
Too bad Wendy Vitter, Wendy Beetlestone, and Wendy Williams Berger would have been too young at the time. And Ronald St. John MacDonald was Canadian.
Clement Haynesworth is also a good choice for him, as would be John Robert Brown if he wants to go for Civil Rights cred