CHAPTER 5
The Consequences of Hubris
CHANGES ON THE HOMEFRONT
October marked a new departure from normality as wartime unity crumbled away in the US after a bombshell report was released that President Harry S. Truman was planning on firing MacArthur. This combined with a public desensitized to war (The last few elections either taking place during involvement in a war or war being openly talked about). President Truman was shocked to see a huge chunk of the public take MacArthur’s side. Even the popular singer celebrity Bing Crosby had taken the side of MacArthur. America it seemed almost cared more about the 1948 election than the war that had just begun. One British radio personality even joked “It seems that America’s wartime strategy is a rerun of the last war except this time its Washington First, then the world.”
This had come right after two rather large political conventions in early September. Both parties agreed to postpone their conventions to two months after their original July dates due to the war breaking out with the Soviet Union. Both conventions were set to take place in Philadelphia just mere days apart. It also would be the first time political conventions were filmed and shown live on television.
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THE BOY THAT DREAMED
Harold Stassen did not let the coming of war hold him back in his campaign to be the nation's next commander and chief. He saw Truman as nothing more than some southern politician shoved onto a ticket with a dying Roosevelt in 1944. America needed change in a pivotal moment of its history, and its losses against Communism reflected that. He took on Truman’s failings even if he was the war time commander in chief. It wasn't the position the American people elected him to do, it was a position the grim reaper awarded to him.
Stassen had narrowly beaten the last republican nominee Thomas Dewey perhaps due to his speech in London, or just peer luck. After narrowly winning the Oregon primary, he sailed on to victory at the convention. There he made the difficult decision of picking a VP candidate. Some had predicted he would ask Dewey to be on the ticket, he laid those rumors to rest quickly by responding he wouldn't “Dishonor the former candidate with a second place spot on the ticket.”
It was reported that Stassen wanted to get MacArthur or Eisenhower on the ticket but the war made that impossible. Ultimately Stassen decided to go with California Governor Earl Warren to represent more of the coastal liberal wing of the party.
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“I’d like to start off this speech by thanking the representatives of our republican party for entrusting me with the nomination. I had hoped that this convention would be a grand celebration of our party’s hope for a better tomorrow. Sadly though we have entered into yet another war possibly even deadlier than the last. Let me remind you that during the last presidential election we were fighting a different war altogether. We may have won that one, but we lost the peace that followed. That is why I am running. I have no doubt that America and its people shall prevail in this global conflict, no matter the victor of this race, for liberty is stronger than communism. I decided to run for president because we need a president who will ensure that the peace, as well as the war is won. The current holder of that office failed to do so. We owe a stable peace to the widows, the orphans, the broken people of this world.”
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“The Republican party has through the past few years produced a great many candidates, and nominees. It is the groundwork laid by outstanding men like Alf Landon, Thomas Dewey, and the late Wendell Wilkie that lead to our eventual majorities in both houses of congress. Mr. Dewey and I even grew to be great friends over these last few months and I consider him one of my closest allies. The Party of Lincoln has never been more united and ready to take up the mantle of responsibility.”
Many of his former competitors, and party nominees clapped from easily seen seats with the exception of Ohio Senator Taft.
“I must also address my age though, I am a spry young fellow of 41 years. To those who use this against me, let me remind you that I made the most of those years. I was the governor of the great state of Minnesota, a Captain during the war in the pacific where I worked under Fleet Admiral Halsey. My greatest achievement though is that I was a signature of the United Nations proclamation. Something I hope will inspire peace and diplomacy for generations after this war is finished. I may be young, but isn't it time we got someone in the White House with some experience? A veteran of the last war, and not the one before that.”
The audience let out some cheers.
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“If I am to win I shall work to ensure that a strong and mighty United States of America is the central pillar that holds up liberty and democracy. One that blocks out the hot heat of totalitarianism, bigotry, and brutality. For it is our nation's true manifest destiny to make this world one consisting of free nations living in harmony. Our path towards this sacred goal while treacherous is lit with holy light and God willing we shall achieve it!”
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THE PRISONER OF POLITICAL COMPLEXITIES
To say Truman was between a rock and a hard place would be an understatement. Pressure from every which way and compounding him to claustrophobic tight schedules. He was sure though that if he were to survive it he would become a gem for the history books. While confident with his whole heart that he would be elected to a full term, he was worried about the chips stacked against him. The narrow schedule made campaigning hard, the war was beginning to get pinned on him, and his party wasn't fully united. Truman though was confident he had the biggest chip of all. He wasn’t just a- he was The Wartime President. He ended the last war with Nuclear fire over Japan, and sweet victory for the Red, White, and Blue. He was prepared to do anything to end this war as well.
His party was a shitshow but the war forced Strom Thurmond to stand down over his threats to walkout of the convention due to desegregation of federal agencies and the military. This helped the south stay solid blue but came at a terrible price. Truman succeeded a dead president, and left his old position as Vice President empty for the rest of the term. While he wished to put Justice Bill Douglas on the ticket with him the Dixiecrats had other ideas. By a narrow vote combined with favors and compromises Senator Richard Russel Jr. was nominated to the VP slot of the Democratic ticket.
What was feared to start the raucous as the convention never came about. The controversial proposed civil rights plank never reached a vote. Many in the party worried that such a plank would be more harm than good during the war. While this caused a few to jump over to former Vice-President Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party, the majority of liberals in the party accepted fate, rather than join what people were beginning to call ‘The Peace Without Honor Party’. The Dixiecrats were forced to accept the desegregation of the military and the federal government but otherwise state segregation was left to be handled another day.
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“Ladies and Gentlemen I wanna thank all of you in our Democratic Party for deciding to make this convention a haven of peace and unity during wartime.”
Several delegations chuckled while some southern, and northern delegations showed stone faced responses. Grimmest of all these was Minnesota delegate Hubert Humphrey who looked depleted.
“We got bigger enemies than just Harold Stassen and them Cantankerous Republicans to worry about. If we aren't united as a party, how are we supposed to be united as a country? That's just what Joe Stalin and those backstabbing Soviets in Moscow want.”
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“These Republicans will promise you anything, and everything and give you squat. That's the difference between a Republican and a Democrat. Look at what little they’ve done in Congress so far. A Democrat doesn't over promise and makes sure to get the job done. Farmers under a Democratic government this last decade have thrived, compared to before. Laborers have more rights than ever before in our nation's history. You gotta be dumb as a doorknob to think the Republican Party will could be a better friend of Farmers and Labor. The Democratic party must and always will be the guardian of the average man no matter if he's from Alabama, Massachusetts, Arizona, Washington, or Pennsylvania. Average working men of any and all backgrounds, and creeds deserve every bit of our fight we can give here on the Homefront as our boys give across in Europe!”
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“Read my lips when I say this! It was our party’s ticket that won the First World War, it was our party’s ticket that won the last, and it will be our party’s ticket that will lead our nation in Victory once more! So get out there and whoop these Republicans outta congress, so we can whoop the commies outta Europe!”
Truman had never felt so fired up in his life. He looked over the crowds of people with glee. Whether they liked it or not he was their champion now.
He walked off stage in ecstasy… slightly just missing the correct steps.
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BEACON OF DEMOCRACY
PRESIDENT FALLS OFF STAGE
UNCLEAR ON DAMAGE
RACE IN DEAD HEAT
President Truman seems to fight on in the race after the unfortunate end to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. He continues though to campaign from the confines of the White House. Stassen has begun to dash across the nation making his case for the presidency. Polls show the race is close between the two with many pundits believing that Stassen is facing a steep upward climb if he hopes to defeat a wartime incumbent president.
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TRUMAN CALLS MACARTHUR TO WASHINGTON
RUMORS OF A FEUD BETWEEN THE GENERAL AND POTUS
WAR WORSENS IN KOREA
President Truman has called General Macarthur to come to Washington for a meeting at the White House. While there is still no official reason for the meeting released yet. Rumors are abuzz in Washington that a feud has been brewing since the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union.
Many Americans are being left puzzled as to why the President is calling back the Supreme Allied Commander when the situation in Korea is growing more serious. In a shocking statement actor/singer Bing Crosby was quoted saying “You don't take the quarterback out of the game mid play.” when he heard the news at a fundraiser dinner for the Army and Navy Relief Society in Hollywood.
Republican Candidate for President Harold Stassen called out President Truman saying:
“You cannot win a war without generals. The President is upset that not everybody is fighting this war at the pace he would enjoy it. To win this war we are going to have to work together.”
The whole situation has led to a bump in polls for Stassen due to discontent over what the pundits are beginning to call the Macarthur Feud.
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Macarthur walked out of the oval office dumbfounded. He expected that he would be fired, demoted, retired, or simply reassigned. The noble old soldier walking into the meeting with the president walked out as a confused, maybe even surprised individual.
Douglas Macarthur always thought that Truman was a wimp, a pond fish in the sea. But what he saw was simply humiliating. He saw the President of the United States rolling over admitting defeat without ever saying it. He didn't even attempt to hide his bandages around his ankle, and leg. The President, simply a crumpled man, just talked about the status of Japan. The political situation, and reconstruction efforts. He barely mentioned the war in fact. Aside from the status of Air Bases in Japan. MacArthur was almost disgusted. Was this what Munich was like in 1939?
The fact that no one would see that. Not the press, world leaders, or the people. Seemed to ease his anxiety. He saw the epitome of a weak leader. Something he had never seen before in Truman or a President.
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MACARTHUR MEETING MERELY A ROUTINE DISCUSSION ON JAPAN
STASSEN BUMP SLOWS, AS ELECTION ENTERS LAST MONTH
COMMUNIST FORCES ATTACK US MARINES IN TSINGTAO
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NOVEMBER 2ND, 1948
ELECTION DAY
Truman sat in the White House looking out at the dark November sky in the capital. The polls still showed that it was tight but he felt even if he won he still was the loser. He lost the peace, just as Stassen had said. Even if redeemed in victory as El Libertador he would still be remembered as someone that let it happen. Millions of boys sent out to die in a war that not even Atomic Bombs could end. No one would accept a ceasefire at this point, tensions could never be tamed. A war across all Eurasia is now what was certain.
He walked through the dimly lit halls of the White House, the place was rotting and in deep need of repair. Amidst all the craziness of the world in June, one of the legs on Margaret’s Piano fell through the second floor. Margaret in fact has not been at the White House in some time, taking up the task of campaigning. Most everybody had been staying in other places like the guest house. In fact he was waiting for after the election to go public with the needed repairs. He was one the only few left staying at the Executive Mansion. Truman had been alone, broken, in a broken place.
By the time he had made it to his room he saw something comforting by the bed stand. A ham and cheese sandwich and a glass of buttermilk. He wasn't gonna listen to the news, he just told his aides to wake him if he won. As he sat beside his bed he simply ate his sandwich, and downed his buttermilk, crawled into bed and dozed off leaving the world of chaos and war behind him.
To Truman’s relief he slept soundly for the first time in months.
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STASSEN NARROWLY WINS NAILBITER ELECTION
SOVIETS PUNCH DEEPER INTO EUROPE
COMMUNIST RIOTS IN NORTHERN ITALY
