TL-191: Filling the Gaps

[Craigo]

McKenna, George 1865-1930

The son of Joseph McKenna, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President in Reed in 1889, the California-born George McKenna attended college and law school at Harvard before beginning practice in Philadelphia, the city of his father's birth. He became involved in the Democratic politics of the de facto capital, and was elected to Congress in 1896. McKenna gradually became the boss of the Philadelphia machine, and took over leadership of the Pennsylvania machine when Matthew Quay of Pittsburgh died in 1904.

During the bitter nomination struggle of 1912, McKenna initially held the Pennsylvania delegation firm for the conservative Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, but when Theodore Roosevelt won a majority on the third ballot, McKenna released his delegates, many of whom flocked to TR. This started a stampede that put TR over the top, and in gratitude (and to balance the ticket), the reformer Roosevelt picked the boss McKenna as his running mate. McKenna became the first Roman Catholic to hold the Vice-Presidency or Presidency, and was handily re-elected along with TR in 1916. During his term in office, he scrupulously avoided involvement in TR's initial skirmishes with the conservatives, and he was a fervent supporter of the war effort, especially during the dark winter of 1914-1915, when Confederate artillery could be heard in Philadelphia.

When TR decided to run for a third term amid endemic strikes and economic malaise, he sought to burnish his reform image by dropping McKenna in favor of William Allen White, a pro-reform newspaper editor and a political outsider. McKenna, who had hoped to run himself in 1920, was deeply disappointed in this decision, but loyally camapaigned for the new team. After Roosevelt's defeat, McKenna was heard to claim, unpersuasively, that American Catholics had turned against the Democratic party when he was dropped. He joined Philadelphia National Bank in 1921, eventually rising to become its President.

McKenna, whose obesity had made him the butt of jokes throughout his career, suffered a heart attack in his office in 1930, shortly after a run on his bank which had nearly wiped it out. He died before help could be summoned, and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia. His son, James, served as a Congressman from Philadelphia during 1926-1941, when he resigned to join his reserve unit. James was killed in action at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

 

[Wolfpaw]

I can't find any reason why he'd be less abrasive. I have him elected President fairly easily (over maybe Zebulon Vance or Joseph Brown) simply because of the battle of Corinth - there was a definite tendency in the postwar US to elect military men that I've transferred to the postwar CS.
This trend continues right up to till Gist, the last of the War of Secession vets, who is elected in 1890s, the same decade that saw McKinley, the last of our Civil War vets.

Not to sound all negative, but I don't understand why you have Bragg becoming president in this TL. As stated, he was an abrasive, mediocre general who displayed absolutely no political ambition whatsoever, antebellum or postbellum. And with regards to a political powerhouse like Vance, trust him to become POTCS at some point. Right after Davis is too early, but definitely at some point. I think right after Longstreet would be best since not only would Vance be at the height of his political career, but he was a fairly tolerant and universally beloved fellow, so he would definitely help ease the end of slavery, especially since Longstreet's VP Lucius Q. C. Lamar was himself so hostile towards manumission.

Now Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, there's who you're looking for. He was charismatic, politically ambitious, came from a well-connected planter family, headed the project to create the famous Confederate battle flag, and is a war hero to boot. The only thing that (might) put off voters is his Catholicism, but with the Whigs/Democrats so dominant in the political scene (especially this soon after independence) it shouldn't stop him from winning the Gray House.

 

[Craigo]

Not to sound all negative, but I don't understand why you have Bragg becoming president in this TL. As stated, he was an abrasive, mediocre general who displayed absolutely no political ambition whatsoever, antebellum or postbellum. And with regards to a political powerhouse like Vance, trust him to become POTCS at some point. Right after Davis is too early, but definitely at some point. I think right after Longstreet would be best since not only would Vance be at the height of his political career, but he was a fairly tolerant and universally beloved fellow, so he would definitely help ease the end of slavery, especially since Longstreet's VP Lucius Q. C. Lamar was himself so hostile towards manumission.

Now Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, there's who you're looking for. He was charismatic, politically ambitious, came from a well-connected planter family, headed the project to create the famous Confederate battle flag, and is a war hero to boot. The only thing that (might) put off voters is his Catholicism, but with the Whigs/Democrats so dominant in the political scene (especially this soon after independence) it shouldn't stop him from winning the Gray House.

Actually, Beauregard is a good choice. I rated him slightly lower than Bragg because of Catholicism and Corinth being a greater victory than Fort Sumter, but he's definitely more ambitious and politically adept. It's also strange that the Confederacy, aside from blacks, is tolerant in some ways, as witness Doroteo Arango's campaign in 1915, and the bengin atmosphere for Jews.

 

[Craigo]

United States Presidential election of 1924

With the economy booming and the continent at peace, Upton Sinclair of the upstart Socialists seemed destined for re-election in 1924. Sinclair had embarked on an ambitious program - recognizing the right of workers to organize, creating a Federal Trade Commission and Food Safety Administration, expanding unemployment insurance, slashing the enormous military budget, (ironically) cutting the war taxes, and canceling Confederate reparations following the assassination of Wade Hampton V. His only stumble was the Social Insurance Plan, which failed to secure the necessary two-thirds in the Senate to defeat a filibuster.

Ambitious Democratic politicians mostly chose to take a pass on the 1924 contest, and out of this collection of non-entities arose James Cox, the governor of Ohio, and John W. Davis, a Wall Street lawyer and chairman of the Democratic National Committee who, at TR's behest, had changed the nomination requirements from two-third to a simple majority in 1914. They were buried in a landslide that nearly equaled TR's triumph twelve years earlier, taking only Idaho, Wyoming, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Delaware. The Republican nominee, James Watson of Indiana, won almost as many electoral votes, despite winning only two states.

 

[Wolfpaw]

Actually, Beauregard is a good choice. I rated him slightly lower than Bragg because of Catholicism and Corinth being a greater victory than Fort Sumter, but he's definitely more ambitious and politically adept.

Well, the battles of Corinth were way more Beauregard and Van Dorn's victory than Bragg's. But neither was really as great as First Manassas, which was the battle that put Beauregard and Johnston on the map, not to mention the fact that it was the first major Confederate victory.

 

[oberdada]

Maybe John Dewey went into politics?

The Democrats win in 1944 with a Dewey/Truman ticket.
It is in the last book.

 

[hopper2cool]

OK I can buy that. Bragg didn't get along with anyone but as a war hero that became a mediocre President sounds plausible.

 

[Craigo]

Wood, Leonard 1860-1925

Leonard Wood, like his friend and patron Theodore Roosevelt, was born just before the War of Secession, and both fought in the its sequel - Wood interrupted his studies at Harvard Medical School to enlist in the US Army, serving as a medic on the Louisville front. He witnessed a shocking disregard for basic hygiene and safety by soldiers and doctors alike, and after he completed his degree he rejoined the army as a surgeon, serving in Kansas, Arizona, and Maryland. He developed a reputation as a progressive and enterprising officer, and became President Reed's personal physician in 1891.

During this time he developed a friendship with Assistant Secretary of War Theodore Roosevelt, and with TR's encouragement Wood attended the Army Staff College at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Colonel Wood spent 1900s in a series of staff positions in Second and Fifth Armies before rejoining the general staff in 1913 with the rank of Major General, at the request of President Roosevelt.

When the war began in August 1914, Frederick Funston's Fifth Army was thrown back by the Army of Northern Virginia, and Funston suffered a heart attack on September 16 and was relieved of command. Roosevelt bypassed Funston's senior corps commander and placed Wood in charge, who immediately established the Susquehanna as the last line of defense (a controversial decision, as the Confederates had not yet pentrated Pennsylvania). The successful stand in Pennsylvania in October-November 1914 made Wood a hero, and when Roosevelt requested that the elderly Chief of Staff Charles Francis Adams Jr. retire upon the New Year, Wood was promoted to replace him, after having served less than four months as a commander.

Despite grumbling from some other generals over this apparent favoritism, Wood led the Army to the successful culmination of the war. Along the way he instituted several new policies, such as a better helmet for infantrymen, the dissolution of most cavalry formations, the use of poison gas, the adoption of a light machine-gun in 1917 (a submachine gun designed by General Thompson was just about to enter production when the war ended and its adoption was postponed), and the introduction of the barrel. Critics note, however, that the General Staff and the War Department resisted using barrels in massed-attacks until General Custer's highly successful Remembrance Day offensive proved them wrong.

Wood oversaw the shrinking of the enormous Army back into peacetime size, and the occupation of Canada. When Roosevelt's bid for a third term was defeated in 1920, Wood resigned as Chief of Staff on March 5, 1921, the day after Upton Sinclair took the oath of office. Following his retirement Wood was promoted to to full General by act of Congress, the only man other than Custer to be so honored (Admiral Dewey also achieved four-star rank, albeit posthumously). General Leonard Wood died in 1925 following an unsuccessful operation correct a recurring brain tumor, and was buried in Philadelphia National Cemetery.

 

[Craigo]

The Democrats win in 1944 with a Dewey/Truman ticket.
It is in the last book.

He means John Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey decimal system. He was a socialist OTL.

 

[Craigo]

OK I can buy that. Bragg didn't get along with anyone but as a war hero that became a mediocre President sounds plausible.

I think Wolfpaw makes a pretty good case for Beauregard over Bragg, however. I think I'm going to go along with that, since the mention of Bragg in GW didn't say anything about the Presidency.

 

[GreatScottMarty]

Charles Francis Adams Jr. the OTL historian and social commentator correct? Great Great Grandson of the President?
Nice Butterfly

BTW, I would love to see a list of failed nominees

David Bar Elias did another TL in the same vein. You might wanna look at his.

One thing, I think PGT Beauregard is more likely than Bragg for the reasons listed previously.

 

[Craigo]

Charles Francis Adams Jr. the OTL historian and social commentator correct? Great Great Grandson of the President?
Nice Butterfly

BTW, I would love to see a list of failed nominees

David Bar Elias did another TL in the same vein. You might wanna look at his.

One thing, I think PGT Beauregard is more likely than Bragg for the reasons listed previously.

Since I'm stupid, I only found that yesterday. It's looong, and I've only gotten a couple pages in. I haven't even started thinking of postwar, though I'd probably continue the Civil War analogies. Maybe instead of Reconstruction, we have "Integration" of the southern states, a President Morrell, etc.

 

[Craigo]

MacArthur, Arthur 1845-1898

MacArthur, the son of a famed soldier, joined a Wisconsin regiment at the outbreak of the War of Secession, but saw little action before the conflict was ended. He studied law and enjoyed an unhappy career as an attorney before volunteering for the Second Mexican War, this time as a captain. After his colonel was killed during the Battle of Jonesboro, MacArthur led his headless regiment on a successful uphill charge under heavy fire with the cry "Onward Wisconsin!" But the minor Missouri-Arkansas front attracted little attention in the press, the history books, or the War Department, and his leadership went mostly unnoticed.

He ended the war a major of volunteers and was mustered out in 1883. When the Conscription Act enlarged the army in 1886, Arthur joined up for a third time, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Cavalry. He served in California, Dakota, Utah, and Kansas, the latter a continuous battleground thanks to border raiding by the Five Civilized Tribes in Sequoyah.

Colonel MacArthur was killed in action at the head of his squadron just north of the Cherokee River on August 14, 1898, in a retaliatory raid on the Cherokee Nation following an attack on Dodge City, Kansas (such raids ended just a few years after the turn of the century as US-CS relations briefly improved, though whether this was a cause or symptom of such detente is up for debate). One son, Daniel MacArthur, attended West Point and became the youngest divisional commander in the US Army in 1914, at at the age of thirty, and an army commander in the Second Great War. Arthur MacArthur III attended the Naval Academy and became a submariner. His boat, the Moccasin, was sunk by the Confederate destroyer Rapidan in February 1915 and was lost with all hands.

 

[oberdada]

He means John Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey decimal system. He was a socialist OTL.

So we have Dewey vs. Dewey in 1948?

(I kind of had the feeling it wasn't the same guy)

 

[Craigo]

Tredegar Automatic Rifle

In early 1915, Army Chief of Staff Leonard Wood directed the Army Ordnance Bureau to produce a man-portable machine-gun for use in offensive operations, as the 100 lb. Colt machine guns which were standard at the time were far too heavy and labor-intensive for assault troops. In addition, it was to use the same .30-06 rifle cartridge as the Springfield rifle and standard army machine-gun to ease logistics.

In designing the new weapon, Army engineers came across an old patent secured by an obscure Mormon inventor, which described a belt-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled machine-gun. As Utah was in rebellion and the inventor's whereabouts were unknown, the Army appropriated the design with little compunction. With some modifications, this device became the final product. It was deployed to the Tennesee and Virginia fronts in 1917 in time for the great offensives of that year.

(A competing automatic weapon designed by General Thompson, which fired .45 handgun rounds, entered production just as the war was ending, and was indefinitely postponed - for over twenty years, as it happens.)

During the 1920s, nominally private entities conducting weapons research on behalf of the Confederate government were able to obtain copies of this machine-gun, which found use in Mexico (believed to have been obtained from unscrupulous supply sergeants in the US). After successfully copying the design for potential domestic production, the project was shelved until the Confederate Army was permitted to expand in the early 1930s under the Freedom Party. Rejecting the M1917 as too cumbersome for its purposes, Confederate Army engineers at the Tredegar Steel Works used the basic gas-operation design and produced the Tredegar Automatic Rifle, light enough to be easily carried and fired by one man. In order to increase the magazine capacity to twenty (and to prevent the US from easily appropriating the weapons), it was chambered for an intermediate round, and was unsuitable for the .30-06/.303 rifle cartridge which was used in most countries.

Confederate troops used the weapon to great effect in the 1940s, as a small number of TAR-equipped soldiers could overwhelm a larger bolt-action armed force with much a much greater volume of fire. US troops did indeed take to scrounging these weapons when they could, although until they went on the offensive, ammunition was hard to come by.

Along with Griswold submachine gun (a shoddy, inaccurate weapon of welded stainless style which fired handgun rounds, it was unsuited for engagements of much more than 50 yards and was issued mainly to officers and rear-area personnel), it was the standard infantry weapon of the Confederate ground forces and was widely considered the most effective light arm that either side produced. It was licensed to the French in 1939, and became their standard arm as well, though the British and Russians developed their own automatic weapons. As nearly two million TARs were produced, they are still easily found in the former Confederate states, and are put to use both peaceful and otherwise.

 

[Craigo]

United States Army, 1884-1914

Following the disastrous defeat in the Second Mexican War, reform of the Army and expansion of the Navy became a paramount concern in the United States. Soft-Line Democrat Thomas Hendricks was elected in 1884, after helping to defeat the relatively mild measures that lame-duck President Blaine had favored. Upon Hendricks' death in 1885, President Hancock, a veteran of both wars with the CSA, immediately pushed for a strengthened version of Blaine's army bill. The Conscription Act of 1886 was passed with the nearly unanimous support of the minority Republicans and the Hard-Line Democrats. Hancock died shortly after, and reform efforts briefly faltered under yet another Soft-Liner, Allen Thurman.

The 1886 Act mandated that every male citizen of the United States receive a "service number." If his number was randomly drawn during the ages of eighteen to twenty-one, he had to report to his nearest recruitment office within thirty days. Most conscripts joined the Army, although a number were also allowed to join the Navy or Marine Corps to fill their ranks. Nearly a third of conscripts were rejected as "unfit for duty," which could embrace such conditions as flat feet, venereal disease, or a history of violent criminal behavior. Conscripts served a hitch of two years, except for those volunteered for the Marines, who were in for three. For up to eight (or seven) years afterwards, unmarried veterans were assigned to "Reserve" status, subject to activation in case of war.

Amendments to the original bill allowed members of the Quaker, Mennonite, and Brethren faiths to opt out of military service due to their religious beliefs (though most were required to join labor battalions). Later many Socialist draftees claimed objector status based on political beliefs, a stance that the conservative Supreme Court rejected in Siegel v. Root, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). Still, a small minority of Socialist conscripts chose to serve their two years in the stockade rather than in their unit. Most objectors served in the United States Construction Corps, a uniformed service which did not carry arms.

By 1914, the United States Army numbered fifty divisions, organized into six field armies:

First Army, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri
Second Army, Evansville, Indiana
Third Army, Columbus, Ohio
Fourth Army, Utica, New York
Fifth Army, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Sixth Army, Leavenworth, Kansas

The US Army was joined by the ten division of the Marine Corps, mostly headquartered on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It was this basic structure that fought the Great War, though an additional five field armies were created during the course of the conflict. A Great War division used the four-square formation: two infantry brigades, with one of cavalry and one of artillery. Most divisions raised during the war replaced the cavalry with a third infantry brigade.

The General Staff had been adopted on an ad hoc basis late in 1882 by General-in-Chief William Rosecrans, though it was not formalized in statutory law until 1889. Based in Philadelphia, it nominally consisted permanently only of the Chief of Staff, his Deputy, and their personal staffs, though at any given time a hundred officers were attached to it. It was responsible for planning, administering, and coordinating the operations which the field commanders undertook, freeing these officers for others duties and allowing the large, dispersed Army to act in concert.

Rosecrans was replaced in his position by Major General Henry Hunt, who had endeared himself to Congress by serving in a rear area during the Second Mexican War, thus giving the Confederates no opportunity to humiliate him. Upon Hunt's death in 1889 he was replaced by Emory Upton, an innovator and a military theorist who had broken a line of trenches at Louisville, only to see his success go unsupported by the brigades on either side. Upton did more to form the new US Army than perhaps any other individual, and he was honored with a rare promotion to Lieutenant General upon his retirement in 1900. He was succeeded by a more conservative contemporary, Charles Francis Adams Jr. (grandson and great-grandson of Presidents), who gained the promotion through his last name and the influence of his powerful brother Henry, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Adams remained in that position until the Great War broke out, when his age and set ways caused President Roosevelt to "retire" him.

Springfield rifles remained the standard infantry arm, though they were augmented by various Henry and Winchester repeaters. The venerable M1903 model, a bolt-action, .30-06 weapon, entered service that year and saw extensive use for more than four decades. Gatling Guns were purchased in large quantities in the 1880s, though they were displaced in 1890 by a much more effective weapon, a Colt knock-off of the Maxim machine-gun (invented, to the US's chagrin, by an American emigre in England). The Colt M1909 was a water-cooled, recoil-operated weapon. The standard officer's sidearm in the early 20th century was the Colt M1900 semi-automatic pistol (a copy of the Griswold handgun used by the Confederates), though many continued to carry personal Colt or Smith & Wesson revolvers. Standard artillery was a 105mm howitzer, based on the German weapon of the same era.

 

[Craigo]

Brandeis, Louis 1856-1941

Born in Louisville, Kentucky to immigrant Jewish parents, Brandeis was exceptionally bright as a child, graduating from Transylvania University at the age of eighteen, and the University of Virginia Law School at twenty. He practiced in Richmond until the Second Mexican War, when he returned to Kentucky and was commissioned a captain in the CS Army, helping to defend his hometown. He was mustered out in 1883, and returned to his practice.

The progressive Brandeis, who took on many cases out of a sense of social justice, soon became attached to the opposition Liberal Party. But when the Radicals became strong under Thomas Watson of Georgia, Brandeis joined the new part. He undertook a failed run for the House of Representatives in 1895, and advised Watson on his 1897 run for the Gray House. Brandeis was a delegate to and leader of the 1900 convention which formally merged the two parties. The next year he was the Radical Liberal candidate for Governor of Kentucky against the Whig, William Goebel. Brandeis scored an upset victory, taking a bare majority of the vote. He was the first non-Whig Kentucky governor, the first Jewish governor, and the first Radical Liberal governor.

As Kentucky prohibited consecutive terms for executives, Brandeis was available as Tom Watson's running mate against Kentuckian Champ Clark in 1903. This time, however, the Rad Libs took only 44%, less than the 48% the two parties had combined for in the recession year of 1897. Clark took Kentucky by a landslide majority, which stung Brandeis deeply.

Brandeis returned to his practice, arguing several cases (all unsuccessfully) before the Confederate Supreme Court, and he returned to politics by winning the Kentucky state house for a second time in 1907. He was the Radical Liberal nominee for President in 1909, this time drawing only 41% against Woodrow Wilson, though this time he managed to take his home state. During the campaign, observers noted that the striking similarities in the platforms of these two liberal leaders, and after his inauguration, as a gesture of political statesmanship, Wilson nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court.

The nomination hearings were exceptionally contentious, due to Brandeis' Jewish heritage, his liberal politics, and his status as a Radical Liberal being examined by an overwhelmingly Whiggish Senate. Senator James McRenyolds, a virulent anti-Semite and member of the Judiciary Committee, was particularly fierce in his attacks. Brandeis was finally confirmed by a vote of 19-13, with eight Whigs joining all of the Radical Liberals, and Brandeis took his place as the most liberal member of the Court. Ironically, and to Brandeis' great displeasure, McRenyolds was appointed Chief Justice by Gabriel Semmes in 1919. The two men didn't speak to each other for well over a decade. Brandeis was on the losing end of a great many 6-1 votes, and became known as the Great Dissenter. Throughout their long service together, McRenyolds did not assign a single opinion to Brandeis.

When the Court struck down the Freedom Party's river and dams bill in 1934, Brandeis was one of only two Justices to support the act. But he stood alongside McReynolds when Featherston used the case as a casus belli to abolish the Court, and the two had a cordial dinner together the day the Court building was shuttered. They never saw each other again before McReynolds was arrested in the unrest of early 1939. He died in Camp Reliant the next year, a victim of the Destruction.

Brandeis briefly resumed the practice of law in Richmond, before being advised against doing so by the Justice Department under Ferdinand Koenig. Brandeis then lived a life of quiet retirement for the next four years. Although the Freedom Party had no particularly problem with Jews, Brandeis was outraged by its harsh treatment of Negroes and political opponents, and kept a journal which has become a valuable historical resource. After the amendment abolishing term limits for the Presidency passed in 1938, Brandeis emigrated to the Autonomous Province of Palestine (thus avoiding McRenyolds' fate), where the Ottoman Empire allowed a Jewish community to flourish. He died there in late 1941, shortly after the beginning of the Second Great War.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I'm really enjoying these, excellent work Craigo!

 

[GreatScottMarty]

two quibbles
1. in the Great War series Custer talks about how much of an uphill battle he had reforming the army.
2. I thought Brandeis was from Boston?

 

[Craigo]

1. Well, that's Custer. Bombast and self-aggrandizement are not surprising from him, and he should be expected to claim more credit than he's owed. I have no doubt that he was among the hard-line, reform side, however.

2. Brandeis was really born in Louisville. His University is in Boston, because he attended Harvard and practiced there. In this timeline, I substituted some Southern schools for Harvard, and Richmond for Boston.