a Valkyrie Rises Over Europe, a Alternate Story of the Cold War
- Thread starter Kaiser K
- Start date
I'm back, and I plan on trying to write shorter updates and less frequent updates this time around so I don't burn myself out.
I do wonder how the fact that I choose someone who signed the Southern Manifesto in OTL (albeit one voted for the Voting Rights Act of 1965) is going to work out?
Wishes Do Come True!
Sounds like life south of the Mason-Dixon Line is about to get tense...
Not anymore...............
"I'll tell you what you stupid goddamn reporters, the only way that so called "civil rights" bill is getting passed is if that Floridian scalawag bludgeons me with a hammer and forces every single piece of paper down my throat; and you can assuredly quote me on that cause it's damn true"
Next Time: A Floridian and a Racist Walk Into a Bar
Sounds like life south of the Mason-Dixon Line is about to get tense...
JFK: Err, uhh, Mr. President, the two angry mobs that have come to string you up are fighting each other on the lawn. I'll just be slipping out the back.I do wonder how the fact that I choose someone who signed the Southern Manifesto in OTL (albeit one voted for the Voting Rights Act of 1965) is going to work out?
Not sure how this will work out, but I eagerly await to see.
This works so funnily; since JFK is Smathers Secretary of State and all.
IT LIVES!!!
To quote a certain Oberhauser: Welcome back, Kaiser. It's been such a long time. But finally, here we are.
To quote a certain Oberhauser: Welcome back, Kaiser. It's been such a long time. But finally, here we are.
IT LIVES!!!
To quote a certain Oberhauser: Welcome back, Kaiser. It's been such a long time. But finally, here we are.
Thanks guys.
I do laugh that I have had two long hiatuses while writing this timeline, but I do hope to not have another one.
Anyway, here's a quick preview of the next update.
My favorite alt cold war TL returns! Its interesting to see that everyone is having problems in the stormy 60s
Good to see this back
I'm curious as to if the mini update on Klaus Braun will continue (dons't have to be immediately)?
They will, I'll probably do another one soon.
And back we are, with a new update too!
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PART 38
A Floridian and A Racist Walk Into a Bar..........
"“I, George Armistead Smathers do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”"
- President George Smathers taking the oath of office on Inauguration Day; January 20th, 1961
PART 38
A Floridian and A Racist Walk Into a Bar..........
"“I, George Armistead Smathers do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”"
- President George Smathers taking the oath of office on Inauguration Day; January 20th, 1961
After ten long and tumultuous years on the domestic and international stages for the United States under the command of the Stassen administration, the American people had come to grow increasingly apathetic, frustrated and angry with the way that the federal government had been going about running things in the prior several years, these feelings would only be exacerbated further by the many domestic and international crisis that hit the country in this same period; and would lead many individuals to the belief that there was a pressing need for change and reform at the federal level if the problems that had come to plague the country were to ever be fixed. Thus, when the 1960 Presidential Election finally arrived, many Americans would quickly jump at the opportunity to utilize their voice and inform these aforementioned elected officials of the fact that they not only wanted a change in thought, belief and direction at the federal level - but that they also wanted it immediately as well; and it would ultimately be behind this wave of desire for change and reform among the people that they would help sweep Florida Senator George Smathers and the Democratic Party into full control of the executive branch and majority control of both houses of Congress come election day in November.
Unfortunately for the United States, no amount of desire on the part of either the civilian populace or the officials in government could on their own so easily accomplish the task of fixing the internal and external problems that faced the nation heading into the new decade - and neither could the admittedly simple act of electing new officials into political office do the same either, the only thing that would be able to actually accomplish this task was pure and dirty hard work; as well as some semblance of patience and determination to help one get through the hard work that would need to be done.
Figure 1: President Smathers and Secretary of State Kennedy answer questions to a crowd of journalists shortly after a National Security Meeting; circa March 1961
In the weeks leading up to Inauguration Day, many Americans were hopeful that the ascent of a new administration to the Oval Office would finally be the medicine that the metaphorical doctor ordered to help jump-start the process of repairing the wounds of an increasingly sickly country and turning her back around for the better, unfortunately for the country and her hopes, this was not to be the case so easily; as the Floridian Senator would quickly discover upon his formal assumption of power that the problems that plagued that nation ran deeper then even most had anticipated. Chief among the many problems facing the country at this point was the matter of an increasingly dire economic situation - a situation which had been brought upon in large part as a result of a series of disastrous tax cuts and financial programs pursued by the Stassen administration in it's latter years - as well as helped contribute to other economic and economic-related problems; such as the steady increase of both the poverty and unemployment rates to all-time post-war highs by January 1961 (21.3% and 13.5% respectively).
Knowing full well about the severity of this economic situation, Smathers and his administration's officials quickly got to work on the matter of finding solutions that would not only stem the tide of recession that had hit the country; but also swing the pendulum of the country's economic situation back into the green in addition, To this end, the administration would utilize the significant mandate that had been given by the American people back in November to their advantage by pursuing an extremely aggressive economic and social related agenda during it's first one hundred days, a period in which they would ultimately be able to successfully pass over one hundred new pieces of legislation into law that would amongst other things - fund a significant expansion of unemployment and social security benefits - increase the minimum wage; and reintroduce the New Deal-era food stamp program as an available option for citizens in lower-income brackets.
While there was significant opposition to the Presidents so called "New American" agenda from both Republicans on Capitol Hill and amongst the general public, the fact that the Democratic Party possessed what were essentially veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate would help ensure that even if some Congressmen (particularly, Southern ones) voted with the GOP on any particular matter - that there would little to no chance of the opposition being able to prevent the executive branch's agenda from formally being adapted into legislation and passed into law; chances that would only decrease further once the economic situation began to improve somewhat as the year progressed (through it would take until 1963 before the economy returned to what one could consider stable levels).
However, while the Smathers administration may have been able to find early success with it's economic agenda, it would soon find itself forced to tackle with a vaguely related yet entirely different problem all together; that being the country's racial inequality problem.
Figure 2: During the now famous "Capitol March" of July 1961, thousands of African-American and White marchers gathered on the grounds of the National Mall to protest against racial segregation and racial discrimination, such as and including the scene depicted in the above photo taken near the Lincoln Memorial
While the separate but heavily interlocked matters of the systematic racial inequality that existed throughout the entire country and the legal racial inequality that was enabled through legislation in the Southern states were not necessarily new topics of discussion amongst the general American populace or the politicians that ran the country, they had both gained a new level of national prominence in the wake of the events that had occurred in the prior two years, events which had not only served to further the divide on the matter that already existed within the general populace; but also cause a general inflammation of racial tensions on the ground and political tensions in the Capitol as well. These tensions were no more evident that within the Democratic Party itself; which was heavily split between liberal anti-segregationist and conservative pro-segregationist factions.
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Discerning where President Smathers personally fell on the matter of racial equality and segregation is itself an incredibly complicated question, as on one hand, the Floridian's Senate record shows a strong and consistent pro-segregationist stance on the majority of legislative matters relating to racial equality that made it to the Senate floor for discussion - a stance which is backed up with further evidence in the form of Smathers now (in)famous formal public denouncement of the Supreme Court's decision in the 1957 case "Carter vs the Board of Education of Little Rock, Arkansas" to side with Carter and declare school segregation unconstitutional, which he referred to as an "an egregious abuse of judicial power", on the other hand however; significant evidence also does suggest that the former Senator's opinion may have taken a sharp turn away from his former belief on the issue in the wake of events such as the Monroe Massacre and the Detroit Riots.
Whatever the President's personal opinion on the issue may have been, what we do know is that the course of events that had transpired before, up to, and after the beginning of the Smathers administration's first term in office had come to make the issues of segregation and racial inequality two of the most important topics of the day during the administration's early days - even to the point that many in the North and even some in the South had begun to liken segregation and it's proponents to that of the Nazis and their own oppression of Slavs and Jews; with many publicly stating that they believed that America could never truly be the land of free until the "perfidious stain of racist fascism was finally and officially purged from where it lies on the continent and into non-existence". Fortunately for the growing Civil Rights Movement, they quickly found themselves a new and powerful ally in the form of President Smathers himself, who surprisingly and (at the time) shockingly threw his metaphorical hat in ring with the growing movement during a now famous speech spoken to a group of mixed race blue-collar workers in New York City; in which he stated that "America will never see the return of order and law, of respect for the common man, or of true freedom; unless we work together to ensure that all peace-loving people are equal and protected under the law of this land".
Figure 3: Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC), leader of the Pro-Segregationist opposition to the Smathers administration's efforts to pass racial equality legislation
The immediate and long-term consequences of the Philadelphia Speech would end up being felt throughout the entirety of the nation almost immediately from the moment that the last word of it exited the President's mouth, on the one hand - the gaining of public from such a major political figure as the President of the United States (and in the days that followed, many Senators and Representatives as well) was a significant boon to cause the Civil Rights Movement and it's supporters, as not did the support of such figure help legitimize the movement in the eyes of many undecided Americans; but it also helped energized what had tat that point been a floundering movement and gave them new focus and energy to help drive them towards the goals they sought to achieve. On the flip side, these effects also helped those who supported segregation laws and their continuation; many of whom quickly coalesced around leading Segregationist, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina; in an effort to build a political bloc that could block both anti-segregation Democrats and Republicans and ensure that no racial equality legislation could get passed through the halls of Congress.
However, despite the fact that such significant opposition had formed to his administration's and his own now public stance on the matter of racial equality, President Smathers and many of his administration's officials would ultimately refuse to relent on the issue when given the chance to by the Thurmond-lead Pro-Segregationist Caucus during various meetings that took place during the Summer of 1961 - and would in fact only end up pushing the matter further throughout the latter months of the year and the early months of 1962, actions which would not only further alienate the Segregationist Caucus's members from the largely anti-segregationist party leadership; but also set the stage for the legislative battle over civil rights that was still yet to come as well.
One of the defining moments of the fight for Civil Rights however came on a fateful day in December 1961, when President Smathers invited one Rosa Parks to meet with him at the White House.........
Going to answer some questions I neglected to answer during the hiatus now.
First, the German Embassy in Washington, DC.
They already did so, Croatia is formally a Kingdom under the leadership of King Tomislav III and a local Prime Minister; but it is essentially an Italian puppet in all but name.
As for Albania and Montenegro, both are integrated "autonomous" parts of the Italian Empire, with Umberto II serving as the reigning King of Albania and Montenegro. Greece is in personal union with Italy (Umberto is King of Greece and Crete too); but still formally independent.
William Patrick Hitler is living a quiet life in New York City now, the U.S. dropped him as a propaganda piece a while back; but the backlash wasn't bad enough that he had to change his name.
Some have considered appointing him Ambassador to Sweden; but no one has decided to try and offer him the post yet.
The Fascist economies are significantly weaker then their free counterparts, but better off then their OTL Communist counterparts right now; things are only going to get worse on that front through.
First, the German Embassy in Washington, DC.
They already did so, Croatia is formally a Kingdom under the leadership of King Tomislav III and a local Prime Minister; but it is essentially an Italian puppet in all but name.
As for Albania and Montenegro, both are integrated "autonomous" parts of the Italian Empire, with Umberto II serving as the reigning King of Albania and Montenegro. Greece is in personal union with Italy (Umberto is King of Greece and Crete too); but still formally independent.
William Patrick Hitler is living a quiet life in New York City now, the U.S. dropped him as a propaganda piece a while back; but the backlash wasn't bad enough that he had to change his name.
Some have considered appointing him Ambassador to Sweden; but no one has decided to try and offer him the post yet.
The Fascist economies are significantly weaker then their free counterparts, but better off then their OTL Communist counterparts right now; things are only going to get worse on that front through.
A good way to return to this timeline, and egdas the US was in bad economic shape when Stassen left office. 13.5% unemployment and over 1/5 the country living in poverty, no wonder Lodge lost in a landslide.
Great update, you picked the sprit right back up like you never stopped writing it
And cool on Klaus
Thanks man, I appreciate it.
Many are still alive, Bulgaria and Hungary are two of the last remaining places where Jews can avoid being rounded up and killed, through life isn't all that great for them, and there is always the risk of them being caught up in a Gestapo "Security Mission" when they take place.
Pretty much, the last few years were not all that kind to the US, and the American people made clear their desire for change; hence Smathers election.
So...how is Sweden? The KKK, Or that bit of land Vichy France got in Algeria?
And looks like little Hitler is doing well.
And looks like little Hitler is doing well.