Good update keep it going, raul is dead; cuba war probably ending soon and love the integration progress so far
A Time For Greatness: The Alternate Presidency of John F. Kennedy and beyond
- Thread starter PickledFish
- Start date
I do hope JFK has a strong idea for what to built in Cubs post war, otherwise the island will revert to the exploitative, mob run mess it was before Castro. There is a reason revolutions happen and JFK needs to make sure Cuba won’t undergo a second against an American backed authoritarian.
Wonder how regimes in other ‘banana republics’ are viewing the American action?
Wonder how regimes in other ‘banana republics’ are viewing the American action?
Deleted member 146578
Wow! Amazing update. With the death of Raul Castro, will Cuba become a part of the United States?
marktaha
Banned
I like the pre-Castro casinos, nightclubs brothels and most of all.professional boxing.
Drama in the Taiwan Strait and the Battle of Havana
Blindsided in the Taiwan Strait?
September 3rd, 1961 would be a day of strain and difficulty for the Kennedy administration.It began with what had become a standard affair between American and PRC forces in the Taiwan Strait.
American ships acted as a convoy to Taiwanese supply ships, though not within three miles of the coast limit.
The situation was tense, but Kennedy had made it clear only days before that he was open to negotiating with Communist China so they might put an end to the current hostilities with the Republic of China.
However, a report over the wire had sent the Kennedy administration into a spin.
Word had been leaked by an unknown source alleging that Kennedy and his administration were planning to support pre-emptive strike on mainland China by the ROC, in the belief that the communists were planning a major invasion of Formosa. This source then went on to state that Kennedy would follow Chiang Kai-shek into war.
This sent the People’s Liberation Army into a panic. They were on full alert in preparation for war with the United States.
The Kremlin publicly urged both sides to stand down and offered to host peace talks to put an end to current tensions.
The White House, however, were utterly stunned by the allegations which were splashed across newspapers across the globe.
They released a statement completely disavowing the reports and President Kennedy himself organized a press conference that day to further dispel the claims.
-- A press conference by President Kennedy on September 3rd, 1961.
Kennedy considered the whole affair a complete embarrassment. The world had briefly been faced with the possibility of World War 3 due to a non-existent story supposedly originating from a figure within the Kennedy administration.
In a phone call with his brother, President Kennedy vented his frustrations in an angry tirade, which were recorded as had become the norm in the Kennedy White House.
A 1980 book by Bob Woodward entitled Camelot Uncovered: Secrets of the John F. Kennedy’s White House alleges that it was LeMay who leaked the false report to the press, supposedly with tacit support from higher ups inside the Kuomintang, with the goal of invading mainland China.
When it became clear that the media had reported a falsehood, the PLA and world at large seemed to calm down significantly.
War had been averted, but the standing of Kennedy’s White House, both at home and abroad, took a hit.
The Battle of Havana
By September 8, Santiago de Cuba was fully under the control of American and Free Cuban forces. The invasion of Havana was to be the defining moment of the whole campaign and one that would break the back of communist Cuba, once and for all.
In the days leading up to the attack on Havana, Cuba’s capital city and powerbase of Fidel Castro, propaganda pamphlets were dropped from US aircrafts onto the populace, with the intent of encouraging locals to rebel against and overthrow Castro and secure a better life for themselves.
The effort to establish a post-Castro Cuba effectively began then.
But for a post-Castro Cuba to exist, first they had to deal with the man himself.
On September 9, 1961, the American and Free Cuban Army (FCA) invasion of Havana began.
US and Free Cuban Army (FCA) forces expected heavy resistance from the outset. Not only were the most communist Cuban soldiers the closest to Fidel Castro, but what remained of Cuba’s armored vehicles, air power and anti-aircraft defenses were concentrated in and around Havana.
In recognition of the difficulty inherent in taking Havana, Kennedy allowed air forces much greater discretion in conducting close air support and tactical bombings than had previously been allowed.
Privately, Kennedy admitted he simply wanted the war to be over and allowing more air power was the quickest way to achieve this.
United States Marines from the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions landed on the stretch of sand known as Playas del Este (which translates to Eastern Beaches), under the cover of darkness early that morning.
They were met, not with uniformed soldiers but with members of the local civilian militia armed with rifles and pistols. This opposition was dealt with easily enough and quickly dispersed when fired upon by the much more disciplined, trained marines.
They navigated through a series of crude obstacles that had been set up including boards with nails buried under a thin layer of sand, as well as makeshift barricades.
The beaches were quickly secured.
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division were dropped inland to secure key infrastructure around Havana and essentially box Castro’s forces in the city, moving and securing it piece-by-piece.
These Paratroopers were aided by a sizeable force of Free Cubans – most FCA soldiers still capable of making the jump were present alongside the 82nd.
What the marines and paratroopers found in common however, was that as they got closer and closer to the streets of Havana, the traps became more elaborate and numerous. Such traps included trip wires attached to grenades in paint cans, homemade landmines, pits with sharpened sticks at the bottom and other makeshift devices.
As rural wilderness turned into urban settings, Castro loyalists also conducted ambushes and lone snipers attempted to pick off soldiers from vantage points in Havana’s outer suburban areas.
Despite the obstacles, US and FCA forces found themselves nearing Havana’s urban heart prior to midday.
This is where the fiercest fighting began – a mix of guerrilla tactics, booby trapped streets and careful preparation on the part of Castro’s forces turned Havana into a brutal affair that dragged on into the night.
Pro-Castro forces took extreme measures in the fighting, including exploding Havana Tunnel to halt or delay American armor.
Some buildings were so fiercely defended it was necessary to call down close air support to destroy them, rather than attempt to send in troops to clear it out.
One daring pilot, John McCain of Attack Squadron 65 (VA-65), flew dangerously low to conduct close air support on enemy encampments that had pinned down friendly soldiers, avoiding anti-aircraft fire as he did so.
He was only one of the many heroes made during the Battle of Havana, which had proved to be every bit of gruelling as military planners had feared, and then some.
The fall of Havana
The effort by US forces to take Havana had continued into the morning of the next day.As the sun began to rise again on Havana, this only served to further illuminate the carnage that had befallen Cuba’s capital city. Close air support had reduced many buildings to rubble, smouldering car wrecks and tattered bodies littered the streets and
Fighting was fierce, but American and Free Cuban forces had battled their way to the National Capitol Building. Upon getting inside, they did not find Fidel Castro, as they had hoped.
Still, the site of the American flag being hoisted above the capital of Cuba sent a strong message – the war was effectively over.
It would be another week of fighting increasingly weakening resistance before Havana was completely under US.
Through questioning of Castro’s loyalists, it became known that Fidel Castro had managed to escape out of Havana not long after the fighting began. He had effectively slipped through the grasp of America’s fingers.
The news frustrated President, who was hoping to put an end to the Castro on the day the Cuban flag fell, to give a sense of finality to the conflict.
But alas, the escape of Castro, and the seemingly ghost-like disappearance of Che Guevara early into the conflict, ensured that the US military would be involved in Cuba for some time to come.
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Richard Nixon returns, Kennedy shifts focus and the manhunt for Castro begins
The return of Richard Nixon
Since his election loss in November of 1960, Richard Nixon had been a man in exile.He had publicly put on a brave face after the loss, doing his best to be a magnanimous statesman in the face of what was his most bitter defeat.
Even now, some 10 months after his defeat, he was still burning inside over what transpired.
Nixon has captured the popular vote but lost the Presidency.
This was made worse by accusations of voter fraud in Texas and Illinois, as well as allegations of dirty deals by Joseph P. Kennedy to secure the loyalty of southern Democratic leaders.
Still, Nixon had refused all calls to contest the election – he would not allow the United States to be subject to a divisive partisan battle of that kind. The reputation of the United States was simply too important, particularly at a time when tensions with the Soviet Union were on the rise.
All the same, Nixon was burning to re-enter the field of politics, and events across the world had given him his entry point.
In September, Richard Nixon made his unofficial comeback tour speaking on the issues of the Taiwan Strait, Cuba, and Berlin.
He was seemingly omnipresent in the media – across television, radio, newspapers, magazines, college campuses, public events of all types and more.
-- Nixon in a radio interview with Frank McGee on the Monitor radio program
He, or more accurately his ghost-writer Charles Lichenstein, was writing a book entitled 6 Crisis, which outlined six stressful times in Nixon’s life – the Alger Hiss case, the Checkers speech, Eisenhower’s heart attack, the attack on his limousine in Venezuela and the kitchen debate with Kruschev. However, Nixon did write the final chapter, focusing on his 1960 loss.
When Republican leaders approached Nixon about running against Pat Brown for the Governorship of California, Nixon jumped at the chance.
It was his opportunity to get back in the arena once more and he was not about to pass it up.
An era of new opportunities
On October 11, 1961, the PRC and ROC came to a formal understanding of status quo ante bellum, effectively ending the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.Though the ‘crisis’ came and went, Kennedy could not help but dwell on it. Had one sailor on either side fired a shot, it would have meant the start of World War III and, surely, the end of all life of Earth in nuclear fire.
Kennedy admitted as much to Secretary of State Dean Rusk.
-- Dean Rusk in an interview for the PBS documentary The Kennedy Years (1979)
However, publicly, the end of hostilities between the two Chinas was seen as a substantial victory for President. The communists had tested his resolve and he had not flinched - though not without the hiccup of September 3.
Still, the end of hostilities in the Taiwan Strait had seen a bump in the polls for President Kennedy, coupled with the success of the invasion of Havana.
Though Castro was still at large, Kennedy’s approval rating presently sat at 74%. A strong place to be, all things considered.
Just as important to the White House, the fall of Havana allowed Kennedy to finally shift focus.
With the Cuban Civil War taking up much of his time, the President had only managed a single foreign visit – to Canada – in early May.
He intended to end the year with a December visit to France.
Moving into 1962, Kennedy wanted to focus less on aggression toward communism and more on building strong relationships abroad.
Many countries chastised the US for perceived involvement in the Cuban Civil War and Kennedy sought to mend fences.
He sought to begin with a goodwill tour through South America, to put at ease those leaders who feared that the United States was reverting to its pre-Franklin Roosevelt days of lording over Central and South America.
That would conclude with a visit to Cuba, where he would meet with the interim President, Manuel Francisco Artime Buesa.
Kennedy was insistent that the new Cuba would hold a democratic election as soon as it was viable to do so.
Though he could never admit it publicly, the effort to rebuild Cuba was Kennedy’s responsibility.
After all, it was ultimately he who had made the decision to oust Castro. It was thus up to him to make sure the efforts of the American and Free Cuban soldiers were worth it.
Before the rebuilding could truly begin however, there was just the matter of finding Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra and putting an end to any threat of a communist resurgence in Cuba.
The manhunt for Fidel Castro begins
Following the fall of Havana, Kennedy organised a massive manhunt to capture or kill Fidel Castro and Che Gueveera, alongside efforts to pacify what was left of the tattered Cuban resistance.While foot soldiers had a role to play, a significant amount of searching would be done from the air by surveillance planes.
Furthermore, sympathetic locals and Free Cuban former exiles blended in amongst the locals, hoping to gain information that could lead to Castro or Guevara.
Information was scant, but tidbits about Guevara’s supposed death were relatively common among the populace. No one had seen him since before American boots hit the ground in Cuba.
However, American intelligence experts were not as convinced of Che’s death. Until a body was found, the military considered him alive and a threat.
Still, he could wait. Fidel Castro was enemy number one as far as the White House and Free Cuban leadership was concerned.
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Good resolution for Taiwan there- wonder if we will see more American troops there?
Wonder if the military have a plan to deal with Vietnam by invading North Vietnam before China can respond?
Hope Buesa does not turn into a petty dictator. JFK should invite the UN in yo observe the free elections.
I actually want Nixon to lose hard. Perhaps someone else can rise in his place?
I figure Che and Castro are abroad already.
Hows popular culture treating the events in Cuba?
Wonder if the military have a plan to deal with Vietnam by invading North Vietnam before China can respond?
Hope Buesa does not turn into a petty dictator. JFK should invite the UN in yo observe the free elections.
I actually want Nixon to lose hard. Perhaps someone else can rise in his place?
I figure Che and Castro are abroad already.
Hows popular culture treating the events in Cuba?
Late 61 at present.
My next post will address pop culture and tue international reaction to Cuba.
Not only will I focus on that, but we'll be following the Heavyweight division closely through this timeline with a particular focus on the Heavyweight championship and the men in contention for it.
International reaction to the Cuban invasion and its influence on US culture
International Reactions to Events in Cuba
Unquestionably, events in Cuba were a major focal point for world affairs in the year 1961.While popular with much of the American public, the decision for the US to support a violent overthrow of the Castro government proved controversial overseas.
When Kennedy announced his decision to send US forces to Cuba, much of the world reacted with scepticism, if not outright disapproval.
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, hoping to maintain the country’s special relationship with the United States, gave a vague statement “in support of the Cuban people in their fight against Communist tyranny” and stated that he hoped the conflict would “come to a swift end”.
Leader of the Opposition, Hugh Gaitskell, echoed the Prime Ministers sentiment about a “swift end” to the conflict, but also stated that a post-Castro Cuba should ensure “personal liberty, freedom and the good welfare of Cuban citizens”.
However, the more left-wing Labour members, the Bevanites, were more willing to question the legitimacy of the Free Cuban government and the nature of the civil war.
In France, there was more unified opposition to US actions in Cuba.
Led by President Charles de Gaulle, the French were critical of what they viewed as obvious US involvement in Cuba, citing hypocrisy when compared to American actions during the Suez Crisis.
Likewise, Canada reproved Kennedy’s decision to commit American forces to an invasion of Cuba.
In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, Canada was only one of two countries in the Americas to maintain relations with Castro’s government.
In keeping with his commitment to maintain a foreign policy free of US influence, Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker publicly criticised Kennedy’s decision to "involve himself in domestic affairs" in Cuba and called on him to ensure the “safety, dignity and wellbeing of the Cuban people” moving forward.
While the Soviet Union’s opposition to Kennedy’s actions were well documented, other nations within the Soviet sphere of influence were similarly quick to condemn Kennedy.
China, East Germany, North Kore, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and other communist-aligned countries all decried US actions in Cuba, all calling Kennedy some variation on “criminal” and calling all US forces to withdraw.
However, South American nations at large were the ones most critical of Kennedy’s actions.
Regardless of political orientation, they were united in their opposition to Kennedy’s decision to depose Castro. Many South American governments, and citizens alike, feared it was a return to the days before Franklin Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbour” policy.
It was for this reason that Kennedy was committed to spending the remainder of 1961 and the whole of 1962 rebuilding and strengthening American relationships, starting with South America.
The Cuban War and the American psyche
The War in Cuba was an inescapable part of American life throughout the year 1961.Unlike with previous wars however, the availability of television made for a very different experience for those US civilians at home.
Journalists had travelled to Cuba alongside soldiers and were in active combat zones, recording the action and sending these images straight back to the American public. They wrote about their experiences extensively, some offering hour-by-hour accounts of happenings in Cuba.
Many of these accounts were written in news articles, but many more were recounted by the popular news anchors of the day.
It is for these reasons that Cuba was largely known as “The Television War”.
One American Navy pilot in Cuba made himself more available to the media than perhaps any other person in Cuba – John Sidney McCain III, son of Admiral John S. McCain Jr and grandson Admiral John S. McCain Sr.
McCain’s near daily conversations with journalists, both on camera and off, made him a celebrity back home and his daring exploits in the air only further cemented his reputation as a modern-day folk hero.
An image of McCain landing a flaming Douglas A-4 Skyhawk on the tarmac after the Battle of Havana won photojournalist Horst Faas a Pulitzer Prize.
Still, not every photo, film reel and recount of American actions in Cuba inspired such patriotism in the American public.
Many of these images and depictions of violence were hard to take, but Kennedy made no effort to sugar coat them in his weekly public addresses on the progress of the war – the President’s frank and honest speeches on the difficulties faced by soldiers in Cuba were largely in line with what the news media was reporting.
This gave many Americans a deep sense of trust in their President and in the validity of the Cuban War.
However, this view was not shared by all.
Young people across America had their own opinions on current events, which differed from those of their elders.
Universities, which had already been a hub for civil rights protesting, soon began to become fertile ground for protestors looking to take a stand against another issue – the War in Cuba,
Groups such as Students' Peace Union, Students for a Democratic Society, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began organising events across campuses all over America.
Such events included sit-ins, marches, strikes and other such events.
While they were relatively small in scale and attracted little notice, they were most certainly growing in response to images of violence in Cuba.
Time would tell how the culture of the 60s would develop over time, but one thing was for certain – it would be a transformative decade for America and the world.
The Cuban War and pop culture
The Cuban War also had a substantial influence on pop culture.The White House recognised the importance of propaganda as a way to maintain public support for the Cuban War.
As such, Kennedy reached out to family friends and contacts in Hollywood and requested they make films highlighting the heroism of the American fighting man in Cuba.
War films in the style of World War 2 classics were rushed into production shortly after the start of the Cuban Civil War.
One of the most successful of these was ‘The New Rough Riders’ starring Ronald Reagan as a heroic World War 2 and Korean War veteran called back into service to lead a ragtag group of soldiers in Cuba.
Furthermore, current American involvement in Cuba reinvigorated interest in the life and times of President Theodore Roosevelt. Many libraries and bookstores reported that books on the former President were in high demand.
This led to television producers beginning work on a 6-part television miniseries centred around the life of Theodore Roosevelt, his rise to the Presidency and beyond – George C. Scott was cast to play the younger Roosevelt in the first 3 episodes, while Karl Swanson played the older Roosevelt in the final 3 episodes.
The series was released to critical acclaim and won several awards.
However, much like with the wider cultural divide when it came to the War in Cuba, positive depictions were not universal.
The war in Cuba served an inspiration for the Twilight Zone episode “The Welcome Visitors” centered around an alien invasion of Earth, by aliens who insist that they were welcomed by a majority of the population (of course, this isn’t true).
Unquestionably, the pop culture zeitgeist of the 1960s had its first defining event.
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Cuba isn't quite the flashpoint that Vietnam was IOTL, so Lennon hasn't made his stance public and no one's asked him.
Berlin, Nixon for Governor and Operation Golden Goose
Berlin
For the past few months since the border between East and West Berlin was closed, construction was now well under way on a barrier that would ensure a more permanent, stronger divide between the two halves of Berlin.Publicly, the United States spoke out strongly against this new barrier, but Kennedy privately admitted that the creation of a wall was “a hell of a lot better than war”.
In a show of support with the citizens of West Berlin, Kennedy sent General Lucius D. Clay, former military governor of US-occupied Germany, to report on the situation.
On October 27th, 1961, Clay was present when tensions flared up at Checkpoint Charlie over a dispute as to whether East Germany border guards had the authority to check travel documents of American diplomats.
Compounding this issue was the military’s complaints over East German policing harassing American military personnel and trying to control the passage of US forces.
This all came to ahead when a detachment of tanks was sent to escort US diplomat Albert Hemsing through Checkpoint Charlie.
These tanks were met with an equal number of Soviet tanks.
Ten Soviet and ten American tanks stood 100 yards apart on either side of the checkpoint.
Negotiations would begin shortly after the stand off began.
KGB spy Georgi Bolshakov served as the primary channel of communication between the US and Soviets.
Kruschev said he was open to ending the stand-off, but only on the condition that American tanks withdrew first. He made clear that the Soviet tanks would not be the first to withdraw “under any circumstances”.
Kennedy agreed, and ordered Clay to have a US tank move back by 5 metres backwards, then a Soviet tank would follow suit.
One by one, the tanks withdrew.
The conflict, a small one by the standards of the time, was over.
After events in Cuba and elsewhere seemed to put the Soviet Union on the back foot, Kruschev took great delight in the small victories.
Kennedy would say to a room full of aides:
A quote attributed to Kennedy on October 28, 1961 after the resolution of the stand off at Checkpoint Charlie
However, not everyone shared Kennedy’s outlook.
The military brass and the President
As November began, the dynamic between President Kennedy and the upper echelon of the American military had firmly between established.It was largely a dynamic built on mistrust and silent disapproval on both sides.
General Clay disapproved of Kennedy’s handling of the standoff in Berlin. He counselled the President to use bulldozer mounts to knock down part of the wall would given America a clear victory and would not have warranted a Soviet response.
President Kennedy largely ignored him, as he was prone to doing when a General or Admiral offered him advice on escalating a conflict in Europe or Asia.
The debacle in Taiwan, as well as Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs seemingly holding each other responsible for mishandling Cuba, created a situation where Kennedy seemingly disregarded advice from many Generals.
There were a very limited number of military men the President respected and the current crop of leaders – General Lemnitzer, General LeMay, General Powell and others were virtually certain that the President would see them replaced as soon as possible.
President Kennedy intended to do just that – after Castro was captured, he would announce a new phase in American efforts in Cuba, to aide in rebuilding and then withdraw.
He would use this as an excuse to dump Powell and then phase out the rest of the current crop of military advisors over time, to give way for what he called ‘new blood’.
Nixon for Governor
-- Excerpts of Richard Nixon’s speech announcing his candidacy for Governor in the state of California, November 3, 1961
At first glance, it appeared Richard Nixon was in prime position to secure the Governorship of California.
A year prior, he had an extremely strong showing in the 1960 Presidential election, winning the popular vote but losing the electoral college.
And the close and controversial nature of the election had created a groundswell of support for his candidacy among Republicans across the nation.
But this was not national politics – this was California.
Though Nixon had won the state in last year’s Presidential election, his status as a major political figure was perhaps his biggest weakness.
Both Joe Shell, Nixon’s more conservative rival in the Republican primary, and the staff of incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Brown, claimed that Nixon was merely using the Governorship as “a steppingstone to the Presidency”.
They used evidence of Nixon’s own, more recent speeches, which were rooted almost entirely in foreign affairs, to suggest Nixon was not invested in the concerns of everyday Californians.
Still, Nixon, and his campaign manager H. R. “Bob” Haldeman were confident of a Nixon victory.
The former Vice President was simply content to be back in the public sphere. He was itching to erase the label of election loser and this was his chance.
Perhaps, his final chance.
It would be an election that would no doubt capture national attention.
Operation Golden Goose
The effort to capture Fidel Castro – officially known as Operation Golden Goose – carried on into November.Kennedy had increased the number of surveillance planes, boots on the ground and ships in the waters around Cuba patrolling in an effort to catch Castro should he try to flee Cuba by boat.
The Soviet Embassy had been abandoned shortly after Kennedy had announced US forces were being sent to Cuba, so Castro’s best chance at survival had been taken away from him as soon as fighting began.
This made his capture all the more certain in the minds of Kennedy and other government officials.
However, Operation Golden Goose proved to be divisive – by the nature of the operation, much of America’s ground force was preoccupied with combing the island for any signs of Castro.
This made areas already captured by US forces more vulnerable to the sort of low-level guerrilla campaign that pro-Castro forces could mount.
Buildings were bombed, ambushes were conducted in the dead of night, supply caches were raided and a campaign of whispers was conducted to discredit the US and Free Cubans.
Secretary Nitze, as well as the military brass, argued it most important to get Castro. Others, such as Vice President Symington, Deputy Secretary Roswell Gilpatric and Clifford Clark, all believed that it was more important to begin developing Cuba now and that Castro’s capture would come as a natural consequence of that.
Kennedy, uncharacteristically, sided with the military brass on this issue. Castro would come first – with him out there alive, he would always be a threat to a free and prosperous Cuba.
A hero is made in Cuba
The area proved to be one of the last strongholds still controlled by Castro loyalists and they defended it fiercely.
Lieutenant Powell proved to be a highly effective leader, even under the most strenuous of circumstances. He maintained constant vigilance over the men under his command, as well as the equipment at his disposal.
Despite suffering a shrapnel would through his right foot, Powell continued to command his troops through several ambushes and pushed deep into enemy held territory.
At the conclusion of his time in Cuba, First Lieutenant Powell would receive the silver star, the purple heart, the bronze star, and many other commendations.
He would prove to be one of the enduring figures of the Cuban War.
The death of a legend
On November 16, 1961, Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House, died of pancreatic cancer.Rayburn was a giant in Congress and his death left a considerable void in the House.
The President himself admitted to aides that without Rayburn “passing legislation through the Congress just got much harder”.
It was thanks to Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson that the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs was secured, as well as the passages of Kennedy’s housing bill.
Mansfield was also instrumental in securing passage of a minimum wage increase for millions of Americans.
As the beginning of 1962 loomed on the horizon, Kennedy looked back on his success and failures in domestic policy.
He had set five legislative goals for his administration in the year 1961 - federal assistance for education, medical insurance for the elderly, housing legislation, federal aid to struggling areas, and an increase in the federal minimum wage.
His medical insurance program for the elderly failed due to Republicans, Southern Democrats, and the American Medical Association.
Kennedy’s education bill was stalled due to complications around northern catholic Democrats demanding aid for parochial schools. Due to Kennedy not wanting to be perceived to be influenced by his catholic faith, he refused them.
This effectively made passage of the bill impossible at this juncture.
However, the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs had been created, aid to struggling areas was provided thanks to the Housing Development and Urban Renewal Act of 1961 and the federal minimum wage had been increased to $1.25 an hour.
The general sentiment among the White House was that 3 out of 5 was not a bad start, considering the opposition Kennedy faced in the Congress. However, the President was disappointed with the lack of progress in medical care for the elderly and education reform.
Offsetting this somewhat was the fact that Kennedy had recently signed into law legislation that created the Peace Corps, an organisation that would allow Americans to volunteer and provide international social and economic development assistance to the third world.
Sam Rayburn was instrumental to all this success and his death would make Kennedy’s legislative victories that much more difficult to attain.
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Great update, the only thing i have to add to this great tl is
i think you mean Lucius D. Clay otherwise very interesting, realistic.
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Good roundup. JFK needs to be careful with alienating the military, esp since Vietnam is still a thing.
Why not start developing Cuba AND hunt Castro?
Any people who where minor figures OTL going to become important here? Sure Powell, Kerry etc did good, but they are only of interest to use because we know them OTL- what about some new Figures alongside them? Someone who might have been a Councilman OTL becomes a major Senator, or a nearly-been actor becomes a star?
Can we have a global roundup to? What has changed in the UK, or South Africa with the American/Chinese/Soviet actions? Does the UK maintain its Black Prince and Arrow Kissel systems to have independent launchers from the US? Does the space race go differently?
Why not start developing Cuba AND hunt Castro?
Any people who where minor figures OTL going to become important here? Sure Powell, Kerry etc did good, but they are only of interest to use because we know them OTL- what about some new Figures alongside them? Someone who might have been a Councilman OTL becomes a major Senator, or a nearly-been actor becomes a star?
Can we have a global roundup to? What has changed in the UK, or South Africa with the American/Chinese/Soviet actions? Does the UK maintain its Black Prince and Arrow Kissel systems to have independent launchers from the US? Does the space race go differently?