A Time for Peace

November 4

genusmap.php


Going into Election Day, Johnson has a lead. But will it be enough? All hinges on the states of Ohio and Wisconsin.
 
I will be interested to see how nation responds to and is impacted by the death of another President in office.

It's pretty unlikely for LBJ to die in office. His death in OTL was brought on by his returning to drinking and, especially, smoking. After losing the presidency, to his mind, he had nothing left to live for, and he returned to the bad habits which had nearly killed him as a younger man. He could be pretty self destructive at times. However, after winning anonother term after the fight of his life? Nah, Johnson's got too much to prove. There ain't no way he'd allow himself to self destruct, physically.
 
It's pretty unlikely for LBJ to die in office. His death in OTL was brought on by his returning to drinking and, especially, smoking. After losing the presidency, to his mind, he had nothing left to live for, and he returned to the bad habits which had nearly killed him as a younger man. He could be pretty self destructive at times. However, after winning anonother term after the fight of his life? Nah, Johnson's got too much to prove. There ain't no way he'd allow himself to self destruct, physically.

This may be true, but it is also true that by early 1968 LBJ was increasingly aware of and concerned about his declining health. Perhaps in TTL he dies in late January 1972, shortly after the inaguration of President Ronald Reagan (or Nelson Rockefeller).
 
This may be true, but it is also true that by early 1968 LBJ was increasingly aware of and concerned about his declining health. Perhaps in TTL he dies in late January 1972, shortly after the inaguration of President Ronald Reagan (or Nelson Rockefeller).

Look, I promise you, there will be a death in office before 1980. Please don't guess who it is in the thread.
 
Just Some Congressional Stuff

House:

Democrats: 244
Republicans: 191

Speaker: John McCormack
Majority Leader: Carl Albert
Majority Whip: Hale Boggs
Minority Leader: Gerald Ford
Minority Whip: Leslie C. Arends

Senate:

Democrats: 59
Republicans: 41

Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield
Majority Whip: Ted Kennedy
Minority Leader: Everett Dirksen
Minority Whip: Hugh Scott
 
Of course, when we got re-elected, we didn’t have much of a mandate, and our Senate wasn’t filibuster-proof. And even of our 59 Senators, we had a bunch of Dixiecrats. Lyndon was good with them, being from Texas and all that, and having been Majority Leader, but even so, his stands on civil rights and poverty did not help him. He and I both knew, though, that we did need to continue doing both things. The first thing we tried to do after Lyndon was sworn in was an expansion of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. All were filibustered.

-- From the memoirs of Hubert Humphrey

What the liberals in power need to understand right now is that the government does not have this kind of money, and that this would not help poverty at all. The fact that this is being debated while we could be trying to fight communism reflects badly on the Democrats.

-- Senator Barry Goldwater speaking on the Senate floor, 1/25/1969

I remember that when Johnson got reelected, I realized “we can’t just be Democrats now, we need real conservatism.” So I got Strom Thurmond, James Eastland, John Stennis, and James Allen, and we went and changed our affiliations to American Independent.

-- Senator Richard Russell (A-GA), quoted in The Rise of the American Party (1974), by Bob Woodward

The impact was instantaneous. [Herman] Talmadge and [Russell] Long were next, then [John] Sparkman, [Sam] Ervin, [Ernest] Hollings, and Harry Byrd Jr. Suddenly there were 11 AI Senators, and no Senate majority! I myself was very happy about this, and I immediately met with Governors and Congressmen, to get them to convert as well, as did Richard Russell and Eastland. We also wanted to change our name from American Independent, to something that sounds more like an actual party. This was pretty easy to do, and so we ended up being the American Party. A couple people were worried about the fact that we had the same name as the Know-Nothings, but it didn’t really matter.

-- From the memoirs of George Wallace

EDIT because this is too short: The Republican Party looks forward to working with the American Party, and hopes that their secession, as it were, will benefit the United States.

-- Official statement from the RNC, 1/30/1969

In the next update (which will be longer than this one)…

President Johnson fights for civil rights!
Congressmen and Governors join the “Americans”!
The Democrats and Republicans scramble for majorities!
Foreign policy poses challenges!
A call for environmental regulations!
All this and more in…
A Time For Peace

Also, please comment.
 
Last edited:
It was quite turbulent after those ten racists took off. When they were followed by many Congressmen, there was no majority in either house. It looked as if America would get a chance to do some coalition governance. From the outset, we knew it would be a Grand Coalition, even though we were reluctant to work with the Republicans, and I assume the feeling was mutual. The “Americans” – I still cannot believe they called themselves that – had just quit the Democratic Party, so they wouldn’t work with us for a while, and the GOP was led in the Senate by a couple pro-civil rights people. This put us in a nice negotiating position. We had a plurality in both houses, so we could probably get the big leaders, and the important committees. Teddy [Kennedy], John [McCormack], Carl [Albert], Hale [Boggs], and I entered negotiations with [Everett] Dirksen, [Hugh] Scott, and [Gerald] Ford. We were able to make a nice deal for House leadership, John as Speaker, Ford as Majority Leader, and Carl as Whip. This made Hale Boggs pretty mad, but he got over it when we gave him his committee assignments…

Anyway, Senate leadership was tougher. We figured I could stay Leader, and Dirksen gave Hugh Scott the Whip position, after much debate. Ted Kennedy was compensated with some nice committee assignments (more on that later), but he was too lefty for the GOP. Dirksen figured he was old and just fought for his party. This worked out later on when he died, actually. We had to figure out committees next, so in the House we decided we should get 10 and they should get 9. As we had a plurality, we got Appropriations and Budget, but had to give them Ways and Means. Same thing in the Senate. We also said that proportion should be 10:1. The Dixiecrats knew that was pretty much the only feasible way to do this, so they went along.

Anyway, it’s a really good thing that we got that done before the secession continued. Robert Byrd was next. That seemed to be it, but we got some more bad news. Scoop Jackson had become a Republican. This was quite shocking to all of us, and I immediately sought out an appointment with him. He explained his actions by saying that the Republicans seemed like the party more attuned to his views now. He took Fulbright with him. And this was to say nothing about what was going on in the House. We ended up with a five-seat plurality. Of course there were Governors too. They got former Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas. They got John Bell Williams. They got Lester Maddox.

This was a turbulent era. (OOC: See what I did there? :D)

-- From the memoirs of Mike Mansfield

We had made big gains since ‘64, but there was a lot still to be done in the sphere of civil rights. We started with trying for desegregation in Alabama. Governor Albert Brewer had friendly relations with blacks, and though he was by no means a liberal, he was the best Southern Governor on that, except for Winthrop Rockefeller, who we also worked with. Arkansas got done in February 1970, but Alabama was tougher. The state of George Wallace, two Dixiecrat Senators, and a bunch of Dixiecrat Congressmen wasn’t really going to react well. He went about it quietly, but even so, we were not able to do it. Another administration failure... we weren’t happy.

-- from the memoirs of Hubert Humphrey

The administration would like to express strong disapproval of the Iraqi government. Israel is our ally, and we will stand by them. We understand that the fourteen men in question were spying, however deportation would have been sufficient.

-- Administration statement after the execution of fourteen Israeli spies in Iraq, 1/28/1969

The administration will protect our ally Israel, in the face of the danger presented by the election of Arafat. We would like to express our hatred of the anti-Israeli views held by he and his ilk. Clearly increased aid to Israel is in order.

-- Administration statement upon the election of Yasser Arafat as PLO head, 2/5/1969

Mr. Speaker, as you know, this is the largest oil spill in the history of the United States. The President has ordered a stop in drilling, but is that really enough? Clearly, many cleanup efforts are needed, and they must be run by the Government. This is why, with Senator Gaylord Nelson, I am introducing an appropriations bill for about $3 billion (OOC: Is this realistic?) to clean this up. We are also introducing a piece of legislation to levy big penalties on corporations who are found to have been negligent in their preventive measures, to increase preventive measures taken by the Government, and to ban offshore drilling in California. We are also working on a holiday called “Earth Day,” which will be a day to learn about and celebrate the environment. We know that all this will help stop future oil spills from happening.

-- Congressman Pete McCloskey (R-CA) on the House floor, 2/6/1969
 
Interesting, but scary TL. Although, reality wasn't much better; make Goldwater POTUS next plz ;)

Might be hard to do. I have plans for what will happen next anyway.

Plus, you get the crown of "First person to comment recently!"

There will be another update tomorrow or the next day.
 
Top