Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes VI (Do Not Post Current Politics or Political Figures Here)
- Status
"Mr. President, we can't support the minting of a platinum coin to cancel student loan debt."
"It'd be a lot cooler if you did."
"It'd be a lot cooler if you did."
World of the Continued United Front
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Chinese Leaders, 20s and 30s
* Asia after the Second Sino-Japanese War, around 1940
* Sino-Soviet Relations, 1930s to 1950s
* United States Politics, to 1960
* Indochina and the Second Indochina War
* Indonesia, 1965 to 1989
* Chinese Politics, 1990s
* Russia, 1990s and 2000s
* Himalayan Crisis, 2005-2006
* Aftermath of the Himalayan Crisis
Pakistan, late 2000s
Indonesia's particular brand of "reform Islam" never caught on in a big way outside of Indonesia, but did serve as a vague inspiration for other reform movements outside the country. Even these other movements often remained small and largely devoid of influence (or even actively suppressed) in many areas, but in some other areas, they saw greater growth. One such region was Pakistan
The "Islamic Worker's Party" (and associated satellite groups) emerged as the main political vehicle for the reform Islam movement in Pakistan. Pakistan had a history of Islamic socialism, with figures like Liaquat Ali Khan advocating for some form of it. The Bhuttos and the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) had also at times advocated for Islamic socialism, though after a while, they began to shift in a watered down centrist direction in regards to economics, and began pandering more to the conservative and fundamentalist strains of Islam while sidelining the the more liberal/reformist elements. The shift to neoliberal economics and conservative pandering from the PPP, in addition to interspersed periods of authoritarian military dictatorship, saw a move away from the PPP among some quarters. A somewhat awkward coalition of urban and rural poor, ethnic minorities, and urban intellectuals disaffected with the PPP began to emerge, both as a social movement and political force. 1996 saw the creation of the most recent political party to represent this movement, the Islamic Worker's Party (IWP)
Reform Islam in Pakistan took some influences from Indonesia, but had a different character. The reform movement in Indonesia was often explicitly state-supported, with the communist party there seeking to shift values in a more progressive direction by using (at times novel and unorthodox) interpretations of Islam. In Pakistan, on the other hand, there was no state support to assist and direct the movement, and matters of socialist economic change and assistance to the needy tended to take focus over social issues, where (while having a place for more progressive sorts) the public rhetoric has generally been one with a vaguely libertarian stance focusing on opposition to fundamentalist social views. As time has passed, the majority of the movement and its party have shifted to at least vaguely socially liberal stances, and there's a faction of very progressive sorts, but it also retained a somewhat conservative-leaning minority, in contrast to the Indonesian movement
By the 90s, the movement's adherents were estimated to make up around 10% of the population of Pakistan. Since then, the movement has grown further. As for the movement's political organization, the IWP has gone from a very minor thing to one of the major parties in Pakistan
In 1999, the military in Pakistan staged a coup, with general Pervez Musharraf taking power. The 2002 elections saw him retain power (albeit with claims of fraud levelled at his government). The mid 2000s saw his popularity decline, and as the 2008 election approached, it looked like some sort of opposition coalition would have a good shot at taking power. The November 2007 state of emergency, and Musharraf's declaration of indefinite postponement of elections, hurt the regime's popularity even more (despite the regime reversing that decision a week later and allowing elections)
The campaign was shaken up by two events. In late December, PPP leader Benazir Bhutto (daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former PPP leader who was elected and then executed after a military coup) was assassinated, with Taliban claiming responsibility but also with accusations that Musharraf's regime may have played a role, via denying Bhutto security or perhaps an even more direct role. Then, in early January, Asif Ali Zardari - Benazir Bhutto's widow and the co leader of the PPP after her death - was assassinated too. In the aftermath, the PPP (now led by Ameen Faheem, poet and leftist) skyrocketed in the polls. In the election itself, the PPP ended up with a much narrower lead - but still had a solid win, as the largest party in terms of seats and popular support, with the second largest party having over 10% less support
As the election campaign began, a coalition between the PPP and PML (N) (the primary conservative party, also opposed to the Musharraf regime) was the expected result. But Faheem, preferring to take a more left leaning orientation than his party took in past years, instead opted for a different route. The results gave the PPP and IWP a combined 168 seats - just four short of a majority. Faheem thus sought a PPP-IWP minority coalition, which was able to take power with additional support from liberal and leftist parties like the Awami National Movement, Muttahida Quami Movement, National People's Party, and Pakistani People's Party - Sherpao
Faheem and his coalition took office with a bold agenda for social and economic reform - but faced economic disaster with the global economic downturn hitting Pakistan especially hard. At the start, some viewed the election results as something of a "poisoned chalice" for the coalition. But through seizing diplomatic opportunities, the coalition was able to achieve significant success
On one hand, after the Sino-Indian war, the Socialist Republic of China had looked on at Pakistan with increased interest as a pragmatic way to gain some advantage if Indian revanchism led to a rematch. China had already begun to increase ties and relations with Pakistan, and the new left leaning government, while not a communist party like the rulers of China, was nonetheless rather more ideologically aligned than the old government, too, which was conducive to further closeness. On the other hand, the United States had relations with Pakistan, and interest in the area, due to the War on Terror, having gotten the Musharraf government involved. With both the Americans and Chinese having interest in the country, and with those two countries having somewhat chilly relations, Faheem and his coalition sought to extract aid from the both of them, and engaged in diplomacy to try and maximize what could be gained
Some figures in American intelligence and leadership had already been calling for significant increases in foreign aid to Pakistan, suggesting as much as $50 billion in aid to the country (nearly a third of the nation's GDP at the time). Through a lobbying offensive with promises and threats regarding continued involvement in the War on Terror and ties with China among other things, Faheem managed to attain an agreement with America for a large aid package, which was marketed politically as a sort of "Pakistani Marshall Plan", and presented by American leadership as a sort of shift from a more militarist to a more diplomatic approach to the War on Terror. The Chinese, having not really taken the sort of economic hit that many other advanced economies took during the recession, were rather easier to convince - while the government was ideologically opposed to the Americans, it was more focused on domestic affairs and expanding diplomacy and green initiatives in Africa than on directly opposing the US, and didn't actually have any particularly strong issue with Pakistan simply having positive relations with both China *and* the US. So the Chinese, seeing the opportunity for a boost to their international reputation, having not been hit hard by the recession, and having a larger economy by the US anyway and thus having money to spend, simply matched the US investments
Immediately after the 2008 election, economic analysts expected that the Faheem coalition's left-leaning orientation would create a less positive environment for investors and slow economic growth. But the acquisition of foreign aid, primarily domestic rather than military, equating to around 2/3rds of the entire Pakistani GDP, had essentially supercharged the Pakistani economy, making it easier for major economic growth and modernization to coexist with significant left leaning economic reforms. Pakistan was thus able to see significant economic growth and a large reduction of poverty. Furthermore, the economic boom saw a decline in support for fundamentalism and terrorist groups in the hinterlands, with less in the way of poverty to pressure the desperate in that direction, and the governing coalition was able to take advantage of its popularity from the foreign agreements (Faheem somewhat played up the difficulties in negotiating for the aid to the public, to increase his coalition's political gain from it) to pass social reforms while avoiding (or at least limiting) backlash over such reforms
(A larger version of the map from the election can be seen here)
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Chinese Leaders, 20s and 30s
* Asia after the Second Sino-Japanese War, around 1940
* Sino-Soviet Relations, 1930s to 1950s
* United States Politics, to 1960
* Indochina and the Second Indochina War
* Indonesia, 1965 to 1989
* Chinese Politics, 1990s
* Russia, 1990s and 2000s
* Himalayan Crisis, 2005-2006
* Aftermath of the Himalayan Crisis
Pakistan, late 2000s
Indonesia's particular brand of "reform Islam" never caught on in a big way outside of Indonesia, but did serve as a vague inspiration for other reform movements outside the country. Even these other movements often remained small and largely devoid of influence (or even actively suppressed) in many areas, but in some other areas, they saw greater growth. One such region was Pakistan
The "Islamic Worker's Party" (and associated satellite groups) emerged as the main political vehicle for the reform Islam movement in Pakistan. Pakistan had a history of Islamic socialism, with figures like Liaquat Ali Khan advocating for some form of it. The Bhuttos and the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) had also at times advocated for Islamic socialism, though after a while, they began to shift in a watered down centrist direction in regards to economics, and began pandering more to the conservative and fundamentalist strains of Islam while sidelining the the more liberal/reformist elements. The shift to neoliberal economics and conservative pandering from the PPP, in addition to interspersed periods of authoritarian military dictatorship, saw a move away from the PPP among some quarters. A somewhat awkward coalition of urban and rural poor, ethnic minorities, and urban intellectuals disaffected with the PPP began to emerge, both as a social movement and political force. 1996 saw the creation of the most recent political party to represent this movement, the Islamic Worker's Party (IWP)
Reform Islam in Pakistan took some influences from Indonesia, but had a different character. The reform movement in Indonesia was often explicitly state-supported, with the communist party there seeking to shift values in a more progressive direction by using (at times novel and unorthodox) interpretations of Islam. In Pakistan, on the other hand, there was no state support to assist and direct the movement, and matters of socialist economic change and assistance to the needy tended to take focus over social issues, where (while having a place for more progressive sorts) the public rhetoric has generally been one with a vaguely libertarian stance focusing on opposition to fundamentalist social views. As time has passed, the majority of the movement and its party have shifted to at least vaguely socially liberal stances, and there's a faction of very progressive sorts, but it also retained a somewhat conservative-leaning minority, in contrast to the Indonesian movement
By the 90s, the movement's adherents were estimated to make up around 10% of the population of Pakistan. Since then, the movement has grown further. As for the movement's political organization, the IWP has gone from a very minor thing to one of the major parties in Pakistan
In 1999, the military in Pakistan staged a coup, with general Pervez Musharraf taking power. The 2002 elections saw him retain power (albeit with claims of fraud levelled at his government). The mid 2000s saw his popularity decline, and as the 2008 election approached, it looked like some sort of opposition coalition would have a good shot at taking power. The November 2007 state of emergency, and Musharraf's declaration of indefinite postponement of elections, hurt the regime's popularity even more (despite the regime reversing that decision a week later and allowing elections)
The campaign was shaken up by two events. In late December, PPP leader Benazir Bhutto (daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former PPP leader who was elected and then executed after a military coup) was assassinated, with Taliban claiming responsibility but also with accusations that Musharraf's regime may have played a role, via denying Bhutto security or perhaps an even more direct role. Then, in early January, Asif Ali Zardari - Benazir Bhutto's widow and the co leader of the PPP after her death - was assassinated too. In the aftermath, the PPP (now led by Ameen Faheem, poet and leftist) skyrocketed in the polls. In the election itself, the PPP ended up with a much narrower lead - but still had a solid win, as the largest party in terms of seats and popular support, with the second largest party having over 10% less support
As the election campaign began, a coalition between the PPP and PML (N) (the primary conservative party, also opposed to the Musharraf regime) was the expected result. But Faheem, preferring to take a more left leaning orientation than his party took in past years, instead opted for a different route. The results gave the PPP and IWP a combined 168 seats - just four short of a majority. Faheem thus sought a PPP-IWP minority coalition, which was able to take power with additional support from liberal and leftist parties like the Awami National Movement, Muttahida Quami Movement, National People's Party, and Pakistani People's Party - Sherpao
Faheem and his coalition took office with a bold agenda for social and economic reform - but faced economic disaster with the global economic downturn hitting Pakistan especially hard. At the start, some viewed the election results as something of a "poisoned chalice" for the coalition. But through seizing diplomatic opportunities, the coalition was able to achieve significant success
On one hand, after the Sino-Indian war, the Socialist Republic of China had looked on at Pakistan with increased interest as a pragmatic way to gain some advantage if Indian revanchism led to a rematch. China had already begun to increase ties and relations with Pakistan, and the new left leaning government, while not a communist party like the rulers of China, was nonetheless rather more ideologically aligned than the old government, too, which was conducive to further closeness. On the other hand, the United States had relations with Pakistan, and interest in the area, due to the War on Terror, having gotten the Musharraf government involved. With both the Americans and Chinese having interest in the country, and with those two countries having somewhat chilly relations, Faheem and his coalition sought to extract aid from the both of them, and engaged in diplomacy to try and maximize what could be gained
Some figures in American intelligence and leadership had already been calling for significant increases in foreign aid to Pakistan, suggesting as much as $50 billion in aid to the country (nearly a third of the nation's GDP at the time). Through a lobbying offensive with promises and threats regarding continued involvement in the War on Terror and ties with China among other things, Faheem managed to attain an agreement with America for a large aid package, which was marketed politically as a sort of "Pakistani Marshall Plan", and presented by American leadership as a sort of shift from a more militarist to a more diplomatic approach to the War on Terror. The Chinese, having not really taken the sort of economic hit that many other advanced economies took during the recession, were rather easier to convince - while the government was ideologically opposed to the Americans, it was more focused on domestic affairs and expanding diplomacy and green initiatives in Africa than on directly opposing the US, and didn't actually have any particularly strong issue with Pakistan simply having positive relations with both China *and* the US. So the Chinese, seeing the opportunity for a boost to their international reputation, having not been hit hard by the recession, and having a larger economy by the US anyway and thus having money to spend, simply matched the US investments
Immediately after the 2008 election, economic analysts expected that the Faheem coalition's left-leaning orientation would create a less positive environment for investors and slow economic growth. But the acquisition of foreign aid, primarily domestic rather than military, equating to around 2/3rds of the entire Pakistani GDP, had essentially supercharged the Pakistani economy, making it easier for major economic growth and modernization to coexist with significant left leaning economic reforms. Pakistan was thus able to see significant economic growth and a large reduction of poverty. Furthermore, the economic boom saw a decline in support for fundamentalism and terrorist groups in the hinterlands, with less in the way of poverty to pressure the desperate in that direction, and the governing coalition was able to take advantage of its popularity from the foreign agreements (Faheem somewhat played up the difficulties in negotiating for the aid to the public, to increase his coalition's political gain from it) to pass social reforms while avoiding (or at least limiting) backlash over such reforms
(A larger version of the map from the election can be seen here)
Last edited:
"Mr. President, we can't support the minting of a platinum coin to cancel student loan debt."
"It'd be a lot cooler if you did."
this is very blursed
I love it 😂"Mr. President, we can't support the minting of a platinum coin to cancel student loan debt."
"It'd be a lot cooler if you did."
I quoted your post over in the trillion dollar coin thread, there was a question over there about how it should look 😂
Glory! Glory! What a Helluva way to Divide!
The Protestant Episcopal Church is an offshoot of the Episcopal Church of the United States founded in 1861. While originally only divided out of the necessity of the War of Southern Independence (1861-1862), the post war period would lead to the passing of Anti-abolition laws that restricted what religious leaders could tell their denominations. This led to an ousting of the Antebellum leadership and the Council of Columbia of 1872 where leaders of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Southern Presbyterian Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church; South to meet in Columbia, SC. It was at this council meeting where the tenants of what would later be called Confederate theology would be born. The council produced the Columbia Declaration that stated the following:
1. All Christian Denominations in the Confederacy shall be allowed to follow their own theological tenants if they do not contradict with the good book.
2. No denomination shall attempt to undermine slavery, in the Confederacy or abroad.
3. All good Christian denominations shall ratify this declaration, any that don't shall be condemned.
By the 1910s, the declaration had been ratified by hundreds of smaller churches, the original members of the Council of Columbia, alongside the new Catholic Church of Dixie.
The Catholic Church of Dixie would be split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1923 after Pope Pius XI condemned slavery in all its forms.
[This is a little project I'll be working on. I've been having to read lots of books on the Confederacy, the American Civil War, military filibusters, and the Antebellum South. I need a creative outlet so this is what I'm doing. Also, I am not a theologian, that is why there is very little detail on the theological components of Confederate theology.]
Deleted member 157939
A few wikiboxes for a Tl I'm planning. The premise (which was actually my first attempted Tl) is that the Libyan Financing of Sarkozy's election bid scandal breaks 3 years earlier.
The UMP is scandalized and collapses in the poll ratings as Sarkozy is forced to resign. The ensuing Presidential election sees front-runner DSK (by a wide wide margin) pitted against Le Pen. Due the sheer reprehensibility of his sexual history, DSK is soon racked by a series of sex scandals with his lead in the polls beginning to rapidly erode. Le Pen secures narrow victory in one of Europe's greatest political upsets.
With France in the midst of an election cycle, support for the Libya intervention stalls. Pro-Gaddafi forces secure victory in 2013, although a lower level insurgency remains throughout pockets of Libya. Saif, who ATL adopts a much more reconciliatory approach rather then attempting to appear as a strongman (which backfired massively in 2011), is appointed Chief of the National Reconciliation Committee which plans a series of (dubiously) free elections and the release of political prisoners. While Saif is credited by many as the man who prevented Western intervention in Libya, having played a pivotal role in exposing the Sarkozy scandal, conservative elements within the Government remain wary of his influence, holding him to blame for the two year civil war due to his liberalising ventures (such as releasing Islamist political prisoners who would later rise up against the regime) in the 2000s.
Muammar continues to utilise his sons Mutassim and Saif as counterbalances to the others authority, with their power-struggle becoming more intense as he grows older and more senile. His death in 2017 sees conservative elements coalesce around Mutassim, who seizes power and exiles Saif from Libya. Saif settles in Doha, where he develops an uneasy alliance with moderate figures of opposition within the Libyan emigre. This is cut short however when Saif is poisoned by Libyan agents, allegedly on the orders of Mutassim himself.
The UMP is scandalized and collapses in the poll ratings as Sarkozy is forced to resign. The ensuing Presidential election sees front-runner DSK (by a wide wide margin) pitted against Le Pen. Due the sheer reprehensibility of his sexual history, DSK is soon racked by a series of sex scandals with his lead in the polls beginning to rapidly erode. Le Pen secures narrow victory in one of Europe's greatest political upsets.
With France in the midst of an election cycle, support for the Libya intervention stalls. Pro-Gaddafi forces secure victory in 2013, although a lower level insurgency remains throughout pockets of Libya. Saif, who ATL adopts a much more reconciliatory approach rather then attempting to appear as a strongman (which backfired massively in 2011), is appointed Chief of the National Reconciliation Committee which plans a series of (dubiously) free elections and the release of political prisoners. While Saif is credited by many as the man who prevented Western intervention in Libya, having played a pivotal role in exposing the Sarkozy scandal, conservative elements within the Government remain wary of his influence, holding him to blame for the two year civil war due to his liberalising ventures (such as releasing Islamist political prisoners who would later rise up against the regime) in the 2000s.
Muammar continues to utilise his sons Mutassim and Saif as counterbalances to the others authority, with their power-struggle becoming more intense as he grows older and more senile. His death in 2017 sees conservative elements coalesce around Mutassim, who seizes power and exiles Saif from Libya. Saif settles in Doha, where he develops an uneasy alliance with moderate figures of opposition within the Libyan emigre. This is cut short however when Saif is poisoned by Libyan agents, allegedly on the orders of Mutassim himself.
Last edited by a moderator:
These wikiboxes are based on a list I wrote last year during the height of COVID- the pandemic inspired me to research similar periods in American history. It is generally not appreciated how bad the aftermath of World War I was for the United States and the world. 1918-1920 was a period of war, pandemic, race massacres, authoritarianism, and depression- all of which were badly handled by Woodrow Wilson. There is a reason Warren Harding was elected with one of the biggest landslides in American history. It was a very fraught period with reactionary politics which very easily could have gone quite differently in any number of ways.
Kaspar the Unfriendly Ghost: The Red Scare and the Ku Klux Klan
The German surrender at the end of 1918 brought only a temporary respite in World War I. The Kaiser abdicated at the war's conclusion, resulting in the establishment of an unstable transition government. The transition government was quickly overthrown in the Spartacist Revolution at the start of 1919, which saw Rosa Luxemburg establishing a Communist government in Berlin. Wilhelm III declared himself the new Kaiser from his exile in the Netherlands, and Freikorps factions continued to violently resist the Communists. Otto Landsberg, the leader of the Republican exile government, had the support of the Allies. The Communist government withdrew from negotiations with the Allies, and Rosa Luxemberg spoke of inspiring global communist revolution. The Allies took such talk seriously- the rapid victories of Communists in Russia and Germany made the idea of global communist revolution seem all too plausible, and there were fears that the Communists would inspire or support revolutions across Europe. The Allies invaded the German Rhineland a few months after the Spartacist Revolution in an attempt to overthrow the Spartacist government. The Allied Invasion ended up saving the shaky fledgling Communist government by giving it a foreign enemy to rally against. The Landsberg government was discredited as a foreign puppet, and public support for the Communists increased as the government mobilized to defeat the invaders.
The U.S Army joined the Franco-British invasion of Germany. President Thomas Marshall feared the spread of left-wing radicalism and believed that military action was needed to contain it. There had been a surge of radicalism given the unstable circumstances in the United States. The Influenza pandemic had killed over one million Americans, including President Woodrow Wilson a few weeks before the Kaiser surrendered. The war and the pandemic led to a decline in GDP and a surge in radicalism. While left-wing radicals remained marginal in the United States, a series of high profile attacks increased fear of Bolshevism in the United States. The most significant of these attacks would end up killing President Marshall himself.
The Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, an advocate of "propaganda of the deed", ordered his lieutenant, Mario Buda to organize the destruction of the White House. Buda infiltrated the White House disguised as a plumber. While the Galleanists were not Bolsheviks they opposed the Allied invasion of Germany, viewing it as an act of imperial aggression, and believed that the rapid Communist victories in Europe indicated that the United States was ripe for revolution. The bombing and destruction of the White House by the Galleani Gang increased the fear of Bolshevism in the United States tenfold. Most Americans did not distinguish between differing leftist factions, believing the Galleanists to be agents of the Communist International (which included Communist governments in Germany, Russia, Hungary, Finland, and Austria). Public support for the continuation of World War I had been tentative, and many Americans called for troops to return home since the Germans had retreated from France and Belgium. Opposition to the war evaporated in the aftermath of the White House Bombing. Secretary of State Robert Lansing succeeded Marshall as President and mounted a full scale war on left-wing radicalism. American troops were fully committed to an invasion of Germany, which had degenerated into trench warfare stalemate. Lansing asked Congress to pass the National Security Act, which allowed Attorney General Palmer to conduct mass arrests and persecution of leftists and left-wing organizations. A wave of pogroms swept the country, killing thousands of African-Americans. Italians suspected of anarchist sympathies became the target of vigilante violence. The Industrial Workers of the World, the ACLU, and the NAACP were banned. (The NAACP was declared illegal under the justification that W.E.B. Dubois had communist sympathies.) The Lansing government additionally sent military expeditions to Russia - but the Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok expeditions were defeated. Lansing also secured an American mandate for Armenia in order to protect Armenians from Turkey and to attack the Communists in the Caucasus. While the Democratic Party benefited from a sympathy vote in the 1920 Presidential Election, the poor state of the economy and the poor military progress of the Allies led to Robert Lansing losing the 1920 Presidential election to Warren Harding.
The Harding Presidency would prove rather disastrous. Harding oversaw the failure of the American expedition into Armenia and the emergence of a new strain of influenza (spread by the mobilization of troops) which would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions worldwide. As the Allied militaries were exhausted after years of war, Harding recognized that the continued presence of Allied troops in western Germany was not sustainable. Years of stalemate and trench warfare had failed to remove the Communist governments, and troop morale was on the verge of collapse. Harding entered negotiations with the Communist International. A ceasefire was declared in May of 1922, although the Allies did not officially recognize any of the new Communist governments. The Communist International was left in control of Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Russia, and Romania. The Allied efforts to destroy the Communist International had failed. President Harding was commonly blamed for America's defeats, and he was further blamed for the post-war Depression, which saw deflation and high unemployment. Harding was further caught up in the Teapot Dome Scandal- congressional investigators determined that Harding was aware of Interior Secretary Fall's corruption and had directed a coverup. Harding was further found to have blackmailed a journalist who uncovered his extramarital affairs. One of Harding's mistresses, Carrie Phillips, was revealed to have been a German sympathizer, which fed into accusations that Harding had deliberately botched the war effort. Harding was impeached and removed from office in 1924, leaving the presidency to Vice President Nicholas Murray Butler. Butler signed immigration restrictions into law. Butler received the blame in the 1924 Presidential Election for Harding's scandals (Butler was not involved) and for the armistice with the Communists (Butler was prominently involved with Harding's foreign policy). The Democrats doubled down on anti-communism, nominating Alexander Mitchell Palmer over William Gibbs McAdoo. Palmer attacked Harding and Butler as soft on communism, citing Harding's pardon of Eugene Debs. Palmer even charged Butler with Communist sympathies. These were untrue charges- Harding and Butler had agreed to the armistice only out of necessity, and the Harding administration had violently suppressed railroad and coal strikes, killing hundreds of workers. Butler had been a vocal opponent of the Reds since the Bolshevik Revolution. In an attempt to booster his anti-communist credentials, Butler embarked on an anti-Semitic purge- arresting and deporting Jewish immigrants suspected of Communist sympathies. Butler touted his persecution of Jewish immigrants during the presidential campaign, saying he was defending American Christianity from a conspiracy of Bolshevik subversives. While Palmer said he would not renew hostilities with Germany and Russia, he vowed to renew his domestic crackdown on left-wing subversives he claimed had undermined the war effort. Palmer also called for a policy of containment to counter the spread of Communism. Palmer further promised to fix America's economic problems. Palmer won a comfortable victory over President Butler.
Palmer began his presidency with a renewed crackdown on leftists- persecution had subsided somewhat under the Republicans. Palmer targeted suspected Communists, arrested labor union leaders, and ordered police raids on union headquarters. Palmer signed a second version of the National Security Act which centralized power under the executive branch and gave the President nearly unlimited power to designate dissidents as terrorists. J. Edgar Hoover's Bureau of Investigation spearheaded Palmer's new anti-communist purge. Palmer also involved the United States in multiple military conflicts- the Spanish and Italian Civil Wars- in order to defeat Communist insurgents. While the Spanish Civil War ended with the decisive defeat of the Republicans, the Italian Civil War was a long and costly conflict. American troops were stationed in Italy to support the authoritarian government of Gabriele D'Annunzio, but suffered heavy losses at the hands of Communist guerrillas. Palmer believed that the Italian Communists had Galleanists among their ranks, and Italian-Americans became the target of renewed persecution in the United States as the war dragged on.
The silent film classic, Mario and Luigi, which featured Lon Chaney and Ford Sterling as Mario Buda and Luigi Galleani, the orchestrators of the White House Bombing, was typical of the anti-Italian sentiment of the 1920s.
Following the death of Vice President Samuel Ralston, Palmer lobbied the state legislatures to pass the 20th amendment, which affected the presidential line of succession. The 20th amendment had passed Congress following the assassination of President Marshall, who had died without a Vice President. When the amendment was ratified, Palmer appointed his longtime ally Senator Oscar Underwood of Alabama as his Vice President. Palmer had befriended Underwood when they were both members of the House of Representatives. Underwood's appointment was rightly seen as a snub against the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan had grown rapidly in influence as a result of the Red Scare, with recruits seeing the Klan as a bulwark against Communism and Radicalism. Government officials, including President Palmer, had spent years warning of conspiracies directed by foreign Communists, which had fostered an environment ripe for the expansion of conspiracy theorist groups like the Klan. Butler's promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in the 1924 Presidential campaign sparked an anti-Semitic scare in the Republican Party which the Klan used to bolster recruitment. Palmer had defeated the KKK's preferred candidate, William Gibbs McAdoo, at the 1924 Democratic Convention. The selection of Samuel Ralston, who was supported by the Klan, as his running mate was seen as a concession to the Klan. Vice President Underwood, however, was a vocal opponent of the KKK. President Palmer largely ignored the Klan, as he was focused on persecuting Communists. However, as the KKK grew to ten million members, the issue became difficult for Palmer to avoid mentioning. In the "Secret Societies" speech of 1927, Palmer publicly denounced the KKK. Palmer declared that secret societies and vigilantism undermined public order and that combatting radicalism should be left to the Justice Department and the Police. Palmer additionally appointed numerous Catholics to high office and supported Catholic politicians like Al Smith. As Palmer courted the Catholic vote (despite persecution of Italian-Americans, Palmer framed American involvement in the Italian Civil War as protecting the Catholic Church from Communists), Palmer's progressive allies worked to block the anti-Catholic Klan's involvement in Democratic Party politics. The Klan did not suffer any persecution or investigation as the Justice Department ignored right-wing radicalism.
Stymied by the Democrats, the Ku Klux Klan turned towards the Republicans. Numerous Republican politicians were members of the Klan. The Republican Party's national leadership had been discredited by the Communist Armistice. When Oregon Senator Kaspar K. Kubli started his presidential campaign, he denounced the Republican "Old Guard" as sellouts who had surrendered to Communism. The Republican "Old Guard" further had its reputation stained by the corruption and incompetence of the Harding presidency. Many prominent Republicans had been discredited politically because of their association with Harding. Kubli, as a first term Senator and relative newcomer to national politics, was able to sell himself as a Washington outsider and reformer who would confront political corruption. Kubli was, of course, a virulent racist and open member of the Klan. His initials even spelt KKK, which was seen by the Klan as a benign portent. The Ku Klux Klan mobilized to elect state delegates to the 1928 Republican National Convention in support of Kubli. The Klan further benefitted from anti-Catholic and anti-Italian sentiment among Republicans, which was augmented by the ongoing war in Italy. Republicans who had lost faith in GOP leadership following the impeachment of Harding and the defeat of Butler in 1924 were primed to support Senator Kubli's candidacy. Despite his defeat in 1924, Butler made a comeback presidential bid at the 1928 Republican National Convention. Butler had returned to his previous job as President of Columbia University. Butler denounced the Klan's racial and religious bigotry as too violent and extreme. Butler further denounced the KKK's Confederate sympathies, declaring that the GOP was the Party of Lincoln and that pro-KKK Republicans were betraying the GOP's founding principles. As an effete East Coast egghead associated with the failed Harding administration, Butler proved the perfect foil for Kubli, who gained support from nativist Midwesterners who disliked Butler's elitism and internationalism. While Butler's status as the former President allowed him to lead on the first ballot, his support rapidly collapsed as the KKK attacked his record. Senator William Borah poised himself as the candidate of the progressives, but he was attacked for his support of normalizing diplomatic relations with the Communists. Frank Lowden gathered votes from both conservative and anti-Klan delegates, but Kubli eventually won a majority of delegates and defeated Lowden. The Klan had seized control over the Republican Party. Kubli doubled down on his far-right, anti-establishment credentials by selecting Los Angeles radio preacher Robert Shuler as his Vice President. Shuler was not a member of the Klan, but his Protestant nativism matched the Klan's own views. Known as a fiery radio demagogue, Shuler was known for his denunciation of Catholics, Jews, Negroes, Darwinists, Communists, and Alcohol. Kubli's courting of talk radio allowed him to enlist various radio programs as Klan propagandists.
Kubli vowed to crack down on bootlegging and to reinforce prohibition. He launched racist tirades against Italian-Americans, blaming them for organized crime and bootlegging. Kubli declared the Catholic Church to be an anti-American conspiracy, and promised to ban the Church altogether. Kubli attacked President Palmer for his courting of the Catholic and Jewish Vote. Kubli claimed to be even more anti-communist than Palmer, the arch anti-Bolshevik. Kubli criticized Palmer's Quaker faith, suggesting that Quaker pacifism was undermining the fight against Communism and that Palmer, because of the Quaker history of abolitionism, supported "race-mixing". Kubli denounced Palmer's management of the Italian Civil War and suggested that Palmer's progressive economic policies indicated he was secretly a Socialist or a Communist.
Above all, what doomed Palmer's re-election campaign was the Great Depression. Palmer had presided over a moderate economic recovery following the 1922-23 recession. The stock market crash of 1927, however, resulted in an economic collapse which destroyed the savings of many Americans and rapidly increased unemployment. The worst of the Great Depression was yet to come, but the effects of the Depression were quite apparent by 1928. Palmer's popularity rapidly declined throughout 1928. Kubli won the 1928 Presidential Election in a landslide. Despite Kubli's outreach to southern Democrats in order to build a "Grand White Coalition", Palmer won the majority of the former Confederacy. The first Klansman to be elected President was thus ironically voted into office by Northern states. Palmer additionally won Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island because of Catholic and Jewish voters. After the election, President-elect Kubli held meetings with senior Klan officials and Southern segregationists in a bid to win southern support for his agenda in Congress and in future campaigns. After all, it was quite natural that the old heartland of the Klan ally with the first Klan President. Burton K. Wheeler, a Democratic senator who was the Progressive candidate for Vice President in 1924, resurrected the Progressive ticket to provide a more left-wing alternative to the two major party candidates. Wheeler courted Democrats dissatisfied with Palmer's handling of the Great Depression, and his running mate, anti-Klan progressive Republican Senator Hiram Johnson, courted Republicans distrustful of the KKK. The Progressive ticket won Montana and North Dakota.
The 1928 Presidential Election was a particularly violent campaign, as the KKK murdered hundreds of ethnic activists who criticized the Klan's white supremacist policies. Following Kubli's election the Klan celebrated by holding massive parades dressed in full Klan uniform. These parades and rallies quickly turned into attacks on minorities and minority neighborhoods. Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and Italians were all targeted by Klan militants as Kubli promised start his presidency by purging Italian-American mobsters. In New York City the month after the election, Exalted Cyclops Fred Trump led a Klan mob against the Italian neighborhood of East Flatbush. Trump demanded the Italians of East Flatbush surrender the Mafia bootleggers and Communists who allegedly lived in the neighborhood. A low ranking two bit crook named Harold Giuliani, who was part of the gang defending the neighborhood, excitedly fired a gun at the Klan mob. Trump killed Giuliani and ransacked East Flatbush without police interference, killing dozens of Italians. The Mafia vowed to retaliate against the Klan for the unprompted massacre of Italians. The Battle of East Flatbush thus marked the start of the Mafia-KKK Wars, and a wave of ethnic conflict that would define the Kubli presidency.
TO BE CONTINUED
Kaspar the Unfriendly Ghost: The Red Scare and the Ku Klux Klan
The German surrender at the end of 1918 brought only a temporary respite in World War I. The Kaiser abdicated at the war's conclusion, resulting in the establishment of an unstable transition government. The transition government was quickly overthrown in the Spartacist Revolution at the start of 1919, which saw Rosa Luxemburg establishing a Communist government in Berlin. Wilhelm III declared himself the new Kaiser from his exile in the Netherlands, and Freikorps factions continued to violently resist the Communists. Otto Landsberg, the leader of the Republican exile government, had the support of the Allies. The Communist government withdrew from negotiations with the Allies, and Rosa Luxemberg spoke of inspiring global communist revolution. The Allies took such talk seriously- the rapid victories of Communists in Russia and Germany made the idea of global communist revolution seem all too plausible, and there were fears that the Communists would inspire or support revolutions across Europe. The Allies invaded the German Rhineland a few months after the Spartacist Revolution in an attempt to overthrow the Spartacist government. The Allied Invasion ended up saving the shaky fledgling Communist government by giving it a foreign enemy to rally against. The Landsberg government was discredited as a foreign puppet, and public support for the Communists increased as the government mobilized to defeat the invaders.
The U.S Army joined the Franco-British invasion of Germany. President Thomas Marshall feared the spread of left-wing radicalism and believed that military action was needed to contain it. There had been a surge of radicalism given the unstable circumstances in the United States. The Influenza pandemic had killed over one million Americans, including President Woodrow Wilson a few weeks before the Kaiser surrendered. The war and the pandemic led to a decline in GDP and a surge in radicalism. While left-wing radicals remained marginal in the United States, a series of high profile attacks increased fear of Bolshevism in the United States. The most significant of these attacks would end up killing President Marshall himself.
The Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, an advocate of "propaganda of the deed", ordered his lieutenant, Mario Buda to organize the destruction of the White House. Buda infiltrated the White House disguised as a plumber. While the Galleanists were not Bolsheviks they opposed the Allied invasion of Germany, viewing it as an act of imperial aggression, and believed that the rapid Communist victories in Europe indicated that the United States was ripe for revolution. The bombing and destruction of the White House by the Galleani Gang increased the fear of Bolshevism in the United States tenfold. Most Americans did not distinguish between differing leftist factions, believing the Galleanists to be agents of the Communist International (which included Communist governments in Germany, Russia, Hungary, Finland, and Austria). Public support for the continuation of World War I had been tentative, and many Americans called for troops to return home since the Germans had retreated from France and Belgium. Opposition to the war evaporated in the aftermath of the White House Bombing. Secretary of State Robert Lansing succeeded Marshall as President and mounted a full scale war on left-wing radicalism. American troops were fully committed to an invasion of Germany, which had degenerated into trench warfare stalemate. Lansing asked Congress to pass the National Security Act, which allowed Attorney General Palmer to conduct mass arrests and persecution of leftists and left-wing organizations. A wave of pogroms swept the country, killing thousands of African-Americans. Italians suspected of anarchist sympathies became the target of vigilante violence. The Industrial Workers of the World, the ACLU, and the NAACP were banned. (The NAACP was declared illegal under the justification that W.E.B. Dubois had communist sympathies.) The Lansing government additionally sent military expeditions to Russia - but the Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok expeditions were defeated. Lansing also secured an American mandate for Armenia in order to protect Armenians from Turkey and to attack the Communists in the Caucasus. While the Democratic Party benefited from a sympathy vote in the 1920 Presidential Election, the poor state of the economy and the poor military progress of the Allies led to Robert Lansing losing the 1920 Presidential election to Warren Harding.
The Harding Presidency would prove rather disastrous. Harding oversaw the failure of the American expedition into Armenia and the emergence of a new strain of influenza (spread by the mobilization of troops) which would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions worldwide. As the Allied militaries were exhausted after years of war, Harding recognized that the continued presence of Allied troops in western Germany was not sustainable. Years of stalemate and trench warfare had failed to remove the Communist governments, and troop morale was on the verge of collapse. Harding entered negotiations with the Communist International. A ceasefire was declared in May of 1922, although the Allies did not officially recognize any of the new Communist governments. The Communist International was left in control of Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Russia, and Romania. The Allied efforts to destroy the Communist International had failed. President Harding was commonly blamed for America's defeats, and he was further blamed for the post-war Depression, which saw deflation and high unemployment. Harding was further caught up in the Teapot Dome Scandal- congressional investigators determined that Harding was aware of Interior Secretary Fall's corruption and had directed a coverup. Harding was further found to have blackmailed a journalist who uncovered his extramarital affairs. One of Harding's mistresses, Carrie Phillips, was revealed to have been a German sympathizer, which fed into accusations that Harding had deliberately botched the war effort. Harding was impeached and removed from office in 1924, leaving the presidency to Vice President Nicholas Murray Butler. Butler signed immigration restrictions into law. Butler received the blame in the 1924 Presidential Election for Harding's scandals (Butler was not involved) and for the armistice with the Communists (Butler was prominently involved with Harding's foreign policy). The Democrats doubled down on anti-communism, nominating Alexander Mitchell Palmer over William Gibbs McAdoo. Palmer attacked Harding and Butler as soft on communism, citing Harding's pardon of Eugene Debs. Palmer even charged Butler with Communist sympathies. These were untrue charges- Harding and Butler had agreed to the armistice only out of necessity, and the Harding administration had violently suppressed railroad and coal strikes, killing hundreds of workers. Butler had been a vocal opponent of the Reds since the Bolshevik Revolution. In an attempt to booster his anti-communist credentials, Butler embarked on an anti-Semitic purge- arresting and deporting Jewish immigrants suspected of Communist sympathies. Butler touted his persecution of Jewish immigrants during the presidential campaign, saying he was defending American Christianity from a conspiracy of Bolshevik subversives. While Palmer said he would not renew hostilities with Germany and Russia, he vowed to renew his domestic crackdown on left-wing subversives he claimed had undermined the war effort. Palmer also called for a policy of containment to counter the spread of Communism. Palmer further promised to fix America's economic problems. Palmer won a comfortable victory over President Butler.
Palmer began his presidency with a renewed crackdown on leftists- persecution had subsided somewhat under the Republicans. Palmer targeted suspected Communists, arrested labor union leaders, and ordered police raids on union headquarters. Palmer signed a second version of the National Security Act which centralized power under the executive branch and gave the President nearly unlimited power to designate dissidents as terrorists. J. Edgar Hoover's Bureau of Investigation spearheaded Palmer's new anti-communist purge. Palmer also involved the United States in multiple military conflicts- the Spanish and Italian Civil Wars- in order to defeat Communist insurgents. While the Spanish Civil War ended with the decisive defeat of the Republicans, the Italian Civil War was a long and costly conflict. American troops were stationed in Italy to support the authoritarian government of Gabriele D'Annunzio, but suffered heavy losses at the hands of Communist guerrillas. Palmer believed that the Italian Communists had Galleanists among their ranks, and Italian-Americans became the target of renewed persecution in the United States as the war dragged on.
The silent film classic, Mario and Luigi, which featured Lon Chaney and Ford Sterling as Mario Buda and Luigi Galleani, the orchestrators of the White House Bombing, was typical of the anti-Italian sentiment of the 1920s.
Following the death of Vice President Samuel Ralston, Palmer lobbied the state legislatures to pass the 20th amendment, which affected the presidential line of succession. The 20th amendment had passed Congress following the assassination of President Marshall, who had died without a Vice President. When the amendment was ratified, Palmer appointed his longtime ally Senator Oscar Underwood of Alabama as his Vice President. Palmer had befriended Underwood when they were both members of the House of Representatives. Underwood's appointment was rightly seen as a snub against the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan had grown rapidly in influence as a result of the Red Scare, with recruits seeing the Klan as a bulwark against Communism and Radicalism. Government officials, including President Palmer, had spent years warning of conspiracies directed by foreign Communists, which had fostered an environment ripe for the expansion of conspiracy theorist groups like the Klan. Butler's promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in the 1924 Presidential campaign sparked an anti-Semitic scare in the Republican Party which the Klan used to bolster recruitment. Palmer had defeated the KKK's preferred candidate, William Gibbs McAdoo, at the 1924 Democratic Convention. The selection of Samuel Ralston, who was supported by the Klan, as his running mate was seen as a concession to the Klan. Vice President Underwood, however, was a vocal opponent of the KKK. President Palmer largely ignored the Klan, as he was focused on persecuting Communists. However, as the KKK grew to ten million members, the issue became difficult for Palmer to avoid mentioning. In the "Secret Societies" speech of 1927, Palmer publicly denounced the KKK. Palmer declared that secret societies and vigilantism undermined public order and that combatting radicalism should be left to the Justice Department and the Police. Palmer additionally appointed numerous Catholics to high office and supported Catholic politicians like Al Smith. As Palmer courted the Catholic vote (despite persecution of Italian-Americans, Palmer framed American involvement in the Italian Civil War as protecting the Catholic Church from Communists), Palmer's progressive allies worked to block the anti-Catholic Klan's involvement in Democratic Party politics. The Klan did not suffer any persecution or investigation as the Justice Department ignored right-wing radicalism.
Stymied by the Democrats, the Ku Klux Klan turned towards the Republicans. Numerous Republican politicians were members of the Klan. The Republican Party's national leadership had been discredited by the Communist Armistice. When Oregon Senator Kaspar K. Kubli started his presidential campaign, he denounced the Republican "Old Guard" as sellouts who had surrendered to Communism. The Republican "Old Guard" further had its reputation stained by the corruption and incompetence of the Harding presidency. Many prominent Republicans had been discredited politically because of their association with Harding. Kubli, as a first term Senator and relative newcomer to national politics, was able to sell himself as a Washington outsider and reformer who would confront political corruption. Kubli was, of course, a virulent racist and open member of the Klan. His initials even spelt KKK, which was seen by the Klan as a benign portent. The Ku Klux Klan mobilized to elect state delegates to the 1928 Republican National Convention in support of Kubli. The Klan further benefitted from anti-Catholic and anti-Italian sentiment among Republicans, which was augmented by the ongoing war in Italy. Republicans who had lost faith in GOP leadership following the impeachment of Harding and the defeat of Butler in 1924 were primed to support Senator Kubli's candidacy. Despite his defeat in 1924, Butler made a comeback presidential bid at the 1928 Republican National Convention. Butler had returned to his previous job as President of Columbia University. Butler denounced the Klan's racial and religious bigotry as too violent and extreme. Butler further denounced the KKK's Confederate sympathies, declaring that the GOP was the Party of Lincoln and that pro-KKK Republicans were betraying the GOP's founding principles. As an effete East Coast egghead associated with the failed Harding administration, Butler proved the perfect foil for Kubli, who gained support from nativist Midwesterners who disliked Butler's elitism and internationalism. While Butler's status as the former President allowed him to lead on the first ballot, his support rapidly collapsed as the KKK attacked his record. Senator William Borah poised himself as the candidate of the progressives, but he was attacked for his support of normalizing diplomatic relations with the Communists. Frank Lowden gathered votes from both conservative and anti-Klan delegates, but Kubli eventually won a majority of delegates and defeated Lowden. The Klan had seized control over the Republican Party. Kubli doubled down on his far-right, anti-establishment credentials by selecting Los Angeles radio preacher Robert Shuler as his Vice President. Shuler was not a member of the Klan, but his Protestant nativism matched the Klan's own views. Known as a fiery radio demagogue, Shuler was known for his denunciation of Catholics, Jews, Negroes, Darwinists, Communists, and Alcohol. Kubli's courting of talk radio allowed him to enlist various radio programs as Klan propagandists.
Kubli vowed to crack down on bootlegging and to reinforce prohibition. He launched racist tirades against Italian-Americans, blaming them for organized crime and bootlegging. Kubli declared the Catholic Church to be an anti-American conspiracy, and promised to ban the Church altogether. Kubli attacked President Palmer for his courting of the Catholic and Jewish Vote. Kubli claimed to be even more anti-communist than Palmer, the arch anti-Bolshevik. Kubli criticized Palmer's Quaker faith, suggesting that Quaker pacifism was undermining the fight against Communism and that Palmer, because of the Quaker history of abolitionism, supported "race-mixing". Kubli denounced Palmer's management of the Italian Civil War and suggested that Palmer's progressive economic policies indicated he was secretly a Socialist or a Communist.
Above all, what doomed Palmer's re-election campaign was the Great Depression. Palmer had presided over a moderate economic recovery following the 1922-23 recession. The stock market crash of 1927, however, resulted in an economic collapse which destroyed the savings of many Americans and rapidly increased unemployment. The worst of the Great Depression was yet to come, but the effects of the Depression were quite apparent by 1928. Palmer's popularity rapidly declined throughout 1928. Kubli won the 1928 Presidential Election in a landslide. Despite Kubli's outreach to southern Democrats in order to build a "Grand White Coalition", Palmer won the majority of the former Confederacy. The first Klansman to be elected President was thus ironically voted into office by Northern states. Palmer additionally won Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island because of Catholic and Jewish voters. After the election, President-elect Kubli held meetings with senior Klan officials and Southern segregationists in a bid to win southern support for his agenda in Congress and in future campaigns. After all, it was quite natural that the old heartland of the Klan ally with the first Klan President. Burton K. Wheeler, a Democratic senator who was the Progressive candidate for Vice President in 1924, resurrected the Progressive ticket to provide a more left-wing alternative to the two major party candidates. Wheeler courted Democrats dissatisfied with Palmer's handling of the Great Depression, and his running mate, anti-Klan progressive Republican Senator Hiram Johnson, courted Republicans distrustful of the KKK. The Progressive ticket won Montana and North Dakota.
The 1928 Presidential Election was a particularly violent campaign, as the KKK murdered hundreds of ethnic activists who criticized the Klan's white supremacist policies. Following Kubli's election the Klan celebrated by holding massive parades dressed in full Klan uniform. These parades and rallies quickly turned into attacks on minorities and minority neighborhoods. Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and Italians were all targeted by Klan militants as Kubli promised start his presidency by purging Italian-American mobsters. In New York City the month after the election, Exalted Cyclops Fred Trump led a Klan mob against the Italian neighborhood of East Flatbush. Trump demanded the Italians of East Flatbush surrender the Mafia bootleggers and Communists who allegedly lived in the neighborhood. A low ranking two bit crook named Harold Giuliani, who was part of the gang defending the neighborhood, excitedly fired a gun at the Klan mob. Trump killed Giuliani and ransacked East Flatbush without police interference, killing dozens of Italians. The Mafia vowed to retaliate against the Klan for the unprompted massacre of Italians. The Battle of East Flatbush thus marked the start of the Mafia-KKK Wars, and a wave of ethnic conflict that would define the Kubli presidency.
TO BE CONTINUED
Last edited:
That's to be expected. I don't remember anything made by @Ulysses Orbis that wasn't cursed - dystopias are pretty much what he does
That's what I like about Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution. I get older, the age qualification for the Presidency stays the same."Mr. President, we can't support the minting of a platinum coin to cancel student loan debt."
"It'd be a lot cooler if you did."
Oops, fixed (as well as the "seats up/races won" section, which I just noticed I screwed up too)
"They're just going to eat some flowers. What's the big deal?"
The Animal Importation Act of 1910 (Also called the Confederate Hippo Act, the Confederate Hippo Bill, or the Hippo Bill) is a law enacted by the Confederate State House of Representatives by Robert F. Broussard (D-LA). He introduced the bill to both provide meat for the Confederacy and to eat the water hyacinth's that were invading Mississippi Waterways. After some debate, the bill passed through Congress and was signed into law by then President Woodrow Wilson (D-VA). The endeavor would cost the government ₡310,000 (~$250,000 OTL US) to import the Hippopotamus into the Confederate States. It received wide support from the public. As most of the food in the Confederacy was either imported from Brazil or Mexico, having a source of meet in the eastern part of the Republic would be beneficial and help keep the beef market from collapsing under the weight of consumer needs. The importation would begin in 1911 and would continue until 1923 when the Boll weevil infestation demolished the Confederate Economy. The Confederate Hippos were divided into two groups. The first was a group of men collectively called "Hippo Ranchers" who bought large swaths of Louisiana swampland to release hippos into semi-contained. The second were called the, "Hippo Hunters" who released at least 30 Hippos into the wetlands around Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi. This was done to, in the words of one American Senator:
The importation of Hippopotamus amphibius into the American waterways was devistating to the local ecosystems. The North American Hippo quickly spread throughout the south. It has killed over 1,000-4,000 people per year since its importation, with 2/3rds being enslaved individuals.Senator Theodore Roosevelt (P-NY) said:
Confederate Victory Series:
Christianity in the Confederate States
Last edited:
- Status