America Invicta: A TL

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Africa would probably be easier than Vietnam since there isn't a China that can easily pour supplies through to it. These African potentates in places like Sudan could be overthrown easily.
I think you meant Mobutu was killed
 
I sense a quagmire on the horizon.
I'd even understand it too, though I imagine the insurgency would get lower intensity without as easy a route to send supplies.

And yeah, I think Mobutu died rather than Lumumba. I think, since who knows, maybe the soviets did kill their proxy to get a more marxist one; lord knows they've done that before.
 
Africa would probably be easier than Vietnam since there isn't a China that can easily pour supplies through to it. These African potentates in places like Sudan could be overthrown easily.
I think you meant Mobutu was killed
And yeah, I think Mobutu died rather than Lumumba. I think, since who knows, maybe the soviets did kill their proxy to get a more marxist one; lord knows they've done that before.
Typo on my part, Hammarskjold was the only one to die in the crash. Mobutu is still alive and well and gaining increasing popularity by using American aid and allies to buy himself support. Lumumba is, however in an increasingly precarious position with his Soviet backers, who see him as too amenable to a negotiated settlement, with numerous conspiracy theories postulating that the Soviets were responsible for the shoot down to keep Lumumba fighting.
 
Bush, upon hearing word from American spies in the Soviet Union were working on sending objects into space, created the United States Division of Aeronautics and Space Travel or DAST for short in 1957, which began to work on building a satellite to be put into space to beat the Soviets. Freedom 1 would be launched on July 4th 1959, becoming the first manmade object to enter space, while the Soviets would send Sputnik 1 (actually Sputnik 3 as two previous satellite attempts had failed, events which would remain secret until 2001) on October 24th of 1957. The Space Race had begun.

Division of Aeronautics and Space TECHNOLGY please as "travel" wouldn't be a 'thing' at this point :) Also, 'division' of WHOM? The military? Another agency and/or branch? Because this is going to be important in both who's driving the operations but how and how much those operations are driven.

It will also be a VERY different 'race' than OTL since this progression was exactly what everyone (even the USSR right up until the last minute) EXPECTED to happen and therefore far less 'pressure' on either side to outperform the other. This 'race' will accrue far less public interest and awareness than OTL's race did.

... and it is America, not the Soviets, winning the contest into orbit and the outer reaches of space.

Which as noted above was really what everyone expected and what made Sputnik such a 'shock' OTL. They key is that lack of Truman's defence policy which cut the services to the bone OTL and ramped back if not outright cancled most advanced R&D programs which forced a 'choice' on missile development of either long range ballistic or cruise missiles. OTL it was felt that both had merit but the nature of the post-war budget meant that the US could only afford one or the other and it was felt that the cruise missile was a more near-term proposition.

Under the circumstances this means that Von Braun and most of the rest of the German rocket team is going to play little or no part in the US missile and space development program since they won't be 'needed' as they were OTL to shore up the 'gap' in US development. That's going to be interesting since by the mid-50s they will have been isolated in the American desert since the end of the war and their knoweledge and expertise marginalized at best.

Randy
 
Division of Aeronautics and Space TECHNOLGY please as "travel" wouldn't be a 'thing' at this point :) Also, 'division' of WHOM? The military? Another agency and/or branch? Because this is going to be important in both who's driving the operations but how and how much those operations are driven.

It will also be a VERY different 'race' than OTL since this progression was exactly what everyone (even the USSR right up until the last minute) EXPECTED to happen and therefore far less 'pressure' on either side to outperform the other. This 'race' will accrue far less public interest and awareness than OTL's race did.



Which as noted above was really what everyone expected and what made Sputnik such a 'shock' OTL. They key is that lack of Truman's defence policy which cut the services to the bone OTL and ramped back if not outright cancled most advanced R&D programs which forced a 'choice' on missile development of either long range ballistic or cruise missiles. OTL it was felt that both had merit but the nature of the post-war budget meant that the US could only afford one or the other and it was felt that the cruise missile was a more near-term proposition.

Under the circumstances this means that Von Braun and most of the rest of the German rocket team is going to play little or no part in the US missile and space development program since they won't be 'needed' as they were OTL to shore up the 'gap' in US development. That's going to be interesting since by the mid-50s they will have been isolated in the American desert since the end of the war and their knoweledge and expertise marginalized at best.

Randy
Legitimate point on travel vs technology. DAST has been edited to have the T stand for Technology. DAST is at present a division of the Air Force, and is under much more military oversight than NASA, although this may be bound to change in the future. On the topic of the US military budget, Marshall never cuts it as much as Truman did in OTL, mainly due to the large scale Eastern War, but also, being a general, recognizes the importance of military spending and R&D, meaning that moth ICBMs and cruise missiles could be invested in. The US space program, as a result of a less competitive Soviet program, accrues less attention and is used to rub in American superiority over the Soviets. Von Braun is at this point a semi-obscure known missile engineer, but he has not risen to direct any DAST missions and is often directed to ICBM projects as well. SUffice to say, the Space Race will not be as expansive or as ambitious as OTL.
 
Legitimate point on travel vs technology. DAST has been edited to have the T stand for Technology. DAST is at present a division of the Air Force, and is under much more military oversight than NASA, although this may be bound to change in the future.

Not if the Air Force has anything to say about it :)

On the topic of the US military budget, Marshall never cuts it as much as Truman did in OTL, mainly due to the large scale Eastern War, but also, being a general, recognizes the importance of military spending and R&D, meaning that both ICBMs and cruise missiles could be invested in.

Ok not to get TOO geeky but I'm hoping that means Project MX-HIROC actually gets to test flights (http://www.astronautix.com/a/atlas.html) because that would hopefully lead to Convair's initial proposal for the "Atlas" (http://www.astronautix.com/p/proposedatlas.html) which means the Ameican launcher is pretty on-par with the Soviet one.

The US space program, as a result of a less competitive Soviet program, accrues less attention and is used to rub in American superiority over the Soviets.

"Less attention" was what got the US into that problem in the first place :) With a bit longer lead time, (1953 with low grade work between 1947 and 1952) the American and Soviet "missiles" (let's face it, neither was every going to be a really 'useful' weapon, but as a launch vehicle... :) ) are pretty close to par and when the IGY satellite proposal kicks off...

Von Braun is at this point a semi-obscure known missile engineer, but he has not risen to direct any DAST missions and is often directed to ICBM projects as well.

Well if the Army manages to keep its long range rocketry mission then he's got a shot of working on 'something' but if the Air Force is in charge of DAST he'll never get in. A question though? Does he still run into Conelius Ryan and get the Colliers "Man Will Conqour Space Soon" series of articles? How about the Disney "Tomorrow Land" stuff? Say what you will he could sell a vision and frankly it was something no 'native' US engineer had manged to do to that point.

SUffice to say, the Space Race will not be as expansive or as ambitious as OTL.

This is not really a 'bad' thing :)

Randy
 

Nick P

Donor
This is a very interesting tale which I plan to follow.

There is a minor flaw here:
Chapter 9: Turbulence

On September 10th, 1953, Operation Flintlock began, with US B-52 bombers taking off from airfields in South China, Japan, and South Korea to bomb sites in Yanan, Harbin, Beijing, Tientsin, Dalian and 10 other North Chinese cities. The bombers were armed with mostly napalm and high explosive bombs. By the end of the day, North China was aflame, its cities burning. Over 750,000 North Chinese would die in the flames and the burgeoning North Chinese industry was wrecked. North China appeared unable to continue the war on its own two feet.

The first flight of a B-52 was in April 1952. They didn't enter service until December 1955. You've jumped the gun a bit with this.
It would make more sense for the bombers to be either B-47s out of Japan or the older, slower but larger B-36 Peacemaker. Either aircraft was capable of the conventional bombing you described.
 
This is a very interesting tale which I plan to follow.

There is a minor flaw here:


The first flight of a B-52 was in April 1952. They didn't enter service until December 1955. You've jumped the gun a bit with this.
It would make more sense for the bombers to be either B-47s out of Japan or the older, slower but larger B-36 Peacemaker. Either aircraft was capable of the conventional bombing you described.
Thanks, edited.
 
Well if the Army manages to keep its long range rocketry mission then he's got a shot of working on 'something' but if the Air Force is in charge of DAST he'll never get in. A question though? Does he still run into Conelius Ryan and get the Colliers "Man Will Conqour Space Soon" series of articles? How about the Disney "Tomorrow Land" stuff? Say what you will he could sell a vision and frankly it was something no 'native' US engineer had manged to do to that point.

Randy
Von Braun has managed to promote his vision to a few obscure magazines, but they have never really taken off. Due to his obscurity and work on military projects and not space projects, he is not sought out by many journalists or is well known for his views on space travel. So Von Braun doesn't do the articles and Tomorrowland remains a realm of corporate sponsors such as Monsanto. America's interest in space still exists, but it is much more pragmatic instead of visionary.
 
Von Braun has managed to promote his vision to a few obscure magazines, but they have never really taken off. Due to his obscurity and work on military projects and not space projects, he is not sought out by many journalists or is well known for his views on space travel. So Von Braun doesn't do the articles and Tomorrowland remains a realm of corporate sponsors such as Monsanto. America's interest in space still exists, but it is much more pragmatic instead of visionary.

So essentially Von Braun has only managed to achieve what the REST of the European and American space travel enthusiasts have done and get thier stuff published in some pulps but not taken serioulsy by the majority of the American public or political structure. Rather sad but that's what the major public/political problem was with space exploration as no one saw it as anything but "far-future/Buck Rogers" stuff. Dending on the details in TTL I can see the Air Force (DAST) getting the manned space role while the Air Force looses the ICBM mission to the Army.

As for Von Braun himself does he or his team get 'used' at all? They only got use OTL because of the panic when the Korean war broke out OTL and the militayr found itself flush with funds and a temporary 'truce' in the budget battles. Once that was over the Air Force went after the Army both for aviation and long range missiles. In TTL there's no real reaon to use Von Braun or his team at all since they are quickly outclassed by American work and being isolated in the South West, (keep in mind OTL the 'plan' was to simply see what they knew, test flight some V2s and then let them go back to Europe when their knowlede would no longer be usable by the Reds) so by the early 50 just letting them 'go' to disperse to industry or back to Europe may make more sense.

Randy
 
Chapter 16: Heart of Darkness
Chapter 16: Heart of Darkness
“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.”- Mark Twain (OTL)

In 1960, when given a map of the globe, most Americans would not be able to tell where Katanga was located. By 1963, it was common knowledge and first on President Bush's hit list of belligerents in the Congo War. The fief of Moise Tshombe had been supported by the Belgians since its declaration of independence in order to preserve their mining interests. Bush and Mobutu, however, saw it as obstructing a united front against the forces of Lumumba and were gunning hard to take down Katanga.

After an inevitable round of political conflict within Belgium itself, the Belgians endorsed the DATO and Mobutu-led attack on Katanga in exchange for a favorable Belgian-Congolese trade deal once Mobutu had defeated Tshombe. Mobutu, being a nationalist, resented the deal, however, realizing that Western support was the only thing allowing his side to win, accepted the deal. The operation to decapitate Katanga would be known as Operation Ivory Tower.

On March 5th, 1963, American and DATO helicopters dropped 12,000 troops outside Elizabethville, the capital of Katanga, in the first large scale heliborne operation and use of air cavalry in history. They were supported by a mixed force of 20,000 American and Congolese troops approaching through the narrow jungle roads into the city, facing numerous ambushes and attacks along the way that drastically diminished their effectiveness, with American planners underestimating Katangan numbers guarding the city. As a result, what should have been a swift, surgical seizure of Elizabethville turned into three weeks of pitched street fighting with Tshombe’s forces. Tshombe himself escaped with a significant number of his men and insurrection persisted through Katanga, especially near the Luapula River. In response to the strategic failure of Operation Ivory Tower, Bush sacked the American commander for the congo, General William Westmoreland and replaced him with the much more down to earth and aggressive Lieutenant General Henry “Gunfighter” Emerson who diverted increasing amounts of airborne power to beat the Katangans into submission.

Meanwhile, Lumumba's forces continued to be well supplied, thanks to a trickle of Soviet supplies coming in from nominally neutral Sudan. By the fall of 1963, after numerous American backed offensives against Lumumba's forces ending in strategic stalemates for defeats, Bush and his commanders decided to work on starving Lumumba of both blood and lead. A blockade of Sudan was out of the question, as US naval forces in the region were almost nonexistent. Bombing supply depots and routes inside the Congo had proven ineffective, as the sites could simply be moved after an attack. And then, a wild Secretary of State Nixon appeared. Nixon proposed using Saudi Arabia, which was under the control of the pro-western Free Princes movement itching to bolster their relations in the west, to base US bombers out of for the purpose of bombing the routes through Sudan, as well as arming Christian rebels in South Sudan in order to cut the lines once and for all. The bombing campaign would be called Operation Stonebreaker. Immediately, a fierce debate erupted in the Bush cabinet, with Vice President Knowland and Nixon in support of Operation Stonebreaker and National Security Advisor Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and Chief of Staff Christian Herter opposing setting it would weaken America's national standing due to the illegal nature of the attack. Bush, after 2 days of deliberation, reluctantly gave the go-ahead for Operation Stonebreaker.

Operation Stonebreaker as an instrument of warfare, was an act of genius. Supply convoys to Lumumba would be picked off in the desert by American bombers or South Sudanese guerrillas, the latter group often stealing the weapons for themselves. Lumumba, by January 1964, was feeling the pinch and the intensity of his attacks began to ebb. It also helped the American war effort that during this time, Moise Tshombe had managed to secure a reasonable peace agreement in December of 1963, securing autonomy for Katanga and amnesty for himself and his soldiers. The Congo War was at least, in the eyes most of the players involved, about to reach its conclusion.

Domestically, however, Operation Stonebreaker proved immediately controversial, with the resignation of Henry Cabot Lodge and Secretary of Labor Jacob Javits from the cabinet only being the start. Bush’s decision to approve the plan was met with condemnation from liberals and a surprising number of moderates through the country, with the flagrant violation of international law contrasting with his previous speeches on the necessity of honor, decorum and peace in foreign relations earlier, The decision not to consult a single congressional leader before approving the plan alienated many of Bush’s liberal Republican allies in congress and gave his opponents more lines of attack over his “flagrant disregard for international and constitutional law” as well as “Bloody Bush’s” authorization of strikes on civilian centers in Sudan as a part of Operation Stonebreaker (although strikes on Sudanese civilian centers were uncommon and major cities were never targets). Nixon also received a great deal of flak for his hand in the operation, choosing not to run for the Republican nomination in 1964 as a result, opting instead to run for his old Senate seat in California. Bush retained the support of diehard hawks and conservatives, but public opinion had concluded that Bush at the very least had ”jumped the gun” and “betrayed his principles” with Operation Stonebreaker. These attacks on Bush would be echoed by a certain Democrat, a hard-charging southerner with the mission of redeeming the Democratic Party, Southern Democrats and the nature of the south itself.
 
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And so, it returns! Apologies for the long absence and for my abandonment of the TL, computer issues resulted in me losing the file for the TL and numerous corona-related issues have resulted in may abandonment of the TL. I intend to resume regular updates and thanks to those who have listened and responded so far, I appreciate all of your guys feedback. I'm probably going to be retconning and updating some of my previous chapters to add in details and fixing some errors to watch out for those.
 
So essentially Von Braun has only managed to achieve what the REST of the European and American space travel enthusiasts have done and get thier stuff published in some pulps but not taken serioulsy by the majority of the American public or political structure. Rather sad but that's what the major public/political problem was with space exploration as no one saw it as anything but "far-future/Buck Rogers" stuff. Dending on the details in TTL I can see the Air Force (DAST) getting the manned space role while the Air Force looses the ICBM mission to the Army.

As for Von Braun himself does he or his team get 'used' at all? They only got use OTL because of the panic when the Korean war broke out OTL and the militayr found itself flush with funds and a temporary 'truce' in the budget battles. Once that was over the Air Force went after the Army both for aviation and long range missiles. In TTL there's no real reaon to use Von Braun or his team at all since they are quickly outclassed by American work and being isolated in the South West, (keep in mind OTL the 'plan' was to simply see what they knew, test flight some V2s and then let them go back to Europe when their knowlede would no longer be usable by the Reds) so by the early 50 just letting them 'go' to disperse to industry or back to Europe may make more sense.

Randy
Von Braun himself is used for some occasional consulting on US missile programs, but he is largely dejected by the US government and has largely retreated into the corporate world. His team was mostly let go in the mid 1950's with those who weren't working for the American space and ICBM programs and those who were being left to their own devices. The US missile prgrams are slightly behind OTL, and the deficit between OTL and TTL's missile tech is not insanely huge.
 
Chapter 17: the Prince of Dixie
Chapter 17: The Prince of Dixie
“Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.”- Niccolò Machiavelli (OTL)

The Democratic field in 1964 would go down in history due to the sheer numbers of candidates and heavy hitters involved. Every wing, section and region all had their man running, with a massive scattering of favorite sons in the mix. Operation Stonebreaker was the one issue that seemed to unite all of the candidates, with each of them condemning it for its illegality, cost, morality and the humanitarian issues left in its wake (With Wayne Morse most famously calling it “a bloodstain upon the virtues of America and a crater in its soul)”.The candidate of the North, Hubert Humphrey, threw his hat in the ring first. With a respectable deal of name recognition, the support of New Deal liberals across the north and a wealth of experience in the Senate he was a safe pick for many, but would be upstaged before the convention by many of his senate colleagues, chief among them Lyndon Baines Johnson. Johnson was getting tired of his role as Senate Minority Leader and figured 1964 would be his only chance at seizing the presidency, as his health was continually doing him no favors despite quitting smoking a decade prior. Johnson had the support of many liberal Southerners and African-Americans due to his support for civil rights, but was weak in the North and the Midwest, where his flip flopping on labor issues (voting for both Taft-Hartley and The Free Labor Practices Act of 1949) earned him few friends among organized labor. Stuart Symington was the choice of the moderates. The Missouri Senator ran as an alternative to the liberals of the North and the Conservatives of the South but he suffered from a lack of name recognition and influence within the party at large. Pat Brown ran as a western moderate but suffered many of the same issues as Symington and was relegated to de facto favorite son status. Segregationists lacked a strong candidate, only managing to rally around George Smathers in an effort to drag the party platform as far rightward as possible. Numerous other favorite sons ran, including Wayne Morse, an ailing Adlai Stevenson and Massachusetts Governor Robert Kennedy. However one candidate would outshine the rest in terms of infamy, name recognition and sheer rhetoric: Alabama Governor George Corley Wallace Jr.

When George Wallace Came to Town

George Wallace on February 2nd 1964 giving his famous speech “The Sins of Johnny Reb” where he denounced the racism of the Confederacy and of the contemporary South. He also denounced Lost Cause ideology, communism, fascism and dared the Grand Wizard of the KKK, Samuel Bowers to “take a long walk off a short pier” and ended the speech by stating “desegregation now, desegregation tomorrow, desegregation forever”.

George Wallace had been elected governor in 1958 on a platform noticeably different from previous Alabama governors. His campaign had been noted for its lack of race baiting, lack of KKK support and surprising support for labor unions, as well as his promises of repealing the poll tax, with this style of Southern populism more resembling Longism than anything Alabama had seen prior. Contrary to popular belief, once Wallace was elected, he did not act much on matters of segregation directly, mainly focusing on poverty, education and labor reform, measures which helped poor whites and African Americans (the latters albeit in a more ancillary sense). By the time Wallace was out of office, Alabama state schools, had become increasingly integrated (A measure which he neither sheparded nor opposed actively), poverty levels throughout the state had fallen, the poll tax was gone and segregationist Democrats on the local levels saw their influence wane. Wallace at this point, was seen nationally with a sense of mild curiosity as a Southern Democrat who had seemed to have left the issues of race behind and who largely let the civil rights movement play out in his state. After leaving office however Wallace looked nationally and so his campaign began in early 1964.

Wallace realized that a segregationist candidate had no chance of a national victory. Bush and Northerners were actively strangling segregation and it was no longer a viable vehicle for political ambitions. And so, Wallace campaigned as the opposite of what most Southern Democrats would do: he denounced segregation explicitly in his “The Sins of Johnny Reb" speech on February 2nd 1964. Wallace appealed to poor southerners, organized labor and civil rights activists in his campaign, even marching with Dr Martin Luther King in Washington DC, giving a short and poignant speech on how his views on race evolved from his childhood views on blacks as inferior into seeing them as equals and friends. Wallace opponents quickly pounced on him, claiming he was a hypocrite who threw in with the civil rights movement for political gain and referencing the quiet attitude he took while governor, but Wallace fought back hard and punched upward, stating that he did what he could in the political environment he had.

When the 1964 Democratic National Convention began it was immediately contested. Morse, Stevenson and Symington quickly dropped out after the second ballot, endorsing Humphrey for President. Robert Kennedy would release his delegates on the third ballot with no endorsement, while Pat Brown endorsed LBJ on the fifth ballot. It only seemed a matter of time before Wallace and Smathers would be forced out.

A rancor would inevitably erupt when Smathers endorsed Wallace on the seventh ballot, sending the convention into hysterics. However this chain of events was unsurprising, Wallace, despite being a supporter of civil rights, was generally only slightly to the left of Smathers on economic issues and Smathers himself figured he could best obtain influence with Wallace Administration. Wallace now had the support of the Deep South and numerous midwestern delegates began to flock to Wallace as an alternative to the ultra-liberal Humphrey and the dishonest union-breaker LBJ. Fifteen further ballots insured with little change with Wallace continuing to swap places with LBJ for second and third in the delegate count. Wallace then decided to make a gamble to peel off as many western delegates as he could. Using Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty as his personal sledgehammer, Wallace was able to secure the endorsements of Henry Jackson, Jesse Unruh and Quentin Burdick by promising increased defense spending and an increase in farm subsidies. It was only on the 28th ballot that George Wallace had completed one of the greatest upsets in American political history and won the Democratic nomination for president. In a concession to Northern liberals, Wallace chose Hubert Humphrey for Vice President. LBJ, despite giving a concession speech endorsing Wallace had drained most of his political power in his campaign and he would announce that he would not be running for another Senate term in 1966. The Prince of Dixie had altered the Democratic Party within only a few months, and he was just getting started.


The Civil Rights Act: A Hoax - George C. Wallace 1964

George Wallace giving his victory speech to the DNC.
 
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George Wallace on February 2nd 1964 giving his famous speech “The Sins of Johnny Reb” where he denounced the racism of the Confederacy and of the contemporary South. He also denounced Lost Cause ideology, communism, fascism and dared the Grand Wizard of the KKK, Samuel Bowers to “take a long walk off a short pier” and ended the speech by staging “desegregation now, segregation tomorrow, desegregation forever”.
Uhhh...
 
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