You should know that The YAF were pretty much essential for the Goldwater Campagin in 64, they were his footsoldiers doing all the Local stuff a campaign needs to succeed and driving lots of donations for Goldwater and his campaign (in fact they were so successful that they actually made his campaign the first to get the majority of its money from the public) also one more thing: conservatives and left wing aren't the only group which could use Youth Birgades, maybe Johnson could try and build a coalition of youngsters for his plan to take down Wallace and the ACP in the South. He could then expand it later to take a national importance with a youth brigade for his Presidential campagin, he could call it "students for a Great Society" which is for The statist programs of LBJ and also is against dovish foregin policy and a liberal social policy. Could be interesting conflict between them and Kennedy and New left groups.It gave me a good chuckle!I apologize for not responding earlier, I just got home from another trip and did not previously have access to my computer, only mobile.
The idea of a "Youth Brigade" of conservatives does interest me greatly.
Blue Skies in Camelot: An Alternate 60's and Beyond
- Thread starter President_Lincoln
- Start date
BP Booker
Banned
Two Student Unions, both alike in dignity,
In fair Mississippi, where we lay our scene...
Man this is a weird retelling of Romeo and Juliet
Another question on the Spoof i did, what was the White House response to the protests?
Fair point in turn.
On the subject of conservatism, while the government failed to eliminate poverty, the fact that Kennedy’s policies have raised the standard of living and reduced poverty across the US ITTL can’t be denied. As was discussed earlier, while they might oppose what they see as further government overreach, I don’t see anyone trying to wind established stuff back. Be far too unpopular...
In relation to this earlier post, it occurs to me that with more available and affordable healthcare as a result of the Kennedy administration, the AIDs epidemic may be substantially reduced in scale. Which would obviously be A Good Thing for the gay/bi male community, and could have positive knock-on effects in the drive for gay rights.
These are all very true as well!
The Kennedy Administration and the New Frontier are slashing through poverty and greatly raising the standard of living for Americans, so don't worry, the liberals certainly won't just roll over for the conservatives. Better access to health care and we'll funded research will be key to fighting AIDS, that's for sure.
Aw...I was praying AIDS would never even leave a small corner of West Africa ITTL. Still,if it's limited before it kill can a massive section of the LGBTQ community, that's gonna have some masisve Butterflies.
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These are all very true as well!
Excellent...
Indeed. Even having better treatment be available to more people from the outset will do a lot to combat its early spread, which will lead to things being much less bad.
Well that would certainly be preferable. But if it’s not butterflied then better and more available healthcare will certainly limit its spread hugely compared to OTL.
It’d be awesome if it was butterflied though...
Well, I got two ideas for quote for YAF quotes: 1. "I know I'm young but I damn old enough that I dont need a nanny. Time for the Washington burecrats to realize that and get off my back"
2."Their is a saying on Statist welfare programs "no one shoots Santa" well the problem is that like Santa Clause, the welfare state is an illusion to hide the truth, that The problems of this country can't be solved with the flick of a pen. Poverty, both physical and spiritual, can only be solved by allowing the spirit of Free Enterprise, of ingenuity and of purpose to flourish. Not to have that sprit be crushed by nearly Communistic taxes, the alphabet soup of incompetent bureracy and the humiliation of the hand out like what we have today.
2."Their is a saying on Statist welfare programs "no one shoots Santa" well the problem is that like Santa Clause, the welfare state is an illusion to hide the truth, that The problems of this country can't be solved with the flick of a pen. Poverty, both physical and spiritual, can only be solved by allowing the spirit of Free Enterprise, of ingenuity and of purpose to flourish. Not to have that sprit be crushed by nearly Communistic taxes, the alphabet soup of incompetent bureracy and the humiliation of the hand out like what we have today.
Chapter 55
Chapter 55: All Right Now - A Look inside the Romney White House at the start of 1970
Sunday, January 18th, 1970 would prove a fateful day in the life of President George Romney, though it did not appear to be overly out of the ordinary as it began. The nation’s chief executive rose from his bed, as he always did, five minutes before his scheduled wake up call of 6:00 AM. Answering the phone with a smile, he politely informed his personal secretary, Ms. Frances Collins, that he intended to shower, break his fast with First Lady Lenore in the Residence, and then be down to the Oval Office for his daily security briefing at 7. Romney swiftly earned the respect and affection of the White House staff, who reported that while the Kennedys had brought a youthful energy, attentive kindness, and charitable vigor to the Executive Mansion, the Romneys brought a solemn humility and easy patience when they moved in. Slightly older than the average President, Romney belied his age as he set about his day with the same brisk efficiency with which he had turned American Motors from a failing, third rate auto company into one of the most successful in the nation, and Michigan from an industrial nightmare of deficits and debt to a model of fiscal responsibility. Had he been born in a more modern age, the President would likely have been described as a “workaholic”. He loved to spend hours pouring over memos from budget meetings, hoping he could scrape together little bits of money that others had left unnoticed and allocate them where they could do the most good. To Romney, whose business experience informed the majority of his decision making process, inefficiency was the worst enemy of a free people and a free market. It was perhaps easier for this President than most to focus almost all of his energies on the details of developing policy. All of the President and First Lady’s children were grown, attending college or already in careers, visiting only every now and then, dressed in the modest sundresses of daughters Margo and Jane, the finely pressed suits of George Jr. (who went by his middle name “Scott” to avoid confusion with his father) or thick ivy-league sweaters, as their youngest son Mitt did. The warm memories of raising children and dedicating his free time to church and charity already under his belt, President Romney now concerned himself with the business of running the country.
Inheriting his father’s handsome appearance, religiosity, and drive toward ambition and hard work, young Mitt captured the hearts of the nation when he and his beautiful young fiance, Ann Davies had their wedding reception at the White House in September, 1969. Ann, who had been converted to the Mormon faith by Mitt’s father personally, was as smitten with her new husband as he was with her, and their joy gave the nation something to smile about in the wake of the horrible trauma of the Manson murders and the death of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The President, a high priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood of the Latter Day Saints, performed the ceremony himself and pictures of the happy couple spread like wildfire through the media in the weeks and months that followed. While Mitt and Ann enjoyed their honeymoon and made plans for Mitt to return to Harvard and finish his law degree, the elder Romney found himself in an increasingly tangled mess of partisan positioning in the nation’s capital.
Sunday was the sabbath day of course, and a man as religious as the President had no intentions of not observing that fact. Over a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, rye toast, and orange juice, all prepared by the kitchen staff, the First Lady laughed and remarked that she would never understand being fussed over by other cooks in this way. Even after her husband became a millionaire in the auto industry, Lenore Romney always prepared household meals herself. She would hire a gardner, and a maid to help with chores, but the act of preparing the family meal was one in which she took tremendous pride and pleasure. As the staff, whom the President would often jokingly call “the handlers” arrived to take their plates away, he thanked them and shrugged, telling Lenore, “We’ve worked long and hard, dear. Don’t you think perhaps it’s about time we were able to let someone else take care of the little things?” The President stood, adjusted his necktie and kissed her forehead gently. “We’ve certainly got enough big ones to grapple with, anyhow.” The First Lady acquiesced, and reminded her husband not to take too long at his briefing. Church services were to be attended at 8, and under no circumstances were they to be late, something they had never done, regardless of which house they were leaving from. Romney agreed and left the Residence at exactly 6:45 AM, meeting Chief of Staff Leonard Hall just outside the Oval less than two minutes later. “Good morning Lenny,” the President grinned and quickly closed the distance between the door and the Resolute Desk. “What am I getting into this morning, then?”
A marble bust of George Washington peered across the room at Hall as he answered, informing the President that Henry Kissinger and Defense Secretary Omar Bradley were on their way to give him an update on the status of American troops near Phnom Penh, whose new first objective was the clearing of guerilla camps in and around the Cambodian capital where previously there were not thought to be any. Casualty reports from the past few weeks were higher than anticipated, and every day a dread grew in Romney that after each meeting Bradley and Kissinger were going to ask for him to send additional troops. Please not today. He thought as he eased himself into his leather seat. I’ll do what I have to to keep America safe, but sending more boys to die on the Lord’s day? I’m not sure I have the stomach for that. Thankfully for the President, Kissinger and Bradley arrived and focused their report primarily on air operations, and a work-in-progress plan by the CIA for a covert mission to capture or assassinate Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge himself. Getting close to the Marxist madman seemed a pipe dream, and a troubling one at that; but Romney had to admit to the possible strategic value of his death. Checking his watch and seeing that their half hour together was nearly up, the President thanked his advisers for their work and told them to allow the CIA to continue their plotting, though they were not to give the go ahead without his express approval. They agreed at once, stood and shook the President’s hand, bowing their heads and leaving with a formal, but admiring “Thank you, Mr. President.” Left alone with his papers and his thoughts, Romney did his best to clear his mind of bombing runs, brutalized civilians, and death for the time being, and got ready for the service.
It was while at church that the President received the terrible news of the day: that Father David O. McKay, Ninth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had passed away at the age of 96. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was a general authority for 64 years, longer than anyone in LDS history save Eldred G. Smith. McKay’s tenure as President had been significant, along with that of his predecessor, George Albert Smith, in that the two leaders presided over a massive expansion of membership in the church. By the time of McKay’s death, there were millions of Mormons across the United States and the world, with one of them even occupying the highest elected office in the land. McKay’s passing, while causing personal heartache for the President, who considered the leader of his church a prophet, not to mention a close personal friend; also brought up a political problem as well. At the time of his death, McKay left behind a sealed letter for his wife, Emma, to share with the media and his millions of followers, containing a final pronouncement, a vision given directly to McKay by God as he lay dying in bed. In this letter, McKay declared that God demanded him to overturn the church’s practices disallowing people of African descent to serve in the Mormon priesthood. A confused and thoroughly racist church doctrine dating back to the days of Brigham Young and the exodus to the Utah Territory, this facet of the Mormon faith had recently been brought to light by some in the civil rights and black power movements as evidence that President Romney was a “phony” with regard to his support of the rights of black Americans. Romney had for months since his election been downplaying the issue, insisting that “my religion is my greatest possession, but I can serve as both a Mormon and the President of the United States. They do not conflict in the field of moral judgement”, but his obfuscation could not last forever. Already Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others had begun calling on the Chief Executive to challenge the leadership of his church on the issue, saying that Romney’s wide breadth of work toward integration counted for little if he would not fight for the integration of his own church. But as any Mormon would be quick to point out, challenging the leader of the Church was not that simple. The Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were believed by Mormons to speak directly to God, going all the way back to the religion’s founder himself, Joseph Smith. To challenge a sitting President of the Church was, to a Mormon, to challenge or critique the living voice of the almighty on Earth. Personally repulsed by the doctrine disallowing black priests, Romney was caught in a theological bind on the issue and prayed that God would help him to do the right thing.
With McKay’s last minute, twelfth hour declaration of a vision from God informing him that blacks should be allowed to serve as priests, it would appear that God, or at the very least McKay, wanted to provide political cover to the most visible and powerful Mormon on the planet. Now Romney could voice his delight at the church’s sudden change in position and insist that those who propagated the old way of thinking were merely working with the best theological information they had at the time. Though the declaration did make Romney feel better personally, it actually did rather little to insulate the President from criticism of his faith’s old ways. The media had a field day accusing the Mormon Church of excessive secrecy, unusual, even arcane beliefs, and of kowtowing to outdated social mores. The President saw his approval ratings dip as low as 41% as the church he lovingly served for all his life struggled to adjust to the new ruling, vowed to be carried out by McKay’s successor, Joseph F. Smith, Jr. Media scrutiny of Romney’s faith reached a fever pitch a few weeks later on February 3rd, when tabloids published a story about the President’s grandparents having practiced polygamy. Despite the embarrassing implications, Romney did not shirk the fact that the story was true. In a moment of uncertainty, he called former President Kennedy, another man who had faced discrimination in politics because of his religion, and asked for his advice. Kennedy advised that the best way to tackle the issue of Romney’s faith with the American people was to sit down and have a frank conversation with them, in primetime. The President agreed. After thanking his predecessor, Romney ordered his press secretary get on the phone with CBS. He asked for an exclusive interview with Walter Cronkite, “the most trusted man in America”, to explain what exactly it was that Mormons believed and why the American people should not feel threatened or concerned about having one in the White House.
Kennedy’s advice had, as ever, been sound. Cronkite was probing, but fair, and gave the President ample time to explain himself, and did not attempt to goad him into saying something unfortunate with any “gotcha” questions. Overall it was an honest, straightforward effort on the part of both men to set the record straight and keep the American people informed. When faced with the most direct, difficult question, on his church’s record on race, President Romney was asked if he could name any time in the church’s history when it had stood on the progressive side of racial politics. Romney responded with his signature class and restraint. “Why yes, Walter, I can easily do that for you. During the tenure of President George Albert Smith, who presided over our Church from 1945 to 1951, we fought vigorously against the influence of the Ku Klux Klan and other such hate groups in American politics, a stance that has continued since. The late President McKay, God rest his soul, was a fervent anti-communist, yet condemned the John Birch Society and told his flock ‘no John Bircher can hold the love in his heart that rests at the root of our religion.’ Mormonism isn’t perfect, I admit that. But I ask my fellow Americans to point to any institution run by man that is. Just as our country has come to remedy our past mistakes, we Mormons ask only to be given that same courtesy, to be allowed to make errors and pursue those ends necessary to rectify them. We ask not to be judged, as we work not to judge our fellow man, as that task is reserved for the Almighty.” Throughout his answers, Romney remained calm, confident, and non confrontational, sounding every ounce like the loving grandfather and husband he was behind the scenes. In this graying, rugged, frontier-born businessman turned politician, Americans watching from home saw something like a symbol of their country in him. He harkened back to a simpler age, when the West was still in the process of being won, and Europe and the world had not yet been torn apart by two World Wars. On the arid prairies of northwestern Mexico to two American citizens was born a handsome, noble minded child, who would fight tooth and nail seeking the American Dream, never resting until he found success and acceptance in the land he loved with all his heart. Though the interview with Cronkite failed to win over all of the President’s naysayers, it definitely went a long way to ending the disparaging discussion of his religion, and provided a much needed bump in the polls to put the wind back in his sails. A week after the interview, Romney’s approval rating stabilized and buoyed itself at an even 50%.
…
With the issue of his religion mostly settled after the Cronkite interview, the President hit the ground running and hoped to spend the rest of the year vigorously pursuing his legislative agenda. At the top of Romney’s “to do” list was the creation of a new Federal scholarship which would provide 19.7 Million college age Americans with greater opportunity to seek higher education, if they wished to do so. The President had piloted a similar program to success in his home state of Michigan during his time as Governor, resulting in hundreds of thousands of new college attendees, many of them African Americans from Detroit, Lansing, and other disadvantaged urban areas who might not have otherwise had a chance to go to College. Though at first he considered replicating the exact program he had issued in Michigan, of positive scholarships just scaled up by several orders of magnitude, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford (R - MI) convinced the President that a new tax credit, giving Americans greater leeway to claim college tuition as deductible on their annual forms, was a more efficient, bipartisan solution. The plan, introduced to the House by Ford himself on February 23rd, quickly gained traction among members of both parties. Though there were kinks and details that needed to be hammered out in negotiations behind closed doors and in committee, the President felt assured that it would eventually be passed and make it across his desk to be signed.
While Republicans touted the new tuition tax credit as an example of their leadership “expanding opportunity to every corner of the country”, Congress also got to work addressing the rest of the nation’s ills. At the beginning of April, the staunchly anti-drug President Romney signed The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring a sterner health warning on tobacco packaging and banning tobacco ads on American radio and television. Shortly thereafter, this was followed by the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, a law to provide for the expansion and improvement of the nation’s air travel system, which had, in places, begun to sag into disrepair. Sympathetic to environmental causes, the President declared his support for the first “Earth Day”, held on April 22nd and celebrated the event by planting a tree on the White House’s South Lawn with the First Lady, along with Vice President Bush and his wife, Barbara. Any goodwill Romney was generating from these and other activities he carried out manning the ship of state at home were soon to be overshadowed however, as the news cycle became dominated by issues abroad not entirely within his control, not to mention the increasingly violent protests of the War in Southeast Asia…
“Tin Soldiers and Romney’s coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.”
- Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, “Ohio”
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.”
- Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, “Ohio”
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: War! What is it Good For?
Good update; like the discussion about Romney's faith and the struggles he's having...
I don't envy the decisions he has to make about Southeast Asia, though; that won't end well, methinks...
That Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young lyric just sounds ominous, though I suspect it might occur at a different university in Ohio...
BTW, All Right Now was a song released by Free in May of 1970 and a hit in the summer of 1970, so congrats for continuing the pattern and for going over 150k words...
I don't envy the decisions he has to make about Southeast Asia, though; that won't end well, methinks...
That Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young lyric just sounds ominous, though I suspect it might occur at a different university in Ohio...
BTW, All Right Now was a song released by Free in May of 1970 and a hit in the summer of 1970, so congrats for continuing the pattern and for going over 150k words...
Thank you, Unknown!
Glad you enjoyed the update. Being America's first Mormon President definitely comes with its own unique set of challenges.This is a great update. I like how you give us a sense of the burdens of office here, with Romney hoping he doesn't have to send in more troops. I echo Unknown in saying I don't envy some of the decisions Romney faces. I also like you touching on Romney's faith as well, which would have been much more controversial in 1970 than it was in 2012 when Mitt ran.
Again, excellent TL, I'm eager to see how the ominous ending of this post plays out in your next post.
Again, excellent TL, I'm eager to see how the ominous ending of this post plays out in your next post.
That was a fantastic update!! Really the in-depth of Romney and presidency thus far.
Looks like the Kent State shootings took place.
And Romney will be most definitely be blamed for it (and wrongly so).
Looks like the Kent State shootings took place.
And Romney will be most definitely be blamed for it (and wrongly so).
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That was a fantastic update!! Really the in-depth of Romney and presidency thus far.
Looks like the Kent State shootings took place.
And Romney will be most definitely blamed for it.
Thank you all for the kind words, I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the Chapter and that the Romney Presidency is staying interesting for all of you as we take it off the ground!
JFK may be one of my heroes, and so covering his Administration was a great personal pleasure, but I also have a tremendous amount of respect for Romney, and enjoy having the chance to put him in the spotlight here. I feel like he isn't featured very often in Alternate History timelines, despite his personal popularity in his own time.
Great update! It’s interesting to take a look in Romney’s life and his personalities, as well as the conflicts he faces as President. Sadly, it seems Kent State will have a shooting, and that will certainly affect opinion on the Cambodian War.