Thank you so much, @Sith Lord! I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying the TL.
I'm also happy you like the format with all the different pop culture aspects
I find it really fun to carry all these threads rather than just politics.Blue Skies in Camelot: An Alternate 60's and Beyond
- Thread starter President_Lincoln
- Start date
Thank you so much, @Sith Lord! I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying the TL.
I'm also happy you like the format with all the different pop culture aspects
I find it really fun to carry all these threads rather than just politics.Maybe, for the 60's Batman, we could get a voice actor, or someone who sounds like Kennedy.
Chapter 18
Chapter 18: I Am a Rock - January through June 1966.
Above: February 1966, At the Resolute Desk, President John F. Kennedy prepares for a call from French President Charles de Gaulle.
At home, John F. Kennedy was, according to Time magazine, “the most admired man in America.” His domestic agenda: the war on poverty, social security expansions to cover healthcare for the elderly and disabled, and stronger federal action on civil rights, had been passed in a sweep of starry eyed reform. Many political pundits noted, with some amazement, that they hadn’t seen such forceful, speedy action on the issues facing the country since Franklin Roosevelt’s fabled “100 Days” to combat the Great Depression in 1933. The economy was booming. The recession and stagnation Kennedy had inherited from the Eisenhower years had ended halfway through his first term, replaced now in his second with rising wages, increased spending power, and heightened productivity. More Americans than ever before, especially women and minorities, were finishing high school and attending university. The goals the President had set out in his New Frontier were rapidly coming to fruition, and Kennedy’s popularity had never been higher. In a Gallup poll released on January 8th, 1966, 77% of respondents reported approving, at least mostly, the President’s job performance. He had grabbed poverty and racial prejudice by the horns and fought them head on, his supporters said. He persuaded the Commies in Moscow to stop funding North Vietnam’s efforts to invade the South. No “dominoes” would fall in Southeast Asia. Containment it seemed, had been achieved. So why then, was there something amiss in the national zeitgeist?
An uncomfortable restlessness had settled over the United States of America as JFK began the second year of his second term. The “Leave it to Beaver” style conservatism and family values of the 1950’s had long worn out their welcome, and were rapidly being replaced with something new, something distinctly 60’s. Social awareness became mainstream, as the protest songs of Bob Dylan and others mixed with the President’s inspiring, ideal filled rhetoric to rouse the public into a new kind of consciousness. Young women were no longer content to get married and become docile housewives, leaving the public domain to men while they cooked, cleaned, and cared for the children. The women of the class of ‘66 read The Feminine Mystique and had posters of Marilyn Monroe in their dorm rooms. They now had birth control, and increased autonomy to make decisions for themselves in every aspect of their lives. Men didn’t enlist en mass to go fight the commies on some foreign battlefield like their fathers and older brothers had in Korea. In fact, men were coming home from overseas in Vietnam. Peace had been given a chance and worked! Instead, they and their female counterparts joined CORE. They marched on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. to protest unfair treatment and the need for civil rights. In San Francisco, both sexes grew out their hair, smoked marijuana, and listened to a new breed of Rock N Roll; heavy, psychedelic, and anti-establishment. The counterculture was in full swing amongst young people across the nation, and in the center of it all was President Kennedy in an almost paradoxical position: the President of the United States, ultimate symbol of the establishment, yet seen as a crusading hero by the hippies and protesters as well.
Throughout the social changes sweeping the country and its culture, President Kennedy remained the strong, smiling face of progress. In March of ‘66, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Voting Rights Act of the year prior in Katzenbach v. Morgan. More than simply confirming the constitutionality of the bill, the court’s decision further allowed the Voting Rights Act to prohibit literacy tests against Americans who obtained at least a sixth grade education in a school where the language of instruction was Spanish. The result? Millions of Americans in Puerto Rico and other places in the Southwest were now secure in their right to vote. The Court also handed another landmark decision down in June, with Miranda v. Arizona. The Court held that the constitution’s protection against self incrimination applied to police interrogations, and led to the development of the “miranda rights” procedure, in which police are required to read these rights to a suspect upon arrest. The decision was lauded by protesters across the nation, who were now better prepared to protect their speech and deal with the potential aftermath of being arrested while speaking out.
In their personal affairs, the President and First Lady found and brought joy to the nation with the birth of their second daughter: Rosemary Kathleen Kennedy on April 17th, 1966. A beautiful, healthy daughter, Rosemary Kathleen was named for two of the President’s younger sisters, one of whom was mentally handicapped and kept away from the public eye, and another whom JFK had once been eminently close to, but had passed away in a plane crash in 1948. The birth of Rosemary had been a great personal triumph for the President, and seemed, to those in his inner circle, the culmination of two years of newfound closeness between he and Jackie. The pair did everything they could to spend time together. The President would sneak kisses with Jackie or short calls across the building in between meetings, and the First Lady often cancelled unimportant trips to remain in Washington with her husband and the children. Marveling at how far Jack had come since his days of near constant infidelity and dalliance, Secretary of Defense Robert Kennedy wrote in his diary: “Finished cabinet briefing today with Jack, headed back to Pentagon to burn the midnight oil and tidy up plans for securing Tan Son Nhut. Was about to leave when Jackie came into the Oval Office, her hair undone and a look in her eyes like a kid on Spring Break. Jack saw her and that was it. I was whisked out of there in an instant. I swear I could hear them going at it before I even made it down the hall. If I didn’t love the two of them to pieces, and wasn’t so happy to see them in such bliss, I’d be downright disturbed. They probably didn’t even bother to leave the Oval Office.”
Aside from enjoying his administration’s successes and the closeness he shared with Jackie and the kids, whom he often took sailing off the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, President Kennedy continued to face headwinds against the fulfillment of the remainder of his policy objectives. Change, and especially progress did not always come easily in the Land of the Free. James Meredith, known for integrating the University of Mississippi as its first black student, was shot while completing a solo march from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. While Meredith was hospitalized, other civil rights activists organized to complete his march, which Meredith rejoined along with 15,000 other marchers. As a result, 4,000 African Americans in Mississippi were registered to vote. This demonstration marked the first time that activist Stokely Carmichael first uttered the phrase “black power,” a mantra in later waves of civil rights activism which reflected the growing anger African Americans and activists felt toward the discrimination they faced. This was especially present in the deep south, where George Wallace and his ilk remained the political representation of choice for disaffected whites. Vice President Terry Sanford spoke out against Wallace in a speech in the VP’s native North Carolina, declaring: “The time has come at long last for the South to reconcile its pride with the reality of race relations. We have made mistakes in the past in how we treated our fellow Americans. Now we must rectify those mistakes, and teach men like George Wallace that there is no room for racism, bigotry, and violence in the America of tomorrow.”
Wallace snidely countered that “there is no room for Terry Sanford in Alabama, today! He best remain north of Montgomery, if he knows what’s good for him.” The former Governor of the Yellowhammer State, it was said, was already gearing up for a second run at the White House in 1968, touring south of the Mason-Dixon line and stumping two years early. In speeches filled with incendiary rhetoric, sweeping oratory, and metric tons of energy, Wallace rallied what he called “the silent majority” of White Southerners behind him and his platform: anti-busing, segregation, and law and order. Whether he intended to seek the Democratic nomination, to “save it” from the liberals, or to run once again on a Third Party ticket was unclear, and Wallace declined to comment for the time being. All that was clear was that Wallace would continue to be a problem in American politics, and whomever rose to claim the mantle left by JFK would need to contend with him.
Abroad, Kennedy’s foreign policy was facing a headache in the form of French President Charles de Gaulle. The two leaders had once been close, with de Gaulle being one of Kennedy’s staunchest supporters during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and personally calling to ask on his condition after the attempt on his life in Dallas. In the years since, however, their relationship cooled significantly. De Gaulle blocked the admission of the United Kingdom to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1963, which, given the US and UK’s “special relationship” prevented US influence within the organization for a time. This was unacceptable to Kennedy. The rift was deepend when in February of 1966, de Gaulle withdrew France from NATO’s military command structure. De Gaulle, haunted by the memories of 1940, wanted France to be the master of its own destiny, not forced to follow lockstep behind a stronger ally, as it had behind Britain in the 1930’s. The French President also ordered all foreign military to leave France within a year. This action especially was received rather poorly in the United States, prompting Secretary of State Robert McNamara to ask de Gaulle whether the removal of American military personnel was to include exhumation of the 50,000 American war dead buried in French cemeteries.
Despite de Gaulle’s insistence on French independence from American defense strategies, he did congratulate Kennedy on his plan for de escalating the situation in Vietnam and his efforts to improve relations between the US and Soviet Union. To de Gaulle, communism was a temporary phenomenon, and the Soviet Union little more than a new incarnation of the Russian Empire. Typically pragmatic over ideological, de Gaulle’s was a politics of power and control, not ideals and rhetoric. Throughout the rest of Kennedy’s presidency, de Gaulle would continue to support a “Western European axis” of defense against the Soviets, which was largely opposed by Harold Wilson’s Labour government in the UK. The British continued to follow Winston Churchill’s position: that given a choice between the United States and France, one should always side with the Americans. This was especially pertinent in the wake of rapidly developing events in Rhodesia, where Wilson was immensely grateful for Kennedy’s support. Since the UK would not be eligible for entrance into the EEC again until 1969, Kennedy laid off on the issue, and focused his diplomacy with de Gaulle on restoring their relationship. This much was successful, and de Gaulle seized the opportunity to restore, as much as possible, France’s reputation as a secondary power. To that end, he offered to host the next summit between Kennedy and Khrushchev, scheduled for June the following year in Nice, rather than the United States. Initially reluctant, Kennedy eventually agreed, hoping the gesture would enable him to convince de Gaulle to reconsider his position on British entry into the EEC come ‘69.
Making matters worse for Kennedy, his administration’s success in Vietnam seemingly came with a price tag as well. On March 27th, 20,000 Buddhists marched on Saigon to protest against totalitarian and anti-free speech measures being employed by President Nguyen Khanh in the wake of challenges to the previous year’s election results. The election of 1965, the first under South Vietnam’s new constitution, had been a resounding victory for then Chairman Khanh, the head of the military junta. American media outlets reporting in the country estimated a Khanh landslide, with over 76% of all votes cast going to the young officer. When state media reported the Khanh triumph at over 90% of the popular vote however, accusations began to arise of possible coercion, ballot box stuffing, and other less than “free and fair” measures being employed to keep Khanh in power. An investigation by the United Nations into the election failed to discover any direct wrongdoing on the part of the government, but did make note of the squads of soldiers patrolling the streets at all hours, including on election day. The investigators concluded that even if no coercion or rigging was occuring, the background threat of force demonstrated by the massive military presence undermined voters’ confidence in the new government, and could not help but influence their decision. Secretary of State McNamara summed up the administration’s position on the issue in a blunt memo, directed to the President-elect: “Clean up your act, or find another country to pay for your guns, bombs, and hospitals.”
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: Britain struggles with a colony on the brink of war.
Fantastic update as always! Glad to see the Kennedys having a healthy relationship!
Interesting to see how the hippie movement is evolving. What’s also interesting is seeing George Wallace. Perhaps the hippie movement focuses less on peace and more on civil rights, since the Vietnam War does seem to have taken a backseat.
Considering France’s more independent route, we might see some conflict between it and NATO. Perhaps a friendly rivalry between the EEC and NATO.
Will there be a repetition of Thích Quang Dú? Another suicide by self-burning will definitely bring more attention to Vietnam.
Interesting to see how the hippie movement is evolving. What’s also interesting is seeing George Wallace. Perhaps the hippie movement focuses less on peace and more on civil rights, since the Vietnam War does seem to have taken a backseat.
Considering France’s more independent route, we might see some conflict between it and NATO. Perhaps a friendly rivalry between the EEC and NATO.
Will there be a repetition of Thích Quang Dú? Another suicide by self-burning will definitely bring more attention to Vietnam.
Like the developments of TTL; like that JFK and Jackie have a healthier relationship than OTL...
Yeah, the hippie movement is going to go in some interesting directions ITTL; there also might not be a Vietnam syndrome ITTL (or, at least, not as we recognize it)...
BTW, I Am a Rock was originally a Paul Simon song released in late 1965 IOTL, but was released as a separate Simon and Garfunkel song in January of 1966, so you're at it again...
Yeah, the hippie movement is going to go in some interesting directions ITTL; there also might not be a Vietnam syndrome ITTL (or, at least, not as we recognize it)...
BTW, I Am a Rock was originally a Paul Simon song released in late 1965 IOTL, but was released as a separate Simon and Garfunkel song in January of 1966, so you're at it again...
Wallace could certainly be a problem for the GOP if he manages to divide the South in '68, thus weakening, if not outright nullifying Nixon in his attempted Southern Strategy. A lot of people in the Deep South are likely already feeling turned off by Republicans because of the '64 election and Rockefeller as much as they are becoming toward the Democrats because of the Civil Rights Act.
So I think this could be really bad for Nixon and the GOP if Wallace's American Independent party is able to hold on to the Deep South.
So I think this could be really bad for Nixon and the GOP if Wallace's American Independent party is able to hold on to the Deep South.
I mean..Goldwater sucks, but I doubt he'd work with someone like Wallace.
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Especially since doing so, well, Goldwater might not appreciate being saddled with a racist.
BlackentheBorg
Banned
So I got confused by this and had to look this up.
Holy fucking shit.
Holy fucking shit.
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BP Booker
Banned
The 1930s was not the best time to have, ahem, mental dificulties.
Actually the lobotomy really effed her up and made everything 100 times worse for her and her family. Before she had the mental capacity of a teenager (a cheery one at that), after, like that of a toddler. What a damn tragedy
That's one of the reasons Joseph Kennedy Sr. is one of those people in history whom I truly utterly despise. He did that to his daughter without letting anyone in his family know, lied and kept the knowledge of the lobotomy and aftermath from his wife and family, as well as the public, for decades (JFK didn't find out until he finally reunited with Rosemary in 1958), and he never visited her for the rest of his life, while constantly treating her like a burden and a secret he couldn't allow to become publicly known.
Thank you all very much!
Happy to hear you're liking where things are going. The Hippie Movement is definitely going to be less of an anti-war movement ITTL. I also think it will have less overt support from college students, who (at least for right now) don't have a war that their friends could get shipped off to to worry about. Support for Nuclear disarmament, Civil Rights, Environmentalism, Feminism, and other issues could come to the fore instead. Rosemary's case is truly one of the most tragic chapters in the history of the Kennedy family. ITTL, JFK will definitely support the Special Olympics.
Very keen analysis and insight! I agree. The Republican and Democratic establishment are both looking for paths to victory without the south, though some in the GOP (Nixon, other "Law and Order" types) are seeing inroads with white working class voters in the South. Vice President Sanford is stressing a strategy of "conversion", that is, losing the south for a generation, but continuing to campaign there for liberal ideals in the hopes that the next generation might swing blue once again.
Wait, JFK didn’t even know about Rosemary’s existence until 1958!?!
He knew she was alive, he just didn't know about the extent of what was done to her. You can read more about it here: https://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2016/08/15...why-jfks-sister-disappeared-from-public-view/
Basically, Joe Kennedy lied to everyone, including his family, and told them that she was 'off studying and doing social work' and 'getting along quite happily', and no one in the family learned the truth or where she even was for over a decade. Yeah, what Joe Kennedy did was pretty much messed up.
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BP Booker
Banned
He was also at best a nazi appeaser at the time when it was obvious there was no appeasing the nazis, a huge anti-semite, and Joseph McCarthy´s BFF.
Not a guy I would like to have dinner with, thats for sure
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
Awesome update, as always. A little late, perhaps, but there you have it.
You said something about protest singers, what's Phil Ochs up to in TTL? The changed geopolitical situation is sure to butterfly, at the very minimum, some of his song lyrics, if not entire songs of his altogether in the coming years.
For instance, the words "I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy" in the song "Love Me, I'm A Liberal" the would no longer exist, and almost every reference to a President Lyndon Baines Johnson would have to go as well, seeing as there is no LBJ in office.
You said something about protest singers, what's Phil Ochs up to in TTL? The changed geopolitical situation is sure to butterfly, at the very minimum, some of his song lyrics, if not entire songs of his altogether in the coming years.
For instance, the words "I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy" in the song "Love Me, I'm A Liberal" the would no longer exist, and almost every reference to a President Lyndon Baines Johnson would have to go as well, seeing as there is no LBJ in office.