Blue Skies in Camelot: An Alternate 60's and Beyond

Windows95

Banned
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the event that you're referring to. Could you be more specific? :)
Would you mind if I share an article from the 1970's?

Here it is

It is an event that when steel corporation closed up their factory in Youngstown, the community and workers, along with the religious proposed reopening the factory. They asked the FED for loans ($15 millions) and they would improve the factory by upgrading it.

But the Fed said no, and by saying no, they prevented an alternative pathway of saving the middle class industrial class, thereby keeping the whole of the middle class intact.

Even in this article proves that it could keep jobs in the community and INCREASE profitability.

From the article:
The Center for Economic Alternative's report said the issue in Youngstwwn is "not simply a steel industry problem" - the steel industry has shut down many plants in the last few years in the face of foreign competition and for other reasons - "but ... also an issue of urban decay facing many parts of the country in an era of slower economic growth."

"The justification is not the commercial and economic advantage of one community alone, but the need throughout the nation to develop new strategies to preserve jobs, increase productivity, test new technologies and help urban communities facing economic decay."

Specifically, the report called for creation of a federal task force to work with the ecumentical coalition. The task force and the local leaders would work out detailed plans for making a national showcase of the reopened plant.

The report also asked the administration to authorize - when and if the fledging steel firm gets started - federal guarantees of $300 million in bank loans for the plant.

The study called for an "immediate" federal grant of $15 million to the ecumenical coalition, which would use the money to buy the closed-down sections of Youngstown's Campbell Works form the Lykes Corp,'s Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and the LTV Corp.'s Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., which are in the process of being merged.

Most of the grant would revert to the federal government "if significant progress is not made toward achieving the national demonstration project over the next 18 months," the report said.

It recommended that the government "seriously consider" the plant as the site of a national research program in new steel technology.

Gar Alperovitz, co-director of the national center, said the reopened steel company could be profitable if it sold 1.4 million tons of steel a year commercially and 100,000 tons to the federal government.

The center's report offers four options on how to finance the project, which it said would cost $525 million over eight years. Most of the money would come from loans. A major assumption of the study's favorite option is that $50 million would be raised as equity - $10 million of which would come from Mahoning Valley residents.

The Rev. Edward Stanton, staff director of the ecumenical coalition, said that local residents, businesses, churches and labor unions have opened 4.065 "Save Our Valley" accounts totaling $4 million in local banks. The accounts indicate strong community support for the new steel company, Stanton said.
 
So many running for so many offices. Many of them with the same goal in mind, although with different opinions. It'll be interesting to see how they'll fare. I'm especially curious about Jimmy Roosevelt (who I imagine will try to live up to his father's legacy) and Harvey Milk (what little I know about him comes from that movie from some years ago starring Sean Penn, but I still find him an interesting person).
 
Okay heres my first suggestion

Bob Casey, a lawyer who decided to throw his hat into the ring aganst a rockefeller republican, running on Unions and Irish Catholic values, enormusly influenced by the writings of Catholic Political Activist Ellen Mccormack who is setting up her own magazine American Values, a New Dealer magazine with a strong Catholic influences.
 

BP Booker

Banned
The Democrats must feel like the world is conspiring against them, while the Republicans must feel like the universe is finally self correcting after the 1930s and 40s
 
Jack Eckerd (R) - Defeated incumbent Collins. R Gain

This guy...

Jack_Eckerd.jpg
 
Also got an idea: Maybe Bill Moyers could get involved in NY politics, with the 74 campaign running attack ads like this aganst Jim Buckley:

(A man in a NYC hospital on life support) This is Joe Luigi. He is a hard working Construction man who got injured in a horrible work accident and was almost killed. Fortunately he was helped by New York’s top of the line Health care system and is on the road to recovery. That is if Jim Buckley and his Republican Lackies would have if they got their way. If they got what he wanted the Health Care system would be cut and Hospitals would be emptied.Men like Luigi would be left out in the cold (New man comes in, resembling the governor comes into the room and turns off life support, video ends with a steady beep sound) stop this before it’s too late. Vote Carey, Vote Democratic.
I got an idea for Moyers accomplices too: He now has a bright new aide by the name of Roger Stone who has been very inventive for the last couple ads.
 
Last edited:
Good update.

Like that Shirley Temple Black won; IIRC, she was in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring and its crushing (and helped evacuate American citizens in the aftermath (1)), and served as ambassador there when the Velvet Revolution happened, accompanying the Czechoslovakian president to Washington. Of course, it helps that a lot of voters were likely fans of her movies...

Also like that Gary Hart won, even if I think his womanizing (which went on for a long time before the Monkey Business; his wife put up with a lot, similar to Lady Bird Johnson (2)) will catch up to him...

Like the mention of Ron Dellums; he was the African-American equivalent of Bernie Sanders (and I wouldn't be surprised if he and Sanders were friends IOTL) and he was opposed to Apartheid in South Africa (there was an interesting Disney movie, of all things, made about this--The Color of Friendship)...

Like that Lloyd Bentsen won as governor (how is the Texas HSR proceeding, BTW?)...

Also, hope Harvey Milk avoids Dan White ITTL (what is he up to; BTW, an interesting thing about him was that he was supportive of black firemen and police officers when he worked in both occupations (he did so before being appointed to the San Francisco City Council) to the point of helping them study for exams for promotions) and goes very far in his career; he deserves it, IMO...

The song "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" was sung by Bachman-Turner Overdrive and released in September of 1974, so congrats for continuing the pattern, @President_Lincoln, and waiting for more, of course...

(1) This is probably an urban legend, but it has been stated that part of the reason the convoy went through without difficulty was because the hardline Communists were Shirley Temple fans, which would not be surprising...
(2) Lady Bird Johnson's basic quote about her husband's womanizing should be quoted: "My husband loved people. He loved all people. It'd be unfair to ask me to withhold his love from half the people."
 
Last edited:
Glad to see Jimmy Carter elected to the Senate IITL. This should give him additional experience in national politics in the event he runs for the Oval Office in the 1980s.
 
Gotta catch up, but this timeline is still looking as fantastic as ever.

And perhaps best of all… In San Francisco, charismatic political organizer and “coalition builder” Harvey Milk (D) is elected to the California State Assembly. The first openly gay elected public official in the United States, Milk’s narrow victory marks a tremendous moment of progress in the movement for LGBT+ rights, and the start of what would ultimately prove a historic political career.

This is tremendous news, especially with the implications that he will go far. On the flip side, have we heard what’s happened to Jim Jones ITTL? I seem to remember him having ties with San Francisco politics at the time, including with Milk.
 
Like the mention of Ron Dellums; he was the African-American equivalent of Bernie Sanders (and I wouldn't be surprised if he and Sanders were friends IOTL) and he was opposed to Apartheid in South Africa (there was an interesting Disney movie, of all things, made about this--The Color of Friendship)...

The Color of Friendship is one of most surprising things Disney ever put out: in a time period when cheesy tween shows were making their entry, the Color of Friendship had serious discussions on politics and political oppression. It was one of those movies for kids that didn't try to talk down to them.
 
Isn’t it based off a book that Dellum's daughter wrote. If I recall correctly their is no verification that the whole thing even occurred besides the word of that daughter
 
Last edited:
Isn’t it based off a book that Delluns daughter wrote. If I recall correctly their is no verification that the whole thing even occurred besides the word of that daughter

Thing I've learned about "true stories" is that, a lot of the time, they aren't really true stories; however, if you take out the "true story" aspect of those movies, on their own, they sometimes are good movies in their own merits...

Take JFK, for example; that's a good movie, if you consider it just a movie and not based on reality (and its music, by John Williams, is awesome)...
 
Top