Warning: Unlike most military thrillers, the political tones of Double Victory are left leaning, not right (except some modern geopolitics with a little author fiat). The politics intermixed within may not be for everyone, and the novel may never materialize, but the vignettes and speculations about the near future are interesting reads.
Forward: On February 7th, 1942, the Pittsburgh Courrier, the most circulated Black newspaper, was the first to feature the Double V campaign, a political campaign concurrent to the United State's participation during WWII. In this time and age, Jim Crow and racial segregation were alive and well in America, enjoying a resurgence and an intrusion into the federal level thanks to the legacy of President Woodrow Wilson two decades prior.
Meanwhile, African Americans within the United States armed forces operated in segregated units, fighting for freedom for a country that does not respect their rights, dying to free countries that do not have Jim Crow laws, meeting foreign peoples that treated them as their fellow human beings, and fighting and capturing enemies their fellow American treated better than them.
The Double V campaign sought to bring attention to the achievements and efforts of Black soldiers fighting in the war, promote patriotism among the African American populace in a time of war, and challenged the segregationist policies of 1940s America. It was hoped that by demonstrating their willingness to fight for freedom abroad, then they deserved to fight and win the same freedom at home.
Ultimately, it failed to achieve its goals within the timeframe of the war. White southerners saw the Double V campaign as a dangerous and radical revolution brewing within, and the United States government would try to get the black press to quiet down. Segregation would remain untouched throughout the rest of the Second World War. The Double V campaign would end just a year later.
All was not lost however. The Double V campaign had many other effects that would lay the groundwork for further efforts. The campaign encouraged defence companies from the Northern and Western regions to hire black workers from the Second Great Migration. It encouraged the participation of Black soldiers to join in the fight against fascism abroad, brought in post-war Democrats that would help break the Conservative Coalition of Republican Party and their fellow Democrats from the South, and fostered the groundwork for the upcoming Civil Rights Movement.
Finally, on July 28th, 1948, President Harry S. Truman put forth Executive Order 9980 and 9981, which ordered the desegregation of the United States federal workforce and the United States armed forces. Thus marks the beginning of the end of Jim Crow.
This is America's Double Victory, and it is the key context to understand the philosophy of the alternate history story of the same name.
Double Victory, is a planned novel being written as an ISOT, alternate-history, science-fiction, political and military thriller written under the pseudonym "Reconstructionist" on Substack and Twitter. While the novel is being written, or being "written", the author posts vignettes on the Substack above which serve as snippets into the world the author is trying to write, and his Substack serves as an alternative to Patreon.
The story begins on June 4th, 2042. Task Force,11 is en-route for DESCRON 23, the largest naval exercise since the 2nd Sino-American War, when the task force is enveloped by a freak storm that transports them 3000 miles from Pudget sound out into the Pacific.
Meanwhile, on June 4th, 1942, just 170 miles away, the Battle of Midway has just begun.
And this time, the Kido Butai is not saved by another time storm. Task Force 11 is fully intent on using their firepower to help win the war.
If only it were so easy. Those who want to help the allies are not the only ones that underwent what would be called a "Departure".
What is more, the people of Task Force 11 comes from a future where the 21st century progressive movement got its act together and figured out a vision and means to achieve it. They have both economic, politcal and military successes under their belt alongside a Republican Party that has finally moderated in the 2030s, and have ushered into a new party system. The task force is comprised of ethnic, social, and sexual minorities that even those sympathetic to the plight of blacks in the 40s would find repugnant or mind-boggling to work together with. The munitions of Task Force 11 are of limited supply, and there are those in the US political and military class that wish to seize their equipment for themselves.
It's a story about the bombing campaign of Europe being fought with stand-off air-to-ground cruise missiles and command-guided SAMs, of battles fought with intermediate-cartridge assault rifles and exosuits. It's a story about the heroism, shock, and adaptability of those down-time to the new reality. It's a story about those from the future trying to make the past a better (or worse) place. It's a story about the Soviet Black Sea Fleet charging blazingly through the Bosporus Strait carrying refugees and Pope Pius XII slapping a tradcath for shit-talking his predecessor.
It is also a story of the kinds of horrific abuses our forefathers allowed in the land of the free, of the systemic injustices that will do everything to undermine those that are "other", even at the expense of the war effort. A story about a time where homosexuality incurred horrific criminal penalties and those who were not white were considered genetic barbarians. It is a story about those in the present and the future who are foolish or cruel enough to wish to help expand and usher in these systems while shouting the loudest hypocrisies their mind could conjure. It is a story about overcoming the enemies of liberty, foreign...and domestic. A story about winning the war, and then winning the peace.
And maybe, just maybe, achieve a greater Double Victory than in our timeline.
Forward: On February 7th, 1942, the Pittsburgh Courrier, the most circulated Black newspaper, was the first to feature the Double V campaign, a political campaign concurrent to the United State's participation during WWII. In this time and age, Jim Crow and racial segregation were alive and well in America, enjoying a resurgence and an intrusion into the federal level thanks to the legacy of President Woodrow Wilson two decades prior.
Meanwhile, African Americans within the United States armed forces operated in segregated units, fighting for freedom for a country that does not respect their rights, dying to free countries that do not have Jim Crow laws, meeting foreign peoples that treated them as their fellow human beings, and fighting and capturing enemies their fellow American treated better than them.
The Double V campaign sought to bring attention to the achievements and efforts of Black soldiers fighting in the war, promote patriotism among the African American populace in a time of war, and challenged the segregationist policies of 1940s America. It was hoped that by demonstrating their willingness to fight for freedom abroad, then they deserved to fight and win the same freedom at home.
Ultimately, it failed to achieve its goals within the timeframe of the war. White southerners saw the Double V campaign as a dangerous and radical revolution brewing within, and the United States government would try to get the black press to quiet down. Segregation would remain untouched throughout the rest of the Second World War. The Double V campaign would end just a year later.
All was not lost however. The Double V campaign had many other effects that would lay the groundwork for further efforts. The campaign encouraged defence companies from the Northern and Western regions to hire black workers from the Second Great Migration. It encouraged the participation of Black soldiers to join in the fight against fascism abroad, brought in post-war Democrats that would help break the Conservative Coalition of Republican Party and their fellow Democrats from the South, and fostered the groundwork for the upcoming Civil Rights Movement.
Finally, on July 28th, 1948, President Harry S. Truman put forth Executive Order 9980 and 9981, which ordered the desegregation of the United States federal workforce and the United States armed forces. Thus marks the beginning of the end of Jim Crow.
This is America's Double Victory, and it is the key context to understand the philosophy of the alternate history story of the same name.
Double Victory, is a planned novel being written as an ISOT, alternate-history, science-fiction, political and military thriller written under the pseudonym "Reconstructionist" on Substack and Twitter. While the novel is being written, or being "written", the author posts vignettes on the Substack above which serve as snippets into the world the author is trying to write, and his Substack serves as an alternative to Patreon.
The story begins on June 4th, 2042. Task Force,11 is en-route for DESCRON 23, the largest naval exercise since the 2nd Sino-American War, when the task force is enveloped by a freak storm that transports them 3000 miles from Pudget sound out into the Pacific.
Meanwhile, on June 4th, 1942, just 170 miles away, the Battle of Midway has just begun.
And this time, the Kido Butai is not saved by another time storm. Task Force 11 is fully intent on using their firepower to help win the war.
If only it were so easy. Those who want to help the allies are not the only ones that underwent what would be called a "Departure".
What is more, the people of Task Force 11 comes from a future where the 21st century progressive movement got its act together and figured out a vision and means to achieve it. They have both economic, politcal and military successes under their belt alongside a Republican Party that has finally moderated in the 2030s, and have ushered into a new party system. The task force is comprised of ethnic, social, and sexual minorities that even those sympathetic to the plight of blacks in the 40s would find repugnant or mind-boggling to work together with. The munitions of Task Force 11 are of limited supply, and there are those in the US political and military class that wish to seize their equipment for themselves.
It's a story about the bombing campaign of Europe being fought with stand-off air-to-ground cruise missiles and command-guided SAMs, of battles fought with intermediate-cartridge assault rifles and exosuits. It's a story about the heroism, shock, and adaptability of those down-time to the new reality. It's a story about those from the future trying to make the past a better (or worse) place. It's a story about the Soviet Black Sea Fleet charging blazingly through the Bosporus Strait carrying refugees and Pope Pius XII slapping a tradcath for shit-talking his predecessor.
It is also a story of the kinds of horrific abuses our forefathers allowed in the land of the free, of the systemic injustices that will do everything to undermine those that are "other", even at the expense of the war effort. A story about a time where homosexuality incurred horrific criminal penalties and those who were not white were considered genetic barbarians. It is a story about those in the present and the future who are foolish or cruel enough to wish to help expand and usher in these systems while shouting the loudest hypocrisies their mind could conjure. It is a story about overcoming the enemies of liberty, foreign...and domestic. A story about winning the war, and then winning the peace.
And maybe, just maybe, achieve a greater Double Victory than in our timeline.
This meme brought to life in words.
Last edited: