Chapter I: In or Out?
Nazi Space Spy
Banned
This timeline is based on my Yankee Dominion project, and will focus on the Cold War era while revealing tidbits about the country's history through a narrative format. I hope you enjoy this!
Born from the nexus of history and philosophy, the Commonwealth of America is the foremost economic and military powerhouse on the North American continent and one of the most critical member states of the British Empire. Extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic sea with a population of just over 250 million citizens, the Commonwealth is the predominant English speaking nation on the North American continent. The capital is located in the city of Philadelphia, though other prominent cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Calgary, Caernarfon, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Halifax, Liverpool, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Orleans, New York, Pittsburgh, Quebec, Seattle, Toronto, and Winnipeg.
A highly developed nation, the Dominion boasts an abundance of natural resources and a long tradition of industry. With the seventh highest GDP per capita and ranked first by the Human Development Index, the Commonwealth of America is both the foremost economic power of both North America. Its advanced economy, one of the largest in the world, relies on well-developed trade networks, agricultural and industrial export, finance, technology, and tourism. America is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the Council of Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7 (formerly G8), the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The Commonwealth of America is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II serving as head of state, though she is represented in this role by a Governor -General. Political power is wielded by the Prime Minister, who is drawn from the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament of the Commonwealth. The other being the less influential Senate, which consists of two members from each province elected by the legislature. The Commonwealth is officially bilingual, with a large Francophone minority in Indiana and Quebec. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.
Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now the American Commonwealth for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. What followed after was a period of unrest over taxation, colonial autonomy, and corruption led to the ultimate Confederation of Britain’s continental holdings. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by Confederation and the subsequent adoption of the Constitution's in 1785.
Friday, July 2nd, 1948.
Deputy Prime Minister Harry Truman & Prime Minister William Mackenzie King
William Mackenzie King was one of the most powerful men in the Empire, and indeed, perhaps the entire world. Though his career had been patterned around a string of defeats in riding after riding, he had always managed to bounce back, his legacy being defined by luck as much as sheer resolve. An eccentric technocrat, King sought to transform the Commonwealth with his brand of liberalism, which emphasized corporate-crown cooperation in order to both foster social harmony and empower the Commonwealth within the broader Empire. And as of 1948, it had seemed that he had succeeded. For thirty years, King led the Liberal Party of America, facing off every Conservative leader from Roosevelt Sr. to the late Roosevelt Jr. at the dispatch box in the House of Commons, and for the preceding 16 years, he had led the nation as well, implementing the New Deal that halted the Great Depression and transformed America, as well as throwing the Commonwealth's industrial, financial, and military might behind London during the darkest hours of the war. But soon the Prime Minister would be facing his strongest challenger yet.
It came not in the form of the Nazi war machine which had for so long threatened the unity and territorial integrity of the Empire and her allied partners, nor the rising tide of Soviet sponsored communism, nor the fierce, suicidal devotion of the now vanquished Japanese Empire. No, it was not a nation state nor ideology, but rather a distinctive, dapper, if not slightly demure man who was ascending the heights of power like the rising sun. His name was Thomas Dewey, aged 46, the current MP for the riding of Poughkeepsie – Newburgh, a former Crown Prosecutor in New York City, and a fiercely charismatic leader of the opposition. His rapid rise within the ranks of the Conservative Party over the course of the preceding ten years or so saw him emerge as the most popular leader the Tories had yet floated against the Prime Minister, who was not particularly interested in gunning for another term as head of the government.
The hulking Gothic revival albatross that was Center Block cast a large shadow around Philadelphia, it’s iconic clock tower souring towards the sky as the symbol of the Commonwealth’s timelessly democratic traditions. The building had housed both chambers of Parliament, the House of Commons and the Senate, replacing the aged and cramped Commonwealth Hall where the Fathers of the Confederation drafted the constitution at the close of the 18th century. Once hailed in the press as the “house of the people,” the Center Block and it’s surrounding office complexes had dramatically changed during the war years. Armed soldiers still patrolled the grounds, and checkpoints marked all entries to the compound. Though the road blocks and barbed wire and even the anti-aircraft guns had been removed, the massive aerial spotlights were turned off, and the camouflage netting removed, the signs of the war still remained. Though the scars that seared the surface of London were avoided across the ocean in Philadelphia, the threat of attack on the homeland seemed more real than ever now that the world had entered the age of the atomic bomb.
A line of black cadillacs, the government owned cars which chauffered Ministers around the capital, pulled through the gates past the ceremonially clad guardsmen of the Royal American Rifles, slowly creeping past the Longworth and Cannon office buildings before circling the Adams Memorial at the base of the building, coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairways to the front entrance. Soldiers and members of the Royal American Mounted Police gathered in anticipation of the daily ritual, clearing the way for the Prime Minister to return to #1 America Avenue, his official residence near the banks of the Delaware River. King walked bristly through the Hall of Honor, making his way from the Commons chamber where he had recently concluded another bristling exchange with Dewey. Joining him as he walked was his Deputy Prime Minister, Missouri MP Harry Truman.
“I can’t stand him, Harry’eh” he said, his Canadian accent exaggerating Truman’s name with near patrician perfection, “I just can’t stand him!”
“Nobody around here likes that ‘son of a bitch” answered Truman, who was preoccupied with the promise of returning to his beloved hometown of Confederation, Missouri, near Cansez City. King laughed at Truman’s expressed mutual distaste for Dewey, but he knew that his Deputy did not take seriously enough the threat presented by the Opposition Leader. “He came here the same year you did” noted the Prime Minister wryly, “I guess you’ve had a lot more time to think it over.”
“A lot can happen over ten years” said Truman, “at least in politics…but some people...some things, well, they just never change. That guy is a real pocket full of firecrackers.” “He’s a real piece of shit is what he is!” interjected King as the two began to descend the steps, with no awaiting reporters to shout questions their way, a rare luxury for the two men at a very important moment.
“I want you to think about it” said King as the two men parted at the bottom of the steps, each preparing to take them in a separate car to their residences. “I’ll talk it over with the boss when I get home” said Truman, referring to his wife Bess, who was awaiting him with their daughter Margaret at their home in Confederation, “but I can’t make any promises. Not tonight, not today. But I’ll have an answer by Monday.”
“Good” answered King as he stepped into his awaiting car, “good. Enjoy your holiday, Harry.”
Saturday, July 3rd, 1948.
Thomas Dewey, leader of the opposition, addresses Tories in Caernarfon, Columbia.The leader of the opposition was exhausted.
Thomas Dewey had expected to lead the Tories when he was named their leader in 1945, not to moderate them. Yet here he was, the former Crown Prosecutor of New York who championed crusades against corruption and locked up scores of mobsters, now playing the role of a glorified babysitter, forced to keep the fragile peace between Taft and Vandenberg as the Conservative Party threatened to splinter apart. The day before, the leader of the opposition had won yet another robust exchange with the Prime Minister within the House of Commons, and the parliament had adjourned for the holiday weekend. Now he was on the other side of the country, having flown overnight to Caernarfon where he was to address a rally in support of the Conservative Party; there was speculation that a federal election would soon be called, as King had previously called early elections four years through his five-year mandates in 1936, 1940, and 1944, even though no article of legislation required him to do so. But King was also aging, and was this showed in the Commons at the dispatch box. For the first time in well over a decade, it appeared as if the stars were aligning for the Tories, with some polling showing the party within grasp of victory should an election be called.
Despite all that had occurred under King's leadership of the Commonwealth, he was not particularly popular. He was not charismatic, often darted around serious and pointed political issues by allowing his caucus to decide policy, and would often undermine or playoff his Ministers against one another in order to avoid the responsibilities of politics. While he pushed for American autonomy throughout his lengthy career as both party leader and Prime Minister, he was also subservient to the will of British Prime Minister Churchill throughout the war, and there were more than a few incidents during his time in office when members of his own party plotted to remove him from office. The Prime Minister had never seemed so weak politically, and the promise of victory which had long eluded the Tories seemed once more within reach.
Yet the Conservatives remained fractured, and instead of campaigning against the government, it seemed that Dewey was campaigning more for party unity. He had been elected by a divided caucus in 1945 over Arthur Vandenberg, who had briefly succeeded the late Theodore Roosevelt Jr. as leader of the party following his death in 1944. A virtual unknown outside of New York City, Dewey's popularity led to the media briefly describing his early leadership of the Conservative Party as being propelled by "Dewey-mania," and his appeal to conservative and moderate members of the party alike was based around his image as a crime fighting crusader against communism. But his appeal to both wings of the party was not enough to heal the damage down between the rift between Taft and Vandenberg, two giants of the House of Commons. Despite being members of the same party, their vastly differing visions and their deep person animosity had sparked a civil war within the Tory caucus that Dewey simply could not contain. The battle was not only being fought on the backbenches, but within the party apparatus itself, with local party committees tearing themselves apart as factionalization increased. Dewey knew that a divided party could not compete effectively nor efficiently against King's government, and sought to heal these wounds before King could call a federal election.
The civil war within the Tory ranks played out in constituencies across the country, where grassroots party activists often found themselves at odds with the party bosses and the big wigs who dominated the informal and often regionally varied processes of selecting candidates for the Commons. Dewey had hoped to make a swing through the provinces of Columbia and Oregon, long dominated by the Liberals, due to the rise in support for the Progressives and Socialist parties in the west, with the intent of capitalizing on the balkanized vote share of the left-wing parties. The situation was delicate; in selecting candidates who could win over disaffected Liberals, the party risked losing the support of their most loyal but increasingly right-wing base of support. In attempting to appease the Tory base, they risked alienating swingvoters who were otherwise fatigued by sixteen years of interrupted Liberal rule under King. Dewey, who was a vigorous and widely traveled campaigner and champion of the Conservative cause, was eager to make the trip in order to personally settle one such dispute in one particular Columbia riding. His oratory was widely praised, and his planned speech in the city of Caernarfon was set to draw huge crowds the following day as the nation marked Confederation Day.
Dewey departed the plane as a light, cold drizzle fell from the night sky with his young traveling aide, a 30 year old by the name of Clifton White. Stepping onto the tarmac virtually anonymously among the other passengers, the two had flown all night from Philadelphia with a layover in Saint Louis, and both were jetlagged and drained. They were greeted by a handful of party grandees on the tarmac, but there was one young man in particular whom Dewey had sought to size up for himself. His name was Richard Milhouse Nixon; the child of poor Quaker farmers who migrated westward to Columbia from their homes in the midwest. Nixon, having grown up in poverty, had worked his way through law school at Duke University in North Carolina before serving in the Pacific during the war. In between, he had briefly been employed for a stint in the federal bureaucracy at the Office of Price Administration, an experience which had left a bitter taste in his mouth, which he would often relate to voters as he made his transition into politics. A small town lawyer from the town of Surrey in Columbia, Nixon was a bit of an oddity within political life. A loner who was devoted to his wife and daughters but had few friends in or out of high office, Nixon's scorched earth approach to politics shocked and surprised observers as he seemingly came out of nowhere. George Twiss, the odds on favorite for the nomination of the Conservative Party, was at a loss as to how to handle Nixon's candidacy, as the little known lawyer quickly rallied the support of local bigwigs and found a devoted following among the local grassroots. Though Dewey had previously committed to backing Twiss once more, as he had been the party's candidate in the riding of Fraser Valley in 1944, Nixon's candidacy seemed more intriguing and promising. Held by Liberal MP Thomas Reid sincee 1932, there was the real possibility that the seat could be taken back in 1948 or 1949, and Dewey knew he'd need to throw his weight behind the right man for the job.
After a few hellos and handshakes, Dewey reached Nixon, who was easily distinguished by his prominent browl. "I understand you were in the war" he began, "the Pacific?" "Yes, sir" affirmed Nixon, "New Guinea." "And you're a lawyer?" "Yes, sir" replied Nixon once more, "I handle almost any kind of case that comes my way, aside from divorce." Dewey chuckled, and continued down the small reception line. As the men made their way from the runway to a gaggle of awaiting cars idling in the grass, Dewey again approached Nixon. "We'll be heading towards the Hotel Caernarfon" said the leader of the opposition, "would it trouble you for a lift?" "From me?" asked Nixon, "sure."
The two men entered Nixon's car, and the small informal motorcade rumbled off into the night towards the Hotel, where a brief reception over cigars and brandy was planned at the last moment to welcome Dewey. "So you're standing in Fraser Valley?" "Against Reid, yes." "Terribly good year to stand for Parliament, Mr. Nixon" "You can call me Dick, sir." "Well, Dick" said Dewey, "you've certainly caused a stir already in Philadelphia already." "Some of the party's top men around here haven't taken a shining to me" answered Nixon, "Davie doesn't like me too much" he continued, referencing the increasingly visible MP from the riding of Kamloops. "No" answered Dewey, "he told me as much before I flew out here. But Pearkes likes you." "Pearks only likes me because I was in the Pacific" bemoaned Nixon, "they don't like outsiders. Davies father was a politician. His grandfather too. Your father was a newspaper man, if I recall?" "That was so" answered Dewey, "in Michigan." "Than you understand" said Nixon, who began to sense he had an ally in the leader of the opposition. In temperment, the two men were alike, aloof and introverted by nature, but very different in their styles of political operating. Their respective backgrounds endeared one another to each other almost instantly, and Dewey found the quietly ambitious Nixon to be a capable standard bearer of the party. Their conversation continued during the twenty minute ride downtown, where they parted outside the Hotel Caernarfon.
Rejoining his aide Clifton White, Dewey was quick to relay his thoughts on Nixon. "He's got a real chip on his shoulder" said Dewey, "which is why I think he's a winning candidate for Fraser Valley."
A highly developed nation, the Dominion boasts an abundance of natural resources and a long tradition of industry. With the seventh highest GDP per capita and ranked first by the Human Development Index, the Commonwealth of America is both the foremost economic power of both North America. Its advanced economy, one of the largest in the world, relies on well-developed trade networks, agricultural and industrial export, finance, technology, and tourism. America is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the Council of Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the G7 (formerly G8), the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The Commonwealth of America is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II serving as head of state, though she is represented in this role by a Governor -General. Political power is wielded by the Prime Minister, who is drawn from the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament of the Commonwealth. The other being the less influential Senate, which consists of two members from each province elected by the legislature. The Commonwealth is officially bilingual, with a large Francophone minority in Indiana and Quebec. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.
Various indigenous peoples have inhabited what is now the American Commonwealth for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. What followed after was a period of unrest over taxation, colonial autonomy, and corruption led to the ultimate Confederation of Britain’s continental holdings. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. This widening autonomy was highlighted by Confederation and the subsequent adoption of the Constitution's in 1785.
Friday, July 2nd, 1948.
Deputy Prime Minister Harry Truman & Prime Minister William Mackenzie King
William Mackenzie King was one of the most powerful men in the Empire, and indeed, perhaps the entire world. Though his career had been patterned around a string of defeats in riding after riding, he had always managed to bounce back, his legacy being defined by luck as much as sheer resolve. An eccentric technocrat, King sought to transform the Commonwealth with his brand of liberalism, which emphasized corporate-crown cooperation in order to both foster social harmony and empower the Commonwealth within the broader Empire. And as of 1948, it had seemed that he had succeeded. For thirty years, King led the Liberal Party of America, facing off every Conservative leader from Roosevelt Sr. to the late Roosevelt Jr. at the dispatch box in the House of Commons, and for the preceding 16 years, he had led the nation as well, implementing the New Deal that halted the Great Depression and transformed America, as well as throwing the Commonwealth's industrial, financial, and military might behind London during the darkest hours of the war. But soon the Prime Minister would be facing his strongest challenger yet.
It came not in the form of the Nazi war machine which had for so long threatened the unity and territorial integrity of the Empire and her allied partners, nor the rising tide of Soviet sponsored communism, nor the fierce, suicidal devotion of the now vanquished Japanese Empire. No, it was not a nation state nor ideology, but rather a distinctive, dapper, if not slightly demure man who was ascending the heights of power like the rising sun. His name was Thomas Dewey, aged 46, the current MP for the riding of Poughkeepsie – Newburgh, a former Crown Prosecutor in New York City, and a fiercely charismatic leader of the opposition. His rapid rise within the ranks of the Conservative Party over the course of the preceding ten years or so saw him emerge as the most popular leader the Tories had yet floated against the Prime Minister, who was not particularly interested in gunning for another term as head of the government.
The hulking Gothic revival albatross that was Center Block cast a large shadow around Philadelphia, it’s iconic clock tower souring towards the sky as the symbol of the Commonwealth’s timelessly democratic traditions. The building had housed both chambers of Parliament, the House of Commons and the Senate, replacing the aged and cramped Commonwealth Hall where the Fathers of the Confederation drafted the constitution at the close of the 18th century. Once hailed in the press as the “house of the people,” the Center Block and it’s surrounding office complexes had dramatically changed during the war years. Armed soldiers still patrolled the grounds, and checkpoints marked all entries to the compound. Though the road blocks and barbed wire and even the anti-aircraft guns had been removed, the massive aerial spotlights were turned off, and the camouflage netting removed, the signs of the war still remained. Though the scars that seared the surface of London were avoided across the ocean in Philadelphia, the threat of attack on the homeland seemed more real than ever now that the world had entered the age of the atomic bomb.
A line of black cadillacs, the government owned cars which chauffered Ministers around the capital, pulled through the gates past the ceremonially clad guardsmen of the Royal American Rifles, slowly creeping past the Longworth and Cannon office buildings before circling the Adams Memorial at the base of the building, coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairways to the front entrance. Soldiers and members of the Royal American Mounted Police gathered in anticipation of the daily ritual, clearing the way for the Prime Minister to return to #1 America Avenue, his official residence near the banks of the Delaware River. King walked bristly through the Hall of Honor, making his way from the Commons chamber where he had recently concluded another bristling exchange with Dewey. Joining him as he walked was his Deputy Prime Minister, Missouri MP Harry Truman.
“I can’t stand him, Harry’eh” he said, his Canadian accent exaggerating Truman’s name with near patrician perfection, “I just can’t stand him!”
“Nobody around here likes that ‘son of a bitch” answered Truman, who was preoccupied with the promise of returning to his beloved hometown of Confederation, Missouri, near Cansez City. King laughed at Truman’s expressed mutual distaste for Dewey, but he knew that his Deputy did not take seriously enough the threat presented by the Opposition Leader. “He came here the same year you did” noted the Prime Minister wryly, “I guess you’ve had a lot more time to think it over.”
“A lot can happen over ten years” said Truman, “at least in politics…but some people...some things, well, they just never change. That guy is a real pocket full of firecrackers.” “He’s a real piece of shit is what he is!” interjected King as the two began to descend the steps, with no awaiting reporters to shout questions their way, a rare luxury for the two men at a very important moment.
“I want you to think about it” said King as the two men parted at the bottom of the steps, each preparing to take them in a separate car to their residences. “I’ll talk it over with the boss when I get home” said Truman, referring to his wife Bess, who was awaiting him with their daughter Margaret at their home in Confederation, “but I can’t make any promises. Not tonight, not today. But I’ll have an answer by Monday.”
“Good” answered King as he stepped into his awaiting car, “good. Enjoy your holiday, Harry.”
Saturday, July 3rd, 1948.
Thomas Dewey, leader of the opposition, addresses Tories in Caernarfon, Columbia.
Thomas Dewey had expected to lead the Tories when he was named their leader in 1945, not to moderate them. Yet here he was, the former Crown Prosecutor of New York who championed crusades against corruption and locked up scores of mobsters, now playing the role of a glorified babysitter, forced to keep the fragile peace between Taft and Vandenberg as the Conservative Party threatened to splinter apart. The day before, the leader of the opposition had won yet another robust exchange with the Prime Minister within the House of Commons, and the parliament had adjourned for the holiday weekend. Now he was on the other side of the country, having flown overnight to Caernarfon where he was to address a rally in support of the Conservative Party; there was speculation that a federal election would soon be called, as King had previously called early elections four years through his five-year mandates in 1936, 1940, and 1944, even though no article of legislation required him to do so. But King was also aging, and was this showed in the Commons at the dispatch box. For the first time in well over a decade, it appeared as if the stars were aligning for the Tories, with some polling showing the party within grasp of victory should an election be called.
Despite all that had occurred under King's leadership of the Commonwealth, he was not particularly popular. He was not charismatic, often darted around serious and pointed political issues by allowing his caucus to decide policy, and would often undermine or playoff his Ministers against one another in order to avoid the responsibilities of politics. While he pushed for American autonomy throughout his lengthy career as both party leader and Prime Minister, he was also subservient to the will of British Prime Minister Churchill throughout the war, and there were more than a few incidents during his time in office when members of his own party plotted to remove him from office. The Prime Minister had never seemed so weak politically, and the promise of victory which had long eluded the Tories seemed once more within reach.
Yet the Conservatives remained fractured, and instead of campaigning against the government, it seemed that Dewey was campaigning more for party unity. He had been elected by a divided caucus in 1945 over Arthur Vandenberg, who had briefly succeeded the late Theodore Roosevelt Jr. as leader of the party following his death in 1944. A virtual unknown outside of New York City, Dewey's popularity led to the media briefly describing his early leadership of the Conservative Party as being propelled by "Dewey-mania," and his appeal to conservative and moderate members of the party alike was based around his image as a crime fighting crusader against communism. But his appeal to both wings of the party was not enough to heal the damage down between the rift between Taft and Vandenberg, two giants of the House of Commons. Despite being members of the same party, their vastly differing visions and their deep person animosity had sparked a civil war within the Tory caucus that Dewey simply could not contain. The battle was not only being fought on the backbenches, but within the party apparatus itself, with local party committees tearing themselves apart as factionalization increased. Dewey knew that a divided party could not compete effectively nor efficiently against King's government, and sought to heal these wounds before King could call a federal election.
The civil war within the Tory ranks played out in constituencies across the country, where grassroots party activists often found themselves at odds with the party bosses and the big wigs who dominated the informal and often regionally varied processes of selecting candidates for the Commons. Dewey had hoped to make a swing through the provinces of Columbia and Oregon, long dominated by the Liberals, due to the rise in support for the Progressives and Socialist parties in the west, with the intent of capitalizing on the balkanized vote share of the left-wing parties. The situation was delicate; in selecting candidates who could win over disaffected Liberals, the party risked losing the support of their most loyal but increasingly right-wing base of support. In attempting to appease the Tory base, they risked alienating swingvoters who were otherwise fatigued by sixteen years of interrupted Liberal rule under King. Dewey, who was a vigorous and widely traveled campaigner and champion of the Conservative cause, was eager to make the trip in order to personally settle one such dispute in one particular Columbia riding. His oratory was widely praised, and his planned speech in the city of Caernarfon was set to draw huge crowds the following day as the nation marked Confederation Day.
Dewey departed the plane as a light, cold drizzle fell from the night sky with his young traveling aide, a 30 year old by the name of Clifton White. Stepping onto the tarmac virtually anonymously among the other passengers, the two had flown all night from Philadelphia with a layover in Saint Louis, and both were jetlagged and drained. They were greeted by a handful of party grandees on the tarmac, but there was one young man in particular whom Dewey had sought to size up for himself. His name was Richard Milhouse Nixon; the child of poor Quaker farmers who migrated westward to Columbia from their homes in the midwest. Nixon, having grown up in poverty, had worked his way through law school at Duke University in North Carolina before serving in the Pacific during the war. In between, he had briefly been employed for a stint in the federal bureaucracy at the Office of Price Administration, an experience which had left a bitter taste in his mouth, which he would often relate to voters as he made his transition into politics. A small town lawyer from the town of Surrey in Columbia, Nixon was a bit of an oddity within political life. A loner who was devoted to his wife and daughters but had few friends in or out of high office, Nixon's scorched earth approach to politics shocked and surprised observers as he seemingly came out of nowhere. George Twiss, the odds on favorite for the nomination of the Conservative Party, was at a loss as to how to handle Nixon's candidacy, as the little known lawyer quickly rallied the support of local bigwigs and found a devoted following among the local grassroots. Though Dewey had previously committed to backing Twiss once more, as he had been the party's candidate in the riding of Fraser Valley in 1944, Nixon's candidacy seemed more intriguing and promising. Held by Liberal MP Thomas Reid sincee 1932, there was the real possibility that the seat could be taken back in 1948 or 1949, and Dewey knew he'd need to throw his weight behind the right man for the job.
After a few hellos and handshakes, Dewey reached Nixon, who was easily distinguished by his prominent browl. "I understand you were in the war" he began, "the Pacific?" "Yes, sir" affirmed Nixon, "New Guinea." "And you're a lawyer?" "Yes, sir" replied Nixon once more, "I handle almost any kind of case that comes my way, aside from divorce." Dewey chuckled, and continued down the small reception line. As the men made their way from the runway to a gaggle of awaiting cars idling in the grass, Dewey again approached Nixon. "We'll be heading towards the Hotel Caernarfon" said the leader of the opposition, "would it trouble you for a lift?" "From me?" asked Nixon, "sure."
The two men entered Nixon's car, and the small informal motorcade rumbled off into the night towards the Hotel, where a brief reception over cigars and brandy was planned at the last moment to welcome Dewey. "So you're standing in Fraser Valley?" "Against Reid, yes." "Terribly good year to stand for Parliament, Mr. Nixon" "You can call me Dick, sir." "Well, Dick" said Dewey, "you've certainly caused a stir already in Philadelphia already." "Some of the party's top men around here haven't taken a shining to me" answered Nixon, "Davie doesn't like me too much" he continued, referencing the increasingly visible MP from the riding of Kamloops. "No" answered Dewey, "he told me as much before I flew out here. But Pearkes likes you." "Pearks only likes me because I was in the Pacific" bemoaned Nixon, "they don't like outsiders. Davies father was a politician. His grandfather too. Your father was a newspaper man, if I recall?" "That was so" answered Dewey, "in Michigan." "Than you understand" said Nixon, who began to sense he had an ally in the leader of the opposition. In temperment, the two men were alike, aloof and introverted by nature, but very different in their styles of political operating. Their respective backgrounds endeared one another to each other almost instantly, and Dewey found the quietly ambitious Nixon to be a capable standard bearer of the party. Their conversation continued during the twenty minute ride downtown, where they parted outside the Hotel Caernarfon.
Rejoining his aide Clifton White, Dewey was quick to relay his thoughts on Nixon. "He's got a real chip on his shoulder" said Dewey, "which is why I think he's a winning candidate for Fraser Valley."
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