Give Peace A Chance: The Presidency of Eugene McCarthy

[The Lethargic Lett]

​

There is a veritable avalanche of alternate history timelines surrounding the Election of 1968. It is, perhaps, the most written about, analysed, and discussed election in alternate history history. Normally, these stories involve a last-minute Hail Mary pulled off by that year's Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, or Robert Kennedy surviving the attempt on his life to rise to the White House and reclaim Camelot. Occasionally, Richard Nixon chooses a different running mate, who later becomes President upon Nixon’s untimely demise. But, there is one figure who always seems to be on the periphery of those stories: the black sheep of 1968, who usually serves as an ‘also ran’ in dozens of different timelines, but never succeeds in any of them himself. He gets to lead a third party, tops.

Well, this is the story of that man.

This is the story of Eugene McCarthy.

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Now this is a timeline that’s been kicking around the ol’ brainpan for a long time now. I knew I wanted to do a timeline even before I had an account here, but I don’t particularly remember why I settled on Eugene McCarthy as the focus of it. Regardless, this thing is about two years in the making from initial conception, to research, to writing this now. Hopefully I won’t fall victim to losing interest in my own project, that bane of alternate history writers everywhere.

My goal is to chronicle the election of 1968 to the end of the Eugene McCarthy Presidency, though my ambitious side hopes to cover the fifty-year period from 1968 to 2018. We’ll see. If all goes well, I’ll post something every four to six days. I’ve got a posting schedule on my calendar and everything!

Special Thanks to @Meyer London for early suggestions, @Gentleman Biaggi for wikiboxes, and @Existencil and @historybuff for occasional writing help.

Spoiler: Research Sources

Here's a list of books and other sources I used to research this grand adventure. To avoid spoilers, I'll only be posting books that are immediately relevant to the timeline, and add more as it progresses.

-Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism

-The Limits of Power: America's Role in the World

-The Eugene J. McCarthy Collection of the University of Minnesota

-Sources on McCarthy Provided by the Minnesota Historical Society

-Sources on McCarthy Provided by the Minnesota History Center Gale Family Library

-Playing With Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics

-Richard Nixon: The Life

-In History's Shadow: An American Memoir by John Connally

-Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party: A Political Biography of Gerald R. Ford

-The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America

-President Carter: The White House Years

-James A. Rhodes: Ohio Colossus

-New Deal Republican: James A. Rhodes and the Transformation of the Republican Party, 1933-1983

-Reagan: The Life

-Nevada's Paul Laxalt

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“You know when I first thought I might have a chance? When I realized that you could go into any bar in the country and insult Lyndon Johnson and nobody would punch you in the nose.”

• Eugene McCarthy on running for the Presidency

Without exception, the funeral of a President is always a big event. The middle-aged remnants of the hippie movement were an especially noticeable presence, as were that of "his kids," the then-college students who had canvassed New Hampshire for their man back in 1968. Except for a few holdouts, most had moved on to a quiet home life in suburbia rather than continue the lifestyle of a rebellious counterculture protester. Despite 'their' President's great unpopularity by the time he left office, history (or perhaps more importantly, Presidential ranking lists) had been relatively kind to him. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and he was indeed remembered fondly by Democrats, and even some Republicans, for his political legacy: a legacy that was a confused mess of idealism and pragmatism, apathy and activism, with fate (and possibly good breeding) deciding he would simply outlive most of his enemies, and most of his friends, for that matter.

The important names and faces of Capitol Hill, along with a slew of foreign dignitaries, had come to pay their respects. Eulogies were delivered by the President, the living former Presidents, and the surviving members of his cabinet, among many others.

No one enjoyed the moment when the representative for Vietnam, and the representative for the Vietnam "government-in-exile" bumped into each other.

He may not have been described as a kind man by many, but a sharp wit, and a formidable international legacy was what was left behind by Eugene Joseph McCarthy, the 37th President of the United States of America.


"I think Kennedy was the spoiler and that he should have withdrawn in favor of McCarthy. After all, it was McCarthy who went into New Hampshire and destroyed LBJ, something Bobby did not have the courage to do. For all of Bobby’s renowned toughness and abrasiveness, he was politically conventional and timid. He wanted to be President in the 'normal' way. He wanted ‘to put it together.’ Well, it isn’t together anymore. It was his bad luck to be caught in a revolution he didn’t understand... and that revolution put McCarthy over the top."

• Gore Vidal on the Election of 1968

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“I run because this country is now involved in a deep crisis of leadership; a crisis of national purpose - and a crisis of American ideals. It is time to substitute a leadership of fear for a leadership of hope. This is not simply what I want, or what most of us want. It is, I believe, the deepest hunger of the American soul.”

• Senator Eugene McCarthy on running for the Democratic nomination for President, 1967

Nothing went as planned in the Election of 1968.

What started out as the shoe-in re-election of an incumbent President instead ended with the election of a no-name Senator from Minnesota. Ever since Lyndon B. Johnson’s crushing victory over Barry Goldwater in the Election of 1964, the Democrats seemed to be ascendant, but behind the scenes, they had been rapidly growing cracks over how to proceed with the Vietnam War. President Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and Speaker of the House John McCormack all supported the war, while the disorganized anti-war Democrats - nominally led by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee J. William Fulbright - had been pushed to the side of the administration. Despite Johnson’s large-scale investments into America through the War on Poverty, and his ushering in of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, his economic and domestic achievements were beginning to be dwarfed by undesirable foreign policy, and discontent with the lack of 'law and order' in the United States. Everyone knew Johnson was going to win the Democratic nomination unopposed, but it was guaranteed to be close against the Republican challenger, who was likely to be Richard Nixon, Eisenhower’s Vice President and the 1960 Republican Presidential candidate. Nixon, who had narrowly lost to Johnson’s assassinated predecessor, the near-mythical President John F. Kennedy. Nixon was making a political comeback of the ages following nearly eight years of racking up favours from Republican politicians, and other such behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

Despite having the full backing of the party machinery, Johnson’s authority was consistently questioned by that small but vocal group of anti-war Democrats. But, in Johnson’s mind, it wasn’t something to be concerned about: whenever re-election season came around, most didn’t say a word about the war in Vietnam, which the majority of Americans still supported.

That being said, the anti-war Democrats had tapped a nerve. A concerted “Dump Johnson” Movement emerged, led by the junior politician Allard Lowenstein, along with the political activist Curtis Gans. The duo later became a trio when they were joined by activist Midge Miller. They planned to field an anti-war candidate against Johnson in the Democratic primaries, who would inevitably lose, but would force Johnson to moderate his stance on Vietnam. With that goal in mind, the movement hunted for a candidate throughout 1967. Initially, they tried to draft Senator Robert Kennedy, the brother and Attorney General of the late President Kennedy. But, after much vacillating and in spite of his antagonistic relationship with Johnson, Kennedy refused to risk running against the sitting President. After Kennedy, Lowenstein and Gans approached as many anti-war figures they could think of, from the darkest of dark horses, Senator Lee Metcalf of Montana, to war heroes, such as former General James M. Gavin. The closest to accept, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, eventually decided against it, as he feared that running against Johnson would ruin his chances of re-election to the Senate.

After plenty of searching, it seemed the only person willing to lock horns with Johnson was his almost-Vice President, Senator Eugene McCarthy.

Eugene, or, as he was more commonly known, 'Gene' McCarthy was the senior Senator for Minnesota. A relatively unknown opponent to the Vietnam War, McCarthy was eligible for re-election to the Senate, but had grown bored with politics and intended to retire. However, McCarthy was increasingly concerned by the scope of the Vietnam War, and he was convinced by Midge Miller to throw his hat in the ring.

Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota
​

In late 1967, McCarthy began to enter his name into Democratic primaries, with the expressed goal of attempting to defeat the President in the Wisconsin Primary.

As the plan went, he would raise a ruckus against Johnson, maybe get a peace plank in at the Democratic Convention, then fade into obscurity. While officially, the White House considered McCarthy’s candidacy a joke, in private, Johnson was concerned that if McCarthy was able to get the endorsement of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, that it would split the party down the middle [1]. After all, the late 1960s were not a good time to be a Democrat.

Race riots had enveloped major cities all across the country, and were only made worse by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The Democratic Party was lambasted as the party of crime, excess, and disorder by the media, the Republicans, and the voting public at large, while internal squabbles were only getting worse. Both doves and hawks harassed Johnson as overly-aggressive, or as not aggressive enough regarding Vietnam, and elements of the conservative wing of the party were bolting to join forces with Southern populist and avowed segregationist, George Wallace. With this backdrop of chaos, McCarthy began his underdog campaign in early 1967. At the same time, rumours began circulating that McCarthy was attempting to weaken Johnson for Robert Kennedy to swoop down and win the nomination. McCarthy, ambivalent about the presidency at best, privately confided to friends and family that a Kennedy victory would be the best result, despite his long running feud with the Kennedy family. Indeed, McCarthy stuck to the language of being "willing" to run and would "accept" the nomination, having something of a lackadaisical approach to campaigning. When asked by Johnny Carson if he would be a good President of the United States, McCarthy replied that he would be "adequate."

Ironically, McCarthy had previously been friends with Johnson, but after being led on by Johnson that he would be the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in 1964, they had had a falling out, with the then-junior Senator McCarthy, whose stars seemed to be about to align, being practically exiled from the President’s inner circle. The Vice Presidential nomination instead went to the then-senior Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Known as the “Happy Warrior” of progressive causes in the Senate, Humphrey was well-liked, competent, and popular, and was most definitely the more meritocratic pick for Vice President if one were to choose between Senators from Minnesota. Humphrey would go on to ride the Johnson landslide, but many progressive Democrats felt thereafter that with the Happy Warrior taking his marching orders from Lyndon Johnson, he was turning a blind eye to the administration’s military excesses in Vietnam.

After McCarthy declared his candidacy, Vice President Humphrey met with his erstwhile ally, and was assured that he was running because of his beliefs on Vietnam, not any personal animosity towards Johnson or his choice in Vice Presidents. Humphrey remained skeptical, but their Senate colleagues tended to believe McCarthy’s sincerity, even if they thought he didn't stand a Republican’s chance in Alabama.

Eugene McCarthy with President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Oval Office in 1964, before their split.

​

Holding rallies in St. Louis and Miami, McCarthy focused on the Vietnam War and civil rights in his speeches, and was getting an increasing amount of media attention from bemused onlookers. McCarthy failed to gain much traction amongst his fellow congressmen, but he did manage to gain the endorsement (and delegates) of the Conference of Concerned Democrats, as well as Americans for Democratic Action. At the same time, McCarthy was convinced by his staff that he needed a headline catching move, so he decided to run in the first primary in moderate New Hampshire, not just anti-war Wisconsin. As New Hampshire's primary approached, many of the delegates from Minnesota declared they would nominate Eugene McCarthy to the Democratic Presidential slot, instead of re-nominating Hubert Humphrey to the Vice Presidency of it came down to it at the upcoming 1968 Democratic National Convention. As a result, President Johnson decided to pull his name from the Wisconsin and Massachusetts ballots (relying on write-ins and local power players to sustain him) so that he could focus entirely on a vigorous campaign in New Hampshire to strangle the Dump Johnson Movement in its crib. However, Johnson's political fortunes took a sour turn with the Tet Offensive in late January of 1968. A massive surprise attack by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, the Tet Offensive was a total tactical failure for the communists, but shattered the American perception of Vietnam as an imminently winnable war. With this revelation, many began to take their first serious look at McCarthy. Doves and Hawks alike started to see McCarthy as a vehicle for change.

McCarthy’s campaign served to be incredibly popular with younger voters, especially hippies and college students, many of whom campaigned on his behalf. College students from all over New England and New York poured into the state to McCarthy's New Hampshire campaign headquarters at the Sheraton-Wayfarer Hotel in Wilmington, New Hampshire to volunteer. This, in turn, inspired McCarthy’s unofficial campaign slogan, “Get Clean for Gene.” McCarthy hoped that by organizing the youth vote and have them cut their hair to look presentable to rural county-folk and suburbanites, he could use them to go door-to-door to advocate for his policies. The tactic worked quite well: volunteers canvassed the state, while a media blitz was organized by McCarthy's new Campaign Organizer (and Johnson's former Special Assistant to the President) Richard N. Goodwin at the same time Gene's wife, Abigail, launched a mailing campaign. McCarthy himself was an inconsistent campaigner who often missed his own events and didn't schedule any events in the morning because he said he "was not really a morning person." This lacklustre performance was alleviated by the fact that McCarthy was the only active campaigner in the state.

In New Hampshire, McCarthy not only ran in the Democratic primary, but ran a write-in campaign in the Republican primary. Most anti-war Republicans ultimately supported New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller over McCarthy.

​

As the New Hampshire primary approached, the McCarthy campaign had put in a spirited, if disorganized, effort. Optimistic estimates expected around twenty percent of the vote, at most.

But luck had little to do with it.

Johnson had critically underestimated his unpopularity, not just amongst anti-war voters, but among hawkish voters who no longer had confidence in Johnson after the Tet Offensive. Doves wanted the war to end, hawks wanted to invade North Vietnam, and Johnson was doing neither. McCarthy’s calm, deliberate, and straightforward mannerisms had endeared him to the more conservative-minded people of New Hampshire, while the Johnson campaign (organized by New Hampshire Governor John King) appeared completely out-of-touch, with Johnson's character being described as anywhere between “exuberant” and “hyperthyroid.”

When the polls closed and the votes were counted on the cold night of March 12th, 1968, Eugene McCarthy had won forty-two percent of the vote to Johnson’s forty-nine, coming within two-hundred and fifty votes of winning the state. An incredibly close margin for an obscure challenger against a sitting President.

There was blood in the water, and everyone could smell it.

Just days after, Robert Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in what many saw as an opportunistic move. To put salt on the wound, McCarthy's Campaign Organizer, Richard Goodwin jumped shipped to the Kennedy campaign. Flush with his victory-in-defeat and stung by the new split in support, McCarthy denounced Kennedy’s entry, going back on his intention to step down if Kennedy entered the race.

As for the President himself, he had had enough.

Facing failing health and a brutal power struggle within his own party, Lyndon Baines Johnson declared to a shocked nation that he would not seek re-election as President of the United States of America.

The battle for the nomination had begun.


“In 1964, I had every right to think Johnson would pick me as his Vice President. All the signals I was getting were very positive. Without any notice to me, it was Humphrey. I vowed I would get that son of a bitch, and I did.”

• President-Elect Eugene McCarthy on running for the Democratic nomination for President, 1968

[1] As LBJ feared, Martin Luther King Jr. endorsed Eugene McCarthy before his death. King's endorsement was used in radio advertisements by McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“You are one helluva guy.”

• Senator Hubert Humphrey to Senator Eugene McCarthy, 1960

With President Johnson not running for re-election, the race for the Democratic nomination blew wide open. Robert Kennedy scrambled to set up the infrastructure for a campaign, and, shortly after, Vice President Hubert Humphrey declared his candidacy as a continuation of Johnson’s policies. Humphrey missed the deadline for entering the primaries, and instead relied on unpledged delegates and an alliance of favourite son stand-ins to clinch the nomination.

While some states, such as New Hampshire, held a primary (a ‘mini-election’ between candidates of the same party to determine who that state’s delegates would vote for at the party’s National Convention and therefore who would become the party’s Presidential nominee), most states still used delegate slates appointed by the party elite of their own state. McCarthy and Kennedy were both relying on the former to push forward their candidacies, while Humphrey was relying on the latter.

All the while, Eugene McCarthy plodded along, with his organizers in a state of absolute chaos.

The McCarthy campaign had always intended to face off against Lyndon Johnson, fight the good fight, then lose. Now, thanks to Johnson dropping out, they had three states under their belt (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) and no plan whatsoever to campaign against Hubert Humphrey or 'Bobby’ Kennedy. With McCarthy's Campaign Organizer, Richard N. Goodwin, jumping ship to work for the Kennedy campaign, McCarthy's Chief of Staff, Blair Clark, took on most organizational responsibilities along with Allard Lowenstein. As for Kennedy becoming his primary primary opponent, McCarthy had to do an about-face on his campaign trail dialogue. Initially campaigning on a return to pre-Johnson policies, instead McCarthy found himself denouncing John Kennedy as the root of the Vietnam War. A change that came naturally to McCarthy due to his long-running animosity towards the Kennedy clan.

Saint Gene and the Dragon: a political cartoon circulated during the 1968 Democratic primaries, showing McCarthy as classical hero, doing battle with the fire-breathing dragon of the Senate, Lyndon B. Johnson.
​

In 1960, Eugene McCarthy had supported Adlai Stevenson for the Democratic nomination, despite the former Illinois governor’s electoral losses to Dwight Eisenhower as the Democratic Presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. In fact, his keynote speech in favour of Stevenson at the 1960 Democratic convention was what put Gene McCarthy on the map, although the Democratic Party was cautious to draw from the same well three times, with three-time Democratic Presidential loser William Jennings Bryan still in living memory.

McCarthy had been swept into the House of Representatives in 1948 on President Harry Truman’s coattails during the last hurrah of the holdovers of the Roosevelt administration. Because of that, McCarthy felt a certain debt of loyalty to Stevenson, whom Truman had endorsed in 1952. In his 1960 speech, chock full of Biblical references, McCarthy declared that Adlai Stevenson was the best choice for President, as, like George Washington, he had always been a man who had been brought to the doors of the White House by the will of the people to make him their candidate, rather than an active search for power; a none-too-subtle jab at the ambitions of John Kennedy. Stevenson was seen by McCarthy and others as the perfect example of an educated, dignified, issues-orientated politician. Indeed, throughout the early parts of his campaign in 1968, McCarthy mentioned Adlai Stevenson in nearly every speech he made.

(McCarthy's Speech at 3:07)​

He supported Stevenson for those reasons. That, and the fact that he hated JFK with every fiber of his being.

McCarthy was vehemently opposed to the idea of John Kennedy as the nominee, as he had convinced himself that he was destined to be the first Catholic President. He thought of Kennedy as a limp-wristed, playboy, Catholic-in-name-only, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who didn’t deserve the accolade of “First Catholic President.”

As McCarthy was quoted as saying at the 1960 Convention, “I’m twice as Catholic as John Kennedy and twice as liberal as Hubert Humphrey.”

He was also twice as humble.

Because of this fixation, McCarthy, at one point or another, backed every candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1960 except for the eventual winner. Running the gamut from Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, to Stuart Symington of Missouri, to Wayne Morse of Oregon, and Lyndon Johnson of Texas, changing camps whenever a candidate became likely to lose, McCarthy launched diatribes and threw insults at the Kennedy family – on a political and personal basis – whenever he had the chance. The result was being shut out of any meaningful government position in the Kennedy administration when his fellow Catholic won the nomination, and later, the Presidency. The only upside for McCarthy was that at the same time he completely alienated himself from Kennedy, he endeared himself to Lyndon Johnson, the Democratic runner-up and new Vice President. Johnson, not a fan of Kennedy himself, had appreciated McCarthy’s acerbic wit during the primaries. Johnson maintained a back-channel patronage for McCarthy during the Kennedy years, and they became personal friends until their split in 1964 over the Vice Presidency. McCarthy’s spitefulness against the Kennedy clan continued well into the Johnson Administration, with McCarthy often voting against or abstaining on legislation put forward by John’s brothers, Senators Bobby and Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy, even if he agreed with what it would accomplish.

McCarthy with his political idol and mentor, Adlai Stevenson, shortly before the latter's death in 1965.​

As for Hubert Humphrey, he was an entirely different challenge compared to Bobby Kennedy. Both being from Minnesota, McCarthy became a divisive figure in his own state. Many of the local politicians felt that McCarthy should step aside for the well known, more experienced, Humphrey. McCarthy also polled consistently behind Humphrey in their home state, an embarrassment he wouldn’t shake until the Democratic Convention. Many in Minnesota felt that McCarthy had betrayed Humphrey, considering that he (and Lyndon Johnson) had ensured McCarthy’s election to the House of Representatives in 1948, and to the Senate in 1958. This sentiment wasn’t exclusive to Minnesota: many of the Democratic Party’s higher ups preferred Humphrey as a known factor compared to the unpredictable McCarthy, and many ran as favourite son candidates in support of the Vice President. As a result, Ohio’s Stephen Young and Florida’s George Smathers beat out both McCarthy and Kennedy in their state’s primaries, transferring their delegates to Humphrey. If McCarthy wanted to claim the nomination, he would have to find a way to divert the delegates of non-primary states towards his campaign.

In short order, different voting blocs had formed around the candidates. Hubert Humphrey had the backing of the remaining Johnson supporters, the unions, the Democrat’s political machines, as well as many of the delegates and state governors. Eugene McCarthy was supported by the “New Left,” a coalition of suburban liberals, activist entertainers, anti-war protestors, college students, intellectuals, and “Stevensonians,” the (surprisingly numerous) remaining supporters of Adlai Stevenson. Bobby Kennedy, for his part, was supported by Catholics, African Americans, ethnic minorities, non-unionized workers, plenty of Average Joe white middle class families, and JFK true believers looking to reclaim Camelot.

McCarthy with Hubert Humphrey and Ted Kennedy. McCarthy typically refused to meet with Bobby Kennedy; Ted acted as a go-between when a 'face-to-face' meeting was necessary.
​

As the Democratic Primaries went on, Kennedy and McCarthy continued to trade blows: McCarthy had won the Pennsylvania Primary due to Kennedy only being available as a write-in, but Kennedy won the Indiana Primary, mostly due to overwhelming support in his favour by the African American community.

Ironically, from a practical point of view, each of the candidate’s supporters should have gone for the other man. McCarthy’s support for quickly ending the Vietnam War even at the cost of allowing Communists into the South Vietnamese government, creating expansive (and expensive) new welfare programs, and bolstering civil rights, would have greatly benefited the poor and minority voters that carried the Kennedy banner, while Robert Kennedy’s support for increased cooperation between government and private enterprise, moderate welfare reform, and a slow-but-steady removal from Vietnam would, in theory, be more palatable to the upper-middle class McCarthy voters. It was a perplexing situation, made more perplexing by the fact that McCarthy, the least popular candidate amongst Democrats, was polling nationally as the most likely to defeat Richard Nixon in the upcoming election. Mere days after that poll was released, Kennedy won the Nebraska primary.

Meanwhile, Richard Nixon seemed certain to win the Republican nomination. The liberal-leaning moderate Governor of Michigan, George Romney, known as “the Republican Gene McCarthy,” had dropped out. He had been replaced in the primaries by the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, as the liberal Republican’s choice for President. The conservative Republican’s choice, Governor Ronald Reagan of California, wasn’t even officially running for President. It was a near impossibility that Nixon would lose the Republican primaries, but there was chance that if Nixon failed to shore up his flanks that the Republican Convention could go to a second ballot, and possibly throwing it to Rockefeller or Reagan as a more unlikely candidate. Some held out the vain hope that a "dream ticket" of Rockefeller/Reagan ticket would emerge to stop Nixon.

As the Democratic primaries moved further and further to the west, both campaigns were eyeing California, each hoping a victory there would legitimize their campaign. Despite Kennedy starting to pull ahead, the McCarthy campaign stayed in the race by a hair’s width by winning the Oregon primary. With Bobby Kennedy stating that he would drop out of the campaign if he lost California, it seemed the fate of the peace movement, and possibly the Democratic party at large, would soon be decided.


“He fooled me for a long time. As I’ve said many times, the only tender a politician has to offer is his word and Gene’s currency is devalued even in Washington. He’s a strange man.”

• Vice President Hubert Humphrey to Edgar Berman on Democratic Nominee Eugene McCarthy, 1968

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“The country wants to move in a different direction. We want to deal with our own problems within our own country, and we want peace in Vietnam. I congratulate Senator McCarthy and those who have been associated with him in their efforts that they have started in New Hampshire and carried through to the primary here in the state of California.”

• Senator Robert Kennedy, in the aftermath of the Democratic California Primary, 1968

The time had come for the California primary.

Both McCarthy and Kennedy had mobilized, highly motivated, and highly funded campaigns.

Both McCarthy and Kennedy appealed to the California voting base.

Both McCarthy and Kennedy absolutely hated each other.

But a California win was only essential for Kennedy, considering he had promised to drop out if he lost. McCarthy, for his part, had already planned for a possible defeat. In the event of losing California, McCarthy hoped to follow up with winning the endorsement of the New York delegation slate. Despite holding his senatorial seat there, Bobby Kennedy was considered something of a Massachusetts carpetbagger by many New Yorkers. McCarthy thought that by mobilizing the large minority of anti-war delegates from the state's slate and running a public relations campaign in New York, he could win their endorsement out from under Kennedy. With a New York win, McCarthy hoped to cripple Kennedy’s credibility while setting himself up as the Democratic Convention’s compromise candidate.

McCarthy had never been much of a politician, and his campaigning showed it. He would often go off on wild tangents on his days as a school superintendent when he was supposed to be giving a speech to college students about Vietnam. He would never decline to give a speech, no matter how small the audience (during the Indiana primary, he lectured three Hoosiers in a shed when his motorcade was running behind schedule), but when a large audience did emerge, he would often keep them waiting, such as the time he composed a poem about wolverines while a packed town hall was waiting for him during the Oregon primary. Yes, he actually did that.

McCarthy was the complete opposite to Bobby Kennedy in the sense that while Kennedy used his popularity to push forward his political ideals, McCarthy’s popular ideals caused his followers to ignore how uninspiring a man he really was. The phenomenon was described by a journalist as such: "McCarthy's indifference to accolades and disdain for grandstanding... struck older supporters as Stevensonian and younger ones as Zen [1]." It seemed that the only thing keeping Gene McCarthy in the race was the fact that Bobby Kennedy wanted to be President, and he couldn’t abide a second Kennedy in the White House...

With the California primary closing in, both candidates canvassed the state. McCarthy’s visits to college campuses were treated as the return of the conquering hero, while Kennedy drew massive crowds in the inner cities. A series of televised political forum debates were held between the two men in early June. Each candidate had their own discussion panel, followed by an informal debate between the two candidates. Throughout the debate, McCarthy came off as somewhat petty in his rebuttals, and Kennedy used McCarthy’s own statements against him to make him appear soft on Communism, as well as implying that if McCarthy became President, he would move black families into predominantly white counties. ‘After all,’ Kennedy seemed to say, ‘what God-fearing, patriotic American would want the races to mix and the Viet Cong to be allowed to join the South Vietnamese government?’

Afterwards, McCarthy complained that the informal debates he agreed to were not in official debate format.

Although many viewers considered the debates to be a tie, it still made a difference. The next day, Robert Kennedy narrowly won California, with forty-six percent to McCarthy’s forty-two. On top of that, Kennedy won South Dakota with a solid lead. McCarthy’s only saving grace was that he had won New Jersey. Despite the close race in California, and the chance of victory in the Illinois primary and swaying the New York delegation, the McCarthy campaign had all but deflated.

After giving a rousing victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Robert Kennedy was escorted from the premises. While leaving, he was approached and fired upon with a .22 caliber pistol by Sirhan Sirhan, a twenty-four year old Jordanian-Palestinian immigrant, who had targeted Kennedy for his support of Israel.

Two of the bullets struck Kennedy: one passed through his chest, while the second was lodged in his spine. A third bullet nearly hit Kennedy in the back of the head, but Karl Uecker, the maitre d’ who Kennedy was following out of the building, knocked the gun aside in a split-second, knee-jerk reaction [2]. A fourth bullet went wild before Sirhan was restrained by several bystanders [3].

Kennedy was rushed to the hospital shortly after, passing in and out of consciousness. He was informed that there was a slim chance for survival due to the placement of the bullet lodged in his upper spine, and a priest was brought in to perform last rites.

Gene McCarthy didn’t endear himself to anyone, when, after hearing of the attack on Kennedy, derisively claimed that he had, “brought it on himself, demagoguing to the last.” With Kennedy effectively out of the running, McCarthy had a clear path to being the peace candidate of the Convention, but he would need a political miracle to get the Kennedy delegates to rally to his side.

McCarthy on his way to visit the Kennedy family at the Good Samaritan Hospital, with Bobby Kennedy in intensive surgery.
​

At which point, a political miracle happened.

Kennedy’s Press Secretary, Frank Mankiewicz, came out the following day, and announced to the assembled press that after being made aware of his chances before going into the surgery, Robert Kennedy had endorsed Eugene McCarthy for the candidacy, and requested that his delegates and supporters vote for McCarthy at the Democratic Convention, and in the election. This announcement shocked everyone, most of all McCarthy himself, who had expected Kennedy to endorse Humphrey.

After an eight hour surgery, it was all the doctors could do keep Kennedy breathing. His body had largely shut down and he was in a coma, but he was alive. For the time being, Robert Kennedy was alive.

McCarthy isolated himself in his room for days afterward, in what could best be described as a crisis of faith. Later in life, McCarthy would confide to his friends and family that he felt responsible for the attack on Kennedy, due to the amount of mudslinging that came from their primary battles. McCarthy's family had never seen him so upset [4].

Giving a public address in Los Angeles, Gene McCarthy reaffirmed his commitment to be the candidate of peace, as well as giving his heartfelt condolences to the Kennedy family, promising with God as his witness that California would be his last mudslinging campaign.

Well you know politicians when it comes to promises...


“I have, uh, a short..... I have a short announcement to read, which I will read, uh..... at this time. Senator Kennedy is in critical condition, but alive. After being made aware of his, uh, condition, and meeting with a man of the cloth, he has, uh, endorsed Gene McCarthy for the Democratic nomination. Our prayers go out to Mr. Kennedy and his family.”

• Press Secretary Frank Mankiewicz, on the condition of Senator Robert Kennedy, 1968

[1] A quote from by Louis Menand in his 2004 article for the New Yorker, called Mean to Gene.

[2] And here we have our Point of Divergence. Instead of getting shot three times, Robert Kennedy is shot twice, with the most lethal of the three bullets missing.

[3] IOTL, the fourth bullet passed through Kennedy’s jacket without harming him.

[4] IOTL, McCarthy genuinely felt incredibly guilty over RFK’s assassination. He fell into a deep depression, secluded himself from his campaign for weeks on end, and had a nervous breakdown shortly after the election. ITTL, with Kennedy’s endorsement, his guilt is being channeled into self-determination rather than self-loathing.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.”

• Vice President Hubert Humphrey, most definitely not on the 1968 Democratic Convention

Directly after the California primary, Hubert Humphrey had five-hundred and sixty-one delegates, Robert Kennedy had three-hundred and ninety-three, and Eugene McCarthy had two-hundred and fifty-eight. The amalgamated peace vote had six-hundred and fifty-one delegates, theoretically out-numbering the Humphrey vote, but that didn’t mean that was how many delegates McCarthy had after Kennedy’s endorsement. In reality, a little under half of Kennedy’s delegates found their way to McCarthy’s camp, and most of them half-heartedly. The rest hadn’t forgotten the vicious primary battles, and either intended to vote for Kennedy regardless, vote for Humphrey, or vote for a throwaway candidate. As a result, a week after the California primary, Hubert Humphrey had six-hundred and twenty-three delegates (gaining sixty-two), Eugene McCarthy had four-hundred and forty-two delegates (gaining one-hundred and eighty-four), Bobby Kennedy had fifty-nine remaining diehards, and the other eighty-eight had declared themselves unpledged.

McCarthy had actually won the popular vote in the primaries, winning the states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, and Illinois, but many of the high value states on the eastern seaboard and the South still had used an appointed delegate slate, and remained up in the air for who they would support. The New York delegation split in McCarthy’s favour, but otherwise, a mad dash emerged to clinch the nomination by courting the unpledged delegates.

Although McCarthy had technically won the primaries, it remained an uphill battle against Hubert Humphrey and President Johnson's influence to try and claim the Democratic nomination.​

In the meantime, Bobby Kennedy remained hospitalized and in critical condition. After a grueling surgery, the second bullet had been removed from Kennedy’s spine, but complications emerged from his lung being punctured by the first bullet, which had passed through his body, and Kennedy remained in a coma. Some of Kennedy’s supporters refused to bow to Gene McCarthy, and tried to find a short notice replacement.

In an odd twist, the anti-war Kennedy supporters were trying to create a Dump McCarthy Movement.

Their first thought was to draft Ted Kennedy as their candidate with a ‘fratricide vote,’ but Ted refused to consider the idea unless a draft developed naturally, as opposed to being orchestrated by his supporters. Ironically, if the youngest Kennedy brother had followed up with the idea, he would’ve discovered that a sizable number of both the Humphrey and McCarthy camps would’ve found him acceptable, perhaps acceptable enough to have been nominated. Instead, Ted Kennedy stuck to his brother's wishes, and worked to keep Kennedy delegates in the McCarthy column throughout the Convention.

Their second choice was George McGovern, one of the many politicians who had been approached by the original Dump Johnson Movement. But, like before, McGovern didn’t have the nerve to run, and refused to divide the peace vote against the wishes of the Kennedys. It seemed that the Convention would truly come down to the two frontrunners [1].

And with that, the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago began.

McCarthy and Humphrey at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, and Speaker of the California State Assembly Jesse 'Big Daddy' Unruh. McGovern and Unruh both supported McCarthy after Bobby Kennedy's endorsement.​

Ever since dropping out of the race, Lyndon Johnson had been working behind the scenes to secure the nomination for Humphrey (while also hoping in his heart of hearts he would be drafted by the Convention). Every favour was called in and every threat made to get delegates to pledge for Humphrey, and Johnson worked with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to do everything they could to tip the scales in Humphrey’s favour. This process was met with only mixed success; Daley had been instrumental in getting Kennedy elected in 1960, but didn’t hold the same clout as he did eight years ago. Over the course of the Convention, Daley’s unpopularity only grew, due to his use of heavy-handed police tactics, the roughing up of journalists, and his yelling of insults at Senator Abraham Ribicoff, who had compared the Chicago Police to the Gestapo. In remains up to debate what insults he said [2]…

On the other side of the Democratic divide were peace protesters, hippies, and most importantly, the Yippies. The Youth International Party, more commonly known as ‘the Yippies,’ had organized a counter-culture “Festival of Life” to counter the “Festival of Death” that had been the Vietnam War and the Democratic establishment. Many of the younger voters who had gotten ‘Clean for Gene’ back in New Hampshire had made their way to support McCarthy in their own disorganized way, and while the “moderate” protesters vouched for McCarthy on the streets of Chicago, the absurdist Yippies nominated a pig for President.

As the convention was beginning, the first of many riots broke out between peace protesters and the police. One of the biggest clashes was in front of the Hilton Hotel that the Democratic nominees were staying in, with both Humphrey and McCarthy noticing the tear gas and pepper spray wafting up to their hotel rooms. McCarthy, overlooking the violence, compared the fighting below to the Battle of Cannae of Roman antiquity, much to the bemusement of his aides. However, as the violence continued in the streets, McCarthy's sense of righteous indignation grew, as the police continued to rough up "his kids." McCarthy seriously considered going down to join the protests, a demurred, not wanting to be associated with the more radical protesters.

In short order, those more radical peace protesters, such as the Yippies, the Black Panthers, and the Communist Party USA congregated in Lincoln Park, while the relatively moderate protesters, mostly pacifist groups and pro-McCarthy college students, organized in Grant Park as the only protest recognized and licensed by the city, though there were plenty of overlapping protests and events between the groups.

Once the Convention began in earnest, the candidates made their speeches. Humphrey touted his record as Vice President, as well as the fragility of international relations that would be destabilized by any radical changes in policy. Affirming his support for the War on Poverty, the Great Society, and the Civil Rights Movement, Humphrey steered clear of any direct mention of Vietnam.

McCarthy, for his part, emphasized his connection with the common man, as well as those opposed to the Vietnam War. Without particularly mentioning the hippie movement, McCarthy portrayed himself as the candidate of peace, the candidate against corruption, and the candidate for social and economic reform.

Both candidates gave rousing speeches for their respective factions, but Humphrey had made a critical misstep in the aftermath of his nomination speech. He had taken for granted the largest uncommitted voting bloc at the Convention: The Solid South.

Although all but the most extreme segregationists in the Democratic Party had supported Lyndon Johnson in 1964, they had a much dimmer outlook on their Vice President. Before joining the Democratic ticket, Humphrey had been a perennial candidate for President going all the way back to 1952. He inevitably was passed over the nomination each time due to his reputation of being too strong a supporter of Civil Rights: a position that was popular with northern Democrats, but guaranteed he would never be selected as the Democratic nominee for fear of a Southern walkout such as the one Harry Truman faced in 1948. As a result, the Southern delegates informally agreed that if they could block Humphrey by nominating someone more receptive to Southern interests, then they would nominate that person.

To that end, Governor John Connally of Texas came into play [3].

Discreetly contacting the McCarthy campaign, Connally broached the subject of getting the unpledged South to back McCarthy in exchange for making him the Vice Presidential nominee [4]. It wasn’t the most unusual combination; McCarthy had worked very closely with both Russell Long of Louisiana and J. William Fulbright of Arkansas during his time as a Senator, and would often sit with Southern Democrats at party luncheons when his Minnesota constituents weren’t available. Additionally, both McCarthy and Connally had ties to the oil industry: an industry that certainly had the money to make campaign donations.

Although he initially balked at the idea, McCarthy was talked into agreeing to the offer by his family and staff.

Governor John Connally of Texas (centre) with the Mayor of Abilene, Texas, Ralph Hooks (right). Connally approached McCarthy with the offer of an unorthodox alliance, and a guarantee of Southern support.
​

At the same time these backroom machinations fell into place, McCarthy loyalists tried to break Johnson’s stranglehold on who made up the state delegations. Most of the state delegations had been selected beforehand, and were stacked with pro-war Johnson supporters, while the delegations that couldn’t be swayed to support the war were seated at the back of the convention hall. Humphrey had fumbled the situation by repealing the convention rule stating that delegation leaders could dictate how their delegates voted, and soon enough, McCarthy was prying off undecided delegates. New delegate slates of barely eligible pro-McCarthy supporters were put forward to be amalgamated into - or entirely replace - the Johnson-assembled slates. In this way McCarthy was able to flip some entire slates in the North, while using Connally and his friends in Dixie to peel of individual delegates from the South, all under Humphrey’s nose [5].

As the Convention went on, Humphrey knew something was up, but he and his staff were in the dark. Johnson rarely informed Humphrey of anything, and if he did phone up the Vice President, it was to tell him what to say.

On the Convention floor, first there were whispers.

Then there were rumblings.

Then there was a stampede.

The South pulled the rug out from Humphrey: most of them couldn't stomach Humphrey, and the ones who couldn’t stomach McCarthy bolted the party and went off to join George Wallace. Humphrey held on to some Johnson loyalists in the South, but little else. The Midwest was split evenly between both sides. The Northern delegations cannibalized themselves as fistfights broke out on the convention floor over which way their state should vote. New England was unaccounted for and had pledged to both sides at different times, the plain states had gone silent, and the West Coast had gone rogue and committed themselves entirely for McCarthy.

The New Left locked horns with the Old, and only one could come out on top.

And so, much to the surprise of Hubert Humphrey, and to the eternal delight of the protesters outside, McCarthy narrowly won the nomination on the first ballot.

As the New Deal Coalition crumbled away, in the wreckage stood Senator Eugene Joseph McCarthy of Minnesota: Democratic nominee for President.

McCarthy narrowly won the Democratic nomination by sweeping most of the South, and winning over close to half of the delegates of the Midwest. Humphrey's power-base in the Midwest won a majority of the delegate's votes of those states, but it wasn't enough to offset losing the South. ​

“To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.”

• Vice President Hubert Humphrey, on the 1968 Democratic Convention

[1] IOTL, George McGovern ran against McCarthy following the assassination of Robert Kennedy, further dividing the peace vote.

[2] Either “Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch” or “you faker” depending on who you ask.

[3] The same John Connally who was in the car with JFK when he was assassinated.

[4] IOTL, Connally actually did approach McCarthy with this offer, but McCarthy felt it wasn’t worth it due to his dislike of Connally, his post-(Robert) Kennedy Assassination depression, and his low chances of clinching the nomination regardless of Southern support, as the Peace Delegates were split between himself and George McGovern.

[5] This was McCarthy’s last ditch effort IOTL, but the plan fell through when he couldn’t flip any slates.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“Let Us Begin Anew.”

• “McCarthy for President” 1968 Campaign Slogan

When Eugene McCarthy was declared the Democratic nominee, the Festival of Life burst into celebrations.

Or at least some of them did.

The more radical Lincoln Park protesters were banking on a Humphrey win to convince the moderate Grant Park protesters that you couldn’t successfully operate within the system, but McCarthy actually winning threw a monkey wrench into their aspirations. While the more extreme elements of the groups were still protesting, the majority had either dispersed, or gone to Grant Park to celebrate. As a result, the Chicago Police largely backed down [1].

In the greatest party convention upset since Wendell Willkie’s nomination by the Republican Party in 1944, things could have gone better, but they could have gone a lot worse.

After getting over the initial shock, Hubert Humphrey, to his credit, endorsed Eugene McCarthy [2]. McCarthy, after spending a few days gloating to anyone who would listen, was corralled into hitting the campaign trail by his staff.

While the Democrats had been fighting amongst themselves, Richard Nixon had been preaching to the ‘silent majority’ to win the election. Nixon pledged to restore stability to the United States, courting the blue collar, white working class, as well as Catholic voters: namely Hispanics, Italians, and Poles. Nixon also carried over his ‘Southern Strategy’ from the Republican Convention in Miami, in which he had focused on (white) Southern issues, and portrayed himself as a staunch conservative to prevent an eleventh hour coup by the choice of the party's right wing: California Governor Ronald Reagan. Hoping to expand on his success in the South in 1960, Nixon focused on social issues with conservative talking points to try and get the South to vote Republican. With Southern support for the Democrats quickly eroding, Nixon hoped that the vote would split three ways in his favour between himself, McCarthy, and third party, Alabama Governor George Wallace in the South, tipping the election in his favour. Nixon was seemingly successful in balancing his personal support for civil rights, while at the same time exaggerating his own conservatism.

Promises were made to oppose mandatory busing to desegregate schools and appoint less ‘energetic’ Supreme Court Justices, a none-too-subtle criticism of progressive Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. On top of that, Nixon pledged to restore "Law and Order" to the country, crack down on rising crime, and achieve a victorious “Peace With Honour” in Vietnam; a promise that was popular with conservatives, moderates, and even some liberals, but was otherwise vague on details, and undermined by the fact that his opponent was opposed to the Vietnam War.

Gene McCarthy came into the race trailing Nixon by about 9% [3], which wasn’t insurmountable, but was definitely an early challenge. Before the Democratic Convention, McCarthy had been leading Nixon by a few percentiles, but the events of Chicago didn’t endear anyone with a ‘D’ next to their name to the voting public.

Despite a strong dislike for their own candidate amongst the higher ups, the Democratic party machinery began chugging along across the country. While McCarthy occupied his time campaigning on the coasts and the Midwest (and bragging to journalists on his convention masterstroke), John Connally was busy canvassing the South. With Allard Lowenstein heading to New York to run for a seat in the House of Representatives, Midge Miller became McCarthy’s chief campaign handler, making sure he remained on schedule and message. The main theme of the campaign continued to be ending the Vietnam War, but McCarthy expanded into economic issues as well. Even though Johnson’s name was mud, his welfare plans were still popular with a majority of Americans, despite growing opposition. McCarthy capitalized on this by promising a continuation of the War on Poverty, the establishment of better social services, low-income housing, and a minimum income for the unemployed (promises aimed at capturing the African American vote), but also guaranteeing he wouldn't spend 'beyond America's means.' McCarthy struck a vague balance between his social democratic disposition, and a moderate fiscal conservatism. When it came to social issues, McCarthy was pressured into playing it silent, allowing people to make their own assumptions. His young liberal supporters assumed that he would continue the expansion of civil rights that they (begrudgingly) admitted that Johnson and Humphrey had been championing, while the nomination of John Connally as the Vice Presidential nominee allowed a nudge and a wink to conservative Democrats to reassure them that the accelerated pace of Civil Rights legislation would at least be slowed by a McCarthy Presidency. Throughout the election, McCarthy was campaigning almost as much against Lyndon Johnson as he was against Richard Nixon.

A crowd gathers in front of McCarthy's National Campaign Headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
​

And then there was George Wallace. George “Segregation Forever” Wallace. With the Democrats beginning to shift decidedly in favour of the Civil Rights Movement, the Governor of Alabama became the standard bearer of segregationism and the populist right. Wallace used the chaos of 1968 to launch a presidential campaign under the banner of the American Independent Party, hoping to split the vote and force the election into the House of Representatives, allowing the conservative congressmen of the South to squeeze concessions out of whoever the next President would be. Wallace had come to the conclusion that all working class white Americans were, at their heart, ‘Southern,’ and no matter where they lived or how outwardly sympathetic to civil rights they might be, at the end of the day would vote for their own economic security before equality for someone else. That political prediction would be put to the test: With a platform that was a mix of traditional New Deal Democrat economic positions, a regression of social policies, and pulling out of Vietnam if it proved, “unwinnable in the first ninety days of the administration,” Wallace and the AIP had been gaining in the polls.

​

Wallace also put a lot of thought into who would be the second name on his ballot. The names at the top of the list were former general Curtis LeMay, former Kentucky Governor Happy Chandler, House Armed Services Chairman L. Mendel Rivers, and fried chicken mogul Colonel Harland Sanders. His first choice was Chandler as, as one of Wallace’s aides put it, “We have all the nuts in the country; we could get some decent people…” Wallace offered the slot to Chandler, but they couldn’t reconcile their differences; Wallace’s supporters decried the potential nomination of Chandler, who had used the state guard to desegregate Kentucky, and had supported Jackie Robinson’s hiring to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Not wanting to have a military man on the ticket during an election year where one candidate promised a quick victory and the other supported withdrawal, Wallace skipped over LeMay and inquired with Rivers. Rivers was receptive, but didn't dare run for fear of losing his House Chairmanship. Wallace eventually recruited the apolitical Colonel Sanders on to the ticket, by appealing to his sense of Southern honour and dignity. Although Sanders' frequent swearing provided a drag in the media, he proved to be a capable campaigner. Sanders didn’t accomplish much for the Wallace ticket (besides a mild boost in the polls in Kentucky), but he wasn’t a major liability either [4].

Governor George Wallace of Alabama. Wallace had also intended to run as a third party candidate in 1964, but decided against it when the self-described "radical" conservative Barry Goldwater won the Republican nomination.

​

Nixon decided to avoid debates with McCarthy like the plague, likely in an attempt to avoid a repeat of his poor performance in the 1960 televised Presidential debate, which may well have been the deciding factor that may have made John Kennedy the President. Ironically, this likely benefited McCarthy more than it did Nixon, as he was quite possibly the only man worse than Nixon at televised debate.

Meanwhile, the man in the Oval Office was not a happy camper.

All of Lyndon Johnson’s fears of his legacy being cast aside had come to life. His obsession with the possibility of Bobby Kennedy being the grand challenger to his Presidency blinded him to the opponent right in front of him, and he had been unable to pull enough strings to orchestrate a Draft Johnson Movement at the Democratic National Convention, or even get Humphrey nominated. It didn’t make Johnson any happier that his protégé, John Connally, had fallen in with McCarthy. Johnson’s antipathy was so strong, in fact, that he gave campaign advice to Richard Nixon on how to proceed with the Vietnam War. Although Johnson would hear word that Nixon had a back-channel to South Vietnam, asking them to drag their feet on the negotiations, he didn’t follow up [5]. The rumour persists to this day that when Johnson was alone in the voting booth, he had chosen Nixon over McCarthy.

While the good-natured Humphrey had largely forgiven McCarthy, the cantankerous Texan entertained no such notions. He wouldn’t let some no-name, head-in-the-clouds two-bit Senator who never accomplished anything in his nineteen years on Capitol Hill tell Lyndon Baines Johnson what to do. Refusing to admit defeat through a policy change, Johnson declared in October that bombing would continue in Vietnam until the final day of his administration.

There would be no peace.

McCarthy, in a rare display of seizing the initiative, called for a complete bombing halt in response to the President’s declaration to make negotiations with North Vietnam possible. While Wallace scrambled to make an announcement along the same lines, Nixon, paralyzed by the notion of making such a controversial declaration so close to election day, failed to make a similar statement. In lock-step, McCarthy’s approval ratings rapidly climbed while Johnson’s plummeted, and by November, McCarthy had just barely scrambled ahead of Nixon in the polls.

It was time, finally, for election night.


“Nixon’s the One!”

• “Nixon for President” 1968 Campaign Slogan

[1] While the infamous part of the protests have still happened, the week of violence following the nomination of Hubert Humphrey has been butterflied away.

[2] IOTL a reticent McCarthy didn’t endorse Humphrey until late October. Humphrey supporters to this day claim that McCarthy’s delayed endorsement cost him the election.

[3] Due to his ties with the Johnson Presidency and his support for the Vietnam War, Humphrey was trailing Nixon by 16% in August and 12% in early September.

[4] Curtis LeMay won’t be loudly declaring his support for the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam while on the AIP ticket as he did OTL. John Connally has similar opinions to Curtis LeMay, but he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut on the campaign trail...

[5] An inversion of the October Surprise; due to Johnson not trying to help Humphrey win, Nixon doesn’t have an opportunity to sabotage any meaningful peace talks. In this world, the Chennault Affair and Richard Nixon’s borderline treason will never be discovered, as Johnson isn’t looking for peace.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“From CBS News headquarters in New York, this is the CBS evening news, with Walter Cronkite...”

“Good evening, the day is Tuesday, November 5th, 1968, and the time is 8:00PM. This is Walter Cronkite, reporting to you live from New York, covering this year’s Presidential election. We have Democratic nominee, Senator Eugene McCarthy, Republican nominee and former Vice President Richard Nixon, and former Governor George Wallace of the American Independent Party. This has been a closely fought election, and at this point, it’s anyone’s game.

Let’s turn to the popular vote board. Two percent of the vote is in. The result at this moment: Nixon first, McCarthy second, Wallace third. That being said, we can already project that the definite winner in Mississippi and Alabama will be Wallace, but the question remains if Mr. McCarthy or Mr. Nixon will gain second place in those states, to give an indicator of how the election will shape up. However, we are sure Wallace will carry those states.

In New England, fragmentary results are coming in, but we have projected the Nixon is the winner in Vermont. Elsewhere, it’s looking to be a toss-up. In Ohio, two percent of the vote is in, and those figures are gradually climbing, with Nixon having nearly fifty percent. As these early results are coming in, Nixon has been declared the winner in Delaware.

Fragmentary returns from the Upper South, but it appears that in Virginia and West Virginia, McCarthy is in the lead, but Nixon has won in Kentucky. At this point there are no decisive signs for Nixon or McCarthy, and there are no indicators at this time to determine who will win the popular vote.

Florida is a three way race, with Nixon narrowly in first. In Tennessee, the votes are coming in, with Nixon in first, and Wallace in second, but Wallace coming up fast. In North Carolina, Wallace is ahead, but in the other border states he is far behind, and it seems unlikely that Wallace will sweep the South. We can now project that Nixon will carry the state of Kansas. Nixon is leading in Florida, Arkansas, and the Carolinas, and has taken the lead in Virginia from McCarthy.

The first Senate results are coming in from Florida, where the Democrat, Collins, is projected to win over the Republican, Gurney; In Ohio, the Republicans are in the lead with Saxbe, but the Democrats with Gilligan may pull ahead if he gets sufficient support from the unions; In Indiana, the Democrat, Bayh, is leading over the Republican challenger Ruckelshaus; Finally, in South Carolina, the very first votes are coming in, but Hollings, the incumbent Democrat, is leading over Parker, the Republican challenger. In Georgia, the incumbent Senator Talmadge has won re-election.

With the first results coming in in the Gubernatorial races, with have the first results from Indiana, with the Republican challenger Whitcomb, threatening the Democratic hold with Rock; In Kansas, the Democrat incumbent Docking holds the lead over Hartman. In New Hampshire, the Republican challenger Peterson is in a solid lead over Bussiere. In North Carolina, it’s neck-and-neck between the two candidates. In New Hampshire, Governor Davis holds a narrow lead; West Virginia, like North Carolina, it’s neck-and-neck.

So far, there have been no gains in the House of Representatives on either side.

Counted votes have Nixon in the lead, but McCarthy has won his first state in West Virginia. New projections show that after gaining over Nixon, Wallace has narrowly taken Tennessee.

As we continue to get results, polling is still open in the western states, and I would like to remind viewers that as of now these are only initial returns, but it seems that George Wallace hasn’t achieved the breakthrough he would’ve liked in the Upper South.

Going over to our board, we can now say with certainty that Nixon has won the hotly contested state of Florida.

Some more returns coming in: In Georgia, Wallace has a solid lead, having more votes than both of the other candidates combined. In both Virginia and Indiana, Nixon is in the lead. North Carolina, Nixon, again, is leading.

We’ll be back in a moment with more election coverage.”

“Welcome back. We can now project with some certainty that Nixon has won Indiana. Thirteen electoral votes there. That means Nixon has won six states, but he still has a long way to go. With the popular vote coming in, Nixon has over a million votes, with McCarthy close behind in the nine hundred thousands. George Wallace, at this hour, is at a strong third with over six hundred thousand. There is still nothing to indicate a clear winner in the popular vote, and it seems very possible that no one will win the necessary majority in the Electoral College.

The first results are coming in from the industrial north, specifically Pennsylvania. There, McCarthy is in the lead. In Ohio, Nixon continues to hold the lead. In Maine, McCarthy holds a quite possibly uncatchable lead, and is also winning in New Hampshire, with Nixon close behind. Connecticut just closed a half hour ago, but has brand-new voting machines, so results should be coming in quickly. McCarthy has a solid lead there. We have been informed they’ve just closed in Oklahoma, but Nixon is well in the lead there.

Judging from the results from the precincts, McCarthy has won the District of Columbia. We can also project that McCarthy has won Connecticut. New results coming in, we have a close race in New Jersey, neck and neck between McCarthy and Nixon. McCarthy is in the lead in Michigan. Nixon continues to lead in Ohio. In both Oklahoma and Maryland, Nixon is in the lead.

The first votes are in from Texas, which is, of course, the home of Governor Connally on the McCarthy ticket. The McCarthy-Connally ticket is ahead with a solid but not insurmountable lead there, with the other half of the vote split between Nixon and Wallace. CBS can now project that, on the basis of certain precincts in that state, that Gene McCarthy has won in Massachusetts.

It seems that while organized labour has not entirely come out in force for McCarthy, the majority of the labour vote is still voting primarily Democrat. Hubert Humphrey’s endorsement and campaigning for McCarthy may well have something to do with that, as Humphrey enjoyed widespread union support during the Democratic Primaries, at the Democratic Convention, and throughout his political career. Regardless, McCarthy may well have made up the difference with the suburban vote, and amongst new voters and independents. Throughout this election cycle, Senator McCarthy's Catholicism has been a non-issue, unlike in the Election of 1960 between Jack Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

Going to the board, thus far, McCarthy now has thirty-two electoral votes, Nixon has fifty-seven, and Wallace, seventeen, with four-hundred and thirty two still up for grabs. Looking at the popular vote, Nixon is at forty-one percent, while McCarthy is at thirty-eight percent, meaning that McCarthy is closing in. Meanwhile Wallace is holding strong at twenty percent.

I have been asked to go to a quick break."

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“I swear to God, Hubert, if you were our man, you would have Nixon’s dick in a sling. That slippery son of a bitch McCarthy better not screw this up.”

• President Lyndon Johnson to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, election night, 1968

“Hello, this is Walter Cronkite. The time is 9:30PM, and we’re back in election central.

Let’s take a look at Michigan. In Michigan we have projected that the winner in that state, in the race for President, is Gene McCarthy. It has been our assumption from the beginning that Michigan would be very close indeed.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, not a single seat has changed hands. For Gubernatorial races, the Republicans have had a net gain of two over the Democrats, who have only been able to hold one, in Texas. Senate results continue to come in from all over the country.

Let’s take a look at North Carolina. In North Carolina, McCarthy is doing poorly, he’s in third, while Nixon is ahead of Wallace, but just barely. In South Carolina, Wallace is ahead there, but it’s neck and neck in South Carolina, which is the home of Senator Strom Thurmond, who hopes to deliver the state for Nixon. In Ohio, one of the big industrial states, Nixon is leading at the moment, with forty-eight percent. In Missouri, thirteen percent of the vote has been counted, but McCarthy is in a fairly substantial lead in this early stage.

Returns from some more states: Nixon leads in Maryland, the home state of his running mate, Governor Spiro Agnew. In Georgia, Wallace has a strong lead with forty-eight percent of the vote. The popular vote continues to climb, Nixon is still leading, but McCarthy has closed another few percentage points, only two percent behind Nixon. At this time, the election remains very close, with the key states being New York, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. If McCarthy is able to win in all or most of these states, he would be able to offset the victories Nixon has had in the other states thus far.

In the meantime, the state of Louisiana has called for Wallace. Not a surprise there, it had been a state expected to go to him from the beginning. In New Hampshire, it’s too close to call between Nixon and McCarthy. In Maine, the vote is in, and we project that McCarthy is the winner in Maine. In Maryland, Nixon continues to lead.

Now, if we take a look back at union support, there is cause for concern for the Democrats. The Democrats gained a solid majority of the union vote back in 1964. While it was expected that union support would not be as strong this election, it seems that McCarthy will be lucky to get a majority of union support. The Democrats have a similar problem with the negro vote. There have been a significant increase in registration of negro voters in the South, but there has been little change for negro voter turnout and registration in the Midwest, where McCarthy needs it most. It’s been the hope of the McCarthy campaign to make up these expected differences in both the suburban vote, as well as that of voters who don’t identify with either party. That being said, McCarthy has enjoyed widespread support from leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and the negro community, such as from the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Mr. Julian Bond, and Reverend Jesse Jackson among others.

Now, back to the states.

Let’s look first at Minnesota, Senator McCarthy’s home state. In Minnesota, precincts have reported McCarthy the winner in his home state. Rhode Island; even though we don’t have the numbers on the board, the precincts are in, and they show McCarthy as the winner in Rhode Island. In New Hampshire, where McCarthy first made his splash on the political scene, we have McCarthy winning in New Hampshire in a very close race with Nixon. In Illinois, votes are still coming in, and while McCarthy is in the lead at the moment, it is, as yet, too close to call. In Ohio, McCarthy has taken the lead - McCarthy has taken the lead in Ohio, but it is still too close to call.

In Georgia, Wallace is in the lead, but in Virginia, we can declare Nixon the winner.

In the Congress races, most prominent politicians have retained their seats, but there have also been some changes in McCarthy’s political orbit. In Missouri, newcomer Tom Eagleton, a McCarthy supporter, has been elected, while in Pennsylvania, incumbent Joe Clark, a McCarthy supporter, has been defeated by Republican newcomer Richard Schweiker.

Let’s pick up the popular vote. Nixon still leading with forty-one percent, McCarthy with forty percent, and Wallace has slipped to nineteen percent. These numbers are very likely to change as more states report in, especially for George Wallace, who enjoys only very limited supported outside the South. Now, we’ll be back in just a minute.”

We’re back. Let’s look at some more states. In New Jersey, Nixon is in the lead, but McCarthy is trailing close behind. In New York, not even one percent of the vote is in, but Nixon is leading with forty-eight percent, to McCarthy’s forty-six. Pennsylvania; the vote in Pennsylvania is mounting, the vote being in Nixon’s favour, but, again, McCarthy close behind. We have a projected winner in Colorado: six more electoral votes go for Nixon. South Carolina; Nixon has pulled ahead of Wallace, and is now in the lead. In Arizona, CBS news projects that Nixon will carry Arizona with fifty-one percent of the vote. In that very state, Senator Barry Goldwater is making a comeback, and is likely to win reelection.

As we continue to pay special attention with those who are strongly opposed to the war in Vietnam, Senator Fulbright of Arkansas has won reelection, and in South Dakota, George McGovern, also opposed to the war, is in the lead. In Wisconsin, another early opponent of the war, Gaylord Nelson, is in the lead against his Republican opponent. It’s interesting to see Vietnam’s effect on the election. In Iowa, for example, Governor Hughes, who nominated Gene McCarthy at the convention in Chicago, is currently trailing, but votes coming in indicate he will pull ahead. In the state of Connecticut, Senator Abraham Ribicoff has been projected the winner, and was also opposed to the war in Vietnam. Senator Ribicoff had this to say:

Back to the states, we can now project that Arkansas will be carried by George Wallace. From Maryland, the vote continues to come in. Nixon has managed to retain his lead all evening, but hasn’t been able to clinch the state. In North Carolina, Nixon leads, followed by Wallace, and, third place, McCarthy. In Wisconsin, the first votes are coming in, but it’s a close one thus far. McCarthy slightly in the lead in votes. In Texas, McCarthy is still in the lead, and is holding the lead now. In Iowa, we have projected Nixon as the winner. In Nebraska, Nebraska is Nixon country, and he will win there with sixty-one percent. In Pennsylvania, McCarthy’s share of the vote continues to come from the cities, but not in Philadelphia, where the vote has yet to be counted.

Nevertheless, McCarthy has taken the lead in the popular vote, as the votes from the large, industrial states continue to come in. However, we have a problem in Texas. Word has come in that in Dallas, a computer has broken there that counts the votes, so we won’t have the results from there until tomorrow. In Congress, we are projecting that Democrats will retain a majority in the House.

In New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, the vote is mounting, but not decisively for either candidate. A new one, in Idaho, it is our projection that Nixon will take the state. Also, in North Dakota, Nixon is projected to win. In South Dakota, we can also say with certainty that Nixon is to be the winner. Now, all the polls have closed in the continental US. In New Mexico, Nixon is in the lead, while in Illinois, McCarthy continues to hold his lead which he’s had from the beginning. One of our first reports from Wisconsin, McCarthy is in the lead, but in Utah, Nixon has a substantial lead. CBS now projects Nixon as the winner in Utah. On top of that Nixon is also the winner in North Carolina and Oklahoma. The Ohio vote continues to go back and forth.

We’ve got a big one coming in, McCarthy has been confirmed as the winner in New York. It would’ve been an indicator that the Democrats would’ve been in big trouble if they had lost New York, so it seems that we have a long night ahead of us. We can also project that Wallace has won in Georgia, but Nixon has won in South Carolina.

With the results in from almost all of the Southern states, it seems that George Wallace has failed to take enough states to split the vote, with Nixon taking about half of the South.

Some more results coming in from the western states, Nixon is the winner in both New Mexico and Nevada.

We’ll be back with more coverage soon.”

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

"To unify this nation means to inspire it, to encourage the development of common purposes and shared ideals, and to move toward establishing an order of justice in America."

• Except from the Eugene McCarthy campaign brochure, ‘Portrait of a Leader in His Own Words,’ 1968

“Hello, this is Walter Cronkite. The time is 11:00PM, and we’re back with more election coverage. It has been a long night so far for our candidates, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any shorter.

One of the states still undecided is Missouri. Eighty-eight percent of the vote is in, but it’s still too close to call. McCarthy has a small lead with forty-three percent compared to Nixon’s forty-two. In Montana, also too close. We have a fourth of Montana’s vote in, and Nixon is ahead, but not by much.

In the state of Washington, the vote is in, and the winner there, McCarthy. Likewise, McCarthy is the winner in Oregon. In New Jersey, one of the key industrial states, the vote is getting closer, but Nixon is still in the lead. In Illinois, another one of the key states, McCarthy is still holding on, but it’s still too close. In Pennsylvania, another one that is very important, McCarthy has a lead, but not by much.

In other news, Allard Lowenstein, the leader of the Dump Johnson movement, has won election to the House of Representatives in New York’s Fifth District.

In the state of Maryland, the home state of Nixon running mate Spiro Agnew, we project a victory for McCarthy. In the popular vote, McCarthy has passed Nixon, but the percentage vote is tied, forty-two percent to forty-two percent. The first results are coming in from California. The results are close to tied, with Nixon holding a one percent lead. Although it is Nixon’s home state, McCarthy has created a very broad base of support there. In Pennsylvania, McCarthy still leads. In Illinois, McCarthy and Nixon are virtually tied. In Ohio, Nixon continues to lead. In both Missouri and Texas, McCarthy retains his lead. In Hawaii, it has gone into the McCarthy column. We can also project that Wisconsin will go to McCarthy.

Some more results coming in, Nixon is leading in Alaska, McCarthy has a slight advantage in California, Missouri, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania.

Some more results from the upper states, we can declare that Nixon is the winner in both Wyoming and Montana.

It seems more and more that the final results of this election will be decided by California.

As we return to the popular vote, it remains a tie, with each both McCarthy and Nixon holding forty-two percent, but McCarthy holds a numbers advantage. George Wallace has dropped to sixteen percent.

It is still too close to call in any of the remaining states. McCarthy maintains a small lead in Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Nixon leads in California, Ohio, Alaska, and New Jersey. Now this is interesting, because if both candidates win all the states that are leaning towards them, neither candidate would have a majority of the electoral college, and it would have to go to the House of Representatives. One of the candidates is going to have to hope for a last minute swing in their direction in one of the big states. Nixon’s best hope is to swing Illinois, while McCarthy’s is to swing California.

In the middle of all these theories, CBS News now projects, McCarthy to be the winner in Pennsylvania. This election is looking more and more like it will come down to California… This just in, not only that, but McCarthy is the projected winner in New Jersey as well. On the opposing side, Alaska has fallen into the Nixon column.

It’s still too close to call in California, Ohio, Illinois, Texas and Missouri. California and Ohio continue to lean Nixon, while Illinois, Texas, and Missouri continue to lean towards McCarthy. If McCarthy wants to win, he’ll have to swing one of Nixon’s states. For Nixon to win, he will not only have to win all his remaining states, but gain Texas and Illinois as well.

Looking at Congress, the Democrats have been guaranteed a majority in the House and the Senate, but they have lost a few seats in the making of it. This is a bitter disappointment for the Republicans, as it seems that this election is having little effect on the makeup of the House. It seems this election is going to go well into the night to tomorrow morning…”

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“The greatest honour history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. It is my hope, and, I believe, the hope of all Americans, that Mr. McCarthy will live up to that title.”

• Excerpt from the concession speech of former Vice President Richard Nixon

“Good morning. This is Walter Cronkite, and the time is 8:00AM. Throughout the night, Gene McCarthy and Richard Nixon have remained deadlocked in both the electoral and popular vote. In the middle of the night, it was reported that Nixon had won in the state of Ohio. Because of this, Nixon must win all the remaining states to become President. If he loses even one of the four remaining states, those being California, Texas, Missouri, and Illinois, it will be thrown to the House of Representatives. McCarthy has only one combination before him to win the election. McCarthy must win California and either Texas, or Illinois, to become President without throwing it to the House of Representatives. California is now essential to a McCarthy victory.

With eighty-eight of the popular vote counted, McCarthy is in the lead in terms of raw numbers, but both Nixon and himself each have around forty-two percent of the popular vote. George Wallace has fifteen percent of the popular vote. We have a situation very similar to the razor-edge finish of 1960, when Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy.

While counting is still incomplete, it is obvious that the Democrats have retained their majority in both the House, and the Senate, with only minor loses. In the House, the Republicans have gained five seats, while in the Senate they have gained four. The Democrats have come somewhat worse for wear in Gubernatorial races, but only slightly.

Among prominent figures to return are Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen, and J. William Fulbright.

The election, or re-election, of the ‘Dove’ Democrats has not been a sure thing. Peace candidates such as Wayne Morse, Joe Clark, and Ernest Gruening have lost their ridings, while other peace candidates, such as Tom Eagleton, George McGovern, Harold Hughes, and Fulbright, have either gained or retained their respective ridings.

We have a new development here; the voting computers that were rendered unusable last night in Dallas, Texas have been repaired, and we will soon be getting the final tally from Texas.

There is a palpable tension in both camps. Nixon may have to face the reality of the Presidency barely slipping through his fingers for a second time, while McCarthy’s strong position against the war in Vietnam may well be rejected by the voters in the four remaining states.

In other news, today’s weather will be largely rainy and cloudy on the Eastern Seaboard, with overcast in the South, and a chance of snow in the around the Midwest. The West Coast will remain clear.

Throughout the night, both McCarthy and Nixon remained secluded: McCarthy in his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, and Nixon in the Waldorf Towers in New York. George Wallace, for his part, held a late night speech refusing to admit defeat. For Vice Presidential candidates, John Connally expressed his hopes that the election would not go to the House, Spiro Agnew was confidant of the of the chances of himself and Mister Nixon, and Colonel Harland Sanders said that the third party had done better than generally expected, as well as extolling the virtues of the American entrepreneurial spirit.

We have what may be our final results coming in: McCarthy has been reported as the winner in California. That leaves it up to either Texas or Illinois. If either of those states fall into the McCarthy column, then he will be the next President of the United States. Nixon’s best case scenario at this time is to throw the election to the House. And now, a quick commercial message.

This just in. We have the final results coming in from Illinois. With the final results released, we can confirm that Eugene McCarthy has won the state of Illinois.

Regardless of how the vote settles in Texas or Missouri, we can confirm that Eugene Joseph McCarthy, age fifty-two of Minnesota, will be the next President of the United States, and that John Bowden Connally Jr, age fifty-one of Texas, will be the next Vice President of the United States.

We'll now go to the breakdown of the votes. As you can see..."

Spoiler: 1968 Presidential Election Results

Voter Turnout: 61.2% (Down 0.7%)

Democratic - Eugene McCarthy/John Connally - EV 308 - PV 42.5%
Republican - Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew - EV 174 - PV 42.3%
American Independent - George Wallace/Harland Sanders - EV 56 - PV 15.2%

Spoiler: 1968 Presidential Election Results OTL

Voter Turnout: 60.9% (Down 1.0%)

Republican - Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew - EV 301 - PV 43.4%
Democratic - Hubert Humphrey/Edmund Muskie - EV 191 - PV 42.7%
American Independent - George Wallace/Curtis LeMay - EV 46 - PV 13.5%

Spoiler: 1968 Gubernatorial Elections Results

Republicans - 27 Governorships - Gained One
Democrats - 23 Governorships - Lost One

Spoiler: 1968 Gubernatorial Elections Results OTL

Republicans - 31 Governorships - Gained Five
Democrats - 19 Governorships - Lost Five

Spoiler: 1968 Senate Election Results

President Pro Tempore: Carl Hayden
Senate Democrats - Mike Mansfield - 59 Seats - Lost Four
Senate Republicans - Everett Dirksen - 41 Seats - Gained Four

Spoiler: 1968 Senate Election Results OTL

President Pro Tempore: Carl Hayden
Senate Democrats - Mike Mansfield - 58 Seats - Lost Five
Senate Republicans - Everett Dirksen - 42 Seats - Gained Five

Spoiler: 1968 House Election Results

Speaker of the House: John McCormack
House Democrats - John McCormack - 243 Seats - Lost Five
House Republicans - Gerald Ford - 192 Seats - Gained Five

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

The McCarthy Cabinet & Staff​

President Eugene McCarthy (MN, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
Against all odds, Minnesota Senator Gene McCarthy has ascended to the Presidency. Campaigning on an end to the Vietnam War, moderate civil rights progress, and modest expansion of the Great Society, McCarthy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon. McCarthy is significantly to the left of how he campaigned, and it remains to be seen if he'll attempt to strike a balance, or return to his progressive leanings.

Vice President John Connally (TX, Conservative Democrat, Pro-Vietnam)
Before running for the Vice Presidency on the same ticket as Gene McCarthy, John Connally was the Governor of Texas, and, before that, John Kennedy’s Secretary of the Navy. Previously a protégé of Lyndon B. Johnson, Connally was instrumental in securing the nomination for McCarthy. Although considered a moderate in the South, Connally is a conservative in the grand scheme of things.

Secretary of State J. William Fulbright (AR, Conservative Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
Under the Johnson Administration, the Senators who had opposed the Vietnam War were shuffled off to the near-powerless Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Fulbright had served as the Chairman of that committee, and was one of McCarthy’s few allies in the Senate. Although a segregationist, Fulbright is a major proponent of international cooperation and ending the Vietnam War.

Secretary of Treasury Russell Long (LA, Moderate Democrat, Pro-Vietnam)
The son of the famous politician Huey Long, Russell Long is an expert on taxes, and is one of McCarthy’s few personal friends. Long has served as both the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, as well as the Senate Majority Whip. He was a key figure in passing much of the Great Society legislation. A Southern ‘Law and Order’ Democrat, Long tends to side against civil rights legislation, and has often expressed his opinion that the Supreme Court is too soft on crime.

Secretary of Defense David M. Shoup (IN, Moderate Independent, Anti-Vietnam)
A decorated, retired General of the United States Marine Corps, David M. Shoup was one of the most prominent military critics of the Vietnam War. Having previously served most notably as a Joint Chief of Staff in the Kennedy Administration, he has accepted the offer to serve as McCarthy’s Secretary of Defense. Shoup is also a proponent of using as small a military budget as possible without losing efficiency in the armed services.

Attorney General Wayne Morse (OR, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
One of the only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Wayne Morse is a hero of the anti-war movement. An attorney by trade and previously a Republican, Morse was a minor candidate in the Democratic Primary of 1960, and was briefly supported by Gene McCarthy.

Postmaster General Joseph S. Clark Jr. (PA, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
The former Mayor of Philadelphia, Joseph Clark Jr. is one of the most progressive politicians in America. On election night, he lost his Senate seat to the Republican candidate Richard Schweiker, but was picked up by the new McCarthy administration to serve as Postmaster General. There is talk of removing the position of Postmaster General from the Cabinet, so Clark may not last long as a Cabinet member.

Secretary of the Interior Ernest Gruening (AK, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
The only other Senator to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Ernest Gruening is one of the most prominent voices in the anti-war movement. Gruening ran (and lost) as an Independent for Senator of Alaska on election night following his defeat in the Democratic primary for his Senate seat, as he was considered too opposed to the Vietnam War to be electable. Ironically, his anti-war credentials have earned him a Cabinet position instead. Gruening was integral to Alaskan statehood, and remains very popular there.

Secretary of Agriculture Fred R. Harris (OK, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
A liberal Senator from an increasingly conservative state, Harris is considered an up-and-comer in the Democratic Party. A firm supporter of the Great Society, Harris was appointed by Johnson to the National Advisory Commision on Civil Disorders, where he became increasingly concerned with the plight of inner city African Americans. One of Humphrey's campaign managers, Harris aligned with McCarthy after the Convention. He has Presidential aspirations of his own, and a Cabinet position may be a good first step.

Secretary of Commerce Albert Gore Sr. (TN, Moderate Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
Although formerly in favour of military interventionism and the Vietnam War, Albert Gore slowly turned against the United States’ military escapades. A supporter of the Great Society, Gore is something of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to legislation. A relative moderate on social issues, Gore did not sign the Southern Manifesto in favour of maintaining racial segregation, but has voted both for and against civil rights laws.

Secretary of Labor Ralph Yarborough (TX, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
One of Congress’ leading Progressive Democrats, Yarborough is a Southern populist who has consistently supported civil rights laws, environmental laws, the Great Society, the War on Poverty, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Known as “Smilin’ Ralph,” he had originally backed Robert Kennedy, but had been one of the delegates to shift to McCarthy. He previously had a bitter rivalry with John Connally, but they have recently reconciled.

Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Harold Hughes (IA, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
The Governor of Iowa, Hughes was the man who gave the nominating speech for Eugene McCarthy at the Democratic Convention. A former alcoholic, Hughes has been a champion against narcotic and alcohol addiction. Some consider him Presidential material, but Hughes seems more interested in his new capabilities as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Walter Mondale (MN, Moderate Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
McCarthy’s fellow Senator from Minnesota, Mondale remained quiet during the battle between Humphrey and McCarthy, not wanting to play favourites (though he privately preferred Humphrey, and worked for his campaign). Mondale considered declining a Cabinet position, but Humphrey talked him into it. Mondale is generally considered a moderate on economic and foreign policy issues yet a supporter of civil rights. Mondale had up until recently supported the Vietnam War, but reversed his position after McCarthy’s victory. His prominent support for fair housing and non-discriminatory spending has landed him the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Secretary of Transportation Claude Brinegar (CA, Conservative Independent, Pro-Vietnam)
An economic analyst and oil executive, Brinegar stands out compared to the rest of McCarthy’s cabinet. Environmentalists have complained especially on Brinegar’s appointment, claiming that the new McCarthy Administration is “too soft on big oil” with several prominent members of the Cabinet (including the Vice President, Secretary of Treasury, and the President himself) having ties to the oil industry.

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Supreme Allied Commander Europe Matthew Ridgway (PA, Moderate Independent, Anti-Vietnam)
Ridgway previously served as a General in the Second World War and the Korean War, as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) under Truman and Eisenhower, and as Chief of Staff of the United States Army under Eisenhower. Along with Shoup and Gavin, Ridgway is one of the most prominent military opponents of the Vietnam War.

Chief of Staff of the United States Army Harold Keith Johnson (ND, Moderate Independent, Anti-Vietnam)
Harold Keith Johnson served as the US Army Chief of Staff for most of the Johnson Administration. Initially a supporter of a full reserve mobilization to fight in South Vietnam, Harold Johnson eventually became more skeptical of the likelihood of success in the Vietnam War, but never openly opposed it. He has been allowed to keep his position as Chief of Staff as a sign of military continuity, but only on the condition that he works to prepare the army for withdrawal from Vietnam.

Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover (DC, Conservative Republican, Pro-Vietnam)
J. Edgar Hoover is one of the most powerful men in Washington, having served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation since the Coolidge Administration of the 1920s. Although a publicly popular figure, behind the scenes, Hoover is the ringleader of large scale domestic spying, illegal wiretapping, and all sorts of 'below-board' government activities. No President yet has attempted to remove Hoover for fear of "reprisal," and McCarthy isn't about to try, despite his dim view of America's security agencies.

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency James M. Gavin (NY, Progressive Independent, Anti-Vietnam)
A Lieutenant General during the Second World War, “Jumpin’ Jim” was famous for taking part in the combat jumps of the paratroopers under his command. He worked to desegregate the military, being called one of the most colour-blind generals of the war. Gavin was brought out of retirement by John Kennedy to serve as Ambassador to France, and had been approached by the Dump Johnson Movement to run as a candidate before they settled on McCarthy. Now, he serves as head of the CIA, in McCarthy's attempts to reign in the agency.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations George Ball (NY, Moderate Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
The only prominent member of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations who was opposed to the Vietnam War, George Ball is also the only member of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to retain an important position in the McCarthy administration.

------------------------------------------------------------------​

First Lady Abigail McCarthy
Although not entirely politically inclined, Abigail McCarthy played a large part in her husband’s campaign, especially when it came to women’s and Catholic groups, and distribution of campaign materials. A personal friend of Coretta Scott King, Abigail is a strong supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Abigail goes into the White House with her husband and four teenage children: Mary, Margaret, Ellen, and Michael.

White House Chief of Staff Blair Clark (NY, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
McCarthy’s campaign manager, Clark had previously been a staunch supporter of the Kennedy family, but switched over to McCarthy when Bobby Kennedy refused to run in the New Hampshire Primary. Clark corralled McCarthy through the primaries and the campaign, and pulled strings at the convention to make sure the balloting went smoothly.

White House Senior Advisor Curtis Gans (NY, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
Along with Lowenstein, Gans was one of the original founders of the Dump Johnson movement. Although less actively involved as Lowenstein and Miller, Gans still provided support to the McCarthy campaign throughout 1967 and 1968. Lowenstein has since had a falling out with McCarthy over the direction of the campaign and having John Connally in the Vice Presidential slot, and remains in the House of Representatives.

White House Deputy Advisor Midge Miller (WI, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
Although she came a little later than Lowenstein and Gans, Midge Miller was one of the leaders of the Dump Johnson Movement. Although not as well known, she has been equally instrumental, serving as the nebulous McCarthy’s “handler” during and after the campaign.

White House Deputy Advisor Marty Peretz (NY, Moderate Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
A behind-the-scenes benefactor of the McCarthy campaign, Peretz is a Harvard lecturer who has begun to get involved in journalism. He has shown interest in purchasing The New Republic political magazine.

White House Press Secretary Seymour Hersh (IL, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
A Chicago journalist, Hersh came on as McCarthy’s campaign press secretary. Hersh had covered the Vietnam War extensively before the election. Since his appointment to White House Press Secretary, he has transferred his journalistic research on Vietnam to American war correspondent and journalist I.F. Stone.

Chief Speechwriter Jeremy Larner (IN, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
An author, college professor, and journalist, Larner was McCarthy’s chief speechwriter throughout the campaign in both the Democratic Primaries, the Democratic Convention, and the general election. He also worked with Harold Hughes and Julian Bond to write the nominating and seconding speeches for McCarthy at the Democratic Convention.

Director of the National Economic Council J. Howard Marshall (PA, Moderate Independent, Pro-Vietnam)
An oilman by trade, J. Howard Marshall has a long history of working with McCarthy, acting as a financial backer when McCarthy was running for Representative and Senator, in exchange for McCarthy supporting an oil pipeline that would go through his riding in Minnesota.

National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski (NY, Moderate Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
A supporter of realism when it comes to foreign policy, Brzezinski has been accused by both the right and left wing as being soft on Communism and being an unabashed American imperialist respectively. Brzezinski is the counterpart of Republican foreign policy expert Henry Kissinger.

President of Young Democrats of America Sam Brown (IO, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
Sam Brown had served as the youth organizer for McCarthy’s primary campaign, and was the main organizing force of the New Hampshire primary. Brown has since been upgraded to a similar position as the President of the youth branch of the Democratic Party.

UAW President Walter Reuther (MI, Progressive Democrat, Anti-Vietnam)
The longtime President of the United Automobile Workers union, Reuther has long been involved in supporting New Deal and Great Society, and had also come out against the Vietnam War. Although Reuther didn't overtly support McCarthy during the primaries or convention, he was a firm supporter of McCarthy's in the general election, and was a source of legitimacy among union members, who remained skeptical of the man who defeated Hubert Humphrey. In the White House, Reuther is an advisor on labour issues for McCarthy, but remains UAW President.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“We will take our corrugated steel/out of the land of thatched huts./We will take our tanks/out of the land of the water buffalo./We will take our napalm and flamethrowers/out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches. We will take our helicopters/out of the land of colored birds and butterflies./We will give back your villages and fields/your small and willing women./We will leave you your small joys/and smaller troubles. We will trust you to your gods,/some blind, some many-handed.”

• A poem by Eugene McCarthy

No one was particularly happy, except for the hippies.

With the election over, Lyndon Johnson entered his lame duck Presidency. As was tradition, McCarthy met with Johnson and was given a briefing on the state of affairs of the Union. It was naturally a tense meeting considering that McCarthy’s whole reason for running for President was to get rid of Johnson.

McCarthy and Johnson never reconciled after the 1964 Vice Presidential debacle. The 1968 post-election briefing would be the last time they ever spoke.
​

McCarthy was informed of the scope of American military operations in Southeast Asia, being told that bombing hadn’t been limited to Vietnam, but had spilled over into neighbouring Cambodia and Laos as well. As for the War on Poverty, Johnson had been struggling more and more with the conservative members of Congress to keep it afloat. The first signs of anti-welfarism were developing in America, and Johnson had had to negotiate tooth and nail to prevent his programs from being gutted in his final budget.

Impressively, despite rising inflation and the massive spending needed to sustain both the Vietnam War and the War on Poverty, Johnson left office with an over three billion dollar budget surplus for that fiscal year.

Johnson didn’t exactly have high hopes for the McCarthy Presidency. Although McCarthy would technically preside over ‘losing’ Vietnam, in his heart of hearts, the President knew that it would forever be known as ‘Mr. Johnson’s War.’ On top of that, Johnson didn’t trust McCarthy’s capabilities to manipulate Congress to pass or sustain any meaningful domestic policy. The fact that Johnson’s protégé, John Connally, was Vice President-Elect only put salt in the wound. Johnson skipped the orientation meeting with him. He left that job to Hubert Humphrey.

Although he would never admit it, Johnson would’ve preferred it if Nixon had won.

Nixon would have preferred it too.

Having failed to become President by less than one percent for the second time in his career, Richard Nixon all but deflated. He planned to go on a well deserved vacation with his family following the inauguration, and declared his intent to swear off of politics for good. Many believed him.

But of course, this hadn’t been the first time Richard Nixon had sworn off politics for good…

Richard Nixon, while leaving for the Caribbean, does his signature 'victory' pose.​

In the meantime, McCarthy began to write up his intended cabinet appointments. Flush with his victory, McCarthy gave preferential treatment to those who had been opposed to the Vietnam War, but was mindful enough to appoint a sizeable number of Southerners. As Connally was fond to remind him, McCarthy wouldn’t have gotten the nomination (and the election may well have been thrown to the House) without Southern support.

When the inauguration did come, it was the counterculture event of the year. Peace protesters didn’t have anything to protest for a change, and many came out to support ‘their guy’ as he became President of the United States. McCarthy was never particularly comfortable with the zeal of his young supporters, but they would always be "his kids." Dozens of bands showed up, and unauthorized gatherings filled the parks of Washington D.C, much to the consternation of J. Edgar Hoover and other national security bigwigs. McCarthy made sure special treatment was given to the celebrities who had helped fundraise during his primary campaign, namely the actors Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman, Tony Randall, Joan Woodward, the musical duo Simon and Garfunkel, and plenty of others [1].

As Gene headed to the steps of the Capitol, he was joined by his wife, Abigail McCarthy. Although never particularly interested in politics, Abigail had been instrumental in the early days of the McCarthy campaign by organizing neighbourhood women’s and Catholic clubs to support her husband’s campaign in New Hampshire. In fact, Abigail personally wrote and mailed most of the campaign materials in New Hampshire during the primary. The McCarthys would also be joined by their four teenage children, Mary, Margaret, Ellen, and Michael.

Eugene Joseph McCarthy was sworn in on January 20th, 1969, by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Warren, an old nemesis of Richard Nixon, was suitably delighted as a liberal was sworn in while Nixon was forced to look on. It was made all the sweeter by the fact that it would be one of Warren’s final acts as Chief Justice before retiring, safe in the knowledge that a another liberal would take his place on the court.

The Inauguration of Eugene McCarthy, January 20th, 1969.
​

Clocking in at just under four thousand words, Gene McCarthy gave the longest inaugural address since Calvin Coolidge in 1925. Going in depth on such topics as the Vietnam War, equality before the law, national unity, the state of world peace, and what America could learn from the fall of the Roman Republic, McCarthy certainly didn’t leave the audience wanting for details.

And with that, Eugene McCarthy was President of the United States, and the world would be forever changed.

In other news, Robert Kennedy woke up.


“Who won?”

• Robert Kennedy, 1969

[1] There were a lot of celebrities who supported McCarthy, including but not limited to: Lee Remick, Lauren Bacall, Dick Van Dyke, Larry Blyden, Myrna Loy, and Garry Moore, as well as and the playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon on top of the others named.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“But the United States did not keep its word. Is an American’s word reliable these days?”

• President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Theiu on the negotiations with North Vietnam

The McCarthy Presidency began with a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.

How auspicious.

While the nascent administration dragged its heels, Congress took the initiative. Henry M. Jackson, the Democratic Senator for Washington, put forward the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which would standardize government environmental practices by requiring federal agencies to make environmental reports, and would also establish a “President’s Council on Environmental Quality.” In turn, the Clean Water Act (CWA) was proposed by Edmund Muskie, the Democratic Senator for Maine. President McCarthy would sign the NEPA into law, but would later veto the CWA when it arrived on his desk, citing its high expenses and the detriments it would bring to heavy industry. Congress disagreed, and would go on to override his veto, with the Act eventually coming into law in 1972. McCarthy would largely ignore the advice of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality throughout his term, and proposed plans to create a unified environmental agency were mothballed, as the President moved on to other headline catching issues [1].

Speaking of headlines, throughout late February and March of 1969, the newspapers were plastered with reports on Bobby Kennedy’s release from hospital following several surgeries, a coma, and muscle atrophy rehabilitation. Leaving the hospital while propped up on either side by his wife, Ethel, and his brother, Ted, Bobby Kennedy was eased into a car and relocated to the Kennedy family compound in Massachusetts for further recovery. It was unlikely that he would ever walk unassisted again.

Robert Kennedy at the Kennedy Family Compound in Massachusetts, 1969.​

In public, McCarthy made sure that everyone knew that he had phoned Kennedy, and openly proclaimed his willingness to have him as an adviser to finally bury the hatchet. In private, McCarthy still held reservations over the Kennedys, and most White House staffers were smart enough to make sure McCarthy was out of earshot before they made the common joke that Robert Kennedy would be the second wheelchair-bound President, and just as good as the first one.



Of course, not everyone was so careful to constantly keep an eye open for the President when making jokes at his – and his infamously fragile ego's – expense. One lawyer who had just started working in the Justice Department who didn’t make sure McCarthy was out of earshot was ‘promoted’ to oversee all the legal paperwork of the oil spill cleanup in California. That new up-and-comer William Rehnquist never really forgave McCarthy for that.

But it wasn’t oil spills or Bobby Kennedy that held McCarthy’s interest, but the Vietnam War.

Despite what many assumed from his campaign, Gene McCarthy never said the words “immediate withdrawal” while running for President. What McCarthy did say was “gradual withdrawal,” “negotiations,” and “immediate bombing halt,” and that’s what he went about doing. Bombing was stopped in Vietnam, as well as in the ‘secret wars’ in Laos and Cambodia, and McCarthy announced an official end to the draft, but didn’t go so far as to pardon draft dodgers [2]. Secretary of State Fulbright went to Paris to oversee negotiations with the North Vietnamese. After giving an earful to the South Vietnamese over the fact that they had been arguing with the Northerners for months over what type of table to negotiate at (the South demanded rectangular, while the North would only come to the table if it was circular), Fulbright got to work. As was the new White House policy, Fulbright was aiming to end hostilities, hold free and fair elections in South Vietnam (in which the Viet Cong could participate), and follow it up with a reunification referendum. In exchange, the North would recognize the South as a legitimate government until the referendum, relinquish their control of occupied territory in South Vietnam, and recognize the ceasefire in good faith. South Vietnam knew which way the wind was blowing, and was purposefully unhelpful and intransigent throughout the whole negotiation process. Although things were looking significantly more promising than under Johnson, it would still take time to negotiate an end to the war, and McCarthy had to spend the better part of the year wrangling public opinion and keeping Congress cooperative.

Secretary of State William Fulbright (left) with Attorney General Wayne Morse (right).​

In the meantime, with McCarthy in the White House, he went about stacking the deck in favour of anti-war politicians; especially anti-war politicians who had supported him over Bobby Kennedy during the primaries. In the House of Representatives, McCarthy threw his support behind Representative Mo Udall’s challenge to John McCormack for the mantle of Speaker of the House. The pro-war McCormack suddenly found himself without many friends in the McCarthy era, and Udall took over as Speaker as of 1969 [3]. In the Senate, Richard Russell Jr. was in line to become the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, as was the tradition of the oldest serving member of the ruling party to be appointed to the position. Russell had been politically neutral on the Vietnam War; this wasn't good enough for McCarthy, who wanted someone with more commitment to ‘the cause.’ McCarthy heavily considered breaking tradition and trying to push through Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield as President Pro Tempore, but after a loud argument with Vice President Connally, and many of the Southern cabinet members threatening to resign, McCarthy relented, and Russell became President Pro Tempore without incident.

In the Judicial sphere, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren began his retirement, and McCarthy got to choose his replacement. McCarthy’s first (and only) choice was Associate Justice William O. Douglas. Douglas had been the only vocal critic of the Vietnam War on the Supreme Court, to the extent that some would say he had been breaching his judicial impartiality. Appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, he was known as competent, if nothing else. Douglas had been one of the names in consideration for the Vice Presidency during Roosevelt’s last term, and was also approached with the position by Truman in 1948, but he turned it down for want of not being, “the number two man to a number two man.” Since then, he operated as a liberal member of the court, and served as the resident maverick. Douglas was sworn in as Chief Justice in 1969, and his position on the Court as Associate Justice was filled by Cyrus Vance: a West Virginian who had served in numerous roles in the Defense Department under Kennedy and Johnson, but who had resigned after opposition to expanding the US’ role in Vietnam. A Southern moderate opposed to the Vietnam War, Vance was acceptable to all parties, and was sworn in without a hitch [4].

Associate Justice Abe Fortas, a Johnson loyalist who had been forced to resign from the court earlier that year, was replaced by Edmund Muskie, the Senator for Maine, and a personal friend of President McCarthy [5]. Even though McCarthy and Muskie had their differences over environmental protection, the two remained close friends, and Muskie was also nominated to the Supreme Court without much trouble.

The Warren Court. Chief Justice Earl Warren is in the middle of the bottom row. His successor as Chief Justice, William Douglas, is to his immediate left.​

But by far and away the greatest American achievement of 1969 had nothing to do with McCarthy:

The Moon Landing.

Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first man in human history to walk on the Moon, followed shortly after by Neil Armstrong [6], while the third man on the mission, Michael Collins, remained in orbit. Aldrin’s first words once stepping on the Moon were, “Beautiful view. I can see why they call it the Sea of Tranquillity.” When Armstrong came down twenty minutes later, he said, “That’s quite the leap we took.” Although some complained in retrospect of the plainness of Aldrin’s first words, others, such as Edmund Hillary, the man who climbed Mount Everest, defended it, saying it was, “perfectly human [7].”

Buzz Aldrin: The First Man on the Moon.​

In his famous phone call with the astronauts, McCarthy carried on the conversation for several minutes longer then was scheduled. Eventually, Chief of Staff Blair Clark faked an emergency to get the President off the phone, so that the TV stations could return to their coverage of the Moon Landing. McCarthy later met with the astronauts in person as they went on their Across America Tour.

As far as honeymoon periods go for Presidents, McCarthy had a long one. Bobby Kennedy’s recovery, the beginning of genuine negotiations with North Vietnam, and the success of the Moon Landing had sustained McCarthy’s popularity, and brought a sense of returned optimism to the United States, despite the lack of any major legislation, and early quarrels with Congress and his cabinet.

But the American people would soon learn that they weren’t out of the chaos of the 1960s yet, when the information that President McCarthy needed to end support for the Vietnam War quite literally landed in his lap, given to him by none other than White House Press Secretary Seymour Hersh.


“This is just the kind of thing we needed to happen so that everyone could know it was happening.”

• President Eugene McCarthy on the My Lai Massacre

[1] Nixon’s veto of the Clean Water Act was also overruled, but unlike McCarthy, he went through with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

[2] Nixon didn’t end the draft until 1973. Draft dodgers weren’t pardoned until 1977 by Jimmy Carter. It remains to be seen when draft dodgers will be pardoned (if ever) ITTL.

[3] IOTL, McCormack successfully fended off Udall’s challenge.

[4] IOTL, William Douglas remained on the court until his forced retirement due to a stroke in 1975 and was succeeded by John Paul Stevens. Cyrus Vance was Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State.

[5] IOTL, Abe Fortas was succeeded by Harry Blackmum. Edmund Muskie was Hubert Humphrey’s Vice Presidential candidate, and coincidentally, also Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State.

[6] In the original schedule plan for the Moon Landing, Buzz Aldrin, as the capsule pilot, would’ve been the first man on the Moon. The plan was later revised so that the mission commander, Neil Armstrong would be the first on the Moon. It seems the original plan stuck this time around.

[7] IOTL, Edmund Hillary complained that “One Small Step for a Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind” was too poetic, and wasn’t something ‘natural’ to say.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“The most disturbing thing I saw was one boy and this is what haunts me … A boy with his arms shot off, shot up and hanging on and he just had this bewildered look on his face like what did I do, what’s wrong… he couldn’t comprehend.”

• Fred Wilmer of ‘Charlie Company,’ on the My Lai Massacre

With the first year of the McCarthy Administration coming to a close, Press Secretary Seymour Hersh hadn’t especially been an outstanding figure of the White House. Certainly, he was effective, but his skills had always lain more with ear-to-the-ground investigations and journalistic pursuits rather than covering for the President from those same investigations. Seymour Hersh’s luck would change, as it happened, with fate giving him a last hurrah of impartial journalistic accomplishment before being sucked into the swamp of partisanship.

After moving up from McCarthy’s Campaign Press Secretary to McCarthy’s White House Press Secretary, Hersh had left much of his research and contacts on Vietnam to his friend, mentor, and fellow anti-war journalist, I. F. Stone. Stone had been following up with Hersh’s investigations, and got a tip of an American lieutenant named William Calley of the 23rd Infantry Division getting court martialed for killing civilians. Several extensive interviews (with Calley and others) later, and Stone was able to prove the existence of massacres of civilians by American soldiers in South Vietnam. The most documented example was in the village of Son My, known to American topographers as My Lai.

Several villages were razed and between 347 and 504 South Vietnamese civilians were killed by US soldiers in the My Lai Massacre.
​

Now, I.F. Stone was a political outsider, and he would be releasing the story of My Lai in his newsletter, I.F. Stone’s Weekly, regardless of what the President thought of it. From there, it would almost definitely get picked up by larger distributors. But, as a show of courtesy, he sent the story to Hersh before sending it to print [1]. In turn, Hersh showed the story to the President. As it turned out, Stone wouldn’t need to displease the President; in fact, Gene McCarthy was ecstatic. Being a man who delighted in vindication, the cover-up of a massacre was just the thing he needed to publicize to end public support for the Vietnam War.

And so it was that the same day the subscribers of I.F. Stone’s Weekly were reading of the My Lai Massacre that President Eugene McCarthy held a special press conference revealing that American soldiers had been killing civilians in South Vietnam. The story spread like wildfire, not only for its contents, but by the fact that the office of the President guaranteed its truthfulness by bringing it to the attention of the press.

To say it caused an uproar would be an understatement.

Anti-war activists were finally starting to see public opinion sway in their direction, while pro-war hawks screamed bloody murder. Representative L. Mendel Rivers of South Carolina, a George Wallace supporter who had since returned to the fold of the Democratic Party, was the most critical of them all. The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and self-proclaimed “Granddaddy of the War Hawks,” Rivers denounced McCarthy's use of the President's office to drag the respectability and reputation of the US Armed Forces through the mud. Rivers publicly speculated that the My Lai Massacre had never really happened, and instead had been concocted by anti-war radicals to fool the public into backing down from the war. Unfortunately for Rivers, his scepticism was used against him when Speaker Mo Udall had a motion put forward to establish a special committee to investigate the veracity of the My Lai Massacre: a special committee that would not be under the control of L. Mendel Rivers.

L. Mendel Rivers: Dixiecrat, HASC Chairman, and "Granddaddy of the War Hawks." ​

Earlier in the year, Congressman Udall had heard rumblings of My Lai, and had requested Rivers and the HASC to either open an investigation or have the Pentagon open one. Nothing had come of it, but where Congressman Udall had failed, Speaker Udall could succeed. The vote to form the special committee passed by a respectable margin, but with vocal opposition coming from War Hawks, Southern Democrats, and sticklers for Congressional proceedings who felt the investigation should’ve been handled by the HASC. Robert Leggett, an anti-war Democratic Representative from California who was also on the HASC, was made Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate My Lai, which was composed of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, and with membership being roughly even between Hawks and Doves. Although the cat was already out of the bag, the Committee to Investigate My Lai would confirm the accusations of the President and I.F. Stone, and would provide dozens of testimonials to the military court handling William Calley’s court martial case [2].

Ultimately, William Calley, and his direct superior, Captain Ernest Medina, would both serve life in prison. Others, like Colonel Oran Henderson and Captain Eugene Kotouc received lighter prison sentences. Major General Samuel W. Koster, the highest ranking officer to be implicated, was demoted to Brigadier General and stripped of a distinguished service medal, while others involved in the initial cover-up, such as Major Colin Powell, were given demerits on their record [3].

Despite McCarthy’s public proclamation that brought My Lai national attention in late October of 1969, the legal system moved fairly slowly compared to politics, and the public awaited the results until mid-1970, when the sentencing was released. When that happended, McCarthy would also award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hugh Thompson Jr. - a helicopter pilot who provided one of the most damning testimonials on My Lai, and had tried to prevent the massacre - as well as to his crew.

In the meantime, another bombshell was dropped.

A whistleblower named Daniel Ellsberg had illegally duplicated classified documents that revealed that, for years, the US government had known that the Vietnam War was likely unwinnable, and that the office of the President had deliberately lied to Congress and the American public about the extent of the war, American involvement in the coup that killed former South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, and the ulterior purposes of the war. Rather than being a just fight to bring democracy to the people of Vietnam, it was for the most part, part of a geopolitical strategy to contain the People’s Republic of China and keep it in a precarious international position.

Emboldened by the McCarthy Administration’s ‘owning up’ of My Lai, Ellsberg contacted Secretary of State Fulbright and asked him to show the findings either to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or to the President. Fulbright didn’t show any interest in the document, and decided not to pass on the information for “national security reasons.” Senator George McGovern showed some interest, but didn’t want to divulge state secrets without the Executive Office leading the charge. It was ultimately National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski who did anything with the information [4].

Brzezinski brought the Pentagon Papers to the attention of the President, who was less than pleased that Fulbright hadn’t seen fit to inform him. McCarthy met with Brzezinski, Ellsberg, and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Frank Church (who had replaced Fulbright in his old Senate position). Although Brzezinski was opposed to bringing the Pentagon Papers to the public while negotiations with North Vietnam were still in progress, McCarthy went ahead with his and Ellsberg’s plan anyway: as it was illegal for a Senator to be prosecuted for anything to read or recounted while on the floor of the Senate, Frank Church would read the Pentagon Papers aloud, then McCarthy would corroborate the story and denounce the intentions of past Presidents’ Administrations [5].

Fulbright wasn’t consulted or informed of the plan.

Daniel Ellsberg making a press statement. Ellsberg would ultimately be given a full pardon by President McCarthy for the illegal means in which he obtained the Pentagon Papers, further dividing public opinion.
​

When Frank Church did his public reading, all Hell broke loose. The War Hawks, already upset with McCarthy’s role in revealing the My Lai Massacre, were absolutely livid with the President's collaborating to reveal state secrets to the public. Even plenty of moderates in the Senate felt that McCarthy had gone too far in revealing state secrets, and besmirching the intentions of Kennedy and Johnson. Many future historians would wonder aloud if McCarthy had released the Pentagon Papers due to his opposition to the Vietnam War, or more so as a chance to throw shade on his old nemeses.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Frank Church (right) being interviewed on Meet the Press after his reading of the Pentagon Papers.
​

McCarthy had won a moral victory by doing irreversible damage to public support for the Vietnam War, at the expense of his own legitimacy, and that of his office. It would be an unfortunate side-effect of his brutal honesty that far right conspiracy theorists claim to this day that the My Lai Massacre was a false flag operation, and the Pentagon Papers were communist fabrications designed to demoralize the God-fearing American people. The legacy of L. Mendel Rivers hasn't disappeared so quickly.

With the chaos of the 1960s finally behind America, it was up to Eugene McCarthy to go into the next decade and bring a decisive end to the Vietnam War, push through his extensive domestic policies, and generally bring about world peace, after having alienated most of Congress.

What could possibly go wrong?


“I was the best news I’d had gotten all day.”

• President Eugene McCarthy on being told of the My Lai Massacre

[1] IOTL, after McCarthy lost his Presidential bid, Seymour Hersh returned to independent journalism, and sold the story of the My Lai Massacre to the Dispatch News Service International. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism for his coverage.

[2] IOTL, the Congressional investigation into My Lai was handled by L. Mendel Rivers and the HASC. In an attempt to protect Calley and the other defendants, Rivers called all major witnesses to testify before the committee, then refused to release the testimonies to the military court, thereby preventing them from being used as admissible evidence. ITTL, all testimonies have been provided to the military court by the special committee.

[3] In part because of the “lack” of testimony and evidence created by Rivers, IOTL, William Calley was the only participant in the My Lai Massacre who was court martialed and found directly responsible, and would ultimately only serve three and a half years of house arrest before being paroled, thanks to intervention by the Nixon Administration.

[4] IOTL, Ellsberg offered the Pentagon Papers to Fulbright, McGovern, and Henry Kissinger, but nothing came of it from any of them.

[5] IOTL, the Pentagon Papers were suppressed by the Nixon Administration, and only became public knowledge in 1971 due to coverage from the press. ITTL, the Pentagon Papers are revealed in 1969, on purpose, by the office of the President.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“As we move into this new decade and towards the two-hundredth anniversary of the United States, we have already begun the moral purification of America, free from unjust war. Now, we must look to home to build a new, Greater Society. The War on Poverty has ended, but the Crusade Against Poverty has just begun.”

• Excerpt from President McCarthy's, State of the Union Address, 1970

It was time for McCarthy to take stock.

As 1969 turned to 1970, McCarthy began to push through his domestic agenda, branded as the "Greater Society" and the “Crusade Against Poverty.” In the House, Mo Udall was Speaker, and could be relied upon to keep things under control, but McCarthy didn’t have the best relationship with the House Democrats’ Majority Leader, Carl Albert. Albert had been the Chair of the Democratic National Convention of 1968, and had none-too-subtly tried to tip things towards Humphrey and Johnson. Although McCarthy would have liked someone else as Majority Leader, he would have to wait until the midterms were behind him at least, and wasn’t as if he had the political capital to reshuffle the House’s leadership even if he wanted to. As for the Democrat’s House Whip, Hale Boggs, he had been a Johnson man too, and so remained outside of McCarthy’s inner circle, despite their shared interest in reigning in America's national security and secret service agencies, such as the CIA, NSA, and FBI.

Although the Senate had been Johnson’s domain, Democratic leadership there was more sympathetic to McCarthy than that of the House. McCarthy had earned the ire of President Pro Tempore Richard Russell by trying to circumvent him in Senatorial seniority, but he still had the support of Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, and the new Senate Whip, Ted Kennedy. Hubert Humphrey had become the Senior Senator for Minnesota upon McCarthy’s ascension to the Presidency, while Minnesota Representative (and McCarthy endorser) Donald Fraser had become the Junior Senator to replace Walter Mondale, who had joined McCarthy’s cabinet. Although McCarthy and Humphrey had their obvious differences, Humphrey became one of the leading ‘foot soldiers’ of progressive causes in the Senate.

Post-Nixon Republican Leadership: House Minority Leader Gerald Ford (left) and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott (right). Republicans were divided on if Nixon had campaigned as too conservative, or not conservative enough.
​

With McCarthy beginning to push forward his domestic initiatives, he decided to test the waters. The My Lai Massacre and the Pentagon Papers had alienated much of Congress, and so, McCarthy began with a (relatively) non-divisive issue as far as major landmark legislation went: healthcare reform.

The Medicaid (which helped cover the health insurance of those with low income) and Medicare (which covered the young and the elderly) programs had been introduced by Johnson in 1965, and since then, most Democrats, and plenty of liberal-to-moderate Republicans, had at least a passing interest in reforming or expanding the system. Some of the most liberal Congressmen, such as Senate Majority Whip Ted Kennedy, wanted a full, single-payer universal healthcare system. Some wanted to keep the system more or less as it was, while others wanted to roll back Medicaid and let the free market handle health insurance. Regardless, whatever path McCarthy took with healthcare reform, he would have to get it past Wilbur Mills, the fiscally conservative-leaning Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Mills kept a tight grip on the federal purse, but had previously served a large role in creating Medicare, and was open to the idea of further social spending as long as the budget remained balanced.

In all honesty, McCarthy wasn’t that interested in healthcare reform, and basically left it to Ted Kennedy and Mo Udall to work it through Congress. In the meantime, McCarthy returned to dealing with the Vietnam negotiations and doing a whistle-stop tour of the country to promote the end of the war, as well as to do some groundwork for the midterm elections. There wasn't much that McCarthy loved more than an adulant crowd. McCarthy spent the most time in California, where he promoted his protégé, George Brown Jr, in the California Democratic Senate Primary over the Kennedy-esque centrist candidate, John V. Tunney.

Senate Majority Whip Ted Kennedy showcasing his ill-fated single-payer healthcare plan.​

Back in Congress, Ted Kennedy’s sponsored bill to implement a universal healthcare system had passed in the Senate, but had been stopped in the more conservative House. Wilbur Mills was unwilling to allow the expanded medicare bill to dip into the social security trust to fund it, and his obstruction in the Ways and Means Committee, along with opposition from most of the Republicans and almost all Southern and conservative Democrats, had killed the bill. Upon McCarthy’s return, he decided to come to a compromise: he needed some major legislation, and he didn’t exactly care how effective it would be in the long term. Meeting with Mills, Udall, Republican House Minority Leader Gerald Ford, and Secretary of Treasury Russell Long, McCarthy agreed to a watered down bill that would be able to pass through the House. In the new bill, Medicare expanded coverage to different illnesses and slightly expanded the age eligibility, while Medicaid was expanded to give a broader and better coverage to more Americans by subsidizing healthcare providers, creating health coverage tax credits, and a government funded multi-payer healthcare initiative [1].

Shortly after, the Medicare and Medicaid Expansion Act passed through both houses of Congress. The amount of moderates brought over in the House and Senate was more than enough to make up the difference of the small number of liberal defectors, most prominently Ted Kennedy himself, who voted against the new bill in protest of McCarthy giving up so easily on his original single-payer healthcare bill. The act was almost entirely paid for by slashing funding to the Vietnam War, and foreign aid to the South Vietnamese government.

With the Medicare and Medicaid Expansion Act passed by Congress, McCarthy decided to move on to his pet project. McCarthy, the intellectual, cosmopolitan, urbane social democrat, considered himself something of a Jeffersonian agrarian.

Growing up in rural Minnesota, the young and religiously devout Gene McCarthy pined for an idealized version of the Feudal era, where pious knights protected the lower classes, most of the population lived off the land on self-sustaining farms, and Christian generosity acted as a social security net. Shortly after getting married, the city slicker McCarthys tried (and horribly failed) to start their own farm, but Gene never fully abandon his romantic vision of the rural lifestyle.

And so, from a mix of McCarthy’s romanticism, a desire to expand the Food Stamp program, and an attempt to sustain rural support for the Democrats, the proposed Farmer Advancement Act was born. The act would heavily boost agricultural subsidies, give very low interest loans to families who moved to the country to start a farm (with the land sold by the government at a low-ball price), expanded Medicare to cover farmers, and continued to cover costs for farmers to purposefully limit their crop growth to prevent an oversupply of grains; a buffer stock scheme known as the ‘Ever-Normal Granary’ that had been in place since Henry Wallace had been Secretary of Agriculture in 1933 [2].

The bill was primarily sponsored in the Senate by Humphrey, who wanted to use the expected growth in food production to expand the Food Stamp Program, and Senator (and Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs) George McGovern, who supported it both to aid the farmers of his home state of South Dakota, and to use it as a method to potentially end hunger in America. The bill was also supported in the McCarthy cabinet, particularly by Secretary of Agriculture Fred Harris, and Secretary of the Interior Ernest Gruening. Gruening, who was something of a Mexiphile, encouraged adding policies undertaken in Mexico by the agronomist Norman Borlaug to the bill.

Secretary of the Interior Ernest Gruening (seated) had a fascination with Mexico and Norman Borlaug's 'Green Revolution,' and advocated for similar government land policies in the United States.
​

Ultimately, the Farmer Advancement Act would see the least opposition of all of McCarthy’s major legislation. It got nearly unanimous support from the Midwest, quite heavy support from liberals on the West Coast and in the North-East, and even sizable support from the South, where Southern Democrats’ desire for a nice bit of pork barrel legislation superseded their ever-growing disdain for President McCarthy.

Although the Farmer Advancement Act was highly popular in both Congress and in America at large, its long term benefits were questionable at best: factory farms began to out-compete family farms regardless of McCarthy's subsidies, the farmer population still shrank from 4.6% of the workforce in 1970 to 4.0% in 1980 [3], most enthusiastic families who came from the cities to start a farm found themselves ill-equipped to actually run a farm, and went back to the city with their tail between their legs, and environmentalists complained that much of the land the government sold to new farmers were formerly protected federal land. On the other hand, the act did increase food production, leading to a successful expansion of the Food Stamp Program, with a record low number of Americans living without a reliable source of food.

Agrarian idyll: McCarthy had a soft spot for the farmer's lifestyle, and toured several farms in the Midwest while the Farmer Advancement Act was working its way through Congress.​

With two pieces of major legislation under his belt and negotiations to end the Vietnam War approaching their conclusion, it seemed that McCarthy had done well going into the midterms, and yet, the ultimate success or failure of his Presidency remained to be seen.


“Just another Kennedy causing trouble.”

• President Eugene McCarthy, on Ted Kennedy voting against the Medicare and Medicaid Expansion Act

[1] In a more partisan time, it might’ve been called ‘McCarthycare.’ The Medicare and Medicaid Expansion Act is more or less OTL’s Affordable Care Act with more government involvement, oversight, and subsidies into the healthcare industry.

[2] IOTL, Nixon’s Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, ended the Ever-Normal Granary, instead encouraging farmers to “get big or get out.” This in part led to the beginning of the decline of the family farm, and the rise of massive, industrial agriculture corporations.

[3] IOTL, farmers made up 3.4% of the total workforce by 1980, so McCarthy has indeed delayed the collapse of the family farm and improved food production for the Food Stamp Program, but overall, it’s a wasteful piece of legislative spending.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

"Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification."

• Text of the Equal Rights Amendment, passed by Congress in 1970

As the 1970 Midterms approached, uncertainty was in the air. McCarthy's rapid winding down of the Vietnam War was met with great approval, although the methods used were polarizing. McCarthy had certainly passed base-appeasing legislation, but the South and conservative Democrats remained politically wary of him. Polling indicated that the Democrats would retain control of both the House and the Senate, but the margins remained uncertain. The Republicans hoped to make their greatest inroads in the South by associating local Democrats with McCarthy, but there was no greater nation-wide strategy to unify or excite their base. The fact was, McCarthy had run an incredibly inoffensive Administration thus far, except for in the minds of the most committed progressives, fiscal hawks, and war hawks: Government spending was down while social security spending was up, civil rights continued but at a slower pace, and even inflation had dropped somewhat with the end of the war.

Regardless, Republicans hoped to push back, and take advantage of the usual gains the not-in-power party tends to make during the midterms. There were hopes amongst Republicans that their lead in the Midwest could be expanded, especially in the Senate, where they organized to hold to the seat of the late Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, and there was a strong belief the bombastic Governor of Ohio, James A. Rhodes, could carry his state's Senate seat after a razor-thin primary victory over Robert Taft Jr [1]. In New York, Charles Goddell, the Republican Senator appointed to replace Bobby Kennedy, was polling a distant third behind the Democratic contender, Richard Ottinger, and the Conservative Party candidate, James Buckley. Buckley was in a slight lead, but Ottinger had managed to siphon off the anti-war Republicans from Goddell, and was in a not-impossible position to win. On the West Coast, McCarthy protégé, George Brown Jr, had defeated centrist Democrat John Tunney in the primaries, and was gaining fast over the Republican incumbent, George Murphy [2]. In the House of Representatives, it seemed unlikely that there would be many big changes, but the Democrats were campaigning hard on the end of the war.

The most notable House race was Allard Lowenstein's seat in New York 5. Lowenstein's district had been unfavourably changed by the Republican-controlled state legislature, with a former conservative district amalgamated into his riding. McCarthy's Prodigal Son, it remained to be seen if Lowenstein would still benefit from McCarthy's conduct of the Vietnam War. Meanwhile in Virginia, the Democratic Senate incumbent, Harry Byrd Jr, had become a political independent, and was in a three way race with the Democrats and Republicans.

It was at the same time that Democrats and Republicans were campaigning for the Midterms that the Vietnam War officially came to a ceasefire, with an agreement reached between the two delegations. As the final deal had been struck, it was obvious it was in favour of North Vietnam. Fulbright and the American delegation had at first dropped the demand that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong withdraw from South Vietnam, then dropped the demand that they relinquish civilian targets, and finally dropped the demand they withdraw from military outposts. Without American military support, the majority of South Vietnam was essentially under Viet Cong control. As for new elections with American oversight, the North Vietnamese trusted those about as far as they could throw them, but they agreed regardless. Additionally, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Thieu was be forced to step down, with his ambitious Vice President, Nguyen Ky, taking his place [3].

Denouncing the American government for abandoning their allies, and the Communists for not abiding by the Paris Peace Accords (skirmishes continued well after the deadline of the ceasefire), but fearing an assassination attempt by either the CIA, the Communists, or Nguyen Ky, Nguyen Thieu fled the country with sixteen tons of gold to Taiwan in late 1970, where he became the guest of Chaing Kai-Shek, and his Taiwan-based Republic of China [4].

South Vietnamese President Nguyen van Theiu, shortly before being forced out of power by his American former allies. McCarthy and Fulbright were content to leave him to his own affairs in Taiwan.​

The next South Vietnamese election was scheduled for the fall of 1971, and a reunification referendum was scheduled for 1972. Although the announcement of the end of hostilities was well received in the United States, Congress and foreign policy experts were well aware that South Vietnam had been near-completely abandon, as American armed forces were recalled from the country. A prisoner of war exchange was scheduled, and some Vietnamese personnel working for the United States were evacuated, but the ‘ideal’ outcome of a US-aligned Vietnam was dead and buried.

The official end of the Vietnam War gave a big boost to the Democrats. It was a boost that McCarthy sought to use the momentum of for one more piece of high profile politicking: the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Having remained in limbo in House Judiciary Committee for fifteen years, McCarthy pushed for a fast-track of the amendment through Congress before the 91st Congress could end, passing overwhelmingly in the House and Senate [5]. A sponsor of the ERA at various points in his House and Senate career, McCarthy was committed to seeing it through by the end of his Presidency.

End of an Era: American troops withdraw from Vietnam, after fifteen years of involvement in the war.

​

With the combined gains of the end of the Vietnam War and the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment through Congress, McCarthy surged in the polls. Although many said that the midterms would be a referendum on the end of, and the final deal of, the Vietnam War, McCarthy's coattails remained small. The results were about as expected, with the exception of an excellent showing by the Democrats in gubernatorial elections.

Spoiler: 1969 Gubernatorial Elections Results

Republicans - 29 Governorships - Gained Two
Democrats - 21 Governorships - Lost Two

Spoiler: 1969 Gubernatorial Elections Results OTL

Republicans - 32 Governorships - Gained One
Democrats - 18 Governorships - Lost One

Spoiler: 1970 Gubernatorial Elections Results

Democrats - 30 Governorships - Gained Eleven
Republicans - 20 Governorships - Lost Eleven

Spoiler: 1970 Gubernatorial Elections Results OTL

Democrats - 29 Governorships - Gained Eleven
Republicans - 21 Governorships - Lost Eleven

Spoiler: 1970 Senate Election Results

President Pro Tempore: Richard Russell Jr.
Senate Democrats - Mike Mansfield - 57 Seats - Lost Two
Senate Republicans - Hugh Scott - 43 Seats - Gained One
Senate Independents - 1 Seat - Gained One

Spoiler: 1970 Senate Election Results OTL

President Pro Tempore: Richard Russell Jr.
Senate Democrats - Mike Mansfield - 53 Seats - Lost Four
Senate Republicans - Hugh Scott - 45 Seats - Gained Two
Senate Independents/Conservatives - 2 Seats - Gained Two

Spoiler: 1970 House Election Results

Speaker of the House: Mo Udall
House Democrats - Mo Udall - 262 Seats - Gained 19
House Republicans - Gerald Ford - 173 Seats - Lost 19 [6]

Spoiler: 1970 House Election Results OTL

Speaker of the House: John McCormack
House Democrats - John McCormack - 255 Seats - Gained 12
House Republicans - Gerald Ford - 180 Seats - Lost 12

With the Vietnam War all but over, and the Midterms elections having come and gone, President McCarthy had a clear mandate for the second half of his term, though it remained to be seen if the fractured remains of the New Deal Coalition could survive the greater and more dramatic reforms McCarthy intended to pursue...


"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."

• President Eugene McCarthy, on the end of the Vietnam War, 1970

[1] IOTL, Taft narrowly defeated Rhodes, as the primary took place only a few days after the infamous Kent State Shootings, in which Governor Rhodes ordered state troopers to the university, and peaceful protestors (and bystanders) were fired upon. ITTL, the Kent Protests never happened, as the Vietnam War wasn’t expanded into Cambodia, ergo there was no cause for a protest.

[2] IOTL, John Tunney defeated George Brown Jr. and went on to defeat George Murphy. With support from the President’s office, Brown has overwhelmed Tunney.

[3] IOTL, Nixon also gradually dropped demands in his negotiations that allowed the Viet Cong to occupy civilian and military targets. Unlike Nixon, the McCarthy Administration has left a diplomatic ‘out’ for Thieu and the South Vietnamese leadership to either get out with their hides intact, or stay and participate in an election with communists. Thieu has obviously chosen the former.

[4] IOTL, Thieu left his gold behind in Vietnam, and it was eventually given to the Soviet Union.

[5] IOTL, the ERA wasn't passed until the 92nd Congress.

[6] ITTL, the Democrats have gained: California 7, Colorado 1, Indiana 10, Iowa 1, Massachusetts 12, Minnesota 3, Montana 1, and held New York 5

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“A tax loophole is something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you its tax reform. Likewise, when price controls are put in place, its stabilizing the economy, but you better watch out for socialism when the gentlemen across the aisle go about it.”

• Secretary of Treasury Russell Long on the McCarthy Freeze

With the Midterms over, the Democrats had a clear majority in Congress, but McCarthy’s raison d’etre, ending the Vietnam War (or at least ending American military involvement), had already been achieved. Going into the second half of his term, McCarthy naturally decided to focus more on domestic policy. In particular, he intended to amp up civil rights progression and expanding his Crusade Against Poverty, much to the chagrin of the more conservative members of his cabinet and party.

1971 would also be the year McCarthy would attempt to get the country’s finances under control.

In 1971, the unemployment rate in the United States was around six percent, while inflation was at 5.84% and growing. Throughout Johnson’s term, one of the subtler problems that had haunted him had been inflation. Because of the increase of the global money supply that came with the expanding economies of Western Europe following the Second World War and Marshall Plan, inflation had been steadily rising in the United States, with its dollar and economy tied to the global market (more on that later). Not only that, but Johnson’s heavy spending in the Vietnam War, and the War on Poverty had further exacerbated inflation with a glut of federal spending pouring into the market, and was only made worse by Johnson’s refusal to raise taxes to fund them, instead relying on printing more money into circulation to cover the costs. Eventually, the House Ways and Means Chairman, Wilbur Mills, had cracked the whip on Johnson, but he only prevented an increase of spending rather than shrinking it.

Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Wilbur Mills: a sometime ally and occasional nuisance of the McCarthy Administration. Fiscally conservative, Mills was willing to approve of increased government spending only under certain circumstances.​

Going into the McCarthy Administration, spending had more or less stayed the same in the first half of 1969, but as McCarthy slashed funding to the Vietnam War, it seemed that inflation would finally decrease. And, while inflation did go down for about a year (from mid-1969 to late-1970), it then began to plateau, then started to climb again. McCarthy’s rerouting of most of the previous Vietnam spending into his domestic initiatives and the Crusade Against Poverty (most notably in his Farmer Advancement Act) had started a rise in inflation once more, along with the growing instability of the Capitalist world’s international finance system.

Established after the Second World War, the Bretton Woods System tied the international market and exchange rates to the US dollar, which was, in turn, backed by the gold standard. This had allowed the Americans to partially control the flow of all currency, as well as maintain the security of the international market following the Second World War, with most of Europe’s economic capabilities in wreckage. However, with Western Europe’s economy having recovered, many saw the Bretton Woods System as highly restrictive and blatantly pro-American in how it handled the market. For the US government to ‘gain’ one million dollars, they simply had to print one million US dollars and release them into circulation, as backed by their country’s gold standard; Any other country would have to actually produce one million US dollars’ worth of product and release them to the market before being able to ‘cash in’ their one US million dollars worth of product (converted from the local currency) in exchange for one million US dollars’ worth of gold.

As Europe became more and more dissatisfied with Bretton Woods, more and more countries were threatening to, or were in the process of, leave the system (most notably, France). Those that stayed, more frequently requested transfers of gold. While the US could take the hit for small demands of gold from big countries or from smaller demands from smaller countries, it was one of the quirks of economics that everyone knew that if every country called in their allotment of gold (which Bretton Woods technically allowed them all to do at any time) there wouldn’t be nearly enough US bullion to go around, and global finance would collapse. No one actually did this, because then global finance would collapse.

The system was held together by everyone’s willing ignorance of the amount of gold that physically existed on Earth.

Because of the high inflation, the US dollar had become overvalued in Bretton Woods, while the West German mark, the Japanese yen, and other currencies had become undervalued, making a revaluation of currency essential. The lopsided value that currently existed made German and Japanese products cheaper on the international market (therefore, undervalued countries like West Germany and Japan didn’t want to revalue) which could eventually result in higher unemployment in the US as employers go overseas, leading to an American recession, and in turn a global recession, as everyone's economies were tied to the American one.

On the other hand, bias of the Bretton Woods system in favour of the United States made the system lose membership of economically powerful nations in Europe, and the high inflation of the US dollar encouraged countries dissatisfied with the system (but unwilling to leave it) to more frequently ‘cash in’ their gold, which in turn could lead to a run on gold and an international market crash.

McCarthy decided to meet with his financial advisors and cabinet to decide what had to be done to ‘fix’ the economy and world finance. Although McCarthy had previously been an economics professor with continued beliefs in "distributive justice," he had no strong beliefs on the methods of international trade. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Andrew Brimmer [1], advised coming to an agreement with other countries to revalue their currencies, putting a temporary freeze on prices and wages, raising taxes to combat inflation, and repegging the currencies once they had been revalued. Brimmer’s position was supported by Secretary of Treasury Russell Long, but he was concerned that raising taxes after freeing up so much money from Vietnam would be too unpopular, and instead advised a mild cut in spending. Secretary of Labor Ralph Yarborough agreed with Brimmer and Long, as did Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Walter Mondale, but he too cautioned increasing taxes. Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur Mills supported the 'Brimmer Plan,' and encouraged raising taxes and dropping spending to further combat inflation.

Secretary of Treasury Russell Long (left) discussing the proposed 'McCarthy Freeze' with Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur Mills (right) and financial adviser Laurence Woodworth (centre).
​

On the other side of the debate, was a proposition to do away with the gold standard and the Breton Woods System entirely, and reformat international finance with a post-gold standard currency revaluing. This position was held by Vice President John Connally, Under-Secretary of the Treasury for International Monetary Affairs Paul Volcker, and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gore Sr, who also supported the price and wage freeze, while the most conservative members of the McCarthy Administration, namely Secretary of Transportation Claude Brinegar and Director of the National Economic Council J. Howard Marshall, supported dropping the gold standard and leaving out the price and wage freeze afterward. The Invisible Hand of the free market would sort it all out, after all.

Vice President John Connally (right) with international financier Renaldo Ossalo (left). Connally was openly opposed to keeping the gold standard, and looked for allies in the banking community to support his position. ​

Ultimately siding with the progressives and Bretton Woods supporters, McCarthy decided to keep the gold standard, and implement Brimmer’s plan for financial reform [2]. Shortly afterward, Long met with bankers and international financiers to hash out an acceptable negotiation of the revaluation of the world’s currencies [3]. Long wasn't able to keep West Germany in the negotiations, and they would leave the Bretton Woods System later that year along with Switzerland, but Japan was kept on board, and the world's currencies were revalued. With McCarthy’s wage and price freezes, and the value of dollars to gold re-pegged, inflation saw an initial sharp decline, and the confidence in the gold standard was restored, with less countries asking to ‘cash in’ gold, and for lower amounts. However, McCarthy neither raised taxes, nor cut spending to give long-term sustainability to the program. Following the stabilization of the market, Congress was convinced enough of their financial security to once more raise the debt ceiling of the United States. Even many conservative members of Congress and the Cabinet approved, with notable exceptions being Wilbur Mills, John Conally, and Representative H.R. Gross of Iowa [4].

The initial reaction in the press and in opinion polls of McCarthy's handling of a potential financial crisis was highly positive, and he would enjoy a post-Midterm boost in the polls that would last until late 1971.

President McCarthy had given a good long look at the situation, and decided that instead of cutting through the Gordian Knot, it was probably best to leave it be. Bretton Woods had served the country well, and it would continue to do so. For the time being at least.


“It's our currency, but the world’s problem.”

• Vice President John Connally on the Bretton Woods System

[1] IOTL, Richard Nixon appointed Arthur Burns as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. McCarthy has appointed the economist, Democrat, and civil rights activist Andrew F. Brimmer instead.

[2] Quite possible the most significant butterfly since the PoD, the gold standard has remained in place for now, and the Nixon Shock or its equivalent McCarthy Shock has not occured.

[3] IOTL, Secretary of Treasury John Connally held the same meeting, but naturally negotiated it in a post-gold standard economy. In both the OTL and ITTL, West Germany left the Bretton Woods System in 1971.

[4] IOTL, Connally supported the raising of the debt ceiling.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“In Thailand’s history there have been dissensions from time to time, but in general, unity has prevailed."

• King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand

When North Vietnam and the United States (and, forcibly, South Vietnam) came to a peace agreement in 1970, it was considered one of the most momentous occasions of Cold War history. The next South Vietnamese election, in which the Viet Cong could participate, was scheduled for 1971, the reunification referendum that had been canceled in 1956 was rescheduled for 1972, and the South Vietnamese dictator, Nguyen Van Theiu, had fled the country to Taiwan, replaced by his Vice President, and bitter rival, Nguyen Cao Ky.

On paper, it seemed that Eugene McCarthy had brought peace to a region crippled by war for decades.

In reality, the region remained crippled by war, as it had for decades.

Although a ceasefire had been agreed to, the Viet Cong had been ‘allowed’ to retain control of all the land and military installations they had occupied in South Vietnam. With American soldiers quickly withdrawing from Vietnam, huge gaps appeared in the South Vietnamese line that the Viet Cong weren’t afraid to take advantage of. At the same time that thousands of Vietnamese desperately attempted to flee the country for fear of a Viet Cong takeover, thousands more found their towns and hamlets occupied by the Viet Cong. Some celebrated the approaching final victory over the Americans, others joined anti-communist militia that were often crushed without South Vietnamese or American backing. Most were apathetic, and just wanted to see an end to the fighting, no matter who was in charge.

For his part, Nguyen Cao Ky by no means de-escalated the conflict. The South Vietnamese military remained on high alert and combat ready, and fighting had barely slowed down. The upcoming election was guaranteed to be rife with corruption and ballot-stuffing on both sides, and Ky intended to go down swinging.

Nguyen Cao Ky: Third and last President of the Republic of (South) Vietnam
​

Meanwhile, with the United States throwing South Vietnam to the wolves, another regional power sought to protect its own interests.

The Kingdom of Thailand had greatly benefited from the Vietnam War. Ruled by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and governed by the military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn, Thailand was harshly anti-communist, and closely aligned with the United States and their regional interests. Thailand had received millions in funding from the United States to act as a reliable regional power; money that was in turn spent on the rapid modernization of the country’s economy, infrastructure, and military. Americanization of the local culture had also become more common, with many American soldiers going on leave to take advantage of the many pleasures of Bangkok. At the same time economic growth skyrocketed, so too did criminal violence, prostitution, drug use, and rampant government corruption. The government’s attempts to improve the lot of the rural Thai population had been a failure, and peasant revolts happened with increasing frequency, culminating in Prime Minister Thanom declaring a self-coup: seizing emergency powers to root out “communist infiltrators.”

It was in this unstable political atmosphere that Thailand decided to take a more active role in destroying communism in neighbouring Cambodia and Laos. Vietnam was the traditional nemesis of Thailand, and considered a lost cause by the Thai military general staff, but it still considered it possible to ‘save’ Cambodia and Laos. In a process occasionally referred to as the “Thailandization” of American influence in South-East Asia, the pro-American military dictatorship of General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak was propped up in Cambodia, while the right wing ‘neutralist’ faction of Prince Souvanna Phourma in Laos was given the same treatment. Sustained by American dollars, Thai military expertise, and Vietnamese stubbornness, fighting continued well throughout the year in what was once French Indochina. As McCarthy began to cut down on arms sales to other countries through the Defense Department and the CIA, Thailand was one of the few exceptions on the list that continued to get unlimited sales access.

Thai Prime Minister and Military Dictator Thanom Kittikachorn (seen here acknowledging a crowd) was a vehement anti-communist who sought to delay, if not prevent, the spread of communism in South-East Asia.
​

Meanwhile, things were heating up on the Indian subcontinent. In the 1970 Pakistan General Election, the Awami League, a socialist and Bengali nationalist party from East Pakistan led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had won a majority in the legislature. It was unprecedented in more ways than one: not only was it the first election in Pakistani history since independence in 1947, but it was the first time an East Pakistani party was capable of forming government. The ruling President of Pakistan (and military dictator) Yahya Khan, as well as the prominent and influential West Pakistani socialist party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, were unwilling to allow an East Pakistani government, and delayed the transfer of power. Many East Pakistanis (the vast majority of whom were ethnic Bengalis) saw the delay as further West Pakistani discrimination against the Bengali people, despite the fact that the Bengali people made up the majority of the population of Pakistan. The Bengali protests, increasing in intensity, culminated in Mujibur declaring independence for the new country of Bangladesh.

West Pakistan did not react well.

President Khan launched Operation Searchlight in March of 1971: a military occupation of East Pakistan, with the intention of committing genocide against the Bengali people to force them into submission and crack down on demands for self-determination. What he didn’t expect was the level of fierce resistance from Bengal guerrilla bands. The harder of the Pakistani military cracked down, the more military defections there were, and the more popular support the guerrilla's gained.

By late 1971, the Far East was a perfect storm of diplomatic controversy for the United States. American ambassadors in Bangladesh went into grizzly detail on the level of violence being perpetrated against the Bengali people by America’s ally, Pakistan, and McCarthy was wont to agree. McCarthy publicly made it clear that the United States didn’t support Pakistan’s ‘course of action.’ This in turn left the door open for the Soviets. Initially cautious of American support of Pakistan, the Soviets had discouraged India from taking an active military role in the war for fear of retaliation, but once it was clear McCarthy didn’t intend to support Pakistan, just as he hadn’t supported South Vietnam, the Soviets gave the go-ahead [1]. It was obvious to everyone that India was going to become directly involved: it was only a matter of when.

During the Pakistani occupation and Bangladeshi Genocide, between 300,000-3,000,000,000 Bengals were killed, and 8,000,000-10,000,000 fled the country. India would, in part, go to war with Pakistan, because it was economically simpler than having to deal with all the refugees.
​

Funnily enough, strong relations with Pakistan had been one of the few things that the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China had in common; the US for ideological and geopolitical reasons, and the PRC for geopolitical reasons alone, what with their various disputes with India. Along with most of the Muslim countries of the Middle East, the PRC protested the US’ distancing from Pakistan under the McCarthy administration. The PRC had limited options to complain, however, as the Republic of China, the nationalist regime of Chaing Kai-Shek exiled to Taiwan, was technically the ‘official’ representative of the Chinese people in the United Nations.

Regardless, the People’s Republic of China had bigger fish to fry.

Mao Zedong was dead.


“Attention: Our leader, Mao Zedong, is dead. A state of emergency has been declared by Chairman Lin Biao. Do not be alarmed. Counter-revolutionary activity will be punished. The perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

• First Bulletin of The National Emergency, September 11th, 1971.

[1] IOTL, Nixon and Kissinger fully supported Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, and threatened the Soviets and their fellow traveler, India, with a possible nuclear escalation if there was any large-scale outside involvement.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

“Attention: The state of emergency has been ended by Chairman Zhou Enlai. Order has been restored. The perpetrators have been brought to justice. Long live the People’s Republic of China.”

• Second Bulletin of The National Emergency, September 13th, 1971.

Things had begun to stabilize in China, or at least, as stable as you could get after the assassination of the nation’s Paramount Leader and founding father, Mao Zedong. Following a coup by Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Lin Biao, and a small cadre of his supporters, Biao had declared himself Mao’s successor as Chairman. His ‘reign,’ however, turned out to be brief. A little over twenty-four hours from Mao’s death and Biao’s declaration, Premier Zhou Enlai rallied support amongst the Central Committee and the military to have Biao arrested, stripped of rank, and purged from the Communist Party of China as one of the last prominent removals of the Cultural Revolution.

Details are scarce on the specifics of what came to be called the National Emergency (to this day, the Chinese government keeps under wraps exactly what happened), but this much can be deduced: Lin Biao had been rewarded by Mao Zedong for his loyalty throughout the Cultural Revolution by being appointed as his heir apparent in the position of Vice Chairman in 1966. Despite this, either Lin Biao or his son, Lin Liguo, were fearful that he would still be purged. The plans for a potential coup were written up and designated Project 571 (a play on words: ‘571’ sounds like ‘armed uprising’ in Mandarin). Judging from the lackluster strategy and planning of the coup, and its reliance on support from elements of the air force, it seems much more likely that Lin Liguo, a high-ranking officer in the air force, was the ““mastermind”” behind the plan, as opposed to Lin Biao, a noted tactician and general with more influence in the army. It is unknown if Lin Biao was at all aware of the planned coup while his son had it in the works, but the timetable of the plan was pushed up when, in August of 1971, Mao announced a conference scheduled for September of 1971 to decide the political fate of Lin Biao.

Regardless, the plan was put into effect to seize control of the government, and the first step was to remove (meaning assassinate) Mao. En route to the conference, the train Mao was travelling on was destroyed by an explosive planted on the railroad, killing him in the blast. A mere change of schedule or altered route would’ve saved his life. Perhaps he simply decided to go as had been scheduled. Maybe he had lowered his guard, believing that with the Communist Party loyal and America’s influence lessening in Asia, that he no longer had to take as paranoid measures [1]. Well you know what they say, it’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.

Chairman Mao (left) with the Vice Chairman and future 'One Day Chairman' Lin (right) during better days, before Mao was blown up by Lin's son with a train bomb.​

It didn’t really matter if Lin Biao knew of the plot beforehand or not. He was now in a situation where his supporters had killed the Chairman, and he sought to take advantage of that. Unfortunately for Lin Biao, he had very little support outside of his inner circle. Despite declaring himself the new Chairman, Lin didn’t have the loyal manpower or the political clout to make anything stick, and in an unholy alliance, Zhou Enlai and the radical Gang of Four came together to remove him from power, each hoping they would gain an upper hand in the power vacuum that would follow. Lin Biao and his loyalists were arrested, and his files were seized. Everyone mentioned in the plans for Project 571 were purged. Although Lin Biao’s ultimate fate remains a mystery, his death was quietly reported by the Chinese government years later. Unfortunately for the Gang of Four, despite their role in removing Lin Biao, they remained just as unpopular as they were before the National Emergency, and Zhou Enlai took the upper hand. The Gang of Four were politically isolated by the new regime, and arrested for ‘counter-revolutionary activities’ shortly thereafter.

Meanwhile in Pakistan, things had heated up. With much of the Pakistani military in Bangladesh, trying to enforce peace and expecting India to soon get directly involved in the war and hoping to seize the initiative, Pakistani President Yahya Khan ordered a pre-emptive airstrike against Indian air force bases in the west. This would serve to be a disastrous provocation, and just the casus belli that Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi needed. Easily outclassing the Pakistani military in the air and at sea, and easily repelling the Pakistani invasion in the west, India launched a successful counter-invasion. Within a fortnight, India occupied Kashmir, parts of Sind and Punjab, and the major urban centres of Bangladesh, most notably Dhaka. The Pakistani military in the east surrendered shortly thereafter.

Following the negotiations with India and Bangladesh (with some mediation by the United States and Soviet Union), Pakistan left the war much worse for wear. Bangladesh gained its full independence, and in the west, the Pakistani government was forced to acknowledge Indian control of the contested Kashmir region [2]. Although some Indian nationalists called for the balkanization of Pakistan, Gandhi wasn’t willing to spend the political capital on the international stage to make it happen, and was more than happy to make off with Kashmir, and leaving Pakistan in shambles [3]. The regime of Yahya Khan didn’t last much longer after that, and he was soon replaced as President by the socialist politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The Bangladesh Liberation War proved to be disastrous for Pakistani President Yahya Khan, and he was forced to surrender the Presidency on threat of coup shortly after. Khan is seen here with his ally, Zhou Enlai, the new Paramount Leader of China.​

The international reaction, especially in Asia and the Middle East, was intense. Distracted by their own struggles but supportive of Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China didn’t recognize Bangladesh, and continued to support Pakistan, especially with their new socialist President. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, had offered support to Pakistan, but became fearful of his neighbour to the east collapsing in on itself, and scrambled his military to seize Pakistani Baluchistan if necessary. As it turned out, Pakistan didn’t collapse that quickly, but the possibility still remained...

The rest of the Muslim world denounced what was seen as the United States’ diplomatic abandonment of Pakistan. Leaders such as Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr of Iraq, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and Hafez al-Assad of Syria all condemned the United States, but the most noticeable diplomatic shift was most definitely in Egypt. Since the death of President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970, Anwar el-Sadat had served as President, gaining the position with the support of the upper echelons of the Egyptian government, under the assumption he would be a weak leader, easy to influence. They had been proven incorrect when Sadat launched his Corrective Revolution to cement his power and remove potential rivals, distancing his country from the Soviet Union and towards a more non-aligned or American direction. As it turned out, this would be his undoing. With Muslim opinion turned heavily against the United States and with the economy in bad shape due to his removal of Soviet aid and influence, Sadat faced a counter-coup by the more traditional Nasserites in his party. After a little over a year in office, Sadat was removed, and replaced as President by his imprisoned rival and hardcore socialist, Ali Sabri [4].

Following the death of President Gamal Abdel Nasser (first from the left), Anwar el-Sadat (second from the left) successfully took control of the Egyptian government, but was replaced with the radical socialist Nasserite Ali Sabri (third from the left) in a palace coup in 1971.​

With America's ally Pakistan declawed, Vietnam falling to the Viet Cong, and South-East Asia looking like it would follow Viet Nam's lead, the American people began to forget the horrors of the Vietnam War whilst reading their newspapers and watching the news, and instead saw the rapid diminishment of American influence and prestige across the world. How that would play out as the election year of 1972 arrived was anybody's guess.


“All diplomacy is the continuation of war by other means”

• Chairman Zhou Enlai

[1] IOTL, Project 571 was a complete and utter failure. Mao lived to lead the People’s Republic of China until his death in 1976, and Lin Biao and his family were killed in a plane crash over Mongolia as they attempted to flee China and defect to the Soviet Union. Mao initiated a broad purge of the military’s upper echelons soon after.

[2] IOTL, due in part to hearty American support for Pakistan, India did not gain any land in the west. Due to lacklustre American support ITTL, India has made off with Kashimir.

[3] Due to a mix of the political instability in China, international unfamiliarity with the new Zhou Regime, America’s abandonment of China’s ally Pakistan, and McCarthy’s ideological anti-communism, Chiang Kai-Shek’s Republic of China remains the representative of the Chinese people in the United Nations, and the Generalissimo is suitably delighted to hear of the death of his nemesis. McCarthy has no intention of going to China any time soon.

[4] IOTL, Sadat remained in power, and proved an incredibly influential figure in Egyptian and world politics, before his assassination by a religious fundamentalist in 1981.