Difficult to say. My guess as to why Detroit didn't devolve into open racial conflict in OTL is because whites simply left the city in droves rather than fight against integration of their neighborhoods (there was some white flight before the riots, but it accelerated afterwards and continued up until the 1980s). This created the racial disparity between the city and suburbs that persists even to the present day.
In this scenario, the majority of people who get evacuated from Detroit's southern suburbs after Fermi are white. Most probably end up living in other suburbs of Detroit, depending on where they can get jobs (if they can get jobs, of course). Because of this, I imagine suburban property values (particularly north of Detroit) are higher than OTL, meaning that many of the whites who left the city in OTL can't afford to leave. Add to the mix some racist demagogues who are all too happy to stir up resentment and find scapegoats. I'm not suggesting that "economic anxiety" is the sole driver of racism, but it's not hard to imagine how a racist fervor to take root in such an environment.
At last night’s Republican National Convention in Miami, Florida, Michigan Governor George Romney was nominated to be the Republican Party’s Presidential candidate in the 1968 election. California Governor Ronald Reagan was named as the party’s choice for Vice President. Romney and Reagan’s strategy against former Vice President Richard M. Nixon successfully denied him the Presidential nomination. At the convention, Romney worked to gain the support of delegates from the West and Midwest, while Reagan picked up considerable support from Southern delegations. [1]
On the first ballot, Romney received 492 votes, Nixon received 477 votes, and Reagan received 182 votes, with the remaining 182 votes going to fringe candidates and favorite sons. Despite winning primaries in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, Romney fell short of the number of delegates needed to win the nomination on the first ballot. However, he managed to pick up more delegates than his two rivals, Nixon and Reagan, who split the conservative wing of the party. Reagan, who was the sole candidate on the ballot in his native California, denied Nixon from winning enough delegate votes to get an outright majority. [2][3]
In a bid for conservative support, Romney announced that if nominated, he would choose California governor Ronald Reagan to be his running mate. On the second ballot, many of Reagan’s delegates switched their support to Romney, who picked up enough votes to narrowly exceed the 667 votes needed to get the nomination. Reagan received near-unanimous support as the Vice Presidential candidate.
The Democrats have chosen Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Maine Senator Edmund Muskie as their nominees in the 1968 Presidential election. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the delegates voted for their pledged candidates. On the first ballot, Humphrey fell just a few votes short of the 1,305 delegates needed to win the nomination, as most of the remaining delegates were split between rivals Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy. With a clear plurality, some of the delegates changed their votes, pushing Humphrey over the 50% mark on the second ballot, giving him a total of 1,362 votes. [1] The delegates chose Senator Edmund Muskie (D-ME) to be Humphrey’s running mate.
Kennedy, a longtime rival of Humphrey, endorsed him with a call for party unity. [2] McCarthy, however, refused to make an endorsement. [3] The McCarthy campaign said that the Senator will not endorse any candidate that supports the war in Vietnam and believes that the DNC unfairly favored Humphrey. Outside the convention hall, several thousand protesters gathered, most of whom were supporters of antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy. Protests were peaceful for the most part, but a few brief scuffles broke out between the police and the protesters outside the convention hall, resulting several dozen arrests. [4]
[1] Despite not having run in a single primary, Humphrey was likely to get the nomination even if RFK had lived. It’s far from inevitable that Humphrey would have gotten the Democratic nomination, but given his support among the DNC, it’s likely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention
[2] Robert Kennedy and Humphrey were actually on pretty good terms, despite Kennedy and Johnson’s mutual hatred.
[4] With Kennedy still alive, Humphrey’s nomination will be less controversial than OTL, though I think some on the antiwar left will be disappointed. While protests are almost inevitable, I don’t think there will be the level of violence seen in OTL.
Humphrey might win ITTL, especially with a supportive and alive Robert Kennedy campaigning for him (it's interesting that they got along in spite of Kennedy and Johnson's mutual hatred for each other--Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy's biographer, even called it "primitive and unreasoning")...
Difficult to say. My guess as to why Detroit didn't devolve into open racial conflict in OTL is because whites simply left the city in droves rather than fight against integration of their neighborhoods (there was some white flight before the riots, but it accelerated afterwards and continued up until the 1980s). This created the racial disparity between the city and suburbs that persists even to the present day.
In this scenario, the majority of people who get evacuated from Detroit's southern suburbs after Fermi are white. Most probably end up living in other suburbs of Detroit, depending on where they can get jobs (if they can get jobs, of course). Because of this, I imagine suburban property values (particularly north of Detroit) are higher than OTL, meaning that many of the whites who left the city in OTL can't afford to leave. Add to the mix some racist demagogues who are all too happy to stir up resentment and find scapegoats. I'm not suggesting that "economic anxiety" is the sole driver of racism, but it's not hard to imagine how a racist fervor to take root in such an environment.
This might be better in the long-run to mitigate or at least lessen the region's de facto ethnic segregation. So much of OTL American neighbourhoods, schools, etc seems to be de facto segregated even in the 21st century. The consequences of white flight and de facto segregation on school district funding and education, housing, etc have been tremendous in the USA.
In addition to his battles with his political opponents, Vice President Hubert Humphrey is fighting a new foe: influenza. After celebrating the 32nd anniversary of his marriage to his wife Muriel at his home in Minnesota, Humphrey reportedly came down with the flu. Humphrey’s personal doctor and close friend, Dr. Edgar Berman, [1] says that despite his patient’s busy schedule, he needs bedrest. On doctor’s orders, the Vice President has canceled all public appearances for the entirety of the next week. [2]
Since his nomination last week, Humphrey has been pushing himself at a frenetic pace. The heavy schedule of his campaign has apparently taken its toll, and the illness has hit him at a time when every hour counts. This isn’t the first time that the happy warrior has been down for the count, however. In July, Humphrey was sidelined by the flu for two weeks. Dr. Berman speculated that Humphrey may have contracted the dreaded “Hong Kong flu” [3] that has decimated thousands in Asia, but expects that his patient will in time make a full recovery due to his strong constitution.
[2] In OTL Humphrey was sick with the flu for two weeks in July 1968 and again briefly in October: “Flu Bug Slows Down Hubert’s Blitz in N.Y.”, Detroit News, Oct. 12, 1968
Where has Mr. Humphrey gone? Nobody in Washington seems to know. Three weeks after accepting the Democratic nomination for President, Mr. Humphrey is missing in action. He has vanished from the Senate floor. He’s absent from the campaign trail. Maybe he’s in Vietnam fighting for the Viet Cong? [1]
Or maybe Mr. Humphrey just can’t stand the heat from Mr. Romney, who is currently leading in the polls. Perhaps he’s afraid he’ll be upstaged at next week’s debate [2]. He simply can’t show his face in public because he can’t stop chattering his teeth at the thought of the onslaught he is likely to receive.
His doctor, of course, claims Mr. Humphrey has the flu. While Mr. Humphrey is sick in bed, we see Mr. Muskie trying to do good old Hubert’s job on the campaign trail. But he can’t seem to give a speech lately without starting to cry. Is the thought of defeat in November bringing a tear to Muskie’s eye? [3]
[1] I’ve written this from the point of view of a right-wing pundit, like William Buckley (I think the sarcasm is a bit Buckley-esque).
General Motors announced today that the company has decided to move its World Headquarters from Detroit to its Buick offices in Flint. [1] The recently-built Buick World Headquarters building houses the second-largest executive office in the company, after the main office in Detroit. The Flint office is located within GM's sprawling Buick City, one of the largest auto manufacturing complexes in the world. [2]
The current building at Cadillac Place has served as the company’s headquarters since 1923, but GM President Edward N. Cole believes that the current building is outdated and “inadequate”. [1] There have also been fears that working in Detroit has become unsafe due to crime and radiation. “Detroit Syndrome” (as it is called) has affected many of General Motors’ white-collar workers, blamed for a range of ailments from cancer to birth defects to heart disease. [3] The existence of “Detroit Syndrome” is dismissed by most public health officials, but as potential cases mount, some are beginning to take its existence more seriously.
The new location makes little difference to the company’s executives, many of whom live in the posh suburb of Bloomfield Hills, located midway between Flint and Detroit. Other operations will be transferred to the GM Technical Center in Warren and to their newly-opened offices in Manhattan. [4] No word on whether Detroit's other auto companies, Ford, Chrysler, and AMC, will move from their current offices. [5]
[1] Ironically, Flint (infamous for its OTL environmental crisis) is one city that may benefit greatly from this scenario. In 1960s, it was home to the second-largest base of operations for GM, thanks to the decentralized management structure of GM at that time. According to one source I found (“GM Building to Get $10 Million Modernizing”, Detroit News, June 3, 1971), there were rumors in the late 60s that GM would move their HQ to the Tech Center in Warren.
[5] At the time, Ford, Chrysler, and AMC were located in the cities of Dearborn, Highland Park, and Detroit, respectively. The latter two would eventually move to the suburbs of Auburn Hills and Southfield.
Viewers expected a fight, and yesterday’s much-awaited presidential debate did not disappoint. Humphrey seemed a little off his game, but still managed to come out on top, say pundits. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who said he was “feeling terrific” after a three-week bout with the flu, managed to dodge barbs from both of his opponents. Governor George Romney made a good showing, while former Governor George Wallace was assailed by both of his rivals.
Both Humphrey and Romney were very critical of third-party candidate George Wallace. Romney described his campaign as “racist, separatist, totalitarian, and militarist.” [1] “If there is one political blasphemy in this campaign it is George Wallace saying ‘stand up for America’ because if the man were elected President, he would tear down America by violating America’s sacred pledge to every man,” said Romney. “Wallace offers answers that are beguiling in their simplicity but has perverted their meaning and twisted their intent so insidiously that they become in his hands, instruments for the destruction of essential American principles and even America itself.” [2] Humphrey likewise condemned Wallace, calling him “the creature of the most reactionary underground forces in American life – one who does not speak for millions of decent Southerners and Northerners who reject bigotry and hate… America has many problems, but they won’t be solved by a candidate who can think of nothing better to do than threaten to run people down with his car.” [3]
Wallace, for his part, spent little time attacking his opponents directly, instead choosing to blame America’s woes on newspaper editors, bureaucrats, and “pointy-headed” intellectuals. He promised voters an end to federally-mandated busing, and the indictment of college professors and students who supported the Communists and Vietnam. [4]
Romney and Humphrey used the debate as an opportunity to sling some mud at each other as well. Romney charged Johnson and Humphrey for leaving behind “a dismal legacy of four long years of mismanagement, miscalculation, and mistrust,” [5] while Humphrey took a few jabs at Romney and his running mate Ronald Reagan, referring to him dismissingly as “that movie actor”. [6]
Molten Salt Reactor Experiment Achieves Criticality
Two years after the Fermi nuclear disaster, research is ongoing to find a safer, yet economically practical, atomic reactor. Scientists at the Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee have announced that an experimental new reactor has achieved criticality. The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE), as it is called, uses an innovative design very different from the one used at Fermi. Instead of having coolant circulating around the nuclear fuel, the molten salts act as both a carrier for the fuel and a coolant. MSRE is the world's first reactor to operate on U-233, an isotope of uranium. [1]
AEC Chairman Alvin Weinberg is proud of the accomplishment, and calls MSRE the “Mighty Smooth Running Experiment.” To prove the safety of the new method, he showed a crowd of reporters several barrels that contain processed salt carrier and spent fuel that do not require radiological protection. [2] “Here we had a high-temperature fluid-fuel reactor that operated reliably and, even in the primitive embodiment represented by MSRE, had remarkably low fuel costs,” said Weinberg. [3]
The St. Louis Cardinals have won the World Series for the second year in a row. Playing in front of a packed house at Busch Memorial Stadium, the Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers, 1-0. Yesterday’s Game 7 was do-or-die for both teams, as each had won three games in the series. [1]
Neither team managed to score until the ninth inning, when Cardinal third baseman Mike Shannon scored a solo home run. However, a close call came at the bottom of the seventh, when Jim Northrup’s smash to center field was caught by center fielder Curt Flood. [2] Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson is likely to be named World Series MVP again for his stellar performance during the series.
The Cardinals’ victory was celebrated with much fanfare in St. Louis, much like after last year’s victory. Things were not so cheery in Detroit. The Tigers’ defeat was blow to many in the beleaguered city, hoping for some good news after a nuclear disaster and riots struck the city two years ago. Yet, the series succeeded in uniting Detroiters of all races, classes, and religions, in rooting for their home team. [3]
There was a fight at Cobo Arena last night, and it wasn’t a boxing match. Nine thousand Wallace supporters came to Cobo Arena in Downtown Detroit to see presidential candidate George Wallace and were greeted by a thousand hecklers. Trouble began even before Wallace made an appearance, starting when several of Wallace’s supporters grabbed a protester’s sign. In another incident, two men wearing Wallace campaign hats sprayed hecklers with mace. Soon after Wallace began speaking, the whole arena erupted into pandemonium. Fights broke out spontaneously between Wallace’s supporters and protesters in the crowd. Soon, fists, feet, and chairs were flying all over the place. Wallace himself had to cut his speech short.
“Let the police handle it!” shouted Wallace, trying to calm the crowd. “Well, you came for trouble and you got it! You better have your day now because after November 5 you’re through in this country. You are the kind of people that folks in this country are sick and tired of putting up with.”
After Wallace’s speech, the crowd spilled out onto the street. Protesters hurled rocks, bottles, and insults at police, and some threw chunks of concrete at a rented bus full of Wallace’s supporters. Police turned on the hecklers, beating them with their nightsticks. Several injuries were reported, including a girl who was hit in the back of the head with a police baton, and one young man received facial wounds and a broken arm after being beaten by five Detroit policemen. Ten protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct. [1][2]
Nevertheless, the high turnout for Wallace in a northern city suggests that his chances at winning the Presidency may be better than conventional wisdom suggests. While his base is in the south, Wallace has considerable support in much of the north, particularly amongst unionized factory workers. He is currently polling at 15% in Michigan [3], and his visit to the state earlier this month drew crowds numbering in the thousands. [4] Wallace’s popularity has led some to speculate that he might draw enough votes from his opponents to throw the election to the House of Representatives.
[1] Entirely as OTL. “Brawls at Wallace Rally” and “’We’ll win’ Wallace tells his boosters”, Detroit News, Oct. 30, 1968
[2] https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/6625
[3] As OTL: “Wallace enigma lures Nixon to Michigan”, Detroit News, Oct. 9, 1968
[4] As OTL: “Wallace Tours State, Claims Big Support”, Detroit News, Oct. 2, 1968
Presidential Race Uncertain; No Candidate Reaches 270 Electoral Votes
One day after the election, the name of the next President of the United States is still unknown. For the first time since 1824, no Presidential candidate has attained a majority of electoral votes. Although Democrat Hubert Humphrey won the popular vote, Republican George Romney won a plurality of the electoral votes. However, third-party candidate George Wallace prevented both Romney and Humphrey from getting an outright majority of the electoral vote. Since no candidate unable to reach the required 270 electoral votes, the fate of the election will be decided by the House and Senate.
Romney won many states across the Midwest and West, carrying Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, for a total of 240 electoral votes. Humphrey dominated the Northeast and the West Coast, carrying the District of Columbia and the states of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia, for a total of 222 electoral votes. Lastly, Wallace prevailed in the South, carrying the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, for a total of 76 electoral votes. [1]
Over the past few weeks, Humphrey and Romney have been running neck and neck in the polls, with Romney having a slight edge nationwide. But Humphrey recently pulled ahead, winning the popular vote by a slim margin. Humphrey’s comeback can be attributed to his debate performance, combined with good progress in the Vietnam peace talks and support from erstwhile rival Robert Kennedy. [2][3]
In Congress, the Republicans gained a few seats in both houses. In the House, Democrats lost five seats while the Republicans gained five seats, with totals of 244 and 191 seats, respectively. [4] In the Senate, Democrats lost five seats while the Republicans gained five seats, with totals of 58 and 42 seats, respectively. [5]
[1] Nationwide, Romney loses 2% of the popular vote relative to Nixon (while Wallace gains 2%), but these gains/losses are greater in the South, where his support of civil rights and Mormonism hurt Romney deeply. Romney performs better than Nixon in Michigan, his home state (21 EV), which in OTL went to Humphrey. But in the South, Romney loses about 5% of the vote to Wallace, losing 4 states that in OTL went to Nixon. As @David T mentions here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...gan-ticket-wins-in-1968.469677/#post-19071989
As a result, Wallace wins Tennessee (11 EV), South Carolina (8 EV), and North Carolina (12 EV). Humphrey wins Missouri (12 EV) due to Romney losing enough votes to Wallace to put Humphrey in play there (Humphrey in OTL finished a very close second to Nixon in Missouri). Humphrey breaks even overall, losing some votes to Romney in Utah and Michigan, but gains enough votes to win California (40 EV), where Nixon had a home state advantage (Reagan might offset some of that, but he’s not at the top of the ticket).
[3] I think RFK would have stumped for Humphrey, as they were generally on good terms (and I think RFK would have been promised the nomination in ’72 or ’76 in return for support of Humphrey). From an excerpt of conversation between Humphrey and an aide during the California primary (“Heroes, Hacks, and Fools: Memoirs from the Political Inside”, pp. 70): “I want Bobby Kennedy to win as decisively as possible,” Humphrey said. “I want it to be so one-sided that McCarthy will be driven from the race entirely. Bobby Kennedy and I understand each other,” he went on. “If I am nominated, he’ll campaign for me without reservation. If something should happen so that he’s nominated, I’ll campaign for him.”
[4] In OTL, the total was 243-192, but Democrat Wes Vivian in Michigan’s 2nd district retains his seat, which he lost in OTL 1966.
Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic candidate for President, announced today that he has bladder cancer. [1][2] Humphrey’s cancer announcement came as a shock to many, as he seemed to be in excellent health, though rumors about his health have been swirling since his bouts with the flu in July and September. [3] Humphrey will undergo the removal of his bladder next week, followed by a round of aggressive chemotherapy treatment. [4]
Messages of sympathy have poured in for Mr. Humphrey from politicians and voters alike. But not everyone in Congress expressed sympathy for Mr. Humphrey. Republicans were outraged, and accused Humphrey of hiding his condition from the public. Several members said that electors should not choose a man who may not live to see his own inauguration. Despite the controversy, Humphrey’s defenders claim that his health status is his own personal business and did not need to be disclosed to the public. They state that with advances in medicine, cancer is no longer a death sentence, and are optimistic about Humphrey's prognosis.
[2] You may recall at the very beginning of the TL I mentioned that Humphrey was staying at a motel only a few miles from Fermi at the time of the accident. Maybe this is a little ASB, but it’s plausible that Humphrey’s visit could have led to an advancement of his cancer, which in OTL eventually killed him in 1978. Interestingly, there is evidence that the incidence of bladder cancer increased in Ukraine after Chernobyl: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15010889
[3] Humphrey really was sick with the flu in July in both OTL and ATL, but in September in ATL he was actually receiving radiation treatment during the three weeks he was “sick”. The public was kept unaware of this.
Across the country, electors met yesterday to select the next President and Vice President of the United States. The process went as expected: electors voted for their ordained candidates, with no “faithless” electors. [1] However, since no candidate received a majority of electoral votes, no candidate was able to win outright.
The outcome of the election will ultimately be decided by the next Congress in January. Under the 12th Amendment, the House will choose among the three candidates for President receiving the most electoral votes, in this case, Democrat Hubert Humphrey, Republican George Romney, and Independent George Wallace. Rather than voting as individuals, each state votes as a single delegation. Meanwhile, the Senate will choose between the two Vice Presidential candidates receiving the most electoral votes, Edmund Muskie and Ronald Reagan (Wallace’s running mate, Gen. Curtis LeMay, will be excluded because he finished third). In contrast to the House, each Senator will receive one vote. [2]
The Presidency will be determined by how each delegation votes. It goes without saying that states with a majority of Democratic congressmen will vote for Humphrey and those with a majority of Republicans will vote for Romney. However, Wallace’s sweep of the south places him in the position of kingmaker. [3] His influence over the southern delegations could determine whether the Presidency will go to Humphrey or Romney. In states with an equal number of Democratic and Republican Congressmen, the outcome is even more uncertain, as there will likely be a tie vote.
Vice President Hubert Humphrey has been diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in his pelvis that his surgeon believes is “terminal.” The extent of the tumor was discovered after Vice President underwent surgery to remove his bladder. During the surgery, doctors discovered that Mr. Humphrey’s tumor has now spread to fill almost the entire pelvis. Humphrey’s cancer is reportedly very aggressive, and it is uncertain how much longer he will have to live. [1] Some believe that his stay at a motel near Monroe, Michigan on the very night of the Fermi disaster may have caused his cancer.
Humphrey has undergone a series of treatments, which are hoped to keep him alive beyond Inauguration Day. Humphrey reportedly underwent radiation treatment in early September. Humphrey underwent a course of chemotherapy in November, shortly after the election. At that time, the President-elect was treated with an aggressive course of an experimental drug called thiotepa, which was administered by catheter directly into his bladder [2].
In the event that Humphrey becomes President, some are wondering how long he will be able to serve until he either dies in office or becomes incapacitated. Humphrey’s doctor said that while there is no way of making a prediction about Humphrey's chances of survival, chemotherapy “very seldom, if ever” can eradicate such a cancer. However, his doctor believes there is still hope that the treatments will extend the Vice President’s life. [1]
So the incoming 91st Congress, assuming no deviation on seat totals has 57 Democrats, so more than likely we're looking at a President Romney and Vice President Muskie.
