Smedley Butler for Navy. For Postmaster General I'd just pick an obscure congressman. That's a position that's meanignless enough for Teddy Jr. to appoint a socialist to appease Norman Thomas or a moderate to appease the GOP center-right wing
"I Feel as Strong as a Bull Moose!": The Square Deal Continued
- Thread starter DuckymcDuckface
- Start date
The First Roosevelt Term
The Establishment of a Consensus
The President addressing the Congress (CIRCA 1933)
Putting his firm sweaty palm on the Bible, the incoming president spoke "so help me God". Behind him stood the formerly sworn in Vice President Floyd Olson looking at the event with a tenacious grin thinking how such a underprivileged "Shabbos Goy" on the streets of Minneapolis could become the Vice President. Stood behind the new Vice president, former Presidents Carter Glass and John Davis observed at the event with the best undecided face they both could muster. In reality they were both aghast at the destruction of policy's they feared the new President would partake in. There only hope remained in the preservation of there main legislative achievements within the constitution. It was there both knew Ted would not touch. He was of course a statesman, no legislative fanatic. Yet even these were burgeoning out of favor among large segments of the populous. Polling showed support for the Flat Tax had toppled to little more then 30% and legislators fearful for their job prospects had helped balloon the "Flat Taxation Removal Act" in the House. As the new President made his speech, this act in the House was already being prepared for a vote. And with the new Republican majority, vowing to remove the amendment was a top priority. Glass looked on knowing his pride centerpiece of fiscal responsibility did not have a long future.
Seeing the new president beginning to start his speech, Davis gestured to his longtime friend, the new Senate Minority leader Hugo Black. "You think this guy is going to do much" he stated looking back to the President starting his speech by uttering the words "Thank You".
"I hope not John. He ain't seem as bad as some of the Socialist's that surround." Black replied.
"I don't know. His Fair Deal sounds like pure Socialism." Davis was interrupted by the words uttered from the president, "We need a new era of politics, a era of cooperation not divisiveness".
"Don't worry about that deal. It could never pass with our congress or the next one. I will make sure all my boy's stay in line"
"That better be the case... i can't go down as some lame duck. We need to end this President as soon as his presidency starts" Davis replied sharply.
"Look, i'll try but we don't have no majority anymore so i can't guarantee nothing" Black replied back.
"Well thank you Hugo. Your one of the few men who are honorable in these parts" finished Davis.
The two men ended there conservation. Both moved back in a almost robotic motion to look at the President finish his speech. "I call upon the new American Congress to give the people what they voted for; higher living standards! We are at a dark moment in our history; millions are without work. We need a Fair Deal for all. We need a return to a Government that cares for the people, a Government that gives her citizens the right to survive economically. In my new Presidency i promise to Balance our Budget. We need to end this debt our predecessors have given us. I promise to end the ridiculous unemployment we find ourselves in today. I promise to give every American a new standard of living, no American shall be subject to live without the right to health. Our country needs to be healthy if it is going to be strong. I promise to give America a new leadership standard on the globe. The previous administration let Communism spread throughout the world leading it to oppress millions more people in places like Russia, Germany, and Italy. And finally, most importantly of all, i promise to put people to work. It's what make our country great. Thank You!". The newly sworn in President would finish up his speech waving to the horde uncivil will applause.
A man of short stature, he made up for it with his known alluring charisma. He would perform the intermediate activity's between two Presidents with ease. He would ride with Davis in his Ford all the way to the White House, waving to any and all supporters in the crowd on the way. He had grown a enthusiastic base and they made clear they ruled DC at that moment, shutting down most city pedestrian traffic for that day.
On first action he ordered the creation of a large scale Jobs program. Signing the "American Works Act" put on his desk by the approval of the Congress that passed it in September, the new act would put millions of Americans potentially back to work. The act created large scale Government Projects in work with local Private Business. These projects included a ambitious domestic highway system, and the creation of numerous dam's and energy producing plants to power America once again. These would all be under the guidance of the newly created "Works Commission", and on first order by the President this new agency would receive a multi million dollar grant to perform duty's. That itself would be derided by some in the more Democratic supporting Press as "Fiscal Irresponsibility". Indeed the new President would find his only real friend in the media would be none other then William Randolph Hearst, whom he beheld and knew closely.
Roosevelt also got to work on the creation of a cabinet. This included, at first, the firing of all Davis and Glass Era Cabinet appointments. He promised to clean house which included of both the highest and lowest level of government positions.
His pick's for the various positions proved to be a clear and surprisingly effective balancing act that gave most of the Party content. For the Party's left he gave them Henrik Shipstead for Labor and most controversial of all Huey Long of Louisiana for Treasurer. For the moderates he gave Borah the nod at Secretary of State and gave positions to moderates McNary and businessman Wendell Wilkie. For the right, he gave Officer Smedley Butler the pick for the Secretary of the Navy. The rest of the men ranging from Hoover to North Dakotan Senator Nye filled in the rest. This balance was effective and pleased all. With the exception of Long whose controversial behavior forced him to a close vote, all well respected men were appointed to their positions with a overwhelming majority from the Senate. Each of them got to their work quickly. Huey Long, who couldn't be silenced, would from then on discuss with the President on a near weekly basis. He would help transform the Treasury riding out the old elements of corruption and malpractice. He would say "Before i came in, Rockefeller and Morgan ruled. After, the people did". He would play instrumental most importantly in the removal of the United States off the Gold Standard on the basis that it helped keep the American Treasury and currency under the dominance of elite gold standards set by certain industrialists. Meanwhile members like William Borah set to mostly continue the isolationist attitudes of the previous President. Although this was at odds with the President, he knew he was only their because the President needed to balance out the mostly isolationist Republican Party. The old Borah refused to budge to any actions in any form of internationalism and created tensions between the two men. Borah would later say, "He never wanted me here or supports me here. He wants to rule the world like a Lord rules a Fiefdom".
On the domestic front, Roosevelt was ambitious in the production of his policy's in a relatively short time. He would help found the idea of the first 100 days of the Presidency being its most active period. The new president got to work signing new legislation into law to curb the effects of the depression. These included the "Economic Stability Act" aimed at cutting Government salary's to curb the debt and balance the budget, the "1933 Banking Act" requiring the bailing out and regulation (and new future oversight provisions) of large financial firms, the official establishment of the Works Commission aimed at curbing unemployment with large scale works projects, the "Frazier-Carey Bill" which required for more regulation and rules from which banks and financial institutions would never be forced to undertake, the "Farmers Relief Act" aimed at bailing out America's ailing Farmers and the creation of work's programs in the form of electric production facility's (in forms including hydroelectric, wind, and regular natural gas), the "Forestal Preservation Act" which set up the groundwork's for a later build up in more forestry provided by the government to federal parks while also providing job opportunity's in the enlisting of new recruits to patrol these forests.
National minimum wage laws also were enacted after all Republican Senators decided to back it despite strong opposition from the American Conservatives and Democrats. They were set at .45 cents per hour, coincidentally lower then the .60 cents offered by his father's administration. This new wage was all wrapped up in the "Compensation and Repayment Act of 1934" mandating company's to pay all of their employees the baseline pay at .45 cents. Business leaders throughout the nation both big and small attacked this as repressive to growth and against opportunity. Roosevelt in return set out and campaigned for over a month in support of the bill in labor regions in the Midwest and Northeast to drum up support for the wage. He would find himself successful in these endeavors and the Roosevelt charm he possessed lead to continued backing of the President by the country's Labor Unions and Industrial Advocacy Groups, who had found a ballooning of support from the depression. This law was followed by the introduction and passage of the "Universal Coverage Bill", a key idea of the republican platform, re-implementing Universal Coverage for all American Citizens. He would make this issue a key of his 1934 State of the Union address saying to the packed congress "All Americans no matter their greed, color, or nationality deserve a right to life. They deserve quality healthcare that allows them to continue life healthy".
The issue was brought up and was voted decisively for the President. However it still showed to be a partisan issue with almost all the Democratic Senator's and House Members voting against the measure. However the reason for it was not on any sort of fiscal irresponsibility some in the press believed to be true, no instead many Southern and Northern Democrats alike refused to vote for a bill that gave Black Americans a equal standard of Healthcare that White Americans would receive. The viewed inferiority of Black Americans meant they should at least receive lower standards of care. This alone could be seen in not political divisions, but geographic division. Although all Republican senators in the Senate supported the bill, all Southern Republicans south of the Mason-Dixon almost uniformly was against the bill. This crossed party lines. Yet this couldn't stop the bill from passing. He signed the new act into law with the creation of the National Healthboard cheerfully on February 19th, 1934.
The act would become the pride and joy of the new Roosevelt administration. Universal Coverage, a notable goal, was finally in place and attempts to both destroy it and improve it would in the end preserve it as one of the finest accomplishments of the administration. Both large and small business owners would take to the streets with complaints of the legislation being unfair. Less then a year after it passed, it would be taken to the Supreme Court when Dean Hellerson, a small business owner in New Jersey refused to abide by the standards of healthcare service which were mandated he give to his employees. He would thus sue the American Healthcare Company, the government funded company that overviewed the new universal coverage per the piece of legislation. After getting stuck up in the New Jersey Court System for over 3 months, his court case was taken. The court still lead by the aging Palmer sensed the new tide in American politics back towards the Progressive Era Ideals. He knew it would be of bad taste to disagree with the popular President on a very popular piece of legislation. So arguing on grounds of the constitutionality of the act, he ditched his Democratic colleagues in joining Republicans giving them a 5-4 majority. The Bill was planted into law afterward and future attempts such as Montana v. Johnson in 1938 were put down too.
His administration would also take great strides in Civil Rights. Without much of a Southern base on his hand, the President and his party launched onto the issue of civil rights. Although never fully committing to it in accordance with the public opinion of the time, the administration made clear they didn't support the view his predecessors held on race. Roosevelt would go out of his way to appoint a record number, for the time, of African American government appointees including ambassadorships to Brazil and Spain. Senate Majority Leader Pepper was also able to pass a House Bill in the Senate, abolishing the practice of lynching, a topic still widespread in the South though never talked about for fear of losing Southern votes. This move caused wide spread disruption in the South with the Southern Democratic Delegation in the Senate filibustering the bill. Senator Robert Reynolds broke a record of a 19.5 Hour Filibuster tirelessly trying to block the bill.
After its passing, the president would become ever so vilified in the south. He would be called a "Negro Loving Son of a Bitch" by one Southern Newspaper Editor and a "Race Traitor" by another. However his advances did not stop their. In May of 1934 he ended the practice of De-Segregation in all Government Facility's. He was later tempted to do the same to the military, but he was calmed by his advisers judging how risky such a move would be. But he would join the likes of his father in allowing for African Americans in the White House, in fact allowing for weekly dinners with prominent black activist and advocacy groups and persons, having dinner's with civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois on more then one occasion.
The looming threat of a renewed economic meltdown however continued to plague his presidency going into the Summer months of 1934. After minimal attempts at curbing the growing debt and lack of funding during the first 100 days of the administration, speculation of the only increasing national debt and lack of government resources to fund much of the Welfare Programs Roosevelt had offered for the past year and a half would finally force the government to a standstill. On the Presidents desk stood summer economic reports showing signs of the return to the old news of worsening economic trauma quarter upon quarter. So naturally in a solution to save the government from going into any drastic shutdown, he brought into the light his old support for Balanced Budget legislation with increased focus on paying down government debt once and for all. This measure was supported unanimously across party lines with both "deficit hawks" and those who supported deficit spending backing it. Passing both houses of congress under the name of the "Secure Spending Act of 1934", a worsening of depression woes would narrowly be avoided.
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The 1934 Mid-Term Elections would only bring good news towards the administration. In the Senate, continued Democratic decline was coupled with wide spread public despise for the party after their pledge to almost completely filibuster and block legislation that came from the other party. So for this, the party was punished by voters and 15 Democratic Senators were ousted from power across the country ranging from Senators in New York to Wyoming. Their only stronghold, the South, held firm yet even that was shaky. George Pepper in exchange lead his party to a absolute victory at the voting boxes winning 14 seats and increasing the party's majority to 66. Thus giving the party a filibuster proof majority in the Senate.
Yet perhaps the most interesting result of the election was the emergence of the American Conservatives as a Senate force with a surprising plurality victory in Tennessee. Under the shady circumstances of the Senator E. H. Crumps and multiple corruption hearings being held against him, he refused to run for re-election. The State Party, a dominant force in Tennessee politics desperate to hold his seat nominated Nashville city attorney Hill McAlister to be their nominee. A reformer at heart, he was still a friend of Crumps Memphis Machine. Along with the Republican nominee, a close three way race emerged between the Republican nominee James Elmore, McAlister, and Nashville Coach Hubert Fisher. Elmore, a equally corrupt man known for his own Knoxville machine, lead to a rapid rise in support for Fisher. His charisma and good looks were unmatched by the other candidates and his polling topped 30% by October. In the end, he did the impossible and win a narrow 37% to 35% victory over McAlister becoming not only the first American Conservative Senator, but the first Non-Democratic Senator from Tennessee in decades.
With a still bare majority coalition, Republican House Leaders were very excited for the 1934 Mid-Terms to shackle off the increasingly radical demands of the Socialist Caucus under Norman Thomas. They were only barely able to pass much of Roosevelt's social programs with Montague offering stiff opposition. However some good news for Leader Bacon came when the formerly stiff Democratic House Delegation loosened up with more and more Democrats offering votes by the turn of the new year. The threat of losing their re-elections enticed many Democrats in the House too in fact disobey the orders of the Minority Leader, something that severely angered him. "Rebellious House Democrats are no better then the Socialist Republicans" he stated. This would anger some of the members so much that some pledged to switch party membership come the 74th Congress.
Big Gains for the Republicans came from the Northeast and the West where combined in those regions they garnered a net gain of 22 seats. New York, in the 73rd Congress being majority Democratic in her representation, would fall in one small election to becoming a majority Republican represented state. States like Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, and even solid Northern Californian districts fell for Republicans candidates and in the end Majority Leader Robert Bacon led the party to a 27 seat gain. And nearly all of these gains, in which the race didn't result in the Democrat switching to the Republican party, would be won by a new breed of Progressive Republican known as "Roosevelt Republicans" (or those Republicans who fully supported the aspects of the Fair Deal) dubbed by the press. The President would make sure in active campaigning to endorse those Republicans who would allow his agenda to pass, leaving many conservatives and even moderates betrayed.
This disaffection by Conservatives in the Republican Party helped continue the rise of the American Conservatives who netted 3 more seats. This boosted their numbers over 30 total seats and would find themselves with 2 new seats on top of that in the months after the election, from Democratic defection. Their rise puzzled most political observers. Most of their policy's were very similar to the now unpopular Democratic Party, yet they rose while the Democrats fell. The only way thought possible was that the American Conservatives were viewed as a newer and less corrupt alternative to the Democrats. This sentiment of support for third party's rang equally as true with the Socialists. Gaining 11 seats they also say themselves as big winners in the election, winning in many of the same places as the Republicans did. Regardless of this gain however, with the Republicans gaining a majority, the Socialists lost there former level of authority in the 73rd Congressional Coalition they had with Republicans. The Republican-Socialist Coalition was renewed of course, yet Thomas would return to be viewed personally and with his Party in whole as crazy radicals by the Congressional Leadership.
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The rise of the Cominterm would prove a vital threat to the Western Liberal Democracy's and thus a key part of Roosevelt's foreign policy operations. He, like his father, was a known internationalist and promoted a active response by the United States against this ideology. He would say at a rally event in May of 1932, "Under a Roosevelt Administration, i will make it my first priority to defeat the evil force of Communism wherever it seed lays, someone this current Administration refuses to acknowledge". He would also be a strong supporter of the League of Nations, pushing the United States towards a more active role in its membership and wanted to expand its powers and roles
This sentiment though was a little too much for the Isolationist American Public. Large segments of his own party refused to accept such expanded roles of the League of Nations, and his own Secretary of State William Borah was his loudest critic. A strong "America First" attitude thus kept many of the legislative changes the President wanted in regards to foreign policy pushed to the side for know. Still, he went out of his way to shape American involvement in World Activity. He would soon come to speak before the League of Nations 4 times by 1935 during their meetings and would hold various amounts of meetings with other Allied Nations for the United States. Most notably, he would find a friendship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill supposedly for both of their short statures (the President would joke) and their hatred of Communism. He and the "Bulldog", along with the French Prime Minister, would help secure a allied Western European fortress against the East.
The overthrow of the Mexican Dictatorship to the South in favor off a more socialist toned and Comintern aligned Military State brought fears of a Communist Invasion from the South the highest it had ever been. Fears that Communist Forces were building up in Mexico would finally force the Isolationist consensus of Republicans and Democrats to concede to a series of Trade Blockades, Tariffs on Mexican Goods, and a cut in Diplomatic relations. The President would call these actions a retaliation of "Human Rights Abuses committed by the Mexican Government".
A side effect of the increased tensions between the two States would be to similar extent German-Americans faced in the United States during World War I. Along with the worse economy being blamed on Mexican Migrant Workers taking American Jobs in the Southwest, many of these workers were now being faced with calls of being Communist sympathizers. It was on this ground where a series of riots occurred from mostly Poor White Natives towards Mexican Migrants fleeing the Chaos to the South. Concentrated in the Border States in City's like Los Angeles, Tuscon, and Phoenix, a looting of migrant homes and Mexican Majority neighborhoods resulting in hundreds of death. By March of 1936, a reported 151 deaths had been recorded on either side and some were comparing it to the 1928 Race Riots. The President wanting to end the conflict, though wanting to remain neutral, sent in the National Guard and ended the conflict in days.
A falsified report sent out by a anonymous source a few months later claimed definitive prove that "Spics in the United States are Agents of the Mexican Government". Even though the claim false, this alone set out a later series of Riots Nationwide in August that were put down once again. In response to the claim, Senator Hubert Fisher created a commission dubbed the "Body for Claim Mexican Communist Infiltration" to investigate it. The report would find that the claims were true and were based around interviews with a alleged leader of a Mexican Migrant Group who was claimed to say that they were payed by the Mexican Government to weaken the United States. The results were disputed by multiple Senators including Senator Norris failing to find much evidence for this source claim. But the fact a sitting US Senator "proved" it was being done forced the President to sway to Public Opinion and issue a "protective" measure against "all with Mexican Ancestry", in essence rounding up those in that category and putting them into holding camps until they could prove they both supported the United States and didn't work for the Mexican Government. Un-Constitutional claims were thrown left and right at this proposal but fear of the threat easily passed both houses in form of the "Homeland Protectionary Act" allowing for such camps for a period of 5 years until a solution to the situation could be found.
The Bills passing caused much controversy among the American Public. The President was tarred by both Anti-Communist Groups for going too little, and by Civil Liberty Groups for going to far. Facing a decline in popularity from a high of 72% in March of 1936, the President acting upon a popular idea and campaign pledge that was Bi-Partisan and supported by all sides - the Independence of the Philippines. It wasn't made public but the real reasons for such a push was the cost (which the United States at that time could not afford) of maintaining the territory, and fears from some Senators and Representatives that if such a Asian Majority Country was let into the United States as a State then the White Homogeneous Nation would be disrupted. So calling for a end to the occupation, he signed away the "Filipino Independence Act" with full support from all sides, pledging a plan of 7 year withdrawal from the island and slowly transitioning the Country to Self-Governance. But the fear of yet again the Soviet Union and a growing likely Communist China, installed directly into the new Nations constitution that it would remain a United States Ally and a Liberal Democracy. American Troops were placed their for good measure, with many being used as a stationary force counterweight to the Maoists. Senator George Norris (R-NB) would take the lead here in going on a trip to the new nation inspecting the Troops throughout the summer months. He would prove instrumental also in the creation of the new Nation's Armed Forces and sat in on the first session of the Filipino Congress in October of 1936. Only opposition to any of these measures were from isolationists including Senator George Shaw (R-CO) arguing for the Philippine People to decide their own fate when he said, "Us going in their and telling them what to do makes it no different then the colony we are trying to end". He would, luckily for the President, be in the minority and the President received a deserved bump above 75% once again by the dawn of the November Elections of that year.
With high approvals and a strengthening economy, he looked to fair well enough to potentially be given another term.
The President addressing the Congress (CIRCA 1933)
Putting his firm sweaty palm on the Bible, the incoming president spoke "so help me God". Behind him stood the formerly sworn in Vice President Floyd Olson looking at the event with a tenacious grin thinking how such a underprivileged "Shabbos Goy" on the streets of Minneapolis could become the Vice President. Stood behind the new Vice president, former Presidents Carter Glass and John Davis observed at the event with the best undecided face they both could muster. In reality they were both aghast at the destruction of policy's they feared the new President would partake in. There only hope remained in the preservation of there main legislative achievements within the constitution. It was there both knew Ted would not touch. He was of course a statesman, no legislative fanatic. Yet even these were burgeoning out of favor among large segments of the populous. Polling showed support for the Flat Tax had toppled to little more then 30% and legislators fearful for their job prospects had helped balloon the "Flat Taxation Removal Act" in the House. As the new President made his speech, this act in the House was already being prepared for a vote. And with the new Republican majority, vowing to remove the amendment was a top priority. Glass looked on knowing his pride centerpiece of fiscal responsibility did not have a long future.
Seeing the new president beginning to start his speech, Davis gestured to his longtime friend, the new Senate Minority leader Hugo Black. "You think this guy is going to do much" he stated looking back to the President starting his speech by uttering the words "Thank You".
"I hope not John. He ain't seem as bad as some of the Socialist's that surround." Black replied.
"I don't know. His Fair Deal sounds like pure Socialism." Davis was interrupted by the words uttered from the president, "We need a new era of politics, a era of cooperation not divisiveness".
"Don't worry about that deal. It could never pass with our congress or the next one. I will make sure all my boy's stay in line"
"That better be the case... i can't go down as some lame duck. We need to end this President as soon as his presidency starts" Davis replied sharply.
"Look, i'll try but we don't have no majority anymore so i can't guarantee nothing" Black replied back.
"Well thank you Hugo. Your one of the few men who are honorable in these parts" finished Davis.
The two men ended there conservation. Both moved back in a almost robotic motion to look at the President finish his speech. "I call upon the new American Congress to give the people what they voted for; higher living standards! We are at a dark moment in our history; millions are without work. We need a Fair Deal for all. We need a return to a Government that cares for the people, a Government that gives her citizens the right to survive economically. In my new Presidency i promise to Balance our Budget. We need to end this debt our predecessors have given us. I promise to end the ridiculous unemployment we find ourselves in today. I promise to give every American a new standard of living, no American shall be subject to live without the right to health. Our country needs to be healthy if it is going to be strong. I promise to give America a new leadership standard on the globe. The previous administration let Communism spread throughout the world leading it to oppress millions more people in places like Russia, Germany, and Italy. And finally, most importantly of all, i promise to put people to work. It's what make our country great. Thank You!". The newly sworn in President would finish up his speech waving to the horde uncivil will applause.
A man of short stature, he made up for it with his known alluring charisma. He would perform the intermediate activity's between two Presidents with ease. He would ride with Davis in his Ford all the way to the White House, waving to any and all supporters in the crowd on the way. He had grown a enthusiastic base and they made clear they ruled DC at that moment, shutting down most city pedestrian traffic for that day.
On first action he ordered the creation of a large scale Jobs program. Signing the "American Works Act" put on his desk by the approval of the Congress that passed it in September, the new act would put millions of Americans potentially back to work. The act created large scale Government Projects in work with local Private Business. These projects included a ambitious domestic highway system, and the creation of numerous dam's and energy producing plants to power America once again. These would all be under the guidance of the newly created "Works Commission", and on first order by the President this new agency would receive a multi million dollar grant to perform duty's. That itself would be derided by some in the more Democratic supporting Press as "Fiscal Irresponsibility". Indeed the new President would find his only real friend in the media would be none other then William Randolph Hearst, whom he beheld and knew closely.
Roosevelt also got to work on the creation of a cabinet. This included, at first, the firing of all Davis and Glass Era Cabinet appointments. He promised to clean house which included of both the highest and lowest level of government positions.
His pick's for the various positions proved to be a clear and surprisingly effective balancing act that gave most of the Party content. For the Party's left he gave them Henrik Shipstead for Labor and most controversial of all Huey Long of Louisiana for Treasurer. For the moderates he gave Borah the nod at Secretary of State and gave positions to moderates McNary and businessman Wendell Wilkie. For the right, he gave Officer Smedley Butler the pick for the Secretary of the Navy. The rest of the men ranging from Hoover to North Dakotan Senator Nye filled in the rest. This balance was effective and pleased all. With the exception of Long whose controversial behavior forced him to a close vote, all well respected men were appointed to their positions with a overwhelming majority from the Senate. Each of them got to their work quickly. Huey Long, who couldn't be silenced, would from then on discuss with the President on a near weekly basis. He would help transform the Treasury riding out the old elements of corruption and malpractice. He would say "Before i came in, Rockefeller and Morgan ruled. After, the people did". He would play instrumental most importantly in the removal of the United States off the Gold Standard on the basis that it helped keep the American Treasury and currency under the dominance of elite gold standards set by certain industrialists. Meanwhile members like William Borah set to mostly continue the isolationist attitudes of the previous President. Although this was at odds with the President, he knew he was only their because the President needed to balance out the mostly isolationist Republican Party. The old Borah refused to budge to any actions in any form of internationalism and created tensions between the two men. Borah would later say, "He never wanted me here or supports me here. He wants to rule the world like a Lord rules a Fiefdom".
On the domestic front, Roosevelt was ambitious in the production of his policy's in a relatively short time. He would help found the idea of the first 100 days of the Presidency being its most active period. The new president got to work signing new legislation into law to curb the effects of the depression. These included the "Economic Stability Act" aimed at cutting Government salary's to curb the debt and balance the budget, the "1933 Banking Act" requiring the bailing out and regulation (and new future oversight provisions) of large financial firms, the official establishment of the Works Commission aimed at curbing unemployment with large scale works projects, the "Frazier-Carey Bill" which required for more regulation and rules from which banks and financial institutions would never be forced to undertake, the "Farmers Relief Act" aimed at bailing out America's ailing Farmers and the creation of work's programs in the form of electric production facility's (in forms including hydroelectric, wind, and regular natural gas), the "Forestal Preservation Act" which set up the groundwork's for a later build up in more forestry provided by the government to federal parks while also providing job opportunity's in the enlisting of new recruits to patrol these forests.
National minimum wage laws also were enacted after all Republican Senators decided to back it despite strong opposition from the American Conservatives and Democrats. They were set at .45 cents per hour, coincidentally lower then the .60 cents offered by his father's administration. This new wage was all wrapped up in the "Compensation and Repayment Act of 1934" mandating company's to pay all of their employees the baseline pay at .45 cents. Business leaders throughout the nation both big and small attacked this as repressive to growth and against opportunity. Roosevelt in return set out and campaigned for over a month in support of the bill in labor regions in the Midwest and Northeast to drum up support for the wage. He would find himself successful in these endeavors and the Roosevelt charm he possessed lead to continued backing of the President by the country's Labor Unions and Industrial Advocacy Groups, who had found a ballooning of support from the depression. This law was followed by the introduction and passage of the "Universal Coverage Bill", a key idea of the republican platform, re-implementing Universal Coverage for all American Citizens. He would make this issue a key of his 1934 State of the Union address saying to the packed congress "All Americans no matter their greed, color, or nationality deserve a right to life. They deserve quality healthcare that allows them to continue life healthy".
The issue was brought up and was voted decisively for the President. However it still showed to be a partisan issue with almost all the Democratic Senator's and House Members voting against the measure. However the reason for it was not on any sort of fiscal irresponsibility some in the press believed to be true, no instead many Southern and Northern Democrats alike refused to vote for a bill that gave Black Americans a equal standard of Healthcare that White Americans would receive. The viewed inferiority of Black Americans meant they should at least receive lower standards of care. This alone could be seen in not political divisions, but geographic division. Although all Republican senators in the Senate supported the bill, all Southern Republicans south of the Mason-Dixon almost uniformly was against the bill. This crossed party lines. Yet this couldn't stop the bill from passing. He signed the new act into law with the creation of the National Healthboard cheerfully on February 19th, 1934.
The act would become the pride and joy of the new Roosevelt administration. Universal Coverage, a notable goal, was finally in place and attempts to both destroy it and improve it would in the end preserve it as one of the finest accomplishments of the administration. Both large and small business owners would take to the streets with complaints of the legislation being unfair. Less then a year after it passed, it would be taken to the Supreme Court when Dean Hellerson, a small business owner in New Jersey refused to abide by the standards of healthcare service which were mandated he give to his employees. He would thus sue the American Healthcare Company, the government funded company that overviewed the new universal coverage per the piece of legislation. After getting stuck up in the New Jersey Court System for over 3 months, his court case was taken. The court still lead by the aging Palmer sensed the new tide in American politics back towards the Progressive Era Ideals. He knew it would be of bad taste to disagree with the popular President on a very popular piece of legislation. So arguing on grounds of the constitutionality of the act, he ditched his Democratic colleagues in joining Republicans giving them a 5-4 majority. The Bill was planted into law afterward and future attempts such as Montana v. Johnson in 1938 were put down too.
His administration would also take great strides in Civil Rights. Without much of a Southern base on his hand, the President and his party launched onto the issue of civil rights. Although never fully committing to it in accordance with the public opinion of the time, the administration made clear they didn't support the view his predecessors held on race. Roosevelt would go out of his way to appoint a record number, for the time, of African American government appointees including ambassadorships to Brazil and Spain. Senate Majority Leader Pepper was also able to pass a House Bill in the Senate, abolishing the practice of lynching, a topic still widespread in the South though never talked about for fear of losing Southern votes. This move caused wide spread disruption in the South with the Southern Democratic Delegation in the Senate filibustering the bill. Senator Robert Reynolds broke a record of a 19.5 Hour Filibuster tirelessly trying to block the bill.
After its passing, the president would become ever so vilified in the south. He would be called a "Negro Loving Son of a Bitch" by one Southern Newspaper Editor and a "Race Traitor" by another. However his advances did not stop their. In May of 1934 he ended the practice of De-Segregation in all Government Facility's. He was later tempted to do the same to the military, but he was calmed by his advisers judging how risky such a move would be. But he would join the likes of his father in allowing for African Americans in the White House, in fact allowing for weekly dinners with prominent black activist and advocacy groups and persons, having dinner's with civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois on more then one occasion.
The looming threat of a renewed economic meltdown however continued to plague his presidency going into the Summer months of 1934. After minimal attempts at curbing the growing debt and lack of funding during the first 100 days of the administration, speculation of the only increasing national debt and lack of government resources to fund much of the Welfare Programs Roosevelt had offered for the past year and a half would finally force the government to a standstill. On the Presidents desk stood summer economic reports showing signs of the return to the old news of worsening economic trauma quarter upon quarter. So naturally in a solution to save the government from going into any drastic shutdown, he brought into the light his old support for Balanced Budget legislation with increased focus on paying down government debt once and for all. This measure was supported unanimously across party lines with both "deficit hawks" and those who supported deficit spending backing it. Passing both houses of congress under the name of the "Secure Spending Act of 1934", a worsening of depression woes would narrowly be avoided.
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The 1934 Mid-Term Elections would only bring good news towards the administration. In the Senate, continued Democratic decline was coupled with wide spread public despise for the party after their pledge to almost completely filibuster and block legislation that came from the other party. So for this, the party was punished by voters and 15 Democratic Senators were ousted from power across the country ranging from Senators in New York to Wyoming. Their only stronghold, the South, held firm yet even that was shaky. George Pepper in exchange lead his party to a absolute victory at the voting boxes winning 14 seats and increasing the party's majority to 66. Thus giving the party a filibuster proof majority in the Senate.
Yet perhaps the most interesting result of the election was the emergence of the American Conservatives as a Senate force with a surprising plurality victory in Tennessee. Under the shady circumstances of the Senator E. H. Crumps and multiple corruption hearings being held against him, he refused to run for re-election. The State Party, a dominant force in Tennessee politics desperate to hold his seat nominated Nashville city attorney Hill McAlister to be their nominee. A reformer at heart, he was still a friend of Crumps Memphis Machine. Along with the Republican nominee, a close three way race emerged between the Republican nominee James Elmore, McAlister, and Nashville Coach Hubert Fisher. Elmore, a equally corrupt man known for his own Knoxville machine, lead to a rapid rise in support for Fisher. His charisma and good looks were unmatched by the other candidates and his polling topped 30% by October. In the end, he did the impossible and win a narrow 37% to 35% victory over McAlister becoming not only the first American Conservative Senator, but the first Non-Democratic Senator from Tennessee in decades.
With a still bare majority coalition, Republican House Leaders were very excited for the 1934 Mid-Terms to shackle off the increasingly radical demands of the Socialist Caucus under Norman Thomas. They were only barely able to pass much of Roosevelt's social programs with Montague offering stiff opposition. However some good news for Leader Bacon came when the formerly stiff Democratic House Delegation loosened up with more and more Democrats offering votes by the turn of the new year. The threat of losing their re-elections enticed many Democrats in the House too in fact disobey the orders of the Minority Leader, something that severely angered him. "Rebellious House Democrats are no better then the Socialist Republicans" he stated. This would anger some of the members so much that some pledged to switch party membership come the 74th Congress.
Big Gains for the Republicans came from the Northeast and the West where combined in those regions they garnered a net gain of 22 seats. New York, in the 73rd Congress being majority Democratic in her representation, would fall in one small election to becoming a majority Republican represented state. States like Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, and even solid Northern Californian districts fell for Republicans candidates and in the end Majority Leader Robert Bacon led the party to a 27 seat gain. And nearly all of these gains, in which the race didn't result in the Democrat switching to the Republican party, would be won by a new breed of Progressive Republican known as "Roosevelt Republicans" (or those Republicans who fully supported the aspects of the Fair Deal) dubbed by the press. The President would make sure in active campaigning to endorse those Republicans who would allow his agenda to pass, leaving many conservatives and even moderates betrayed.
This disaffection by Conservatives in the Republican Party helped continue the rise of the American Conservatives who netted 3 more seats. This boosted their numbers over 30 total seats and would find themselves with 2 new seats on top of that in the months after the election, from Democratic defection. Their rise puzzled most political observers. Most of their policy's were very similar to the now unpopular Democratic Party, yet they rose while the Democrats fell. The only way thought possible was that the American Conservatives were viewed as a newer and less corrupt alternative to the Democrats. This sentiment of support for third party's rang equally as true with the Socialists. Gaining 11 seats they also say themselves as big winners in the election, winning in many of the same places as the Republicans did. Regardless of this gain however, with the Republicans gaining a majority, the Socialists lost there former level of authority in the 73rd Congressional Coalition they had with Republicans. The Republican-Socialist Coalition was renewed of course, yet Thomas would return to be viewed personally and with his Party in whole as crazy radicals by the Congressional Leadership.
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The rise of the Cominterm would prove a vital threat to the Western Liberal Democracy's and thus a key part of Roosevelt's foreign policy operations. He, like his father, was a known internationalist and promoted a active response by the United States against this ideology. He would say at a rally event in May of 1932, "Under a Roosevelt Administration, i will make it my first priority to defeat the evil force of Communism wherever it seed lays, someone this current Administration refuses to acknowledge". He would also be a strong supporter of the League of Nations, pushing the United States towards a more active role in its membership and wanted to expand its powers and roles
This sentiment though was a little too much for the Isolationist American Public. Large segments of his own party refused to accept such expanded roles of the League of Nations, and his own Secretary of State William Borah was his loudest critic. A strong "America First" attitude thus kept many of the legislative changes the President wanted in regards to foreign policy pushed to the side for know. Still, he went out of his way to shape American involvement in World Activity. He would soon come to speak before the League of Nations 4 times by 1935 during their meetings and would hold various amounts of meetings with other Allied Nations for the United States. Most notably, he would find a friendship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill supposedly for both of their short statures (the President would joke) and their hatred of Communism. He and the "Bulldog", along with the French Prime Minister, would help secure a allied Western European fortress against the East.
The overthrow of the Mexican Dictatorship to the South in favor off a more socialist toned and Comintern aligned Military State brought fears of a Communist Invasion from the South the highest it had ever been. Fears that Communist Forces were building up in Mexico would finally force the Isolationist consensus of Republicans and Democrats to concede to a series of Trade Blockades, Tariffs on Mexican Goods, and a cut in Diplomatic relations. The President would call these actions a retaliation of "Human Rights Abuses committed by the Mexican Government".
A side effect of the increased tensions between the two States would be to similar extent German-Americans faced in the United States during World War I. Along with the worse economy being blamed on Mexican Migrant Workers taking American Jobs in the Southwest, many of these workers were now being faced with calls of being Communist sympathizers. It was on this ground where a series of riots occurred from mostly Poor White Natives towards Mexican Migrants fleeing the Chaos to the South. Concentrated in the Border States in City's like Los Angeles, Tuscon, and Phoenix, a looting of migrant homes and Mexican Majority neighborhoods resulting in hundreds of death. By March of 1936, a reported 151 deaths had been recorded on either side and some were comparing it to the 1928 Race Riots. The President wanting to end the conflict, though wanting to remain neutral, sent in the National Guard and ended the conflict in days.
A falsified report sent out by a anonymous source a few months later claimed definitive prove that "Spics in the United States are Agents of the Mexican Government". Even though the claim false, this alone set out a later series of Riots Nationwide in August that were put down once again. In response to the claim, Senator Hubert Fisher created a commission dubbed the "Body for Claim Mexican Communist Infiltration" to investigate it. The report would find that the claims were true and were based around interviews with a alleged leader of a Mexican Migrant Group who was claimed to say that they were payed by the Mexican Government to weaken the United States. The results were disputed by multiple Senators including Senator Norris failing to find much evidence for this source claim. But the fact a sitting US Senator "proved" it was being done forced the President to sway to Public Opinion and issue a "protective" measure against "all with Mexican Ancestry", in essence rounding up those in that category and putting them into holding camps until they could prove they both supported the United States and didn't work for the Mexican Government. Un-Constitutional claims were thrown left and right at this proposal but fear of the threat easily passed both houses in form of the "Homeland Protectionary Act" allowing for such camps for a period of 5 years until a solution to the situation could be found.
The Bills passing caused much controversy among the American Public. The President was tarred by both Anti-Communist Groups for going too little, and by Civil Liberty Groups for going to far. Facing a decline in popularity from a high of 72% in March of 1936, the President acting upon a popular idea and campaign pledge that was Bi-Partisan and supported by all sides - the Independence of the Philippines. It wasn't made public but the real reasons for such a push was the cost (which the United States at that time could not afford) of maintaining the territory, and fears from some Senators and Representatives that if such a Asian Majority Country was let into the United States as a State then the White Homogeneous Nation would be disrupted. So calling for a end to the occupation, he signed away the "Filipino Independence Act" with full support from all sides, pledging a plan of 7 year withdrawal from the island and slowly transitioning the Country to Self-Governance. But the fear of yet again the Soviet Union and a growing likely Communist China, installed directly into the new Nations constitution that it would remain a United States Ally and a Liberal Democracy. American Troops were placed their for good measure, with many being used as a stationary force counterweight to the Maoists. Senator George Norris (R-NB) would take the lead here in going on a trip to the new nation inspecting the Troops throughout the summer months. He would prove instrumental also in the creation of the new Nation's Armed Forces and sat in on the first session of the Filipino Congress in October of 1936. Only opposition to any of these measures were from isolationists including Senator George Shaw (R-CO) arguing for the Philippine People to decide their own fate when he said, "Us going in their and telling them what to do makes it no different then the colony we are trying to end". He would, luckily for the President, be in the minority and the President received a deserved bump above 75% once again by the dawn of the November Elections of that year.
With high approvals and a strengthening economy, he looked to fair well enough to potentially be given another term.
I am really liking the Roosevelt Jr. Administration. It is largely to the right of OTL FDR, and is in line with my thinking on civil rights
The American Conservatives would be wise to adopt a pro-civil rights stand and a fully anti-communist line to differentiate from the Democrats
The American Conservatives would be wise to adopt a pro-civil rights stand and a fully anti-communist line to differentiate from the Democrats
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That would indeed be wise but any Pro-Civil Rights Plank would likely be against Federal Civil Rights Laws, due to their Anti-Government views, instead favoring localized legislation. I can see, however, for them to differentiate themselves by remaining largely a Right-Libertarian Party while the Democrats remain (or become) a form of Populist Conservatism, or National Conservatism.
South African Politics (1930-1940)
Depression Era South Africa
Miners laboring for Diamonds at Bulfontein Diamond Mine.
The Hertzog Ministry would not expect the Worldwide Depression of 1930, corresponding so many other luckless National Governments at the same time. The collapse of the London Exchange, one of the sole major exchanges of the Commonwealth of Nations resulted in smaller South African exchanges and financial institutions in city's like Johannesburg and Cape Town to file for bankruptcy, unable to properly validate their funds upon a stronger currency. Bids at switching from the London to the American New York City Exchanges also proved ill-fated as within two months those same exchanges would collapse, to a decade long accumulation of inflation and unchecked industrial spending.
Unable to bail out these firms, the Central Government better yet let them collapse, proving to be disastrous in the long haul. By years end, a Recession could be called in South Africa as unemployment rates topped 15% among Afrikaner and English South Africans. The Mining and Farming Industry's seemingly collapse overnight and with it many already impoverished South Africans in these professions felt brutal effects, most unable to now pay for large amounts of precious metals and agricultural goods. The Government to curb this issued a immediate order for Work Projects and Deficit Spending, instead of any effort to curb the Debt. The Hertzog Government would nationalize the Major Mining Company's of South Africa to the resistance of these same company's. The De Beers Group, owning the vast majority of the Country's Mining Grounds, filed a law suit against the Government taking it to the South African Supreme Court arguing on grounds of "the Ill-constitutionality of the forcible takeover of private property". The Court, filled with new corrupt Hertzog backed cronies, took this as no real area of disagreement, ruling uniformly in favor of the Government.
The De Beers Group were forced to hand over all Mining Property and Ownership to the Government in South Africa. In the Government itself, Hertzog's coalition partners, the South Africans, were mostly in favor of the De Beers Group and hence looked after overall Business Interests. Yet they were forced to subdue support for the company given how politically toxic it would be. Instead the Government would find most support come from Creswell's Caucus. Seeing the shared interests in restoring the Country's Economy, in May of 1932 he offered to be coalition partners with the Unionist Labourites as well, to which they accepted. And for a brief time all of the Major Political Party's were united as one. But Jan Smuts could not handle being at the same negotiating standard as Creswell, a dangerous and foolish man he would say. Upon hearing the news of the new coalition, Smuts and his Party would end there long relationship with National.
A immediate effect of the Depression would worsen tensions upon English South Africans and Blacks. Public Sentiment grew increasingly towards the statement that the British were the real cause for the crash. It was the London Exchange after all which collapsed first. English South African would get the fall for this accusation, with Dutch Afrikaners unemployed by the Depression, going to the streets in the major city's, often clashing with their English Countrymen. The mostly Afrikaner National Party remained quiet on these clashes and only the South African Party made a peep of these occurrences, being a English majority supporter party themselves. Hertzog wanting to maintain friendly relations, as he had throughout his administration, between the English and the Afrikaner's calling for national unity to end the violence. His moderating figure was able to subside any future bloodshed. Yet he did take that very same opportunity to further a goal of his - further separate South Africa from the United Kingdom. He would personally severe much communication with the British Government of Winston Churchill and ended annual payments to the Commonwealth of Nations to give the Treasury more funds to deal with. In response the Country was kicked out of the League, though maintained within the British Sphere. By the Summer Months of 1933, he had successfully cemented the state was self functioning, much like that of his Australian Colleagues.
The Situation of the Black Population maintained a upmost priority of Hertzog. Seeing them as a easy target for Unity, he ended much previous protections including partial voting rights in cases. To appease the Traditionalists of the Party, he set forth a extreme form of racial segregation not seen not only in South Africa, but the World. Only the short lived Black Codes of the Post-Civil War South could compare. Barring Blacks from even communicating or looking upon Whites in certain instances, the bill created special regions for Black Africans to "Live In", while others were delegated solely for "Whites and Coloured". "The Traditional Society Act" it was called and further protections for White Miners and Unions were put in, along with more funding towards the Works Projects, giving the Unionist Labour a reason to vote for it. And with that, it easily passed the Assembly. Only the most moderate of the South African Party could not budge from voting for it, and on September 15th, 1933, the bill was signed into law.
News of the Decree spread like wildfire among the Whites of South Africa and deaths immediately occurred. White Authority's and Citizens alike now had legal justification for even the slightest of movements by the Black Majority. A rumor in the Winter Months of 1933 told that the Communist Party in South Africa were both secretly arming Poor Black and Whites alike with weaponry for a revolution. They were said too have been funded from the Cominterm, and the capture of a supposed "arms smuggler" by Border Guards from the North lead to the banning of the Party by the Government. In response, members of the Party issued nationwide protests against the Government, calling for a revolution. Hertzgo called this a act of treason and ordered the immediate arrest of all Communist Party leadership, along with most of their members. Hundreds, perhaps Thousands of Blacks were killed in the meanwhile. The 1933 Winter of Chaos would claim reportedly upwards of 5,000 by the end of it.
Native African Family in South Africa, CIRCA 1930s
Years of Tension would finally explode in the Autumn of 1934, when the old South African Party was finally split for good. Leader Jan Smuts, unable to hold onto the growing influence of the Increasing Radical Far Right of the Party, shed them off for good. He would gather forth a collection of 27 former SAP Members and create a new Party, the Union. Centered around Traditionalist Segregation, Liberal Conservatism, and Mostly Pro-English Policy, the remaining members would become independent. Oswald Pirow, the Former Justice Minister, was the main leader of the Far Right SAP, and called Smuts action a "sham". Tempted to create his own Party based on his values, he ultimately ditched such efforts, and instead joined the National with open arms from the Hertzog Government.
The upcoming 1935 Election looked to be a repeat of the previous, Creswell, Hertzog, and Smuts all looking firm as leaders of the three major party's of South Africa. Hertzog would campaign very little, working on legislation to curb Agricultural Debts once and for all. Instead, he used informal advertisements, posters saying "He put the Negros in their Place and He Gave the White Man a New Job? What better choice is there?". It was true the situation was much better then years prior, but the still looming double digit unemployment rate picked up steam for Creswell. Campaigning instead very actively, the aging "Poor Warrior" campaigned on "Full White Employment by the Year 1950" and "A Job for Every White Man in South Africa". The final option Smuts, looked himself to restoring relations with now independent, former SAP members, trying to win back their votes and seats. Though labeled as a puppet of both "English" and "Business" Interests by the other Party's (rather successfully) and being almost hated in many Poor Districts, he proved a master negotiator in the end. Whatever happened however, the Government of National-Unionist Labour looked to be maintained.
As expected, Hertzog would lose his pure majority of 75 seats. Moving down to a meager plurality of 59, the Unionist Labour were hot of his tail at 51 seats. The Government was maintained, but Creswell would now have equal footing with Hertzog, pushing the new government to the Left on many issues as well. But the biggest winner of the Election was surprisingly the new Union Party. Though losing thousands of votes and 8% whole percentage points from 1930, at the benefit of Unionist Labour, Smuts was able to win back 12 seats from Independents mostly hailing from the Old Party. His Pro-British views specifically helped his party greatly among the English majority voting regions to the East, while maintaining Fiscal Austerity helped him win some National voting seats.
The Government took their continued rule as a sign of mostly positive feedback from the Populous. Upon forcing from Labour, Hertzog signed onto a Universalized Health Care System for All White Residents of South Africa. Bismarkian and Rooseveltian in style, it would as said give basic medical care for all Caucasian Residents of the Country, Coloured and Blacks were excluded. Along with this, most major hospitals would be nationalized and over-viewed by a Central Government Health Board. Upon Hertzog's request, this would be payed for by a overall increase in taxes and the additional funds gained from leaving the Commonwealth of Nations. Once Again, opposition came only from the Debt Worried Unionists and few Nationalists in the Assembly. Passing the assembly 100 votes to 41, the legislation would get off to a rocky start with reports of mal-practice of Government Funds among certain Hospitals (in particular, in favor of Afrikaner Majority Hospitals) and the occasional reports of the serving of Coloured and Negros. The Bill would thus be revised in 1938 under the "Medicinal Reform and Coverage Act" mostly taking care of issues, getting ride of corrupted Health Board Members.
Shakeups in Party Leadership was finally hit in mass during the later tenure of, what would be, the final Hertzog Government. Upon request, Smuts resigned from the Leadership role, wanting a less public role. But his successor would grow to be a hitting match after the insurgent campaign of Charles Stallard caught many Union House Members by Storm. Stallard, a member of the Far Right, was bolstered by Far Right infiltration into the party itself. His message as leader was to return the Party to "White Control". His falling out in the Shadow Cabinet of Smuts in 1933, led to a growing rivalry between the two, and he said Smuts "Killed Botha's Party and turned it Coloured and Negro supporting". He also, of course also despised the English support Smuts had given. He allied himself with Afrikaner Nationalists including of that of Daniel François Malan in the National Party. He pledged to restore the traditional Afrikaner Language to Glory, as the rightful language of all South Africans, rather then giving equal footing to Dutch and English.
Charles Stallard, CIRCA 1960
He was opposed by MP Jacobus Johannes Fouché, a Moderate on issues of Afrikaner and British Support. His intellectualism and calm demeanor coalesced much Moderate and Party Support for him. But his staunch Republicanism and opposition for a Party Plank to rejoin the Commonwealth, left many British Sympathizers in the Party, seemingly betrayed. It didn't help either of his extremely young age, at only 38, compared to the more experienced 67 Year Old Statesmen Stallard. This factors ultimately made it so, his campaign for Party Leadership never made it off the ground. Stallard won win in a close vote in both the House of Senate against Fouché. Stallard hoped to unite the Party post-selection, but his past comments made any such attempts more divisive then successful. He would have much trouble trying to win over Moderates in the Party while trying to gain Afrikaner Nationalists from the Nationals at the same time, and the 1940 Election looming, threats of going Independent made the Minority Leaders Job Hell.
On the other side of the aisle, at age 73, Frederic Creswell decided to finally give up reigns of his Party, after more then a Decade of Rule in 1939. His was succeeded by Walter Madeley, who was already second in command de-facto already. A Out-Spoken Socialist, he called for Nationalization of the Means of Production, at least originally. Unionist members of the Unionist Labour coalition refused to back a outspoken Socialist. Madeley would moderate his policy's slightly at their demand, ending any calls for Nationalization of the Means of Production. But he still remained well to the Left of Hertzog like Creswell. But Hertzog remained skeptical of this new leader, his past Socialist views looming. Not wanting to be in any way associated with Socialism, he would ditch the Unionist Labour, and reform a National-Union Coalition. Stallard was much more friendly then Smuts and in fact were almost identical in goals.
The Unionist Labour were enraged by the ditch. Madeley called the move "Cowardly", but remained without much Government Power. Madeley thus looked forward towards 1940 and had a enthusiastic base. On the Trail, he would visit many Depression Effected Farming Towns and Miner Encampments, still being effected. His support for the Poor Whites, like Creswell, brought out large crowds for his Speeches both in English Majority Areas and Afrikaner's. Indeed, he would secretly crush his rivals in 1940 by attacking their core bases. Nominal National and Union Supporting Afrikaners in the West and East united behind Madeley's goal of Social and Economic Justice for the White Worker. A storm came from the Left and it hit the Prime Minister with brute force.
Although not a Majority, Madeley had become the First Unionist Labour Plurality Leader in Number of Seats. Upon hearing of the results, Hertzog initially did not believe. A growing economy and renewed economic prospects blinded him to any other reality but increased majority's for him. Stallard was much the same, but the loss was much expected. 19 members would flee to the Independent Caucus while the Union would lose 6 seats to Unionist Labour Candidates. His final total would be a rump compared to past glory's.
Hertzog would resign from National Leadership soon after. But Madeley would find much trouble finding a new Government with both Stallard and most National Members unfriendly. He would have to wait for now, for any real changes, but his tenure would face one of the Greatest Threats to the Country's Future, a War to End all Wars redux.
Miners laboring for Diamonds at Bulfontein Diamond Mine.
The Hertzog Ministry would not expect the Worldwide Depression of 1930, corresponding so many other luckless National Governments at the same time. The collapse of the London Exchange, one of the sole major exchanges of the Commonwealth of Nations resulted in smaller South African exchanges and financial institutions in city's like Johannesburg and Cape Town to file for bankruptcy, unable to properly validate their funds upon a stronger currency. Bids at switching from the London to the American New York City Exchanges also proved ill-fated as within two months those same exchanges would collapse, to a decade long accumulation of inflation and unchecked industrial spending.
Unable to bail out these firms, the Central Government better yet let them collapse, proving to be disastrous in the long haul. By years end, a Recession could be called in South Africa as unemployment rates topped 15% among Afrikaner and English South Africans. The Mining and Farming Industry's seemingly collapse overnight and with it many already impoverished South Africans in these professions felt brutal effects, most unable to now pay for large amounts of precious metals and agricultural goods. The Government to curb this issued a immediate order for Work Projects and Deficit Spending, instead of any effort to curb the Debt. The Hertzog Government would nationalize the Major Mining Company's of South Africa to the resistance of these same company's. The De Beers Group, owning the vast majority of the Country's Mining Grounds, filed a law suit against the Government taking it to the South African Supreme Court arguing on grounds of "the Ill-constitutionality of the forcible takeover of private property". The Court, filled with new corrupt Hertzog backed cronies, took this as no real area of disagreement, ruling uniformly in favor of the Government.
The De Beers Group were forced to hand over all Mining Property and Ownership to the Government in South Africa. In the Government itself, Hertzog's coalition partners, the South Africans, were mostly in favor of the De Beers Group and hence looked after overall Business Interests. Yet they were forced to subdue support for the company given how politically toxic it would be. Instead the Government would find most support come from Creswell's Caucus. Seeing the shared interests in restoring the Country's Economy, in May of 1932 he offered to be coalition partners with the Unionist Labourites as well, to which they accepted. And for a brief time all of the Major Political Party's were united as one. But Jan Smuts could not handle being at the same negotiating standard as Creswell, a dangerous and foolish man he would say. Upon hearing the news of the new coalition, Smuts and his Party would end there long relationship with National.
A immediate effect of the Depression would worsen tensions upon English South Africans and Blacks. Public Sentiment grew increasingly towards the statement that the British were the real cause for the crash. It was the London Exchange after all which collapsed first. English South African would get the fall for this accusation, with Dutch Afrikaners unemployed by the Depression, going to the streets in the major city's, often clashing with their English Countrymen. The mostly Afrikaner National Party remained quiet on these clashes and only the South African Party made a peep of these occurrences, being a English majority supporter party themselves. Hertzog wanting to maintain friendly relations, as he had throughout his administration, between the English and the Afrikaner's calling for national unity to end the violence. His moderating figure was able to subside any future bloodshed. Yet he did take that very same opportunity to further a goal of his - further separate South Africa from the United Kingdom. He would personally severe much communication with the British Government of Winston Churchill and ended annual payments to the Commonwealth of Nations to give the Treasury more funds to deal with. In response the Country was kicked out of the League, though maintained within the British Sphere. By the Summer Months of 1933, he had successfully cemented the state was self functioning, much like that of his Australian Colleagues.
The Situation of the Black Population maintained a upmost priority of Hertzog. Seeing them as a easy target for Unity, he ended much previous protections including partial voting rights in cases. To appease the Traditionalists of the Party, he set forth a extreme form of racial segregation not seen not only in South Africa, but the World. Only the short lived Black Codes of the Post-Civil War South could compare. Barring Blacks from even communicating or looking upon Whites in certain instances, the bill created special regions for Black Africans to "Live In", while others were delegated solely for "Whites and Coloured". "The Traditional Society Act" it was called and further protections for White Miners and Unions were put in, along with more funding towards the Works Projects, giving the Unionist Labour a reason to vote for it. And with that, it easily passed the Assembly. Only the most moderate of the South African Party could not budge from voting for it, and on September 15th, 1933, the bill was signed into law.
News of the Decree spread like wildfire among the Whites of South Africa and deaths immediately occurred. White Authority's and Citizens alike now had legal justification for even the slightest of movements by the Black Majority. A rumor in the Winter Months of 1933 told that the Communist Party in South Africa were both secretly arming Poor Black and Whites alike with weaponry for a revolution. They were said too have been funded from the Cominterm, and the capture of a supposed "arms smuggler" by Border Guards from the North lead to the banning of the Party by the Government. In response, members of the Party issued nationwide protests against the Government, calling for a revolution. Hertzgo called this a act of treason and ordered the immediate arrest of all Communist Party leadership, along with most of their members. Hundreds, perhaps Thousands of Blacks were killed in the meanwhile. The 1933 Winter of Chaos would claim reportedly upwards of 5,000 by the end of it.
Native African Family in South Africa, CIRCA 1930s
Years of Tension would finally explode in the Autumn of 1934, when the old South African Party was finally split for good. Leader Jan Smuts, unable to hold onto the growing influence of the Increasing Radical Far Right of the Party, shed them off for good. He would gather forth a collection of 27 former SAP Members and create a new Party, the Union. Centered around Traditionalist Segregation, Liberal Conservatism, and Mostly Pro-English Policy, the remaining members would become independent. Oswald Pirow, the Former Justice Minister, was the main leader of the Far Right SAP, and called Smuts action a "sham". Tempted to create his own Party based on his values, he ultimately ditched such efforts, and instead joined the National with open arms from the Hertzog Government.
The upcoming 1935 Election looked to be a repeat of the previous, Creswell, Hertzog, and Smuts all looking firm as leaders of the three major party's of South Africa. Hertzog would campaign very little, working on legislation to curb Agricultural Debts once and for all. Instead, he used informal advertisements, posters saying "He put the Negros in their Place and He Gave the White Man a New Job? What better choice is there?". It was true the situation was much better then years prior, but the still looming double digit unemployment rate picked up steam for Creswell. Campaigning instead very actively, the aging "Poor Warrior" campaigned on "Full White Employment by the Year 1950" and "A Job for Every White Man in South Africa". The final option Smuts, looked himself to restoring relations with now independent, former SAP members, trying to win back their votes and seats. Though labeled as a puppet of both "English" and "Business" Interests by the other Party's (rather successfully) and being almost hated in many Poor Districts, he proved a master negotiator in the end. Whatever happened however, the Government of National-Unionist Labour looked to be maintained.
As expected, Hertzog would lose his pure majority of 75 seats. Moving down to a meager plurality of 59, the Unionist Labour were hot of his tail at 51 seats. The Government was maintained, but Creswell would now have equal footing with Hertzog, pushing the new government to the Left on many issues as well. But the biggest winner of the Election was surprisingly the new Union Party. Though losing thousands of votes and 8% whole percentage points from 1930, at the benefit of Unionist Labour, Smuts was able to win back 12 seats from Independents mostly hailing from the Old Party. His Pro-British views specifically helped his party greatly among the English majority voting regions to the East, while maintaining Fiscal Austerity helped him win some National voting seats.
The Government took their continued rule as a sign of mostly positive feedback from the Populous. Upon forcing from Labour, Hertzog signed onto a Universalized Health Care System for All White Residents of South Africa. Bismarkian and Rooseveltian in style, it would as said give basic medical care for all Caucasian Residents of the Country, Coloured and Blacks were excluded. Along with this, most major hospitals would be nationalized and over-viewed by a Central Government Health Board. Upon Hertzog's request, this would be payed for by a overall increase in taxes and the additional funds gained from leaving the Commonwealth of Nations. Once Again, opposition came only from the Debt Worried Unionists and few Nationalists in the Assembly. Passing the assembly 100 votes to 41, the legislation would get off to a rocky start with reports of mal-practice of Government Funds among certain Hospitals (in particular, in favor of Afrikaner Majority Hospitals) and the occasional reports of the serving of Coloured and Negros. The Bill would thus be revised in 1938 under the "Medicinal Reform and Coverage Act" mostly taking care of issues, getting ride of corrupted Health Board Members.
Shakeups in Party Leadership was finally hit in mass during the later tenure of, what would be, the final Hertzog Government. Upon request, Smuts resigned from the Leadership role, wanting a less public role. But his successor would grow to be a hitting match after the insurgent campaign of Charles Stallard caught many Union House Members by Storm. Stallard, a member of the Far Right, was bolstered by Far Right infiltration into the party itself. His message as leader was to return the Party to "White Control". His falling out in the Shadow Cabinet of Smuts in 1933, led to a growing rivalry between the two, and he said Smuts "Killed Botha's Party and turned it Coloured and Negro supporting". He also, of course also despised the English support Smuts had given. He allied himself with Afrikaner Nationalists including of that of Daniel François Malan in the National Party. He pledged to restore the traditional Afrikaner Language to Glory, as the rightful language of all South Africans, rather then giving equal footing to Dutch and English.
Charles Stallard, CIRCA 1960
He was opposed by MP Jacobus Johannes Fouché, a Moderate on issues of Afrikaner and British Support. His intellectualism and calm demeanor coalesced much Moderate and Party Support for him. But his staunch Republicanism and opposition for a Party Plank to rejoin the Commonwealth, left many British Sympathizers in the Party, seemingly betrayed. It didn't help either of his extremely young age, at only 38, compared to the more experienced 67 Year Old Statesmen Stallard. This factors ultimately made it so, his campaign for Party Leadership never made it off the ground. Stallard won win in a close vote in both the House of Senate against Fouché. Stallard hoped to unite the Party post-selection, but his past comments made any such attempts more divisive then successful. He would have much trouble trying to win over Moderates in the Party while trying to gain Afrikaner Nationalists from the Nationals at the same time, and the 1940 Election looming, threats of going Independent made the Minority Leaders Job Hell.
On the other side of the aisle, at age 73, Frederic Creswell decided to finally give up reigns of his Party, after more then a Decade of Rule in 1939. His was succeeded by Walter Madeley, who was already second in command de-facto already. A Out-Spoken Socialist, he called for Nationalization of the Means of Production, at least originally. Unionist members of the Unionist Labour coalition refused to back a outspoken Socialist. Madeley would moderate his policy's slightly at their demand, ending any calls for Nationalization of the Means of Production. But he still remained well to the Left of Hertzog like Creswell. But Hertzog remained skeptical of this new leader, his past Socialist views looming. Not wanting to be in any way associated with Socialism, he would ditch the Unionist Labour, and reform a National-Union Coalition. Stallard was much more friendly then Smuts and in fact were almost identical in goals.
The Unionist Labour were enraged by the ditch. Madeley called the move "Cowardly", but remained without much Government Power. Madeley thus looked forward towards 1940 and had a enthusiastic base. On the Trail, he would visit many Depression Effected Farming Towns and Miner Encampments, still being effected. His support for the Poor Whites, like Creswell, brought out large crowds for his Speeches both in English Majority Areas and Afrikaner's. Indeed, he would secretly crush his rivals in 1940 by attacking their core bases. Nominal National and Union Supporting Afrikaners in the West and East united behind Madeley's goal of Social and Economic Justice for the White Worker. A storm came from the Left and it hit the Prime Minister with brute force.
Although not a Majority, Madeley had become the First Unionist Labour Plurality Leader in Number of Seats. Upon hearing of the results, Hertzog initially did not believe. A growing economy and renewed economic prospects blinded him to any other reality but increased majority's for him. Stallard was much the same, but the loss was much expected. 19 members would flee to the Independent Caucus while the Union would lose 6 seats to Unionist Labour Candidates. His final total would be a rump compared to past glory's.
Hertzog would resign from National Leadership soon after. But Madeley would find much trouble finding a new Government with both Stallard and most National Members unfriendly. He would have to wait for now, for any real changes, but his tenure would face one of the Greatest Threats to the Country's Future, a War to End all Wars redux.
Your Welcome. Longtime lurker in these parts and just got a account yesterday. I love the direction you took the Republican Party onto. Progressive Republicanism for the win!
Now, I wonder who the Democrats will put up in 1936. Maybe they can coalition with the American Cons since they seem to have much in common?
Well that have a lot in common but not all. As I said in a earlier post, the Democrats are a mostly Right Populist party while the American Conservatives are mostly defector Western and Midwestern Right-Libertarians. They both dislike the president yes, for some different reasons, but I doubt they would join forces. Same with the Socialists and the Republicans to a different extent.
Reading through this and liking it so far - maybe it is addressed later, but one effect I don't see talked about during TR's later Presidency - by keeping Woodrow Wilson out of the White House, the federal government, including the military, would never have been segregated. I hope to see some impact from that later, loving it so far.
Maybe I missed it, but did Quinton Roosevelt survive World War I? How did Jack Pershing and Leonard Wood handle themselves?
Maybe I missed it, but did Quinton Roosevelt survive World War I? How did Jack Pershing and Leonard Wood handle themselves?
I'm pretty sure I mentioned it (and if I didn't I'll go back and change it), but Carter Glass instated segregation upon all Federal Offices and the Military in his tenure.
As for Quinton, I haven't put much thought into him. I'd assume he would still be in military service during the war even if his dad was President or not. But I think that since he would be the current son of the President, not the son of a former President, he would be patrolled with more caution. His death date in OTL would most likely be butterflied too as the date he died, in this timeline the war on the Western Front is all but won. So to your query, id say he probably survives the war.
As for Pershing he would still be a well known American General. Due to Roosevelt in power, Jack is put to a sort of "supreme commander" of the American Army's on the Western Front in combination of the "General of the Army's" title, and is able to successfully end the German Threat. He comes home a war hero, and President Hiram Johnson assigns him as leader of the American Army's in Europe for a time from 1918 to 1921, before being dismissed by President Glass. He lives the rest of his life as a civilian and registered republican.
And Wood. He maintains a similar role in World War 1, as a high ranking general. With Roosevelt, a close friend and fellow rough rider, maintaining the presidency, he is then promoted to Major General and leader of most allied army's in the Middle East. Following the war, he plays a major role in the peace process, joining the US delegation.
He was also speculated to a 1920 or 1924 Presidental Run but ruled out in favor of Johnson and Hughes. He lives the rest of his life as a high ranking citizen and a strong advocate for Rooseveltian Progressivism, Imperialism, and Colonialism, becoming a strong supporter of the current president.
Also glad your enjoying it!
I believe Churchill became Prime Minister in 1931. Which should make the abdication crisis interesting should it still happen.
Admiral Halsey
Banned
Would love to see Edward refuse to abdicate and still marry her. The clusterfuck that'd be would be glorious.
Yea, as already mentioned, Churchill is the Prime Minister. Though coincidentally, Britain is the next update.
