Ivory Republic: The world which Knox begat

Hmm, has the 1924 immigration bill passed?
Since it passed with little opposition in OTL, you can considered it passed.

The growing economy? That won't be true come 1929 (assuming things go like OTL)...
Everything seems to be primed for such an event, unless there is an act of god.

Eh everyone's got their own interests, naval is mine. I get your decision

Outside of maybe messing around the with arms treaty system and butterflies resulting, any real TL changes would only be visible if you covered WWII in detail
Ah. Sorry, I'm not a big naval guy.

I am enjoying this story rather a lot. Congrats on the storytelling and the clear research too!
Thank you!

Nice lead up but what does the Ivory Republic have to do with the failed Knox President? Is this leading to a new Republic of Liberia?
Clearly this is best, most post-modern TL on the Republic of the Ivory Coast. There will be 10 minute spoken word poem done as interludes every 5 posts. ;)

No, seriously, this is a TL about America. I likely won't be covering Liberia or the Ivory Coast much, if at all. I just picked ivory because it was a valuable material and it made the title sound ~Cool~
 
Part 6: I ain't no Tilden, baby - 1928
The conventions and elections of 1928

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A TIME magazine with President Lowden back when he was just a governor
By 1928, Frank Lowden was still very much popular. He presided over large scale economic growth and popularly suppressed leftists. Even if the man was embattled within his own party, it didn't change the fact that the economy was growing and Lowden was at the helm for it. Sure, Progressives really didn't like him, in fact, they hated him. Despite that, they weren't loud enough or powerful enough or numerous enough to give Lowden any cause for fright.

The 1928 Republican convention went about as expected for a popular incumbent. Despite a lack of Progressives (whom were convening in Chicago once again for their own convention) in the audience they were able to pack the hall just about full and the whole affair was glitz and glamour. There was no serious opposition to speak of to President Lowden or Vice President Curtis so they were both nominated with acclaim. That being said, the lack of Progressive members of the party was noted in the press so it didn't go entirely well for them.

The Progressive convention was held in Chicago once again and was very much a dramatic event. The various factions of the young Progressive Party argued and fought over who to nominate and for what due to La Follette's death. The "party" (it was unofficial at that point) had ballooned incredibly from elements of the left after President Lowden's anti-left laws and now they wanted representation in the party. Elements from the left and elements from the right wing of the party fought and fought.

The right had unified around Hiram Johnson quickly. He was the set "successor" of the group after the death of La Follette and with La Follette's sons being to young to give a challenge, he quickly overtook the other candidates on the center as well. The left of the party was formed mostly by Socialists and were too busy squabbling among themselves to pose a serious threat. Before the 20th ballot, Johnson was chosen. His vice presidential nomination to go along with him was decided to be Wisconsin's own Irvine Lenroot. Johnson promised to "wallop" the Republican Party in the general election and announced the official formation of the Progressive party which saw a good number of defections to it quite quickly.

President Lowden took the challenge seriously and hit back hard. He called the Progressive party one of "Socialists and Socialist entryists" stating that they were dangerous Soviet funded radicals who were bent on destroying freedom. Johnson hit back, claiming that Lowden was "almost as bad as Knox" in terms of honesty. Before long the two were locked in a tit for tat that would last the entirety of the general election.

The Democratic convention on the other hand, was totally different. Things were placid almost, perhaps too placid for a political event. The major political players didn't make any moves to be nominated themselves, viewing President Lowden's victory as practically secured even with a strong Progressive party in the mix. Governor Roosevelt of New York easily surpassed any challengers despite a spirited attempt by Missouri Senator James A. Reed to take him down. Reed claimed that Roosevelt was a "Smith puppet." The strangeness of the situation would dawn upon Reed when he went to McAdoo for support but didn't even get the time of day from him. York livened up the event somewhat as his participation in the convention was unknown until the last moment. He was nominated with acclaim.

In the headlining article for The New York Times York had this to say:

"Well, I just want to help the kids of the country. It's important that they have school books and know about god. I just want to help the little guy. I'll do my best to support Americans."

As the general election neared closer and closer, attacks between the Progressives and Republicans ramped up quickly with both sides campaigning heavily in the midwest and on the west coast. The Democrats largely just campaigned on their platform for the most part, occasionally attacking Progressives and Republicans when they felt the need to. Both Smith and McAdoo stumped for the campaign and the amity between the two factions was felt by the average voters who were very enthusiastic about being unified.

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"The election of 1928 was a perfect storm, the biggest upset of the 20th century without a doubt. The Republicans spent their time campaigning in the Midwest to humiliate party defectors. The Democrats reaped the rewards. The Progressives, I assume, simply neglected to vote." - Professor George McGovern of Clemson University
There was an immediate response to the election in the form of demands for recounts. The Republican Party was enraged by the results. New Jersey was a small in the mid-Atlantic region that no one expected to flip to the Democrats. Indeed, even with a poor Republican turn out the state only turned blue from just over 1,000 votes. There were two recounts. The first disqualified just over 1,100 votes from the Democrats, handing the state over (and the election) to the Republicans. Then, two days later a new recount began, this recount tossed about 500 Republican votes. By the time a third recount was being considered, Lowden got word of potential investigation into voter intimidation in the midwest against Progressive voters. Figuring it was more prudent to pack his bags for Illinois, he conceded.

While Lowden conceded the election, that didn't stop Republicans from running wild with theories as to how the upset occurred. Some said the Progressives voted for the Democrats (perhaps explaining the low vote totals). Some said that the Democrats rigged the polls and threatened Lowden with blackmail to concede. Other said that Roosevelt was a Soviet agent. Regardless of any of these things, Roosevelt was now President. Roosevelt's time as President would be very rough and trying, perhaps to the level of Philander Knox of only so many years prior.

Both McAdoo and Smith were noted to have seemed extensively distressed in the days and weeks following the election.

---
I did it and I don't regret it.

I don't know how many updates I'll be able to drop starting now until say, March 4th because of family and personal matters. Nothing bad though.
 
Yes!, Hoover's new deal!
Well, I don't know. He'll no doubt be running but considering he didn't have his name tied with the Secretary of Commerce post it will likely be an uphill battle for him.

Roosevelt wins 4 years ealier? Possibly even having the Democrats be cursed by the Depression....oh man, now this is ironic.
I have done bad things but I regret nothing.

It only gets worse from here.
 
Going by prior updates, and the victory of the Left-KMT, are you planning on swapping Wang Jingwei and Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kaishiek?

It'd certainly be an interesting situation in China, to be sure.

Keep in mind though, both of them would never do things their counterpart did OTL. Chiang, unlike Wang and Sun, hated Japan. As for Wang, it's highly likely that under his watch, the 1929 Shanghai Massacre doesn't happen. This leads to no Long March, Mao not coming to power, and the CCP staying quiet, as their original plan OTL. Such would make it very easy for Wang and the Nationalists (It feels so weird writing that) to get rid of the communists - after WWII concluded.

It would have the added benefit of ensuring that China isn't in a civil war for the time before Japan invaded, thus leading to a stronger China. Does the United Front go forward as OTL? Are more warlords wiped out due to the lack of the Shanghai Massacre/Ensuing civil war? What happens to Hu Hanmin and Liao Zhongkai? The former was a rightist KMT, but one heavily opposed to Chiang and his corruption. He later died of a brain hemorrhage, shortly before Japan invaded. As for Liao, he was the architect of the United Front, later assassinated by either Chiang or Hu.
 
Going by prior updates, and the victory of the Left-KMT, are you planning on swapping Wang Jingwei and Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kaishiek?

It'd certainly be an interesting situation in China, to be sure.

Keep in mind though, both of them would never do things their counterpart did OTL. Chiang, unlike Wang and Sun, hated Japan. As for Wang, it's highly likely that under his watch, the 1929 Shanghai Massacre doesn't happen. This leads to no Long March, Mao not coming to power, and the CCP staying quiet, as their original plan OTL. Such would make it very easy for Wang and the Nationalists (It feels so weird writing that) to get rid of the communists - after WWII concluded.

It would have the added benefit of ensuring that China isn't in a civil war for the time before Japan invaded, thus leading to a stronger China. Does the United Front go forward as OTL? Are more warlords wiped out due to the lack of the Shanghai Massacre/Ensuing civil war? What happens to Hu Hanmin and Liao Zhongkai? The former was a rightist KMT, but one heavily opposed to Chiang and his corruption. He later died of a brain hemorrhage, shortly before Japan invaded. As for Liao, he was the architect of the United Front, later assassinated by either Chiang or Hu.
I don't really plan out the fortunes of characters typically unless it's very plot relevant. I can tell you right now that Chiang doesn't have a planned end as of right now. This goes for pretty much any figure outside for a small, select few of which all are American. I only ever plan a maximum of 2 or 3 updates in advanced for most stuff. I sometimes know a few specifics, for example I know how I want this to end, it's the stuff in the middle and the specifics thereof that I have yet to touch. For example I'll have to touch on Mao's actions in the future or I'll have to discuss the pretty much inevitable Sino-Japanese war in the future, I just don't know about the specifics yet.

Chiang isn't likely to head a regime like Wang did though. Both because of the reason that you mentioned and that the Sino-Japanese war will be very different with a Left KMT in charge.

As far as the CCP and KMT go, I figure that with the Right Opposition winning in the end might bridge the gap between the CCP and Left Wing KMT for the most part. So far the United Front hasn't broken. That being said, the Right KMT aren't slouches and can always find a way back into the picture if they play the game smartly.

In regards to the warlords, I can't comment in detail because I don't really know enough about the situation but it's likely that the warlords are less powerful considering the better circumstances of the Chinese government.
 
Snippet 1: Political factions of the Kuomintang - 1928
The Political Factions of the Kuomintang in 1928

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Following the death of the Kuomintang founder Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Kuomintang was split roughly into two factions. The first being the Left Kuomintang who represented the left wing of the party whereas the other faction was the Right Kuomintang who represented the right wing of the party. The Left Kuomintang was led by Wang Jingwei who was a politician first and foremost, where as the Right was led by Chiang Kai-shek who was a military officer. The two very quickly found themselves struggling to take over the party following the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. Wang would find the upper hand after marrying Soong Mei-ling and making himself a brother-in-law to the founder of the KMT. This gave him immense political capital and along with Communist assistance, Chiang lost the battle of wills before being forced into exile into Japanese Korea. Chiang and several close associates would later resettle in Japanese Formosa but his direct influence in Chinese politics was totally excised.

After this, the Left Kuomintang failed to deliver a killing blow to the Right and so the conflict continued. Due to the Right Kuomintang's persistence, Wang would fail in gaining total control of the party and his more moderate proposals were able to pass but ultimately democracy was stifled in China while it was still in the womb. Before long, the Left Kuomintang would work closely with the Chinese Communist Party to work against the right wing elements of the KMT.

The informal political factions from within the KMT in 1928 is roughly as follows:

Left Kuomintang - The largest faction within the Kuomintang, though not the most powerful. Their influence is limited by both the Right's control of the military and civil sectors but also the Right's dogged unified resistance to further cooperation with the Communists. They represent a wide ranging bloc of leftists and reformists ranging from liberals to dissident elements of the Chinese Communist Party. They are led by Wang Jingwei.

Liberals - Social Liberals who are typically related to the Soong family in one way or another. They tend to be a swing vote within the government and are filled with foreign educated Christians for the most part. Led by both T.V. Soong and H.H. Kung.

Chiangites - A small faction formed out of the few remaining groups loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. Their influence outside of a small circle in the military is limited. They are led by Xue Yue though some charge them with being an organization led by Chiang himself.

Conservatives - The second largest and most powerful within the Kuomintang. They have a great degree of influence within the military and within the civil sectors of the Chinese government. The Conservatives oppose cooperation with the Communists outright and demand closer ties with Japan and European nations to prevent conflict which they charge Jingwei of being negligent of. They also fight with the Chiangites and Blue Shirt Society for control of the Whampoa Military Academy. They are led primarily by Lin Sen and Hu Hanmin but rising stars such as Tai Chi-Tao have gained significant political influence since the political collapse of Chiang.

Blue Shirt Society - A small clique of radicals within the Chinese government who represent an anti-Communist and anti-Japanese worldview and are closely aligned with elements of the military though its leaders Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu were both members of the civil sector. Their influence is minimal but they grew in size due to the defeat and Chiang.

---
I was able to crap this out rather quickly. This is likely all I'll be able to drop this week but if I find time I'll do something shorter like this.
 
Part 7: Black as coal; Dark as night - 1928 to 1932
A vacation in Appalachia

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Alvin comes home
How some guy from Appalachia was made a national hero was a hell of a story. How he became involved in politics and became the Vice President was another though. That was a story that paid a hell of a lot more to find out. People, very important people mind you, were interested in York and his friend Roosevelt. They wanted to know if there were any improprieties in their conduct.

The rich fellas all over America figured that something was odd about the whole thing. When someone's a famous guy like York they'd want to be President, but York was okay with being a Vice President. Even stranger, York's charity network was massive in Tennessee [1]. Only so many years ago this guy was complaining about not having enough cash to get by! Something was wrong. It didn't take a genius to figure that out once they laid the facts on the table.

So, being the smart folks they were, rich people from certain sections of the US Government and from a certain party slipped payment to a nice man named Al in Chicago. Al sent out two teams of "investigators" to see about what was happening. One of those teams was sent to Appalachia to figure out what Alvin York's game was. The cousins Matteo and Mario were on the case because their boss was on theirs.

That team had a mighty long way to go, from Chicago to...nowhere. You ever travel all the way to Alvin York's neck of the woods in a model T? I think not. Them roads treacherous buddy.

"I can't believe the boss sent us out here into the woods just because I misfired." The car tossed and turned on the bumpy country road.

"You tried to show off your gun to a girl and it blew the bar tender's face off. I think he has a right to be angry Matteo." Mario puffed on his cigarette and considered how he ended up here. His cousin who he called a brother tried to show off in a speakeasy and accidentally pulled the trigger. It killed some Greek bar tender and they had to close the place after the police showed up on account of all the ruckus. "Mr. Capone was being nice. He coulda just killed you."

"Yea well, the boss ain't as smart as he thinks. That fat fuck has trials out the ass. We went to war with Moran and we sent a message. We should send a message to the feds with a bomb and a..." Matteo angrily continued on about a plot to terrorize the government and utilize government corruption to force the government to submit through an elaborate scheme of gold and lead. Mario rolled his eyes and looked out the window. He had seen so many trees but the way that the late afternoon light hit the trees was something special.

The sunlight spilled through the openings between the depleting autumn leaves, painting the brightly colored forest floor with light.

"The trees look nice." said Mario as he interrupted Matteo's rant.

"The trees? I've seen more than enough trees in my life at this god damn point. Fuck the trees!"

"When you grow up in a concrete jungle, the color of autumn leaves are so..."

"Fuck the trees."

"Fuck trees? Why the trees? What have the trees done to you?"

"I said fuck 'em. Fuck the trees! I've seen more than enough in my life. What do these people have out here other than god damn trees?" Matteo took a drag off his cigarette and rubbed his head, shuffling his jet black hair about before leaning back in his driver's seat chair.

Mario kept looking out the window for a few minutes, not wanting to start a conversation with Matteo again.

After a few minutes Matteo piped up,"Alright, I'm sorry for bein' mean. Fine. I'm sorry kid."

Matteo was the older of the two "brothers" and was 25. Compared to the 19 year old Mario, he was light years ahead in terms of physical development, he could grow facial hair real thick and knew more than a few dames in his time. That being said, Mario was more mature, or at least more reserved and less likely to fly off the handle.

"I wouldn't call you my brother if I had a hard time forgiving you." Mario tossed his cigarette out the window and expelled the last of the smoke in his mouth.

"Fuck it. Tell me about the trees then."

"Fuck the trees." Mario shot Matteo a boyish grin.

"That's more like it." Matteo smiled back and tapped Mario on the shoulder.

"How much longer you think?"

"'Til we get to the institute? Not too long now if that road map was right." Just as Matteo replied, the Alvin York Institute of Agriculture appeared just over a bend. "Well shit."

The Alvin York Institute of Agriculture was a recently built building, white siding, black roofing, white washed fence. It was two floors and more than a few windows. The building was home to an agricultural school that helped educate farmers in the area. The 4 classrooms inside the building supposedly did great wonders for the area. The two Chicago boys stopped their car and got out, Matteo tossing his cigarette down onto the green Tennessee grass before stomping down on it.

The two moseyed on up to the front door, trying not to wrinkle their suits from speedy movement. Matteo knocked on the door and waited for a moment. They were hoping that no one was around so they could burgle the place and just get the financial documents they needed. It was a part of a larger plan to assemble financial documents of York's charities and his taxes and then prove he couldn't have acquired the money on his own and then link that to someone important. Even if there's a tangential connection it would be a scandal. Every little bit helps.

Unfortunately they weren't getting what they wanted, some older lady came to the door. Her pursed lips looked like they were stitched shut.

"What do you folks need?" said the lady as she opened the door.

"We're from the FBI." said Matteo trying to sound authoritative while flashing a fake FBI badge. "We need financial documents from the - uh institute."

"Well I don't know nothing about no documents or no investigation at all." The lady was naturally suspicious of the two. Especially since they were both eye-talians.

"Listen lady, under the Lowden Laws, obstruction of justice is a serious offense." said Mario.

"Yea, obstruction of the justices is a uh, 10 year minimum sentence." added in Matteo with a scowl. "We just need to look at some files." The lady moved aside and the two entered and found their way to the administrator's office.

The two searched around and looked through the file cabinets. After 10 minutes or so they took whatever was needed and left for their car. They had to hurry, they had three more places to go to get the files they needed before they could go back home to Chicago.

"E-excuse me! You can't just take our things!" The lady grabbed Matteo by the arm as they were stepping out the door. "You have to give that back!"

"Lady, somebody gotta teach you a lesson." Matteo shrugged the lady's grip off before leaning back and clocking her in the jaw, sending her body to the ground. "Why the hell you think York has old ladies guarding his stuff?"

"She ain't a guard, I think she was just cleaning the place."

Domestic Affairs from 1928 to 1932

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President Roosevelt celebrating his electoral victory in New York City
Roosevelt's victory was entirely unexpected, but very much welcome from every element of the Democratic Party. Many in the party had feared that Wilson was the death knell of the party following the victories of Philander Knox and Frank Lowden, merely a tiny bit of reprieve in what was a long line of Republican Presidents. Roosevelt's win symbolized that the party was still around and kicking, but also that party unity was much more important than petty issues. Both William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith's luster faded in the days following Roosevelt's electoral victory. In response Smith would closely align himself with the President and would exert considerable control over policy. McAdoo however would ultimately have a rough path in front of him that would lead to the end of his political career via scandal. [2]

The Republicans and Progressives however did what they did best, which at this point was arguing. Even after the Progressive jettison from the party the Republicans were plagued by factionalism once again. Most of the party still rallied behind former President Frank Lowden and decided to hold out against Progressives. A smaller but still very vocal faction surrounding Harry S. New of Indiana [3] tried to work together to bring the Progressives and Conservatives together with little success.

The Progressives naturally followed suit, though in a different manner. The Progressive Party was subject to extreme factionalism on the left wing of the party but the party also suffered heavily from mavericks within the party who tried to form cults of personality around themselves. From George Norris, Johnson, the La Follette brothers, and so on all tried to become the face of the Progressive movement though instead they increasingly hampered their party's own effectiveness. Without a national leader, the party in Congress was basically reduced to swing voters. Considering the failure in the most recent election, some don't believe that the party will survive for too many more election cycles. After all, how many big personalities can one party contain without a victory to show for it?

Roosevelt's domestic policy was largely focused on trade and his most memorable effort in Congress was the lowering of the Lowden tariff by a substantial amount and bringing back some of the regulations Lowden did away with. The tariff was one of the strongest tariffs in American history, certainly the strongest in living memory. The Democrats were naturally in favor of free trade as they had their entire existence, very little had changed with the Democrats on this issue. Therefore, the Democrats worked to slice the Lowden tariff at least in half. The Democrats worked together with the Progressives mostly and lowered the tariffs significantly though ultimately it was still higher than they would have liked. Regardless, this was the only major piece of policy Roosevelt was able to push. In October the London Stock Exchange crashed and the New York Stock Exchange would promptly crash as well, plunging the world into the Great Depression.

Modern analysis would pin the economic collapse firmly on a speculative economic bubble and a collapse in grain prices. Panic selling and the failure of the Rockefeller family to save the market by buying stocks en masse hoping to drum up support in the market ultimately only hastened the collapse. Contemporary Conservatives pinned the crime on President Roosevelt for cutting the Lowden tariff heavily despite having no evidence that the lowered tariff effected the economy negatively at all.

Following the market collapse, Roosevelt took action attempting to increase government spending in the hopes of off setting job loss via government jobs. The jobs and programs were largely in line with what he and Vice President York had planned for Appalachia and York was assigned to be the head of the national initiative which was termed the National Works & Projects Administration (NWPA)[4]. York would later be removed from his post and would resign the office of the Vice Presidency in shame after it was revealed he took payment from William Gibbs McAdoo for involving himself in politics. [5]

Roosevelt later appointed Texas senator Tom Connally to the position of Vice President, but the administration was quickly consumed from intra-party disputes as the situation got worse and the elections drew near. The midterms were exceptionally painful already, the general would no doubt be even more harsh on the Democrats. Several weeks before the convention was to take place in 1932, President Roosevelt announced he was not interested in seeking renomination.

And so, the field was open. Though the likelihood of a Democratic victory in 1932 was practically nonexistent.

---

Okay, well that's that.

[1]: By Tennessee's standards of course.
[2]: He was already tarnished from an earlier scandal and whatever was discovered by Matteo and Mario did him in. The elderly McAdoo isn't likely to come back from this.
[3]: He got his senate seat back, sue me.
[4]: A very poor man's NRA. Obviously FDR doesn't have the political capital to do much.
[5]: As stated, scandal. York actually has scruples so being accused of bribery is more than enough to scare the man off. His resignation is taken as de facto confession in political circles.
 
Snippet 2: Radicalism in America, The Chinese civil war, Turkish-Soviet relations - 1928 to 1932
Radical Terrorism and the Political Underground in America since 1925 until 1933

In 1925, after the signing National Security Act (later known colloquially as the Lowden Law) a swift crackdown on radical organizations was declared. Some organizations and groups did meet the requirements of the law (promoting revolution or sedition against the government) to allow suppression but the vast majority of the small organizations that were snuffed out of existence were totally legal, just annoying to the government for one reason or another. Additionally, the organizations that were prosecuted under the law were all left wing. The KKK (and other newly born Fascist organizations) did not see any attacks against its structure nor any serious attempts to stifle its growth.

The largest and most prominent organization to be felled by the Lowden Law was the Industrial Workers of the World. They were labor agitators and came to blows with the government numerous times throughout the years. However they had never advocated for the outright violent overthrow of the United States. Instead, the investigators of the young FBI cited Big Bill Haywood's exile in the Soviet Union and past legal troubles as proof that they were a communist revolutionary cell. The FBI worked alongside local law enforcement to shut down each chapter of the IWW across the United States, causing considerable bloodshed in the process.

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The IWW were famed for their songs, We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years is among the classics

Things went smoothly for at least a little while after that. There was not many violent acts and after several days it seemed that the small amount of violence was over. The FBI then decided against snuffing out whatever was left of the underground IWW as it was dead in terms of funding since they owned no assets and lost all liquid funds in the raids. The FBI then set their sights on the the Communist Party whom they considered the most dangerous after the IWW. Ultimately they were not able to crush the Communists as they had due to an unforeseen intervention from abroad before they could act.

The IWW's old leader in exile, Big Bill Haywood sent a proclamation to carry on the good fight underground, even if it meant going into exile. The FBI was suddenly confronted with an actual organization to fight against. [1]

The radical elements of the Communist Party and the still committed elements of the underground IWW formed a new organization together entitled The Underground Labor Front of America (ULFA) and planned bombings against government targets. Elements of the IWW who were uninterested in joining the ULFA either founded their own labor groups whom were promptly absorbed by other groups or joined the Communist Party outright.

FBI forces were unable to control the violence or quash the underground cells and when Luigi Bresci who was associated to the ULFA attacked President Lowden, the FBI was in hot water. They were unsure of how to proceed. They kept at their job and were eventually able to shut down a cell in San Francisco though it did not sooth President Lowden's anxieties.

Later on in that year, Bill Haywood died in his home in the Soviet Union [2]. Suddenly, for very odd reasons, both American and Soviet interests aligned ever so briefly.

The "New Decade Plan" which was promulgated earlier in 1927 was created to set the economic goals of the Soviet Union by 1937. It was designed to provide goals for the government to stride and work for in 10 year increments. The first New Decade Plan [3] called for a 200% increase in munitions by the ton, a 300% increase in tank and aeroplane production, 100% increase in naval production, 400% increase in the total number of factories overall, finally to appease the left of the party, 30% of all farming land was to be communalized in some shape or form.

The Soviets had a snag however, they did not have enough managers and instructors to produce to number of factories they wanted. They could build all the massive factories they wanted, but they could never have their gargantuan altars to labor be utilized effectively unless they had a trained staff. It was then when Bukharin and other realized that for undercutting the already damaged ULFA, they could get assistance with their labor conundrum.

The Soviets approached President Lowden and offered to root out the ULFA [4] for them in exchange for managers and instructors as well as some trade between the two nations. The Lowden administration was very hesitant to accept such an offer, but only after the Soviets offered to help with any other revolutionary group like the ULFA in the future did Lowden accept.

Rykov himself had created a new policy alongside Bukharin which promoted a popular front with Communist and other elements of the left, forming an alliance to find electoral victory. While the chances of a left wing victory in the US were basically nonexistent (not so in Europe), the Soviets figured promoting unity in the left was the starting point in America. Therefore in the hot summer of 1928 a many left wing parties aligned into a single left wing party known as the Labor League. The Labor League was made up of the Communist Party of America, the Socialist Party of America, the Farmer-Labor Party, and also several smaller parties. The Socialist Labor Party, and the Proletarian Party opposed the merger, though none of those parties were expected to join by the Soviets.

Later on, Roosevelt was originally skeptical but accepting of the proposal, knowing that a backchannel to the Soviets could be helpful in the future. However, when the market crashed, the left radicalized very fast. After a bombing on Wall Street, Roosevelt pulled the deal and that was the end of Soviet-American collaboration.

The Chinese Civil War and Japanese intervention in Manchuria
Naturally, the chaos following the Great Depression's onset did not avoid Asia.

China was not hurt as much economically as some other nations due to their lack of international trade, but politically China was suffering moreso than other nations. The right of the KMT had become enraged with the left of the party as Wang Jingwei tried his best to hold things together. While in a normal environment that may have worked, the radical political environment caused by former ally Chiang Kai-shek's seemingly continuous pronouncements from Japanese Formosa and the market crash sent China down a bad path.

It took very little for the hardline anti-Wang faction led by Hu Hanmin to set up their own de facto independent state in Guangdong. While the warlords of old were largely displaced, the right KMT and other opportunists came out of the woodwork to take power and become provincial warlords just like before.

The Japanese had been damaged heavily by the Great Depression. While China had little trade, Japan needed it. The Japanese home islands were lacking in any minerals of quality or of note. Even worse, Japan has very little arable land compared to her population, with the vast majority of the Japanese home islands being covered in mountains. Japanese Korea provided a boon particularly in coal, but beyond that, the Japanese needed resources one way or anther. Following the end of Anglo-Japanese collaborating in the Far East and the beginning of the great depression, the Japanese government was forced both to flirt with the growing ultranationalist movement at home and also involve herself militarily abroad.

It was for resources and ideological considerations then that the Japanese pressed their advantage in China and assisted the Fengtian Clique break away from the central government of China on a formal level. This event would ultimately legitimize breaking away from the Wang government and start the Chinese civil war.

The Fengtian Clique was based in Manchuria and was run by Zhang Zuolin until he was assassinated. Zuolin was a former taxman and quickly proved himself to be a surprisingly good administrator as well as a competent military commander. Zuolin surrounded himself with Japanese advisers largely as a political tool so as to leverage Japanese power against Chinese power, but he also reap the rewards from befriending the Japanese.

The Japanese however were simply not satisfied with Zhuolin's level of cooperation and military failure against the Kuomintang. He was effectively forced to bend the knee to the central government after the Kuomintang's victory in the Northern Expedition. Therefore, the Japanese resolved to kill him. Zhuolin died after a bomb planted on a train car went off while traveling from Harbin to Beijing to meet with deposed Qing emperor Pu Yi.

Had anyone else been the heir, Japan's control of Manchuria would have ended. Yet, much to China's dismay, the heir of Zhang Zuolin was nothing more than an opium addict [5]. He was used and manipulated just like an average drug addict by Japanese intelligence services. As soon as the Japanese figured they had their chance, the Japanese gave the order. Zhang Xueliang unilaterally declared independence from China in 1931 just as the war between Hu Hanmin and Wang's faction was heating up.

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Japanese troops in Mukden

Japanese troops streamed into Manchuria out of nowhere, an operation lead by overzealous military commanders like Kanji Ishiwara. How much or how little support the group had from the government is still debated today, but it is known that Chiang Kai-shek and his supporters in Formosa were planned to be liquidated on the day of the invasion to prevent China from rallying to defend against Japanese agression. Ultimately Chiang Kai-shek and his men in Formosa disappeared without a trace and Manchuria was occupied by Japanese troops. Before long, Zhang Xueliang would no doubt be liquidated and replaced in the future just like Chiang. How soon that would happen depends on how useful Zhang is to the Japanese.

And so, the Chinese Civil War began. All across China, elements from the left and the right declared their allegiances and opportunists and bandits rose up to take their share of China. The once united China had now burst into many different groups.

Only time could tell how the Chinese Civil War would end.

Soviet-Turkish Relations from 1920 to 1932

Before the Russian revolution, the Turks and the Russians shared an incredible animosity. The two nations had a long and storied history and the two had their eyes set on each others lands and indeed had an interest in acquiring the same lands in particular. The Russians had an ambitions in controlling not only just the Balkans but also controlling access to the black sea via the Bosporus straits. These were major Russian goals not just because of Slavophilia which advocated for action in favor of the Balkan states but also because Russia needed warm water ports if she wished to compete with the other powers of the world.

Turkey too, had an interest in pushing up further into the Balkans (though they were ultimately turned back at Vienna and only receded in power following that) as well as having control of the Black Sea so that Russia's naval ambitions were further hampered. The Ottoman Turks and the Russian Empire were simply and categorically unable to come to a peaceful conclusion.

With the first world war however, things changed. The Russian Empire was no more and the Soviets did not endorse the same Slavophilia which pitted them against the Turks on a cultural level and with the rise of the Balkan states, simply made Russian aims in the Balkans no longer an Ottoman matter of concern. The Soviets also renounced claims on Ottoman territories following the treaty at Brest-Litovsk. With the end of Soviet interest in the region (outside of the Bosporus of course) the Soviets and the Ottoman Turks could in some ways come to agreement on some things.

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Painting of prominent Slavophile inspired thinker Ivan Ilyin in exile, 1921

Things got even better for the two powers when Mustafa Kemal overthrew the Ottoman Turks and created an independent Republic. Not only was Kemal sympathetic to the Soviets, he even received funding from them. For the first time, the Soviets and the Turkish were able to come together and discuss things civilly without having any nasty designs on the other. From 1923 to 1932, the two powers were exceptionally close and the Soviet leaders believed that Kemal was "only several steps away" from transitioning to Socialism.

Their opinion of him changed as he began to liberalize both the economy and the state, allowing more and more private control and political freedom. From then on the Soviets realized that not only did the liberalization process need to be stopped but it needed to be reversed. After chiding Kemal for his political changes, the two powers once again began to cool.

Frunze was anxious for a war to get a chance to test out military and also to implement the many new doctrines he and many others had conceived. Both Bukharin and Rykov managed to prevent the trigger happy Frunze from starting a conflict, not without a serious promise to Frunze however. Both promised that if the situation did not change by 1935, they would allow limited military action against the Turks to secure to Bosporus.

In the mean time, the Soviets threw their support behind and the left wing Kadro movement in the hopes that if their influence increased that they could once again assist Kemal in making proper choices.

---
[1]: Outside of the mafia, of course.
[2]: Dying a little earlier.
[3]: Frunze's policy called for a massive militarized Soviet Union that could take any nation down via armor en masse.
[4]: I'm not saying they're rats, but...
[5]: He cleaned himself up historically.

Took me awhile! I've been lazy recently and haven't really been up to it. I plan on alternating one snippet and then one main plot post unless I feel like doing something else, in that case I'll do whatever I feel like.

I'll try to return to a once a week schedule or so.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired right now and I'm sure there's some screwy writing or a misspelling here or there. I'll do fine tuning tomorrow.
 
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Okay I've edited the post and I've fixed a few sentences that were screwy as well as some other things. Nothing major changed but I just wanted to make note of that in case anyone was waiting for a rewrite.
 
Part 8: "And you still won't win!" - 1932
The Republican primaries and convention of 1932

It wasn't a secret going into 1932 that Frank Lowden was the obvious pick. He had previously been a fairly popular president and was only voted out of office on what was effectively a fluke election, considering how President Roosevelt was viewed at the time.[1] Indeed, former president Lowden was hailed as a bringer of prosperity and a man of stability compared to the sudden collapse of Roosevelt. Many on the right and the left took the market collapse and forcibly moderated policies as a sign that the Democrats could simply no longer be trusted to run the US. Therefore, Frank Lowden was the favorite for both the nomination and the general election for the Republicans.

That being said, Lowden was not unopposed in his march to the nomination.

Lowden was challenged by a variety of small figures, some with very serious political aspirations and others just had their names tossed into the ring.

The most notable of Lowden's serious challengers were Frank Knox (in no way related to Philander), Joseph I. France, Hiram Johnson, and finally a semi-serious bid from the elder statesman Calvin Coolidge.

Frank Knox was by far the most radical of the bunch, at least in terms of economic interventionism. Frank Knox made his money as a publisher but many of his most memorable moments were on the battlefield. He was previously considered a rather conservative figure but the extreme economic issues destroyed his previously moderate edifice. He had been turned into a preacher of what he termed "economic justice."

His anger at the economic meltdown and his experiences on the battlefield led him to create a policy which called for an "army of labor" to be created which would both employ the unemployed on public works projects but also train them in a variety of skills that would be useful for future employment. Some (perhaps rightfully) pointed out that the policy was outright beyond the pale for the party and that it was a more robust form of President Roosevelt's NWPA, but Knox fought for the nomination anyway. Sadly he was not a tough opponent for Lowden, the type of progressives who were interested in his message had long since been jettisoned from the party.

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Frank Knox, perhaps better as a Progressive?

Joseph I. France was a similar case, though he was far less notable. He was from a wing of the party that was just on the verge of leaving the GOP but stayed for because they found the Progressive party to be objectionable for whatever reasons they might have. Though his policy was less exciting than Knox's "army of labor" it was still too far to the left, too progressive for the party to let him win. France's trip to the Soviet Union was also a commonly brought up fact, leaving France little room to express his viewpoint and merely try to dodge attacks from Lowden.

Naturally, Johnson had also thrown his long since decrepit hat into the ring.

Since his disappointment at the ballot box last time around, it was made abundantly clear to him that he was no longer wanted in the Progressive Party. The La Follette's wanted their party back from him now that the two brothers were old enough to run for President themselves. Johnson was a stubborn old donkey but he wasn't a fool, and so he switched back to the GOP pretending to be on a crusade to "win back Progressivism". Johnson's ego prevented him from ever rebuilding the bridges in the party during or before the primary season and so his campaign went down in flames faster than what was expected.

Calvin Coolidge presented and interesting challenge to Lowden however. The senator from Massachusetts had become something of an elder statesman of the party, representing the stalwart right Conservatives.[2] He was several notches to the right of Lowden. Coolidge was dissatisfied with Lowden's policies and considered them too controlling of the economy, even if only by a little bit. Coolidge was also keenly interested in deescalating the radicalized labor groups in the country that he warned would cause even more bloodshed than before if something was not done to mitigate their radicalization. Coolidge and Lowden went tit for tat with each other but no one came out on top. Ultimately Coolidge's campaign never got off the ground in the way that he had wanted so it remained in political limbo until the convention ended the presidential dreams of Coolidge.

There was also a few less notable candidates as well as a few draft movements, the most interesting of the draft movements of course was the Draft Hughes movement which tried to draft Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes had been a candidate before and lost to Wilson. Hughes kept quiet about the movement due to his job. The movement never got off the ground as a result.

Unsurprisingly, Lowden sailed to victory as was predicted and was nominated to be President by the GOP. His vice presidential pick was then decided to be his old vice president, shocking no one. There was some trepidation in regards to rumors that made it seem that moderates would choose a different Vice President by revolting during the nomination so that a different running mate was selected, but Charles Curtis was selected with acclaim at the convention as Lowden desired.

They were ready to take on whatever the Democrats and Progressives threw at them.

The Democratic primaries and convention of 1932

The Democrats were in the exact opposite situation as the Republicans in 1932. The running was wide open due to Roosevelt's unpopularity[3] and there were no clear leaders in the opening days. The Democratic "playing field" was wide open in a way that had perhaps never happened before. Avoiding a controversial and brokered election would be hard enough for the Democrats, never mind actually winning the election.

Senator Carter Glass from Virginia was one of the early leaders in the race. He was from the more progressive wing of the party that was all but discredited because of Roosevelt's unpopularity yet still he trudged onwards. Despite this, Glass gained momentum early on by placing blame on Smith and focusing on attacking him rather than anyone else. Smith was a popular target[4] and Glass was able to deflect many attacks against him because of his increasingly aggressive attacks on Smith, linking him to Roosevelt. This strategy worked for a time, but it quickly grew old after the vociferous James A. Reed began to attack Glass for himself being so close to Roosevelt himself.

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James Reed, presumably (barely) hiding his anger at everyone and everything.

Reed was an attack dog through and through. A rare breed of man that lacked shame and sensibility. Beyond his bulldoggish nature, his most notable personality trait was of course his racial awareness. Reed shared many of the racial viewpoints of the average southern gentleman at the time though he typically took his racial views several steps forward. He had also recently added rabid anti-semitism to his repertoire of hate, giving him backdoor funding from Henry Ford himself. Despite Reed's funding and willingness to fight, he was always running a close fourth in the race.

The second in the race, at least at the beginning was Jesse H. Jones of Texas. He was an entrepreneur by trade and had no government experience. He was a particularly successful businessman which made him popular, with some claiming that only a businessman could fix the economy. He also hailed from the conservative end of the party, being a popular choice for those who did not want to vote for Reed. Ultimately his star faded fast. Jones wasn't a particularly charismatic man and had little experience in the large scale public speaking a presidential campaign entails. His lack of charisma as well as Reed's withering attacks on his person (at least once referring to Jones as an "albino nigra" which caused some controversy) caused Jones to slip to third place before the convention was in full swing.

Though he joined later on in the race, Congressman Walter F. George of Georgia made a splash when he entered. George was dissatisfied with Jones and was more annoyed by Reed's persistence at slandering everyone than anything else and so he tossed his hat into the ring. He was something of a mainline conservative heavyweight and he entered just as Jones was seeing his support erode causing him to rocketed up the totem pole. George quickly received the backing of the party apparatus and when the convention rolled around he was in the lead with little effort required.

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Georgia's big boss and favorite son, Walter F. George

Naturally the two old heads were also running, battling it out with each other more than making a case for their own campaigns. Smith had the upper hand since he wasn't nearly as tarnished as McAdoo but being so closely associated with President Roosevelt did him no favors. The two certainly wouldn't win but they both fought on despite the odds stacked against them. For both of them this was to be their final bid at the president's desk.

The convention was short - but deadly.

As the story goes, both Smith and McAdoo confronted each other while flanked by lackeys. McAdoo had started a screaming match after calling Smith a "Papist bastard." Both sides began yelling insults and got in each other's faces.

What happened before the death is still debated and Smith's later explanation of the event itself remains under scrutiny due to his later withdrawal from public. As he told it, he said something to the effect of "We have the northern delegates, you don't even have the south." and McAdoo went into a rage. McAdoo shouted "We have the south and we'll win the north!" before collapsing. McAdoo had a massive heart attack, likely dying before his body touched the ground. Some consider Smith's telling of the story to be apocryphal as it seems to be referencing events that took place in the future in a prophetic manner.[5] However there is no proof disproving his telling of the story outside of Smith's poor mental health following the incident. Doubters of Smith's story suggest that he made up the statement to give purpose to his former political ally's death.

The reaction to McAdoo's death was divisive. Inside the convention there was chaos for a short bit. Though in the aftermath, things became more sober rather than chaotic. McAdoo's reputation was practically nonexistent at the time of his death compared to what sway he held back in the 20's but he was still a man all the same. The news of the event took time to reach the rest of the world, but when it did then convention was named the "deadliest convention since 1860" by some as a snide reference to the calamity of the 1860 Democratic convention[6] in which the Southern delegates bolted and effectively gave the election to Lincoln.

After the initial shock was over and McAdoo's corpse was removed from the floor, they got down to the ballot. The first round was unsurprising, besides the small amount of support of McAdoo which scattered after his untimely death, the rest of the positions held. Walter F. George was in first but not enough to secure the nomination outright, therefore sending them to the second ballot.

No one bowed and their support held firm, and the second ballot passed into the third. And then the third into the fourth, and then the fifth. At the fifth ballot, Jesse H. Jones surprised everyone and endorsed Glass rather than George. George and Glass were then effectively tied with each other. Walter George approached Reed multiple times attempting to get an endorsement but George wouldn't accede to Reed's request.

Reed wanted to be the running mate in exchange for the endorsement. Walter George was an astute political mind and knew that this election wasn't going to be won, and therefore the running mate should be chosen to balance the other side. So, if a conservative was chosen as the presidential nomination, a progressive should be the running mate and vice versa. Therefore, George refused Reed's demands out of hand. Party unity was paramount.

On the 10th ballot, enough support had eroded from Smith and George that Glass was able to win the nomination by a small margin. Walter George promptly congratulated Senator Glass. He wasn't angry for having lost, "They'll be more races" he supposedly said to Glass. Reed was already threatening a 3rd party run, feeling as though him and George should have won and was very vocal about that. As the story goes, he calmed down after Glass reassured him regarding anti-lynching legislation and promising a cabinet position.

And so the Democratic Party's internal issues were settled for another 4 years.

The Progressive convention of 1932
Compared to the Democrats, the Progressive convention was a much more subdued affair. This was inevitable since no one died, but also because of the party had already coalesced around a single leader as of 1932. In some ways it could be compared to the Republicans, though it lacked the numerous smaller challenges that Lowden encountered.

Previous to 1932, the party had been dominated by three factions. Firstly the La Follette Progressive faction which was made up of the center-left who had personal loyalty to the La Follette family more than anything else and tended to go to the more moderate candidate. Then there was the Leftist faction which was built up of various banned, entryist, or otherwise associated leftist groups. Finally was the Old Progressive faction which was made of up the people who had left the Republican Party during the initial split from the GOP.

Hiram Johnson's departure following his disappointing showing and the Great Depression obviously changed the makeup of the party. The Old Progressive faction supporters either joined the La Follette Progressive faction or simply rejoined the GOP for Johnson's Presidential campaign. As a result, the La Follette Progressive faction and the Left faction[7] made up the party, for better or worse.

Needless to say, the now eligible Bob La Follette had no issues getting his party's nomination. Indeed, he had the majority's acclaim and admiration. To the vast majority of people, he was seemingly a reincarnation of his now almost deified father. He did however, receive a challenge from Joseph I. France after his failed bid for the Republican nomination although that gave him no trouble with his entrance being late and the Old Progressive faction long gone. The only stumbling block in his way came in the form of a draft Olson movement that looked to draft Minnesota governor[8] Floyd Olson for the party's nomination. Olson publicly declined and endorsed Bob after the two parlayed together, finding they had a shared vision for the country. They promised to find a way to work together in the future.

For the Bob's running mate, long time Progressive Representative from Pennsylvania Melville Clyde Kelly was selected. Kelly was one of the few Progressive party members to hold national office outside of Minnesota and Wisconsin and was chosen for that fact so that he could show that the Progressive Party was a national one, not a regional one.

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Robert "Young Bob" La Follette

How they would do would depend entirely on how the young Bob turns voters out for him.

---

Getting back in the habit of actually writing updates for this. Will release the next update (much) quicker than this one. I'll likely be more frugal with snippets than what I had originally planned.

[1]: Mostly just hysterics. Roosevelt's policies weren't bad and mitigated the Great Depression in a way that Hoover never did historically (though they have to way to know that!), but people still felt he either meddled too much in trade or too much in the economy. Sometimes both.
[2]: Stayed on as Senator since he never took up the whole VP thing.
[3]: Once again, more down to the finger pointing game than anything else but the actual critiques of him are different on the left and right. The Right tends to complain about his interference in the economy. The Left complains about the lack thereof. Both occasionally complain about his free trade policy.
[4]: Closely associated with Roosevelt ergo an easy target.
[5]: FORESHADOWING, FORESHADOWINNGGGGGG
[6]: No one ever accused Republicans of being funny.
[7]: Now much larger because of the Great Depression, perhaps understandably.
[8]: Olson ran in 1928 and won a VERY close race. He's popular at home and around the Midwest.
 
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