Kingfish in America

[SkyEmperor]

This is my first timeline, so give all the feedback you can come up with.

1936: When FDR rededicates the Statue of Liberty, he delivers a passioned speech calling ofr racial equality in the United States. Huey Long and Father COughlin are angered by his comments, as are many Americans, Long and Couglin use the opportunity to launch their own political party, the National Patriotic Party.
In Novembers elections the NPP manages to leech away the vital Southern bloc from the the Democrats, elsewhere in the country, they split the democrat vote and allow Republican Alf Landon to seize many more states than he would have otherwise. In a narrow election Landon sweeps into office.

1937-1941 The Landon Years:: President Alf Landon takes a handsoff approach to the economy. The economy begins a gentle increase due to lessened taxes, but most of the new wealth is absorbed by the upperclass. Abroad, Alf Landon encourages a policy of free trade and neutrality, even in the face of German and japanese aggression.
At home unrest increases. Huey Long launches his own radio program to reach Americans and discuss economic issues, he and Father Coughlin manage to stir the Americans up against President Landon. Various socialist groups call massive strikes and walkouts, and racial violence intensifies in the South.

1940: Kingfish Swims Upriver In 1940, Huey Long runs again on the NPP, promising to help the working poor of America and create new jobs. Republicans support the reelection of Alf Landon, while democrats nominate Henry Morgenthau. Landon is denounced as a friend of the rich, trying to exploit the common man, while Morgenthau's pro-war policies garner great disdain. The anti-semitic Father Coughlin goes as far as calling him a "Zionist Mercenary". The Electoral college fails to rech a majority, so the vote goes to the House, were Long wins when many Democrats and a few Republicans abandon Morgenthau and support Long.

 

[Ibn Warraq]

I like it so far. One thing you might have is alot of Southern Democrats(Dixiecrats) switch over to the Long/Coughlin party. In OTL Strom Thurmond ran for President in 1948 as the nominee for the "State's Rights Party" and did really well, winning four States. I can see White Southernors abandoning the democratic party like rats from a sinking ship. In you TL you might want to have Thurmond become a prominent member of the new party. Also, Joe McCarthy who, IIRC, was a huge fan of Coughlin, and might find alot Long's populist rhetoric appealling, could bring in alot of Republicans to the new party and go on to be a prominent leader in the new party.

 

[1940LaSalle]

Only one problem: Long was assassinated in 1935. What prevents his death?

 

[SkyEmperor]

Thanks for the help, Ibn Warraq, those are pretty much the lines Im planning on taking it. And, yeah, LOng did get shot in OTL 1935, here his bodygaurds shot first.
1941: Inaguaration: Long bursts onto the takes the oath of office, and promises to fight for the rights of the working man and the small farmer. His first round of reforms sweep in a new era of state control of markets. He sets up a comprehensive federal make-work program, Jobs for America, and opens thousands of state sponsored soup kitchens. He also sets up the Federal Education Committe (like a much more powerful No Child Left Behind). He funds his massive projects by gutting the military budget and levying enormous taxes on those in the upper income brackets. In matters of foreign policy, Long refuses to take sides in WWII, calling it "The European's war."

Comments? What do you think American neutrality in the war will be? (There won't be Pearl Harbor in this TL.)

 

[Homer]

Comments? What do you think American neutrality in the war will be? (There won't be Pearl Harbor in this TL.)

Very interesting Timeline so far!

How do you avoid Pearl Harbor? Do the Japanese get their oil and stuff? Maybe Hitler can convince them to attack the Soviet Union first, that would prevent a Pearl Harbour.

But someday America would face the atrocities done by the Nazis and the Holocaust. Do you think they could stay neutral when faced with such crimes?

 

[Alratan]

The easy soluiton is to have a non-ASB policed timeline and butterfly away the fall of France.

 

[Ibn Warraq]

Very interesting Timeline so far!

How do you avoid Pearl Harbor? Do the Japanese get their oil and stuff? Maybe Hitler can convince them to attack the Soviet Union first, that would prevent a Pearl Harbour.
quote]
I think this answers your question.

Abroad, Alf Landon encourages a policy of free trade and neutrality, even in the face of German and japanese aggression.

quote]

In OTL Japan attacked the US because the US imposed an embargo on Japan following Japan's invasion of Indo-China. Without the embargo, Japan almost certainly doesn't attack the US, or at least not in 1941.

 

[SkyEmperor]

In OTL Japan attacked the US because the US imposed an embargo on Japan following Japan's invasion of Indo-China. Without the embargo, Japan almost certainly doesn't attack the US, or at least not in 1941.

Precisely. In this TL most americans outside of Hawaii and the Phillipines could care less anout the war in Asia. Long's radical improvements at home keep them focused on the US, whatever foreign news they care about is the European front. What they do here casts the war as a pointless bloodbath, not unlike the last war. Americans will remain sheltered from Nazi and Japanese atrocities for a short while at least.

1939-1942 A World on Fire In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and soon brought the blitz to all of Europe. Within a year of the first hostilities, the colony was firmly under Hitler's control. War with Engalnd continued belatedly, the combat contained to North Africa and the air above Britain. In the PAcific theatre, Japan continued to roll up their enemies. With a war machine loaded to the brim with US raw-materials, they barreled through Indo-China and the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Soon, Imperial troops were menacing Burma and Australia. Meanwhile, the war in Russia dragged on brutally, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched an enormous air raid on Russian Port-Arthur and followed it with an amphibious invasion of Russia. Stalin pulled many desperately needed troops from the fighting in Stalingrad to stave off the Japanese invasion.

1942-1945 Collapse and Conquest Slowly but surely the Russian defenses unraveled under the heavy onslaugt. As the writing on the wall became clear, several more nations, including Spain, Argentina, and Bulgaria joined the Axis powers.Engald launched it's final operation, an invasion of Norway in 1943. The hasty invaion forde pressed all the way across the Kaitegat straits and into Denamrk, but bogged down in fighting on the Danish Penninsula. The British invasion was routed, and butchered, with only a twelfth of the men in the operation surviving. The war dragged on, and later Hitler launched his own invaion of England. The troops came ashore at Dorset, and spent months fighting in the English countryside. In the end, high attrition rates, English insurrectionism, and german inability to bring in enough supplies, especially the vital panzers led to a German retreat. Rememberingthe British catastrophe in Denmark, the Germans manage a somewhat organized retreat from Kent. In Asia, Japan continues it's advances, and soon has control of most of China and the Pacific front. They are on the verge of a coup de gras against British colonies when the war comes to a fiery end. In late February of 1945, a Luftwaffe assault on Birmingham detonated the world's first military atomic weapon. After the blast Britain sued for peace.

1945 A New World After the peace agreements Germany, and her allies Spain, Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria controlled all of Europe. VichyFrance was expanded to much of France's original territory, and german troops were stationed across the country. Meanwhile, Soviet Russian leadership obliterated, and replaced with newer, more pliable commissars. These men retained the facade of the USSR, however, as per treaty restrictions, they dismantled their army and paid hefty reparations to Germany. In the east, Japan established a Pacific Co-Prosperity Sphere, including Mnchuria, China, Siberia, Vietnam (incluing Laos and Cambodia), and all the islands of the Pacific excluding the Phillipines, Hawaii, and New Zealand. As the skys cleared, only three powers remaine on the planet, Germany and her underlings, Japan, and the United States.

 

[Nick Sumner]

The easy soluiton is to have a non-ASB policed timeline

Forgive my ignorance, but what does this mean?

 

[Homer]

Americans will remain sheltered from Nazi and Japanese atrocities for a short while at least.

Would it be possible that the US accept Jewish emmigrants from Europe? If Jewish emmigrations is secured, this would delay the Endlösung a lot and thus it would delay American concern...

1939-1942 A World on Fire In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and soon brought the blitz to all of Europe. Within a year of the first hostilities, the colony was firmly under Hitler's control. War with Engalnd continued belatedly, the combat contained to North Africa and the air above Britain. In the PAcific theatre, Japan continued to roll up their enemies. With a war machine loaded to the brim with US raw-materials, they barreled through Indo-China and the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Soon, Imperial troops were menacing Burma and Australia. Meanwhile, the war in Russia dragged on brutally, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched an enormous air raid on Russian Port-Arthur and followed it with an amphibious invasion of Russia. Stalin pulled many desperately needed troops from the fighting in Stalingrad to stave off the Japanese invasion.
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1942-1945 Collapse and Conquest Slowly but surely the Russian defenses unraveled under the heavy onslaugt. As the writing on the wall became clear, several more nations, including Spain, Argentina, and Bulgaria joined the Axis powers.Engald launched it's final operation, an invasion of Norway in 1943. The hasty invaion forde pressed all the way across the Kaitegat straits and into Denamrk, but bogged down in fighting on the Danish Penninsula. The British invasion was routed, and butchered, with only a twelfth of the men in the operation surviving. The war dragged on, and later Hitler launched his own invaion of England. The troops came ashore at Dorset, and spent months fighting in the English countryside. In the end, high attrition rates, English insurrectionism, and german inability to bring in enough supplies, especially the vital panzers led to a German retreat. Rememberingthe British catastrophe in Denmark, the Germans manage a somewhat organized retreat from Kent. In Asia, Japan continues it's advances, and soon has control of most of China and the Pacific front. They are on the verge of a coup de gras against British colonies when the war comes to a fiery end. In late February of 1945, a Luftwaffe assault on Birmingham detonated the world's first military atomic weapon. After the blast Britain sued for peace.

I think you overestimate the ressources of Germany and Japan a bit, even if they get US raw materials ITTL. If Japan attacks Russia, they'd probably not be able to conquer as much as they did OTL. And Germany wouldn't be able to invade Britain AND fight in Russia. At least not in 1943 or 1944.

Anyway, without American help for Britain and with a common effort in Russia, you'd get your Axis-victory.

 

[Ivan Druzhkov]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does this mean?

ASB: Alien Space Bat. Fanciful creature created by Alison Brooks of the message board soc.history.what-if. An ASB is essentially a creature that exists to create changes in history that are impossible, i.e. Hitler getting a nuclear submarine, Atlantis existing, and so on. We have a big subforum on scenarios like that on the board here.

This has been Ivan Druzhkov with "The More You Know."

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

so with all the HEAVY taxes on the rich, how long is it gonna be before the economy of the US starts crumbling from lack of investment?
really nice TL...will there be a backlash when people realize overtaxing the rich is bad for everybody?

 

[stevep]

so with all the HEAVY taxes on the rich, how long is it gonna be before the economy of the US starts crumbling from lack of investment?
really nice TL...will there be a backlash when people realize overtaxing the rich is bad for everybody?

It wouldn't be the taxes - heavy only by the standards of the US - that do it. Especially with the sort of economic reform that is being mentioned, provided corruption and political infighting doesn’t cause too many problems.

It would be the collapse of foreign trade and economic opportunity. The Nazis and Japan made the US look like free-traders so as they seize more and more of the world's resources and markets the US position deteriorates. It still has immense resources and strength but, if the Axis gain the domination suggested the US is in a very vulnerable long term economic position. Especially since the Nazis, once Britain and the Soviets are conquered, would be very willing to help the Latin Americans find trading alternatives. As the US is a poor market for the Latins this would be very tempting, even without the political similarity between the two groups. [Mind you, after a few years of a Long Presidency, rebounding from a Landon one not sure what state internally the US would be in either socially].

Steve

 

[SkyEmperor]

so with all the HEAVY taxes on the rich, how long is it gonna be before the economy of the US starts crumbling from lack of investment?
really nice TL...will there be a backlash when people realize overtaxing the rich is bad for everybody?

Yeah, that's coming, dont worry. Remember, the upper 5% of america only have 5% of the votes, and the poorer people getting free food and new jobs from LOng are gonna remember which side their bread is buttered on.

In the long run, high taxes and evaporating foreign trade will hurt the US economies. However, the taxes arent too bad, and Japan and the Nazi bloc are still gonna trade with the US. That will start showing up a few installments down the line.

1942-1945 Kinfish Making Waves Long's massive internal spending programs served to curry him much popularity with common Americans. He was especially popular in rural areas. Blue collar city workers also support him. Long's repuation as a friend of the common man is bolstered with sweeping construction projects in the Tennesee River Valley, as well as the Columbia and Colorado Rivers. Long also commissions the building of thousands of schools, including an enormous public university system. All of the projects do little ofr the overall economic crisis. The economy remains sluggish, with few private sector jobs being created, and low corporate profits. However, the standard of living for many American families increases. In foreign events, Long and his NPP stand firmly against US entrance into the war. Long, and Coughlin, the newly appointed Secretary of Communication, brutally defame the Soviet military, and assure Americans that the nation must avoid the bloodbath. When Luftwaffe pilots drop the A-bomb on Birmingham, Long immediately commissions the construction of America's own nuclear arsenal.

 

[SkyEmperor]

1944-1948 The Second Term Long swept back into office in a ground swell of popular support. He continues his campaigns for economic improvement, which are slowly but surely beginning to bear fruit. In the wake of the war, Germany and Japan experience an economic boom, the wealth from which flows to America. The growth of the national economy remains very slow. In foreign affairs Long broke his policy of isolationism by traveling to Europe. While there he meets with British PM Attlee, Hitler, Franco, and the Pope. The most fruitful discussions come from his meeting with Attlee, with whom he signs a treaty to provide for "mutual defense." He returns to the US with promises to avoid another war.

Comments anyone? How does a Cold War look with Nazis, Japan, and an Anglo-American populist alliance?

 

[El Berto]

Is America receiving thousands of European inmigrants in TTL? I think that many Europeans wouldn't like to live in a Nazi-dominated Europe, so they'd emigrate (Latin America could be an alternative to the US).

 

[Homer]

The most fruitful discussions come from his meeting with Attlee, with whom he signs a treaty to provide for "mutual defense."

Comments anyone? How does a Cold War look with Nazis, Japan, and an Anglo-American populist alliance?

An American-British mutual protection pacts means that Britain has still some sort of independence from Nazi-Germany. Even without a successfull German invasion, I doubt that could happen, given the German nuclear monopol of that time.

I don't really see a cold war as OTL. Germany and Japan would be busy to fight rebellions and partisans all around their new empires: in Russia/Siberia, China, Balkans, colonies... And to govern and resettle them.
They'd probably be eager to trade with America and to hold them out of that mess.
So Cold war would be somthing like US-Russian tensions today rather than US-Soviet tensions in the past, I think. Of course, there would still be a armament race...

 

[Homer]

The most fruitful discussions come from his meeting with Attlee, with whom he signs a treaty to provide for "mutual defense."

Comments anyone? How does a Cold War look with Nazis, Japan, and an Anglo-American populist alliance?

An American-British mutual protection pacts means that Britain has still some sort of independence from Nazi-Germany. Even without a successfull German invasion, I doubt that could happen, given the German nuclear monopol of that time.

I don't really see a cold war as OTL. Germany and Japan would be busy to fight rebellions and partisans all around their new empires: in Russia/Siberia, China, Balkans, colonies... And to govern and resettle them.
They'd probably be eager to trade with America and to hold them out of that mess.
So Cold war would be somthing like US-Russian tensions today rather than US-Soviet tensions in the past, I think. Of course, there would still be a armament race...

 

[SkyEmperor]

Is America receiving thousands of European inmigrants in TTL? I think that many Europeans wouldn't like to live in a Nazi-dominated Europe, so they'd emigrate (Latin America could be an alternative to the US).

Good thought. They would probably boost the US economy, since they would bring plenty of foreign capitol, or at least cheap labor. Many more will probably head to England though. They'll be the heroes of Europe after the war, if only because they managed to retain their independence. After all, Hitler wouldn't have been abl;e to invade them too successfully, and the Brits were only months behind Germany with their own nuke plan. Less than a year after the end of the war, they'll have the bomb too.

 

[SkyEmperor]

1945-1955 The Divided World After the Secomd Great War, the world began to gravitate into several camps. The first camp was the facist nations of Europe. These nations, led by Hitler, in Germany, consisted of Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, France, and a somewhat emaciated Russia. The second camp consisted of the democratic and socialist nations of the globe. These included the United States, Britain, Canada, India, and much of Latin America. The third camp consisted of the non-aligned nations. Foremost among them was Japan, and the East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere over which it presided. The sphere was wracked by bloody civil war, especially on the Chinese mainland. By 1950, nuclear weapons had been stockpiled by Germany, England, the United States, and Japan.
The democratic-socialist nations and the facist nations of the world enjoyed an uneasy ceasefire. However, in the early fifties Germany began stepping up efforts to secure it's future. They moved decisively to oust the goverments of Turkey, Kurdistan, Iraq, and Kuwait and replace them with more agreeable despots who could preserve Europe's oil supply. German and Italian troops even invaded Libya. These actions incensed the remainder of the globe. In the Americas and Africa the United States and England pursued a similar, if more covert, program of encouraging pro-Washington governments.

1948-1951 Sunset for the Kingfish Huey Long barely manged to scrape into his thrid term in office. However, one reelected he took steps to, he thought, secure National Patriotic Party authority. He admitted five new states to the union. They included Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, and Mindanao (the S. Phillipines). The economy continued to improve and many Americans began to see the US as a land of plenty once again. America began to strengthen it's place as an opponent of facism worldwide, and finished the construction of it's nuclear arsenal. In 1951, while walking to his limousine one morning Huey Long was shot dead by Ralph Shelley, a man ruined by Long's corrupt policies. After his death, he was said to be the most influential man in America that century.