Legacies: An Alternate 1950s and Onwards

Nixon victory! Since he didn't serve over half of Ike's 1st term, he can run again in 1960.
Elbert Tuttle is a good choice for Justice, given Nixon's push for civil rights.

What were the downballot results? Did Nixon have coattails for the GOP to pick up either house of congress? Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Nevada were close races that I think could flip to the GOP and give them the Senate
 
Nixon victory! Since he didn't serve over half of Ike's 1st term, he can run again in 1960.
Elbert Tuttle is a good choice for Justice, given Nixon's push for civil rights.

What were the downballot results? Did Nixon have coattails for the GOP to pick up either house of congress? Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Nevada were close races that I think could flip to the GOP and give them the Senate
The congressional results are next.
 
Chapter 7: The 1956 Congressional Elections
November 6th, 1956

The Congressional Elections of 1956 came down to the wire, with the Democrats losing their Senate and House Majorities by slim margins, this was mainly due to the public sympathy over the death of Eisenhower and Nixon's handling of the Suez War. Many were glad to cast their ballots for the GOP, and thus the Congressional Results reflect this, with the Republicans gaining 22 House Seats and Two Senate Seats (New York and Kentucky). Nixon had the Congressional numbers (at least in Theory) he needed to take aim at Jim Crow and approve any other reforms he may spearhead.
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Eisenhower was a lock for reelection in OTL 1956 and seemed more like a nonpartisan political unifier. Nixon was more partisan and the election was probably more competitive than OTL, so it makes sense that he had more downballot coattails.

Honestly, I think the GOP will lose their majorities in 1958 but it won't be as much of a landslide. Nixon has an interest in keeping as many Republicans as he can to pass Civil Rights
 
Chapter 8: Nixon's War on Jim Crow
January 20th-April 29th, 1957

Nixon began his first 100 Days after taking office for his first elected term as President, he emphasized in his address the need for change in American Society, he especially called for Greater equality and understanding (A nod to his efforts to get his Civil Rights Act passed), and to continue the years of economic growth that both he and Eisenhower had presided over. The American people would give Nixon about a 72% Approval Rating, many believed the feel good nature of the 50s would continue unimpeded forever, while the recession of 1958 would serve as a wakeup call to these childish assumptions, that was tomorrow, this was today.

As soon as the last celebrations of his inauguration died down on January 23rd, Nixon would begin addressing a problem, he had long since neglected the Supreme Court Vacancy left by Sherman Minton, Nixon would begin to study over the possible replacements. Nixon needed a liberal judge, but one with some regional appeal to hopefully avoid the "Dixiecrats throwing a hissy fit". Nixon already knew the 4 Candidates, the Fifth Circut Four, Four Liberal Judges from the south who continued the Struggle for the rights of Negro, Judge Elbert Tuttle and his three colleagues John Minor Wisdom, John Robert Brown, and Richard Rives. Nixon obviously picked the most experienced one for the Job.

Nixon in a press conference on January 30th, 1957, would announce he had nominated Elbert Tuttle for the Supreme Court Vacancy. Despite Dixiecrat grumblings about this California Lawyer turned Southern Civil Rights Judge, his nomination would be confirmed on February 19th, 1957.

Another vacancy would then open up yet again on February 25th when Stanley Forman Reed officially retired from the Supreme Court, Nixon acted like a vulture on this vacancy as well, Quickly Nominating Justice Hugo Black's Associate and Southern Democratic Civil Rights Crusader Richard Rives, this one had less opposition due to his southern democratic affiliation, but once again the Civil Rights advocating past of Rives caused grumblings from the Dixiecrats. But at last, Nixon had his Supreme Court Justices.


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Associate Justice Elbert Tuttle
In Office: 1957-19XX

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Associate Justice Richard Rives

In Office: 1957-19XX

On March 5th, 1957, Nixon's Civil Rights Act of 1957 would finally be shepherded out of Committee, but the Southern Filibuster would begin nearly as soon as discussion started. Nixon, however, securing his congressional majority would move to close discussion while going behind Johnson's back and aligning with Progressive Democrats to finally put a kibosh on this "Southern Temper Tantrum" over the bill. Voting would begin on April 27th, 1957, and the culmination of months of Nixon's work would finally come to ahead with the bill passing in The Senate in a vote of 71-19. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 would be passed, securing the following:

Title I-Voting Rights
This title barred unequal application of voter registration requirements. Title I did not eliminate literacy tests, which acted as one barrier for black voters, other racial minorities, and poor whites in the South or address economic retaliation, police repression, or physical violence against nonwhite voters. While the Act did require that voting rules and procedures be applied equally to all races, it did not abolish the concept of voter "qualification". It accepted the idea that citizens do not have an automatic right to vote but would have to meet standards beyond citizenship.

Title II—public accommodations
Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs without defining the term "private".

Title III—desegregation of public facilities
Prohibited state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Title IV—desegregation of public education
Enforced the desegregation of public schools and authorized the U.S. Attorney General to file suits to enforce said act.

Title V—Commission on Civil Rights
Established the Civil Rights Commission with the powers to further civil rights efforts in the Nation.

Title VI—nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs
Prevents discrimination by programs and activities that receive federal funds. If a recipient of federal funds is found in violation of Title VI, that recipient may lose its federal funding.

Title VII—equal employment opportunity

prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.


Title VII-Jury Selection Reform

Any citizen 21 years or older, literate in English, who had resided in the judicial district for a year, excluding convicts and persons with mental or physical infirmities severe enough to make them unable to serve, was eligible. Since neither race nor sex was listed among the qualifications, the provision allowed both blacks and women to serve on juries in trials in federal courts.

Title VIII—registration and voting statistics
Required compilation of voter-registration and voting data in geographic areas specified by the Commission on Civil Rights.

Title IX—intervention and removal of cases
Made it easier to move civil rights cases from state courts to federal court.

Title XI—miscellaneous
Gives a defendant accused of certain categories of criminal contempt in a matter arising under title II, III, IV, V, VI, or VII of the Act the right to a jury trial. If convicted, the defendant can be fined an amount not to exceed $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than six months.



Nixon having pushed for civil rights for nearly his entire Presidency with all the vigor he had within him, gladly signed the law, personally thanking Majority Leader Bill Knowland, Minority Whip Mike Mansfield, and Vice President Everett Dirksen for helping pass such a monumental act. Senate Majority Leader Johnson would not be happy however, the rivalry between the two men began with the signing of this act and Nixon's undermining of LBJ's authority over his own party. But for Now, Nixon had his victory, but soon Nixon would fight against Jim Crow yet again.

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Very good selections for the Supreme Court. Both push for a civil rights focused court, while also accomplishing what Ike tried to do with both Charles E. Whittiker and William Brennan. Tuttle was an Ike-appointed libertarian conservative while Rives was a Truman appointed moderate. Means the Warren court won't be as liberal (Brennan was a notorious liberal vote).
 
Cold we get a topsy-turvy situation with Republicans supporting busing (when it looms n the horizon) and Democrats opposing it?
 
What's 'busing'?

A hugely unpopular form of "desegregation" which was in vogue during the later 1960s and 1970s. It involved kids being taken out of their neighbourhood schools and transported to more distant ones in order to get a "better mix" of blacks and whites. Its principal consequences were

a) To hang a millstone around the neck of the Democratic Party, which was identified with it - though at least some of the Judges who ordered it had been appointed by Republicans

b) To leave many urban school systems virtually all-black, as whites fled to private or parochial schools, or moved to more distant suburbs.

Iirc as late as 1980 the Democratic platform still endorsed it "as a last resort" if other measures failed. Not absolutely sure, but I think it was quietly dropped from subsequent ones.
 
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Chapter 9: The Death of Charles De Gaulle and the Little Rock Murders
April 29th-October 10th, 1957

In the Months following the passing of Nixon's Civil Rights Act, 3 Deaths would shock the world.

The first death was a tragic accident, Former General and Leader of the Free French Charles DeGaulle would visit Paris on May 4th, taking a break from his writings, he would enter his car, a
Renault Frégate 1951, he would make a turn onto Avenue Victoria, and would be struck by truck and his car would be flung into a lamp post. When medical professionals arrived, DeGaulle would be dead. His funeral would be held on May 12th and attended by French and foreign military and political figures, the greatest French was dead.

Secondly, in the cool September 4th Autumn, 9 Black Students would attempt to enter Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas with the help of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples, after the Federal Courts ordered for the School's desegregation, however they would be blocked by the Arkansas National Guard there on the Orders of Dixiecrat Governor Orval Faubus and some Segregationist Protestors. President Nixon attempted to start a dialogue with Faubus, but the governor refused. Nixon would attempt to keep a close eye on the situation but was distracted with the upcoming enactment of the Civil Rights Act. Tensions over that very act, however, would embolden segregationist protestors.

On the Way home from attempting to enter the school on September 18th, Jefferson Thomas and Ernest Green would get into a fight with two young white gas station workers, Alexander Fremont, and Martin Stacy, the event left both Fremont and Stacy with their pride shattered, they decided they wouldn't allow those upstart negros to attempt to enter an all-white school and them rough them up. Later that week the two men would abduct both Fremont and Stacy off the street, bring them out to the banks of the Arkansas River, and beat the two boys to death with a rock...their bodies would be left to rot on the bank side...the news would spread across the country, The Little Rock murders would shock and horrify the nation...Fremont and Stacy would be arrested on October 5th. Nixon's reaction was one of shame and regret when he was informed by his longtime secretary, Rose Mary Woods, years after the Nixon Presidency, Woods would recall in an interview:

"When I told Richard about...the kids, he was taken aback for a good minute...he then turned to me in said: "Ms. Woods, I let those kids die, I killed them," he then asked to not take any appointments that day."

Nixon, now infuriated, would issue an order on October 4th to mobilize the National Guard on his terms... He ordered that under no circumstances will the remaining 7 kids be kept out of the high school. However, this mobilization would lead to several clashes with protestors as the 5 children who agreed to still participate were heckled by segregationist activists despite their National Guard escort. These exchanges would lead to 4 wounded.

Public Opinion nationwide would turn against Governor Faubus following the murders, as his decision partly contributed to the murders. He went from one of the most admired Governors in America to a pariah, the controversy would cause his resignation on October 10th... The Struggle was won and the School would be integrated at the cost of 2 boys' lives.

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