What do the 1950s and 1960s look like if McCarthy never comes to higher office?
Bonus points if he remains in the public eye somehow not involving conservative politics.
Anti-communism continued into the sixties as the justification of Vietnam and it proceeded into the seventies and eighties. Without McCarthy, you wouldn't have the fanatical persecution of entertainers and the double-bind questioning that imprisoned some for perjury. An anti-communist Nixon would take a much more level-headed approach.Anti-Communism is still gonna be a pretty strong force in US politics. A lot of the most iconic stuff associated with "McCarthyism", eg. HUAC, had no direct connection with McCarthy himself.
Not to mention U.S. foreign policy. For example . . .Anti-Communism is still gonna be a pretty strong force in US politics. A lot of the most iconic stuff associated with "McCarthyism", eg. HUAC, had no direct connection with McCarthy himself. . .
Instead of viewing it as normal coalition building. Or perhaps, he played them much more than they played him!The Struggle Against Imperialism: Anticolonialism and the Cold War
https://books.google.com/books?id=T... citing his willingness to cooperate”&f=false
“ . . . they [Eisenhower, and John and Allen Dulles] considered Mosaddeq a communist dupe, citing his willingness to cooperate with the Iranian communist Tudah Party against the British, . . . ”
Nixon resented McCarthy for stealing his thunder as the nation's leading anti-Communist. So Nixon would likely have a higher national profile.
If not Communism, McCarthy would probably find something else to latch onto. Maybe he focuses on attacking Truman's "wasteful" spending and the scandals in his administration. Or his handling of the Korean War. Either way he wouldn't have as much of an impact as in OTL, and he probably wouldn't be remembered today.
Perhaps an even more entrenched and rabidly anti communist America the 1960s. Because Tailgunner Joe certainly didn’t do the Anti communist movement much good.
. . . resented McCarthy for stealing his thunder as the nation's leading anti-Communist. So Nixon would likely have a higher national profile. . .
But Nixon already had such a high trajectory.My first thought was “some other dickweed spearheads the anti-Communist movement” but I wasn’t thinking of Tricky Dick...weed Nixon. Come to think of it, having more anti-Communist cred might be enough to get him elected President in 1960. . .
Beaten to it, but the double fun you get out of this POD makes it an obvious recommendation.Funny thing. FDR tried to get Orson Welles to run for McCarthy's Senate seat in 1946. If Welles ran and won, no McCarthy.
He would have probably invaded Cuba during the Bay of Pigs incident, so probably no Cuban Missile Crisis.My first thought was “some other dickweed spearheads the anti-Communist movement” but I wasn’t thinking of Tricky Dick...weed Nixon. Come to think of it, having more anti-Communist cred might be enough to get him elected President in 1960.
I sure hope he doesn’t overplay his hand during the Cuban Missile Crisis, assuming it happens that way at all.
For example, perhaps Eisenhower DOES NOT ask Nixon to be his VP running mate in 1952.Nixon was angry at McCarthy for stealing his thunder and basic plan—no McCarthy probably means Nixon gets a lot dirtier in the 1950s and might well not come out as well as he did IOTL. . .
He would have probably invaded Cuba during the Bay of Pigs incident, so probably no Cuban Missile Crisis.
For example, perhaps Eisenhower DOES NOT ask Nixon to be his VP running mate in 1952.
That might create an interesting situation. Wasn't Orson Wells banned from radio for 25 years by the FCC after the War of the Worlds incident? So, it would take some kind of executive order to put his speeches on the air, an issue that would give fodder to the GOP.Funny thing. FDR tried to get Orson Welles to run for McCarthy's Senate seat in 1946. If Welles ran and won, no McCarthy.
That might create an interesting situation. Wasn't Orson Wells banned from radio for 25 years by the FCC after the War of the Worlds incident? So, it would take some kind of executive order to put his speeches on the air, an issue that would give fodder to the GOP.