Missed Him By That Much! A TL

[President Benedict Arnold]

Forward: Looking Back...

Photo by David Shankbone​

Excerpts from Looking Back at Gore Vidal
31 July 2012 -- Gore Vidal passed away from pneumonia at the age of 86. Looking back at this colossus in American politics is much too much to cover in a single article. He was an author, a philosopher, and a political thinkers whose ideas far outstripped his campaign abilities and his quiet influence has steered this country through the Post-War Period...

Looking back at his written work, his lifelong public feud with Former Rep. William Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement, and his periods of alliance with and antagonism of a number of American Presidents; all can agree that Gore Vidal lived quite an incredible life...

As the 2012 Presidential Election exits the primaries and gets into full swing, I’m sure Mr. Vidal’s criticisms of modern American life will be well out of the minds of the average American, who is more focused on trouble in the Middle East, Climate Change, and the IFTA. Maybe just think of these words: “As the Era of Television progresses the Kennedys will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days, and they were.”

The States of 2012
In the United States, there is a creeping sense of the ending of something. Nobody can really pin down what, but many have ideas. Perhaps we are at the tale end of a cultural revolution, with the emergence of new genres and sounds perhaps having hit their peak and are doomed to remain stagnant. Or perhaps the current Party System is due for a shake up and the Presidential Election will reach a more consequential conclusion than it had felt at the dawn of the primary season. Or perhaps it's something bigger that is at an end. Everybody has their own thoughts on what is about to happen, but nobody is very certain.
The young are itching for an event, a history, to call their own while the old are glad for whatever breathing room the country and the world have been offered. They feel as though they have lived many lifetimes through their television screens.

Own Thoughts

Spoiler

This TL is going to focus on politics, culture, and general history from 1968 until 2012, with a main focus on American politics, but plenty going on across the world. The Point of Divergence is Robert Kennedy not being assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5th of 1968. From there, all of history changes.

My goal with this TL is to create a world that I enjoy as well as believe in. I want to try to veer as much towards reality as possible while creating a version of events that results in a world that’s just a little bit happier, a little bit more hopeful, and has a bit more to look forward to than I feel our current state allows. In this TL, I hope to inspire a more positive approach to Alternate History than the rises of fascism, devastation of nuclear war, and general cynicism I feel is too easy to slip into thanks to current events.

One thing I plan to do is make the Baby Boomers something more than they ended up being. Emerging in the 60s as a powerful force for change, their spirit eventually fizzled out in a way that has seriously tainted their image. They will get a fair shake here, perhaps even bordering on a wank. As for the Kennedys, I've got big plans for them too. I plan not to go overboard with it, and I hope I play everything out in a way that is both believable and to my liking!

I plan to post twice a week, but that may not happen. I will probably write significantly earlier than I will post, but I don’t plan on finishing this very quickly or really drawing it out that much either. I hope everybody enjoys and the real first part will either be posted tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

• President Benedict Arnold

 

[Vidal]

Will be watching!

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

1: Missed Him By That Much!

Excerpt from “Missed Him By That Much!” from the New York Post
5 June 1968 -- Late last night, not long after his exceptional victory in the California Democratic Primary, Senator Robert Kennedy was nearly killed by a gunman. Five bullets were fired at him before the gunman was wrestled to the ground, only two people were wounded, neither of them being the Senator. Not much is known about the gunman at this time, except that he may be of Palestinian origin... The two men who wrestled him to the ground are Rosey Grier and Rafer Johnson, who can stand tall as heroes today, for they may have saved a number of lives...

Robert Francis Kennedy Presidential Campaign
Following the attempt on his life, Robert Kennedy briefly considered ending his presidential campaign. “He was afraid that he was cursed” an anonymous source close to the-then Senator had said. After his brother’s assassination in November of 1963 and his own close call, many in Robert Kennedy’s camp believed that it would be better to simply end it. Was the office worth the risk that came with it? Jacqueline, JFK’s widow, did not believe so, but mostly kept her opinions private. Robert’s younger brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, was hesitant but said he would continue to support the campaign if Robert decided to continue.

Ultimately the Robert Kennedy Presidential Campaign suspension had just turned into a five day hiatus before marching onward. RFK would be quoted as saying, “We can’t simply live in fear our whole lives. Besides, we all have work to do.”

The Campaign had rejoined the race on June 9th, with the final primary in Illinois coming only two days later. Many speculated that the five days of uncertainty when no real campaigning was taking place may have hurt their chances in Illinois, but that was soon proved to be false.

Robert Kennedy easily won in Illinois, giving him a huge boost in delegates, as well as securing him the popular vote of the state primaries. Heading into the Democratic National Convention, it was clear that it would be a battle between RFK and HHH, with Senator Eugene McCarthy acting as a spoiler or a kingmaker.


Own Thoughts

Spoiler

I considered a variety of different PoDs for this. It’s a TL I’ve thought about for a while so I wanted to take great care in deciding when and how it should actually start, but I ended up just liking the simplicity in an assassin just not succeeding in his assassination. I thought of having Kennedy do something different before the Oregon primary or for him to follow a bodyguard’s advice and not go into the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, where he was fatally shot, but none of those ever really sat that well with me. As for the DNC itself, that’ll be in a few parts, we’ve still got to see what the Republicans are up to after all, but you can expect some changes there as well.

Also, just to avoid any confusion, you are going to start noticing the reframing of events in terms that we would not generally use to describe them in how they happened IOTL. That’s just me setting things up for later! I’ll try not to draw attention to it, but I think it’ll be of some interest when it starts happening more.

• Pres Benedict Arnold

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

2: Dick Nixon

The No-Good Campaign by Charles Goodell, Part I: Looking Back, Chapter 2: Nixon/Volpe ‘68
Former Vice President of Eisenhower and failed Republican 1960 Presidential Candidate, Richard Nixon was able to propel a fantastic comeback campaign by simply presenting himself as the experienced and obvious candidate. He did not wish to be seen as an ideologue, so he simply did not act as one. His campaign and political positions ranged from moderately left to moderately right, with most not falling under a label as “liberal” or “social,” but simply “obvious...”

He ran to the right of New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, and Michigan Governor, George Romney, and to the left of California Governor, Ronald Reagan. Romney had gone down by March, Rockefeller in April, and, even though he continued to contest it until the Convention, Reagan had practically no chance at victory that year. Nixon had not only positioned himself somewhere in the middle on any political spectrum, but he had also used that position, as well as his establishment backing, to make him the obvious candidate for the Republican Party that year.


The Republican National Convention of 1968
At the Convention, which went from the 5th of August to the 8th of August, Nixon made the following statement:"When the strongest nation in the world is stuck in a quagmire for four years in Vietnam, when the richest nation in the world can't manage its economy, when the nation with the strongest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented violence, when the President of the United States will not travel abroad or to any major city at home, then it's time for new leadership in the United States of America."

The RNC felt like a very celebratory affair that year. There were high hopes for the GOP and, to some, even higher hopes for what Nixon could do for this country as its President. At the Convention, Richard Nixon nominated former Massachusetts Governor John Volpe to be his Vice-Presidential Candidate to a roaring crowd.

Nixon and Volpe at a fundraising dinner on the campaign trail​

Later, Nixon would discuss his thinking in choosing John Volpe, taking a liberal Northeasterner was no accident. He had to choose between preparing to face Hubert Humphrey or Robert Kennedy in November and, knowing he could never get the union establishment to break with the Democrats, he went after the Northern liberals and styled his campaign as a bringing together of different groups. At the top of the bill was him, the authoritative, reasonably conservative, and part of the establishment. Below him was a liberal governor who was focused on moving towards racial and economic equality. “A perfect pair” as outgoing RNC Chair Ray Bliss had said.


Own Thoughts

Spoiler

I wanted to get this out earlier, sorry. This is where little changes begin to grow. I’m sure excited for the down ballot results of this election!

 

[TheImperialTheorist]

I'm gonna be watching...

 

[ThatRomanFanatic]

Oooh
I’m interested

 

[Zharques]

Hey dude, I really like how you add your thought on the part, it really adds a lot to the TL. Consider my interest piqued.

 

[Wildcard F. Kennedy]

Interested!

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Interesting, indeed.

 

[The Lethargic Lett]

At first I thought this was a timeline about Get Smart given the title, but this is good too. I really like the idea of having a little opinion commentary at the bottom.

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

3: ‘68 DNC in Chaos

Excerpts from The Battle in Chicago by Cliff Kincaid
The long primary battle would finally reach its conclusion between the days of the 26th and 29th of August in Chicago, IL. It’s hard to imagine now, but at the time Hubert H. Humphrey had been the front runner, Robert Kennedy the underdog, and Eugene McCarthy the favorite of Leftist students and intellectuals. Humphrey had a lead in delegates, numbering somewhere over 500, while Robert Kennedy had just barely edged over 400 from the primaries, where he had also won a clear plurality of the vote. The three candidates had made their way around the country, campaigning for the over one-thousand remaining delegates to reach a majority.

Kennedy’s first victory was persuading the delegations from West Virginia and Washington D.C. to support his candidacy, who declared for him two days before the Convention even began. This however was caused a minor uproar among dissenting West Virginia delegates, who threw their support behind outgoing West Virginia Governor Hulett C. Smith. Even though that only resulted in giving Smith four votes, it did sap away the positive press for Kennedy...

At the beginning of the Convention, it really looked as though Humphrey and Kennedy were going to fight to some sort of draw. South Dakota Senator George McGovern was tapped as a compromise between Kennedy and McCarthy supporters, but that fell through before it even really took off. Nevertheless, a couple of delegates from both camps would defect to McGovern for the first two ballots. Even though he claimed neutrality and was absent, Johnson’s influence was gaining support for Humphrey among much of the establishment. He had plenty of backers who worked day and night to secure as many delegates for him as possible.

Kennedy would later admit that he felt that he was not keeping up, and, even with the intense support of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, he worried that his campaign was at an end. Daley was pulling in all the favors he could for delegates, as he would later regret...

As the Convention got into full swing, it slowly became clear to the media and the candidates that there was as much of a fight going on outside the Convention as inside of it. Protesters descended upon Chicago. Anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment, pro-war, pro-capitalist, pro-establishment: it didn’t matter. Everybody with an opinion was out in the streets and the situation was tense. Alongside the expected protests by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the Yippie Movement was also present. The Yippies were a Far-Left anarchist organization that were as close to professional riot instigators as any group could really be.

During the Convention, the protests only got worse and worse. It finally went over the edge during the last day of the Convention. The police entered an all-out battle with the protesters. Armed with clubs, the police were able to eventually disperse the protests, but the violence saw many injured on both sides, as well as a large number of arrests.

Kennedy objected to this brutality and, less than an hour before just barely winning the nomination, denounced the actions of Mayor Daley’s police on the floor of the Convention. Daley was furious and considered shifting gears and throwing all the support he could behind Humphrey, but it was much too late for that now. On the third ballot, with favorite sons and protest votes abandoned, along with Eugene McCarthy’s begrudging endorsement and support, Robert Kennedy was able to win the nomination by a hair...

Once the news reached the remaining protesters that anti-war candidate Robert Kennedy had gotten the nomination, there were cheers and celebration. Fearing potential assassins, but believing it to be the right thing to do, Robert Kennedy exited the Convention’s amphitheatre under guard and made a quick speech to the protesters. He denounced violence and rioting, calling it: “antithetical to the peace that every American is striving for, here and abroad.”

No more violence had taken place between police and protesters for several hours by the time Robert Kennedy had walked outside, but his few words would later be mythologized as having marked the ending of the violent protests in Chicago. This narrative grew so powerful as to force Mayor Daley to take up the position, as it grew politically impossible not to in that city.

The Nomination
Robert Kennedy had decided that a Southerner is required for his Presidential ticket long before he held the nomination. He narrowed it down to three choices before the Convention: Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas, Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma, and Former Governor Terry Sanford of North Carolina, then the President of Duke University.

Not wanting to repeat the same issues that were experienced between his brother and Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy opted to meet with each man several times during the Convention to try to figure out who would be the best fit as both one of his closest advisers and his successor if the worst situation happened: one that was still on his mind from his close call in June. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma would be the best option and brought him on as his Vice-Presidential Candidate.

Own Thoughts

Spoiler

Yeah, I think this is the obvious result for any timeline that starts with RFK not being assassinated, but trust me, not everything is going to go smoothly for Democratic Presidential Candidate Bobby Kennedy.

I knew that had Kennedy survived then Mayor Daley, one of the biggest Democratic Party power brokers ever, would be one of his biggest advocates right up until RFK denounced the police response to the riots (as he almost certainly would - unless he decided to realpolitik himself into hypocrisy).

My next update is going to be a pretty big departure. Not only is it not going to focus on the US, but it’s going to be the first REALLY big break divergence to happen.

I'll give a couple of hints: it's in Europe, it's one of my favorite political events, and it's going to end extremely differently thanks to butterflies/Chaos Theory.

Also, I made a Wikibox for Kennedy/Harris and not Nixon/Volpe because I couldn't pass up on that picture of Nixon and Volpe right there. Too cute.

• Pres Benedict Arnold

 

[historybuff]

Love it. I'm guessing the next update is the Prague Spring?

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

Responses

First, I'd like to thank everybody who has shown interest in this TL so far!

I'm gonna respond every now and then once I have at least a few things to say, so here we go:

At first I thought this was a timeline about Get Smart given the title, but this is good too. I really like the idea of having a little opinion commentary at the bottom.

Well it is a Get Smart reference. I included it because I plan on having pop culture play a significant role (and also Get Smart will be included in that)

And a few people have said this and I'm glad people do like the opinion commentary thing. I initially really wanted to get across how happy endings will exist in this TL while also giving me the room to say other things with it too (and for those not interested, keep it hidden away) and I'm glad that it, at best, works and, at worst, isn't distracting.

Love it. I'm guessing the next update is the Prague Spring?

Damn, didn't think somebody would get it immediately.

Yes, it is the Prague Spring. Great job historybuff!

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

I'm glad to see a TL going on that may yet cover some of the same thoughts I'd been having of late.

 

[President Earl Warren]

I'm wondering if Bobby is going to make the Democratic party more socially conservative. He was a pretty sincere Catholic.

 

[President Earl Warren]

I also noticed something interesting in your dick Nixon update. In this Tl he is not playing for southern votes. This could possibly make George Wallace more successful and without the a southern strategy the Democrats could keep the south or it could go off on it's own like the National conservatives in No Southern strategy.

 

[President Earl Warren]

Having trouble @President Benedict Arnold

 

[President Benedict Arnold]

4: Socialism with a Human Face

Pictured - Alexander Dubcek​

Richard Brody Village Voice Review of:
“The Rise of the Ideal Society - A History of the USSR in the 20th Century” by Peter Kenez
In Kenez’s latest re-interpretation of the history of the Soviet Union, he appears to attribute all of the various changes that the whole Communist East was going through between ‘68-‘82 to Czechoslovakia in 1968 without taking into account the very real tensions that had been brewing since Stalin kicked the bucket...

So, to go a little deep into history for a moment, one can see that the Old Order of the Warsaw Pact was weak, inept, and would soon be ousted from power. Leaders like Dubcek, Podgorny, and Fock were not pioneers, but realists. The “philosophy” of New Communism and its various derivatives are less experimental than they claim to be and are far more in line with the worldview of a realist. A mix of economic and social reforms sure revitalized the Eastern Bloc, at least in the eyes of Western journalists reporting on it, but those were going to come at some point anyway...

The Prague Spring
Alexander Dubcek’s ascension to becoming the head of government of Czechoslovakia in January 1968 was met with some controversy among the leaders of the Warsaw Pact, but few would realize its consequences. Dubcek has used the massive political capital that his faction of reform-minded supports had to completely alter the activity and nature of the Czechoslovakian state. Initially, these reforms were met with threats and hostilities by the other members of the Eastern Bloc. Those who did not recognize why these reforms were happening called it a “Western coup” while those who did and opposed the authoritarian nature of the Stalinist Era called it something else: “revolution.” The Prague Spring’s ultimate success came from its precise balancing of new and old ways and its ability to placate the other members of the USSR by remaining strenuously connected to communism and committed to assisting its neighbors and allies.

Dubcek’s reforms that he popularly labeled “Socialism with a Human Face” would be born over the Summer of Love in 1968. As summer turned to fall, the threat of Soviet Intervention grew. Many even feared a Soviet military invasion in the style of the invasion that ended the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which nobody wanted to repeat. Leonid Brezhnev, then the Head of the USSR, considered taking such steps, but would ultimately decline to follow through. He himself had made some liberalizing reforms, and it was nothing like the Hungarian Revolution, which was violent and boldly anti-communist.

Brezhnev would begin to have second thoughts after the Czechoslovakian elections brought many non-communist “Independents” into the government, even if the dominant parties, as there were several, continued to be communist. He had plans prepared for a potential invasion in the Spring of ‘69, assuming Dubcek’s government became any more radical, but would not live until then. On January 23rd of 1969, a Soviet military deserter named Viktor Ilyin stole a rifle and two handguns before abandoning his military post. Dressed as a policeman, he was easily able to approach a passing motorcade that Brezhnev was inside of and firing upon it. Brezhnev was struck three times, fell into unconsciousness, and died three hours later.

His successor emerged only months later, Nikolai Podgorny, who would lead the Soviet Union for the entirety of the 1970s...

Own Thoughts

Spoiler

Very sorry how long this took, I had work every day the past two weeks and hardly had time to prepare my material, let along write it all up. I decided to just knock it all out at once.

So what do people think about what’s going on with the USSR and the Warsaw Pact?

Also, I usually like to like every comment that I feel builds discussion, but I will not like posts that guess at future events. Nothing against anybody who posts them, in fact, I love seeing where the speculation is, but I don’t want to appear to be endorsing it one way or another.

Next up: there will be some surprises on the 1968 Campaign Trail. Yet another race that has turned into a Nixon match up with a member of the Kennedy Family. Perhaps this one will end differently.

• Pres Benedict Arnold

 

[historybuff]

Great update. Podgorney, think I read about him, pretty moderate by Soviet standards from what I recall.

 

[Kodoku]

Good to see an update.