Alabama Burning

Kennedy Administration cautiousness in proceeding with the desegregation of schools (in a ploy to ensure the lack of party divisions) had started to try the patience of the major civil rights organizations by 1966. While the Department of Justice plan to comply with the 50% rule drafted by Attorney General Goldberg was viewed as timid, in reality the only states actually engaged in desegregation were Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, and Texas (the former three controlled by Republican Governors while Governor John Connelly of Texas was one of the few conservative allies of the President). Segregationist administrations in the other southern states engaged in a heel dragging campaign of obstruction not seen since the black codes following the Civil War. Beset by party divisions and attempting to pass its own agenda – though in fairness, the Kennedy Administration had by this time fully instituted CRVA and CRA – President Kennedy was seen as paralyzed to accomplish even his cautious goal.

Meeting in the Massachusetts home of Congressman Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, John Lewis, Malcom X, Stokely Carmichael, and nearly half a dozen other civil rights leaders (the last coordinated meeting before the 1967 schism between the organizations) met to discuss a plan of action to bring public attention back to the problem. By a unanimous vote, the decision was made to begin a wave of peaceful protests in the epicenter of racial tension in the south. Birmingham, Alabama.

The city that started much of the movement with the successful bus boycott nearly a decade earlier, things had arguably gotten worse since. Under the leadership of newly elected Mayor Eugene “Bull” Connor – covered by Governor George Wallace – the city had successfully obstructed all efforts by the federal government to dismantle segregation that did not involve the right to vote or the most blatant aspects prohibited by CRA. While the municipal government wasn’t able to overtly segregate anymore, Connor and the city council placed black-owned businesses at a huge disadvantage by blocking them from the massive state and municipal funds earmarked by Governor Wallace’s expansion of the Alabama welfare state (aimed more at the working poor rather than the indigent, drawing many analogies to Huey Long).

It was the lack of action on desegregation and the blatant discrimination in awarding state and city contracts that were made the focus of the Birmingham Campaign. Civil rights advocates of all races and from all states descended into Birmingham for the August march despite the boiling heat. Connor and the Department of Public Safety made it clear that the city would not tolerate any action, but no one was deterred.

Children taking the protest lines among their parents, the whole world watched as the Birmingham Police and Fire Departments unleashed their full fury on the marchers. Riot batons, dogs, and high pressure fire hoses were let loose, and it seemed to be that the nonviolent protestors were about to win a propaganda victory out of their dangerous situation.

It was not to be.

Memories of the Watts Riots the year before had been seared into the head of many African-Americans beleaguered by the blatant prejudice still existing in American society. Many young men blighted by poverty and government abuse were turning to more radical leaders like Malcom X or Stokely Carmichael, or in worse cases militants like the newly formed Black Jaguar Party. Exhorted to take up arms against the oppressors, a group of several of these angry militants were carrying concealed weapons. Remembering the police and National Guard abuses during the Watts Riots and watching children getting swept away by hoses, none of them were planning on taking it “like chumps” as one was quoted in saying.

On August 13th, four days into the campaign, the group was met by three Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies carrying nightsticks as they screened the outer marchers (most of the action being in the city center). Seeing the men accost a racist heckler, they waded in to break up the crowd when the group drew arms and fired at the deputies. After nearly a dozen shots were loosed, Deputies Lucas Wayne, Mark Tobin, and 18-year old trainee Dwayne Phillips were dead, blood pooling in the middle of the street.

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Naturally the news of cop killings travelled quickly through the ranks. Mayor Connor, having caught the break of a lifetime, initiated a state of emergency throughout the city. Armed officers in full riot gear burst through homes in black neighborhoods and marcher camps in search of the killers. Respectful they were not, racism mixed with hatred over three of their own being killed fueling multiple cases of abuse and excessive force.

After a day, the people of Birmingham had enough. Battles between the city’s black population and law enforcement and many white civilians rocked the city, the nation watching in horror as Walter Cronkite documented the terror live on CBS. Governor Wallace ordered in the National Guard into Birmingham – causing more harm than good in reality as the KKK’s Alabama chapter proclaimed the race war at hand while the Black Jaguars called for the “Destruction of the American Auschwitz.”

The riots petered out in Birmingham after three days, Martin Luther King making a pitched appeal from municipal jail for peace. Demonstrations and civil unrest would continue unabated for nearly a week across the nation, damaging the Kennedy White House right in the middle of a vital election year. Republicans stumped the country calling for decisive action to eliminate segregation and corral lawlessness while Governor George Wallace of Alabama went to the steps of the Alabama Capitol and delivered what would be called the Order Address. Proclaiming that he and other like-minded leaders would push the Democratic Party to be the “Party of Law and Order,” this speech and his actions to stave off the rioting – seen as decisive by nearly 61% of Americans according to Gallup – would catapult him to national prominence.

White House audio transcript, August 20th, 1966

Meeting between the President and his two brothers.

R. Kennedy: Jesus Jack, you don’t look so good.

President Kennedy: [chuckles] You too eh? At least Jackie doesn’t think less of me. She’s actually happier now in one respect. Haven’t touched anybody but her in six months. [mumbling] Damn this job. I wonder if Lyndon or Dick Nixon would’ve gone as mad as I am getting towards?

E. Kennedy: Don’t say that Jack. We’re still in a good position.

President Kennedy: Are you goddamn kidding me Teddy? Didn’t we agree no ass kissing from you? I don’t want this to be some sycophantic Stalinist shit.

R. Kennedy: Calm down Jack. I agree things are tough, but it isn’t hopeless.

President Kennedy: What’s the status of your race, I forget with all the crap and whatnot?

R. Kennedy: [sighs] Neck and neck with Wilson, as much as we can know. Only two months left till election day more or less, so we’ll fight to the end.

President Kennedy: Amen. So what now?

E. Kennedy: I talked to Humphrey, who’s sympathetic, and Rivers, who’s cordial but noncommittal. The House and Senate seem amenable to the establishment of assistance programs for the poor, but negotiations will be hard on focusing our priorities with theirs.

President Kennedy: Fuck. Dick made it look so easy. Inside he must have been close to the breaking point.

R. Kennedy: May I make a suggestion Jack?

President Kennedy: Shoot.

R. Kennedy: Go to Martha’s Vineyard for a few days with Jackie and the kids. Then, after the midterms are over, whatever the result you need one signature achievement to focus on – like Medicare – and devote the rest of your capital to foreign policy.

E. Kennedy: Agreed. Nothing can get the American people to rally around the flag and President like a crisis abroad.

President Kennedy: True. And one more thing. [silence] Pray like my life depended on it that George Wallace loses his reelection.

R. Kennedy: [laughs dryly] A Republican getting elected in Alabama. It would need divine intervention.

(end transcript)


Depending on how the 1966 midterms went, many in the Democratic Party were secretly and not so secretly considering the fiery Alabaman to be a potential challenger to the increasingly seen as ineffectual President Kennedy.
 
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Just a tiny post. The Supreme Court at the end of 1965:
  • Chief Justice Earl Warren (Eisenhower appointee)
  • Justice Hugo Black (FDR appointee)
  • Justice William O. Douglas (FDR appointee)
  • Justice John Marshall Harlan (Eisenhower appointee)
  • Justice William Brennan (Eisenhower appointee)
  • Justice Potter Stewart (Eisenhower appointee)
  • Justice Thomas E. Dewey (Nixon appointee)
  • Justice Warren Burger (Nixon appointee)
  • Justice Thurgood Marshall (JFK appointee)

Yay, Dewey and Warren on the same court!
 
Alabama Burning

Kennedy Administration cautiousness in proceeding with the desegregation of schools (in a ploy to ensure the lack of party divisions) had started to try the patience of the major civil rights organizations by 1966. While the Department of Justice plan to comply with the 50% rule drafted by Attorney General Goldberg was viewed as timid, in reality the only states actually engaged in desegregation were Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, and Texas (the former three controlled by Republican Governors while Governor John Connelly of Texas was one of the few conservative allies of the President). Segregationist administrations in the other southern states engaged in a heel dragging campaign of obstruction not seen since the black codes following the Civil War. Beset by party divisions and attempting to pass its own agenda – though in fairness, the Kennedy Administration had by this time fully instituted CRVA and CRA – President Kennedy was seen as paralyzed to accomplish even his cautious goal.

Meeting in the Massachusetts home of Congressman Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, John Lewis, Malcom X, Stokely Carmichael, and nearly half a dozen other civil rights leaders (the last coordinated meeting before the 1967 schism between the organizations) met to discuss a plan of action to bring public attention back to the problem. By a unanimous vote, the decision was made to begin a wave of peaceful protests in the epicenter of racial tension in the south. Birmingham, Alabama.

The city that started much of the movement with the successful bus boycott nearly a decade earlier, things had arguably gotten worse since. Under the leadership of newly elected Mayor Eugene “Bull” Connor – covered by Governor George Wallace – the city had successfully obstructed all efforts by the federal government to dismantle segregation that did not involve the right to vote or the most blatant aspects prohibited by CRA. While the municipal government wasn’t able to overtly segregate anymore, Connor and the city council placed black-owned businesses at a huge disadvantage by blocking them from the massive state and municipal funds earmarked by Governor Wallace’s expansion of the Alabama welfare state (aimed more at the working poor rather than the indigent, drawing many analogies to Huey Long).

It was the lack of action on desegregation and the blatant discrimination in awarding state and city contracts that were made the focus of the Birmingham Campaign. Civil rights advocates of all races and from all states descended into Birmingham for the August march despite the boiling heat. Connor and the Department of Public Safety made it clear that the city would not tolerate any action, but no one was deterred.

Children taking the protest lines among their parents, the whole world watched as the Birmingham Police and Fire Departments unleashed their full fury on the marchers. Riot batons, dogs, and high pressure fire hoses were let loose, and it seemed to be that the nonviolent protestors were about to win a propaganda victory out of their dangerous situation.

It was not to be.

Memories of the Watts Riots the year before had been seared into the head of many African-Americans beleaguered by the blatant prejudice still existing in American society. Many young men blighted by poverty and government abuse were turning to more radical leaders like Malcom X or Stokely Carmichael, or in worse cases militants like the newly formed Black Jaguar Party. Exhorted to take up arms against the oppressors, a group of several of these angry militants were carrying concealed weapons. Remembering the police and National Guard abuses during the Watts Riots and watching children getting swept away by hoses, none of them were planning on taking it “like chumps” as one was quoted in saying.

On August 13th, four days into the campaign, the group was met by three Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies carrying nightsticks as they screened the outer marchers (most of the action being in the city center). Seeing the men accost a racist heckler, they waded in to break up the crowd when the group drew arms and fired at the deputies. After nearly a dozen shots were loosed, Deputies Lucas Wayne, Mark Tobin, and 18-year old trainee Dwayne Phillips were dead, blood pooling in the middle of the street.

Naturally the news of cop killings travelled quickly through the ranks. Mayor Connor, having caught the break of a lifetime, initiated a state of emergency throughout the city. Armed officers in full riot gear burst through homes in black neighborhoods and marcher camps in search of the killers. Respectful they were not, racism mixed with hatred over three of their own being killed fueling multiple cases of abuse and excessive force.

After a day, the people of Birmingham had enough. Battles between the city’s black population and law enforcement and many white civilians rocked the city, the nation watching in horror as Walter Cronkite documented the terror live on CBS. Governor Wallace ordered in the National Guard into Birmingham – causing more harm than good in reality as the KKK’s Alabama chapter proclaimed the race war at hand while the Black Panthers called for the “Destruction of the American Auschwitz.”

The riots petered out in Birmingham after three days, Martin Luther King making a pitched appeal from municipal jail for peace. Demonstrations and civil unrest would continue unabated for nearly a week across the nation, damaging the Kennedy White House right in the middle of a vital election year. Republicans stumped the country calling for decisive action to eliminate segregation and corral lawlessness while Governor George Wallace of Alabama went to the steps of the Alabama Capitol and delivered what would be called the Order Address. Proclaiming that he and other like-minded leaders would push the Democratic Party to be the “Party of Law and Order,” this speech and his actions to stave off the rioting – seen as decisive by nearly 61% of Americans according to Gallup – would catapult him to national prominence.

White House audio transcript, August 20th, 1966

Meeting between the President and his two brothers.

R. Kennedy: Jesus John, you don’t look so good.

President Kennedy: [chuckles] You too eh? At least Jackie doesn’t think less of me. She’s actually happier now in one respect. Haven’t touched anybody but her in six months. [mumbling] Damn this job. I wonder if Lyndon or Dick Nixon would’ve gone as mad as I am getting towards?

E. Kennedy: Don’t say that John. We’re still in a good position.

President Kennedy: Are you goddamn kidding me Teddy? Didn’t we agree no ass kissing from you? I don’t want this to be some sycophantic Stalinist shit.

R. Kennedy: Calm down John. I agree things are tough, but it isn’t hopeless.

President Kennedy: What’s the status of your race, I forget with all the crap and whatnot?

R. Kennedy: [sighs] Neck and neck with Wilson, as much as we can know. Only two months left till election day more or less, so we’ll fight to the end.

President Kennedy: Amen. So what now?

E. Kennedy: I talked to Humphrey, who’s sympathetic, and Rivers, who’s cordial but noncommittal. The House and Senate seem amenable to the establishment of assistance programs for the poor, but negotiations will be hard on focusing our priorities with theirs.

President Kennedy: Fuck. Dick made it look so easy. Inside he must have been close to the breaking point.

R. Kennedy: May I make a suggestion John?

President Kennedy: Shoot.

R. Kennedy: Go to Martha’s Vineyard for a few days with Jackie and the kids. Then, after the midterms are over, whatever the result you need one signature achievement to focus on – like Medicare – and devote the rest of your capital to foreign policy.

E. Kennedy: Agreed. Nothing can get the American people to rally around the flag and President like a crisis abroad.

President Kennedy: True. And one more thing. [silence] Pray like my life depended on it that George Wallace loses his reelection.

R. Kennedy: [laughs dryly] A Republican getting elected in Alabama. It would need divine intervention.

(end transcript)


Depending on how the 1966 midterms went, many in the Democratic Party were secretly and not so secretly considering the fiery Alabaman to be a potential challenger to the increasingly seen as ineffectual President Kennedy.

Oh no...
 
"Hey, remember the time we were going to win but we didn't?"
"Yea, good times"

Maybe we would have won if you had had more substantial things to say than Grass is Green?

And maybe we would have done better if you weren't a dumb, blond Swede! (pretty much an exact quote of Dewey's opinion of Warren after the election :p)
 
Brilliantly written as ever.

R. Kennedy: [laughs dryly] A Republican getting elected in Alabama. It would need divine intervention​


Actually (as I only found out not that long ago) the GOP nearly won a Senate seat there in 1962 - so it's not that unbelievable; though against Wallace... I dunno.​
 
I wonder what their reaction would be to OTL.

I dunno - but I think JFK would prefer TTL immensely compared to OTL. :p

Also a bit of a nitpick - but wouldn't Bobby and the sonofabitch bastard other brother refer to JFK as Jack?
 
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