Old Soldiers Never Die: America Shaped By MacArthur

Its starts interesting. :D

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Thanks, I hope you guys enjoy!

Doug as president, this can only end very badly especially as his ego has been stroked by his ITTL victory in Korea by China not intervening. This can only cement his unshakeable belief in his own omnipotence, and I can see the "Bataan gang" becoming his inner circle of advisors and, as OTL, ensuring that only sycophant advice and details reach his ears. Willoughby as head of the CIA for example...

One side note: One of the MacArthur's earliest supporters was Phil LaFollette, the former Progressive governor of Wisconsin. Despite having many political differences, LaFollette had served under MacArthur during the Second World War and came to respect him. I'm guessing that Phil will probably get a position in any MacArthur administration (which, in addition to their political differences, could be interesting, since Phil is the brother of Bob Jr. who had been defeated in 1946 by on Joe McCarthy.)

Three in Five chance the U.S. and Soviets engage in at least a major conventional war by mid-point of his second term, if not sooner
Again, no spoilers. I will say, though, I am learning a lot I didn't know before in researching this timeline. It's been pretty great.

This is one of those stories that I always thought about writing and did attempt at one point, but never had the acumen or concentration to properly execute. I'll be watching this with great interest as I'm curious what direction you are going to take this, and you've already diverged significantly from the setting I had opted to work with. Hell, the titles themselves were virtually identical. XD
Ha! That's great. That timeline looks real interesting, too, with a later start date. Maybe you should do a new one someday.
It's like a car crash....It's terrifying, yet I can't look away...
Comes with the subject. Turns out, Douglas was even more bonkers than I first thought when I came up with the original idea.
 
I wonder how MacArthur would influence the Civil Rights Movement. For what ever his other flaws, he was a strong proponent of desegregating the military.

I think it would be more accurate to say MacArthur was pretty apathetic on the subject of desegregating the military on his watch. It wasn't a hill he was willing to die on, but he wasn't going to help the process along either. Two years after Truman's historic order, and yet not one unit of the Army in the Far East Command had been integrated. Unofficial integration of Eighth Army didn't begin until late in 1950, and it was not until after MacArthur's recall the following year that his successor Matthew Ridgway began to desegregate the command. Never forget that when you tolerate a virulent racist like Ned Almond as your Chief of Staff-a guy who went to his grave advocating for a segregated military, and doing everything possible (*) to prevent integration-it's pretty safe to assume that whatever lip service you give to the subject of civil rights is just that-lip service. To be fair about it, Mac wasn't alone in that attitude-his military peers like Eisenhower, Marshall and Bradley weren't much better on the issue-but the reality seems to be that it was a moral challenge he was content to pass on to a younger generation.

(*) To quote an example, in one of his last official acts before his untimely death, Walton Walker, Commanding General of the Eighth Army, recommended that his command be desegregated. Ned Almond, in what was one of HIS last official acts as Mac's Chief of Staff, recommended that Walker's proposal be ignored, and so it was, until Ridgway decided otherwise.
 
The Election of 1952
The Election of 1952
So It Begins
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Campaign poster supporting MacArthur.
The Democratic Party nomination in 1952 was obvious. Truman was a popular president who many still associated with Roosevelt, and could take credit for the outcome of the Korean War just as easily as MacArthur could. He had no competition.

The Republican nomination was no different.When Eisenhower, who had been asked to run in the past by both parties, officially endorsed MacArthur for the nomination, it was all over. After some deliberation, MacArthur chose California governor Earl Warren as his running mate. Partially, this was to attract moderates afraid of the hardline MacArthur and former Dewey supporters. Still, some wonder why he didn't choose Eisenhower, who was clearly supporting him and had many similar policies. I personally ascribe to the theory that the other reason Warren was chosen because he could do all the 'boring' parts of politics without outshining MacArthur himself.

Both presidential hopefuls could tell from the start that this would be a very close election. MacArthur had popularity and the mystique of the underdog who did the right thing despite his orders, but Truman was a moderate who had a successful and popular presidency. As neither of the men was known for personality and charisma--Truman was softspoken, MacArthur gruff and hard to approach--this race would come down to policy and playing up respective legacies.

Truman, it turned out, was only half wrong about Douglas. He had no interest in domestic policy. His foreign policy was very clear--he was a strong interventionist, extremely anti-communist and anti-Soviet, pro nuclear armament and generally hawkish--but his domestic policy was much more muddled. He was mostly content to leave it to his campaign staff, especially the ever-suffering Warren, who would soon become characterized in political cartoons and Truman ads as the tired workhorse who was always struggling to keep up with MacArthur, who constantly stole his ideas. This characterization, while obviously exaggerated, was not entirely inaccurate.
--America Shaped By MacArthur, Chapter 6 excerpt

[A slide of a family sitting around a television shows onscreen.]
NARRATOR: 1952 is considered by many to be the first election that was television focused, and MacArthur's team was sure to pull out all the stops.
[Various animated ads showing parades, caricatures and more play as Professor Johnson talks.]
JOHNSON: Walt Disney was involved, former NBC casters were involved...MacArthur's ad game was really intense.
[A slide of Disney meeting with MacArthur]
JOHNSON: A lot of people think of Walt Disney as apolitical, but he was very anti-communist, very right-wing. When MacArthur said he wanted animated ads, Disney jumped at the chance.
--From the PBS documentary Douglas


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One of the many campaign ads criticizing Truman.
A strong focus of attack ads against Truman was the fact that he was wrong about what would happen in Korea. MacArthur played himself up as the hero who could see what Truman couldn't. This had a very strong effect on the voters, and Truman was disheartened when his approval ratings sunk as his opposition to the push that ended the Korean War became more widely known.

Still, MacArthur was no saint, and Truman could strike right back. MacArthur was portrayed as a vain, warmongering man who would drag America into a war with the USSR. As previously mentioned, his habit of taking all his domestic policy ideas from Warren was played up as well. Truman and MacArthur had always disliked each other, and it showed in this very vicious ad cycle.

[...]

On Election Night of November 4th, the vote turned out to be far closer than anyone had anticipated. Truman won quite a few states by only a few thousand votes, as did MacArthur. Ultimately, the election came down to an odd state--Oregon and its six electoral votes. The race was close enough that whoever won that state would win the election. Issue was, the result was within 500 votes. Multiple recounts were ordered, and they stretched on for weeks.

But every single one came up with the same result. After the third, Truman had no choice. His concession speech finally came on December 2nd.
--America Shaped By MacArthur, Chapter 6 excerpt

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Douglas MacArthur/Earl Warren--Republican Party
Harry S. Truman/Alben W. Barkley--Democratic Party

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Thanks to @Nathan12479 for the awesome campaign posters!
 
Speaking of Korea, since the PRC chose not to intervene in the conflict, I have a feeling that Mao might not last long as the leader; that or he's going to be splitting with Stalin, enabling an earlier Sino-Soviet split.
 
Great start.

One humble suggestion. Don't make MacArthur into a stereotypical war-monger. They said the same thing about Nixon and Reagan and their presidencies turned out rather well in regards to relations with the Russians. MacArthur might be well positioned to be a peacemaker since he has cover on the right and the Soviets know they better not mess with him.
 
Celebration at Home, Tension Abroad
Celebration at Home, Tension Abroad
America immediately after the election and an interlude on China

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Truman concedes the election on December 2nd, 1952.

Truman was surprisingly humble when he finally conceded. This can perhaps be attributed to his sense of resignation more than a sense of sportsmanship--he was a tired old man who had just been through a an intense campaign with a personal rival. He was done with politics, and chose to resign the next morning, briefly making Alben W. Barkley the 34th president. Barkley served for just 48 days, which makes him the second shortest-serving president of the United States, after William Henry Harrison. Truman would die on January 20th, 1953--ironically, MacArthur's inauguration day.

The country itself was exhausted. It had just been through one of the most divisive elections in its history, and was desperate for unity, looking to the newly elected MacArthur for that unity. MacArthur voters were ecstatic, Truman voters resigned and hoping for the best.
--America Shaped By MacArthur, Chapter 7 excerpt

I am proud that you the people have chosen me to lead this great nation into a new decade. Some said that an old soldier like me could never win become president. I had to run for Congress or be a governor first. But I never faltered, for it is my firm belief that old soldiers never die. They go on to achieve greater glories and reach greater heights.
--MacArthur's Inaugural address, after being sworn in as the 35th president.

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Chairman Mao Zedong speaks in front of an audience in China in 1953.

Chinese-Soviet relations started deteriorating almost immediately after the Korean War. The Russians were furious that Mao had seemingly stood around and done nothing while the communists in the peninsula were crushed, leaving another capitalist state and US ally in the region, along with Japan. The chairman of the Peoples Republic of China, Mao Zedong, stuck to his stance on the issue--China was simply not ready for a war with the United States at the time. There is some disagreement on that stance now, of course--while China fell behind the US in terms of industry and equipment, they could well outpace them in terms of manpower. But Mao did not want to bow to Soviet pressure.

This was not to say that Mao was tolerant of the capitalist state right on the border. He would hold up many of the more questionable actions of the new Korean government, such as mass witch hunts and killings of suspected communists, and blame them on the United States. He also repeatedly made subtle and not-so-subtle threats against Korea. Notably, this calmed down somewhat immediately after Douglas MacArthur was inaugurated the 35th president of the United States, as Mao still did not find the idea of a war with the US appealing, and wanted to see what MacArthur's true foreign policy would be now that he was actually president and not simply campaigning.
--Excerpt from A History of China--The 20th Century
 
I apologize for letting this slack a bit. I've just been a bit blocked is all.

Coming in the next update, MacArthur's cabinet, and a brief update on the state of the world at large.
 
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