On the bright side, Guatemala might have a less sucky 20th century (I mean, it would be hard to be worse than having their democratically elected government couped for trying to audit a fruit company, ushering in a brutal genocidal dictatorship that required a 36-year civil war to topple).
Red Spies in the White House: An Alternate Cold War
- Thread starter Ulysses Orbis
- Start date
Oooh, here's a thought: Cambridge Five.
Will McLean be protected while he's in the US, so his "indiscretions" don't get back to the British?
Plus, with John Cairncross working for Ultra, while ENIGMA is kinda known, the techniques were not, he could quite easily take a job with an American front company and spill the secrets indirectly, but knowingly to the Russians.
Will McLean be protected while he's in the US, so his "indiscretions" don't get back to the British?
Plus, with John Cairncross working for Ultra, while ENIGMA is kinda known, the techniques were not, he could quite easily take a job with an American front company and spill the secrets indirectly, but knowingly to the Russians.
It is highly likely that McLean and Cambridge Five have the full backing of the United States in this matter. Just as Cairncross won't need to hide at all.
Let us remember that for this story to work, three operative premises must be assumed:
1) Every person who in OTL was ever accused of being a Soviet spy IS EFFECTIVELY A SOVIET SPY. (Never mind that the evidence was nonexistent.)
2) Harry Dexter White has access to the list of all these Soviet spies, and he is using it to place them in key positions.
3) All of these spies are perfectly fine with doing what White tells them, probably because they know he is one of them. (Or because they have been informed that White is trustworthy.)
So we can be sure that Cairncross will end up being hired somewhere where he can have direct access to US cryptographic office.
This is the thing though, they were British, and a couple were directly employed by SIS. So while they may have a fig leaf of cover in that they are backed by the US, they would still potentially fall foul of the Official Secrets Act and potentially the Treason Act.
With Churchill likely to regain the Prime Minster post in a few years, (OTL - TTL may be slightly different), the Five could still find themselves looking at the wrong end of a long prison sentence. Worst case scenario, they could be looking at wearing a hempen tie for the rest of their lives.
There's two possible PODs there:
- Churchill and the Conservative Party do not win the 1951 General Election. US funded propaganda, maybe exposing some dirty secrets or dodgy dealings during WWII?
- Someone higher up in SIS arranges for the active members of the Five to be stationed in Washington. Two possible outcomes for this: They are able to continue operating, free from exposure by the Americans until they are recalled to London, for tea, medals and promotions.
Or, Menzies Campbell is onto them, (he was allegedly aware of Caincross' affiliations during WWII and used him to funnel information to the Soviet Union), decides that it's time to reel them in, sending them to the US where they get comfortable and sloppy before providing evidence of their duplicity and putting their heads in a noose, (metaphorically, and later, literally).
Or something else entirely may happen?
Of course, going back to your first operative premises - this means that in the not too distant future, short of some significant butterflies - we have Harold Wilson coming into No 10 Downing Street.
It seems to me we could have two alternatives, Milliant Panther groups earlier, the man is going to keep us down, so let's go down swinging, or an entire army of conservatives. We are the moderates here, lets let the white man live up to his seperate but equal. Governor Byrnes in South Carolina, passed a sales tax to equalise African American schools.
Any news for Brazil? I think PTB will win 1950 election.. maybe PCB becomes bigger?
Why would the Democrat party care at this point? The Democrat party was the Jim Crow party, and still had senators in the 90's who voted against abolishing segregation. Why would they care what the Liberals thought? Hell even TDR was pro-segregationist!
SuperZtar64
Banned
Democratic Party. Not Democrat Party. Also, in a two-party system as stable as the US's both parties are going to have a lot of different groups under their wing. Both of them are big tents- need I remind you that in 1928 the Democratic National Convention saw representation from both Catholics and the KKK, to name one example?
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The Korean Uprising
APPLETON PUBLIC LIBRARY, WISCONSIN
Judge Joseph McCarthy, a Republican candidate for the U.S Senate, stood inside a meeting room. Although the crowd he was addressing was not large, the meeting room was so small the crowd was overflowing, and numerous attendees at the event could not find seats. Despite the presence of local reporters, the event was a relatively casual affair. A photographer snapped a picture of McCarthy standing next to the bust which was being unveiled at the event.
“I am pleased to have been invited to the unveiling of President White’s official presidential bust. The President and I are from opposite parties, and I frequently disagree with him on the problems of the day. Nevertheless, we are both loyal Americans, and Americans who appreciate our history and the American way of life- and we both lived in Appleton! Our little town of Appleton was fortunate enough for the President to call us home for two years while he was a professor at Lawrence College. Many of our Presidents came from aristocratic backgrounds, from great families, from old Protestant stock that came to this country from the Mayflower. Harry Dexter White did not. He was born to penniless immigrants, and served with distinction in our nation’s armed forces in World War I. Through dedication, through grit, through hard work and intellect, he worked his way to Harvard University, where he taught courses, and finally he ascended the ranks of the Treasury Department, where he was called upon to become commander in chief in the closing days of the war. Young people should learn from his example- that in America anything is possible, that the circumstances of your family and class do not determine your destiny, that you can choose your fate. This bust shall remind the people of Wisconsin of that. Perhaps, one day in the future, Appleton will even produce another President.”
THE SOUTH RESPONDS TO THE PRESIDENT’S RACIAL POLICIES
Senators Richard Russell, Lister Hill, and James Eastland entered the office of Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley. The senators had dour expressions. Russell carried notes in one hand, as his other hand shook the hand of Alben Barkley. Russell did not waste time with any further pleasantries. “What is happening in the Democratic Party, Alben, is completely unacceptable. We’ve consulted with colleagues from across the South, and what I’m telling you today is the consensus position.
You know we have had our reservations with this President from the beginning. He was an able official in the Treasury Department, but he has risen above his station. We tolerated some of his more distasteful statements without kicking up too much of a fuss, as we did with Mrs. Roosevelt. But the latest actions of the administration have gone too far- the President is preparing an assault on states’ rights so radical it will destroy the harmony of this country. The President has made worrisome overtures to Negro organizations, but his latest meeting is particularly troubling. Paul Robeson, a left-wing radical Negro jazz player, visited the White House three days ago to discuss the lynchings of four Negroes at Moore’s Ford Bridge in Georgia. The President recently gave a speech on this incident, in which he declared that negro lives matter, whatever that means. Robeson told a Negro newspaper that the President agreed to appoint him to a Presidential Commission on Civil Rights- a negro crooner as a federal appointee to a Federal Commission! It’s so absurd I almost thought the President was playing a fast one on us, but it’s the truth! They say that the Justice Department is considering legal action against the state of Georgia for failing to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments. What this means is federal interference in local affairs, forced integration of the races.”
“The President has previously agreed that since he was not elected, he will not make any radical departures from the policy of the previous administration. With regards to anti-lynching laws, the President has aligned himself with numerous other legislators from our Party. I would not place my faith in a Negro newspaper. Anyway, the liberals in the Roosevelt administration used to carry about with negroes in the same way, there was no radical shift or elimination of Separate but Equal.”
“Now Alben, we have given this President a lot of leeway. We allowed the Johnson immigration bill to pass without much opposition- the President wants to please his people, and we let him. We didn’t like it when he desegregated the military, but the southern senators maintained our loyalty to the Democrats. But we thought he understood the arrangement in the Democratic Party- the national party may do as it pleases, but it must not interfere in the southern way of life. Now it seems as if he has deliberately broken this arrangement.”
“The President,” said James Eastland, “is a lackey for Henry Morgenthau, who has always had his own agenda. They are unelected bureaucrats manipulating the country to their own ends, not caring for the will of the people. We have a President White in the White House, but he’s not a President for white people, the deserving citizens of the country. He’s a president for ungrateful Jews and Negroes. We should call him Harry Dexter Black.”
Alben Barkley did not look at Eastland, instead making eye contact with Senator Russell. “I will take your concerns to the President. The Robeson affair is very embarrassing- it is one thing to mingle with the Marian Andersons of the world, but Robeson is a discredit to his race. I will tell the President that he has exceeded the leeway we have granted him in the matter. The President can be personally disagreeable, but he is not wholly stubborn and uncompromising. There’s no need for any of you to make any dramatic public gestures.”
“I hope you’re right Alben,” said Senator Russell, “for your own sake. We would not want to be forced to split off from the Democratic Party.”
The Korean Uprising
In August of 1946, mass demonstrations in Korea protested the American occupation of the southern part of the country, prompting the complete evacuation of American troops from the Peninsula. Hanyang (Seoul) had already fallen under the Soviet occupation zone. The protests were dominated by left-wing labor unions and student groups. During the period of Japanese occupation, pro-independence dissidents were subject to merciless persecution by the Imperial government. Following the surrender of the Japanese to the United States, the Japanese withdrew entirely from Korea. This left a political vacuum which allowed for various political groups to organize openly without fear of execution or imprisonment. Decades of pent-up desires and frustrations suddenly found release, resulting in a sudden revitalization of the Korean political sphere.
The United States did not have any clear goals with regards to the long-term fate of Korea. While the Korean independence movement had supported the Allies during World War II, Korea had nevertheless been a part of the Japanese Empire during World War II and was thus to an extent considered a former “enemy” country. America’s Asian foreign policy was largely focused on China and Japan- Korea was a little bit of an afterthought. Dean Rusk, who had drawn up the partition of Korea into Soviet and American zones of occupation, had done so almost randomly, choosing the dividing parallel from a National Geographic map. President White had redrawn the occupation zone to include Hanyang in the Soviet sphere. Syngman Rhee, who led the nascent government in South Korea, was forced to make a humiliating retreat to Busan when Soviet troops entered Hanyang.
The remaining American troops in Korea, under the command of General John Hodge, were thus forced to administer a country without any understanding of the culture or designated purpose. The murder of Douglas MacArthur further focused the attention of the War Department on occupied Japan, leaving the Korean occupation force with fewer resources and ambiguous orders. Although Korean had been liberated, the nation was still in a state of chaos. Inflation was rampant, access to fuel and food was scarce, unemployment was high, and many Koreans had been internally dislocated due to the war and the partition. American troops suffered from low morale and poor living conditions and took out their frustrations on the local population. Relations between the U.S Army and the Koreans who lived under their occupation were thus quite poor. General Hodge was furious at President White for ceding Hanyang to the Soviets, which through the provisional government into chaos. The Korean provisional government, consisting of Koreans appointed by Hodge, was left without any administrative capacity. Hodge was thus forced to bear most of the burden of governing Korea. Hodge vented his frustration in a series of letters to General Robert Eichelberger, demanding more support from Washington and a revamped strategy. In his private diary, Hodge even considered joining Charles Willoughby in resigning and launching public attacks against the White administration. Hodge would eventually ask Eichelberger that he be reassigned, and that his deputy General Archibald Arnold assume full responsibility for the occupation. Hodge had no desire to remain in a position he had been thrust into, controlling a country he had little knowledge of.
While Hodge’s request for reassignment was being processed, an uprising broke out against the American occupation. The uprising began in the summer of 1946 with the strike of hundreds of thousands of Korean workers organized by Korean labor unions. The initial demands of the strikers were focused specifically on living conditions and wages for workers. However, the mass protests that coincided with the strikes had broader political demands- the end of the American military occupation and the formation of a new democratically elected government. The protests were further galvanized by the arrest of communist and union organizers by the American military. The protesters were not necessarily united in their demands- some of the protesters were Communists calling for the establishment of a Communist Korea, while others had vague notions of Korea becoming a liberal democracy. The protesters were united on the fact that the Korean Provisional Government was not the authentic representative of the Korean people. Hundreds of People’s Committees had been formed to serve as local governments following the withdrawal of the Japanese, but General Hodge had banned the People’s Committees and largely incorporated conservative elites into the Provisional government. An alternate provisional government, the People’s Republic of Korea, was formed by Yuh Woon-Hyung but this government was also banned by Hodge. Yuh and Park Heon-Young, General Secretary of the Communist Party, thus cooperated in organizing mass protests. The officially disbanded People’s Committees mobilized their members to participate in the protests. The summer of 1946 saw mass demonstrations in the cities of Jeonju, Daegu, Busan, Daejon, Ulsan, Cheongju, and Gwangju.
General Hodge was prepared to deploy military force to crush the uprising and restore the legitimacy of Rhee’s provisional government. Orders quickly came from Secretary of War James Forrestal that Hodge was to let the demonstrations proceed peacefully. A State Department official, Donald Hiss (brother of U.N Secretary General Alger Hiss), was dispatched to Korea along with the President’s Chief of Staff Lauchlin Currie to negotiate with the protesters. Hodge steamed as he was sidelined from his own occupation. Hiss and Currie made it clear that they spoke for the President, and Alger Hiss sent a letter indicating the United Nations supported the diplomatic efforts of his brother in Korea. The President, said Hiss, realized that mistakes had been made with regards to Korea, that America’s Korean policy had been designed with little care, and that Washington had ignored Korea and failed to consider a more careful policy of occupation. The American mission in Korea had been conceptually flawed from the start. In the modern age of internationalism, human rights, and the United Nations; America could no longer assume the role of an imperialist or occupying country. The Philippines, just a few weeks earlier, had received full independence from the United States. Since most Koreans had not supported the Japanese Empire, there was no continued rationalization for the American occupation. American policy towards Korea should follow that of the Philippines-the country should be granted immediate and full independence free of interference from the American military.
Hiss and Currie quickly formed an agreement with Yuh and Park, who had designated themselves the representatives for the Korean dissidents. Rhee’s provisional government was to be dissolved and was to be replaced with a new provisional government with Yuh Woon-Hyung as Chairman. The new provisional government would accept responsibility for organizing national elections and writing a new constitution. Yuh’s provisional government was stacked with liberal and left-wing politicians sympathetic to the Summer Uprising. A handful of ministers from Rhee’s government remained in the new provisional government, and Rhee himself refused a position he was offered under Yuh. Park Heong-Young was appointed Vice Chair of the new provisional government. The People’s Committees were restored, with the permanent relation between the People’s Committees and the provisional government to be established later. Finally, Hiss and Currie promised that the U.S Army would immediately withdraw from Korea. Secretary of State Duggan and Secretary of War Forrestal confirmed Washington’s support for the Hiss Plan in messages to Generals Eichelberger and Hodge. Eichelberger was to sign his name to the Hiss Plan, and Hodge was to assemble all his troops in Busan and sail for Japan. Hodge, aggravated by the entire process, resigned his commission rather than implement the Hiss Plan. Archibald Arnold assumed Hodge’s position and oversaw the American withdrawal. Hodge would join the growing cadre of former generals who publicly and vocally denounced the White administration. Most of the American troops deployed in Korea, however, had tired of their aimless deployment and welcomed their evacuation.
The Korean Republic, the name for the new provisional government, was dominated by leftists but was officially committed to the creation of a constitutional liberal democracy. Yuh Woong-Hyung had been appointed Chair of the Provisional Government with the support of the Korean Communists. Hiss and Currie made clear that a communist becoming the Korean Republic’s head of state would be unacceptable for the United States and politically embarrassing for the White administration. The success of the Hiss Plan depended on the Korean Republic having a more moderate bent, thus justifying the end of the occupation. Park Heon-Young had greater support among the strikers and protesters than Yuh, but as a Communist he could not become Chairman. Soviet Foreign Secretary Molotov’s office urged Park to accept the terms of the Hiss Plan, arguing it was the best concession the Communists could hope to receive from the Americans. While nominally subordinate to Yuh, Park took on a dominant role in the provisional government. He appointed numerous Communists to government positions and supported communist-controlled People’s Committees. On the island of Jeju, the People’s Committees were formed by Communists who declared their support for the communist provisional government in the North. Chairman Yuh opened negotiations with the North to discuss the possibility of uniting the provisional governments and creating a single republic with control over all Korea. Kim Il-Sung, Chair of the provisional government in the North, initially expressed interest in these negotiations. The Soviets officially urged Kim to participate in formal discussions with Yuh, and it seemed both parties took the negotiations seriously.
The assassination of Yuh Heong-Young under mysterious circumstances would put a sudden halt to the negotiations. Yuh was killed by an assassin’s bullet near the headquarters of the provisional government in Busan on January 15th, 1947. There are multiple theories as to the identity of Yuh’s assassin. Park Heong-Young, who assumed control of the Korean Republic, identified a right-wing nationalist college student as Yuh’s assassin and had the student executed. Conservatives, of course, claim that Park ordered Yuh’s assassination himself in order to seize power, while some Korean exiles suggest Kim Il-Sung or Stalin as the mastermind. Citing threats against his own person, Park claimed that Syngman Rhee, who had fled to exile in Hawaii, was plotting a military coup against the Korean Republic. Park invited Soviet troops into the Korean Republic to root out the supposed saboteurs. Within a few weeks of Yuh’s assassination, the Soviet Army occupied the entire Korean peninsula, and was carrying out arrests and killings of Park’s political opponents. Park, however, strived to prove that he represented the Korean people and was not a puppet of the Soviet Union. The Korean Republic thus maintained official sovereignty separate from Kim’s northern government. Kim and Park continued diplomatic discussions and agreed to unite the Koreas under a single government, with Park Heong-Young as President and Kim Il-Sung as Prime Minister. Park was further declared General Secretary of the Communist Party of Korea. Kim was thus subordinate to Park, who became the leader of a united Communist Korea. The Soviets viewed Park as more authentically popular among Koreans and thus a more viable President. Molotov thus ordered Kim to submit to Park. Park’s position as head of state eased concerns among Koreans in the South who were weary of Soviet occupation. Kim Il-Sung would later be purged and executed by Park who worried his political rival would seek to replace him. The People’s Committees were coopted entirely by the Communists, and Park declared the creation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Judge Joseph McCarthy, a Republican candidate for the U.S Senate, stood inside a meeting room. Although the crowd he was addressing was not large, the meeting room was so small the crowd was overflowing, and numerous attendees at the event could not find seats. Despite the presence of local reporters, the event was a relatively casual affair. A photographer snapped a picture of McCarthy standing next to the bust which was being unveiled at the event.
“I am pleased to have been invited to the unveiling of President White’s official presidential bust. The President and I are from opposite parties, and I frequently disagree with him on the problems of the day. Nevertheless, we are both loyal Americans, and Americans who appreciate our history and the American way of life- and we both lived in Appleton! Our little town of Appleton was fortunate enough for the President to call us home for two years while he was a professor at Lawrence College. Many of our Presidents came from aristocratic backgrounds, from great families, from old Protestant stock that came to this country from the Mayflower. Harry Dexter White did not. He was born to penniless immigrants, and served with distinction in our nation’s armed forces in World War I. Through dedication, through grit, through hard work and intellect, he worked his way to Harvard University, where he taught courses, and finally he ascended the ranks of the Treasury Department, where he was called upon to become commander in chief in the closing days of the war. Young people should learn from his example- that in America anything is possible, that the circumstances of your family and class do not determine your destiny, that you can choose your fate. This bust shall remind the people of Wisconsin of that. Perhaps, one day in the future, Appleton will even produce another President.”
THE SOUTH RESPONDS TO THE PRESIDENT’S RACIAL POLICIES
Senators Richard Russell, Lister Hill, and James Eastland entered the office of Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley. The senators had dour expressions. Russell carried notes in one hand, as his other hand shook the hand of Alben Barkley. Russell did not waste time with any further pleasantries. “What is happening in the Democratic Party, Alben, is completely unacceptable. We’ve consulted with colleagues from across the South, and what I’m telling you today is the consensus position.
You know we have had our reservations with this President from the beginning. He was an able official in the Treasury Department, but he has risen above his station. We tolerated some of his more distasteful statements without kicking up too much of a fuss, as we did with Mrs. Roosevelt. But the latest actions of the administration have gone too far- the President is preparing an assault on states’ rights so radical it will destroy the harmony of this country. The President has made worrisome overtures to Negro organizations, but his latest meeting is particularly troubling. Paul Robeson, a left-wing radical Negro jazz player, visited the White House three days ago to discuss the lynchings of four Negroes at Moore’s Ford Bridge in Georgia. The President recently gave a speech on this incident, in which he declared that negro lives matter, whatever that means. Robeson told a Negro newspaper that the President agreed to appoint him to a Presidential Commission on Civil Rights- a negro crooner as a federal appointee to a Federal Commission! It’s so absurd I almost thought the President was playing a fast one on us, but it’s the truth! They say that the Justice Department is considering legal action against the state of Georgia for failing to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments. What this means is federal interference in local affairs, forced integration of the races.”
“The President has previously agreed that since he was not elected, he will not make any radical departures from the policy of the previous administration. With regards to anti-lynching laws, the President has aligned himself with numerous other legislators from our Party. I would not place my faith in a Negro newspaper. Anyway, the liberals in the Roosevelt administration used to carry about with negroes in the same way, there was no radical shift or elimination of Separate but Equal.”
“Now Alben, we have given this President a lot of leeway. We allowed the Johnson immigration bill to pass without much opposition- the President wants to please his people, and we let him. We didn’t like it when he desegregated the military, but the southern senators maintained our loyalty to the Democrats. But we thought he understood the arrangement in the Democratic Party- the national party may do as it pleases, but it must not interfere in the southern way of life. Now it seems as if he has deliberately broken this arrangement.”
“The President,” said James Eastland, “is a lackey for Henry Morgenthau, who has always had his own agenda. They are unelected bureaucrats manipulating the country to their own ends, not caring for the will of the people. We have a President White in the White House, but he’s not a President for white people, the deserving citizens of the country. He’s a president for ungrateful Jews and Negroes. We should call him Harry Dexter Black.”
Alben Barkley did not look at Eastland, instead making eye contact with Senator Russell. “I will take your concerns to the President. The Robeson affair is very embarrassing- it is one thing to mingle with the Marian Andersons of the world, but Robeson is a discredit to his race. I will tell the President that he has exceeded the leeway we have granted him in the matter. The President can be personally disagreeable, but he is not wholly stubborn and uncompromising. There’s no need for any of you to make any dramatic public gestures.”
“I hope you’re right Alben,” said Senator Russell, “for your own sake. We would not want to be forced to split off from the Democratic Party.”
The Korean Uprising
In August of 1946, mass demonstrations in Korea protested the American occupation of the southern part of the country, prompting the complete evacuation of American troops from the Peninsula. Hanyang (Seoul) had already fallen under the Soviet occupation zone. The protests were dominated by left-wing labor unions and student groups. During the period of Japanese occupation, pro-independence dissidents were subject to merciless persecution by the Imperial government. Following the surrender of the Japanese to the United States, the Japanese withdrew entirely from Korea. This left a political vacuum which allowed for various political groups to organize openly without fear of execution or imprisonment. Decades of pent-up desires and frustrations suddenly found release, resulting in a sudden revitalization of the Korean political sphere.
The United States did not have any clear goals with regards to the long-term fate of Korea. While the Korean independence movement had supported the Allies during World War II, Korea had nevertheless been a part of the Japanese Empire during World War II and was thus to an extent considered a former “enemy” country. America’s Asian foreign policy was largely focused on China and Japan- Korea was a little bit of an afterthought. Dean Rusk, who had drawn up the partition of Korea into Soviet and American zones of occupation, had done so almost randomly, choosing the dividing parallel from a National Geographic map. President White had redrawn the occupation zone to include Hanyang in the Soviet sphere. Syngman Rhee, who led the nascent government in South Korea, was forced to make a humiliating retreat to Busan when Soviet troops entered Hanyang.
The remaining American troops in Korea, under the command of General John Hodge, were thus forced to administer a country without any understanding of the culture or designated purpose. The murder of Douglas MacArthur further focused the attention of the War Department on occupied Japan, leaving the Korean occupation force with fewer resources and ambiguous orders. Although Korean had been liberated, the nation was still in a state of chaos. Inflation was rampant, access to fuel and food was scarce, unemployment was high, and many Koreans had been internally dislocated due to the war and the partition. American troops suffered from low morale and poor living conditions and took out their frustrations on the local population. Relations between the U.S Army and the Koreans who lived under their occupation were thus quite poor. General Hodge was furious at President White for ceding Hanyang to the Soviets, which through the provisional government into chaos. The Korean provisional government, consisting of Koreans appointed by Hodge, was left without any administrative capacity. Hodge was thus forced to bear most of the burden of governing Korea. Hodge vented his frustration in a series of letters to General Robert Eichelberger, demanding more support from Washington and a revamped strategy. In his private diary, Hodge even considered joining Charles Willoughby in resigning and launching public attacks against the White administration. Hodge would eventually ask Eichelberger that he be reassigned, and that his deputy General Archibald Arnold assume full responsibility for the occupation. Hodge had no desire to remain in a position he had been thrust into, controlling a country he had little knowledge of.
While Hodge’s request for reassignment was being processed, an uprising broke out against the American occupation. The uprising began in the summer of 1946 with the strike of hundreds of thousands of Korean workers organized by Korean labor unions. The initial demands of the strikers were focused specifically on living conditions and wages for workers. However, the mass protests that coincided with the strikes had broader political demands- the end of the American military occupation and the formation of a new democratically elected government. The protests were further galvanized by the arrest of communist and union organizers by the American military. The protesters were not necessarily united in their demands- some of the protesters were Communists calling for the establishment of a Communist Korea, while others had vague notions of Korea becoming a liberal democracy. The protesters were united on the fact that the Korean Provisional Government was not the authentic representative of the Korean people. Hundreds of People’s Committees had been formed to serve as local governments following the withdrawal of the Japanese, but General Hodge had banned the People’s Committees and largely incorporated conservative elites into the Provisional government. An alternate provisional government, the People’s Republic of Korea, was formed by Yuh Woon-Hyung but this government was also banned by Hodge. Yuh and Park Heon-Young, General Secretary of the Communist Party, thus cooperated in organizing mass protests. The officially disbanded People’s Committees mobilized their members to participate in the protests. The summer of 1946 saw mass demonstrations in the cities of Jeonju, Daegu, Busan, Daejon, Ulsan, Cheongju, and Gwangju.
General Hodge was prepared to deploy military force to crush the uprising and restore the legitimacy of Rhee’s provisional government. Orders quickly came from Secretary of War James Forrestal that Hodge was to let the demonstrations proceed peacefully. A State Department official, Donald Hiss (brother of U.N Secretary General Alger Hiss), was dispatched to Korea along with the President’s Chief of Staff Lauchlin Currie to negotiate with the protesters. Hodge steamed as he was sidelined from his own occupation. Hiss and Currie made it clear that they spoke for the President, and Alger Hiss sent a letter indicating the United Nations supported the diplomatic efforts of his brother in Korea. The President, said Hiss, realized that mistakes had been made with regards to Korea, that America’s Korean policy had been designed with little care, and that Washington had ignored Korea and failed to consider a more careful policy of occupation. The American mission in Korea had been conceptually flawed from the start. In the modern age of internationalism, human rights, and the United Nations; America could no longer assume the role of an imperialist or occupying country. The Philippines, just a few weeks earlier, had received full independence from the United States. Since most Koreans had not supported the Japanese Empire, there was no continued rationalization for the American occupation. American policy towards Korea should follow that of the Philippines-the country should be granted immediate and full independence free of interference from the American military.
Hiss and Currie quickly formed an agreement with Yuh and Park, who had designated themselves the representatives for the Korean dissidents. Rhee’s provisional government was to be dissolved and was to be replaced with a new provisional government with Yuh Woon-Hyung as Chairman. The new provisional government would accept responsibility for organizing national elections and writing a new constitution. Yuh’s provisional government was stacked with liberal and left-wing politicians sympathetic to the Summer Uprising. A handful of ministers from Rhee’s government remained in the new provisional government, and Rhee himself refused a position he was offered under Yuh. Park Heong-Young was appointed Vice Chair of the new provisional government. The People’s Committees were restored, with the permanent relation between the People’s Committees and the provisional government to be established later. Finally, Hiss and Currie promised that the U.S Army would immediately withdraw from Korea. Secretary of State Duggan and Secretary of War Forrestal confirmed Washington’s support for the Hiss Plan in messages to Generals Eichelberger and Hodge. Eichelberger was to sign his name to the Hiss Plan, and Hodge was to assemble all his troops in Busan and sail for Japan. Hodge, aggravated by the entire process, resigned his commission rather than implement the Hiss Plan. Archibald Arnold assumed Hodge’s position and oversaw the American withdrawal. Hodge would join the growing cadre of former generals who publicly and vocally denounced the White administration. Most of the American troops deployed in Korea, however, had tired of their aimless deployment and welcomed their evacuation.
The Korean Republic, the name for the new provisional government, was dominated by leftists but was officially committed to the creation of a constitutional liberal democracy. Yuh Woong-Hyung had been appointed Chair of the Provisional Government with the support of the Korean Communists. Hiss and Currie made clear that a communist becoming the Korean Republic’s head of state would be unacceptable for the United States and politically embarrassing for the White administration. The success of the Hiss Plan depended on the Korean Republic having a more moderate bent, thus justifying the end of the occupation. Park Heon-Young had greater support among the strikers and protesters than Yuh, but as a Communist he could not become Chairman. Soviet Foreign Secretary Molotov’s office urged Park to accept the terms of the Hiss Plan, arguing it was the best concession the Communists could hope to receive from the Americans. While nominally subordinate to Yuh, Park took on a dominant role in the provisional government. He appointed numerous Communists to government positions and supported communist-controlled People’s Committees. On the island of Jeju, the People’s Committees were formed by Communists who declared their support for the communist provisional government in the North. Chairman Yuh opened negotiations with the North to discuss the possibility of uniting the provisional governments and creating a single republic with control over all Korea. Kim Il-Sung, Chair of the provisional government in the North, initially expressed interest in these negotiations. The Soviets officially urged Kim to participate in formal discussions with Yuh, and it seemed both parties took the negotiations seriously.
The assassination of Yuh Heong-Young under mysterious circumstances would put a sudden halt to the negotiations. Yuh was killed by an assassin’s bullet near the headquarters of the provisional government in Busan on January 15th, 1947. There are multiple theories as to the identity of Yuh’s assassin. Park Heong-Young, who assumed control of the Korean Republic, identified a right-wing nationalist college student as Yuh’s assassin and had the student executed. Conservatives, of course, claim that Park ordered Yuh’s assassination himself in order to seize power, while some Korean exiles suggest Kim Il-Sung or Stalin as the mastermind. Citing threats against his own person, Park claimed that Syngman Rhee, who had fled to exile in Hawaii, was plotting a military coup against the Korean Republic. Park invited Soviet troops into the Korean Republic to root out the supposed saboteurs. Within a few weeks of Yuh’s assassination, the Soviet Army occupied the entire Korean peninsula, and was carrying out arrests and killings of Park’s political opponents. Park, however, strived to prove that he represented the Korean people and was not a puppet of the Soviet Union. The Korean Republic thus maintained official sovereignty separate from Kim’s northern government. Kim and Park continued diplomatic discussions and agreed to unite the Koreas under a single government, with Park Heong-Young as President and Kim Il-Sung as Prime Minister. Park was further declared General Secretary of the Communist Party of Korea. Kim was thus subordinate to Park, who became the leader of a united Communist Korea. The Soviets viewed Park as more authentically popular among Koreans and thus a more viable President. Molotov thus ordered Kim to submit to Park. Park’s position as head of state eased concerns among Koreans in the South who were weary of Soviet occupation. Kim Il-Sung would later be purged and executed by Park who worried his political rival would seek to replace him. The People’s Committees were coopted entirely by the Communists, and Park declared the creation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
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Eh, we'll see. Bear in mind that South Korea OTL didn't democratize for quite a while, and was initially less prosperous than the North.
Plus a Communist Korea means no Korean War, and no Bodo League Massacre.
SuperZtar64
Banned
In the short term yes absolutely. But it's early, and we don't know how communist Korea is going to develop.
Looks like that President White did it again by giving up Korea to the communists with no resistance at all. Add that to the list of countries Mr. White gave up to daddy Stalin.
so theres going to be no economic miracle in Asia, I guess. SK is gone, Japan in a fire, IDK what else.
Pangur
Donor
The Australians will be crapping themselves. They are deadset anti communist with out any outside influence so thats staying. The poms through them undera bus in WW2 and now the Yanks cant be depended upon Cue Aussie nukes in the future of this T/L
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Same difference. Besides that I would be careful how you attempt to lead such a convo- that brings mods in and that is never fun on any forum.
I hope to see McCarthy become President simply because in OTL he actually opposed segregation and the Jim Crown laws.
"Racism goes against the values of America. Like Communism. My point is that racists are secretely working for the Soviet Union, so the KKK is full of communist spies."- A very drunk President Joseph McCarthy in front of a very confused Storm Thurmond.