John J. McKeithen (D)
(1981-1983)
The 1980 Democratic National Convention was an absolute mess. New York Governor Hugh Carey, Washington Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, and former Alabama Governor George Wallace all had strong support, with former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and former California Governor Jerry Brown having minor but steadfast blocs of support as well. Eventually, it would come down to Governors Carey and Wallace on the eighth ballot, but no winner emerged.
In the backrooms of the convention, booze and smoke running freely, a deal was hashed out that would see Jackson placed in charge of the State Department, Carey in charge of the Treasury Department, and Wallace in charge of the Justice Department. Taking themselves out of the running, they then had to decide who they would support for President. Two names would emerge: 1976 Presidential Nominee Birch Bayh and 1972 Vice Presidential Nominee John J. McKeithen.
Eventually, after a very divisive convention, the former Louisiana Governor would be selected as the nominee. His opponent in the General Election, despite his massive charisma, would go on to a crushing defeat, but McKeithen would not enter office with the approval ratings his landslide might suggest – he was the lowest common denominator of candidates as a moderate Southerner who had a cabinet largely made up of people he did not choose. It was this internal division in his cabinet that would lead to President McKeithen earning a reputation of "Schizophrenic Policy" and indecision depending on who it was that had his ear. Even worse, one of the first things President McKeithen did was issue a pardon of all individuals involved with the Texas Tea Party scandal and a cessation of all investigations. Although it would be massively unpopular with the public, he defended his choice by saying it was meant to defend the sanctity of the office and as a way to move forward instead of focusing on the past.
At first, it was Secretary Jackson who had his attention, much to the dismay of Secretary of Defense Edmund Muskie. In response to the kidnapping of several dozen Americans in Iran, President McKeithen would launch Operation Eagle Dawn, an attempt to rescue the hostages. However, this mission would be forced to abort at the last minute due to a series of technical malfunctions. Nevertheless, several of the hostages would be killed in retaliation to this attempted attack. While Secretary Jackson wanted McKeithen to seek a declaration of war, Secretary Muskie convinced the President otherwise.
Instead, Operation Persian Carpet would be launched – a massive carpet bombing campaign across the country – in conjunction with Operation Magic Carpet – a special operation designed to extract the remaining hostages held in Tehran. While Magic Carpet would see the hostages returned to American soil by May, the bombings would continue until December, destabilizing the Iranian regime and allowing military advisors to be sent in to aid the secularists in setting up a rival government within the country. These campaigns also had the further effect of scaring much of the Middle East to lower oil prices again, effectively putting an end to the Energy Crisis of the Republican 1970s.
Riding high on this success into 1982, Secretary Jackson tried to convince the President to double down on his efforts in Iran. Indeed, the sense of nationalism that Secretary Jackson and President McKeithen had stirred up in what would be known as the “Carpet Campaign” had already shown itself in other areas of the country, with industrial manufacturing on the rise as well as the amount of money people were spending back into the economy, a much needed reprieve from the stagflation that dominated the previous decade.
However, for the New Year, it was Secretary Muskie and Secretary Carey had the attention of the President. Encouraging him to downsize military expenditures and instead give the funding to national industries like the automobile industry to help build on the progress already made. On top of this federal funding, President McKeithen would also see that these industries received cuts in taxes, further encouraging their growth.
One of the most unexpected events of McKeithen’s Presidency was how Attorney General Wallace spent most of his time. He would devote his time largely to domestic security, though he was noted to have supported Jackson on multiple occasions in terms of foreign policy. He was influential in getting President McKeithen to launch the “War on Drugs” and to create an entirely new federal agency under control of the Justice Department to fight Mexican drug cartels. However, at the same time, he was instrumental in convincing McKeithen to grant amnesty to illegal aliens living in the country and beginning national police reform, redeeming him of his racist, segregationist past in the eyes of many within the Democratic Party.
However, the President’s approval ratings began to slide from the mid-sixties when the positions of the secularists in Iran began to break down and stability in the region began to break down, particularly in Syria. With the Soviet Union seeing their chance, they began funneling money and arms into Syria and Iran, rivaling the American influence in the region while simultaneously preventing the United States doing much without risking an engagement with the U.S.S.R.
However, despite the bind America was being put in, Secretary Jackson was not able to sway the President to change his course of action until after the 1982 mid-term elections, when the GOP made significant gains, particularly in Governorships and in the House. In response, President McKeithen would meet with Secretaries Jackson and Muskie, CIA Director Al Haig, National Security Advisor Cyrus Vance, General Colin Powell, former President Richard Nixon (considered highly controversial by many in his party), and other foreign policy advisors to plan a way forward in the Middle East.
Ultimately, the plan would be threefold in nature, the CIA would work with Mossad and the Israelis to help fight radical Islamists in Western Syria, the United States would drastically increase funding in Syria to pro-American groups in what would be known as Operation Desert Shield, and there would be a renewal of bombings in Iran as well as a steady increase in military advisors in Operation Freedom Dawn. While the public was not happy with these measures, Secretary Muskie convinced the President to accompany with them amnesty to all those that dodged the Vietnam War draft.
However, as the White House seemed to be mobilizing for political total war, oil prices once again began to rise. To combat this, Secretary Carey convinced the President to institute a gas tax, both raising money for the military expenditures they were racking up and saving more gas for military endeavors overseas. This saw the economy once again begin to contract in 1983 and further saw approval ratings for the President drop.
Meanwhile in the Middle East, the unstable situation in Syria was beginning to cause ripples into other countries of the region, most notably Turkey. In response to this, Turkey actively encouraged the Soviet Navy to make use of the Bosporus Straights to get to Syria and restore stability. This would directly result in the Cyprus Incident on March 15th of 1983, in which a Syrian ship, accompanied by two Soviet cruisers accidently fired upon an American carrier (it was important to President McKeithen to ensure that the Soviet vessels did not fire on the American vessels, they didn’t). As approval for military intervention rose, McKeithen was slow to respond, at first following the advice of Secretary Muskie before changing views on the issue and asking Congress for permission to put boots on the ground in August.
Even as the economy deteriorated and President McKeithen’s domestic approval ratings dropped, approval for the war increased for most of 1983 and McKeithen’s overall approval ratings stayed within a few points of sixty before he was assassinated. First, it was Secretary Jackson’s death from an aneurism on September 1st, 1983. But then, only fourteen days later, John J. McKeithen’s life would be ended by John Hinckley, Jr. in a visit to Denver, Colorado. In a cruelly ironic twist of events, the man who became President for no reasons of policy or beliefs was put out of the office for no reason of policy either – Hinckley merely wanted the fame that came with assassinating the President (he would later be declared not guilty by reason of insanity).
Today, President John J. McKeithen is seen as a mixed bag in terms of policy, especially as it is unsure how he would have handled the Middle East. One thing that is not debated, however, is the importance of President McKeithen to reviving the Democratic presence in the South.
