Sequel de Mayo (Cinco de Mayo, Vol. II)

[DanMcCollum]

the Virginian Congressman George Patton, who like Vardaman had lost a son on the battlefields of Middle Tennessee and was regarded as a moderate Bourbon who had worked well with Democratic colleagues after the Great Schism of 1907.


- The Bourbon Restoration: The Confederate States 1915-33

It looks like George S. Patton didn't make it out this war ...

 

[Devoid]

Excellent use of this meme format!

Thank you!
Other countries you could put are Centro in Panama's place (given their current implosion) or Chile, who's probably worse off than Panama. And Nicaragua in Mexico's place once the canal pays off dividends (especially if the US gives it to them like it did to Panama IOTL. Which brings up the question of how willing the US will be to do this).

"...presenting the new coalition regime in the Confederate Congress as nonpartisan and rather as a united front meant to bring a tangible peace about more effectively; the decisive losses at Nashville and Hilton Head put paid to such delusions, and suddenly even the small boost in morale from February's successful Occoquan Offensive was insufficient to improve the mood in Richmond. The damage had in part already been done, though; Martin's putsch had been meant to place all blame for the war's failures on an inept White House led by President Smith and his chief defender in Congress in Senator Tillman, and soon thereafter the two worst losses of the war had been inflicted upon the CSA. Red Scarves marched in the streets of Richmond daily demanding more money be spent on the war effort and harassing men, often wounded veterans, whom they encountered with the question of why they were not at the front; in an infamous incident, a cavalry officer named William Tilly scoffed, showed his shrapnel wounds on his left side and demanded to know why his accusers were themselves not fighting, an altercation that ended in Tilly's stabbing death.

The National Alliance for Victory that Martin had transactionally cobbled together to enhance his own power was not so much an ideological big tent as a complete circus, and Martin quickly set about placing cronies such as fellow Virginian Claude Swanson, Murphy Foster of Louisiana and Duncan Fletcher of Florida on key committees while handing out choice chairmanships to his new fellow travelers like Georgia's Thomas Hardwick. Questions of conscription and patronage had already helped trigger a political crisis in Texas and Martin was keen to avoid any further deterioration of the domestic unity, and so he knew that speed was of the essence. Smith, despite being profoundly weak, would be at Heritage House until February, but the Alliance for Victory needed to keep its foot on the neck of any attempt by the Tillmanite remnant to join forces with what remained of the NFLP or Socialist Parties at fight them back, and so Martin made his fateful decision to work to coopt the Red Scarves militia into the superstructure of the new coalition government by making James Vardaman's personalist paramilitary into the Alliance's paramilitary - Vardaman, a man about as far ideologically from Martin as it came, was his preferred choice to run for President. In return for allowing Martin a say on patronage appointments equal if not in excess of the power Tillman had held for over a decade, Vardaman would see the Bourbon wing of the Alliance stand down in his favor and allow the Red Scarves nearly free reign. It was a deal too good to pass up, and Vardaman quickly accepted, agreeing with Martin that the Confederacy needed a presumptive President in the wings ready to do battle in February.

More than a few Red Scarves felt betrayed by Vardaman's move to align with the despised planter class, but most of them were enthusiastic about the pugilistic hero of Confederate neo-populism rising to the top of the heap. It should be noted that both Vardaman and Martin were fairly certain that they could use the other; Vardaman was of the view that once in the Presidency he would simply purge his enemies and threaten others to get in line thanks to his small but devoted personal army of followers and rebuild the old Tillman machine in his image, whereas Martin thought Vardaman was "an upjumped cracker" whom he could make as much of a lame duck as Smith from the moment his hand would touch the Bible on February 22, 1916 and continue the slide into legislative supremacy in the Confederacy. For now, though, the two men continued to bury the hatchet as they had since their putsch against Tillman in January and Vardaman acquiesced to Martin's preferred choice of running mate, the Virginian Congressman George Patton, who like Vardaman had lost a son on the battlefields of Middle Tennessee and was regarded as a moderate Bourbon who had worked well with Democratic colleagues after the Great Schism of 1907.

The ticket compiled, Martin set about making sure that it faced no threats in any of the legislatures that his operation controlled and pushed rapidly for the absorption of wavering Democrats into a collection under his banner as quickly as he could. The rapid erosion of the Tillman machine at the federal level was starting to trickle downwards as the case for a united government under one party for the rest of the war began to appeal even to the strongest skeptics of traditional Bourbonism - that, and the threat of angry, oft-violent Red Scarves..."

- The Bourbon Restoration: The Confederate States 1915-33

Vardaman and Martin's mutual intention to backstab each other sets up an interesting dynamic. This transactionality sets up for very stable governance, I'm sure.
As for Patton's death, looks like Long will have to use someone else to lead to Confederate reconquest of Kentucky. Which is where I'll note that Eisenhower was born in Texas.

...which I just remembered is about to secede.
So I guess we'll have to keep looking, then. Though Vice-President Patton is nothing to ignore.
Guess Johnson wasn't the only OTL president who could've been TTL's President of Texas.

 

[mortonofski]

It looks like George S. Patton didn't make it out this war ...

Was just about to say, hopefully nobody needs any advances in tank warfare any time soon...

 

[Dragonboy]

Great chapter

 

[Curtain Jerker]

It looks like George S. Patton didn't make it out this war ...

Good catch.

Only great loss is George C. Scott will need someone else to portray if he wants his Oscar ITTL.

 

[KingSweden24]

It looks like George S. Patton didn't make it out this war ...

Nope

Thank you!
Other countries you could put are Centro in Panama's place (given their current implosion) or Chile, who's probably worse off than Panama. And Nicaragua in Mexico's place once the canal pays off dividends (especially if the US gives it to them like it did to Panama IOTL. Which brings up the question of how willing the US will be to do this).

Vardaman and Martin's mutual intention to backstab each other sets up an interesting dynamic. This transactionality sets up for very stable governance, I'm sure.
As for Patton's death, looks like Long will have to use someone else to lead to Confederate reconquest of Kentucky. Which is where I'll note that Eisenhower was born in Texas.

...which I just remembered is about to secede.
So I guess we'll have to keep looking, then. Though Vice-President Patton is nothing to ignore.
Guess Johnson wasn't the only OTL president who could've been TTL's President of Texas.

Hard to think of two “partners” with less overlapping goals than Vardaman and Martin, and also any Southern figure you less want in a position of power than Vardaman.

So yeah this will end happily for everyone

 

[PresidentZinn]

I guess the consolidation around Varadaman relieves Dixie of the awkward question of how to treat the election in KY and TN.

 

[KingSweden24]

I guess the consolidation around Varadaman relieves Dixie of the awkward question of how to treat the election in KY and TN.

To an extent, sure. Bourbons are already largely in charge in both those states anyways so it’s a fait accompli

 

[Devoid]

any Southern figure you less want in a position of power than Vardaman.

*Wikipedias the guy*
...Did he ever say anything that wasn't just a screed that just amounted to "I HATE [the N-word because of course]s SO GODDAMN MUCH, EVEN THE EDUCATED ONES ARE TRASH." Like, his Wikipedia page is something like 25% just extremely racist quotes from the guy by volume. To the point where I wonder if he ever thought about anything else. Which makes him a poor choice for the likely upcoming process of emancipation. And seeing as he'll be in office until February 1922 unless something happens to him...

Martin set about making sure that it faced no threats in any of the legislatures that his operation controlled

Also, out of curiosity, did some states switch back to electing electors by legislatures? IOTL it was only SC that remained, and I believe some discussions concluded they'd probably still be doing that, but the other Confederate states had gone with the popular vote by 1860 IOTL, and according to Wikipedia (so grain of salt right there) the 1861 CSA presidential election was conducted with the same methods by state as the 1860 election. But it'd be very much in keeping with TTL's oeuvre if some state switched back to be like SC in that department.

 

[PresidentZinn]

Interestingly, it appears Vardaman was born in Texas. I don't know exactly when Texas secedes, but it seems he will likely be in office when his place of birth leaves the Confederacy.

 

[mortonofski]

Good catch.

Only great loss is George C. Scott will need someone else to portray if he wants his Oscar ITTL.

Why, General Buck Turgidson, of course!

 

[KingSweden24]

Interestingly, it appears Vardaman was born in Texas. I don't know exactly when Texas secedes, but it seems he will likely be in office when his place of birth leaves the Confederacy.

Bummer for him, I guess

*Wikipedias the guy*
...Did he ever say anything that wasn't just a screed that just amounted to "I HATE [the N-word because of course]s SO GODDAMN MUCH, EVEN THE EDUCATED ONES ARE TRASH." Like, his Wikipedia page is something like 25% just extremely racist quotes from the guy by volume. To the point where I wonder if he ever thought about anything else. Which makes him a poor choice for the likely upcoming process of emancipation. And seeing as he'll be in office until February 1922 unless something happens to him...

Also, out of curiosity, did some states switch back to electing electors by legislatures? IOTL it was only SC that remained, and I believe some discussions concluded they'd probably still be doing that, but the other Confederate states had gone with the popular vote by 1860 IOTL, and according to Wikipedia (so grain of salt right there) the 1861 CSA presidential election was conducted with the same methods by state as the 1860 election. But it'd be very much in keeping with TTL's oeuvre if some state switched back to be like SC in that department.

He was regarded as the worst, most rabid white supremacist of his age - worse than Tillman or Blease! - for a reason. It’s hard to take that prize during the Nadir of Race Relations but he managed

Probably just SC keeps it that way but legislatures are very powerful down South and have a ton of influence over ballot access and how things work

 

[traveller76]

So let's see in Dixie we have paramilitaries of all political persuasions, plenty of guns and grudges, damage from the war, refugees of all types, possible terrorism and organized crime. This is going to be.....interesting.

 

[naraht]

A few points.

1) By my count, I only see eight racist quotes on the Wikipedia page. Seems OK for balance.
2) Vardeman's supporters being "Red Scarves" iOTL as well, and argued as one of the sources of the term Redneck for poor southerners. While on this page have split the term "American vs Southron", depending on how much Long unravels Vardeman's time in control, "American vs. Rednecks" might be used for many years to come.
3) I don't see any racist quotes on Thomas Martin's page. He seems more or less a typical southern political racist, nothing more.
4) Vardeman (presuming he lives that long) vs Long. I'm still trying to figure out who the remnants of the Planter class support. ..

 

[KingSweden24]

So let's see in Dixie we have paramilitaries of all political persuasions, plenty of guns and grudges, damage from the war, refugees of all types, possible terrorism and organized crime. This is going to be.....interesting.

Nothing good, that’s for sure, but hopefully it’s clear how a figure like Huey Long could sweep in on promises to fix the looming debacle

A few points.

1) By my count, I only see eight racist quotes on the Wikipedia page. Seems OK for balance.
2) Vardeman's supporters being "Red Scarves" iOTL as well, and argued as one of the sources of the term Redneck for poor southerners. While on this page have split the term "American vs Southron", depending on how much Long unravels Vardeman's time in control, "American vs. Rednecks" might be used for many years to come.
3) I don't see any racist quotes on Thomas Martin's page. He seems more or less a typical southern political racist, nothing more.
4) Vardeman (presuming he lives that long) vs Long. I'm still trying to figure out who the remnants of the Planter class support. ..

Yeah Tom Martin was pretty run of the mill, all things considered.

Americans v Rednecks is probably going to be quite the trope in media. You could see Confederates get the Russians/Arabs/drug cartels treatment in American film for quite some time.

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

So Vardeman becomes President on February 22 1916, and leads the south into a drastic defeat and occupation? Thats a rather embarrassing situation !!!

Also seems to be more power hungry than anything.

Most likley blamed for losing the war and assassinated, perhaps? Therefore wee get George Patton Senior as President?

 

[Curtain Jerker]

Funny thing is that neither Vardaman nor Martin realize is that in a year or so neither of them are going to be calling the shots so to speak. Pershing/Lenihan/whomever is the "MacArthur in Japan" analog of this timeline will be in charge. Couldn't happen to a better group of scumbags and scoundrels.

Can we get an approximation of where the various fronts are? I'm not asking for a map or anything nearly so detailed, just maybe a list of cities or rivers to help better envision how the spring campaign season will go.

 

[Pax_Nihil]

The funny thing is that the Confederacy with 2/3 of the men having the right to vote (most of the other 1/3 being in slavery) wouldn't have been viewed as *that* flawed of a democracy by the standards of the early 20th century and with the powerful only putting their thumb on the scale somewhat in regards to president. The congressional election for whatever district contains Little Rock (to pick one at random) in the first decade of the 1900s was probably by the standards of the time open and fair.
I *really* wonder how true that will be in 1926. The percentage of people with the right to vote will probably go up, but that will boil down to fleeing Negros vs dead white CSA soldiers (and that just went bleak)

I'm actually wondering whether there will be a CSA census of 1920.

Well I'm going to assume that the United States is going to have free rights of movement in the Confederacy while occupying it so in my thinking if I was occupying my mortal enemy I would count every single person with my own men and resources because having an accurate record of trust available makes future treaties and planning a lot easier to deal with since the math won't need to be guesswork.

 

[Pax_Nihil]

Holy crap Patton (or his dad?) *faints*

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

Which is where I'll note that Eisenhower was born in Texas.

Whats interesting is that Eisenhower's father was from/born in Pennsylvania and his mother was from Virginia, and they both met in Kansas in 1880

As for Patton's death, looks like Long will have to use someone else to lead to Confederate reconquest of Kentucky.

George C Marshall is a Virginian.