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Foreward:

Atlantic City, New Jersey
Summer, 1945


The tide was washing the old wooden pillars of the Atlantic City Boardwalk noisily but Jack had to strain to notice. This is one of the cities in which he had grown up and the others were seaside as well. Not to mention that Jack had recently come back from fighting the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. Waves were rarely ever noticed by Jack. Still, he was listening to them for once. It was a gilded moment of peace in a life otherwise shrouded in noise and enthusiasm. Tapping his crutches on the rail to break the unusual silence he found himself lost in equally unusual reflection. The city behind him was casting muffled shadows of bustling, energetic sound but this stretch of the boardwalk was only lightly peppered with the usual tourists and locals and the sun was setting somewhere out of sight.

The light that remained glanced off of his medals and, blinking at the distraction, he idly straightened his uniform, fingering the rosary beneath it. The sea breeze shifted his meticulously slicked back hair, red-black and at times unruly, and as he shifted his weight onto his left crutch to once again flatten the neat, waxy locks his father approached. Dressed in the upmost fashionable finery his father was no longer a young man, but he had more of a regal and frightening presence about him than any man Jack had ever seen, even former President Edge, who, for whatever reason, had always made Jack supremely uncomfortable.

“My boy, the War Hero.” Nucky Johnson said greeting his son with just barely a smile.

“That’s what they’re saying. I’m just glad to be home.” Jack Johnson smiled back at him and the two shook hands. Like prospective business partners. Exactly like that.


“We’re glad to have you. Your mother was worried sick. Hell, the whole goddamned town was. You’re important to Atlantic City, Jackie.” Nucky looked out at the ocean and clasped Jack’s shoulder which was still tender - though not tender enough to make him flinch.

“Just to Atlantic City?” Jack didn’t look at his father when he asked but Enoch knew what he meant.

“To me too, you know that. To all of us. To the country, Jack. You’re on the cover of LIFE magazine for Chrissake. Former child movie star and triple threat entertainer, son of Atlantic City political boss, goes off to fight the Japs as a Marine Aviator and comes back covered in medals? Medals won for fighting even after his plane was downed and the boat that fucking rescued him sank? For saving as many as five men and killing God knows how many Japs? The Navy Cross, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the Congressional fucking Medal of Honor, a Purple Heart? Three fucking stars?! When you shouldn’t have been admitted to the military in the first place... Jesus Christ, Jackie, I couldn’t be more proud of you.” Enoch wasn’t smiling. He spit angrily through his teeth and scowled when he talked so passionately about his war hero son. Jack got the point though, and Enoch continued,

“’Medal of Honor’ is going to be your last movie for a while, Jack. You’ve got to prepare for the next step…”

“The next step?” Jack knew exactly what his father meant but felt obligated to act puzzled. He had graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in International Affairs - although he had dropped his barely passing minor in Law - and had belonged to all the most prestigious clubs, including the coveted Porcellian. He had been a Princeton man but with his mother’s help Jack convinced his father to allow him to switch. He stopped taking Theater classes as a result of the move but continued to act in several productions in and out of school.

“Your grandfather and I are going to help you run for Congress when the war's over, Jack. With your popularity, education, and war hero status, not to mention mine and Governor Fitzgerald’s connections, we're eventually going to make you President.” Enoch smiled to himself. He couldn’t do so without looking extremely wicked. There were times when Jack Johnson felt blessed that he looked so much like his mother.

“I don’t know if I can do that, dad.”

“Well, you will, son. It’s time to put showbusiness behind you and take hold of your destiny…” Enoch noticed his son was looking away. The stress of the war perhaps, or the upcoming film dramatizing, or exaggerating, his experience in the war in which he would play himself.



As Enoch Johnson had gradually legitimized his notorious career to appease his unlikely father-in-law, Gov. Fitzgerald, he had become something of a remarkable investor. This has led him to buying several struggling film studios in the twenties and becoming something of a Hollywood hot shot. When young Jack expressed a nagging interest and showed a prodigious talent for song and dance, Enoch had exploited young Jack by exhibiting his talents on the silver screen. It wasn't long before Jack Johnson became a beloved child star and Enoch, of course, profited greatly. Between schooling and being introduced to political giants of the era, Jack had continued to act and had matured into something of a brilliant young leading man before the war. Now that he was home - and a real life action hero to boot - Jack Johnson was making one final film: Medal of Honor.



Jack wanted the film to be more than propaganda, though he believed in its important as such. Jack Johnson wanted it to be an artistic masterpiece and had insisted upon being in something of an assistant directorial position. He had tweaked the script, would review the shots, and planned to work extensively with the other actors to get it as close to his vision as possible. This had inspired Jack to briefly consider becoming a filmmaker instead of entering politics. Nucky knew better.


Jack secretly knew better too...

“Son,” Enoch “Nucky” Johnson said to his son, “When you were a little boy I took you to see President Edge, you must’ve been about ten. You looked at me and you said, ‘Father, what does a guy gotta do to be President?’ And I looked at you and said, ‘Well, Jackie, see the world, study hard, and do good work and one day you can be President too.’ And do you know what you said? You looked up at me and said, ‘Gee, is that all?’” Enoch looked back to the ocean and darkness began to finally creep over the pair. Jack flattened his hair again and broke the silence.

“I will make you proud, father.” Enoch’s eyes darted into his son’s as he replied:

“You already have, Captain Johnson, but politics is in your blood and I can’t let you back away now. You’ve got to be what I couldn’t be, what your brother, Enoch Jr., God rest, could have been had he lived passed childhood. You have to be what everyone told me you would become after you spoke as delegate at the 1940 Convention and spoke so well you brought the crowd to tears.” Jack looked down at the little more than slight exaggeration. “Now c’mon. We have a Welcome Home party to get to at the Ritz and you know how Rose and your sisters worry when you go off walking alone.”

Jack Johnson limped alongside his powerful father, crutches tapping heartbeats on the infamous boards along the Atlantic City coast, and he felt a little better knowing that what he had mostly intended to do with his life had become what he had no other option but to do. Only a little better.


John Fitzgerald Johnson would have to bite his tongue. John Fitzgerald Johnson would become President of the United States.



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This is the Preface of a joint TL between myself and JoeMulk. We have been working on it for almost a year, I believe, and hope you will enjoy it.

The Timeline deals with an Enoch Johnson political dynasty after his unlikely marriage to Rose Fitzgerald. The POD is much earlier, of course, and will be revealed in a later update.

In this TL, the Kennedy family have immigrated elsewhere and they too will be a large part of the story.

Fans of "The Godfather" should enjoy this, I believe, as will Kennedyphiles and fans of the show "Boardwalk Empire", with whose show schedule updates of Sour Imperium will coincide for probably the remainder of the season.

Firstly, I would personally like to thank JoeMulk for being a pleasure to work and research with this past year, and of course to RogueBeaver for obvious reasons. I'll let JoeMulk get on here and say something if he would like to now as well.

Enjoy.
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