I think it is another Dwight as Eisenhower was tapped by President Truman to be head of the massive transportation project.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Actually Gerald has a point, if the German government and the Imperial Family had a top notch Public Relations and Advertising firm on retainer in the United States, there is no way on Earth, Heaven, or Hell that the "Kraut Scare" would have gained any traction.
Post War it could have sold the American people that Germany has the same values as they do by pointing out that Germany is for self-determination, democracy, freedom, and any other buzz words that we can think of.
During and after the Peacekeeping mission in Mexico it could have shown that Germany and the United States were working hand in hand for the same goals and with the reputation of the German Armed Forces the fact that they gave Jonny Casey and probably others medals for bravery shows that the Germans do respect the American Fighting Man.
But the biggest thing that Germany had going for itself and it was not properly exploited was that Germany fully paid off its Bonds to the American people without any fuss and it is most likely Great Britain and France are still after almost Forty years are complaining about paying back its loans from The Great War.
Nancy does not know this yet, but she is the key that will open the doors for greater German-American friendship, cooperation, and understanding.
Edit: The question is about Kat, Yes Gerald is insane...
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Part 75, Chapter 1118
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Eighteen
14th January 1955
Berlin
If Sophie hadn’t warned Helene that things like this happened, she might have been scandalized. The coalition talks to form the next Government had come down to rail signaling and electrification in parts of Bavaria and Württemberg. The members of the regional parties from those places had milked their powerful position for everything it was worth. The result was that the rail infrastructure in some isolated pockets of Southern Germany was going to be upgraded. Helene might have complained but she knew that she might have done the same thing for Silesia if she had thought of it first. Instead, at Sophie’s prompting she had gone for improved education programs in the University of Breslau and the Education System of Silesia.
The result was that the German Empire had a new Government with the Social Democrats forming the largest block. It was not a particularly stable arrangement, and no one was expecting it to last for long. That meant that there would be new elections when it all fell apart because the coalition just had too many interests, pulling in too many different directions. Then no one knew what was going to happen. The other consequence was that the activism that had been seen throughout the postwar era was probably at an end. Instead, they were waiting for the results of those investments to pay off in coming years.
No sooner than the arrangement had been made official then word spread about what Emperor Louis Ferdinand was up to and that set everything into turmoil. While the Emperor was content to live within the strictures of being a Constitutional Monarch, there were times when many in the Reichstag were uncomfortable with the role that he played in foreign policy and as the head of the Military. There was also the religious aspect, which annoyed this body more than many here were prepared to admit.
It seemed that the Emperor had announced that he and his family were taking a religious pilgrimage of sorts, but he had to satisfy the various constituencies within the Empire by going to Rome, Constantinople and then Jerusalem. Helene didn’t need to scratch the surface to see that there was a huge political subtext to the whole thing. With the recent war in the Balkans and Asia Minor having burnt itself out, now was the time to forge a lasting peace if that was possible.
When Helene had discussed this with Sophie, Sophie had said that it was all a question of accountability. Who did an unelected Emperor answer to?
----------------------------------------------------------------
It felt like a steel band being tightened around her head and then a tooth that had a filling in it started becoming painful for some reason. It was Kat’s understanding that this was the result of the pressure that she was under. Everything had to be prepared though the Royal Family wasn’t leaving for weeks. The result was that Kat found herself on the telephone talking to her Greek, Italian and British counterparts. It was an open question as to who could be more patronizing and condescending towards her. She was sorely tempted to make a call to the BND where Kat still had friends to find out what dirt they might have on these men so that she could put the fear of God in them. Then it occurred to Kat that she would be living down to her reputation if she did that. Kira had complained about her lack of diplomatic skills weeks earlier. It seemed that her tendency to go to war with people whose only crime had been the be obnoxious to her had been noticed. Kat had been instructed to cut it out.
Recently, Kat had been informed that her time with Imperial Shipping and Abwehr were being included as her time in service, meaning that her start date was now the 6th of September 1937. That had made the date in which she could resign with a full pension was a lot closer than she had realized. The thought of having no responsibilities other than her family for the first time since she had been a teenager. Kat had discovered that her family was larger and stranger than she had imagined in those days, that was something that she looked at with a bit of regret. In 1937 Ilse would have been nine, Stefan would have been five. If Kat had only known about her two youngest siblings, then their lives would have been radically different.
Over the Mid-Atlantic
It was when the airplane had lifted off the runway at Idlewild that two thoughts occurred to Nancy. The first was that she was happy to be going home, the second was that Berlin was now her home.
As the representative of Volkswagen, Nancy had managed to secure the services of Heywood, Beckett and Gleason, something that would make her employers in Wolfsburg happy. All it had taken was sending a telegram to Berlin and getting Ilse to find the photograph that had been floating around in the desk that Nancy had in her bedroom. It was an autographed photograph of the Kaiser and the Kaiserin that had been a gift from Kira after Princess Kristina had enjoyed visiting with Nancy’s mother. Apparently, the Kaiserin felt that meeting people from strange lands was important for her daughter to do. Compared to Berlin, Eastern Washington was about strange as it could possibly get. Ilse had then airmailed that photograph to the hotel that Nancy was staying at. Clive Haywood had been absolutely ecstatic after Nancy had given the photograph to him. Which had been enough to secure VW the services of the advertising agency for the next few years. They also had asked if Nancy could put them in contact with the House of Hohenzollern through Countess von Mischner so that they could handle the public relations in North America. While that sounded like a good idea to Nancy, she doubted that she would be able to convince Kat to do that without risking a friendship that she valued.
Ilse had included a brief letter detailing what had been going on in Nancy’s absence. Apparently, there was a Japanese corporation that was trying to contact her. Toyoda or something like that. According to the reference material that Nancy had found in the New York Public Library they were best known for manufacturing automated looms. She didn’t have the first clue as to what they might want with her.
14th January 1955
Berlin
If Sophie hadn’t warned Helene that things like this happened, she might have been scandalized. The coalition talks to form the next Government had come down to rail signaling and electrification in parts of Bavaria and Württemberg. The members of the regional parties from those places had milked their powerful position for everything it was worth. The result was that the rail infrastructure in some isolated pockets of Southern Germany was going to be upgraded. Helene might have complained but she knew that she might have done the same thing for Silesia if she had thought of it first. Instead, at Sophie’s prompting she had gone for improved education programs in the University of Breslau and the Education System of Silesia.
The result was that the German Empire had a new Government with the Social Democrats forming the largest block. It was not a particularly stable arrangement, and no one was expecting it to last for long. That meant that there would be new elections when it all fell apart because the coalition just had too many interests, pulling in too many different directions. Then no one knew what was going to happen. The other consequence was that the activism that had been seen throughout the postwar era was probably at an end. Instead, they were waiting for the results of those investments to pay off in coming years.
No sooner than the arrangement had been made official then word spread about what Emperor Louis Ferdinand was up to and that set everything into turmoil. While the Emperor was content to live within the strictures of being a Constitutional Monarch, there were times when many in the Reichstag were uncomfortable with the role that he played in foreign policy and as the head of the Military. There was also the religious aspect, which annoyed this body more than many here were prepared to admit.
It seemed that the Emperor had announced that he and his family were taking a religious pilgrimage of sorts, but he had to satisfy the various constituencies within the Empire by going to Rome, Constantinople and then Jerusalem. Helene didn’t need to scratch the surface to see that there was a huge political subtext to the whole thing. With the recent war in the Balkans and Asia Minor having burnt itself out, now was the time to forge a lasting peace if that was possible.
When Helene had discussed this with Sophie, Sophie had said that it was all a question of accountability. Who did an unelected Emperor answer to?
----------------------------------------------------------------
It felt like a steel band being tightened around her head and then a tooth that had a filling in it started becoming painful for some reason. It was Kat’s understanding that this was the result of the pressure that she was under. Everything had to be prepared though the Royal Family wasn’t leaving for weeks. The result was that Kat found herself on the telephone talking to her Greek, Italian and British counterparts. It was an open question as to who could be more patronizing and condescending towards her. She was sorely tempted to make a call to the BND where Kat still had friends to find out what dirt they might have on these men so that she could put the fear of God in them. Then it occurred to Kat that she would be living down to her reputation if she did that. Kira had complained about her lack of diplomatic skills weeks earlier. It seemed that her tendency to go to war with people whose only crime had been the be obnoxious to her had been noticed. Kat had been instructed to cut it out.
Recently, Kat had been informed that her time with Imperial Shipping and Abwehr were being included as her time in service, meaning that her start date was now the 6th of September 1937. That had made the date in which she could resign with a full pension was a lot closer than she had realized. The thought of having no responsibilities other than her family for the first time since she had been a teenager. Kat had discovered that her family was larger and stranger than she had imagined in those days, that was something that she looked at with a bit of regret. In 1937 Ilse would have been nine, Stefan would have been five. If Kat had only known about her two youngest siblings, then their lives would have been radically different.
Over the Mid-Atlantic
It was when the airplane had lifted off the runway at Idlewild that two thoughts occurred to Nancy. The first was that she was happy to be going home, the second was that Berlin was now her home.
As the representative of Volkswagen, Nancy had managed to secure the services of Heywood, Beckett and Gleason, something that would make her employers in Wolfsburg happy. All it had taken was sending a telegram to Berlin and getting Ilse to find the photograph that had been floating around in the desk that Nancy had in her bedroom. It was an autographed photograph of the Kaiser and the Kaiserin that had been a gift from Kira after Princess Kristina had enjoyed visiting with Nancy’s mother. Apparently, the Kaiserin felt that meeting people from strange lands was important for her daughter to do. Compared to Berlin, Eastern Washington was about strange as it could possibly get. Ilse had then airmailed that photograph to the hotel that Nancy was staying at. Clive Haywood had been absolutely ecstatic after Nancy had given the photograph to him. Which had been enough to secure VW the services of the advertising agency for the next few years. They also had asked if Nancy could put them in contact with the House of Hohenzollern through Countess von Mischner so that they could handle the public relations in North America. While that sounded like a good idea to Nancy, she doubted that she would be able to convince Kat to do that without risking a friendship that she valued.
Ilse had included a brief letter detailing what had been going on in Nancy’s absence. Apparently, there was a Japanese corporation that was trying to contact her. Toyoda or something like that. According to the reference material that Nancy had found in the New York Public Library they were best known for manufacturing automated looms. She didn’t have the first clue as to what they might want with her.
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All Nancy has to do is to keep everything on a professional level with Kat and not presume on their friendship, Nancy is probably one of the few people in Kat's life who has accepted her at face value and not wanting anything in return.
It looks like Nancy is becoming the go to person for corporations wanting to place their products in the movies and the film studios are always open to new sources of financing.
Nancy is going to need an assistant to go through various the scripts and story outlines to make sure that the product placement is organic to the story and is not forced or shoehorned in to the plot, this maybe a good job for Anne and this may lead her to becoming a screenwriter.
It looks like Nancy is becoming the go to person for corporations wanting to place their products in the movies and the film studios are always open to new sources of financing.
Nancy is going to need an assistant to go through various the scripts and story outlines to make sure that the product placement is organic to the story and is not forced or shoehorned in to the plot, this maybe a good job for Anne and this may lead her to becoming a screenwriter.
Part 75, Chapter 1119
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Nineteen
23rd January 1955
Berlin
“I can understand the reasoning” Kira said, “But does your friend really think that an advertising firm can change the perceptions that people in America have of us?”
“I doubt that she does” Kat replied, “At the same time, it couldn’t hurt. Right now, when most Americans think of Germany it is the actions of the BND, the OKW and your own agents that come to mind first. That is followed by this funhouse mirror version of Bavaria a century ago. I don’t think I need to tell you what the problem is with that.”
“So, we allow these advertisers to showcase our tourist destinations? Our Universities and industry?” Kira asked, “The CIA, Deuxième Bureau and MI5 would be euphoric at the prospect.”
Kat was delighted to hear that many of the things that she had spent years explaining to the Empress had taken. The world of shadows that spies, assassins and those like Kat who countered them occupied was one of those things.
“You forgot the Russians, the Greeks, the Chinese and everyone else in the world who can afford to have an intelligence agency” Kat said, “They are already here, and they are not necessarily who we need to consider in this particular matter. It is the populations of those countries who we need to win over.”
“This seems to me like if we would be trusting people who are not under our control to work on our behalf” Kira replied.
“According to Nancy the one of the named partners, a Clive Haywood, would be eating out of your hand if you met with him for even a few minutes” Kat said.
“I see, Herr Heywood is one of those Americans who is thoroughly enamored with European Royalty?” Kira asked, the disgust evident in her voice. “And Fraulein Jensen? How much do you trust her and what exactly is her background other than being an American?”
“Nancy is one of the few people who I feel I can trust implicitly, and her grandparents were Danes living in Schleswig-Holstein before they immigrated to Washington State” Kat said, “That detail was enough to get her dismissed from her employment with the U.S. State Department.”
“That would also make her a German subject?” Kira asked, “If she wanted it.”
“That would not go over well with her former employers” Kat replied, “The fact that she has never been one of our people is one of key things that has been protecting her.”
“That is a shame” Kira said, “If she could be brought into the hundred that would simplify matters.”
“I didn’t think there were any openings in the Order of Louise.”
“It has been a harsh winter” Kira said, “There are already going to be a few names mentioned in remembrance at the next quarterly meeting. As the Order’s Dame Commander, you really should be up on these things.”
“I command the First Foot” Kat replied, “And the Imperial retinue has decided that they want to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Care to guess who has had to deal with that unholy mess?”
“You’ll manage, after a lot of complaining like you always do” Kira said, “And you’ll get another medal out of it as well.”
Kira noticed that Kat was trying to hide her annoyance. Medals were a sore spot with her. Where a man in her position he would have strutted around like a peacock showing them off, Kat saw them as undeserved reminders of her suicidal efforts during the war. Recently, she had been informed that her time as an Abwehr trainee, Auxiliary, Officer and Kira’s Aide de Camp entitled her to the addition of a Fifteen Year, Long Service Cross to her ribbon bar. Kat had supposedly phoned Wunsdorf-Zossen and tried to tell Field Marshal Markgraf von Holz where the High Command could collectively shove that new medal. According to Lea, whose grandfather was the current OKH, the Markgraf had talked her out of raising a larger stink.
“Please talk to Fraulein Jensen about what I said” Kira said, “If she wants to make a life for herself here, I think she should at least be aware of her options.”
Washington D.C.
The month-old Congressional Session was turning into exactly the sort of shitshow that Truman had feared that it would become as soon as he saw the election returns in November. The Democratic Party still enjoyed large majorities, however the split between Northern and Southern factions of the party was becoming more pronounced. That had taken the form of the Southern faction becoming increasingly hostile towards what they regarded as interference by official Washington and the Courts. Heaven forbid that State laws needed to be Constitutional. While the violence that had marked the prior decade had not flared up again, not yet anyway. Truman figured that it was only a matter of time. It seemed as if the great grandchildren of those who been bled white for the Confederacy had learned all the wrong lessons from that.
If they were stupid enough to try to reprise the Civil War, they would discover that the United States wasn’t the same country that it had been in 1865. Even so Truman had been moving resources out of the South. The Army units based there did not have the latest equipment and the Navy had been quietly shifting units out of the Gulf of Mexico. The Interstate Highway system was also being built everywhere else first as well. If they wanted to fight a war with obsolescent weapons and no logistics. More power to them.
23rd January 1955
Berlin
“I can understand the reasoning” Kira said, “But does your friend really think that an advertising firm can change the perceptions that people in America have of us?”
“I doubt that she does” Kat replied, “At the same time, it couldn’t hurt. Right now, when most Americans think of Germany it is the actions of the BND, the OKW and your own agents that come to mind first. That is followed by this funhouse mirror version of Bavaria a century ago. I don’t think I need to tell you what the problem is with that.”
“So, we allow these advertisers to showcase our tourist destinations? Our Universities and industry?” Kira asked, “The CIA, Deuxième Bureau and MI5 would be euphoric at the prospect.”
Kat was delighted to hear that many of the things that she had spent years explaining to the Empress had taken. The world of shadows that spies, assassins and those like Kat who countered them occupied was one of those things.
“You forgot the Russians, the Greeks, the Chinese and everyone else in the world who can afford to have an intelligence agency” Kat said, “They are already here, and they are not necessarily who we need to consider in this particular matter. It is the populations of those countries who we need to win over.”
“This seems to me like if we would be trusting people who are not under our control to work on our behalf” Kira replied.
“According to Nancy the one of the named partners, a Clive Haywood, would be eating out of your hand if you met with him for even a few minutes” Kat said.
“I see, Herr Heywood is one of those Americans who is thoroughly enamored with European Royalty?” Kira asked, the disgust evident in her voice. “And Fraulein Jensen? How much do you trust her and what exactly is her background other than being an American?”
“Nancy is one of the few people who I feel I can trust implicitly, and her grandparents were Danes living in Schleswig-Holstein before they immigrated to Washington State” Kat said, “That detail was enough to get her dismissed from her employment with the U.S. State Department.”
“That would also make her a German subject?” Kira asked, “If she wanted it.”
“That would not go over well with her former employers” Kat replied, “The fact that she has never been one of our people is one of key things that has been protecting her.”
“That is a shame” Kira said, “If she could be brought into the hundred that would simplify matters.”
“I didn’t think there were any openings in the Order of Louise.”
“It has been a harsh winter” Kira said, “There are already going to be a few names mentioned in remembrance at the next quarterly meeting. As the Order’s Dame Commander, you really should be up on these things.”
“I command the First Foot” Kat replied, “And the Imperial retinue has decided that they want to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Care to guess who has had to deal with that unholy mess?”
“You’ll manage, after a lot of complaining like you always do” Kira said, “And you’ll get another medal out of it as well.”
Kira noticed that Kat was trying to hide her annoyance. Medals were a sore spot with her. Where a man in her position he would have strutted around like a peacock showing them off, Kat saw them as undeserved reminders of her suicidal efforts during the war. Recently, she had been informed that her time as an Abwehr trainee, Auxiliary, Officer and Kira’s Aide de Camp entitled her to the addition of a Fifteen Year, Long Service Cross to her ribbon bar. Kat had supposedly phoned Wunsdorf-Zossen and tried to tell Field Marshal Markgraf von Holz where the High Command could collectively shove that new medal. According to Lea, whose grandfather was the current OKH, the Markgraf had talked her out of raising a larger stink.
“Please talk to Fraulein Jensen about what I said” Kira said, “If she wants to make a life for herself here, I think she should at least be aware of her options.”
Washington D.C.
The month-old Congressional Session was turning into exactly the sort of shitshow that Truman had feared that it would become as soon as he saw the election returns in November. The Democratic Party still enjoyed large majorities, however the split between Northern and Southern factions of the party was becoming more pronounced. That had taken the form of the Southern faction becoming increasingly hostile towards what they regarded as interference by official Washington and the Courts. Heaven forbid that State laws needed to be Constitutional. While the violence that had marked the prior decade had not flared up again, not yet anyway. Truman figured that it was only a matter of time. It seemed as if the great grandchildren of those who been bled white for the Confederacy had learned all the wrong lessons from that.
If they were stupid enough to try to reprise the Civil War, they would discover that the United States wasn’t the same country that it had been in 1865. Even so Truman had been moving resources out of the South. The Army units based there did not have the latest equipment and the Navy had been quietly shifting units out of the Gulf of Mexico. The Interstate Highway system was also being built everywhere else first as well. If they wanted to fight a war with obsolescent weapons and no logistics. More power to them.
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Random Thoughts:
Truman is proving himself to be no James Buchanan as he prepares for a possible Second Civil War.
Truman might want to cut a deal with the Senate Republicans by appointing Republicans to Federal judgeships in the South who will rule the the United States constitution supersedes States Rights in the rights of individuals.
If the Southern Democrats wants the goodies that the Federal government is providing, then they have to ball ball with the rest of the Democratic Party and start supporting Civil Rights.
Truman, I believe is waiting for the South to act first in provoking the conflict in order to rally the rest of the American people in supporting a curb stomping of the South.
While Kira may not understand the reason for an advertising and public relations campaign in the United States and the rest of the world, Louis Ferdinand will immediately grasp the need as he probably sees as one of the roles that the Monarchy plays in the modern world is to be salespeople for the nation.
If Nancy's superiors at VW hear about Kira's offer to her they will be ecstatic and will try to influence her in to accepting it.
Truman is proving himself to be no James Buchanan as he prepares for a possible Second Civil War.
Truman might want to cut a deal with the Senate Republicans by appointing Republicans to Federal judgeships in the South who will rule the the United States constitution supersedes States Rights in the rights of individuals.
If the Southern Democrats wants the goodies that the Federal government is providing, then they have to ball ball with the rest of the Democratic Party and start supporting Civil Rights.
Truman, I believe is waiting for the South to act first in provoking the conflict in order to rally the rest of the American people in supporting a curb stomping of the South.
While Kira may not understand the reason for an advertising and public relations campaign in the United States and the rest of the world, Louis Ferdinand will immediately grasp the need as he probably sees as one of the roles that the Monarchy plays in the modern world is to be salespeople for the nation.
If Nancy's superiors at VW hear about Kira's offer to her they will be ecstatic and will try to influence her in to accepting it.
Ah Truman, you wonderful Son of a Bitch... carefully prepping things to yank the rug out from under the Southerners Feet if they forget the lesson they were taught a century ago.
Men like Truman are very dangerous in that if they see something coming they’ll prep the ground and give their opponents just enough rope to hang themselves. The perfect man to have as President.
Men like Truman are very dangerous in that if they see something coming they’ll prep the ground and give their opponents just enough rope to hang themselves. The perfect man to have as President.
The situation is far worse ITTL than it was IOTL, and there's a lot of Southern delusion about the prospects of such a fight even IOTL (similar to Texas separatism). I think you see the South become the Northern Ireland of this Century.
You know who'd make a great hero (as opposed to villain IOTL) ITTL, George Wallace, who should be coming up the hopper right about now. It'd be a delicious irony, but probably a bridge too far, if Strom Thurmond was TTLs Southern Civil Rights champion besides LBJ.
Also, I love this Truman. In this timeline, he almost certainly goes down in the top 5 greatest presidents, taking FDR's place.
This is a fantastic timeline 
It's one of the first things I open coming back from work.
I had another thought regarding a possible treasonous uprising. Truman needs to preempt the idea of soldiers leaving to serve in a rebellion. Make sure that people know that officers following Lee's example will not get off of treason charges easily.
If it looks like the army is getting sketchy, or part of it is, then a warning of treason trials for soldiers of the USA who rebel, or a term in Levenworth for any that refuse to fight, would allow those who won't fight against the south to sit out the war in Leavenworth.
Moving ships around will help, but if a ship at sea or in port is commanded by officers that rebel, the sailrs might simply follow orders, at least until the ship is in a rebel port. Is this at the point of Salubrious Personnel Reassignment and Transfer; SPRAT. At what point do people likely to hijack a ship get some new officers aboard, or even enlisted men, who have a simple order: Do not let the ship be taken.
In short, how far along is the slide towards chaos? And how well are weapons of mass destruction secured?
It's one of the first things I open coming back from work.I had another thought regarding a possible treasonous uprising. Truman needs to preempt the idea of soldiers leaving to serve in a rebellion. Make sure that people know that officers following Lee's example will not get off of treason charges easily.
If it looks like the army is getting sketchy, or part of it is, then a warning of treason trials for soldiers of the USA who rebel, or a term in Levenworth for any that refuse to fight, would allow those who won't fight against the south to sit out the war in Leavenworth.
Moving ships around will help, but if a ship at sea or in port is commanded by officers that rebel, the sailrs might simply follow orders, at least until the ship is in a rebel port. Is this at the point of Salubrious Personnel Reassignment and Transfer; SPRAT. At what point do people likely to hijack a ship get some new officers aboard, or even enlisted men, who have a simple order: Do not let the ship be taken.
In short, how far along is the slide towards chaos? And how well are weapons of mass destruction secured?
FBKampfer
Banned
If ships in the north rebel, they'll simply be sunk.
Likely broadcast in clear to the entierity of the fleet (so that the rebels can hear): "Attention US 1st fleet: the USS Chicago is not answering her radio, and does not have clearance to leave port. All ships open fire. "
A ship that successfully rebels is a ship already lost to the USN. If they can't recapture the ship, they have no reason in the world to show restraint.
Likely broadcast in clear to the entierity of the fleet (so that the rebels can hear): "Attention US 1st fleet: the USS Chicago is not answering her radio, and does not have clearance to leave port. All ships open fire. "
A ship that successfully rebels is a ship already lost to the USN. If they can't recapture the ship, they have no reason in the world to show restraint.
Actually that is not a far fetched idea, IOTL he was a Civil Rights moderate who was endorsed by the NAACP for Governor in 1958 and when lost he vowed not to get "Out Seged again".
IOTL he has just been elected as the Attorney General of Alabama and he was praised for treating African-American Attorneys with respect and dignity in court.
By now the economy in the South should be a basket case as the few manufacturing plants that are in the South should be shutting down because of a consumer boycott organized by Labor Unions and Civil Rights groups for unequal employment practices and anti-union activities,
Not sure if it's happened yet, but has the USN been desegregated yet?
That could be a good way to keep the USN in line, not threaten them with it, do it. Make it clear that onboard a ship there is no room for petty stupidity, the safety of the ship and every sailor aboard relies on every sailor aboard. That means that race, creed or religion of the man next to you is secondary to how good they are at their job, and because this is the USN, and they want to be better than the Krauts or the stuck up Limeys, only the best at their jobs, regardless of skin colour, will be aboard ship.
If they start wearing RN style flash hoods and gloves when they go to alert or action stations, sailors will soon lose track of who is what skin colour at their stations when the shit hits the fan.
"You're not white, black, yellow or red on this ship, you're blue, Navy blue and you will be the best goddammit"
Just like with the states, then use carrot and stick: more funding for desegregated corps and regiments, threaten to separate the USAAF from the Army if they don't get their act together.
That could be a good way to keep the USN in line, not threaten them with it, do it. Make it clear that onboard a ship there is no room for petty stupidity, the safety of the ship and every sailor aboard relies on every sailor aboard. That means that race, creed or religion of the man next to you is secondary to how good they are at their job, and because this is the USN, and they want to be better than the Krauts or the stuck up Limeys, only the best at their jobs, regardless of skin colour, will be aboard ship.
If they start wearing RN style flash hoods and gloves when they go to alert or action stations, sailors will soon lose track of who is what skin colour at their stations when the shit hits the fan.
"You're not white, black, yellow or red on this ship, you're blue, Navy blue and you will be the best goddammit"
Just like with the states, then use carrot and stick: more funding for desegregated corps and regiments, threaten to separate the USAAF from the Army if they don't get their act together.
FBKampfer
Banned
Better yet. Tell them how it's going to be if they don't desegregate, and then follow through.
The feifdoms need to be broken anyway. Anyone who doesn't comply can be brought up on charges of treason (attempting to sabotage US military units) and dereliction of duty (legal order, failed to be followed), and potentially shot or hanged.
Hell, culling that particular dead wood on its own might double the combat effectiveness.
The feifdoms need to be broken anyway. Anyone who doesn't comply can be brought up on charges of treason (attempting to sabotage US military units) and dereliction of duty (legal order, failed to be followed), and potentially shot or hanged.
Hell, culling that particular dead wood on its own might double the combat effectiveness.
Part 75, Chapter 1120
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Twenty
21st February 1955
Berlin
It was the sort of birthday parties that children had, cousins and other relatives mostly. Tatiana and Malcolm were old enough to be excited for the cake, presents and all the guests. That was something that Kat looked at with a bit of trepidation though. She also had suddenly found herself missing the two babies that they had been a few years earlier. Then she had realized that it was the same thoughts that had led Gerta into having Alois, who was presently toddling around. Kat had made Doug promise that if she ever talked seriously about having any more children, he was to immediately take a photographic assignment on a different continent and to stay there until her sanity returned. He had laughed at that, but Kat had been dead serious.
It was strange how things worked out, though. Suse was growing up fast and every time Kat saw her. She seemed to take on more aspects of her father, stubborn and determined to get what she wanted. Aspects of Suse that Kat whole heartedly approved of. Alois though already had the wild, sometimes vacant expression that was a hallmark of the Wolvogle line. As absent minded as the Old Wolf had seemed much of the time, his mind had been churning out a million thoughts a minute. By process of elimination he had eventually found the right solution. Kat had seen the office that Gerta maintained in Babelsburg, thousands of scripts, audio tapes, film clips and photographs practically spilling out into the hall. Now that she had more or less retired from acting, Gerta had taken on role of producing, not just the variety show, but a game show and two sitcoms. Gerta somehow was able to keep track of all of it while managing several creative teams and seemed happiest when she was at the center of the frenetic scene that was a television production in the minutes before broadcast.
Tatiana and Malcolm were sitting at the table playing a game with Helene’s children. Manfred was already well on his way to making the prediction about him being as big as Hans one day true. Hans had also infected his son with his passion for Football, much to Helene’s chagrin. A Footballer with Hans strength and the killer instinct of the von Richthofen family? Kat had joked that Hans had created quite the monster only to have Hans say seriously that it was something that they were trying to avoid. Ina on the other hand was a gentle soul who loved animals to the point of trying to adopt every stray cat and dog in the neighborhood. Neither Helene or Hans had any idea where Ina might have gotten that from. It was a lot like how Kat viewed Tatiana. Doug said that Tatiana had inherited her sensitivity from Kat, a detail that she found secretly horrifying. Malcolm though was rough and tumble, always seeking the next adventure. Doug had been reading to him from books about the Polar Explorers, which Malcolm loved. Of all the childhood heroes that he could have had, they were Roald Amundsen, Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Robert Peary. Kat supposed that her son could have done worse.
Kat just hoped that the children would be fine while she was away for a few weeks. They would be in good hands, and with how busy she had been over the last few years it was debatable just how much that they would even notice that she was even gone.
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Nancy was listening to Eha talking but only half hearing what she was saying. Eha had returned from her native Estonia to not just to visit Tatiana and Malcolm on their birthday but to go to finish the last of her certifications as well. She had also just told Nancy that she was going to be getting married that spring and Nancy couldn’t help but feel jealous. Eha was doing exactly what she wanted to do with her life, personally and professionally. Nancy however, felt like she was lost and just making it up as she went along. The thing with Volkswagen had panned out and she was getting calls from other corporations, Toyota Automotive of Japan most recently, asking her if she would be willing to consult for them.
All of that had left Nancy feeling like she was a bit of a fraud. Anyone could have looked at demographic data, trends and spotted the likely direction that things might be going in. The only thing really innovative that she done was point out how certain products could be subtly placed in movies and television shows. A different sort of subliminal advertising. Nancy had also discovered that if it was overdone or it was touch too obvious, then people swiftly learned to spot it. That actually made them less likely to buy the product. Knowing that, Nancy winced inwardly every time Catch a Tiger was mentioned. She had messed that up, she knew it now. There should have been a few other models of cars in the race.
Now, she was discovering that a term that she had heard OSS Officers use applied to her current profession. Blowback.
Supposedly, the Kaiser and Kaiserin were interested in meeting with Gerald Beckett and Clive Haywood to listen to their proposal, but the Kaiserin wanted something in return. There were openings among the one hundred Ladies who made up the Order of Louise. Nancy had discovered that Herzogin Marie Melita, the Consort of the Herzog of Schleswig-Holstein had sponsored her entry into the Order and Kat had said it was so that Kira would have a greater sense of control over what was being done in the name of the Kaiser. If Nancy did that then she would be burning a bridge. Even as unlikely as she was to get her old life back, accepting a place as a Dame of the Order would mean that it would be gone forever. There would also be the aspect that in the eyes of the US Government it could represent proof of the allegations against her.
21st February 1955
Berlin
It was the sort of birthday parties that children had, cousins and other relatives mostly. Tatiana and Malcolm were old enough to be excited for the cake, presents and all the guests. That was something that Kat looked at with a bit of trepidation though. She also had suddenly found herself missing the two babies that they had been a few years earlier. Then she had realized that it was the same thoughts that had led Gerta into having Alois, who was presently toddling around. Kat had made Doug promise that if she ever talked seriously about having any more children, he was to immediately take a photographic assignment on a different continent and to stay there until her sanity returned. He had laughed at that, but Kat had been dead serious.
It was strange how things worked out, though. Suse was growing up fast and every time Kat saw her. She seemed to take on more aspects of her father, stubborn and determined to get what she wanted. Aspects of Suse that Kat whole heartedly approved of. Alois though already had the wild, sometimes vacant expression that was a hallmark of the Wolvogle line. As absent minded as the Old Wolf had seemed much of the time, his mind had been churning out a million thoughts a minute. By process of elimination he had eventually found the right solution. Kat had seen the office that Gerta maintained in Babelsburg, thousands of scripts, audio tapes, film clips and photographs practically spilling out into the hall. Now that she had more or less retired from acting, Gerta had taken on role of producing, not just the variety show, but a game show and two sitcoms. Gerta somehow was able to keep track of all of it while managing several creative teams and seemed happiest when she was at the center of the frenetic scene that was a television production in the minutes before broadcast.
Tatiana and Malcolm were sitting at the table playing a game with Helene’s children. Manfred was already well on his way to making the prediction about him being as big as Hans one day true. Hans had also infected his son with his passion for Football, much to Helene’s chagrin. A Footballer with Hans strength and the killer instinct of the von Richthofen family? Kat had joked that Hans had created quite the monster only to have Hans say seriously that it was something that they were trying to avoid. Ina on the other hand was a gentle soul who loved animals to the point of trying to adopt every stray cat and dog in the neighborhood. Neither Helene or Hans had any idea where Ina might have gotten that from. It was a lot like how Kat viewed Tatiana. Doug said that Tatiana had inherited her sensitivity from Kat, a detail that she found secretly horrifying. Malcolm though was rough and tumble, always seeking the next adventure. Doug had been reading to him from books about the Polar Explorers, which Malcolm loved. Of all the childhood heroes that he could have had, they were Roald Amundsen, Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Robert Peary. Kat supposed that her son could have done worse.
Kat just hoped that the children would be fine while she was away for a few weeks. They would be in good hands, and with how busy she had been over the last few years it was debatable just how much that they would even notice that she was even gone.
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Nancy was listening to Eha talking but only half hearing what she was saying. Eha had returned from her native Estonia to not just to visit Tatiana and Malcolm on their birthday but to go to finish the last of her certifications as well. She had also just told Nancy that she was going to be getting married that spring and Nancy couldn’t help but feel jealous. Eha was doing exactly what she wanted to do with her life, personally and professionally. Nancy however, felt like she was lost and just making it up as she went along. The thing with Volkswagen had panned out and she was getting calls from other corporations, Toyota Automotive of Japan most recently, asking her if she would be willing to consult for them.
All of that had left Nancy feeling like she was a bit of a fraud. Anyone could have looked at demographic data, trends and spotted the likely direction that things might be going in. The only thing really innovative that she done was point out how certain products could be subtly placed in movies and television shows. A different sort of subliminal advertising. Nancy had also discovered that if it was overdone or it was touch too obvious, then people swiftly learned to spot it. That actually made them less likely to buy the product. Knowing that, Nancy winced inwardly every time Catch a Tiger was mentioned. She had messed that up, she knew it now. There should have been a few other models of cars in the race.
Now, she was discovering that a term that she had heard OSS Officers use applied to her current profession. Blowback.
Supposedly, the Kaiser and Kaiserin were interested in meeting with Gerald Beckett and Clive Haywood to listen to their proposal, but the Kaiserin wanted something in return. There were openings among the one hundred Ladies who made up the Order of Louise. Nancy had discovered that Herzogin Marie Melita, the Consort of the Herzog of Schleswig-Holstein had sponsored her entry into the Order and Kat had said it was so that Kira would have a greater sense of control over what was being done in the name of the Kaiser. If Nancy did that then she would be burning a bridge. Even as unlikely as she was to get her old life back, accepting a place as a Dame of the Order would mean that it would be gone forever. There would also be the aspect that in the eyes of the US Government it could represent proof of the allegations against her.
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Is dual citizenship a possibility?
There may be something about serving two masters that may prevent it but that option should be explored.
Nancy when she looks back on her life and reflects on how she got there will wonder if the care package that her family sent to Kat went to someone else how much of her life would be different.
Nancy being from a working class family most likely would have not gone to college and most likely her highest aspirational goal would have gone to secretarial school and working in an office.
Her opportunities for travel would have been severely limited.
Nancy if she looks back on her life will realized that her friendship with Kat has given her the world both bad and good and that may be the deciding factor in this next step in her life.
There may be something about serving two masters that may prevent it but that option should be explored.
Nancy when she looks back on her life and reflects on how she got there will wonder if the care package that her family sent to Kat went to someone else how much of her life would be different.
Nancy being from a working class family most likely would have not gone to college and most likely her highest aspirational goal would have gone to secretarial school and working in an office.
Her opportunities for travel would have been severely limited.
Nancy if she looks back on her life will realized that her friendship with Kat has given her the world both bad and good and that may be the deciding factor in this next step in her life.
O rly?
Ok, let me preface this by saying I severely doubt things could possibly become American Civil War 2: Gettysburg Boogaloo. The worst I could possibly see all things going would be a semi-guerrilla war between a myriad of groups I'm going to lump together under "the Klan" and the Federal Government, one that "the Klan" would lose, badly.
But as per your idea, let's take the USS Chicago (the Heavy Cruiser from 1945) and go from there.
Ok, we'll be generous and say that 99% of the crew has an attack of shit to the brain and decides to go fight for Racis- I mean "State's Rights" and defect to the CSA*. That means of the crew of 1,142 men, 12 men are not joining in, and would be blood on the US Navy's hands. Especially when they could reasonably disable the Chicago without sinking her. There would still be loss of life, but just straight up sinking the ship would be a terrible idea.
And that's the ultimate "ASB involvement" level of defections, in reality it would probably be a hell of a lot more than 12 men, as for the very least, I would doubt the various African-American crewmen would be happy to go off and fight for Dixie, so there is a lot of the ships cooks, maintenance workers and the other shit jobs that African-Americans were restricted to that are going to be added to the theoretical 12 men.
All of that would be weighing heavily in the commander of 1st Fleet's mind, because it would be weighing heavily in the mind of CINCATL's mind, because you better fecking believe, that it would weigh heavily in the mind of the man that gets to call all these shots, Truman.
*= CSA in this scenario being the South, Oregon, and probably a few other really racist states at the time