The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

[Unknown]

I don't see a Holocaust here, IMO, but I do see more scapegoating of Jews, other groups, etc...

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

I don't see a Holocaust here, IMO, but I do see more scapegoating of Jews, other groups, etc...

Well, there's going to be a strange series of events for the Jews. As for the ALT Holocaust, we'll see. Führer von Richthofen's adventure is just beginning. As well as the adventure of a certain Frenchman and a certain son of a famous WW1 British General.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

It has been made clear upon the ascension of the 30th President, President-Elect Alexander M. Palmer, that the question of age was surrounding the re-election campaign of President Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Had he been re-elected, he would have been seventy-nine years old. This matter is important to the learned legalist that has ascended to the Presidency as well as Holmes Jr himself. For the first time ever, both men have met at the White House to draft an Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Upon questioning, President-Elect Palmer stated that the 20th Amendment would deal with the Presidential line of succession and transfer from one administration to another.

The first article would define the Presidential line of succession. As of now, we have obtained a list of the succession, which shall be addressed in their order: the President, the Vice-President, the President pro tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of State, the Attorney-General, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, Postmaster General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor.

The second article would define that quote: "In the event of there being a vacancy in the office of Vice-President, Vice-President shall be nominated by the President upon confirmation of a majority in both Houses of Congress."

The third article has stated: "Upon the defeat of the President in an election, the Vice-President shall resign and leave the position vacant within ten days after the election. Upon the vacancy coming into effect, the President shall nominate the winner of the election as his Vice-President and this nominee shall be confirmed by the majority of both houses before the 10th December of the election year. Upon the ascension of the Vice-President, the President shall resign and the Vice-President shall take his place no later than the 20th December of the election year. The inauguration for the new President shall take place on the 20th December of the election year."

It is hoped that ratification will allow for no discrepancies to occur during the time of any person of a similar age and circumstance to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. It will be up to Congress and the states to ratify the President-Elect's new proposal.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

During the time in opposition, the Commonwealth Liberal Party was shaken by Cook's leadership. With the success of Operation Iliad and with the news of victories for the ANZAC forces, Cook was not in a position to cheer unlike the Labor Government in charge. Being cautious, the man made sure not to rock the boat and to maintain the effort for the war. He could not be in a position to campaign on anything. Being a supporter of conscription overseas did not work, as the victories had nullified any effect for an en masse enlistment.

And then there was John Forrest.

Forrest was an explorer, famous for his unsuccessful 1869 search for Ludwig Leichhardt (who had been missing since 1848) as well as being the Premier of Western Australia from December 1890 to February 1901. Moving into federal politics with the Protectionist Party under Barton and Deakin before shifting to the Commonwealth Liberals under Deakin and Cook, he would hold the portfolios of Postmaster-General, Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Defence as well as holding the title of Treasurer three times. Despite such an impressive record, the man was many things opposed to Joseph Cook: Forrest wanted respect at all times, while Cook seemed to respect whoever was able to respect him. Forrest believed in pomp and circumstance, while Cook was austere and reserved given the wartime conditions. Forrest did not take criticism, while Cook learned from the role of Prime Minister and as Opposition Minister. Whilst Cook was trying to find the brighter side of things during the hard yakka of Australia during war, Forrest could not take a joke to save his life.

In 1913, Forrest and Cook had faced off against one another in a leadership election when Alfred Deakin resigned the office of Opposition Leader. Cook won the contest BY ONE VOTE. AND THE VOTE WAS CAST BY DEAKIN! When Forrest saw that, he felt bitter. With Cook elected as Prime Minister on the 31st May 1913 to then be beaten on September 1914.

During the war, he was ready and willing to criticise the actions made by Prime Minister Fisher and Deputy Minister Hughes, which alienated him from Cook's attempt to achieve a bipartisan resolve in the face of the war and the subsequent Polish Flu outbreak. During the war, Cook was criticised for the conscription stance and the ALP pounced on it for the state elections, with the Commonwealth Liberals losing the state of South Australia (1915).

It was on the 7th January 1916 that John Forrest made his move. Resigning from the treasury, he called for a leadership spill against Cook for the 1st of February. Cook, giving into his nature, decided to run the numbers to see who could be put onside. With speeches in Perth to fellow CL supporters, Forrest was determined to show the sort of vigour needed for the office of Opposition Leader, even if he had a fit at every man who tried to put him down. Cook, hearing this news and seeing how his own position was not going well, decided on a way out. On the 22nd January 1916, Cook resigned the leadership position, giving it up to John Forrest.

With Forrest in the house, he began to run the show. Pushing out those that voted against him in the 1913 leadership ballot, he pressed ahead with a autocratic control of the party, whilst hypocritically stating the same thing to Fisher and his deputy Hughes. His antagonism went up a hundredfold when he clashed with Keith Murdoch in Fitzroy Gardens over the future of the soldiers returning home. This was made clear in every Murdoch newspaper when Premier Walter Lee of the Commonwealth Liberals lost the office to Labor's Earle, something that was to be reminded with every single article. Murdoch wrote, in a article dubbed "Keith's Quibble", that:

Mr Forrest has my forgiveness as a human being, as a man who once had the virtuous and unbearable task of trying to find the body of Ludwig Leichhardt in the hellish desert of Western Australia. He has my forgiveness as a human being as he helped to deliver Western Australia into the dissoluble union that is the Commonwealth of Australia.

But as the head of the Commonwealth Liberals, he has nothing to get from me. He does not deserve one inch of ground, yet he will ask you to give a mile. He will give out a show and party much like the decadent French King Louis and much like His Royal Majesty, he will mock you and call you the fool when you tell him rightly that there is a guillotine blade ready to drop on his neck. What we need, in the present state of fighting, is a show of passion for our boys and our men fighting overseas. Joseph Cook gave us this passion. Billy Hughes gave us this passion and so did our Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. But what about John Forrest? A man that would talk more about us respecting his laurels and achievements than about bowing towards those of the humble digger.

All I say is this. When he falls and no one is left to stand by him, chances are he'll make as much sound as possible. Even the Kangaroos and Koalas will be driven away from him. ​

It was this time that followers and prospective candidates were being turned away from the Commonwealth Liberals, as he obtained allies in other parts of government and society. One of the major ones was Premier Alexander Peacock of Victoria. Having obtained unfavourable status among Australians, Forrest dealt with being empty and without power from December 1916 onwards.

On the 1st March 1917, Forrest received the news of a leadership spill being put against him on the 25th. Littleton Groom, his deputy, revealed to him the message that was being sent around the party. Forrest declared that the person who wanted to take the leadership should reveal themselves, a threat that could not be meted out. Murdoch, having received the news from an anonymous source as well as a deal, published the rumours of a spill. For the next month, journalists would hound him at every turn. Murdoch, for his part in it, was dubbed "that Rat-fucker" by Forrest. Having heard it, he laughed before he went back to work with his deal. Forrest kept demanding a name until he got one: Paddy Glynn. Glynn and Forrest did not meet each other as they voted on the leadership ballot. Then the news arrived. Glynn won the vote by 31 votes to 1. Forrest voted for himself and was smashed out of the water. Realising that he had been had, Forrest went on a tirade against every man, naming them and cursing them. At the end of the outburst, Glynn's first motion was to expel Forrest from the party caucus. Not one man opposed the motion, except for Forrest.

On the 25th March 1917, Paddy Glynn was made leader. With a new leader at the helm, things changed. A meeting was made for the party in Ballarat, where the name would be changed to the Nationalist Party and the expulsion of Forrest would be rubber-stamped. However, Forrest-alinged members walked out and maintained the original name, stating that it was the majority that were the traitors. Premier Alexander Peacock was the only non-Labor leader to not follow Glynn's orders.

In Victoria, the Commonwealth Liberals lost control, with the CL's split between a rural faction named the Victorian Rural League (allied to the Victorian Farmer's Union) led by John Bowser and the city-centred Ministerial Commonwealth Liberal Party led by Peacock. Bowser would win the election on the 9th November 1917 and would later be a part of the Country Party under federal leader Earle Page. As for the remainder of the M-CLP, Peacock and his followers were replaced by Glynn-aligned Robert McGregor.

Patrick McMahon Glynn would become the 8th Prime Minister of Australia, while Billy Hughes would be the last Victorian to become Prime Minister until 1949

As for the deal made with Keith Murdoch: Glynn endorsed Murdoch for the Federal seat of Swan, where Murdoch achieved the endorsement of the newly minted Nationalist Party as well as the endorsement of the Country Party.

Keith Murdoch and John Forrest got into shouting match during the campaign, but Murdoch had the power of the written word behind him as he won 64.7% of Swan's vote. Of course, he maintained as much distance as possible from his papers until he divested in March 1920.

NEXT EPISODE: THE GLYNN ADMINISTRATION (1919 - 1922)

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

Being the first non-Labor government elected since September 1914, Patrick McMahon Glynn had quite a handful on his plate. As the leadership spill ended, the rivalries between the men ended with Forrest being expelled from the party and being defeated by Keith Murdoch in the election. As such, the 1st Glynn ministry had to execute several things: Soldier's settlement (lest the Country Party form government), intervention in the Dutch East Indies as well as transitioning to a domestic economy.

Governor-General: Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar
8th Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Nationalist Party: Patrick McMahon Glynn (MP for Angas, South Australia)
Deputy Leader and Treasurer: Joseph Cook (MP for Paramatta, New South Wales)
Attorney-General: Littleton Groom (MP for Darling Downs, Queensland)
Minister for Defence: Major General Granville de Laune Ryrie (MP for North Sydney, New South Wales)
Minister for Repatriation: William Watt (MP for Balaclava, Victoria)
Postmaster General: Keith Murdoch (MP for Swan, Western Australia)
Leader of the Government in the Senate: Edward Millen (Senator for New South Wales)
Minister for Home and Territories: James Hume Cook (MP for Maribyrnong, Victoria)
Minister for Health: Walter Massy-Greene (MP for Richmond, New South Wales)
Minister for Trade and Customs: Stanley Bruce (MP for Flinders, Victoria)
Minister of the Navy: Arthur Rodgers (MP for Wannon, Victoria)
Vice-President of the Executive Council: George Wise (MP for Gippsland, Victoria)
Minister for Works and Railways: Richard Foster (MP for Wakefield, South Australia)

The fighting was something of a shock to the people, as some imagined the fighting was well and truly over. To both Glynn and Hughes (who managed to retain the Labor leadership), they were focussed on preventing a socialist takeover of the country. Hugo Throssell, the son of the late Premier of Western Australia George Throssell, campaigned against the war under the banner of the "Socialist Labour Party". Glynn took great pains to ensure that the new war would be produced with the inefficiencies of the last one. Murdoch, in his power as Postmaster General, would censor whatever propaganda was coming into the country from Trotsky's rebellion or from the SLP's pamphlets. Such messages included those that included the names of soldiers or their families and the addresses of peoples that were supportive of the war in the East Indies with one report of harassment of war widows in Sydney. Raising money, Throssell took the Australian Government to the High Court over the matter.

Throssell v Commonwealth of Australia was decided on the 4th January 1920 before the full bench of the High Court of Australia. Throssell was supported by lawyer and Victorian MP from the Australian Labor Party, Maurice Blackburn. The Commonwealth was represented by Littleton Groom. Throssell v Commonwealth of Australia ruled that the government had the right to censor material that in Barton's view "presented a clear and present danger" to any one who was named in such material. It restricted freedom of speech so that Throssellism (or doxxing as it is known in America), in the words of Duffy: ...did not harm those who have intentions of going about their normal lives even in times of war.

High Court at Throssell v Commonwealth
Chief Justice Samuel Griffith (5th October 1903 - 5th March 1920) - Concurrence
Justice Edmund Barton (5th October 1903 - 7th January 1920) - Concurrence
Justice Isaac Isaacs (12th October 1906 - 11th February 1948) - Concurrence
Justice H. B. Higgins (13th October 1906 - 13th January 1929) - Dissent
Justice Frank Gavin Duffy (11th February 1913 - 1st October 1935) - Concurrence
Justice Charles Powers (5th March 1913 - 22nd July 1929) - Dissent
Justice George Rich (5th April 1913 - 14th May 1956) - Concurrence

It wasn't until three days later that Edmund Barton passed away in his sleep, which allowed Glynn to shape the court. What made it controversial was his chosen Justice, Thomas Bavin, the current Attorney-General for the George Fuller Government in New South Wales. Bavin was a judges' associate for Barton, but he was also a man who failed to get into federal politics because he supported greater spending on welfare. His appointment to replace Barton on the 11th January 1920 was one thing to help alienate conservatives in the party such as William Watt and Richard Foster.

As the matter passed, Glynn ordered that the German Pacific regions that Australia gained from the Treaty of Versailles be reinforced. The Soldiers and Settlers of Micronesia Act 1920 would give a financial incentive to set up farms and industry within the region, as well as providing a permanent military guard of 30,000 men on the islands as a way of preventing Japanese incursions southward. All three parties would support it. Watt and Ryrie would maintain the desire for guarding their new possessions much to the chagrin of the Japanese, who believed that they were robbed of their reward and therefore refused any notion of an Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which was a severe blow to Chamberlain's government but much to the satisfaction of Glynn's administration.

After this, Chief Justice Samuel Griffith passed away on the 5th March. Having put on a liberal justice to replace Barton, it was suggested by Deputy Prime Minister Joseph Cook that a conservative would be better than possible splitting. After all, it had been since 1914 since a non-Labor government was in power. On the 7th March, Chief Justice of Victoria and former Victorian Premier William Irving would be chosen as Griffith's replacement, bringing a conservative judge to the High Court. As for the role of the Chief Justice, Isaac Isaacs would be chosen. The High Court would have its conservative majority reduced by one.

The Country Party under Earle Page would introduce, with the thanks of the opposition Labor Party, the legislation for a national scientific bureau. Named the Australian Council for Science and Innovation (ACSI, pronounced Ak-See), it would unite Australia's brightest minds in science and engineering to ensure "Australia remains the pinnacle of the British Empire and of her race", to quote Glynn himself. Upon passing both houses and receiving Royal Assent, the ACSI would be gifted with its first task, where a Queensland-born civil engineer by John Bradfield proposed what would become the Sydney Bay Bridge. Based off the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City, the bridge began construction on the 11th January 1921 on funding from the New South Wales Government and from Federal Government funding. Returned soldiers and labourers would begin to contribute to the great project.

Another project was the formation of the Commonwealth Police Force of Australia. Given the lack of enforcement surrounding commonwealth laws and the need for postwar security in the rise of antiwar protestors, Glynn and Opposition Leader Hughes drafted the Commonwealth Police Force of Australia Act 1921. Passed by all three parties, role of the CPFA was to investigate offences against Commonwealth laws and to better coordinate the investigative capacity of the various Commonwealth Departments. The second role was to conduct special espionage and observe on any left-wing groups the Government felt to be threatening to national security.

The war, however, was becoming successful and final victory was assured 26th March 1921, with the last soldiers returning on the 15th June 1921. The soldier settlement plan was meant to be the pinnacle of the new Australia. Keith Murdoch, having consulted Earle Page on the plan, believed that a massive retraining plan had to made for soldiers who could be afforded plots of land. Out of the 28,534 soldiers that were granted plots of land, only 900 were trained with government assistance. In most situations, the plots of land did not have water or have the right soil for farming. William Watt instructed the ACSI to conduct a long-term investigation of the arable land of the country, a piece of work that would not be finished until the mid 1930's.

As the postwar arrived, so did the economic boom. With low unemployment and low inflation, saving money for future debt became a great concern as the government tried to motivate postwar assisted migration. Having looked at a referendum, Patrick Glynn was advised against that. Murdoch and Cook stated that the 1910 State Revenue Referendum (which was meant to give state government surpluses to the federal government) failed, whereas the State Debts Referendum (which the federal government assumed state debts) passed. Instead, Murdoch advised for a pool of money to be saved up and ten percent of the saving being taken out after ten years. One million pounds was to be invested into the fund as a starting point, with the ten percent stake not being able to be used until 1935. Despite the protests of Watt and Stanley Bruce, Glynn went ahead with the plan. The Collective Fund Act 1921 meant that one million pounds would be put aside for the 1921-22 financial year and every year thereafter 50,000 pounds would be put in until 1935, where a maximum 10% of the total amount could be taken out once a year. Despite protests from the Country Party and the backbencher, Glynn managed to get it passed albeit with damaged political capital.

Billy Hughes, meanwhile, had began to alienate quite a number of members of the ALP. Taking the helm of the criticism was the American-born radical MP for Darwin (a seat in Tasmania) King O'Malley, a teetotaller and the richest man in Parliament despite being radical in his views. O'Malley began to find likeminded men in Parker Moloney, the MP for Hume (New South Wales). On the 28th October 1921, Parker Moloney challenged Hughes for the leadership of the party, which he managed to win with the help of former Queensland Premier now MP for West Sydney, MP for Yarra (Victoria) Frank Tudor and MP for Hunter (NSW) Matthew Charlton. Ashamed at the betrayal, Billy Hughes formed a breakaway party.

Built on nationalism, conscription and intervention as well as social democracy, Billy Hughes formed the Liberal Party of Australia. With him would be Alexander Poynton MP for Grey, William Laird Smith MP for Denison and Hector Lamond MP for Illawarra. Joining the four MPs would be Senators for Western Australia George Pearce, Patrick Lynch and Hugh de Largie. Holding the cross bench, Hughes hoped that his policies would be transferred to one of either parties, although hoping that Labor would retain him in their ranks. Another Labor MP, James Catt, formed the Protestant Labour Party in response to the perceived dominance of the Catholic Church within the Australia labour movement.

Parker Moloney assembled his men together and decided to fight for widow's pensions, payments to families to have more children and strengthening industrial relations as the election was called for the 12th August 1922. With a breakdown of communication between Glynn and Page, the Country Party fought harder to obtain rural seats at the expense of the Nationalist Party. Returned servicemen also came into play, having become supporters of Hughes' Liberal Party.

The formation of government was fierce. Billy Hughes and his three elected MPs vowed to not be in government with Labor or with the Nationalists, which he viewed as too weak and not willing to protect vital industries. The Country Party did not want Murdoch, Glynn or Cook in government. To deny Parker Maloney the chance to form government, it was decided that if the Country Party was to form a coalition, several things would happen:
1. Earle Page was going to be the treasurer.
2. Murdoch, Glynn and Cook cannot serve in government.
3. A royal commission was to be made of the Soldier Settlement Scheme and its failures.

On the 14th August 1922, Glynn resigned and left the leadership of the Nationalist Party to a ballot. It was between the conservative William Watt, Stanley Bruce and Austen Chapman. On the second ballot, Bruce shifted his votes to Chapman. At 7pm on the 14th August 1922, Austen Chapman was MP for Eden-Monaro and the Ninth Prime Minister of Australia. It was around this time that he would deal with an uncertain future. It would all start in two places.

Japan












And Germany.

High Court after 1922
Justice William Irvine (7th March 1920 - 20th August 1943) - Conservative vote
Justice Thomas Bavin (11th January 1920 - 27th September 1952) - Liberal vote
Chief Justice Isaac Isaacs (12th October 1906 - 11th February 1948) - Conservative vote
Justice H. B. Higgins (13th October 1906 - 13th January 1929) - Liberal vote
Justice Frank Gavin Duffy (11th February 1913 - 1st October 1935) - Liberal vote
Justice Charles Powers (5th March 1913 - 22nd July 1929) - Liberal vote
Justice George Rich (5th April 1913 - 14th May 1956) - Conservative vote



Hope you all enjoyed this update. We'll see what happens in the rest of the world. See you all later.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

The sheer rejection of Japan's desired gains was a gut punch to the people. We fought for them. The message was nothing less than a spit in the face. We went out of our way to make sure that the Germans could not attack Singapore and other territories that they held so dear. AND YET THE GAIJIN BETRAYED US. THEY DESECRATED THEIR TREATIES WITH US, IN THE NAME OF THEIR PATHETIC DEMOCRACY.

For a man like Fumimaro Konoe, the rejection of Japan's gains in favour of Australia and New Zealand was depressing if it was not horrible. In his attempt to introduce the Racial Equality Clause of the Treaty of Versailles, he was stonewalled by the Deputy Prime Minister (and future PM) Billy Hughes as well as Jan Smuts of South Africa before he was shocked by the news that the REC would not be allowed in the treaty.

With all of these things, he returned to Japan a changed man. Our ancestors were forced to keep pace with these shifty and greedy Gaijin. But no longer.

Arriving back in Japan in November 1917, he would write for six months until he came up with a final manuscript known as Watashitachi no tōsō no jānaru otherwise known as Journal of Our Struggle in English. The book was a historical and political analysis of Japan's position in the world, as well as the summary of the Western view of Japan and the recommended policy that ought to occur. Ryūnosuke Gotō (Konoe's personal friend) and Masamichi Rōyama (a political scientist from the Tokyo Imperial University) were also available to aid him in finessing the produced book. In this book, it concluded the following things:
1. Japan shall always be considered a backwards country by Europeans and by whites (which he referred to as Gaijin) now and in the foreseeable future.
2. Such consideration is due to the 1853 intervention as well as the introduction of weaponry which led to the destruction of the social order.
3. In order to prevent such a matter from arising again, Japan must modernise its technology with greater speed. Japan turned from an isolated nation to an industrial power within sixty years, with Konoe stating that the acceleration must occur before 1925 and that Japan must be equal to or greater than the next two world powers by 1960.
4. The social order that is dominating Europe cannot dominate Japan. It must be purged from the minds of not only Japan, but its colonies as well.
5. Appeals to liberal democracy, laissez-faire capitalism, socialism, Marxism and universal suffrage only bring forward principals and ideas contrary to the social order.
6. Japan must, as a world power, seek to overcome and colonise its neighbours. As the European powers grow stronger, Japan must grow as well.
7. Japan must secure a large population and military by 1930 before advancing through China, Indochina, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, the British Raj and all of the Pacific.
8. Japan must, as a world power and a colonising one, seek to influence and dominate and guide the Asians to serve the purpose of Pan-Asian unity. They must concede resources and political power for this goal to be achieved.
9. Once it has been achieved, then Japan, "out of the kindness of Asian brotherhood shall deliver independence for the most loyal of all peoples and it shall occupy that which deviates from the course of History, that of Empire".
10. Japan must, in its attempt to achieve this, crush all resistance within the nation and outside of it. It must do this.

The final product would be published on the 6th June 1918. Initial sales would be around ~30,000 copies, fetching the three men a somewhat interesting sum of money as well as an audience that was just as angry as they were. But it wasn't enough. After all, any person could write a book about a country's problems and how they would fix it. We often get told that it took, in another timeline similar to this one, a rejection from art school and a war to make one Austrian into the synonym for evil. In this timeline, it was somewhat similar. There was a war. Japan fought in it and it received next to nothing, whereas Australia gained territory at its expense. But the thing was, there was no art school to be rejected from. There had to be another spark. Something to sell to the Japanese people.















Cue the Rice Riots of 1918.

The riots were due to the rise of the market price for rice. As for wages, they rose, but they could not match the rise in the price. This had the effect of reducing the purchasing power of poor Japanese citizens, with the rural rice farmers hit hardest. With an inability to pay landlords and to have a household budget, rural farmers and their wives began to march in force. At first, the methods were peaceful, hoarding supplies as well as petitioning local government to issue price controls to halt the spiral. For the first six weeks anyway. However, Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake attempted to bring armed force to the confrontation, which boiled over into violence. Fire bombings, house raids, strike-breaking as well as protesting outside the houses of politicians crippled Japan from July to September. From leftist trade unions to soldiers vengeful against the Treaty, protestors attacked buildings and police.

A total of 50,000 workers participated in strikes, with over 20,000 arrests made and a total of 7,500 convictions and 53 deaths from the protests and the response from the authorities. The greatest loser of them all was Prime Minister Masatake, who accepted the blame for the riots and the response and resigned on the 2nd October 1918. Replacing him would be commoner Hara Takashi. Despite having a great majority of members of his party in the Diet, he refused to accept the proposal of universal suffrage. In truth, Takashi was hated by all sides. The liberals, socialists and communists hated him for not allowing suffrage due to a "loss of power", making sure that it was made clear for every protest and every pamphlet that was made out. As for the conservatives, bureaucracy and military, they viewed him as too weak and unable to prosecute Japanese interests in the wider world let alone in the colonial territories of Korea, Formosa and Qingdao.

As for the ultranationalist, proto-Volkist and far-right elements. Well, they had something to say. No, wrong phrasing.


They had something to demonstrate their hatred. One such man was a right-wing railroad switchman, Nakaoka Kon'ichi.

The death of Takashi was but the death knell of the liberalism that was within the Empire of Japan. Konoe, in preparation of the 1920 General Election, formed the party Kokuritsu saisei sensen (National Regeneration Front). Ryūnosuke Gotō and Masamichi Rōyama were a part of the structure of the party, as well as anti-imperialist and Pan-Asian activist Shūmei Ōkawa. The four men published their own works, which included Journal of Our Struggle, first to likeminded groups and individuals and then to those that were impacted by the Rice Riots. In 20 days, over 15,000 copies of Konoe's work was published, with the proceeds going towards the funding of a political campaign.

In the 1920 General Election, the ruling Rikken Seiyūkai suffered a crashing defeat under new Prime Minister Takahashi Korekiyo.

Political Party	Leader	Votes (3,069,148)	Seats (464)
Rikken Seiyūkai	Takahashi Korekiyo	909,341 (29.62%)	139
Kenseikai	Katō Takaaki	1,307,982 (42.61%)	198 (+77)
Rikken Kokumintō	Inukai Tsuyoshi	257,998 (8.4%)	37 (+2)
Kokuritsu Saisei Sensen	Fumimaro Konoe	322,871 (10.5%)	51 (+51, New)
Others	-	270,956 (8.8%)	39 (-21)

The results for Konoe, who gave up his old father's seat in the House of Peers, was nothing more than a testament to the will of not just his revanchist mind, but that of the hardline traditionalists within the country. Even though he had no say of government, he did have a say in the people. Week after week, his party would disseminate works and publications through the public, turning a betrayal at a treaty into a national symbol for vengeance, rebirth and destiny. Again and again, the moderates such as Prime Minister Korekiyo said that there would be no chances for him to succeed.










Then the communist named Daisuke Nanba had something to say about that.

Thus, the first crack in the dam begins.




Anyway, that is all for this post. There will be another one soon. All comments and thoughts are welcome, they help to keep this timeline on the straight and narrow, please comment and like if this is the sort of TL and content that you wish to see.

But until then, it's good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good bye. By the time I finish this, it will be 11:09pm AEST. Thanks

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

Bumping this thread. All comments and thoughts are welcome. Thank you.

 

[Unknown]

Wonder what'll happen next...

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

Wonder what'll happen next...

We've got the first crack in the dam. I'm coming up with the second as soon as possible.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

"...and much like Carthage before it, what I have concluded of Germany is that of a dark future. One where the fiery furnaces will be put out, where the men will not go out into the coal seams and where the people once prosperous will be put to work. It shall be where the German shall look to every Frenchman as he would to Napoleon and he shall look to every Englishman in the same manner the Irish look to Cromwell. With a lack of work and strength, the Germans shall be trodden underfoot for eternity, long after the death of the Kaiser and the Hohenzollerns have been erased from the collective memory."

John Maynard Keynes, The Carthaginian Peace of 1917 (1921)

Working in Brazil with the new President, Keynes was the spearhead of "The Regeneration", a period starting from 1921 to 1925. During this time, Brazil set itself on a period of modernisation and industrialisation to keep up with Europe and the United States. Using the Presidential powers at his disposal, President Isidoro Dias Lopes forced the integration of the regional economies by forcing them to sell to the rest of the world without favour to one state or another. It would be here that news of the revenue stream from trade would be better than expected.

It was around this time that railways began to be made, meant to push through to the rural regions of the country. Against the protest of conservative landowners, the President continued on with his plan which was favoured by middle class citizens as well as trade unionists, immigrants and the poor. Such industrialisation was to allow for full employment and for a continued injection of government funds, much against the advice and the sight of orthodox economists.

Such progress was slow, as strikes and demonstrations were made by militant unionists as well as residents who had seen their houses marked to be torn down. In 1922 alone, 600 demonstrations had to be broken up by a reformed police force as well as soldiers that were loyal to the President. The Treaty of Rio de Janeiro allowed for the Vatican under Pope Benedict XV to recognise the Second Republic of Brazil. The President also welcomed new Portuguese immigrants, as well as German and Polish immigrants. It was part of his formation of a new Brazilian identity based of the work of Alberto Torres. Torres, a Brazilian politician and thinker, believed that Brazil required a centralised federal government in order to perpetuate the society. This was part of his disdain for socialism and individualism, which would translate into the Brazil School of Volkism (in unity with the Berlin School and the Tokyo School) in 1927, ten years after his death.

Writing in his time in Brazil, Keynes argued that the progress that was being made after the war for Brazil should not be removed for Germany. For nine months, Keynes wrote The Carthaginian Peace. Basing his research on the news of the German Revolution and the uprisings in Poland and Silesia as well as economic data, Keynes drafted a future where Germany would:

"...be subject to the grip of demagoguery which can only be traced back to the rise of the Corsican named Bonaparte. What we have seen in France between the years of 1790 and 1815 was a result of a nation on the brink of disaster rising up and beating the entirety of Europe again and again until her downfall at Waterloo. What we will see in Germany is something far worse. For Germany was born in battle, in the fighting of 1870 and 1871, there it was forged unlike France which has maintained her present state for over one thousand years. Unlike France, Germany has been a hodgepodge of nation states that had no common unity except for that under the Hohenzollern Kaisers in both war and peacetime. With no Kaiser and with her current state being that of a shaky republic formed by soft-boiled socialists, she shall look for the next best thing. Germany shall, under a strong leader of war or politics, seek a fight with France and all nations that have contributed to her downfall. She shall be of the belief, as all people believe in the present climate, that a race of people ought to have a nation for themselves. If the French have France altogether and then some, then Germans in Germany shall demand her due. "Unite us with Silesia", "Union of All-Germans", that is what they will all say. Not because they want to, but because they must, in the name of preserving the balance of power between all of the European Powers."

Keynes put forward the idea of exporting German coal and steel as a part of her payment plan, as he believed the currency would not be enough.

Publishing the book, it was met with widespread disdain among French and British citizens, who protested when Keynes returned to Britain in March 1923. Meeting with Austen Chamberlain, he stated that post-war Britain needed to adopt measures that he saw working in Brazil. Chamberlain, in the middle of campaign hustings, ignored his concerns and continued on his way. Keynes on the other hand, managed to meet David Lloyd George as the Liberals and Labour fought against Chamberlain's absence on the issue of workplace insurance, minimum wage guarantees for farmers as well as the formation of the Ministry of Health. A series of strikes being taken down by police as well as Lloyd George selling titles and honours for 10,000 pounds damaged his credibility.

The far-right and proto-Volkist National Party under Henry Page Croft merged with the National Servicemen's League, expanding their platform to continue to enforce the severe punishment that they believed Germany ought to deserve. Coming into the election was the Imperial Unionist Party, which was designed to be an anti-Semitic party based on creating a "British Superstate", where the white diasporas of the British Empire would unite as one. Those two parties were reactionary and to counter them was the rise of the Communist Party of Great Britain, formed from Irish nationalists and left-wing antiwar citizens as well as sympathetic trade unions.

715 seats up for grabs as well as a total turn out of 14,671,959 voters (75% of the 19,562,612 registered voters), 8 seats up from the previous election. In Ireland, there are 2 new seats (bringing it to 81 from 79) and in Britain it is now 634 seats.

Party	Party Leader	Candidates	Seats Held	Seats Won	Votes (out of 14,671,959)	Percentage of Votes	Percentage of Seats	Change in Seats	Results
Conservative and Unionist Party	Austen Chamberlain	417	389	203	4,858,361	33.11% of Vote	28.39% of Seats	-186	Coalition Government
Liberal Party	David Lloyd George	227	171	187	1,952,443	13.30% of Vote	26.15% of Seats	+16	Coalition Government
Labour Party	John Robert Clynes	283	51	205	4,799,192	32.70% of Vote	28.67% of Seats	+154	Opposition
Irish Parliamentary Party	Joseph Devlin	71	64	69	627,880	4.27% of Vote	9.65% of Seats	+5	-/+
Sinn Fein	Michael Collins	35	15	9	225,116	1.53% of Vote	1.25% of Seats	-4	-/+
Democratic Liberal Party	Herbert Asquith	49	5	22	126,773	0.86% of Vote	3.076% of Seats	+17	-/+
National Servicemen's Party	Henry Page Croft	55	6	12	76,993	0.52% of Vote	1.678% of Seats	+6	-/+
Labour Unionist Party	Edward Carson	11	3	0	9,772	0.06% of Vote	-/+	-3	-/+
National Socialist Party	John Joseph Jones	7	2	3	21,096	0.14% of Vote	0.419% of Seats	+1	-/+
Scottish Prohibition Party	Edwin Scrymgeour	5	1	1	14,992	0.10% of Vote	0.139% of Seats	-/+	-/+
Communist Party of Britain	Albert Inkpin	17	0	3	47,002	0.32% of Vote	0.419% of Seats	+3	-/+
Imperial Unionist Party	Arnold Leese	3	0	1	17,882	0.12% of Vote	0.139% of Seats	+1	-/+
Other	-	756	0	0	1,902,457	12.96% of Vote	-/+	-/+	-/+

The result was because of a few things. The IUP under Arnold Leese (in this timeline) was an anti-Zionist party, before they started sharing more in common with H. M. Hyndman and the National Socialists. The IUP is culturally far-right, but in terms of economics it is centralised (wanting the government to own industries), whereas the National Socialists are anti-Semitic communists if that makes sense.

The Communist Party of Britain are those that are of the genuine, Marxist-Leninist front. While the BSSR and the USEI were big things, they were ignored by the CPB.

The National Servicemen's Party demands the screws remain tight on Germany and they receive much support from soldiers and Germanophobes in the middle and upper class.

With the Irish failing to gain independence, the Irish Parliamentary Party gains relevance once again at the expense of Sinn Fein, who replaced de Valera with Michael Collins.

Due to Lloyd George's scandals, the Democratic Liberals under Asquith gain seats with Asquith returning to Parliament.





Negotiations went into the night of the 26th September 1923. What was made clear was David Lloyd George's resignation if the Liberals wanted to maintain their resolve. Lloyd George, having seen the message clear, resigned on the 27th and left the leadership ballot to Winston Churchill and Frederick Linfield. Herbert Kitchener, an MP for the party since 1918, was selected as a candidate, but he declined to serve as leader.

On the 29th September, Churchill came out on top. As this happened, Chamberlain took on his second government, with Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer. A post that he would soon regret.


Then, the second crack appeared in the dam.









Thank you all for the 15,000 VIEWS ON THIS TIMELINE. Come on, thoughts and comments are all welcome.


In the words of the great man himself when he sees 15,000 views:

Thank you all for watching, stay tuned for more of TBPWM. See you all.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

A quick update before I post another part of the timeline

I have decided to bring back the footnotes that were a part of the early posts, that way the reasoning can be justified and a lot more world building can be done there.

Also, I have plans to edit some details here and there from the posts, to make sure that everything lines up well. So over a couple of days, you'll see a few things popping up and another few things disappearing.

It would be much appreciated if you could comment on what would happen during this time, that way I would have all bases covered.


Comments and thoughts are welcome.

Sincere regards,

Walter Rodney Kinghorn (1882 -1917 OTL, 1882 - 1953 ATL)

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

Alexander M. Palmer - President

Vice-President - Carter Glass

Secretary of State - James M. Cox

Secretary of the Treasury - David F. Houston

Secretary of War - Peyton Conway March

Attorney General - Oscar Underwood

Postmaster General - Gilbert Hitchcock

Secretary of the Navy - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Secretary of the Interior - Herbert Hoover

Secretary of Agriculture - Marcus A. Smith

Secretary of Commerce - Henry Ford

Secretary of Labor - John W. Davis (1)


The Administration would come into effect on the 30th December, with all of the picks chosen by Glass and Palmer in close council with Oscar Underwood and with the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Democrat Willard Saulsbury Jnr. Taking a different direction, Palmer planned with "Colonel" Edward M. House to exploit the isolationist and work-ready population, having found themselves sick of fighting in Mexico. (2)

Taking in Herbert Hoover for Interior was seen as one of the great plaudits for the administration, not just then but also now. With his powers, Hoover modernised the system. He took in scientists and researchers to find better systems, better methods, better uses for resources. Taking the time to talk to men like Roosevelt and Ford, the three men had a strong vision for America's prosperity. Working with Secretary Smith, Hoover would motivate the U. S. Food Administration to continue sending foodstuff and materials to places such as Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Dutch East Indies and even China to ensure better relations. Relations with Australia were a bit strained given Hoover's previous career in Western Australia and his previous stance which alienated the Australian trade unions. (3)

May 19th 1921 would be the death of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. In his place, James Clark McReynolds would be appointed to be Chief Justice. Walter Parker Stacy, a jurist from North Carolina, would take the vacant spot.

On the 27th September 1921, Secretary Ford met with Tsar Nicholas II in St. Petersburg as part of the renewal of Russo-American relations, having been requested to come visit by the Tsar. One of these was the delivery of food and other supplies to starving communities, as well as helping with the modernisation of the country. The Tsar, having heard so much about the man, dedicated time to speaking on matters of industrialisation as well as their views of Jews. This part allowed Ford to distribute several copies of The Dearborn Independent, a paper that Ford funded which contained several anti-Semitic articles. This allowed for the future creation of the Russian division of the Ford Motor Company in 1932. Despite the meeting over such a controversial matter, Ford would later recant his view in 1928. As for the Tsar, it would be the start of a dark path (4). In the meantime, the Tsar had to deal with the rebellious population of Germans in East Prussia as well as the Polish, which was continuing to drain the attention of Russia from other important matters.

On foreign policy, Palmer did not want to allow the United States to be tangled into any more wars. James Cox managed to get a copy of The Carthaginian Peace which was passed around to every member of the cabinet, confirming Palmer's ideas of Europe. Cox was to motivate the powers of France and Britain to relax their stance on the question of Germany's punishment. Paul Painlevé, President of France, won on a campaign of peace and honour and was willing to collaborate on the matter of peace with Secretary Cox and British Prime Minister Chamberlain. (5)

In 1922, Germany was suffering the first moments of its hyperinflation (6), where the Government was printing money to compensate industrialists that lost income when land was given to Russia and France. Secretary of the Treasury, David F. Houston, assembled a team which comprised of Secretary of Commerce Henry Ford and Secretary of the Interior Herbert Hoover and Josiah Stamp (Chairman of the Bank of England) among many others. From their proposal, the "Houston Plan", goes as follows: (7)
- Reparations are to be paid at one billion marks for the first year, with the payment raised to three billion after the tenth year.
- Wall street bond issues would be loaned at $400 million USD
- Sources of the reparations money would include excise and customs tax.

In that same year, Associate Justice Mahlon Pitney suffered a stroke and retired after his recovery on the 27th August 1922. With the vacancy, President Palmer appointed William Gibbs McAdoo to fill it, with McAdoo confirmed on the 28th September. William R. Day then followed on the 17th November 1922, with conservative John McDuffie replacing him and being confirmed by the Senate on the 15th January 1923. With three notches, it was hoped that Joseph McKenna would retire sooner rather than later.

As this was done, Houston also put forward a plan to cut income tax and to urge farmers to produce less. This would backfire, as the Republicans found a few faces willing to take on Mr Palmer. Waiting in the wings was the ever-present threat of the AIP and the militant Socialist Party of America. (8)



(1) Not enough pictures can be loaded up, I will not try to test the system again. I'll try and keep it to a "less is more" style.

(2) Because the Republicans put America into a war that didn't effect them so much, the isolationism and the "return to normalcy" was handed to the Democrats on a silver platter.

(3) Roosevelt AND HOOVER?! IN THE SAME GODDAMN ADMINISTRATION! Yes please.

(4) Tsar being the Tsar and Henry Ford being Henry Ford. Speaking of, that meeting also confirms the matter that the Tsar had with constitutional monarchy and of the innovation of machinery. He believes, in ATL given the meeting between him and Ford, that the growing technological advancement will enforce the status quo. It will be something of a big deal later on.

(5). Anti-war sentiment rose up with Clemenceau never being able to become Prime Minister or President. Many Frenchmen consider the matter with Germany resolved.

(6) Because of more land being taken from Germany, the hyperinflation is much worse than OTL.

(7) The "Houston Plan" is the ATL Dawes Plan, which is quoted from Wikipedia, quote:

• The Ruhr area was to be evacuated by foreign troops
• Reparation payments would begin at one billion marks the first year, increasing annually to two and a half billion marks after five years
• The Reichsbank would be re-organized under Allied supervision
• The sources for the reparation money would include transportation, excise, and customs taxes
• Germany would be loaned about $200 million, primarily through Wall Street bond issues in the United States

(8) Next post will deal with some of the consequences of Palmer's term and the 1924 Election.


Please comment and like and share your thoughts, they help to keep this timeline on the straight and narrow. Thank you all for watching.

(9) Sorry mate, no Tim Tams here. Go get some from down the street. Sheesh.

See you all later.

 

[traveller76]

So will the Tsar try to deport Jews and other troublesome groups?

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

So will the Tsar try to deport Jews and other troublesome groups?

Maybe, maybe.....................................................we'll see soon enough.

 

[Unknown]

Wonder what the response will be to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre; I don't see it being butterflied away...

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

Alexander Mitchell Palmer took charge of a country that was sick of war in Europe and in Mexico and demanded to be left in peace. Thus the phrase was born from his campaign. "Return to Normalcy", which offered him the White House. Palmer, in his first 100 days, oversaw the ratification of the 20th Amendment which defined Presidential succession and inauguration as well as the expansion of food exports to Europe following the end of the First World War.

He should be commended for his stance on ensuring American affairs remained far removed from the revolutions in Russia, the Dutch East Indies as well as the rump Ottoman Empire. Americans need to understand that entering into a war that did not hurt us is a war that should never be fought at all. Americans did not need to fight in Britain and France's conflicts. America needed to work and needed to make sure that they had a job. His choice in appointing Roosevelt as Secretary of the Navy allowed for the eventual formation of the "Two Ocean Navy", not to see entry until the event commemorated as 9/11 which saw the entry of the USA into the Second World War.

The appointment of Hoover in Interior, Roosevelt in Navy and Ford in Commerce was something of a strong-arming nature, given Hoover's past days as a businessman in Australia where he imported foreign labour against unionists and given the then anti-Semitic sentiments Ford had. The three men revolutionised and modernised the governing system. Roosevelt ordered the modernisation of the Navy even in peacetime, working to maintain strong relations with unions. Hoover ordered the creation of sub-departments and to use experts alongside politicians in finding efficient means of production, reducing waste and using the best talents of public servants. Ford refined the business and the bureaucracy and ensured the quickest resolution for the businessman.

The Democratic Party would shift from its Wilsonian and progressive ideals to a more conservative and isolationist stance in the four years after 1916 and in the victory of 1920. Regulations would be cut, taxes along with them and the people were meant to get to work. Thomas Marshall, having left for a third-party run in 1916, was barred from the Democratic Convention and his exit from the role of Vice-President ensured the reversal of the work that he did (or rather, tried to do).

The Palmer Administration should not, however, be immune from criticism. The Administration was responsible for the complete segregation of all government departments and sub-divisions therein. It was part of Glass and Palmer's plan to draw voters from the AIP away from any dark horse candidate that they might throw up. The National Origins Act of 1923 was responsible for the barring of all Oriental (1) immigration and the restriction of Occidental immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe. This bill started the anti-American sentiment in Japan, which in turned fuelled the ratification of the bill.

The decision to form the National Investigation Service (NIS) under J. Edgar Hoover (2) led to an outcry by civil rights activists and by labor groups when Hoover took part in raids against activists such as Emma Goldman, Felix Frankfurter and many other radicals. He was also responsible for the imprisonment and deportation of 2,000 German-descended Americans.

Palmer's election was a blow to the labor movement, along with the appointment of Underwood as Attorney-General and Ford in Commerce, which allowed for the elimination of the labor movement's demands. The Veterans Payment Act of 1924 was a bill voted down by a coalition of conservative Republicans and Democrats led by Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding, due to arguments over whether it was the start of a future pension plan or if it only applied to soldiers that fought in the First World War. The appointment of the segregationists McAdoo and McDuffie to the Supreme Court drew the attention of the NAACP. Hoover's raid on the Chicago and Los Angeles offices of the American Freedom Institute in September 1924 cemented the antagonism President Palmer had with the labor movement of the United States.

Antagonism that his successors would have to deal with sooner or later.

- Ronald Reagan, narrating the 1983 documentary series America: The Story Of Her Presidents (from President George Washington all the way to the modern day)


This mess started with Palmer and his fingers continue to stretch from the grave through Hoover and onto the working man and working woman of this country. Every President has been a part of this operation and every President is responsible. Only I am able to fix this mess. Won't you help me?

- Lyndon LaRouche, "private letter number 00472" from the "Murdoch-Mogg Papers", prior to the 1972 Presidential Election and prior to 6/6/76.



The entrenched segregation that the Palmer Administration put forward was the last of an effort already committed by the previous administrations before his. Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson all worked their way through the departments to enforce the Jim Crows that were in the South and spreading to the rest of the Union. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr attempted to reverse some of the decisions, to be stonewalled by the 1918 Midterms and to be left with no chance to outlaw lynching let alone desegregate sectors of government. It was feared that the Republicans could never regain the White House if they were so bold in fighting against Jim Crow, given how much the public did not like the Republican's support for intervention in Europe or Mexico.

It was hoped that further segregating the government and the bureaucracy would allow for the Democrats to maintain the stranglehold of the South over the prepubescent American Independence Party.

All it took was for one man to bump into the wrong man.






Tulsa, Oklahoma, 17th February 1924

Dick Rowland was a black shoeshiner, who was living in the most prosperous region for African-Americans. It would be a glimmer of hope, a candle in the darkness of Jim Crow. Every time that he would go to the nearest toilet, he would have to get to the nearby Drexel building. The top-floor bathroom was restricted to black people and he was given express permission to use the bathroom. It had to be accessed by an elevator operated by Sarah Page, a 19-year old elevator operator. Taking the trip up, he went into the bathroom and relieved himself. (3)

Returning to the elevator, he managed to travel down without a concern. Walking out at 3pm, he went through Renberg's, a clothing store on the first floor of the Drexel. Just as he was going out of the door, he crashed into a man. Both men knocked to the ground, a clerk from Renberg's approached the scene. Getting up, the man berated Rowland for pushing him down to the ground. Opening his eyes and seeing the man for himself, Rowland was scared.

He did not bump into any ordinary man.

He bumped into THOMAS FUCKING DIXON

At once, Dixon Jr contacted the authorities and beckoned for the news reporters. Despite the clear admission of Rowland's accident and his character being backed by several attorneys and legalists who knew him, the accidental bump to the founder of the American Independence Party and its militant wing the Ku Klux Klan was more than enough to set ablaze a fiery call for Rowland's lynching.

By 7pm, the word had got around. Fearing the lynching of the man, the police escorted Rowland into the top level of the Tulsa County Courthouse. 10 of the 45 police officers were on the roof with rifles and shotguns. Having disabled the elevator, the sheriff of the town positioned the rest of his men at the top of the stairs with orders to shoot the growing lynch mob.

8pm, Dixon addressed the mob. Growing to over 2,000 white men, this included several members of the KKK and the AIP. As the police hunkered down for the night and deterred requests for Rowland to be handed over, the mob armed themselves by getting their own private weapons or attempting to storm the National Guard armoury. Major James Bell of the 180th Infantry Regiment called up three National Guard units to repel 700 men from storming the armoury. At only half their strength, they faced the rush of 700 men besieging the armoury. For 23 minutes, the men held out before they surrendered and retreated out to a better defensive position. 45 lynchers were killed versus 8 National Guardsmen.

Having stolen all of the remaining ammunition and guns, the men returned to the County Courthouse at 9:15pm, where the lynch mob was 3,000 strong facing 200 National Guardsmen, veterans and policemen. Ten minutes later, 120 black men arrived to stand their ground with the officers, having claimed that they were asked by the sheriff (when the sheriff had no such request made).

To this day, no one has figured out who fired the first shot at 11:37pm. When it did, the mouth of Hell opened up. Standing their ground at the courthouse, the defenders shot at the whites from both the ground and from the roof. Running away, the lynch mob suffered a total of 32 dead in three minutes. Splitting up the lynch mob began to rove around the black neighbourhoods, shooting at anyone regardless of whether they were armed or not. Looting shops for weapons and ammunition, the lynch mob woke up many that were defenceless and unaware of the struggle.

Racing for more units to quell the disorder, the National Guard opened fire on white lynchers and detained blacks that refused to cooperate. The lynch mob opened fire into businesses that employed blacks, they made petrol bombs (known as Springfield Shakers) (4) and threw them at any black citizens that happened to be awake or trying to flee the city.

On and on and on the fighting went into the wee hours of the morning. Over 3500 whites and 3,000 blacks were fighting one another, with 1,000 whites fighting against the lynch mob. It wasn't until 1pm when 2,000 National Guardsmen from across the state were brought in to restore order.

It would take decades of hard work to rebuild Tulsa into a proper city. But in the meantime, the casualties were as follows:
- 217 African-Americans were shot dead, including 14 children. 753 were wounded.
- 329 white American looters were shot dead, with 1,185 wounded.
- 59 National Guardsmen and 19 policemen were shot dead.
(5)

The reaction to the riots was explosive. The NAACP and the AFI and the KKK/AIP's memberships increased as the news came out. Many lynchers came out in support of the AIP Presidential ticket. The white demographics of Oklahoma shifted from Democrat to American Independent from 1924 all the way to 1976, never giving any of its electoral votes to anyone else.






The 1924 Presidential Election was one that was going to be heated. Labor groups protested President Palmer's actions and went ahead to support a "Push Off Palmer" nomination. The first choice was Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, but he declined in favour of endorsing Palmer and Glass as President and Vice-President. The other choices were of Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee as well as George S. Silzer from New Jersey. The rush of diners such as Edward Doherty had tainted an already shaky perception of Palmer among the unions.

1st Ballot

Presidential Candidate	Occupation	State	Votes (out of 1096)
Alexander Palmer	Incumbent President	Pennsylvania	467
George S. Silzer	Governor of New Jersey	New Jersey	201
Thomas Marshall	Vice-President to Woodrow Wilson	Indiana	168
George Berry	President of the International Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America	Tennessee	151
Franklin D. Roosevelt	Secretary of the Navy	New York	44
Al Smith	Governor of New York	New York	38
Robert Latham Owen	Senator from Oklahoma	Oklahoma	16
William Jennings Bryan	Perennial candidate, former Secretary of State	Nebraska	11

Roosevelt, upon seeing what had occurred, declared his endorsement for the President. Marshall met with George Berry in the hope for Berry to be his Secretary of Labor. Berry accepted and endorsed Marshall as President.

The 5th Ballot showed Palmer obtaining 590 votes with Marshall gaining with 318 votes. Al Smith trailed behind with 226 votes. It was Vice-President Glass who came up with one trick that would solidify the nomination.

As well as the fears that the labor movement had of the Democrat Party.

Shifting among the delegates, Palmer told a handful of delegates of the plan. At the same time, Marshall stated the need for a return to progressive ideas such as regulations on the banks, cheap credit for farmers as well as the abolition of child labor laws.

By the 10th Ballot, Palmer had 615 votes and Marshall had 372 votes with Al Smith dropping down with 109. Upon seeing the numbers, Palmer began to snatch victory from Marshall's clutches.

On the 11th Ballot, Palmer called in his delegates. A total of 85 delegates were told to go to Marshall then leave him if the numbers were too close. Palmer had 780 votes, Marshall had 316 votes. From there, Palmer was re-confirmed as the Democrat Nominee for the President of the United States. (6)

It took one ballot to confirm Carter Glass as the Vice-President.

With reality kicking in, a total of 200 delegates along with their informal leader, George Berry, walked out of the DNC cursing Palmer on the way out.





The Republican Party, the Party that has never won re-election save for Theodore Roosevelt (who has been dead since 18th June 1921), was a whole different story.

For the conservatives, there was the Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge (Governor since 2nd January 1919), who oversaw the crushing of civil unrest caused by the attempted unionisation of the Boston Police. Coolidge believed that smaller, more efficient government was the means to prosperity. Coolidge believed in lower taxes, less regulations, a smaller peacetime army and navy as well as maintaining American interests in Latin America.

Challenging him was the Wisconsin Progressive Robert LaFollette, who was a firebrand criticising many things such as the current "Banana Republics" in Latin America. He also campaigned on making Native Americans citizens of the United States, supporting pensions for Army Veterans, abolition of child labor and progressive taxes. With the death of Theodore Roosevelt high in progressive minds, LaFollette captured the majority of states in the Republican Primaries, with only favourite-sons dealing with him.

Such was LaFollette's popularity among the people that there were fears of a third party break. After all, Thomas Marshall did the same thing in 1916 and it awarded Holmes the White House. However, the ideas seemed far too radical for a population that wanted to work. But after twenty ballots, the fiery passion that was there could not abate. It was there that Republican Party bosses confronted LaFollette and compromised with him: Coolidge as Vice-President, or LaFollette will be denied the election. On the 25th Ballot, LaFollette triumphed over the last of the favourite sons.

LaFollette would be 69 when he received the nomination, which again brought up the question of age for the Republicans. (7)






The American Independence Party, having heard the news of the Tulsa Racecide (which is the term used by the NAACP as well as the newly formed Morgenthau Institute Against Racecide), formed its convention at Birmingham, Alabama on the 15th to the 16th June.

The leading man was Mississippi Governor since 1916, Theodore G. Bilbo, the only Governor to be a member of the AIP. Vowing to protect "the institution of white supremacy in the South and in the United States", he would support measures such as abortion for the poor (this would target African-Americans the most) as well as a bill to transport African-Americans to Liberia and other colonies in Africa (8).

(9)
His running mate was the Georgia Senator Thomas Watson. A former House member for Georgia, Presidential candidate for the Populist Party in 1896 and 1904 and 1908, he changed from a racially liberal man to a white supremacist that mocked blacks and Jews alike, taking part in the sensationalisation of the trial of Leo Frank. Despite suffering a stroke one year earlier, he managed to maintain senility during this time and during the campaign.

Thus, the AIP ticket was forged.




WHO WILL WIN THE 1924 ELECTION? WHAT WILL BE CONTROVERSIAL ABOUT IT? TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR

THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

SAME WALTZING MATILDA TIME

SAME WALTZING MATILDA WEBSITE






1. ATL Oriental refers to all peoples of Asia: Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Mongolians, Indians, etc. Occidentals refer to all people from Europe and from their diasporas in every colony.

2. ALT FBI

3. The 1921 Tulsa Massacre occurred because Rowland tripped on his way to the elevator and (this is the most common explanation) he grabbed onto Sarah's arm to break his fall. ATL, he doesn't trip. He just bumps into the man who wants to see him put down for as long as possible.

4. ATL American term for Molotov Cocktails

5. Many of the fatalities occurred in the dark of night between 2am and 6am.

6. OTL Democratic Convention required a two-thirds majority in favour of the candidate. Protestants like it due to denying Al Smith the nomination and the South wants it to maintain their interests (even though the AIP can fit their interests to a T)

7. Palmer is organising a more conservative administration, with the Republicans slowly accepting of policies that Robert LaFollette would champion. It is a question of whether that "slow acceptance" will bring about the desired votes come November.

8. To be fair to Margaret Sanger, she received positive plaudits for birth control from progressives and racists alike. To suggest that X liked her ideas, therefore she was X is not to be taken seriously. LaFollette would receive her endorsement in both OTL and ATL.

9. Bilbo could have been played by Frank Gorshin and LaFollette could have had Kirk Douglas play him. That would have been interesting.


Thoughts and comments please on who will win.

The virgin Palmer
The CHAD LaFollette
The simp BiLbO

WHO WILL WIN

see you all later.

 

[traveller76]

Palmer in First with Lafollette pulling in a large number of votes.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

The election was gripping and it was thrilling for all of those involved.

Unlike Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, Robert LaFollette was vigorous and energetic in his campaigning, as he went from his home state of Wisconsin all the way to New York and California. Wounded by his time as a lame duck Vice-President, Hiram Johnson endorsed LaFollette and campaigned on his behalf in California, Oregon and Nevada. LaFollette challenged Palmer on the creation of the NIS and J. Edgar Hoover's impact on civil liberties, his deregulation and his non-action surrounding the citizenship of Native Americans and events like the Tulsa Massacre. He campaigned on a form of "trust-busting" not far removed from the late Theodore Roosevelt. Seeing the issues that he was campaigning on, farmers began to rally to the call, as LaFollette called for cheap credit for farmers and for regulation to protect poor farmers. Harnessing new technology, his message hoped to be heard for miles around. (1)

Making radio speeches in San Francisco and in states like Montana and Kansas drew in the Farmer-Labor League from Minnesota as well as the Non-Partisan League (NPL). LaFollette was making waves with Democrats that voted for Marshall-Bryan in 1916 as well as those that voted for Bryan long before. The Socialist Party under Eugene Debs campaigned in Illinois and in the Rust Belt, fighting over more moderate and leftist groups that started to favour the Republicans over the godfather of the American socialist movement. The AFL (American Federation of Labor), suffered a split as Gompers tried to not get involved whilst members sympathetic to the Boston Police endorsed Debs.

Vice-President Coolidge would travel through New England and upstate New York, as the counter to the energetic and somewhat radical LaFollette. He would court conservative voters who were just as non-interventionist as LaFollette himself. German-Americans, farmers, labourers and unionists began to be drawn into the party, much to the angst of the conservative factions.


Palmer and Glass would campaign on low taxes, little regulation in business and standing in favour of Prohibition. The Woman's Christian Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League endorsed the party, along with the following religious denominations: Church of Latter-Day Saints, Methodists, Northern and Southern Baptists, New School Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, Congregationalists, Quakers and Scandinavian Lutherans. Following this, German Lutherans and Episcopalians endorsed LaFollette as well as Catholics for their stance in favour of alcohol.

The Democrats were helped by the high visibility of men like Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford in states like New York, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan and Virginia. These men were the sign of the times: high efficiency, accelerating industrialisation and peacetime conditions. Women were also coming out to vote, rushing to the temperance position as many of these organisations had women as the majority of their memberships.

African-Americans were tied between the temperance movement (majority Democrat), which claimed that prohibition would be better for their economic position compared to the Republican Party and its newfound leader galvanising the progressive movement. (2)

As for immigrants, they were shifting more towards Republicans, as they were seen as the opponent to the nativists who supported prohibition. (3)




As for the AIP, this was the first time that they achieved that status of ballots in all 48 states of the union, achieving a membership of 500,000 (4). Theodore G. Bilbo started the campaign by spreading the rumour that Robert LaFollette had fathered several children with a black woman. Thomas Watson spread nativist rhetoric across the South, as prohibition became a larger plank in the AIP, along with a further restriction of immigration and the opposition towards socialism and the "radical platform of the Negro Republicans".





Tuesday, 4th November 1924.

It was the day that would change a lot of things in the country. Some for the better and others for the worst. Seven days earlier, the AIP had a shock at the surprise death of Thomas Watson from a second stroke at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Two weeks earlier, Eugene Debs of the Socialist Party dropped dead during a rally in Sacramento after complaining of heart problems.

The Midwest fell to the Republicans save for Illinois, which went for the incumbent President. New England fell to the Republicans thanks to Coolidge's behind-the-scenes campaigning, missing out on Massachusetts due to a late showing by President Palmer. New York and Massachusetts, while having labor-friendly voters, did not forgive the Republicans for sending American boys to "war" to then come home several weeks later. Missouri, against the thoughts of pundits, remained with the Democrats and much of the South. Palmer lost his home state of Pennsylvania, but Glass retained the favour of the Old Dominion.

Oklahoma, having suffered the Tulsa Massacre, swung heavily towards the conservative vote of Bilbo/Watson, who whites saw as the most hardline on racial tensions. Both Bilo and Watson won their home states, playing off these fears while Alabama tipped over to the AIP thanks to the low Democrat performance. South Carolina returned to the hands of the Democrats once again.

Upon realising the threshold of 266 Electoral Votes had not been reached, there was a deadlock in the College. With the 68th Congress having a House divided between Republicans, Democrats and American Independence members, Theodore Bilbo came in with a controversial decision which would later be poisoned with the term "Third Corrupt Bargain".

But for now, the AIP and the Democrats voted together in the House to vote in Alexander Mitchell Palmer as their President. The Senate voted unanimously for Carter Glass as LaFollette conceded the election to Palmer. But the Republicans knew and so did the Democrats, that the bargain had to be fulfilled.

It was only a matter of time before it was revealed.

Out of 59,503,286 voters, only 79.2% turned out to vote or 47,126,602.

Presidential Candidate	Home State	Vice-Presidential Candidate	Home State	Political Party	Votes	Electoral Votes
Robert LaFollette	Wisconsin	Calvin Coolidge	Massachusetts	Republican Party	20,151,103	250
Alexander Palmer	Pennsylvania	Carter Glass	Virginia	Democratic Party	20,755,382	217
Theodore Bilbo	Mississippi	Thomas Watson (*)	Georgia	American Independence Party	6,022,453	64
Eugene V. Debs (*)	Illinois	Frank T. Johns	Oregon	Socialist Party	197,664	0

*indicates persons that died before Election Day.

1. Given the state of 4 years of business-friendly, conservative Democrat Administration, the Republicans are tied between the business-friendly conservatives or the labor-friendly progressives. Due to the latter strengthening over 4 years, LaFollette gains the momentum and Coolidge is there to make sure the Republicans do not have a wipeout at the Electoral College like OTL 1932, 1964, 1972 or 1984.

2. Speaks for itself.

3. It won't be noticeable now, but sooner or later.

4. The AIP is mainly poor whites, farmers, rural people in the South, while Democrats have urban areas within the South. Both sides are fluid and by no means fixed.



NEXT EPISODE: The Third Corrupt Bargain and the Curse Strikes Again.

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

If the numbers look off given how conservative and isolationist the American public is, I'll show you what the ATL 1924 Electoral College looked like had Bilbo/Watson never made the third-party run:

 

[Walter Rodney Kinghorn]

AP SPECIAL UPDATE - 4th January 1925

It has come to our attention that Associate Justice Joseph McKenna has passed away in his sleep at the age of eighty-one years old. It is expected that a replacement will be announced by the re-elected Alexander Palmer, a man who will wish to put confidence in his programme following the contingent election in the House on the 20th November last year. So far, our guesses are as good as yours. But until then, this has been an Associated Press Update.




Having been crippled by a stroke in 1915, McKenna started to lose more and more of his cognitive function as the years went by. Following the coming of the new decade and the defeat of his former fellow Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, McKenna's family pleaded with him to retire from the court (1). Holding onto the office, it became clear that his writing had degraded and that his opinions had become less and less coherent. At last, on the 3rd January 1925, he passed away from a second stroke in his sleep. Having heard the news, Attorney-General Oscar Underwood met with the 1924 Presidential candidate for the American Independence Party, Theodore G. Bilbo. Wanting to get the deal done and dusted, Underwood accepted Bilbo's offer.

Following the funeral of the late Associate Justice, President Alexander Palmer returned to the White House to address the matter of his successor. Carter Glass and Oscar Underwood had been in caucus with the President for the last month, trying to deal with the morality of such an issue. Of how they would be seen, of how things would turn out, of what the Republicans would think. Taking in a deep breath, Palmer would address the media at the front of the entrance of the White House on the 7th January 1925.

After a twenty minute speech mourning the late Joseph McKenna, President Alexander Mitchell Palmer appointed Theodore G. Bilbo to be the new Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. (2) (3)

To say that people lost their shit, that would be an understatement. Upon hearing the news, Thomas Marshall said to a meeting of members from the AFI, "what this country needs is a five-cent cigar and a lie down if they so much as think that Theodore Bilbo should be a Associate Justice. 'Theodore Bilbo sentences you to life imprisonment'."(4) Robert LaFollette, having conceded the election, addressed a crowd of 50,000 Republican rank-and-file members in New York, stating his criticism of President Palmer's "Corrupt Bargain".

Despite such slings and arrows, Bilbo would be put before the Senate before anything else. Despite the outcry from Republicans, Bilbo was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Here is the summary.

Chief Justice - James Clark McReynolds (Wilson appointed as an Associate, Palmer as Chief Justice) - Conservative (1914 - 1946)
Associate Justice - Charles Evans Hughes (Taft appointed) - Progressive (1908 - 1948)
Associate Justice - William Gibbs McAdoo (Palmer appointed) - Conservative (1922 - 1941)
Associate Justice - Theodore G. Bilbo (Palmer appointed) - Progressive (1925 - 1947)
Associate Justice - John McDuffie (Palmer appointed) - Conservative (1923 - 1951)
Associate Justice - William Howard Taft (Holmes appointed) - Conservative (1917 - 1930)
Associate Justice - Walter Parker Stacy (Palmer appointed) - Progressive (1921 - 1951)
Associate Justice - Willis Van Devanter (Taft appointed) - Conservative (1910 - 1941)
Associate Justice - Frank Sigel Dietrich (Holmes Appointed) - Swing Vote (1917 - 1930)

As such, Alexander Palmer would shape the opinion of the Supreme Court more than any other President in recent history. Upon doing this, Republicans demanded a call for impeachment for abuses of power, but it was never called to a vote.

For Palmer, he was trying to hold onto whatever sense of legitimacy that he was deserved. But time and time again, the question was asked, "why did you make the call?". In Republican circles, they used "1824 Has Happened Again" as a symbol of the election being robbed from their hands. (5) It was around this time where the "The Big Switch" happened to start, according to US Historian Harry Turtledove:

...With the development of standards of living and of economic growth, the American people began to discover a new sector of life that required either regulation or personal responsibility to deal with it. The new ideas of healthcare, national improvements, immigration, lynching, monopolies, prohibition, these things tended to develop a "government-as-watchman" opinion and a "the individual-shall-judge-for-himself" opinion. That is to say, the level of intervention by the government was argued back and forth in between the Republican and Democratic Parties from the Gilded Age onwards. This later became what was known as the "Both Wings Doctrine" . With the rise of the American Independence Party in 1916, the necessity of a two-party system with interventionist and non-interventionist wings became irrelevant as Southern Democrats/Dixiecrats became a specialist populist conservative party during the 1930's and solidifying during the 1950's. The Socialist Party, established in 1901, managed to obtain leftist and communist voters within the United States, to reach permanent 4th party status until the downfall of the AIP in the 1980's. To counter this, the Republicans began to grow towards liberalism and towards interventionism with the Democrats began to grow into non-interventionist and conservative policy. Such was the case in the 1930's and for the two major parties, it did not solidify until the 1970's. ​

(6)

11th February 1925

As Palmer conducted a tour of the dockyards in New York, addressing a crowd of sailors along with Navy Secretary Franklin Roosevelt, a rifle was pulled out and aimed at the two men on the platform.

BANG.

BANG.

Rushing to the two men, the sailors formed an ad hoc barrier around the President and Navy Secretary. Seeing the dirty work that he had made, he ran away. Seeing a man rush away, a group of forty men pursued him. Speeding as fast as they could, the sailors tackled the man to the ground. Turning his bloodied face over, they would look at the mastermind behind several bombings and terror attacks during the Holmes Administration.

Luigi Galleani

One day later, Carter Glass, former Senator from Virginia and Vice-President, would become the 31st President of the United States of America.


In light of the passing of Franklin Roosevelt, President Glass offered an olive branch to Thomas Marshall by offering him Secretary of the Navy, only for Marshall to pass away seven days later. Hoping to mend fences, Charles W. Bryan accepted the offer on his behalf. By then, it was too late. The rift between the progressive and conservative wings of each party was far too wide to pull back in.

And the 1926 Midterms would prove such a fact. (7)




1. Historians will debate whether McKenna had the ability to understand what they were asking or if McKenna wanted to stay on the court out of his own partisan beliefs (he was a Republican, versus the three Palmer picks at the time that were Democrats (McAdoo, McDuffie and Stacy). Of course, the argument is clouded by a letter his youngest daughter wrote on the 6th June 1918:

I was accosted by a group of men, about three hours ago. They wanted to ask me where they could find the residence of Joseph McKenna. I said, "Who?" They responded by saying, "Jospeh McKenna, the Associate Justice?" Shrugging my shoulders, I left the men and went on my way. But Father, I turned to see what was in their hand. Two of them had a crowbar, another had a noose. A noose of all things!
I pray for your safety Father, know that God would not want this for you. ​

2. That was the "Third Corrupt Bargain". Either a Supreme Court seat or an eternally deadlocked house. BIG OOOOOOF, I know.

3. A timeline about LBJ running in 1968, leading to a deadlocked house and George Wallace being given the choice of a Supreme Court Seat or Attorney General was the source for this snippet of the TL. Despite not being as powerful as Wallace, Bilbo does command a lot of authority. Though he is not the only one waiting in the wings within the AIP.

4. OTL Theodore Bilbo had a habit of referring himself in the third person. He was nicknamed "The Man".

5. Based off this imatatio (ATL name for meme):

6. "Interventionist" and "Non-Interventionist" refer to the government involvement in a certain area: education, healthcare, conservationism, et cetera.

7. We'll see who comes in next time.

All comments welcome, all likes appreciated, come one come all. Thank you all and I will see you next time.