The Camellia blooms: Or, a George Wallace presidency TL

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January 3rd, 1969: The 91st Congress is convened. In the Senate, there are 51 Democrats, 48 Republicans and 1 Social Democrat. In the house, there are 211 Democrats, 185 Republicans and 39 Social Democrats


January 20th, 1969: George Wallace is inaugurated as president


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George Wallace’s inauguration marked the first time someone from the Deep South became president since Zachary Taylor. Wallace was as much of a hawk as Symington was, however, the Democrats, despite being pretty loyal to the president, was divided on the Vietnam issue (the reason the anti-Vietnam war Democrats didn’t go to the Social Democrats is due to their leftist views on Abortion, Homosexuality and others). Wallace’s Secretary of State, Robert McNamara tried to appeal to congress by saying that “Communism threatens our very way of life” and that “After Vietnam, Brezhnev will go after Thailand, India, Iran, and Pakistan and then he will target our backyard. Do we want this to happen?” This didn’t persuade many people.


The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis occurred after a couple of Chinese ships shelled a village in Taiwan. This nearly caused a war, but after some negotiations, the crisis was defused.


The results of the 1970 midterms:


Republican: 50 (+2)
Democratic: 48 (-3)
Social Democratic: 2 (+1)


Republican: 207 Seats (+22)
Democratic: 199 Seats (-12)
Social Democratic: 29 Seats (-10)


The Republicans had surprised everyone by gaining 22 seats and hence making Gerald Ford Speaker of the House. The last two times the Republicans held the house, they messed it up in the two years they had, time will tell whether or not they will hold on to this for more than two years. Many, including President Wallace, suspect that this due to low Democratic turnout and high Republican turnout.


By January 19th, 1971, the last South Vietnamese troops surrendered, which caused Vietnam to be unified under one communist nation. Senator Barry Goldwater attacked Wallace on this. His attacks led to him becoming the pre-primary GOP frontrunner.


All in all, the first term of the Wallace Administration was peaceful. However, that could be both a plus and a negative, as the Republicans are already calling him a “lame duck”


WALLACE CABINET


President: George C. Wallace

Vice President: Sargent Shriver

Secretary of State: Robert McNamara

Secretary of the Treasury: Joseph W. Barr

Secretary of Defense: Clark M. Clifford

Attorney General: Ramsay Clark

Secretary of the Interior: Cecil Andrus

Secretary of Agriculture: Frank B. Morrison

Secretary of Commerce: Abraham A. Ribicoff

Secretary of Labor: Frank Fitzsimmons

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Wilbur J. Cohen
 
This lays out a good springboard for a solidly blue Alabama and perhaps a more liberal Deep South. I like this TL, butterflying away nearly everything that's happened so far OTL.
 
The 92nd congress has become pretty obstructionist, so much so that Gerald Ford was forced to resign, which caused John J. Rhodes to become speaker of the house. While Ford tried to ease ties between president Wallace and the 92nd congress, Rhodes decided to make sure that Wallace is a one-term president. The 92nd congress became an issue in the 1972 election, because of its obstructionism.


In the mean time, the Republican primaries was a fight between Thomas Kuchel and Barry Goldwater. Goldwater has been the frontrunner for the nomination ever since he began criticinzing Wallace. However, Kuchel’s poll numbers fell after he called the Conservative wing, which was pretty big, fascists. That hurt Kuchel, which caused Goldwater to seize the nomination. However, not everyone in the GOP was happy, and after Goldwater said that “Today, Conservatives have taken over this party” and “Moderation in the fight for liberty and justice is no virtue, and extremism in defense of American values is no vice” and “My Vice Presidential pick is Spiro Agnew” which was pretty much him giving the finger to moderates and liberals which led to George Aiken and Daniel J. Evans form an independent run.


The Independent run got support from plenty of Democrats who were unsure of Wallace’s liberalism (though politicians were all gathered around Wallace). With the voting age lowered to 18, the Social Democrats and Aikenites got more support. The debates were a draw. Wallace led in nearly all of the polls, with the poll after the RNC showed that Wallace was 55%, Goldwater was 22%, Aiken was 15% and McCloskey was 8%.


Wallace ran against “The Obstructionist 92nd congress”, Goldwater ran against “Secret Communist spies”, Aiken ran against “The fascistic GOP” (pretty much the reason why state representative Roger MacBride primaried him in 1974, only for MacBride to lose to Philip H. Hoff) and McCloskey against “bigots who want to turn this country back to the gilded age”. The campaign was extremely dirty, with supporters of the four candidates spreading rumors that even the actual candidates wouldn’t dare say to the other for risk of destroying their careers and their reputations (Wallace is an inbred! Goldwater is going to make Jews the Rulers! Aiken is a Socialist! McCloskey hates Jews!). Then came election day

1972wal.PNG



George Wallace/Sargent Shriver (Democratic), 492 Electoral votes, 35,040,947 Popular votes (45.9%)
George Aiken/Daniel J. Evans (Independent Republican), 37 Electoral votes, 13,207,154 Popular votes (17.3%)
Barry Goldwater/Spiro Agnew (Republican), 5 Electoral votes, 23,284,289 Popular votes (30.5%)
Pete McCloskey/Shirley Chisholm (Social Democratic), 4,580,516 Popular votes (6.0%)


In the end, it was a total blowout. Aiken won all of New England while Goldwater won Arizona by just 69 votes. However, Wallace only got 46%, which was weird, as the last poll before the election predicted him with 52% of the Popular vote. Many suspect that this was due to Wallace Supporters not voting because, Wallace is going to win anyway. The Congressional results proved dire for the GOP:


Democratic: 52 (+4)
GOP: 47 (-5)
Social Democratic: 2 (+1)


Democratic: 233 (+34)
GOP: 177 (-30)
Social Democratic: 25 (-4)

_______________

I was in a good mood, so here is the update
 
The idea of a non-racist Wallace becoming President is a juicy one: he can keep the New Deal coalition together, by being both a Southerner, and a moderate politician.

But I find it hard to believe that Wallace wouldn't engage in race-baiting, and that it salvages his political career. Orval Faubus was a moderate, until school desegregation became a wedge issue he could exploit.
 
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