X. Stability (1950-1951)
X. Stability (1950-1951)
General George C. Marshall meets with Mao.
To Save the Kingdom: By 1950, the world was fairly stable. The massive turbulence of the past decade, the 40s (often demarcated by historians as being from 1939-1947, at which point the 50s began, at least culturally, if not chronologically)was over, and now the world got back to rebuilding. First, in the SSSR, the communist Siberian rump state, the "Doctrine of Eternal Resistance" was canonized by Premier Mikoyan, exiled from his native Armenia. This was, to put it bluntly, a policy of enforced isolation, unto death [1]; it seems as if Mikoyan would further the revolution in his own nation unto death.
Meanwhile, in Manchuria, the nation began to stabilize, and establish its own identity following the removal of the Japanese overlords. The shrine to Amaterasu, which was originally in Puyi's own palace, was taken out, and placed in the Chinese History Museum, in the capital of Hsinking. (It should be noted that Puyi, and his heir, the present emperor, Puxin, have never referred to the nation as "Manchuria." To them, it is and was always China.) The Reforms of 1950 also formalized Puyi's powers, and turned the new empire into a monarchial republic, like the UK or Muscovy.
The flag of the Federal Empire of China, or Manchuria. (The old banner, with its fascist overtones, was abolished during the Reforms.)
Finally, in the republic of China, the civil war which had for so long divided the Nationalists and the Communists was still brewing. Wallace, with the support of much of his cabinet, sent General George C. Marshall to China in this year. Currently, the Nationalists, while they would never admit it, were in slow decline, losing land to the Maoist forces. Marshall's mission was to establish a compromise between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek. At first, negotiations were tough, for neither side truly wished to go. But Marshall insisted, and when that failed, he threatened American force; even the use of the l-bomb if they did not cooperate. (Marshall actually had no clearance to use thermonuclear weapons in the Chinese Expedition, but the bluff worked.) By late 1950, a consensus had been agreed upon, and the Republic of China was no longer at war.
The flag of the Republic of China. While the nation was never exactly fond of the existence of a Qing remnant above them, they had little ability to destroy it.
A Guerra Justa: In Brazil, though, the Resoex insurgency kept moving west into Brazil proper. The weak government had little ability to act on it, and President Wallace seemed disinterested. By 1950, the insurgency controlled the latter portion of the state of Santa Catarina, which they renamed to Revolução. However, Resoex grew stronger and stronger as it advanced.
Perhaps the most notable event of the year 1950 in Resoex was the death of its founder, Astrojildo Pereiera, in combat. He, by all impartial accounts, was truthfully not a bad man by any means, but his second in command, Luís Carlos Preste, was. A sly, cruel opportunist, and a military man to boot, he was the best possible leader for the insurgency.
A Limit to Power: Up north, in Washington, D.C, President Henry A. Wallace continued his reforms. He proposed a Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution, which would forbid anyone from serving as president for more than two terms. Originally codified in 1947, the amendment was passed in 1951, by which point Wallace had served for six years. He declined to run for reelection in 1952, citing the fact that he had done enough for his country, and that he was content.
President Wallace signing the 22nd Amendment.
Meanwhile, the Equality Act, passed two years before, was still being implemented for the first time in some southern states.
Thurmond vs. People of the United States, in which the senator sued, seeking to destroy the Equality Act, went extraordinarily poorly for Thurmond. It actually served to further discredit him, and national guard troops were sent to enforce the decision. President Wallace authorized busing, in which disadvantaged black students unable to go to desegregated schools were taken there by bus.
National Guardsmen protecting a school bus.
STELLA!: Probably the most notable film of 1951 was
A Streetcar Named Desire. Based on a Tennessee Williams play of the same name, it also won Marlon Brando, its leading man, a best actor Oscar. In more detail:
Academy Awards:
Outstanding Picture:
Quo Vadis - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director: John Huston –
The African Queen
Best Actor: Marlon Brando -
A Streetcar Named Desire
Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn –
The African Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Kevin McCarthy –
Death of a Salesman
Best Supporting Actress: Kim Hunter -
A Streetcar Named Desire
For whatever reason, though,
Quo Vadis, a portentous film about the trials and tribulations of the early Christians during the reign of Nero, won Outstanding Picture. In light of fact, the 50s were not the most logical time for the Oscars. Other notable films of this year are Akira Kurosawa's
Rashomon, a murder mystery set in medieval Japan which tells the story of the crime through many different perspectives, and
The Day the Earth Stood Still, a seminal SF classic.
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Footnotes:
1. This ideology (and Presteism) are TTL's Maoism.