I still think McCarthy would win pluralities in Minnesota [home state] and Massachusetts [voted for McGovern IOTL], if not majorities. I think this stands out from regular "independent candidates" like Ross Perot in that McCarthy already has a supporter base (from the 1968 primaries), and they'll be encouraged to vote in order to keep Wayne and Wallace out. Not as much impact as Roosevelt 1912, but more than Perot 1992.
The High and the Mighty (President John Wayne)
- Thread starter maverick
- Start date
maverick
Banned
The Undefeated-Part II
“…Voter turnout in 1972 has been the lowest in decades, a fact many have explained by pointing out to the ratification of the 26th Amendment, which extended the franchise to 18 year olds, and the radicalization of the competing Democratic Tickets that left President John Wayne with an open field for reelection. As many analysts and Republican Party figures have put it, for the Democrats it was a choice between “Freak power” and “white power”…
[CBS Evening News, November of 1972]
*********************************************************
“The Democratic campaign had been too radicalized by late October, as seen by George Wallace’s virulent attacks on Desegregation busing and anti-war protestors, even as he himself defended a plan to leave Vietnam, albeit while trying to maintain his image as a war hawk. Yet many still blame John Wayne’s Speech regarding his military service controversy as the end of the Wallace campaign; numbers thus far had put him first in many states John Wayne would later win, such as North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and for several weeks, Virginia, North Dakota and the heavy Union state Michigan, where Wallace’s alliance with the Unions and his appeal to blue collar workers had had great effects thus far…
[Taken from…Chaos: The Presidential Election of 1972]
*********************************************************
“As McCarthy moved more and more to the left, the more Democratic voters felt themselves trapped between a rock and a hard place; George Wallace a de facto segregationist candidate that to a degree supported the War in Vietnam, yet he had the support of many party machines and the unions, whereas McCarthy only had the liberal grass roots organizations and a couple of the old party money that was barely enough to run an actual campaign. The fact is that spending money on a McCarthy campaign that year was like burning money.
“What was worse was that nobody seemed to realize, even as they really became what Hunter S. Thompson had been when he ran for Sheriff of Aspen in 1970, a ‘Gonzo Run’. The analogy is not an empty or a meaningless one, as the famed journalist enthusiastically supported the campaign and wrote about it, in one occasion saying that he wholeheartedly supported it and actually being the one who nicknamed it as the Gonzo Campaign, creating that popular and somewhat quirky political expression used as recently as the Presidential election of 1996 or Senator Jerry Brown’s failed run for the Governorship in 1978…
“The greatest blunders came by late October nevertheless, as McCarthy’s campaign stress caught up with his good humor and levelheadedness of the early season and he began making several odd remarks, including some about not only leaving Vietnam, but Japan and Europe as well, and even called for Nuclear Disarmament on several occasions…others point out to the aforementioned endorsement of Hunter S. Thompson as a leading cause in the drop out of voters, as his articles on Rolling Stone and other publications were used as fodder by the Republican and Democratic Candidates against McCarthy…
[Taken from…How We Got Here: Elections 1960-1984]
****************************************************
“The decision to keep most of the Nixon cabinet, excepting for a few cosmetic changes done over the winter of 1972-1973, was to a degree expected as there wasn’t an actual need to make big changes or to even make them at all, as the Wayne administration was seen by many as a continuation of the Nixon administration. That is not to mention the need to keep the course as a main campaign promise made by President Wayne himself.
“At the end, the big news wasn’t Cabinet changes, the moderate Republican gains in Congress or even President Wayne’s reelection, but the announcement on October of 1972 that negotiations with North Vietnam had started, followed by statements by President John Wayne himself that the war was over on February of 1973. The Paris Peace Accords were the last piece of Richard Nixon’s and Henry Kissinger’s legacy, and John Wayne was, despite his opposition to a peace deal that entailed the abandonment of South Vietnam, respectful enough of that legacy and pragmatic enough to see that the war was unsalvageable. Fortunately for President Wayne nevertheless, history would not fall short when providing him opportunities to show strong leadership and reinforce America’s position in the world, as September of 1973 and the Crisis of…
No, I'm continuing it tonight...
I just wanted to make fun of the cliffhanger conventions by ending the chapter literaly midsentence
Oh shit!
I just remembered what else happened in 73 that the Duke would have a chance to show his metal on. This could get very hairy. [Unless his racism includes an anti-semitic streak in which case we could see some mushrooms in the ME].Steve
Ok, here is how I think things would play out, I figured that this 1972 Race is more synonymous to OTL 1912 for the Republican Party. Wallace is able to mostly hold all the states that he won in 1968, but due to high black voter turnout for the McCarthy/Chisholm ticket and sympathy vote for John Wayne it is a hell of a lot tighter in the South. The Northeast, should be fairly close, as the Rockefeller Republican's may decide to grit their teeth and narrowly support Wayne over the eccentric McCarthy. Massachusetts, will probably very narrowly go to McCarthy as well as Minnesotta due to Eugene's being part of the popular Humphrey/McCarthy/Mondale triumvirate. So electorally here is how I see things playing out.
John Wayne/Gerald Ford: 472 Electoral Votes
George Wallace/Sam Yorty: 39 Electoral Votes
Eugene McCarthy/Shirley Chisholm: 27 Electoral Votes
maverick
Banned
I'm sorry, I just don't see it. McGovern couldn't win his own home state as the main candidate, neither could Roosevelt in 1912 nor could Ross Perot win anything with twice the votes McCarthy is getting ITTL;
You might have a point about Massachusetts though, if we're willing to admit that of the 1,332,540 voters that went for McGovern IOTL, a plurality remains with McCarthy, although one has to take into accout Wallace taking some John Wayne votes and John Wayne taking moderate democrats that might have voted for McGovern IOTL
I shall check into this!
You might have a point about Massachusetts though, if we're willing to admit that of the 1,332,540 voters that went for McGovern IOTL, a plurality remains with McCarthy, although one has to take into accout Wallace taking some John Wayne votes and John Wayne taking moderate democrats that might have voted for McGovern IOTL
I shall check into this!
maverick
Banned
Circus World
Secretary Kissinger returned from Paris quite confident and even proud of his work at the negotiation tables with the North Vietnamese delegation, a work important enough to merit the Nobel Peace Prices for Kissinger and Politburo Member Le Duc Tho, yet the actual cost for this ‘victory’ had been deemed as to high by both the American People and the Wayne Administration. The end result was a peace settlement that left nobody satisfied: The War Hawks and President Wayne himself saw this as dropping out of a fight that was being militarily won against communism; North Vietnam was forced to acknowledge the South Vietnam Government and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu remained under the impression that he was being abandoned by the United States.
Little did the signatories of the Paris Agreements know that even as the opposing armies ‘stood down’ and American Prisoners of war were released, the war was far from over...
[Taken from…Peace and Honor: American Exceptionalism in East Asia 1937-1989]
************************************************************
The situation at Santiago was by the winter of 1973 untenable and the Government of Salvador Allende was dangerously imperiled by a vicious and unstable political situation. In three years of Government Allende’s coalition of Socialists, Communists and the majority of the Left had always been a minority, ever since the presidential elections of 1970, a situation that could never be reversed in Congress.
The Congressional elections of March of 1973 had seen a coalition of the right wing and center parties around the Christian Democrats and the Conservatives of the Partido Nacional take a 54% of the vote under the denomination CODE (Confederation for Democracy) against Allende’s Union Popular and its 43% of the vote. The opposition had thus failed to gain the necessary two-thirds of Congress to destitute Allende by Parliamentary means. The vicious and radicalized campaign contributed greatly to the polarization of Chilean Society.
The Economic Crisis that swept Chile in the early 1970s was soon joined by a horrid political climate that resulted in massive strikes and acts of political violence in the streets as gangs acting on behalf of the nationalist right and the radicalized left provoked grave incidents in the streets of Santiago and other mayor cities. As groups such as the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) continued to takeover factories and lands without much reaction from the police or the state, far right nationalists such as the Patria and Libertad group began to take the fight into their own hands, with acts of sabotage and political terrorism.
The situation was much worsened as the Opposition’s legal war against Allende, in which they tried to accuse him of violating the constitution and other legal offenses due to his economic measures and the nationalization of several key areas of the national industry. Allende’s opposition to the Hamilton-Fuentealba constitutional reform project, which the opposition tried to pass in order to stop Allende’s requisitions and nationalization policies, added further fuel to the fire.
Throughout this period, Allende began to depend heavily on the armed forces, especially the Chilean Army, at the time under General Carlos Prats, a known democrat and enemy of military intervention in Civilian and government affairs. The Schneider Doctrine [1]by which the armed forces shall always strictly follow the word of the Constitution and the Law, was the greatest deterrent against the more aggressive factions within the armed forces, which aligned themselves with the conservative and putschist elements of the Navy.
June sees the height of the crisis as the Socialists try to push a “Unified National School” project, which sought to replace the Chilean education system based on the “values of capitalism” to one representing the values of the ‘New Man’ of Socialism. The ensuing fight between the Federation of Students of the Catholic University and the Socialist and Communist Youth adds to the climate of political violence that the government cannot longer control.
On August 22nd, after Allende’s decision to veto the Hamilton-Fuentealba constitutional reform project, the lower House of the Chilean Congress approves the Agreement on the Grave Violation and breaking of the institutional and legal order of the Republic, in which Allende’s Government is accused of diverse violations such as applying political and economic control measures aiming at instituting an authoritarian regime, violating and trying to suppress Freedom of Speech, engaging in a defamatory campaign against the Supreme Court, violating constitutional guarantees and rights, repressing opponents with excessive violence and trying to infiltrate the Armed Forces.
On the night of August 22nd General Prats hands his resignation to Allende for a second time in less than three months, who quickly refuses to accept it despite the pleas from the Commander in Chief. The following day tanks are
marching through the streets of Santiago…[2]
*************************************************************
HEAVY FIGHTING IN SANTIAGO LEAVES HUNDREDS DEAD
Today elements of the Chilean Armed Forces continued their offensive through the Chilean capital against forces loyal to the Government of Salvador Allende. The Coupist forces, which yesterday initiated the hostilities by mutinying against the central government and surrounding the ministries of Defense and the Palacio de la Moneda, have thus far repelled attacks from loyalist units of the Carabineers and the Police.
Chilean President Salvador Allende is expected to address the nation once again today
[Taken from…The Buenos Aires Herald, August 23rd of 1973]
**********************************************************
The occupation of Valparaiso took less than 12 hours to the Chilean Navy and the Marine Corps, as the forces loyal to Rear Admiral Jose Toribio Merino took battle positions throughout the second most important city in the Nation. The Air Force is quick to back the Coup, as General Gustavo Leigh orders warplanes to begin flying over Santiago. The Conservative Forces consolidated their betrayal to the people’s government by meeting at Valparaiso to cement their position.
An overwhelming majority of officers of the Chilean Navy and Air Force are supportive of the coup against Allende; several Generals of the National Army nevertheless sit back and wait, whereas only a few ones decided to outright take their units to the streets of the capital to back the President or the opposition. Nationalist and Far Right groups such as Patria and Libertad have fewer qualms and take the streets along with the mutineers of the Second Armored regiment and later the First Infantry Regiment.
During the first hours of the crisis, General Carlos Prats and President Allende are hiding at the Presidential residency at Tomas Moro Street, rallying support and trying to find loyal officers to defend the constitutional government, or what’s left of it. Addressing the nation through the radio, Allende valiantly called his supporters to take the streets and evict the enemies of democracy from the capital. The leadership of the Communist and the Socialist parties tries to do the same, rallying the people to face the treacherous insurgents.
The situation takes a turn to the worse on the night of the 24th, when General Augusto Pinochet, Prat’s Second in command and right hand man, took the 1st Infantry Regiment ‘Buin’ and marched to the capital in support of the Putschists and called for Allende’s resignation. Even as the Socialists and Communists set up barricades at Santiago, loyalist army forces would not reach Santiago before August 25th…the first phase of the Chilean Civil War thus took a favorable turn for the Putschists.
[Taken from…The Open Veins of Chile: The Civil War and the People’s War] [3]
Notes:
1. Rene Schneider was Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces before General Prats; anti-Allende factions in the army tried to create an unstable political climate by kidnapping the Commander in Chief in 1970, but the operation failed and Schneider was killed and the coup failed;
2. Prats was IOTL forced to resign on August 21st; also IOTL there was a small mutiny known as the “Tanquetazo”, undertaken by armored units on June of 1973 when a conspiracy to overthrown the government was discovered and one of the conspirators preferred to go ahead and test the government;
3. As you can see, a somewhat biased source…
Secretary Kissinger returned from Paris quite confident and even proud of his work at the negotiation tables with the North Vietnamese delegation, a work important enough to merit the Nobel Peace Prices for Kissinger and Politburo Member Le Duc Tho, yet the actual cost for this ‘victory’ had been deemed as to high by both the American People and the Wayne Administration. The end result was a peace settlement that left nobody satisfied: The War Hawks and President Wayne himself saw this as dropping out of a fight that was being militarily won against communism; North Vietnam was forced to acknowledge the South Vietnam Government and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu remained under the impression that he was being abandoned by the United States.
Little did the signatories of the Paris Agreements know that even as the opposing armies ‘stood down’ and American Prisoners of war were released, the war was far from over...
[Taken from…Peace and Honor: American Exceptionalism in East Asia 1937-1989]
************************************************************
The situation at Santiago was by the winter of 1973 untenable and the Government of Salvador Allende was dangerously imperiled by a vicious and unstable political situation. In three years of Government Allende’s coalition of Socialists, Communists and the majority of the Left had always been a minority, ever since the presidential elections of 1970, a situation that could never be reversed in Congress.
The Congressional elections of March of 1973 had seen a coalition of the right wing and center parties around the Christian Democrats and the Conservatives of the Partido Nacional take a 54% of the vote under the denomination CODE (Confederation for Democracy) against Allende’s Union Popular and its 43% of the vote. The opposition had thus failed to gain the necessary two-thirds of Congress to destitute Allende by Parliamentary means. The vicious and radicalized campaign contributed greatly to the polarization of Chilean Society.
The Economic Crisis that swept Chile in the early 1970s was soon joined by a horrid political climate that resulted in massive strikes and acts of political violence in the streets as gangs acting on behalf of the nationalist right and the radicalized left provoked grave incidents in the streets of Santiago and other mayor cities. As groups such as the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) continued to takeover factories and lands without much reaction from the police or the state, far right nationalists such as the Patria and Libertad group began to take the fight into their own hands, with acts of sabotage and political terrorism.
The situation was much worsened as the Opposition’s legal war against Allende, in which they tried to accuse him of violating the constitution and other legal offenses due to his economic measures and the nationalization of several key areas of the national industry. Allende’s opposition to the Hamilton-Fuentealba constitutional reform project, which the opposition tried to pass in order to stop Allende’s requisitions and nationalization policies, added further fuel to the fire.
Throughout this period, Allende began to depend heavily on the armed forces, especially the Chilean Army, at the time under General Carlos Prats, a known democrat and enemy of military intervention in Civilian and government affairs. The Schneider Doctrine [1]by which the armed forces shall always strictly follow the word of the Constitution and the Law, was the greatest deterrent against the more aggressive factions within the armed forces, which aligned themselves with the conservative and putschist elements of the Navy.
June sees the height of the crisis as the Socialists try to push a “Unified National School” project, which sought to replace the Chilean education system based on the “values of capitalism” to one representing the values of the ‘New Man’ of Socialism. The ensuing fight between the Federation of Students of the Catholic University and the Socialist and Communist Youth adds to the climate of political violence that the government cannot longer control.
On August 22nd, after Allende’s decision to veto the Hamilton-Fuentealba constitutional reform project, the lower House of the Chilean Congress approves the Agreement on the Grave Violation and breaking of the institutional and legal order of the Republic, in which Allende’s Government is accused of diverse violations such as applying political and economic control measures aiming at instituting an authoritarian regime, violating and trying to suppress Freedom of Speech, engaging in a defamatory campaign against the Supreme Court, violating constitutional guarantees and rights, repressing opponents with excessive violence and trying to infiltrate the Armed Forces.
On the night of August 22nd General Prats hands his resignation to Allende for a second time in less than three months, who quickly refuses to accept it despite the pleas from the Commander in Chief. The following day tanks are
marching through the streets of Santiago…[2]
*************************************************************
HEAVY FIGHTING IN SANTIAGO LEAVES HUNDREDS DEAD
Today elements of the Chilean Armed Forces continued their offensive through the Chilean capital against forces loyal to the Government of Salvador Allende. The Coupist forces, which yesterday initiated the hostilities by mutinying against the central government and surrounding the ministries of Defense and the Palacio de la Moneda, have thus far repelled attacks from loyalist units of the Carabineers and the Police.
Chilean President Salvador Allende is expected to address the nation once again today
[Taken from…The Buenos Aires Herald, August 23rd of 1973]
**********************************************************
The occupation of Valparaiso took less than 12 hours to the Chilean Navy and the Marine Corps, as the forces loyal to Rear Admiral Jose Toribio Merino took battle positions throughout the second most important city in the Nation. The Air Force is quick to back the Coup, as General Gustavo Leigh orders warplanes to begin flying over Santiago. The Conservative Forces consolidated their betrayal to the people’s government by meeting at Valparaiso to cement their position.
An overwhelming majority of officers of the Chilean Navy and Air Force are supportive of the coup against Allende; several Generals of the National Army nevertheless sit back and wait, whereas only a few ones decided to outright take their units to the streets of the capital to back the President or the opposition. Nationalist and Far Right groups such as Patria and Libertad have fewer qualms and take the streets along with the mutineers of the Second Armored regiment and later the First Infantry Regiment.
During the first hours of the crisis, General Carlos Prats and President Allende are hiding at the Presidential residency at Tomas Moro Street, rallying support and trying to find loyal officers to defend the constitutional government, or what’s left of it. Addressing the nation through the radio, Allende valiantly called his supporters to take the streets and evict the enemies of democracy from the capital. The leadership of the Communist and the Socialist parties tries to do the same, rallying the people to face the treacherous insurgents.
The situation takes a turn to the worse on the night of the 24th, when General Augusto Pinochet, Prat’s Second in command and right hand man, took the 1st Infantry Regiment ‘Buin’ and marched to the capital in support of the Putschists and called for Allende’s resignation. Even as the Socialists and Communists set up barricades at Santiago, loyalist army forces would not reach Santiago before August 25th…the first phase of the Chilean Civil War thus took a favorable turn for the Putschists.
[Taken from…The Open Veins of Chile: The Civil War and the People’s War] [3]
Notes:
1. Rene Schneider was Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces before General Prats; anti-Allende factions in the army tried to create an unstable political climate by kidnapping the Commander in Chief in 1970, but the operation failed and Schneider was killed and the coup failed;
2. Prats was IOTL forced to resign on August 21st; also IOTL there was a small mutiny known as the “Tanquetazo”, undertaken by armored units on June of 1973 when a conspiracy to overthrown the government was discovered and one of the conspirators preferred to go ahead and test the government;
3. As you can see, a somewhat biased source…
maverick
Banned
Circus World, Part II
[FONT="] Pennsylvania Avenue 1600, Washington DC[/FONT]
August 26th of 1973
‘One More Time, Henry, would you like a chance to explain yourself or what is exactly happening down there?’ said the president in a patronizing voice as he gazed at the stack of papers that were piling on his desk
This time the Secretary of State took a good extra 4 seconds before finally replying
‘Well, we didn’t do it, our hand doesn’t show on it Mr. President’
‘Yet a considerable amount of time and effort was put into this country, and both the Department of State and Central Intelligence were involved, everyone but Me!’ continued the President, remaining as calm as his temperament allowed
‘There is an issue of plausible deniability here, Mr. President. The fact is that we have been preoccupied elsewhere in the last few months’
Of course, the Secretary of State had spent a considerable amount of the last year in Paris, East Asia and with the Nobel committee. Lately a lot of time had been spent with the Nobel committee, a practice than his North Vietnamese Peer did not share. North Vietnamese Foreign minister Tho also didn’t share the practice of accepting an award for a peace in Vietnam that had never been accomplished, but that can be chalked up to Cultural differences and a matter of perception.
‘President Nixon had approved many of our initiatives in…’ continued Henry as the President simply raised his hand and said
‘Enough, Henry, Enough…I ain’t a child or a dumb hick for you to use your Ivy League talk with me. You said you created the conditions for the Chilean army to do what their parties could not and get that red son of a bitch out of there, and now we have a civil war in our hands. Not only that, but I discover this had been going on under my noses for at least three years!’
‘Mr. President, for much of that time you were only Vice president and President Nixon…’
‘I’ve said enough, Henry’ interrupted John Wayne once more as he left the folder he was holding in his hands and stood up. As he walked to the windows behind his desk, he quietly said:
‘I’ve talked with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Richardson; we are implementing a containment plan before this situation gets out of hand and bites us in the ass’
‘Mr. President, you don’t mean…’
‘Direct Military intervention…to a degree’ concluded the President with a bitter taste at the tip of his mouth as he finished the conversation. He liked the idea of involving the United States Military and picking sides as much as his Secretary of State, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and immediate action had to be taken before the soviets reacted themselves. It had only been eight months since the end of the Vietnam War…
**********************************************************
SANTIAGO TORN BY THE CARNAGE; BLOODY BATTLES CONTINUE THROUGHOUT CHILE
The situation at the Chilean capital shows no sign of improvement as the first week of the bloody civil war engulfing the nation reaches its end. Rebel elements responding to the Chilean Navy and Air Force remain in control of Valparaiso and Conception, while heavy fighting is taking place at Rancagua, some 80 kilometers to the south of the besieged capital of Santiago.
According to several reports, the Presidential Palace of La Moneda has come under direct fire of rebel bombers and tanks in no less than three occasions in the last few days, whereas street fighting between pro-government and anti-government groups and the loyalist and rebel army units within the city continues and has left an unconfirmed amount of 2,000 dead since the beginning of the war last August 22. President Salvador Allende remains missing since last Friday…
[Taken from…The Buenos Aires Herald, August 30th of 1973]
********************************************************
“The exact fate of Salvador Allende during the convulsed and bloody days of the Chilean Civil War has of course remained since then a constant source of debate and fodder for several conspiracy theories that in many cases revolve around the very interpretation of the civil war and the military actions behind it themselves. Many allege that Allende was killed during the first days and even the first hours of the coup during the initial street fighting between the armed forces responding to the rebels, whereas other posit the idea that he managed to return to La Moneda and died during the subsequent bombardments to which the presidential palace was subjected to the very last days of the war, in which the Chilean Air Force and its die hard leadership refused to throw the towel before a final demonstration of strength and futility.
“And naturally, there is the view, heavily defended by those who also consider the Military coup attempt of August and the Civil War to have been an effect of direct American interference in Chilean affairs through economic means and CIA operations aimed at disestablishing the government, that Allende was murdered in a bunker or at La Moneda, either by operatives working for the CIA or someone under the payroll of the American Intelligence or military services. The truth is the without a leader, the Civil War was being fought by a headless revolutionary group that were just coincidentally fighting on the same side of the street as loyal government troops.
“When the USS Constellation and elements of the United States Third Fleet arrived at Valparaiso and proceed to blockade the Chilean Navy, the United States task Force now encountered a nation divided between Socialists and Communist militias fighting for a dead government, a conservative Congress unsure of what to do and an army divided between those that supported a constitutional government that was left leaderless and those fighting for a military government no one in the world was willing to accept”
[Taken from…Circus World: the United States and Latin America: 1823-2023]
*******************************
I'm really unsure about the dialogue...it's probably unrealistic...
Hopefully I won't have to explain my decision to have John Wayne oppose coupism in Latin American and step in to prevent further bloodbaths...
[FONT="] Pennsylvania Avenue 1600, Washington DC[/FONT]
August 26th of 1973
‘One More Time, Henry, would you like a chance to explain yourself or what is exactly happening down there?’ said the president in a patronizing voice as he gazed at the stack of papers that were piling on his desk
This time the Secretary of State took a good extra 4 seconds before finally replying
‘Well, we didn’t do it, our hand doesn’t show on it Mr. President’
‘Yet a considerable amount of time and effort was put into this country, and both the Department of State and Central Intelligence were involved, everyone but Me!’ continued the President, remaining as calm as his temperament allowed
‘There is an issue of plausible deniability here, Mr. President. The fact is that we have been preoccupied elsewhere in the last few months’
Of course, the Secretary of State had spent a considerable amount of the last year in Paris, East Asia and with the Nobel committee. Lately a lot of time had been spent with the Nobel committee, a practice than his North Vietnamese Peer did not share. North Vietnamese Foreign minister Tho also didn’t share the practice of accepting an award for a peace in Vietnam that had never been accomplished, but that can be chalked up to Cultural differences and a matter of perception.
‘President Nixon had approved many of our initiatives in…’ continued Henry as the President simply raised his hand and said
‘Enough, Henry, Enough…I ain’t a child or a dumb hick for you to use your Ivy League talk with me. You said you created the conditions for the Chilean army to do what their parties could not and get that red son of a bitch out of there, and now we have a civil war in our hands. Not only that, but I discover this had been going on under my noses for at least three years!’
‘Mr. President, for much of that time you were only Vice president and President Nixon…’
‘I’ve said enough, Henry’ interrupted John Wayne once more as he left the folder he was holding in his hands and stood up. As he walked to the windows behind his desk, he quietly said:
‘I’ve talked with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Richardson; we are implementing a containment plan before this situation gets out of hand and bites us in the ass’
‘Mr. President, you don’t mean…’
‘Direct Military intervention…to a degree’ concluded the President with a bitter taste at the tip of his mouth as he finished the conversation. He liked the idea of involving the United States Military and picking sides as much as his Secretary of State, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and immediate action had to be taken before the soviets reacted themselves. It had only been eight months since the end of the Vietnam War…
**********************************************************
SANTIAGO TORN BY THE CARNAGE; BLOODY BATTLES CONTINUE THROUGHOUT CHILE
The situation at the Chilean capital shows no sign of improvement as the first week of the bloody civil war engulfing the nation reaches its end. Rebel elements responding to the Chilean Navy and Air Force remain in control of Valparaiso and Conception, while heavy fighting is taking place at Rancagua, some 80 kilometers to the south of the besieged capital of Santiago.
According to several reports, the Presidential Palace of La Moneda has come under direct fire of rebel bombers and tanks in no less than three occasions in the last few days, whereas street fighting between pro-government and anti-government groups and the loyalist and rebel army units within the city continues and has left an unconfirmed amount of 2,000 dead since the beginning of the war last August 22. President Salvador Allende remains missing since last Friday…
[Taken from…The Buenos Aires Herald, August 30th of 1973]
********************************************************
“The exact fate of Salvador Allende during the convulsed and bloody days of the Chilean Civil War has of course remained since then a constant source of debate and fodder for several conspiracy theories that in many cases revolve around the very interpretation of the civil war and the military actions behind it themselves. Many allege that Allende was killed during the first days and even the first hours of the coup during the initial street fighting between the armed forces responding to the rebels, whereas other posit the idea that he managed to return to La Moneda and died during the subsequent bombardments to which the presidential palace was subjected to the very last days of the war, in which the Chilean Air Force and its die hard leadership refused to throw the towel before a final demonstration of strength and futility.
“And naturally, there is the view, heavily defended by those who also consider the Military coup attempt of August and the Civil War to have been an effect of direct American interference in Chilean affairs through economic means and CIA operations aimed at disestablishing the government, that Allende was murdered in a bunker or at La Moneda, either by operatives working for the CIA or someone under the payroll of the American Intelligence or military services. The truth is the without a leader, the Civil War was being fought by a headless revolutionary group that were just coincidentally fighting on the same side of the street as loyal government troops.
“When the USS Constellation and elements of the United States Third Fleet arrived at Valparaiso and proceed to blockade the Chilean Navy, the United States task Force now encountered a nation divided between Socialists and Communist militias fighting for a dead government, a conservative Congress unsure of what to do and an army divided between those that supported a constitutional government that was left leaderless and those fighting for a military government no one in the world was willing to accept”
[Taken from…Circus World: the United States and Latin America: 1823-2023]
*******************************
I'm really unsure about the dialogue...it's probably unrealistic...
Hopefully I won't have to explain my decision to have John Wayne oppose coupism in Latin American and step in to prevent further bloodbaths...
Last edited:
maverick
Banned
South of the Border
September of 1973 begins with the controversy of the Chilean Intervention and Congress’ attempt to pass the War Powers Resolution, which would have limited the ability of the President of the United States to send the US Armed Forces into action abroad by tying the decision to approval by the United States Congress or if the Nation is already under attack or a direct threat.
President Wayne’s decision to veto the Bill just months after the end of the Vietnam War is controversial to say the least, but as the President sees it, not only is the resolution unconstitutional but a display of cowardice in a world that needs to be saved from both the Soviet menace and in Chile’s case, from itself. Years later some would characterize John Wayne’s Speech in defense of his veto and the Chilean intervention as a messianic delusion or an extreme case of Good Samaritan Complex, whereas others defend his decisive Foreign Policy.
Whether the truth lies somewhere in the middle or not is irrelevant in the Streets of Valparaiso, where Admiral Maurice Weisner and Task Force Constellation, the name given to the small Joint Task Force assigned to Chile, has managed to maintain the rule of law and order. The Chilean Admirals and Air Force Generals of the Provisional Government Junta do outnumber the American Task Force by a considerable margin and they know that. They also know that numbers in a situation like this means absolutely anything.
Most army generals were wise enough to retreat to their barracks as the Navy Admirals and Air Force Generals order their forces to do the same as they begin ‘negotiations’ with the United States Department of State and the ‘other side’, which similarly laid down their arms at the sight of United States Navy F-4 Phantom Fighters flying over the skies of Santiago and Concepcion.
The only fighting that continues takes place between the Socialist and far right militia and paramilitary groups through Santiago de Chile, but the provisional government will be able to deal with it. President Pro Tempore of the Senate Eduardo Frei Montalva has shown to be willing to negotiate with both the Americans and the military for the moment, and in any case, new elections are to be held within 90 days.
******************************************************
September is not a kind month for Argentina; Presidential Elections are underway, the second in less than six months and since the return of Democracy on April of the same year. General Peron’s return from his 18 year long exile did little to bring back peace and stability, and the same can be said about his negotiations with the military regime and the elections of April.
As expected, the Peronistas and their Frente Justicialista de Liberacion Nacional, a coalition of Peronistas, both left and right, along with minor conservative and populist parties that contribute with their votes and a Vice President for left wing Peronist Hector Jose Campora, who wins with a comfortable lead over the main opponent from the center-left, Ricardo Balbin.
Campora is unfortunately a representative of the Peronist Left, the bad boys of the Peronist movement. 18 years in exile will do many things to a man or to a people, and especially to their memories, but many of the Peronist right just find it hard to believe that the Peronist Youth and the Left Wing Peronist Resistance could for so many years believe that Peron stood for a revolutionary and ‘socialist fatherland’. Those standing for the Patria Socialista and the Revolution also stand against the powerful and monolithic CGT, the best and biggest representative of the right wing syndical bureaucracy ever seen, and the anti-communist nationalists that were the core of Peron’s followers back in the day.
Peron himself is in no mood to arbiter, as is his responsibility. He`s nearly 80 and has spent the last two decades in exile; A Comfortable exile in Madrid, where he was sheltered by his good friend, Generalissimo Francisco Franco and frequently visited by the peronist leadership that followed its orders in the mainland.
Peron returns several times between 1972 and 1973 as General-President Lanusse tries to find an easy way out of government, preferably one that ends with the Army High Command keeping their posts and without the country descending into a civil war.
The controversial election of Left Wing Peronist Campora as Peron’s man in the Casa Rosada predictably results in further chaos that forces General Peron to return to Argentina for a last time on July of 1973.
Peron arrives at the national airport of Ezeiza, where he is greeted by a massive crowd of supporters, from the left and the right. In an unsurprising turn of events, members of the far left group Montoneros and the Juventud Peronista enter into a fight with the Peronist right, allegedly under the control of Peron’s sinister personal secretary, Jose Lopez Rega, and the General Secretary of the CGT and leader of the Syndical right, Jose Ignacio Rucci. In the nightmare that followed, fistfights, machine gun fire and sniper fire provoked a riot and a massacre.
The ensuing chaos overshadowed the figure of General Peron, whose heart gave out as he came to witness the events that would later be known as the Massacre of Ezeiza. It is quite possible that he knew that things could only go much worse with his death.
Coming Soon...Yom Kippur and more...
Orville_third
Banned
And, given that the aforementioned Phil Ochs was a supporter of Allende, he may play a key role in the protests in the USA. (One wonders how this would affect Ochs's career- perhaps he would live longer?)
maverick
Banned
Cheer Up and Smile
April 2nd of 1973
Wounded Knee, South Dakota
Of the Dozens of FBI Agents and U.S. Marshalls walking around the desolated ruins in the middle of Pine Ridge, barely half would be able to say exactly what went down there.
The Nightmare had begun some 65 days ago, when activists of the American India Movement occupied the town of Wounded Knee with help of Oglala Lakota Indians in opposition to Oglala local Chairman Richard A. “Dick” Wilson. US Government and military officers surrounded the town within the day, as some 50 U.S. Marshalls were sent to ‘keep and eye on the situation’
The situation at Pine Ridge Reservation at the time was what can be best described as appalling and intolerable, a ghetto in the middle of nowhere. What little employment or opportunity that existed was controlled by the elected tribal chairman, in this case a shinning beacon of corruption, cronyism and nepotism. The local economy of this, one of the consistently poorest counties in the United States revolved around the few jobs and programs Wilson steered towards his friends and family.
Taking into account that Wilson also did his utmost best to align the white people of the vicinities thanks to his policy of selling the ranchers community lands on ridiculously low prices, the rampant racism, violence and disorder that existed within the limits of the reservation and in the immediate surroundings and a growingly violent fight about civil rights, its not hard to see why the situation reached a boiling point and why Wilson saw it coming.
The last ditch attempt to impeach Wilson organized by a coalition of locals grouped loosely around the "traditionals, " and organized by both a local civil rights organization and the urban radical AIM members had ended in an utter and complete failure as Wilson was able to manipulate the results of the investigation and the struggle reached its next phase: that of open combat on the streets.
Yet the “traditionals” and AIM knew it couldn't win, and thus In desperation, a decision was reached to make a stand at the tiny hamlet of Wounded Knee, the site of the last massacre of the Indian Wars in hopes that public sympathy would stay the hand of Wilson's and the government's forces.
The Federal Government was fast to respond and within days FBI Agents and U.S. Marshals on one side and the force of the AIM on the other were entrenched at Wounded Knee, and what had first started as an insignificant and desperate political maneuver soon became into a micro-guerrilla war and media circus.
The crisis did not become the horrific nightmare that would be remembered for decades until no other than the President of the United States himself decided to interfere directly; Having seen the initial acts of the Wounded Knee tragedy and judging that it was best to cut to the chase before there was actual blood spilled. John Wayne was not the kind of man to sit around idly and allow the authority of the Federal Government to be challenged without consequence. The result is that the South Dakota National Guard, along with armored vehicles and heavy equipment now reinforce the FBI at Pine Ridge, now with standing orders to end the siege as soon as possible.
The order was given on March 30th and the forces were ready on April 1ST. Newspapers will record the event as the ‘Second Wounded Knee Massacre’ amongst other less poetic sobriquets.
The official death toll is 50 dead and 30 wounded, with federal loses being estimated at around 10 or 12 agents. Amongst the dead the corpse of Russell Means can be found, along with the bullet riddled body of Dennis Banks, amongst other 50 young men and women that will become the martyrs for a new generation created today by the actions of the United States Government. [1]
****************************************************
Admiral John McCain Jr. has seen a lot in his life, but he would have never expected to see this. His new office is not particularly lavish or spectacular, but the Pentagon is not exactly a palace or the White House.
McCain’s father, a four Star Admiral as him, had spent some good 39 years of service in the United States navy and had seen Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf. McCain Jr. has in 41 years of service has seen many of the same things and many different ones, from Operation Torch and Iwo Jima to the Vietnam War, in which he served as Commander in Chief of the Pacific Command.
Three Wars and Four decades of service to a nation will do many things to a man except give him many surprises near the end, yet when John McCain talks the President listens. Nixon had listened, but the new man in the Oval Office truly believes in McCain and his view of the world. Richardson remains as the de jure Secretary of Defense, but the new Secretary of the Navy is the man that for many years will have the ear of the most powerful man in the world.
***************************************************
In the days following the death of Peron, chaos as expected grew dramatically and soon spiraled out of control. Now the fights between the far left of the Peronist party and the syndical right stretch to all mayor Argentinean cities and rock the very foundations of the government of Hector Jose Campora.
The President resigns in disgrace three days later, leaving the Populist Conservative Vicente Solano Lima, a non-peronist with little support as the President of the Republic [2]. Even as the right, which represents a 15% of the vote, and the social democratic Union Civica Radical are willing to deal with Solano Lima, the Peronist left is openly rebellious and challenges the authority of the new President, whereas the peronist right is reluctant to follow a non-peronist, and despite their power to control Solano Lima, they prefer to force his resignation, albeit not before they can take over the party and decide on the next President of the country.
What had started at Ezeiza and was continued at the streets of Cordoba , Buenos Aires, La Plata, Santa Fe, Rosario and Tucuman is to a degree concluded with the fights that take place the funeral ceremonies of General Peron three days after his death, as his personal secretary and confidant, the sinister leader of the Peronist right, Jose Lopez Rega, hijacks the ceremony in the name of his faction, in alliance with the rightist Steelworkers’ Union, the most powerful in the monolithic trade federation that is the CGT, and the moderate wings of the party, which secretly or publicly despise Lopez Rega as much as they do with the Peronist left.
The fight at Peron’s funeral is as bloody as the one seen at Ezeiza, and by the end of the day, there are over 50 dead, but Lopez Rega is in firm control of Peron’s body and through his macabre keep, the Generals’ legacy. [3]
Notes:
1. IOTL it was 3 dead as opposed to 60 ITTL
2. IOTL they resigned together when Peron withdrew his support to the government
3. Something similar happened a few years ago when they moved the corpse of General Peron and the CGT tried to hijack the ceremony; also, someone stole the hands from the body years ago...nobody knows why...
April 2nd of 1973
Wounded Knee, South Dakota
Of the Dozens of FBI Agents and U.S. Marshalls walking around the desolated ruins in the middle of Pine Ridge, barely half would be able to say exactly what went down there.
The Nightmare had begun some 65 days ago, when activists of the American India Movement occupied the town of Wounded Knee with help of Oglala Lakota Indians in opposition to Oglala local Chairman Richard A. “Dick” Wilson. US Government and military officers surrounded the town within the day, as some 50 U.S. Marshalls were sent to ‘keep and eye on the situation’
The situation at Pine Ridge Reservation at the time was what can be best described as appalling and intolerable, a ghetto in the middle of nowhere. What little employment or opportunity that existed was controlled by the elected tribal chairman, in this case a shinning beacon of corruption, cronyism and nepotism. The local economy of this, one of the consistently poorest counties in the United States revolved around the few jobs and programs Wilson steered towards his friends and family.
Taking into account that Wilson also did his utmost best to align the white people of the vicinities thanks to his policy of selling the ranchers community lands on ridiculously low prices, the rampant racism, violence and disorder that existed within the limits of the reservation and in the immediate surroundings and a growingly violent fight about civil rights, its not hard to see why the situation reached a boiling point and why Wilson saw it coming.
The last ditch attempt to impeach Wilson organized by a coalition of locals grouped loosely around the "traditionals, " and organized by both a local civil rights organization and the urban radical AIM members had ended in an utter and complete failure as Wilson was able to manipulate the results of the investigation and the struggle reached its next phase: that of open combat on the streets.
Yet the “traditionals” and AIM knew it couldn't win, and thus In desperation, a decision was reached to make a stand at the tiny hamlet of Wounded Knee, the site of the last massacre of the Indian Wars in hopes that public sympathy would stay the hand of Wilson's and the government's forces.
The Federal Government was fast to respond and within days FBI Agents and U.S. Marshals on one side and the force of the AIM on the other were entrenched at Wounded Knee, and what had first started as an insignificant and desperate political maneuver soon became into a micro-guerrilla war and media circus.
The crisis did not become the horrific nightmare that would be remembered for decades until no other than the President of the United States himself decided to interfere directly; Having seen the initial acts of the Wounded Knee tragedy and judging that it was best to cut to the chase before there was actual blood spilled. John Wayne was not the kind of man to sit around idly and allow the authority of the Federal Government to be challenged without consequence. The result is that the South Dakota National Guard, along with armored vehicles and heavy equipment now reinforce the FBI at Pine Ridge, now with standing orders to end the siege as soon as possible.
The order was given on March 30th and the forces were ready on April 1ST. Newspapers will record the event as the ‘Second Wounded Knee Massacre’ amongst other less poetic sobriquets.
The official death toll is 50 dead and 30 wounded, with federal loses being estimated at around 10 or 12 agents. Amongst the dead the corpse of Russell Means can be found, along with the bullet riddled body of Dennis Banks, amongst other 50 young men and women that will become the martyrs for a new generation created today by the actions of the United States Government. [1]
****************************************************
Admiral John McCain Jr. has seen a lot in his life, but he would have never expected to see this. His new office is not particularly lavish or spectacular, but the Pentagon is not exactly a palace or the White House.
McCain’s father, a four Star Admiral as him, had spent some good 39 years of service in the United States navy and had seen Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf. McCain Jr. has in 41 years of service has seen many of the same things and many different ones, from Operation Torch and Iwo Jima to the Vietnam War, in which he served as Commander in Chief of the Pacific Command.
Three Wars and Four decades of service to a nation will do many things to a man except give him many surprises near the end, yet when John McCain talks the President listens. Nixon had listened, but the new man in the Oval Office truly believes in McCain and his view of the world. Richardson remains as the de jure Secretary of Defense, but the new Secretary of the Navy is the man that for many years will have the ear of the most powerful man in the world.
***************************************************
In the days following the death of Peron, chaos as expected grew dramatically and soon spiraled out of control. Now the fights between the far left of the Peronist party and the syndical right stretch to all mayor Argentinean cities and rock the very foundations of the government of Hector Jose Campora.
The President resigns in disgrace three days later, leaving the Populist Conservative Vicente Solano Lima, a non-peronist with little support as the President of the Republic [2]. Even as the right, which represents a 15% of the vote, and the social democratic Union Civica Radical are willing to deal with Solano Lima, the Peronist left is openly rebellious and challenges the authority of the new President, whereas the peronist right is reluctant to follow a non-peronist, and despite their power to control Solano Lima, they prefer to force his resignation, albeit not before they can take over the party and decide on the next President of the country.
What had started at Ezeiza and was continued at the streets of Cordoba , Buenos Aires, La Plata, Santa Fe, Rosario and Tucuman is to a degree concluded with the fights that take place the funeral ceremonies of General Peron three days after his death, as his personal secretary and confidant, the sinister leader of the Peronist right, Jose Lopez Rega, hijacks the ceremony in the name of his faction, in alliance with the rightist Steelworkers’ Union, the most powerful in the monolithic trade federation that is the CGT, and the moderate wings of the party, which secretly or publicly despise Lopez Rega as much as they do with the Peronist left.
The fight at Peron’s funeral is as bloody as the one seen at Ezeiza, and by the end of the day, there are over 50 dead, but Lopez Rega is in firm control of Peron’s body and through his macabre keep, the Generals’ legacy. [3]
Notes:
1. IOTL it was 3 dead as opposed to 60 ITTL
2. IOTL they resigned together when Peron withdrew his support to the government
3. Something similar happened a few years ago when they moved the corpse of General Peron and the CGT tried to hijack the ceremony; also, someone stole the hands from the body years ago...nobody knows why...
maverick
Banned
“Six Shooter Man”
Buenos Aires, Argentina
September of 1973
Italo Luder raises his arms in a classical gesture for victory; A hard-earned, pyrrhic and almost not worthy of the effort victory.
Argentina has never been the easiest country in the world or the most pleasant, but there’s something about 1973 that makes the country an almost complete nightmare; the three months that have passed since the death of General Peron have done nothing to mend or help alleviate the differences between far left, the right and the far right of the Peronist Movement, and much to worsen the situation left by the end of military rule earlier this year and the first elections of 1973.
At the podium, to the right of the elected President stand the Secretary General of the CGT, Jose Ignacio Rucci, and Peron’s former Secretary, Jose Lopez Rega. Others figure of the Peronist Right and center also stand next to those of the left that preferred to side with the moderate Luder than with the more, unappealing elements of the far left, such as the Peronist Youth, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Montoneros. To the left of the elected President is the current, and most likely continuing, Minister of War and the Commander in Chief of the Army.
The Luder Government has all the makings of a lovely and functional partnership.
**********************************************************
Just as he finishes his sarcastic song, “Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon”, the singer decides not to wait for the applause and he continues with his new “Six shooter man”, the song that broke his latest five month long writer’s block.
The recent American military intervention in Chile and the news that President Wayne, one of his personal heroes and mayor influences, will be visiting South America in a six week tour during the winter of 1973 and 1974, has inspired ‘Six Shooter Man’ and many other songs in ways Richard Nixon hadn’t been able to.
Of the 100,000 people protesting the Military Intervention and the presence of the United States Third Fleet at Chile, only a few can actually see the disillusionment in the face of Phil Ochs as he sings about one of his oldest heroes.
*********************************************************
Eduardo Frei calmly puts the newspaper down as he calmly stands up and walks to his office window. The glass and the furniture has been replaced, but there are still bullet holes throughout the walls of his office, and the façade still shows signs of the fierce bombardment to which the Presidential palace was subjected during the two week civil war. Yet Frei refuses to take another office in a building besides La Moneda. The presidential palace is a symbol and by staying in it the President sends a message to the nation and to the world: this is a nation of laws and the rule of the nation’ institutions have been restored.
The recent elections in Argentina have given Frei cause to alarm nevertheless. They suffered a somewhat similar political and succession crisis that will probably not be resolved by the elections. Argentina had elections three days ago, the future President, one of Peron’s men, got a whooping 42,1% of the vote, to the other man, the one that was against Peron when the man lived, got a somewhat less impressive 34,8%. Hardly a landslide for everyone that wasn’t part of the Propaganda machine of the Justicialist Party, and Frei knew it. He’d need a much more impressive victory than that if he wanted the nation to retain some degree of stability.
The recent fracture within the echelons of the leadership of Unidad Popular between those wanting to actually participate in the elections and those favoring the guerrilla campaign against the government assured along with the coalition between the Conservatives and Frei’s own Christian Democrats that Frei’s ‘National Salvation and Solidarity Government’ would survive the next elections, yet Frei was understandably nervous.
The International section of ‘El Mercurio’ doesn’t bring particularly good news from the Middle East either…
To be Continued...
Buenos Aires, Argentina
September of 1973
Italo Luder raises his arms in a classical gesture for victory; A hard-earned, pyrrhic and almost not worthy of the effort victory.
Argentina has never been the easiest country in the world or the most pleasant, but there’s something about 1973 that makes the country an almost complete nightmare; the three months that have passed since the death of General Peron have done nothing to mend or help alleviate the differences between far left, the right and the far right of the Peronist Movement, and much to worsen the situation left by the end of military rule earlier this year and the first elections of 1973.
At the podium, to the right of the elected President stand the Secretary General of the CGT, Jose Ignacio Rucci, and Peron’s former Secretary, Jose Lopez Rega. Others figure of the Peronist Right and center also stand next to those of the left that preferred to side with the moderate Luder than with the more, unappealing elements of the far left, such as the Peronist Youth, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Montoneros. To the left of the elected President is the current, and most likely continuing, Minister of War and the Commander in Chief of the Army.
The Luder Government has all the makings of a lovely and functional partnership.
**********************************************************
Just as he finishes his sarcastic song, “Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon”, the singer decides not to wait for the applause and he continues with his new “Six shooter man”, the song that broke his latest five month long writer’s block.
The recent American military intervention in Chile and the news that President Wayne, one of his personal heroes and mayor influences, will be visiting South America in a six week tour during the winter of 1973 and 1974, has inspired ‘Six Shooter Man’ and many other songs in ways Richard Nixon hadn’t been able to.
Of the 100,000 people protesting the Military Intervention and the presence of the United States Third Fleet at Chile, only a few can actually see the disillusionment in the face of Phil Ochs as he sings about one of his oldest heroes.
*********************************************************
Eduardo Frei calmly puts the newspaper down as he calmly stands up and walks to his office window. The glass and the furniture has been replaced, but there are still bullet holes throughout the walls of his office, and the façade still shows signs of the fierce bombardment to which the Presidential palace was subjected during the two week civil war. Yet Frei refuses to take another office in a building besides La Moneda. The presidential palace is a symbol and by staying in it the President sends a message to the nation and to the world: this is a nation of laws and the rule of the nation’ institutions have been restored.
The recent elections in Argentina have given Frei cause to alarm nevertheless. They suffered a somewhat similar political and succession crisis that will probably not be resolved by the elections. Argentina had elections three days ago, the future President, one of Peron’s men, got a whooping 42,1% of the vote, to the other man, the one that was against Peron when the man lived, got a somewhat less impressive 34,8%. Hardly a landslide for everyone that wasn’t part of the Propaganda machine of the Justicialist Party, and Frei knew it. He’d need a much more impressive victory than that if he wanted the nation to retain some degree of stability.
The recent fracture within the echelons of the leadership of Unidad Popular between those wanting to actually participate in the elections and those favoring the guerrilla campaign against the government assured along with the coalition between the Conservatives and Frei’s own Christian Democrats that Frei’s ‘National Salvation and Solidarity Government’ would survive the next elections, yet Frei was understandably nervous.
The International section of ‘El Mercurio’ doesn’t bring particularly good news from the Middle East either…
To be Continued...
AmIndHistoryAuthor
Banned
And they all died from federal or white vigilante gunfire IOTL. You did a pfretty good job of background research. A few minor points.
IOTL there was a white vigilantes group, the Ranchers Association, that was provided with guns and ammo and took part in the firefights. The John Birch Society also stuck its nose in, and succeeded in convincing a Lakota medicine man, Johnson Holy Rock, to take their side and that of the GOONs (Wilson's hit squad, the Guardians Of the Oglala Nation.)
There were no Nat'l Guard taking part in the siege IOTL, but they did provide armored vehicles and Nixon sent two army generals to advise. The military also provided intel through flyovers. Instead of just the FBI, there were also US Marshalls and a few Border Patrol with K 9 units.
I could easily see Means dying in the siege. He's always had a very self destructive streak. But for Banks to die and 50 others, it would really have to be an unprovoked massacre. Many of the AIMsters were recent Vietnam vets, often from elite units. IRL they knew just what to avoid. They built shelters that withstood the firefights extremely well, or the body count could've been 10X higher.
I'd imagine the assault was much like the one on Attica.
Will we be seeing more about this? I can imagine how the Trail of Broken Treaties turns out ITTL.