XXI - ALL THE KING'S MEN
THE IRON EAGLE
ALL THE KING'S MEN
ALL THE KING'S MEN
A new day came to America on that 21st of January of 1949, and Huey Pierce Long Junior the son of a salesman, was now the most powerful man in the western world. Defeating all those who stood in his path, from John Parker, to Douglas MacArthur, he overcame all these challengers, from his impeachment in 1929, his relative fade in the 1940s from the stigma of isolationism, his enemies in the Senate and his home state. Many called him a Fascist, an American version of Hitler or Mussolini, others called him a Communist of the likes of Stalin, whose crimes were now being revealed by the new Russian Government, but the truth is just what he said when one reporter asked him his ideology, he was just himself. Long was certainly a populist, a man greatly inspired by his also Democratic predecessor William Jennings Bryan, growing up in the progressive era as he saw in his youth the fight between Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson against the Monopolies. But this conflict was mostly felt at home when he saw the Standard Oil Company as his greatest enemy, once he took law practice he advocated for small causes against corporate giants, when he discovered and invested in an oil well, it would be blocked and bankrupted by the Standard Oil-backed Louisiana government, which was ruled by an oligarchical minority, keeping Louisiana as perhaps the poorest state in the United States during the 1910s. He thought John Parker could've fought against such practices and backed him in the election, giving him the support of the State's impoverished farmers, but instead he saw Parker becoming nothing more than another corrupt stooge, and so he entered politics, at first losing the 1924 run, managing to win the 1928 one and becoming Louisiana's best governor in ages. Roads, hospitals, schools, electrification, literacy programs, crackdown on state monopolies, it was easy to see how he was overwhelmingly adored in the State. At first his opponents attempted to take him down with a fraudulent impeachment process, but he stood firm and defeated his rivals, and by 1932 he controlled the local politics, wrestling control from the old democrats, easily winning a seat in the Senate in 1932.
Many expected him to be elected as President in 1936, with Hoover's unpopularity following his crackdown on the Bonus Army veterans in 1934, the continued recession only boosting the chances of the Democrats after they failed to take the White House in 1932. He certainly did have great chances, being a skilled orator, gaining national prominence for his radical reform program "Share the Wealth", allying with progressive figures as well as many centrists who were frustrated by Hoover's insufficient measures. Long was not alone in courting reform as Wheeler began to support his case, being initially a supporter of Huey Long and even considered an alternative as Vice President to him, but everything came to a halt on the 23rd of March 1936 when, while in a visit to Banton Rouge, the son-in-law of one of his defeated rivals approached him with a pistol, and while the shot did not hit him, his army of bodyguards shot the attacker 63 times, with Long being hit by one of the bullets. The Senator feared death, begging to God to not allow him to die, claiming he still had "much to do", the wound was not fatal, but it was certainly fatal for his campaign. Being disabled from the primaries and being under recovery, Long instead gave his support for Wheeler, believing he would be able to implement a similar progressive agenda, only for Wheeler's efforts to be under constant scrutiny and sabotage of the Dixiecrats under Richard Russell. After his recovery, Long continued his mandate as Senator, giving his support to Wheeler's agenda and being considered one of the Government's strongest allies in the Senate. Long was one of the authors of several proposals which included the Public Works program of 1937 and the failed National Education Act of 1942, which was quickly sidelined by the outbreak of the war. Huey Long was a lifelong advocate for American isolationism who had voted against a proposed increase in military spending in 1940 and was instrumental in blocking the proposed "Lease Act of 1941", an initiative by House Internationalists to allow for the supply of nations vital to American strategic interests, which had Britain in mind. It is no surprise that the discredit of Isolationism hit him hard in 1942, as one of it's most vocal proponents, which was only made worse by the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon in 1943, as such, he was sidelined in favor of Cordell Hull for the 1944 nomination by the powerful, yet shaky, alliance of Dixiecrats and Progressives who rallied in favor of the experienced Diplomat.
In the Post-War, however, his star began to rise once again, demobilization bringing in a recession just in time in 1947-1948, thanks to a wave of strikes, the war exhaustion of the American people after the bloody Operation Sunset, and the weakening of the Dixiecrats by the Thurmond Presidency with it's mediocre handling of domestic affairs which included racial riots in Georgia. The Louisiana Senator, now a more experienced politician, linked back his contacts with old progressive figures of the Share the Wealth society, including recruitment of former President Burton K. Wheeler, and he would soon be approached by the Northern Liberal establishment of the Party in order to stop the continued domination of the Dixiecrats, represented by the relatively young and charismatic James Roosevelt. They agreed on a joint ticket after a meeting in December 1947, and the meeting showcased many differences by the Southern manners of Long and Roosevelt's East coast accent, and while they shared enthusiasm over social reforms, Roosevelt was more radical on the matter of civil rights than Long, who saw poverty as a greater evil to fight, but their most glaring difference was the way Roosevelt was an interventionist hawk, and Long was still clinging to many of his former isolationist ways. Still, it was a ticket powerful enough to defeat Russell's Dixie machine, in no small way thanks to Long's charisma during the primaries and President Thurmond's refusal to stand for reelection or intervene in the democratic nomination in anything but securing his future as Senator of South Carolina, one of the few times an incumbent President did not even appear during the Party Primaries. Ultimately the Long-Roosevelt ticket, popular to the impoverished, the farmers, the southerners and northerners alike, the unionists, and those repealed by MacArthur's un-political and aggressive rhetoric, managed to defeat "Big Mac" in the 1948 election against the odds, and soon Long would prepare his government, a mix of older veterans such as Keating and Wheeler, friends and fellow southerners such as McMath, Byrnes, and Noe, and a few friends of Roosevelt such as Nimitz and Wallace.
The inauguration was a massive ceremony, hundreds of thousands from all across the country, with the largest attendance to the inauguration of a Southern President, Huey Long was sworn in office starting what the Washington Post called "Longmerica", swearing in on the Bible and going right after to address the crowd. Huey started with his usual light-hearted southern charisma, even getting laughers out of the crowd, before he became increasingly combative, speaking of the wealth inequality, of the poverty in rural and urban centers, of the expectations of GIs that returned from the war only to see an America that seemed to have barely come out of the Great Depression. The people became glued to his speech as Long spoke of his grand plans, cheering as he spoke of bringing the wealth back to the American people, of cutting the nation with roads and infrastructure projects, of creating a national push towards education and tuition. At the end he rallied the people with flaming comments, speaking of how he would make it so the wealthy paid their fair share, that small companies grow by forcing the bigger ones to break monopolies, he spoke of the Nationalization of the Federal Reserve in order to "allow the American people to control their own pockets". The flaming comments of the Kingfish were the inauguration of a new age, the first outspoken populist on a national level since William Jennings Bryan, the First Southerner who "cared for the common man" ever since Andrew Jackson became President. He would not rule for the south, he would rule for all the nation, and even gave controversial comments that the "American Negro shall too have his fair share", which left many of his Dixiecrat supporters quite uneasy, a group of Klansmen in the inauguration jeering and having to be kept under watch by the police during the process. He spoke of peace, claiming that "America needs no more purple hearts, no more tombstones and graves for wars thousands of miles away", which left even Vice-President Roosevelt uneasy as his northern establishment was known for supporting hawkish efforts in Asia and Europe. That would be the first televised opening of a Presidential Mandate and ended with Long making religious references to the fairness of his cause, claiming that America was a wealthy and abundant land given by God to it's people, and that greed shall no longer rule over America, but instead the Lord's commandment to share it's abundance to the American people. He would leave to the sound of applauses to the White House, and from there would begin the Presidential Mandate of Huey Pierce Long Jr. the son of a Salesman who became President despite all odds.
Perhaps that is why so many related to him, Long, despite his charisma and knowledge, was still born a common man, a poor man in rural Louisiana. He was the incarnation of the American dream of defeating all who tried to keep him down and growing to become his own man, with his own wealth and influence, winning victory after victory despite many seatbacks which included even an assassination attempt, until he finally became the most powerful man of the Free World. In his first 100 days, Long would use his known energy to blitz through several new proposals to the Congress, signing several executive orders, and going on a tour across the nation, where he insisted on crossing the plains of the midwest by car. As he became aware on the degradation of several of the roads and the difficulty to make a road travel across the country, he ironically would see the solution in America's greatest enemy. In the German Reich, the Autobahn system connected cities from Paris to Halderstadt, all across the Linz Pakt, the Reich possessed one of the best road systems in the world, and Long would bring that to America where he drafted the Federal Highway Act of 1949, from where the Federal government would unify several different systems across the States while engaging in a large public works program to both combat unemployment and improve the interstate connection in America. Naturally that came with the problem of the Public Works program, Wheeler's "Federal Civil Works Agency" (FCWA) was made in 1937 to combat unemployment, born from a proposal by the Hoover government, many protested it as a Government overreach, and Wheeler greatly defanged his agency under the threat that it would not be passed by the Senate or that the Supreme Court could strike it down. Long discussed the matter with his Secretary of State, who was the former POTUS himself, and Vice-President Roosevelt in order to make the changes necessary, that led to the creation of the "Federal Work and Repair Agency" (FWRA), a program within the "Public Works Administration" (PWA) made by Wheeler. Generally, Long would begin to drastically increase the power and authority of Federal Government agencies that were once obstructed by the old compromises in the Democratic Party, with new relief efforts for farmers and rural communities, a national electrification program, and a centralization of the Public relief efforts that were once centered towards giving funds and loans to State governments. Those were not without controversy but they dwarfed in comparison to the chaos that Long's first "Big Bill" to Congress.
Long knew that power and money were interlinked in many ways, and that the first step if he wanted to fight "The Power of Big Money" was to control the flow of money in the Nation. Established first by Woodrow Wilson, the Federal Reserve was the closest that America had of a Central Bank, a fight that came all the way from the early America when the Federalists desired to create a strong central banking system while the Democratic-Republicans wanted to keep it on State lines, with Andrew Jackson famously ending the American Central Bank in the Bank wars on 1836. Long planned to renew the fight against the interests of the "Oligarchs who control the pockets of America", introducing his main proposal of the first 100 days: The "Federal Reserve Act of 1949", where Huey Long planned to destroy Wilson's Glass-Owen act of 1913 and bring the creation of the third Bank of America, put under the Secretary of Treasure. The Congress was in uproar, the Markets went into a panic of such a major reshaping of the American financial system, but Long's resolve was unshaken, he would bring down the hammer against the Fed, as he claimed, and bring "Public accountability over it's own money". It is needless to say that many, even in his own party, were shooting down the act, but Long went across Party lines, never really being an enthusiast of party politics and criticizing both the Republicans and Democrats to be like two fraudulent bottles of the same medicine. He managed to pass the act in the House, but the Senate was where the Bill could be killed, and where Long showed how he governed Louisiana. He arranged meetings with Senators, including even the Former POTUS Strom Thurmond who was now Senator of South Carolina and one of the main leaders of the Southern Democrats, but while many in the past would be granted political favors, Long opened up his War Chest. Senators switched their rhetoric from one day to another, and while there were some suspicions, none of them came with evidence of the bribes given by the President. The act was passed in March and the American Federal Reserve was dissolved after less than 40 years, creating the Bank of America, and giving Long a free hand to decide it's members and director, Secretary of Treasure Noe apparently opened a champagne that night.
In 1949, Long would still continue his energetic push for reforms, now ready for one of America's most revolutionary tax proposals. Huey would impose a "Wealth Tax" over those that had an income above two million dollars, increasing in percentage until it was effectively capped at 200 million dollars of income. The "Long Plan", part of the "Share the Wealth" program, was his plan for not only allow wealth redistribution but to also fund his vast and radical agenda, receiving widespread condemnation, mostly from Republicans but even from Northern Democrats, some of Roosevelt's backers pleading for him to change Long's ambitious tax. However, with the exception of a few changes in congress, the Long Plan passed in September to go under effect on the next year. In the Senate, one senator was standing defiant in leading the opposition, Senator Joseph "Joe" McCarthy, the hero of Wheeler AFB in the Hawaiian campaign who quickly became the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate. McCarthy, elected in 1948, was part of the first wave of post-war politicians that swept America, riding on the wave of anti-germanism of the Black Files leak, MacArthur was not elected but he was and soon he became the one senator every American was able to name. With his fame as a war hero in possibly one of the most romanticized battles of the war, the young Senator became the head of the opposition in Congress after a speech attacking the Federal Government, claiming he had evidence of "Reds and Brownies in the State Government". He accused Long's agenda of communism, despite Huey many times denying any sympathy for Socialism, and claimed the government was "in the bed with Hitler" due to the President's passive foreign policy, fiercely attacking the retreat of the American Expedition in Russia alongside General Patton. Within the Military, Patton became a more prominent figure after MacArthur's resignation from Japan and failed Presidential bid, with the recent military success in Russia being attributed to him as the "slayer of the Red viper" Joseph Stalin and the creation of a "Free system for the Russian people", despite the fact Russia was a military dictatorship with the facade of an autocratic monarchy. Nevertheless, McCarthy's voice found a willing public in many Americans which became increasingly alienated by Long's policies, including very powerful sponsors in Wall Street, creating a movement which was at first called "McCarthysm" in a critical cartoon that ended up fully embraced by the Senator by claiming it was "Americanism with it's sleeves rolled".
Despite the opposition, Long was willing to keep on the fight, in fact he found it quite the thrill to have an enemy and he had a great many of those. One of them was none other than Hoover, not the former POTUS but instead the shadow behind him, someone that Wheeler once called "my Bormann", the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Huey knew from the experience he had talking with his Secretary of State, two friends with similar ideals, one with the fighting spirit and the other with the knowledge of the position, Hoover was a snake, a man who truly held power over America, blackmailing politicians, spying on movements, dismantling political groups, manipulating the public opinion, and even running highly suspicious experiments of social and biological level. While they both had more fear of his reputation than of the power he actually had, he still was not a man to be underestimated, and ironically it was Long's enemy that gave him the chance to silence the FBI director and place the directorate back on Presidential Control. McCarthy had kickstarted a movement named the "Lavender Scare", accusing and persecuting suspected homosexuals within the Government, and while it did not produce many real accusations, it ended up manipulating the public opinion, and many groups, including the still powerful Klan, began to harass homosexuals and suspected ones on the streets. Hoover was a man that kept his secrets locked, and indeed that would remain the case for practically all Presidents he had met, none of them could breach into his secrecy, except for Long. Huey was a man just as shady as Hoover, someone who was willing to go low, with rumors that some of his opposition members in Louisiana did not escape his thugs, ending up on a ditch, nobody knowing how they got there. On the New Year's eve of 1950, while people celebrated the first successful year of government, Attorney-General Byrnes was instructed by Long to prepare to "clean up the house" in the Department of Justice. That same night, J. Edgar Hoover's house was broken into and raid while the FBI director was at the New Year's celebration at the White House, an investigation led by the Director himself began, but while it was happening, Long had already gotten what he wanted. Not only did Hoover had one of the largest pornographic collections in the world, but he would also find the only surviving copy of the meeting he had with former POTUS Cordell Hull after the report of the Japanese biological bombing of San Diego in 1946, a conclusive evidence that the Director, who denied blame and directed all of the criticism to the deceased President, was involved in a major conspiracy to hide the cause of the deaths of hundreds of Americans. He would also take, mostly circunstantial, evidence of Hoover's homosexual behavior with his assistant Clyde Tolson, although its rather unlikely that he was actually involved in it, the evidence of Hoover's "betrayal" of American values was at Long's desk now. The director was making his own digging on Long's life aswell, with his shady dealings as Governor and Senator being quite enough to land him in jail, but now he was being blackmailed on his own, and mysteriously several of Long's files were destroyed during the raid. Huey now had the FBI and Hoover's expetise at his full disposal and he began his war against the "Invisible Empire".
Standard Oil was not the only company that Long went after during his fight in the early 50s, but it certainly was the one he had the most personal stakes against. Rockefeller's Empire once ruled Louisiana and it's reasonable oil reserves like a cartel, bribing the majority of the politicians, avoiding taxes and dues, monopolizing the State's logistics, and crushing small owners. In the 1910s, Long had invested much of his reserves at a small well that struck oil in rural Louisiana, only to lose everything as the well went bankrupt, the only company which was able to handle the logistics of oil transportation was the Standard Oil company and it's refusal to transport Long's oil gave him a fury that rode him all the way to the White House. Now, with the new Progressive Taxes, the Financial system under his control, the FBI blackmailed to do his bidding, and the people rallied on his crusade, the time for revenge would come. Secretary of Commerce Lucas, Attorney-General Byrnes, and Secretary of Treasure Noe all would discuss with the President how to best fight against the powerful corporate interests in the nation, with even Secretary of Defense Nimitz attending the meeting following a discussion with General Eisenhower, both of them worried about the growing industrial influence on the military following the war. Nimitz and Eisenhower were worried that the growing military industries were attempting to push America into wars it had no interest in, conflicts across the Ocean being used to issue military contracts and boost the military spending, and while they agreed on the modernization of the Armed Forces due to the threats given by Hitler's Reich, many questioned how exactly sending troops to China would help fight a nation over a thousand miles away. These meetings would result in several new executive orders and Acts being proposed in the Congress, notably the "Fair Business Relations Act of 1950", which created a Federal Government board to enforce new Anti-Trust legislation, greatly expanding the powers of the Attorney-General to prosecute businesses and break down monopolies. There was also the "FAIR Act of 1950", which established several new criteria for government contracts, benefitting medium companies, and created a new set of Anti-Monopoly legislation that Senator McCarthy claimed "Would break the legs of American Capital and entrepreneurship", not only that but the President would use these newfound powers to crackdown on the rising "Industry of Death", enforcing the act on several military contractors in what many considered a "Betrayal of those who built the machines who won us the war". McCarthy's rhetoric intensified, claiming that Long was purposefully crippling the American military to "Open the way to the Swastika", which is something that Vice-President Roosevelt considered a step too far. Despite his sympathies for the more populist causes of the Long government, he was still a man very much in favor of a strong military power and projection of that power, protesting on the reduction of the Military spending, it seemed that the rift between him and Long was beginning to show. On the other hand, the President finally got his revenge on the Rockefellers, while the Standard Oil had long been dissolved, it's smaller companies continued it's work, and Long considered them to remain all the same, several of these companies would be broken down by the government again, such as the Chevron, other assets being purchased by State companies.
On Foreign affairs, the Long Presidency was quite the opposite of the aggressive domestic agenda. Prime Minister Eden commented that Long "set back the free world back to before the war" and de Gaulle claimed that "Huey Long is Hitler's greatest ally". The Thurmond Presidency, despite it's faults, was decisive in the first post-war years, securing a friendly State in Russia, supporting Chiang in the fight against Mao, the decisive intervention in the Middle East, and the deepening of the Anglo-American cooperation, mostly thanks to keeping the same foreign relations advisors of the Hull administration. Long's was called the "Pull back" Presidency, with Huey promising a definitive end to the Pacific War by finishing the occupation of Japan, a halt of the American support towards China to instead attempt to mediate a peace agreement, the retreat from the Philippines, the end of the Russian expedition, and the infamous passivity over European affairs that many believed had emboldened Hitler to make preparations to restart the war, something that was only stopped by his untimely death. His isolationism was not as harsh as it was in the Pre-War years, but he was still a disappointment for many who desired to see a more active stance of the United States on world affairs, many considering him responsible for the return of Communism in Asia and the growing influence of Fascist-alligned movements in Latin America such as in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
Not everything was a win, there were obstacles such as when the Supreme Court shut down a proposal of wealth confiscation that had to be removed from a 1951 tax proposal, Long began a fight over Free public schooling and college tuition that ended up reduced to free textbooks and adult literacy classes, although the latter faced strong opposition from southerners, with States using literacy tests in order to disenfranchise black voters. Huey would face a difficulty in the rising Civil Rights movement after Thurmond's scandals and his strike on the proposal to desegregate the Armed Forces, on the other hand many pro-black movements would begin to spring up in the south in the aftermath of the recent riots and clashes between Klansmen and Black veterans in Georgia. Huey Long was no Civil Rights advocate in his core, mainly caring about the welfare and economical needs rather than racial matters, but by Southern standards in the 1930s he was a "Nigger hugger" as a certain congressman called him, but while he is not famous for signing any great Civil Rights Act, other than integrating the armed forces, he would do more for it than any other President before him in the 20th Century by tackling the organization which had most famously stood in opposition to it, the greatest strength of the Dixiecrats in the Midwest, the Klan.
The Second Klan, born in the 1910s, was not the organization which had the numbers it once had, reaching to up to 7 million members in 1927, going through a decline in membership in the 1930s, with the depression reducing it's donations, the group would go through a relative growth in the 1940s, with the sharp increase in Xenophobia during the Pacific War leading to mass lynchings against Asians. By the end of the 40s, standing with around 900,000 members through the nation, united mainly with the support of the Prohibition and as a reaction to the growing Civil Rights Movement, being once publicly called by President Thurmond as "The White Knights of Civilization", certainly the Thurmond Presidency had served as a blessing to the members of the group who achieved a status not seen since the 1920s. But Huey Long, an enemy of the Klansmen since his time in Louisiana, decided to finally let loose the hounds to destroy the organization, using his newly found control of the FBI to reveal the contrast between the romanticized image of the KKK and the true reality of the group. While previous Presidents either did not act out of political compromise, like Wheeler, or used them to support their ideals, such as Thurmond, Long used the material collected through the years of several incidents, from sexual assault, murder, fraud, and "unpatriotic activities". Between 1951 and 1952, the membership of the Klan would fall to double digits, as scandal after scandal rocked the nation, of the group's apparent hypocrisy, tales of homosexual orgies led to McCarthy actually siding with Long alongside the Republicans, with the Lavander scare at full strength. There were also many connections drawn between the Klansmen and the German SS, although Hitler personally disliked the Klan as cartoonish fools, with even German propaganda using it as a mockery of America, the Anti-German scare through the nation would find a scapegoat into an organization that preached a racial supremacist belief not very different from the enemy across the sea. On the other hand, Huey Long did not repeal the prohibition, despite the callings to do so by many in his own party such as Roosevelt, as he was personally a "Dry" supporter, appealing to a Christian populism similar to the one of his predecessor Bryan at the Turn of the Century. The popularity of prohibition divided the United States in the 1920s and came close to being repealed during the Hoover administration, however the Constitutional ammendment failed, and the Wheeler Administration continued to encourage it, empowering law enforcement to crack down on alcohol, mainly thanks to the Dixiecrat groups within the government. In the 1940s, the war and rationing served to increase support for Prohibition by equating it as a patriotic duty with the wheat rationing, only to continue to be encouraged by the Thurmond Government, beer being called as a "Teuton drink" by McCarthy during the scare. Overall the division between "dry" and "wet" became increasingly less relevant as more divisive questions such as Civil Rights and the Cold War came to dominate the American mindset, and at least for now it was not as much of an "issue of the moment" as it was in the 1920s. People who supported Long for his programs generally did not stop supporting them over the fact he did not support alcohol, while the rate of consumption per capita had been reduced by over a fifth of what it was Pre-Volstead Act.
Long was not an exclusively left-wing President, in fact, despite the many accusations of Socialism, few could call him a friend of organized Labor. The Kingfish was a populist, not a socialist, he believed in the need of welfare provided by the government, which in turn was made by the People and for the People, not in the hands of Unions. One of Long's most controversial decisions was how he reacted to the Labor unrest after becoming President, because while on the one hand he introduced progressive taxes, educational benefits, sponsored mass infrastructure and electrification projects, and supported the growth of small businesses, he would sign up the so-called "Taft-Hartley Act of 1949", as a compromise to the approval of his "Long Plan". The Act would come to crack down on labor unions, banning Unions which required compulsory membership of workers, prohibiting obligatory fees, and hindered several strike actions amongst the police, firefighters, and other sectors considered "essential to the maintenance and stability of the Nation". The FBI continued the policies made by Thurmond to oppose the unionization of Southern workers, while ironically Long would sabotage farmer's unions. This provoked protests from the Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, a member of the Farmer-Labor Party, who quickly became McCarthy's favorite scapegoat within the Federal Government due to his previous socialist credentials and sympathy of the Soviet Union and Stalin, which would end up backfiring hard after the Russian Empire made public several secrets of the MGB and the mass repressions during the Stalin era. Wallace would attempt to fire back by creating the "Farmer's Plan", a rural-focused focus of the Long Plan which planned to extend the government coverage, subsidies, and garantees to small farmers, an Act which gained popularity in the Midwest, and Long was vacillating between supporting his ambitious Secretary who was more and more vocal about the plan, or to listen to his more experienced advisors such as Wheeler and his brother Earl, who warned about his growing popularity and potential rivalry. Eventually, Long would crash down against Wallace, as the FBI discovered the habits of the Secretary of Agriculture, with his support for rather... occultist ideas, his visits to astrologists and even the apparent use of government funds to support fraudulent preachers, all habits that could lead to a disaster if made public no matter if true or false. Henry Wallace was forced to back down on his plan that would not be mentioned again until Long passed a very similar "Farmer's relief Act of 1952".
In the beginning of the 50s, thanks to, or despite, the policies of the President, America would experience an economic boom to a level not seen since the Gilded Age or the Roaring twenties, with the labor crisis passed and the end of the post-war recession as the market returned to a civilian-oriented economy, consumerism began to boom. Long's plans for wealth redistribution gave the consumers a purchasing power not seen before by many who grew up in the depression, the support for small businesses created new jobs every day as people began to finally relieve the "American Dream". Technology advanced with modern day applications, and the government would greatly propagandize the idea of "Five thousand dollars and a car", which would be granted by the progressive tax system, and the return of much of the world trade, with the exception of Europe, after the war, brought with it new markets for American companies. Monopolies were broken up to allow smaller industries to take the place of giants, while others stayed under close watch for their business practices. While much of the age's glamour is owed to nostalgia by the future generations, it is still undeniable that the majority of the sectors in American society saw a growth in quality of life, with the US economy leading the way of the Free World, suppassing even the combined resources of the Linz Pakt, there was a wave of optimism which was symbolized in 1951 by the signing of the "Kyoto Accords" between Japan and the United States on the 23rd of December, the day where the regency of Emperor Akihito ended and the young ruler signed the end of the Japanese occupation that has been ongoing since 1947. Japan was a changed nation, with American resources and businesses supporting it's reconstruction, the majority of the leaders of Imperial Japan being either imprisoned or executed during the Tokyo Trials and a new Constitution made being finally signed, the former enemy of America seemed to be rebuilt as a rehabilitated nation. Although it was one completely demilitarized, with the United States being reserved a right to intervene on it's internal politics and keeping a lease on the ports of Okinawa and Nagasaki, with the Korean People's Republic being made an independent State. In a speech, Long would announce the "American Pacific struggle is over at last", despite more radical voices calling for much harsher measures against Japan and voices inside of Japan who still refused to end the fight, the President had no desire in continuing expensive foreign adventures as shown by the reduction in the Military spending and Foreign support, which generated loud protests and arguments with the Vice-President.
As the electoral year was approaching, so did Huey's greatest crisis in the field of foreign policy. The detonation of a German Nuclear device caused worries, while Long was attacked for his inaction in Europe as for the first time, the American people came to fear the horror of a Nuclear War, something which only lended more fuel to the ongoing "Grey Scare", also nicknamed as "Brown Scare". Long received many reports from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the American intelligence service, about the growing militarization and military maneuvers in Germany. Naval and air exercises on the channel coast, the mobilization of Syrian troops near the Israeli border, the Russian reports of a massive military buildup at the A-A line, and Goebbels' aggressive rhetoric as Hitler's spokesman. Many reports suggested that Hitler was of ill health, that he wanted to finish his "Final struggle" by destroying all of the Reich's enemies in what could be the greatest war the world has ever seen, thousands of rockets, some apparently loaded with Biological weapons, aimed at London and Tel Aviv, new German weapons being mass produced as the economy of all the Linz Pakt seemed to be getting on a war footing, and reports in Portugal of Hitler's supposed "War meeting" at the Wolf's Lair, all of it produced a climate of an incoming conflict that led to Prime Minister Eden and President Long calling one another, with Eden complaining of Long's reluctance in his call. Indeed, Long did not want war to be his legacy, he was fighting his own conflict for the American people in his mind, and a war could put everything at stake, which is why he answered to Hitler's death with great relief, believing the threat of war to be over. Only for everything to almost fall apart in what he called "De Gaulle's Mad Ride", with the Dakkar crisis and the French "Revolution" only bringing him the fear that Britain would start a war where he would be compelled to intervene, in fact there were many calls for him to do so, spearheaded by James Roosevelt, his VPOTUS. Roosevelt was keeping close contact with Eden, de Gaulle, and Tsar Andrei, as well as OSS Director William "Wild Bill" Donavan over the German capabilities. The director informed him that the Germans would be unable to create a second nuclear device for the next three months, giving a short open window for an amassed strike at Germania, which, considering the chaotic power struggle and the centralization of the Reich into the figure of a single Führer (Although the allies were not aware of the greatly decentralized system created by Hitler through the Gauleiters that could compromise a decaptation strike), would give the opportunity for a preemptive strike with the mass use of Nuclear Weapons, an idea which was enthusiastically approved by both Patton and MacArthur. The so-called "Operation Overlord" would strike German nuclear installations and bases of their leadership, although it estimated on heavy losses, the bombardment phase alone could cost more lives than the Battle of Iwo Jima. That is not even counting the number of bodies that the invasion of the fearsome "Festung Europa" would cause, no doubt something that would even dwarf Operation Sunset. But considering the unique circumstances, added with the instability of the Linz Pakt, expected defections, and the still overwhelming nuclear advantage of the United States, Roosevelt reluctantly agreed that the time to strike was now.
The plan has been presented for Long's approval, with a meeting of all the Cabinet being called as each one made their case, Nimitz claiming that the plan was risky, costly, bold, but also agreed that there was no better time to strike than now, otherwise they would risk the Reich to grow ever more powerful without Hitler's megalomania wastefully expending resources. The combined strength of the USN and the Royal Navy would no doubt defeat the Kriegsmarine, especially with the more advanced doctrine of Aircraft Carriers, but the cost in civilian casualties in Britain alone would be massive, although Nimitz dismissed the idea of an strike in American soil, Long silenced the old Admiral by reminding him that the same was once said about the chances of a Japanese strike on the West Coast, San Francisco and San Diego being evidence of the contrary. Long feared the U-Boats, which became more and more silent, with Karl Dönitz leading the Kriegsmarine to invest heavily on the modernization of it's submarines, with theories that the Germans were already develoing nuclear submarines that could easily spend months away from port and strike the West Coast with missiles, some theorizing that it was possible they developed the delivery of nuclear payloads through the Wunderwaffen program. Overall both assumptions were wrong, as the German nuclear industry was still relatively new and these innovations were not available at the time despite the German Military Propaganda claiming otherwise. But even before the meeting, the President's mind was made up, calling Eden moments before to announce that America would keep it's neutrality over a war started by the Dakkar Crisis. Roosevelt was livid that Long would do so behind his back, to which Long replied "I am the President, James!", and from that moment on, Long and his VP had formed a rift, and with Roosevelt would come much of Long's support in the Northern Democratic establishment. McCarthy and Roosevelt actually both condemned, in different tones, Long's attitude as "Abandoning Democracy worldwide" and "Handing out Europe to a thousand years of oppression", some called it appeasement, Eden and de Gaulle both heavily condemned America's decision, with Eden declaring that "The Free world no longer can count with the United States".
But avoiding the war proved popular to Long's power base, and after four years, with a majority in the Supreme Court and betting on gaining enough support in the Senate on the coming election, Huey Long announced his plans for the next four years: Criminal Justice Reform, a National Healthcare System, continued expansion of infrastructure programs, and further expansion of welfare programs and "American values". Upon learning of Long's agenda, McCarthy reportedly said "The hell he will!", now openly accusing Long of less than coherent ideals of being both a Communist and a "Nazi Bootlicker", he claimed Long engaged in massive corruption schemes, being the creature born out of the machinations of "Hitler, Stalin and Chamberlain", claiming he was subverting American democracy, destroying American business and competitiveness abroad, and that if he is reelected "By the time his term ends, we will have Jackboots in this continent." While many of these accusations where slanderous lies, it was undeniable that Long was a man engaged in shady practices and an Authoritarian, Long also claimed in secret that he would not take Roosevelt as Vice-President, planing to fire several cabinet positions to fill with personal loyalists and friends, even suggesting on forming his own party, using his popularity to create a true "Progressive and American coalition" of Democrat and Republican dissidents to cripple both parties at once, which matched his several previous declarations where he equaled the Democrats and Republicans. Roosevelt, allied with Northern liberals and dissatisfied Democrats, were drifting further and further away from Long's government, which was made official in all but name after the Dakkar crisis. McCarthy and the Republicans were coming in strong, gaining many new supporters that opposed Long's radical policies and exhausted after almost 20 years of Democrat control over the government, with many calling Long the "American Caesar", a populist tyrant seeking to destroy democracy. McCarthy met with his old friend from the Battle of Hawaii, General Patton, victor of the Russian expedition and one of America's most popular Generals after his bold exploits in Asia and romaticized propaganda of him as the "True American Hero", while MacArthur showed no further interest in returning to politics. After an afternoon recounting their old stories, they compared the situation with the Battle of the Wheeler AFB: McCarthy was fighting at the frontlines to hold back the enemies of America from taking American soil, and he needed Patton to deliver the great blow that would drive them back, the two partners coming to an agreement as the McCarthy-Patton ticket was formed. The elections in 1952 looked more and more like it could become a 3-way race similar to the 1912 election, and all could change in the incoming nomination of the Democratic Party. The fate of America's place in the world was soon to be decided on the ballot.
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