The Perilous Fight: America's 40 Years of Reckoning
- Thread starter King of the Uzbeks
- Start date
Oh there are PLENTY of fun characters running around Budapest, each competing for the title of "most stalwarts Hungarian Nationalist".
Very interested in the continuing Pershing administration, which is something that I don't recall ever being done (there's another TL I'm following where it will but that's still a ways off yet, and with a POD much further back.)
Since we're in 1924, is Lenin dead on schedule?
Since we're in 1924, is Lenin dead on schedule?
Foreign Entanglements
"International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination."
- Horace Gray, Paquete Habana v. United States
The Americans are not the only ones to hold an election this year.
In June, the French go to the polls and elect a majority of no one. This is the Third Republic afterall. Stable Governments are for schmucks. But its broadly better for the left than in many other places.
In late November, the Brits go to the polls again. The Labour Minority government has proven as unstable as one might expect. The left wants cuts to the military, and respectable opinion won't have it. The Unions rumble but Clynes just doesn't have a mandate to do what they want. What ultimately brings down the Government is the "Kremlin Telegram." The Daily Mail produces an alleged telegram from the highest hights of Red Russia, talking about how great the Labour Party is. And so the next Vote of No Confidence passes. Elections will continue until morale improves.
Ironically, the Kremlin Telegram proves something of a boon to Labour's campaign. This is because evidence pretty quickly emerges that the telegram is phony. The Daily Mail swears that the telegram is true. But then they swear that they thought it was real. Which, as you will no doubt note, is a rather key distinction.
However, despite this Labour is fighting a losing battle. Baldwin has completed a stunning volte face and is now in favor of Free Trade. Tariffs? What tariffs? This position brings him much more in line with the public on the issue. It also badly undercuts the appeal of the Liberals, making it harder to paper over the fact that Lloyd George and Asquith are still growling at eachother like small dogs fighting over a sad little bone. Clynes also deals with the machinations of his Foreign Secretary, and while the Kremlin Telegram may be fake, fears of socialism are real. The Conservatives are successfully able to present themselves as the party of stability.
Baldwin returns with a solid majority, won mainly off the backs of a collapsing Liberal Party. Labour falls behind, but establishes itself as the principal opponent of the Conservatives. It is now a truly national party.
1925 dawns with…you guessed another major election in a major European state. Alright, fine, some may dispute Italy is a major power. But not the Italians.
The question confronting Italy is the endemic violence striking at the very heart of society. First it was the Red Years, then the Black Years of Fascism, and now they are fighting everywhere. In the streets of the cities, in the fields of the farmlands, and everywhere in between. The Government has been shifting between various center-right parties, with even the occasional center-left party slotting in. But it has proved impossible to keep Governments together.
The 1925 elections produces yet a further muddle, marked by violence at the ballot boxes between the extremes. The National Union has always been influenced by Fascists, but with the retreat of respectable politics from Fascism after Mussolini’s death, it is now completely run by Fascists. They poll ahead of the Communists but not by much. The Socialists, who have shed the Communists, stay the largest party, while a mesh of center-right, traditional radicals, and liberal parties occupy the center. Coalition building will be fun.
Into the void steps, perhaps inevitably, Giovanni Giolitti. Giolitti is a savvy old Piedmont man who has been Prime Minister five separate times over the past thirty odd years, for a total of ten years. A master of the pivot he’s pursued government power to appease the left at times, but has also played to the right. He was the one who had tried to align his Liberal Union with the Fascists, for example. And once again he’s trying to pivot the government.
Giolitti has, on occasion, tried to woo the Socialists into supporting him. That’s why he nationalized the telephones, afterall. But their left wing has always blocked leadership. But now the left wing is gone! And some moderates have already founded their own parties and entered government.
The time has come, he says, for “Un bel rischio,” a good risk. Bring the Socialists into the fold. Concessions will have to be made, but then there will be broad enough support for stable governments, and cover to crush any Communist paramilitaries who refuse the concessions. And the meddlesome Fascists can go down as well. Oh, the good eggs can say, but those futurist troublemakers must go.
It’s an idea that needs some selling. Breaking bread with the Socialists is not exactly what the leaders of capitalist democracy have in mind for their government. To say nothing of the King who is instinctively repelled by the Socialists. Said feeling in mutual. When this preposition is presented the Socialists see another split, with many running into the arms of the Communists. But enough buy in that Giolitti’s plan works, for now.
A grand center of Italian politics has been formed, and can turn towards the fringes.
The United States, meanwhile, reals from the shocking and horrifying news coming out of Alaska. An outbreak of diphtheria hits northern Alaska in the dead of winter, killing many including the only local Doctor. The local antitoxin is later determined to have expired. Efforts to deliver vital supplies flounder initially. Eventually antitoxin is delivered, but only after hundreds of deaths, a large number of them children. The result is a public outcry.
Pershing, perhaps thinking of his own family, is particularly furious. Such a travesty would never have been allowed in the army he says, ignoring how the army started a global pandemic. The result is, however, broadly positive. A nationwide campaign against diphtheria brings the numbers of the disease down, while the Public Health Service gets a boost in funding.
Pershing also prepares for his second inauguration as President. He’s hoping to become the first Republican to manage two complete terms since Grant. Also the only Republican to manage two complete terms besides Grant. The affair is grand, with Vice President Coolidge and Pershing receiving thunderous applause as they take their oaths.
The dominant issue facing Pershing as his second term begins is the old issue of the farm crisis. His efforts thus far have proven not enough. The farm states want something bigger. In essence they want the Government to buy surplus food from farmers during bumper years, for sale later or perhaps abroad.
Critics, including Vice President Coolidge, note that the government will lose money on the deal, and it represents an unnecessary intrusion of the government into business affairs. Supporters demand recognition for the people who supply America's food, as well as the political benefits. Pershing ultimately sides with the latter, although he does give the Conservative business types a bone by leaning on the tariff board to raise tariffs, benefitting industry.
And so the Farm Board begins to take shape, a dominant force in American Agriculture. Dwight Eisenhower hears about it whenever he talks to his brother in the Agriculture Department, which he does quite frequently as the pair work on a guide to American battlefields.
Pershing hopes to also expand transportation with another round of highway expansion, but this proves impossible to get through a Congress more focused on small government. However this abortive effort does mark the first national moment for one Robert Moses, an energetic planner who has already risen to become a powerful force in New York development. Moses brings vision and a complete disregard for those in the way of said vision. But it is not yet his time.
Prohibition remains a hot topic for Americans, and even President Pershing is starting to feel the heat. Wayne Wheeler, the zealous Anti-Saloon League man, is demanding more enforcement. More agents, more crackdowns. Maybe even send in the troops to help stop the flow of booze. This offends Pershing's sensibilities considerably, so he tells Wheeler to talk to Attorney General Hughes who in turn passes Wheeler off to Hoover. Hoover, whatever his own tastes, is happy to talk with Wheeler. The issue, he says, is that Prohibition Agents are separate from the rest of the Justice Department, which is already hopelessly fragmented anyway. Wheeler has already yelled at the Prohibition Office enough to exhaust even his own prodigious energy. But he likes the cut of Hoover's jib. He begins to lobby for a unified police force. To combat bootleggers obviously.
Americans, by and large, do not notice this development. Even a man like Clarence Darrow has other concerns, fighting an anti-evolution education law in South Carolina.
The American economy continues to grow. Oh yes, the true reactionaries like Andrew Mellon complain about taxes being too high and regulations too tight. But most business conservatives are broadly satisfied with the Pershing Administration. He hasn’t discarded the regulatory boards or commissions, but said bodies are now filled with the favorite people of business conservatives: business conservatives. The gold standard is safe and credit is flowing. The 20s are truly roaring.
Isolationists are still discontented by the fact that America has joined the League of Nations, despite a conspicuous lack of war caused by said membership. They do have a small victory, however. As directed by the League of Nations Charter, the League has set up a World Court in The Hague. The Permanent Court of International Justice aims to solve international disputes peacefully, be they territorial or relating to water rights or someone’s ship being impounded. But to the ears of an American Isolationist, it screams foreigners taking over America with an unelected court. Well, the Court is elected by the League of Nations but they mean unelected by the American people.
Pershing supports joining the World Court, largely because his ambassador to the League, Herbert Hoover, expresses his support. Hoover is riding high, after working with Treasury Secretary Dawes to formulate a plan to have American financiers help settle the German reparations question and end the Franco-Belgian Occupation of German territory. It will net Hoover his first Nobel Peace Prize, and convince Pershing there is real momentum behind this World Court business.
Maybe there is, but that momentum is not enough to sway the United States Senate. Joining the Permanent Court of International Justice requires a separate ratification than simply being in the League, and Pershing soon finds out why Wilson had a stroke trying to manage foreign policy alongside ninety eight Senators.
Even those who are open to the court expect some sort of veto, or guarantee that American Judges will hear American cases. The League and Court are not willing to grant this. Joining the League had taken a Herculean effort by Wilson, followed by him having a stroke and being incapacitated. League ascension was also tied directly to the treaty ending a bloody war. No such circumstances exist with the Court. Nor is there anything that makes America need to join the Court hastily. Contacts on the hill tell Pershing it just isn’t worth it.
But Pershing digs in his heels. He has spent a full term as President, and that means two different but connected things to him. One is that he feels as though he is drowning in the political world. Cut corners and compromises do not sit well with him. The other is his belief that he has learned the game and now can play it well. These two forces normally pull in opposite directions, but now both drag Pershing towards picking a fight with Congress over the World Court.
It’s a struggle to even get the Treaty to the floor of the Senate. Henry Cabot Lodge has rather inconveniently dropped dead last year. Lodge was a pragmatic enough man to manage things, and had been the key player in ratifying the League of Nations. His replacement is William Borah…who is not that. Borah voted for war in 1917, but has since become an isolationist’s isolationist. He was an irreconcilable in 1920 and stands adamantly opposed to the Court. Nor is he on particularly good terms with the President. He feels betrayed that Pershing is pushing in a more internationalist direction after the promises made to avert a Progressive insurgency. And being a Progressive, he had not seen eye to eye with Pershing on certain economic policies as well. Add to that that Borah is a born bomb thrower and mix well, and you have a confrontation brewing in the United States Senate.
Borah initially threatens to just not address the issue whatsoever, no hearings, no schedules. Nothing. Pershing escalates by threatening to hand the whole thing over to the judiciary committee, this is a court right? Maybe Albert B. Cummins of Iowa, an increasingly conservative progressive who owes Pershing for the Farm Bill, will be more receptive.
Borah agrees to hold hearings, although he correctly doubts that Pershing would be able to force the issue. He slow walks it, dragging out debate and discussion, demanding foreigners come to Washington to account for their court. Of course they fail to do so, which he makes great hay out of. Pershing is infuriated, and rages as Borah sends a negative report to the floor.
And here Pershing runs into the great problem: the collective ego of the United States Senate. Not since the demise of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has there been a legislature quite so prideful, so protective of its power. It would have been difficult to get the 2/3rds Majority needed to join the court on a straight vote. But Borah gets up and starts talking about how the dictatorial president is trying to impose on the greatest deliberative body in the world and Pershing can’t even manage 50 votes.
It is the greatest humiliation Pershing has faced in his Presidency, and it harms his relations with Congress for the rest of his term.
Doing a great job of planting seeds for future catastrophe here, it's really well done! Makes everything seem so reasonable, has a very "in the present" feeling to the TL rather than omniscient hindsight.
Pie in the Sky
“So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately
"Everyone deserves the chance to fly"
I'm defying gravity
And you won't bring me down”
- Wicked
The rest of the world grumbles about the Americans playing coy, but nonetheless rolls on. The Italian Army begins sweeps of the country's factories. The Red Menace must fall. Leftists cry treason at the Coalition Socialists. Yet another election hits Germany, with the right remaining in power with help from…suspiciously large majorities in Bavaria. The hope of the conventional left is that President Ebert will come to save them. The prospects are dubious, the anti-constitutional left reminds anyone who will listen that Ebert has called on the right before.
The prospects go from dubious to impossible when Ebert drops dead.
A direct, popular vote is now going to be held. And all the parties want in on it. The first round requires a majority to win, and predictably fails to produce one. However the second round needs only a plurality, and candidates can drop out in favor of new ones. Chancellor Marx is in a tough situation. His own backers are not willing to support the SPD's proposed replacement for Ebert, but the SPD is prepared to support the Centre's Candidate, the technocratic Hans Luther (no relation) whose leadership of the national bank has helped, finally, clamp down on inflation.
However the political right has different ideas. Their own candidates agree to withdraw in favor of Paul Von Hindenburg. The old war hero isn't all that active in campaigning. But the Bavarian Junta is promising major returns for him, and right wing members of Marx's government are threatening to withdraw from their coalition if Luther does not bow out. Marx caves, and despite concerns about Hindenburg's health and reactions of other powers, the General gets the endorsements.
The SPD, spurned, keeps Otto Braun in the race. But they fail to attract much support, and the KPD remains aloof. Hindenburg romps to a majority.
He gains a public relations victory early, as the Geneva Agreements allow for Germany entry into the League of Nations. Nationalists howl at the Government acceptance of the new western borders, and the East remains unresolved. But a general optimism enters Europe as Germany reenters the brotherhood of nations. The French aren't turning their backs though.
China also faces a change in leadership. Well, some of its leadership. The Middle Kingdom is still being warlorded over. But the Nationalist KMT have lost Sun Yat-Sen, an admittedly harsh blow. In his final days Sun had pursued a close relationship with the Soviet Union, and a United Front with the Communist Party, much to the chagrin of right wing forces in the party.
But now he is dead. And three men seem poised to squabble over who is his heir in Guangzhou. Liao Zhongkai, the Finance Minister, was a key architect of the United Front strategy. Wang Jingwei was one of Sun's closest confidants, and seems likely to continue those policies. Hu Hanmin, however, represents the right of the party, and is less enthused by the Soviet influence.
Hu has an ally in Chiang Kai-Shek, commandant of the KMT's military academy. Tensions are rising, and a failed hit on Liao in August sets them off. However the fleet, such that it is, is getting heavy Soviet assistance, although the Soviets aren't exactly world beaters. The end result is Hu is removed from power, Chiang is demoted and sent on a very important mission to California. Liao assumes leadership, with Wang at his side. Moscow is thrilled.
Foreign observers are less than thrilled. But Sun's luster still holds for now. Besides, there is a long way to go before China is unified again. On the other hand, there is a reason we are focusing on them rather than some other faction.
The situation in China is a victory for Josef Stalin over Leon Trotsky. Stalin has been favoring the United Front strategy, while Trotsky thinks the Communists should work alone. The survival of the United Front is thus a boon for Stalin's efforts to shunt Trotsky aside.
The year fades with another dramatic display in the Senate, as Democrats filibuster an anti-lynching bill to death. Accompanied by mass marches of the Klan, it is a stark reminder that racism in America remains a potent force, not that the President or his allies are keen to do anything about it.
1926 sees the arrival in Chicago of Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum, who leaves behind her native Russia. She brings with her a hatred of Communism and a desire to write, although she uses a pen name for that.
Pershing meanwhile, is finding a new shiny toy to chase after, with the World Court having wound up a fiasco. In this case, it is the idea of having an Air Force.
However this is much, much harder than it sounds. For one the Army and the Navy both have their own air wings and they are NOT in the mood to give them up. Even a simple expansion of air power is not consensus. The Army is game but the Navy tried to shut down it's entire Air project after the war. What's more the chief advocate for air power is Billy Mitchell. And the issue is that Billy Mitchell hates President Pershing.
The feeling is not quite mutual, Pershing doesn't really think about Mitchell enough to hate him, but he is an irritant. He rubs the Army brass the wrong way, and he really really rubs the Navy brass the wrong way with his continued insistence that planes can sink battleships. Pershing's effort to smooth things over, and favoritism towards officers who share his views are the source of Mitchell's distaste.
And, quite frankly, Pershing does not follow Mitchell's conclusions. Expanded air power yes, but recon, dog fighting, and some very limited bombings are the future. An enhanced version of their role in the Great War.
The result is an assurance from the Army that Billy Mitchell will be mothballed, in fact he will wind up court martialed for accusing the upper ranks of treasonous abandonment of duty. This is pretty patently unfair. And even an ego as gigantic as Douglas MacArthur will later admit that. That doesn't stop him from sitting on the court though.
But some of his ideas will be allowed to percolate into the decision making process. Not all, but a few. Land is procured in Dayton, Ohio, to ensure that there is still a place for Air Testing, for example.
One immediate result is the Transcontinental Air Race. This idea has been raised before. In 1919 an attempt led to sixth deaths in the army. In 1923 US Army pilots had made the first nonstop flight from New York to Sam Diego. Mitchell proposes a race around the perimeter of the country. This is deemed too much, but a New York to San Diego annual affair is approved. William Randolph Hearst, aged but powerful, donates a grand cup named after himself. Initially limited to Army Air Corps members, big names will still emerge from it. Rickenbacker, Lindbergh, those types of names.
Civilian aviation is still a small-time affair, made up of vanity projects, thrill seekers, and barnstormers. However some famous names do emerge, including Bessie Colman, and Black Woman who gains herself a place in popular culture with her acts of daring, even as segregations and sexism hold her back.
However Aviators take a back seat to the airship crowd, as Roald Amundsen and Unberto Nobile complete the first air crossing of the North Pole, beating an American effort by days. And, although they do not know it, they are the first people to reach the North Pole in any capacity. Amundsen's old friend Fredrick Cook is a fraud, and Robert Peary also lied and if you want to fight about this I will goddammit this is my timeline. And while we're at it this was true IOTL Byrd also missed the Pole. So Amundsen is the first person to both Poles in both timelines. God what a cool guy.
Anyway, Herbert Hoover helps the league mediate a crisis between Greece and Bulgaria in Macedonia. Another feather in his cap. Perhaps this may further his ambition for other offices.
The United Kingdom is nearly rocked by a General Strike this year. This may come as a surprise to some who only expect strikes in times of economic distress. But business is booming, the Hoover-Dawes Plan is reopening Germany to trade. But that latter point is the issue, because reparations are paying out in coal. Which lessens the profits of British Coal Mine owners who in turn pass the buck onto the miners. A strike is called amongst the miners, and for a moment it seems like a combination of worker radicalism and Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill's hardline will provoke a strike. But at the 11th Hour the General Strike is averted. The miners, however, are left out to dry. And Churchill's reckoning will have to wait.
Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, new innovations are being made. Radio is booming under Government auspices, and some are even experimenting with transmitted images. All of Europe is similarly groping towards the new light. In Germany Fritz Lang's Metropia highlights the promise and unease this brings, even as it is banned in Bavaria.
American culture also continues to adapt to the brave new world of modernity. Movies enter into the limelight as a medium of their own. Charlie Chaplin's comedy takes off, but he also earns praise for his work as a dramatic director, especially this year after his work on "London Days," which makes him a pioneer of the fine art of the spy drama. Meanwhile Fatty Arbuckle has them rolling in the aisles with "Coney Island." Animation remains in its infancy, but characters like Felix the Cat do gain traction among kids.
But they may all be living on borrowed time.
Because sound is coming.
Speaking of sound, the Antenna Wars are still happening, but instead of a mess of local stations one-upping and sabotaging each other, there are now fronts. The basic line of conflict is AT&T vs Everyone Else. AT&T already dominates the telephone wires, giving them a pre-existing system for getting information out there. Basing their coverage largely out of New York the AT&T-owned Broadcasting Network of America has a chain of stations blasting across the airwaves. Sponsorship is a little thin, but profits are rising, and proposals to get out of the business are rejected. AT&T’s ownership of the telephone system aids them in selling receivers and cross-promoting.
The opposition is scattered. The largest is likely the Radio Company of America, but they have a tiny number of stations compared to the BNA. There is also the Columbia Broadcasting Company, which is small but benefits from aggressive leadership. And there are the independent operators. Out west, far from BNA, they still dominate. But they are forced to rely on less reliable telegraph lines, and cannot hope to compete with the sponsorship opportunities BNA, and even the smaller networks possess. They are holding out, for now.
One common thing to listen to on the radio is Baseball! America’s passtime is now more accessible for ever. This is especially exciting if you are a New York Yankees fan, because they are very good now. Having Babe Ruth helps quite a bit on that front. Still, they face still competition from a Chicago Cubs team that is making itself the bane of the National League. Their repeated clashes in the World Series dominate the decade and help revitalize the sport after the Black Sox Scandal.
Other sports are on the move as well. The American Soccer League of all things has developed a following in the Northeast. The Fall River Marksmen and Bethelelm Steel are dominant forces. In the Midwest, it is professional American Football that emerges as the secondary sport to baseball. The Cleveland Spartans win a few championships, although one also has to respect the Chicago Cardinals for their successes on the field. College Football also sees Illinois as one of the first schools to challenge the Northeastern dominance of the sport.
American Ice Hockey fans also have reason to celebrate. There are finally as many American teams in the National Hockey League as there are Canadians, and there is now other league that can challenge the NHL, which now retains the Stanley Cup. That may be something of a cold comfort this year, as the Ottawa Senators storm past the Bruins to claim said cup. Ottawa celebrates, while Prime Minister King celebrates his victory a little later in September, as he rides the unpopular conduct of Governor-General Byng to power in a display of Canadian patriotism.
1926 also sees a major weather event hit the South. A Hurricane bubbles up over the Atlantic and manages to avoid Florida. However, it slams into the Atlantic Coast, right by the Georgia-South Carolina border. Savannah is hit the hardest, but serious damage occurs all the way up to Charleston. State response is meager, and the Federal government is not particularly well equipped. However, Pershing sees this as a readiness manner, in his paternalistic way. The National Guard and Coast Guard are dispatched to aid relief, and private enterprise also contributes. Sadly, but not surprisingly, this aid is almost entirely restricted to whites. Black residents are ignored at best, and at worst attacked for being “looters.”
Pershing's efforts are generally well respected, but this is the South and there is negligible impact on the upcoming midterm elections.
The World Court issue does hang over the Senate elections, and 6 years of Republican rule have convinced some that a change is needed. Democrats feel the most positive about their chances now since the Wilson years.
Meanwhile the Republican Party is struggling against itself, as has become typical. Progressives think that Pershing hasn't gone far enough, and feel a strong showing can help them. Conservatives meanwhile think Pershing has gone quite far enough thank you. This is all further intensified by the fact that in two years they will have to find someone capable of filling Pershing's shoes. Or someone to try anyway. So much of this is about positioning and network building and showing off just how well organized you are in hopes of being noticed in two years time. Frontrunners right now include the Conservative Senate Majority Leader Charles Curtis, and Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding. On the Progressive side George Norris and William Borah are always cooking up something, although La Follette is now dead. Inside the executive branch, Charles Dawes is banking on his banking associates and closeness with Pershing to get him through. Vice President Coolidge is being touted as a Dark Horse in the way that Dark Horses always are widely expected. And across the sea, Herbert Hoover is hoping the failure of the World Court doesn't reflect poorly on him. (It does).
Of course the Democratic Party is not immune from Presidential fever either. William Gibbs McAdoo is not entirely convinced his career is over. Al Smith fancies himself the first Catholic President. Southerners are also considering their options. Governor Cordell Hull for example is a classic Wilsonian in the eyes of some starry eyed romantics. Isolationists prefer Georgia Senator Walter F. George on that front. But then, perhaps the dreams of a Southern President will never come true.
These men's hopes are tempered considerably when their 1928 dreams are interrupted by the reality of 1926. Democrats make gains in both the House and the Senate, but the Republicans remain in control of both chambers. It is a sobering reminder that, all things considered, people like this economy and this President and his party. Will that change?
Race, Races, and Racism
“Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise” - The Beatles, IOTL
Change is coming in Japan. Maybe, eventually. But Universal Manhood Suffrage is coming for the next election, which is nice.
1927 opens as Ireland goes to the polls. Michael Collins' Sinn Féin faces its first true opponents. A 'True Sinn Féin' party has been running since he won the war, but also abstaining from taking any seats they win. However Seán Lemass now forms a new party, Laochra Gael that intends to take it's seats. LG plays on two fronts. One it attempts to out nationalist Collins, drawing support from the losing side of the civil war. On the other, is presents itself as a distinctly right wing party. Collins is no Communist, and the Catholic Church remains powerful, but it is true his government has drifted left over the past for years.
LG secures the most seats, but Collins is close behind and forms a coalition with Labor, which just further proves the point of his opposition. Some wonder if he intends to ever give up power.
Meanwhile, Mexico topples back into violence as efforts to repress the Catholic Church backfire and provoke a bitter insurgency. This catches the attention of Pershing. Normally the United States would favor the government here. Anti-Catholicism is still an issue north of the Rio Grande, and zealotry is bad for business. But Pershing still has a bee up his bonnet about Oil and Mineral rights. So he uses the uprising to lean on the Calles Government about this. But there is only so much leaning he can do. It's not like he's ever going to back the rebels, and Calles knows this. And Isolationists have no intent in letting things escalate in Mexico. Popping some marines into Nicaragua is one thing, marching into Mexico is another, halls of Montezuma be damned.
The other international incident concerning Pershing is in Shanghai. Although American papers claim that an American merchant merely was accused of swindling a Chinese man, the actual incident was his rape of said man's daughter. Pretty soon there is a mob of angry Chinese people milling around all across the International Zone, the combined Anglo-American concession, while the French zone also sees unrest. Things escalate when jumpy British troops fire into the crowd. The ensuing riot raises memories of the Boxer Rebellion and the Siege of Legations. The situation grows less dire for the Westerners but more dire for everyone else, when at the behest of Pershing and Baldwin, British and American ships enter Shanghai harbor and start blasting, as well as providing reinforcements in the form of marines. The French follow suit.
The "February 12 Incident" as it becomes known, strains relations between the Americans, French, and British. The British blame the Americans for starting this mess. The Americans blame the British for escalating it. And the French are just mad that something they had no control over hit them.
One might also assume that this would strain relations with the KMT Government further South. After all, its Nationalism that fueled the incident, and the KMT has been drifting left. But Shanghai is nominally under the control of Sun Chuanfang and merchant allies of his. The egg on their face is substantial. Meanwhile, while the KMT is harsh in criticizing the West's actions they seem to have their house in order. Maybe the planned drive North won't be so bad.
Shame about those Soviet advisors.
In the United States the Supreme Court makes a very rare decision that favors the rights of minorities. They rule that a Texas law forbidding Blacks from voting in primary elections is unconstitutional on the basis of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Texas immediately begins working on a way around this ruling.
Speaking of the Court, Pershing has by now had an opportunity to leave his mark, beyond his appointment of now Chief Justice Taft. When John Clarke, exhausted with the life of a Justice, leaves the court in 1922, Pershing surprises pretty much every observer by nominating George L. Sheldon. Sheldon had been a student in Pershing's Drill team back in Nebraska, and was later elected Governor. Sheldon is generally thought of as a Progressive of the Roosevelt school, but he retired to a plantation in Mississippi. So, despite grumblings about nepotism, Sheldon is confirmed in the Senate.
Pershing turns to the right later in 1922 by appointing Nicholas Butler, a man with no legal experience. He is however, President of Columbia University, and served as an emergency Vice Presidential Candidate for Taft in 1912. He is well respected nationwide, and is easily confirmed. He is also a raging anti-semite which winds up giving him a rather strained relationship with Justice Brandeis.
1922 continues to be a banner year for Supreme Court vacancies, as William Day retires. Filling this seat is somewhat delicate as Catholics are pressing for another seat on the court. In a show of bipartisanship, Pershing selects a Wilson appointee, Martin Thomas Manton of New York becomes one of the nine with ease.
In early 1923 Justice Mahlon Pitney dies of a stroke. Again Pershing turns to academia and appoints the Dean of Harvard Law School, Roscoe Pound. Pound is a Nebraska undergraduate, although he never knew Pershing. He is also a pioneer of ‘legal realism,’ which focuses less of the rigid rules than traditionalists would like, which breaks the pattern Pershing has seemingly set for himself. Conservatives grumble.
When another Supreme Court spot opens up in 1925, Joseph McKenna retires, Pershing tacks to the right. George Sutherland is a former private practitioner and, more to the point, a former Conservative Senator. He is easily confirmed. While he was a Senator he voted against the appointment of Louis Brandeis. So that’s another awkward time for him.
Pershing has now appointed six Justices to the Court, equaling the number Taft managed. It’s the record outside of George Washington who for obvious reasons appointed more than the average President.
The the indifference of America’s leadership to black suffering is more dramatically displayed when the deluge comes this April.
Water Levels have been rising for some time along the Mississippi, actually. Rain over the last Summer swelled the river. But that was merely a prelude to the spring rains of 1927. The water pours in from all sides. The Missouri, the Ohio, and all the other streams turn the Father of Waters deadly.
The worst of the damage hits the Deep South. Years of agricultural expansion have ruined the natural barriers along the river banks, where once trees gripped the soil, dirt now flows freely into the muddy depths. Old levees are poorly designed and burst, or just make things worse further downstream.
Arkansas and Mississippi are devastated, acres upon acres of farmland are covered in water. Roads, railroads, communication lines, all swept away as well. Over 50 miles wide in some places. The city fathers of New Orleans sacrifice nearby parishes to secure their city. This proves unnecessary, but a useful stick for any hypothetical person running on a populist platform for Governor. Just a thought.
The damage is extensive and expensive. Millions, if not a round Billion, of dollars lost. Farms ruined, towns drowned. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced. And the majority of them are black. Sharecroppers and agricultural workers mostly. The flood sees an outburst of scattered racial violence. Whites violently getting ahead in evacuations, or demanding black employees go back for their property.
Conditions do not get better once the refugees reach dry land. Mostly the set up in vast tent cities, inland or on high ground. Tent cities are a rough place to be. Food and clean water are in short supply. Diseases that are avoidable in the modern era spread like wildfire.
The cause is a mix of racism and incompetence. On one hand, the response is genuinely overwhelmed by the scale of the flood, and the ensuing movement of people. The local Red Cross does what they can, but supplies are limited. Yet those limited supplies most often flow into the hands of whites, not blacks. The disparity raises protests from the NAACP as well as Robert Russa Moton of the Tuskegee Institute. In particular their whistleblowing about camp conditions in Mississippi high ground causes backlash against state level response efforts.
Secretary of the Interior Clarence D. Clark is tapped to lead relief efforts from the federal government, however this just further confuses an already confused picture. More will die in the tent cities than die from the flood proper. The whole affair reflects poorly on Pershing. His cool manner seems out of touch at moments such as this, and his cabinet is clearly not up to the task. Americans begin to cool on their President as his term nears its end.
For many blacks in the delta, this is a sign that there really isn't much left for them here. They join the Great Migration and head North in search of a better life.
There are wheels in motion to perhaps address this apparently reoccurring issue of natural disasters, well there are actually two wheels in motion. One is specific to the flooding along the Mississippi. A bill is sped through Congress to ensure the nation is prepared for a similar event in the future. The Army Corps of Engineers is given responsibility to dredge the river and reinforce levees all along the river. New spillways are to be constructed as well. The Flood Control Act passes Congress fairly easily. It isn’t the 1800s anymore, internal improvements are generally accepted if reasonable. And business likes the idea of a more manageable, predictable, Mississippi.
However the other Bill is far more controversial. The Federal Emergency Act would formally give the Federal Government a role in responding to natural disasters in the states. Congress has often passed bills sending money or supplies to victims, but this would formalize the process. This would be a supplementary role, aimed at supporting state responses. Funds, supplies would be at the discretion of the Interior Secretary, who could also request support from the military if requested. The FEA faces much more resistance in Congress. Fiscal conservatives see an endless stream of government spending. They can justify an endless stream of one off spending, but not admitting it. They speak of taxes and waste and all of their other favorite words. Others note that it is not as if the Federal response to the flooding has covered itself in glory. Southerners are offended at the implication that their state relief efforts are seemingly being called insufficient, despite that being true. And the old "state's right yankees go home" mantra rears its head. Pershing, his pride already wounded, picks a fight over this just like he did over the World Court. On the bright side, he avoids killing it this time. On the down side, this is largely because party leaders in Congress cut a deal without him. The compromise bill is, well, a compromise. The Federal Government may divert funds from existing spending on a case by case basis, and assume a coordination role upon request from state governments. Pershing reluctantly signs.
America is enthralled by a different matter, however. The spectacular race to cross the Atlantic by air. Well, people have done that before. British aviators have made the hop from Newfoundland to Ireland before. Portuguese aviators have hopped from Lisbon to Brazil. And that's not even mentioning the airships.
But there remains an elusive prize. A literal prize. $25,000 to whoever can fly non-stop between Paris and New York, generously provided by Hotel magnate Raymond Ortieg. There are several teams trying for the prize in the United States, to say nothing of the French. But as June dawns there is a sudden new contender, Charles Lindbergh, who is quite open about his plan at the first opportunity, even if the others do not feel it's safe. His bold actions earn appeal. He'll be flying alone which just adds to the mystique.
He was not planning on flying on June 2, however. But at Roosevelt Airfield in New York, the crackle of a radio reports that in Paris, the French duo of and Charles Nungesser and Paul Tarascon have are preparing to launch their own attempt. Lindbergh impulsively chooses to make his attempt now, in hopes of beating them across. He does not know when he takes off if he has beaten them to the sky. They are not really aware Lindbergh exists, let alone is challenging them. Neither plane has a radio aboard.
Yet ironically, given that final fact, this is perhaps the first great moment for Radio as a medium. Radio is the only medium that can provide live updates in the dueling flights. The idea of a "Live Scoop" breaking into other radio coverage first enters into the public mind here. Reports are sketchy, most of the flights are over open water, but the story is enthralling, reported breathlessly by radio personalities. Even the fractured nature of radio broadcasting cannot stop the excitement. Anyone with a radio receiver suddenly becomes the most popular person in town.
Most Americans have never heard of Charles Lindbergh before, but a patriotic attachment is quickly formed. They hope and they pray for the Mighty Missouri, Lindbergh's plane. They fear that the L'Oiseau Blanc, Nungesser and Tarascon's plane, will beat him across. Cheers rise up when Lindbergh is reportedly spotted over Ireland, hope deflate when rumors from Canada imply the Frenchmen have crossed. Crowds in Paris gather as well. They are equally excited and tense, although they obviously hold opposite aspirations.
For over 30 hours, both cities are held. It is a curious thing, watching the skies and hoping you will not see someone making history. Hoping instead for some anonymous voice on the radio to tell you of something an ocean away.
In the end, it is the New Yorkers who are disappointed. Despite not knowing they were in a race and the winds pushing east, Nungesser and Tarascon land safely in the waters of New York. In fact, they select their landing spot with care. The Statue of Liberty, that great symbol of Franco-American friendship. They are honestly confused by the somewhat chilly reception they get from the Americans. Some people will attempt to argue that a water landing doesn't count because New York Harbor is part of the Atlantic, not across it. These people are generally speaking either idiots or Klansmen who hate Catholics.
Lindbergh finds Paris cheering, but not really for him. It is a bittersweet moment for him. He had lost the race but still managed the first solo flight non-stop across the Atlantic. He is scarcely aware that he has become a National Hero in America, surpassing even the two men who defeated him. The gifts he receives upon his return home exceed the Ortieg Prize money easily. He is honored by a ticker tape parade, although after the one Nungesser and Tarascon get. He vows to continue flying, charting a brave new course for civilization. Everyone applauds. Nungesser and Tarascon similarly pledge to continue the cause and attain heroic status in France. They'd have earned the Legion of Honor if they weren't already in it for their wartime exploits.
East and West
“Castle stood, now a heap of stones
Happiness and joy fluttered,
Groans of death, weeping
Now sound in their place.
And Ah! Freedom does not bloom
From the blood of the dead,
Torturous slavery's tears fall
From the burning eyes of the orphans!”
- Hungarian National Anthem
Wartime exploits are far in the past for any Hungarians, who remain under the not particularly benevolent thumbs of the Little Entente. The Republican Government has been split between the Conservatives, Ultra Conservatives, and the truly obsessive Right. That latter faction, under the Hungarian National Independence Party of Gyula Gömbös is increasing in prominence. Drawing from the street actions of the flailing Fascists in Italy, Hungarian Nationalism, antisemitism, anti slavism, and other noxious traits, they are beginning to become a force in the streets. Should they ever come to power the current Little Entente would have to take action.
But they are not in power, yet, and the Little Entente has turned inwards as of late.
The Czechoslovaks have settled into independence fairly well, but there are still issues. In particular regionalism and ethnic minorities are problems in need of addressing. Especially the Germans, who are rather restless, and the Slovaks who are unimpressed at being mashed in with the Czechs to keep the Germans down. However Prague trundles onward, with a little help from the shadows. The leaders of the major parties have taken to meeting privately and deciding things before they go public. Not entirely democratic, but it had kept the country stable. The "Hexumvirate" governing Italy arguably takes influence from this system.
Czechoslovakia's multiethnic makeup can be awkward at times, but they can take pride in the fact that they are handling it better than Yugoslavia. Well, technically it's called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. And really that name kind of reflects the problem. Well, actually not really. Because that doesn't include the Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Albanians, let alone Germans, Hungarians and Romanians. Really it's a melting pot, except everyone is stubbornly refusing to melt. The centralist Radical Party (radicalism in dispute) holds a majority in Parliament, backed by King Alexander. But the Croats in particular are more supportive of a federal system, fearing that this whole thing is a front for Serbian domination of the nation. And it goes without saying that the Communists and other radicals (not the Radicals) are displeased by the fact that there is a King at all.
Said King is now tied by marriage to the Royal Family of Romania. Romania benefits from having a coherent national identity. They are a nation state of the Romanians. The Hungarians, Jews, Ukrainians, Germans, Poles and others living there may not like it, but they just need to learn Romanian now hush. King Ferdinand of Romania is actually originally a Hohenzollern but we don’t talk about that anymore. His son Carol has been forced to renounce his claim on account of being a debauched asshat, so when Ferdinand does this year, a regency is set up for young King Michael.
Actually let’s just take a moment to reconsider Carol because debauched asshat perhaps does not adequately convey why he has been booted from the line of succession. Always a playboy he deserted the army during the war to get married to the daughter of a Romanian General which was annulled to great controversy. He was then married to a Greek princess in the hopes of containing Bulgaria. The couple initially liked each other. Perhaps a little too much as Prince Michael was born seven months after the wedding, not nine. However the marriage soon falls apart because Carol goes and falls for the commoner (!) Catholic (!!) daughter of Jewish converts (!!!) who is also married (!!!!).
Like Yugoslavia Romania’s parliament is dominated by a misleadingly named conservative party, in this case the National Liberal Party. They dislike Carol’s loose morality and perceived willingness to meddle in politics. Carol dislikes them because they dislike him and also his mother’s lover is a member. But for now they successfully force Carol out of the line of succession. For now.
Romania also serves as something a hinge connecting the rest of the Little Entente to the wider wacky world of Eastern and Southern Europe. Yugoslavia and Greece have long standing territorial disputes over who gets to deny that Macedonians exist. But the Bulgarians also want to deny that the Macedonians exist, while also denying that Romanian control of Southern Romania exists. So Romania tries to draw Greece and Serbia back together. A similar dynamic emerges in the north, where the Romanians prove happy to deal with the Poles even as Poland covets parts of Czechoslovakia. This is mainly aimed at containing the red menace to the East. It’s a little difficult to discern what’s happening in the Kremlin from the outside, but it doesn’t really matter. Those Communists are up to something sinister, no doubt about that.
Poland, which still remembers the near fall of Warsaw, is very much interested in containing the USSR. But Romania aside, it’s having trouble finding takers. It has border disputes with Czechoslovakia and Germany. It is currently occupying what the Lithuanians say is their capital. Marshal Józef Piłsudski, the dominant figure in Poland, tried to pitch them on a revived Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But the Lithuanians proved uninterested, hostile even. So Poland's dreams of a grand alliance of Eastern Europe remain nothing but dreams.
Speaking of dreams, Doane Robinson has a dream. To carve a bunch of faces into some rock. Robinson is a historian in South Dakota who also wants to increase tourism to that fine state. He has heard tell of Stone Mountain in Georgia, where the KKK has worked with the United Daughters of the Confederacy to carve Confederate leaders into stone. Viewing this as a positive example he seeks out a sculptor to recreate this feat in South Dakota.
Robinson seeks out one of the preeminent sculptors of the age, Lorado Taft (distant relation). Taft, who is recovering from an illness, is skeptical. He hasn't done anything like this before. But he is also intrigued by the possibility. Robinson envisions a western Stone Mountain, with figures from the pioneer age such as Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse. Taft's bread and butter is history.
Taft travels to South Dakota in 1924 and suggests a different tack. In Custer State Park there are stone pillars, known to the Lakota as the Hiŋháŋ Káǧa. White settlers call them the Needles. The Needles are too narrow, and the quality of the stone too poor, to support the sort of massive relief Stone Mountain is. What Taft proposes is instead smaller reliefs, scattered across the various Needles in the formation. Robinson likes the idea.
The idea proceeds to go nowhere. The Lakota do not like the idea at all, although they could easily be ignored. But the Needles sit on South Dakota State land, and the South Dakota government is slow to act. And even once they grant permission they don't grant funds.
However, word winds its way to South Dakota's Congressional delegation in Washington, which then winds its way to President Pershing. Pershing rather likes the idea, and presses for funding. Congress obliges, patriotism trumps fiscal conservatism as it so always does. Of course, this is on a matching basis, and the Government in Pierre is still slow to act. But the President's endorsement does attract some private investment.
Taft's first four choices are a very particular subset of Robinson's vision, themed around the Corps of Discovery Expedition. Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Sacagawea are to be carved on a set of adjacent pillars. If that funding ever comes through, that is.
Speaking of artistic achievements that disrespect indigenous Americans, the first "talkie" picture comes out in 1927. Much like "Birth of the Nation" before it "Home on the Range" is a major innovation in Hollywood. It's not the first to feature sound, but the synchronization between the soundtrack and the picture astounds audiences, and it certainly convinces studios to try more talkies. The body paint on white actors, war whoops and broken English used by the comic relief will age terribly, not that anyone cares right now.
The success of the talkies must be heartening to Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Their star creation, Oswald the Happy Bunny, is not technically owned by them, and the studio has not renewed their contract. They begin work on a new creation. One that they will own properly. They scribble away in Los Angeles.
Across the border, Sonora celebrates the return of their favorite son to the Presidency. Not that they don’t love their other son, incumbent President Plutarco Elías Calles. But Álvaro Obregón is another thing, and promises to end the Cristero War. The Cristeros are less than impressed. And many Mexicans cannot help but feel that non-consecutive re-elections are still re-elections.
Pershing will be violating no such conventions. As has been widely expected he will be respecting Washington’s precedent and retiring from Washington.
Let the games begin.
Autocrats at Home, Autocrats Abroad
“San Min Chu-i
Our aim shall be:
To found a free land,
World peace, be our stand.
Lead on, comrades,
Vanguards ye are.
Hold fast your aim,
By sun and star.
Be earnest and brave,
Your country to save,
One heart, one soul,
One mind, one goal...”
- Anthem of the Republic of China
The game takes a swerve in Louisiana, where January is election month. Well, technically January is the primary month. But this is the Deep South so whoever wins the Democratic Primary is going to win whatever office is up for grabs. The incumbent Governor is ineligible to run again, but everyone knows the prohibitive frontrunner at this point is Huey Pierce Long Jr., of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Four years ago he ran a breakneck, brainstorming, populist campaign that saw him dominate in the northern parishes, but fall into third place and out of the runoff. But he's spent the past term continuing to build his credentials as a warrior for the little man. He's stumped across the Bayous, increasing his standing with French Catholics. One group he has not won over is the New Orleans Regulars, the South's finest political machine. They do not like him, and neither do business leaders. They search for someone, and find former Governor John Parker ready and willing to fight Long. Long stumped hard for Parker in 1920, but felt betrayed, while Parker had found Commissioner Long an irritant and tried to have him removed.
There are others, the incumbent Lieutenant Governor, although somewhat of a drunk, enters the race. The brother of the man besides Long that the incumbent had defeated. But Parker vs. Long is the main show.
Frustratingly, there is no conclusion just yet. Neither man passes 50%, so a runoff in February is required. A scramble for endorsements follows.
The game goes on.
The game ends for Leon Trotsky as 1928 dawns. He’s arrested. Stalin is ascendant. Even those who allied with him against Trotsky are getting nervous. But it’s too late for regrets. Stalin now controls the Communist Party. Which controls the Soviet Union. Nothing can stop him now.
Well, no political force anyway.
He is further emboldened by the success of the United Front in China. The KMT, still tied to the Communists, is rolling northwards, ending the independence of warlords as they go. Some strike deals for autonomy, although the KMT leadership is hesitant. Progress is slow but steady. The removal of the right has hampered the army in some ways, but on the other hand, rebuilding it from the ground up may be better in the long term.
Facing them is a coalition of warlords. The most powerful among them, Zhang Zuolin, benefits enormously from controlling the Internationally Recognized Government in Beijing. Said government is powerless, but legal arm sales and loans are useless. The most enthusiastic foreign backers are the Japanese. Tokyo has several reasons to support the warlords. For one, like most empires, Japan is opposed to Communism. And the Communists are a little too powerful in the KMT for their taste. Especially considering that Japan has substantial investments in China, especially Manchuria. Chinese nationalists infused with a leftist fervor seem like bad news for them. Finally, a divided China is a weak China. And a weak China cannot challenge Japan as the most powerful Asian nation.
Not even a change in government can stop this general policy. In February Japan has its first election since the major expansion of the suffrage. The result is a narrow victory for opposition liberals, who are generally more open to the KMT. However, winning elections is not the victory stage in Japanese politics. The bureaucracy, the Emperor, elder statesmen, and the military all have their role to play. So while Hamaguchi Osachi does become Prime Minister, institutional bonds prevent him from reversing course immediately.
Indeed Hamaguchi drifts towards a hardline, in response to domestic pressure. The right wing makes a great deal of hay about labor groups being Communist affiliated and sees in the recent election results a nation slouching towards socialism, atheism, and republicanism. But some good old-fashioned red-baiting is just what the doctor ordered, in their estimation. Hamaguchi is no leftist himself and uses the Peace Preservation Law, a draconian bit of anti-Communist legislation to organize a small but sharp crackdown. However, the opposition cries foul, calling it woefully insufficient.
In China then, Hamaguchi finds a useful outlet. He can score points by opposing the leftish KMT, and allow the military to flex its muscles. The cabinet can then move towards domestic economic reforms.
As the KMT enters Shanghai, flags fluttering in the wind, they find that a large Japanese force has arrived, ostensibly to protect the International Settlement from further attacks. The truth is they are there to limit KMT control of the city, keep the Nationalists distracted from further pushes North, and generally remind Guangzhou who the real powers are. At least that is the plan. However, the military is considerably more gung ho about keeping China under Japan’s thumb than the Hamaguchi government. Things escalate, again, this time over a fruit stand price dispute between a local and a Japanese officer. The result is a fairly bloody few days of street fighting that sees the Japanese push their opponents out of Shanghai, now having troops covering far more than the International Zone.
Furious protests follow from all quarters, especially when the body count of the Japanese occupation starts to rise. The British, French, and Americans see this as a threat to the International character of the International Zone. In the end, the KMT knows they don’t have the capacity to force the Japanese out, but the Japanese similarly are unwilling to fully invade China. The northern advance continues, and the KMT government uses their capture of Nanjing later this year and cover to make concessions on trade issues and the like. Japan withdrawals from the wider city, and draws down its troop numbers, much to the army’s chagrin. No one emerges happy. Except, perhaps, the Soviets, who see a rising force in China becoming dependent on their good graces.
The increasingly open gulf between China and Japan is the cause of some debate amongst the burgeoning anti-Colonial movement in the British Raj. On one hand, the Japanese are a powerful non-European nation, on the other hand, they are acting pretty imperialistic as of late.
The question is not one that is terribly divisive at the moment, however. Despite Gandhi calling off the non-cooperation movement in 1922, the movement has only grown. There are many distinct flavors, including but not limited to Hindu Nationalists, Muslim Groups, representatives of various minorities, and various flavors of leftist. The largest group is the Indian National Congress, which has positioned itself as the big tent of nationalist aspirations. There are dissidents, of course, who wish to take a more revolutionary approach. Communists are among that number, unsurprisingly. But bomb throwing remains at a minimum.
Unlike, for example, the great city of Chicago, which is seeing a spike in violence. Mayor William Emmett Dever has been cracking down on bootlegging with some success. Sort of. But it’s enough that the gangs of Chicago are getting a tad…jumpy and competing all the more for power and influence. Johnny Torrio’s health is fading, and his lieutenants are circling like sharks. To say nothing of a resurgent Northside Gang hoping to push the Sicilians out.
Into this dangerous situation Dever drops a bombshell in the form of his own corpse. The mayor, never on great health dies swiftly and suddenly. Some accuse the gangsters of poison. But that has never been their style, and in any event their reaction shows this was in no way planned.
This is the first time a Mayor of Chicago has died like this, and it throws the city into confusion. No one is entirely sure who should be Mayor now. Probably someone on the city council? Maybe? Right?
The mob, naturally, smells opportunity. Especially because the Republicans are having a contentious slate of statewide primaries at this exact moment, hinging largely on Prohibition enforcement. Although the dry side quickly tones down its rhetoric as the money starts coming in from…certain sources. The Democrats are not so openly feuding over statewide offices, but they are ripping each other apart over who gets what in Chicago.
Although the Republicans aren’t out of the game just yet. Remember “Big Bill Thompson”? Well his comeback fell just short last year, but with Dever dead he spies a chance to get back in the game. A special election he says, that is what is needed. Also he accuses the British of poisoning Dever. The British Consul is very confused. The Democrats scramble for a response, they don’t really have anyone lined up who can beat Thompson. So they beat him in the press, bringing up the Riots of years past, his cozy relations with the Germans. Their efforts to paint him as a red because of his Union support go astray because the Unions affiliated with the Democrats don’t like that sort of thing. The race baiting works better, Thompson has always been something of a patron to Black Chicago,
The City Council elects one of their own, Jacob Arvey, to fill out Dever’s term. They gain unexpected political cover from Springfield, where Thompson’s Republican enemies do not want to see him in a position of authority.
The end result of the “Saltpeter Spring,” so named for the copious amounts of gunpowder used, is anti-Thompson Republicans winning the primaries which Democrats clinging to power in Chicago. But no one comes across looking good from this. And the gangsters have not yet settled on who runs the town, which keeps the streets a dangerous place to be at certain times in certain places.
All in all it makes all of Illinois look bad, but it makes the Republicans look a little worse than the Democrats. And the Saltpeter Spring makes sure corruption is on everyone's lips as the parties ready to assemble their tickets.
But first, we must circle back to another den of corruption, Louisiana. Where old battoes new, as Former Governor John Parker faces Huey Long in a battle for control of the state. Long campaigns relentlessly, making Parker seem old. Long hammers on the failures of flood relief, last year's disasters linger in everyone's mind. "Every Man a King, but Now One Wears a Crown," goes his slogan. And, he darkly hints, Parker is planning on grabbing himself a crown. Non-consecutive reelection is allowed in Louisiana, but no Governor has availed themselves of that right before. Long plays up his confidence, saying the only way he can lose is if the ballots are stuffed in New Orleans. And, to be perfectly fair, the ballots are absolutely being stuffed in New Orleans. But Long manages to lurch across the finish line in February, earning himself the coveted nomination. Technically the Republicans are running someone this year, which is surprising, but there's no need to stuff any ballots when the omnipresent threat of violence hangs over the GOP, as it does across the Deep South.
So Long is going to be Governor very soon. And he has plans for the office. Big plans. But national eyes do not rest in Baton Rouge. Instead they pivot west, towards Houston, where the National Democrats will be hosting their convention.
Indiana Beach Crow
Monthly Donor
"Someday the people of Louisiana are gonna get good government and they ain’t gonna like it.” - Earl Long
Pick yer man
“Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am stuck in the middle with you”
- Stealers Wheel, OTL
The Democrats face the same 2/3rds rule that nearly damned McAdoo four years ago. Except it is potentially even worse now, because McAdoo is now a failed Presidential candidate and even further removed from office. His chances of winning another endurance contest are thus greatly harmed. Al Smith is back, ready to take a swing. But this year's convention is out of his home turf in New York, and he hasn't converted either so he's still a no-good very-bad papist.
So most are expecting a compromise candidate. At a meeting in the Senate Cloakroom, Southern Democrats attempt to hatch a plan to get one of their own nominated. Two men in the room are considered James Reed of Missouri, and Walter George of Georgia. Both are quite conservative and pro-business, but are quite different in temperament. Reed is a firecracker while George is more genteel. But Missouri is reckoned as a must win state, while Georgia has not voted against a Democrat since 1848. Both are naturally opposed to any sort of civil rights measures.
James Reed emerges as the favorite of this little clique of Senators. He's more forceful in his ambition, while George is happy to climb the slow ladder of Seniority.
However Progressivism is not a spent force in the Democratic Party, not by a long shot. Al Smith commands his urban contingent, but it must be admitted not everyone is behind him. Burton K. Wheeler of Montana never formally declares, but everyone knows he's propping up favorite sons in hopes of securing the nod. Other favorite sons dot the landscape.
Observers expect a McAdoo Smith return bout, but it quickly becomes apparent McAdoo will not be able to recreate his slog to victory from the last convention. Equally clear, however, is that Smith for all his ambition is too poisonous to the still powerful Dry delegates.
Reed proves unable to capitalize on this however. He has critiqued the Klan in the past, which earns him their enmity, but he can hardly appeal to the Progressive wing. And, well, the Senate is not the Convention Floor. And his abrasive approach does not help.
And so the great slugfest continues into the next day. And the smoke filled rooms billow with smoke. No one wants a repeat of New York. Possible compromise candidates are sketched out.
Cordell Hull is considered a powerful possibility. The Tennassee Congressman is taller and distinguished. A southerner but not a Southerner, if you catch the meaning there. However there are some marks against him. Hull is not a particularly engaging man, either in front of great crowds or when mingling. He voted against the Volstead Act as well, making him suspect in the eyes of Dry delegates. And his opposition to women's suffrage hangs over him, although in recent Congressional runs he has tried to highten his appeal to women.
Thomas Walsh was McAdoo’s running mate in 1924, and generally acquitted himself on the campaign trail. He’s well respected in the Senate for his legal expertise as well. He’s a liberal Catholic which is something of a drag. But his support for the war and prohibition may have done a small bit to wash away that particular sin. On the other hand: he’s still a damned Papist.
And then there is Albert Ritchie, the uncrowned King of Maryland. Ritchie is a bit of an odd duck. He trumpets the horn of state’s rights, but seems to actually believe it. Be it Prohibition or Strike Breaking, he has opposed the Federal Government meddling in his domain. But Progressives can dig those particular manifestations of states rights. He’s also assembled a fairly decent record of reform inside Maryland. Efficient management, education, shellfish conservation. With the Pershing years having developed a reputation for expansive control perhaps a Ritchie candidacy could be appealing.
As the summer heat in Houston drives delegates nuts, it becomes apparent no one has the stomach for another protracted convention. This is unfortunate as everyone gets another protracted convention. Smith is fading fast, but then so is McAdoo. Reed sends out flurries of ill-advised telegrams that alienate delegates. Enough Southerners won’t support a Catholic and enough Catholics think Walsh is a traitor that his prospective campaign falls flat. After a few days, the great men of the party consider it clear that it is either Hull or Ritchie.
In a twist, neither man is particularly interested in running. The GOP remains the favorite, even as their own nominee remains unknown. Hull in particular is nervous about losing his oh so precious seniority in the House. Ritchie is not super thrilled with the prospect of leaving Maryland, but hey, it’s a short trip all thing considered. And, unlike Hull, he’s not up for re-election this year.
So it is that word is spread about that Albert Ritchie is the compromise man. The party rallies behind a man of firm moral principles. The only question now is who his running mate is going to be. Seeking a farming man to balance the coastal man, Ritchie’s supporters push forward Charles W. Bryan. Afterall, who better to represent the farm bloc than the brother of the Great William J. Bryan? Bryan is also the incumbent Governor of Nebraska, having reclaimed his position in 1926.
Most observers feel the Ritchie/Bryan ticket is the definite underdog here, although much depends on who the nominee coming from the other side is.
Just like the Democrats, the Republicans are a divided party. Progressives and Conservatives remain at each other’s throats, and even within those factions there are divisions.
Take the Republican Right. One possible standard bearer is Vice President Calvin Coolidge, who has been a consistent voice in favor of less government regulation from inside the administration, and he’s generally well respected. But he’s also, well he’s Vice President. So his natural power base is nothing. Plus he feuds with Dawes which means Pershing doesn’t like him. Charles Curtis is a leader in the Senate and represents Kansas, bringing with him farm state cred. However he can be difficult to get along with, and, well he’s a card carrying member of the Kaw Tribe. Which obviously hasn’t stopped him from coming this far. But a race baiting race is not one favorable to the GOP at the moment.
That great Progressive Champion, Fighting Bob, is dead. Leaving his wing of the party open. William Borah has an increased profile since he killed the World Court Bill. Hiram Johnson sits on a metaphorical throne of California. But Pershing, while perhaps not a doctrinaire Conservative, does not like these isolationists who keep yelling at him.
Pershing is generally reckoned to be something of a middle ground inside the party. In truth he's far more Conservative than Progressive, he's just less ideological about this. There are several men who might fall under the "Pershingite" Banner, although most Republicans would probably try to claim that mantle. Ambassador Hoover, as well as Warren G. Harding, Senator for Ohio. Harding had hoped to be a dark horse in 1920, but then Pershing proved to be the man on horseback instead. Harding has thus spent the better part of a decade in Congress. His voting record is assiduously Conservative, but never of the bomb throwing type. He waited until Pershing had fumbled the ball before opposing the World Court, backed the prudent Farm Bill. All that jazz. He also just LOOKS Presidential in that nebulous way.
However there is only one man who can claim to be the Pershing man in the race. Indeed, he was a Pershing man before anyone knew who a Pershing was. Charles Dawes, Secretary of the Treasury and the President's right hand man. Officially, Pershing is above the fray like a proper Soldier-President. But unofficially, and unabashedly, Pershing throws his weight behind Dawes. Pershing’s political skill is still unrefined, and his popularity is ebbing. But he is still the President of the United States god damn it, and that means something. Both psychologically and in terms of patronage.
Taking the man for himself, Dawes has a few things to recommend him. As Secretary of the Treasury, he gains some credit for an economy that most people in most places are satisfied with most of the time. And he has dipped his toes in other affairs, such as helping with the German debt question. Not that most Americans give a fig about that, but it does show he’s not a one trick pony. However Dawes is also a…difficult man. Prone to feuding, with Vice President Coolidge standing out in this department. He’s also never held elected office, and lacks name recognition. Part of the reason he’s never been elected to anything is that he is not blessed with the gift of the gab.
Still, the oddsmakers generally prefer Dawes as the Convention begins. Especially as it quickly takes on a pro-Pershing atmosphere.
However, while not being burdened with that pesky two thirds rule, Dawes still does not have a majority. The Conservatives are broadly rallying around Coolidge over Curtis, while the Progressives fail to really rally behind any particular man, but are united against the idea of President Dawes. And rather than splitting his opposition down the middle, Dawes winds up attacked from both sides. Favorite sons surge forward as the front runner stumbles.
The Republicans have, generally but not always, prided themselves on avoiding knockdown drag out fights at their conventions. It just doesn’t look good. And, having canvassed the attendees, Dawes’ men report what he fears, he’s not going to win anytime soon.
The trick, then, becomes finding someone acceptable to a majority. Dawes’ delegates plus the harder core Conservatives would make just such a majority. Progressive support would be nice, but is by no means a requirement. Avoiding a split is, however on everyone’s minds.
Coolidge is out because Dawes can be a stubborn man when he wants to, and Curtis has shown he just doesn’t have the support base. Time is of the essence, as it becomes apparent that the big guns aren’t going to win, minnows are dreaming shark dreams. And that means more people in the smoke filled room, more deals that need to be balanced and remembered. Better to do this quickly.
So when Ohio’s delegation presents Warren G. Harding, everyone jumps on board. He’s had a distinguished career without any of those troublesome distinguishing moments that cause controversy. Ohio is an important state, no one has won the Presidency without it since 1892 and Grover Cleveland. He's a man who can run a good old fashioned campaign to keep the Republicans in the White House. It all seems neat and tidy. They just need a Vice Presidential nominee.
Harding's associates pull up a man to present to the party. Albert Fall was close with Harding while both had served in the Senate. Fall, however, had eventually left the Senate in 1924. But two years later he was elected Governor of his home state of New Mexico. Small? Yes, but a good way to address the west. Fall is generally considered a Conservative, in step with Harding. He's a veteran, Spanish-American War, but also an irreconcilable on the League of Nations. This makes some of the Pershing men uneasy. But the only other option put forward is Calvin Coolidge and Dawes is making throat slitting gestures at them so Fall it is!
There is one final wrinkle here: the Progressives are angry as all hell. They swallowed their pride for Pershing and this was the thanks they got? Hiram Johnson fumes. And across the aisle, some Democratic progressives look askance at Ritchie's whole thing.
So that means it's time for Progressive Party 2: Bull Moose Boogaloo! Fighting Bob is dead we can use the Moose again yay! The problem is tha Fighting Bob is dead. Hiram Johnson isn't budging from his perch in the Senate. So who gets nominated? The general agreement is it needs to be a Republican, and likely a farm state man.
The end result is somewhat underwhelming. Lynn Frazier, who hails from the Nonpartisan League faction of the Republican Party. Frazier has a decent track record. As Governor of North Dakota he helped establish a state run Mill and a state run Bank. When Conservatives successfully recalled him he turned around and got elected to the Senate. It's just that he isn't quite in the upper echelons of Progressive thought. He's no Borah or Wheeler or Johnson or even Norris. His nomination sees supporters clash with Communists to keep them out of the hall. Not that the hall was particularly full anyway, despite his attempts to explain that his supporters are too poor to attend.
His Vice Presidential pick is a Democrat, also from the West, although he is a man of the mines more than a field. George Dern is an engineer turned executive turned Progressive Governor in traditionally conservative Utah. This is doubly impressive because he isn't even Mormon. Hopefully he'll appeal across the rest of the west as well.
The Progressives have support from the Unions and even the Socialist Party. The problem is that the Unions are the weakest they have been in a good long while, and that everyone still hates the Socialists.
Nonetheless, the Progressives enter the fray, hoping that the American people can be convinced that the Economy is not as great as they say it is. They being Big Business, and in the eyes of more than a few, the Jews. Just in case you were feeling a bit rosy eyed about them.
...Harding is going to die in office at the most incconvenient time, calling it now.
President Albert Fall during the *Great Depression. I see absolutely *no* way that ends well.
President Albert Fall during the *Great Depression. I see absolutely *no* way that ends well.
Scandal
"We need a man to guide us
Who'll always be beside us
A man who is a fighter through and through
A man who'll make the White House
Shine out like a light house
And Mr. Harding, we've selected you
So it's Harding
Lead the G.O.P
Harding
On to victory
We're here to make a fuss
Warren Harding you're the man for us"
- Warren Harding Campign Song IOTL
As America prepares for an election, the world spins onward. South Africa adopts a new flag that is less British and more Boer. The amount of Black African on the flag remains the same. Women participate in the Olympics for the first time. Various nations sign the Hoover-Briand Pact, which Ambassador Hoover is very proud of. It outlaws war, so war will definitely never be a problem ever again. Yay!
The British Parliament fixes Easter on a set Sunday in April, rather than letting it wander around the calendar. The Irish make this political somehow by digging up that time the Medieval English forced the Celts to change Easter's date, only to switch back. They predict something similar to follow this time around. Baldwin gripes about Collins, Collins gripes about Baldwin. Isn't it a wonderful world?
Albania finds itself with a King for the first time since…well Albanian history is it's own kettle of fish. This question rests on if you count personal Unions with Naples as having a King. There have been more recent Princes though. Although King Zog (not a Ferangi as far as we know) was previously President, not a Prince. Anyway, the Italians who basically run Albania anyway endorse it. So everyone decides its chill.
Stalin embraces his newfound power by swinging to the left, and hard. A Five Year Plan is announced. Central planning is back baby! The NEPmen tremble!
Back home, many couldn't care less about Harding and Ritchie's showdown. The movies talk now! Isn't that exciting? There are musicals and horror and jazz! And new funny cartoon characters as well. Disney fully owns the rights to his newest creation: Gary Gander. Everyone's favorite friendly Goose. And he's taking the theaters by storm.
The Yankees win the World Series because Babe Ruth is Babe Ruth is Babe Ruth, avenging the defeats to the Cubs over the last two years. This year, however, he faces down the Robins of Brooklyn, who have run the National League along with the Cubs and the Giants these past few years. The Yankees rivals in the AL are the Red Sox and Athletics.
The Fall River Marksmen are the class of the ASL, followed by Bethlehem Steel's team, creatively called Bethlehem Steel. Outside these two teams, Soccer is drifting towards the big Northeastern Cities, Boston, Philly, even over to Pittsburgh.
College Football is also gaining in popularity over this time. Debates rage over whether Illinois or Stanford are the team of the decade, their Rose Bowl clashes having failed to produce a result. Meanwhile other undefeated teams have claimed championships as well. Maybe there should be some sort of…poll or something? Maybe? Not yet.
Most of these players go on to have some sort of normal job. But those who go professional are increasingly headed to the National Football League, the Midwestern Heart of the Game. Teams like the Youngstown Hounds, Dayton Triangles, and Chicago Marines have dominated the league. Meanwhile teams east of the Appalachians have struggled to find any footing at all.
Everyone generally agrees that the esteemable Warren G. Harding holds an advantage as the campaign begins. He is fairly wealthy in his own right, owned a newspaper back in Ohio, and has even wealthier friends in high places. Pershing may be disappointed that Dawes is not the nominee, but nothing approaching a split in the party. Especially with those no good dirty Progressive splitters betraying his party.
Said Progressive splitters are plowing the sea, to quote Simon Bolivar. Where they have support, it runs deep. But that is not a lot of places right now, to be perfectly honest. And where they don't have support, the well is bone dry. Unlike the LaFollette, Frazier does not have particularly deep ties with organized labor, and while Dern gets along alright with miners, he has no real contacts out East. On the left, more radical forces gnaw at them, on the right they get thrashed for their supposed alliance with said radical forces.
Meanwhile, Ritchie begins a nationwide speaking tour, a classic whistle-stop campaign. He is by no means a generational talent at the art of public speaking, but he holds his own. And what he says makes a lot of sense. Stop the government snooping around. Even if you do want to limit alcohol sales, surely you trust your state government more than some far off Washington men. "The Business of Government," He declares. "Is Government. The Business of the President is keeping out of the way of Government." Ritchie's rather sharp views are considered something of a liability in the west, where his support for farmers is seen as lacking. So his running mate is sent instead. The Democrats look to be running a respectable race.
But, well, the economy is still good, isn't it? Well, mostly. The farmers out west are taking a shellacking, and the urban poor can hardly be called satisfied. But most voters would count themselves happy with the economy. And, although he will never exist ITTL, Bill Clinton had a point.
Speaking of Bill Clinton…
The rumors have been around for ages. More than rumors really. Washington is still a small town, all things considered, and which Senators are doing what is generally considered in poor taste. But it is even more in poor taste to talk about it openly. If everyone started talking, then everyone might sink. And Harding has been as open about it as can be expected. He told party leaders when they approached him to crown him nominee. They all agreed that it was not a deal breaker. The papers have better things to worry about.
But it is a new age. And a new age has a new medium. One far less respectable than the papers. In fact, the wire services try their best to avoid letting them onto stories the papers have. The new medium is also one far less centralized. There are barons, yes, but there are freeholders still out there in the radio landscape. Perhaps a more regulated, cartelized atmosphere might have smothered the story. But the airwaves are still the wild wild west, and not just because Cowboy stories are popular. Enough people hear that it becomes the talk of several towns, and once it becomes the talk of several towns the Newspapers have to get involved, especially the Democratic ones. Hearst in particular revels in a chance to prove his weighty influence. Newspapermen are also able to pry open some confirmation of those whispers that have begun to ring so loud.
The story goes like this. Harding's wife, Florence Harding, code name: the duchess, was an intelligent woman. But she also had chronic health issues, and during her convalescences her husband strayed. Strayed with her friends and the wives of his friends, which given how small Marion is are often the same people. Harding never entertains the possibility of divorce, too scandalous. But he carries out a longstanding affair with Carrie Fulton Philipps, complete with letters back and forth. However this is by no means an exclusive arrangement. Harding remarks that if he were a woman, he would always be pregnant.
Take Nan Britton. Harding met her on the campaign trail for the Senate when she was a teenager. By the time she was in her 20s, he had gotten her pregnant. The baby is a young girl named Elizabeth, now aged 8 going on 9. A perfect age for an innocent girl abandoned by the father she never met, at least in the eyes of the media. Britton does not seek out the limelight for her daughter, but when the press comes a knocking she is willing to comment on the hush payments she got.
Mrs. Harding died in 1924, complications from the kidney problems that had plagued her for years. And for all his philandering, her death does seem to have affected Senator Harding. Not that he's stopping the womanizing. But she did have a sharp political mind and talent for business. Over the past four years Harding has racked up a fair bit of debt, and has had a rotating wheel of mistresses, many of whom are now highly sought after by the press, Democrats, and the Democratic Press.
None of this particularly new, but it is a notable escalation in mudslinging. And, because this is the 1920s, there are insinuations that Harding has black ancestry. Harding, his feathers ruffled, has his men fire back. There is nothing quite that concrete on his direct opponents, but across the country sex and sin become major campaign issues. About the only attacks that don't get flung are allegations of violating Prohibition laws. Everyone does it, and Ritchie is opposed to the whole thing anyway.
Harding, as mentioned, had confessed his sins to the Republican Bosses at the Convention. But they had very much not banked on this becoming the premier issue of the election. The fact that the National Committee used party funds to pay off mistresses does not sit well with…well a lot of people.
The Progressives benefit from this mudslinging, in part because they are seen as too irrelevant to bother attacking. The Republicans still are considered the favorites however, as they barrel into November.
It is at this point, that we must return to Albert Fall. Because it turns out, as a Senator he was awash with bribes for influence. Oilmen, ranchers, bankers, whoever it may be, they were sending money across his desk. When he retired, he became the one funneling those bribes. And when he became Governor, well, the defrauding of the State of New Mexico is staggering. Sante Fe will take some deep cleaning.
No one gives a damn about Vice Presidents, not normally. But Harding was fairly close to Fall in the Senate, and things are already so nasty. Two cheats on the ticket, at the worst possible time.
The result is staggeringly close. Just as in 1916, results are not known for a few days. And Harding can take a grim satisfiaction that he secured a victory in the popular vote. A hollow victory though, considering the Electoral College.
Fall’s presence likely hurts in the West, while Progressives surge, delivering the region to the Democrats. Progressive votes also deliver states with a strong third party presence, namely North Dakota, Minnesota, and Weisconsin. Ritchie fails to make inroads in the Northeast, but there are just enough farmers and people sick of prohibition to flip Illinois. The Solid South does the rest.
The era of big government is over. Ritchie intends to let the Government get out of the way of states. Afterall, what could possibly require a federal response in this day and age?
End Part 1
As this is the end of Part 1, expect a delay of quite some time, since I intend to finish Part 2 before I begin posting it
Heck of a cliff hanger! Hanging on the precipice of disaster, it feels like. Business as usual, but not for long.