alternatehistory.com

Introduction:

This timeline really comes out of the year and a half of research I did for my thesis about the collapse of the Progressive Party in Wisconsin, and those Progressives who carved out a place for themselves amongst the Republican Party, and those who migrated into the Democratic party.

In 1946, the Progressive Party of Wisconsin disbanded. Unlike the Farm-Labor Party of Minnesota, which merged with the Democratic Party to for the DFL, or the Nonpartisan League of North Dakota which retained its own organization before merging with the Democrats, the Progressives utterly disbanded, and those Progressives who remained in the government moved into the Republican Party individually. The result was a catastrophic defeat that year when Bob LaFollette Jr., was defeated by Joseph McCarthy in the Republican Party, and many Progressives went down to defeat with him (some were able to hold on, normally in the state's North and Western areas which had long been strong holds for the Progressives)

This timeline seeks to look at what might have happened in 1946 had not been such a disaster. In short, LaFollette returns to the state, campaigns harder, and is able to beat McCarthy and drag more Progressives in on his coat-tails. The result is that many of those who would emerge as Democratic leaders in OTL, begin their political life as Republicans in the ATL.

There are some difficulties with writing this timeline. Namely, that its focus on state politics cuts down dramatically on those readers who have a working knoweldge, or even interest, in the topic. As a result, despite the fact that I want to maintain the focus on the state, rather than the national, level, I promise that the butterflies of the POD will be effecting national developments soon enough! To the readers of AH.com, please bear with me!

Since many of the figures this timeline focuses on will be unknown to many (I doubt many here know who Clifford "Tiny" Krueger is, nor about the Kannenberg family), I will do my best to explain who everyone is, and give enough background that everything makes sense.

So, if you are reading this, I invite you to sit back, and enjoy a drive through a little known facet of American history. If you stick with it, I think you will find much of interest. And, if not, well, I'll consider it a kindness in any case; I've been neck deep in this subject for quite some time, and it would be nice to think that I'm not crazy in finding it fascinating!
Top