The World of Turtledove's In the Presence of Mine Enemies

Eckener · Jan 11, 2020

DISCLAIMER: as with the earlier post, this is subject to change and is far from complete.

The 1930s
1932

January 19: Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of pneumonia.
July 2: Al Smith is nominated for President, with John N. Garner as his running mate
November 8: Al Smith defeats Herber Hoover to become the 32nd President of the United States

1933

January 30: Adolf Hitler is made Chancellor of Germany
March 4: Al Smith is sworn in as President, stating that “A New Day is dawning in America, one that shall wipe away the tears of the past four years of depression and anxiety.”
March 23: The German Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, in effect giving Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers.
April 20: President Smith’s “New Day” plan is signed into law as a series of three bills, promising to secure the banks, rebuild and expand infrastructure, and put people back to work.

1934

February 3: President Smith signs into law the Citizen Security program, designed to help those out of work due to illness, old-age, or lay-off.

1935
1936

June 12: The Republican National Convention nominates Alf Landon for President and Earl Warren for Vice President.
June 27: Al Smith and Nance Garner are renominated for the Democratic ticket for the Presidency.
August 1-16: Berlin Olympics. Jesse Owens and Marty Glickman both win Gold, a slap in the face of Nazi racial ideas

1937
1938

March 12: Germany annexes Austria

1939

September 1: Germany invades Poland, kicking off WWII.

The 1940s
1940

April 9: Germany invades Denmark and Norway
May 10: Germany invades France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg
May 15: The Netherlands surrenders
May 26: Evacuations of Allied troops at Dunkirk begins
May 28: Belgium surrenders
June 1: Allied armies at Dunkirk surrender to the Germans. Less than 100,000 had been evacuated, crippling Britain
June 10: Nazis take Paris
June 19: France formally surrenders
June 26: Al Smith is renominated once again by the Democrats
July 12: Republicans nominate Charles Lindburg, with Robert Taft as his running mate
August 30: “The Blitz” as it becomes known, begins, intensifying the Luftwaffe’s attacks on Britain.
September 29: King George VI is killed in a nighttime bombing raid that struck Buckingham Palace. Queen Mary is in a coma, but the princesses survive mostly unharmed.
October 3: Queen Mary dies.
October 8: Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, is recognized as Prince Regent. He orders that Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margret be taken to Edinburg, away from the worst of the Blitz. Henry remains in London to work with Prime Minister Churchill.
November 5: Charles Lindburg is elected as the 33rd President of the United States, having run on a promise of keeping America out of the European War

1941

May 1: Operation Sea Lion commences, with Nazi landings all across Southern England, in addition to paratroopers.
June 9: the Battle of London begins.
June 12: Prince Henry and Prime Minister Churchill evacuate London.
June 22: London falls.
August 31: Southern England is declared secure, and the Nazis begin to focus on the Midlands.
October 3: Birmingham falls to the Nazis
December 8: Opening of the Honolulu Peace Talks between the United States and Japan, with President Lindburg leading the negotiations.
December 19: Liverpool surrenders to the Nazis
December 20: Honolulu Accords signed, America promises to not get involved in Japan’s territorial expansion and continue to allow trade. Lindburg touts this as keeping America safe. Democratic critics see him kowtowing to Japan.

1942

January 9: Manchester falls to the Nazis.
February 12: Prince Henry, Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Margret evacuate for Canada (arrive in Halifax on Feb. 16)
March 28: York falls.
April 3: England is declared secure.
April 15: seeing that the UK will eventually fall to the Nazis, Ireland launches a “protective” invasion of Northern Ireland (after secret negotiations with Germany secured permission)
April 20: Battle of Edinburg begins
May 9: Edinburg surrenders
May 20: Glasgow surrenders
June 1: Seeing that Britain is soon to fall, the Soviet Union launches an attack on Nazi-occupied Poland, opening up the Eastern Front
June 7: Churchill is captured
June 8: First Battle of Warsaw: Soviets smash into the city
June 10: The remains of Churchill’s government agree to a cease-fire.
June 15: First Battle of Warsaw ends in Soviet victory
July 26: Negotiations begin in Dublin between the British and the Nazis, with the Irish as “neutral” hosts, to discuss what happens to Great Britain and the Empire.
September 9: Battle of Krakow: Nazis stop the Soviet advance into Poland

1943

January 10: Dublin Accords are signed
- Great Britain is declared a protectorate of the Reich, similar to France.
- Canada, Australia, South Africa, and India, are recognized as nations fully independent. Queen Elizabeth is recognized as Queen of Canada and gives up all claim to the British throne.
- The remainder of Britain’s colonies in Africa and the Middle East are to be given over to the Reich (in theory, though this won’t actually occur as simply or as quickly as the treaty demands)
April 4: Second Battle of Warsaw: Nazis retake the city.
May 3: Japan launches an invasion of Australia
June 16: Minsk falls to the Nazis
End of Year: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are all under Nazi occupation. German troops occupy most of Belorussia and have made headway in Ukraine.

1944

January 12: Edward VIII is invited by the Nazis to return as King of Great Britain, which he does.
March 1: Edward VIII is crowned as King in the still damaged Westminster Abbey, with his wife recognized as Queen Wallace.
March 12: King Edward VIII meets with Oswald Mosley, formally asking him to become Prime Minister of Great Britain. This marks the end of “direct rule” by the Nazis over Britain, and the start of it being a client state within the Germanic Empire.
April 30: Battle of Darwin: Australian forces are able to retake the city from the Japanese, effectively ending Japan’s attempted invasion.
July 1: Democrats nominate Henry Wallace and Harry Truman to run against Lindburg.
July 19: Republicans renominate Lindburg and Taft
July 20: Leningrad falls to the Nazis.
September 3: Siege of Moscow begins
November 7: Lindburg wins reelection in a close race with Wallace.
November 30: Japan and Australia sign a formal Armistice

1945

March 4: Moscow falls to the Nazis. Stalin, Molotov, and Beria all escape.
April 30: Stalin and Beria are captured near Nizhny Novograd. Molotov escapes east of the Urals, where he declares that the Soviet Union will fight on.
May 1: Japan declares war on the Soviet Union, invading Vladivostok and the rest of the Russian Far East.
June 3: The Nazis drop an atomic bomb on Kazan, where the Red Army had been regrouping for a counter-attack.
August 31: Hitler declares victory over the Soviet Union west of the Urals. In reality, the Reich will take until 1947 to really secure this region, and an unofficial truce takes place with the rump Soviet Union, centered on Omsk.
September: the German High Command secretly announces plans to work on consolidating control in Europe through 1946, with plans to deal with the Middle East, Africa, and India starting in 1947.

1946

Military action begins in the Middle East and India by the Germans. In general, the Nazis will pursue setting up a fascist Indian state, with the destruction of the muslim communities. This is resisted, both by Hindus and Muslims and also remaining British colonists, and will drag on the rest of the decade.

1947
1948

June 20: Democrats nominate Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., with Senator Richard Russell of Georgia as his running mate.
July 2: Republicans nominate Thomas Dewey and Earl Warren. There had been discussion about renominating Lindburg, but he announced early on he would not seek reelection, and Vice President Taft declined due to a health scare.
November 2: Joseph Kennedy is elected as the 34th President of the United States, promising to end American isolation and become a world leader. Despite a lack of desire to enter the war in Europe, attitudes had slowly changed following the fall of Britain and the Soviet Union. Many feel that they made a mistake in staying out of what was now becoming known as the Second World War.
Tokyo hosts the first post-war Olympic games (XIV Olympiad). The opening ceremony and many competitions are tense, as this is the first time many from the bitter world rivals have been in the same place during peacetime. The United States and Canada consider boycotts, but attend, as does Australia. Near fights almost break out between the Canadian team and both the UK team and the South African team. Germany wins the most medals, barely beating out the US for second place. Brazil is a surprise third.

1949

Germans launch first successful man-made satellite.
During a visit to Rome, Hitler meets with Pius XII and does his best to improve relations between the Reich and the Bishop of Rome, with overall okay results. Pious is seen in photos and newsreel footage to give Hitler a warm reception at the Vatican.

The 1950s
1950

The Kingdom of Canada formally adopts a new flag, an inverted Union Jack (red and blue trading places).
Berlin hosts the 4th World Cup. Outside of the Deutsches Imperium, only Italy, Spain, Japan, and Perisa participate. Germany beats Italy in the final.
Following the previous year’s appearance of Pious XII with Hitler, many American, Canadian, and Australian Catholics, in addition to many in Latin America, have grown frustrated with how the Church has cozied up to the Fascists in Europe and elsewhere. This leads to a meeting of church leaders from across the Americas and the Pacific that results in an official break with Rome and the formation of the Catholic Church of the West, to be headquartered in Boston.

1951

Germans put the first man in space.

1952

Kennedy Re-elected, falling out with Southern Democrats begin
Rome hosts the XV Olympiad. America beats out Germany for the most medals, reversing the order from 1948. Japan comes in third place.

1953

America tests its first atomic weapon, out in the Pacific.

1954

Elvis Presley begins his music career.
America, Canada, and Australia announce the creation of the Trans-Pacific Alliance, a military and trade venture meant to bring the three allies closer together.
Rome hosts the 5th World Cup. Brazil and Argentina send teams, as does Ireland, Sweden, Finland, India, South Africa, and Australia. Argentina narrowly defeats South Africa in the final.

1955

Disneyland opens in California.
J.R.R. Tolkien, a British ex-pat living in Boston, publishes the Fellowship of the Ring, the first in a series known collectively as the War of the Ring.

1956

Strom Thurmond elected as a Republican
Nuremberg hosts the XVI Olympiad. Germany wins the most medals, followed by Italy and then America.
Presley releases “Heartbreak Hotel,” his first number 1 hit.
Tolkien’s second post-war book, The Two Towers, is published. The War of the Ring series has become a hit, especially in Canada and Australia, where the forces of evil are clearly seen by many as an allegory for the Nazis.

1957

Americans launch first satellite.
Tolkien’s The Return of the King, showing the epic liberation of mythical Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, from the clutches of the Dark Lord is widely seen to have political undertones, imagining a restoration of Queen Elizabeth to Britain. The popularity of the War of the Rings series also saw a demand for a rerelease of The Hobbit in America.

1958

Australia hosts the 6th World Cup in Melbourne. America and Canada both send teams, along with Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Vietnam, Manhucko, and Turkey. Italy bests Mexico in the final.

1959

Germans land man on the moon.

The 1960s
1960

Thurmond re-elected
New York City hosts the XVII Olympiad. America wins the most medals, followed by Italy and then Germany.

1961

Elvis begins a short-lived movie career.

1962

German’s begin work on their first permanent moonbase.
Walter Cronkite becomes the anchor of CBS Evening News.
Frankfurt hosts the 7th World Cup. Germany loses to the American team in an epic upset. The win shoots soccer up to become a much more popular sport in the US (still farther behind Football and Baseball, but makes it almost on par with Basketball).

1963

Adolf Hitler dies. President Thurmond attends the funeral. Heinrich Himmler becomes Fuhrer

1964

Hubert Humphrey defeats Thurmond for the presidency
Capetown hosts the XVIII Olympiad. This was a very unpopular move by some, and both Canada and Australia boycott the games. Germany comes in first, followed by America and then South Africa.
Elvis announces the end to his film career, returning in a live televised special on the 4th of July, from San Francisco. He also surprises many by endorsing Humphrey’s presidential bid.

1965

American’s get their first man into space. There is some concern about space becoming the future battlefield.
Queen Elizabeth of Canada visits Washington, D.C., along with the Canadian Prime Minister. Unlike Thurmond and even to an extent Kennedy, Humphrey wants to be very open about America’s strong relationship with Canada. In retaliation, Heinrich Himmler cancels a planned trip that had been discussed during Thurmond’s visit to Berlin in ‘63.

1966

Walt Disney dies of lung cancer, with the new Disney project in Florida still under development.
Paramount launches its popular “Star Trek” franchise by Gene Roddenberry, which will remain in production until WWIII (and later see a revival, albeit with sharply different themes) in the 1980s.
New York City hosts the 8th World Cup. Mexico beats Brazil in the first final where no European team even made it close.

1967

Walt Disney Studios produces an animated version of The Hobbit, which becomes an instant box office success. There are talks about making films about the War of the Rings, but many at Disney feel they might be too dark for the studio to handle.

1968

Humphrey re-elected, defeating Thurmond(?)
Sydney edges out to be the host of the XIX Olympiad. South Africa, the UK, and India all boycott, and Germany sent a smaller team than normal in protest as well. America takes first place, followed by Australia and then Japan. These would be the last “free” Olympics.

1969

Negotiations begin between Japan and Australia over the fate of several disputed islands on the periphery between the two powers. These talks will stall late in the year.

The 1970s
1970

Heinrich Gimpel born in Berlin
War breaks out in the Pacific between Australia and Japan in April. On May 1, the rest of the TPA declares war on Japan. At first, Germany remains neutral. The Germans know that the Americans have atomic weapons, and are afraid they might use them against the Reich. And there are some in Berlin who wouldn’t mind seeing Japan taken down a peg.
Paris hosts the 9th World Cup. Due to the war in the Pacific, Canada, the US, Australia, Japan (and her imperial client states) all declined to participate. Germany defeats Argentina in the final.
Walt Disney Studios releases The Fellowship of the Rings as an animated film to rave reviews. Plans are announced for the other two parts of the trilogy to be released in 1972 and 1974. These, of course, will never be made, as Tolkien’s works were banned in 1972 following the Charleston Accords.

1971

June 30: The American Navy uses planes to drop nuclear bombs on a Japanese outpost in the Philippines, along with Hiroshima, admitting for the first time that they also had the weapons that the Reich had boasted of since 1945.
July 3-4: The Reich launches a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States and Canada: Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Seattle, Toronto, Ottawa, and San Francisco are all nuked by the Reich by missile, along with Sydney (on behalf of Japan)
Strom Thurmond cobbles together a successor government, as Humphrey and his VP and Congress are mostly wiped out.
Black militias begin to form up all across the country, in some cases taking over whole towns or even counties in the South, refusing to recognize Thurmond’s government or Nazi control.
By the end of the year, New York City is in full rebel control and under siege by the Nazis and “loyal” American Army.

1972

Charleston Peace Accords: The United States accepts occupation by the Reich and becomes part of the Deutsches Imperium. Canada is to be dissolved and integrated into the United States. The USA will pay an annual tribute to pay for the occupation services. The USA will allow the SS to operate within its territory to root out undesirable elements. In addition, Hawaii is to be given to Japan.
Thurmond formally elected as President, unopposed, with Lester Maddox of Georgia as his VP.
The XX Olympiad is canceled due to the unstable situation in the world. They had been set to be held in Brazil.
MLK, Jr. and his family are captured and executed by the SS. King will become a martyr for the Black Militias across the USA for generations.
Strom Thurmond announces the creation of the Freedom and Justice Party, also stating that all pre-war political parties are banned.
The remnant of the FBI and other policing agencies are ordered to assist the SS in the start of purges of political enemies and early racial roundups, and scouting has begun as to where to build proper detention, labor, and extermination camps across the continent.
After receiving threats to his family Walter Cronkite agrees to remain at CBS Evening News, now being fed propaganda from the Thurmond government and Nazi occupiers.
The Catholic Church of the West is directly targeted by the new occupiers and shut down, with most of its leaders arrested, at least temporarily. Some will be rehabilitated, and the Roman Catholic Church will reassert itself in the US and North America, but with a smaller presence than before the schism.

1973

The FJP controlled Congress reorganizes the FCC as the Federal Bureau of Communication, essentially a propaganda agency to control media (and will remain a part of the Department of the Interior initially). Initially, it is conceived that the private executives of NBC, ABC, and CBS, along with some of the larger newspaper conglomerates, would make up the board and control the flow of information “organically.” This fails and nationalization is implemented within a few years.
First official camps begin opening. Dozens of labor and “reeducation centers” appear across the country. The first two extermination camps (of more than 12 that eventually open in the next half-decade) open at Dry Branch, a small rural community near Macon, Georgia, and near Talladega, Alabama, east of Birmingham. These are joint SS and FBI controlled (with the NBSS taking over the FBI’s roll the following year).
Elvis is initially approached to be a sort of spokesperson for the FBC and go on tour, promoting the “New America.” He refuses.
Manhattan and Brooklyn fall, but the New York rebellion continues in Queens and the Bronx and across the shore in New Jersey.
Congress confirms that the American flag will not be altered, other than going back to 49 stars now that Hawaii has been given to Japan. The national anthem, however, is changed to America the Beautiful (The Star-Spangled Banner and many other more militant songs are quietly banned), the pledge of allegiance is altered: “I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the nation, for which it stands, one race, fighting to defend true freedom and justice.” The official national salute becomes the common fascist salute used in Germany and Italy. The new regulations also stated that the official party flag of the FJP, a red banner with a white stylized American eagle, would be treated as a “co-equal national flag,” always to be flown a the same height and to the national flag’s left (viewer’s right).

1974

President Thurmond announces in April that Omaha, Nebraska, will become the new permanent capital of the United States. Despite moving from his power base in Charleston, SC, Thurmond argues this is more central for the entire country now that the Canadian provinces have been annexed, and is also more defensible that Charleston.
The Omaha government announces the creation of the National Bureau for State Security (NBSS), which merges the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and the US Marshals all into one organization. In addition, it is announced that all state and local police will be combined into the National Police Service (NPS).
The FBC announces that it is taking over the national telephone network, under the auspices of the North American Telephone Service (NATS)
NBSS agents arrest Elvis in the spring, sending him to a reeducation center in the Southwest. Frank Sinatra is shot and killed later in the year while trying to flee NBSS agents.
Tokyo hosts the 10th World Cup. Japan loses to India in the final.

1975

The FBC announces that all television, radio, print and motion picture services within the United States were being nationalized. ABC, CBS, and NBC are combined into the United States Television Bureau, usually known simply as USTV. Radio is generally under the auspices of the Federal Broadcasting Service, split up into regional affiliates all running similar programming. Newsprint is overseen by the Federal Press Agency, with locally operated papers (some new, some well-established standards) only having sanctioned writers and often carrying the same stories (similar to the old AP syndication). Traditional book press is left to various agencies within the Department of Education. The Federal Entertainment and Media Agency (FEMA) would oversee film and also music production. Studios and record labels were initially left intact, at least on paper but usually with new, pro-regime management, but would be combined and streamlined by the 1980s.
At USTV, five channels are introduced: USTV-1 through USTV-5. USTV-1 was the “primary channel,” with regular news shows and other such informational broadcasts of major national events in “primetime.” This included America’s News of the Day (the precursor to the modern US Nightly News which replaced it a decade later), broadcast from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, hosted by Cronkite. USTV-2 was a sports and wellness channel, USTV-3 was educational for young viewers, USTV-4 was educational for older viewers, and USTV-5 was entertainment.
Siege of New York ends in Axis victory, end of the “American War”
The large black militias have largely been pacified and their territory was taken over by a mix of German and American military units.

1976

Thurmond “reelected”
American Bicentennial marked as the “rebirth of a nation”
Certain regions, primarily in the Midwest and parts of the South, are no longer directly under military rule and considered fully pacified. Military districts remain across the West, parts of the Deep South, and New York/New England.
The XXI Olympiad is held in Munich. Germany dominates, followed by Italy and then South Africa. America only sent a token team.
Elvis dies in camp.
It is announced that New York City will be rebuilt by famous German architects, including Albert Speer, and become a showcase city. Speer has also been working with American architects on the redesigning of Omaha

1977

1978

Universal, Paramount, FOX, RKO, and MGM are forced to combine by FEMA into Universal-Paramount Continental Studios, eventually shortened to UPC Studios.
Warner Bros. and Disney become Warner-Disney Entertainment Studios, shortened as WDE Studios. FEMA wants UPC to be the studios producing films for adults, while WDE will be focused on children and youth. Disneyland remains under the management of WDE. The Florida Property, as it is generally known, has caught the eye of government and Nazi officials for a new future showcase that will get into development in the 1980s.
Naples hosts the 11th World Cup. Italy bests France during the final.

1979

The 1980s
1980

Thurmond “reelected”
The XXII Olympiad is held in Naples. Germany again dominates, followed by Italy and then Brazil.
Walter Cronkite suffers a stroke. He will die two years later. The family privately attribute this to the strain of having to work as the puppet for the Thurmond regime in order to protect his family. Tom Brokaw will replace Cronkite, and America’s News of the Day is reimaged as US Nightly News.

1981

1982

Heinrich Himmler visits the United States, to mark the ten-year anniversary of the end of World War III. He visits New York (still under intense construction to become the new “model city”), Charleston, and Omaha.
Istanbul hosts the 12th World Cup. In a major upset, Persia defeats Brazil in the final.

1983

UPC Studios relaunches Star Trek, with the new show Star Trek: The New Frontier.

1984

Thurmond “re-elected”
The XXIII Olympiad is held in Rio de Janeiro. Germany dominates, followed by Brazil and then Japan.

1985

Heinrich Himmler dies, replaced by Kurt Haldweim

1986

New York City is officially “reopened” as the new model city as promised. Wide new boulevards and bridges, several gleaming new skyscrapers (plus a restored Empire State Building), and a remodeled Central Park wow the world.
The long-overdue Disney World Resort opens in Florida, with the Magic Kingdom (modeled off of Disneyland but much larger). The rides and attractions there have subtle and not so subtle messaging coming from the regime. The Discovery Kingdom will open the following year, and be focused on science and exploration, with a heavy focus on space (including a full-scale replica of the first Moon Base - there are now four separate Moon communities founded by the Reich). The Global Kingdom, scheduled for opening in 1989, will have a showcase of the world (through proper Reich racial and social lenses, of course), the centerpiece of which is a recreation of Berlin’s Great Hall. In all, 15 countries are showcased in the park: Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, Persia, India, the UK, Sweden, Ireland, Vietnam, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, and the United States.
Madrid hosts the 13th World Cup, and Brazil defeats Portugal in the final.

1987

Thurmond announces his plan to retire.

1988

Vice President Lester Maddox elected as President of the United States
The XXIV Olympiad is held in Nagasaki. Japan takes first, followed by Germany and then South Africa, with a special note that America came in 4th place, the closest it had come to the top three since WWIII.

1989

President Maddox announces that the United States will no longer pay the currently demanded amount of tribute to Berlin. He demands negotiations for a “fairer settlement,” in November.

The 1990s
1990

After failed negotiations in which the Reich would not budge, German military forces are sent out starting on February 9 and Omaha is occupied. Similar deployments occur in New York and St. Louis. Some citizens take to the streets to protest but are brutally put down. President Maddox is captured on February 15 and promptly executed. Speaker of the House Theodore Duke is installed as the new President and chairman of the FJP a month later. The military occupation of the American cities will last through the end of the year.
Duke oversees a purge of the FJP, the NBSS, and the NPS, wiping out the still emerging “reform wing” that Maddox had secretly supported while he’d been Vice President under Thurmond. Tens of thousands are arrested, and thousands are executed.
The Reich’s Air and Space Ministry announces plans to put a man on Mars by 2005.
Copenhagen hosts the 14th World Cup. Germany defeats India in the final.

1991

Strom Thurmond dies
The wreck of the RMS Titanic is discovered by Reich scientists working with American oceanographers out of Boston.

1992

Theodore Duke elected as president (has been president since 1990, after the Maddox debacle)
The XXV Olympiad is held in Hamburg. Germany dominates, followed by Italy and the UK.

1993

…

1994

Gottlieb Stutzman is born
Hamburg hosts the 15th World Cup, and in a surprise back-to-back victory, Germany wins, defeating Mexico in the final.

1995

The last of the military administrative districts in America are dissolved. Regular governance now resumes at the local, state, and federal levels without military oversight. Many feel this would have happened sooner had it not been for the Maddox-inspired uprising in 1990.

1996

Theodore Duke reelected
Heinrich Gimpel marries Lise Frank
To mark the 20th anniversary of the end of WWIII, New York hosts the XXVI Olympiad. This is a propaganda coup for Duke, who is able to show that America is again loyal and stable to the Deutsches Imperium. Germany takes first, followed by South Africa and then the United States.

1997

…

1998

Capetown hosts the 16th World Cup and South Africa defeats defender Germany in the first round. Ultimately, South Africa lost to India in the Final.

1999

…

The 2000s
2000

Duke announces his retirement.
David Ingram elected as President of the United States
Alicia Gimpel is born
Berlin hosts the XXVII Olympiad and celebrates the start of the new millennium. Germany wins first place, followed by Italy and South Africa.

2001

German astronauts land on Mars.

2002

Francesca Gimpel is born
Tom Brokaw announces his retirement from US Nightly News on USTV-1. He is replaced by Peter Vance.
Los Angeles hosts the 17th World Cup, but the American team is knocked out right away by Argentina, who then lose in the Semi-finals to India. France beats India in the final.

2003

…

2004

Ingram reelected
Roxane Gimpel is born
Paris hosts the XXVIII Olympiad. Germany takes first, followed by Japan and then France.

2005

…

2006

Oslo hosts the 18th World Cup, and Germany defeats South Africa in the Final.

2007

…

2008

Ingram reelected
London hosts the XXIX Olympiad. Germany again takes first, with Italy taking second and South Africa taking third.

2009

…

The 2010s
2010

Kurt Haldweim dies, replaced by Heinz Buckliger
Harbin, Manchukuo, hosts the 19th World Cup. Japan defeats Brazil for the title.

2011

…

2012

SS attempts a coup against Buckliger, fails.
First free Reichstag elections
Ingram reelected
Hamburg hosts the XXX Olympiad. Germany takes first, followed by Japan and then Brazil.

2013

…

2014

Rio de Janeiro hosts the 20th World Cup. Germany is defeated by the host nations in the Semi-Final, who then go on to beat Mexico for the title.

2015

…

2016

Ingram reelected, but FJP nearly loses control of the House
Brazil hosts the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janerio. Germany takes first, followed by Brazil and then the United States.

2017

…

2018

FJP loses control of the House, a bare majority remains in the Senate. 2020 is expected to be a contested presidential election for the first time since 1968
Mexico City hosts the 21st World Cup. Brazil attempts a back-to-back victory but is defeated in the Semi-Finals by the United States. Italy ultimately defeats the USA in the final.

2019

…

The 2020s
2020

Tokyo is set to host the XXXII Olympiad.

Eckener · Jun 29, 2020

So as I was reviewing the timeline for this story, and getting ready to start writing on some of the people on "The List," the next person up was Rosa Parks, and I realized that I never really dealt with the Civil Rights movement ITTL, other than a vague statement or two that it "went slower than OTL," and that MLK Jr. was still a major player and became a martyr after being killed by the Nazis after the invasion. SO, this post will correct that oversight.

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- 1954: President Joseph Kennedy officially desegregates the Armed Forces of the United States, amid much pushback from the South. This will be one of the issues that helps Thurmond get elected in 1956.
- 1956: Townsend v. Board of Education of Atlanta, Georgia, the Supreme Court rules that "separate but equal" does not work in education, and that the doctrine more generally is "constitutionally questionable." This will be another issue that helps get Thurmond elected. He campaigns on "non-enforcement" whereas his opponent, VP Richard Russell, is openly supportive of the ruling.
- 1957: President Thurmond sends a memo to the Justice Department that they will not enforce the Townsend v. Board ruling. Protests occur across the South and in DC, and in some areas the National Guard is called up. A few states actually do comply (Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Oklahoma), but the rest refuse without Federal mandate.
- 1958: Little Rock, Arkansas - Hundreds of African American high school students march on Little Rock Central High School and "occupy" the building, demanding to be allowed to attend, citing Townsend v. Board. After two days of a standoff, police and national guard soldiers move in and forcibly remove the students. The nation is horrified by the images, but Little Rock refuses to enforce Townsend.
- 1959: Bus Boycott begins in Montgomery, Alabama, which will propel Martin Luther King, Jr., a local minister and outspoken critic of segregation, into the national spotlight. MLK and several other leaders are arrested and force is used in Alabama to end the first boycott that Fall.
- 1960: The NAACP and the SCLC organize a "nationwide" (but mainly southern) boycott of all segregated bus systems in the United States, that begins on April 1st. This will lead to major unrest and large protest marches in several southern cities, and force is again used to "restore order." Despite the use of force, several cities will ultimately begin desegregating their buses by the end of the year. President Thurmond uses this unrest to portray himself as the "Law and Order" candidate and wins narrow reelection.
- 1961: Clara Luper, an African American high school teacher in Oklahoma City, working with student members of the NAACP, organize a sit-in at a local diner, refusing to leave until served. After three days of this, Luper and some of her students are arrested. This leads to a protest march through downtown Oklahoma City, where force is used. Instead of killing the Sit-In Movement, MLK and other leaders from the Bus Boycott Movement latch on to the idea and praise Luper and her students. Within weeks, sit-ins are occurring across the nation, with modest success. Since they largely target individual business practices, it is a slow march of one restaurant after another eventually caving in through the mid-1960s.
- 1962: President Thurmond gives his infamous speech (that would later be praised in post-WWIII textbooks) about the importance of "separate but equal," saying to supporters at a speech given in Atlanta that "All men may have been created equal, but all men are not the same, and mixing services for Whites and Negros will fundamentally alter and weaken our republic."
- 1963: In a major scandal broken by the NYT in October, it is revealed that President Thurmond has been in contact with several southern leaders about how to "suppress the Negro vote" in the 1964 elections.
- 1964: In response to the "vote scandal," the NAACP organizes a massive "get out the vote" campaign to get Hubert Humphrey elected, a movement that becomes galvanized by Thurmond running for a third term. There is some localized violence on election day, but the large and determined turnout of voters sweeps Thurmond out of office. Humphrey ran on a platform championing civil rights for African Americans.
- 1965: In his inaugural address, President Humphrey announces that he will enforce the 1956 Townsend ruling, and look into other areas where the ruling's implications can be applied. By the end of the year, the Justice Department, working with the Department of Education, announces guidelines for all schools in the United States to be fully integrated by 1970.
- 1966: In recognition of the efforts made by the NAACP during the 1964 election, the Humphrey Administration prioritizes the passage of a Voting Rights Act, which will pass by the end of the year.
- 1967: In a major upset for the administration, the Civil Rights Act fails to pass by narrow margins. This would have outlawed discrimination based on race, gender, religion, or national origin.
- 1968: a major focus shifts to getting more Democrats elected so that Humphrey can get a civil rights bill passed. Some from the women's rights movement are reaching out and discussing the possibility of making this new bill after the election include equality for the races and genders. Humphrey wins reelection, and it looks like there is going to be a pro-civil rights act majority in Congress.
- 1969: Debate drags on over whether to revive the original Civil Rights Act of 1967, or combine it with the equal rights proposals for women.
- 1970: The Equal Rights Act passes Congress, which declares that discrimination or unequal treatment based on race, gender, religion, or national origin is a federal crime, and that this would apply to employment, housing, service industries, and banking. It is signed in October, and almost immediately challenged in court.
- 1971: In May, the Supreme Court announces they will hear the case against the ERA that Fall. The invasion, of course, prevents this.
- 1972: The Thurmond Government repeals the ERA and the Voting Rights Act, along with many other pro Civil Rights legislation pieces, and enshrines the separation of the races in law nationally.

Eckener · Feb 5, 2020

Heinrich Gimpel looked up from financial briefings he’d been reading. The projections for American financial payments for 2020. As everyone expected, and as had been a trend for the past decade, the amount the United States was expected to pay was less than what the Reich had accessed. The American President, David Ingram, had repeatedly told Wehrmacht and diplomatic officials that his government was paying all it could and could spare not a cent more. Germany’s reform-minded Fuhrer, Heinz Buckliger, was trying to avoid using more force in America, but the continued intransigence of US officials was giving new ammunition to Buckliger’s critics. And so...

And so, thought Heinrich, here I am jetting across the Atlantic to meet with the Americans and head things off at the pass. He sighed. On the one hand, he was excited. It wasn’t his first time out of the Reich, but it was his first time out of Europe. On the other hand, this entire trip was likely to be futile. It was January, and in less than a year the Americans would be selecting a new President, and for the first time in over half a century the election would actually be the real deal, and not a farce holding on to the pretension of representative democracy that had gone on since the US of A had been defeated by the Reich when Heinrich was a boy. The two new parties challenging the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, the New Federalist Party and the Liberty Party, were both fairly open about their hostility towards Berlin. Whatever Heinrich and his fellow team members were able to hammer out with the Ingram Administration might be a moot point within a year.

He still couldn’t quite believe that he was even being sent on this mission. But he shouldn’t be surprised, not really. Ever since that first consultation with the Fuhrer nearly a decade before, just before the failed SS putsch, he’d been on Heinz Buckliger’s radar, and had been visited by the world’s most powerful man or one of his subordinates many times, and had even been called to the Fuhrerpalast to assist. With the election of a non-fascist majority in the lower house of the American legislature four years ago, Buckliger had assembled a special action committee, naming Heinrich the junior co-chair. Which is how he now found himself on a Lufthansa express airliner traveling at super-sonic speeds towards the American capital of Omaha. Henrich sighed again. It was cold in Berlin this time of year, he thought, but damn it, Omaha would be worse. Zero degrees as a high! And there were concerns that there might be a winter storm in a week.

Despite this dread of the cold, he knew the work was important. The yearly financial payments, tribute really, was a key part of how the Reich kept America, once its greatest rival, down and out ever since the end of the Third World War. That and America’s home-grown racists and pseudo-fascists had been only too happy to do some of the Reich’s dirty work after their country had been defeated. Heinrich thought back to those fading color photographs he’d been given by his father, showing the slaughter at camps in southern states. Some place called...Dry Branch, in Georgia, and also Talladega, in Alabama, if memory serves. And memory is all I have since Lise had to destroy them when the SS tried to come after there girls and I. He had been glad his wife had acted so quickly, but the loss of that record of the Nazi crimes still saddened him. Like any Jew still surviving throughout the Greater German Reich though, he knew that memory was important. It was all that he and his people really had when it came down to it. Memory and survival.
His woolgathering was suddenly interrupted by a voice over the plane’s intercom system.

“Meine Damen und Herren, we are approaching Thurmond International Airport and will begin our descent shortly. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing.”

“Amazing!” This was Joachim Weber, Heinrich’s assistant who was in the next seat. “Berlin to Omaha in four hours! I know we’ve had these planes in service for years, but it is still hard to believe.” Heinrich tended to think of Weber as a kid, even though he was nearly thirty years old, with medium length brown hair, glasses, and a frame that was too lanky to belong to a propaganda piece soldier. Yet another reminder that Heinrich was now firmly in middle age, about to turn fifty in a few months.

“Ja, but here we are. Any moment now we…” and with that, there was the signature sonic boom as the plane slowed. Heinrich made a gesture that showed content. “There we are. Super-sonic flight. Yet another marvel of German science engineering. The envy of the world.” Joachim nodded vigorously. There had been no hint of irony in Heinrich’s voice, regardless of what he felt inside.

***********************************************************

The Lufthansa airliner taxied to the terminal of Omaha’s main airport, nestled between the northeast side of the city center and the Missouri River. Unlike the stone grandeur of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, Strom Thurmond International Airport was all modern glass and steel, having been built in the 1990s as a tribute to the United States’ longest-serving president, whom the Freedom and Justice Party often referred to as “the savior of the American way.” Heinrich secretly scoffed at the notion. He didn’t know a lot about American history or politics, but he did know that Thurmond, who’d served legitimately as president in the late 1950s and early 1960s, had stepped in after the Reich had nuked Washington and set up a government eager to work with the German authorities. True, Thurmond’s quick action and compliance with the Greater German Reich had likely prevented wholesale destruction of America’s surviving cities, but he had let in and indeed eagerly worked with the SS in the liquidation of minorities and suppression of political enemies.

Off the plane and into the large, open terminal, where hundreds of passengers were coming and going. Omaha was not the transportation hub that Berlin was, but it did offer service across the continent, along with flights both to the Reich and the Empire of Japan. The crowd had a decent variety of people as well, again not quite what would have been seen at Tempelhof or Frankfurt, but still interesting to observe as Heinrich and his team came out of customs and went in search of their bags. Men in business suits, many with the red armband with the stylized white eagle that marked them as members of the ruling Freedom and Justice Party. Nearly as many men in some sort of uniform, some from the Reich, others from the US military or police, the styles clearly distinct yet foreign to Heinrich’s eye. Then there were the families heading off on vacation or other such non-official travel. There were even a few Japanese in the terminal, likely here on government business as well, or else representing one of many Japanese firms that did extensive business in America’s western states. Japan had not played as heavy a hand in the downfall of the United States during World War III, though it had taken Hawaii and had a naval base in San Diego for its trouble.

Bags grabbed, the team of analysts and policymakers exited the warmth of the terminal into the blistering cold of a Nebraska January. The sun was out at least, but the wind was sharp, and the piles of snow were visible all around the edges of the sidewalks. Heinrich heard the sound of ropes clanking against metal flag poles and looked up briefly. Instead of the blood-red swastika-bedecked banner he was used to seeing, Heinrich saw the American stars and stripes on one pole, with the red banner and white eagle on another: the national and party flags of the United States.

Looking back down and towards the waiting line of cars, he spotted two sleek black Mercedes parked, with two uniformed officials waiting. The group approached, and the uniformed men clicked into a salute. Heinrich and the others returned the gesture. Richard Altenburg, the grey-haired leader of the team from Berlin, began to speak.
“Guten Tag mein Herrn, I assume you are from the Embassy?”

One of the men standing by the car replied, “Yes sir. Herr Altenburg, I presume? If you and your colleagues will get in one of the two cars here, we will take you to the Reichsbotschaft. Ambassador Deichmann is expecting you.”

Altenburg nodded in satisfaction. “Sehr gut.” Then, turning to his team, “Let’s go gentlemen. Time to get out of this cold.” With that, they all piled into the vehicles and were off, headed into Omaha proper. Heinrich had seen pictures of America’s former capital, Washington, with its ornate Greco-roman buildings of power that had been obliterated in World War III. Omaha was nothing like that vanished city. From what Heinrich had read, the Federal government and the Reich occupation authorities had taken over a large portion of the north side of Omaha’s downtown, and although built in an imposing style that looked authoritative, it was in the grim austerity common in the 1970s, all concrete, metal, and glass with straight lines and almost no ornamentation. The small motorcade made its way past two-and-three-story government offices on the outskirts of the city center, then turned on a street called “Andrew Jackson Boulevard,” apparently one of the main thoroughfares of the city. Here the buildings grew larger and more important looking, but still just as auster. Heinrich tried to read signs as the vehicles whirred past. “Department of Health.” “Department of State.” “Department of Justice.” Quickly, a much larger building with stream-lined columns and decorative eagles and stars emerged on the right-hand side of the road. The American capitol building, where their Congress passed laws largely pre-determined in the building that sat far opposite of the capitol on the other side of a large park (Freedom Park, a sign declared, the Executive Palace. Built in a style similar to that of the rest of the government district, three stories tall and home of the executive offices of the president along with the private residence on the third floor.

The motorcade passed the palace, and a much larger park, Justice Park, emerged from behind the residence of the American president. More government bureaus lined both sides of this park, along with several embassies. Most notably, the Reichsbotschaft towered at the far end of the open space, with swastika clearly visible atop the central tower. The visual symbolism of where power in the city really lay was obvious. The German imperial embassy complex had a footprint as large as the American capital building, if not larger, and was much taller and more imposing. It oversaw not only the formal relationship between the Reich and the occupied nation, but also the military units at bases across the continent and the concentration camps still maintained by the SS (though several of those had been shut down and the SS presence curtailed after the failed 2012 Putsch). In a few short moments, the motorcade was inside the compound and the team from Berlin ushered inside and shown their rooms. Heinrich looked out the window and took in the view: a medium-sized, sprawled out city. Outside the government district, there were a few small and medium-sized highrise business and apartment towers, factories, and the slow sprawl of the suburbs, all coated in snow. It was a sunny day today, but it was supposed to snow tomorrow. All in all, it was rather underwhelming. He knew America still boasted a few cities of impressive size, though mostly they were looking on the shabby side fifty years after the defeat at the hands of the Reich. There was New York City, which had been rebuilt as a model city of modernity by Albert Speer himself. Heinrich had only seen pictures, but they were indeed impressive. Omaha, on the other hand...Heinrich sighed. Gott im Himmel, I hope this goes fast. Berlin might be the beating heart of the terrifying, anti-semitic Nazi empire, but at least it was a real city.

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Alicia Gimpel looked out the window at the snow-covered countryside from her train window. In the middle-distance, she could easily see the white-capped peaks of the Alps rising up, with the rolling hills of Bavaria filling in the gap. Here and there the picturesque villages with their church spires popped up to give flavor to the view. Alicia’s train was halfway through its three-hour journey from Munich to Zurich. She’d just spent three days in Munich visiting her dear friend Anna, recently married and living in Germany’s second city with her husband Bernard, an engineer at BMW. The wedding had been in Berlin the summer before, but Alicia had not been able to get away since to visit, with mounting coursework at Friedrich Wilhelm University.

At the thought of Anne’s wedding, Alicia looked down at the engagement ring on her own finger. Gottlieb Stutzman had proposed when he, his sister Anna, their mothers, and herself had all traveled to Paris a year and a half ago. It had been quite the romantic gesture, at the base of the Eiffel Tower. It had annoyed her to no end that everyone else on the trip, even Anna, had known what was going to happen. She’d said yes, of course. She’d been fond of Gottlieb for years, a crush that had developed as she’d become a teenager and bloomed into romance when she’d turned 18, he being 24 and out of university a few years, working at Zeiss Computing, the firm his own father Walther had worked at until his death just a few years before. She’d been overjoyed at the proposal. They’d agreed that they’d wait to marry until she finished her studies, likely to be in the coming Fall, after the journey she now found herself on was over.

As the train headed southwest, it was carrying her out of the Reich for only the second time in her life, to go and study for a semester at the University of Zurich. She was both thrilled and terrified. Switzerland had long been an enigma for most Germans. Bergfestung Schweiz, many called it. Mountain Fortress Switzerland. The Swiss had maintained their independence during the Second World War, and in the decades that followed had closed itself off as a mechanism of survival, which had intensified after the United States went down in nuclear fire in the Third World War in the 1970s. Germany had largely been content to allow the Swiss their freedom, so long as they didn’t harbor fugitives from the Germanic Empire. Travel to the isolated mountain nation for Germans had been heavily limited, mostly for the families of the party and military elite. If you were an average German and had a hankering for skiing, the Bavarian Alps did just fine, or the Italian Alps if you had a yearning to be somewhere foreign.

At least, that is how things had operated until Heinz Buckliger had taken power, now nearly a decade ago. A year after the failed SS putsch, Buckliger had traveled to Bern and met with the Swiss to discuss more open travel and trade. Part of that had been an opening of study opportunities for Germans. And so, Alicia was now one of hundreds of German students being allowed to study in Zurich, Bern, and Geneva. It was an honor, truly, and spoke well of her skill as a scholar. Aunt Suzzanna had been bursting with pride when she’d heard the good news, and momma and poppa had been excited as well, though they were much more nervous than they let on, and for more than one reason.

On the surface, their oldest daughter would be living in a foreign country, hundreds of miles from home. This would give any parent anxiety. But the worry went much deeper than that. Alicia, who’d become captivated with history as she grew up, had taken the relatively risky step for a Jew and had started studying religious history. As far as the paperwork was concerned, she was a scholar of the Lutheran Reformation. But wherever she could, she looked for the story of her own people. Often such facts had to be omitted from the scholarly work she’d written, but she’d still gained the knowledge and hoped she could share that with her family and future children when the time came. Her parents worried that she was exposing herself and possibly the family as a whole, but she’d been insistent. We have to learn, or relearn, what we can, before things are lost for good, Alicia thought to herself many times and had made the argument with her parents and others in their circle as well. With the era of reform that Buckliger had ushered in, she and a few of the other Jews in their circle had, for the first time since 1933, hope that there might indeed be light at the end of the tunnel, if only a dim light.

She glanced down at her lap, where a copy of the Munich newspaper looked back up at her. The President of the Reichstag, Reinhold Detweiler (who’d replaced Rolf Stolle after the latter had died three years ago), had made another speech calling on the passage of the so-called Grand Reform Bill that the NSDAP reform wing had introduced last fall. The plan was sweeping: revive the position of Reichskanzler, taking power from Fuhrer (not making the leader a figurehead, but creating a check on that office’s power). Mandating elections every five years for the Reichstag and a ten-year term for the position of Fuhrer. Political guarantees regarding speech, press, and expression (not being called “free speech,” but definitely a gentle nudge in that direction). It wasn’t just reform. It was revolutionary. The conservative wing of the Party was against it, and the Deutsches Nationalpartei, the only legally recognized opposition party, was split. Buckliger was remaining quiet.

Alicia knew that many people had doubts that the reform bill would be passed, at least in full. That it was being debated at all was, in her mind, even more important. The winds of change that Herr Buckliger had begun a decade ago kept blowing. Whether or not the Reich would be able to withstand these changes was an open question. Alicia certainly had her doubts, but tried to limit such hopes.

***********************************************************

As the train continued along, the mountains in the middle-distance grew ever larger. Then the train slowed as it came to Lindau, on the shore of Lake Constance, and then stopped. They’d arrived at the border. Discussions between the Reich’s foreign ministry and their Swiss counterpart, in addition to discussions between Deutsche Reichsbahn and Swchweizerbahn, had been ongoing to work out a more elegant solution to a border check, but since rail travel between Germany and Switzerland was still relatively light, trains just stopped at the border to allow for customs check. It added at least a half-hour to the journey, but officialdom demanded that the forms be done. In triplicate.

A German border patrolman came through, checking everyone’s exit papers. Alicia handed hers to him.

“Purpose for departing the Reich, fraulein?” the official asked.

“Education. I will be studying at the University of Zurich, for the semester.”

The man raised his eyebrow in surprise. Not many German students were studying in Switzerland, and of those, very few were women. “And what, may I ask, are you studying?”

“I am looking into the history of the Protestant Reformation, making comparisons between the Lutheran movement in the Reich and the Calvinist movement in Switzerland. It is part of my research at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. It should be there in the papers.”

“And so it is, fraulein. I just wanted to confirm. Safe journey and good luck with your scholarship.” With that, he handed the papers back and continued on through the car. A short time later, the train slowly moved again, but only for a short while before it again came to a stop. A voice came over the intercom.

“Meine Damen und Herren, willkommen in die Schweiz. Please standby for Swiss customs officials to come aboard for their inspection.”

The aforementioned customs officials came aboard, working nearly as efficiently as their German counterparts had a short time before. Again, when she handed her papers to the new official, she got an odd look when the man read her papers.

“A lady scholar eh? We don’t see many of those coming from the Reich.”

“We do exist, mein Herr. Maybe not in my grandparent’s time, and still not as common among my parent’s generation, but plenty of us young ladies fulfill both our national socialist duty and also further German scholarship these days.” Inwardly, Alicia cringed at having to throw around the party rhetoric. But she had been playing the part for a decade now, and despite her belief things might change in her lifetime, they hadn’t changed enough yet for her to drop the mask in public.

“I meant no offense of course. Women have had full legal equality in the Confederation for years. Both my mother and my grandmothers were university educated. My aunt is a professor in Bern.” With that, he handed back the papers. “All is in order, Frau Gimpel. Enjoy your stay in Switzerland.”

Once the train began moving again, it wasn’t long before it had resumed full speed and in what felt like no time, the train pulled in to Zurich Station. Alicia gathered her things and headed out onto the crowded platform. The station was noticeably smaller than the one in Munich, to say nothing of the monstrous South Station in Berlin, but still bustled about and acted as though it were as important as those larger affairs. The crowd seemed odd to Alicia, and it took a moment before she realized why. No uniforms! Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Grey-clad policemen in crowned caps that seemed of the wrong shape stood discretely about, but that was it, other than the one or two German officials that had also departed from Alicia’s train. In the Reich, it seemed as though nearly everyone had some sort of uniform. Not so here. Gone too, of course, were the swastikas and eagles. She normally didn’t notice them at home, since they were essentially everywhere you looked. In a few places, she saw the simple white cross on a red square, the flag of the Swiss Confederacy, but its use was much more modest and subdued than would have been done back in Germany. She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised. Switzerland was a democracy, after all, and did not practice much in the way of nationalism, from what she’d read. The articles she’d been given in preparation for this stay had indicated that what Swiss nationalism existed came about largely as a result of the country having to close itself off and defend itself from the Reich.

After glancing around a moment more, she grabbed her bags and headed out in the direction of the exit. Her letter from the university stated that a special car would be sent to pick her up, and that she would be met outside the station, so out she went. On her way, she saw a newsstand, and was momentarily distracted by all the different options. It wasn’t as if there wasn’t plenty of reading material at a similar stand in Germany. But there, all the press usually came from Germany. It was very hard to get ahold of papers or magazines from outside the Reich, even those produced in the larger Germanic Empire. Here, there were periodicals from not only Switzerland, but across Europe and the world at large. She saw copies of the Omaha Eagle, the Rio Daily Standard, and the Tokyo Sun. She was tempted to buy a few, just to see what foreign papers looked like and said. She decided to wait, however. After all, she would be here for months. There would be plenty of time to explore the freedoms Switzerland had to offer.

But then that thought gave her pause. Could she really indulge in such things? Surely she would be monitored. Her father had told her he was certain of it, and to be extra careful. The SS might have been taken down a peg or two after the putsch eight years ago, but it still functioned, and it was bound to have operatives in Switzerland keeping an eye on German nationals. Granted, their power would be limited while she was there, but once she returned she could be in big trouble if she crossed the wrong line. Or they could go after her family even before she returned to Germany. The thought gave her knots in her stomach. She would have to watch herself carefully. Still, despite this, she was filled with exhilaration at the realization that she was truly out of Germany and out of the Empire for the first time, ready for a new view of the world.

The letter had been correct. She found a woman in a simple grey dress suit holding up a sign with the logo of the university and her name on it. Alicia waved and approached.
“Guten Tag! I’m Alicia Gimple.”

“Welcome Alicia! A pleasure to meet you,” the woman said, as she put down the sign and put out her hand to shake Alicia’s. “I am Inge Ritter. I work with the university’s Foreign Student Office. I’m here to take you to the campus and show you to your dormitory.”

“Wonderful to meet you, Frau Ritter. And thank you for meeting me. I am so happy to be here.”

With that, the woman from the university helped Alicia put her bags in the trunk of the car, and the two got inside. Frau Ritter got behind the wheel and soon had her and Alicia weaving through traffic. Alicia stared out the window, taking in the city, as her one-woman welcoming committee pointed out various sites as they traversed Zurich.

------------------------------------------------------------

Lise Gimpel looked up from her book as the phone rang. It was mid-day and not a time that Heinrich was likely to call. With the time difference between Berlin and Omaha, he usually called early in his morning, which was another three or four hours away. He also didn’t call every day, as his schedule was rather demanding, with long meetings with the various American officials from their foreign ministry...no, State Department, they call it, for whatever reason..and their treasury. It wasn’t likely to be Alicia either. She called in the evenings, almost daily, for the past week since she’d arrived in Zurich. Must be Francesca then. Her middle child was in her second semester at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, where she lived just off-campus in a little flat with one of her friends. Starting this summer, Lise and Heinrich would officially have the house to themselves, once Roxanne went off to the Bund Deutscher Madel camp.

“Bitte.” Lise said into the phone receiver.

“Tag Mutti!” Francesca said on the other end.

“Hallo liebschen! Wie gehts?” Lise asked, giving her daughter her full attention.

“I had a free moment between classes and I thought I’d call you. I was wondering if you knew when Papa is going to come back from America?”

“I’m not sure sweetheart. It could be another few weeks.” She couldn’t elaborate more, not on the phone, but the talks were dragging on and Heinrich seemed worried. He’d said before he left that the Americans were apt to refuse to really negotiate, or if they did it wouldn’t matter since they’d be electing a new president in less than a year and all signs indicated the election of a non-fascist for the first time since the Third World War, at which point all bets were off as to what would come next.

“Schade! I want to bring a few friends home to meet you and Papa both!” Francesca said, with a complaining tone in her voice.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. He’s there at the request of the Fuhrer. He’ll be home when he’s home and not a moment before.”

“I know, Mutti, and really that’s so exciting that he’s over there doing what he’s doing. I just hope it doesn’t take too much longer.” Lise wasn’t sure if that was protective coloration or genuine admiration for her father going on a mission for Herr Buckliger. Probably a bit of both, to be honest, Lise thought.

“Well you could always bring your friends to meet Roxanne and I. In fact I’d love to meet your friends from the Uni. We’ve heard so much but have yet to meet anyone.”

“Well, I might. I just wanted them to meet everyone at once.”

“Well, they can’t actually meet everyone right now, even if your father was home, since Alicia is out of the country until the summer, and then Roxanne will be off to the BDM camp.”

“Well, that’s true. I suppose we can do that then. How does next Saturday sound?”

“Wonderful liebschen.” Lise paused a moment, before diving into the question that had been lingering at the tip of her tongue for the entire conversation. “And is there anyone special in this group of friends?”

“Oh momma! Don’t be ridiculous!” Francesca sounded quite indignant. But Lise’s motherly instincts thought she heard a faint sound of someone trying too hard to cover the truth.

“Don’t “oh momma” me. You’re a young woman away at University. If you didn’t have multiple suitors by now I’d be worried.” Lise did worry, but not in a way that she’d say over the phone.

“Really mother, you’re too much sometimes,” Francesca said with a laugh. “I’ll phone later and we can set the details. I look forward to seeing you.”

“Auf wiedersehen, Mutti!”

“Auf wiedersehen sweetheart. Have a good day.” Francesca was already off the phone, and Lise returned the receiver to its cradle.

***********************************************************

“...debate begins tomorrow on the Grand Reform Bill, according to a statement from Reichstag President Detweiler’s office issued earlier today. Herr Detweiler and a majority of the National Socialist Party seem to remain in full support of this plan, but with the anti-Reformists within the Party, along with lack of support from many DNP members, it remains to be seen if the proposed to changes will pass, and there has yet to be any word from the Fuhrer’s palace.”

The picture on Lise’s televisor screen changed suddenly from Horst Witzleben’s photogenic good looks to that of Reinhold Detweiler, the head of the Reichstag, who was younger than either Witzleben or Detweiler’s parliamentary predecessor, Rolf Stolle. On-screen, Detweiler was speaking to reporters, saying, “This bill is necessary for the continued growth and prosperity of the Reich. If Hitler’s National Socialist vision is to continue, if our nearly nine decades of expansion and power are to really stand the test of time, we have to change, or otherwise we will wither on the vine.”

Lise wondered about that. On the one hand, she supported the reform, which would essentially open things up for a real democracy, after a fashion. On the other hand….Gott im Himmel, do I really want the Reich to go on? She also wondered whether Detweiler was right. Could this reform really let the Nazi Reich continue on as Hitler had envisioned? Lise, like a lot of Jews in Berlin and elsewhere, doubted it. If true democracy took hold, how long before the people ripped fascism to pieces? And where was the problem with that, Lise thought to herself.

Detweiler had disappeared from the screen, as had Witzleben. An ad from a travel company trying to convince people to travel to Switzerland was on, showing the skiing and the breathtaking views from the Interlaken region. Lise thought of Alicia. She wished her eldest daughter hadn’t been so insistent on studying abroad. Any parent would worry about their child being out of the country for an extended period. But Bergfestung Schweiz? A country that had remained closed to most Germans since the Second World War? Alicia would be under heightened scrutiny, and that was enough to make any citizen of the Reich nervous, let alone the handful of hidden Jews. But she’d been so excited about the offer from Universität Zurich, and Heinrich had been supportive, as had Gottlieb, not to mention Susanna. Alicia was twenty now, and no longer a kind, not really. That didn’t stop a mother’s worry.

***********************************************************

“Liebschen!” Lise called out as her middle daughter came in the front door, followed by four of her university friends. She hugged her daughter and gave a small kiss on the cheek, despite her slightly embarrassed look.

“Hello Mutti, it’s so good to see you!”

“You too dear. And who are these fine-looking young people?” Lise asked, motioning to Francesca’s friends.

“This is Viktoria,” Francesca said, motioning to a pretty blonde woman closest to her. “This is Marta,” the brunette just behind Viktoria, “This is Georg,” the shorter blond man next to Marta, “and this is Helmut,” the taller brown-haired young man at the back of the group.

“Welcome all of you, it’s so good to have you here. Come in and make your self at home.”

“Mutti, where is Roxanne?”

“She’s in the kitchen. She’s been helping me.” At that comment, Lise’s middle daughter made a dubious face.

“Are you trying to poison my friends?” Francesca asked, with mock concern.

“Oh quastch!” Lise exclaimed. “Roxanne isn’t that bad.” Francesca and her friends chuckled. “Besides, she’s mostly been helping me chop and things like that.” Lise winked at Francesca.

Roxanne was a great help in the kitchen, but the few times she’d begged to be allowed to cook for the family on her own had been...well disastrous was probably too unkind a word, but it was what leaped to the front of Lise’s mind just then.

In short order, everyone, Roxanne included, was seated around the table in the dining room, filling their plates with schnitzel, spaetzle, and potato salad. Beer flowed freely among the group. Francesca and her friends took turns telling stories about the professors they liked and hated, who was dating who (and who was sleeping with who), and all the other drama of university life. It made her nostalgic for her own university days, more than half a lifetime ago now. So strange, she thought to herself, it seems like just yesterday that I was where Francesca was. But here I am, solidly middle-aged, and to these young people, I probably seem ancient.

She watched her daughter interact with her friends. If she recalled correctly, Marta and Georg were involved but not yet “super serious,” according to her daughter. Marta was also Francesca’s roommate. They’d met during her daughter’s time at the BDM camp doing her year of service. Viktoria was another Jew that was a part of their family’s circle in Berlin, though not from a family that the Gimpel’s were particularly close to. Helmut was Georg’s friend, but Lise had her suspicion that Francesca had a crush on him, and made a note that she’d have to ask her daughter about it sooner or later, preferably sooner. If Francesca chose love, she could marry a goy, but it meant boxing up her Jewishness for good. Lise had had a childhood friend do that, but she hoped her own daughter wouldn’t go that route. It would be hard for the whole family.

***********************************************************

The next day, Lise took the train from Stahnsdorf to old Potsdam for a book club she attended at one of the bookstores there. Ever since the kinder had entered their teenage years, and now that two of them were off at university, she’d been spending more and more time out of the home. She’d found the book club several years ago while out shopping one day, visiting Potsdam instead of going into Berlin for a change of pace. Whereas Berlin had been completely remade in the Nazis’ image after the victorious end of the Second World War, Potsdam had been largely left alone, albeit restored to a “former glory” that likely never really existed. Still, she liked the slower pace than the Hauptstadt, the air of a history much older than the current regime. The palaces of the old Kaiserreich were wonderful to visit, and of course, the gardens were wonderful...in summer. In mid-January, she would stick to the bookstore and other places indoors.

Winkler’s Bookshop was just a short walk from the Brandenburg capitol building on the central drag in Potsdam. The shop was a medium-sized affair that went back a short way, and also bosted a small second floor. It smelled of old paper, which Lise found comforting. Upon entering, the regular weekend clerk Ingrid looked up from the magazine she was reading.

“Guten Tag, Frau Gimpel,” she said with a smile, “Monika, Peter, and Heike are already upstairs. I hope you’ve enjoyed your book this month.”

“I did rather, thank you, Ingrid.” And with that, she went upstairs and found her group.

A few other members arrived after Lise, and then Andreas Albrecht, the group’s leader, got the discussion going. They’d just finished a new novel from an English author living in Frankfurt who’s mystery novels were becoming quite popular. This one, in particular, had been interesting as it was set in a world where the Kaiserreich had won the First World War. Unlike her eldest daughter, Lise wasn’t as interested in history, but she loved mysteries. She’d been surprised with this novel and how the author had written a believable alternate 1940s, with France falling to fascism and the dashing German agent having to thwart the French version of the Gestapo. She planned on recommending the book to Alicia when they talked in the next day or so.

Most of the group enjoyed the book, except Heike Engel. She was the oldest in the group, and from what Lise had gathered her politics and general outlook on life leaned more conservative. “Having Germany win the First World War is all well and good sounding, but that means it would likely still be full of Jews. And I kept finding myself wanting to root for the French agent who’s trying to uphold law and order...before I remembered he was French, and that just left me all flummoxed.”

Monika Brandt countered, saying, “I think that the setting wasn’t what was most important here, but the story. You have a dashing Aryan agent working to thwart a plot against his friends.”

“Yes, but this still feels almost subversive.” Heike looked almost worried.

“Subversive, surely not!” Andreas exclaimed, and several others nodded agreement. “The Propaganda Ministry wouldn’t let something like that be published, and neither would the Education Ministry.” Those were generally the two overlapping agencies that oversaw publishing the Greater German Reich.

“Oh I don’t know,” said Peter, “A few years ago that history of Hitler’s early life got published that was later banned because it actually was subversive.”

“Yes but that was a political matter. Someone at the Propaganda Ministry was trying to push the boundaries on purpose now that the Fuhrer and others are serious about reform, and pushed too far.”

“I bet whoever did that is in a camp now, and serves him right.” That was Heike again. Lise tried not to show her inner disgust at the comment. Times had changed, but not everyone was okay with that, and Heike Engel regularly reminded her of that. Still, most of the group’s discussions were enjoyable.

When she returned home later that afternoon, she saw that she had a message left on her answering machine. It was from Heinrich.

“Lise darling, I’m sorry I missed you. I just wanted to let you know that they’ve extended my trip by a few more weeks. I can’t go into the details, but it looks like I will be getting a tour around the country to our different sites and seeing how they contribute to everything. I’ll call again tomorrow once I have the exact return date nailed down. Love you.”
Lise sighed. She was proud of her husband and his recent professional success, but she missed having him home.

Eckener · Mar 12, 2020

Gregory Fontenoy sat at his desk, standing guard over Senator Jack Pembrook’s outer office. It was a busy couple of weeks, which Gregory both looked forward to and dreaded. The senator (and by extension, Fontenoy) would be escorting delegates from the Reich to various locations across the country in an attempt to show how the United States could not afford to pay any more than they already were. It would be quite the whirlwind: Reich military bases outside Chicago and St. Louis; SS bases in the South; San Diego and a meeting with Japanese officials stationed there; and New York City, the show-case of Albert Speer’s post-War redesign. It would be a grueling two weeks, but necessary work. Pembrook was a reformist FJP man from New York, and had been a quiet voice for strengthening the Union for years. The press often referred to him as the Father of the Reformers. Privately...very privately...Fontenoy wondered if that mattered. Freedom and Justice had lost control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the party’s founding in the aftermath of World War III, and they’d only maintained control of the Senate by two seats. Despite official efforts to quietly suppress such talk in the news, many Americans were expecting an anti-FJP sweep in November. The House, the Senate, and the Presidency. It was a crazy thing to imagine. When Fontenoy had been at university a decade ago, it would have been unimaginable. Hell, it would have been treasonous. But now it was reality.

It also meant that this whole circus with the team from Berlin might be pointless too. If the New Federalists or the Liberty Party took the presidency after the election in the fall, in all likelihood the Reich and the USA would be headed for a showdown over future tribute payments. And while Buckliger talked loudly about wanting to continue to ease up on the United States, from what the Senator’s contacts in Berlin had made clear, the Wehrmacht would not stand for a strong independent America. And whereas the SS coup in 2012 had failed, a military coup in 2021 was liable to succeed.

All this woolgathering vanished in an instant as his desk phone rang.

“Senator Pembrook’s office, Gregory Fontenoy speaking.” The man on the other end replied in German, and Fontenoy automatically switched gears.

“Ja, Herr Nollert. The itinerary you sent over will work for us. The Senator already approved it. We should be meeting your delegation tomorrow at the airport. Wonderful. See you then.”

Phone back in its cradle, Gregory went back to planning.

**********

The next day, as promised, he and the senator and half a dozen other Americans were gathered in the VIP lounge at Thurmond International, waiting for the German delegation from Berlin. Precisely on time, the uniformed men from Berlin strode in, six of them in total, plus their security detail. The Americans subtly stiffened, as if coming to attention. Senator Pembrook stepped forward to greet Deputy Minister Altenburg.

“Herr Altenburg, a pleasure as always,” the senator said, clicking heels slightly and offering the traditional salute. The German returned the gesture.

“Danke schoen, Senator. Gehen wir jetzt?”

“Ja, naturlich. Das Flugzeug ist hier und wir sind bereit,” the senator replied, and gestured to the smaller government jet waiting on the tarmac. Altenburg nodded in approval, and he and the other Germans began walking toward the door leading out to the awaiting aircraft, the Americans following suit.

A younger man from the group of Germans found Gregory.

“Herr Fontenoy, I presume? I am Joachim Weber, assistant to Chief Analyst Heinrich Gimpel. We’ve spoken on the phone.”

“Ah, Herr Weber, a pleasure to meet you in the flesh.” He meant that too. Weber might not be the Aryan superman specimen that often lurked at the Reichsbotschaft in Omaha, but he had a face that caught Gregory’s attention, as much as he wished it didn’t. It would be a distraction.

“You as well. Do you know what we should expect on today’s travel?”

“Well, we should be in St. Louis within an hour. The local mayor is probably going to roll out the red carpet, meeting us along with the Wehrmacht commander from Fort Wilhelm. Formal reception tonight at the historic old courthouse adjacent to the Westward Expansion Memorial, then meetings tomorrow and a tour of the base, and then off to San Diego the next day.”

“Will we get to go and tour the memorial? I’ve seen pictures, and Saarinen’s gateway looks most impressive.”

“I’ll speak with the senator, but I’m sure that can be arranged. At least a brief photo opportunity if nothing else.” The four-pronged square gate that stood facing the Mississippi River was truly a sight to behold, and one of the more treasured pre-war landmarks in that part of the country, and was the symbol of St. Louis.

The two delegations chatted politely during the short hop southeast to America’s fourth-largest city. Being from New York, Gregory was always underwhelmed by any other city save Berlin, but objectively he knew it wasn’t small, and there was more there there than in Omaha. He knew that Germans stationed in America’s capital considered it a hardship posting. Not out of actual physical hardship or danger, but out of sheer boredom. The feeling was well understood, but his career had taken him there, to the seat of power on the continent, and so Omaha was now as much his home as Manhattan. The city they approached on the Mississippi River would be a nice change of scenery if nothing else.

The senator’s conversation with the two leaders of the Germans pulled him out of his woolgathering.

“So Herr Gimpel,” Pembrook began, “what has been your impression of America so far? This is your first trip here, correct?”

The middle-aged Gimpel, even lankier than his assistant, Weber, cleared his throat and began to reply. “Yes senator, this is my first time across the Atlantic. It’s...well I know Omaha isn’t representative of the whole country, so I am excited to get out and see a bit more. The people seem friendly. More so than the French.” The others on the plane chuckled. That was a fair enough answer, Gregory thought.

“Well, I can’t wait to show you New York next week. Omaha is a one-horse town by comparison.” That comment earned even more hearty laughter, mainly from the Americans.
“I am looking forward to it. I’ve read a lot about the city, and Speer’s rebuilding efforts there after the war.”

“Yes, the Reich has always made sure to keep world-important cities going in the end. Just look at London or Paris, like New York they are phoenixes rising from ash.” Again, nods all around, though inwardly Gregory grimaced a little. Paris might have been spared the worst wrath of the Reich during the Second World War, but London? London was a shadow of its former self, and everyone knew it. Between the blitz and the 1970 uprising, and just an overall lack of funds, London was largely a has-been. Though it was doing better these days than Washington or Philadelphia or Boston or the half-dozen other cities in North America that were still restricted military zones nearly half a century after they’d been consumed in nuclear fire. Gregory had been to the Washington Exclusion Zone once with the senator, and the site had awed and horrified him, the slagged ruins under fifty years of decay and natural reclamation.

Just then, the pilot came over the intercom: “Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would please take your seats and buckle your seatbelts, we will be landing shortly in St. Louis.”

Eckener · Apr 19, 2020

Heinrich Gimpel looked around the banquet, situated in the grand rotunda of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis. It was...quaint. That’s not fair, I suppose. It is an impressive building, for its time and place, Heinrich thought. He’d read on some of the plaques that parts of the building dated back to the 1830s, and that the present structure, and in particular the dome, dated from the 1860s. Older than the German nation, in some respects, Heinrich mused. But for a man who worked practically next door to Berlin’s Great Hall, any other domed structure paled in comparison.

Still, the St. Louis Mayor and the Missouri Governor had done their best to make the space impressive. American and German national flags draped the sides of the space. Special lighting was also being used to set the mood. A US Army band played a mix of waltzes, mellow swing music, and other such tunes that befitted a state occasion. The room at the bottom of the rotunda was filled with uniformed German and American dignitaries. The speeches had been over for a while, for which Heinrich was very grateful. The Americans were trying to put their best foot forward, and spoke about American-German partnership, the strength of the Aryan race, and all the other usual folderal that one expected at such an event. The German officials were similarly pat in their comments. Even General Schneider, the head of Wehrmacht’s North American Plains Army, had given a bland speech about the might of Germanic peoples the world over in their continued struggle against non-Aryan threats. The conversations at his table were much more interesting, particularly with Senator Pembrook and his assistant, Herr Fontenoy.

“Senator, be honest with me, everything we hear about your upcoming election points to your party being tossed out of power. What then?” Heinrich asked, truly curious.
“Well Herr Gimpel, I won’t sugar coat it like some of my colleagues in the Senate might. The reforms began by the Fuhrer have continued to ripple through this nation, and I think we are looking at the return of political pluralism in the United States.”

“I believe I read in the Omaha Eagle that your colleague from New York, Senator Trump, believes that the FJP will keep hold of the Senate this year. Do you agree?”

Pembrook chuckled, and Heinrich was fairly certain he exchanged an eye-roll with his assistant. “Don has long been good at believing what he wants despite realities on the ground. Back when he was Mayor of New York City he was able to bring about what he wanted on sheer strength of will. That doesn’t really translate into the Senate. The New Federalists will likely take the Senate in November, I’m afraid. Though they’d be better than the Liberty Party. Those bastards are outright radical, and I think they’ll do more harm than good.”

“Why not ban the Liberty Party then?” Heinrich asked, in what he would privately describe as “professional mode.” Personally he wished the Liberty Party luck, as they were truly fighting for democracy, but in his current job, he couldn’t show that.

“If this were another time, Herr Gimpel, we would. But those times seem to be fast evaporating. If we are going to continue to maintain the public’s support of national socialist principles at all, we have to find ways for the minority opposition to vent off steam.”

“True enough, I suppose. We are seeing that at home, after a fashion. But the DNP is just a political vehicle for the military. It’s not that different from the NSDAP, when you get down to it.”

The Senator looked thoughtful. “Time will tell. It is my hope that giving some semblance of choice will renew and strengthen the state and allow American National Socialism to reinvent itself and continue on for generations to come. Otherwise, we stagnate and cannot survive.”

Heinrich nodded agreement at that. Indeed, that was essentially the line Buckliger and Stolle and other Nazi reformers had been saying for the past eight years following the failed coup. This upcoming American election would likely be a real test of that, even more so than the debate around the Grand Reform Bill back home. It made him both excited and very nervous. On the one hand, for the first time since he found out he was a Jew, Heinrich thought it just might be possible that, if not in his own lifetime, then certainly that of his children, Jews might once again be able to live freely. At a certain point, the reforms would become too much for the Nazi state and it would collapse. He was sure of that. On the other hand, such collapse could be quite violent, and what emerged on the other side of it might be just as bad. As the senator had said, only time would tell.

**********

The next day was a visit to Fort Wilhelm, which lay about fifteen kilometers west of Saint Louis. This was one of the larger Wehrmacht Bases in the United States, and home to at least twenty thousand soldiers, only smaller than the bases at New York City and Los Angeles. Heinrich had been mildly fascinated by the drive out to the base, seeing the urban and suburban American landscape that was subtly different from that of Omaha, and vastly different from anything he was used to in Germany. The apartment blocks of Saint Louis gave way to the suburban single-family dwellings, most of which dated from before the Third World War. Heinrich suspected that not much had changed in some of these communities that had been white-only long before the Reich’s racial policies were imposed on the United States.

He also caught sight of some iconic Americana - the golden arches of one of the country’s most popular fast-food chains, one of the few to survive the war largely intact. Heinrich hadn’t had the chance to sample it yet, but had already been told it lived up to everything Germans thought of when the envisioned greasy American food. He’d also seen several of the Uncle Willie’s establishments already. The chain delivered decent approximations of German food, and was generally popular anywhere near Wehrmacht bases, but, from what Heinrich had heard, they were spreading across the US and becoming quite popular. He made a mental note to try one when they got back to Omaha if he had the chance.

The fort itself was largely what he’d expected to find. Sprawling, full of the machinery of war, and plenty of swastika banners to remind the locals of who had won the war half a century before. The imagery wasn’t subtle either, though when was fascist iconography ever subtle? The main gate had a towering Germanic Eagle above it, it’s wings stretching to cover the entire gate for both incoming and outbound traffic. Uniformed guards stood watch, and clicked to attention and saluted at the arrival of the motorcade of German and American officials. General Schneider gave them a quick overview tour. From what Heinrich could see, it was obvious that the Riech was still maintaining massive strength, even after the drawdown in forces that Buckliger had done after becoming Fuhrer. One of the main arguments that the Americans were pushing was that the Reich was keeping too large a force and that was why the yearly occupation assessment was, in their view, too high.

“General Schneider,” Heinrich began to ask, “Our American hosts here have continued to say that they envision their country as becoming an ally to the Reich, and as such the continued presence of so great an occupation force is unnecessary. What say you?”

The general paused for a moment before answering. Heinrich knew it was a tricky question, but one that he and his group had to ask. It was really at the heart of this whole mission. “Well, obviously I support the Fuhrer’s initial drawdown that he did almost a decade ago. We really did have too many soldiers here back then. To be frank, we had maintained essentially the same troop levels since the occupation began in 1971, and that was too high.”

“Yes of course. But can we afford to go lower? Can America really be an ally?” This was Heinrich’s boss, Richard Altenburg.

The general mulled his words carefully. “In some respects, yes, America has the potential to be more of an ally than merely an occupied nation. But it is a fine line, and frankly with the current political situation developing I am uncertain. The FJP make excellent partners. But who can say what will happen after this November’s election? As for the number of troops we have here, we would probably be safe with another reduction. We still have nearly 150,000 men under arms here, and the American military is nowhere near what it used to be.”

**********

Unlike Omaha or even Saint Louis, San Diego was quite a new and surprising experience. The weather was amazing, even for January, and it made Heinrich dread returning to Omaha all the more. It was also unlike any city Heinrich had ever visited, due in large part to the presence of the Japanese Naval Base located there. San Diego was a fusion of America and Japan. The neon signs on the buildings were written in both Japanese and English. Japanese eateries were as common as American ones (and he hadn’t seen a single Uncle Willies in his admittedly limited time in the city). The Japanese Consul in San Diego, Norio Hokama, was a middle-aged man, slightly greying at the temples, and taller than the average man from his country. He had greeted them at the airport and was now riding with Heinrich and his boss and their assistants in a limousine, giving a tour. Technically speaking, San Diego was just as much a part of the United States as Saint Louis. The reality of the situation was another matter. The entire city, along with a rather large ring of land surrounding it, was considered a special military district, and the Japanese had special jurisdiction. While locals retained their American citizenship, the city largely functioned as a Japanese colonial holding. Heinrich was fairly certain he saw the red-disk-on-white flag of the Japanese Empire more often than the Stars and Stripes since they’d arrived.

From the airport, they headed down Harbor Drive, and off to the right, they could see San Diego Harbor and all of the civilian and military ships that were going too and fro and also at anchor. There was constant activity. Before long, the small motorcade arrived at the Japanese Consulate, an impressive fifteen-story building built in the neo-traditional style popular in Japan, all glass and steel and mimicking an ancient pagoda. Unlike the more modest building in Omaha that housed the Japanese Embassy, the consulate in San Diego was all about power projection and reminding the locals of who really held power. Japanese soldiers in khaki uniforms came to attention as the entourage pulled into the compound. Heinrich and the rest of the German and American officials were quickly ushered inside. The main entry hall was a grand three-story atrium, decked out for the arrival of the delegation in both Japanese and German flags. At the far end of the hall was the golden chrysanthemum disk of the Japanese Emperor, and portraits of Emperor Akihito and his bride on either side. Heinrich noted that the photographs were at least a decade old. The aging ruler of the Japanese Empire was 86 years old, and there was a building rumor that he may abdicate in the near future.

The meeting with the consul and the senior staff from the naval base took place the next morning, in a grand conference room near the top of the consulate building, with a commanding view of the harbor and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The crux of the conversation was not all that different than what had occurred in Saint Louis: the cost of the occupation. There were some in the Reich that wondered whether or not Japan could share a greater cost, as a way to counterbalance a second draw-down in German forces. Heinrich favored this idea, as much as he could, but wasn’t sure the higher-ups could really stomach that. America was the Reich’s, not Japan’s.

Hokama sounded skeptical about such an idea, at any rate. “The imperial government is looking at similar draw-downs in occupied areas. There are nearly 60,000 soldiers, sailors, and pilots here in San Diego, and His Imperial Majesty, his son the Crown Prince, and senior government ministers all wish to reduce this in the coming years. Increasing our presence here is not possible.”

Heinrich tried not to make a face of disappointment. If Japan was wanting to draw-down too, the powers that be in the Wehrmacht would not want to do so as well.
“Are you not worried that such a draw-down will strengthen the United States?” This question came from Altenburg.

“It could be that such a thing might occur. But have you not spent the last half-century remaking America in your own image? Could America now be an ally, as Senator Pembrook and his allies propose?” Hokama gestured to the Americans at the table. Pembrook nodded at the consul, and then spoke up.

“That is exactly our hope, Consul Hokama. America is a different nation than it was in 1971. We can be a partner with the Reich, not an enemy.”

Altenburg did not look fully convinced, and neither was Henrich. Maybe if the FJP was totally in charge, the idea would sound more realistic. As it was, with the FJP poised to be out of power, Henrich worried that the new political movements might want to have America try and supplant the Reich. And no matter how he felt about that privately, as a Jew, his professional side knew that that was all too likely to lead to a devastating war.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eckener · Jan 4, 2021

Alicia Gimpel always found her weekend adventures away from the university campus fascinating. Sure, Zurich was tiny in comparison to either Berlin or Munich. But every time she took a walk, she felt like she’d entered a different world, all the more so since most of the Swiss in the city spoke German - after a fashion, though her first few days in the country she’d struggled to follow the Schwiizerdütsch dialect. Despite the fact that the Reich had dominated the continent for nearly ninety years, the German-speaking Swiss had steadfastly maintained the uniqueness of their version of the language. And that was just the tip of things. Every walk through the city made her feel as though she were living in the world of that book her mother had told her about, where the Kaiserreich had won the First World War, thereby preventing the Nazis a chance to come to power. The elections for the Swiss legislature were in a few months, and posters were everywhere, extolling the virtues of the various candidates. That was no longer unheard of in Germany, but with such limited options, the campaigns at home felt much more like the same old propaganda she’d seen since she was a child.

What she saw in Zurich, on the other hand, was entirely new. She gathered that the current majority in the Swiss Federal Assembly had become unpopular, and the signs for the opposition candidates baldly called out those in power. Even now, ten years after the reforms started by Buckliger, few “opposition” politicians would dare be so direct back home. And that was just the most obvious thing. She had quickly picked up on how open the locals were when discussing...well anything. There was never that hesitation, the calculation of what should be said aloud and what should be left in one's thoughts. Although this shouldn’t have been so surprising in a nation that not only guaranteed the right to free speech in law, but regularly defended and upheld that freedom in the courts, it still caught Alicia by surprise.

It might have been her imagination, but she felt as though people were friendlier here too. She regularly had people make eye contact and smile at her, which she couldn’t recall ever really happening back home in Berlin, where everyone seemed too intent on their own business to pay too much attention to others around them. Most Germans had walls around them to protect their thoughts and opinions from the Security Police. The Swiss had no such worries.

This was her third such weekend outing, and like the previous two, Alicia had started by visiting a local historic church. Her last two weekends had been spent exploring the neighborhoods around the university, staying on the eastern bank of the Limmat River. Today, she’d crossed over to the western bank, beginning her adventure at the Fraumunster Church, parts of which dated back nearly 1600 years. Although she’d seen more structurally impressive churches, being in a place that old always awed her, and this location, in particular, was important to her research into the Swiss Reformation.

After several hours there, where she took some preliminary notes that she could follow up on latter, along with a plethora of photographs, she headed out to explore the surrounding neighborhood, eating lunch in a lovely cafe on the Munsterhof and then finding her way to the old botanical gardens on Talstrasse, where she enjoyed seeing the old palm house and the Gessner Garden. It was no Tiergarten, but still a peaceful respite in the middle of the city, nestled on one side by the street and on the other by the Schanzengraben moat from the city’s old defenses.

Now, as the sun was heading lower in the sky and afternoon was starting to approach evening, she wandered up Lowenstrasse, planning on finding a streetcar stop before too long and making her way back across the Limmat to the university campus. As she crossed Nuschelerstrasse, she noticed an older church across the street, catty-corner to where she stood waiting for the walk signal. It puzzled her for several reasons. First, it hadn’t been marked on any of the maps of the city she’d reviewed, and it was clearly a historical building so the omission surprised her. Second, the architecture was quite unique compared to other churches she’d seen. More Mediterranean or even Arabian, which stood out when put next to the gothic-style churches so common in much of the city.

Curiosity piqued, she crossed to the other side of the street for inspection she noticed people going inside. At first, she assumed they were tourists, but then she noticed they were dressed more formally. Maybe there was a special ceremony going on, or a worship service? As she reached the far curb and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the church, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared up at the sign above the door. The Hebrew script was unmistakable. In smaller text, she saw the German sign saying “Lowenstrasse Jewish Synagogue and Cultural Center.”

She quickly became aware that it would be obvious to anyone nearby that she was staring - practically gaping - and that she didn’t need that attention. Alicia began to walk on, as slowly as she felt she could get away with, soaking up every detail she could. What she wouldn’t give to actually go in, or to even talk to the people entering. But she knew the Gestapo was likely to have agents keeping tabs on the German students in Switzerland. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she’d seen someone tailing her on a previous off-campus excursion. Reluctantly, she picked up her pace and headed down the street to see if she could find the nearest streetcar stop.

The entire way back to the university, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d seen. There must be some way she could get in there to talk to people without putting herself (and her family and friends back in the Reich) in danger. Maybe something with her research. She also wanted to call home and tell her mother or Gottlieb, but that was out of the question. She’d have to keep this discovery to herself until she went home this summer.

***********************************************************

As it turned out, she wouldn’t have to wait quite that long. The next day she got a call from Gottlieb with some exciting news: he was planning a visit to see her in April for the Easter holiday. This wasn’t an observed holiday in the Reich, but it was in Switzerland, and it was when Alicia’s university held its mid-term break.

“Oh Liebchen, that would be wonderful! I can’t wait to see you! I have so many things to talk to you about. Fascinating things.” That last bit had been a bit of code that the two of them had worked out, to imply anything that wouldn’t be okay to discuss on the telephone.

“I can’t wait to see you either and hear about everything you’ve seen and let you show me around the city. I’m sure it's beautiful.”

“It really is. Part of me will miss it when I come home I think.”

“Three months and I’ll be there with you. I’d come sooner, but the Foreign Ministry has a mountain of paperwork for me to go since I have no official business there, and it will probably take that long to get everything processed. That, and work has me swamped.” Although she couldn’t follow all the technical jargon, he’d explained before she left that Zeiss was working with the government on setting up a “super network” of most of the computers in Germany, something that had long been talked about but never before attempted. Gottlieb was on one of several teams working on the so-called “Großdeutches Net.” She was proud of him, and he was thrilled to be working on the team, but the workload was massive and she was honestly surprised he’d been able to get time off.

When she asked him about that, he replied, “I was too, but my boss has a soft spot for me, since he worked with my dad. That and he knows you’re off studying and feels quote ‘sorry for the separated love birds.’”

Alicia chuckled at that and also sighed. It had been the biggest drawback she’d seen to coming to Zurich to study, being separated from Gottlieb and the rest of her family. At times the long engagement they’d agreed to was frustrating too, but she was also glad of this opportunity. The internal conflict between her professional career and her personal feelings was strong at times.

Eckener · Mar 7, 2020

MaxGerke01 said:
So Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggert , Jim Baker and the rest did they generally break good or bad ?

Hmm. That is an interesting question. Lets take a look

Graham: Born 1918. Began his ministry in the 1940s. So he would still be doing this ITTL. Graham, despite his conservative political bent, would not have supported the Nazis racial politics. He wasn't in support of segregation and was in fact friendly with MLK. So, my guess would be that he either happens to be in a city that gets nuked, or he dies in a Nazi camp for refusing to become a mouthpiece for the new Thurmond government. It's possible that, fearing such action would anger too many people, that Graham is just placed under house arrest and prevented from speaking, depending on how light a hand the new government wants to take.

Roberts: Born 1918, ministry also started in the 1930s/40s. So, like Graham, he'd still be on this track ITTL. Like Graham, Roberts was also against segregation. My guess is that he'd probably be in the same camp (literally and figuratively) as Graham once the Nazis come to town. One might argue that, with the University and ministry "empire" more rooted in Tulsa, he *might* compromise to save his family and legacy and give lip-service to the regime.

Falwell: Born 1933, ministry started in the 1950s. One *could* make the argument that maybe he would go down a different path, but probably not. He was definitely racist, so assuming he survives the war, he supports the new regime and his ministry efforts receive monetary support.

Swaggert: Born 1935, ministry started in 1955. I'd imagine that he probably follows a similar path to Falwell (though I couldn't find much on his views on race so I'm basing that on the fact he grew up in Louisiana in the 1940s and 50s more than anything else).

Baker: Born 1940, started ministry in 1961. Again, I'd imagine that he follows a path similar to OTL, but he's still relatively young and unknown by 1971 when the hammer falls on the US. He was first working with Pat Robertson (b 1930). Again, can't find much on race itself for either of them, but I could see them going along with the regime. Blame the loss to the Nazis on godless liberalism, etc.

Eckener · Apr 6, 2020

Well. Here's half the list. It's bedtime now. Haha!

Orval Faubus - Has a political career similar in the broad strokes to what his career was OTL, including becoming governor of Arkansas in 1955, and continuing to serve until the mid-1960s, starting under President Kennedy, then under Thurmond, and ending under Humphrey. Left the governor’s mansion in 1967 after declining to run in 1966. In 1968 (or 1970), he is elected as Senator. Dies in DC on July 4, 1971.
Eldridge Cleaver - His life flows similarly to OTL, growing up in Los Angeles, where he will eventually become a Black Panther. Due to differing events, he does not go abroad in exile as OTL. Will initially help lead guerilla style attacks on the Nazis and the new Thurmond government after 1971. He is captured in 1976 and sent to a concentration camp in Georgia where he dies in early 1977.
Barbara Jordan - Elected to the Texas Senate as per OTL. Will still be in that office when the United States is nuked on July 4, 1971. She works for weeks afterward with fellow Democrats to try to lead a resistance, but the Texan government ultimately sides with Strom Thurmond. Her family and many others attempt to flee to Mexico, but are caught by German soldiers before they can get far enough away from Austin. She ended up sent to the Talladega Camp in Alabama in late 1971. She died there in February 1972.
Former President Joseph Kennedy - Elected as the 34th President of the United States in 1948, following two terms of President Lindberg. Reelected in 1952, when there is starting to be signs of a rift between northern Democrats like Kennedy and Southern Democrats. Succeeded by Strom Thurmond in 1956. Retires to Hyannis Port, MA, though he is involved in his sons' political interests. Suffered a stroke in 1959, and passed away in 1964.
Joseph Kennedy Jr - Graduates Harvard Law School in May 1942. Will run for the House of Representatives in 1946, narrowly defeated. Helps his father’s campaign and will work for the Administration from 1949-1952. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1954. Will serve in the House for over a decade, then runs for and is elected senator in 1966. Was not in DC on July 4, 1971, but in Boston. Works with the state government in the early days after the bombing, and Massachusetts will be a holdout state for months, refusing to recognize Thurmond’s new government in South Carolina. Boston is occupied by November 10, 1971. Kennedy and his family initially evacuate to Hyannis Port and try to lay low. Joseph Kennedy, Jr. is arrested in March of 1972 (he’d initially been ignored because his father had been president). Kennedy will be sent to Colorado to a re-education and labor camp. He dies in 1974.
John F Kennedy - John Kennedy joined the Navy in 1943, and served for 6 years before resigning and joining his father’s administration from 1949 to 1957. Once his father left office, John ran for state office in Massachusetts, being elected to the State legislature in 1958, and then ran for state senate in 1966. John Kennedy was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1970. After the start of the short-lived WWIII in July of 1971, John did everything he could to have his state resist the Nazis and the new puppet government forming around Strom Thurmond. He refused to evacuate to Hyannis Port with his brother, and was captured when Boston fell on November 10, 1971. He was executed by the Nazis on December 1 of that year.
Robert Kennedy - Joined the Navy like his older brother had in 1944, but decided to make hit his career and remained in the service during his father’s presidency. By 1971, he was the captain of an aircraft carrier. He died sometime in late July, 1971.
Ted Kennedy - Ted was 16 years old when his father was elected President, and he would live in the White House from 1949 until 1950, then going to Harvard, where he would graduate Law School in 1956. Ted would work as a lawyer in Boston, but also became an outspoken Civil Rights activist in the late 1960s. He evacuated to Hyannis Port with the rest of the family in October of 1971. He would be arrested with his eldest brother Joseph in March of 1972, and would be sent to a re-educaton and labor camp in South Dakota, where he would serve twenty-five years, released in 1997. He was not allowed to move west of the Mississippi, so he wound up moving to central Kansas where he worked in ranching until his death in 2002.
Lee Harvey Oswald - Early life is similar to OTL. Joined the marines in 1957, and remained a marine until 1961. While in the corps, he studies German and becomes fascinated with the Reich. He defected in 1964 and lived in Hamburg. After the United States is defeated, Oswald is recruited in 1972 to help the SS in their round-ups of various undesirable groups. Oswald was stationed at Dry Gulch Camp in Georgia from 1973-1978, and then served at two different labor camps in Colorado until 1986. Becomes a liaison officer in DC between the SS and the US government. Retired in 2008. Dies of natural causes in 2013.
Jesse Owens - Post 1936 Olympic life was much the same as OTL, and by the 1960s Owens was involved with the US Olympic Committee (as per OTL as well). Due to his semi-star status, and the performance in berlin 35-years earlier, Owens was on several Nazi “lists.” He was in Ohio when the war occurred. He realized fairly quickly he would be targeted. The Black Panther’s hid Owens and his family for nearly two years, but he was discovered in a safe house in rural Indiana in 1974 and sent to Dry Gulch Camp in Georgia. Owens died there in mid-1975.
Daniel Ellsberg - Has a career that is as similar as possible to OTL. Is working as a contractor for the War Department in 1971 and is killed in the DC bomb.
J . Edgar Hoover - First and only director of the FBI. Died in the DC bomb in 1971.
Thurgood Marshall - Career is very similar to OTL. Appointed to the Supreme Court in early 1970 by President Humphrey. Was not in DC when the Bomb hit (had been home in Maryland visiting family for the July 4th holiday). He is captured in October 1971, and executed in early November.
Rock Hudson - Has a film career that is essentially the same as OTL. Survives the initial destruction of the war, and will reluctantly continue acting in the mid 1970s, until he is outed by a jealous rival actor and arrested and sent to a forced labor camp in Nevada. He dies in 1981 at the camp.
Robert McNamara - American businessman most known for his work at Ford Motor Company before WWIII. He is in California and survives the invasion. He reluctantly served as Secretary of Industry under Thurmond from 1973 until 1989, when Thurmond retired. McNamara died in retirement in 2000 at his home in California.
Lyndon Johnson - Popular Senator from Texas from 1949 until the bombing of DC in July 1971. Johnson was not in DC at the time, but he refused to be a part of the new Thurmond government. He attempted to slip into quiet retirement, but was arrested in early 1973. Johnson died in custody before he could be formally sentenced to labor reeducation.
Huey P Newton - Black Panther founder as per OTL. Helps lead underground attacks against the Nazis and the Thurmond government after the 1971 invasion. Captured and executed in late 1973.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Well known Jewish law professor in New York prior to World War III. She and her family were killed during the Siege of New York, sometime in 1972.
Richard Nixon - Early political career is essentially the same (Representative and later Senator from California in the 1950s). Elected as Governor of California in 1966. Still in office in 1971. Reluctantly supports the new Thurmond government. He was assassinated by guerillas in September of 1972.
Malcolm X (Little) - Malcolm Little has a more stable childhood than OTL, and will live a fairly quiet life in Michigan. In his late 40s and is a manager at a factory when the Invasion occurs. Is ultimately arrested and sent to the Talladega Camp in Alabama, where he dies in 1973.
Albert Gore Sr - Senator from Tennessee who died in the DC bomb in 1971. His son Al Jr. was in the Army and died during the invasion.
Elizabeth Taylor - Famous American actress who’s career more or less followed the same path OTL. She survived WWIII in California, but was arrested in 1972 by the SS and sent to the Talladega Camp in Alabama, where she died in 1977.
Gerald Ford - Member of the US House of Representatives. Killed in the DC Bomb.
Abbie Hoffman - Counter cultural activist. Arrested in early 1972, sentenced to harsh labor in South Dakota. Dies in the camp in 1974, likely executed by the guards.
George Romney - Similar career to OTL. Was appointed as Secretary of the Interior under President Humphrey in his second term, starting in 1969. Was home in Michigan during the attacks, and claimed to be the highest ranking surviving member of the administration, and this styled himself “Acting President.” He would work with surviving parts of the Army and Airforce that did not side with Thurmond, and would lead the resistance that did not fully surrender until 1973. Romney himself was captured in December of 1972, and was executed on December 15. His son Mitt was at university in Utah at the time of the invasion. He survived the war itself, but is rounded up in 1974 when the new regime, at the behest of the Nazis, went after the LDS Church. Mitt would die in the Dry Gulch Camp in Georgia in 1976.
Sammy Davis Jr - Similar career to OTL. Arrested after the war in 1972 and sent to Talladega Camp in Alabama. Died in January 1973.
Ronald Reagan - His early OTL acting career is basically the same as OTL, though he remains a Democrat. He is defeated by Nixon for governor of California in 1966, but is then elected to the Senate in 1968. He is home in California during the 1971 attacks. He is, however, outspoken against Governor Nixon, and will be arrested and sent to a reeducation camp in 1973. He dies in South Dakota in 1976.
George HW Bush - Early business and political career is essentially the same. Is a member of the House of Representatives during the 1971 invasion, but not in DC. Not a supporter of Thurmond, Bush initially attempts to quietly resign his seat and get out of politics and return to business, but Thurmond asks Bush to serve as Secretary of Industry and Energy (with the understood threat to his family should he decline). Bush will serve in the Thurmond administration from 1972 until 1984, when he retires. There is some discussion of him running for either Congress or Governor of Texas, but he declines, and stays in retirement. Bush passed away of natural causes in 2014. His son George W. was in the Air Force in 1971 and died during the war. His other son Jeb was in university during the War, and would eventually run for Congress in 1984, serving in the US House of Representatives until 1990, when he ran for and was elected as Governor of Texas, where he served from 1991 until 2003, at which time he successfully ran for Senate, where he serves currently as a reform member of the FJP.

Eckener · Apr 7, 2020

Here's some more:

Angela Davis - Unknown ITTL. Her OTL academic and political career was heavily influenced by the counter-culture movments and the clash betwen communism and capitalism that did not play out in the 1960s ITTL. She would likely not have been as radicalized and not involved with any sort of communist movments. Maybe she still would have become an academic, but it’s hard to say for sure. She would obviously have ended up in a camp sometime in 1972.

Colin Powell - Career would follow similar lines to OTL. Joins the army in 1958. Served as military advisor first to Canada from 1963-1964, then to Australia from 1965-68, before returning home and being stationed in Washington. Returned to Australia in January 1971 as part of ongoing operations against the Japanese. Killed in battle during the invasion of Australia in October of 1971.

Jeane Kirkpatrick - Political activist, received her PhD from Columbia in 1968, and had volunteered during the Humphrey campaigns. Had moved to DC in 1971 to teach at Georgetown, and is killed in the DC bomb.

Bob Hope - In the broadest of strokes, his career is essentially the same as OTL. When the war and invasion occurs, Hope is in California. He refuses to become a mouthpiece for the new regime and is fired from his TV contracts in mid 1972. He is arrested in October 1972 and sent to a reeducation camp in Nevada for 15 years hard labor. Upon his release in 1987, he returns to California where he lives a quiet life, until he dies in 1996.

Phyllis Schlafly - outspoken conservative writer, she lays low during the initial invasion, but once Thurmond’s new government takes hold, she becomes a supporter. She is tapped by Thurmond to work for the Department of Education in 1975, where she worked to promote proper family values. She would continue in various similar roles during Thurmond’s administration, and initially stays on under his successor, President Maddox. In 1990, when Maddox provokes the Reich into action after refusing to pay the proper payments, Schlafly resigns from the administration. She will end up returning to her home state of Missouri, where she continued to be a conservative FJP writer and commentator. She is not a reformist, however, and went “into retirement” permanently in 2011. She passed away in 2014.

Harvey Milk - Early life remains largely the same. Remains in New York and as a moderately successful researcher for various Wall Street firms. When the Invasion happens, he flees New York City before the start of the siege. Being Jewish, Milk attempts to go into hiding and try to get to Mexico in the chaos of early 1971. He makes it as far as Arkansas before he is arrested in late 1971 by local authorities that had aligned themselves with Thurmond, and were stopping anyone from out of town. He was ultimately turned over to the SS in December and sent to a concentration camp in upstate New York, where he died in February of 1973.

Edwin Walker - Conservative Army officer, outspoken supporter of Thurmond while he was president from 1956-1965. Resigned his commission in 1966 after a very public spat with President Humphrey. Served as a Representative from Texas in the House from 1968 on. Was not in DC when the city is nuked, and very quickly works to support Thurmond’s new post-war government, and is named Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in May of 1972, and will continue to serve until 1990, when he resigns due to what he felt was President Maddox’s “radical” behavior. Died in 1992.

William F Buckley Jr - Founder of the National Review. His overall life was very similar to OTL. He was conservative but not a segregationist, and so had opposed Thurmond for the 1956 presidential nomination. Was a constant critic of the Humphrey Administration. When the war came, Buckley survived the invasion. He was a man torn, as he did not like Thurmond and was appaled at the idea of promoting the new Nazi regime, but was told that he would have to comply or he and his family would face retribution. So, he continued to publish the National Review in compliance with the new regime until it was merged with other publications by the FJP in 1979, at which time he remained on the board of the new Standard Bearer magazine until he retired in 1990. He died in 1995 from heart failure.

Anita Bryant - popular signer, her life also went similar to it’s OTL trajectory. She survives the invasion, and will fairly quickly jump on the Thurmond band-wagon, and is quite popular with the Federal Bureau of Communication, and when she retires from singing in 1980, she will take over talent management at the Bureau, which became the Department of Communication in 1984. She lays low during the Maddox affair, and will be tapped by President Theodore Duke to serve as Secretary of Communication, from 1990 until her retirement in 1998. She died in 2017 of natural causes.

Ward Connerly - African American political activist in California, Connerly was more of a moderate prior to the invasion, but quickly starts working with the various black militia groups to try and smuggle people to Mexico. He makes the trek himself in the Spring of 1973, and escaped the United States. Died in 1999 of respiratory disease while in exile in southern Mexico.

Sandra Day O'Connor - Sandra Rehnquist’s early life followed it’s OTL course, taking her to Standford, where she met her husband, William Rehnquist. They moved to DC in 1952 and would start their own firm in 1960. Mr. Rehnquist would be tapped to work for the Justice Department under President Thurmond in 1962, and continued working there until 1967, when he went back to practicing private law. Sandra and her husband died in the DC bombing.

Bob Dole - A “Lindberg Republican,” first elected to the Kansas State House in 1948, and would serve there until 1954, when he ran for and was elected to State Senate. Was openly critical of Thurmond’s branch of the Republicans, which helped him in Kansas. He ran for US House in 1962 and won. Became a Senator in the 1970 elections, and died in DC

Eartha Kitt - Popular African American singer/performer who’s career was similar to OTL. She joined the black resistance in the Fall of 1971, and would end up becoming a leader of one of the militias and evaded capture for nearly a decade. In 1980, after nearly beign caught by the SS, she is able to escape to South America, where she died of natural causes in Brazil in 1994.
Allen Ginsberg - Poet, career is similar to OTL. He is in New York when the siege begins, and joins a local militia unit fighting the Nazis. Killed in late 1973.

Eckener · Apr 7, 2020

Bruce Lee - Unknown ITTL. Died in Hong Kong as a child during the first decade of Japanese rule.
Jimmy Carter - Unlike in OTL, he stays in the Navy, and has a moderately high rank in the submarine force when WWIII breaks out. He was stationed out of Hawaii and had been fighting the Japanese for some time when the Nazis nukes the United States in July of 1971. Commander of a nuclear-powered submarine, Carter refused to surrender when Thurmond made the call to do so. His sub, the USS Atlanta, had one remaining nuke, which Carter ordered used against Japanese forces that had landed at Darwin, Australia. Carter’s sub was ultimately hunted down and sunk by the Japanese in October 1971.

Alex Haley - Served in the Coast Guard until 1955. Became a fairly well known journalist in African American circles (not as well known as OTL in the broader population). Joins a black militia group during WWIII, and is captured and killed by the Nazis in late 1972.
Muhammad Ali(Cassius Clay) - Popular African American boxer Cassius Clay (know by most as Cass), won gold in boxing in the 1960 NYC Olympics and the 1964 Capetown Olympics. Had become a athletic correspondent for NBC in 1966 and covered the 1968 Sydney Olympics. While there, he met and fell in love with an Australian, and the two married in early 1969 in Australia, where Clay moved to. He died in the Sydney nuke on July 3, 1971.

Barry Goldwater - A so-called “Lindberg Republican,” Goldwater entered politics in the mid-1940s, getting elected to the Phoenix City Council in 1946, becoming mayor in 1950. Ran for and was elected governor of Arizona in 1958. Was a reluctant supporter of Thurmond once he became President, but had not supported him in the 1956 primaries. Was elected as Senator from Arizona in 1968. Died in the DC bomb.

James Brown - Career is very similar to OTL. Will end up attempting to flee the US during WWIII, but is captured and sent to Dry Gulch Camp in Georgia, where he will die in 1974.

Bernie Sanders - Jewish political activist from New York. Unknown ITTL prior to the war. Was still in New York when WWIII broke out, and he was an organizer of a Jewish militia group that held out against the Nazis until 1975 in Queens. He’d become infamous as a rebel leader, and his execution on May 3, 1975 was a major victory for the Nazis and the Thurmond regime, marking the end of the New York Siege.

Jesse Jackson - Relatively unknown MLB player. Was arrested during the 1972 purges and ended up at Talladega Camp in Alabama, where he died in 1974.

Wladziu Liberace - His career basically follows the same events of OTL. Is in California during WWIII and survives. Initially tries to continue to perform, but is forced to stop in 1974 due to his “decadence.” Becomes a music coach and piano teacher for the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, employed by the Bureau of Communication starting in 1975. He is arrested in 1979 and sent to a reeducation camp in South Dakota for 15 years after being caught in a relationship with a minor male actor. He will be released in 1994 and settles in Wichita, Kansas, where he worked as a music teacher until his death in 1997.

Shirley Chisholm - Career is similar to OTL. Is elected to the US House in 1966 (the first African American woman to do so), and dies in DC in 1971.

Eckener · Apr 9, 2020

Here they are!

Bob Dylan - Early life is largely similar to OTL. When he gets into music performance in the early 1960s, he becomes a well known anti-fascist activist as well. Is in New York when WWIII breaks out, and joins a Jewish militia in the city and is part of the resistance. Is able to escape in late 1974, not long before the city falls in 1975. Dylan will be on the run for nearly a decade, at times helping resistance cells, at other times laying low. During this time he produces a well-known (and highly illegal) album known as “American Morning” that became popular with the resistance and the underground counter-culture in the US to this day. Dylan was captured in 1983 in Arizona (he’d been making an attempt to get to Mexico), and was tried for treason and then executed on April 9 of that year.

Marlon Brando - Brando’s life and career followed along lines similar to OTL. He was in Los Angeles when the War started, and survived the invasion. He refused to back the new regime, and was arrested in late 1972 and sentenced to 10 years hard labor in South Dakota. Brando escapes in 1977 and joins up (briefly) with a resistance group. He was killed on a raid in Nebraska on July 2, 1977.

H Ross Perot - Early life is largely the same. Served in the Navy from 1949 to 1957, where he entered civilian life and worked for IBM, where he excelled and became a major leader in the company by the late 1960s, getting into leadership in the company by 1970. He survives the war, and while not liking the Nazis, he does comply with the new regime. He became the head of IBM in 1977, after more “disloyal” company leadership was removed by Thurmond’s government, and IBM became a major partner with the Omaha-based government. Perot served as a technical advisor in the late 1980s to Thurmond, and continued that trend with Maddox and then Duke. Perot retired in 2002, and passed away in 2017.

Shirley Temple (Black) - Her early film career is largely the same. She does have a slightly better run as a young adult and stars in several films in the early-to-mid 1950s alongside Judy Garland. She retires from film in 1956, and after a short sojourn, she begins the Shirley Temple Show in 1961, which continued uninterrupted all the way to 1971 and the outbreak of WWIII. Due to threats made to her family, Temple would restart the show in 1973, and continue until her death in 1979. Temple was not happy being a spokesperson for the new regime and she’d become a heavy alcoholic, and committed suicide on August 8, 1979.

Jackie Robinson - Unknown ITTL - the specifics of Robinson becoming the man to break the color barrier in major league baseball OTL wouldn’t have existed, and the color barrier probably wouldn’t have been broken until at least the mid-1950s. Without America’s entry into WWII and the subsequent desegregation of the Armed Forces in the Korean War, the Civil Rights movement in the USA would have been slower to progress. Robinson would have, like most other African Americans, been caught up in the purges in 1972 onward and perished at one of the concentration camps.

Joe Louis - Louis’s major career would be largely unchanged ITTL, including the 1936 and 1938 Schmelling fights. His later career and post-career life in the 1950s would also have been the same. Once WWIII began, Louis joined up with a black militia in his area, and died fighting the Nazis in 1972.

Fred Rogers - Early life and career follows largely the same path. Becomes a Presbyterian Minister and involved with TV. Unlike OTL, he would not have contract work with CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp), but instead would work with various American children’s programs throughout the 1950s and 60s. Will launch his own successful show, Mr. Rogers Street, in 1967, which was immensely popular with parents prior to the war. Rogers went off air after the start of WWIII. He survived the invasion, and was approached by the new regime in late 1972 about restarting the program, but refused. As a result, the Rogers family was forced to relocate to Montana (internal exile), and Fred was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in Colorado. He was released in 1987, and rejoined his family in Billings, Montana, where he worked as a janitor at an elementary school until he retired in 1999. He died in 2001.

John Glenn - Vaguely similar career to OTL. Works with the American Space Program (USSA - United States Space Agency) as well, and went into space several times during the mid-1960s. He retired from being an astronaut in 1965, and became an administrator at USSA. Survives the initial war, and USSA is disbanded by the Reich and the new regime. Glenn returns to Ohio for an unhappy and early retirement. He’s “flagged” by the NBSS as an “unreliable” and so kept out of most of the better jobs that he would have been qualified for. Ends up working as a PE teacher at a suburban Middle School outside of Columbus after pulling a lot of strings. Died in 1992 of liver failure.

Cesar Chavez - His life and career largely follow OTL with no major variances worth noting. In 1971, after the invasion, Chavez was arrested by California authorities and turned over to the FBI and held for a year before being transferred in early 1973 to a hard labor camp for a 25-year sentence. He died in the camp in 1988.

Stanley Kubrick - Career is mostly the same as OTL. During the chaos of the invasion, Kubrick, who was Jewish, escaped to Mexico and lived there for over a decade in exile. He attempted to go south in 1984, and was caught and repatriated back to the US, where he was sent to a concentration camp in Texas, where he died in 1985.

Kirk Douglas - Career is largely the same as OTL, actually starting slightly earlier since he did not serve in the Navy ITTL. When the Invasion begins, Douglas and his family are captured and sent to a camp in upstate New York in 1972, and he died there in 1974.

Marilyn Monroe - Did not commit suicide like in OTL. Still alive when the invasion hit in 1971, but prior to that many industry columnists had stated that she had passed her prime, and there had been several steamy scandals in the late 1960s. When the new regime was up and operating, they approached Ms. Monroe to become a spokesperson, and she agreed. She would star in several major films in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She retired in 1989, and passed away in 2000.

Judy Garland - Broad details of her life are unaltered, and she dies of substance abuse prior to WWIII.

Lucille Ball - Career is largely unaltered from OTL, including the I Love Lucy show. When the invasion happens, Ball survives and officially retires from entertainment. She was approached to start a new show for the regime, but is able to get out of it. She privately did not support Thurmond, but was never outspoken about this and largely faded into the background, passing away in 1986.

James Dean - Does not die in an automobile accident in 1955, his career before that is largely unchanged. Continues acting, and was seen as “edgy” and boundary-pushing. Will continue acting for a while after the new regime comes to power in 1971, but is arrested in 1980 by the NBSS for “degenerate activities” and “anti-state sympathies” and sentenced to 15 years hard labor in Montana. Released in 1995, and he settles in North Dakota as a mechanic, where he dies in 1999.

Charlton Heston - acting career is largely the same as OTL. Heston supported Civil Rights and President Humphrey (in OTL his shift to conservatism didn’t really happen until the mid-70s). Heston adamantly refuses to support the new regime after 1971 and is sentenced to hard labor in 1972 in South Dakota. He is released in 1992, and retired to Montana, where he died in 2000.

Orson Welles - His early career largely follows OTL lines. He was an outspoken progressive and anti-fascist, and was considering entering politics and running in the 1972 elections. After WWIII, Wells is arrested in late 1972 and will be sentenced to hard labor. He died in a labor camp in Colorado in 1977.

Tony Curtis - Has an acting career largely similar to OTL. Curtis attempted to flee to Mexico in the winter of 1971, but was captured in San Diego. He remained in police custody until early 1972, whereupon he was shipped to a concentration camp in New York where he died in January 1973.

Sidney Poitier - Unknown ITTL. The circumstances that led him to acting I think would have altered enough from OTL that he would not have been anyone famous ITTL. He would be rounded up in the 1972-73 purges and died at a concentration camp.

Stan Lee - career and life largely unchanged other than he does not serve in the Army. Lee, being Jewish, will be targeted after the war and is arrested in late 1972, and sent to a concentration camp in upstate New York, where he died in 1974. His comics are still considered a hot commodity in the underground and counter-culture realms, but are officially illegal.

Curtis LeMay - Has an army and air force career roughly similar to OTL in so much as he served and gained his way into leadership. Without American involvement in WWII, LeMay would not be as distinguished as in OTL. He is a senior Air Force general when WWIII breaks out, but is killed in the DC bomb.

Redd Foxx - has a vaguely similar entertainment career as OTL. When the invasion happens, Foxx joins a black militia, and is killed in February 1972.

Eckener · Apr 17, 2020

More names...

Henry Kissinger - Family is unable to escape Germany in 1938 (when they left OTL), and perished in the initial Holocaust sometime between 1942-44.
Gloria Steinem - Steinem’s early life is largely the same as OTL. She gets out of New York City and hides upstate for awhile. She’s on a list, first because of her feminist “anti-state” opinions, and then again for Jewish ancestry. She was arrested in March of 1974 and sentenced to 25 years hard labor in South Dakota. She died in the camp in 1983.
Jane Fonda - Early life and career largely follows OTL. When The US is invaded, she joins the resistance. She is most famous for helping to lead a raid on the new Japanese Naval Base in San Diego in 1974. She stayed on the run until 1977, when she was captured alive by the NBSS. She was executed on May 11, 1977 for treason and terrorism.
Howard Hughes - Life is largely unchanged ITTL. He’s in his 60s when WWIII occured, and had already retired. He’s in the background and does not interfere with the new regime. Dies in 1973.
Walt Disney - Life remains the same. Died in 1966 as per OTL. See the timeline for details about what happened to the Disney company and parks after his death.
Nelson Rockefeller - Early life is largely the same as OTL. He worked for the Lindberg Administration from 1942 onward, helping the administration with South American relations, ultimately serving as American Ambassador to Mexico. Leaves federal government service in 1949 when Kennedy took office. Ran for Senate in 1950 for New York, and served until 1960, when he was elected as Governor of New York. There was speculation that he would have run for President in 1972 had the war not occurred. Was in Albany when the war began. Attempted to coordinate resistance in the early days of the fighting after DC and the other cities were nuked. Was ultimately arrested in December of 1971 and held in custody for several months before ultimately being sentenced to hard labor in Montana in late 1972. He dies in camp in 1976.
George Wallace - Early life and career are largely unchanged, other than not having any military service. This would include working as an assistant attorney general in Alabama, a circuit court judge in that state, and a failed attempt to run for governor where he was hurt because of his relatively liberal stance on race issues, which he abandoned going forward. Was elected governor of Alabama in 1962, and was reelected twice, still in office when WWIII broke out. He quickly supported Thurmond’s new government, and was tapped in 1973 to become the new Secretary of State. Wallace would serve in this position until Thurmond left office in 1989. He spends a little over a year in retirement before being appointed by President Duke to be the US Ambassador to the Reich in 1991, where he served until 1996, retiring due to health reasons. He died in 1997.
Fred Trump - Early life and career largely follows OTL arc. When WWIII broke out in 1971, the Trump family evacuated New York City to Long Island, and then to Connecticut, escaping the Siege of New York. The family initially fell on hard times as most of their sources of income were tied up in real estate in NYC. After the end of the Siege of New York in 1975, Fred Trump immediately contacts the various government authorities to try and regain his property and quickly gets in contact with the group headed by Albert Speer that is tasked with rebuilding the city. Trump will become a major player in the rebuilding effort. In 1990, Trump’s son, Donald, became mayor of NYC, a position he held until 2002, when he ran for Governor of New York. Fred Trump died in 1996. His son would go on to become a Senator from New York in 2012, a position he currently holds.
George McGovern - Life is largely unaltered from OTL in the more important details. Was in office as senator from South Dakota in 1971 and died in the nuke strike on DC.
John McCain - McCain’s early life was largely similar to OTL. He would serve in the US Navy as a pilot, enlisting in 1958. Since there is no Vietnam War ITTL, he doesn’t gain quite the same prestige. By a miracle, McCain did not die in the fighting during WWIII, but was captured in December 1971 and held as a POW by the Reich. In late 1972, he, along with all other captured military personnel, is given a choice: remain in the service of your country for a decade, or be sentenced to 15 years hard labor, and having restrictive punishments placed on your family (limits on education and work and where you could live). McCain later told his wife that had it been just about himself, he would have served his 15 years in South Dakota, but he couldn’t submit his family to bad conditions, and so on January 3, 1973, McCain took his oath to the new government, and would serve in the Navy until 1983, at which point he left the service. He returned home to Arizona and became a secondary school administrator until his retirement in 2007. He passed away in 2014.
Walter Mondale - Life and career largely similar to OTL. Served as President Humphrey’s Attorney General, and died in the DC nuke blast.
Harper Lee - Her life is largely unchanged ITTL. To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, and still popular, and made into a movie in 1963. When WWIII broke out, she was living in New York City, but was visiting friends upstate and escaped the battle. She was not one for the spotlight anyway and so “laying low” was not hard for her. In 1973 the new government officially banned her book, and she was arrested by the NBSS. As she had not published any new works since 1960, she was eventually not sentenced to hard labor, but banned from writing or publishing or teaching. Despite this ban, she did write, and her second novel The Flames was finished in 1980 and secretly circulated among underground groups. It depicts some of her Mockingbird characters coping with life after WWIII. She was arrested by the NBSS in 1982 due to this novel, and sentenced to 10 years hard labor in Montanna. She died in 1990 while still in custody.
Johnny Carson - Life and career largely similar to OTL. Started the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1964, and was still on the air in 1971 when the war broke out. Survived the war, and initially planned to refuse to work for the new regime, but was told that he and his family would all be placed in a work camp if he refused, so reluctantly the Tonight Show began new broadcasts in the fall of 1972, and Carson would continue work until 1980, when he retired. The work did a number on him personally, and he committed suicide in 1982.
Ed Sullivan - Life and career follows OTL. The Ed Sullivan Show is hugely popular in the United States, but went off the air in June of 1971 as in OTL. Sullivan dies in 1972.

Eckener · Jun 2, 2020

Here are a few more names for you all:

Rod Serling - Considered one of the great TV writers of the pre-War era, and is particularly remembered for his science-fiction show Afterlight, having individual episodes telling stories that wrapped science-fiction themes with pressing issues of the day. The show aired from 1964-1970. Serling was working on new projects when WWIII broke out. He attempted to lay low, but was arrested in 1973 and sentenced to a hard labor camp in South Dakota, where he died in 1974.
Dan Rather - Texan newsman who was the chief TV anchor for ABC’s news affiliate in Houston from 1960-1964, before transferring to New York City working for ABC’s main studio, becoming a major correspondent by the end of the decade. Was in DC covering the war news when the city was hit by the Nazi bomb, and died.
Isaac Asimov - Scientist and science fiction writer. Was living in New York City during the outbreak of the War. Was unable to escape before the siege began. Died sometime in 1972, exact date was unknown. Being Jewish, his name was on several lists, and his works were banned by the Thurmond government in 1974. In recent years, his works have started making a come-back on the underground book lists and can be found in black market book shops.
Hugh Hefner - Founder of Playboy magazine, he was arrested in 1972 and his magazine was banned (deemed “degenerate”). Hefner was sentenced to ten years hard labor in Nevada. Released in 1982, he relocated to Phoenix, where he opened and maintained a camera shop. He was arrested in 1985 for attempting to start an underground version of his earlier publication. Seen as a repeat offender and a threat to public order, he was executed later that same year.
Andy Warhol - Career was largely similar to OTL. When the war broke out, Warhol was in New York City. He escaped before the end of the siege and lived in hiding with friends in upstate New York until he was captured in 1975, at which point he was sentenced to 25 years hard labor in South Dakota. While at the labor camp, he was murdered by the guards (who tended to be extra cruel towards LGBT inmates). His death occurred in 1977.
Julia Child - Unknown ITTL. She did not serve in OSS ITTL (which is how she met her husband, who introduced her to French cuisine), instead remaining in New York for awhile as a copy-editor, before returning home to California, where she went on to get her masters and PhD in History. Was a professor at UCLA when the war broke out. She survived the war, and continued to teach until 1980, when she resigned rather than go into new, pro-Nazi research. She died in 1999 of natural causes.

Eckener · Jun 29, 2020

And here are a few more names:

Rosa Parks - Unknown ITTL. She does participate in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1959 and the larger National Bus Boycott of 1960, but she is not the instigator like she was OTL. She will be rounded up in 1972, and sent to Dry Gulch Camp, where she dies in 1974.
James Meredith - Life is very similar to OTL. He will apply for admission to the University of Mississippi in 1963 but of course is rejected. He will reapply in 1965 after the election of Hubert Humphrey, and will successfully force University desegregation the following year. He becomes an activist and works with the Humphrey Administration on several projects. He is on one of the post-war round-up lists and arrested in early 1972, and ends up sent ot the Talladega Camp, where he dies in 1975.
Medgar Evers - Mississippi Civil Rights Activist and Lawyer, he gets elected to Congress in 1970, and was killed in the DC nuke.
Evan Mecham - elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1958 after the election of President Thurmond in 1956, Mecahm was an outspoken supporter of the President (not the most popular position to take in Arizona, but not political suicide either), and he stayed in office until 1962, at which time he was elected to the US House of Representatives. In 1968, Mecham runs for Governor of Arizona, but loses the election. After WWIII, he will win the 1972 election for Governor, and is a “proud supporter of the FJP and President Thurmond.” In 1980, he is elected as senator, a position he holds until he retires in 1992. He dies in 1997 from natural causes.
Johnny Cash - Popular radio personality in Arkansas, had mixed political views but would not support the new regime and so was arrested in 1973 and sentenced to hard labor in South Dakota for 15 years, released in 1982 on “good behavior.” Returned to Arkansas where he taught music. Died in 1990.
Mel Brooks - Popular comedy director from the 1950s and 1960s. Survives the war, flees to Mexico. He is eventually hunted down by the NBSS in 1979 and killed.
Bette Davis - A popular actress from the “Golden Age of Hollywood,” Davis’s career was largely in decline by the late 1960s, and her last film was released in 1969. She survived the war, and went in to official retirement after the war was over, appearing in a few TV specials in the early 80s for USTV, before passing away in 1996.

Eckener · Jan 4, 2021

Got inspired, here are five more names:

John Wayne - Wayne’s film career follows a nearly identical path, and many of his films remained popular for years, and mostly avoided the censors’ ban in the post-WWIII era. Wayne himself had been a supporter of Thurmond during his initial pre-war presidency. Wayne survived the war, and although he was not happy about the Nazi occupation, he largely kept his mouth shut and provided limited assistance to the new regime (citing failing health as a reason to not be more active). He died in 1975 of cancer.
Harry S Truman - Early life and political career largely the same. Served as Senator from Missouri from 1935-1952, and then became President Kennedy’s second VP, replacing Vice President Richard Russell, after he and Kennedy had a falling out. Was appointed by Humphrey as a member of the Supreme Court in 1966. Died in the DC blast.
Dwight Eisenhower - Early life and military career largely the same. Approached by President Thurmond to serve as Secretary of Defense in 1956, but declined. He also approached in Humphrey to serve as SecDef in 1964, but declined as well. He retired from the military in 1966, and died in 1968
Former President Herbert Hoover - Critical of the Smith administration, with several regular syndicated columns in national papers. Offered to help campaign for Lindburg in 1940, but asked to remain in the background. He kept writing in support of Lindburg, and then kept up his criticisms once Kennedy took office in 1948. Hoover had a good professional relationship with President Thurmond, though they disagreed on race-related topics. As such, Hoover was appointed to serve as the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1957, a post he held until his death in 1961.
Adlai Stevenson II - Career and early life followed a path similar to OTL. Outspoken critic of the Lindburg administration, and was considered a possible running mate for Kennedy in 1948. Ended up running for and being elected governor of Illinois that year instead. Ran against Thurmond in 1956 and lost. Would serve as Humphrey’s Interior Secretary starting in 1965, and died in DC.

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