TL-191: Is there a Featherston victory timeline here?

Now THAT has the right sort of nightmare logic for a ‘US loses the Second Great War’ scenario - though I do wonder where the most logical point of effort for that BEF (Presumably strengthened by contingents from across the remaining Empire) would be; It strikes me that a march up the Mississippi might do far more damage to the US than a descent on the Chesapeake (After all, the US is far bigger than the Atlantic seaboard) but I must admit that, if the Confederates do smash through Ohio and if the Canadians rise, then a blow aimed at the East coast might just leave the US government with very few good options.

The problem is that this still leaves the US west coast unengaged, with room for a counterattack.
 
Still, as FALL OF THE US timelines go, this definitely works on a level with IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES!😊
 

bguy

Donor
Now THAT has the right sort of nightmare logic for a ‘US loses the Second Great War’ scenario - though I do wonder where the most logical point of effort for that BEF (Presumably strengthened by contingents from across the remaining Empire) would be; It strikes me that a march up the Mississippi might do far more damage to the US than a descent on the Chesapeake (After all, the US is far bigger than the Atlantic seaboard) but I must admit that, if the Confederates do smash through Ohio and if the Canadians rise, then a blow aimed at the East coast might just leave the US government with very few good options.

I agree that British troops would be more militarily useful in the Mid-West (advancing against Chicago perhaps), but I figured the British would want to be closer to their points of supply on the Atlantic and thus would insist their expeditionary force operate in the Chesapeake area. (Even if that means missing the opportunity to have Patton and Montgomery having to work together.)

The problem is that this still leaves the US west coast unengaged, with room for a counterattack.

If Smith does decide to keep fighting after the fall of Pittsburgh then I imagine the 1943 campaign would center around Chicago since that is a key transportation hub and the biggest center of steel production the U.S. has left.

The big problem for the U.S. is that even if they are able to hold Chicago, the Germans and British are certain to get atomic weapons well before the U.S. does. (The Germans beat the the U.S. to the bomb even in the canon timeline, and here the U.S. is under much greater pressure while Germany is under less pressure, so the Germans are probably even further ahead of the U.S. than they were in the novels.) Thus if the war drags on into 1944, it will most likely see atomic bombs starting to fall on U.S. cities, and it may be some time before the U.S. can respond in kind. (The Germans would probably rather use their bombs on the Soviets than the U.S., but the British and Confederates will certainly use their bombs on the U.S.)
 
The big problem for the U.S. is that even if they are able to hold Chicago, the Germans and British are certain to get atomic weapons well before the U.S. does. (The Germans beat the the U.S. to the bomb even in the canon timeline, and here the U.S. is under much greater pressure while Germany is under less pressure, so the Germans are probably even further ahead of the U.S. than they were in the novels.) Thus if the war drags on into 1944, it will most likely see atomic bombs starting to fall on U.S. cities, and it may be some time before the U.S. can respond in kind. (The Germans would probably rather use their bombs on the Soviets than the U.S., but the British and Confederates will certainly use their bombs on the U.S.)
An interesting TL would have Germany (maybe reconciled with Russia as a New Dreikaiserbund - maybe with Bulgaria and the Ottomans as some sort of Fünfkaiserbund, or more accurately a "Two Kaisers, two Tsars, and a Sultan league), as the NATO equivalent, versus the "Island Pact", being an Alliance between Freedomite CSA, a massive British Imperial Federation, and the Japanese Empire as a reluctant ally (and to be the Sino to the Anglo's Soviet)
 
Even if that means missing the opportunity to have Patton and Montgomery having to work together.

Well they didn’t exactly work together in our history, so why should Timeline 191 be any different?😉

I also recognise the logic for the Chesapeake as a potential jumping-off point for British operations against the Atlantic Seaboard - trying to retake Halifax would be a bear, since it’s likely to be a major US navy base, and taking Quebec was hard enough in Wolfe’s day.

I wonder if the Royal Navy would make an effort to recover Newfoundland and use it as a temporary base though?

One also wonders where the British would go from the Chesapeake; Philadelphia is a plausible target, but my gut says that Great Britain seizing it in 194* could potentially be no more useful than Sir William Hose’s capture of that burg in 1777 unless the Entente can parley it into drive deeper into the Atlantic seaboard (Hopefully joining up with the CS army, rather than risking another Saratoga).


The Germans would probably rather use their bombs on the Soviets than the U.S., but the British and Confederates will certainly use their bombs on the U.S

As ever Timeline 191 remains the nightmare where Brother Against Brother turned into a game of death the whole family was dragged down into.

Never mind a ‘Featherston Wins’ scenario, we really ought to try coming up with a ‘No Second Great War’ scenario (or at least a scenario where the Great War’s sequel is too small to rank as a Great War in it’s own right); we could use something to cheer us up!
 
An interesting TL would have Germany (maybe reconciled with Russia as a New Dreikaiserbund - maybe with Bulgaria and the Ottomans as some sort of Fünfkaiserbund, or more accurately a "Two Kaisers, two Tsars, and a Sultan league), as the NATO equivalent, versus the "Island Pact", being an Alliance between Freedomite CSA, a massive British Imperial Federation, and the Japanese Empire as a reluctant ally (and to be the Sino to the Anglo's Soviet)

I can just about imagine Featherston pulling a switch on the Anglo-Japanese alliance, since if the United States is broken to pieces then there’s not really a peer competitor on the North American continent and the Featherston needs somebody to target the Five Minute Hate against - and the British Empire is so very much along the lines of the Whig Grandees Mr Featherston loathes to a fault.

The CSA coming to the same realisation as the US (“We need somebody to distract the Brits”) strikes me as suitably perverse realpolitik.
 

bguy

Donor
I also recognise the logic for the Chesapeake as a potential jumping-off point for British operations against the Atlantic Seaboard - trying to retake Halifax would be a bear, since it’s likely to be a major US navy base, and taking Quebec was hard enough in Wolfe’s day.

I wonder if the Royal Navy would make an effort to recover Newfoundland and use it as a temporary base though?

The problem with Newfoundland is it would be difficult for the British to maintain a large fleet up there for any extended period of time due to the absence of a major fleet base. Whereas if the British are operating in the Cheasapeake area they could operate their fleet out of Norfolk. (Though they'll likely have to expand the facilities quite a bit first.)

One also wonders where the British would go from the Chesapeake; Philadelphia is a plausible target, but my gut says that Great Britain seizing it in 194* could potentially be no more useful than Sir William Hose’s capture of that burg in 1777 unless the Entente can parley it into drive deeper into the Atlantic seaboard (Hopefully joining up with the CS army, rather than risking another Saratoga).

The problem is the territory between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is pretty mountainous, so it would be difficult for the Confederates at Pittsburgh to link up with the British at Philadelphia.


Never mind a ‘Featherston Wins’ scenario, we really ought to try coming up with a ‘No Second Great War’ scenario (or at least a scenario where the Great War’s sequel is too small to rank as a Great War in it’s own right); we could use something to cheer us up!

Probably the easiest way to get that is to have TR win the 1920 election.

I see a reelected TR pressuring the Confederate government to immediately surrender Roger Kimball to the United States on threat of war, and President Semmes, realizing the hopelessness of the CSA's position (and thinking Kimball is scum anyway) acquiescing. I doubt Kimball will go quietly, so there is a good chance he is killed resisting arrest, but regardless of whether he dies or is extradited, Featherston will make great hay in his 1921 presidential campaign out of the Whigs' "cowardly betrayal" of a "war hero" which is likely enough to enable Featherston to win the 1921 election. Since Featherston campaigned on the promise of standing up to the United States and specifically on repudiating reparations, he pretty much has to do that as soon as he's in office, and TR will of course respond to that by going "oh hell no" and ordering the U.S. Army (which in 1921 massively outguns the tiny Confederate Army) to march on Richmond. At that point Featherston either gets couped by his own generals for leading the country into a hopeless war or is killed by the U.S. Army, and the Featherston regime ends after about a week.
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Well the UK and the CSA better get the superbomb because if the US ever does....
How about this for a possible Featherston wins scenario.

President Sinclair decides to support the Reds in the Russian Civil War. U.S. support enables the Reds to eventually win the conflict and establish the Soviet Union. It also infuriates the German Empire, who really don't want to see a powerful communist state arising on their eastern frontier. The Germans thus seek rapprochement with the United Kingdom (who also have a grudge against the United States and don't like the idea of the Soviet Union.) This in turn leads to the U.S growing closer to the Soviet Union. The Pacific War is thus avoided (Japan won't want to risk fighting the U.S. if it means having to fight the Soviets at the same time), but that leaves Japan feeling hemmed in by both the U.S. and the Soviets and thus interested in aligning with the British and Germans.

Flash forward to 1941. An Anglo-German-Japanese alliance faces off against a U.S.-Soviet alliance. Initially there is no war in Europe. (The U.S. under President Smith isn't willing to support France in launching a revanchist war against Germany, and the French certainly aren't going to attack Germany on their own when doing so means having to simultaneously fight both Germany and Britain). However, regardless of what is happening in Europe, Featherstone still launches Operation Blackbeard. Britain isn't officially allied with the Confederates but seeing the early success of Featherston's offensive, the British decide this is their best chance to liberate Canada and get their revenge on the United States, so they join in the war as well. This leads to the Soviets declaring war on Britain which leads to the Germans and Japanese (and maybe also the Austro-Hungarians and Ottomans if they are still allied with Germany) declaring war on the Soviets and the U.S.

The war ITTL goes very different than the war in the canon storyline as Britain is not really fighting much in Europe and thus is able to send most of its army to Virginia to reinforce the Confederates. The U.S. Navy will likewise be very hard pressed in the Atlantic as it is facing not just an undistracted Royal Navy (which would be bad enough) but also most of the Imperial German Navy.

Thus by the summer of 1942 the U.S. is in dire straights. The U.S. Atlantic Fleet has been driven from the sea, and the Confederates are driving on Pittsburgh from the west, while the British Expeditionary Force has overrun Maryland and is advancing on Philadelphia. Rebellions in both Canada and Utah also rage out of control. (The U.S. needs every soldier it can find to deal with the simultaneous Confederate and British offensives and thus has few troops available to deal with those uprisings.) And the situation in the Pacific looks bleak as well as the U.S. really can't spare any resources for a secondary theater which means there is little to stop the Japanese from seizing the Sandwich Islands.) Nor can the U.S. expect any meaningful help from its Soviet allies (who are fighting for their lives against the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans, and Japanese.) In such a situation, President Smith will likely have to seek terms (and knowing Featherston those terms will be very harsh.)
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Plausible, if only one ignores the profoundly anti-Slavery tenor of British politics in the mid-to-late 1800s;
It was but other than that or expanding and maintaining the Empire I think taking down the United States a little or a lot was an attractive goal.If they could do that with comparatively little effort I think the anti slavery politics could be at least temporarily set aside and if the world says hypocrisy who could they complain to at the time ?
 
I’d make a list, but it would probably be a rather long one; never confuse the opinions of a 19th century cabinet with the opinions of a democratic majority of the population.
 
Probably the easiest way to get that is to have TR win the 1920 election

@bguy, I can’t possibly believe that Jake Featherston could actually be elected President if TR gets back in circa 1920 (He’s more likely to be stuck in a looney bin), but I DO believe that this scenario is exactly the sort of thing a Timeline 191 Speculative Fiction author would conjure up to delight his audience.

North, South, East & West Americans from all over the continent would drink this up like sunlight after a week of clouds & cold wind! (There would, I suspect, be fan art of TR casually swimming up the James River to personally arrest Featherston for breach of the peace).

On a slightly grimmer note, I can imagine this scenario landing the Radical Liberals in the Executive Mansion - for one thing Peace & Reconciliation sound better to a defeated people when their conqueror is still glaring down from the top of Capitol Hill (and for another, the Whigs would have to be much, much more careful about exploiting the Freedom Party as a proxy against the Rad Libs when simple opportunism will be taken as active support for Stalwart notions of settling accounts).

I wonder if this would be the timeline that makes a Huey Long dictatorship a racing certainty? (The Radical Liberals get into office, do just well enough and no better, but start skewing more Radical than Liberal as fellows who would otherwise have been Freedom Party or Redemption League start looking for a new home).
 

bguy

Donor
On a slightly grimmer note, I can imagine this scenario landing the Radical Liberals in the Executive Mansion - for one thing Peace & Reconciliation sound better to a defeated people when their conqueror is still glaring down from the top of Capitol Hill (and for another, the Whigs would have to be much, much more careful about exploiting the Freedom Party as a proxy against the Rad Libs when simple opportunism will be taken as active support for Stalwart notions of settling accounts).

That or the U.S. simply installs a Radical Liberal as president at gunpoint.

I wonder if this would be the timeline that makes a Huey Long dictatorship a racing certainty? (The Radical Liberals get into office, do just well enough and no better, but start skewing more Radical than Liberal as fellows who would otherwise have been Freedom Party or Redemption League start looking for a new home).

Very possible, though if the Radical Liberals are viewed as US puppets, Long might eschew them in favor of creating his own political party.
 
Well heck, I never specified the Long Administration would have to be a Radical Liberal dictatorship (“Inferred?” What is this of which you speak?).😉



That or the U.S. simply installs a Radical Liberal as president at gunpoint.

A possibility, though I would expect TR to intervene in favour of the Whigs rather than the Radical Liberals - since the ‘Gallant Old Party’ are the ones least likely to rock the boat (and the Party with the biggest stake in proving their decision to surrender was the only correct one).

On the other hand of TR does get heavy handed while Featherston is locked up in a looney bin (or just imprisoned for disturbing the Peace) The Snake might slither loose to find his position in Confederate politics appreciably strengthened - in the same fashion Hitler was able to parley his time in the Big House into an improvement of his political standing.

Even if Featherston never regains relevance, one imagines that Willy Knight might well be able to take advantage of Radical Liberal or Whig stumbles during the Inter-War years (Ha! Perhaps he ends up President with Featherston as VP?).
 

bguy

Donor
A possibility, though I would expect TR to intervene in favour of the Whigs rather than the Radical Liberals - since the ‘Gallant Old Party’ are the ones least likely to rock the boat (and the Party with the biggest stake in proving their decision to surrender was the only correct one).

Possibly, though the Rad Libs were the party that was more in favor of peaceful relations with the U.S., so TR might think they would make for more trustworthy "partners" (i.e. puppets) than the Whigs.

It may ultimately come down to how exactly Featherston gets overthrown. If the Confederate military does it themselves, then TR might be willing to let General Stuart (or whichever general took down the Snake) stay in charge (so long as they know their place), but if the U.S. Army has to do it themselves then TR is probably going to want as pliant a puppet as possible which makes me think it will be a Rad Lib. (President Ainsworth Layne perhaps.)

On the other hand of TR does get heavy handed while Featherston is locked up in a looney bin (or just imprisoned for disturbing the Peace) The Snake might slither loose to find his position in Confederate politics appreciably strengthened - in the same fashion Hitler was able to parley his time in the Big House into an improvement of his political standing.

Assuming Featherston actually survives getting overthrown (which knowing the Snake isn't too likely as he also doesn't seem the type "to go quietly), I imagine the U.S. would insist on exiling him and his top cronies to whatever the U.S. equivalent of St. Helena is.

Even if Featherston never regains relevance, one imagines that Willy Knight might well be able to take advantage of Radical Liberal or Whig stumbles during the Inter-War years (Ha! Perhaps he ends up President with Featherston as VP?).

A Knight vs Long presidential election somewhere down the line would certainly be interesting. Of course the fall of Featherston will almost certainly result in some kind of Freedomite insurgency against the new Confederate government and their U.S. allies, so Knight may get drawn into leading that insurgency.
 
Possibly, though the Rad Libs were the party that was more in favor of peaceful relations with the U.S., so TR might think they would make for more trustworthy "partners" (i.e. puppets) than the Whigs.

If TR has has gone to the time and trouble of kicking a sitting CS President out of office, I'm not sure he'd bother with mere puppetry; he might well demand a full-blown military occupation of the Confederacy and it's entirely possible that demand would do more damage to his position than the Confederate States of America circa AD 1922 ever could (Especially in the year of mid-term elections).

Hngh, that last bit actually explains why the old Bull Moose might bother himself with appointing a puppet government in the first place; truly the ballot box is more fearsome than the bomb in a politician's imagination!


It may ultimately come down to how exactly Featherston gets overthrown.

For my money TR in power means that Jake Featherston never gets any nearer the 'Grey House' than screaming abuse from the front garden - I'm morally certain that even some Stalwarts would think twice about backing anybody mad enough to talk smack to Theodore By-Good Roosevelt at the peak of his powers, so the 'Weathervane Whigs' are going to run screaming (and I remain certain that it was Whig opportunists looking for a better offer, quite as much as the angry floating voter, who handed Jake Featherston his shot at World-class infamy).


(President Ainsworth Layne perhaps.)

It's rather amusing to wonder if AL would actually accept the Presidency under such circumstances; I've done a bit of thinking about him as a character and I rather love the idea that he's entirely capable of telling TR "No" to his face and sticking with that resolve in the face of pressure to change his mind (Eyeing the nearest exists & shivering like a jelly in an earthquake all the while).

My mental image of the character is, you see, an interesting compound of High Principle and sensible cowardice (He'll scream, he'll thrash, he'll run for cover and beg for mercy but the little ****** just will not tailor his principles to suit the situation*).

*Hence his making no reappearance in the series; like Doroteo Arango he's something of a one-off, though unlike Señor Arango he's more of a Jimmy Carter than a Pancho Villa (Which is to say that he's an admirable progressive who'd make an absolute hash of the politics, but probably accumulate a much better reputation post-Presidency through consistent Humanitarian work - especially if the Radical Liberals are able elect more successful Chief Executive, allowing them to regard Layne as a version 1.0 rather than a disastrous one-off).


Assuming Featherston actually survives getting overthrown (which knowing the Snake isn't too likely as he also doesn't seem the type "to go quietly), I imagine the U.S. would insist on exiling him and his top cronies to whatever the U.S. equivalent of St. Helena is.

Almost certainly that former Leper colony in Hawaii, although the Queen Charlotte Islands might also merit consideration; the Aleutians might be a little too far out (and are more or less Russian in the 1920s, unless TR decides to double down on Canada's lifetime supply of ice, snow & angry non-US Americans).

p.s. For the record, when I was referring to Featherston being arrested & imprisoned it was in terms of a timeline where he does not enter the Grey House in 1921.


A Knight vs Long presidential election somewhere down the line would certainly be interesting.

It's interesting to wonder where Ferdinand Koenig would come down in a timeline where Featherston was swept out of Confederate politics - that is, I suspect, as interesting a thought to ponder as would be the question of who win in what is likely to be one of the more knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred elections in Confederate political history.
 

bguy

Donor
If TR has has gone to the time and trouble of kicking a sitting CS President out of office, I'm not sure he'd bother with mere puppetry; he might well demand a full-blown military occupation of the Confederacy and it's entirely possible that demand would do more damage to his position than the Confederate States of America circa AD 1922 ever could (Especially in the year of mid-term elections).

Hngh, that last bit actually explains why the old Bull Moose might bother himself with appointing a puppet government in the first place; truly the ballot box is more fearsome than the bomb in a politician's imagination!

Definitely!

The other reason I think TR might favor installing a puppet government and getting out over a permanent occupation is that even if TR wins the 1920 election, he will almost certainly still have a Socialist dominated Congress. Congress can't really stop TR from launching a punitive expedition, but it could prevent a permanent occupation by refusing to fund it. Thus TR needs to win quickly enough that he doesn't need to go to Congress for additional funding.

The Socialists controlling Congress is also why I think Featherston might be willing to risk cancelling reparations even with TR in power. The Snake seems like enough of a gambler to think that even if he can't hope to beat the U.S. in a straight up fight, all he has to do is hold out long enough and the Socialist dominated U.S. Congress will eventually force TR to withdraw.

For my money TR in power means that Jake Featherston never gets any nearer the 'Grey House' than screaming abuse from the front garden - I'm morally certain that even some Stalwarts would think twice about backing anybody mad enough to talk smack to Theodore By-Good Roosevelt at the peak of his powers, so the 'Weathervane Whigs' are going to run screaming (and I remain certain that it was Whig opportunists looking for a better offer, quite as much as the angry floating voter, who handed Jake Featherston his shot at World-class infamy).

That's certainly possible though for what it's worth Featherston himself opines in Blood and Empire that the party would have a better chance in the 1921 elections if T.R. was in office. Here's the relevant quote.

"The Party would have a better shot if TR had won up in the USA. Everybody down here hates him just as much as he hates us. Those Red bastards they've got up there now are bending over backwards so far, it's hard to get people riled up at 'em the way they ought to be."

And whatever else can be said about the Snake, his instincts about the Confederate electorate were usually pretty solid.


It's rather amusing to wonder if AL would actually accept the Presidency under such circumstances; I've done a bit of thinking about him as a character and I rather love the idea that he's entirely capable of telling TR "No" to his face and sticking with that resolve in the face of pressure to change his mind (Eyeing the nearest exists & shivering like a jelly in an earthquake all the while).

My mental image of the character is, you see, an interesting compound of High Principle and sensible cowardice (He'll scream, he'll thrash, he'll run for cover and beg for mercy but the little ****** just will not tailor his principles to suit the situation*).

*Hence his making no reappearance in the series; like Doroteo Arango he's something of a one-off, though unlike Señor Arango he's more of a Jimmy Carter than a Pancho Villa (Which is to say that he's an admirable progressive who'd make an absolute hash of the politics, but probably accumulate a much better reputation post-Presidency through consistent Humanitarian work - especially if the Radical Liberals are able elect more successful Chief Executive, allowing them to regard Layne as a version 1.0 rather than a disastrous one-off).

That would make for a very cool scene.
 
"The Party would have a better shot if TR had won up in the USA. Everybody down here hates him just as much as he hates us. Those Red bastards they've got up there now are bending over backwards so far, it's hard to get people riled up at 'em the way they ought to be."

Hmmm. I didn’t remember that bit; I’ll bet the Whig Establishment wouldn’t be as willing to accept Freedom Party antics with TR on their northern frontier, though whether they have the necessary experience in Dirty Tricks to get rid of Featherston without triggering a violent rebellion is an interesting question (I’ll tell you this, General Stuart would think his ship had come in if President Semmes took one look at TR, looked at Featherston ranting, then looked back to TR rumbling on the horizon like Mount Etna and said “General JEB? Keel-haul that mother****** before he sinks the whole damned Confederacy”).

*My mental image of Gabriel Semmes as the ‘pirate’ to TR’s ‘Cowboy’ is a longstanding one, no matter how unsupported by the text.

Also, now I’m wondering if General Stuart would so far forget himself and his office as to cry “Aye aye, Mr President!” Navy-style.


That would make for a very cool scene
Thank You very kindly for the compliment; it strikes me that a man willing to stand on Racial reconciliation and rapprochement with the Yankees in the wake of the Great War & the Red Rebellion in the Confederate States of By-God America is almost certainly a man marching to the beat of his own drum…

(I’d absolutely LOVE to see President Roosevelt’s expression after this utter milquetoast actually has the nerve to say him “Nay” teeth chattering all the whole).
 

bguy

Donor
Hmmm. I didn’t remember that bit; I’ll bet the Whig Establishment wouldn’t be as willing to accept Freedom Party antics with TR on their northern frontier, though whether they have the necessary experience in Dirty Tricks to get rid of Featherston without triggering a violent rebellion is an interesting question

That's a good point. (And especially if the early death/arrest of Roger Kimball leads to Ainsworth Layne being murdered by Freedom Party stalwarts during the 1921 campaign as that would give Semmes the perfect justification for coming down on the Freedom Party like a ton of bricks.) Of course having the Confederate government stomp on the Freedom Party before it can take power still works for satisfying the original request for a timeline without a Second Great War (even if it does result in our oft discussed Confederate Civil War.)

(I’ll tell you this, General Stuart would think his ship had come in if President Semmes took one look at TR, looked at Featherston ranting, then looked back to TR rumbling on the horizon like Mount Etna and said “General JEB? Keel-haul that mother****** before he sinks the whole damned Confederacy”).

*My mental image of Gabriel Semmes as the ‘pirate’ to TR’s ‘Cowboy’ is a longstanding one, no matter how unsupported by the text.

Also, now I’m wondering if General Stuart would so far forget himself and his office as to cry “Aye aye, Mr President!” Navy-style.

Minor Spoilers for Star Trek The Next Generation below

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I don't know if you're a Star Trek The Next Generation fan, but I imagine General Stuart's reaction to getting that particular order would be very close to how Lieutenant Worf reacted when Captain Picard ordered him to throw Q in the brig.

Thank You very kindly for the compliment; it strikes me that a man willing to stand on Racial reconciliation and rapprochement with the Yankees in the wake of the Great War & the Red Rebellion in the Confederate States of By-God America is almost certainly a man marching to the beat of his own drum…

Truth. And he would certainly have to have some guts as well.
 
I have toyed around with the idea that Featherstone bites a bullet in 1917 at the end of the war. Reggie Bartlett has a successful political career with the rad Libs and becomes president following the Whigs botching the great depression with Long as his VP.
 
Hmmm ... for my money Long as PotCSA with dear old Reggie as VP seems more likely (since Long is a Real Life politician, while Reggie was more of an activist and decent egg) or at least has more dramatic potential, since President Huey would almost certainly be a case of "Be careful what you wish for".


Of course having the Confederate government stomp on the Freedom Party before it can take power still works for satisfying the original request for a timeline without a Second Great War (even if it does result in our oft discussed Confederate Civil War.)

True, that; I do suspect that any CS Civil War in this timeline could well be a Long Vs Knight duel (A strong possibility if these two decide they hate & fear each other too much to risk letting the other into the 'Grey House' unopposed).


I don't know if you're a Star Trek The Next Generation fan

My dear fellow, how could I not be? - a generally optimistic Space opera with a wealth of beautiful costumes, settings, ships and even more beautiful ladies (also the Lead Hero is So Very British, despite being a Frenchman), what's not to love?


Truth. And he would certainly have to have some guts as well.

That and/or a certain detachment from consensus reality!
 
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