Turbulent Times :: A Timeline

Penelope

Banned
So what's up with the map colors, you didn't stick with the formula and also Vietnam?


A big post on Vietnam will be up; probably the next thing I post. The map colors don't really matter, I'll just color them how I see fit when I make them. :)
 
Hmmm, does Rockefeller face a challenge from Barry Goldwater in 1964?

And would Smathers, who voted with his segregationist constituency, have won the Democratic nomination in 1964 without losing the black vote in the general election?
 
The Civil Rights Movement

1963 saw the escalation of the Civil Rights Movement in America. In early January, Martin Luther King, Jr would lead a Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. after the Savannah Church Bombing. The Savannah Church Bombing was possible the most horrific moment of the American Civil Rights Movement; 7 Ku Klux Klan members would approach an African American Church in Savannah, Georgia, on a Sunday morning during Chuch hours, and began hurling explosives at the church. The explosives would cause a fire that burned the entire Church down, over 44 people would be killed, and 21 more would be injured. After hearing of the news, Martin Luther King organized a march from Richmond, Virginia, all the way to the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. During this march, on several occasions, many Ku Klux Klan members would attempt to attack or stop the marchers. Thankfully, they would prevail. At the end of the Second March on Washington by Martin Luther King, he would deliver his famous "My vision" speech, which outlined his belief for Civil Rights for all Americans. At the end of the speech, several Government Officials, including President Rockefeller, and Senator Kennedy would also make speeches for the cause.

"Last Sunday, more than eight thousand of us started on a mighty walk from Richmond, Virginia. We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. Some have literally slept in the mud. We have been drenched by the rains."

-An excerpt from MLK's Famous speech.

Martin_Luther_King_-_March_on_Washington.jpg


The Cuban Missile Crisis

"Direct aggression against Cuba would mean nuclear war. The Americans speak about such aggression as if they did not know or did not want to accept this fact. I have no doubt they would lose such a war."

-Ernesto "Che" Guevera, February 1963.

The year would begin with one of the most fear inducing events that the world has ever seen. The Cuban Missile Crises began on January 14th, 1963; when UN Ambassador Alfred Gruenther revealed to the United Nations several airborne pictures of Russian Missiles in several locations in Cuba. In possibly one of the most famous moments of Gruenther's Career, just before showing the photographs, he would forcefully ask Soviet Ambassador, Valerian Zorin, if the Soviet Union was installing Russian Missiles in Cuba, which he would famously puncuate with "Don't wait for the damned translation, just answer 'yes' or 'no'!". Zorin refused to answer the question, and as such, Gruenther would then show the U.N. the US aquired images of Soviet Missiles. What would follow was what many claim was the closest that the United States ever got to going to war with the Soviet Union.

The Cuban Missile Crisis would reach it's most critical point in February 1963, the Joint Chiefs of Staff would instruct the Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2, the first of two recorded times, after Khrushchev had issued a statement which read that "The United States' 'pirate action' [would] lead to war..". By the end of the night, President Rockefeller had met with his Cabinet, in the wee hours of the morning, to discuss possible outcomes to the crisis. After several hours of discussion with top military advisors, including Foreign Policy Advisor Henry Kissinger, the one conclusion seemed to be an amphibian invasion of Cuba, with a possible nuclear strike on the Soviet Union if necessary. Everything pointed toward what many believed could be the end of the Earth as we knew it. President Rockefeller and his cabinet would eventually enter into a secret meeting with Soviet Union officials. On the night of March 1st, 1963, the crisis was finally settled. President Rockefeller secretly agreed to remove all missiles that had been placed in Turkey, in exchange for the Soviet Union removing all missiles placed in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis would prove to be an incredible foreign policy victory for the administration, in contrast to the humiliation that was the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Enjoying the TL, but the CMC is to close to OTL
 
I said the same thing, because Khrushchev knew Nixon well enough not to try such a stunt. IOTL his Vienna impression of JFK (younger than K's son
!) was infamous: "too intelligent, too rich, too weak."
 
This is a great timeline you have here, but the CMC is just a slight bit too much like ours. That's only one detail of it though.
 

Penelope

Banned
Hmmm, does Rockefeller face a challenge from Barry Goldwater in 1964?

And would Smathers, who voted with his segregationist constituency, have won the Democratic nomination in 1964 without losing the black vote in the general election?

Goldwater ran, but dropped out shortly after announcing that candidacy.

Smathers was able to win the black vote with Humphrey on the ticket, even though his consituency, was fairly disgruntled.

MacGregor/RogueBeaver: Although I do agree that it is a little to close to OTL, I'm going to try to change things up a bit as we move forward. I'll probably edit the CMC eventually, I do think it is a bit close to OTL.
 
SFG: I seriously doubt you could carry the black vote with Smathers on the ticket. This is the man who wondered aloud on the Senate floor "why does a black man get out quicker when he rapes a white gal." It would be the same as putting Herbert Lehman as Joe Kennedy Sr or Jr's VP. Doesn't balance by a longshot.
 
From one Nixonian to another: please continue! I will always support fellow Board USP writers, Rovian wannabes, Nixonians and Kexperts.
 

Penelope

Banned
The warm, recently built warm suburban home was quiet. The kids had been put to bed, snuggled in to dreamland with a late-night bedtime story. Mom and Dad returned to the modest living room, where a small, warm to the touch television sat. It had been tuned to the same thing all day; Live Reports from Vietnam. Dad had told the children that everything was going to be allright, while Mother watched with tearful eyes. Their children's bright futures had been replaced by visions of war and destruction. The mother and father had not wanted to believe the horror at first, but as the stories and reports continued it became all too real.


"This is Walter Cronkite, reporting from an American Camp in South Vietnam. Around me is destruction, famine, and geniune hell. Please, if you have any younger children in the room, please send them to their rooms at this time, as our coverage tonight is unfortunately extremely graphic."


The mother turned her eyes once again, shielding her face from the screen..

***

Up until this point, The Rockefeller Presidency had gone as many in the administration had hoped. Rockefeller's Plan for Prosperity had gone through Congress without second-thought. Re-election had been won, and it seemed like another Republican presidency was almost assured. However, in the Summer of 1965, the plans and funding that had gone on for the conflict in Vietnam began to surface. The North Vietnamese were pushing back the United States funded, and Democratic South Vietnamese. President Rockefeller then instituted a surge of American Troops, under guidence of his cabinet, closest friends, and advisors. While most congressmen from both parties supported this measure, none knew the impact it would have on America, and indeed the world.

For Democrats, it gave them hope for the 1966 Congressional Elections.. For Republicans, it meant a possible republican successor for Rockefeller... For Americans in general, it meant an early greying of their hair.
 
Here are some questions. Who leads SVN? Is it Ky-Thieu (Thieu would not be sole ruler as PRVN until 1967-8), who launched their bloodless coup in May 1965 IOTL? The mercenary Duong Van Minh? Or is it still Diem and the Dragon Lady?
 
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