Twists and Turns: An Alternate 1952 and Beyond

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Ah yes, Daniel Webster's mortal enemy.

I'm curious who is the most conservative member of the Court? The potential lack of Justice White on the Court is very disturbing.

The Supreme Court right now is very very moderate generally due to the fact that Dirksen only had three nominees and had to compromise on one of them due to a massive senate democratic majority. Here’s the current court with the AJ’s arranged in no particular order.

CJ: Ernest McFarland (Stevenson)
AJ1: Hugo Black (FDR)
AJ2: William O. Douglas (FDR)
AJ3: Tom Clark (Truman)
AJ4: Richard Rives (Stevenson)
AJ5: James A. Fee (Dirksen)
AJ6: Tom Dewey (Dirksen)
AJ7: George T. Mickelson (Dirksen)
AJ8: Abe Ribcoff (Kefauver)

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The Supreme Court right now is very very moderate generally due to the fact that Dirksen only had three nominees and had to compromise on one of them due to a massive senate democratic majority. Here’s the current court with the AJ’s arranged in no particular order.

CJ: Ernest McFarland (Stevenson)
AJ1: Hugo Black (FDR)
AJ2: William O. Douglas (FDR)
AJ3: Tom Clark (Truman)
AJ4: Richard Rives (Stevenson)
AJ5: James A. Fee (Dirksen)
AJ6: Tom Dewey (Dirksen)
AJ7: George T. Mickelson (Dirksen)
AJ8: Abe Ribcoff (Kefauver)

Oh if you have any criticisms of the current SC, just tell me, I could be very, very, very wrong

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

(coughs in future (and crappy wikibox)):

(No the black boxes don’t signify nuclear war)

 

[Gerbbro]

JFK and McCormack I understand for American Leaders/Commanders. But why is Mansfield on there? Unless it's a teaser of things to come.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

SNIP

 

[Gerbbro]

snip

Shall I edit my post then?

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Shall I edit my post then?

Yeah or else I’ll make them lose to Thomas Keating
@Gonzo

 

[marktaha]

No way would SaLisbury have been PM in the Lords. And this SA war would surely be a walkover.
I'm British by the way. France- what became of De Gaulle?

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

No way would SaLisbury have been PM in the Lords. And this SA war would surely be a walkover.
I'm British by the way. France- what became of De Gaulle?

1.) Shit
Well I can just edit the box to make his seat South Dorset but then I have to change all the boxes... (SIGH)
2.) Yeah it is but the war in Iberia and Rhodesia is very bloody and are stalling British and Portuguese progress in SA, also many whites in SA are very loyal
3.) Kewl I’m a Portlandic bisexual agnostic hippy with no life
4.) Currently In retirement, Gaullists do have lots of power in France ITTL tho

 

[marktaha]

It was impossible to disclaim a peerage until 1963.

 

[gap80]

--- Hi! Gentleman Biaggi's out of town this week without his phone, and asked me to post today's update in his place. Enjoy! ---​

Iberia

While the Spanish Civil War (a.k.a. the Iberian War in Portugal, the War of Independence in several areas, and the French-Portuguese war in some Franco apologist circles) is often seen as a war contained within the South African conflict, it is actually a much different beast. The war began in 1963 after Franco refused to drop support to South Africa following the Johannesburg Massacre/Riots. With this, the United States and France began funding anti-Francoist rebels in Spain and Spain’s African colonies. France’s President François Mitterrand also decided to bring Portugal into the war in late 1963. France promised Portugal that if Spain was defeated, they would get the area of Greater Portugal[1] from Spain along with aid from France to fight rebels both in their colonies and any that were in mainland Portugal. Portugal agreed and hoped that the increase in territory would help their nation grow in power and hold on to its colonies.

Another major part of the war was nationalists in Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Basque rising up against the Francoist regime that had been restricting their rights since it rose to power. Most nationalistic movements were armed by the French and in some cases, the Haitians, who were known for mass manufacturing many weapons to be used in Africa and by Soviets, such as the powerful Soviet AK-47 that has become such a staple in Haitian industry that many joke it should be on the Haitian flag. These nationalist groups often resorted to violent tactics, such as bombings and attacks on civilians who refused to ally with them. These tactics received much criticism internationally, however the Francoist regime had also used bloody tactics to stay in power in the past almost 30 years and they used them during the war more than ever. The war’s bloodiness shocked many, but as the main conflict in South Africa was grabbing more attention, it rarely came up. With this, Spain was clearly in for an interesting 1960s.

--- And here's something I made for this: The Joke Flag of TTL's Haiti (hope ya like it, GB!) ---

 

[unclepatrick]

Just spend a couple of happy hours reading this timeline,
Great job.
Love the attention spend on Africa Politics and the British getting involved in Vietnam in the place of the US.
And speaking as a resident of Alabama, it nice to see a well thought out concept involving my home state.

About My only complain would be the Death of two president in 1963. Just seem a bit too much.
But it your timeline.

Again Great Job.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Just spend a couple of happy hours reading this timeline,
Great job.
Love the attention spend on Africa Politics and the British getting involved in South Vietnam in the place of the US.
And speaking as a resident of Alabama, it nice to see a well thought out concept involving my home state.

About My only complain would be the Death of two president in 1963. Just seem a bit too much.
But it your timeline.

Again Great Job.

Fixed
And thanks! Alabama is an interesting thing, I’ve really wanted to have a sort of a more populist political machine lead by Wallace in Alabama

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

While many states in the South began a two-party system or in a few cases a one-party system after the formation of the Constitution Party, Kentucky actually shifted to a three-party system like many Western states. With this, the Democrats, hopeful for a win after nearly losing in 1959 decided to nominate Happy Chandler, the former governor, senator, and MLB commissioner. Chandler's past efforts to integrate baseball and general support of integration gave him major popularity among African-American voters in the state. Also, Chandler's fiscally conservative views attracted cross-over Constitution and Republican voters to his campaign. Despite Chandler's dominance in the polls, the Republicans wanted a win and nominated veteran representative Thruston Morton, hoping his Stassen-ite views would help win over liberals unsatisfied with Chandler's campaign. Unfortunately, Morton was more moderate than many thought and publicly endorsed a right-wing Republican-Constitution unity ticket for the house, which hurt him with liberals and had many of them returning to Chandler's campaign or staying home. Meanwhile, the state's Constitution Party had been growing, winning 3 of Kentucky's 7 house districts in 1962. They decided to nominate Eugene Snyder, a more moderate force in the state's party but still a conservative through and through. With Happy leading in virtually all polls, the race for who could be the opposition in Kentucky was seen as more important. In the end, Morton and Snyder were only .3% apart from each other, but Morton took second place. While that happened in the governor's race, in the state house, the Constitution party got second place in total seats, proving that they could become the opposition too. While that was important, the major news coming out of the race was that after 25 years, Happy Chandler would be returning to the governor's mansion, just as popular as ever.

 

[Gonzo]

I'd be fine with any of them winning TBH. Nice to see Chandler winning, Chandler '64 perhaps?

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

I'd be fine with any of them winning TBH. Nice to see Chandler winning, Chandler '64 perhaps?

Ooooooh now that’s an idea

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

“Former New York Mayoral candidate and McCarthy attorney Roy Cohn has been jailed following a raid on a homosexual nightclub”
-New York Times, 12/14/1963

“Homosexuality, heroin, and Hoover, the Second Red Scare”
-Gore Vidal to an advisor

“Who would’ve thought a major part of the ‘Lavender Scare’ would be a homosexual?”
“Open your eyes, McCarthy and Hoover were gay too”
“What?”
“Gayer than 10 Christmases at once”
-Conversation between state Senator Mo Udall and Barry Goldwater [1]

“I don’t understand why [homosexuality] is such a big deal? After all we’re all born bisexual”
“Care to elaborate on that?”
“No”
-Conversation between Gore Vidal and some reporters

“After his controversial interview on the Roy Cohn scandal it has become clear that because of his sympathy to Homosexuals and their “lifestyle”, Gore Vidal is a hidden Homosexual...”
“What the fuck?”
“...And should therefore be removed from the House of Representatives”
“What the fuck?”
-Interaction between Gore Vidal and Ken Courtney on the House floor

“Effort to recall Gore Vidal from the House begins”
-New York Times, 12/29/1964

“While Mr. Cohn has been an opponent of our people since he began to work with McCarthy; I feel that we in the gay community should forgive him and use his jailing as a symbol. A symbol that no matter how powerful you are, no matter how famous you are, if you love someone society says you’re not supposed to, you will be hated. So I ask all of us to rise up and fight for our rights in the streets just like Negros and women did!”
-Frank Kameny, 1/5/1964

“Northern Irish politician and Freedom Party leader H. Montgomery Hyde announces support for Frank Kameny’s homosexual rights movement”
-New York Times, 1/7/1964[2]

“Civil Rights activist Baynard Rustin announces his homosexuality and begins to work with other homosexuals towards starting protests for their rights”
-Washington Post, 1/11/1964[3]

“Homosexual Rights protest in New York City turns violent following an attempt from police to arrest several protesters.”
-New York Times, 1/24/1964

“Hear that Jim? Your city’s under attack from homosexuals”
“Shut the fuck up Phyllis”
-Conversation between Constitution party representatives Phyllis Schlafly and Jim Buckley

The arrest of Roy Cohn under anti-sodomy laws was a major turning point for the GLBTI[4] community. To them, Cohn’s arrest showed that no matter who you are you could suffer for your homosexuality. The recall campaign of Gore Vidal after he showed slight support towards their cause only angered them more and that anger culminated in the January protest of 1964. On January 24, 1964, a group of GLBTI protesters and their allies began to protest the discrimination they faced every day. The police, under strict orders to arrest protesters due to the fact that many of them had obviously broken anti-sodomy laws and were also “disturbing the peace” attempted to arrest protesters. Many protesters resisted arrest and were thus attacked with police dogs or batons. The news of this brutality shocked the world, much like the brutality on African-Americans in the South has shocked Americans into rethinking their opinions. Days after the protests, many pro-GLBTI organizations were formed and with that, the gay rights movement was kicked off.

[1] Apologies to @Kovalenko as I got that quote from one of his later Losing the Peace (a great TL!) updates

[2] @Gonzo

[3] OTL, Rustin was outed by Storm Thurmond, the most liberal South Carolinian until Lindsay Graham

[4] GLBT is an acronym often used instead of LGBT by some in OTL, ITTL it’s the main acronym, I added the “I” for intersex, just like the acronym LGBT did IOTL

 

[Gerbbro]

“Hear that Jim? Your city’s under attack from homosexuals”
“Shut the fuck up Phyllis”
-Conversation between Constitution party representatives Phyllis Schlafly and Jim Buckley

That was brilliant. I burst into laughter at that part.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

That was brilliant. I burst into laughter at that part.

It's even better with a wikibox (hint hint I added one)
Honestly all I've wanted since I joined this site was to have someone say that in a TL

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Chaos in Asia[1]

“Tensions rise between the Red Chinese government and the Indian government over the 3,225-kilometre Himalayan bordér between the two nations”
-BBC, 3/4/1964

“In the event of a war between Red China and India, we must protect our Indian allies”
-Fmr. Vice-President and current “Some Guy”[2] Walter Judd on the situation in the Himalayas

“The Republic of China announces that if India recognizes it as the true Chinese government, it will support India in a potential war with Red China”
-Washington Post, 3/7/1964

“In the same nature as the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, Mongolia, and North Korea announce that if a war between India and the PRC occurs, they will ally with the PRC”
-New York Times, 3/9/1964

“FUCK”
-Presidents John McCormack and François Mitterrand at the same time

“If a war between India and the People’s Republic of China were to occur, we would stay neutral, as we have no real grounds to attack, but if the People’s Republic and their allies were to attack our allies in the Republic of China, Japan, or Republic of Korea, they can expect swift and painful action”
-John McCormack in an address to the nation, 3/10/1964

“What he said”
-François Mitterrand during McCormack’s speech

“During this period of tension between India and the People’s Republic of China, the South Korean government began purging many left-wingers due to 88-year-old South Korean leader Syngman Rhee‘s fear of a Second Korean War starting as a result of a potential PRC-India war.”
-Some Internet Video, the future

“Several capitalist nations come to India’s aid with tensions growing. The United Kingdom, Cuba, Japan, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Dominican Republic, Malaysia, and South Vietnam have all agreed to support India in the event of a war with the PRC”
-The Oregonian[3], 3/13/1964

<very nervous laughter>
-Probably a lot of people from 3/7/1964-TBD

The rampant escalation of the PRC-Indian border tension was to be expected if you knew the contex around the time. At the time, the ROC’s government and people were getting quite nationalist due to the assassination of Chaing Kai-shek and had fears of being replaced by the PRC as the “official” Chinese government, so it made sense why they would attempt to ally with India against the PRC. The ROC’s Roc-solid (see what I did there?) alliance with the US threatened the PRC’s government and plans in the war and they went to get help from their allies, thus causing the massive mess. However, the United States, battered from the war in South Africa/Iberia, two presidental deaths in 1 year, fears of a Civil War in Chile, fears of a war in Hispaniola, fears of a war in the Middle East, again, fears of a Civil war in Portugal, and a recovering economy tried it’s hardest to be neutral while not giving in to the Communists. Wether or not they succeeded... is for me to know, but as the weather warmed, there was a lot of fear that more than the weather would go hot...

[1] Alternative names: include Chile and call it straight-up “Chaos”, or just “Guys pls call this a dystopia already”
[2] @GrayCatbird42
[3] Yeah that’s right we can report on international news TOO