Twists and Turns: An Alternate 1952 and Beyond

[Gentleman Biaggi]

1960 Republican Nomination
Before the 1960 Republican Primaries began, it was generally expected that the race was going to be between Harold Stassen and Vice President Walter Judd. In the polls for that potential race, Stassen was predicted to get crushed. Stassen had burned most of his goodwill in the Republican Party by being a massive maverick and fighting president Everett Dirksen on almost everything. While this gave him large amounts of popularity in Liberal Pennsylvania, as the state was necessarily full of Dirksen supporters, it hurt him with Republicans outside the Liberal Northeast. Meanwhile, he had seemingly burnt out his old support in the Midwest by deserting Minnesota for Pennsylvania before then preaching about “Northeastern values” to support racial integration as governor. He still had moderate Western support, but he had burned too many bridges as governor to win the nomination. That was when former Senate Minority Leader Bill Knowland announced his candidacy. Knowland was to the right of the Republican Party, and had establishment support, as he had been the Republican Senate Leader.


The Primaries were nothing if not surprising after Knowland announced his candidacy. The first primary was the New Hampshire Primary. In it, New Hampshire senator and favorite son candidate Norris Cotton won, but Harold Stassen came in a surprisingly close second with 44.3% of the vote, while Cotton only got 53.6%. Stassen’s performance was largely put on Norris Cotton’s opposition to an extension of Civil Rights, which was not too popular in New Hampshire at the time. Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, D.C, and Nebraska were won by Judd, while Knowland won Indiana, California, and Florida. The real surprise came when Stassen took Oregon and South Dakota. He won South Dakota by a slim plurality with state senator and favorite son candidate David L. Wickens getting into second place with 27% of the vote. He also won Oregon in a shocker, as most people expected the state to go Judd due to the state’s moderate views, but lack of major support for Stassen. Again, he won the state with a small 39% of the vote. Stassen also managed to take Pennsylvania and Massachusetts with larger margins, as he was expected to due to his broad support in the Northeast.

Despite some of the surprising results of the primaries, the nomination looked like it was going to Judd. While Stassen had surprised many with his victories, it was clear he had no chance to get the nomination. He had finished in second place in primaries won, but third in the popular vote. He only won one state with over 50% of the vote, and it was his “home state”, Pennsylvania (which he win with 53%). Not only that, but he had almost no support from Midwestern or Establishment figures. Meanwhile, Knowland and Judd were willing to compromise in order to stop Stassen from further splitting the Republican. Due to Knowland’s endorsement of Judd, Stassen’s nomination chances had ended. After the defeat Stassen announced that he had no plans to run for president again, but would stay active in Pennsylvania politics. In order to pick a less establishment figure than Knowland, Judd decided on moderate Fred Schwengel. However, Schwengel’s support for organized labor would awaken a growing beast in the South and West….

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The Conservatives Strike back

After the nominations of Walter Judd and Estes Kefauver, conservatives in both the Democratic and Republican parties were outraged. Conservative Republicans, like former senator Barry Goldwater despised the vice-presidential nomination of pro-labor Republican Fred Schwengel, and Conservative Democrats despised the growing liberalism in the Democratic Party. With that, a meeting between outraged Conservatives in both parties was held after the RNC. During the meeting, a third party candidacy was discussed. However, after the horrid performance of the Dixiecrats in the last election, the idea of Dixiecrat candidate was out the window. That’s when the idea of a national campaign came up. While Orval Fabus, the conservative candidate in the 1960 Democratic Primaries was willing to take the nomination, it was a bit harder to find a Republican candidate (during the meeting it was decided that one former Republican and one former Democrat should be on the ticket.). It was whittled down to four choices


-Former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater

-Former Maine Senator Owen Brewster

-California Representative Edgar W. Hiestand

-Illinois Representative Richard B. Vail[1]


Owen Brewster wasn’t chosen because despite his conservative positions and anti-Communism, he seemed too old at 72, and would die a year later. Goldwater was ruled out because of his moderacy on civil rights issues, and because he rejected the nomination to build his own version of the party in Arizona. With that, the running mate position was split between the controversial Hiestand, and the even more controversial Vail. Hiestand was finally chosen by Fabus because he wanted to build a base out west. With that, the nomination process was over, however, people were split on what to name the party. Eventually, it was named the Constitution Party, and the Constitution Party would hold its first nation convention to unanimously nominate Fabus and Hiestand, a month after the RNC.

Image of 1960 Constitution Party nominee Orval Fabus

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Quick Note: The "Ocean of Uncertainty" has two more events than mentioned in this update, however, I am planning to give them each their own update, so they are not included.

A drop of Sanity in an Ocean of Uncertainty

“When it comes down to it, the 1960 election was a drop of sanity in an Ocean of Uncertainty”
-Fmr. Governor of Alabama, [RETRACTED], and [RETRACTED] George Wallace, 1990


“What is your opinion on Mr. Wallace’s comments on the 1960 election?”
“I agreed with most of it, but ‘the Ocean of Uncertainty’ is already President [RETRACTED]’s nickname for the Arctic Ocean”
-Fmr. Governor and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 1990


The lead up to the 1960 election was like the years that followed. Full of conflict and uncertainty over foreign politics. The first conflict that came into play during the 1960 election season was the 1960 RNC. While the RNC itself was a generally normal affair, outside, the Nation of Islam was protesting the Convention, and president Dirksen. The Nation of Islam considered President Dirksen to be basically Satan. NOI leader Elijah Muhammad said that “Everett Dirksen is the leader of the white devils” and that the Iranian-American War was “The White Devil’s war against the holy people of Iran”. Ironically, the economic troubles blamed on Dirksen actually played into Muhammad’s hand, as the NOI’s membership increased by large numbers in the Dirksen administration. Many members of the Nation of Islam protested the 1960 RNC, as it would nominate Dirksen’s successor, Walter Judd. The protesters were not the most peaceful, as many of the protesters screamed things such as “Death to Dirksen”. However, things really got heated up when police attacked protesters. Following the attacks, the protesters began rioting. The riots in total caused over 40 deaths and countless injuries. After the protests happened at the RNC, the Republicans tried to connect the Nation of Islam to the Democrats (Although Elijah Muhammad also didn’t have kind words for the Democratic ticket). This attempt was very unsuccessful and did not affect the polls. However, the riots were seen as an American entrance into the “Ocean of Uncertainty” that George Wallace would mention in 1990, as most of the other events happened overseas.

Elijah Muhammad making an anti-Dirksen speech in 1959


The 1959 Cuban Elections would also be seen as a part of the “Ocean of Uncertainty”, despite not being in 1960. Despite elections being planned to be held in 1958, fears of the unsuccessful Cuban revolution getting in the way were high in the Batista government, so elections were held in 1959. There were fears that another election like 1954 would lead to more unrest in Cuba, so U.S president Everett Dirksen convinced Batista to hold free and fair elections. Batista finally agreed. However, President Batista was becoming unpopular and decided not to stand for reelection. Instead, senator Jorge García Montes was nominated by the Liberal Party. The two other major parties, Partido Autentico and Partido Ortodoxo nominated former president Carlos Prío Socarrás and former senator Emilio Ochoa. Anti-Batista lawyer and political supporter of the Cuban revolution José Miró Cardona also ran a small independent campaign. The campaign in Cuba was largely a referendum on Batista, while Batista’s popularity had risen following the defeat if the rebels, it still wasn’t high. All the Non-Liberal campaigns tried to portray the Liberal candidate as a future Batista. There was one problem with that, and it was that the anti-Liberal vote was split among three candidates. With that, Liberal candidate Jorge García Montes won by a slim plurality. Most of this was blamed on Cardona’s campaign, but polling showed that virtually all of his supporters would’ve voted for Ochoa anyway, which would’ve only lead to more deadlock.

After the election, countless riots occurred as a result of the Liberals winning, as many in Cuba felt that Batista had rigged the election. It was clear that interesting times were about to happen in Cuba.


The next events in the so-called “Ocean of Uncertainty” would occur with leadership changes in the nations of Haiti and South Vietnam...

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

1960 Presidential Election
The 1960 Presidential Election was one of the most boring in US history. The previous three elections, with Harry Truman upsetting Tom Dewey to get a historic victory, or the closeness of the 1952 election, or even Adlai Stevenson rallying in 1956. Instead, the 1960 election was simply a Kefauver sweep like everyone expected. However, the election was notable for a few things.

The 1960 election had the first ever presidential debate. The debate was largely Fabus’s idea, as he wanted to spread the Constitution Party’s National power. Walter Judd agreed, as he wanted his campaign to have a bit of a boost since they were behind Kefauver by a lot. Kefauver reluctantly agreed, but he went into the debates fearing that it would hurt his numbers.

Then the debates happened.

During the entirety of the debates, Kefauver went on the attack. His most notable attack was on Fabus, when he attacked Fabus by saying “These pro-State’s Rights advocates use ‘Law and Order’ to defend not supporting civil rights. Yet I find it ironic, that when the highest court in the land says that school integration is the law, you and plenty of other members of the Constitution party refuse to listen to the law. What part of law and order is that?”. He also attacked Judd when Judd spoke about how the Dirksen administration has saved Cuba from Communism. Kefauver stated that “While the victory in Cuba was admirable, we need to fix the problems in our country.” When Judd tried to interject with “Sir, are you saying we should’ve let Cuba and possibly all of the Caribbean fall to Communism in order to-“ Kefauver interjected with “No, Mr. Judd, I am not saying that, and in fact, you don’t have much ground to stand on when you say you’re stopping the Caribbean from going red, considering that you’re administration let Che Guevara and Fidel Castro escape to Haiti to start a revolution against one of the most unpopular leaders on the planet that your administration kept in power despite the fact that it is making America unpopular abroad.” After the debates, the American people realized that Kefauver was fiery about the issues facing America, and he would not stop fighting for the American people. Even his opponents thought there were only two things they could hit Kefauver on, and that was the fact that he lacked a major plan on Civil Rights (and even then, Judd didn’t have the most concrete plan on Civil Rights either, and Fabus’s was.... well, controversial.), and that he wasn’t as hard as Fabus or Judd on the Nation of Islam (he was still expected to be harsh on them, as anyone would after the events of the 1960 Republican convention). By Election Day 1960, the result was never in doubt.

While the election results shocked nobody, some statewide results did, for instance, the Republican victory in California shocked many. Not only that, but the Constitution party did better than expected, even managing to come in Second place in Heavily Republican Florida and Idaho, heavily Democratic Arizona, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. In the end, Kefauver would make it to the White House, and a new era of American Politics would begin.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

So my next update will involve the gubernatorial elections of 1960, but I've decided to show the current composition of governors before the '60 elections

Alabama: George Wallace (Democratic)
Alaska: William A. Egan (Democratic)
Arizona: Stewart Udall (Democratic)
Arkansas: Orval Fabus (Constitution*)
California: Jimmy Roosevelt (Democratic)
Colorado: Donald G. Brotzman (Republican)
Connecticut: Abe Ribicoff (Democratic)
Delaware: Alexis Bayard (Democratic)
Florida: LeRoy Collins (Democratic)
Georgia: Ernest Vandiver (Constitution*)
Hawaii: John A. Burns (Democratic)
Idaho: Edson H. Deal (Republican)
Illinois: William G. Stratton (Republican)
Indiana: Crawford F. Parker (Republican)
Iowa: Herschel C. Loveless (Democratic)
Kansas: James F. Breeding (Democratic)
Kentucky: Keen Johnson (Democratic)
Louisiana: William M. Rainach (Constitution*)
Maine: Frank M. Coffin (Democratic)
Maryland: J. Millard Tawes (Democratic)
Massachusetts: Foster Furcolo (Democratic)
Michigan: Thaddeus M. Machrowicz (Democratic)
Minnesota: Orville Freeman (DFL)
Mississippi: Carroll Gartin (Constitution)
Missouri: James T. Blair Jr. (Democratic)
Montana: J. Hugo Aronson (Republican)
Nebraska: Victor E. Anderson (Republican)
Nevada: Howard Cannon (Democratic)
New Hampshire: Wesley Powell (Republican)
New Mexico: Betty Fiorina (Democratic)
New Jersey: C. Douglas Dillon (Republican)
New York: Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. (Democratic)
North Carolina: Luther E. Barnhardt (Democratic)
North Dakota: Herschel Lashkowitz (Democratic-NPL)
Ohio: Michael DiSalle (Democratic)
Oklahoma: Cowboy Williams (Democratic)
Oregon: Robert D. Holmes (Democratic)
Pennsylvania: Harold Stassen (Republican)
Rhode Island: Dennis J. Roberts (Democratic)
South Carolina: Ernest J. Hollings (Constitution*)
South Dakota: George McGovern (Democratic)
Tennessee: Buford Ellington (Democratic)
Texas: Prince Daniel (Democratic)
Utah: J. Bracken Lee (Constitution*)
Vermont: Robert Stafford (Independent)
Virginia: Joel Broyhill (Constitution*)
Washington: Albert Rosellini (Democratic)
West Virginia: Chauncey H. Browning Sr. (Democratic)
Wisconsin: Clement J. Zablocki (Democratic)
Wyoming: Milward Simpson (Republican)

Total:
Democratic: 32
Republican: 10
Constitution: 7
Independent: 1


*Switched from another party to the Constitution Party

Map:

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

In 1958 the Democrats had gone on a sweep by the Democrats. The Democrats swept all national or statewide offices, as the recession was hurting the state. Incumbent Barry Goldwater was swept by Evo Anton DeConcini and representative Stewart Udall easily beat no-name Republican opposition. However, by 1960, it began to seem like Udall wasn’t attending to the needs of the state. Because of this, it seemed like he could be easily defeated by the Republican Party. However, when the Constitution Party was created, everything changed.


When the Constitution Party was created, former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater decided against becoming Fabus’s running mate to instead form a Arizona wing of the Constitution Party. Because of that, he was quickly nominated by the Constitution Party to be the party’s nominee for governor against Udall. The Republicans nominated state senator O.D Miller, who would have a small effect on the race. Udall was easily renominated by his own party


Goldwater spent his campaign attacking Udall for “putting the state in a bad economic situation” and declaring that “We’ve seen how the old way of doing business has affected our great state, it’s time to see what new ideas can do.” Goldwater used much of the same tactics he used to defeat Ernest McFarland. He toured around the state, making speeches and attacking Udall. However, Udall was no slouch either. At one point he was losing 50% to 30% to Goldwater (Miller/Other/Not Voting/Undecided had 20%). So Udall challenged Goldwater decided to a television debate. Goldwater accepted, and during the debate, Udall questioned about Goldwater’s position on Civil Rights. Civil Rights was an important issue in Arizona, as the state had large populations of Mexican-Americans and Native Americans. Considering Goldwater’s position on Civil Rightswas… complicated (he was a founding member of the Arizona chapter of the NACCP, but opposed some parts of Civil Rights reform because of his libertarianoutlook.) Goldwater stated that Civil Rights didn’t matter because of the economic problems facing the state. a botched attempt to keep both the support of the Constitution Party and minorities (alternatively people of color) in Arizona. This perceived waffling enraged both Constitution Party hardliners (who felt that they wouldn’t be getting a true conservative) and minorities (who feared Goldwater wouldn't accept them).


Following the debates, Udall and Miller received poll boosts. Udall used his boost to campaign around the state, particularly in heavily Native American or Mexican-American areas. Racial tensions were further stroked when flyers were passed around in heavily White areas that stated that Barry Goldwater had started the Arizona NACCP supposedly in hopes that it would depress turnout from potential Goldwater supporters. It was believed that this was the Udall or Miller campaign that did that, but in reality, staffers for Mississippi governor Carroll Gartin passed them around. Gartin felt Goldwater wasn’t a true conservative and wanted to elect Udall so that a more right-wing member of the Constitution Party could beat him in 1962. In the end, the polls showed a razor-thin result. Would Goldwater collapse? Would Udall unexpectedly come back? In the end, it was all up to the people of Arizona to decide their fate.

The election was decided in Goldwater's favor by three hundred and ninety-seven voters. Udall considered asking for a recount, but he was saving his energy and influence for the 1962 gubernatorial election. The newly-triumphant Constitution Party swept the state house and managed to prevent any party from forming a majority in the senate. The election would change Arizonian politics forever, as it began a new state party system.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The 1960 House Elections were largely a continuation of the 1960 presidential election. Both had Democratic gains, but it was hurt by the growth of the Constitution Party, who had taken 23 seats from the Democratic Party before the election. Not only that, but fourth parties began to rise. The Liberal Party grew after “Stassen Republican” John Lindsay was defeated in the Republican primary by a more conservative opponent. Lindsay still won as a member of the Liberal Party, and after the Liberal Party’s victory in 1958, it rose the Liberal Party’s seat total to 2 seats. Meanwhile, conservative candidates were nominated by the Republican, Democratic, and Constitution Party in North Dakota’s At-Large districts, so 36-year-old Left-winger Buckshot Hoffner won the seat after running a populist left-wing campaign that reminded many of the Nonpartisan league of the days of old. All in all, the election was a success for the Democrats, who gained 11 seats, while the Republicans lost 22 seats, largely to vote-splitting in key areas, or just the general feeling of anti-Republican sentiment at the time.

The 1960 Senate Elections, on the other hand, were less successful for the Democratic Party. The Party had gone from a 66 seat majority, to a 56 majority due to the Constitution Party. While the Democrats tried to bounce back. However, the Democrat’s remaining Southern seats in North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama were lost, or only kept alive due to the Constitution Party. (Richard Russell Jr., stayed in the Democratic Party because he felt he was too old to leave and still had some influence in the Democratic Party, so he stayed, despite his conservative views.). The Republicans lost three seats, and after William Lager’s death and Wayne Morse’s party switch to the Democrats, there were no more Indepedents. In the end, the Democrats gained 2 seats, after losing two senators from the south, they also had a chance to win Idaho’s senate race, but shot themselves in the foot by nominating left-winger Glen Taylor, who lost narrowly. Although, a left-winger did succeed in Idaho’s border state, as former Socialist Monroe Sweetland won, thus giving Oregon two of the most left-wing senators in Wayne Morse and Sweetland. Despite the Democrats having less seats than in 1958, it was clear that president Kefauver would have support in Congress.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

I wasn’t able to finish the Haitian box, so enjoy this semi-update.
Politics and Pop Culture

2004 article from Entertainment Weekly; Remembering the Politics of Ronald Reagan
Today, Ronald Reagan is remembered as a celebrated actor who had a career spanning decades. However, despite Reagan’s fame, we often forget his politics. During the 1940s, he fought “Communist Influence” in Hollywood, and later spoke about “Socialized Medicine”. However, Reagan began to turn to the left in the late 50s. He began to distance himself from the Republicans (he had voted for them in ‘52 and ‘56), and in 1960 his biggest political moment would occur. Reagan was asked to make a speech for Democrat Estes Kefauver, as Reagan had been a supporter of Kefauver, and Reagan delivered. His speech, “A New America” was so influential, it became the name of Kefauver’s domestic policy during the sixties. Reagan’s most notable part of the speech was when he said “We could continue our move to the right, and see our nation fall to financial collapse, or we could move back to the left, and save our country.” His speech was a big part of the campaign, and it undoubtedly helped Kefauver and Kennedy. Some expected it to lead to a political career for Reagan, but Reagan never took advantage of it. Instead, he returned to film, and his speech is forgotten.”

52 Years After Reagan’s Speech

“...We need a new America, and Kefauver will bring that to us!”
Wasalu put down the speech. He had been reading Reagan’s speech for days now. He was fascinated that an actor could make such a speech. Now he needed to tell Rosie. He had an idea.
“Hello Muhammad, (Wasalu had been going by his middle name for a while) what’s troubling ya?”
“Rosie, I have an interesting proposition...”

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Haitian President Louis Déjoie was one of the most unpopular leaders in the world. Dejoie won the 1957 election by a narrow plurality with 27% of the vote. At that point, he entered the presidency unpopular, as his plurality win was controversial. He only became more unpopular when the late 50’s economic recession hit Haiti hard and Dejoie’s presidency responded poorly to a hurricane in 1959. Then, his popularity completely collapsed when Dejoie gained massive support from the US and UK and then called off the 1961 elections in 1960 out of fear of “Communist Influence”. After that, the remaining people who were waiting for a chance to vote him out began to turn to a more radical solution…


In late 1958, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, Fidel Castro, and 13 other Cuban revolutionaries escaped to Haiti. Dejoie tried to create a military operation to capture them, but failed. In fact, when many soldiers tried to capture Guevara, they faced hostile reactions from locals. Guevara began traveling around the nation in secret, trying to recruit people to fight Dejoie. When the upcoming 1961 election was called off due to “Communist influence”, Guevara and his group decided to show Dejoie what Communist influence really was.


On December 12, 1960, the Second Haitian Revolution began when Guevara’s troops began an attack on Port-au-Prince. His army of almost 100,000 entered the capital heavily armed to fight for Communism. The army was not only lead by the Cuban Revolutionaries, but also thousands on Haitians, notably Gérard Pierre-Charles. The citizen’s army overran the capital and overthrew the government within a day. Dejoie would end up being killed, and other members of his presidency were either executed or lived in Cuba, the US, or the Dominican Republic. What was later known as the “One-Day Revolution” changed Haiti, and the Caribbean for years to come.

Spoiler: Haitian Flag + Explanation

So this is the new Haitian flag;
As the Guevara movement is based off of nationalism, it makes sense that it would have a flag based off of the older Haitian Empire Flag, not only that, but the flag needs some Communist imagery, so I added dat Golden Star. Also, the black line around the star symbolizes the nation's large massive population, that was a large part of the revolution.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The early 1960s started out poorly for the Republic of China. On January 12, 1961, Taiwanese president Chiang Kai-shek was giving a speech to the Taiwanese people in Taipei. At the time, the Taiwanese economy was pretty bad, as it was in most nations due to recessions hitting major international powers. However, things were going to get worse for Taiwan…


Chiang’s speech was intended to be a speech promoting a new Republic of China, one that could work together to fix its economic problems. However, that hope that Kai-shek was trying to promote was quickly snuffed out. During the end of his speech, a 42-year-old man named Sheng Chiu used an Italian sniper rifle to shoot Chiang Kai-shek. With the speech being broadcasted over the radio and on TV, it would shock the world. Fortunately, only Kai-shek was killed, as he was shot four times and three other bullets missed shek and other government officials.

Little is known about Chiang’s killer. The story we know now, is that his killer was a former laborer who lost his job due to Taiwan's bad economy, before turning to alcohol and then blaming Chiang for his joblessness. With this, he stole a television, sold it, and used the money to buy an Italian sniper rifle illegally. However, this information was only shown to the people in the 1980s. After the death of Chiang, his successor, Chen Cheng, was afraid that political enemies would declare Chang's death a coup or something like that, and Cheng was not keen to that idea. Instead, Cheng declared that it was a Communist plot from the USSR (as if the government blamed it on the PRC, there would be calls for war in the POC, and Cheng knew they couldn’t handle that, so by blaming it on the USSR, it would lead to a more domestic reaction), and that was how Chiu got his Italian rifle.


In the end, the assassination of Chiang actually helped the causes he outlined in his speech. Chiang called for unity, and his assassination did that. It united Taiwan’s people in opposition to the Communists, and because of this, the Cheng government jailed many leftists or people perceived as leftists. This hyper-patriotism ended in the 1980s when Reformist president <RETRACTED> revealed the lies about the Chiang assassination and created democracy. While the jailing's of thousands of citizens perceived to be “leftists” and his lies about the Chiang assassination are indefensible, they are often forgotten when compared to the horrors Mao’s China would begin in 3 years...

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

In 1958, Arizona Attorney General Evo DeConcini was elected to the senate. During his time there, he made it his goal to focus more on affairs effecting Arizona, and with the Democrat's grip on Arizona weakening, DeConcini used his power to build up the Arizona Democratic Party again. By 1960, he was a well-known name within the Democratic Party for his enthusiasm campaigning for Arizona Democrats and for his infamous partisanship. With this recognition, DeConcini was seen as a great choice for Attorney General under Kefauver. With this, he resigned his seat, and Governor Barry Goldwater appointed good friend and political advisor Stephen Shadegg to the position.

Evan Mecham was becoming a famous face in the Arizona Constitution Party. In 1958, he lost a Republican nomination for a state house seat, but ran as an Independent and won in a massive upset with 38% of the vote. In 1960, when the Constitution Party was founded, he joined quickly. However, during his time in the state house, he was known for his often controversial statements. With this, he had his eyes set on the senate. At the time, Stephen Shadegg didn't really enjoy his positon as senator, and felt he was a placeholder. While he didn't like Mecham, he felt a stronger connection to his old party, the Republican Party, and wasn't an active campaigner. With this, Mecham won a narrow primary victory.

Meanwhile, the Democrats quickly nominated businessman Samuel Goddard, while the Republicans nominated an almost unknown state legislator, leading to them being crushed in almost every single poll. While Mecham made the occasional gaffe, the Constitution Party was becoming a force to be reckoned with in Arizona, and while Goddard was rising in the polls, Mecham still held a lead, and when it was all said and done, Mecham entered the senate.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

President Kefauver at a Press Conference in 1961


Estes Kefauver's cabinet:
Vice President: John F. Kennedy
Secretary of State: Mike Mansfield
Secretary of the Treasury: C. R. Smith
Secretary of Defense: Christian Herter
Attorney General: Evo Anton DeConcini
Postmaster General: Lawrence E. Gerosa
Secretary of the Interior: James F. Breeding
Secretary of Agriculture: Herschel C. Loveless
Secretary of Commerce: Joe L. Evans
Secretary of Labour: George Barasch
Secretary of HEW: Abe Ribicoff


When Estes Kefauver took office on January 20, 1961, he had to deal with a divided and hurt nation. The United States had been through a lot with the recession, the Iran War, Haiti falling to Communism, and the Nation of Islam's large protests and occasional riots. For many, it was time for peace. What they got was the biggest reforms and legislation since Franklin Roosevelt's administration.

A key player in the Kefauver administration's reforms was Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson was the very powerful Senate Majority leader who often used "shady" tactics to get legislation passed. One of the most controversial things Johnson would do (not a high bar at the time, as Johnson was famous for taking the middle ground and shying away from controversial decisions) was pick Hubert Humphrey to replace Mike Mansfield (who was now serving as Kefauver's secretary of state) as Senate Majority Whip. Hubert Humphrey was a controversial figure due to his strong support for Civil Rights, but Johnson thought very highly of him, and his picking seemed to point to a more Civil Rights-oriented Democratic Party.

Obviously, the major issue when Kefauver entered office was the economy. Kefauver saw a major player in the recession of the late 50's to be energy. With the Iranian-American War affecting many parts of the Middle East, there were often Oil and Gas shortages, hurting the economy. With this, Kefauver wanted to move away from the influence of foreign oil, and into other energy sources. Kefauver's administration began to support the coal and nuclear power industries. Not only did an increase in jobs from those industries help the economy, it was a genius political move. The so-called "Coal Belt" of Arkansas, West Virginia, and Kentucky were moving away from the Democratic Party (in Arkansas's case, people were joking that they were going to start a religion around governor Orval Fabus and the Constitution Party). This decision pushed them to the Democrats. Also, Kefauver began an increase in government projects, in order to create temporary jobs that could stimulate the economy.

Another large part in the economic improvement was an increase in funding for the G.I Bill. Everett Dirksen had previously made tax cuts and cut the G.I Bill to fund them while thousands of people were fighting in a war Dirksen escalated. This made him very unpopular with veterans, and even lead Republican Senator Joe Foss to filibuster the Tax Cuts. Kefauver was increasing Taxes on the rich, and decided to fund the G.I Bill as there were now thousands coming back from the Iranian-American War due to Kefauver's de-escalation, with more assisting in other areas (such as the Haitian-Dominican Republic Border). With the increase in funding and veterans, many veterans were able to attend good colleges, and get good jobs with their new degrees in the following years.

Surprisingly, the one place Kefauver isn't as celebrated in is Foreign Policy. Obviously, his de-escalation and later end to the Iranian-American War is well known, Kefauver also had a massive impact on Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister of the Democrat Party Adnan Menderes was growing increasingly authoritarian. He had previously stayed neutral in the Iranian-American War, and with the de-escalation, he began reaching out to Mosaddegh, because of this, Kefauver began to fear that Turkey could become an ally of Iran in the future, and so, he assisted a coup lead by Cemal Gürsel to overthrow Menderes in 1961. Gürsel continued Turkey's neutrality, and after the war, he continued Turkey's democratic ways and made them an ally to the United States.

While Kefauver's first year was impressive, his second one would change America with it's gun control, support of Civil Rights, changes in the nomination process in all three parties, and economic improvement.

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The 1961 Los Angeles Mayoral Election was possibly the first election in Los Angeles history affected by baseball. In previous years, Los Angeles was hoping to gain a baseball team to increase their national status. However, they failed to attract the New York Giants, who moved to Minnesota, and the Brooklyn Dodgers, who stayed. With this, Los Angeles got an expansion team, the Los Angeles Stars. However, the construction of the stadium became a burden on taxpayers, and the team also wasn’t that good. With the raise in taxes during an economically poor time, incumbent mayor C. Norris Poulson became unpopular.

During the election, the Democrats nominated conservative Democrat and local celebrity George Putnam. Putnam was a talk show host in Los Angeles, and had become critical of the Stars taxpayer burden. The Constitution Party nominated an anti-tax activist with no actual plan other than promising the people of Los Angeles lower taxes. Meanwhile, the Republicans split, with Los Angeles City Councilman Patrick McGee running against Poulson. In the first round of the two-round election, Putnam came out on top easily, with his local celebrity and heavy support from national Democrats who wanted a Democratic Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Poulson didn't even come in third place. He lost to McGee and the Constitution Party while barley receiving over 20% of the vote. The second round would pit McGee against Putnam.

In the second round, Putnam had a massive lead. His local celebrity helped him tremendously, and his socially conservative positions gave him the support of the Constitution Party and even some Republicans. Not only that, but he ran off of some of president Kefauver's economic recoveries. McGee was just happy to be in the second round. In the end, the Democrats had gone from no candidate for mayor in 1957 to a win with nearly 60% of the vote in 1960.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

While Estes Kefauver was taking the oath of office in 1961, another leader was waiting for a chance to do the same in Haiti. That man was Che Guevara. While Guevara's revolution had gone smoothly, he was becoming a point of controversy. Most of Guevara's rise to power was based around nationalism (and a little bit of xenophobia) and with those emotions raised, it was hard for many who participated in the revolution to accept Guevara, a foreign-born revolutionary as their president. One of those men was Jacques Stephen Alexis. Alexis was a poet who helped recruit troops before the One-Day Revolution. Alexis had originally supported Guevara's movement, but once Guevara wanted to lead, he stepped in. Alexis and his followers demanded that there should be a Democratic Haiti, or else they would spring up opposition groups. Che Guevara considered the options. He could have the group killed/exiled/deported, but Alexis had too much political clout for that to happen. He could ignore them, but he feared that would cause counter-revolutionaries to fight back. Che wanted a stable Haiti, but he feared that Democracy would weaken his position. But, he also feared that not having it could make Haiti even more unstable. Finally, he decided to implement Alexis's plan, in order to have Alexisites (as his followers were known) support, and stability. Guevara announced that he would hold presidential elections every 6 years, and legislative elections every 3. However, he got to fill Haiti's legislature with members of his own party so he could start applying Communist ideals to Haiti.

The 1962 Haitian Presidential Election was supposed to be a battle of ideologies within the PKA, or Pati Kominis nan Ayiti or Communist Party of Haiti. The Cheists verses the Alexisites. However, an interesting face entered the race. Paul Maglorie, the former president of Haiti had been living in exile in America since he was overthrown in a coup. However, his image had gradually gotten better over the years, as Maglorie's administration was nothing compared to the economic turmoil of Déjoie's regime. With that, Maglorie created the AKK (the Anti-Kominis Kowalisyon or Anti-Communist Coalition) and announced a run for president. Then a Fourth ticket entered the race. The Haitian Freedom Party (Pati Libète Ayisyen, or PLA) was formed shortly after the One-Day Revolution. The Party was mostly White and Mulatto and basically only ran on one issue. The PLH wanted the legislature of Haiti to be split by ethnicity. They wanted a third of the legislature elected by whites, a third by mulattos, and a third by blacks. While this basic idea had been thrown around, the more accepted idea was to have the black-elected portion be larger than the mulatto or white one (Some Alexisites suggested the same plan, but with the White and Mulatto portions being a combined 20% of the legislature), so many opposed the plan. Not only that, but the party had split while nominating, and ran various candidates in different areas, thus destroying their very slim chance at election.

When the election started, there never was any real doubt that Che would lose. Haiti's economy had been improving since he took office (likely as a result of millions flowing in from the USSR and PRC) and, Che had taken the PRC's side in the Sino-Soviet Split, causing him to receive thousands to millions from Mao's regime while the Soviet Union really just rooted against him without any action. Meanwhile, the CAC also received money from America and the ROC, leading some in Haiti to call it "the outsider's election" because of all the foreign money coming in. Meanwhile, the struggling PLH received almost no support from anyone, however, they did have their fans. Their most notable fan was high-ranking Constitution Representative Phyllis Schlafly, who stated "We should support the PLH so that we don't see Haiti turn into a society discriminant against the White and Mullatto people", yes, she was a part of the same party that said it would filibuster any Civil Rights Bill. Alexis was able to campaign basically the same way Che had, but with more of a xenophobic hint to it, while Maglorie ran off of his successes as president. In the end, people were happy with Che's Haiti and felt it was too soon to change leaders after the revolution. Che's victory gave him a mandate, and he began intensive reforms on Haiti.

While the 1962 Presidential Election was happening, the elections in the Chamber of Deputies were occurring, albeit with less of a international money-shower at all the candidates. The election was notable because despite splits between the Cheist and Alexist wings of the PKA, they were able to unite in the Chamber Elections to defeat the AKK and the PLA. This lead to a blowout of epic proportions as the elections occurred.
Results of the Chamber of Deputies Elections in 1962[1]
PKA: 32 Seats, 61.2% PV%
AKK: 16 Seats, 31.0% PV%
PLA: 2 seats, 7.8% PV%

However, when the election results were looked at from a perspective based on what candidate each deputy supported in the Presidential Election, it was clear the PKA was much more divided than people thought. Many in the PKK feared their party would tear itself apart in the following years.

PKA Composition by candidate endorsed:
Che Guevara: 18 deputies
Jacques Steven Alexis: 13 deputies
Neither: 1 deputy


[1] Honestly, the only legislative results for Haiti around that time was 1957, and that one's... pretty bad, and I'm lazy, so no wikibox.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Going into 1961, New Jersey governor C. Douglas Dillon was one of the most popular governors in the nation. He was expected to crush all opposition, and with that, the Democrats were put into a hard position. With this, a strange candidate, Henry B. Krajewski was able to be put in a position of power.

Henry B. Krajewski first got into politics in 1952, when he ran for president as an independent. He made almost no effect as a candidate. Afterwards, he made a quiet retirement from politics, and returned to his job as a New Jersey pig farmer. However, Krajewski began to support the Democrats, as he was quite supportive of Kefauver's plan to increase funding to the G.I Bill. With this, Krajewski joined the New Jersey Democratic Party and announced his run for governor.

At first, the New Jersey Democrats had no idea who Krajewski was. They were originally planning to nominate Attorney General Charles Samuel Joelson, but Joelson was afraid of losing his spot as Attorney General, so with that, the Democratic nomination. Krajewski ran an energetic campaign, and was largely helped by his competition. When Krajewski first rose in the polls, his main opposition was a draft campaign for Dillon. He described his other opponents as "a flock of loons" in 1963. One of those loons was conservative radio host Bob Grant. Grant had surprised many when he ran for the Democratic nomination and not the Constitution or even Republican nomination. When Grant was asked at a press conference why he was running as a Democrat, he joked that it was because "there's no Constitution Party in New Jersey". Grant did surprisingly well and got 11% of the vote in the Democratic Primary. However, Krajewski rose above by touring the state, making speeches, and attacking Dillon for anything he could possibly think of. With that, Krajewski won 38% of the Democratic Primary vote, and the nomination.

While the Democratic Primary may have been exciting, the general election was not. Krajewski spent most of his funds on the primary, while Dillon had no opposition in his nomination, ad had a massive war chest. Krajewski had to tour around the state to make up for his lack of name recognition, while Dillon didn't need to campaign. In the end, the Krajewski campaign went broke and Krajewski was exhausted while Dillon cruised to victory.

The 1961 New York City Mayoral Election was largely expected to be a Democratic wipeout. The Democrats had by this point painfully removed most Tammany influence, and were exponentially popular. Incumbent mayor Robert Wagner had decided not to run for re-election, as he was exhausted from his previous two terms. Because of this, James Donavan, a famous New York lawyer won the Democratic nomination in Wagner's place. However, when one famous New York lawyer runs, another one usually isn't far behind...

Roy Cohn, the infamous Joseph McCarthy lawyer decided to run for mayor in both the Republican and Constitution Parties. Cohn was originally a Democrat, but had moved to the Republicans after supporting Dirksen's moves in Cuba. He also saw himself as conservative enough to run for the Constitution nomination. Despite Cohn's campaign being dogged by allegations of homosexuality (Cohn was unmarried, and with that came rumors), however, Cohn beat out a bunch of irrelevant candidates for the Constitution nomination along with Liberal Republican and New York Attorney general Jacob K. Javits in the Republican primary. Cohn being nominated by both the Republican and Constitution Parties was a curve ball for the Democrats, but a bigger one came later.

While the Liberal Party of New York had been growing in the national stage, the party was still expected to nominate Democratic Candidates on the state/citywide level. However, the Donavan campaign was shocked when they didn't just lose the liberal nomination, he came in third to Liberal Republican Jacob K. Javits, and the eventual Liberal nominee and controversial author Norman Mailer. Mailer's campaign was chaired by incumbent Democratic representative Gore Vidal, who campaigned hard for Mailer. Mailer became a stick in Donavan's craw as he tried to gain the mayoralty.

Donavan's campaign strategy was to stay on the safe side and run to the center against the two extremes. Donavan knew that at some point, Cohn and Mailer would screw up and say something controversial. Because of this, he scheduled debates. In the first debate, Cohn and Mailer got into a large argument, while Donavan calmly outlined his plans for a better city. Donavan's calm manner helped him rise in the polls when compared to Cohn and Mailer's controversial views. In the second debate, Mailer attempted to goad Donavan into a fight, but yet again, Donavan remained calm and collected while Cohn screamed about how Communists were taking over the city and Mailer about how Long Island should split off from the rest of New York. By the third and final debate, Mailer had gone from 20-15% in the polls, to 12-10%. He was tired and running out of money. But, he was still hurting Donavan, so Cohn was leading. That stopped when Mailer showed up to the final debate visually intoxicated and got into physical altercation with Cohn. After the two fought, both dropped in the polls, and Donavan won the election easily.

In the end, while Cohn lost, he showed that there was hope for the Republicans in NYC after being out of the Mayoralty for 16 years, and they hoped for a better result in 1965.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Sweet!

Well you're in luck!
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President Estes Kefauver in January of 1963



The main issue going into Kefauver’s second year was Civil Rights. Many Liberal Democrats (and some conservative Democrats, George Putnam and Henry M. Jackson were both major Civil Rights supporters) thought that with most of the Southern “Dixiecrats” now congregating in the Constitution Party, they should take their majorities in the senate and put them to good use. By the end of 1961, it became clear that most congressional Democrats wanted Civil Rights, and with Republican support, they could pass Civil Rights legislation. However, the problem wasn’t congress, it was the president.



President Kefauver wasn’t a segregationist by any stretch of the word. He had supported the result of Brown V. Board and even commended Chief Justice Ernest McFarland for pushing school integration forward. However, Kefauver prefered that Civil Rights be pushed through slowly, and mainly through the courts. While Liberal Senator Humphrey said that they should just try to pass a bill and get Kefauver to sign it after congress passed it, senate majority leader Lyndon B. Johnson went for a different strategy. He rounded up many high-ranking Civil Rights supporters in the Democratic Party, and in Kefauver’s cabinet to discuss the manner. Johnson and his men didn’t try to discuss the morals of passing Civil Rights legislation or anything like that. They instead tried to play up the opportunities that could be provided if Kefauver were to pass Civil Rights laws. They emphasized that the South was already lost, and the Democrats could gain a vast majority of African-American votes in the future, thus helping them win elections in ways they couldn’t before. Not only that, but many people in the meeting called in political favors so that Civil Rights would get the president’s support. The meeting had its opposition (Hubert Humphrey would later say “[the Civil Rights meeting] was dirty politics. I had the utmost respect for president Kefauver, but we had to appeal to the politician in him. [Lyndon B. Johnson] said afterwards that “Every politician has a part of them that would run over their grandmother for a vote. Some suppress it, others use it to their advantage. Gentlemen, we assessed that part of Estes Kefauver today, and we did it for all the right reasons.” It was dirty, but it was what was right for the nation.”), but it almost got the job done. Then, a group of Civil Rights leaders, lead by Martin Luther King, met with Kefauver, and prayed with him. By that point, the Civil Rights movement had attracted Kefauver to their cause for moral and political reasons. On March 13, 1962, president Kefauver addressed the nation on civil rights, stating his support for the Civil Rights movement, and his submission of the Civil Rights Act of 1962 to congress.



While the Democrats had an 7-seat-majority in the senate and a 23-seat majority in the house with most Dixiecrats removed, they still needed support. Throughout the political world of the United States, the Civil Rights movement gained massive support. In Congress, politicians like Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert Humphrey called in favors, recruited Republicans, and straight-up threatened (this was more Johnson’s tactic) congresspeople. Even former president Everett Dirksen made speeches supporting the bills. Meanwhile, African-American leaders were drumming up support for the bills too. Martin Luther King made several hundred speeches about Civil Rights, and on August 22, 1962, King and thousands of others marched on Washington in support of the Civil Rights Act of 1962, and the Humphrey-Jackson Act (or Voting Rights Act of 1962). There, Martin Luther King called for racial equality, and spoke of his dream that all people would be judged by their actions and not by the color of their skin. By November, the lame-duck congress finally passed the two bills. Ironically, the Humphrey-Jackson Act, that outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes that discriminated against poor whites and blacks and was more controversial in the South actually passed earlier than the Civil Rights Act of 1962, which prohibited companies and government agencies from discriminating against people for their race, their nationality, religion, or gender (sexuality was added to the Act later), and expanded the Commission on Civil Rights that Everett Dirksen started due to the fact that many Libertarians in all three parties objected to the fact that private businesses wouldn’t be able to openly discriminate against minorities.

(Quick note, I am aware that is says July 2 as the effective dates. That was unintentional and the real date it was signed into law was November 24, 1962)

Another key issue that plagued Kefauver’s second term was gun control. The late 50s had brought a lot of eyes to the issue of gun control. It seemed that the nation was traumatized with shootings, assassination attempts, and riots, and because of this, many people saw gun control as the solution. A long string of events, however, had to lead to this, despite many people seeing it simply as a result of the assassination attempt that occured on George Wallace from a Klansman in 1961. Instead, the push for gun control began in 1957, when a young man named Ted Bundy found a gun, and shot two of his classmates. While neither were killed, and Bundy spent the rest of his life in jail, it shocked many into supporting increased background checks and even the banning of some guns. Then, in 1958 and 1959, heavily armed protesters protested President Dirksen and his policies, leading to Dirksen getting scared enough that Republicans set up a commission to investigate gun safety. However, that commission was lead by George Aiken, a man who represented a state that was very pro-gun. Because of this, the commission did not recommend gun control, and thus, the Dirksen administration did not think it to be a worthy cause when they were trying to fix the economy and win the Iranian War. However, the years of 1961 and 1962 proved to have a surge in support for gun control. Many Americans looked towards Taiwan, a trusted ally as reasoning to support gun control. After the assassination of Chiang High-shek, new president Chen Cheng instituted strict gun control laws, and with it, murders and suicides went down in the Republic of China. Then, George Wallace was nearly assassinated in March of 1961. Recently, Wallace had a popularity surge due to his unrelentless “War on Corruption” that even got former governor Jim Folsom locked up for corruption (that move if anything, made Wallace more popular, as it showed that he would fight corruption no matter who was doing it). After Wallace’s assassination attempt, he returned in a wheelchair to support gun control in the state of Alabama. Then, in early 1963, a former Nation of Islam member killed 6 people. All of a sudden, gun control got popular on the right. However, it wasn’t until a national tragedy struck in December of 1963 that things would really change on the gun control issue.


Meanwhile, in the Republican Party “Stassen Republicans” began asking for change. They saw Harold Stassen’s loss in 1956 as due to corruption in the primary system and were trying to reform the presidential primary system. While Everett Dirksen was obviously bias against said potential reforms, Estes Kefauver was more sympathetic to such causes. He had swept the 1952 primaries, but had lost at the convention to future president Adlai Stevenson. With this, many Northeastern Liberal Republicans with the assistance of many pro-Kefauver Democrats attempted to reform the primary systems of their parties. With this, the Cooper-Muskie commission was formed in order to check the primary systems in all parties. In the end, while the commission couldn’t officially tell the parties to change their system, they recommended that all three parties should move towards a more national primary that has more influence than conventions. All three parties responded in the way you’d expect. The Democrats were pressured by Kefauver, who wanted to turn the Democrats into a “people’s party”, and because of this, he pushed for a similar plan. However, his plan had each state decide how to choose delegates. Some could have a proportional allocation of delegates, while others could have a winner-take all system. The Democratic National Committee agreed with said plan, and decided to have a primary system like this in 1964 (not that it mattered, as Kefauver was expecting an easy re-nomination in 1964) and the process of getting states to hold primaries. It was decided that Wisconsin and North Dakota would hold the first primaries, as both were very different politically, and both had already signed up for the 1964 primaries. This tradition would carry on in both the Republican and Democratic Primaries for decades. Meanwhile, the Constitution Party would continue its “State’s Rights” platform and use the same system the Democrats did, only with Arkansas and Utah as their first states. The choice of Utah and the national primary seemed to be heavily influenced by CNC head J. Braken Lee. Lee’s reputation had grown in recent years, and he was considering a presidential run in 1964. Despite his standing in the party, he worried that the party’s earlier plans for a more convention-based system would too heavily support Southern states that were more likely to turn against Lee, while the choice of Utah for the second state was obvious due to Lee being the governor of Utah. Meanwhile, the Republicans reluctantly accepted the change, but made each state winner-take-all, in order to “prepare candidates for the electoral college”. These reforms affected presidential elections for years, and would have their biggest impact in 1964.



With all of the reforms of Kefauver’s second year, Kefauver tried to be a “citizens president”. He went by the nickname “Keef”, and would often attend sporting events. Most notably, he attended the 1962 NBA Finals. The finals were between the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons. Kefauver’s apparent fandom of basketball has helped the sport in the upper south, where Kefauver was most popular. However, all good things must come to an end, and Kefauver’s affinity for smoking and drinking caught up to him in early 1963. On January 22, 1963, two days after the two-year anniversary of his inauguration, Kefauver died of a heart attack in his office. Many would create parallels from Kefauver’s death in his office to Franklin Roosevelt’s death in 1945.

The death of Estes Kefauver was a tragic moment, and after it, John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency. His presidency was one that is remembered by every American alive at the time, and while it wasn't as world-changing as Kefauver's, it did bring about major changes.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

By 1962, George Wallace was an immensely popular governor. He had cracked down on corruption, improved Alabama's schools, and survived an assassination attempt from the KKK. Because of this, the question would be who was going to be his successor. One of the main members of his administration was Attorney General John M. Patterson. Patterson had been a major player in the Wallace corruption trials that uncovered many Alabamian politicians' corruption. Then, after Wallace was nearly assassinated by a KKK member, Patterson helped run the KKK out of Alabama. While Patterson was more conservative than Wallace had been, especially on racial issues, he was a shoo-in for the nomination, as even Wallace, his primary opponent for the Democratic nomination in 1958 had turned into a Patterson supporter, due to his help with Wallace's anti-corruption politics.

Meanwhile, in the Alabama senate election, George Wallace was ready to bring his populist politics to the national stage. Former Democrat J. Lister Hill had joined the newly founded Constitution Party after its formation, and after John Sparkman lost in 1960, it looked like Alabama could be a solid Constitution state. Then, George Wallace's anti-corruption crusades and John Patterson turning on the KKK flipped that. Now, Lister Hill looked like he'd have a tough road to re-election with Wallace running against him.

While the Democrats and Constitution Parties dominated Alabama, the Republicans still wanted to improve their standing there. It was in the Birmingham-oriented Alabama-2nd district that they saw their chance. The seat was held by Constitution Party member Bull Connor. Connor was on the far-right of politics, even for the Constitution Party. He wanted to ban not only the CPUSA, but the Socialist and Socialist Labour parties of America. He was a strong segregationist, and he was running for Governor, along with re-election. The Republicans hoped that he'd be too distracted with the gubernatorial race, and that they could run a candidate who could take the right-wing vote. The Republicans nominated Jack Edwards, a young and conservative candidate. Originally, Connor dismissed him as nothing more than a minor candidate, but Edwards campaigned around the district, and he saw his polling numbers rise.

An interesting part of the Alabama gubernatorial race was Jim Folsom. Folsom had been jailed in 1960 during the Wallace corruption trials despite Wallace being a protégé of Folsom. Folsom got four years in prison, and it seemed like his political career was over. However, he entered the 1962 gubernatorial race. Folsom thought Patterson, and especially Connor were too right-wing for Alabama, and wanted to be a liberal protest candidate. While Folsom took a bite out of Patterson's polling numbers, the fact that he couldn't actively campaign and had his lawyers read campaign statements de-legitimized his campaign. Despite Folsom's run, Patterson was expected to become governor due to the popularity of Wallace and his personal popularity, but Bull Connor, his Constitution oppent made several gaffes late in the campaign, and in his house campaign that put the gubernatorial election farther out of reach for him.

The Alabama senate race took a bit longer to call, due to Hill having the advantage of incumbency and less gaffes, but in the end, it had a very similar result to the gubernatorial election.

After his win, Wallace began to proclaim that "Four years ago, the people of Alabama let their voices be heard throughout their state, now, their voice will be heard in congress!"

Meanwhile, the election in Alabama's 2nd district took much longer to call. While the other districts were easy Democratic or Constitution wins, this one had a strong Republican candidate. Bull Connor's constant gaffes and Far-Right positions opened up the spot for a Center-Right candidate like Edwards to win voters. Edwards crossed the district harder than any candidate, hoping to win voters. The entrance of several left-wing third party candidates hurt the Democrats, who nominated the moderate Albert Boutwell. Not only that, but Boutwell made a number of gaffes towards the end of the campaign. In the end, no one expected a Republican victory, even with Edwards heavy campaigning, but there was hope he could beat the odds.

In the end, Edwards shockingly won. He originally won by 5 votes, but, a recount found 6 votes for him and 2 votes for Boutwell. Many have speculated how the Republicans won their first Alabama seat since Edward's great-great grandfather. A main reason often presented is that Edwards won due to the unpopularity of the two candidates within their own parties. The Birmingham voters who turned out for Patterson and Wallace often thought Boutwell was too Liberal, and stayed home or voted Edwards. Meanwhile, Constitution voters who turned out for Hill thought Connor was too right-wing. With that, Edwards was able to build a coalition of (American) center-right voters who were unsatisfied with Connor and Boutwell and normal Republican voters, however few. Gaffes from his opposition, and third party candidates splitting the left-wing vote sealed it for Edwards. After the election, both the Democratic and Constitution Parties supported a two-round electoral system, leading to Jack Edwards to joke "Whenever the Republicans start winning elections down here, the Democratic and Constitution Parties always try to change it", referring to the overthrow of Reconstruction (of course, the Constitution Party wasn't around then, leading to many jokes about Edward's statement).

A major part of Edward's and Patterson's victory was Bull Connor's retirement. Connor saw the writing on the wall, and decided to retire from politics, even saying to the press "You won't have ol' Bull Connor to kick around any more". George Wallace later said about Connor's retirement "After hearing about [Connor's retirement], I bought out Alabama's supply of champagne"

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The common joke for the occasional observer of Liberian politics was that Liberia was the "South Carolina of Africa" when speaking about the one-party state in Liberia. However, this comparison got more and more realistic as it went on.

In 1956, president William Tubman was assassinated by a gunman. With that, his Vice-President William Tolbert took power. To many, with the instability of post-colonial Africa made the moderately peaceful transfer of power in Liberia was refreshing. However, Tolbert saw the economic recession that effected many nations, especially ones allied with the United States, and because of that, he tried to better Liberia's relations with the PRC, the Soviet Union, and Iran. While Liberia's relationship with Communist and Communist-allied countries helped the nation's economy, it hurt the nation's relationship with the United States and its allies while making the conservatives in his party furious. While he won re-election in 1959, he faced the True Whig Party's first actual opposition[1] since the Republicans died in the 1840s, an independent former conservative from the True Whig Party. In 1963, things wouldn't be so easy.

Conservative members of the True Whig Party were furious. Tolbert refused to listen to their demands, and many thought he had betrayed William Tubman. Also, many of his cabinet appointments seemed to be based on nepotism. They failed to get their message through the True Whig party after challenging Tolbert for the nomination twice and opposing him with an independent ticket. It was time to form their own party.

The Liberian Front was formed in 1963 after Tolbert won the True Whig nomination again. The Liberian Front nominated Clarence Lorenzo Simpson. Simpson had served as Vice President under Tubman before Tolbert and had served as Secretary of State for Tolbert before quitting in 1958. He personally opposed the "Tolbert doctrine" and hoped for a more Conservative Liberia. The Liberian Front received lots of support from the United States, who wanted to stop Tolbert's positive relationships with Communists. Finally, a two-party system could rise in Liberia.

The election was incredibly dirty, both Simpson and Tolbert went around the nation saying whatever they could to defeat the other candidate. Tolbert had the upper hand since the True Whig Party had held power for decades, and had an established base. However, Simpson ran an energetic campaign, attacking Tolbert for his nepotism. Meanwhile, Tolbert ran off a good economy.

In the end, while Tolbert's nepotism and support for Communists hurt him, the good economy saved him. Even with the Liberian Front's loss, a two-party system would sprout in Liberia.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

James Roosevelt's time as governor of California was controversial, interesting, and lead to some strange elections. When he entered office in 1958, he promised to fix California's struggling economy. He was really only seen as a one-term president, one elected because of his name and the situation at hand. In 1960, this expectation came closer to reality. In 1960, the anti-Corruption/Klan trials going on Alabama had made government corruption a major issue. Hoping to take advantage of this, the Constitution party of California helped create a Committee to Investigate Government Corruption in the state senate. As expected, the Constitution-influenced Committee found 7 Democratic, 4 Republican, and 2 Constitution[1] state legislators to have participated in "Corrupt Activities". However, later reports found that the committee itself had large amounts of corruption and political bias in it, possibly[2] leading to the much higher number of Democrats and Republicans being charged. The legislature had trials for each legislator charged, and 8 out of the 13 were convicted of corruption and removed from the legislature (5 Democrats, 1 Republican, 2 Constitution). Ironically, this worked against the Constitution Party, as the Democrats and Republicans picked up their seats. However, it did what the Constitution Party wanted, as the corruption trials raised questions about James Roosevelt's past, as it was reportedly "shady". After these questions were raised, a recall movement for Roosevelt began in late 1960. The movement gained steam, and managed to get on the ballot in July 1961. The Constitution Party campaigned across the state to recall Roosevelt, and even used movie star Efrem Zimbalist Jr.[3] to campaign for the recall, thus beginning Zimbalist's political career. However, the recall was defeated, and no election was held.

After the recall was defeated, Roosevelt could get back to work as governor. The economy was doing fine, and that was seen as a major reason for the defeat of the recall. However, just as the recall died down, the 1962 gubernatorial election began. Luckily for Roosevelt, he didn't have much opposition in the Democratic Party. The Constitution Party was very similar, as James Utt was easily nominated. However, the Republican primary would be a battle.

Entering 1962, the Republicans were very optimistic about California. They won the state in 1960, and it seemed like they could take Roosevelt's place in the governor's mansion, as the recall did get above 30% of the vote, so he was somewhat unpopular. However, the Republicans shot themselves in the foot by having two major candidates enter the race. Earl Warren, the former liberal governor of the state, and Thomas Knowland, the former senator and senate majority leader clashed in the primary. Knowland notably coined the term "RINO" in the race, standing for Republican In Name Only, and used it to attack Warren. Warren actually had the support of most of the populace, and was polling ahead of Roosevelt. However, Knowland had support from national establishment Republicans. instead of conceding defeat, Warren announced he was running as an independent, causing a sure Republican defeat, and an interesting result.

While Roosevelt prevailed, it was by a much larger margin than expected, as many expected Warren to take enough votes from Warren to put Roosevelt in the 35% range. However, Warren's popularity ran out, as many saw his run as bitter. Not only that, but Warren and Knowland spent too much time attacking each other, it hurt both their campaigns substantially. Utt also underperformed, as Constitution Senate candidate Joe Shell got 20% against Richard Nixon. After his victory was called, Roosevelt declared "After two elections in a year and a half, it's time for me to go back to work helping the people of California!"
[1] Later ITTL reports found that these were hired legislators with fake crimes that were only used to make the committee look less corrupt and bias
[2] Read: Definitely
[3] Known for his roles as “Dandy Jim Buckley” and Alfred from Batman IOTL

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The Belgian Congo

Going into 1956, it seemed like the Belgian Congo would have a moderately peaceful transition towards emancipation and even potential independence. King Baudouin made a visit to the Congo in 1955, and was greeted with mixed-racial cheering crowds. However, as the 1950s went on, that peace would be disrupted.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, the ABAKO, or Alliance des Bakongo, a pro-independence party rose to power in the Lower Congo region, a region that was heavily pro-Independence. The group was known for often calling for Congolese independence, and was more radical on the independence issue than most other parties at the time. Taking the ABAKO's lead, other independence parties grew, for instance, the Congolese National Movement grew out of this situation. However, the most influential political party for the Congo rose to power due to a bad economy, a strong union presence, and support for independence.

Belgium suffered from the global economic recession of the late 1958s, and the fact that their close ally, France, was hit very hard, hurt the Belgians even more. This recession hurt the Congolese people, who, like Belgium itself were beginning to create powerful unions. With that, the Communist Party of the Congo lead by Christophe Gbenye. Gbenye was a trade unionist and a former member of the Congolese National Movement who split off to form the Communist Party. With the bad economy, the Communists and Gbenye became quite popular. Then, on July 15, 1959, Gbenye was assassinated in his home city of Stanleyville. Not much is known about his killer, but the Communists blamed his assassination on the Belgian government. Days after his assassination, thousands protested in the streets against Belgian rule. The protest got violent, and the news that Belgian police opened fire on the protesters was the straw that broke the camel's back for the Congolese people. The Communist Party of the Congo began to revolt and form a revolutionary milita with support from the Soviet Union, Haiti, and Communist China. Soon after the Communists began their Revolution, Parti Solidaire Africain and ABAKO would declare their solidarity with the Communists despite their different beliefs while the Congolese National Movement split on whether or not to revolt. Just like that, an almost sure peace would turn into a devastating war...

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

In 1948, the pro-Apartheid National Party of South Africa won a surprising victory over the Union Party. Afterwards, the National Party set up a racially segregated society and crushed most opposition. A major player in the creation of Apartheid policy was J.G Strijdom, who helped win the 1948 election for the National party in the important providence of Transvaal, and in 1954, he became Prime Minister.During his time as Prime Minister, he jailed the opposition and cut off relations with the Soviet Union. However, after beating cancer in 1958, he was assassinated in 1959. After his assassination, Charles Robberts Swart, a powerful MP from Ladybrand. Swart had ties to fascism, and anyone who reported this was quickly silenced. However, it wasn't hard to see the similarities between Swart's time as Prime Minister and fascist governments of the past. He jailed several opposition members for "Communist sympathies" when many of them were anti-Communists. When Japie Basson announced he was challenging Swart for the leadership of theparty, Basson was found dead 2 weeks later, supposedly after shooting himself. Many think Swart also rigged the 1961 South African Republic Referendum, and these suspicions lead to riots and protests that ended violently, as South African police were instructed to open fire on the protesters.

Most people around Swart (who lived to tell the tale) agree that his turn towards paranoia and near-fascism started with his assassination attempt in 1960. His assassination attempt lead to Swart being hospitalized for weeks and having to live in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. After his assassination attempt, he was much more paranoid, and used his immense power to crush all opposition.

The post-assassination attempt days for South Africa were rough. The National Party ended black representation in the parliament, banned several non-Communist parties, such as the Progressives and Liberals, jailed those in the National party that opposed him, and to top it off, the economy was terrible. Swart's reign of terror boosted the Communist Party's support. The Communists had previously split and gone underground, but now they were growing in members as the economycontinued to fail and Swart continued to get more and more oppressive.

Unsurprisingly, Swart's regime was moderately unpopular within his own National Party. Several members felt he had gone too far, and the oneswho voiced that opinion usually didn't survive. Not only that, but after the military opened fire on a strike, killing hundreds, public opinion was swaying against Swart. Anti-Swart members of the National Party who weren't jailed for voicing their opinions realized that as Swart would end up defeating and jailing any public opponents, so they decided to overthrow him in a coup. The coup was lead by Jozua François Naudé and Jan Christiaan Heunis. The group managed to recruit several members of the South African Army to join their cause. The millitary faction was lead by
Lucas Cornelius Steyn. They also received support from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. Just likethat, Swart’s time as Prime Minister could come to an end.


The coup attempt occurred on May 19, 1963. However, the anti-Swart military forces failed to arrest Swart, and a shootout between Swart’s security forces and the coup supporters occurred at the capital, killing 37 people. Following the shootout, Swart called in the military and arrested the coup plotters. The coup attempt only made Swart more paranoid. He purged his military, banned all opposition parties, arrested and executed the coup plotters, and announced that any open member of the African National Congress or the Communist Party of South Africa would be jailed and executed, causing both groups to go underground. These increasingly oppressive actions caused many nations to boycott South African products, which crippled the South African economy more and caused the continuous rise of the Communists. Soon, with the Soviet Union’s support, they could form an army. It was clear that terrible times were ahead for South Africa.
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Sorry for the lack of a wikibox, I’m on a vacation and only have my phone (which could cause some of the words being combined for no reason, so please alert me if that happens)