Twists and Turns: An Alternate 1952 and Beyond

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The Supreme Court
As his presidency began, Lyndon B. Johnson saw a great opportunity to build a lasting reputation on the Supreme Court. Almost instantly, he got that chance. In October 1964, Associate Justice James A. Fee died of a stroke. McCormack, feeling like a placeholder president and with four months until the inauguration of the next president, he decided against appointing a replacement. Only two months after his inauguration, Johnson used the vacancy to appoint the first black Supreme Court Justice- Leon Higginbotham Jr. Higginbotham had been appointed by the Kefauver administration to the Third Circuit Court and was very popular with Pennsylvania Republicans like Harold Stassen and William Scranton Jr. Thus making a bipartisan nomination absolutely certain. While Higginbotham was only 36- Robert Kennedy (the man who suggested Higginbotham's nomination to the Circuit Court and Supreme Court) used that as a positive; a Johnson appointee would be on the court for at least 30 years no matter who took power. Still, some (largely in the Constitution Party) ranted about Higginbotham's qualifications, however, he was still pushed through by a vote of 75-20. Some say a major part of the lack of outrage over Higginbotham's appointment was a sympathy factor. JFK's death was still on the minds of many, and the Kennedy family stumped hard for his approval.

During the nomination and confirmation of Higginbotham, another Supreme Court Justice died. George T. Mickelson, a South Dakotan and reported friend of Foss had been appointed by Dirksen and only a few years later was gone. While Higginbotham's nomination was very influential, Mickelson's death may have been even more important, as he might've been the only one to vote against the majority in the landmark gun control case Foss v. United States (which I'll get to later). Instead, he was replaced with Johnson "crony" Abe Fortas, which was controversial among some westerners who didn't want a "anti-gun" justice to replace Mickelson. It didn't matter, as Fortas was still approved 69-13. After only 4 months, Johnson had appointed two Supreme Court justices, and he would see them in action on the issue of gun control.


Following his defeat in 1964, Joe Foss intended to take the gun control fight to the courts. He challenged that the Firearm Safety Act of 1964 was against the 2nd Amendment and after taking the case to the 8th Circut Court (that actually ruled in Foss's favor), the Supreme Court decided to take the case into their own hands. Despite the 8th Circuit Court's ruling, most supported the FSA. It only required a background check, a psychological test, and a ten-day waiting period (and the ten-day waiting period was loosely enforced). However, during the rulings, 27-year-old journalist Hunter S. Thompson (going under the pen name Duke) released a news report on how such an act would effect minorities in Mississippi. Following Wallace and Patterson's Klan Kick-out in the 1960s, many Klansman moved to Mississippi and the state in general had a growth in Klan membership following the Civil Rights Act. Thompson interviewed many Mississippi blacks, who had been convicted of crimes they didn't commit due to the state's racist system and suffered through discrimination during many psychological tests and needed weapons to defend themselves from the growing number of Klansmen and members of other white supremacist groups. It also mentioned that whites who went down to the state to register blacks to vote and had been jailed similarly and had faced similar violence were also often barred from buying firearms to protect themselves as well. The report mostly played to Northern Liberals and blacks (and helped gun-supporting mid-westerners feel less guilty). It was actually the start for Thompson in Mississippi, as two years later he visited the state during the infamous 1967 gubernatorial election that ended in riots.

Still, the court ruled against Foss by October by an 7-0 margin (strangely, justices Black and Higginbotham abstained, as Black felt it should be left up to the states, and Higginbotham, a prominent Civil Rights activist, feared about the consequences of such an act in the South, but supported it in the north, where the rate of gun violence had decrease since the act was passed). Luckily for Black, a new case was on the horizon. Barry Goldwater, the governor of Arizona had passed a law that basically refuted the FSA. A Goldwater opponent, Morris Udall said that this was against the FSA, a national bill, and yet again it was taken to the Supreme Court. This time, however, it was a lot more controversial, as the issue of State's Rights would be brought into the gun debate. The case ended in a 5-3 decision that the FSA could not be repealed on a statewide level. Higginbotham declared that the result was "based less on a constitutional debate, and more on each Justice's individual views" and thus abstained. Justice Black was so infuriated by the result, he declared "this court is no longer the great institution it once was. We've stopped discussing constitutionality and instead, personal opinions have reigned. I can't handle this anymore, and thus, I resign". Despite the fact that resigning a seat to let someone who disagrees with you replace you generally being a counter-productive idea, Black was replaced by a "pro-gun" judge (although this was more due to pressure from Republicans and Western Democrats). Quentin Burdick, the former senator and Secretary of Agriculture, was appointed to the position to appease Westerners with his support for "gun rights" and pro-agricultural policies. Burdick was a controversial justice, and would later resign because of <RETRACTED> under president <RETRACTED>

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop?

Hmmmmmm no

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1966 California Gubernatorial Election
1966 was a very important year for the California Democrats. Eight years of the mess that was James Roosevelt's governorship were over, and they feared that the Republican or Constitution parties would retake the gubernatorial mansion. However, they had a trick up their sleeve, Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a former actor with great speaking ability and support within the California Democrats. However, Reagan feared that he was too left-wing for California (the California "pink wave" of 1968/69 would prove this wrong but whatever) and instead convinced a more popular and moderate celebrity to run, Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was close to the now-powerful Kennedy family (who was in turn close to the Roosevelts) and easily got endorsements from powerful people within the party. His only real opposition in the Democratic primary was a write-in campaign for conservative Los Angeles mayor George Putnam, and that only got 2.65% of the vote. Sinatra's easy nomination gave him an advantage going into the general and that would be helpful as the Constitution Party planned to attack Sinatra with everything they had.

After 1962, many thought the Constitution Party would never have a chance to take the California gubernatorial mansion, but Sinatra's entrance into the race inspired another celebrity to challenge him, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Unlike Sinatra however, the ultra-conservative Zimbalist would face a primary opponent, Joe Shell. Shell was actually more moderate than Zimbalist, but without celebrity appeal, he lost easily. Still, some leaders in the Constitution Party were unsure about Zimbalist, and their lack of support showed.

Republicans after splitting in 1962 looked for a uniting candidate who could win the election. Unfortunately, they only got the first part. George Christopher, the mayor of San Francisco won the nomination over minor conservative and left-wing candidates and looked to unite a fractured party. However, with the excitement from Zimbalist and Sinatra's campaigns, he didn't make much of an impact and was largely considered a stand-in for the Republicans.

At the beginning of the general campaign, Sinatra and Zimbalist were neck-and-neck at 45% (with Christopher at 9%, however as the campaign wore on a gap between the two grew. Zimbalist's campaign was very hard-right and attacked Sinatra, a wildly popular figure as a "far-leftist", a tactic that backfired when Sinatra was almost killed by a member of the Nation of Islam. Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan, Sinatra's de facto campaign manager made flyers supposedly from the Zimbalist campaign calling the assassination attempt a "hoax" to make Sinatra seem less left wing. The campaign distributed these throughout swing areas to make Zimbalist seem more right-wing. As his campaign imploded many of its former supporters went to Christopher and as the two sides split the vote from each other, people realized Sinatra was gonna win and he won easily. With that, the Democrats retained power for another four years and arguably caused the "pink wave" of 1968/69.

.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

O Mundo Está Pegando Fogo[1]​

"United Kingdom Prime Minister Geoffrey F. Rippon endorses a measure that would allow for Malta, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Jamaica, South Rhodesia, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, and Singapore to participate in the next UK general election, with each area's consent. This measure is supported by most members of parliament, particularly in the Conservative, Democratic Labour, and Freedom parties. As a result of this, the seat total in the lower house of parliament will grow to 650 seats with some seats being redistricted out of Great Britain"
-BBC 4/09/1966

"Unfortunately, with all the referendums and general voting that would take place as a result of this vote, the UK's next election would take place in 1967 at the earliest"
-Democratic Labour politician James Callaghan addressing members of the DLP 4/11/1966

"Referendums allowing the UK colonies of Malta, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Dominica South Rhodesia, the Falkland Islands, and Singapore have all received 'Yes' vote majorities. The smallest majority came in Singapore, where the 'Yes" vote only received 56.35% of the vote (Jamaica came close with 56.51% for Yes), while the largest majority came in South Rhodesia, where 93.62% of the population voted 'Yes' on the referendum. However, following the massive conflict in the area, voting has largely been restricted there"
-BBC 10/12/1966

The decision to allow most UK colonies to be represented in Parliament was a collection of years of work for the UK conservatives. The 5th Marquis of Salisbury was a notable supporter of colonialism and after his assassination, his successor Paul Williams was possibly even more pro-colonialism. With this, they devised a plan that would entice colonies to stay in the UK. They planned to bring Malta, Cyprus, the Falklands, Singapore, and Hong Kong into the House of Commons simply because those areas would give other colonies hope that if they stayed they'd be able to enter British democracy. Those specific areas were selected because they seemed to help the Conservatives the most. Malta was full of Conservative Catholics, Hong Kong and Singapore were known for holding conservative sentiments, Salisbury was a noted opponent of Cypriot Independence, and the Falklands had a small enough population that it would seem that they didn't choose these areas for political reasons. However, the DLP and Labour parties pushed for the entrance of the British Caribbean (a generally left-wing area) to enter the House of Commons along with the areas mentioned, and that would be gradually accepted by Conservatives. However, following the end of the Rhodesian War (where Rhodesia would be split into the independent North Rhodesia and the British-controlled South Rhodesia (Nyasaland would also become interdependent) while the former Rhodesian government would gain power in a small area of land between the now ANC-controlled South Africa and South Rhodesia), a more moderate form of conservatism rose among the white population that began to gain more and more prominence population-wise as many black Africans went to North Rhodesia (now renamed Zambia) and the few whites that lived in the former North Rhodesia immigrated to the South. This more moderate but still right-wing view would largely help the Conservatives, and they were included in the "package" of colonies that would be given House of Commons participation. The referendum would be the first taste of the new South Rhodesia and its politics. Many Africans were barred from voting due to a supposed "alliance with an anti-British group" (something that very rarely happened to whites) and there was some accusations of vote-buying and ballot stuffing, especially since only one providence gave the "Yes" vote less than 90% of the vote (and even that providence gave the "Yes" vote 87% of the vote). Still, South Rhodesia would vote in the next United Kingdom elections, as would most remaining British territories.


[1] Definitely not a reference to Portugal's rise to power in Europe causing chaos that will be mentioned elsewhere

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Northern Ireland​

For most, the problems that effect most of Ulster to this day stem from and as a response to the 5th Marquis of Salisbury's rule. For decades, Ulster had been split between its dominant Protestant population and it's less dominant Catholic population. Religion determined social standing, housing, and often what jobs you got[1]. However, in the early 1960s, a civil rights movement began in the area, protesting inequality and the way the Catholic minority was treated. However, Salisbury was often reluctant to even acknowledge that such a problem even existed, and he even stated that the movement in itself was not based on trying to end discrimination but to unite Ireland and cause violence[2]. In late 1965, following the defeat of Freedom Party leader H. Montgomery Hyde's measure that would decriminalize consensual homosexual sex, Salisbury went to an event hosted by anti-gay and unionist preacher Ian Paisley, who opposed the act and even moved within the boundaries of Hyde's seat to challenge him in an eventual election. While the event was largely to support Unionist ideals, many saw it as a blatantly homophobic and even anti-Civil Rights event. With this, a gay man named Patrick Watson[3] with ties to the pro-reunification and pro-Civil Rights party Sinn Féin decided to get his "revenge" on Salisbury and Paisley by killing them. It would later be found that Watson also had ties to many nationalist terrorist groups who radicalized him to get his "revenge". Watson fired three shots, one piercing Salisbury's heart, killing him. The other two would be fired at Paisley, which only hit his left arm once. Afterward, Watson would be tackled to ground by citizens and would later be given the "honor" of being the last person to be killed by the death penalty in the United Kingdom.

Following Salisbury's death, he was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister and DLP leader Patrick Walter, who was then replaced by Right-Wing colonialist Conservative Geoffrey F. Rippon. Under Rippon, the United Kingdom began to crack down on Northern Irish Nationalist groups. Parliament banned the Irish Republican Army, the Sinn Féin party, the Ulster Nationalist Party, the Communist Party of Ireland, and many other groups affiliated with reunification. This lead to more protests, and the police and army's response to that was often violent and lead to counter-violence that would be used to justify more police and government violence/repression. This would begin the infamous period in Northern Irish, Irish, and British history known as "the Troubles". There was outrage from some Catholics, generally within the United Kingdom (albeit Robert Kennedy and former president McCormack were often vocal critics of the UK's policy on Northern Irish Catholics) that famously made a major impact within Maltese politics, as Malta's conservative party would split from the national Conservative Party and run its own candidates in 1967 following an incident where military officials and police opened fire on anti-government protesters who carried some weapons to potentially defend themselves from counter protesters and police, causing an international scene. With this, Northern Ireland would continue to decent into chaos and would make the mid-late 20th century worse for the United Kingdom.

For a totally non-ominous reason here's a list of Norn Iron's MPs because most of them will lose re-election

Antrim North: Henry Clark (UUP)
Antrim South: Knox Cunningham (UUP)
Armagh: John Maginnis (UUP)
Belfast East: Stanley McMaster (UUP)
Belfast North: H. Montgomery Hyde (Freedom)
Belfast South: Rafton Pounder[4] (UUP)
Belfast West: Billy Boyd (NI Labour)
Down North: George Currie (UUP)
Down South: Lawrence Orr (UUP)
Fermanagh and South Tyrone: Robert G. Grosvenor (UUP)
Londonderry: Robin Chichester-Clark (UUP)
Mid Ulster: Tom Mitchell (Independent Republican)
​

[1] Yeah I know this sounds like a sentence in a 8th grade book about the OTL troubles, which is definitely where I got this from. Whatever. Fuck you.
[2] He may not have been like this OTL (or at least according to my little-known source) but he was quite supportive of Apartheid and Rhodesia and I could see him denying another such thing to NI Catholics
[3] Made-up name (if @Gonzo (or anyone else) knows anyone who fits such a description existed (or exists) I'll replace Watson with whoever)
[4] After making up a boring-ass name- I now wish I had came up with a name as fucking iconic as Rafron Pounder

​

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

To be explained...

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

SNIP

Uhhhhh I guess I'll explain it later
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Ever since the famous Hawaiian Democratic Revolution[1], Hawaii had been a solidly Democratic state. It had two Democratic senators, two Democratic representatives, four Democratic electoral votes, and a Democratic governor since statehood. However, this began to change as the 1960s went on. It first began with Walter Judd's 1960 campaign[2]. Judd's massive support for the Republic of China had pushed many Chinese-Americans to the Republican party, as many had left mainland China following the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War and others who had roots in the United States going back to the late 19th century hated Mao's regime for hurting and killing so many of their people, some of which were even related to them (although this does conveniently ignore the mass deportations and arrests of left-wing and pro-democracy figures in the ROC following Chiang Kai-shek's assassination)[3]. As Hawaii was about 5% Chinese, this did slightly effect the state's politics. However, a major part of the Hawaiian-Chinese population had more roots in Hawaii than many Chinese-Americans did in mainland China, so there was less of a "family element" when they heard of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution. Still, Judd's campaign reached out to Asians of all backgrounds, due to his strong opposition to the rising tide of Communism in East Asia and the Middle East[4] and pushed the demographic group to the Republican party. However, this process was slower in Hawaii, generally due to the circumstances around the Democratic Revolution of 1954.

However, 1966 looked like a prime year for the Republicans to take power in the state. The party had slowly been moving up in power in the state and it nominated Hiram Fong for Governor, the former Speaker of the Hawaii house who managed to survive the Democratic Revolution and win re-election. Not only that, but popular governor John Burns would not be running for a third term, thus causing an open primary. Fong was very popular and had connections within the party, so there was no competitive primary to worry about. Meanwhile, the Hawaii Democrats were heavily divided, as the center of the party had largely taken over and many on the left felt ignored. After a competitive primary where centrist representative Thomas Gill won out against left-wing candidates. With this, labour leader and journalist Koji Ariyoshi[5] decided to run under the Socialist Party label to protest the Democrats and their move to the center. With this, the election got more and more interesting.

While Ariyoshi was a controversial figure, considering his ties to Communism, his support for labour unions made him very popular in pro-labour areas on the islands, and he largley pushed back against accusations of Communist sympathies. Meanwhile, the Socialists saw an opportunity to make themselves relevant again, and pushed a lot into the campaign, raising lots of money (but only in populist ways of course) and having Ariyoshi make powerful speeches across the islands. Meanwhile, Gill attempted to stop the bleeding of voters to Ariyoshi by bringing in popular left-wing figures from the state. This may have actually hurt him, as he was overshadowed by these people and it showed many on the left what they could have instead of Gill. Hell, Gill was even overshadowed by his running mate, Nelson Doi, and this would hurt his campaign going into it. While many say Fong's campaign was only successful due to vote-splitting, his campaign didn't slouch, as Fong was very active. In the end, no one really knew what to expect.

While Fong's campaign was sort of expected to win, the major surprise was how well Ariyoshi did. While most expected him to get about 3-5% he massively outdid expectations by nearly receiving 10% of the vote and many wondered why he did so well. The main thing was that Ariyoshi brought many labour voters who generally didn't vote to the polls, and considering the Socialist Party's support for GLBT rights, that may have caused many to turn out for the party, as Hawaii has had a history of support for GLBT rights[6]. The success of Ariyoshi helped the Socialists a lot, as they managed to win several seats in Hawaii's state legislature and polled high in Gill's former house district. Time would tell if the Socialist Party would grow as a result of this election.
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In Alabama's 6th District, representative George Huddleson Jr. was growing unpopular. The right wing hated him for not leaving the Democrats, and the left wing hated him for being segregationist and not allying with popular governor George Wallace. With this, it became clearer and clearer that he'd lose re-election and he faced a very strong Republican challenger who was attacking him from the left. However, following Republican Jack Edwards' surprising plurality victory in 1962, the Democrats and Constitutionites created a two-round system for Alabama election, and would hold the first round a month away from the general election. However, Edwards became a "political chameleon" in this system. If the Constitution Party made it to the second round, he tried to appeal to centrist voters as the lesser of two evils, and when the Democrats made it to the second round, he moved to the right. This presented a way to success for Republicans in Alabama, a state with an interesting centrist/right-wing split in some areas.

John Hall Buchanan[7] was a moderate Republican pastor in Birmingham who ran for congress in 1962, and after losing supposedly retired from politics. However, with Huddleson growing unpopular in his home district, Buchanan saw an importunity to push Southern Republicans forward with a victory. Buchanan also received a strange honor. As Buchanan had been a major supporter of the destruction of the Alabama KKK, he received support from George Wallace and John M. Patterson as opposed to Huddleson, who often feuded with Wallace's populist machine. With this, Buchanan was able to make it to the second round with support from centrists in the district. In the second round his opponent was Asa Carter, a former Bull Connor speech writer[8] who supposedly had ties to the KKK. With this, many in Alabama decided it was best to unite around Buchanan, and Huddleson decided to do so begrudgingly. This actually helped Carter, as he decried the "Jew LIBERAL Establishment" was trying to stop a "man of the white people"[9] like Carter. Still, he was heavily favored to lose to Buchanan and the Wallace machine. Time would tell if Carter could pull off a massive upset against Buchanan and his bipartisan support.

With Buchanan's victory, the state of Alabama would have two Republican Representatives, something that hadn't happened since 1894. This gave hope to those that wanted to expand the Republican party in southern areas that weren't Florida.
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In Vermont, governor Robert Stafford had been serving since 1958. In 1957, he became independent to protest Harold Stassen's loss in the Republican Primaries despite winning the popular vote and a majority of the states. However, Stafford returned to the Republicans in 1964 when they nominated Henry Cabot Lodge, and he continued his term as governor. However, in 1966 he was retiring to run for senate in 1968 after 8 years as a very popular governor. With this, it was time for Vermont to chose his successor.

Stafford's planned successor was Thomas L. Hayes, his moderate Lt. Governor. However, Hayes shockingly lost the Republican primary to libertarian Roger MacBride[10]. MacBride's anti-Liberian War politics were popular in the state and his conservative/libertarian beliefs made him popular with those disappointed with the centrism of the Vermont Republican Party. Meanwhile, the Democrats nominated far-left former congressman William H. Meyer. The nomination of a far-left and a (Vermont-wise) far-right candidate angered moderates, and with that, Stafford decided to run a write-in campaign for governor, hoping to replicate his success as an independent.

Of course, there were more challenges with a write-in campaign than there were for an independent campaign. Stafford was able to win the Democratic nomination as an independent with his center-left politics. However, the far-out politics of MacBride and Meyer provided a solid base for Stafford. Not only that, but as Stafford had a fairly common last name and had been on the ballot for twelve straight years (he ran for Attorney General twice) so it was very unlikely any errors around the spelling of his name.

MacBride's campaign largely tried to appeal to right-wing voters and those who were angry at the traditional Vermont Republican Party. Meanwhile, Meyer tried to appeal to working class voters and those on the left. Stafford on the other hand, really didn't campaign. He generally just touted his name when compared to his more extreme opponents, and that made his campaign fall in the polls. He went from a sure lead to making the race a hyper-competitive three-way. With this, the victor was anyone's guess, and many felt the election would end controversially.

In the end, MacBride outdid most polls, and many felt it was either because Stafford split centrist votes from Meyer or because Meyer split left-wing votes from Stafford. In the end, the state of Vermont would move to the right for the next two years.

Footnotes:
[1] Same thing happened OTL
[2] Since I mentioned Walter Judd, I'm contractually forced to tag @GrayCatbird42
[3] Not comparing ITTL's deportations & jailings to the horrors of the Cultural Revolution ITTL/IOTL, just saying they're rarely mentioned ITTL when talking about how terrible the PRC is.
[4] Yes, Communists are growing in power in both areas. Syria's fallen to Communism, Japan's Liberal and Democratic Parties are split so the socialists are in power (with some support from the Communists)
[5] Ariyoshi is not jailed for trying to overthrow the US government ITTL, so he's a bit more credible.
[6] Hawaii has always been ok/good on LGBT rights. Many natives of the island did not fit Western genders, and the aliʻi people often had same-sex relationships, as Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa states of them "If you didn't sleep with a man, how could you trust him when you went into battle? How would you know if he was going to be the warrior that would protect you at all costs, if he wasn't your lover?". So Hawaii used to be full of tops. Good to know[11]. This is slightly extended ITTL, with the LGBT rights movement growing earlier.
[7] Since I mentioned John Buchanan, I'm contractually forced to tag @Gonzo
[8] Carter was a Wallace speech writer ITTL, and IOTL he's given a similar position
[9] All things crossed out are things that Carter never said but let's be honest... he meant those things
[10] Fine I'm unoriginal. Fuck you. You're the one still reading this, not me.
[11] this footnote was largely taken from Wikipedia

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Liberia II

For decades, the nation of Liberia was lead by Americo-Liberians, or the descendants of freed slaves and South Carolinians[1] who went to Liberia to escape the horrors of racism in the late 19th century. However, Americo-Liberians created their own system of oppression and colonialism. From the 1927 Liberian election, where the dominant True Whig Party won 16x the actual voter roll, to the system of slavery that lasted until the late 1920s. However, by the 1960s, things were changing. In Africa, many colonies were freeing themselves through revolution, and even in South Africa, the nation rebelled against Apartheid, and won. In Liberia, William Tolbert began making his nation more independent by opening relations with Communist nations like the USSR and with "unaffiliated" nations like Brazil, India, and Yugoslavia. This lead to two attempted coups lead by the United States and the Liberian Front. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Tolbert, despite his largely Americo-Liberian roots decided to attack the United States and the system of one-party rule that had lasted until the LF's formation. He became an "independent" politician and declared war on the Liberian Front. In 32 days, the Liberian Front was forced to go into exile in the border nation of Côte d'Ivoire, as many native Liberians began to strike back against the people who had held them down for so long. However, Tobert saw Côte d'Ivoire's coddling of the Liberian Front as a declaration of War, and Liberia decided to invade after receiving military support from Iran, Brazil, Haiti, Mali, Yugoslavia, Guinea, India, and the Republic of the Congo. While the forced removal of the Liberian Front only gained the notice of the US and Portugal, who had both been major supporters of the LF, the invasion of Côte d'Ivoire and the alliance with nations like Mali and Haiti scared anti-communists in the West, and soon the US, UK, and Portugal were declaring war on Liberia. However, this only made Native Liberians more furious, as they saw this as a continuation of the West's hopes of continuing the True Whig/Liberian Front's oppressive rule, and Liberia continued their furious attack, but in Côte d'Ivoire.

Many people question how Liberia was able to stand opposition from so many powerful nations. While the anger of Native Liberians caused many to attack with fury, the circumstances of the Western Nations who were attacking showed why they lost. In the United States, fear that a second Iran would happen but in Liberia caused the US to only offer minimal support to the LF and very little troops. The United Kingdom was going thorough a period of unrest, with Northern Ireland going up in flames and a race war in Southern Rhodesia seeming more and more likely. In fact, when the UK took troops out of Southern Rhodesia, it lead to the beginning of the "Great Removal" where many blacks in Southern Rhodesia were chased out of the area and into Northern Rhodesia/South Africa by white militants, causing international scorn. However, if any nation was going to take down Liberia, it was Portugal. Portugal's government was incredibly popular and had a history of succeeding in international warfare, as it was a major factor in taking down Francoist Spain, and had (with the help of the UK) repelled an Indian invasion of Goa, Daman and Diu. Not only that, but Portugal's colonies in Africa were moderately calm and stable. However, the threat of a possible attack on Portuguese African colonies made the nation cautious of a full-scale invasion of Liberia. With this, three powers that could've stopped Liberia's attacks on Côte d'Ivoire were unable to do much, and Liberia's expansion continued.

By March of 1965, Liberia had taken over the better part of Côte d'Ivoire, and the nation decided to hand over the rest of the Liberian Front if the Liberians would give up control of a few miles of land. Liberia's victory in less than a year surprised many, and it lead to a minor backlash in the United States and United Kingdom. However, successes within those nations changed some minds and Liberia was quickly forgotten. That did not mean that Liberia's time was up, just that it would take a bit longer for the spotlight to be put on them...

[1] I'm separating the original group of Freedmen who helped found Liberia from those who entered the nation in the Liberian exodus despite the fact only a few hundred people entered Liberia from South Carolina in contrast to the original immigrants. If you want me to change this, please tell me.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Ever since its founding the state of Oregon has had a history of left-wing politics and also has a history of political independence from the rest of the nation. From the populist Sylvester Pennoyer who once told president Harrison to "mind his own business", to Wayne Morse, who left the Republican party after Robert Taft's nomination, became an independent, and then joined the Oregon Democrats. However, this doesn't mean they always have maverick politicians who refuse to accept their party's policies. Oregon Republican Mark Hatfield was elected to the House of Representatives in 1952, at only 30 years old. In the following years, Hatfield became a stronger and stronger force in the national Republican party, and is currently serving as House Minority Whip under Leslie Arends. With this, Hatfield began pushing his home state to the Republican party and in 1966 he saw a prime chance to take one of their senate seats. Hatfield, after declining to run himself, hand-picked a successor in Bob Packwood. Hatfield reportedly saw himself in Packwood, as Packwood was a young, fiery campaigner who had been elected to the U.S house just two years ago at age 32, much like how Hatfield had entered the federal government young. While some in the state Republican Party disliked Packwood due to his youth, but most of the party united around him. With this, the Republican Party looked ready to make a strong challenge for the seat.


The Democratic party on the other hand, was anything but united. Senator Monroe Sweetland was quite far-left when compared to the national Democratic Party and many moderates within the party wanted to remove him. With this, Robert B. Duncan, the current governor of Oregon, decided to challenge Sweetland. Duncan was generally very popular, and he was expected to blow out Sweetland in the Democratic Primary. However, Sweetland campaigned hard throughout the state and began to close the gap between him and Duncan. The primary was expected to be a toss-up and on election day, Duncan won by .03%. This infuriated Sweetland, who decided to run as an "Independent Progressive" against Duncan and Packwood.


Originally, the election was expected to be an easy Packwood victory against a split opposition. Sweetland's independent candidacy barley hurt Packwood and Duncan was consistanly polling 20-15% lower than Packwood. However, two months before election day, The Oregonian (Oregon's biggest newspaper) broke a shocking news story. Two women who had worked under Packwood in the House had alleged that Packwood made unwanted sexual advances on them. Now, in any other election in the 1960s, this would've stopped nothing. It might've caused some controversy with women voters but nothing more serious than that (and considering Packwood's status as an unmarried "bachelor" it may have helped him because it shut down any allegations of homosexuality). However, this was Oregon, and Mark Hatfield owned the Republican party like no one before or since. Hatfield supported the accusers, and emphatically endorsed Duncan. Within two weeks Oregon and National Republicans had switched on Packwood, and most were supporting Duncan. Packwood tried to quiet the accusations, but his numbers were clearly dropping and many thought he should just drop out. Still, Packwood stayed in the election, desperate to revive his campaign with bombastic speeches that seemed to get less and less applause as time went on. Meanwhile, the mass exodus of Republicans to Duncan's campaign may have hurt him in the long run. Many felt he had moved to the right and began to support Sweetland. With this, the campaign seemed like a re-run of the Democratic primary, and just like in the Democratic primary, everyone was unsure of who the victor would be on election day.

On election day, it seemed Sweetland would be able to take the election very narrowly. However, Duncan managed a comeback by winning a large majority of the vote in Portland, which caused controversy due to Duncan having served as Portland's mayor from 1959 to 1963 (before serving his single term as governor) and his hand-picked successor, Terry Schrunk currently serving as mayor. Still, Duncan would be sworn-in as senator in January. As for his opponents, Robert Packwood was politically dead and would end up living out the rest of his life in neighboring Idaho. Monroe Sweetland, on the other hand, would make a political comeback in the near future...

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In 1964, Alaska's At-Large District elected Joe Vogler, a right-wing businessman under the "Gun Rights Party"- a single issue party he founded to support politicians like Joe Foss. Vogler was also known as an Alaskan Independence activist who was known for his attacks on the U.S government. However, he was still quite popular within the state, as Alaskans seemed to like his brash style, populism, and fierce opposition to the government intervening in Alaska. Still, he was predicted to lose re-election, as despite gun control arguably being more of an issue in 1966, many doubted that Vogler would be able to win over the Constitution Party like he did to get elected in 1964. Not only did Vogler do that, but he also won the Alaskan Republican Party's support after his supporters turned out in droves for him. Unlike in 1964, however, Vogler would drop the "Gun Rights" label, as despite the party still existing (even running a candidate in the Alaskan gubernatorial election) Vogler wanted to seem like less of a one-issue candidate and decided to run as an independent.

Meanwhile, after losing to Vogler in 1964, the Alaskan Democratic party decided the only way to beat a Vogler was to nominate a left-wing version of him. The party's best choice was little-known state representative Mike Gravel, who was surprised at his own nomination. Gravel had opposed the wars in Chile and Liberia, gun control, and declared that Wayne Morse was one of his political heroes. However, Gravel was popular among Alaska's Native population for pushing forward laws that would allow for Alaskan Natives to attend schools near where they lived, and while most Alaskan Natives weren't registered to vote, the Democrats hoped that the ones who were would help push Gravel forward. Gravel and Vogler agreed on almost nothing policy-wise and most of their debates ended (or started) in shouting matches where the moderator had to step in. Many on the outside of Alaska couldn't believe that an independent candidate wasn't stepping in (Bill Egan was the name most thrown around), but no independent could really do so because both candidates were very popular among the greater Alaskan populace. The state wanted more political independence from the rest of the US and either the brash right-Libertarian Vogler or the brash left-Libertarian Gravel. Sure there were some racists who were turned off by Gravel's support for Native Alaskan rights, but there were unionists who were turned off by Vogler's Alaskan Nationalism. In the end, it was just a matter of who turned out instead of who campaigned the best.

Note: I know it should say "Representative" instead of governor in the box, just ignore it

In the end, Vogler was able to beat Gravel by just over 7% of the vote. While Vogler's victory was unsurprising, the margin of victory was, as it just proved Vogler was more popular than most thought. Many used this example to call Vogler the "Alaskan Mecham" in reference to Arizona Senator Evan Mecham, who was known for his bombastic speeches and popularity in his home state. However, Vogler refused to accept this claim, joking that "if anyone compares me to Mecham again I might go so crazy that that comparison may be correct".

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Massachusetts was known as a heavily Democratic state throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, and had only gone Republican once in the last nine elections. However, 1966 looked like a prime chance for the Republicans to take the state's key senate seat. Incumbent senator Foster Furcolo was growing unpopular and was feuding with the Kennedy clan. Furcolo faced a primary challenge from Adams family descendant and peace candidate Thomas B. Adams who almost defeated Furcolo and split the Massachusetts Democratic Party. Meanwhile, the Republican Party, after failing to nominate Ed Brooke (who instead decided to run for House) nominated John W. Sears, the popular mayor of Boston. Sears looked like he would gain an easy victory against Furcolo, who was struggling to even get endorsements of members of his own party.

In the end, Sears destroyed Furcolo and won almost every single county in the state while doing it. Sears would be the one positive in the Northeast for the Republican Party in 1966, who suffered losses in the House and Senate in the Northeast. Still, it would be a major part of Sears's famous political career.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Other thoughts on the midterms?
Also the final 1966 elections will be up on the night of the actual midterms so y’all better pray I’m happy about the results because the Constitution party can easily win every other state I haven’t mentioned

I don't remember writing this
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In 1963, popular former Lt. Governor Caroll Gartin of the Constitution Party was swept into office with 70% of the vote, completely decimating the state's Democratic Party in the process. The next year, the state Constitution Party gained complete control of the state's house delegation and voted for J. Bracken Lee more than Arkansas (and Arkansas's Democratic Party couldn't even give ballot access to Lyndon B. Johnson[1]). With this in mind, it seemed like the state of Mississippi would be voting for the Constitution Party for years to come. However, this wasn't the case. Under Gartin, the state faced a budget crisis, a rising unemployment rate, and a constant stream of violence between black nationalist and white supremacist groups that seemed to get major media attention. Gartin running for president in his first year in office hurt the party's image as violence persisted, and when he resigned following his election to the senate he put Ross Barnett, his Lt. Governor in office. Barnett was an avowed white supremacist and jailed hundreds of blacks trying to vote and register others. Barnett seemed to be in constant conflict with the federal government and there were constant rumors that Barnett was using the state treasury to fund the Klu Klux Klan, a rumor that was only amped up when Barnett welcomed a bus full of Klansmen who were "exiled" from Alabama under governors George Wallace and John M. Patterson. This drew so much ire from Wallace that he suggested declaring martial law in the state and his successor Patterson half-jokingly considered using Alabama National Guard troops to "liberate Mississippi". All of this occurred within one year of Barnett's leadership, and some feared for the future if he was re-elected.

With this, Mississippi's Democratic Party saw an opportunity to retake the governor's mansion. Despite spirited and populist candidacies from James P. Coleman, James Silver, and Bill Winter, former Lt. Governor Paul B. Johnson was nominated. Now while this is a controversial topic in the state today, at the time, it made sense. Johnson was popular and could appeal to white voters, who made up the main voter base with Barnett attacking and purging Black voter rolls. Johnson was actually leading the race 55-40 early against Barnett (who was easily renominated) but the left-wing James Silver and former Independent (what did you expect me to write him into the Republican Party? That's only for far-right writers with fans who (REMOVED)[2] congressional candidate Charles Evers decided that Johnson's segregationist past was too much of a problem and ran a campaign together, with Silver running for Governor and Evers running for Lt. Governor against James P. Coleman (who also had a segregationist past). The Silver campaign was actually polling at around 8% for the rest of the campaign due to their strong base of black voters and white liberals who were not fans of Johnson. Meanwhile, Rubel Phillips' campaign began to shoot up in the polls by moving to the right while still attacking Ross Barnett. While this was originally planned to hit Barnett, it hurt Johnson. With these two candidacies, it was clear the election was going down to the wire.

More Wikibox mistakes

By the end of the night, Johnson had seemingly won by 1% and both Phillips and Silver had conceded. However, Johnson hadn't received a 50% majority and while that would matter very little in almost every state, Mississippi was different. According to an 1890 law, the tiebreaker would be based off the amount of state House of Representatives districts each candidate won[3]. The problem was, these house districts were heavily gerrymandered to help the Constitution Party and the Silver and Phillips campaigns split the vote in a few key districts (along with winning one each) so Barnett was able to win after all. The reaction to this was swift, with petitions starting left and right to allow for a runoff system like in Louisiana or Alabama or to remove the House of Representatives provision, but the Constitution party-lead legislature refused to do any of that, and with that, more riots, protests, and racial tensions arose. However, the legislature did make the Lt. Governor position run alongside the governor, but that was only to kick the Republican party while it was far, far, far, down, as the party hadn't had a Lt. Governor candidate and the legislature had decided to make it so that all votes for a ticket without an eligible candidate for Governor and Lt. Governor were not counted. This made absolutely no sense[4], and was only really passed to make Republicans angry.[5]

In 1971, Mississippi was ready for a new election. In the past four years the state became a pariah that was even frowned upon by other Constitution Party governments due to Barnett's complete lack of actual sanity[6] or ability to cool racial tensions[7]. The state was in an even worse place economically and needed help. That help came from a very unexpected place.

By 1971, Elvis Presley's star had largely flamed out. However the man was still personally popular and there was a good reason for that. In the 1950s, Presley was drafted into Army Service in Iran, a war that killed thousands and changed a generation. Presley, unlike many other celebrities who were drafted, actually saw the battlefield and was injured in combat during the Ramadan Offensive[8]. However, war had changed Presley. As he would later say "the deaths of Americans and Iranians, many occurring in front of my eyes due to government decisions taught me- and taught me quick that politics and government were very important"[9]. Presley would campaign for Kefauver in 1960 but backed Foss in 1964 due to his personal dislike of Lyndon B. Johnson and Henry Cabot Lodge as "political insiders" and of the Constitution Party at large. Outside of politics, Presley released a few more albums and hit songs, but as many around him stated, he seemed to have lost interest in music. After Frank Sinatra was elected as governor of California, Presley saw a chance. In 1971, with his home state hurting from a budget crisis and fears of a race war, he decided to run for governor.

Presley, however, was not willing to run in a major party, as he saw all three[0] as standing in the way of reforms needed, and instead ran on his own created party, the "Solutions for Mississippi" party. The party's platform was quite left-wing, but was also very populist, and after the 1967 controversy, it had a lot of mentions of electoral reform. The party wanted to ban both the KKK and the Nation of Islam (along with other groups) in the state in a similar way to Alabama. It also wanted to create a nonpartisan redistricting commission that would end partisan gerrymandering. Then there was his weirder and more controversial policy. He wanted to split Mississippi's electoral votes based on congressional districts. Now this, coupled with an improved redistricting system was supposed to make Mississippian elections more fair. He argued that if Mississippi was to split electoral votes based off of congressional districts, black voters would get a larger say and national politicians who may need Mississippian electoral votes would actively campaign to make the state better. Presley was nominated by both the Republicans and the Democrats after choosing William Winter (a former Democrat) as his running mate. This "united front" would also try to gain power in the legislature, as the SfM would end up endorsing most incumbent Democrats who were running for re-election and would endorse all 4 Republican legislators for re-election. In most other seats, the party ran its own candidates, who were usually endorsed by either Democrats or Republicans (or in Jimmy Swan's case, the Constitution Party for some reason). With this, the Presley campaign was looking hot. However, just like in 1967, Silver and Evers were running again, and they largely objected to the idea that banning the KKK and NoI (and others) would not solve the deep racial issues of Mississippi. Also, they felt Presley was too center-left. Silver notably said "It's not that Presley doesn't have Solutions, it's just they're not drastic enough to cause real change in Mississippi". However, the two were expected to do worse than in 1967 due to their supposed "spoiler effect" on the election. However, Presley still had a solid lead.

The Constitution Party was battered but not broken after Barnett. They still had massive power in the US congress and in the state legislature. They nominated Representative Prentiss Walker and Charles Sullivan, two men who tried to moderate the party's image. However, Walker's campaign was dead from the start. Presley was very popular and many doubted Silver would repeat his 1967 success. This was only hurt when Presley tried to hold the first ever gubernatorial debates. Walker refused to join, attacking the idea as "Presley wanting attention" and instead, Presley invited Silver. This hurt Walker, who was expected to get 45% of the vote and maybe even win due to some negative feelings about Presley from his base. They also emboldened Silver's campaign, and saw him make a rise in the polls. In the end, everyone knew that Presley would win, and the state was ready for a major change of pace.

As expected, Presley won easily, and he began a now-famous political career. Only two months after his inauguration, he was going to make major change in the state.

In early 1972, former governor and (at the time) current senator Caroll Gartin was found dead due to an apparent heart attack at age 58. While his death wouldn't usually be a big deal, it would have lasting affects on Mississippi and the Constitution Party at-large. At the time, Gartin was a supporter of segregation despite the times changing on the issue. His death helped move the party along from its more segregationist and southern past. Instead it began to obstruct president (RETRACTED) and fight out elections in more Western and Northern areas instead of just endorsing candidates. This helped the party increase its power, and it would throw out its house leader Thomas Abernathy and replace him with Arizonian Sam Steiger in 1974.

Governor Presley would replace Gartin with conservative SfM supporter Jimmy Swan, who caucused with the Constitution Party and ran under their party for re-election but would stay a SfM member for the next nine months. Swan's appointment was used as a bargaining chip to get Presley's idea for Mississippi's electoral college votes to be split passed, which would be implemented only seven months before the 1972 election.

[1] Joe Foss did get 19.72% in the state so
[2] @Gonzo and fans of NDCR please don't attack me for this, it was a joke
[3] Sentence taken from the 1999 Mississippi Gubernatorial Election wiki page
[4] Good description of this TL in general
[5] Not based on Current Events
[6] Good description of me
[7] (Probably) not a good description of me
[8] Still not a good name
[9] Apologies to Bernie Sanders
[10] Unfortunately there will not be 4+ major parties in 1971 ITTL

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Chile
"How can the United States on one front declare its hatred for the remains of Fascism and on the other use Fascist nations to destroy Democratically elected governments? The United States cannot let Fascism change the great continent of South America for its own interests."
-Senator Jacob K. Javits (L-NY) on his opposition to United States intervention in Chile and Peru

The United States' intervention in Chile and Peru was on one hand a major post-Iran US military victory that did not involve allying with Communist and Communist-allied nations but on the other hand, it was a massive mistake that would hurt the entire continent for the rest of the 20th century. Ever since the Spanish Civil War, Latin America became infatuated with the ideals of Falangism and thus began to push nations to the right with the ideology. In the nation of Bolivia, Falanginist Óscar Únzaga took power and soon installed a powerful dictatorship. When Socialist Salvador Allende took power in Chile in 1964 and a civil war began between him and the ACAC (Alianza de Chiles Anticomunistas- or Alliance of Anti-Communist Chileans), the United States began to look at right-wing governments in Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Ecuador as potential allies in the war against Allende. Meanwhile, Chile allied with the left-wing democracies of Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, and Venezuela, thus pushing the war outside Chile. Bolivia was able to successfully invade Peru and overthrow its government before attempting a very unsuccessful invasion of Brazil that lead to thousands on both sides killed. In Chile, the government could barley stand on its own, but with the (lukewarm) support of the PRC, Haiti, and Soviet Union it was able to hold out until 1967. However, in late November of 1967, right-wing forces lead by Gustavo Leigh overtook the nation's government and the Treaty of December was formed, officially ending the war in Brazil and Bolivia as well (with the Peruvian front of the War only lasting until 1966).

Many people see the war (often referred to the Chilean-Brazilian War in the United States and Portugal) as a turning point in the history of South America. With their victory, many right-wing nations saw that their causes had been supported by the United States and other anti-Communist nations. This lead to horrifying consequences. In Paraguay, the presence of the presence of the Revolutionary Febrerista Party lead by the ironically named Rafael Franco Ojeda in the war lead to a mass purge of all Ojeda supporters or even those who just supported Democracy in order to keep the Colorado Party's regime in power. After the war, these far-right nations attempted to unite the continent by forming the "South American Union", but the union fell apart due to a lack of support and differences between the regimes. Still, far-right governments would be in power for the forseeable future in South America and with Chile and Peru joining the far-right craze, the future did not look bright.

In the United States, the war was very controversial. Many on the left saw the US's support for far-right regimes while fighting Francoist Spain hypocritical and the New York Liberal Party became a prime opponent of the war, leading to Republican Senator Jacob K. Javits's switch to the party. The more minor Socialist Party and its controversial leader Bayard Rustin were even more opposed, and Rustin was known for attacking the Bolivian and Paraguayan governments. Fourteen days after the war ended, Rustin was giving a speech in New York when a man pulled out a gun and killed him and one other man before being forced to the ground by the crowd. The shooter was quickly tied to Bolivia, saying that he had gained the weapon from a Bolivian millita who wanted Rustin dead for opposing their nation's "success". This quickly caused an international incident, but the Bolivian government reportedly apologized for the killing and jailed the millita's leaders. Still, many in the United States were enraged, especially those in the gay and black civil rights movements, where Rustin played a major role. The assassination pushed the far left even more left and would be a major factor in the "Pink Wave" that hit California in 1968/1969 (ironic considering Rustin's opposition to "Black Power" groups like the Black Panthers).

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The 1966 House of Representatives Elections were supposed to bring resounding change after the chaos that followed 1964 and the Supreme Court's decisions in Foss v. United States and Goldwater v. Udall. However, change was limited in the house despite some more interesting results, particularly in New Jersey, where former Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Henry B. Krajewski got elected as an independent, and conservative radio host Bob Grant beat liberal Democrat Frank Thompson in the Democratic primary and then the whole district. The main change came from within the Democratic Party, as Speaker Charles M. Adams was defeated by the young and liberal Eugene McCarthy in his party's leadership election. McCarthy's upset victory was largely caused by the left of the Democratic Party feeling disillusioned by President Johnson's actions in Chile, but McCarthy did have major establishment connections and was endorsed by Vice-President George McGovern and Senate Majority Leader Hubert Humphrey. Still, his victory was quite surprising and it would push the Democratic Party to the left.

Meanwhile, the Constitution and Republican Parties were seemingly sticking with the status quo as both Thomas Abernathy and Leslie Arends stayed in power. However, both parties began a re-alignment in 1966, with Republicans losing many seats in the Northeast while winning in the Midwest and Great Lakes region. As for the Constitution Party, they held strong in the South, but began to push for seats in the West and Northeast. They managed to take several seats in states like Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Unfortunately for them, these states had very few seats and so they weren't able to make as big of an impact as they liked. Still, it was impressive, and the party would build strong connections out West in the future. In New York, the Liberal Party grew in popularity following John Lindsay's election as mayor of New York City and the party's move to accept the pro-peace movement. New liberal leader Paul O'Dwyer became quite popular for his abilities to fight for the Liberal Party's views in Congress and was even tossed around as a presidential candidate in either major party. O'Dwyer would stay in Congress, knowing that the Liberal Party thrived on its independence from both major parties, and would be a major player in the next congress.

Shockingly, the 1966 elections lead to a more divided house than ever. With no party gaining over 200 seats and the Democrats and Republicans more split than ever (with representatives Bob Grant and Fred Phelps leading a group of Democrats that refused to support McCarthy for for Speaker) the issue of the next speaker was becoming more and more important. Fortunately, a coalition of moderate Republicans and the NY liberals voted to make McCarthy speaker and even helped him get to a majority. Still, the Republicans eyed a plurality in 1968 and the election had given them hope for 1968.

In the Senate, the elections weren't much different. In the Republican Party, John S. Cooper was replaced with Frank Carlson, a moderate Kansas senator who was chosen to appeal to Fossites. The Republicans dominated the West and managed to win in states like Maryland and Massachusetts due to the unpopularity of incumbents (and popularity of Spiro Agnew). Republicans even managed to take one of the Constitution Party's few northern seats when Harold Hughes upset Bourke Hickenlooper. Unfortunately, they lost several Northeastern states to Democrats and lost Idaho to the Constitution Party. Still, the Republicans won a plurality that was strengthened by independents caucusing with the Republicans.

Despite losses in the West, the Democrats did pretty well too. In the South, they managed to take a seat in Virginia and win back Alabama from the Constitution Party while in the Northeast they managed to win states like New Jersey and New Hampshire despite losing Maryland and Massachusetts. Still, they lost their plurality and Republicans were desperate to fight president Johnson's policies at all costs.

Surprisingly, the midterms would only be a continuation and not the ending of the chaos that occurred before, during, and after the Johnson administration.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Considering the controversy surrounding Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency, the idea of a strong primary challenge was generally rare. The only two names actually mentioned were George Putnam, the now infamous mayor of Los Angeles, who created harsher laws against homosexuals, had a police force that was well-known for its systematic racism, and led Los Angeles to a period where income inequality was higher than in some Oligarchies. Still, Putnam had a political machine to run in the city and decided to endorse Lyndon B. Johnson calling him "the next FDR"[1]. The other oft-mentioned candidate was Adam Clayton Powell, a black congressman who was known for his left-wing foreign policy beliefs and had been a major critic of Johnson's decisions in Chile and in Liberia. However, he joined the Liberal Party of New York and was therefore unable to run in all but a few states. With this, it seemed like no one major would challenge Johnson. That was until a well-known Presbyterian leader jumped into the race.

Eugene Carson Blake was during the early 1960s a famous Presbyterian leader. He served as leader of the National Council of Churches and called for the unification of many Protestant denominations into a separate church.[2] However, in the late 1960s he began to enter politics more and more. He pushed for civil rights increases for blacks, a end to the war in Chile, and was one of the few white non-homosexual leaders to call for a government response to Bayard Rustin's death. Despite his left-wing views, Blake only ran to advance his cause within the Democratic Party. Blake had begun to support "Christian Democrats" or (mainly Southern) Democrats who appealed to the ideals of Christian Democracy. Blake had been a major supporter of candidates like Jimmy Carter in 1966 (who only lost to Lester Maddox due to Georgia's County Unit System) and William Jennings Bryan Dorn, who was running against Ernest Hollings of the Constitution Party. However, when left-wing and popular Midwestern Supreme Court Justice Quentin Burdick resigned from the court after only two years and was replaced by Northeasterner Ed Muskie, Blake saw an opportunity to win in the west. The first primary was held in deep-blue Minnesota. While Blake didn't win, he did take 45% of the vote in a state lead by establishment Democrats on every level. Then, the campaign went South, where Blake won South Carolina with large support from black voters and white unions. However, this was still Lyndon Johnson, who pushed back by winning California, Alabama, New York, and Illinois thanks to support from political machines and strangely, George Wallace. In retrospect, Blake was not the man to lead an anti-establishment campaign. He wasn't as fiery and most of the people he got support from still liked Johnson. Even in the South, he lost Louisiana, Mississippi, all 5 Florida Democrats, and Alabama to Johnson due to Delta Catholics, former segregationists, Floridians[3], and a political machine wanting to stay in power running the parties in all those states. Still, he struck fear in Johnson and won 20 states. He ended up endorsing Johnson and pushing for a Democratic victory in several states' legislative and gubernatorial elections.

In the Republican Party, hope was high. They had taken the senate and with the Democratic party splintering, they saw a chance to take the White House. However, the Republicans were not excluded from the extreme fracturing that occurred in all three parties in the 1960s. However, the main candidate was Frank Carlson, who had extreme popularity with both Fossites and the "Eastern Establishment" of the Republican Party. However, he did have his opponents. Francis Grevemberg, the vice-presidential candidate of 1964 was running again, however, he had less popularity than in 1964 and his lack of qualifications had become controversial. On the left, Bronson LaFollette, the heir to the LaFollette dynasty was running. While his father's previous position as Ambassador to the United Kingdom under president Stevenson and LaFollette's position as a Democratic Attorney General in Wisconsin until 1963 was controversial with some, LaFollette said that he was "his own man" and was committed to the Republican Party. His inexperience (only having been governor since 1964) was also a issue raised with the campaign. Still, some weren't buying it, and Carlson's main opponent was George Romney. Romney was an independently minded Mormon known for his moderate positions and he had major popularity in the Northeast and Mormon-heavy areas like Utah. With this, the race began.

The first primaries had generally predictable outcomes. In New Hampshire and Mississippi, Romney and Grevemberg won with little opposition due to regional support for both. However, LaFollette shocked the nation by coming in second place in New Hampshire and all of a sudden, Carson's nomination didn't seem so imminent. In the all-important third Illinois primary, Carlson won due to vote-splitting between LaFollette and Romney, and both candidacy's supporters began calling for a dropout. This trend continued, with Carlson winning in Vermont due in part to Vermont's libertarian streak and anti-gun control views, but blamed on the left wing of the Republican party splitting. Meanwhile, Grevemberg was running a campaign not too different from 1964's, despite his qualifications and even won in Arkansas and Louisiana with over 70% of the vote. However, Grevemberg fell out of favor with the Republican party after spreading ads portrayed as "anti-Mormon" and spreading a conspiracy theory that Huey Long was shot by his own bodyguards[4]. With this, he dropped out, and Carlson became the Southern candidate with Romney and LaFollette having little appeal in the area. Still, Grevemberg won South Carolina after dropping out, and he would continue to have a role in Southern Republican Politics until the early 1990s.

In the Midwest and Pacific regions, LaFollette and Romney battled it out and often hurt their own side with vote splitting and fighting that lead some to vote for Carlson anyway. For instance, North Dakota seemed like a prime LaFollette state. Big Progressive history, left-wing Republican party, and it had a habit for voting for LaFollettes in the past (it being Robert Lafollette's second strongest state in 1924). However, vote-splitting from Romney pushed the state towards Carlson, who only won with 0.8% more than Lafollette. Still, Carlson got a clean victory, and decided to choose governor Bill Scranton of Pennsylvania as his running mate to please the Eastern Establishment and he ended up gaining support from LaFollette and Romney (albeit with some grumbling on LaFollette's part).

Meanwhile, the Constitution Party was a mess. Ever since it had been formed in 1960 an uneasy coalition between Southern segregationists, Western Birchers, Northeastern conservatives fed up with Democrats and Republicans, and everyone in between. While the one-candidate contests of 1960 and 1964 had lead to minimal fracturing, there were still fears of a primary split between potential divisive candidates such as Evan Mecham, Phyllis Schlafly, and Kent Courtney. However, one popular canidate would unite the party yet again, thus pushing any ideas of a more competitive primary down the road.

Following the Iranian-American War, Curtis LeMay became a popular figure on both the left and on the right. His feud with president Dirksen was seen by both as a firm rejection of "fake hawks" which according to who you asked, meant a rejection of "elites" who started wars but rarely participated in them, or, a rejection of half-measures when it came to foreign policy. However, LeMay had recently become more than just that to the Constitution Party. While he was still officially independent, he supported Evan Mecham in Arizona, Robert Byrd in West Virginia, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in California, and Edwin Walker in Texas, creating serious alliances within the Western wing of the Constitution Party. The Southern establishment accepted him too, after Orval Fabus's public endorsement of him as a "Uniting Force" within the party.

Despite the praise around LeMay, there were still some who opposed his nomination. However, these candidates were generally very fringe, even in the Constitution Party. The only "major" candidates were Revilo P. Oliver, a man who had once attacked John M. Patterson as a "Communist infiltrator" and had ties to racist and anti-Semitic groups. The other candidate was William Dyke, a former Republican who had left the party out of support for Joe Foss (and his far-right beliefs). While Oliver did well in Southern states and as a protest vote for some (his highest percentage was 35% in Mississippi- which he still lost) Dyke's campaign was slightly more successful. While he too failed to win a state, he gave LeMay a run for his money in many Western states where his support for farmers and a complete overruling of Foss v. United States was popular. Still, he couldn't do much to stop LeMay's nomination, and LeMay seemed poised to do better than any Constitution Party nominee ever. With his choice of relatively uncontroversial Southern Governor Albert Watson, he had clearly united the party behind him.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Ever since the Constitution Party was formed, the southwest had become a hub for the party. Evan Mecham's fiery populism and the presence of the John Birch Society had helped push the region to the right. However, the state of New Mexico, despite the presence of Edwin Mechem and others had been reluctant to support the party, especially on a national level where the state only gave J. Bracken Lee 31.1% of the vote when compared to Lyndon B. Johnson's 48.3% in the state. The state's Constitution Party governor Tom Bolack, who had entered office after governor Mechem appointed himself to one of the state's senate seats had decided to retire after two terms in office. Bolack would end up becoming even more notable in retirement for his attempts to bring a MLB team to the Southwest and would help popularize baseball at the University of New Mexico.

The race to replace Bolack within the party would be quite noncontroversial with state Constitution Party chairman Joe Skeen easily winning the nomination. However, some within the party felt that Skeen was not economically conservative enough and he was attacked as a "Closeted Pinto Democrat" by John Birch Society member and California congressman John G. Schmitz. Still, Schmitz didn't have much power or relevance within the state, and the Constitution Party looked strong going into the election.

While the Constitution Party was mostly united around Skeen, the Democratic Party was split and had no clear candidate to rally around. At first it seemed like former governor John Burroughs would take the nomination, but past controversies with powerful senator Clinton Anderson hurt his campaign. Former liberal Republican David Cargo ran as a Democrat too, and became one of the few major candidates in the nation to support using proportional representation to elect state legislators and electors. This view was quite controversial in the state, and had some racial implications, with some whites feeling that this would give Hispanics and Native Americans too much power and some in both the Constitution and Democratic parties feeling that it would give the other party too much power. E.S Johnson, a former representative, ran as well, but his support for gun control was considered too controversial for the party. Finally, labour and Hispanic rights activist Dolores Huerta ran a surprisingly strong campaign in the primary. However, much of the party would end up uniting around state
representative Bruce King, who ran a middle-of-the road campaign and was generally supported by the party establishment, especially as Huerta's campaign got stronger. Still, King had popularity, and was looking to run a strong campaign against Skeen.

The Republican Party of New Mexico had largely been decimated after the formation of the Constitution Party, with its conservative voters flocking to the Constitution Party and liberals joining the Democrats. However, it still hoped to have an impact in the state in 1968. Unfortunately, the only real candidate was perennial candidate Manuel Lujan Jr., who had run for several different offices since 1958, which hurt the party's credibility, as it made it seem like they were "running out of candidates" as it were. Lujan still ran a strong and energetic campaign and New Mexican Republicans had hope he could bring the statewide party back to relevance.

In the days following the primaries, most people expected a close three-way race that would probably end with a King victory. However, the race was thrown on its head when Reies Tijerina and his so-called "People's Coalition" entered the race. Tijerina had gained nationwide fame in 1967 when several protesters attempted to hold a district attorney hostage as revenge for land grants being taken away from Chicano New Mexicans. Governor Bolack would send in the national guard while the protesters attempted to put the district attorney on trial. While this happened, National Guard members held the protesters families hostage, which caused quite the controversy, and two of the protesters were shot and killed. [1] Following the hostage situation, several people with "connections" to the Chicano Rights Movement were arrested, which was an even bigger controversy. Tijerina began nonviolently protesting the state government and called on the Democrats to do something about the arrests, which few in power did. With this, the People's Coalition would be formed and would collect enough signatures to be put on the ballot in 1968. However, most thought that the party would focus on the attorney general position or Commissioner of Public Lands
as those were the positions most important to their cause. Instead, Tijerina announced his campaign after Huerta's narrow primary loss. Almost instantly, Tijerina was polling at 5-10% and taking a major chunk out of King's vote.

With Tijerina's entrance into the race, the other candidates were forced to campaign around him. He and the People's Coalition caused a controversy when Democratic nominee for Secretary of State Fred Ross decided to join the PC while running for election. Ross managed to win as Democrats failed to find an acceptable independent candidate to run against him in time to gain full ballot access and there were scandals around the Constitution Party nominee. Meanwhile, many on the left went to Tijerina's campaign for his often left-populist views and thus, King swung to the center, taking many a Republican voter and alienating some Democrats to the point they voted for Tijerina or even Lujan out of protest. Lujan's campaign collapsed, with most voters switching to the Democrats to stop Skeen or to the Constitution Party to stop King and/or Tijerina. Lujan considered dropping out of the race but stayed in with hopes to push Republicans into office. Skeen's campaign was surprisingly calm for the Constitution Party, as King and Tijerina had more anger at each other for supposedly betraying each other's causes, so he really didn't have to do much. Still, Skeen made the occasional populist speech and campaigned with many popular Western conservatives. In the end, no one knew what to expect, and some were even predicting that the election wouldn't be called for weeks.

Instead of the close election many were expecting, Skeen was able to win by almost 15% of the vote and the Constitution Party swept all statewide offices in the state, with the exception of Secretary of State. The strength of Tijerina's campaign sent many affiliated with the PC into the state legislature and split the vote heavily in both the states' congressional districts. Tijerina would end up "inspiring" some parts of the California "Pink Wave", particularly in Oakland.
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Unlike Washington's neighbors, that were moving to the left and right at a surprising rate, the state was actually staying relatively centrist. The state had two moderate Republican senators, a Democratic governor, and a relatively split congressional delegation with 4 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 Constitutionalist. Even the state's Constitution Party was moderate when compared to the national one, as they had often rejected the segregationist aspects of the national party.

Governor Albert Rosellini was incredibly popular as he ran for his fourth term in the state. The state economy was booming and he had gained a national reputation as a governor who could push through an agenda and who was independently minded, thus making him a probable candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1972. However, the state Democrats more hawkish wing, formerly lead by current Secretary of Defense and former senator Henry M. Jackson generally felt that Rosellini was too liberal, and while no candidate would challenge him in the Democratic Primary, there was a fear that enough of these "Jackson Democrats" would vote Republican to make Rosellini's re-election campaign more difficult than many outside of the state were expecting.

The Washington Republicans, despite their strengths in the House and Senate, saw the election as largely unwinnable, even with Jackson Democrats potentially switching sides. However, the state had a important senate election and fears of downballot effects of a bad campaign caused the party to look for a strong candidate. After much persuading, representative Catherine Dean May was chosen for the nomination against a crowd of no names, conspiracy theorists, and perennial candidates. She would break ground as the first major female nominee for governor in the state's history, and many thought she had a chance at holding the governor's mansion. While May's nomination was a bit of a groundbreaking event, a more major event would occur two days before.

Before 1968 Dixy Lee Ray was a little-known scientist and KCTS-TV host with little political experience. However, in 1968, angered at the partisanship in the state and supposed turn to the left by both major parties, Ray announced a nonpartisan gubernatorial campaign. Her campaign was quite controversial, as she advocated making all elected statewide positions nonpartisan along with pushing for a greater use of atomic power. Her campaign also caused a split in the Constitution Party, as her economically liberal yet socially conservative positions caused many former Jackson Democrats who had joined in protest to support her, while the establishment of the party opposed her and supported far-right candidate Ken Chriswell. This lead to the "Jackson" wing of the Constitution Party to create their own party in 1969 and run several candidates across the state.

Shortly after Ray's campaign announcement, she was only polling at 7% of the vote at most. However, as the campaign wore on she got more and more popular. Her nonpartisan beliefs were quite popular in the state as the senate election got more and more controversial and the candidates seemingly carpet-bombed the state with radio and TV ads[2] based around their commitment to their parties. Not only that, but Ray's populist speeches excited voters, especially when compared to the boring candidacies of Rosellini and May. A solid debate performance put her above May in the polls and that effectively killed May's campaign, as most of her supporters either went to Ray to Rosellini because they disliked Rosellini or felt that Ray was too "decisive" to become governor. While May's campaign was not really intended to be a winning one, this bleeding shocked some, but in reality showed how the United States' three-party system affected partisanship, as in many other states a similar thing was happening. In the Northeast, the Constitution Party would endorse candidates conservative enough for them, in the South, Republicans often supported who they thought would help them in the future, and in some Northeastern states, Democrats often nominated Republicans due to the thought that they couldn't win a certain election.

In the home stretch of the election, with the Democrats splitting, Rosellini began to open up more to the public, making fiery speeches and attacking Ray's lack of experience. In the end he seemed to have a decent lead in the election, but some still felt that Ray had a chance.

As with New Mexico, Rosellini massively outperformed expectations, and quickly became a contender for president in four years.
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For a state that had a growing Constitution Party and right wing, Idaho's Democratic Party was quite left wing. Governor Glen Taylor was known for being a left-wing firebrand and senator Frank Church was a liberal with growing powers in Congress. However, no one expected Taylor's victory two years ago. Taylor narrowly defeated Republican Governor Robert Smylie on a left-populist platform that supported a loosening of the state's recall laws and cutting the time in between gubernatorial elections in order to "create a government for the people". His political comeback was shocking after losing senate elections in 1952, 1956, and 1960 in either the Democratic primary or general elections. Taylor had spent his two years in office pushing forward reforms and even working with several members of the Constitution Party. He also made a name for himself as an even bigger firebrand than he was in the senate, endorsing Eugene Blake in the 1968 Democratic Primary (and also stating that he felt that Bronson LaFollette was the best Republican candidate). With this came a primary challenge from moderate Democratic state representative William J. Murphy that got 38.5% of the vote, thus causing some to think trouble was on the way for the governor.

In the Republican primary, former governor Robert Smylie was defeated by state senator George V. Hansen, who ran a populist campaign that many Republicans hoped would match Taylor's. He also attempted to attack Taylor for not supporting gun rights enough, despite Taylor heavily attacking the Goldwater v. Udall ruling as governor. Meanwhile, the Constitution Party nominated Ezra Taft Benson, a former Republican and Secretary of Agriculture under president Dirksen. Benson had strong Mormon support due to his Mormonism and position within the church. This support became quite important in a state that was 23% Mormon. Both candidates had strong campaigns and were expected to challenge Taylor.

While Hansen and Benson were strong candidates, both of them had their weaknesses, and Taylor hoped to bring these to light. Benson had served under president Dirksen, and he still had a negative image in many places. For Hansen, Taylor brought up the fact that he had refused to disclose all finance donations when he ran for House in 1964. These attacks by Taylor fueled a particularly toxic gubernatorial campaign where all three candidates attacked each other all over the airwaves. In the end, no one could predict the result, but many saw a Taylor victory on the horizon with Benson and Hansen focusing their energy on each other, rather than Taylor.

In the end, Taylor won as Hansen and Benson arguably split the vote in many areas and notably split the Mormon vote, with Hansen gaining support from Mormon George Romney, who campaigned throughout the state. Taylor's slim victory had lead to many within the state to support a two-round popular vote system, which Taylor approved of as part of his electoral reform for the state.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Going into 1968, almost no one expected Lyndon B. Johnson to win re-election. He had seemingly angered every demographic group and likely voter with controversial foreign policy decisions and almost 40% of his own party had voted for a preacher with no experience to take his place. The Carlson campaign was poised to sweep the entire Northeast, New York and all while LeMays campaign was not slouching either. The ocean-blue state of Alabama was expected to fall to the Constitution Party and even George Wallace couldn't hold back his resentment for the president. However, this was still Lyndon B. Johnson, and he refused to take a loss like this standing down.

The first issue the president used was the economy. Under the Kefauver, McCormack, and Johnson administrations the economy had grown out of the 1950s recession, and Johnson was able to push forward many popular reforms such as medicaid during his presidency (although he and Kefauver had failed to pass through Universal Healthcare). Johnson hoped that the economy would matter more to Americans than foreign policy, which by and large it did.

Johnson, seeing the fiery populism of the LeMay campaign, decided it was time for Democrats to do something similar. However, Johnson himself was not a fiery inspirational leader, he was a behind-the-scenes negotiator. While that may have worked in 1964, Americans were beginning to want more fire after five years of boring politics. So, Johnson often got fellow Democrats to push for him. In the midwest, populists like Speaker Eugene McCarthy, Vice President George McGovern, and Minnesota governor Donald M. Fraser fired up crowds campaigning with Johnson. In the South, Johnson associated himself with the popular "Wallace Machine" and South Carolina Democratic Senate Candidate Bryan Dorn, who was pushing hard against Constitution candidate and senator Ernest Hollings. With this, Johnson was pushing back against his opposition, and was running a more exciting campaign than Carlson, who was often decried as 'boring'.

One of the major things Johnson did in 1968 was bring back presidential debates. After being used in 1960, they departed in 1964. However, Johnson, wanting to nationally embarrass the easily angered LeMay and the 'boring' Carlson, brought them back. Not only that, but he pushed for two debates, with a Vice Presidential Debate in the middle of them. In the first debate, LeMay went off on the "socialistic" policies of busing, medicaid, social security, and environmental regulations. This allowed Johnson to paint LeMay as someone who not only wanted to "unplug grandma's life support" but who also "wasn't concerned about the environment of the future". Meanwhile, Carlson failed to make much of an impact, as LeMay and Johnson took up much of the spotlight. This lead to Carlson pulling out of the second debate out of anger, while William Scranton stayed for the Vice-Presidential debate, which lead to some claims of "attention whoring" by older Republicans. Carlson was famously replaced with an empty podium at the second debate.

Ironically, while the Presidential debates hurt LeMay's campaign, the vice-presidential one made his campaign seem more respectable. Albert Watson, his running mate, had a controversy-free night. He still presented himself as a conservative and proud member of the Constitution Party, but he was a lot calmer and presentable than most of the ideologues that dominated the party. Meanwhile, McGovern was as fiery as ever and Scranton didn't have a bad performance either. The second debate between Johnson and LeMay was surprisingly not noteworthy, as LeMay had calmed some. Still, the election wasn't expected to be called for a while on election night, and there was still fear that the election would be thrown to the house.

In the end, Johnson managed to win re-election. While most decry that Carlson's campaign had failed the Republicans, in retrospect it wasn't that bad. Sure he could've preformed better in the debates, but he ran a solid campaign that pushed for Republican values, it just didn't stand out against LeMay and Johnson. Meanwhile, LeMay's populist and fiery campaign began a split in the Constitution Party between the fiery westerners and often machine-orientated Southerners, especially as the Constitution Party grew in the west and began to fall off in some southern states. Still, the election brought Johnson and several more Democrats into office and with that, they would help push the future to the left.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

Ever since its formation, the Conservative Farmers Association dominated Kansan politics. Surprisingly to many, the CFA wasn't actually formed alongside the Constitution Party, but was actually formed when the Democratic party swept the state in 1958 and elected many liberals. The CFA intended to stop all liberal politics in the state and push for conservative candidates. By 1966, the CFA had the support of all but one Kansas statewide position, both senate seats, and the entirety of the state's house delegation. However, senator Frank Carlson had always had lukewarm support from the CFA, and as he ran for president, the CFA prepared for the opportunity to replace him in the senate.

For the Constitution Party, the common sense candidate was Topeka mayor Chuck Wright. However, the CFA was hesitant to support him. Wright and "CFA Democrat" Fred Phelps was known for his hatred of Wright (Wright had opposed many of Phelps' attempts to push for Civil Rights), and had even attempted to recall him in 1962. Phelps was incredibly popular in his home district and if he ran for senate, he could easily win. However, Wright still took the nomination and hoped to bring the Constitution Party to the midwest with a victory.

In the Republican Party, the race was much more competitive than in the Constitution Party. Bob Dole, a CFA-endorsed representative faced Larry Winn, a somewhat anti-establishment figure. Winn did better than expected, getting almost 40% of the vote. However, many felt that Winn's strong performance wasn't because of anti-CFA sentiments, but because of a lack of CFA support for Dole, who many in the CFA felt wasn't conservative enough. Due to this lack of conservatism, the CFA endorsed Chuck Wright over Dole and the Democratic candidate.

The Kansas Democrats on the other hand, were suffering through an identity crisis. One faction of the party wanted endorsements from the CFA while the other faction wanted to stop its influence. The anti-CFA wing managed a win by nominating Denver D. Hargis. This caused a controversy within the pro-CFA wing of the party, who largely decided to endorse Wright over Hargis. However, Fred Phelps, the unofficial leader of the pro-CFA wing, refused to endorse Wright, and after several weeks, decided to endorse Dole as the "lesser of three evils". Phelps' endorsement gave Dole an edge over Wright in the Topeka area despite Wright's position as mayor.

While Dole originally looked like he had an edge over Wright, the CFA machine pushed for Wright throughout the state. Even in Topeka, Wright pushed hard against Phelps' influence and attacked his "less than conservative" record. Meanwhile, Hargis' campaign never even had a chance. While he was trying to run as a fiery outsider, the state's push to the right and his general unpopularity within the state and party. Hargis repeatedly considered dropping out and endorsing Dole, but he stayed in the race in an attempt to push for downballot anti-CFA Democrats in the state legislature. Wright campaigned heavily with mayor Constitution Party officials like Curtis LeMay and Evan Mecham, who were hoping for a victory in a state in a region that wasn't always kind to the Constitution Party.

In the end, Wright was able to win by about 3% of the vote, outperforming even some of his more supportive polls, who only had him winning by around 1% at most. Wright's stronger-than-expected victory was largely blamed on a surprisingly strong Hargis performance, as his 15% of the vote was a major surprise (many felt he would only get around 8% at best). Many felt that this was a symbol of Kansan pushback against the CFA, but others were more doubtful, saying it was more Hargis's passion while campaigning and appearances from a few Democratic bigwigs that made him stand out.
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Elected in 1958, Jeffery Cohelan was a popular liberal Democratic incumbent that many felt represented his ocean-blue Bay Area district well. However, his support for the war in Chile had angered some within the district, including anti-war activist Robert Scheer, who primaried him and then ran as an independent in 1966. Still, Cohelan won re-election with about 70% of the vote after garnering Republican support, and looked well on his way to a long career in the House. However, he wasn't expecting the strong candidacy of Ron Dellums.

Ron Dellums had become quite a famous name throughout the early to middle 1960s. In the 1950s he served in the Iranian war, and when he returned home he became an anti-war activist, becoming friends with fellow activist Richard Cheney Jr (the son of future Wyoming senator Richard Cheney Sr.). However, his fame did not come from his anti-war protests. Instead, it came when Dellums, along with several other American citizens, went to Apartheid South Africa to oppose the current regime. He and the other Americans ended up being in a labour strike when it turned violent, and Dellums was the only American to live through the massacre and riots that followed. When Dellums returned home, he testified in Congress against the South African government, and gained fame because of it. Following the South African War, Dellums became a major opponent of the United States' support of dictatorships in South America, and worked on Scheer's primary and independent campaigns. After Bayard Rustin's death, Dellums joined the Socialist Party and after Cohelan didn't do much to respond to Rustin's death, he decided to challenge him as a Socialist and in the Democratic primary.

Almost immediately, Dellums suffered due to the negative perception of the Socialist Party and Socialism in general. However, Dellums' push for a Democratic primary victory was stronger than expected. Ed Brown Jr., the son of senator Pat Brown and Oakland City Councilman, was a major endorser of Dellums in the Democratic primary. However, Dellums' primary campaign was boosted following Oakland major John C. Houlihan being convicted of embezzlement and resigning as mayor. Houlihan was a major supporter of Cohelan and because of it, Cohelan's campaign suffered and he ended up losing the Democratic Primary.

However, Cohelan was able to win the Republican primary against several small candidates and because of it he was able to challenge Dellums's Socialist-Democratic fusion campaign in the general election. Cohelan was able to wipe away the Houlihan connection as election day got closer. Dellums was able to push against a strengthening Cohelan campaign. However, the campaign was largely a toss-up until election day.

On election day 1968, the election was not called, and wouldn't be called for an entire week. However, Dellums took a narrow 0.8% victory and became the first Socialist Party representative since 1929.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

In 1967 and 1968, the Lousiana gubernatorial election was seen as one of the more hotly contested ones between the Democrats and the Constitution Party. Louisiana was one of the more Democratic states in the Deep South, and incumbent governor Shelby M. Jackson of the Constitution Party had overseen a bit of a split in the state party. As of 1967, the Louisiana Constitution Party was split into two factions, the far-right "Courtney" wing lead by radical representative Kent Courtney, and a more moderate faction lead by David Treen. In 1963, this fight went head-on, as Treen and Courtney ran against each other for the Constitution Party nomination. However, Jackson was nominated as a "Unity" candidate and went on to defeat the Democrats in the general election.

However, in 1967, that split nearly destroyed the state Constitution party, as Courtney protege John Rarick ran against Treen. Rarick alleged that Treen was corrupt and had connections to the state Democrats, while Treen attacked Rarick, saying that if he was nominated "the federal government would have to step in", this actually hurt Treen's polling numbers, as the idea of the governor repelling federal authority was more popular than most thought in Louisiana. However, Treen still won the nomination, as Jackson decided to endorse him over Rarick for a variety of reasons, and Jackson was generally more popular within the state party. This infuriated Rarick, who decided that he would leave the party and form an "Independent American Party" that would challenge Treen in the general election.

While the Constitution Party splitting generally got more attention, a split within the Democrats would end up affecting the state's politics even more. By 1967, the state Democrats were almost completely run by the Long dynasty, which was often more conservative than the national Democratic Party. With this, New Orleans Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison decided to run as an independent after the Democrats almost unanimously nominated representative Speedy O. Long (an obvious member of the Long faction). Morrison largely campaigned on a populist platform and pushed for the black vote, which largely resented the dominance of the Long dynasty and the Constitution Party.

In the first round of the race, some feared for a two-Constitution Party Second Round between Treen and Rarick. The entrance of Republican candidate Billy Guin didn't help matters. As the campaign went on, Rarick and Treen seemed to get higher and higher over Long and Morrison, as it seemed everyone was fed up with the Long dynasty and most people outside of New Orleans were not fans of Morrison. The most gracious Democratic polls only had Morrison making it to the second round and then promptly get destroyed.

As it turned out, those polls were wrong. Both Long and Morrison were able to make it to the second round, as the conservative vote split more than people thought, and Long was able to gain a bigger portion of the vote than possible. Morrison managed to come in first with 32% of the vote in the first round, which was bounds above his more conservative opponents, who each received around 19% (Guin and a few smaller candidates got around 12% of the vote). However, in the second round, the conservative vote largely united around Speedy Long. However, Morrison received a surprise endorsement from John Rarick, who saw Morrison as the "lesser of two evils". While this lead many Rarick voters to join the Morrison campaign, it caused many black voters to leave the campaign and either vote for Long or not show up. In the end, Long managed to win by just above 15%, thus bringing the Long dynasty back to power.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The nation of South Africa had been through a lot throughout the 1960s. The Apartheid regime got worse and more authoritarian before causing a massive civil war that killed thousands. Following that, the nation's white population fell into fury when the Constitution of the new South African state called for parliamentary elections using an at-large system in all four Providences. In South Africa's first election, the Communist Party, African National Congress, and United Party split the 600-seat South African Parliament, and the ANC and Communist Parties formed a (slightly uneasy) coalition based on past affiliations. However, the coalition fell apart in the so-called "Southern African crisis" when Swaziland and Basutoland had massive revolutions. The Communists wanted to annex the territories, while the ANC was more uneasy about the thought. With this, the ANC was forced to coalition with the majority-white "moderate" United Party. This coalition also fell apart over general issues, and a 1968 election was called.

An interesting thing about the South African Communist Party was that they were not truly lead by Moses Kotane, their parliamentary leader. Their "true" leader was Chris Hani, a former rebel and major military official in the new South African Republic. Hani had been trained by the USSR, and despite being only 21 at the time of the South African War, he rose up in the ranks of the Communist Party and was even present when Swart was arrested. Hani was quite popular, but as he was only 23 during the first election, he decided to stay away from electoral politics until he got a bit older. With this, Kotane retained some power, but most considered him only an "interm leader" while Hani waited in the wings.

In the ANC, Albert Lutuli's leadership was questioned, as moderates questioned his coalition with Communists, and more radical members questioned his reluctance on foreign policy and dealings with the United Party. A similar thing was happening in the United Party, as a more young and left-wing part of the party attempted to take power from Sir De Villiers Graaff, a centrist. When this attempt failed, many of these left-wingers decided to vote for the Communist Party out of protest. With this, it seemed like the Communists had a great chance at a majority. However, the "Communist League" a protest group formed out of "anti-Coalition" Communists caused many to fear vote-splitting in key districts.

Throughout the campaign, allegations of corruption, ballot-stuffing, connections to Apartheid, and militarism, caused many to fear that no party would be willing to coalition if no one received a majority. However, it seemed that the Communists, with a large base of young voters, activists, radicals, and people disillusioned with all other parties looked like they could win a slim majority. Polls predicted anything from a 10-seat majority to a 30 seat one. However, it was truly up to the voters on election day.

In the end, while Kotane and the Communists (a fantastic band name) won a majority, it was literally only a one-seat majority, and they would need to rely on radicals from other parties to support them. Meanwhile, the United Party lost 35% of their seats and would collapse in the following years to be replaced with more left-wing alternatives as the nation moved to the left. Under Kotane's leadership, the nation of South Africa invaded and annexed the British colonies of Basutoland and Swaziland after the nations' revolutions continued and were aided by the government. Soon, South Africa turned into the United Democratic Republics of South Africa, Southwest Africa, Basutoland, and Swaziland (or just the United Democratic Republic). However, Kotane would be removed from office due to a revolt from within his own party....

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

In the past 10 years, the middle east had changed, and a large part of that was due to one man, Gamal Abdel Nasser. In mid-1952, Nasser took power in the nation of Egypt, overthrowing the Egyptian monarchy lead by King Farouk I. Nasser's successful overthrow of the government inspired revolutionaries in Algeria and Kenya. Not only that, but the nations of Lebanon and Syria overthrew their own governments and ended up forming the United Arab Republic along with Nasser's Egypt. The UAR did have a serious amount of power in the area, and the "competing powers" of Turkey and Iran in the Middle East generally felt threatened by the nation. However, Turkey and Iran's opposition ended up assisting Nasser's UAR, as he was able to use the non-Arab nations as "enemies of the united Arab people".

Meanwhile, the nation of Saudi Arabia was in a bad place. Due to the popularity of the "Kefauver Plan" which generally involved using non-foreign oil energy sources and often innovating with new ones like nuclear power or hydropower. With this, the oil-rich state of Saudi Arabia began to hurt economically, and with the nation having some very controversial leadership, foreign nations wanted less and less to do with it. Not only that, but an explosive battle for the Saudi Crown between King Saud and Prince Faisal caused the deaths of many royals affiliated with Faisal, destabilizing the state as a whole. With the economy down, the crown filled with corruption and death, and Nasser's growing popularity across the Arab world caused many Saudi people to resent and revolt. With this, three groups in the nation ended up standing opposed to the monarchy. The Ba'athist party, the Free Princes Movement, and Arabic Communist Union allied to overthrow the government. The Ba'athists were grown out of the Ba'athist movement that had major amounts of power in Syria and in the UAR, while the Free Princes Movement was a Nasserist Movement lead by many exiled Saudi royals. The Communists were obviously a communist-allied movement that looked for a more secular Arabic nation. The groups were controversial, as they were attacked as being secular and "anti-Muslim" by the Saudi government. Due to this, their first plan to rebel had to avoid the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, in order to avoid creating an "anti-Islamic" image of the so-called "Nationalist Coalition". With this, the group attacked the nations capital of Riyadh, after making several major purchases of Haitian weapons and hiding out in Lebanon. A coup of sorts lead to rioting throughout the city and gunfights between the government and rebels. This by-and-large began the "First Middle Eastern War" (as did several conflicts on the Turkish-Iranian border). It also inspired revolutions in Iraq and the Trucial States, which also helped push the middle east to a full-scale conflict.

In Iraq, the reason for revolution was quite similar to Saudi Arabia's. Iraq was a member of the "Arab Federation" of Jordan and Iraq that united the two Hashemite regimes against the UAR. However, Iraq's crown was growing unpopular in the nation, and most felt that Jordan had too much power over their nation. Meanwhile, the Trucial States were a group of emirates on the southeastern Persian Gulf. The Trucial states were technically a protectorate of the United Kingdom, and as the Conservative Party became more and more right-wing and colonialist while gaining more and more power, the people of these Trucial States began to resent the United Kingdom's power similarly to those in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. After the "Nationalist Coalition" of Baathists, Nasserites, and Communists began a powerful revolt against the incredibly powerful Saudi monarchy, revolutionaries in Iraq and the Trucial States began to revolt against their governments, thus beginning the "Arab Revolutions" that were a major part of the Middle Eastern War.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The Soviet Union: After Molotov (1967-Whenever I wanna update next)

By the late 1960s, Vyacheslav Molotov was quickly slipping from Soviet power. His age and return to one-man rule was controversial, and some felt that it was time for the Soviet leader to step down. However, nature did it for him, as on May 14, 1967, Molotov died peacefully in his sleep at age 77. Molotov is remembered throughout the Soviet Union quite fondly. His warming of relations with the People's Republic of China and their allies after Khrushchev caused tensions to rise between the two nations lead to a stronger PRC. His death was also mourned within the nation of Iran, as Molotov had been a major factor in creating a Russia-China-Iran alliance that struck fear into the West. In fact, while Molotov is popular in the Soviet Union, in Fatemi's Iran, he was beloved, as many of Molotov's more conservative allies were cold to Iran, and yet Molotov was "gracious" enough to push for an alliance.

At the time of Molotov's death, only one man could really replace him. While some of Khrushchev's allies attempted to return a more moderate leader to power, Dmitri Shepilov had spent the last ten years preparing for power. While Shepilov was originally a reluctant Molotov supporter, the man's ideas soon rubbed off on him. When Shepilov entered power, he retained the same lenience on foreign policy that Molotov had. Shepilov notably sold weapons to nations like Haiti, Liberia, and the United Arab Republic, who did not always align with Communist viewpoints. However, Molotov's almost religious connection to Socialism and paranoia was toned down within the party, but Shepilov did distrust many remaining moderates and was not kind to dissenters at home or abroad.

Shepilov's time as leader of the Soviet Union was arguably the most influential of the post-Stalin years. He pushed for the United Arab Republic, gave funds to Communists in Saudi Arabia, and was a major part of the Caribbean and Middle Eastern wars. However, his most notable historical shortcoming was his inability to reform. Underneath Molotov, the government had continued to rule under an iron fist, albeit it was lighter than under Stalin. While Shepilov wanted to reform, he was stopped by the mostly-conservative Supreme Soviet. However, towards the end of his time as leader, he began to loosen his reign, but time eventually ran out and he died in power at age 84 in 1989. Still, his 22 year reign was the longest since Stalin and ended quietly.

Chaos, Destruction, and Conflicts: South Korea (1966-1969)

Rhee Syngman was easily one of the most controversial post-WWII leaders throughout Asia[1]. During his time, he massacred those he suspected of being Communists or any real political dissenters. He survived several potential assassinations, attempted coups, and revolutions that all ended in failure. In the end, the only thing that ended his reign was time, as he finally bit it in 1966 at age 91. Most expected his replacement to be Syngman's protege Lee Ki-poong, but instead a massive power struggle within the leading Liberal party and outside of it arose.

A surprising figure to take the position of president was Syngman's wife, Franziska Donner. While Donner was not a particularly political individual, she did seem like a potentially solid figurehead that would keep the Liberal party stable until a new leader could be chosen. However, Ki-poong heavily disliked the idea, and attempted to remove Donner from any actual power by imprisoning her. This plan failed, when Ki-poong's fellow plotters were shot by Donner's security force. Despite this, several more military and political officials attempted to do the same, but it turned out that Donner had a similar avoidance to death as her husband. In the end, Donner managed to take the presidential position, but shortly after taking it, a left-wing pro-Democratic revolution began in the nation, attempting to overthrow the government.

In the following months, violence between the government and protesters began. Many in the west feared that it would spill into civil war and end in a weakened South Korean nation that could lead to the Communist North Korea gaining more influence over the nation. However, any idea of that ended, when the military finally overthrew Donner in early 1967.
Park Chung-hee took power and began to crush his opposition in his path. Donner was forced into exile in Alaska where she would live until 1992 before dying in relative obscurity in Bristol Bay.

 

[Gentleman Biaggi]

The 1960s, were in all aspects, chaotic. In the United Kingdom, the rise of the far-right and chaos that spread in Northern Ireland along with several other dominions had crushed the nation. The rest of Europe wasn't too different. Belgium's economy was in a pit due to a 10-year war in the Congo, France was only beginning the chaos that would occur under Massu, and Spain had split into at least four nations depending on who was counting. In Asia, dictatorships in the Republic of China, South Korea, the People's Republic of China, and South Vietnam were as dictatorial as ever. However, the late 1960s seemed to be a stabilizing period. For instance, West Germany's economy was booming, Portugal was moving towards democracy under a very popular National Union government, Japan's post-war democracy was quite stable, and South Africa had thrown off the shackles of Apartheid.

In the United States, it seemed as if chaos and stabilization were mixing together. At the beginning of the 1960s, the United States was in a major recession, the nation was losing a major war, and the nation was just getting used to a more multi-partisan era of politics. However, by 1968, the nation had improved economically, made civil rights gains, and despite some controversy over wars in South America, the nation had become more peaceful. Still, there was problems within the nation, and some partisan chaos.

The Senate had been quite a struggle for the Democratic Party from 1967 to 1968. While senate minority leader Hubert Humphrey was able to push through some of the Democratic agenda by using his abilities as a negotiator, he felt he needed a Democratic plurality to help Johnson in his second term. With this, Humphrey and the Democrats (a great band name) campaigned around the nation for candidates. Surprisingly, the Democrats did quite well in the south. In South Carolina, W.J Bryan Dorn defeated Ernest Hollings in part due to a strong Republican campaign from segregationist lawyer Joseph O. Rogers while Democratic incumbents in Louisiana and Alabama held their seats for re-election. In the end, Democrats returned to a senate plurality, and the Republicans with their new leader, John S. Cooper, were forced to hold second place again.

Meanwhile, in the House, Speaker Eugene McCarthy was an increasingly popular figure. Despite his issues with the Democratic establishment, McCarthy's ability to make passionate speeches and push things through had made him one of the more popular political figures in America. McCarthy campaigned for many a House Democrat and was rewarded for it as the Democrats gained 18 seats to gain an actual House majority, a rarity in the new multi-party system. Meanwhile, the Constitution Party actually lost seats in the house for the first time since the party's forming. The year was also a good time for third parties, as the New York Liberal Party made gains among Irish-Americans in New York, Independents Barry Goldwater and Zolton Ferency entered the house, and Socialist Ron Dellums was elected to the house in one of the bigger surprises of the year.

The election ended with the Constitution Party finishing at their lowest seat total since the party's formation. This lead to the party's leader, Thomas Abernethy being thrust out of the leadership position. With a solid majority, the Democratic Party would be able to push through several liberal policies but would be forced out in 1970.