We Want Willkie: The Presidency of Wendell Willkie and Beyond

1941-42

Wendell Willkie's first month in office would be sorting out his cabinet. Many members of his cabinet opposed him in the 1940 Republican primaries, these being Secretary of State Arthur Vandenburg, Attorney General Thomas E. Dewey, and Secretary of Commerce Arthur James. Going into the spring, the first stages of America's eventual entry into World War Two was set. This started with the Lend-Lease program. Later, in July, an oil embargo would be issued against Imperial Japan. In August, Attorney General Dewey became an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court after he was confirmed by a 58-38 vote in July to fill the vacancy left by Associate Justice Harlan F. Stone, who filled the vacancy of retiring Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. President Willkie would replace Dewey with California Attorney General Earl Warren. On December 7, 1941, The Japanese Empire attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii, killing 2,235. The next day, the United States declared war on Japan, followed by Nazi Germany declaring on the U.S. the same day. In February of 1942, Attorney General Warren would propose that Willkie sign an executive order allowing for the internment of Japanese American citizens living in the west coast, as he had feared they would conspire with the enemy. Willkie disagreed with this, and this would cause a rift between the two. Warren would later regret proposing the internment of Japanese citizens, as he would write in his memoirs. In March, Willkie would order General MacArthur out of the Philippines. Later in April, the islands would be lost momentarily after the failure of the Battle of Bataan. In June, the Battle of Midway Atoll would take place and end in a decisive American victory.
As for domestic policy, his main focus was to fix some of the more racist aspects of the New Deal, such as giving African-Americans better job opportunities, higher pay scales, and helping desegregating suburban areas, which did somewhat drop the property value in these areas, but overall,these areas actually got richer overtime due to a more diverse economy.

Stay tuned for the 2nd part of the timeline, going from 1943 to 1945, which includes the 1944 election.
 
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1943-45:

As it looked more and more certain that Japan would fall, President Willkie would need to discuss the best way to get rid of the Nazis. In February, the Battle of Stalingrad had concluded in a Soviet victory. In July, an Allied landing in Sicily was made. In September, An invasion of mainland Italy was made. Later at the Tehran Conference, the plan to take back Europe would be made. The plan was given the code-name "Operation Overlord". The plan was to enter Europe through France. At the 1944 Republican Convention, Willkie would be unopposed, and would make Secretary of State Arthur Vandenberg his replacement VP. As for the Democratic Convention, Henry Wallace attempted to run, but didn't get far. Harry F. Byrd also ran, but didn't actively contest. Missouri Senator Harry Truman would go against Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Eventually, Douglas would come out on top, and make Florida Senator Claude Pepper his VP. As the war in Europe was wrapping up, President Willkie contracted a throat infection on October 4, later having 3 heart attacks three days later, on the 7th, leaving him incapacitated. The next day, he died of a fatal 4th heart attack. Vice President McNary had died 7 months prior, so the Succession Act of 1886 would go into effect for the first time, making Vandenberg the 34th President of the United States. Thomas E. Dewey would be made replacement VP nominee, and at election day the Vandenberg/Dewey ticket would prevail over the Douglas/Pepper ticket.

1944[2].png

Arthur Vandenberg / Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) 320 ev's
William O. Douglas / Claude Pepper (Democratic) 211 ev's

Entering into 1945, Vandenberg would focus on getting the war in Europe over with so he will only have to focus on Japan in his second term. Germany would fall just after Vandenberg's first term ended, on May 8, 1945. The plan to finish off Japan was to invade the island itself, which would be known as "Operation Downfall".

Part 3 will review the invasion of Japan.
 
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I have been having to do school a lot, so to focus on that, I took a bit of a break from this thread. But after a week and a half, I'm able to have enough time to extend this timeline. May I present:

We Want Willkie: The Presidency of Wendell Willkie; Chapter 3

August 6 - 9, 1945; Battle of Kyushu

Operation Downfall would begin on this day. It had taken an entire week for the 90,000 men to reach the shores of the Japanese island of Kyushu, but they had arrived. After fighting for 3 days, the city of Kitakyushu was captured by American forces. This gave the U.S. Army the jumping off point into mainland Japan.

August 15, 1945; Liberation of Korea


On this day, Soviet forces captured the city of Pusan, liberating the entire Korean peninsula from Japanese control.

August 20, 1945; Battle of Hiroshima


Two weeks after the initial landing into Japan, The Battle of Hiroshima would begin, and a total of 16,400 casualties, with America suffering 5,900 of these, while Japan would only have 4,500 casualties. The rest of the casualties would be civilian deaths, mainly due to deadly air strikes. Overall, however, it would be an American victory.

August 29 - September 1, 1945; Battle of Hokkaido


Soviet forces sailed from the port cities of Vladivostok, off the Russian coast, and Toyohara, on Soviet occupied Sakhalin island, east and south respectively onto the island of Hokkaido, in Northern Japan. On September 1, The Battle of Sapporo would take place, ending in a decisive Soviet victory.

September 22, 1945; Battle of Okayama


The battle of Okayama would take place nearly 5 weeks after the Battle of Hiroshima. The battle would deal a total of 14,800 casualties, and would end in an American victory.

October 20 - 23, `1945; Battle of Shikoku


On October 20, American forces met with Japanese forces after landing on the island of Shikoku. Three days later, and the American forces had reached the eastern side of the island.

October 25 - 27, 1945; Battle of Osaka


After marching through Shikoku island, American forces would depart from the city of Tokushima to the city of Osaka. Yet another decisive, but also severely fatal, American victory.

November 5 - 6, 1945; Siege of Kyoto


One of the deadliest battles in the entire invasion, the Siege of Kyoto, although an American victory, The hard part in the invasion was yet to come, as it was already November and the divisions on the ground hadn't even reached the mountains of Central Japan. American forces faced over 8,000 casualties at Kyoto, and of the 70,000 strong at the time of the battle beginning, there was only 62,200 left afterwards.

December 30, 1945; Battle of Nagoya


Nagoya would be the last battle to take place in 1945. Although American forces were moving fast, morale was shrinking due to worsening weather conditions.

February 10 - 17, 1946; Battle of Hamamatsu


The battle of Hamamatsu would stall for about a week, with the former 90,000 strong down to numbers around halfway gone. The mountains in the north would give the Japanese an advantage, with mountain snipers raining bullets from above bogging down the advance. The force would lose another 6,000 men in the week they were there, dropping down to 40,000.

April 3 - 10, 1946; Battle of Shizuoka


Yet another deadly battle, American forces would be stalled by sniper-fire, losing another 7,500 men there. Now down to just 32,500, they now had to face the hardest part, which had yet to come.

May 1 - 10, 1946; Fuji Encounter

The Fuji Encounter was the worst case of sniper fire in the entire invasion. Japanese snipers hid atop Mount Fuji. American forces would be stuck there for 9 whole days and lose 9,000 men. Eventually, the last of the snipers would retreat into the forests.

June 25 - 28, 1946; Battle of Yokohama


After one and a half more months and losing another 5,000 men, The remaining 20,000 strong would reach Yokohama, right next to Tokyo. However, the city was guarded by roughly 10,000 Japanese. At the same time, Soviet forces had arrived just outside Tokyo, and kept those soldiers distracted while Allied forces fought in Yokohama. although losing 10,000 men in perhaps the deadliest battle in the invasion, it only took 3 days to take the city.

June 30, 1946; Siege of Tokyo


After almost 7 years, with nearly one of them in Japan alone, World War Two was finally over. On June 30, 1946, Both Soviet and Allied forces met in Tokyo. they had come to find the Emperor dead, with a sword through his stomach, the after effect of the traditional Japanese act of suicide known as Seppuku, where one stabs himself in the stomach with a sword until they bleed out. The empress and their children had done so too. Tojo's body lay in his office, not with a sword in his stomach, but with a bullet in his head.

September 2, 1946; The Treaty


Japan would be split in half, along US/Soviet occupation lines.
Proposed_postwar_Japan_occupation_zones.png

Chapter 4 will be out in the next few days, I'm not sure when.
 
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We Want Willkie: The Presidency of Wendell Willkie; Chapter 4

November 5, 1946:

With Republicans taking another blow in the midterms, the Democrats gained one more seat in the Senate, putting them up to 57 seats, to the Republicans 39 senate seats. However, the Republicans have slight luck in the house, gaining 11 seats, going from 191 seats to 202 seats. The Democrats would still hold the majority with 232 seats, down from 242.

January 1, 1947:

Nigeria gains an autonomous status in the British empire.


June 5, 1947:

Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan.

August 14 - 15, 1947:

On August 14, Pakistan would declare independence, with India doing the same the next day.

September 18, 1947:

The Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A) is created.

March 9 - July 14, 1948: Primaries and Convention

Entering into the 1948 Primaries, it was clear that it would be contested. On the Democratic side emerged two main candidates, moderate Missouri senator Harry S. Truman, and conservative Georgia senator Richard Russell Jr. The liberal senator from Florida and 1944 Democratic VP nominee, Claude Pepper, dissatisfied with the two other nominees, kickstarted his own campaign in the primaries. In the end, Truman would succeed. The Republicans went with President Vandenberg again. Southern Democrats, dissatisfied with the options, decide to run their own candidate, Strom Thurmond.

June 24 - 26 ,1948:

The Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift begin respectively

November 2, 1948:

1948 Presidential election. The election is between the Truman/Barkley and Vandenberg/Dewey tickets. In the end, the Democrats would come on top, just due to President Vandenberg being so unpopular.

194[2].png

Harry S. Truman / Alben W. Barkley (Democratic) 270 electoral votes, 49.0%
Arthur Vandenberg / Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) 223 electoral votes, 45.8%

Strom Thurmond / Fielding Wright (Dixiecrat) 38 electoral votes, 2.3%
 
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We Want Willkie; The Presidency of Wendell Willkie

Chapter 5

January 20, 1949: Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.

April 4, 1949: The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington D. C., creating NATO.

May 12, 1949: The Berlin Blockade is lifted after 11 months.

August 29, 1949: The Soviet Union tests the first Atomic Bomb.

October 1, 1949: The People's Republic of China is proclaimed.

January 31, 1950: In response to the Soviet Union beating the Unites States to the atomic bomb, President Truman announces the testing of America's first atomic bomb.

June 25, 1950: The Japanese War begins, when Kyuichi Tokuda, leader of the partially recognized People's Republic of Japan (North Japan) orders Japanese soldiers to march south past the 38th parallel north into South Japan, led by Shigeru Yoshida.

June 28, 1950: Battle of Tokyo; Decisive North Japanese victory.

July 14 - 21, 1950: Battle of Nagoya; North Japanese victory.

September 15, 1950: Battle of Yokohama. Douglas MacArthur and his command of Allied troops land in Yokohama, just south of the captured South Japanese capital of Tokyo, the landing succeeds and the UN forces make their counteroffensive.

September 19, 1950: North Japan calls the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) into the war, as to lock South Japan into a two-front war.

October 19, 1950: China beings aiding Korea and North Japan in the war.

January 4, 1951: Battle of Tokyo. US and UN forces attempt to retake Tokyo, but fail at doing so and are pushed out of the area.

April 11, 1951: President Truman fires MacArthur.

July 10, 1951: Battle of Hiroshima and the Surrender of South Japan. Korean forces from the west, and North Japanese forces from the east sandwich South Japanese forces at Hiroshima. President Yoshida flees to Taiwan, and the Republic of Japan surrenders.

July 27, 1951: The Treaty of Nagasaki is signed. North and South Japan unify under the government of North Japan, and the PRJ must be recognized as an independent nation.

December 31, 1951: The Marshall Plan expires.

February 18, 1952: Greece and Turkey join NATO

March 29, 1952: President Truman announces he will seek reelection.

March 11 - June 3, 1952: Primaries. Truman, although unpopular, won the Democratic primaries. His main competition was populist Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, who narrowly lost to him, winning 6 primaries, while Truman wins 7. It's between former VP Thomas E. Dewey, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. With the division in the moderate base of the party, Taft wins.

July 7 - 11, 1952: Republican Convention. With Dewey and Warren splitting the moderate sector of the Republican Party, Taft secures the nomination. They both announce their endorsements of Taft shortly after. Taft announces Douglas MacArthur would be his running mate

July 21 - 26, 1952: Democratic Convention. Truman is nominated on the 2nd ballot. Barkley requests he be dropped from the ticket. Truman decides to drop Barkley from the ticket, instead replacing him with Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson II.

July 25, 1952: Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing territory

November 4, 1952: 1952 US Presidential election. Republican nominee Robert A. Taft is elected the 36th President of the United States.

1952[2].png

Robert A. Taft / Douglas MacArthur (Republican) 332 electoral votes, 50.1%
Harry S. Truman / Adlai Stevenson II (Democratic) 199 electoral votes, 46.9%
 
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We Want Willkie, The Presidency of Wendell Willkie:

Chapter 6; The Big Chief

Robert A. Taft had, after his 3rd attempt, finally been able to be elected President of the United States of America. His luck, however, would soon run out, as he would spend most of the 6 months he held the office bedridden and dying from pancreatic cancer. On July 31, 1953, "The Great Senator" as he was known by his former colleagues, passed away at 63 years old. Vice-President MacArthur would become the 37th President of the United States of America immediately following Taft's passing, and the fire was yet to be lit.

January 7, 1953: The United States tests its first atomic bomb.

January 20, 1953: Robert Taft is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.

March 6, 1953: Joseph Stalin passes away.


July 31, 1953: President Taft passes away. VP MacArthur becomes President.

August 8, 1953: The Soviets begin developing a hydrogen bomb

October 5, 1953: Former Associate Justice and former VP Thomas E. Dewey is reinstated as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

March 1, 1954: The US begins developing a hydrogen bomb

April 7, 1954: President MacArthur gives his "Domino Theory" speech

December 2, 1954: Joseph McCarthy is condemned by the Senate, but President MacArthur supports him.

January 28, 1955: Congress authorizes President MacArthur to use military force to protect Taiwan from Chinese attacks.

November 1, 1955: The Vietnam war begins.

November 8, 1955: MacArthur calls for military force to be used in Vietnam. Congress accepts to use limited force in Vietnam.

1956; The War:

October 22, 1956: France, Israel, and the UK secretly discuss plans to invade Egypt


October 23, 1956: The Hungarian Revolution begins

October 26, 1956: Red Army invades Hungary

October 29, 1956: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula

October 30, 1956: Egypt drops a ballistic missile at the Israeli capital of Jerusalem.

October 31, 1956: President MacArthur retaliates at the Egyptians, by launching an atomic bomb at Cairo. A total of 241,000 people, a tenth of the population of the city, is killed, paired with more than 100,000 injured. World War 3 begins.

Sorry to leave this one off on a cliffhanger :). To see what happens next, you'll just have to wait until next Tuesday to figure out.
 
We Want Willkie; The Presidency of Wendell Willkie

Chapter 7: WW3

Just a decade after the end of the last war, a hawk president has sparked a catalyst, which has put the world close to extermination. Now, either side must win, without ending humanity.

November 6, 1956: 1956 US Presidential election. President MacArthur is releected in a landslide.
Alternate 1956 Presidential Election.png

Douglas MacArthur / Richard Nixon (Republican) 418 electoral votes, 54.9%
Adlai Stevenson / Estes Kefauver (Democratic) 113 electoral votes, 40.8%

November 7, 1956: West Berlin falls. Israeli forces reach the ruined city of Cairo.

November 14, 1956: Hungarian rebel forces are put down by the Soviets.

November 18, 1956: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in a speech at the Polish Embassy, utters a very infamous phrase, directed at the western powers "We will bury you".

November 28, 1956: Yugoslav President Josip Tito declares official neutrality.

December 23, 1956: A peace treaty is made between Israel and the Egyptian government. Israel annexes the Sinai Peninsula, while the UK takes full control of the Suez Canal. The Monarchist puppet regime is reinstated and the capital is moved to Alexandria.

January 1, 1957: West Germany falls to Soviet occupation. Saarland joins France for protection.

January 20, 1957: President MacArthur is privately sworn in for a full term. He is not publicly sworn in due to intelligence pointing to a possible assassination plot.

January 29, 1957: The Netherlands surrenders.

January 30, 1957: With Soviet forces fearing a counterattack into Germany from Norway, two divisions 50,000 strong each invade Norway, from Denmark and from Karelia.

February 26, 1957: Norway surrenders. King Haakon VII dies.

March 13, 1957: Soviets declare war on Sweden and Finland

March 27, 1957: Sweden surrenders. King Gustaf XI flees to London

April 5, 1957: E. M. S. Namboodiripad declares a communist rebellion in the Indian State of Kerala.

May 2, 1957: Secretary of State Joseph McCarthy passes away at 48.

May 15, 1957: Britain tests its first nuclear bomb. It succeeds.

June 21, 1957: The Solstice Counteroffensive. NATO forces begin a counteroffensive to push the soviets back behind the Rhine.

September 4, 1957:
Soviets are pushed back behind the Rhine.

October 23, 1957: Morroco invades the Spanish colony of Ifni. Spain joins NATO.

Chapter 8 out next week.
 
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We Want Willkie; The Presidency of Wendell Willkie and Beyond

Chapter 8: There's Always a Light at the End of the Tunnel (The War Pt. II)

MacArthur knew he had to make the American people support him again. The people
hated the fact their own president had started an offensive war over something they weren't even involved in. The Solstice Counteroffensive was the light at the end of the tunnel. The soviets had been pushed behind the Rhine. The war had spread to nations not even in alliances with NATO or the Warsaw Pact. There were two wildcards at play, China, and Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia had split with the Soviet Union in 1948, and China was in the process of splitting. Both sides knew they would have to appeal to the two neutral nations. Only one would come out on top. or so it would seem...

January 4, 1958: The Soviet Union drops a nuclear bomb on Paris, France. It kills a total of 1.6 million people, or a quarter of Paris's population. 400,000 are instantly killed by the initial blast, and the entire city is destroyed. 90% of survivors suffered 3rd degree burns, and another 9.5% suffered 2nd degree burns. The french capital is moved to Marseille.

March 11, 1958: The Mars Bluff Incident. An atomic bomb is dropped on the city of Mars Bluff, South Carolina. It turns out to be an accident made by a pilot of a B-47 bomber, and the bomb didn't have a fissile warhead, so it didnt kill anyone, but the US government took this as Soviet aggression. The US retaliates by dropping a nuclear bomb on Vladivostok, an important Soviet naval port in the Far East, killing 200,000.

April 3, 1958: A communist rebellion begins in Havana, Cuba. The rebellion is led by Fidel Castro

May 13, 1958: Vice President Richard Nixon's vehicle is attacked while visiting Caracas, Venezuela. A coup in French Algeria begins.

July 14, 1958: Socialist rebels stage a coup in Baghdad, deposing and executing Faisal, the Iraqi King, and instating Abdul Qassim as leader of Iraq.

July 15, 1958: 5,000 U.S. Marines land in Beirut, Lebanon to protect the pro-western government from a coup.

July 21, 1958: Rebel forces in Cuba, including the communists, unify into the United Cuban Democratic Army, or the UCDA. The US and Cuban governments declare total war on the UCDA.

July 31, 1958: The CIA gives support to the Tibetan resistance movement, which causes the Chinese government to side with the Soviet Union.

August 23, 1958: The People's Liberation Army begins bombarding the Taiwanese city of Quemoy, thus bringing Taiwan into World War 3.

October 2, 1958: Guinea declares independence from France, which is not recognized by the french government

December 29, 1958: Che Guevara leads an invasion of Santa Clara, Cuba, by the UCDA. Some Batista loyalists begin to call for Batista's resignation, but he decides not to.

January 2, 1959: President Batista calls for Batista loyalist forces to retreat from Santa Clara.

February 16, 1959: Fulgencio Batista resigns from office

February 18, 1959: Batista is executed by UCDA forces.

March 24, 1959: Fidel Castro is named de-facto President of Cuba

March 31, 1959: The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.

June 14, 1959: UCDA and Venezuelan forces attempt to overthrow Rafael Trujillo, the President of the Dominican Republic

July 24, 1959: With both sides exhausted from fighting and being unable to break the stalemate that had been going on for two years at that point, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon meet at the American National Exhibition to discuss peace talks to end the 3rd World War.

September 30, 1959: Premier Khrushchev, President MacArthur, and Chairman Mao Zedong meet in Beijing, China to begin peace talks to end World War III.

October 26, 1959: After almost 4 weeks of peace talks, the war was now over. The Treaty would go like this

  1. The Democratic Republic of Germany will annex the Federal Republic of Germany. The DDR will be recognized as the official government of Germany
  2. The United States of America and NATO shall recognize the government of Fidel Castro as the official government of Cuba
  3. The People's Republic of China shall recognize the independence of Taiwan
  4. Any use of nuclear weapons during any future conflict or war shall be recognized as a violation of international law.
Many in the US would feel as if the US lost more than it gained. MacArthur's popularity would plummet after this. He would begin to fall into a bout of depression. his health begun to rapidly decline. Then, on April 5, 1960, the president would suffer a stroke. He would pass away 3 weeks later, at age 80 years old. Nixon would take over as the 38th President of the United States. He would have to take charge of the country after such a devastating war. But for how long?

World War 3 casualty count

NATO and Allies:

USA: 8,708,000
United Kingdom: 7,079,000 (including colonies)
France: 10,005,000 (including colonies)
West Germany: 6,002,000
Italy: 6,382,000
Greece: 1,847,000
Turkey: 6,302,000
Portugal: 2,328,000
Spain: 3,442,000
Iran: 3,518,000
India: 19,710,000
Brazil: 5,684,000
Argentina: 4,243,000
Luxembourg: 55,000
Belgium: 764,000
Netherlands: 888,000
South Korea: 6,806,000
Japan: 7,306,000
Saudi Arabia: 1, 342,000
Canada: 3,156,000
Australia: 866,000
New Zealand: 64,000
South Africa: 706,000
Israel: 674,000

Total: 102,075,000

Soviets and Allies:

Soviet Union: 26,998,000
China: 88,087,000
North Korea: 4,786,000
Egypt (surrendered after the Bombing of Cairo) 341,000
Morocco: 858,000
Iraq: 977,000
Syria: 546,000
Cuba: 690,000
Venezuela: 747,000
Pakistan: 3,004,000

Total: 127,034,000

Total Casualty Count: 229,109,000

World War III (October 31, 1956 - July 24, 1959) Although the shortest of the World Wars, was easily the deadliest. It resulted in the deaths of 229 million people, dwarfing the casualty count of World War II by a ratio of almost 4 to 1. The world was drained and in near-ruin. It was now time to rebuild.

Considering the fact that this timeline is way past the intended timeframe, I am going to be continuing this TL on a new thread, called "After the War; A Wendell Willkie TL". Link is here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/after-the-war-a-wendell-willkie-timeline.456712/. Hope to see you on the new thread.
 
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