What would a 1953-1961 Disney administration actually look like?

[TheDoofusUser]

As I'm sure you all know, A World of Laughter, A World of Tears painted a Walt Disney Presidency in its worst case scenario. Here, I'd like to stay away from the hyperbole and the potential worst case scenario of a two term Disney with some things added for extra flavoring on this question.

It's the 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. Dwight D. Eisenhower has declined the idea of running for President and Taft's cancer was revealed early, forcing him to drop out. With Dewey uninterested in a third bid, Warren is the front-runner for the nomination to the delight of many of the party's more left-wing liberal/progressive types. However, the right-wing of the party, who control most of the delegations, do not want Warren. They just don't know who to back. Then someone, maybe a Missouri delegate, shouts "Disney!" and soon Disney gains traction as a draft candidate before beating Warren in a shocker. Disney is told of his nomination and heads to Chicago to accept it, even if he was surprised and didn't expect it.

Then comes the Vice Presidential balloting. Due to Disney's home state/place of residence being California, this takes Knowland and Nixon off the table. Some suggest Everett Dirksen of Illinois, but Disney brings up the fact that he didn't run for re-election to the House in 1948 because of his chorioetinitis diagnosis and was worried it might come back should he become Vice President. Joe McCarthy is suggested but Disney shoots him down as well, saying he doesn't want to risk the Wisconsin Senate seat. However, one Senator does tickle his fancy slightly - William Ezra Jenner of Indiana, a two time Senator (November 14th, 1944-January 3rd, 1945 and since January 3rd, 1947). A member of the old right bloc in the party, Jenner is a well known conservative and a strong backer of McCarthyism, something Disney enjoys himself.

With the ticket figured out, the Liberals grumble and only begrudgingly backs Disney for President. Meanwhile, a 28 year old Phyllis Schlaffy, currently campaigning for IL-24, is at the convention as a delegate cheering on the ticket while a 14 year old Pat Buchanan hears about Disney on the news. Disney, with his massive media appeal and the large money from the GOP, is able to drown out Stevenson when it comes to messaging, promising the nation a world of tomorrows, not a world of yesterdays.

Disney wins the 1952 Election and thus he begins to form his cabinet. Either Ike or Charles Lindbergh for State, Howard Buffet of Nebraska for Treasury, MacArthur for Defense, maybe Roy Cohn for AG, and the person who didn't get State for UN Ambassador. He gives 1-3 of the lesser secretary positions to liberals to appease them a bit, but mostly focuses on having his cabinet be filled with members of the Old Right but who are willing to listen to his ideas. Disney is more focused on domestic issues like infrastructure and the family while being interested in focusing on Quality, not Quantity, for the military, keeping the budget at a good and decent level for it but focusing more on the United States itself.

This isn't to say he doesn't be all cold warrior, he just doesn't rock the boat when it comes to the cold war and only will intervene on things if he believes all other things have been dealt with.

Some additional things is that Stalin lives an additional 12 years and McCarthy doesn't go after the military, maybe after Jenner has a talk with him about that being a career killer before he does it. Thus, Stalin is around for Disney's tenure and McCarthyism might still be going strong during it as well. Disney wins in 1956 during a popular tenure.

How would a two term Disney do his planned ideas? How do you think would his administration would handle foreign issues with Stalin still alive? How would Stalin treat this Political newbie as his rival? Who has what post in Disney's cabinet? Finally, what effect does his tenure have on the nation as a whole, the world, and the 1960 election?

Feel free to make your answer as long as possible

(And David T, if you come, summarize your soc.if things if you answered something like this before, lol)

EDIT : I can't believe I forgot this, but who do you think he appoints to SCOTUS and the lower courts too?

 

[CarlosTheAltHistoryGuy]

Probably a very Conservative admin, I could see McCarthyism maybe being more popular ITTL and there would probably bit less support to the (then new) State of Israel.

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

No Brown vs. board of ed or federal backing for civil rights efforts anytime soon. Nixon-Reagan realignments of wwc and dixie start 16 years early.

 

[X_X]

Walt was very fascinated by the nascent field of space travel years before Sputnik. He’d be a hawk when it comes to the Space Race and the yanks would have the upper hand throughout the whole affair.

He was interested in urban development as shown through his failed E.P.C.O.T. project. So we get that department a decade or so earlier, though Disney’s most ambitious and impossible ideas get held back by reality. His interest in transportation ensures that the grand highway system goes even farther that it did in reality. Also a major train geek, so get ready for an actual functional public rail system in America.

A devotee of nuclear energy, he would walk the same path as Eisenhower’s Atoms For Peace.

He was a lover of wildlife and nature, so a vocal friend of the conservationists and the national parks.

A promoter of education, the arts, the sciences, and television, so they all get heavily funded so long as they adhere to good ol’ post-war patriotism.

 

[TheDoofusUser]

Probably a very Conservative admin, I could see McCarthyism maybe being more popular ITTL and there would probably bit less support to the (then new) State of Israel.

I think for McCarthy, it would depend on him not slandering himself by going after the Army and President Disney endorsing the idea of a SUAC. As for Israel, I'm not sure Disney would outright cut support to it. If anything, he probably just says a few things to criticize them but stays silent otherwise.

No Brown vs. board of ed or federal backing for civil rights efforts anytime soon. Nixon-Reagan realignments of wwc and dixie start 16 years early.

Brown v Board was going to happen even if Earl Warren was never put on the Court. It was a unanimous opinion and while Disney appointing someone other than Warren to the Curt might change a few people, the ones that matter (Black and Douglas) and the rest are FDR and Truman appointees. Now, could it be reversed in a future court decision when Disney has appointed a majority of his own Justices? I can definitely see it.

And I do agree on Nixon-Reagan realinging the WWC and Dixie. While Disney wouldn't outright kill the NDC, he'd come pretty damn close to it and given that he'd likely be backed by men like Strom Thurmond and Harry Byrd Sr as well as Heavily Conservative Midwestern Republicans, he'd bring that alignment to bear.

Walt was very fascinated by the nascent field of space travel years before Sputnik. He’d be a hawk when it comes to the Space Race and the yanks would have the upper hand throughout the whole affair.

He was interested in urban development as shown through his failed E.P.C.O.T. project. So we get that department a decade or so earlier, though Disney’s most ambitious and impossible ideas get held back by reality. His interest in transportation ensures that the grand highway system goes even farther that it did in reality. Also a major train geek, so get ready for an actual functional public rail system in America.

A devotee of nuclear energy, he would walk the same path as Eisenhower’s Atoms For Peace.

He was a lover of wildlife and nature, so a vocal friend of the conservationists and the national parks.

A promoter of education, the arts, the sciences, and television, so they all get heavily funded so long as they adhere to good ol’ post-war patriotism.

I can see Walt funding ideas like "The World of the Future" and "Mankind's Universe" in which he sells the idea of Space exploration and Travel to Congress and the Public due to the many benefits he would see from it. We could definitely see a large amount of funding to these programs in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and maybe 80s and 90s if it remains popular throughout those 40 years.

I can see Disney pushing for Departments of Transportation, Housing, and Infrastructure as a massive work program as well as a program to build affordable housing across the country, including new cities, and a massive system of highways, airports, bridges, canals, and railroads that are supported by the Federal Government to ensure it doesn't go belly up. These departments are likely to be extremely popular and will likely be a Conservative Equivalent of The Great Society.

Hmm, maybe Disney can more successfully push for an increase of Nuclear Energy research, as this is decades before TMI and Chernobyl which soured the public of Nuclear Energy. Heck, maybe with even more funding Disney or one of his successors pushes for preliminary funding and research into Fusion in the 70s or 80s, though the earliest I could see it happening is the 90s.

Yeah, I could see him heavily pushing for something like the EPA over twenty years before it happened OTL. While he would open up some empty federal land for development, resources and cities, he would also make a lot of national parks as a "American Beauty Experience!" to show off the wonders of the American Continent.

I can definitely see him going hard on Patriotic Education and having Televised Fireside Chats daily with American Public to push for his ideas and to get public support behind him. Disney was a master of Media and I can see him wielding it to the same masterful way that FDR did.

Another thing is that after Disney's presidency, if he manages to live past the 60s, he could likely create a Conservative News Channel that's an Old Right/Paleoconservative version of Fox News. Imagine a Fox News of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

 

[Somedevil]

One side bit what does this do to Disney Land and Disney world in this timeline?

Also I feel with such a conservative administration there might be a even bigger swing to the left in the 1960 election.

 

[TheDoofusUser]

One side bit what does this do to Disney Land and Disney world in this timeline?

Also I feel with such a conservative administration there might be a even bigger swing to the left in the 1960 election.

I think Walt would leave his company and its ideas in the hands of Roy with plans to return after his Presidency. As for the 1960 Election, I actually see a bit more of a Conservative Swing in that election given that Disney would be a media expert in a much better way than Ike was and Jenner would likely actively Campaign with him while whoever the Democrats Nominate will have to go against a popular Vice President of a very charismatic and popular President.

 

[TheDoofusUser]

Alright, so I'm working on the TL for this and need some more help for it. Would anyone be interested in giving some help in any possible way outside of saying "Read AWoLAWoT"?

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Walt was very fascinated by the nascent field of space travel years before Sputnik. He’d be a hawk when it comes to the Space Race and the yanks would have the upper hand throughout the whole affair.

I wonder how Project Pluto (and atomic rocketry in general) would fare under a Disney Administration. Does he support it because futuristic, or quash it after seeing ordinary rocket launchpad explosions?

 

[TheDoofusUser]

I wonder how Project Pluto (and atomic rocketry in general) would fare under a Disney Administration. Does he support it because futuristic, or quash it after seeing ordinary rocker launchpad explosions?

I think he'd go for a middle ground, as in run some experiments and get experts to look into it, though his primary focus would, of course, be on the United States and its domestic economy.

 

[AltHisMaster]

So here's my take on what he would be like in these situations.

Brown V. Board: I imagine him more or less doing what Ike ended up doing, maybe he can be a little more liberal if some civil rights activists can get on his good side and reframe the Civil Rights Movement as finishing what Lincoln had started.

Isreal: Despite what you may have heard from disgruntled ex-employees (No matter how talented they were), Walt never had that much animosity towards Jews (His daughter briefly dated one), so I imagine that he'll still support Isreal, but maybe throw some bones to the Arab states so they won't go to the Soviets.

Cold War: Pretty much IRL on this one, although he can see him being nice to Kruschev in some areas (He did want to show him the submarine fleet as Disneyland in 59). Not sure if he'd be ok the CIA putting up dictatorships all over the world though. Doesn't seem very cash money of him. As for Cuba, I can definatly seem meet personally with Castro to try and give him the same Disney charm that he used on PL Travers.

McCarthyism: Might see him give some support until McCarthy's fall from grace. Don't really see him doing much else.

Space Race: I can definitely see him putting more effort into this. Maybe see him support Project Orion.

Economics: Pretty much just do what Ike did. Don't really see Walt as that much of a LibRightist. Maybe I can see him giving some support to the privatization of Social Security, but not enough to rock the boat.

Cabinet: I don't really see him getting Roy Cohn on his cabinet and good luck trying to get Lindbergh in a high-ranking position.

And that's all I have for now. If you want to know where I got my sources, most of it comes from Call me Walt: Everything you Never Knew about Walt Disney by Jim Korkis

 

[dsp19]

Interesting speculation but I could never see Walt Disney overtly political to the point where he'd run for President or a high office. His pride and joy (the Walt Disney Company) would lose popularity because he'd enter the political arena and take hits from his opponents. Walt Disney always wanted to appear as the avuncular gentleman who offended as few people as possible.

He did take the position of being a strident anti-Communist in the post-WWII years but that was the prevailing opinion in the USA in that period

 

[RanulfC]

Walt was very fascinated by the nascent field of space travel years before Sputnik. He’d be a hawk when it comes to the Space Race and the yanks would have the upper hand throughout the whole affair.

He may have been 'fascinated' but Congress (specifically) and the General Public more generally were not though this waxed and waned as time when on. It's a question of if he would have the same anti-Nazi bias as Ike which I think is a bit less likely given his overt interest. So likely (like Eisenhower) he takes the IGY satellite launch proposition as a mandate and assigns the job to the Army and von Braun, (which is going to peeve the Air Force off ) but the question of over-flight issues will remain. If the Soviets go first then there is no outcry but if (as everyone fully expected) the Americans are first then the Soviets will likely call 'foul' over the issue of un-wanted overflights just to make a stink.

And if the US has the first satellite it's most likely the USSR does not then 'play' the "Space Race" game at all at least to any extent that will "push" the US to do anything extraordinary.

I wonder how Project Pluto (and atomic rocketry in general) would fare under a Disney Administration. Does he support it because futuristic, or quash it after seeing ordinary rocket launchpad explosions?

FYI I think you're thinking of Project NERVA which was the atomic rocket project. Project Pluto was the Atomic direct cycle ramjet development program for the SLAM (Supersonic Low Altitude Missile) missile project and not related to atomic rocket development even though they both took place near the same development areas.

Likely he supports the development work for NERVA because at the time it was seen as required for primary deep space missions beyond LEO.

Randy