Hashpipe's Great Biotimeline

[Hash]

Inspired by Kalwejt and Mech's extremely detailed and concise characters and all, I've decided to finally put on paper a character which I've thought of for a while. While it won't be as great as theirs, mine is just a random attempt at fun and creative writing.

My character is an aggressive flaming liberal from Vermont who has anger and drinking issues and has a particular hate for conservatives which is, of course, mutual. If you wish that I include on of your characters or some fictional persona of your choice, I'd be happy to do it. His name is Christopher Andrew Garrett, aka Chris Garrett.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Waiting to see what comes up.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Great

[Hash]

At the beginning

Not much is known about the Garrett family. The Garrett line originated in Suffolk in southeastern England, where they were almost entirely farmers. Poverty and a bad crop led a part of the Garrett family to immigrate to New England in 1745. They settled in present-day Rockingham County, New Hampshire. There were, in 1745, six Garretts which settled in New Hampshire. The eldest was William (b. 1720), who was the family's dominant figure and a wily farmer. He was accompanied by his two smaller brothers, his wife Charlotte and their two young children.

Arthur Garrett was the first Garrett born in America, and the third child of William and Charlotte Garrett. He was born in New Hampshire in 1747, two years after his parents and family had settled in the New World. By then, the Garretts had managed to build up a small family farm which provided enough food for them to survive.

In 1749, New Hampshire provincial Governor Benning Wentworth made the first of his famous New Hampshire Grants to various local notables in the colony. Lured by the chance to get a bigger farm and set up a frontier lifestyle appealed much to a wily adventurer like William Garrett, who followed William Williams and others from Portsmouth to set up camp in southeastern Vermont. By the late 1760s, the Garrett family had settled in present-day Bennington with families from Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Andrew Garrett shared his father's fiery temper and adventurous spirit. This led to two things. The first was perpetual feuding between the youngest Garrett and his father. Secondly, and intimately linked to the first, was Andrew Garrett's decision to leave Bennington with a group of fellow young frontiersmen and move north. By 1770, Garrett, his elder brother Stephen and a band of friends had found their way to Lake Champlain, settling in Middlebury.

Andrew Garrett joined Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys and engaged in various standoffs with New York colonial authorities, who sought, unsuccessfully, to assert New York's grants in Vermont which conflicted with New Hampshire's land grants. When the Revolutionary War began, Garrett fought in the Battle of Ticonderoga where Allen's Green Mountain Boys played a major role in capturing the strategically crucial Fort Ticonderoga near Lake George in upstate New York. Andrew and Stephen Garrett were largely inactive for the rest of the conflict, during which Vermont declared itself independent and became a semi-neutral state acting as a haven for British and colonial deserters. Andrew and Stephen preferred to explore the coastal plain around Lake Champlain, moving upwards towards Burlington which by the late 1770s was home to barely five families. As thus, Andrew and Stephen Garrett were amongst the earliest settlers of Burlington when it was organized as a town in 1785.

Andrew Garrett married Rose-Anne Lawrence, another early Burlington settler, in 1781. Their first and only child, Ethan Lawrence, was born in 1782. Andrew died of pneumonia at age 59 in 1806, by which time Ethan Lawrence had married and already had one child (Laura, b. 1804). Ethan Lawrence, an intelligent and shrewd man, became a well-off merchant when Burlington, benefiting from its lakefront location, became a major centre for trade in the early nineteenth century. His only son, Andrew Jr., was born in 1808 when he was 26.

Ethan Lawrence, a Federalist, opposed the War of 1812 which he described as a "misguided and stupid attempt... by the foolish Virginia plantocracy... to further their gains while destroying New England's economy... perhaps intentionally". Ethan Lawrence's opposition to the war gained him fame in Federalist circles in 1812 and 1814, but whatever political ambitions he had were destroyed following the end of the conflict. As a merchant, he profited from the opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823 which linked Lake Champlain to the Hudson (and later the Erie Canal in 1825).

Andrew Garrett Jr. was educated at the University of Vermont and integrated his father's business in 1830 and took it over following his father's retirement in 1839 (Ethan Lawrence died at 63, in 1845). He took a deep interest in railroads, which he saw as the future for transportation. He welcomed the inauguration of the Central Vermont Railway (CVR) in 1848. The CVR's construction greatly helped Garrett's business, and allowed him to become the predominant merchant in Burlington by 1850 controlling a local trade empire with relations to the business milieus of Montreal, New York and Boston. He acquired significant shares in the CVR, which further solidified his standing in Vermont economic and political milieus. An early supporter of the Republican Party, he supported Lincoln in 1860 and all other Republican local and federal candidates to his death in 1876 at age 68.

Andrew Garrett Jr. had three children, including two sons: George, born in 1840 and Matthew, born in 1843. George was killed at Gettysburg in 1863, where he was in the 5th Vermont Infantry. Andrew Garrett Jr's relations with Governor Erastus Fairbanks had allowed Matthew, who was 18 in 1861, to avoid military service.

Matthew Garrett acquired his father's shares in the CVR following his father's death in 1876, as well as his father's profitable business which had expanded to own various mills in northwestern Vermont. The Garrett family, buoyed by railway interests, trade links with Canada and the northeastern states and manufacturing interests were the dominant family of Burlington in 1876. Unfortunately, Andrew Jr. would go down as the Garrett's family man of vision and intelligence because Matthew, an incompetent bookkeeper as well as a womanizer and alcoholic, managed to destroy 80% of his family's fortune by the 1880s. By the time his first and only son, William, was born in 1883, he had managed to destroy his family's reputation and standing in the Burlington economic elite. He never enjoyed his father's close links with the Republican political establishment. He was particularly disliked by Governor Samuel E. Pingree (1884-1886), a Civil War veteran, who viewed Matthew as a lazy, drunk coward.

Matthew Garrett, despite being an alcoholic, managed to live until the age of 69, dying in 1912. During that time, he resisted his son William's attempt to take over the dwindling family business and continued to flush the family's remaining fortune down the drain through various lavish expenses such as expensive hunting trips to Wyoming. To pay for his lavish expenses, he sold his shares in the CVR as well as the family's mills in Winooski and Essex Junction. In the turn of the century Burlington, the Garrett family was a sorry shadow of its past self and had totally lost the position of prominence enjoyed by Andrew Garrett in the antebellum era and early Gilded Age. William took over the ruins of the business in 1912, but after attempts to rejuvenate it failed, he sold the remnants of the Garrett family business in 1917. William Garrett married Mary Stevens (b. 1890) in 1915.

Christopher Andrew Garrett was born in Burlington, Vermont on July 23, 1918.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This is very interesting, I was considering doing one myself. But this is way better then mine would be.

[Hash]

Christopher Andrew Garrett was born in Burlington, Vermont on July 23, 1918. Like his father, but most unlike his grandfather, he was an intelligent child who had a profound interest in politics and history. Unlike most of his recent ancestors, he was not groomed to take over the family's old business for the sole reason that it didn't exist anymore. His father had sold the remnants of it in 1917, one year before Chris was born.

Chris attended public school in Burlington, which represented how far his family had fallen given that his father and grandfather had attended prestigious private schools in Boston. Still, Christopher's academic success would get him into the University of Vermont in Burlington in 1936, where he majored in political science with a minor in American history. Entering university in the wake of Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide reelection in 1936, Christopher closely identified with the New Deal and the Roosevelt coalition despite the fact that Vermont had been one of the two states to vote Republican over Roosevelt in 1936.

Ironically, Christopher developed a deep interest in antebellum and Civil War era American history and also became virulently anti-Southerner. While he was slightly conflicted by the fact that racist Dixiecrats were an integral part of the New Deal Coalition, he continued to identified with the Democratic Party because of the New Deal and later because of the war in Europe, which he strongly supported. Christopher was active in the weak and small Vermont Democratic Party, and campaigned for Roosevelt in 1940 and 1944.

Christopher finally graduated from university in 1944 and became a professor of political science at his alma mater in 1946. His teaching career wouldn't last long, however, as he got drawn back into politics by the 1948 presidential election during which he actively campaigned for Truman and other Vermont Democratic candidates. However, with a bare 37%, Vermont was Truman's worst state outside the South and Vermont Democrats did badly, as always. Yet, Truman was reelected and Garrett was particularly ecstatic about the fact that he had done so without winning four of the Solid South states. He later commented "we can win, we have won... without those Southern reactionary dickheads".

Christopher Garrett had met Lucie Hill Jefferson while vacationing in Stowe in the winter of 1947. Lucie, the daughter of a Burlington lawyer, had attended Champlain College. The two moved in together in a small apartment in Burlington, and they finally married in 1949.

Garrett's career in academia had suffered from his active involvement in the 1948 election, which didn't go down well with the University of Vermont's largely Republican leadership and his left-wing viewpoints were not welcome in an era marked by the Red Scare and McCarthyism. Yet, Garrett refused to desist from teaching his students Marxist theory. He later wrote "one day, hopefully... the bunch of idiots and Southern reactionary douches... will understand that Marxist theory is not equal to communist ideology [...] one day somebody will be bothered to realized that a Marxist perspective on history isn't the same as a Marxist ideology...". In April 1950, at the end of the winter semester, the University leadership told him that his teaching contract would not be renewed for the fall semester.

In the summer of 1950, Garrett was approached by the Vermont Democratic Party about a run for the Vermont House of Representatives in  Burlington. Vermont's lower house was a dictionary definition of malapportionment, with each town electing one member, regardless of population. Burlington's 35,000 inhabitants weighed as much in the House as a town with 40 people in the Northeast Kingdom. The Republican-held seat in Burlington was thought to be vulnerable because the incumbent Representative had been embroiled in a corruption scandal over the past two years. When the corrupt Representative in question won renomination narrowly, Garrett agreed to jump into the race.

The campaign was tough, and the Republicans painted Garrett as an "angry Marxist professor" who would be out of touch with Burlington if elected. Garrett responded angrily, denouncing the corruption of the incumbent and vowing a "New Deal for Vermont". Garrett also seized on the issue of Burlington's blatant under-representation in the House, attacking the Republican Party for clinging to a "tradition of the 1700s" by blocking re-apportionment.

Chittenden County: Burlington district, Vermont House of Representatives election, 1950
Christopher A. Garrett (D) 50.09%
Rep. Emory T. Smith (R) 49.91%

Garrett's narrow victory had been the only bright spot for Vermont Democrats that year, whose legislative caucus dwindled to a mere 36 out of 246. Garrett and his wife moved to Montpelier in December 1950 for the start of the session in January 1951.

note: the name of the Republican Representative is fictional, as is that of the number of Democrats in the House (though there were 246 seats).

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

So far so good, but I dont think Douches, and Dickheads were words back then. This guy is worse then McCain when it comes to anger....

[Hash]

So far so good, but I dont think Douches, and Dickheads were words back then. This guy is worse then McCain when it comes to anger....

I'm not sure, so I put down "he later said/wrote"

[homelycooking]

I love it! Really nice work so far.

So with an election result like that, and given the size of the districts and turnout for elections back then, Garrett must have won that election by exactly one vote. Is that the case?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

So far so good, but I dont think Douches, and Dickheads were words back then. This guy is worse then McCain when it comes to anger....

I'm not sure, so I put down "he later said/wrote"

Congress in 1950? So he is going to be with Ford, Nixon, Kennedy, and a whole host of future 70's era Senators..This is going to be exciting!

[Mechaman]

Very cool timeline man.

Funny enough this character reminds me of William Westman (Scott Westman's grandfather), a "conservative" (he opposed most of the New Deal, however he was very progressive in regards to civil rights and liberties and even voiced support of a universal healthcare system) Irish Catholic Democrat who is a Tammany Hall hack who also despises the southern faction of the Democratic party and proposes anti-lynching legislation every year while in the US Senate just to piss them off.  He also hated Republicans with a "bleedingheart" passion, for obvious reasons.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I'd like someone to explain the difference between Marxism and Communism to me, but this isn't the right thread to do so.

Also, good story.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Winfield Scott Dent, who did not like commies from Canadanot real AmericaVermont smashed Garnett's head against the wall, so he died.

...did I tell you I like your story?

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State Representative: 1951-1956

Christopher A. Garrett entered the Vermont House of Representatives in January 1951 as the member of the minority Democratic caucus. And for a minority caucus, it really was a minority: Democrats held a mere 15% of seats in the House. As a result, Democrats were absent from a majority of committees and had no leverage. Some longtime Democratic Representatives had gotten friendly with the Republican house leaders, but the Republican leadership (and even the Democratic old guard) looked down upon the new 32-year old Representative from Burlington as a young, radical and “probable Red”. It was thus no surprise that Garrett was kept out of the major committees, being assigned to a useless committee on fishing in Lake Champlain which was widely known to be a dump for young representatives which had yet to prove themselves.

The climate was not favourable to Garrett, who hoped to make a mark on the House. In March 1951, a private bill he sponsored was defeated in a lopsided vote. In session, the House leadership gave him a seat in the back, or “the pitch” of the chamber. Being shunned pissed Garrett off, and led him to take up drinking like his grandfather had always done in times of depression. His wife, meanwhile, hated life in Montpelier, which she described as "five houses in the middle of goddamn nowhere" and longed to return to Burlington. She was peeved at the fact that she and Christopher were shunned from social events organized by other Representatives, and she insisted that Christopher "stand up to those old fools... and show them what a Garrett is made of". However, Chris refused, preferring instead his new drinking habits which annoyed her conservative puritan nature. Bored in Montpelier and in a constant feud with her absent-minded husband, she moved back to Burlington alone in February 1952. Christopher was thus left alone in Montpelier, with his only real friend being his bottles of whiskey and rum.

Christopher, a slick maneuverer, however, decided that he would not let himself slide down the path of obscurity and took matters into his own hands. Faced with Republicans who distrusted the young professor and career Democrats who were wary of his ambitions, the field was ridden with obstacles. However, he managed to slowly build up a base of supporters around himself. First, he befriended other members of the small Democratic caucus in the House. Second, and most importantly, he came on good terms with the Republican leadership in the House.

Garrett's work to build himself a base in early 1952 threatened to come undone in the 1952 elections. Former Representative Emory T. Smith, acquitted of all wrongdoing in late 1951, staged a comeback to his old seat. Smith held a deep grudge against Garrett, whom he suspected of being a communist who had 'stolen' "his" seat. Garrett never had established a deep footing in his district, and his constituent services were mediocre to say the least. Furthermore, few voters saw it as advantageous to them to be represented by a member of a tiny minority caucus, especially when Smith had been known to be a top pork-barrel spender. Stump speech after stump speech, Garrett's message about the need for "a source of opposition... to what is in effect a one-party state" failed to work. Furthermore, Dwight Eisenhower's coattails in Vermont (likely to be his best state) clearly threatened him.

At last, Garrett found his voice when he took on the cause of "one man, one vote", a principle which was not respected in Vermont, where rural areas were overrepresented in the House vis-a-vis urban areas. He started campaigning on a message asking for a "fair deal for Vermont's cities" and attacking Smith on his reluctance to take on the "entrenched rural interests of the Republican Party". He successfully managed to paint Smith as a party hack, who feared breaking with the Republican Party's rural base and who wasn't giving Burlington its fair deal. Ironically, Smith's career-long pork barrel spending was forgotten as Garrett seized the upper hand in the campaign in October 1952.

Chittenden County: Burlington district, Vermont House of Representatives election, 1952
Rep. Christopher A. Garrett (D) 51.16%
Fmr. Rep. Emory T. Smith (R) 48.84%

Garrett's reelection allowed him to continue his work. The election season had been bad to Democrats again, who lost 5 seats in the House. Notably, the longtime Democratic minority leader who hated the upstart Garrett had lost his seat in Grande Isle. This opened a power vacuum within the 31-seat Democratic caucus, a power vacuum which played right into Garrett's hands. In December 1952, Garrett was elected Democratic minority leader.

The campaign had reunited him with his wife, who was now happy to be alongside a sober rising star in the State House. Their first child, Ethan Lawrence Jr., was born in October 1953 when Garrett was 35.

As Democratic minority leader, he befriended Republican Representative Consuelo Bailey, who became the first women Speaker of the House in January 1953 after three ballots. Garrett's good relations with Bailey helped him win an assignment to the higher profile Transportation Committee. The wily Garrett used the Transportation Committee to build up a network of support across Vermont, notably through becoming a strong advocate for small towns who demanded that the state routes be updated. Garrett started visiting numerous counties through northern Vermont, which helped him build up a small grassroots network. At the same time, he upgraded his constituent services in Burlington.

The 1953-1954 session was good to Garrett, whose standing within the caucus was assured and whose star was rising in the House as a whole. Only three years since he first won, he had already managed to establish himself as the Vermont Democratic Party's dominant figure, though admittedly that wasn't a hard feat in a party whose local membership could fit into a phone booth. He was pressured by some figures within the party to step it up and run for State Senate, so he could attempt to follow the Republican path to the top: Representative, Senator, Lt. Governor, Governor, US Representative and US Senator. However, Garrett was shaky with the idea of facing a tough campaign for State Senate and was finally dissuaded by his wife who enjoyed Garrett's high profile in Montpelier, which allowed her inclusion in the small social circles of the state capital. Garrett filed to run for a third term in the 1954, and finally faced a rather easy campaign against Republican candidate James Robert Lynn, a Burlington lawyer (whose firm was the direct rival to his wife's father's law firm). Garrett, playing on his power, experience and constituent outreach, was easily reelected in November 1954.

Chittenden County: Burlington district, Vermont House of Representatives election, 1954
Rep. Christopher A. Garrett (D) 55.63%
James R. Lynn (R) 44.37%

Garrett won another promotion in January 1955 when he got an assignment to the powerful state Ways and Means Committee. He was the only Democrat on the powerful committee, where his star was somewhat abated by the career politicians of the Republican Party who controlled the state's wallet. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Garrett established himself as a happy spender advocating high spending on new social programs and on road upgrades. His progressive economic views contrasted with that of the Republican Party's prudent spenders who were loath to "spend, spend, spend like there's no tomorrow".

His wife saw that her husband's assignment to the Ways and Means Committee was hurting his star power and thought that it was a Republican tactic to shove him aside. Furthermore, Lucie was pressuring him to get out the General Assembly, which she saw as a dusty body for old politicos and not fit for a young man of ambition such as Chris.

In late 1955, Christopher decided that he wasn't fit for the State House. He was taking a greater interest in national politics, and certainly had his eyes on things outside of Montpelier and in fact, outside of Vermont. A State House career would not do him any good, a State Senate run was risky and a loss could seal his career. His eyes turned to statewide offices. No Democrat, however, had won statewide since 1954. Furthermore, Eisenhower was favoured for reelection in 1956 and his coattails would doom any Democrat's chances in the most Republican state in the Union. However, Garrett calculated that if he ran for a statewide office, ran a good campaign testing his small base of support with small town mayors and county officials, he would lose but could still get a good result. He filed to run for Lt. Governor, and faced Alexander B.R. Drysdale in the Democratic primary. Using his star power within the small party, he won the primary with 4,115 votes against 3,551 for Drysdale. He faced Republican Attorney General Robert T. Stafford in the November general election.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

So far so good, but I dont think Douches, and Dickheads were words back then. This guy is worse then McCain when it comes to anger....

I'm not sure, so I put down "he later said/wrote"

Congress in 1950? So he is going to be with Ford, Nixon, Kennedy, and a whole host of future 70's era Senators..This is going to be exciting!

I was mistaken, but, the generation who entered politics in the 50's were the ones who had alot of effect on my favorite era-The 70's!

[Hash]

So far so good, but I dont think Douches, and Dickheads were words back then. This guy is worse then McCain when it comes to anger....

I'm not sure, so I put down "he later said/wrote"

Congress in 1950? So he is going to be with Ford, Nixon, Kennedy, and a whole host of future 70's era Senators..This is going to be exciting!

I was mistaken, but, the generation who entered politics in the 50's were the ones who had alot of effect on my favorite era-The 70's!

Don't worry, Garrett will play a major role in the '70s

[Hash]

September 5, 1956
Garrett campaign rally
Burlington, Vermont

GARRETT: I’m running to offer the people of Vermont a true choice… I’m running not just to be the token opponent to the Republican State, but rather to provide, for the first time in a long time, a real and competent alternative to the people of Vermont.

[…] Let me ask you, my friends, what have the Republican Party done for us? Not much, in reality. They’ve been happy to count on Vermont as the last bulwark of Republicanism, but it hasn’t done anything for the people of Vermont.

[…] I’m running to be Lt. Governor, to serve the people of Vermont as best I can if elected Lt. Governor… I’m not after this office to use it as a stepping stone, as it has always been for Republican politicians for whom Lt. Governor is only a stepping stone in the timeless cycle. They’re in this for their pockets. I’m in this for the people of Vermont!

[…] I urge you, my friends, to give us a chance. Since 1854, yes, 1854, my friends, all statewide officeholders in Vermont have been Republicans. That’s one hundred and two years. I think you’ll all agree that one hundred and two years of one party rule is way too much… Give us a chance so that we can finally give Vermont a chance.

September 8, 1956
Stafford campaign rally
Rutland, Vermont

STAFFORD: What has the Republican Party done for Vermont, you ask? They’ve made Vermont the great state it is. A strong, free and prosperous state which stands at the forefront of America. That’s what we’ve done for Vermont, and that’s what we’ll continue doing.

[…] I’ve served Vermont as Attorney General for the past two years. I’ve taken on some tough cases… What has Mr. Garrett done for Vermont? He entrenched himself in the State House, and don’t let his rhetoric fool you my friends, because he’s only running for this office to raise his profile. Does he really care about the office of Lt. Governor and the people of Vermont? No. Rather, he cares about his profile and, mark my words, he’ll do anything to get to the top. This run is for him nothing but an opportunity… to further raise his star.

[…] One hundred and two years. I’d like to thank Mr. Garrett for telling you how long we’ve served this state and ensured its progress.

 […] What revolts me, rather, is the hypocrisy of Mr. Garrett and the Democratic Party. They act appalled in front of our service to Vermont, and they fake outrage in front of what they call a “one party state”. I’ll tell Mr. Garrett what a one party state is. It’s Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and the whole Deep South. We may dominate Vermont politics, but we do it through popular will... not vote rigging, lynchings and intimidation… We hold our power here through the popular will of the people of Vermont… Mr. Garrett’s colleagues in the South hold their power through the gun and the whip.

[Mechaman]

September 5, 1956
Garrett campaign rally
Burlington, Vermont

GARRETT: I’m running to offer the people of Vermont a true choice… I’m running not just to be the token opponent to the Republican State, but rather to provide, for the first time in a long time, a real and competent alternative to the people of Vermont.

[…] Let me ask you, my friends, what have the Republican Party done for us? Not much, in reality. They’ve been happy to count on Vermont as the last bulwark of Republicanism, but it hasn’t done anything for the people of Vermont.

[…] I’m running to be Lt. Governor, to serve the people of Vermont as best I can if elected Lt. Governor… I’m not after this office to use it as a stepping stone, as it has always been for Republican politicians for whom Lt. Governor is only a stepping stone in the timeless cycle. They’re in this for their pockets. I’m in this for the people of Vermont!

[…] I urge you, my friends, to give us a chance. Since 1854, yes, 1854, my friends, all statewide officeholders in Vermont have been Republicans. That’s one hundred and two years. I think you’ll all agree that one hundred and two years of one party rule is way too much… Give us a chance so that we can finally give Vermont a chance.

September 8, 1956
Stafford campaign rally
Rutland, Vermont

STAFFORD: What has the Republican Party done for Vermont, you ask? They’ve made Vermont the great state it is. A strong, free and prosperous state which stands at the forefront of America. That’s what we’ve done for Vermont, and that’s what we’ll continue doing.

[…] I’ve served Vermont as Attorney General for the past two years. I’ve taken on some tough cases… What has Mr. Garrett done for Vermont? He entrenched himself in the State House, and don’t let his rhetoric fool you my friends, because he’s only running for this office to raise his profile. Does he really care about the office of Lt. Governor and the people of Vermont? No. Rather, he cares about his profile and, mark my words, he’ll do anything to get to the top. This run is for him nothing but an opportunity… to further raise his star.

[…] One hundred and two years. I’d like to thank Mr. Garrett for telling you how long we’ve served this state and ensured its progress.

 […] What revolts me, rather, is the hypocrisy of Mr. Garrett and the Democratic Party. They act appalled in front of our service to Vermont, and they fake outrage in front of what they call a “one party state”. I’ll tell Mr. Garrett what a one party state is. It’s Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and the whole Deep South. We may dominate Vermont politics, but we do it through popular will... not vote rigging, lynchings and intimidation… We hold our power here through the popular will of the people of Vermont… Mr. Garrett’s colleagues in the South hold their power through the gun and the whip.

Dude, I have to say this is very good sh*t.
Keep it up.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Now that both Kal and Hashemite are doing one, I feel an obligation to.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Now that both Kal and Hashemite are doing one, I feel an obligation to.

You should totally do it

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Now that both Kal and Hashemite are doing one, I feel an obligation to.

You should totally do it

I've already got two timelines going, Americana, and I might be working on something else that would come out next week (keep your eyes peeled). Besides, I don't have any of the noble lineage of the Dent family, which has  been in politics since at least the Wilson years.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Hashemite argues very well in favor of Stafford.

[Hash]

Campaign for Office: 1956

Garrett knew that he was facing an uphill contest for office, and that he had no chance at winning. Stafford was a popular, competent and experienced liberal Republican who was a far stronger candidate than Garrett. Garrett’s campaign was rather weak, asking voters to break the Republican Party’s monopoly on power and drawing attention to the traditional cycle of Vermont Republican politicians seeking higher office. However, his goal was exactly the contrary of what he said in public, and Stafford’s attacks were correct. Garrett was using this campaign as a way to raise his name notoriety, continue to build up his power base in Vermont politics and use the race as a stepping stone towards a run for higher office. He didn’t know which office yet, but he had ambitions which were unusual for a Vermont Democrat.

Garrett’s line of attack was hurt when Stafford turned the one-party state argument against him, drawing voters’ attention to the issue of civil rights in the Dixiecrat-dominated Solid South. Though Garrett had always hated the reactionary Dixiecrat machine, his association with the Democratic Party hurt him in Vermont. Stafford’s use of the Dixiecrats to counter Garrett’s argument against the Republican Party’s hegemony in Vermont deeply angered Garrett, who in private lashed out angrily at the Dixiecrats as “a bunch of racist poltroons whose opportunistic association… with the party of Roosevelt and Truman… hurts every single Democrat who isn’t a goddamn Southerner”. On the campaign trail, Garrett publicly expressed his deep hatred of racism, lynching and the reactionary Dixiecrat machine but he was uncomfortable on the topic which had been totally turned against him by Garrett.

By mid-October, Garrett’s campaign was in shambles. He had run out of money, his speeches were drawing dwindling crowds and he couldn’t find his voice. His wife urged him to turn nasty and be aggressive on Stafford and the Republicans. He personally was on the verge of depression, considered dropping out and started drinking again.

By late October, when he got his act together again, Garrett took his wife’s advice to be aggressive and he mounted a whirlwind tour of Vermont. Hoping in a pickup truck, he raced through Vermont’s patchwork of quaint mountain towns, a lot of which had never been targeted by any statewide campaign. His speeches focused on local issues, emphasizing his support for better roads and better education, and calling out the Republican state government on the rural underdevelopment of many isolated areas in the Green Mountains. Garrett had managed to find his voice again, albeit very late in the campaign. His whirlwind tour of Vermont’s small villages was rather successful and campaign donations picked up again and he quit drinking. He was even overshadowing the campaigns of other statewide Democrats, notably gubernatorial candidate E. Frank Branon who had managed to win 47.7% against Republican candidate Joseph B. Johnson in 1954. Garrett’s goal, however, was to do exactly that – overshadow other party candidates and win the party’s best result of all statewide Democratic candidates.

Garrett’s late whirlwind tour of Vermont helped his campaign and caught Stafford’s campaign off guard. Stafford and other traditional Republican candidates had usually led low-key campaigns which rarely reached out to rural villages which were, it was true, rock-solidly Republican. It was a bit too late for Stafford to do the same, and he didn’t need to do so because he, as a Republican, was still assured to win. In addition, the Republican Party was solidly implanted throughout Vermont while the Democrats were totally absent from most of Vermont outside of Burlington and places such as Swanton or Grande Isle. Garrett’s whirlwind tour was a method for him to build up his notoriety in rural areas, and attempt to cultivate a local grassroots support base throughout the state. Yet, he still lacked Stafford’s local infrastructure and had absolutely no GOTV efforts outside of Burlington.

On November 5, the day before Election Day, the Burlington Free Press wrote about Garrett’s campaign that “it was, in its ultimate days, one of the strongest Democratic campaigns in the state… it is certainly not unforeseeable to see it come close, and while winning the first statewide election for the Democratic Party in Vermont since the 1850s remains out of reach, a good showing for State Representative Garrett will certainly help him if he has further national ambitions in 1958 and 1960…”

ok, folks, that's all for this morning but I'm on a roll and eager to get to the fun parts

[Hash]

Vermont Lt. Governor election, 1956
Attorney General Robert T. Stafford (R) 57.02%
State Rep. Christopher A. Garrett (D) 42.98%



Garrett lost by 14 points, but his result was viewed as a success for a variety of reasons. In a bad year for Vermont Democrats, he won the best result of all Democratic candidates for statewide office (only Branon won over 40% running for governor, all other won under 40%) and obviously he far outperformed Adlai Stevenson's paltry 27.81% in the presidential race (the worst result for a presidential Democrat since 1924). Furthermore, he had proved his appeal to low-lying rural areas on Lake Champlain, winning Burlington narrowly but also doing surprisingly well for a Democrat in the rock-ribbed Republican rural areas of northern Vermont.


November 6, 1956
Garrett Concession Speech
Burlington, Vermont

My fellow Vermonters... [...] We have come closer than anybody would have dared predict a month ago, and you all turned around what was, I admit freely, a wreck less than three weeks ago, into a campaign like no other in the history of the Vermont Democratic Party... Tonight, we have been defeated... Fortunately for us Vermont Democrats, it is a repetitive thing... [...] I wish to offer my congratulations to Mr. Robert Stafford, our next Lieutenant Governor...

[...] For this unforgettable fight, I wish to offer my most profound and sincere thanks to my family and friends but also to all those who made this campaign one which got us noticed like never before... and one which took us... to nearly every small town in Vermont... too often forgotten or taken for granted by those career politicians in Montpelier...

[...] Throughout this campaign, I had the opportunity to meet people of all horizons across this state... people who have never been addressed personally by politicians... they've shared with us our stories... their hopes... and their goals for the future... I've learned like never before, and I've benefited from an experience which will be precious... And

[...] We've proven again that this state isn't as Republican as pundits think, and one day this state will elect a Democrat. And it won't be our children who will elect that man or woman, but rather it will be us who will elect that man or woman. And, my friends, mark my words, it will be soon and I'll make sure that it will be soon!

[...] This is but a setback, this is but the beginning, fellow Vermonters, in our common battle to offer a real alternative to Vermont... to break the monopoly of the Republican Party and to end the dominance of old, rotting career politicians... who only use statewide office as stepping stones... to higher federal office.

[...] Do not lose hope... for I vow to continue the fight... and I hope you do too... We'll be back!

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

Great stuff so far Hashemite.