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« on: October 08, 2012, 01:08:59 AM »

Unfortunate Son
The Story of Christian Mattingly (and friends)

Mattingly's Youth

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Christian Mattingly


Genealogy

Despite Mattingly having claimed in most public statesments that his father was of Irish descent, Mattingly is an English name. As far as historians and genealogists have been able to determine, the Irish Mattingly line that is known of today was the product of English soldiers fighting in Ireland in 1798. It is also suspected that Scottish is also mixed into the Mattingly line. Despite this, it has been estimated that by the time Sean Mattingly arrived in American in 1846 that the family had identified as mainly Irish, with Sean Mattingly settling in New York City and being identified as a foot soldier of Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall. Sean's son, Martin Mattingly, would serve as a New York City Alderman during the fall of Boss Tweed. However, that is the only known political activity by the Mattingly's until Christian Mattingly in the late Twentieth century.

Christian Mattingly's mother was Sicilian in origin. Her family, the DiCesare's, arrived in America near the end of the Nineteenth Century. They as well settled in New York City. Led by family patriarch Bonfiglio Dicesare, members of the family trickled over between the years 1885 and 1910. Taking low paying jobs in manufacturing, it was only with the dawn of the automobile and subsequent rising of Detroit as a center of industry that led the DiCesares and the Mattinglys to trickle down from New York to Detroit. During the era of Prohibition, Vito DiCesare, Bonfiglio's great-grandson, helped to lead many mob operations transporting alcohol from Canada across the river into Detroit. Despite the family's economic fortunes heading South following the Great Depression and then the end of Prohibiton, the DiCesare links to organized crime remained though they were mainly tied to racketeering. However, with the economic boom of the war era beginning in 1941, many DiCesare family members--among those who had gone into crime in the first place--abandoned their connection with large crime organizations in favor of returning to manufacturing jobs. By the time Bill Mattingly married Rose DiCesare in 1946, it is believed that Rose and her father Antonino had no connections to the mob that other members of her family retained.



"Chapter One
In which I am brought into this world and introduced to life in a Highland Park, Michigan working class Catholic family

As the story goes, oft repeated my my mother, I was born on a stormy night, November 4th, 1948 in Highland Park General Hospital. My dad would have preferred she have her second child at a Catholic hospital, but the general hospital had been the closest. From what I've heard, my older brother Nick, hearing of his new brother, threw a fit, apparently scared that the love he'd been receiving for the last year or so would be in jeopardy. Every time another kid arrived, Nick, I, and whatever new siblings had already come into our lives would have the same fear. As it turned out, there were four in total arriving behind me. William in 1951, Mary in 1953, Peter in 1956, and finally Jack in 1961 (named, of course, after America's newly inaugurated 35th President, Jack Kennedy). Growing up in a strictly Catholic household seems like a modern stereotype these days, with every Irish, Italian, Polish, or other type of Catholic-American growing up with numerous brothers and sisters, attending the parish school, and getting into mischief. For many of us attending St. Benedict's Catholic school, it was real life."
-"My Mother's Son", Christian Mattingly

"If you ever have to ask 'Is Mattingly a crook?', you can look no further than every chapter of his life. With a mother that had mob connections, Mattingly spent a large amount of time with the same men who would be gunning down cops later that day. In Vietnam he, along with other soldiers, committed countless atrocities. He was implicated in corruption charges aimed at the U.A.W. in the early 1970's. While heading Detroit as its Emergency Financial Manager in the 1980's, he voided public employee contracts as if it were his job, and it was. So when the question is asked today if Mattingly's a crook, I think the answer is obvious."
-Commentary on MSNBC, early 2000's
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Kalwejt
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« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2012, 11:27:05 AM »

Cheesy
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« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2012, 02:55:03 PM »
« Edited: October 08, 2012, 09:18:48 PM by Cathcon »

Chapter Three: The Family
In which I encounter my Sicilian relatives on my mom’s side of the family

The air smelled of sauce and pasta and sausages and freshly baked bread. Good cooking was in the air. Meanwhile, tall strangers speaking an unknown language passed by me, barely noticing me. Those who did were the old women, hugging the bambino and showering him with familial love. Such was the way of an Italian family reunion. This, the funeral, or rather funeral reception of my great-grandfather, Santino DiCesare, was my first. I was four years old.

For reasons I was too young to understand at the time, my mother and her immediate family—her brothers, sisters, and my maternal grandparents—were alienated from the greater family structure of the DiCesares. Since prohibition, my mother’s extended family had a loose connection with organized crime. My grandfather, Antonino DiCesare, according to the research I’ve been able to do, both from interviewing family members as well as outside sources, rejected the family’s criminal inclinations on the outbreak of World War II, first serving on the frontlines in the Pacific, then returning to work in manufacturing, working at Willow Run. By 1946 when my parents were married, my dad’s father-in-law was an innocent factory worker, unconnected with any semblance of what the family had been a decade previous.

This led to great alienation from what I’ve heard, and many an Italian curse shouted at grandpa Tony at the wedding reception. Behind closed doors of course. The next time any of my mom’s immediate family would interact with the other DiCesares would be at that funeral in 1952. There, a reconciliation of sorts would take place. The mental image  I’d like to associate with it is Michael Corleone’s apparent forgiveness of ‘Fredo in The Godfather, Part II. However, I’m sure it was much less dramatic than that. Following this, I found myself spending every part of summer at a DiCesare cottage on Lake Huron. With sausages grilling and the gentlemen of the family discussing some type of illicit business or another, my dad barely if ever attended these Independence Day reunions. When he did, he mainly spent his time talking about fixing cars with grandpa Tony and uncle Rocco. Never did he wander inside the cottage to join the discussions my great-uncles were embroiled in.


Not the way my mom reconciled with her family in 1952.

With my dad barely there on these extended weekends and my mom discussing what I’d later sarcastically call “Italian housewife things”, I was left on my own to hang out with my brothers and cousins. Joe DiCesare, a second cousin, was the one who introduced me to what became childhood pastimes, underage drinking and smoking. These would later of course become legal drinking and legal smoking. But more on my recovery from addiction later. About a year older than me, at age thirteen I was offered my first full beer. “But, but I’m only a kid” “But you’re Irish, aren’t ya?” And so it began.

Now, and I say this from experience, these summer hangouts and Memorial Day Weekends would later be misconstrued in cheap attack ads. Claims that these experiences had “early on inculcated [me] into the world of organized crime” would at first shock and surprise me. However, I soon grew used to hearing about left-wing radio commentators bringing this up, and primary opponents adding my past experience in unions to the list of my supposed history of crime. I can tell you with all certainty the farthest into the DiCesare family’s “organized crime” was robbing a fireworks stand in Croswell, Michigan on the date of July 4th sometime in the mid-sixties.”
-“My Mother’s Son”, Christian Mattingly
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« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2012, 03:11:56 PM »
« Edited: December 27, 2015, 01:54:28 PM by Cathcon »

May 11th, 2007
The Obituary of Robert O'Sullivan




Just this Wednesday, political commentator and former presidential candidate Robert O'Sullivan died at the age of 75. While O'Sullivan's name bears little weight in the modern political world, in his day he served as an adviser in various positions to presidents of both parties. His career reached its climax in his 1992 run for the Democratic nomination.

Born in Boston on February 13th, 1932, O'Sullivan's political origins are the stuff of a miniature legend. His father had been an aide to then-Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. in the late 1930's. Leaving his post to serve in World War II alongside Kennedy's two eldest sons, William O'Sullivan was killed in action serving under General Patton. With Bob O'Sullivan's mother dying in a car crash a year later, the eleven year old child would likely have been sent to an orphanage had it not been for his dad's old boss agreeing to take him in. Growing up next to Ted Kennedy who had been born in the same year, O'Sullivan became a surrogate son of the already populace Kennedy family. Attending Harvard along with the other Kennedy children, he would join the army in 1954, serving in the reserve for the next four years. During that time, O'Sullivan became an aide to then-Senate Majority Counsel Robert F. Kennedy. With Senator John F. Kennedy's campaign for President, O'Sullivan soon found himself working in the White House as the Political Appointments Secretary. During that time he served as one of the President's advisers during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He officially cut any and all ties with the White House in 1964 in response to President Johnson's secret elevations of the Vietnam War.

Over the next few years, O'Sullivan returned to Massachusetts until the year 1968 when he hopped on the presidential bandwagon of his old boss Robert F. Kennedy. On the night of the California primary in which Bobby Kennedy won a decisive victory over fellow contender Eugene McCarthy, O'Sullivan took a crucial part in foiling an assassination attempt on the Senator as Kennedy took a shortcut through the hotel kitchen to get to his room. Sirhan Sirhan, attempting to shoot the presidential candidate, ended up spraying bullets through the compact crowd, some hitting Kennedy, O'Sullivan, and body guards. Both the Senator and O'Sullivan survived the incident, much to the significance of future American politics.



O’Sullivan would go on to serve as National Security Adviser, White House Chief of Staff, and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. His political involvement would be capped with his run for the 1992 run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
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« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2012, 08:15:11 PM »

Fascinating stuff Cathcon. With a point of divergence subtly laid in the text I am curious as to how it will alter Mattingly's future, but one thing I am sure of is that you won't disappoint. Smiley
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« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2012, 08:29:56 PM »

September 28th, 1968
Michigan
Christian Mattingly, a recently released member of the United States army, lounges in his family's house in Highland Park, Michigan. Bitter from the war, and quite drunk, Mattingly walks over the switch on the television set.

"And protests against the war continue, seemingly fueled by the rejection of Robert F. Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention last month. From Los Angeles to Chicago where the convention took place, even in Missoula, Montana. Here, the protests have been egged on by a small but active anti-war community.

Camera switches from Missoula's skyline to the streets of the town, where students are protesting, epitaths of Humphrey and Johnson are burnt, and protesters smoke illicit materials. A reporter leads the camera towards a tall red-haired protester.

Reporter: Hello, can you tell us the goals of this protest?

The red-haired protester rips open his jacket, revealing a t-shirt with the words "F#ck the Draft" written on it.

Mattingly: Oh, Hell no!

Montana
The police begin escorting Westman away and towards a police car.

Westman: F#ck you, motherf#cking pigs!



"...And that was the first time I had ever heard of Scott Westman."
-"My Mother's Son", Christian Mattingly
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« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2012, 02:47:18 PM »

Update or I'll kick your ass.
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« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2012, 06:17:09 PM »

This is awesome. Continue please Smiley
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« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2012, 06:43:08 PM »
« Edited: February 14, 2021, 10:31:09 AM by Cath »

"Chapter Seven: 1968

For me, the 1968 Presidential election was the first one I really watched. Eight years previous had been the first time I and my siblings had taken even a slight interest in politics, as we saw John F. Kennedy run for President. The first ever Catholic to win the Presidency, there was much cause for celebration in my area. Catholic blue collar workers, the kind that surrounded me throughout my youth, felt like they'd achieved something through the election of Kennedy. However, as I grew up, I saw their opinions change. The push for civil rights in Kennedy's last year enraging them, these same men nonetheless turned out again to vote for Johnson in 1964. Nevertheless, I had never really watched what was going on until 1968. Coming back from the horrors of Vietnam, I was needless to say angry. While fighting in jungles filled with  elephant grass and diseases not even given names yet by Western doctors, it seemed like absolutely nothing was being accomplished. If you spent an entire night taking one hill, killing every Vietcong member in your sights, watching the men you'd been trained to care for as brothers die and thank God you weren't one of them, and you finally reached the top of that hill by morning, you'd look around and realize you'd accomplished nothing. And then to come home and hear President Johnson talking about all America had done to help South Vietnam and how close we were to winning the war, it was unbelievably frustrating. It seemed like I heard the same sh#t from Richard Nixon who had somehow unbelievably resurfaced as a presidential contender.

Perhaps the most significant and searing image burned on my memory returning from the war is perhaps the most sickening. Setting foot on American soil for the first time since 1966, I was at first blinded by the light coming out of the plane. However, over the din of the dying engines I heard chants. Shouts of "Child killer" and "pigs". Looking around as my brothers and I passed single file, I saw a small group of "hippies" holding signs and one even burning a flag. Was this the country I'd seen Bob Krazinski and John Krieger die for? The country for which I'd left to head to what I now declared a Hellhole of nation that didn't even want us there? While I definitely wasn't for the war at that point, for what I saw as a bloody and pointless conflict--my own personal view was that we should let the communists have it, after all the jungle would more effectively kill them off than our carpet bombings--I definitely would not be attending a single anti-war protests. I was a man without a side.

Having recently arrived back in the states without a job, I found myself lounging on the couch and watching news quite a lot. What I saw was a long, played out American tragedy. The main news items of course were Vietnam, protests of various sorts, and of course the race for the Presidency. On one side, Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy had beaten out Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination. Both were somehow running against the Vietnam War, which confused me as to why they were the only two major candidates. As for Bobby Kennedy specifically, I had to wonder "wasn't this the guy who, only half a decade ago was backing Vietnam?" And as for McCarthy I'd never heard of him before. Meanwhile, Richard Nixon had emerged from the ashes, seemingly to fight another Kennedy, and with not significant opposition.

As Kennedy won the California primary, it looked like it would be yet another Nixon vs. Kennedy match. All that changed in a cloud of riot gas and smoke from burning Johnson effigies called the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Even on television, the images of rioters and police beating them superimposed on the thought of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey winning the nomination on the second ballot created an epic and horrific ending to the drama of the primaries. With that, Kennedy and McCarthy delegates swarmed out of the convention to join the protesters following the victory of a man who hadn't entered a single primary. As if this nation's far left hadn't suffered enough losses that year, this was in the wake of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., a man who despite his socialist rhetoric, I've come to admire as a pivotal figure in this nation's movement towards racial equality.

...

I'd always thought that, were 1968 to be a movie, it would've swept the Oscars."
-"My Mother's Son", Christian Mattingly

The 1968 United States Presidential Election

Former Vice President Richard M. Nixon (R-CA)/Governor Spiro T. Agnew (R-MD) 314 electoral votes, 43.7% of the popular vote
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey (D-MN)/Senator Ralph Yarborough (D-TX) 178 electoral votes, 42.2% of the popular vote
Former Governor George Wallace (AI-AL)/General Curtis LeMay (AI-CA) 46 electoral votes, 13.7% of the popular vote
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« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2012, 10:12:45 PM »
« Edited: October 20, 2012, 10:14:28 PM by Cathcon »

"Following 1968, the questions around the Kennedy camp were "what next?" We had come close to beating Hubert H. Humphrey, and his kind had proven that they were unable to win. The old way of doing things, faith in an unwinnable war and expensive yet ineffective social programs, was gone. Humphrey's loss showed that much. While some were immediately calling on Bobby to being groundwork for 1972, he was more willing to hold his cards close for the time being, as he'd done in 1968. While I was tempted to head back to Boston and begin a political career of my own, had I done the same following 1964, I would have missed out on the opportunity of my life. While I had no idea how far Bobby would go, one thing was clear. Come 1972, a new breed of politician was going to be heading the Democratic party, and quite probably the nation. The New Politics would finally come full circle. "
-"Walking out the White House", Robert O'Sullivan


November 4th, 1970
Aspen, Colorado

"Yesterday, in a surprise to most political observers in Pitkin County, journalist Hunter S. Thompson, running on a "Freak Power" ticket and on a platform of breaking up the city streets to plant grass in them as well as support for psychedelic experiments, was elected Sheriff of Pitkin County. In a three way race, Thompson came in first place, mere fractions of percentage points in front of Democratic candidate Carroll Whitmire, and miles ahead of Republican candidate Glen Ricks."

Hunter S. Thompson (Independent, "Freak Power") - 40%
Carroll Whitmire (Democratic) - 39%
Glen Ricks (Republican) - 21%


Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Christian Mattingly


Autoworker, UAW

Returning from Vietnam, Mattingly was soon forced to look for work. Obtaining employment at a Ford plant in Highland Park, Mattingly as well joined the United Auto Workers union. It was here Mattingly first became politically involved in politics. In 1970, only two years after joining the union, Mattingly was elected Vice President of his local branch, the UAW 400. During that time, Mattingly was an active and charismatic officer and helped head meetings and meet with the management of the plant. However, in his auto-biography, Mattingly claimed that his dealings with corrupt officials and higher-up union bosses caused him to grow disaffected with the UAW and after a year and a half at his position, he resigned. He continued to work at the plant until 1975, himself moving up into management.
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« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2012, 03:12:36 PM »

After reading parts of "Nixonland", I'm considering rebooting this in a different way. Linear narration!
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« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2012, 08:12:22 PM »

Jefferson Dent

Jefferson Dent, the heir to an ancient Democratic political dynasty in Alabama, was an anomaly. While for years his family had fought for the cause of white supremacy, whether in the form of slavery or segregation, Dent spent his career as a lawyer fighting against the racist legal establishment. While his father and his father before him going back decades had been proud members of the Democratic party, Dent was a liberal Republican. At last seeming to settle into his role as scion of a political family, Dent accepted a job as Assistant District Attorney of Mobile, Alabama. However, within three years of his accepting the job, he was running for Senate on the Republican ticket. Dent was blessed by a splitting of the Democratic vote. Former Lieutenant Governor Jim Allen found what was supposed to be an easy victory turned into a hard fought campaign when the more moderate Ryan DeGraffenried decided to run for Senate as an independent following his loss in the primary to Allen. With that, Dent was given a chance to become the first Republican Senator from Alabama since Reconstruction. With the Democrats driven right open--in a strange parallel to the 1968 Presidential election--Dent went on to win the election.


Mobile Assistant District Attorney Jefferson Breckenridge Dent (Republican)
Former Lieutenant Governor James Allen (Democrat)
Attorney Ryan DeGranffenried (Independent)

In the Senate, Dent proved to be far out of step with most of his caucus, supporting an immediate end to the Vietnam War and ranking as one of the chamber's most liberal members. Within his first year, he found himself kicked out of his own caucus. By the end of his second year, Dent was no longer registered as a Republican, serving as an independent. It was during this time that incumbent Democratic Governor Albert Brewer was running for re-election. With Alabama still being, essentially a one-party state, the real contest was the Democratic primary where Brewer was challenged by former Governor and presidential hopeful George Wallace. Inside the White House, the paranoid President Nixon was looking to take down one of his most dangerous political opponents. Meanwhile, Dent, officially an independent, gave covert support to Brewer, seeing him as the best hope for liberalism in Alabama. This involved donating money to the Brewer camp as well as urging blacks--Dent's most reliable support--to vote in the Democratic primary in support of Brewer. On primary day, Brewer found himself with  a narrow majority, and a guaranteed extra four years. It was one of the first victories for Dent in bringing a New Democratic majority to Alabama, and helped to convince Dent to finally turn back to the Democratic party.
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« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2012, 11:11:24 PM »
« Edited: July 24, 2013, 11:37:39 AM by Lt. Governor Cathcon (F-ME) »

Christian Mattingly - 1968-1971

Coming back to the United States, Mattingly found himself returning to the Ford plant he'd worked at during the the second half of 1968. His dad having worked at that same plant, his status as an ex-employee earning good remarks, and him being known locally as a war hero of sorts, Mattingly was easily re-hired and re-entered the work force. During his first year there, from June 1968 to June 1969, Mattingly's work was average. As he entered his second year at the plant, Mattingly claimed in his 1999 auto-biography "The same spirit that had led me to join the army, and the same determination that had found me working two jobs while still in high school and had me originally join the workforce at the Highland Park plant seemed to return to me. I suddenly felt, and rightly so, as though my future depended on my putting forth quality work and me being the best I could be." In March 1970, as Mattingly was well into his second year at the plant, he and many of his co-workers were informed that UAW Local 400 Vice President Mark Brenner would not be running for re-election. It was a small office, and there were few at the plant with any sort of motivation. It was then that Christian Mattingly first ran for political office. He would credit that same motivation that had hit him in 1964 at his father's death, 1966 at his graduation, and just last year. A desire to improve his lot and life, to move up, and to produce as much as possible. Mattingly found himself running against one other candidate, John Krazinski, a worker with much more superiority. However, Krazinski was older and appeared more than a little disgruntled. In contrast, the younger veteran Mattingly gave a speech to many of his co-workers pledging that "the same rights I fought for in Vietnam, freedom, equality, and opportunity, I pledge to fight for when at the bargaining table for this union and these workers." Mattingly would end up winning a narrow majority in the May 5th election and be sworn in later that day.

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Only a day before the election, an important event in the nation occurred on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. Five students, including Catalina Westman, wife to anti-war activist Scott Westman. Westman, later a friend, colleague, and rival of Mattingly, would take the loss hard. Meanwhile, across the nation, the ripple effects of Kent State were felt. For the nation's hippies, anti-war protesters, and civil rights activists, it was a tragedy and a signal that now the Establishment would be willing to kill them. However, for many members of President Nixon's "Silent Majority", the view would be that those "punks" and "Communists" deserved what they got. In fact, the day before the shooting, the same activists playing the victim had participated in various acts of vandalism at the school, including the burning down of the ROTC building.

On May 8th, 1970, the first Hard Hat Riot occurred in New York City where construction workers, later joined by Wall Street analysts, proceeded to beat and assault peace activists. Soon President Nixon, seeing the iconic picture of an unlikely pair--a construction worker and a Wall Street analyst, side by side--chasing a hippie down a sidestreet ready to pummel him with of all things an American flag, set out to capitalize on what he saw as an emerging vision: a nation where everyone, from the Wall Street trading floor to the AFL-CIO, would vote Republican.


Christian Mattingly, a man who when running for office many years later, would be labeled as an outside and a reformer, soon found himself face-to-face with the President of the United States. On May 26th, Peter J. Brennan, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, led a delegation of labor leaders to meet with President Nixon, giving both he and General Creighton Abrams hard hats to show their solidarity with the nation's leader and his war policy.

At this point one must examine the changing and fluid political views Mattingly had. Raised in a Democratic, UAW household in the Detroit area, Mattingly grew up raised as part of a sect of economically populist and anti-communist America. Coming home from America, Mattingly was filled with two conflicting views: one, that the war in South-East Asia was hopeless, and two, that the hippies and protesters were useless pieces of upper class filth who abused their privilege and consistently went against their own interests. Mattingly's second view became more re-enforced even as his time away from Vietnam grew greater and the war was granted a new life under President Nixon. Just as he was sworn in as the Vice President of a local union, he saw union leaders united behind the President and against upper class peaceniks. Joining their ranks, Mattingly wrote a letter to the President expressing both his grief at the death of five students, but also his resolve that the President should not be beholden to a small minority and that protesters across the nation were committing to what amounted to acts of terrorism.

President Nixon, reading the letter, which had gone through several levels of White House mail, saw another opportunity to capitalize on his Silent Majority. On June 2nd, Mattingly attended a White House dinner, was greeted by the President, and shook his hand, an image captured forever in a photo Mattingly still keep in his office. The meeting was used by the President to continue his strategy to win over the support of labor, as well as to create a different figurehead for the youth in America. "You see, here is a young man who doesn't support the Vietcong, doesn't burn flags, has served in Vietnam, and holds a steady job." Over the years, political opponents, particularly those on the Left, would attempt to use the image of Mattingly and Nixon as a piece of what has been characterized by Mattingly supporters as the "Shady Mattingly File". Its components range from alleged involvement with the mob in his youth, rumors of war crimes committed in Vietnam, claims connecting him to various instances of union corruption, shady business deals, and of course, various Nixon conspiracy theories. None of these claims have been directly legitimized by Mattingly biographers however.

* * *

"As I entered the room where I would soon be meeting the President of the United States, I saw the reporters, politicians, White House aides, and advisers milling about. I began thinking to myself 'So this is what power is'. When I finally met Richard M. Nixon, I found his weak handshake and his awkward conversation surprising. It was clear that an insecure man held the reigns of power. However, as conversation wandered over dinner (it should be noted I was one guest among many), it was as well clear to me that despite his insecurities, this was also a very intelligent and very driven man. I was given a copy of the photo taken of myself and the President shaking hands. While over the years my view of the man and his Presidency have changed, I've always seen him as one of the smartest men to inhabit the White House, even if he is as well one of the most corrupt."
-"My Mother's Son", Christian Mattingly

* * *

With mid-terms happening in 1970, the young Vice President of the UAW Local 400 found himself with political responsibilities. While Mattingly cared quite little for the liberal Phillip Hart, he had certain responsibilities as an official in an organization that supported Hart in his bid for re-election to the United States Senate. Hart was campaigning against former Michigan First Lady Lenore Romney, the Republican nominee. During the election, Mattingly worked hard to get out the vote for Democratic candidates. A majority of the candidates that Mattingly campaigned for won their races. However, the campaign left a bitter taste in his mouth as he came to feel more and more alienated by the Democratic party. By March 1971, Mattingly had resolved that he wouldn't be running for re-election to the vice presidency in May.


* * *

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« Reply #13 on: November 09, 2012, 02:21:00 PM »
« Edited: July 18, 2013, 01:02:23 PM by Lt. Governor Cathcon (F-ME) »

The 1970 Mid-Term Elections

The Senate elections were a failure for the President. While Nixon and Vice President Agnew had devoted immense amount of times to speeches slamming the Democrats and attempting to use their new term--The Silent Majority--in order to mobilize new-found supporters in favor of Republican Senate candidates. However, this had all been in vain. In multiple states including Illinois, California, and Minnesota--states the administration had devoted time to--Republicans failed. The only states where Nixon-supported Republicans won were Tennessee with Bill Brock, Texas with George Bush, and Connecticut with Lowell Weicker. Notable races outside those of the "Nixon sphere" that had nonetheless been won by Republicans included Ohio and Wyoming where two less than orthodox Republicans were welcomed into the Senate. Robert Taft, Jr., the son of the conservative icon, had won his election in Ohio six years after losing a race for the same seat. Taft was hard to place ideologically, despite his heritage having been described as a "pro-reform liberal". In Wyoming, meanwhile, a self-described "libertarian", Beauregard Disraeli, won an upset election for Senate against the Democratic incumbent. Disraeli's victory would be hailed by some as a victory for the growing conservative movement given his focus on taxes and opposition to statism, though it was noted that Disraeli's religious views, when discussed, were rather strange and that he opposed the Vietnam War and much of Nixon's "social legislation".

 For the Kennedys, it was a good day. In Massachusetts, Senator Ted Kennedy was re-elected with well over 60% of the vote, and in New York, Bobby Kennedy won with 55.2% of the vote in a three-way race. In that race, Republican nominee Congressman Charles Goodell found himself in third place behind Conservative candidate James L. Buckley who received 27% of the vote. In Michigan, Senator Philip Hart was easily re-elected. As well, Mattingly's Congressman, Democrat Lucien Nedzi, was re-elected. However, the Democrats failed to take the Governorship, nominee Sander Levin losing to incumbent liberal Republican William Miliken.


The post-mid-term address was given by Senator Edmund Muskie. His quiet demeanor left a much more favorable impression on the American public than the months of loud, aggressive speeches by Agnew. The President was sent into a rage, reportedly yelling "cocksucker!" a number of times. Muskie's address, seen by many in the nation, immediately put Muskie into the field of potential Democratic candidates against Nixon, and both he and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were beating Nixon in January, 1971 polls.


Democrats: 52 (-6)
Republicans: 46 (+5)
Independents: 1 (+1)

In Alabama, Governor Albert Brewer was re-elected to the Governorship with 93% of the vote, with a number of Wallace's hardcore supporters deciding to write him in. Nevertheless, Brewer had won, a victory for New Democrats. Alabama's junior Senator, Jefferson Dent, counted this as a significant political victory. A similar New Democratic victory happened in the neighboring state of Georgia where former State Senator Jimmy Carter was elected. The incumbent segregationist Governor Lester Maddox however was elected to the office of Lieutenant Governor.

In Aspen, Colorado, an important victory for the counter-culture took place. In an unexpected result, journalist and Freak Power nominee Hunter S. Thompson was able to win the race for Sheriff in a three-way race. His platform of breaking up the streets and replacing them with grass, and government-promoted psychedelic trips was surprisingly supported by over one-third of the Aspen electorate. While some in the "New Left" attempted to tout the disgruntled journalist as a potential presidential candidate, Thompson brushed it off, saying that politics would not get in the way of his writing. The story of Thompson's race for Sheriff would later be published in the 1972 book "Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail", which would later be followed up by his 1973 and 1977 books "Fear & Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" and "'76".

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« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2012, 03:37:27 PM »

I don't think Dent was very happy about Carter, considering that his primary opponent was Carl Sanders and Carter ran to Sanders' right, with some segregationist tones.
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« Reply #15 on: November 09, 2012, 08:51:37 PM »

I don't think Dent was very happy about Carter, considering that his primary opponent was Carl Sanders and Carter ran to Sanders' right, with some segregationist tones.
I never said he was. Dent has a so-so opinion of Carter, but views him as a step up from Maddox and hopes he'll move Georgia in the right direction. Dent's primary concern is changing the face of Alabama. In retrospect, he views his victory in 1968 as the beginning of it and the re-election of Brewer as the next step. The real challenge will come when Dent has to run for re-election in a two-way race.
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« Reply #16 on: November 11, 2012, 07:34:28 PM »

Thaddeus O'Connor

Thad O'Connor was an oddball in many ways. By many standards a moderate Republican from the North-East in a party that was shifting Right and South, O'Connor was no fan of the man who three years previous he'd cast his vote for. A Vietnam veteran, O'Connor had come out against the war. A born Democrat, O'Connor had become a Republican.

As of 1971, O'Connor was employed at a local brewery in Maine owned by his friend Hank Gribble. Coming back from the Vietnam War, O'Connor had signed onto the Senate campaign of Republican candidate Jefferson Dent in Alabama. Following Dent's surprise victory, Dent was made his unofficial chief of staff. While personal friends, O'Connor and Dent however had several basic disagreements on fiscal policy. That, combined with Dent's final splitting from the Republican party in 1970, and Thad's wish to return to Maine, had culminated in the Mainer leaving Dent's employ. Nevertheless, Thad wasn't done in politics. Possessing a mild interest in politics since the mid-1960's when his political hero Barry Goldwater campaigned for President (That had volunteered for the campaign in Maine, a state that much to Thad's disappointment Goldwater lost by large margins), it seemed he was making politics a career of his. However, for the moment, Thad was out of the game, so to speak, working for the Gribble brewery.

Scott Westman

Westman, like Dent, was born into politics. However, while Dent had grown up surrounded by a family that possessed connections to Democratic greats going back to the days of Jackson, and had fought without regret, for the preservation of slavery and segregation, Westman's main political influence was his grandfather, former New York Senator and nephew to the late Al Smith,William Westman. And while Dent had staunchly rejected his heritage, Westman instead found his grandfather to be his political idol. William Westman, a staunch (though only after returning to the Lord following an earlier life of decadence) Irish Catholic Democrat from New York, had grown up under the wing of his uncle Al Smith. From that, Westman too became a product of the Tammany machine (though abandoned it as its ship fast began to sink in the early 30's), a crusader for Civil Rights, and opponent of much of the New Deal. During William Westman's political heyday, he'd served as a U.S. Senator from New York, U.S. Commerce Secretary, and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.

Scott Westman had spent his life far removed from his grandfather however. Growing up in Montana, he knew William mainly through stories his father had told and the family's occasional visits to New York. Nevertheless, the older Scott grew, the more he found his beliefs mirroring that of his legendary grandfather's. Early in his life, (Scott) Westman had been a political agnostic, his maternal grandfather being a proud Republican, and his own dad being an apathetic Democrat. However, when Westman attended college he became a participant in the Young Democrats group as a maverick member who despised "fair trade" and early on was able to call the Vietnam War what it was, an un-winnable quagmire. By 1968, Westman was a regular at anti-war protests in his home state. He would rise to national prominence when, on September 28th, 1968, he was seen on national television wearing shirt that said "F#ck the Draft". Westman would be arrested for his deeds and given a thirty day sentence.

Westman's personal life has often been the subject of controversy. His first wife was Catalina Westman (ne'e Umberg), who was fourteen when he married her at the ripe old age of seventeen in 1963 following the discovery that Catalina was pregnant. Westman and Catalina would be married for nearly seven years when, at an anti-war protest at the campus of Kent State University in Ohio, she, along with four other protesters, was shot by the Ohio National Guard. They had one daughter, Brea Westman, born the year of their marriage. Following his first marriage, Westman would take on the role of frequent womanizer. During his days as a high school and college teacher (between 1968 and 1974), he would come under scrutiny more than once for alleged relations with his female students.
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« Reply #17 on: November 15, 2012, 05:24:55 PM »

August 10th, 1987
The man emerging from his office smelled faintly of cigarettes and had obvious beard stubble he'd felt free to leave alone for the last few days. "How did this man ever become head of the fastest growing company in America?" Nevertheless, the two approached each other.
Mattingly: Hello, I'm the administration's new Commerce Secretary.
O'Connor: Thad O'Connor, member of the Commerce Committee and one of the Representatives from Maine.
Mattingly: My name's Christian Mattingly. Hey, didn't I know you from somewhere?...

January 31st, 1968
As the horizon explodes and a new front opens in the Tet Offensive, Sergeant Mattingly shouts for more ammo. He finds a fellow Sergeant rushing him an ammo box.
Mattingly: Let's waste these f#ckers!
Sergeant: On it!
The fighting drags on for several hours, and Mattingly and his colleague find themselves moving away from the city, chasing the enemy. With fighting having ended, they head back towards their camp.
Mattingly: Holy Hell, if you ever needed an adrenaline rush, that was it!
Sergeant: I dunno. I haven't been too keen on this war.
Mattingly: Yeah, this war's sh#t. But that was a Hell of a time. Hey, I'm Chris Mattingly. What's your name?
Sergeant: O'Connor, Thad O'Connor.
Mattingly: Glad to meet you Thad. Here's hoping there's a bar around here.
O'Connor: God-willing. Once we're done cleaning up from this mess, let's find out.
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« Reply #18 on: November 17, 2012, 10:37:23 AM »

Humphrey Wilkinson

Humphrey Wilkinson, as of January 3rd 1971 the newly inaugurated Wyoming At-Large Representative, was, to many of his fellow Republicans "an odd character". His love for guns going beyond that of even your average Wyoming Republican and his drug use soon becoming common knowledge among a number of his closer House colleague, he was an idiosyncratic chap. Strangely enough, this arch-conservative hung out with an even stranger arch-liberal by the name of Hunter S. Thompson, at that point the new Pitkin County, CO Sheriff.

"I felt the mescaline kick in and looked over at Wilkinson. How I ever fell in with this reactionary bastard I'll never know. However, we did share two common values, love of guns and love of drugs. As we sat in his Wyoming ranch as the wind howled outside. With a glazed look and a smirk on his face, Wilkinson turned to me and asked "Wanna shoot some guns?" The next two hours were filled with us blindly shooting into the snow-filled air."
-"Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72", Hunter S. Thompson

Wilkinson had come home from Vietnam in 1967 after serving since 1960 as a green beret. Taking a job as an autopsist, Wilkinson spent the next few years opening up bodies to find out how they'd died. At that time he also got married and began building a family. In 1970, with Republicans looking to make gains in both houses of Congress, Wilkinson ran for and won the Wyoming At-Large seat, beating his Democratic opponent.

The Fate of James L. Buckley

While Richard Nixon had been dis-pleased by the mid-term election results, what he saw in New York gave him hope. Jim Buckley, brother of famous conservative publisher Bill Buckley and Conservative Party nominee for Senate in 1968 and 1970, had impressed him. Beating liberal Republican Charles Goodell for second place in the race, it seemed clear that the Conservatives had a chance of beating out their liberal Republican counter-parts, and hopefully the Democrats. While New York faced no Senate or Gubernatorial elections in 1972, Nixon still had an eye to the future. In 1974, both the Senate and the Governorship would be open again and the President's obsession with building his majority found him eager to see Buckley come to the Senate that year. With that in mind, he set out to give the potential future candidate some much-needed experience. Buckley was appointed United States Ambassador to the United Nations in March of 1971. While Nixon preferred a more nuanced approach to foreign policy than his Conservative ambassador, he believed that a tough exterior would increase the United States' bargaining position, and were it to give some experience to a future Senator, Nixon was happy to oblige.

The Race for the Presidency, 1972

With Yarborough's defeat, a potential front-runner for the Democratic nomination was erased, though Yarborough was never really expected to run in '72 due to his age. Instead, Yarborough endorsed early on South Dakota Senator George McGovern, an anti-Vietnam War liberal from a rural state, much like Yarborough himself. McGovern had been one of the few candidates and aspiring candidates to take the administration to task, even on the issue of Vietnam, even going as far as to make at rip to Paris to meet with the North Vietnamese and dis-prove one of the many lines that Nixon had continually been using. Meanwhile, in Dixie, a former Southern Governor plotted his presidential campaign, and it wasn't George Wallace. Wallace had been disgraced by his narrow loss to Brewer in the 1970 Gubernatorial Primary and was instead working to re-build his popularity in Alabama. No, the Governor was Lester Maddox, then serving as Georgia's Lieutenant Governor. Maddox, who had a style similar to Wallace, saw Wallace's star fall in 1970 and intended to pick up the base Wallace had used. While it was still up in the air as to whether Maddox would run inside the Democratic primary or whether he would run as an American Independent, it was clear that Maddox had high aspirations.
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« Reply #19 on: November 17, 2012, 05:29:55 PM »

On an unrelated note, I just started Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 1972, and I can see everything Thompson has been doing as 100% accurate.
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« Reply #20 on: December 01, 2012, 03:32:51 PM »

The 1972 Democratic Primaries

While Nixon easily fended off two small-time challenges from both wings of his party, the nation's eyes instead focused on the Democrats. Bobby Kennedy had been preparing for the race for the nomination since he saw the result of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. With four more years of Senate experience under his belt--four years in which he'd worked tirelessly to put himself at the forefront of the debate in opposing the President, it looked like JFK's younger brother would have his turn. With potential challengers such as George McGovern and John Lindsay stepping aside in the wake of Kennedy's announcement of his candidacy, there would nonetheless be a group of candidates who themselves wanted a crack at the Presidency. The hawkish Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington, the segregationist Governor Lester Maddox of Alabama, D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy attempting to win minority votes, and of course a man who'd had his eye on the Presidency since 1952 Senator and former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota.

At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nixon had long feared a Kennedy candidacy. His "plumbers" had worked tirelessly to dig up dirt--real or fabricated--on the nation's most famous Senator. This involved the secret promotion of both Maddox's and Humphrey's candidacies in order to weaken unity within the party. At the same time the plumbers were working to cast Kennedy as the image he'd worked to build of himself, as a "groovy" candidate and a symbol of the youth. The "Silent Majority" the President had sought long to build he knew wouldn't take kindly to that type of candidate in the general election.

In the new first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucus where Humphrey was heavily favored, Kennedy was able to use grass roots activists in order to gain the upper hand and eek out a win. In the heavily Catholic New Hampshire, Kennedy was able to put another win under his belt. However, in Florida, a stop was put to the Kennedy momentum with Maddox's narrow win in Florida. In Wisconsin, Humphrey, deploying Nixonian tactics, was ironically able to win over a number of Milwaukee, blue-collar Catholics and that along with his popularity among farmers, was able to deliver him victory. Kennedy and Humphrey exchanged victories across the course of the primaries. However, Kennedy with his support among Pacific Coasters, minorities, the youth, and among his brother's old base of East Coast Catholic blue collars, had a distinct advantage. Despite this, Humphrey had a number of victories in the rust belt. However, with a knock-out victory in California, Kennedy was assured the nomination. Maddox, disappointed with a poor performance in the primaries, nevertheless vowed to fight on as the American Party nominee.


Green-Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York
Blue-Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota
Red-Former Governor Lester Maddox of Georgia
Yellow-Others

Despite games by Humphrey's supporters at the Democratic National Convention, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York was nominated easily on the first ballot and on the second it was made unanimous. Kennedy attempting to gain support in the South and also support the emerging New South coalition, selected Governor Albert Brewer of Alabama for Vice President.

Meanwhile, on September 5th, 1972 at a small convention, former Lester Maddox of Georgia was nominated for President, and Congressman John G. Schmitz of California for Vice President on the American Party ticket. Seeing it all play out, the President of the United States was thrown into a rage that would be recorded for posterity on a White House taping system that would only be revealed many years later. Thus, the stage was set for the 1972 United States Presidential Election.
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« Reply #21 on: December 01, 2012, 04:54:27 PM »
« Edited: December 31, 2012, 03:23:03 PM by Cathcon »

The 1972 General Election

The general election was a brutal propaganda campaign. Nixon was caught in the middle between his sworn enemy, a Kennedy attacking him as an authoritarian conservative extremist, and on the other side in battle with a segregationist Southerner who had proclaimed that Nixon hadn't gone far enough. While Nixon and his inner circle had hoped from the beginning to try to cast the two as extremists and he as the wise centrist, the strategy failed as Maddox was what amounted to a valuable 3-10% in various polls from Nixon, leaving Kennedy ahead. Election night went well into the wee hours of the morning and the state of Illinois was still in question.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY)/Governor Albert Brewer (D-AL) 253 electoral votes
President Richard M. Nixon (R-NY)/Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (R-MD) 259 electoral votes
Too Close To Call 26 electoral votes

While twelve years before Mayor Richard J. Daley had worked hard to make Illinois go Democratic for John F. Kennedy, no such favors were forthcoming for his brother. In fact, Daley had come to hate that "son of a bitch". Kennedy's new politics style, the opposition to the Vietnam War he'd adopted when preparing to run for President in the 1960's, and support for McGovern Commission reforms had alienated Kennedy from the man who'd helped his brother win the Presidency. Instead Daley had no intention of giving Kennedy any favors in Illinois, even working to hurt him in Cook County. While the ballots were still being counted in Illinois, the Kennedy and Nixon camps were hard at work filing motions and injunctions to ensure a favorable outcome. However, after weeks and weeks of counting, it was declared: Robert F. Kennedy would be elected the 38th President of the United States of America.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY)/Governor Albert Brewer (D-AL) 278 electoral votes, 47.3% of the popular vote
President Richard M. Nixon (R-NY)/Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (R-MD) 248 electoral votes, 47.7% of the popular vote
Former Governor Lester Maddox (A-GA)/Congressman John G. Schmitz (A-CA) 3 electoral votes [Faithless Electors] 5.1% of the popular vote
Mr. John Hospers (L-CA)/Ms. Theodore Nathan (L-OR) 1 electoral votes [Faithless Elector] <1% of the popular vote

President Nixon found himself teetering between rage and depression for the past few months of his Presidency. When the election had been stolen from him twelve years ago had he dragged the country through division trying to overturn the fraud in Cook County!? Hell no! But that rat bastard Kennedy had been willing to pull the same crap! Nixon was furious. Meanwhile, Senator Kennedy prepared to take the reigns of the Presidency.
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« Reply #22 on: December 01, 2012, 09:40:35 PM »

December 12th, 1972
Christian Mattingly sits in a bar next to a co-worker. Illinois has at last been officially called for Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, the Democratic candidate. On the radio, Christmas carols by folks like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole play on the radio.
Mattingly: F#cking shame about the election.
Dude: Hmmm? One way or another, it was two bastards from the start. That c**nt Bobby Kennedy and his hippie bullsh#t, or Richard "motherf#cker" Nixon.
Mattingly: I actually met Nixon. Two years ago.
Dude: The Hell? How'd the happen? You put cars together for God's sake!
Mattingly: Back when I was VP of the Local. I wrote him something about the assholes at Kent State.
Dude: Ahhhh....
Mattingly: Anyway, you trust that hippie f#ck Bobby Kennedy with holding back the Soviets? Sure, Vietnam's a huge f#ck up. Hell, I was there. Yeah, that Hell hole doesn't deserve a single American life or U.S. dollar. But this isn't about it. This is about the whole thing. Nixon at least has the wherewithal not to let the Soviets play hopskotch all over us. And as for Bobby Kennedy, he's gonna be too busy making new social programs aimed towards his supporters, you think he has time to give a damn about the Soviets, which he's made clear he loves?
Dude: Huh... Mattingly, why the Hell are you in this business? You're smart. You should go into politics 'cause you're making a Hell of a lot more sense of this entire election than anyone has so far.
Mattingly: Screw that. But I'll tell you what, I"m not gonna just be a member of the U.A.W. the rest of my life. I plan on owning the factory the next generation of workers is in.
Dude: How the Hell do you plan on doing that?
Mattingly: I don't know... I just don't know.
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« Reply #23 on: December 31, 2012, 01:04:54 PM »

The Cabinet of Robert F. Kennedy Pt. 1

Even before Senator Kennedy had been declared winner, he had been preparing for the announcement and his inauguration. What would prove key in the creation of his administration would be the selection of his cabinet. Like his brother Jack, Bobby had run against one of the most experienced people in government, Richard Nixon, and had won in only a narrow election. In Bobby's case, he had failed to even win the popular vote. In the preceding election, both Bobby and Jack had been attacked as inexperienced, unready for the office of President. Knowing he lacked a mandate, Kennedy set out to ensure that he would be protected from attacks of both inexperience, and from creating a mandate where none existed. Therefore, he would set up a cabinet of experienced individuals, even breaking the partisan barrier at times. Having pledge to end Vietnam, Kennedy's foreign policy apparatus would be his main priority.

Secretary of State: Abraham Ribicoff (D-CT)
An old Kennedy ally, and a supporter of Bobby in 1968, Ribicoff had an impressive resume before assuming the office of Secretary of State. A two-term U.S. Representative, six-year Governor, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and for the last ten years a U.S. Senator, Ribicoff, despite lacking a specifically detailed foreign policy resume, nevertheless  was respected by his Senate colleagues and was easily confirmed.

Secretary of Defense: Charles Goodell (R-NY)
Goodell, a liberal Republican and outspoken opponent of Vietnam, would prove more difficult than expected. Originally, Kennedy had considered Mark Hatfield. However, the Oregon Senator was a party loyalist, even if he was an ideological maverick. Instead, Kennedy removed a potential rival in state politics, and a sure candidate to fill his empty seat, by instead putting Goodell at the position of Defense. Goodell had as well been an outspoken opponent of the Nixon administration during the last four years, and Kennedy was being bi-partisan and at the same time spiteful through his appointment.

National Security Adviser: Robert O'Sullivan (D-MA)
A surprise choice, O'Sullivan was a long-time Kennedy family confidant whose relationship extended back to the 1940's and his youth. Upon John F. Kennedy's ascent to the White House, O'Sullivan graduated into a President's inner circle. During Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam War, O'Sullivan, who by-and-large was a school of old Joe Kennedy's isolationism, resigned in protest. He would, a few months later, join Senator Bobby Kennedy's staff, and work on his first Presidential campaign. O'Sullivan bore the notability of having been one of the men to take the bullets that Sirhan Sirhan had fired at the Senator after the California primary. During the interim between 1968 and 1972, O'Sullivan had waited patiently for another Kennedy run and had been one of the chief figures in the campaign.
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« Reply #24 on: December 31, 2012, 03:32:04 PM »

"Around here, the early 1970's, Mattingly as we know him is largely unformed, from both a personal and a political standpoint. Politically, you see bits and pieces here and there: his experience in Vietnam, his upbringing in a Catholic Democratic household, his time as a union pol, his meeting with Nixon. All of these are significant factors in his life so far. However, none can properly sum up where he'll be heading. Any specific event, political or otherwise, would fail to sum up why he is who he is in today's world. By the time Robert F. Kennedy is elected, we still have a long ways to go before very significant events take place. He has yet to venture into business, he hasn't gotten married or had a family yet. We haven't even seen middle America react to the stumbles and eventual failure of the Kennedy and Sanford administrations. However, if you look at every event leading up to this point, you can see that this complex character, this Catholic Democratic Vietnam veteran who's met Richard Nixon and has served as a union official, is going to have a very reactionary response to the direction in which America's headed, as will much of America. He is  a very good example of what I like to call 'Nixonland'."
-Historian Richard Perlstein on the PBS documentary Star Spangled Eyes: The Story of Christian Mattingly and a changing America, 2006
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