1964-?: Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

[Peter the Lefty]

Prologue

February 2, 1968

      John F. Kennedy sits at a medium-sized desk in a dark office room.  The dark sky can be seen out of several sall windows behind Kennedy.  Quiet thunder can be heard in the distance.  The only light in the room is a lamp on Kennedy's desk.  He is writing a list of some sort.  
A knock is heard at the door.

John F. Kennedy: Come in.

The door opens, and Eugene McCarthy walks in.  From the view of the hallway while the door is opened, one can see that it is dimly lit.  McCarthy closes the door behind him.

JFK: Evening, Gene.
McCarthy: (nods curtly) Jack.  Evening.
JFK: Why don't you sit down.
McCarthy pulls up a chair and sits at the desk across from Kennedy.
JFK: Did you see anyone else in the hallways on your way over here?
McCarthy: I saw Walter Mondale-
JFK:-sh**t.  That kid's basically Hubert Humphrey Jr., isn't he?  I'll be honest, I don't know half the guys on our backbenches.
McCarthy: You got him right.  He was leaving though.  
JFK: Phew.
(7 second pause)
McCarthy: Let's get down to business, Jack.  
(5 second pause)
JFK:...right.
McCarthy: You have to challenge him.  If you don't, I will.  
JFK: Look, Gene, I've seriously considered it, and I don't think it'll be possible.  The Left of this party hates me.  I mean, you know Wayne.  He'd sooner shoot himself than vote for me, let alone endorse me.  
McCarthy: He told me he'd be willing to.  
JFK: (laughs) Well that'd be a sight.  Anyways, er, Gene, you have to think about it.  I'm a millionaire and an ex-Liberal.  There's no way I'm going to become Leader of the Labor Party at all, let alone by winning the left-wing vote.  
McCarthy: But you have such a great deal of charisma and charm.
JFK: The Labor Left is immune to charm.  Look, I agree, Hubert has to go, and we need a leader who'll bring the government down.  But it's not me.  I'm not going to be Prime Minister.  
McCarthy: If you don't challenge him, I'm afraid I'll have to. And I'm going to lose.  
JFK: I'm afraid you are.  I'll support you, or anyone else that challenges Hubert from his left on Vietnam as long as it's not some fringe leftist like a Black Panther or a Trotskyite.  But it's not just you and me.  There have got to be others.  Abe would be the perfect candidate.
McCarthy: (laughs) You think I haven't already spoken to Abe?  He doesn't want to.  
JFK: How about Joe?
McCarthy: Same with him.  And before you ask, Ralph is in the same boat.  We need a an anti-war candidate-more anti-war than Hubert-who's from the right if we're going to beat him.  
JFK: But that anti-war candidate can't be toxic to the Left either.  
McCarthy: Well, then no one fits the bill.  Paul actually thinks Hubert should support the war.  
JFK: So I've heard.  
McCarthy: And because of that, I'm going to run.  A soft-left guy is the next-best thing.  I still know I'm unlikely to win, though.  See you, Jack.  (Gets up, gets out of his chair, heads towards the door).  
JFK: Hang on, Gene.  I've got an idea.  
McCarthy: Who?
JFK: Bobby.
McCarthy: Bobby?
JFK: Bobby.
McCarthy: Eh...Look, Jack.  I don't want to say anything against your brother, and he's a very good MP and frontbencher.  But he isn't very well-known, and he doesn't have the charisma that you do.  Quite a shy public speaker too, if I may.
JFK: I've been helping him with that, and he's coming along.  The thing is, he also doesn't have the baggage that I have of being a former Liberal.
McCarthy: Yes, but there isn't too much name recognition.  Most people who know anything about him only know that he's your brother.  
JFK: That'll change.  
McCarthy: And just 12 years of experience as an MP.
JFK: Three more than Dewey had.
(10 second pause)
McCarthy: All right.  Talk to your brother, and see what he says.  
JFK: Will do.  

[Peter the Lefty]

And So It Begins

October 2, 1964
8:02 pm

     "Good evening, you're watching our special coverage of Election Night, 1964.  This is the ABC–the American Broadcasting Corporation.  I'm Walter Cronkite, and I'll be anchoring our coverage this evening.  Just a moment ago, the polls in the Standard Eastern Time Zone closed, and we are now anxiously awaiting the returns.  The party leaders are all back in their ridings as of right now, with the exception of Mr. Russell.  The Prime Minister has returned to his constituency office in Austin, Texas, we are told, and Opposition Leader Richard Nixon is in his constituency of Orange North.  The Deputy Prime Minister is back in Minneapolis, where he is not only an MP for Minneapolis Southwest, but also a popular former Mayor.  Libertarian Leader Barry Goldwater is in Phoenix North.  Richard Russell, the Leader of the American National Movement, is in his party's headquarters in Atlanta.  His riding is just North of it, in the surrounding area.  
      We don't know yet the result of this election, or, what it'll mean.  After all of the votes are counted, we can report the composition of the next parliament to you.  However, we necessarily cannot tell you who will be Prime Minister when the new parliament is called into session.  If the largest party in the House of Commons has a majority, then we most likely will be able to tell you.  However, should we have another hung parliament, we will not necessarily be able to tell you for certain who the Prime Minister will be, and who will form government.  It will be for the politicians to work out a deal for a stable government.  We'll be back soon with the first returns.

[Peter the Lefty]

Prime Ministers of America
1. James G. Blaine–Conservative–1880-1889
2. Thomas F. Bayard–Liberal–1889-1892
3. James G. Blaine–Conservative–1892-1893
4. William B. Allison–Conservative–1893
5. Thomas F. Bayard–Liberal–1893-1895
6. William B. Allison–Conservative–1895
7. William McKinley–Conservative–1895-1900
8. Grover Cleveland–Liberal–1900-1901
9. Theodore Roosevelt–Liberal–1901-1908
10. Alton B. Parker–Liberal–1908-1909
11. Joseph G. Cannon–Conservative–1909-1913
12. Woodrow Wilson–Liberal–1913-1920
13. Joseph G. Cannon–Conservative–1920-1923
14. Henry Cabot Lodge–Conservative–1923-1926
15. James E. Watson–Conservative–1926-1932
16. Franklin D. Roosevelt–Liberal–1932-1945
17. Harry S. Truman–Liberal–1945-1948
18. Thomas E. Dewey–Conservative–1948-1960
19. Adlai E. Stevenson II–Liberal–1960-1963
20. Lyndon B. Johnson–Liberal–1963-Present

Leaders of the Opposition:
1. Thomas F. Bayard–Liberal–1880-1889
2. James Blaine–Conservative–1889-1892
3. Thomas F. Bayard–Liberal–1892-1893
4. William B. Allison–Conservative–1893-1895
5. Thomas F. Bayard–Liberal–1895-1898
6. Grover Cleveland–Liberal–1898-1900
7. William McKinley–Conservative–1900-1907
8. Joseph G. Cannon–Conservative–1907-1909
9. Alton B. Parker–Liberal–1909-1910
10. Woodrow Wilson–Liberal–1910-1913
11. Joseph G. Cannon–Conservative–1913-1916
12. Eugene V. Debs–Labor–1916
13. Robert La Follette–Labor–1916 (party expelled from House.  Position vacant until 1918)
14. Joseph G. Cannon–Conservative–1918-1920
15. Al Smith–Liberal–1920-1931
16. Franklin D. Roosevelt–Liberal–1931-1932
17. John Nance Garner–Conservative–1932-1941
18. Thomas E. Dewey–Conservative–1941*, 1945-1948
19. Harry Truman–Liberal–1948-1952
20. Adlai E. Stevenson II–Liberal–1952-1960
21. Richard Nixon–Conservative–1960-Present

*from 1941 to 1945, there was a wartime coalition government supported by all parties in the House of Commons, so there was no Leader of the Opposition until the government was disbanded.

[Peter the Lefty]

Governments of America
1. Conservative–1880-1885
2. Conservative–1885-1889
3. Liberal–1889-1892
4. Conservative–1892-1893
5. Liberal–1893-1895
6. Conservative–1895-1896
7. Conservative–1896-1900
8. Liberal–1900-1901
9. Liberal–1901-1905
10. Liberal–1905-1909
11. Conservative–1909-1913
12. Liberal–1913-1916
13. Liberal-Conservative Coalition–1916-1918
14. Liberal–1918-1920
15. Conservative–1920-1924
16. Conservative–1924-1928
17. Conservative–1928-1932
18. Liberal–1932-1936
19. Liberal–1936-1940
20. Liberal–1940-1941
21. Liberal-Conservative coalition*–1941-1944
22. Liberal-Conservative coalition*–1944-1945
23. Liberal–1945-1948
24. Conservative–1948-1952
25. Conservative–1952-1956
26. Conservative–1956-1960
27. Liberal-Labor Coalition–1960-Present
* Indicates parliamentary support by the Labor Party

[Peter the Lefty]

The Party Leaders

Leaders of the Conservative Party
1. James G. Blaine–1880-1893
2. William B. Allison–1893-1895
3. William McKinley–1895-1907
4. Joseph G. Cannon–1907-1923
5. Henry Cabot Lodge–1923-1926
6. James E. Watson–1926-1932
7. John Nance Garner–1932-1941
8. Thomas E. Dewey–1941-1960
9. Richard Nixon–1961-Present

Leaders of the Liberal Party
1. Thomas F. Bayard–1880-1898
2. Grover Cleveland–1898-1901
3. Theodore Roosevelt–1901-1907
4. Alton B. Parker–1907-1910
5. Woodrow Wilson–1910-1920
6. Al Smith–1920-1931
7. Franklin D. Roosevelt–1931-1945
8. Harry Truman–1945-1952
9. Adlai E. Stevenson II–1952-1963
10. Lyndon B. Johnson–1963-Present

Leaders of the Labor Party
1. Eugene V. Debs–1900-1916
2. Robert La Follette–1916-1925
3. Morris Hillquit–1925-1933
4. Norman Thomas–1933-1940
5. Henry A. Wallace–1940-1946
6. Louis Waldman–1946-1948
7. Estes Kefauver–1948-1958
8. Hubert Humphrey–1958-Present

Leaders of the American People's Party
1. Strom Thurmond–1947-1960
2. Richard B. Russell, Jr.–1961-Present

[Peter the Lefty]

      Lyndon Johnson had been Prime Minister for less than a year when the 1964 election was called.  He'd been Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party when Prime Minister Adlai Stevenson was assassinated.  As such, he was suddenly elevated to the position of Acting Leader of the Liberal Party, and, therefore, as Acting Prime Minister.  He was soon given both positions on a permanent basis.  Since becoming Prime Minister, he'd enacted a system of Single-Taxpayer Health Care, in spite of having been privately opposed to it when Stevenson proposed it as part of the coalition deal with Labor.  He also continued to build what Stevenson had called "The New America:" an ambitious program of social spending increases to tackle poverty, housing legislation, boosts to education funding, a Peace Corps, and an end to racial segregation.  Yet within the cabinet, there was some mistrust of him due to his hawkish tendencies, and what many saw as attempts to undermine Stevenson during the latter's Premiership. 



      Richard Nixon had been elected Conservative leader early in 1961, after Dewey resigned in the aftermath of Stevenson's appointment as Prime Minister.  Nixon initially enjoyed a massive poll lead due to backlash against Stevenson's decision to form a coalition government with Labor, which created a perception of instability due to the government's razor-thin majority.  Yet after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Torries and Liberals suddenly flipped, and Stevenson was in majority territory.  The Conservatives, on the other hand, were suffering their worst poll numbers since 1930.  He'd treated carefully, supporting the government's civil rights legislation, but opposing most of the government's social reforms and budgets.  He had reluctantly helped to resolve the Cuban missile crisis by allowing Stevenson to give the Soviets a pledge from him to never invade Cuba should he become Prime Minister.  As he later put it, "I wanted war, and we all did.  But under Stevenson's leadership, we would've been toast."  (Like the American public, he was still unaware that Stevenson had also offered a private assurance that the American Jupiter Missiles in Turkey would also be withdrawn to the Soviets to end the crisis.)  He had staunchly opposed the creation of the NAHS (the Single-Taxpayer Health Care program passed under Johnson).  Now, he looked certain to suffer the worst result for the Torries in history. 



      In the 1960 election, Hubert Humphrey had been the only party leader who had not fought a general election beforehand, having taken over the top job in the Labor Party from Estes Kefauver in 1958.  After leading Labor to the best result in their history in in 1960, he took the unprecedented step of leading his party into a peacetime coalition government.  Budgets were a constant battle during the course of the government, and keeping the Labor Left in line was a challenge for him.  Yet with the minimum wage increased, spending on education, housing, health, social welfare, transportation, and environmental conservation boosted, a single-taxpayer health care program enacted, a potential nuclear war averted, a nuclear test ban treaty signed, and racial segregation fully banned throughout the country, nearly everyone in the Labor Party was now agreeing that Humphrey had made the right call.  He was now a former Mayor of Minneapolis, an MP for 16 years, and the Deputy Prime Minister.  But even more, importantly, after a succession four second-tier Labor Leaders, Humphrey was seen by many as a long-awaited return to the top-tier leadership the party had seen under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs, Robert La Follette, and Morris Hillquit. 



      In 1947, the American People's party was founded, and many were surprised that Richard Russell was not its leader.  He had been the top MP in the Conservative Party from their Southern base for six years, and was quite vocal in his opposition to Dewey's modernization of the party's racial policies.  After Dewey succeeded in changing his party's constitution to reflect the values of racial equality in 1947, most Southern Tory MP's wanted Russell to found a new segregationist, right-wing party.  Russell hesitated at first, and took a great deal of time to ponder the possibility of reconciliation with the party in which he had spent his entire political life.  In the intervening time, South Carolina's fiery Premier, Strom Thurmond, founded a new political party in a rush, called the American People's Party, and was immediately elected as its first leader.  Suddenly, nearly every single Southern Tory MP outside of Florida (where the Torries were still hit by plenty of defections) bolted and joined Thurmond's new party, and Russell followed within a few days.  He spent the next 13 years as Deputy Leader of the APP.  After the 1960 election, Thurmond stepped down.  Russell was elected in March of 1961 unopposed as his successor.  At the same conference at which he had won the leadership, the party voted to change its name to the American National Movement.  During his tenure as leader so far, racial segregation had been outlawed, and the integration of public schools in the South had reached full-swing.  The fact that Nixon's Torries decided to back the government on its civil rights legislation had reinforced the feeling among many ANM members that their party, as it stood, was ineffective, and incapable of stopping the tide of racial integration.  In addition, this would be the first election where the black populations of the South would be able to vote, since Johnson had passed voting rights legislation that forbid all of the methods through which Southeastern provinces had barred African-Americans from voting.  For these reasons, many Anmers, as ANM members were know popularly known, felt that expanding into the North was necessary.  It wasn't enough to be a protest party anymore. 



      Barry Goldwater had founded the Libertarian Party in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but before the knowledge of the missiles was revealed to the public.  His political evolution was certainly interesting.  During the 1920's, he was a teenage activist in the ever-dwindling classical liberal wing of the Liberal Party.  After Franklin Roosevelt defeated Al Smith for the party's leadership in 1931, Goldwater bolted to the Torries.  Yet after Dewey ousted Garner as Conservative Leader in 1941, Goldwater became increasingly disillusioned with the Torries as well.  Still, he opted not to join Thurmond's APP, as he did not consider himself a racist.  He was elected to parliament in 1948 as a Tory, but voted against the Dewey government's first two budgets for their "outlandish spending" and what he considered to be the "cementing of the socialist New Deal."  He left the party in 1950 and spent twelve years as one of the most high-profile independent MP's in America.  In 1960, he announced that a new Libertarian Party was in the works, and the new group was finally founded in 1962.  He hoped it would snatch right-leaning Tory voters across the North and the West who found the ANM too...well, racist.  Not to mention the fact that most ridings outside of the Southeast didn't have ANM candidates. 

[Peter the Lefty]

The Current Leaders

Lyndon B. Johnson
MP for Austin North, 1932-1944
MP for Austin, 1944-1952
MP for Austin Greater Area, 1952-Present
Minister of Naval Affairs, 1945-1948
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, 1948-1963
Minister of Defense, 1960-1963
Leader of the Liberal Party, 1963-Present
Prime Minister, 1963-Present

Richard Nixon
MP for Orange North, 1948-Present
Minister of the Interior, 1953-1960
Leader of the Conservative Party, 1961-Present
Leader of the Opposition, 1961-Present

Hubert Humphrey
Member of the Minneapolis City Council, 1939-1945
Mayor of Minneapolis, 1945-1948
MP for Minneapolis Southwest, 1948-Present
Leader of the Labor Party, 1958-Present
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education–1960-Present

Richard Russell
Member of the Georgia legislative assembly, 1920-1936
Minister of Health and Social Services of Georgia, 1925-1929
Leader of the Conservative Party of Georgia, 1929-1936
Premier of Georgia, 1929-1936
MP for Polk-Carroll-Milton, 1936-Present
Deputy Leader of the American People's Party, 1947-1960
Leader of the American National Movement, 1961-Present

Barry Goldwater
Member of the Phoenix City Council, 1945-1948
Member of Parliament for Maricopa East, 1948-1952
Member of Parliament for Maricopa North-Centre, 1952-Present
Leader of the Libertarian Party, 1962-Present

[Peter the Lefty]

8:06

      "Hello, and welcome back.  You're watching the ABC's special coverage of Election Night 1964.  I'm Walter Cronkite, reporting to you live from our nation's capital.  We have six projections so far.  Of those projected MP's, four will be from the ANM, and two will be from the Conservatives.  Please know that this should not be taken as an indicator of tonight's results by any means.  All six of them are incumbents, and are in areas where their parties tend to win by large margins.  On the screen now, we will be showing you their names and seats.  With the exceptions of Front bench MP's, we will not be talking about individual seat projections, because there are just too many.  1172 once the night is up.
      "We are to have 170 more MP's this time around because of the new census that was released in 1961.  Every time a new census is taken, the boundaries are re-drawn, and almost always, new constituencies are created.  The parliament which was dissolved on September 11 had 1002 members.  In the last election, the Conservatives came out on top, with 341 seats and about 33% of the vote.  The Liberals came in second with 326 seats and about 30% of the vote.  Labor came in third place, with 182 seats and 25% of the vote.  The American National Movement, or as it was known then, the American People's Party, came in fourth, with 130 seats, and seven percent of the vote.  The other 23 MP's were not affiliated with any party.  The Libertarian Party did not exist at the time, and all three of its current MP's were among the 23 independents.

[Peter the Lefty]

The Current Parliament with 1960 popular vote totals in percentages:
Conservatives–341 (33.1%)
Liberals–326 (30.3%)
Labor–182 (25.0%)
American National Movement–130 (7.2%)
Libertarians–3 (did not exist)
Independents–20 (2.6%)
Other Parties–0 (1.8%)

[Peter the Lefty]

A Recap of the Campaign

      The 1964 election campaign ran relatively smoothly.  Unlike in 1960, there hadn't been a debate between the major party leaders due to Johnson's refusal to take part.  He feared that his lack of charisma would impair him on a debate stage, and knew that Dewey had seen his poll lead diminish to minority levels due to his lackluster debate performance last time.  The election instead saw him concentrate on middle-class voters who were pleased to see the benefits of the New America programs.  (Road improvements, better schools, and government-funded health care).  He hoped to win further suburbanite votes from the Conservatives, as well as some of the more comfortable working-class votes from Labor.  In the South, he had hoped that gratitude for the advent of civil rights would lead to winning the black vote, but the African-Americans in the South proved to have the same political inclinations as their Northern counterparts, who had been voting ever since their emancipation.  Polls continually showed that Labor would sweep the black neighborhoods and towns of the Southeast, even including Atlanta, the one city where a significant black middle class existed. 
      Richard Nixon, on the other hand, had been in catastrophe control mode throughout the election.  The Torries appeared to be set for one of their lowest results in history.  Not since the Great Depression had the Conservative Party dropped below 30% in an opinion poll, and never before had an election taken during a campaign show them below 30%.  Sadly, virtually none of the blame could be pinned on him.  He had not squandered the stunning poll lead he had during the first two years of the government; Stevenson simply flipped them around through his resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Since then, the American people had appeared to suddenly love their intellectual Illinoisan Prime Minister, and mourned him dearly after his assassination in Columbus, Ohio.  Johnson was running on Stevenson's legacy, and Nixon was increasingly finding himself sandwiched between the Liberals on the left, and the ANM and Libertarians on the right.  If he opposed the government too strongly, he'd loose more votes to Johnson.  If he was too soft, he'd loose more votes to the two parties that now stood to the right of his.  Many believed that this was an impossible balance to strike.  Yet as a member of the middle faction of the Conservative Party, Nixon came closer to striking it than anyone else could.  In fact, while it was a depressing fact for the rest of his party, Nixon was somewhat reassured by the reality that if anyone else were leading his party at the moment, it'd be doing even worse in the opinion polls.  Rockefeller would be unlikely to win very many more moderate voters than Nixon due to Johnson's high popularity, and his moderation would almost certainly send more right-wingers to the ANM and Libertarians.  And if Everett Dirksen, the leader of the right-wing of the Conservative Party, we're leading the party itself, it might have slightly better odds among those who had gone to the Libertarian Party, and maybe a few who had gone to the ANM, but certainly not many.  He'd been a staunch supporter of civil rights throughout his political career. Indeed, Nixon was the only chance the Conservatives had of averting a meltdown. 
      Humphrey had spent the campaign emphasizing Labor's role in every accomplishment of the government.  Single-taxpayer health care had been demanded by his party, and he'd managed to force the Liberals into backing it.  The presence of the Labor Party in the government was also instrumental in pushing increases to spending on all key areas (minus space) to where they were now, had the 1960 election produced a simple Liberal government, the New America programs would not have gone as far as they did.  He also loved to point out that federal funding for education, social welfare itself, and civil rights, all had been championed by Labor before any other party dared to take any of these notions seriously.  Yet it seemed that the Liberals were getting all of the credit among most voters for the government's achievements–white voters, at least.  Among Southern blacks, who would be casting ballots for the first time in this election, Labor was polling in the upper 70's, and the same held true for blacks outside of the South.  Due to the electoral bonanza that Labor was about to see, the slight drop in the party's national popular vote was most likely to be made up for in terms of seat victories. 
      Richard Russell was, like Nixon, trying to mitigate what appeared likely to be an electoral disaster.  And for him, it was even more bitter than it was for Nixon.  His party's current poll numbers were an improvement over their 1960 result.  Yet due to the mass voting registrations on the part of the Southeastern black populations that had recently taken place, Labor was about to snatch a massive swath of the ANM's seats.  And while Russell was attempting to expand his party's base of support Northwards, he was not making large enough inroads to win a noticeable number of ridings.  In the far Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and the West Coast, the party didn't even have candidates in most ridings.  Most provinces in these areas didn't even have provincial ANM's. 
      The Libertarians had had a relatively uneventful campaign.  Their three lonely MP's all looked likely to retain their House seats, and it appeared likely that one or two more might now be added. 

[Peter the Lefty]

Cabinet of the America

Prime Minister–The Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson (Lib)
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education–Hon. Hubert Humphrey (Lab)
Minister of Defense–Hon. Frank Lausche (Lib)
Minister of Foreign Affairs–Hon. Stewart Symington (Lib)
Minister of Finance–Hon. John W. McCormack (Lib)
Minister of Health–Hon. Abraham Ribicoff (Lab)
Minister of Justice–Hon. Jacob Javits (Lib)
Minister of the Interior-Hon. Earl Warren (Lib)
Minister of the Economy and Business–Hon. John F. Kennedy (Lab)
Minister of Public Lands–Hon. Stewart Udall (Lib)
Minister of Transportation–Hon. A. S. Mike Monroney (Lib)
Minister of Labor–Hon. Joseph S. Clarke, Jr. (Lab)
Minister of Agriculture–Hon. George Aiken (Lib)
Minister of Energy and Fuel–Hon. Robert S. Kerr (Lib)
Minister of Veterans' Services–Hon. Michael Mansfield (Lib)
Minister of Social Welfare–Hon. Michael Harrington (Lab)
Minister of International Social Welfare–Hon. Sargent Shriver (Lab)
Minister of Communications–Hon. John O. Pastore (Lib)
Minister of Trade–Hon. J. Allen Frear (Lib)
Minister of Space Exploration–Hon. Clinton B. Anderson (Lib)
Minister of Aboriginal and Minority Affairs–Hon. A. Phillip Randolph (Lab)
Minister of Intergovernmental Relations–Hon. Edmund Muskie (Lib)
Minister of the Budget–Hon. Harold Stassen (Lib)
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs–Hon. Robert F. Kennedy (Lab)
Deputy Minister of Finance–Hon. Dennis Wyatt Chavez (Lib)
Deputy Minister of Defense–Hon. Howard Cannon (Lib)
Deputy Minister of Education–Hon. Samuel T. Rayburn (Lib)
Deputy Minister of Health–Hon. Clifford P. Chase (Lib)
Deputy Minister of Justice–Hon. Ralph Yarborough (Lab)
Deputy Minister of the Interior–Hon. Clair Engle (Lib)
Government Leader in the House of Commons–Hon. Lloyd Bentsen (Lib)
Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons–Hon. Paul Douglas (Lab)
Government Leader in the Senate–Hon. Carl Hayden (Lib)
Government Chief Whip in the Senate–Hon. Herbert Lehman (Lib)

[Peter the Lefty]

Comments, critiques, questions, etc. are welcome.

[Peter the Lefty]

Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet

Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, Leader of the Conservative Party–Hon. Richard M. Nixon (Con)
Deputy Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, Shadow Minister of Finance–Hon. Nelson Rockefeller (Con)
Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs–Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (Con)
Shadow Minister of Defense–William F. Knowland (Con)
Shadow Minister of Education–Hon. Everett Dirksen (Con)
Shadow Minister of Health–Hon. Prescott Bush (Con)
Shadow Minister of Justice–Hon. Roman Hruska (Con)
Shadow Minister of the Interior–Hon. Gerald R. Ford (Con)
Shadow Minister of the Economy and Business–Hon. John W. Bricker (Con)
Shadow Minister of Public Lands–Hon. Douglas McKay (Con)
Shadow Minister of Transportation–Hon. Francis H. Case (Con)
Shadow Minister of Agriculture–Hon. Milton Young (Con)
Shadow Minister of Trade–Hon. Thomas E. Martin (Con)
Shadow Minister of Labor–Hon. William E. Miller (Con)
Shadow Minister of Veterans' Protection–Hon. Homer E. Capehart (Con)
Shadow Minister of Social Welfare–Hon. Hugh D. Scott (Con)
Shadow Minister of Energy and Fuel–Hon. Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Con)
Shadow Minister of Intergovernmental Relations–Hon. Frank Carlson (Con)
Shadow Minister of Aboriginal and Minority Affairs–Hon. Catherine St. George (Con)
Shadow Minister of the Budget–Hon. Wallace F. Bennett (Con)
Shadow Minister of Space Exploration–Hon. George Smathers (Con)
Shadow Minister of Communications–Hon. Oren E. Long(Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs–Hon. Winston L. Prouty (Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Finance–Hon. John J. Williams (Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Defense–Hon. Margaret Chase Smith (Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Education–Hon. Spessard Holland (Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Health–Hon. James Glenn Bell (Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Justice–Hon. Kenneth Keating (Con)
Shadow Deputy Minister of the Interior–Hon. Carl E. Mundt (Con)
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons–Hon. Charles A. Halleck (Con)
Official Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons–Hon. Leslie C. Arends (Con)
Leader of the Senate–Hon. Douglas MacArthur (Con)
Government Chief Whip in the Senate–Hon. Leverett Saltonstall (Con)

[Peter the Lefty]

American National Movement Shadow Cabinet

Leader of the American People's Party–The Honorable Richard B. Russell (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs–Hon. J. William Fullbright (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Finance–Hon. John Sparkman (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Defense–Hon. John C. Stennis (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Education–Hon. Dale Alford (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Health–Hon. Joseph Lister Hill (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Justice–Hon. James Eastland (ANM)
Shadow Minister of the Interior–Hon. John Little McClellan (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Public Lands–Hon. Absalom Willis Robertson (ANM)
Shadow Minister of the Economy and Business–Hon. William A. Blakey (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Transportation–Hon. Harry F. Byrd (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Social Welfare–Hon. Allen J. Ellender (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Agriculture–Hon. Herman Talmadge (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Labor–Hon. Russel B. Long (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Energy and Fuel–Hon. Hale Boggs (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Trade–Hon. Brett Spence (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Intergovernmental Relations–Hon. John Tower (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Racial Order–Hon. L. Mendel Rivers (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Veterans' Services–Hon. B. Everett Jordan (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Space Exploration–Hon. Felix A. Herbert (ANM)
Shadow Minister of Communications–Hon. Price Daniel (ANM)
Shadow Minister of the Budget–Hon. Robert Byrd (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs–Hon. Robert W. Hempill (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Finance–Hon. John Wright Pittman (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Defense–Hon. Carl Vinson (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Education–Hon. J. L. Pilcher (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Health–Hon. Wilbur Mills (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of Justice–Hon. Sam Ervin (ANM)
Shadow Deputy Minister of the Interior–Hon. Martin Dies, Jr. (ANM)
American National Movement Leader in the House of Commons–Hon. John Geraerdt Crommelin (ANM)
American National Movement Chief Whip in the House of Commons–Hon. Iris F. Blitch (ANM)

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Great work Peter, I've been really enjoying these!

How many ridings are the Libertarians running in? Also, I'm not sure if I'd vote Tory or Libertarian in this election, they both look appealing!

[Peter the Lefty]

Great work Peter, I've been really enjoying these!

How many ridings are the Libertarians running in? Also, I'm not sure if I'd vote Tory or Libertarian in this election, they both look appealing!

Thank you!  They're running in 746 ridings.  And yeah, I'll try to get their official platforms up tomorrow.  Hopefully that'll be of some help.

[Dr. Cynic]

I'm enjoying this.

[Peter the Lefty]

I'm enjoying this.

Thanks!

[Lief 🗽]

Yeah, no comments, but I love this! Can't wait to see how election night unfolds.

[Peter the Lefty]

Libertarian Party Shadow Cabinet

Leader of the Libertarian Party, Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shadow Minister of Finance, Shadow Minister of the Economy and Business–The Honorable Barry Goldwater (Libert.)
Deputy Leader of the Libertarian Party, Shadow Minister of Justice, Shadow Minister of Education–The Hon. James B. Utt (Libert)
Shadow Minister of Defense, Shadow Minister of the Interior, Shadow Minister of Health, Shadow Minister of Veterans' Affairs–Hon. Bob Wilson (Libert.)

[Peter the Lefty]

Yeah, no comments, but I love this! Can't wait to see how election night unfolds.

Thank you!  I was just surprised initially because I got a huge wave of feedback from the off with my first one.  But thanks to everyone! 

[Peter the Lefty]

Final poll taken before the election:
Liberals–35% (+5%)
Conservatives–28% (-5%)
Labor–22% (-3%)
American National Movement–9% (+2%)
Libertarians–4% (+4%)
Independents–2% (-1%)
Other Parties–0% (-2%)

[Peter the Lefty]

8:25

     "We have a number of projections right now.  As it stands, we can project 172 ridings.  We can safely project that 48 will be won by the Conservatives.  Labor will have 45 of these projected ridings.  The ANM will have 41, the Liberals will walk away with 32, and the remaining ridings have decided to elect independent candidates.  Again, we stress that these are not necessarily to be taken as an indicator of how the night will go.  Because we are in the Easternmost time zone, we will see a significantly high proportion of seats won by the ANM.  It will be the same when the polls close in the Central Time Zone, which also includes provinces which fall in the ANM's Southeastern base.  In addition, we are seeing a number of ridings swing to the Labor Party in that same region due to the millions of first-time black voters.  In addition, the Northeastern industrial cities and suburbs have been giving the Liberals and Labor a handsome showing."

[Peter the Lefty]

The Platforms

Conservatives

• A reduction of taxes on the top bracket back to the 50% rate which existed under the Dewey government
•The privatization of the NAHS, coupled with the creation of a federal, optional program of Medical Care for the elderly.
•Ending federal funding of teachers' salaries and turning them over to the provinces, while also slowing down spending increases on the building of schools
•Subsidies to startup firms and small businesses to help buy adequate office space and housing in which to do business.
•Strong enforcement of the new civil rights laws passed under Stevenson and Johnson
•Increases in military spending, particularly on nuclear weapons
•Increased military assistance to nations fighting the advance of communism, especially South Vietnam
•Maintenance of a stable dollar
•The easing of production controls on agriculture
•Replacements of certain public works programs which have been enacted during the last four years with job training programs to give workers better skills in order to improve their opportunities for employment
•A balanced budget

Liberals

•The continuation and expansion of all established New America Programs, as well as Social Security
•The liberalization of requirements for eligibility for government benefits
•Job training centers in poverty-stricken areas to complement the public works and social welfare programs already in place there.  
•increases in the minimum wage, tied with inflation
•The breaking down of international trade barriers
•The liberalization of immigration laws
•Continued spending increases on military spending regarding the equipment worn by American troops, their weapons, their planes, ships, and tanks, etc, while pursuing general bilateral nuclear disarmament
•The continuation of support for the South Vietnamese government in its battle against North Vietnamese Communism.
•Environmental protection legislation
•The creation of an Office of Economic Opportunity to oversee local anti-poverty programs
•National job programs for the young
•The creation of a Community Action program to help the poorest Americans achieve a level of self-sufficiency
•The creation of an agency to provide preschool education for poor children
•More increases in spending on Social Security and Food Stamps
•Continued increases in funding for the NAHS to help it to provide quality medical care for all Americans

Labor

•The expansion of New America programs in their fullest
•Continued funding increases for the NAHS in order to give every American the highest possible quality of medical care
•A reform of Social Security so that it will serve the poor and the disabled, but not the elderly.  A more extensive public pensions program is to be created in its place.
•Increases in Social Security payments
•The liberalization of requirements for eligibility for welfare payments
•Legislation to protect America's natural wilderness and beauty
•Anti-pollution regulations
•Continued and full enforcement of civil rights laws, and more legislation to fight job and housing discrimination
•Increases in capital gains taxes
•Full employment through the extension of New America Programs, and the creation of new ones.  These include:
   •A massive federal housing program which will hire and train local unemployed workers to build thousands of new, low-cost houses in poorer areas
   •The abolition of tuition fees for all public universities, and the subsidization of 50% of the cost of any private university's tuition for any student
   •Special job training programs for men, and especially, women, to assist all seeking work in either the public or private sector
   •The creation of a domestic peace corps program
   •The creation of special programs to help ensure self sufficiency for the poor
   •Free public preschool education for all American children
   •The creation of community based agencies to oversee anti-poverty programs
   •National job programs for young men and women
   •The creation of agricultural, manufacturing, and other cooperatives in poverty-stricken areas
•Support for the Peace Corps and expand it.
•Continued military assistance to South Vietnam without sending ground troops in, as well as increased pressure on the South Vietnamese government to democratize.  
•A hike in the minimum wage to $1.35 per hour, and continued adjustments afterward for inflation.  
•Gradual reductions in defense spending, but in areas which will not harm the safety of any American men in uniform
•Continued support for bilateral nuclear disarmament
•Tax relief bills for the poor, working, and middle classes
•The repeal of the last Conservative government's Labor Management Relations Act

American National Movement

•The repeal of all civil rights legislation passed under the Johnson, Dewey, and Stevenson governments
•The re-segregation of the Southeast, combined with incentives for Northern and Western provinces to reintroduce the system of  segregation which they abolished decades ago
•The privatization of the NAHS
•The Halting of increases in social spending in order to re-achieve fiscal sanity
•Renewal of the efforts to root out and combat domestic communism, which ended with the firing of Joseph McCarthy as Interior Minister in 1953.  
•A law designating that Social Security payments ought to be restricted to white citizens, and that the minimum wage only applies to white workers.
•The re-segregation of the military
•Increases in military spending
•The tearing up of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
•The reduction of taxes on the wealthy to 50%

Libertarians

•The repeal of the NAHS
•The abolishment of the minimum wage
•The phasing out of Social Security to serve only as an elementary source of income for the aged
•The repeal of the Stevenson and Johnson governments' civil rights legislation
•The turnover of multiple federal powers to the provincial governments
•Support for racial equality in terms of the federal government's hiring practices
•Sharp cuts in spending in all budgetary matters, with the exception of defense
•Increases in defense spending, as well as the placement of the power to fire nuclear missiles in the hands of NATO commanders

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Thanks for the party platforms, both Tory and Libertarian look good, would vote for one of them depending on what riding I was in. Certainly wouldn't vote ANM though.