President Thomas Dewey and Beyond

Ben.
Ben
YaBB God

Posts: 4,249

Show only this user's posts in this thread

President Thomas Dewey and Beyond

« on: April 10, 2004, 12:54:48 PM »

Its proably best for me to start my own thread i though rather than just post this as a reply to PBrunsel's Timline (Dont worry i'll delete my earlier positing

)… What do you guys think of this?

1948-1956 : Thomas Dewey/ Earl Warren (Republican)

The US still enters the Korean war, as the “red terror” is at its height and while the economy booms (Dewey repealing many of the now outdated elements of the New Deal) the right of the party lead by the Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater is still suspicious of what Goldwater scathingly dubs a “Dime Store New Deal” referring to the retention of many legacies from the FDR administrations. The Korean war goes pretty much as it did before, Dewey initially overawed by Douglas McArthur soon is forced to adopt an attitude similar to that Truman did, the War ends at about the same time it did in reality. In 1952 the Democratic candidate is Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II, despite many Americans warming to the scholarly and spirited Stevenson, Dewey wins a solid victory over the Illinois Governor. Between 1952-1956 the right of the GOP still berates Dewey for his “liberalism” however Goldwater and his supporters are still firmly in a minority and with the Democrats retaking congress in 1952 Dewey is further constrained in what he can do. Like Ike Dewey initiates some movement towards civil rights for African Americans, but is largely obstructed by Dixicrats within congress, despite some support from northern democrats.

1956-1960 : Earl Warren/ Henry Cabot Lodge (Republican)

Defeating the Democratic nominee Hubert Humphries in a close race the popular, personable Warren pursues a tough foreign policy while working to build upon the achievements of Dewey in the field of civil rights. However the post war boom is slowing down (largly thanks to the amount of spending by the federal government) … Warren who began his term as a popular former VP becomes caricatured as removed and aloof from ordinary Americans, Democrats hammer him on being weak on defence and a soft touch on communism, added to this the glamorous, Hawkish Massachusetts Senator Jack Kennedy wins the democratic nomination and soon Warrens poll numbers being to sink in head to head match ups… even Warren’s good performances in the first televised presidential debates cannot help him and he is defeated by the democratic ticket of John F Kennedy/ Al Gore…

1960-1963 : John F Kennedy/ Al Gore (Democratic)

In his brief two years and half in office Kennedy delivered on many of his promises… he introduces a rise in the largely worthless minimum wage, he pushed through a tax cut which helped the economy on its way to recovery and also pushed through legalisation which offered incentives to companies and contractors to invest in the poorer regions of the country and by doing this help to bring jobs to these regions. In foreign affairs Kennedy backed up his hawkish remarks during the election with tough stances against the Soviets at the Vienna conference, in Berlin and most importantly in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. However despite all his achievements and a notable failure in the defeat of his Medicare bill Kennedy, who was looking like a virtual lock for re-election, was shot in late 1963 as his car drove through Dallas Texas.

1963-1972 : Al Gore/ Edmund Muskie (Democratic)

Vice President Al Gore was sworn into office within minutes of news of President Kennedy’s death reaching his home in Nashville Tennessee. Gore resisted calls by some on the left of the party to attempt to hammer through some radical proposals and instead continued very much in the vein of the moderately liberal but hawkish Kennedy. In foreign affairs, Gore offered limited support to the south Vietnamese government however refused to acquiesce to the demands of many in the pentagon to a slow escalation of forces in south east Asia. The economy continued to grow and while President Gore never inspired or excited the American public in the same way as had the late president Kennedy many respected the aging southerner moderate especially as he cautiously pressed through further civil rights legislation. The nomination of the radically libertarian Arizona Senator and defacto leader of the right of the GOP Barry Goldwater (to say he was a conservative is not absolutely right… but he was principled and I respect him for that) practically assured the moderate Gore of re-election, however he never took his re-election for granted working hard to assure himself and democrats across the country of re-election. In the end Gore enjoyed a massive landslide bigger than even FDR had managed in 1936… beating Goldwater in the electoral college by 506 votes to 34 (LA and GA would very probably have gone to a more cautious moderate democrat than LBJ). Gore first full term was largely a placid four years, on the domestic front he worked hard to keep spending down vetoing a succession of ambitious plans from the democratic congress, on civil right he continued to move at an increasingly fast pace, this alienated many southerners who began to turn to the republican party for the first time however Gore was careful to make sure that this flow of “Dixiecrats” to the GOP did not become a flood and was careful to strike a balance between the demands of some black leaders and the concerns (largely unfounded) of white southern democrats. In foreign affairs the cold war remained tense and chilly…in the Dominican Republic US forces crushed a Communist Government and around Cuba the trade embargo was strengthened in the post-colonial world also US aid flowed anti-communist regimes. In 1968 Gore faced a challenge from the left of the party in the form of Senator Eugene McCarthy however the challenge of the Minnesotan Senator largely fell flat after he captured a scant 19% in the New Hampshire primary and Gore ploughed on while at the same time republicans battled it out for their party’s nomination the GOP battle largely boiling down to two candidates Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon. During the summer of 1968 Gore was very concerned about the Soviet moves against Czechoslovakia and the possible threat of a communist coup in France however in both cases he showed grit and determination, in the case of the Czech crisis he called a summit with the new Soviet leader Brezhnev in Geneva and a soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia was narrowly averted and the basis for further talks was created , in France the strikes and student riots eventually collapsed as the workers and the students continually disagree and eventually the students where left isolated and the few remaining rebels where toppled by the police and President De Gaulle’ authority was cemented once again… The boost that Gore had received from his talks with Brezhnev and the growth in the economy (which had slowed down some what from it peak in the mid 1960’s) made it very difficult for the GOP candidate Senator Richard Nixon to find fault his hopes of running as tough on the soviets had backfired with Gore’s diplomatic successes and his hopes of an opening on the economy also proved illusory however despite all of this Nixon ran a good campaign and put in three good performances in the presidential debates and managed to allow the Republican party a solid recovery from its Nadir in 1964… winning 46% of the vote to Gore’s 52% at the same time while the democratic majority in the house remained fairly solid the GOP made great gains in the senate which slashed the Democratic majority in the upper camber to just six seats. In Gore’s second term the economic slow down of the late 1960’s continued as the manufactures of West Germany and Japan began to incur on markets which America had once dominated and unemployment in the US began to rise as manufactures where forced to close. Despite the poor state of the economy Gore was still able to build on his success at Geneva in 1968 and in 1971 agreed to the SALT I treaty which reduced both US and Soviet arms and moved to bring the USSR into economic dependency on US exports. Despite the fact that Gore was still personally popular many American voters where now looking for a change and in 1972 the likely republican nominee Senator Robert Dole was receiving much positive press from some unlikely sources.

Logged

Ben.
Ben
YaBB God

Posts: 4,249

	Welcome, Guest. Please login or register. Did you miss your activation email? April 23, 2024, 10:08:26 PM

News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more