Vice, Virtue, and Independence (A Different Path, Chapter 2)

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

Amazing results from an amazing TL!

[MillennialModerate]

Give me a major role for Teddy, RFK or JFK JR

And a Biden Win...

And I’ll be happy

[Cold War Liberal]

November 7, 1972
Hubert

John smoked a cigar as he read the paper the morning after the election. The New York Times gleamed up at him: “HUMPHREY WINS HISTORIC CLEAN SWEEP.”

1968 had been a repudiation of the liberalism of the Kennedy years, or so went the narrative. If that was the case, then 1972 was an even bigger repudiation of that repudiation. Jack felt vindicated. America had experimented with conservatism, and the experiment had evidently failed. The economy was in a slump. Civil rights abuses against black Americans were rampant in the South, which still hadn’t fully wriggled out of Jim Crow’s iron grip. The safety net was weaker than Jack would like. Nuclear weapons had been used for the first time since 1945. Goldwater had been an unmitigated disaster.

Kennedy hadn’t been entirely happy with his second term, and now he had a sympathetic President-elect ready to finish what he’d started. Jack was overjoyed. He picked up the phone on his desk, and called the incoming President.

“Hello Hubert, congratulations on the victory. Very impressive. I’d like to offer my assistance to you however I can. You’ve got some work to do..." "by the way, it is Kennedy"

[KaiserDave]

Yes! Hubert!

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

“Hello Hubert, congratulations on the victory. Very impressive. I’d like to offer my assistance to you however I can. You’ve got some work to do..." "by the way, it is Kennedy"

Chills! I can't wait to see how HHH's term plays out.

ALSO I didn't notice that little post script until even after I posted this. You're a sly one

[MR DARK BRANDON]

Update?

[Cold War Liberal]

November 8, 1972
Barry

So it was official now: Barry was on his way out. The President sighed. It’s been a rough four years, he thought.

Barry was looking forward to returning to civilian private life. His family had been stretched by his Presidency, and though his children were all adults, they had gotten (mostly) unwanted attention as well. Barry hoped the press would just leave him, his wife, and his kids alone, unless and until Barry was ready to re-enter public life.

Barry wasn’t happy with what little he’d accomplished. He didn’t have the chance to cut taxes, had gotten America into a war against Communism that it lost miserably, and had lowered the country in the eyes of the world (though that was mostly LeMay’s fault). Sure, he’d streamlined and reduced the size of the federal government a little, but his successor was sure to expand it beyond where it had been in 1969. And he’d likely ruined the GOP’s electoral prospects until at least 1980, with 1976 being a lost cause already, and with 1974 not looking much better.

He did wish Humphrey well, though. He really believed that the President’s success was America’s success, even if he didn’t agree with Humphrey’s policies.

My Presidency has either been a preview for a coming conservative era, Goldwater thought.

Or an anomaly in a progressive century.

[Cold War Liberal]

And thus concludes A Different Path, Chapter 2: Vice, Virtue, and Independence. For the Humphrey Administration (and beyond?), stay tuned for:

A Different Path, Chapter 3:

Out of the Shadow

Coming soon...

[MR DARK BRANDON]

When will this come out?

[Cold War Liberal]

When will this come out?

When I feel like it. I'm still writing. Be patient

[WilliamStone1776]

I'm so excited for the next installment

[Mr. Smith]

Bump

[Cold War Liberal]

Bump

I'm slowly writing chapter 3 right now. I have through 1973 done, and I'm working on 1974 now. My goal is to finish writing through the 1976 election before I post the first part here. Final projects and tests are coming up soon so my writing time will increase dramatically after that. Expect the first post before the end of the year.

[Mr. Smith]

Bump

I'm slowly writing chapter 3 right now. I have through 1973 done, and I'm working on 1974 now. My goal is to finish writing through the 1976 election before I post the first part here. Final projects and tests are coming up soon so my writing time will increase dramatically after that. Expect the first post before the end of the year.

Thanx.

[Tron1993]

When is the next chapter coming.  I love this story

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

When is the next chapter coming.  I love this story

It's been out.

[LoneStarDem]

December 7, 1967

BREAKING: LBJ JUMPS INTO 1968 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY, ADDING A MORE MODERATE SOUTHERN OPTION

DALLAS, TX - Texas Governor Lyndon B. Johnson, after years of speculation, has officially announced that he will seek the Democratic nomination for President. The former Vice President, once disgraced and dropped off the 1964 ticket, has become something of a political phoenix, rising from the ashes of his tax evasion trial to beat an incumbent Democratic governor in 1966 by a razor-thin margin.

Now, Governor Johnson is trying for the office he has wanted since he was a boy: the Presidency. In a speech given outside the Johnson family ranch, the Governor stated that he was “horrified” by the “bland, inexperienced Vice President; the radically liberal Senator McGovern, and the downright racist Governor Wallace.” He then pitched himself as the pragmatic alternative to the three: pro-civil-rights, unlike Governor Wallace; more connected and experienced than Vice President Udall; and more conservative than Senator McGovern (while still being fairly progressive). He also touted his own “Texas grit” as a merit only he possessed, and in that he may be right.

Governor Johnson is a polarizing figure in American politics; the trial that, in the governor’s words, “vindicated” him is seen by much of the public as having come to the wrong conclusion. Nonetheless, he is still a fairly popular figure among Democrats (70% of party members approved of him in a recent Gallup poll, while only 40% of all voters did), and will certainly be a formidable foe for the other Democratic candidates in the race, especially as Mr. Johnson is a masterful delegate-wrangler.

How did LBJ become Governor ? I wonder how Dolph Briscoe would've reacted to that ?

I noticed that when LBJ died, I'm assuming then-Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith (D) served as Governor until Connally was sworn into office for his 3rd term on January 21st, 1969 ?