The American Monarchy

[Lief 🗽]

Thanks! If anyone has any questions about foreign affairs, I can answer them, since the next update will return to domestic affairs after the war.

[HappyWarrior]

Wait, did we just lose the war?

[Lief 🗽]

You'll find out in the peace negotiations in the next update.

It was more of a draw than a loss though. If not for the British bombs, the American and Russian forces would have probably liberated China after another year of fighting. The British just made sure that the war ended before things swung too hard against them (and while they still occupied large parts of China and Ireland).

[Person Man]

What would be cool is that the peace neogotiations would break down by 1948 and there would be a massive nuclear war between the British, Russians and Americans....and that there would be a post-apocalyptic cold war that would spawn many exotic technologies and that eventually the British-Chinese would launch an attack on Alaska in the early 2010s that would cause a more massive nuclear attack. By then, there would be moon colonies.  Essentially, it would be bad ass if thise thing turned into Fallout crossed with A Canticle for Liebowitz.

...or we could have Versailesesque situation where America is pushed backed into the real lower 48 and the US veers far to the right and by 1960, we are resurgent again and by 1965, there is a thermonuclear war.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: The Election of 1947

American, Russian and British diplomats met in June in the neutral location of Paris. More important than who attended the peace negotiations was who was not invited; there was no Chinese, Irish or Japanese representation at the negotiations. Secretary of State Henry Wallace represented the United States, Foreign Minister Nikolai Bulganin represented Russia, and Prime Minister Oswald Mosley, along with Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan, represented the United Kingdom. Negotiations were tenuous and lasted for weeks; the British successfully bluffed that they had more atomic bombs ready to use against the Americans and Russians, but a series of American bombing raids against Darwin and Brisbane in February scared Mosley into believing that the Americans were preparing to invade Australia (which they were not and could not even if they had wanted to). Early in the negotiations, American diplomats gave up trying to push for an independent Ireland or China, and it was soon agreed that East Asia would be divided into three spheres of occupation: Russia would get Manchuria and northern China, Britain would be given Southern China and Tibet, and the United States would get Taiwan, Korea and eastern China. All three powers would occupy and rebuild Japan. The United States was allowed to retain some of its conquests in the Pacific, but had to return Alaska. Japan lost nearly all of its colonial territory, China ceased to exist as an independent state, and Ireland came fully under British control. America agreed to pay reparations to the British, for starting the conflict by intervening in Anglo-Irish affairs and to never again involve themselves in Anglo-Irish affairs. Finally, the British agreed to re-enter the League of Nations. The British and Americans also separately agreed that a world conference would need to be called to deal with the issues of Africa and the further production of nuclear weapons. Oswald Mosley returned to the United Kingdom in early August. Two months later, he was nearly assassinated in an Irish terrorist bombing. In response, his government quickly passed harsh measures restricting freedoms in Ireland and establishing martial law.  Mosley’s government would be overwhelmingly re-elected that summer.

The Treaty of Paris was easily ratified in the United States Senate that August. Immediately after its passage, new elections were called, for the first time in nine years, and scheduled for October.  After nine years, both parties had undergone some changes, as had their voter bases. The Populist Party, which had only three seats (having lost two in by-elections) when the election was called, agreed to disband, with most of the remaining Populists joining the ANL. The ANL, for its part, underwent some significant changes. At its party convention in Memphis, it adopted a new platform, purging the fascist elements of the party, in what would later be termed the Memphis Program. The party also renamed itself the American Christian Union (or ACU), in an attempt to rebrand itself as a Christian democratic party, rather than an ultra-nationalist or far right party. Still, the fact that its base was in South meant that it was the most socially conservative of the four major parties, with support for segregation as a plank in its platform.  Alvin York, for his part, opposed the new direction of the party, and he and his remaining supporters left the party, forming the National Union Party. After 36 ballots, Fielding L. Wright, a former Populist who had switched to the ANL in the ‘30s, became the party’s leader, defeating Senator Strom Thurmond of Carolina and Senator Robert W. Welch Jr. of Indiana.

At the Liberal convention, Arthur Vandenberg, despite allegations that he was in poor health, ran again for party leader, winning on the first ballot. At the ILP convention, began to restructure itself, focusing on farming issues and an isolationist foreign policy, as it's electoral strength had become concentrated in the Midwest and middle Canada states. Kansas Senator Alf Landon was re-elected without opposition. Finally, at the SDP convention, Norman Thomas declined to run again, choosing to enter into retirement. The election for party leader was contentious and lasted for three days. On the first ballot, a number of candidates put their names forward.

First Ballot (501 Delegates needed):
Senator Henry Wallace (Iowa): 289
Mayor Vito Marcantonio (New York): 206
Senator Sam Rayburn (Texas): 202
Senator Glen Taylor (Lakota): 104
AFL President John L. Lewis (Pennsylvania): 89
Premier Tommy Douglas (Madison): 77
Senator Robert F. Wagner (New York): 20
Others: 13

On the remaining ballots on the first day, minor candidates dropped out, with different candidates consolidating support from various factions of the party. The first ballot on the second day resulted in consolidation behind three candidates. Wallace represented farming and western interests and the party establishment, urban SDP members backed Marcantonio, and Rayburn had the support of moderates and Southerners in the party.

Tenth Ballot (501 Delegates needed):
Senator Henry Wallace: 401
Senator Sam Rayburn: 246
Mayor Vito Marcantonio: 244
AFL President John L. Lewis: 61
Premier Tommy Douglas: 43
Others: 7

Throughout the day, Douglas would drop out, endorsing Wallace, and Lewis would drop out, endorsing Marcantonio. The final ballot on the second day showed Wallace within a few delegates of a majority.

Seventeenth Ballot (501 Delegates needed):
Senator Henry Wallace: 460
Mayor Vito Marcantonio: 301
Senator Sam Rayburn: 231
Others: 6

That night, Mayor Marcantonio met with Wallace and endorsed him, allowing Wallace to easily win the next day. Wallace promised to continue the work began by Prime Minister Villa, and presented a bold platform calling for a universal healthcare system, decolonization, desegregation, and a strengthening of the welfare apparatus.

The election campaign was hard fought, with Liberals calling for a return to the prosperity of earlier days, the SDP running on what it called a successful war, while asking Americans to give it a chance to continue its economic program, and the ILP and ACU trying to consolidate their control of the Midwest and South, respectively. The ILP campaigned on a platform of isolationism, progressive social policies, and left of center economic policies, with support for farm aid and labor unions. The ACU generally favored a strong defense combined with non-interventionism, and, as its base was primarily working class white voters, called for greater government economic investment. However, it was socially incredibly reactionary; some of its detractors labeled it a theocratic, racist party. Many in the media labeled it the “New Populist Party.” The election of 1947 was the first to be actively polled by polling organizations. Early polls showed the Liberals with a significant lead over the SDP, of roughly ten points. However, after Henry Wallace’s nomination in early September, the SDP surged, mostly at the expense of the ILP. Wallace had great support amongst progressive rural voters, cutting into the ILP’s strongest demographic. None of the parties really touched the war: the SDP and Liberals felt equally responsible for its results, both negative and positive; the ACU, in an effort to move beyond its militaristic past and re-appeal to the South’s isolationist bent, largely ignored the issue; and the ILP had angered its isolationist base by joining in the war cabinet, so they too tried to avoid the issue. The NUP was largely ignored; it was seen as a fascist anachronism, and most ANL supporters stayed with the ACU or went to one of the other major parties.

The Senate after the Election of 1947:
Liberal Party: 40.9% PV   (+20.2%)   
      132 CS; 105 PLS; 233 Total Seats (+139)
Social Democratic Party: 36.4% PV (-4.4%)
      83 CS; 94 PLS; 177 Total Seats (-89)
Independent Liberal Party: 6.8% PV (-4.8%)
      8 CS; 18 PLS; 26 Total Seats (-16)
American Christian Union: 12.8% PV (-8.9%)
      25 CS; 33 PLS; 58 Total Seats (-31)
National Union Party: 1.4% PV
      2 CS; 0 PLS; 2 Total Seats (+2)
Other Parties: 1.7% PV (-3.4%)
      0 CS; 0 PLS; 0 Total Seats (-5)
Total: 500 Seats


(% of seats)

In the end, the Liberals won the most seats, dramatically improving their vote share compared to the 1938 election, though they were unable to gain a majority. Immediately following the election, the ACU approached the Liberals with an offer of a coalition. The Liberals were initially apprehensive; the ACU’s predecessor party, the ANL, had been barred from any coalitions during its existence, and Vandenberg was wary of letting extremist influence into his cabinet. After a week of negotiations, however, and the unappealing prospect of ruling in a grand coalition with the SDP (the ILP had refused to join a Liberal coalition at the beginning of the campaign), Vandenberg relented. In October, Arthur Vandenberg was elected Prime Minister in the Senate, and Henry Wallace became Opposition Leader.



The First Vandenberg Cabinet (October 1947):
Prime Minister: Arthur Vandenberg (Lib-MI)
Deputy Prime Minister: Fielding L. Wright (ACU-MS)
Majority Whip: Everett Dirksen (Lib-IL)
Secretary of State: Joseph Martin (Lib-MA)
Secretary of the Treasury: Robert Taft (Lib-OH)
Secretary of War: Fielding L. Wright (ACU-MS)
Attorney General: Thomas Dewey (Lib-NY)
Secretary of the Interior: John Diefenbaker (Lib-MN)
Secretary of Agriculture: William E. Jenner (Lib-IN)
Secretary of Commerce: Richard Russell, Jr. (ACU-GA)
Secretary of Labor: Harry F. Byrd (ACU-VA)

[CultureKing]

could we possibly get a world map as it stands now?

[Lief 🗽]

Yeah, tonight or tomorrow.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1947-1950

Prime Minister Vandenberg moved quickly to transition the country from a wartime to a peacetime economy, while at the same time dealing personally with diplomatic efforts in Europe and Asia. The first major billed passed by the Senate was the Railroad and Industry Normalization Act, which privatized all but the most significant railway lines and a majority of the industry that had been nationalized during the war. This passed with little debate through the Senate, as it was backed by the Liberals and the ACU, as well as moderates in the SDP and ILP. The Royal Council, though still overwhelmingly in SDP hands, passed it narrowly, by a 28-26 vote. King Henry signed the bill into law before the winter recess. The 1948 budget, passed on a straight party-line vote (with the Liberals and ACU voting for and the SDP and ILP voting against), saw significant cuts in taxes and spending.

For the rest of the year, Vandenberg, along with his Secretary of State, Senator Joseph Martin of Massachusetts, concerned himself primary with foreign affairs. Throughout the summer and fall, he worked to arrange an international conference on the fate of Africa, as there were numerous territorial disputes following the fall of Germany. The New York Conference took place during the Spring of 1949, and the six nations of Spain, Italy, France, Great Britain, Portugal and the United States divvied up Africa and redrew the borders of their colonies. At the conference, all six countries also signed on to the goal of gradually granting their colonies independence, with the goal of a fully independent Africa by the turn of the century.

While Vandenberg was very successful on the foreign affairs front, he was less so when it came to economic matters. The post-war American economy fell into a recession in early 1948, and there was a bitter divide within the Liberal party on how to move forward on economic issues. Moderates in the party, led by Thomas Dewey and others, and supported in large part by the ACU, wanted to retain most of the programs originated by the SDP, arguing that they had been successful and were fairly popular. Conservatives, led by Treasury Secretary Robert Taft were in favor of dramatic spending cuts, and the dissolution of most of the SDP’s programs. Because of this divide, the Liberal government’s economic policies were confused and all over the place through 1948 and 1949. In 1948, Taft worked hard to pass a balanced budget, to the objections of moderates in his party, who believed the economy was still too shaky to do so. In 1948, the Vandenberg government also passed the China Territory Organization Act, which set up a colonial government in American China, and called for a gradual transition to an independent, democratic nation. General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Governor of the territory.

Royal Council elections were also held in 1948, having been moved forward two years, due to the fact that they hadn’t occurred since 1938. The Liberals gained seats, as expected; the SDP, after the 1938 elections, had won a solid majority in the chamber. But the Liberal gains were disappointingly small, and they only gained a minority in the chamber. Voters were apprehensive about the new Liberal government, the economy was poor, and the SDP still had a core, incredibly loyal block of voters, comprised of the working class, farmers, union workers and minorities. A Liberal-ACU coalition in the Royal Council was able to barely eke out a 28-seat majority.

The Royal Council after the Election of 1948:
Liberal Party: 23 Seats (+13)
Social Democratic Party: 22 Seats (-13)
Independent Liberal Party: 4 Seats (+0)
American Christian Union: 5 Seats (+0)
Total: 54 Seats



In January of 1949, the fascist government that had been installed in Austria by the Fascist Tripartite Pact after the war fell, after massive riots led by liberals and the left wing in the country. Italian forces prepared to move into the country to re-establish the government, while Hungarians threatened that an invasion by the Italians would be met by a counter-invasion by the Hungarians, who saw the Austrian state as within their influence. Prime Minister Vandenberg and Secretary of State Martin both traveled to the League of Nations that spring, where they negotiated a standing down of both Italian and Hungarian troops. After a week of negotiations, the Italians and Hungarians agreed to allow free elections in the country. In the July election, the communist party, led by Kurt Landau, won a landslide victory. The Austrian Communist Party was closely aligned with Soviet Hungary, giving the new leader of Hungary, Mátyás Rákosi, yet another ally in Eastern Europe.

When Prime Minister Vandenberg returned to the United States in April 1949, he was in poor health after the stress of the Austrian Crisis. In October of 1949, he had a severe heart attack, and died a week later. Fielding Wright became acting Prime Minister, as the Liberal party struggled to pick a candidate. Thomas Dewey and Robert Taft, along with their respective factions, both struggled to take control of the party. Eventually, after a number of divisive party caucus meetings, it was decided that a formal leadership election needed to be held. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Senator from New York, stepped forward as a consensus pick for interim party leader, and became Prime Minister in February of 1950, after a unanimous Liberal Senate caucus vote. The caucus also decided to wait until the next election to elect a new leader. Roosevelt’s cabinet, with the exception of himself, was identical to Vandenberg’s. Roosevelt was immediately faced with another international crisis, when a Greek ship, the Polemistis, in the Aegean mysteriously sunk. The Greek government, and their allies in Budapest, quickly blamed the Turkish government and threatened war. Turkish troops were fighting a British-backed Arab rebellion in the Middle East and were caught completely off guard by the incident. Turkish diplomats in the United States and in the League of Nations pleaded for peace, promising that they had had no part in the ship’s sinking. Secretary of State Martin went to the League of Nations, but before he arrived, Hungarian and Greek troops had crossed through Bulgaria and were outside Istanbul, shelling the city. Greek soldiers began landing on the Turkish-controlled islands of the Aegean.

At the League of Nations, Secretary of State Martin condemned the Hungarian-Greek invasion. The League overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning the invasion (with only Hungary, Greece and their allies voting against it), and approved a 30,000 man peacekeeping force. British general Bernard Montgomery was selected to lead the force, which arrived in the Aegean Sea in April. By that time, however, Greek-Hungarian forces had taken Istanbul and Greek troops had landed in Cyprus. In the Middle East, Turkish troops had been forced back into Anatolia, losing complete control of Mesopotamia and Syria. When peacekeeping troops arrived, Hungarian and Greek forces largely halted, and a ceasefire was proclaimed within a week. The Greeks demanded heavy territorial concessions, and the Turkish were in little place to resist, though the League of Nations dissuaded the Greeks from demanding Istanbul. By May, the war had ended, and Turkey had been humiliated on the national stage. In late 1950, the Turks tried to invade Syria again, but the Hashemite kingdom that had been established over the area with the backing of the British easily beat back the Turkish invaders. The defeat encouraged the Armenians to revolt as well, forcing to the Turkish to deal with yet another rebellion that winter, though they would eventually subdue it.

In May 1950, the first American atomic bomb was detonated, in the New Mexico desert. Funding for the project had fallen considerably following the end of the war, but it was nonetheless a significant American propaganda victory. King Henry spoke before the Senate in March, urging them to pass legislation funding further nuclear weapon development. The Nuclear Research and Armament Act, written by freshman Senator Richard Nixon of California, was passed easily in June of 1950, with the full backing of the Liberals, ACU and a good portion of the SDP, though Opposition Leader Henry Wallace famously gave an hour-long speech in opposition to the bill, warning that atomic weapons could lead to the end of the human race. In response, British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley’s government would pass similar legislation in late 1950, dramatically increasing the scope of their nuclear program.

[Lief 🗽]

World map is coming in a little bit.

[Hash]

So, who is the real leader of France, aside from the puppet Orléans monarch? Is it a total dictatorship, or are there elections?

[Lief 🗽]

So, who is the real leader of France, aside from the puppet Orléans monarch? Is it a total dictatorship, or are there elections?

The Action Française controls the government, and while there are "elections", only the AF is allowed on the ballot. Charles Maurras is currently Prime Minister, but he's in his 80s, so some of the younger AF leaders are currently fighting for political control of the party (and thus the country).

Here's the world map, as of the end of 1950. Again, major nations have colors, while minor nations/rebels are in white. Outlined nations/areas mean that the color of the outline has de facto control, while the filled-in color has de jure control (either because it is a puppet state, the controlling state has major influence in domestic politics, or the same dynasty controls both countries, such as with the USA and Mexico). If anything is unclear or something, feel free to ask about it. The white outline in Turkey represents Armenia, which is revolting at the end of the year.


Click here if the image is shrunk on your screen

[Hash]

Is that an independent and united Baltic country out there?

How does that Czech state fit in there and yet doesn't seem to be under French or Hungarian influence?

[Lief 🗽]

The independent nation of Livonia (or Livland auf Deutsch), created by the German Empire after the Great War. It overthrew its appointed Hohenzollern king after the Tripartite Pact invaded Germany and is now a somewhat stable democracy.

The Czech state (officially the Republic of Bohemia and Moravia) was another German puppet that overthrew its Hohenzollern monarch after the German government fell. It pledged neutrality, and is currently ruled by a liberal, democratic government. Its situation is understandably precarious though, and both the Fascist and Communist alliances are trying to sway the small state to their side.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Why did Spain get Southwest Africa?  Did Britain not already have Walvis Bay in this timeline?  It would be a considerable change for there to be no Anglosphere interest in SWA.

[CultureKing]

What about South America/Scandinavia?

[Lief 🗽]

What about South America/Scandinavia?

Finland is part of Russia, though there's a strengthening independence movement in the territory. Denmark, Norway and Sweden are all free, generally neutral states, though of all the European power blocs they're mostly closely aligned with the British. Not much different from our own history is happening in South America, and most countries during the war were officially neutral, though they were by and large more closely aligned to the United States.

Why did Spain get Southwest Africa?  Did Britain not already have Walvis Bay in this timeline?  It would be a considerable change for there to be no Anglosphere interest in SWA.

Germany gained control of the Walvis Bay during the Great War, and held on to it despite some British counter-attacks from South Africa. After the war, Germany gained the territory in the Treaty of Rome, and added it to their Southwest Africa colony. Germany lost all it's territories following the 1943 invasion, and Spain was given the territory at the New York Conference. It would make sense for the British to have demanded the Walvis Bay enclave back at the conference though, so I'll update the map to that effect.

[Person Man]

Gee...were gearing up for World War III... this could be kinda fun...

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: The Election of 1951

As the year 1951 began, the economy continued its slump. Unemployment was relatively high, though nowhere near the early 1930s levels. Roosevelt, backed by moderates in his party and the ACU, pushed for investment in public works programs. Conservatives in the party balked at this suggestion, and Treasury Secretary Taft threatened to resign if Franklin Roosevelt did not drop the issue. Roosevelt stood firm, and the cabinet would have likely fallen apart that spring, if not for the death of King Henry I on April 7th, 1951, at the age of sixty-eight. Immediately the nation was thrown into mourning, and Senate business came to a halt. Henry’s 43-year-old son, Robert Theodore Custis Lee, was crowned King Robert III in early March¹. In his inaugural speech, he paid tribute to his late father, who had led the nation through the Mexican Intervention and the Third Anglo-American War, as well the dark economic times of the 1930s. The inauguration of a new monarch dramatically changed the tone in the Senate, and in the summer of 1951, Roosevelt and Taft came to a compromise, and passed a bill authorizing limited investment in new public works programs. During the summer, Roosevelt was also to pass the 1951 Veteran’s Readjustment Act, as massive bill, which provided returning veteran’s with a college education, a year of unemployment compensation, and loans to buy homes and start businesses. The bill first rewarded veterans, but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, would help jump start the economy, as many veterans returning from the war were still unemployed and struggling to re-enter the workforce.  After this, Roosevelt asked Robert III to dissolve the Senate and call new elections, which Robert would schedule for November.

In August, before the party conventions had been held, officials from the ILP and SDP approached one another, about reaching an electoral agreement, so that the two parties would not run against each other in any constituencies. In the last election, vote splitting had allowed Liberals to pick up a number of seats that the ILP or SDP should have easily held, and was widely blamed for the ILP’s poor constituency showing. In August, ILP Party Head Alf Landon and SDP Party Chairman Henry Wallace formally signed the agreement.  The purpose of meeting was kept secret until after the agreement had formally been established, which led to media speculation that the two parties would merge or join into an alliance, which they did not.

In late August, the SDP held its convention in Chicago. Henry Wallace was challenged by Harry Truman, who argued that Wallace hadn’t done enough in opposing the Liberal agenda. Truman, though incredibly popular in the party, had not challenged Wallace in the 1947 leadership election, and had been rewarded with the post of Deputy Party Leader. However, Truman, at the age of 67, saw this election as his last chance to lead the SDP, and had criticized Wallace, privately, over the past four years. Wallace brushed off these criticisms, claiming that the SDP’s seat share had prevented it from offering strong opposition to the Liberal-ACU government. Wallace also chastised moderates in his party, for joining the Liberals in passing some legislation. Truman, in his speech before the balloting, attacked Wallace for his weak leadership and his attempts to shift blame. “When I lead this party, and lead this great nation as its Prime Minister, the buck will stop here,” Truman famously declared, slamming his fist on the podium. Despite Truman’s spirited speech, Wallace narrowly prevailed on the first ballot, with 563 of the 1000 delegates.

The ILP convention, held in Bismarck, Dakota, was considerably tamer. Alf Landon, after much speculation, decided to run as Party Leader a final time. Some in the party approached the forty-year-old ILP mayor of the city, Hubert H. Humphrey to challenge the long-serving Landon, but he declined, instead giving the convention’s keynote address, and running successfully for Governor of Dakota in 1952. The party updated its platform, with an emphasis on helping American farmers, strengthening unions, staying out of foreign conflicts, and civil rights. Party leaders, realizing that the name of the party no longer really meant anything (the ILP and Liberals had, by that point, drifted apart on nearly every issue), put forth a motion changing the party’s name to the Farmer-Labor Party (FLP), which was passed easily. The ACU convention, held days later in Birmingham, saw a contentious battle between candidates for the leadership. The incumbent, Senator Fielding Wright of Mississippi, was defeated, and Harry F. Byrd of Virginia prevailed. The NUP held a small, discreet convention, but they lacked funds and had few followers.

The Liberal convention was held last, and even the selection of a location was controversial. Conservatives in the party wanted Ohio (home state of their leader, Senator Robert Taft), while moderates demanded New York (home state of their leader, Senator Thomas Dewey). In the end, New York City was picked, after lobbying from Prime Minister Roosevelt. The convention would come down to a battle between conservatives and moderates, and was incredibly bitter. Both candidates vehemently denounced one another. Dewey called Taft an “extremist and a radical”, warning that he would destroy the party. Taft responded in kind, labeling Dewey a sell-out, “a socialist masquerading as a member of the Liberal Party.” Ultimately, Dewey narrowly prevailed, with the support of 50.8% of the delegates, to Taft’s 46.3%. Richard Nixon, a senator from California, gave the convention’s keynote address, which was well received. Conservatives in the party immediately began preparing to challenge Dewey at the next election, realizing that the moderately conservative, young and charismatic Nixon would be a perfect candidate.

Early October Nationwide Gallup Poll
Social Democratic Party: 35%
Liberal Party: 34%
Farmer-Labor Party: 6%
American Christian Union: 10%
National Union Party: 3%
Undecided/Other: 13%

The election started out incredibly close, and remained so right through election day. The economy had improved slightly, though it was still far from what anyone would call strong. The ACU ran a strong, national campaign, appealing to disgruntled conservatives in the Liberal party and taking advantage of the bitter leadership fight. The Liberals, SDP and FLP all supported, to various degrees, civil rights legislation. The issue of civil rights had fallen by the wayside after Robert Todd Lincoln’s Supreme Court rulings in favor of greater voting rights and equality in the 1910s and 20s, and conditions had largely regressed back to those of the late 19th century. In 1951, both of the major parties turned to the issue in an attempt to win over the African-American vote. This, however, turned off some SDP and Liberal voters in the South, who then flocked to the ACU. On election day, the popular vote difference between the SDP and Liberals was extremely close, and the SDP was not able to claim victory until two days after election day, when it became apparent that they had won slightly more seats.



The Senate after the Election of 1951:
Liberal Party: 37.2% PV   (-3.7%)   
      103 CS; 95 PLS; 198 Total Seats (-35)
Social Democratic Party: 39.8% PV (+3.4%)
      103 CS; 101 PLS; 204 Total Seats (+27)
Farmer-Labor Party: 6.3% PV (-0.5%)
      13 CS; 16 PLS; 29 Total Seats (+3)
American Christian Union: 15.0% PV (+2.2%)
      31 CS; 38 PLS; 69 Total Seats (+11)
National Union Party: 0.9% PV (-0.5%)
      0 CS; 0 PLS; 0 Total Seats (-2)
Other Parties: 0.8% PV (-0.9%)
Total: 500 Seats

The incredibly close election result had made who exactly would govern unclear. Henry Wallace declared victory after the election results had become clear, arguing that, as his party won both the popular vote and had the greatest number of seats, he should form the cabinet. However, the Liberals and the ACU had enough seats between them to secure a majority in the Senate. A few days after the election, the FLP and SDP finalized a coalition agreement, making the ACU’s choice the deciding factor. After a caucus vote, the ACU narrowly decided to join the SDP in coalition, giving Wallace’s coalition a 302-seat voting bloc. Wallace announced his cabinet by the end of the month. He also re-arranged the cabinet, adding and abolishing some positions, in an effort to make his cabinet more effective. The final cabinet had seven SDP Senators, four ACU Senators, and two FLP Senators.


Prime Minister Henry A. Wallace

The First Wallace Cabinet (November 1951):
Prime Minister: Henry Wallace (SDP-IA)
Deputy Prime Minister: Harry F. Byrd (ACU-VA)
Majority Whip: Lyndon B. Johnson (SDP-TX)
Secretary of State: Glen H. Taylor (SDP-LK)
Secretary of the Treasury: Harry S. Truman (SDP-MO)
Secretary of Defense: Harry F. Byrd (ACU-VA)
Attorney General: Alf Landon (FLP-IL)
Secretary of Agriculture & Food: Wayne Morse (FLP-OR)
Secretary of Labor & Industry: W. Averell Harriman (SDP-NY)
Secretary of Business & Commerce: Richard Russell, Jr. (ACU-GA)
Secretary of Health & Welfare: Tommy Douglas (SDP-MN)
Secretary of Transportation & Infrastructure: Strom Thurmond (ACU-CL)
Secretary of the Interior & Environment: Earl Long (ACU-LA)

¹At his inauguration, Robert had two children, both girls: Alice Eleanor Lee (born in 1945) and Sara Ellen Lee (born in 1948). Robert had been an officer in the war, serving in China along with his brother, Edward.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

¹At his inauguration, Robert had two children, both girls: Alice Eleanor Lee (born in 1945) and Sara Ellen Lee (born in 1948).

I expect that Sara will be the more popular princess, since nobody doesn't like Sara Lee.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1951 – 1954

In the winter of 1951, before the Senate reconvened, the French Prime Minister Charles Maurras died, and there was a struggle within the Action Francaise party that controlled the nation to replace him. Eventually, Defense Minister Eugène Deloncle won out, and after assassinating some of his rivals, seized control of the party and thus the country. In the elections held that spring, Deloncle and his party would win 98% of the vote. King Robert, Prime Minister Wallace, Prime Minister Oswald Mosley of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Georgy Malenkov of Russia all condemned the clearly rigged elections, but the French took no heed.

Prime Minister Henry Wallace sought to hit the ground running, and in November and December of 1951, before the Senate met, he and party leaders drafted numerous bills to be passed immediately in the spring of 1952. First amongst these was a universal healthcare plan, a goal of the Villa and Thomas governments that had never come to fruition due to the war. Wallace also planned to dramatically expand the welfare state, ensuring full, lifelong employment for all Americans. When the Senate reconvened in 1952, the first bill considered was the American Health Insurance Act. Wallace was committed to creating a public program that would stand the test of time, and as such, he sought the support of all four parties in the Senate. In the spring, as Secretaries Johnson, Truman and Douglas worked on crafting a bill that would gain the support of the entire chamber, while at the still time providing universal and comprehensive care, Prime Minister Wallace, who was personally popular even if large swaths of the country disagreed with his politics, traveled the nation in an attempt to build support for the bill.

In April, the final bill was presented to the Senate. The American Health Insurance Act would establish a comprehensive, nationwide, public insurance system. Originally, some in the party had wanted to go so far as to nationalize hospitals, but this was a non-starter with the ACU and the Liberals. The party leaders of the FLP, ACU and Liberals endorsed the bill the next day. Debate lasted for a few weeks, with the most spirited opposition coming from conservatives in the Liberal Party and ACU. Strom Thurmond, after giving a speech in opposition to the bill, resigned his cabinet position. Robert Taft, Shadow Treasury Secretary, attempted to lead a filibuster, but he lost most of his support after Senator Richard Nixon, a rising star in the party and among conservatives, gave a speech in support of the bill. Finally, on the 26th of April 1952, the American Health Insurance Act was passed, by a vote of 452 to 47. It soon passed in the Royal Council by a margin of 37 to 16. King Robert III signed it into law soon after.

The passage of the bill, with such bipartisan support, was a major victory for Prime Minister Wallace and the SDP, and made his party confident going into the Royal Council elections that fall. Before the November elections, Wallace’s government was also able to pass the Public Housing Act of 1952, which provided for the construction of 1 million low-rent, public units in the next decade, primarily in urban areas, as well as funding for urban renewal projects. The Public Housing Act also earned support from all four parties, even the conservative firebrand Robert Taft, and passed nearly unanimously.  The popularity and success of the SDP allowed them to make solid gains in the November Royal Council elections, throughout the country.



The Royal Council after the Election of 1952:
Liberal Party: 18 Seats (-5)
Social Democratic Party: 29 Seats (+7)
Independent Liberal Party: 3 Seats (-1)
American Christian Union: 4 Seats (-1)
Total: 54 Seats

When the Senate reconvened in 1953, Prime Minister Wallace sought to continue his economic program. In a speech before the Senate, he urged them to continue with what he was now calling the Just Society program. The opposition Liberals were conflicted on how to approach Wallace’s programs. On the one hand, they had wide public support, even amongst the Liberal party (Opposition Leader Dewey had strongly supported the American Health Insurance Act), but on the other hand, the Liberals had seen heavy losses in the November elections, and they worried that if Wallace’s Just Society was allowed to succeed completely, they could be shut out of politics for a generation. The conflict in the party was never fully resolved one way or another.

Throughout 1952 and 1953, Attorney General Alf Landon used his office to pursue numerous anti-trust cases, principally focusing on breaking up large private farms, and selling the land to smaller, private farmers. This had been a major demand of the FLP grassroots, rural constituents, and was widely supported by the agrarian socialist bloc in the SDP. In the spring of 1953, Prime Minister Wallace moved quickly to pass his welfare programs. The SDP under Villa and Thomas had begun efforts to expand the American welfare state, but Wallace and his government envisioned a comprehensive, cradle-to-grave system, in an effort to make unemployment a thing of the past. This issue was a bit more contentious that the legislation passed in 1952, however, and saw greater opposition from members of the ACU and Liberals.

Unfortunately for conservatives in the Senate, their unofficial leader, Robert Taft of Ohio, was diagnosed with cancer in early 1953, quickly resigned his Senate seat and dying that summer. The sudden loss of their leader was shocking and demoralizing, and has been credited with the relatively easy passage of much of Wallace’s legislation in 1953. In May, the Child Benefits Act was passed, granting families monthly allowances according to the number of children they had. In the summer and fall, legislation founding pension programs for the unemployed, sick and injured were enacted. Finally, in late 1953, the National Welfare Insurance Act was passed, enacting a progressive income tax and an estate tax to pay for these new programs.

The SDP and FLP had both unanimously supported these programs. The ACU was often split, as the members of their party ranged from quasi-social democrats to laissez-faire conservatives when it came to economic issues. A majority of Liberals supported these measures, except for small, conservative segments of the party. Opposition Leader Thomas Dewey, when interviewed about his party’s overwhelming support for the SDP program argued that “the American people are by and large in support of the Senate’s efforts, and the Liberals and Social-Democrats are working together to set up these vital programs.” This was the official Liberal line through 1953, but it didn’t seem to help them. A Gallup poll released in late 1953 pegged the Prime Minister’s approval rating at 67% and a hypothetical election poll released alongside it gave the SDP a 47% to 28% edge over the Liberals, with the FLP and ACU both at 9%.

Meanwhile, in Europe, tensions were flaring between Hungary and the Tripartite Pact. In early 1953, Hungary established the European People’s Prosperity Alliance, an economic and military protection pact, and Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece quickly joined. The Polish government, led by Prime Minister Stanislaw Mikolajczyk (a Christian Democrat), resisted overtures to join the EPPA, and pledged their neutrality. In the summer of 1953, Bohemia-Moravia followed suit, declaring that they wouldn’t take sides in Europe. In the fall elections, however, the communist and fascist parties in the country both increased their vote shares considerably, though the liberal democratic government remained in power. The Italians and Spanish were also trying to infiltrate the Turkish government, in an effort to install a more sympathetic, fascist regime.

Wallace ran into trouble during 1954, when the ACU opposed him on a number of issues. Wallace had wanted to enact civil and voting rights legislation during the 1954 Senate term, and it had overwhelming support from Liberals, the SDP and the FLP. However, when he brought the issue up at a cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Harry F. Byrd informed Wallace that he and his party would quit the coalition. Wallace and Byrd argued angrily in private, and it was only by the efforts of Senator Lyndon B. Johnson that Byrd was convinced not to quit the coalition that very day. Prime Minister Wallace then approached the Liberals, asking them to give his government supply and confidence support if the ACU quit over the civil rights issue. Opposition Leader Dewey, though initially supportive of the plan, was forced by conservatives in his party to refuse. Defeated, Wallace moved on to the budget, where he and his finance minister Senator Truman worked to increase funding for infrastructure and public works programs, while dramatically cutting defense spending. This was again bitterly opposed by the ACU, as well as the Liberal Party. Dewey, for perhaps the first time since he had become Opposition Leader, forcefully attacked Prime Minister Wallace’s proposed budget. Wallace refused to budge on the issue, and in March, he finally put the budget up for a vote, hoping that enough ACU and Liberal Senators would cross over to support him.

The vote on the budget was incredibly close, barely failing by a 243 to 256 margin. Within the next week, with Wallace defeated, Harry Byrd and the other three ACU members in cabinet resigned. Wallace scrambled to keep his government together, but on March 25th, the Liberals pushed forward a no-confidence motion. The motion was passed on a party line, 265 to 232, vote, and Wallace’s government fell. King Robert quickly scheduled elections for July.

[izixs]

Very nice work once again! I look forward to the rest.


Tis motivating me to find more time to get back to my future timeline.

[MasterJedi]

Ewww socialism....

[paul718]

Way to go, Lief.  When you get a chance, can you make a list of the states?  Or at least how the U.S. map diverges from our map today? 

[Lief 🗽]

Something like this?



Cultural/Geographical Regions:
Pink- The Canadian States (sometimes includes Ontario and Quebec)
Dark Blue- The Mountain West
Green- The Midwest
Light Blue- The Northeast (Sometimes includes Delaware and Maryland)
Red- The Southeast
Orange- The Plains States
Yellow- The Latin States (all of these states have large (sometimes plurality or majority) Spanish-speaking populations)

Divergent States:
1. Upper Columbia (UC)
2. Madison (MN)
3. Winnipeg (WG)
4. Ontario (ON)
5. Quebec (QC)
6. New Brunswick (NB)
7. Nova Scotia (NS)
8. Vancouver Island (VI)
9. Lower Columbia (LC)
10. Lakota (LK)
11. New Mexico (NM)
12. Lincoln (LN)
13. Sonora (SA)
14. Hamilton (HM)
15. Dakota (DK)
16. Wisconsin (WI)
17. Michigan (MI)
18. Virginia (VA)
19. Carolina (CL)
20. Mississippi (MS)
21. Cuba (CU)

[paul718]

Yes!  Exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks man, and keep up the good work.