When You Wish Upon A Star 2.0

They called us traitors.

Think about that for one moment: they called us traitors. The same men who had accredited my university only to withdraw all funding, the same men who were stripping us not only of our rights, but also of our dignity as human beings, the ones who considered themselves enlightened and humane for not walling us into ghettos behind barbed wire as their brothers and sisters were doing down south, though the walls that they built of laws and culture were just as vile as the chicken wire and concrete monstrosities that had arisen from Birmingham to the bloody streets of Tampa. It had been made clear that we no longer served any purpose in their society. It had been made more abundantly clear that our presence in the nation of our birth was no longer required. And yet when we took the mess of pottage offered to us for our birthright, when we reluctantly picked up stakes to move to the one nation that had promised to welcome us with open arms...they called us traitors.

Well, as the man said, if this be treason, then let us make the most of it, or so I thought at the time. It was a simple matter of liquidating my family's assets through a front corporation set up by sympathetic whites, then purchasing the tickets for passage on an ocean liner, huddling down in steerage with our like-skinned brothers and sisters so that our presence would not alarm those of lighter hue as they played up above. Purchasing a ticket on an aeroplane was, naturally, out of the question, as Negro terrorist threats had led the airline companies to "temporarily" suspend service to troublesome minorities.

We docked in West Germany, then made our way across a single border to an airport, where fifty of us were herded onto a single prop-driven aircraft that looked as if it had seen far too much service during the Great...during the Second World War. Hours on the craft, with my wife Amelia clutching my arm in fear, with our children alternately dozing and finding whatever mischief they could get into in our cramped quarters. Finally a landing on a snowy runway out in what looked to be the middle of nowhere. Dazed, hungry, and jetlagged, we all made our way down the ramp, following signs helpfully written in English. "Engineers"...that was mine. "Physicians" went off to the side, meaning that I was for now separated from my cousin and his family, who had joined us in our exile. Elsewhere I saw notices for other educated and skilled trades, all useful to a developing society.

We were herded into single-room shacks that I would have turned my nose up at only a few short years ago. Now the two beds, the kitchenette, and the shelves of books seemed the height of unimaginable luxury. However, we had no time to settle, as a thickly accented voice called through the door that the "meetink" would be starting soon.

Bundling up tightly, my family and I made our way down what served as a main street of our makeshift, prefabricated village to a sort of main hall. Soldiers stood at attention as we found our seats, clapping our hands against our arms to ward off the early-morning chill. A short, squat man, bundled in fur, ascended to the stage at the front of the auditorium. He stared at us all with what looked like the same sort of fear and disgust that we were all to familiar with back home.

This was a mistake, I thought. It's going to be just as bad...no, worse, since I barely know a few words of the language, and won't know when trouble is going to hit. I've killed us all.

The man grunted, then spread his arms wide, opening his mouth in the ugliest, most beautiful sight that I've seen in my life.

"Comrades" he shouted in his thickly accented English. "Negro comrades. Welcome to the Soviet Union!"

-Dr. Calvin Hudson, quoted in If I Forget Thee: Tales From The Second Diaspora


LATE NIGHT ACCIDENT ON BELTWAY: SENATOR IN CRITICAL CONDITION

WASHINGTON-New York Senator Jacob Javits was gravely injured in an automobile accident on the Washington, D.C. Beltway last night, in an incident allegedly caused by a hit-and-run driver. Witnesses state that the car driven by Senator Javits was forced off of the road by two Caucasian men driving a late-model black sedan.

-Washington Post, 2/14/62


JAVITS FACING MONTHS OF REHABILITATION, RESIGNS SEAT "FOR GOOD OF NATION"

-AP Wire, 3/2/62


"Cohn speaking"

"Roy..."

"I'll take it."

-Alleged phone exchange between Governor Nelson Rockefeller and former White House Chief Of Staff Roy Cohn following Rockefeller's decision to appoint Cohn to the Senate seat vacated by Jacob Javits


FUGITIVE MALCOLM LITTLE, AKA MALCOLM X, SPOTTED BY CI IN MEXICO CITY. AWAIT INSTRUCTIONS. -H. HUNT

-Confidential


Oh, Wally, it has been a wild ride through the streets and boroughs of the madhouse of the city, and I have been along for every twist and turn of the bumpy track like at the Anaheim homestead of the late Prez, only on the East Coast in the midst of an attempt at renewal and art and love and joy, dodging the tricky revolutionaries on the one side and the hard hats on the other. Harlem is a no-go area, since so many of the bravest, boldest, brightest, and blackest are taking the money and running meaning that all that is left is those who other nations will not take for any amount of money, and though the Northern liberals may squawk and tut tut about the walled ghettos down South, they do little to put even a tiny crack in the mental, spiritual, psychological, and financial walls that separate them from their dark-skinned brothers, and when we look at the poor insane and illiterate ones left behind, I cannot blame them, no I cannot. I cannot even blame them for not shouting and stamping their feet when a pass card system is whispered about though it is doubtful that such a thing will happen whilst Rocky rocks his way through the Governor's mansion out Albany way since even if the Feds decided to crack down on this state I have heard tell from Norman at the magazine that the local and state cops have been told to not cooperate, yes they have been told to tell the FBICIAOSSNSA to take a flying fornication at a rolling donut so three cheers for Rocky and his Rockettes.

-The correspondence of "Beano" to Wally Hedrick, circa May of 1961



Hey, I dug my time in D.C., but I gotta tell you, New York is where the real action is, and Roy freakin' Cohn is a man of action. As a Senator, I still had to spend some time down in Washington, but I got plenty of chances to go back and take the pulse of my constituents at 21 and The Stork Club.

Anyway, the Democrats had turned into a bunch of lemmings, selling out their party's future for a single win in 1960. I mean, sure, it looks good to bang the drum of law and order and civilization and all of that crap, and you can always get people to vote against big scary Negroes and the people that love them what with the bombings and all, but they'd gone way too far. The best part is that they were beginning to realize it, but they couldn't do anything about it. They had the tail of the tiger, and were doing their best to avoid the inevitable feel of the jaws around their flesh. Hah!

Anyway, they were still trying to portray their "Tough On The Niggers"...excuse me, I meant "Tough On Crime" policies as some sort of real solution to the terrorist problem. And that wouldn't have been so bad for them if they were living in a vacuum. But, see, nobody lives in a vacuum except for dust bunnies--yeah, that was a bad one, sorry--and the murmurs had already started. Not just up North, no, though you could swing a dead cat and hit four or five loudmouthed libs in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles who would cry about the poor benighted colored folks being shipped off to the Soviet Union, or some godforsaken African jungle, or something. No, it was happening down South as well. They hadn't thought it through. And, see, that was Roy Cohn's big opening.

--Former Senator Roy Cohn (R-NY), quoted in Land Of Tomorrow: America In The 1960s by Studs Terkel


FACING SOUTHERN LABOR SHORTAGES, PRESIDENT PROPOSES IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL

-The Washington Post, 6/3/1961


QUARRYMEN ANNOUNCE EUROPEAN TOUR

-Music Maker, 6/61
 

pnyckqx

Banned
No promises, but I did want to get back to work on this. We'll see how it goes. I should thank Linkwerk for his excellent The Fountainhead Filibuster: Tales From Objectivist Katanga. His story-driven TL was a major factor in inspiring me to tackle this once more, and reminded me of what I love about AH in the first place.
Glad to have you back, and looking forward to subsequent updates.

You still have a talent for making Roy Cohn come alive. i don't know whether to congratulate you or be fearful for your well being on that.:eek:
 

Thande

Donor
Glad to see this magnificent work return.

Given what happened last time you did this, I would either urge the readership to be economical with their comments lest they drown out the TL, or else for you to simul-post it periodically in the Timelines and Scenarios forum so we don't have to hunt through thousands of comments of effusive if justified praise to find the latest segment.

I will say that the tone of Roy Cohn's comments is interesting, and I suspect he may reinvent his political position so that his final image in popular culture in TTL is rather different from that in OTL and indeed what we might all have expected from his actions in AWOLAWOT.

Keep it up!
 
FBI DIRECTOR J. EDGAR HOOVER DEAD AT 67

-AP Bulletin, June 23, 1962


When we first received word of Director Hoover's death, I would like to say that the reaction was one of mourning and solemnity, as would befit a man who led such a long and storied career as a civil servant valiantly defending this nation and her Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. Instead, I fear, the reaction was one of panic and uncertainty. As what might be gently called a hobby, it seems that Mr. Hoover had managed to amass an impressive trove of information on nearly every single politician, entertainer, journalist, athlete, citizen activist, or other public figure who had somehow managed to attract his attention. Nobody was completely sure who was listed, who was filed, and exactly what secrets of theirs lay behind the metal walls of the filing cabinets stored deep within FBI Headquarters.

As Deputy Attorney General, it was my job to alert Attorney General Thurmond regarding any major issue that would fall under his purview, and the death of Director Hoover was the most pivotal item of that year. I received the news from contacts of mine at Bethesda at 2 a.m. that morning. After receiving word that there was no suspicion of foul play, and that he had died from complications from a stroke likely related to the wounds that he had received during the assassination attempt of some years before, my first action was to alert Mr. Thurmond. In response, his first action was to send for Deputy Director Clyde Tolson in order to ensure a smooth transition of power, or so he said. I was to later discover that his actual motivation was to ensure that Mr. Tolson was not able to remove, destroy, or otherwise affect the administration's ability to secure the information stored in Mr. Hoover's files. This was accomplished through official representatives of the Attorney General essentially invading the Director's office before his secretary arrived. When she did arrive, the woman allegedly became hysterical over the "invasion" of the late Director's privacy, and nearly attacked two of our investigators. She was sedated and taken to a local hospital for observation.

Then, of course, the President had to decide who to put in the top office. It was immediately decided that in order to manage a seamless transition, we would promote someone from within the FBI culture. The shortlist was given to the President for review. His choice was somewhat controversial: The youngest Bureau Chief in history, it was thought that he was far too inexperienced for the role. However, the President was highly concerned over polling that showed him losing ground among young voters, and thought that someone with less experience would be more tractable than Mr. Hoover when it came to following directions.

Sadly, this was not the first major error made by the Stennis Administration, nor would it be the last.

-Four Years In Purgatory, Albert Preston Brewer, University Of Alabama Press, 1977


TOLSON OUT, LIDDY IN

AP (WASHINGTON)-In a surprise move by the Stennis Administration, President John Stennis has appointed Washington, D.C. Bureau Supervisor George Gordon Liddy to replace the late J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This news comes as a shock to many observers of the Bureau, as it was widely thought that Assistant Chief Clyde Tolson would replace Mr. Hoover in the case that Mr. Hoover resigned, died, retired, or was otherwise incapacitated. Additionally, the youth of the new Director is proving controversial, as it is rare for a man of his age (32) to receive such a prominent and influential position in the civil service.

-AP Bulletin, July 3, 1962
 

Thande

Donor
Oh, this is going to end well :D

TTL's USA is going to have routine invasions of privacy on the same level as...erm...well...OTL's USA, but sooner, dammit! :p

I wonder if in TTL there will be a "rule" that FBI directors have to have names where they have an initial, then a middle name and a surname, given J. Edgar Hoover followed by G. Gordon Liddy, in the same way than in OTL there's a "rule" that presidential assassins have to have three names (John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald).
 
Glad to have you back, and looking forward to subsequent updates.

You still have a talent for making Roy Cohn come alive. i don't know whether to congratulate you or be fearful for your well being on that.:eek:

He's just too much fun to write. I should have included him when I first tried to start this, since getting into his mindset is addictive as all hell.

Glad to see this magnificent work return.

Given what happened last time you did this, I would either urge the readership to be economical with their comments lest they drown out the TL, or else for you to simul-post it periodically in the Timelines and Scenarios forum so we don't have to hunt through thousands of comments of effusive if justified praise to find the latest segment.

I will say that the tone of Roy Cohn's comments is interesting, and I suspect he may reinvent his political position so that his final image in popular culture in TTL is rather different from that in OTL and indeed what we might all have expected from his actions in AWOLAWOT.

Keep it up!

Thanks!

I'm having fun writing Cohn as a total opportunist and egomaniac, but one that's gained some wisdom and insight from working in the White House. He tends to pick his battles a little more carefully now. He's also the embodiment of one of my favorite quotes of Karl Rove: "Never hit your opponent where he's the weakest. Hit him where he's the strongest. He won't know how to defend himself."
 
So Stennis has Hoover's files, but is hinted to only last one term. Well, well... If the Curse continues, I always thought JFK would be a nice Carter analogue for a United States falling apart around him.
 
So Stennis has Hoover's files, but is hinted to only last one term. Well, well... If the Curse continues, I always thought JFK would be a nice Carter analogue for a United States falling apart around him.

I'm not saying what's going to happen, but I already know who wins in '64. And that's about all that I actually have planned. The rest of it is still "Okay, but then what happens?" on a step by step basis.
 
No promises, but I did want to get back to work on this. We'll see how it goes.

Looking forward to it :D

AP (WASHINGTON)-In a surprise move by the Stennis Administration, President John Stennis has appointed Washington, D.C. Bureau Supervisor George Gordon Liddy to replace the late J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Starting with a bang*, I see...

*or... something
 

Thande

Donor
I'm not saying what's going to happen, but I already know who wins in '64. And that's about all that I actually have planned. The rest of it is still "Okay, but then what happens?" on a step by step basis.

I think the only thing you really have to take into account is that we know Jerry Brown becomes president at some point, though given the length of his political career and the number of times he could conceivably have run (heck, did run in OTL) that scarcely narrows it down.
 
I think the only thing you really have to take into account is that we know Jerry Brown becomes president at some point, though given the length of his political career and the number of times he could conceivably have run (heck, did run in OTL) that scarcely narrows it down.

I have an idea of when he wins, though I'm not married to it. And thanks for reminding me to update his story sometime soon.
 

Thande

Donor
I have an idea of when he wins, though I'm not married to it. And thanks for reminding me to update his story sometime soon.

No problem.

Don't feel obliged to give Cryptic Hint Responses to our musings, but I'm pondering about who the Republicans might nominate in 1964. If they go by their usual practice of it being the runner-up/VP nominee from last time, it would be either Goldwater or Nixon. Or it could be a wild card. Goldwater I suspect may be more electable in the ATL 1964 than he was in OTL considering Stennis' "anti-terrorism" policies resulting in infringement of privacy (how familiar ;) ) and Goldwater's libertarian angle striking more of a chord with the public.
 
Anyway, the Democrats had turned into a bunch of lemmings, selling out their party's future for a single win in 1960. I mean, sure, it looks good to bang the drum of law and order and civilization and all of that crap, and you can always get people to vote against big scary Negroes and the people that love them what with the bombings and all, but they'd gone way too far. The best part is that they were beginning to realize it, but they couldn't do anything about it. They had the tail of the tiger, and were doing their best to avoid the inevitable feel of the jaws around their flesh. Hah!

Anyway, they were still trying to portray their "Tough On The Niggers"...excuse me, I meant "Tough On Crime" policies as some sort of real solution to the terrorist problem. And that wouldn't have been so bad for them if they were living in a vacuum. But, see, nobody lives in a vacuum except for dust bunnies--yeah, that was a bad one, sorry--and the murmurs had already started. Not just up North, no, though you could swing a dead cat and hit four or five loudmouthed libs in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles who would cry about the poor benighted colored folks being shipped off to the Soviet Union, or some godforsaken African jungle, or something. No, it was happening down South as well. They hadn't thought it through. And, see, that was Roy Cohn's big opening.

--Former Senator Roy Cohn (R-NY), quoted in Land Of Tomorrow: America In The 1960s by Studs Terkel

Good to see the normal laws of the political pendulum are operating though sad to see Cohn is the first to spot the swing, though he would be.

FACING SOUTHERN LABOR SHORTAGES, PRESIDENT PROPOSES IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL

Just how much emigration are we talking about? If it's severe enough to cause significant labour shortages in an area of the USA that at this time had structural underemployment it must be pretty massive.


AP (WASHINGTON)-In a surprise move by the Stennis Administration, President John Stennis has appointed Washington, D.C. Bureau Supervisor George Gordon Liddy to replace the late J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Headdesk, because pulling this TL out of the mire of dystopia isn't an option :rolleyes:.


Still it's great to see this back and as for the Republican nomination in '64 Nixon is in with a shot but probably hasn't got what it takes, after all he was only a VP candidate, unlike OTL where he had two terms as VP under his belt. I like Goldwater anyway but his strong civil liberties stance could be a real asset. However there is an element of dear Enoch about him in his refusal to compromise his beliefs, when it's good that's great but it's a trifle dangerous when you're leader of the free world.
 
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Good to see the normal laws of the political pendulum are operating though sad to see Cohn is the first to spot the swing, though he would be.



Just how much emigration are we talking about? If it's severe enough to cause significant labour shortages in an area of the USA that at this time had structural underemployment it must be pretty massive.

Consider the fact that a good chunk of the labor force (especially seasonal agricultural workers) is currently walled into ghettos.


Headdesk, because pulling this TL out of the mire of dystopia isn't an option :rolleyes:.

Not quite true.

Still it's great to see this back and as for the Republican nomination in '64 Nixon is in with a shot but probably hasn't got what it takes, after all he was only a VP candidate, unlike OTL where he had two terms as VP under his belt. I like Goldwater anyway but his strong civil liberties stance could be a real asset. However there is an element of dear Enoch about him in his refusal to compromise his beliefs, when it's good that's great but it's a trifle dangerous when you're leader of the free world.

That is awfully dangerous, isn't it?

So glad to see this back! :)



I was wondering whether you've written yourself into a corner with this bit, statichaos. If it is the Administration's intention to keep the files for blackmail purposes, isn't your scope for depicting it limited by how much we actually know about Hoovers trove of files? IIRC many were destroyed on his death.

Unless Stennis wants to be more magnanimous and dramatic than merely using the more salacious files for blackmail...

I have plans. Remember, they're not so much in the hands of Stennis as they're in the hands of the Justice Department. An subtle difference, but perhaps an important one. And since they were all destroyed, I get to decide for myself what they contain.
 
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