Crimson Banners Fly: The Rise of the American Left
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Okay. Here we go.
It's interesting to see some of the voting intimidation stuff being confronted out in the open like this, usually it's done via subtle cloak and dagger business, at least in the other twentieth century timelines I have read. But here, it's being dragged into the light. Not sure whether or not the results are good or not but...well, we'll leave it at that.
I'm impressed that you managed to capture the feeling out of universe that some commentators might have downplayed Johnson's approval. And that makes sense, because hte texts we are reading are telling us all this from a historical perspective, one that is ever so slightly biased! And then the switch where the results do actually start to change was quite exciting. The whole reporting thing had me on the edge of my seat, and that's not really an exaggeration.
I kinda cheered when I read FDR's name, not going to lie. And Stedman getting New York outright was a big surprise! The downballot races are going to be interesting to read. At this point, with each party within two or three votes of each other, I had to gasp. So, techncially speaking Stedman got the best electorally and in popular votes. But that means the election is going to the House....which is where things are going to get exceedingly tricky. Now ideally for me, if enough disgruntled Republicans and Progressives decide to hitch their wagon to Stedman...maybe that'll do it. I mean, I hope so. I'm not sure, but it's going to be a very controversial election and that is for sure.
Brilliant stuff, I can't wait to see where this goes!
It's interesting to see some of the voting intimidation stuff being confronted out in the open like this, usually it's done via subtle cloak and dagger business, at least in the other twentieth century timelines I have read. But here, it's being dragged into the light. Not sure whether or not the results are good or not but...well, we'll leave it at that.
I'm impressed that you managed to capture the feeling out of universe that some commentators might have downplayed Johnson's approval. And that makes sense, because hte texts we are reading are telling us all this from a historical perspective, one that is ever so slightly biased! And then the switch where the results do actually start to change was quite exciting. The whole reporting thing had me on the edge of my seat, and that's not really an exaggeration.
I kinda cheered when I read FDR's name, not going to lie. And Stedman getting New York outright was a big surprise! The downballot races are going to be interesting to read. At this point, with each party within two or three votes of each other, I had to gasp. So, techncially speaking Stedman got the best electorally and in popular votes. But that means the election is going to the House....which is where things are going to get exceedingly tricky. Now ideally for me, if enough disgruntled Republicans and Progressives decide to hitch their wagon to Stedman...maybe that'll do it. I mean, I hope so. I'm not sure, but it's going to be a very controversial election and that is for sure.
Brilliant stuff, I can't wait to see where this goes!
I'm pogging so hard right now, it's not even funny! Okay, yeah it's funny.
Anyways, given that there are 93 (?) Socialists in the House, but only 3 in the Senate, the best case scenario for the Socialists is for enough House Progressives to defect, in which case Stedman will become President, but Charles Hughes or Joseph Folk will become Vice President.
Unless, of course, there is deadlock until the next Congress is seated, the results of which we will learn next week.
EDIT: It'd only be Hughes for Vice President. I'd forgotten at the time of posting that only the top two candidates were eligible.
Anyways, given that there are 93 (?) Socialists in the House, but only 3 in the Senate, the best case scenario for the Socialists is for enough House Progressives to defect, in which case Stedman will become President, but Charles Hughes or Joseph Folk will become Vice President.
Unless, of course, there is deadlock until the next Congress is seated, the results of which we will learn next week.
EDIT: It'd only be Hughes for Vice President. I'd forgotten at the time of posting that only the top two candidates were eligible.
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In the Senate the combined Progressive-Republican caucus has circa 50 votes (51 minus La Follette), Democrats 42, Socialists 4 (3 plus La Follette). Hughes has a clear and massive advantage and is going to be elected VP against Theodore Debs.
In the House the count is harder due the relevance of delegation’s composition. We only know that the Progressive-Republicans have a plurality but it’s not clear on how many delegations they can count. Democrats have a geographical advantage, as they have total control on the Southern representatives. This gives them 11-14 delegations, short of ten to win.
In 1912 the political circus was not so polarised and even so they were unable to strike a deal before 4th March, leaving Johnson as Acting President before Roosevelt and GOP signed a non-aggression pact. Now the political divergences are so high that the country is on the brink of a civil war, so I don’t see any path toward a political deal. The new Congress is likely going to have a larger Socialist caucus but seems unlikely they’ll have a delegations’ majority, so I think Americans could have to accept Hughes as Acting President for a while.
I think TTL's 18th Amendment did away with delegation votes in favor of individual votes. At least, that's how I interpreted what little has been said about it.
Apologies to anyone who is having trouble viewing the images. On my end they're working on PC and mobile so I'm not sure what the error is.
Here are the results of the 1920 Election as of Nov. 4:
Seymour Stedman/Theodore Debs (Socialist) -- 34.67% PV -- 179 EV
Hiram W. Johnson/Charles E. Hughes (Progressive-Republican) -- 34.20% PV -- 177 EV
Coleman L. Blease/Joseph W. Folk (Democratic) -- 31.09% PV -- 175 EV
Other -- 0.04% PV -- 0 EV
Hiram W. Johnson/Charles E. Hughes (Progressive-Republican) -- 34.20% PV -- 177 EV
Coleman L. Blease/Joseph W. Folk (Democratic) -- 31.09% PV -- 175 EV
Other -- 0.04% PV -- 0 EV
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Part 7: Chapter XXVII - Page 193
Campaign Manager William Stephens, Suspected Mastermind Behind the Anti-Socialist Plot, 1920 - Source: Wiki Commons
1913 left a filthy stain on the collective consciousness. Leaderless squabbles, nefarious intrigue, under-the-table negotiating; It suggested blatant and innate corruption. Many Americans, having seen - or rather read of - the nastiness on Capitol Hill during the contingent election requested something be done to avoid a repeat of that brouhaha. The product of that desire for reform was the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. When ratified, it shortened the counterintuitive lame-duck period by two months, permanently adjusting the official dates of inauguration from March to January. The presidential and congressional inauguration ceremonies were moved to January 20th and January 3rd respectively, thereby relieving the outgoing Congress of its potential responsibility to undertake the contingent election. The 18th Amendment also modified the rules as outlined in the 12th. "The House of Representatives shall choose the President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Representatives, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice." From then on, in the event that no one candidate receives a majority of the Electoral College, the incoming House must vote as individual members to decide the next president. This change went into effect and was put to use at the soonest possible juncture - 1921.
Bruce K. Tedesco, The Constitution: A Living Document, TV Miniseries, 2002
Control of Congress was not yet established. Due to an overabundance of voting complications, a sea of litigations from law firms alleging extensive malpractice, and various other delays made as a result of SA voter intimidation, over a dozen congressional seats remained unconfirmed. Of what was decipherable within the pending results, it appeared extremely likely that the Progressive Party would not regain its plurality in the House, although the extent of that damage was not yet known. Analysts expected an expansion in the number of House Socialists because of their overperformance in the Stedman states, but the gap was perceived to be far too wide to utterly topple the other parties. The idea of an equally divided Congress to coincide with the split presidential vote was not entirely out of the question considering the perfect storm well underway, spelling trouble with a contingent election around the corner. A majority, not a plurality, was needed to complete the contingent process, thus leaving the door open for some measure of compromise betwixt the parties. This scenario theoretically brought everyone to the negotiating table in a fair and resolute manner, yet none could deny how agonizing it was to (yet again) be denied a clear-cut conclusion on Election Day.
This uncertainty kept the nation on its toes, and it especially irked the highest-ranking members of the Johnson Campaign. William Stephens privately exhibited incredulity to his peers over the situation at hand. Upon styling the operation and its core themes in the mold of Albert Beveridge with accompanying organizational assistance from the Republican National Committee, the chief orchestrator of the re-election romp trusted in the wisdom of the electorate to make the right decision. His convictions, however flawed, were earnest. He was of one mind with the attorney general that the ascension of Stedman, his "harbinger for Bolshevism", could irreparably damage the state of the union. Both therefore sank everything into the campaign, donating nearly all their professional working hours and spare time to that cause. Ideologues like Stephens and Palmer were dumbfounded by the newfound attractiveness of the Socialists despite their hard work to vilify the very word itself. They shuddered at the thought of a drawn-out election and disfavored the expectancy of a coin-toss contingent race, and of this result were willing to do anything to prevent it. The administration's extra-legal maneuvers began with legally questionable activities of the USIC and FIA. At no point did the upper echelon ponder questions of ethicality; they had gone too far to back off now. With their political careers on the line, Johnson's entire campaign operation prepared to go the extra mile. Mutually, they chose to cross the Rubicon and go all-in.
Time was of the essence. Per the 18th Amendment, on January 6th, 1921, the newly elected joint Congress was scheduled to meet. Per the legal bounds of the Constitution in its present state, the old legislative class would be tossed out at precisely 12 O’clock noon. Perceptively calculating an entry point, on December 3rd, about one month prior to the certification date and ten days before the scheduled meeting of the Electoral College, President Johnson signed off on an executive order for the 66th U.S. Congress to reconvene for a special session. Using his authority under the Constitution, he called on the House and Senate to return to Washington due to an, "extraordinary occasion." This formal request was fully within his rights and fell within the bounds set by law. The announcement may have come as an unwelcome surprise for the legislators, who now were made to drop their holiday plans and return on this urgent call. Strangely enough, it just so happened that many representatives, particularly those in the president's court, were seemingly aware of the special session in advance and planned accordingly. Once the order did make its splashdown, few were taken aback by the reasoning behind it. The subtext surrounding the "extraordinary occasion" could not have been made clearer: Organize an immediate solution to America's Socialist Problem.
When the legislature followed through and re-opened in no short time (the winter of 1920 was comparatively mild, facilitating travel plans and making the whole ordeal easier to swallow), an agenda was laid plainly and squarely in front of them. Albeit shrouding the truth behind their motives in a Red Scare cloak, the sitting president was appealing Congress to invalidate the candidacy of Seymour Stedman by any means necessary. Contemporaneous notes and various printed recordings relay this to be the case. According to Senator Albert Roberts (D-TN), "The charade is a dying administration's final, pathetic gasp. [Harding and Mann] have done their due diligence and will claim all is being done for sincerity's sake. That wool is too thick to drag over our eyes." Others echoed the contemptuousness laid in Roberts' statement. For Congressman La Guardia, "It is a sham, an insult to the intelligence of the voters." Regardless of the criticism, the upper chamber did not hesitate to act on the order of the day. On December 10th, following two days of closed-door meetings and backroom deal-making, legislation developed by Senator Medill McCormick (P-IL) narrowly passed through the Senate. In short, the McCormick bill proposed making it a criminal offense to espouse the "destruction of the U.S. government". Anyone found guilty of perpetrating this offense would be forever barred from holding federal office. The party responsible for casting initial judgement would be none other than the Federal Intelligence Authority.
Adding in the explicit involvement of the FIA was a precarious matter. Its inclusion was a personal request from Attorney General Palmer but cost the support of certain conservative Democrats who deemed it an infringement on the rights of states. Nevertheless, enough support persisted for the bill to pass and head to the House for further consideration. By this point, word of the controversial proposal leaked to the press, and citizens all over now read about the activities of the 66th Congress. Millions were outraged. An article in The Masses explained, "Twelve state legislatures have enacted, or are in consideration of, so-called Red Flag or Criminal Syndicalism laws. In spite of Becker (v. California) talk of abolishing presumed sedition has not quelled. The Governor of Kentucky has signed a sedition law penalizing by 21 years in prison membership in organizations which advocate sedition or criminal syndicalism. The act makes it unlawful to arouse "strife or ill feeling between the classes." All of these laws conceal their bite under a somewhat inoffensive exterior, but nevertheless rob men of their civil liberty. If Palmer is handed the gavel, and granted powers to assess libel and constructive treason, all men will face persecution." It was no secret why the chief executive was in such a mad rush to hand these broad powers to its Department of Justice. Their target was Stedman, and discharging him from contention was of the utmost priority. Hundreds of publications rightly blasted the McCormick bill as a fearful and cowardly move by an administration in tatters. Beyond an "Anti-Socialist Plot" as one piece judged it, this special session appeared to be dressing the stage to unjustly hand the election to Johnson. Very few took the side of the sitting head of state in this instance, perhaps correctly reading a shift in momentum away from passage of the bill.
The Johnson Administration understood that with the flick of a pen it could prevent Socialism from taking root. If made law, the McCormack Act would embody an answer to Palmer's prayers. Yet a jumble of unresolved issues were severely discounted. First, the Fourth Estate took no time to denounce the measure, swaying public opinion rather fervently against the measure. Second, further news about the incoming Congress suggested a dismal performance by House Republicans, dampening the prospect of a simple contingent win for Johnson even if Stedman were cast aside. Last, and perhaps the most glaring oversight of the paranoid incumbent, the House Democrats were a distinctive beast from the Senate Democrats. Speaker Champ Clark famously agreed to block all anti-socialist legislation from coming to a vote whenever able. Arbitrarily retracting that oath would certainly land him in hot water should the Democrats need support from the SP in the upcoming leadership contest. In any regard, Clark and his colleagues had little reason to work with the unpopular incumbent - a man who willfully burned bridges and accused rival Democrats of fomenting racial rebellion. Moreover, the FIA stipulation brought ferocious opposition from Clark, the massive Southern bloc, and a not insignificant chunk of the president's own party. Minority Leader Wesley Jones was rumored to have expressed distaste with the bill and warned that its passage risked a Constitutional crisis. These reactions were, of course, made long after the public made its discontent known.
Days slipped by as House members sat on their hands. December 13th saw the official convening of the Electoral College as each state's elected members met at their respective state capitals. Likely as a direct consequence of the profound unpopularity of the special session, two Nebraskan electors and one Indianan abruptly changed their votes, thus propelling Blease to second place and robbing Governor Hughes of any senatorial consideration for vice president. In Washington, Congressman James Mann (R-IL) fought to regain control by whipping encouragement and calling in favors left-and-right, but the resistance he encountered was far too much to withstand. Speaker Clark, upon receiving a well-documented tirade of insults straight from the White House, relayed, "Let [Johnson] walk down here and defend it himself." The incumbent expended all of his leftover political capital and personal goodwill just to get the bill approved by one-half of the legislature, but nothing more would come of it. Despite his good relationship with the Congress, one built from scratch during his tenure in the Executive Branch, the plot and suspected coup concluded in miserable failure. Gone was any last vestige of respectability for the leader among those not subservient to his demands. To make matters worse, this gambit cost much more than a legislative battle. It made permanent the searing rift in the Progressive Party and all but ruined his odds of being re-elected in the upcoming contingent election.
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I'm practically chomping at the bit here to see the downballot election results!
Still, elated that Johnson's eleventh hour coup attempt backfired spectacularly. Dipshit doesn't deserve a second term.
Still, elated that Johnson's eleventh hour coup attempt backfired spectacularly. Dipshit doesn't deserve a second term.
Regardless, here is my new prediction:
With the convening of the new Congress, Stedman is narrowly chosen President by the House after Socialists increase their seat count and any remaining left-Progressives are turned off by Blease's white supremacy. Joseph Folk becomes Vice President by a more comfortable margin.
With the convening of the new Congress, Stedman is narrowly chosen President by the House after Socialists increase their seat count and any remaining left-Progressives are turned off by Blease's white supremacy. Joseph Folk becomes Vice President by a more comfortable margin.
No, his legal coup failed.
He still has the usual option of tyrants. Assuming the military listen, that is.
What's the over-under on Stedman being assassinated before he can take office? Then, robbed of the people's choice for president, the country is paralyzed by general strike.
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