Geon
Donor
U.S. and Patriot Act (U.S. part I)
This will be the start of my last section on the post war world. As I said a few times earlier, anyone wishing to write sections on other parts of the world based on my TL is welcome to do so, just check with me first.
Geon
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AMERICA:
The United States:
Postwar 1945-1952:
Throughout the United States people celebrated the official end of World War II on June 12, 1945. After four long years of war the people of the U.S. now looked forward to peace. But the U.S. had paid a hard price for that peace. Along with the deaths of 750,680 military personnel the U.S. also had lost a total of 2,823 civilians as a result of the Biological and Chemical attacks by the Axis nations. Although by comparison the U.S. had suffered less in civilian casualties then any of the other major Allied powers the deaths of over two thousand civilians combined with the knowledge that America had been so woefully unprepared for the war when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor left a major mark on future American policy and policy makers. One simple two word phrase echoed over and over again in the American psyche over the next several decades – Never again!
The U.S. would never again allow itself to be caught unprepared. The myth that the U.S. could safely shield itself between two oceans was now and forever buried. Especially with the advent of atomic weapons and intercontinental bombers not to mention the theoretical possibility of intercontinental missiles it was now clear that any sort of complacency on America’s part might well be fatal. As a result of this thinking the U.S. domestic and international policies would take a decidedly militaristic shift in the next few decades.
In order to maintain a strong armed forces capable of dealing with any external threat the Truman Administration passed the GI Education Act in November, 1945 as an effort to entice many servicemen planning to leave when their terms were up to reenlist. The Act offered to pay for a college education for the departing soldiers in return for their reenlistment at the end of their time in college for 6 more years. The Act also offered the same deal to civilians who could not afford a college education. The GI Education Act ensured that the U.S. peace time army would still be a substantial one.
In addition the National Highway Act was passed in January 1946. The purpose was to improve the quality of the national highway system throughout the country with the unstated but clear ulterior motive of ensuring that it would be easier to rush troops and emergency personnel anywhere in the country and ensure safe evacuations in the event of an emergency. By 1960 the nation would be linked by a system of interstate superhighways stretching from coast to coast.
After the war the Office of Civilian Defense evolved into the National Civil Defense Agency (NCDA). The NCDA would authorize crisis teams to be set up in each major city and to drill and prepare with local police and fire departments as well as the National Guard in order to be ready for any type of disaster be it natural or man made. The NCDA also mandated that all public buildings over a given size must have emergency shelters stocked with food, water, and emergency medical supplies and that those supplies must be rotated regularly.
The specter of how vulnerable the U.S. was came into focus again barely a year after the war ended. In May, 1946 the FBI announced it had discovered a “phoenix cell” about to become active in the U.S. The cell had been formed by German expatriates whom had managed to sneak their political leanings past the immigration authorities. One of the expatriates was an SS officer who, as part of the Phoenix Project, had been ordered to infiltrate the U.S. and restart the German Bund, this time under the guise of an organization for German expatriate citizens, in actuality it would form around carefully selected former Nazi officials. The cell was uncovered by an undercover FBI investigation. The identity of the men who helped to reveal the cell has never been revealed by the FBI and the information on their identity was sealed and has not yet been released.
Reaction to the attempt to create a “phoenix cell” coming as it did during the Phoenix War in the occupied German territories, caused the Truman administration to consider drastic measures. On July 8, 1946 President Truman signed the Patriot Act. The Act declared that any and all political organizations shown to have affiliations with either former or present enemies of the United States shall be disbanded and declared illegal. The Act allowed for a 30 year prison sentence for anyone found being guilty of violating it with no parole possible for the first 15 years of that sentence. Naturally many felt this Act was unconstitutional and subverted the basic freedoms of assembly and free speech. However in a decision by the Supreme Court in 1949 (a 6-3 decision) the Act was upheld as the Court ruled that “free speech and free assembly are rights clearly guaranteed in the Constitution however political affiliations with parties hostile to the nation are not so guaranteed.”
The Patriot Act would make it illegal to be a Nazi in the United States. The members of the Phoenix cell were imprisoned and later deported back to Germany. Later attempts to start an American Nazi party in 1952 by Americans sympathetic to the Nazi cause were ended at the first meeting when FBI undercover officers informed local officials of the meeting. Those involved were all convicted and would all serve the full 30 year sentence.
This will be the start of my last section on the post war world. As I said a few times earlier, anyone wishing to write sections on other parts of the world based on my TL is welcome to do so, just check with me first.
Geon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AMERICA:
The United States:
Postwar 1945-1952:
Throughout the United States people celebrated the official end of World War II on June 12, 1945. After four long years of war the people of the U.S. now looked forward to peace. But the U.S. had paid a hard price for that peace. Along with the deaths of 750,680 military personnel the U.S. also had lost a total of 2,823 civilians as a result of the Biological and Chemical attacks by the Axis nations. Although by comparison the U.S. had suffered less in civilian casualties then any of the other major Allied powers the deaths of over two thousand civilians combined with the knowledge that America had been so woefully unprepared for the war when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor left a major mark on future American policy and policy makers. One simple two word phrase echoed over and over again in the American psyche over the next several decades – Never again!
The U.S. would never again allow itself to be caught unprepared. The myth that the U.S. could safely shield itself between two oceans was now and forever buried. Especially with the advent of atomic weapons and intercontinental bombers not to mention the theoretical possibility of intercontinental missiles it was now clear that any sort of complacency on America’s part might well be fatal. As a result of this thinking the U.S. domestic and international policies would take a decidedly militaristic shift in the next few decades.
In order to maintain a strong armed forces capable of dealing with any external threat the Truman Administration passed the GI Education Act in November, 1945 as an effort to entice many servicemen planning to leave when their terms were up to reenlist. The Act offered to pay for a college education for the departing soldiers in return for their reenlistment at the end of their time in college for 6 more years. The Act also offered the same deal to civilians who could not afford a college education. The GI Education Act ensured that the U.S. peace time army would still be a substantial one.
In addition the National Highway Act was passed in January 1946. The purpose was to improve the quality of the national highway system throughout the country with the unstated but clear ulterior motive of ensuring that it would be easier to rush troops and emergency personnel anywhere in the country and ensure safe evacuations in the event of an emergency. By 1960 the nation would be linked by a system of interstate superhighways stretching from coast to coast.
After the war the Office of Civilian Defense evolved into the National Civil Defense Agency (NCDA). The NCDA would authorize crisis teams to be set up in each major city and to drill and prepare with local police and fire departments as well as the National Guard in order to be ready for any type of disaster be it natural or man made. The NCDA also mandated that all public buildings over a given size must have emergency shelters stocked with food, water, and emergency medical supplies and that those supplies must be rotated regularly.
The specter of how vulnerable the U.S. was came into focus again barely a year after the war ended. In May, 1946 the FBI announced it had discovered a “phoenix cell” about to become active in the U.S. The cell had been formed by German expatriates whom had managed to sneak their political leanings past the immigration authorities. One of the expatriates was an SS officer who, as part of the Phoenix Project, had been ordered to infiltrate the U.S. and restart the German Bund, this time under the guise of an organization for German expatriate citizens, in actuality it would form around carefully selected former Nazi officials. The cell was uncovered by an undercover FBI investigation. The identity of the men who helped to reveal the cell has never been revealed by the FBI and the information on their identity was sealed and has not yet been released.
Reaction to the attempt to create a “phoenix cell” coming as it did during the Phoenix War in the occupied German territories, caused the Truman administration to consider drastic measures. On July 8, 1946 President Truman signed the Patriot Act. The Act declared that any and all political organizations shown to have affiliations with either former or present enemies of the United States shall be disbanded and declared illegal. The Act allowed for a 30 year prison sentence for anyone found being guilty of violating it with no parole possible for the first 15 years of that sentence. Naturally many felt this Act was unconstitutional and subverted the basic freedoms of assembly and free speech. However in a decision by the Supreme Court in 1949 (a 6-3 decision) the Act was upheld as the Court ruled that “free speech and free assembly are rights clearly guaranteed in the Constitution however political affiliations with parties hostile to the nation are not so guaranteed.”
The Patriot Act would make it illegal to be a Nazi in the United States. The members of the Phoenix cell were imprisoned and later deported back to Germany. Later attempts to start an American Nazi party in 1952 by Americans sympathetic to the Nazi cause were ended at the first meeting when FBI undercover officers informed local officials of the meeting. Those involved were all convicted and would all serve the full 30 year sentence.
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