When You Wish Upon A Star 2.0

Meadow · Apr 12, 2012

Words cannot explain how excited I am to see this return. Will we have an insider in the Stennis White House telling us how things are in the Oval Office? I find him a fascinating figure and a potential-laden choice as an AH President. Is Brewer going to be the inside man, as Cohn and Jimmy 'press man' (sorry, completely blanked) were in AWOLAWOT?

And (I know you don't do international affairs much) but how fares noble Britannia? With Elvis (and Orson still?) in London, the Bea-, sorry, Quarrymen taking off and the Beatniks' street brawls with the Teddy Boys fresh in people's minds, any way of showing what the socio-political situation is like as the 1960s begin would be much appreciated.

VidaLaVida · Apr 12, 2012

Great to see this timeline has new life. AWOLAWOT was one of the greatest things I've ever read, and I'm eager to see where it continues. When, oh when, will things get better???

Also, I think the story could use an update on the war in Cuba. How many casualties has it seen? How many American casualties were there since the U.S. became involved? What are the Stennis Administration's plans for the war? This issue seems to have been on the back burner for a while, but I think it warrants some more attention.

One thing I can't help but think: Che Guevara's anti-Americanism has got to be raging by this point in time. If Arbenz was still removed through a CIA-backed coup ITTL's Guatemala, then Che would've gone immediately from that, to even more direct U.S. counterrevolutionary aggression in Cuba. Brrrr...

rcduggan · Apr 12, 2012

Interesting to see the parallels between the black emigration from the South ITTL and the modern Latino flight in OTL. Who will Stennis be opening up Southern markets to in terms of new labor? I forget if anything different has happened with Cuba ITTL (I know Hungary is no longer in the Soviet sphere, but did Disney handle Cuba any differently than Eisenhower did in OTL? I just had a random thought that if Castro comes to power, the Cubans who in OTL went to Florida might be brought in on a larger scale to work in the South...
Anyway, happy to see this return, looking forward to the disaster that Stennis's presidency will in all probability become (Four Years in Purgatory suggests that he'll be here for one term at most, and it will be awful). Who is Stennis's VP, btw?
EDIT: it's JFK himself, how could I forget? It would be amusing if Kennedy got into the White House after someone else was assassinated...

Thande · Apr 12, 2012

Meadow said:
And (I know you don't do international affairs much) but how fares noble Britannia? With Elvis (and Orson still?) in London, the Bea-, sorry, Quarrymen taking off and the Beatniks' street brawls with the Teddy Boys fresh in people's minds, any way of showing what the socio-political situation is like as the 1960s begin would be much appreciated.

I have come to the conclusion that covering events outside America in detail would only detract from this TL, because really its purpose is to tell a story about the American people and how they could have ended up in a very dark place thanks to things going slightly differently. (Which is also true of Turtledove's TL-191, but this is better written). It needs to stay focused on its few viewpoint characters and handful of guests in order to stay coherent, and should only cover events outside the USA when they impinge on the USA--such as talking about the exilic American artists in the UK and Europe.

I suspect what will happen is that statichaos will invite us to help him flesh out what the wider world looks like for an appendix, sort of like how EdT does, but it will not be mentioned in the TL itself. Actually, it's kind of impressive how he can talk about a US presidency while barely mentioning international affairs except in how they impinge on American culture (like, if you were covering OTL in the same way, you would mention the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, but you wouldn't necessarily at any point say who the Prime Minister of the UK was).

PCSwitaj · Apr 12, 2012

Beyond words upon finding out that this timeline is kicking still, and I cannot wait to see where it is heading. I have no doubt that you will craft a realistic and exciting timeline.

As for the updates themselves sofar, the (seeming) foreshadowing of a disasterous Stennis administration does not bode well for the nation at all, and it will be interesting to see the list of "major errors," as Brewer put it, pile up.

I'm personally interested in following Dr. Hudson's story regarding the Second Diaspora, as the potential for what happens is unlimited. Do you have an actual location for where they ended up after their plane ride, as an actual "resettlement area", or was it more of a prossessing point before sending individuals and familes to whatever regions best fit what skills they are providing?

statichaos · Apr 12, 2012

rcduggan said:
Interesting to see the parallels between the black emigration from the South ITTL and the modern Latino flight in OTL. Who will Stennis be opening up Southern markets to in terms of new labor? I forget if anything different has happened with Cuba ITTL (I know Hungary is no longer in the Soviet sphere, but did Disney handle Cuba any differently than Eisenhower did in OTL? I just had a random thought that if Castro comes to power, the Cubans who in OTL went to Florida might be brought in on a larger scale to work in the South...
Anyway, happy to see this return, looking forward to the disaster that Stennis's presidency will in all probability become (Four Years in Purgatory suggests that he'll be here for one term at most, and it will be awful). Who is Stennis's VP, btw?
EDIT: it's JFK himself, how could I forget? It would be amusing if Kennedy got into the White House after someone else was assassinated...

Cuba is a bit of a quagmire for the United States right now. There's currently a number of advisory troops down there. Fidel Castro was caught and executed by Cuban forces with the assistance of American troops. Since then, it's largely been a holding game, with Raul Castro's guerrillas hiding out, and occasional attacks on United States and Batista forces.

Four years could also represent how long the Deputy Attorney General chose to stay in his position (or until he was forced out), or it could indeed be the length of time Stennis stays in office.

NoOneFamous · Apr 12, 2012

Glad to see this back

vultan · Apr 12, 2012

Thande said:
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.

That would be a boon for the conservatives in the long run. With Goldwater's campaign centered around "the intrusive government has no right to spy on people" rather than "the intrusive government has no right to force integration" (essentially playing an earlier Ron Paul), that butterflies away a lot of bad stereotypes.

Of course, there could be two different factions within the conservative wing of the GOP (and this is discounting the Rockefeller types): the Goldwater-style libertarians, and (even though he left the party) the Rockwell conservatives, who would make Rick Santorum look like Barney Frank...

CobiWann · Apr 13, 2012

Congratulations. You cause me to choke on my roast beef sandwich when I saw who was replacing Hoover at the FBI.

Welcome back!

President Al Bundy · Apr 13, 2012

Yay! It's back, and how! I mean, G. Gordon Liddy as the head of the FBI, plus Thurmond getting his hands on J. Edna's secret files? So horribly awesome.

SiddFinch1 · Apr 13, 2012

Cool! Its back. Awesome news

nerdknight01 · Apr 14, 2012

¡ Hi !: ¡ COOL !, ¡ IT IS ALIVE !, ¡ AWESOME !.

¡ WELCOME BACK STATICHAOS !

. So many ideas, for start:

-Dr. Calvin Hudson it looks as one decent, wise and good people

, and i can´wait for see how evolved their live in the Soviet Union

, and by the way, it be possible

, to see in this magnificent timeline, the survival and grow of one rich, democratic and free Soviet Union

.

-The Quarrymen are doing one epic succesfully and popular european tour

, bonus extra if their more popular famous song is not Yesterday

, but one to happy and optimistic song about a nice future called Tomorrow.

-I liked Beano´s letters because his writtings show how are the life of common ordinary people everyday in this excellent timeline

.

-Hoover is death

, and i wonder if there exist some oportunity about Hoover´s files will ended in the hands of Cohn

or some journalist

.

-Cuba

, what a nightmare

, it be possible that no ofense please, that tropical´s island becoming some class of Vietnam

.

-I can´t wait for see the next excellent adventure of Orson Wells and Ed Wood

.

-And for last, is 1962

, any oportunity for see what are doing these days Elvis

, John Kennedy

, and Marilyn Monroe

.

Good luck

.

MaskedPickle · Apr 14, 2012

Hell, this FBI appointment sure sends chills down my spine. Welcome back Statichaos!

Thande · Apr 14, 2012

Didn't Marilyn Monroe commit suicide in TTL after one of the moral guardian organisations blocked one of her films from being made or something like that?

Wendell · Apr 14, 2012

Reading this, I'm starting to wonder if there will be a Democratic Party in 2012, or if it will have been replaced by a progressive party on the left, and a right-populist party popular in the South. Anyway, Good work. It would be interesting thouh of Stennis found some poor white countries to provide his labor source. Hungary and Yugoslavia come to mind in this regard.

Regardless, keep it up!

Emperor of Scandinavia · Apr 18, 2012

I can see it now.

The Soviet Premier, Nikita Krushchev is speaking is speaking in Washington D.C.

He begins his speech attacking anti-semtism, racism, and the exploitation of the working classes.

He goes on to laud the great strides the Soviet Union has made, and cites the nation's great friendship with the PRI, People's republic of Israel.

Finally to conclude, Krushchev states "Mr. Stennis tear down these walls."

Also, gordon Liddy, as FBI director, WHAT???

If you thought the Watergate break in was bad, I have a feeling Watergate will be a summer picknic in comparison to what will happen here.

Finally, do you have any plans for Enoch Powell, the British politician who made the "Rivers of Blood" speech?

Wishing you well, his majesty,
The Scandinavian Emperor

Japhy · Apr 18, 2012

Alas, while admittedly there was a time I would have been giddy to see this back in the works, looking back, the original veered far too much into implausibility, and dystopia for dystopia's sake for me to really be interested in seeing what develops in this.

Good luck with the writing though Static, it was an enjoyable read when I first read it.

statichaos · Apr 18, 2012

Japhy said:
Alas, while admittedly there was a time I would have been giddy to see this back in the works, looking back, the original veered far too much into implausibility, and dystopia for dystopia's sake for me to really be interested in seeing what develops in this.

Good luck with the writing though Static, it was an enjoyable read when I first read it.

That's fair.

However, I'm trying hard not to do dystopia for dystopia's sake with this work. While there are dystopic qualities (and plausibility is largely a matter of taste within any AH work), I don't think that this world qualifies as pure dystopia, at least not once one takes into account the hints that I've given of the future.

Thank you for the feedback, though. I appreciate the interest that you took, and you're always welcome back should you change your mind later on.

Orville_third · Apr 18, 2012

Hmmmm...will Liddy still be going after Timothy Leary? I'm looking forward to more of this!

Vault boy · Apr 18, 2012

Yes! This finally gets redone!

I have a question: What is the current situation in Latin America, now that Fidel Castro was defeated? (For some reason, I imagine the border cities in the US-Mexico border filled with Afro-American refugees and slums, eventually causing an early pop boom)

And with Malcolm X hiding in Mexico City... Well, what can I say?

Thande said:
Didn't Marilyn Monroe commit suicide in TTL after one of the moral guardian organisations blocked one of her films from being made or something like that?

She did. IIRC, it was because of the fact she was featured in Playboy (which ended up as a stillborn project ITTL due to the moral guardian's interference).