TLIAW: Against the Grain

Quite interesting to see Macmillan go hard on preserving direct European control in Africa, given his OTL role to the opposite effect. With such a staunch anti-communist culture in Britain exemplified by UBAC, maybe we'll actually see a coup against an eventual returning Labour government after all...
Do note that Supermac is following up Attlee and not Eden here, so he has less colonial misadventuring to distance himself from - plus do note that the idea of African communism / ceding colonies being effectively handing them over to the USSR is good enough to scare a lot more leaners into supporting defending the colonies. And not like the Cambridge Five being revealed isn’t going to start conspiracies about how Attlee-era decolonization was because of commies in the government and all of that :p
 
Do note that Supermac is following up Attlee and not Eden here, so he has less colonial misadventuring to distance himself from - plus do note that the idea of African communism / ceding colonies being effectively handing them over to the USSR is good enough to scare a lot more leaners into supporting defending the colonies. And not like the Cambridge Five being revealed isn’t going to start conspiracies about how Attlee-era decolonization was because of commies in the government and all of that :p
Absolutely, his position definitely makes sense in the context of this TL. Given Macmillian appears to be relatively new to the job in 1954 and he was following Attlee, this leads me to presume Labour won a big enough majority in 1950 to carry on for at least a few years longer than OTL?
 
united, social democratic germany watching britain become extremely anti communist and france become fascist must be an odd experience- the idea of sonderweg probably is a bit discredited too given that here the birthplace of modern republicanism became a far right dictatorship to overthrow a democratically elected communist
 

Windows95

Banned
Kurt Shumacher was also an unbashed, unironic socialist.

In January 1946, the British and the Americans allowed the SPD to reform itself as a national party with Schumacher as leader. As the only SPD leader who had spent the whole Nazi period in Germany without collaborating, he had enormous prestige. He was certain that his right to lead Germany would be recognised by both the Allies and the German electorate.[citation needed] Schumacher met his match in Konrad Adenauer, the former mayor of Cologne, whom the Americans, not wanting to see socialism of any kind in Germany, were grooming for leadership. Adenauer united most of the prewar German conservatives into a new party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Schumacher campaigned throughout 1948 and 1949 for a united socialist Germany and particularly for the nationalisation of heavy industry, whose owners he blamed for funding the Nazis' rise to power. When the occupying powers opposed his ideas, he denounced them. Adenauer opposed socialism on principle and also argued that the quickest way to get the Allies to restore self-government to Germany was to co-operate with them.[citation needed]
From the Wikipedia article.

His quote points this out:

''Democracy demands socialism and socialism demands democracy.'' - Kurt Schumacher

Social democracy back then, before the 1959 Bad Godesburg program was actual reformist socialism, before it became a mixed economy, welfare state social democracy. The 1946 Platform, was calling for nationalization, municipalization of the primary and secondary areas of the economy, while cooperatives will dominate the service and light industry., all of this under a planned economy:

Social Democracy seeks a socialist economy based on planned direction and collective decision making. The collective good must be the only decisive factor in determining the scope, direction, and distribution of production. An increase in the means of production and the output of consumer goods is the precondition for the necessary integration of Germany into the web of international economic relations.

The means of production can be nationalized in different ways and in different forms. In socialism, there is no single way, no bondage, no dictated “barracks socialism,” no uniformity. There is no socialist society without the most diverse types of enterprises and forms of production. Socialism calls for as much economic self-administration as possible, with the most vigorous participation of workers and consumers.

II. The immediate measures

Nationalization must begin with natural resources and basic industries. All enterprises involved in mining and the production and processing of iron and steel – including the manufacture of semi-finished products – must be nationalized, along with the better part of the chemical and synthetic industries, all large enterprises in general, all types of public utilities, and all segments of the manufacturing industry that are pushing to become large-scale enterprises.

A cooperative philosophy must be encouraged; enterprises in the crafts sector, commerce, and agriculture must work together on common operational tasks, and consumer cooperatives must be given the broadest support.

Socialist planning encompasses all means of transportation, the insurance system, and the supply of money and loans, which must be organized anew.


Agrarian and Land Reform

Fundamental agrarian and land reform, including the expropriation of large landholders, must be introduced immediately. Ownership and management of large land holdings must be transferred to individuals, as part of farms, small plots or settlements, or they must be transferred to cooperative farms under joint ownership. They must not be broken up in a manner that jeopardizes their efficiency. This is the precondition for social justice in the countryside, for finally providing more people with housing, for finding an initial solution to ending the hardship of our refugees, for promoting production, and for increasing food supplies for the German people.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in agriculture, commerce, industry, and the crafts sector will have to perform important tasks in the economic order sought by the Social Democrats, and they should evolve within this framework.

The German housing sector must be placed under the strictest public control. It must be financed by all of society and not only by the communities that suffered destruction. Housing procurement is among the most urgent of tasks. In a period of housing shortages, providing sufficient accommodations for all is the top priority, not the comfort of a few.



III. “Only one Democracy”

German Social Democracy sees its political mission as making the masses aware of the revolutionary changes in social life that are both necessary and inevitable. Their goal is to win the majority of the population over to socialism.

The only path to this goal is a strong democracy that is ready to fight. There is only one kind of democracy. There is no such thing as a bourgeois or a proletarian democracy, just as there is no such thing, for present-day Social Democracy, as a reformist or a revolutionary socialism. Every form of socialism is revolutionary if it pushes forward and helps reshape society.

Democracy is the best form of the political struggle for all workers. For us socialists, it is a necessity, both in terms of morals and power-politics. Social Democracy wants people to participate voluntarily and on the basis of personal conviction, yet it also wants its followers to have the right to voice criticism.

There can be no socialism without democracy, without freedom of thought, and without the freedom to criticize. By the same token, there can be no socialism without humanity and respect for the human individual.

Just as democracy is a prerequisite for socialism, so, too, is it constantly under threat in a capitalist system. German democracy needs socialism because of Germany’s special historical conditions and because of the special nature of German intellectual development. German democracy must be socialist; otherwise counter-revolutionary forces will destroy it once again.


Freedom and Socialism

The character of German Social Democracy lies in its uncompromising commitment to freedom and socialism. The Social Democratic Party of Germany is proud that it was the only German party that stood up for the ideals of democracy, peace, and freedom, at great sacrifice. It is also the party of democracy and socialism in Germany today.

German Social Democracy firmly rejects any return to totalitarian thinking and behavior. In accordance with this basic stance, it will pursue a policy of independence and autonomy vis-à-vis all forces at home and abroad, and it will regulate its relationship with other parties.

Social Democracy is not content with the historical legitimacy it has acquired through the grand history of its struggle for freedom. It intends to continue demonstrating its claim to being a leading force in German politics through its outstanding achievements for the state and the people, and through its honest, upstanding, and practical policies.
Source: Political Principles of the Social Democratic Party (May 1946)

And Kurt Schumacher himself was against the Soviet Union, and Sovietization of Germany.

Ten years later, in 1959, the Godesborg program was changed to a Keynesian, welfare state mixed economic program.
 
So we should be due an entry soon from @Oppo, hoping for some evening reading but I'm predicting a Republican surge, given that they gained more states in the last election, maybe Leverett Saltonstall makes the leap from the Senate to heading a major ticket.
 
So we should be due an entry soon from @Oppo, hoping for some evening reading but I'm predicting a Republican surge, given that they gained more states in the last election, maybe Leverett Saltonstall makes the leap from the Senate to heading a major ticket.
No comment 😳
 
36. Cord Meyer (R-NY), 1961-1969
36. Cord Meyer (R-NY)
January 20, 1961 - January 20, 1969

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"Jim sucked Cord Meyer in, in my view. Cord Meyer became not only a great admirer, but also believer."

It had to be the conscience of the Republican Party. Of all the men who put their names forward for the presidency, it was the young war hero that was too good for this world. After an esteemed career that involved him becoming the youngest Governor of Minnesota, a founder of the United Nations, and America's point man for negotiations with Stalin, Harold Stassen somehow saw it upon himself to run for Governor of Pennslyvania.

While the state had a solid enough Republican apparatus to propel him to victory, it was that apparatus that Stassen immediately rubbed shoulders with. After Stassen cracked down on the PA GOP's patronage system, it was only a matter of time before a disgruntled postal clerk gave him a penny for his thoughts. Unfortunately, this assassination happened to take place a week before the 1960 Republican Convention.

Names were tossed around left, right, and center. Margaret Chase Smith's sex was no longer a glass ceiling, but few wanted to nominate a candidate openly threatening the Soviet Union with nuclear annihilation. Thruston Morton commanded the Southern delegations, but not much more than that. It was time for smoke-filled rooms and pulling strings, yet whoever emerged on top as a result of these machinations needed to follow in Stassen's footsteps.

Enter Cord Meyer.

Born on November 10, 1920, to real estate developer Cord Meyer Sr. and coal heiress Katherine Blair Thaw, Meyer went to private schools in Switzerland before attending Yale University. He served in the Marines during World War II, where he was badly injured by a Japanese grenade during the assault on Guam, losing an eye. In 1945, he married Mary Pinchot Meyer, the daughter of reformer Amos Pinchot and niece of Gov. Gifford Pinchot (ironically early political heroes of Henry Wallace).

Meyer's service set him upon a new mission to see "that these deaths would not be forgotten or valued lightly." Shortly after marrying Mary, Meyer went to San Francisco as an aide to Harold Stassen. While there was a great deal of optimism in the air surrounding the new United Nations, Meyer feared that the new organization would go the same way as the League of Nations and, along with Stassen, advocated for giving the UN more military powers.

Meyer founded the United World Federalists to support this cause, and though it earned the support of Albert Einstein, the CPUSA quickly infiltrated the organization, leading Meyer to dismiss world federalism as a utopian ideology. In 1952, Harold Stassen asked Meyer if he wanted to work for his presidential campaign, and though Stassen's efforts were unsuccessful, it gave Meyer enough party influence to secure him a New York congressional seat in the 1954 midterms.

Meyer's ascendance to the Republican nomination was the most unexpected since the 1896 DNC, and at the age of 40, only William Jennings Bryan bested him for youth. In retrospect, many have wondered why the Republicans won with such an unknown figure when Mrs. Roosevelt was so popular; but after all, Roosevelt only won twice by slim margins (with a magic name at that!).

It wasn't much help that the Democrats nominated Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland. While he had cemented the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, he hadn't cemented his name into history. Furthermore, the debates clearly exemplified the difference between Meyer and the 60-year-old McFarland. Despite a boost from his youthful running mate Senator Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (who, in the process, built up his own career by making up for the sins of his father), the people concluded that a Republican government could maintain the Rooseveltian Consensus.


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Headless Thompson Gunners

With the exception of the usual Cold War rhetoric of America "building a world for the common man" and vague unkept promises to Greek and Italian immigrant associations, there was little talk about foreign policy in the 1960 elections. Quite honestly, the issue in the back of every Washington's mind was too embarrassing to say out loud — the crisis in the Congo.

That wasn't to say there weren't moves to be made by the Great Powers, who quickly found that backing a minority province and fixing elections with smuggled diamonds would not be taken well by a country used to consensus government. The swift and brutal execution of Patrice Lumumba signaled the cost of such a conflict. All that remains of Lumumba is a gold tooth, which the Belgian government refuses to return to his family.

Cord Meyer was surprisingly unnerved by the news of Lumumba's assassination. His Secretary of State, a diplomat named C. Douglas Dillon, described Lumumba as "psychotic" for not looking at him directly in the eye (not realizing that direct eye contact is seen as a challenge to one's authority in the Congo). The new administration and its European allies were primarily concerned with ensuring the Congo stayed out of the Soviet bloc. The Western coalition was in a difficult position — General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu had more support from the Belgian-trained Congolese officers, but the mineral-rich region of Katanga was under the control of Moise Tshombe (seen as a puppet at best and an Uncle Tom at worst).

The conflict between these two warring factions allowed the Simba guerillas (led by Lumumba's education minister Pierre Mulele) to take over the east...then all of the country apart from Leopoldville (occupied by French and Belgian troops). After a failed last-ditch offensive, Mobutu was promptly executed, whilst Tshombe and his mercenaries fled to Portuguese Angola.

Lumumba, a pan-African nationalist, was enough of a threat, but Mulele represented an openly communist government inspired by the Long March of Mao Zedong. Mulele even went a step beyond Mao's vision of a peasant vanguard to incorporate traditional African folk beliefs as part of a call for a return to pre-European tribal life.

While the Simba successfully established a united People's Republic of the Congo and nationalized the Congo's mineral reserves, its trade was limited to the Soviet Union, China, and Ghana. Western backlash to the new regime was almost immediate, with Moshe Thombe quickly earning financial support from the governments of British PM Alfred Robens and French President Raoul Salan, especially now that NATO ally Portugal bordered a safe haven for Angolan guerillas.

Despite the efforts of William F. Buckley and other right-wing intellectuals, the Meyer administration was at first resistant to taking further action in the Congo. All changed with the Leopoldville Massacre in March 1962. While there were certainly violent attacks on the remaining European populations in Belgium, Western media significantly played up the extent of violence, fabricating so-called "atrocity propaganda." Quickly, conservative commentators openly referred to the Simbas as the "Black Mongols" whilst the voices of liberal hawks were elevated.

Even during Roosevelt's last months in office, Americans would have thought that hell would freeze over before the US would get entangled in a European colonial war. Cord Meyer would have been one of them. Whilst Meyer initially put his weight around the United Nations Operation in the Congo, he was regularly humiliated by footage of the international force fleeing Simba attacks. It was time for the biggest breach with the Wallace Doctrine — the decision to send US and NATO allied troops to the Congo.

The US and its allies sought a two-pronged assault, attacking from France's autonomous region of Congo-Brazzaville up north and Angola from the south. This necessitated support for Congo-Brazzaville Prime Minister Fulbert Youlou and the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, both repressive conservatives firmly out of step with American values.

The Congo War (as it came to be known in the United States) immediately spurred domestic opposition, with uncensored footage of the brutality transmitted back home. CBS' Edward R. Murrow notably issued an editorial report in opposition to US intervention. While Murrow was fired by CBS (for officially unrelated reasons), a majority of the public seemingly agreed with him.

Ahead of the 1962 midterm elections, the Democrats were projected to win an overwhelming majority for Speaker Emanuel Celler and Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland. The only saving grace for the Republicans was the fall of Stanleyville, signaling the official end of the road for the Simba government.

By the beginning of 1963, the Western forces captured Simba witch doctor Mama Onema, who volunteered to place curses on General Nicholas Olenga and Congolese PR General Secretary Mulele. By coincidence, the curse coincided with the collapse of the Congolese PR and a return to guerilla resistance.

While the Western media had rehabilitated Tshombe into an "African Winston Churchill", it was clear that the Congolese would never accept his rule. Therefore, the peace treaty placed Albert Kalonji (Lumumba's rival within the Congolese National Movement) as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Joseph Iléo as Prime Minister. However, the heavily independent autonomous region of Katanga remained under Tshombe's leadership, with its mines once again under the control of Belgian and American corporations.

The Western forces officially withdrew in favor of United Nations peacekeepers, though Tshombe convinced a few to become mercenaries with offers of luxurious ex-colonial homes and free land.

Born to Be Free

The Congo War served as an important moment for the American Civil Rights Movement, which sought a new direction in light of Roosevelt's Civil Rights Act of 1957. At this time, the most prominent civil rights activist was Paul Robeson, a football player, singer, and actor who emerged as a champion of Soviet-American cooperation during World War II. Robeson's close relationship with Henry Wallace was seen as the deciding factor in the president's decision to speak at the March on Washington, and Robeson repaid the favor by risking his life to campaign for Wallace across the Deep South.

Robeson, nevertheless, remained controversial due to his alleged communist sympathies and refusal to condemn the Soviet Union. While such positions were commonplace in the 1940s, as the Cold War heated up in the 1960s, Robeson was derided as a "tankie." Ex-NAACP President George Schuyler publicly broke with Robeson in 1961, coinciding with Schuyler breaking with his own socialist views. Black separatists also began to gain appeal, with membership in Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam steadily rising through the oratory of Malcolm X.

However, it was Robeson's call for draft evasion in light of the Congo War that sparked the most controversy. While the issue of the draft had impacted the Civil Rights Movement since World War I, leaders such as Bayard Rustin publicly broke with Robeson, claiming that his inflammatory actions could reverse all of the progress made since the second Roosevelt administration.

Robeson grew paranoid and suffered several mental health crises in the 1960s, forcing him to relinquish his role as the face of the Civil Rights Movement in favor of his son Paul Jr. and his protege Harry Belafonte (who abandoned his musical career and legendary rivalry with
Louis "The Charmer" Walcott to take up the cause full-time). Declassified files show that FBI Director Mark Felt had specifically targeted Robeson as part of the COINTELPRO program

Robeson was not the only leader radicalized by the Congo War, with Malcolm X (who took over the NOI after Elijah Muhammad's death in 1963) openly declaring himself an "American Simba" and deriding Tshombe as "the worse African ever born". While Malcolm X had previously described the Congo Massacre as a case of "chickens coming home to roost", this was a new level of provocation to Southern whites.

The Southern modernist movement immediately collapsed in favor of a radicalized backlash to integration. Evident of this was the assassination of George Wallace as he campaigned for the senate in 1962. After the defeat of Ralph Yarborough by Republican businessman George H.W. Bush in 1964, the only remaining Southern modernizer was Governor Ellis Arnall (elected as an Independent Democrat with Republican support). Even up north, Boston's Louise Day Hicks, running as "the only mother on the ballot", mobilized white backlash to integration into her becoming Mayor of Boston in 1967.


Three Funerals

If you're a director trying to set a film in the 1950s, your mise en scene will most certainly include a Ford automobile, a strawberry milkshake with whipped cream, and a "Wrightville" house. In 1945, Frank Lloyd Wright met with the newly-elected President Wallace, a man that the eccentric architect shared political sympathies with. While most presidents would use the meeting as a chance for a photo-op, Wallace gave Wright a challenge — to help build an America worthy of the soldiers that fought for it.

Wright, ever up for a challenge, immediately accepted a chance to design the country in his image. While his designs are typically known as Wrightvilles, the designer himself preferred the term Usonian, a new school of architecture with no attachments to the Old World. It was to design what the Wallace Doctrine was to foreign policy.

As the unofficial "master designer" of post-war America, Wright inevitably rubbed shoulders with New York's Robert Moses, his second cousin by marriage. Due to Henry Wallace's political strength in New York City, Moses' influence gradually declined, with Wright condemning his vision for New York as a "monument to the power of money and greed." Wright died in early 1961, enjoying his retirement in Arizona. His final middle finger to his cousin was the Guggenheim Building, a bright pink "temple of the spirit."

His death was followed by that of Eleanor Roosevelt, an American icon since she became First Lady in 1933. Her state funeral was attended by leaders from across the world, notably Argentine President Eva Perón (seen as following in Eleanor's footsteps). It was the tribute given by New York state legislator Mark Lane, however, that cemented the impact of Roosevelt's death. Branding the 35th President as the Mother of the Nation, Lane's remarks summed up the feelings liberals had as the New Deal consensus continued strong into the 1960s. Lane's stardom further catapulted with his election to Congress in 1962. Additional tributes came from Paul Simon's chart-topping song "
Mrs. Roosevelt".

It was at this time that several Democrats began openly identifying as Rooseveltian. The differing approaches to Franklin and Eleanor's legacy can be summarized by a 1966 confrontation between the social democratic followers of student activist Tom Hayden and the New Deal nationalism of Lyndon LaRouche (who briefly advised Jawaharlal Nehru after serving in India in World War II), each of whom shouted sandwiched their zealous slogans with chants of "long live Roosevelt!"

The final death that impacted the Meyer administration was the assassination of First Lady Mary Pinchot Meyer at the dedication of
Eisenhower International Airport. The culprit, a right-wing ex-Marine named Thomas Arthur Valle, was swiftly arrested, though his suicide while in police custody sparked conspiracy theories that continue to this day.

The nation was filled with grief at the loss of the glamorous First Lady, a style icon beloved by the DC social circles. Richard Hamilton's tribute portrait to the First Lady (a fellow artist) still attracts crowds at the Tate Britain gallery; his work cemented Hamilton's status as the founder of pop art. Unbeknownst to the public, her marriage was especially frosty during her husband's presidency, on account of Cord's intense secrecy around governance and Mary's socialist political views.

On account of his wife's assassination, few politicians outside of the National Party dared to criticize the Meyer administration. Democratic frontrunner Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. declined to run, allegedly due to rumors that his brother, author John Kennedy, had an affair with Meyer at the time of her death. Ernest McFarland and Henry Jackson likewise declined to run.

The Democrats ended up nominating populist Alabama Governor Jim "Big Jim" Folsom in an attempt to poach Southern voters from the National Party. A moderate on racial issues, Folsom also aimed to win support from liberals due to his staunch loyalty to the now frail Henry Wallace. However, his personal issues, including a paternity suit and his rapidly deteriorating eyesight, dogged his electoral appeal. The National Party, abandoning its attempts to become a national conservative party, decided to ride the wave of white Southern extremism by renominating their 1948 candidate John F. Crommelin (who scared observers with his landslide victory in South Carolina and Mississippi). Needless to say, neither candidate stood a chance, despite Democrats keeping both houses of Congress.


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A Song for Europe

While Raoul Salan was the one pulling the strings within the French regime, its public faces were political, chief among them being Prime Minister Georges Bidault. Salan's desire for a new presidential constitution was widely viewed as necessary; as a result, most non-communist French held their noses and prayed that Salan would bring about a swift victory in the Algerian War. While the constitution (and Salan's election as president) were approved in a referendum, that swift victory was not to come.

The United Kingdom had withdrawn its troops, and the United States, already embarrassed by its role in the Congo, had avoided defending the increasingly brutal tactics of the French military. Italy, with its close diplomatic links to the Arab world, had been steadily supplying arms to the Algerians in exchange for promises of cheap oil when independence came.

It was quite apparent that the walls were closing in, but it took the 1963 Citreon workers' strike for action to be taken. It wasn't the strike itself (which concerned issues only pertaining to Yvelines), but its suppression that shocked the French people. The Salan regime's use of Algerian tactics in Metropolitan France was a bridge too far.

The president was impeached by the National Assembly, with acting president Bidault promising a return to democracy. The presidential election became a three-way contest between PCF candidate Waldeck Rochet, the liberal-conservative Antoine Pinay, and the novelist Andre Malraux, a rare left-wing ally of the late Charles de Gaulle with genuine antifascist credentials from his service in the Spanish Civil War. Malraux's victory is also notable for his role in forcing France to reckon with its role in the Holocaust, an issue that Vichy official Antoine Pinay was forced to account for in the presidential runoff.

Britain, under Prime Minister Alfred Robens since 1966, was quickly facing its own political crises. Sandwiched between the USSR and the anti-colonial United States, even Robens' Labour government made moves towards the paternalistic conservatism of yore. While most Labour supporters saw Robens as a traitor second only to Ramsay MacDonald, he easily won re-election in 1964 against the Marquess of Salisbury.

It took until 1966 for Robens' removal as Prime Minister in favor of the 41-year-old Anthony Benn. While once an ally of the PM, Benn saw the need for decisive action in order to restore felt by his fellow soldiers in 1945. In his honeymoon period, Benn took several bold moves, demanding the parliamentary confirmation of judges, the direct election of magistrates, nationalization of the oil industry, and the negotiated 1970 handover of Hong Kong to the Republic of China.

Meanwhile, the Italian Communist Party was finding it hard to replace the man known simply as "The Best". Palmiro Togliatti was succeeded by a series of remarkable men who were unremarkable as Prime Minister. The PCI was a difficult beast to understand, being born out of Stalinism yet emerging as fierce defenders of the postwar constitution it helped write.

There was a rampant desire to go further without deviating from the Salerno Turn (the PCI's embrace of parliamentary democracy), but this was met with backlash from the PCI's allies in the Socialist Party, who were angered by Western Europe's communist parties rejecting efforts towards European integration.

Enter Altiero Spinelli, an independent political theorist loosely affiliated with the PCI (despite leaving the party in 1937). Spinelli earned his chops as a European federalist, and he was willing to win over the PCI by pushing for a democratic socialist constitution for Italy and Europe.

The new Prime Minister, supported by all Italian parties (with the exception of the banned MSI) and German Chancellor Willy Brandt, began to put forward plans for a directly elected European Parliament, a European Central Bank, and a European Defense Committee as a replacement for NATO.

While Malraux was reluctant to take action due to the lack of requirements for fiscal unanimity, he eventually signed the agreement, finding common ground between his Progressive Republican Party and the European left. Unexpectedly, the biggest obstacle to the agreement was Prime Minister Benn, who saw the expanded European Economic Committee as an authoritarian institution with the potential to threaten Britain's parliamentary traditions.

This served as the trigger point for the Europe 1968 protests in the United Kingdom. While formally supported by the Liberal and Common Wealth parties, student leaders emerged as leading forces in the movement, and art student Bryan Ferry's "Manifesto for Europe" revealed that the protesters were demanding something deeper than a treaty. After two World Wars and the recent failures of Macmillan's colonial policy and Robens'...everything, Ferry spoke of "nostalgia for a lost future" and a desire for Europe to collectively regain the spirit of the Renaissance. As the EEC continued its development, this brand of conservatism took hold in several countries.

With opinion polls showing a majority supporting Spinelli's European agreement, Benn called a snap election months before he initially planned to, reflecting his principles about the need for debate and democracy. In addition, Benn requested that the Labour Party hold its first-ever primary election to determine its choice for Prime Minister (a sharp contrast to the Magic Circle that still determined Tory leaders).


Headless Thompson Gunners (pt. 2)

The new DRC government continued to be marred with Simba guerrilla attacks. To most Congolese, there was little distinction between life before and after the Western intervention. In 1966, Katanga President Tshombe secured a return of American troops into the Congo to accompany the United Nations occupation force.

This, however, only strengthened the resolve of the Simbas, with roughly half of the country falling under their control. By the end of 1966, the American and UN troops withdrew as suddenly as they arrived. The country, still under Kalonji’s control, recognized that a deal need to be made with the rebels.

Now that the Westerners were gone, Kalonji recognized who he needed to sacrifice to secure the peace. Congolese troops stormed into Katanga, capturing Tshombe as his army of underpaid mercenaries fled rather than putting up a fight.

A deal was signed with the Simbas, and a new democratic socialist constitution was drafted. New elections were called, with leftist Laurent-Désiré Kabila taking power as Prime Minister in 1968. A democratic and sovereign Congo had been achieved but at quite a cost.

The Ghost

Despite the significance of the 1960s, Cord Meyer's policy agenda is largely an afterthought. Like most right-of-center leaders in this era, Meyer represented the continuation of a consensus, rather than a deviation. Recognizing the failures of Winant in combatting inflation, Meyer pushed for a so-called "modern gold standard", a full employment program, and strict quotas in an effort to maintain levels of production. In one of his most liberal moves, Meyer began a program where businesses received tax incentives for sharing profits with their employees; a policy designed to avoid industrial strife and pushes for nationalization.

These policies did not cement the brand of liberal humanist Republicanism that Harold Stassen established in the 1940s, however. Cord Meyer's presidency is remembered for scandal, one that revealed the growing excesses in the Cold War American order.

Despite the love for Eleanor Roosevelt across the country, her opposition adopted some of the fiercest rhetoric in American history. Roosevelt grew increasingly distrustful of the old order around her, particularly the military (who she saw as a mirror of her general election opponent Patton). In 1954, Roosevelt began transferring intelligence responsibilities from the armed forces to the collective Central Intelligence Group (the de-facto successor of the wartime OSS).

The thought was that an organization dominated by Ivy League intellectuals would be more cunning and more liberal than the disorganized military intelligence. This trust was unquestioned until Cord Meyer named James Jesus Angleton as Chair of the Central Intelligence Group.

The activities of Angleton are still disputed, with outlandish claims (such as the alleged MKULTRA experiments) unable to be confirmed. What we do know is that Angleton was a Yale-educated poet heavily influenced by e e cummings and Ezra Pound. Angleton followed a school of literary analysis that valued close reading. This, along with Angleton's friendship with Kim Philby, fueled his desire to find a Soviet mole inside the CIG.

Angleton acted as a rogue operator; after a defector mentioned a Soviet spy known as "Mr. K", Angleton called every CIG employee with a K last name in for questioning. His activities were known to a select few, and the Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee gave him a blank check for operations every year. These secrets could not be kept forever.

As the nation pondered why Meyer suddenly withdrew the US from the Congo, a file Angleton produced for Meyer hit the press. The Angleton Memo revealed that halting American activities in the Congo would have no negative impact on American strategic interests, contradicting what the Meyer administration had been telling the public.

The scandal only escalated when muckraking journalist Jack Anderson published a column repeating allegations amongst CIG employees that a high-ranking official was a Soviet mole tasked with tearing the agency apart. While Anderson, fearing a lawsuit, did not mention Angleton's name, National Party members of Congress spoke freely through Congressional immunity. The Democratic leadership reluctantly agreed to hearings on the CIG and Angleton's conduct as a result of this public pressure.

The findings of the so-called Humphrey Committee (1968) revealed the existence of the HTLINGUAL program. While intended to intercept mail from the USSR, China, and Italy, it quickly grew to target liberal and leftist figures such as Harry Belafonte, Robert Zimmerman, Rep. Mark Lane, Rep. Gore Vidal, and even Senator Humphrey himself. More provocative were the allegations that Angleton surveilled the late First Lady in the months before her death.

The latter allegations tipped the scales in favor of Meyer's impeachment and the immediate abolishment of the CIG, yet neither happened before Meyer left office. Despite it being clear that he encouraged Angleton's illegal activities, Meyer held firm in defense of himself and his close friend. However, with the mysterious death of Deputy CIG Director John Paisley on a yachting expedition in the Chesapeake Bay, this was no longer viable.

It has been long alleged that Speaker Emanuel Celler offered to drop talk of impeachment in exchange for Angleton's resignation, an offer Meyer accepted. James Jesus Angelton lived until 1987, occasionally inviting members of Congress and the DC social circles over to his house to tell stories over a few drinks. As for the issue of the CIG, it was kicked down the road for the next administration.

also....after 18 years under the steady hand of Georgy Zhukov, the USSR was shaken up by the news that the marshall had survived a stroke and was to remain hospitalized. While the Politburo knew they couldn't take immediate action against the country's greatest hero, they also knew his time was up.

Apart from writing his poorly-received memoirs, Cord Meyer withdrew from the public eye before dying of lymphoma in March 2001.
 
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Don't do this to us at hour 72/72 smh
genuinely how did i make wikiboxes on the regular back in the day...this is so stressful
Wait, Palmiro Togliatti is Italy's PM? Given his Stalinist sympathies IRL, well... is Italy a one-party communist state here?
My Homework Assignment For You
https://jacobin.com/2017/03/palmiro-togliatti-italian-communist-party-stalin-fascism-mussolini
In one 1960 parliamentary exchange, liberal MP Ugo La Malfa asked PCI general secretary Palmiro Togliatti how a party with such strong roots in the Stalin-era Third International (the Comintern) could nonetheless proclaim itself the best defender of Italian democracy — indeed, the patriotic “party of the whole Italian people.” Togliatti replied that La Malfa was like “the man who visiting a zoo, and seeing a giraffe, denies the evidence in front of his eyes, insisting that such a creature could not exist.” La Malfa conceded that there was no doubt that the “giraffe” existed, but what strange gestation process linked it to its “rhinoceros, elephant or lion” forebears?
 

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Definitely an obscure figure to me, but a very interesting one. And what a neat First Lady Mary would have been. The Republican comeback here is a far more precarious thing, with the 1964 landslide being so fueled by a sympathy vote, the abuse of power, setbacks overseas... it'll take some political turns for the electorate to trust them again.

Mark Lane is a good hook for some wild possibilities in the late 1970s.
 
Presidential review time.

I admire the transformation of OTL obscurities into major political figures. Unfortunately, just like Bobby K. from Watchtower, looks like this guy wanted to spy on his enemies too.
 
Britain, under Prime Minister Alfred Robens since 1966, was quickly facing its own political crises. Sandwiched between the USSR and the anti-colonial United States, even Robens' Labour government made moves towards the paternalistic conservatism of yore. While most Labour supporters saw Robens as a traitor second only to Ramsay MacDonald, he easily won re-election in 1964 against the Marquess of Salisbury.
Slight nitpick - Robens' year of coming into office appears to be incorrect given he won re-election in 1964. Only pointing it out so I can do a PM list at the end of this TL :angel: I get a profound sense of disappointment from how Robens' term is being described - perhaps elected in a blaze of optimism but unable to fulfil the early promise due to structural/financial issues?
It took until 1966 for Robens' removal as Prime Minister in favor of the 41-year-old Anthony Benn. While once an ally of the PM, Benn saw the need for decisive action in order to restore felt by his fellow soldiers in 1945. In his honeymoon period, Benn took several bold moves, demanding the parliamentary confirmation of judges, the direct election of magistrates, nationalization of the oil industry, and the negotiated 1970 handover of Hong Kong to the Republic of China.
Yikes! I knew that Benn was generally in favour of more democracy in public life but direct election of magistrates and parliamentary confirmation of judges sounds like the start of a slippery slope. Did he support these things in OTL?
Unexpectedly, the biggest obstacle to the agreement was Prime Minister Benn, who saw the expanded European Economic Committee as an authoritarian institution with the potential to threaten Britain's parliamentary traditions.
Some things never change though XD
With opinion polls showing a majority supporting Spinelli's European agreement, Benn called a snap election months before he initially planned to, reflecting his principles about the need for debate and democracy. In addition, Benn requested that the Labour Party hold its first-ever primary election to determine its choice for Prime Minister (a sharp contrast to the Magic Circle that still determined Tory leaders).
I have a feeling the early election and a Labour primary both have the change to backfire on Benn. High public support for the European agreement means the voters could turn on Labour and if there's a messy primary the party will look divided. Perfect space for someone like good ol' Ted Heath to move in an claim the pro-European centre ground! Love the references to the Liberal and Common Wealth parties too - interesting to see that the latter party is still a notable player given it's mentioned here.

European tomfoolery aside, this was a great chapter. Despite a landslide re-election, it seems like Meyer wasn't able to achieve much of note with the scandals far outweighing any positives. Big opening for the Democrats to get back in '68.
 
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Definitely an obscure figure to me, but a very interesting one. And what a neat First Lady Mary would have been. The Republican comeback here is a far more precarious thing, with the 1964 landslide being so fueled by a sympathy vote, the abuse of power, setbacks overseas... it'll take some political turns for the electorate to trust them again.
Mary is such a fascinating figure, it's such a shame what happened to her...there's also a good chance that she and JFK did acid together 🤷‍♂️
Mark Lane is a good hook for some wild possibilities in the late 1970s.
He 100% could have become a mainstream Democratic politician, and he certainly had an impact IOTL through his JFK tour on college campuses
@Oppo I think the electoral count for the 1960 election is wrong
Oh shit wdym?
The United Nations is based in San Francisco here instead of in New York?
oops sorry for the confusion, I was referring to the OTL United Nations Conference on International Organization
Slight nitpick - Robens' year of coming into office appears to be incorrect given he won re-election in 1964. Only pointing it out so I can do a PM list at the end of this TL :angel: I get a profound sense of disappointment from how Robens' term is being described - perhaps elected in a blaze of optimism but unable to fulfil the early promise due to structural/financial issues?
My bad...he won his first term in 1959...Engima and I have the same thought as you in terms of working out the PMs list lmao
Yikes! I knew that Benn was generally in favour of more democracy in public life but direct election of magistrates and parliamentary confirmation of judges sounds like the start of a slippery slope. Did he support these things in OTL?
I took it from Benn's OTL Commonwealth of Britain bill...definitely something that could be manipulated in either direction
Some things never change though XD
I have a feeling the early election and a Labour primary both have the change to backfire on Benn. High public support for the European agreement means the voters could turn on Labour and if there's a messy primary the party will look divided. Perfect space for someone like good ol' Ted Heath to move in an claim the pro-European centre ground! Love the references to the Liberal and Common Wealth parties too - interesting to see that the latter party is still a notable player given it's mentioned here.

European tomfoolery aside, this was a great chapter. Despite a landslide re-election, it seems like Meyer wasn't able to achieve much of note with the scandals far outweighing any positives. Big opening for the Democrats to get back in '68.
Loved using Benn...he's a man I greatly admire which made it all the more fun to have him as a roadblock
 
ZeSteel is referring to the fact the wikibox for that year only shows 28 - 16 - 3, so a total of 47 states. So four states missing unless the intent was they were won by independents and not one of the major tickets.
 
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