An Overview of American Politics, 1944-1960
First of all, I'd like to give credit to Expat, who has more than made up for my lack of knowledge regarding American domestic politics and has assisted me greatly, both in terms of content and creativity, to this update. Whilst I've had foreign policy down, the internal politics of the United States is alien to me (coming from a nation that uses a reformed Westminster system). So thank you so much Expat, for making this update possible.
In regards to the notes, as Wallace and Dewey were never Presidents IOTL, there is no need to provide notes to point out differences.
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Although the presidency of the Union's 33rd President, Henry A. Wallace was plagued with perceived impotence at challenging Soviet expansionism abroad, historical revisionists have instead portrayed him as an idealistic, if somewhat tragic figure. It is believed that Wallace, guilty for having used the atom bomb on Japan, saw it as his duty to improve the life of many, having taken so many. Wallace's principled nature pushed him to take an emancipatory stance on civil rights, a stance which provoked a backlash revealing the worst aspects of America's nature. Noting the often-superb performance of Coloured soldiers in the Second World War, Wallace immediately pushed for the desegregation of the US military. Despite this push, a colour bar persevered. The upper ranks continued to be dominated by Whites, and although the Servicemen's Readjustment Act ('G.I. Bill') which provided education, unemployment benefits, low-cost mortgages and many other benefits to assist veterans, many Coloured soldiers were unable to take advantage of these initiatives due to their socio-economic situation. In the military itself, many Black soldiers were treated extremely poorly by White fellow soldiers. Assaults were common and led to several incidents, including suicides and reprisal shootings. Integration in the military would be commonly claimed by segregationists to have been a key factor in the defeat of the United States in China. One Mississippi congressman was reported as saying "How could our good White boys retain the discipline to fight a war, with the influence of the lazy, dumb Negro tugging at him? The only time Black men have ever made Whites lose a war is when the White man let him try to help". Positively, the colour barrier in sport received a blow when Coloured baseballers Josh Gibson (of the Pennsylvania Pirates)[87] and Jackie Robinson (of the Brooklyn Dodgers) joined the Major League. The NFL colour barrier was also broken when the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode and the Cleveland Browns hired Marion Motley and Bill Wallis.
In 1946, Wallace asked the Democratic Congress to submit full civil rights legislation, an initiative which failed spectacularly. It was more successful in 1948, where a Republican Congress allowed the submission of such legislation. Dewey would later soft-pedal on civil rights during his campaign, stating that he would enforce civil rights legislation as becoming of the law. Wallace also pushed health care as a major priority of his presidency. The '45-'46 Congress passed basic health care legislation, although it was weakened by a compromise where the programmes were paid for with federal taxes, but administered by states (which had the unfortunate effect of prioritisation for Southern Whites). Economically, Wallace proved to be quite effective. Wallace gradually relinquished price controls and demobilised the military, minimising inflation. Labour disputes were also increasingly rare during his Presidency, although when they did occur, he tended to be relatively pro-labour (this also had the effect of pushing the Republican Party further anti-unions). Nevertheless, Wallace's veto failed to stop the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, disempowering labour unions to a hitherto-unseen degree.[88]
In the 1948 election, Republican Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey was elected to the Presidency. A representative of the 'Eastern Establishment', an alliance of North-Eastern business and political interests who had supported most of Roosevelt's 'New Deal' reforms. Dewey focused primarily on foreign policy, and was known as the first of the American 'Cold Warrior' Presidents. Nevertheless, Dewey's hand was forced due to the civil rights issues stirred up unintentionally by his predecessor. Riots in the South, including an infamous incident at Montgomery, Alabama in 1950 (which led to the lynching of six boys, all suspected of the rape of a 17-year old White girl (the girl testified that there was only one assailant), led to the deployment of National Guard units throughout the South. At times, African-American National Guardsmen abandoned their posts to defend African-American neighbourhoods. Firebombings of Black churches and businesses by Klansmen become increasingly common, and led certain communities to migrate
en masse out of the South, to cities such as Detroit and Chicago. The National Guard postings proved to be largely ineffective at preventing violence, due to Dewey's maintaining that they should be kept minimal. Instead, the National Guard was largely used as a means of political coercion, forcing state governors to enforce civil rights legislation, not due to the threat of force, but the appearance of administrative incompetency due to National Guard presence. If a Governor didn't need National Guard presence to keep law and order, he gained political prestige. Dewey managed to effectively manage the judicial system to the ends of promoting civil rights. He effectively calmed the situation in the South. His judicial activism promoted a fairer legal system for Southern Blacks insofar as his influence allowed. Race relations in the South remained tense, but were at least somewhat normalised.
The other notable programme of Dewey's presidency was his anti-corruption efforts. Dewey attempted, with mixed success, to remove the mafia presence from organised labour and the Democratic machines in major Northern cities through the Justice Department. These machines, somewhat calcified during Wallace's tenure, were undermined by Dewey's efforts. By breaking the influence of the Democratic machines, Dewey ensured a major upheaval in the American political system. Other initiative's of Dewey's included the establishment of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the lowering of taxes. Unsurprisingly given his background, Dewey focused his economic policy on balancing the budget and promoting business. [89]
Although often celebrated in hindsight, it cannot be ignored that Dewey's actions upset both major factions of the Democratic Party as well as alienating his own Republican Party. Accustomed to the machine politics of New York, Dewey was taken aback by the lack of support granted to him by conservatives within his party. Most Dewey biographers believe that this, more than anything, hurt his confidence as leader of the nation. Combined with the catastrophic intervention in China, which he felt he had gambled his presidency on, Dewey became convinced of his own weakness. His primary opponent within the Republican party was Robert Alphonso Taft, a conservative Ohio Senator. Whilst the Republicans were rallying around Dewey's conservative opposition, the Democrats were also plotting to push Dewey out of the White House. Both the segregationist Democrats of the South and the machines of the North had been under attack throughout Dewey's first term, and were determined to prevent a second term for Dewey. The two factions made a truce, promoting at the top of the ticket conservative Democrat Richard Russell, a Senator from Georgia, who promoted segregation and support for farmers. However, the northern Democratic party supporters didn't approve of their bosses' choice of presidential candidate. These northern Democrats, perceiving their bosses' support for a conservative candidate as evidence of corruption, formed an Anti-Corruption Ticket, supporting moderate Democrat Estes Kefauver, a Senator from Tennessee. This forced a virtual civil war amongst the Democratic politicians of the North, forced either to ride this populist wave or rally around the party bosses. On the streets of cities such as Chicago, Pittsburgh and Atlantic City, thugs and mobster engaged in voter intimidation and bribery on behalf of their Democratic bankrollers. Dewey did his best to halt this, stepping up federal enforcement of anti-corruption laws. Many Northern voters went to the polls with armed policemen at the door. Kefauver won no states, but managed to secure 7 million or so votes, securing enough support at the state level to secure political reform in several Northern states, including a limit on the power of party bosses and open popular primaries, beginning a permanent split in the Democratic Party.
Panicked by the prominence of conservative candidates in both the Republican and Democratic parties, and pessimistic about his chances of re-election, Dewey begged wartime General Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for the Republican candidacy, announcing to the nation that he is unwilling to run for a second time, but fully endorses Eisenhower's candidacy. Eisenhower defeated Taft in the Republican primaries, and demolished Russell at the election of 1952, the prestige of the popular war hero preventing Russell from gaining the support of any states outside the Deep South.
In many ways, Eisenhower continued the policies of his predecessor throughout his two terms. Much of Dewey's Cabinet was left intact by Eisenhower, who endorsed the balancing of the budget. Eisenhower maintained a moderate-to-liberal social policy, inching towards gradual development of civil rights for African-Americans. In fact, Eisenhower brought Dewey into his Cabinet as Attorney General. Dewey's focus remained anti-Communism, anti-corruption and a crackdown on organised crime. Eisenhower included Democrats in his Cabinet also, including Estes Kefauver. His non-partisan attitude to politics and his steady hand made him one of the most popular Presidents in US history, despite setbacks such as the Soviet Union's propaganda coup with Sputnik's penetration of space. Nevertheless, Eisenhower's foreign policy was both decisive and measured, as illustrated by his interventions in Lebanon,the proliferation of collective-security agreements and the expansion of the intelligence apparatuses.[90]
[87] IOTL, Josh Gibson never played in the Major Leagues, but played in the Negro Leagues and internationally. He was known as the 'Black Babe Ruth' and considered by many to be one of the best baseball players to have ever lived, in any league.
[88] ITTL, the slower shift away from the wartime economy leads to a more-strongly Republican Congress in '47-48, due to a less-happy consumer middle class. Nevertheless, the economy overall is slightly better.
[89] IOTL, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was established later. Also, by cleaning house in the Federal government, he took the wind out of the sails of McCarthyism, which has avoided its excesses. Also, the lack of red-baiting prevents the gutting of Hollywood through 'black-listing'.
[90] IOTL, the close call between Taft and Eisenhower. ITTL, Eisenhower beats Taft by a landslide. Therefore Eisenhower doesn't reach out to Taft and give him influence in the running of internal affairs. Therefore Eisenhower keeps with a Dewey-esque line.