America and Onward 2.0

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"You would have thought that a nation, one of the largest and most powerful on earth, would be able to weather the storm of bad economic times. Especially America, shining like a jewel across the Atlantic from our own nation, would be the type of country with the fortitude and stamina to win the fight against economics. However, this nation, set on the fast track to one day leading the world, would instead be denied that chance as its infrastructure and government crumbled while on the farmlands bands of so-called "Minutemen" fougth skirmishes over food and land. The America that could have been was not the America that was to be."

-The Darkened City, Winston Churchill

America and Onward 2.0

An alternative history by Cathcon

"The inauguration of President Landon was meant to be a joyous occasion. After the brutal three-way race between himself, President Smith, and Senator Huey Long, the Republicans who had initially been favored to lose by a landslide had saved the race. However, the Republicans knew that they hadn't truly earned the victory and that the Senate and House of Representatives would be just as Democratic, in fact more, than they had the year before. 1936, the "miracle year" for the Republican party, would be nothing mroe than another nightmare year for the nation as a whole. Landon's inauguration speech was lackluster at best.

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Upon taking office, Landon would take no real action, neither working on the creation of new programs to alleviate the depression, or in trying to free up the market to get commerce moving again. His "bi-partisanship" that he espoused would hold true as both sides of the aisle rose up in protest of his seeming "lack of grounding" in the events of the real world. He mainly acted as a rubber-stamp for the Democrat-controlled Congress while proposing no legislation of his own and not working to push any of the legislation. Today, by the accounts of the majority of the economic and historical communities, it is believed his "middle path of incompetence" helped to lay the groundwork for the death of the United States of America."

-The Darkened City, Winston Churchill

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"Alf Landon would be judged as he governed: horribly. Among all those vying for the Democratic nomination in 1940, one man, it seemed, had the charisma to united the country. This man has become the subject of debate among numerous professors and in the halls of academia. While his policies, declared socialist by some and saving by others, were debatable then and now, his charisma and ability to draw people to him made him the perfect candidate for the Democrats. He was Franklin D Roosevelt, New York Governor.

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However, chaisma would not get the Governor far as, despite winning nearly all of the Democratic primaries that year, he would not win at the convention. Twenty years before he had been nominated to be on the Democratic ticket as Vice-President. However, in 1940, he would find himself floundering. Campaign manager James Farley, who had worked as hard as Roosevelt for the nomination would be stunned as on the forty-ninth ballot the Democrats would nominate former Governor Paul V McNutt for President and Wyoming Senator Joseph C O'Mahoney for Vice-President. The party bosses called it a "compromise" in an attempt to win back the West as well as to win Indiana, a state that had voted for Landon and was heavily Republican. Roosevelt was not happy with the ticket, but supported it nonetheless. In reality, Roosevelt's failure had been the result of a smear campaign, mainly by Southern delegates, who had spread the rumor that Roosevelt needed a wheelchair and was sickly. Both were revealed to be true, and the Democrats, not wanting to nominate "The Cripple", instead, looked for an alternative. The alternative they found was weak, but, in the eyes of the Democratic party bosses, neither of the candidates were crippled."

-The Darkened City, Winston Churchill

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

In order to provide contrast to "A Second Chance", and to finally start this which I've been planning since before the end of the original "America and Onward", this has been put up.

I know some of my readers might complain about me only re-doing my previous two timelines, but I felt this had to be done.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"Going into the 1940 election, two things would happen that would further weaken his candidacy. Vice-President Vandenberg announced in late 1939 that he would not be seeking a second term as Vice-President. Vandenberg, a Conservative Republican, felt ashamed to have been in Landon's miserable administration. The second would be the inevitable challenge from the Right, and not only from the Right, but from the Left. Senator Robert Taft of Ohio would be his Conservative challenger while Liberal Republican and former Democrat Wendell Wilkie of New York would challenge him from the perspective of a Liberal internationalist. Eventually, President Landon would lose the nomination and retire to his home in Kansas. Wilkie would go on to his own incredible defeat at McNutt's hands. However, that was not the end of the story. Aviator Charles Lindbergh, who had become leader of the isolationist "America First" movement announced a third party bid. In order to attract Democrats as well, former Treasury Secretary Joe Kennedy, a Smith ally, joined the ticket. The ticket would eventually gain the support of Vice-President Vandenberg and Senator Taft.

This would not only draw isolationist Conservatives into the mix, but also take in urban Irish Catholics in New York, and especially  Boston. Many today describe Lindbergh as "Charismatic as Hell". That simile comes from the 1940 Presidential campaign, which incidentally would be the last Presidential election America would ever hold. The America First ticket and splitting of Conservative, Liberal, Isolationist, and Internationlist votes ensured that on Election Day 1940, McNutt would win an incredible landslide electorally and not even win a majority of the popular vote. Looking back on recent American history, one could compare it to the 1912 Presidential campaign where former President Roosevelt would overshadow the incumbent President William Howard Taft (father of Robert Taft), and win more of the popular and electoral vote than he. However, Roosevelt and Taft would both be defeated in a landslide akin to 1940, where, in 1912, Woodrow Wilson who was the Democratic nominee would fail to win a majority of the popular vote as well.

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The Democrats once again won by landslide proportions, and this time with an unenthusiastic candidate who was in no way prepared for the Presidency and hadn't even expected the nomination. McNutt would rely on the help of his former rivals. Former President Al Smith would become Labor Secretary, and New York Governor Franklin D Roosevelt would become the Secretary of State.

In Great Britain, where I was still Prime Minister, the Germans had been beaten back from Normandy. However, the Germans, controlling most of France and quickly gaining influence in Spain and other countries, didn't have their eyes set on just the United Kingdom. On November 3rd, 1942, German bombers would make contact with the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, hitting New York City, Washington DC, and American forces at Norfolk, Virginia in one brutal day of death and destruction. For the first time since the Great Depression, Americans felt united in their opposition to the Axis powers. Former Vice-President Vandenberg, formerly an isolationist, who returned to the Senate in 1940, would become the definition of a "bi-partisan internationalist". Even Charles Lindbergh who had been opposed to American intervention offered to pilot missions into Europe in order to help the cause. However, looking at the logistics, War Secretary Cordell Hull would say that America's forces could not possibly launch a full-scale invasion, or even a marginally successful one. During the nineteen-thirties, America's military had been continually down-sized as Smith was an isolationist who intended to never use military force during his Presidency, and Landon had no intention of war either. Not only had America's military been weakened and down-sized, the figures showed America had no money to fund even one foreign incursion. President McNutt would be forced to go live ont he radio and tell the American people that they would not be able to seek revenge or retribution, that they would not be able to work toward bringing the Axis Powers down.

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In this stage, America was already at the brink. The Great Plains had seemingly turned into their own countries, with local government attempting to take the reigns of power in order to ensure order. The Federal Government was an entirely absent force in those areas of the country, and the term "Law and Order" was but an archaic phrase made for those who could afford to survive without theivery or murder. In the cities, even the efforts of Al Smith would not calm the massive strikes occuring and the supply shortages. This was America at the brink.

Amerian Socialist Party candidate Norman Thomas would be the end, at least that's what has been visible through the lens of history. His "Working Man's March" on Washington DC in February of 1943 would spell the end of not only all order and sense, but of America itself.

His words, spoken on the same days as the "Final Charge", would not help the crisis one bit.

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Only hours later, as policemen began attempting to clear the grounds before the Whitehouse, did the violence begin. A shove here, a shove there, some say is how it began. Eventually it came to punches, and when a policeman was assaulted and weapons were drawn, the only way the situation could and would go was escalation. A riot, right before the gates of the Whitehouse, would only spill over onto the Whitehouse grounds. The Secret Service, in an effort to protect their President, would be called into the fight. Not only that, witness reports state the use of military force in the riot. Nevertheless, the fighting would persist until it reached Whitehouse doors. All this is very surreal, however, I guarantee you that, from my sources which have the highest reputability, that this is all true. That night, on February 11th, 1943, Washington would go up in flames as the President, amidst all the fighting, would be killed. With that, all Hell broke loose across the troubled nation. The Federal Government was in a state of total collapse whiel state governments didn't have that much control either. America, which had once had the potential to be a Shining City on a Hill, a beacon of glory and liberty to other nations, had been dimmed."

-The Darkened City, Winston Churchill

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Chapter One
Reconstruction

"Restoring order was no easy task. Upon my election in 1942, California had been hard enough to manage. Following the collapse in 1943, it was near impossible. However, it would be done. Progressive reforms that I had worked for, such as improving efficiency and working to bring government closer to the people would help in a world where no other government existed. By 1944, with no government to act but the one I ruled, I was given a free hand to try to solve the horrible problems of the previous decade. It would not be easy. By no means would it be easy. However, what existing state legislature there was left would grant me the needed powers and eventually success could be seen at the end of the tunnel. The banditry that had gone on unopposed by other leaders I was finally able to put a stamp on and say "enough". That problem would be stopped by the necessary policing. Economic problems were much harder to solve. However, through distributory measures, wealth was spread and the economy would recover.

By 1946, it was unknown whether an election would even take place. California, as a member of the United States, had its own state constitution. However, many people asked, was that in anyway valid without the United States? I was determined that Democracy survive and November fifth, 1946, I was re-elected with 87% of the vote.

According to the voters, I had solved California's problems. However, there was a whole different world beyond California's borders. It was decided by members of my cabinet and my advisers that diplomacy would have to be made with other states and regions. There had been very little flow of information in and out of California's borders. Trips were arranged to visit the capitols of Oregon and Washington, as well as Idaho and Nevada.

In Oregon, one man I met was Douglas McKay. A man who had been a Republican while that party had still existed, he had worked to guide his state through financial and economic troubles by different methods than I. His experience in business during the 1920's, as well as his success in politics from 1932 on was an asset. It was agreed upon in our impromptu meeting that unity was needed if any semblance of the United States was to last. We, both as former Republicans, a party that was created in order to preserve the Union against slavery, both felt that this duty should be carried over. In Montana, another former Republican, Burton K Wheeler, seemed to be attempting to lead his state out of that horrible mess. In my attempts to approach Arizona, it soon became plainly obvious that Arizona had dissolved completely into anarchy and any hope of finding any leader of anything in that desert mess would be in vain. All in all, however, I was able to make contact with a large number of states. It was agreed upon by all those I contacted that we would need to form "a more perfect union" in order to make sure that we did not befall the fate of other states, such as Arizona, New Mexico, or Colorado.

Douglas McKay, former Oregon Governor and unofficial leader of Oregon reconstruction

Meeting with delegations from every state, their leaders being:  former President Alf Landon of Kansas, former Senator Burton K Wheeler of Montana, former Governor Doug McKay of Oregon, Justice George T Mickelson of South Dakota, former Senator Edmund Burke of Nebraska, and Mayor William F Devin of Washington; a constitution was proposed and we began arranging the construction of a country. While no constitution was forged in stone, a special election, made by ten delegates from every state, was scheduled to take place on November 1st, 1947 to decide the interim leader of the nation.

It came up, proposed I believe by a young delegate named Henry Jackson was the question “What is to become of United States territories lost in 1943? The two main ones being, of course, Alaska which has gone under the Soviet grip, and Hawaii which previously, I believe held our naval power?” This brought up the issue of national security, and how to re-construct a military. It was decided that contact would have to be made with Hawaii. No-one, from what we knew, had any idea what happened to the vast amount of America’s naval power after the collapse of the United States. While, as evidenced by the influx of former American naval officers on California’s South-West shore, a large amount of soldiers had been able to make it home, they themselves only knew that the ships had been left there.

In order to contact Hawaii, a make-shift delegation was made, headed by former United States General George S Patton, set out from the former Naval base in San Diego. There alone a number of ships were taken control of. Patton made contact in June of 1947 and returned home in two weeks’ time with letters from the newfound leaders of Hawaii. While a number of the military personnel had left, there were still a few there, and they had become, in part along with the people of Hawaii, the government there. They said they’d be glad to partake the creation of a new country.

General George S Patton

The last issue before the election was, of course “What shall this country be called?” In honor of the fallen country, delegations unofficially christened the country “The Western America Republic”. By no means was it meant to spell “WAR”, however, the acronym did.

Come November 1st, 1947, delegates from all thirteen states would report in to the balloting at the San Diego Naval Base, which had become an unofficial meeting place of delegates, military men, and businessmen. That night would be quiet as all of the delegates wrote in their preferred candidates. Former President Landon, who still held an amount of political sway due to any failed President, considered an entry into the balloting when candidates came before the delegations announcing their candidacies. I, of course, was a candidate. The only other two major candidates besides me were General Patton and Mayor Hubert H Humphrey. Douglas McKay was also running on a “National Republican” ticket.

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I myself was surprised to heat of the amount of support forthcoming from the delegates. However, there was no time for surprise as on November second I would be recognized by regional and state leaders as the “official” first President of the Western American Republic.”

-Go West, Earl Warren

[feeblepizza]

Great so far

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Awesome!

Great so far

Thanks. Hopefully tonight I can put up another update. I have a lot of it on my computer, but I"m not at my house right now.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

 

“There are several reputable figures in the founding of the Atlantic Coalition, the country that we know today. One figure whose name should be unforgettable is then-New York City mayor Fiorello Enrico La Guardia. A Progressive Republican, La Guardia had been a major figure in the repealing of the influence of Tammany Hall in New York City and appealed across party lines as a major Progressive. Only minutes after hearing about the disaster in Washington DC on February 11th, 1943, he rushed to address his people of the gravest of manners, attempting to keep order in the city and assure the people that this was not the end.

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However, La Guardia was not the only man working for order. Upon the collapse of order in DC, Secretaries Smith and Roosevelt decided that rather than stay in DC, it would be best if they left the crumbling city and returned to New York to make sure that their state could be spared the spreading death and destruction. Former President Smith was a major factor in helping to unite heavily Catholic pieces of New England and maintaining a sense of “we will get through this, we will survive, if only we work hard enough and keep the faith.” Roosevelt was always at his side during addresses. His popularity throughout New York and his name recognition throughout New England were uncommon for anyone not President. Other presences were Massachusetts Governor Joe Kennedy, former Postmaster General Nelson Rockefeller, businessman and former Presidential contender Wendell Willkie of New York, Senator Robert La Follette Jr. of Wisconsin, and General George Marshall of Pennsylvania who had worked in the McNutt administration as Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

One must not forget the other side of the story in the creation of the Atlantic Coalition. Liberals were not alone in their seeking to help keep their home states intact. Aviator and former Presidential candidate Charles Lindbergh stood right next to the others in New England as they preached about how hope was just over the horizon. Other notable presences which should all be included in modern history books include Senators Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, Robert Taft of Ohio, and H Style Bridges of New Hampshire. In the Southern part of what would later become the Atlantic Coalition, Senator Carter Glass would play an active role in making sure “All Hell doesn’t break loose in this damn state of mine”.

The first step towards unification of certain pieces of the North-East of the country would be to form common bonds. Economic and military alliances were made between different states. Of course, no state truly had a military. However, as state governments expanded that state’s “military” would come to include: The National Guard, the police, the fire department, and captured military bases inside the state. These would all be used effectively as peace-keeping tools in the days after the fall of the Federal Government, which could be announced “complete” by May, 1943. After that completion, several Northern states, which had been a lot closer in ties during and after the fall than states in the West, felt that in order to survive, numbers would be the answer”

-Atlantic, John Eisenhower

July 15th, 1943
In a small conference room in the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, several leaders of the “Post-US America” talk about that future. They include Michigan regional leader Arthur Vandenberg, two former Postmaster Generals; James Farley (1933-1937) and Nelson Rockefeller (1937-1941), Ohio regional leader Robert Taft, and former Secretary of State Franklin D Roosevelt.
Vandenberg: We can’t survive like this. Several tiny states, each with its own laws, with its own foreign policy, with its own regulations. I’m a full believer in Federalism, however, with Federalism, that still includes a Federal Government.
Farley: What do you propose?
Vandenberg: A banding together. We need a common country for the people to have unity in, for trade and commerce to thrive together in, and for foreign policy to be governed in. We’re back right where we started with the Articles of Confederation. What did our Founding Fathers do after that failure? They created a Constitution and held an election, establishing nearly two hundred years of a country’s existence.
Roosevelt: Look where that ended up!
Vandenberg: I’m talking a smaller country, with simpler laws and a more straightforward legal system. America tripped up. However, that wasn’t inevitable, I don’t believe, and we can re-unite.

“According to political and historical folklore, the beginning of work towards the creation of one country out of those separate states was a conversation in the Rockefeller Plaza. It was from there that the drafting of a constitution began. Eventually, Roosevelt contacted the Conservative Carter Glass, who, though an old man, had used his influence in Virginia to restore order not only there, but in Kentucky and North Carolina. That would bring him on and with him three rural framing and mining states whose resources would prove to be pieces of the puzzle in the creation of the nation we know now. Eventually, my father, General Dwight D Eisenhower, would be brought on as one of the formers of the constitution. The eventual author of the constitution would be New York regional leader Thomas Dewey, who had worked as an Attorney General.*
Despite the “head start” that the Atlantic Coalition had on its creation as opposed to say, the Western American Republic, the drag between May, 1943, and December, 1944 would be a long one and the writing of the constitution, which would only start in November of 1943, would be signed in June 1944. The final agreement would be that the election would be held in December of that year. On December third, citizens were told to go their town halls and state capitols to fill out ballots of who they would want for President.

The way that one would win the Presidency, whose terms were unlimited and lasted two years, would be to win enough delegates. Delegates were awarded to states based on population. Per every 30,000 people in a state, one delegate would be received.

Among the candidates, former Secretary of State Franklin D Roosevelt was begged to run. However, his want for the Whitehouse since 1940 had diminished as his health had deteriorated. He said he would be willing to accept appointment to a cabinet position, should a cabinet be created, or gladly be an advisor to whoever won the election. However, he no longer had any desire to seek the Presidency, whether it was for the United States or the Atlantic Coalition. Former United States President Al Smith was also asked to run, as he was seen as a spot of bright light when compared to the reigns of Hoover, Landon, and McNutt. However, he sadly died in late 1943. Without him or Roosevelt in the running, there would be a power vacuum for a number of smaller candidates to run. The candidates that would run included Arthur Vandenberg, Harry F Byrd Sr., and Robert LaFollette Jr. There was a Vice-Presidential system mimicking that of the late United States, where the Vice-Presidential nominee or candidate would be chosen by the Presidential candidate, or that party’s convention. If said candidate should win, in theory, his Vice-Presidential nominee would be sworn in as the Vice-President, unless under two circumstances: One, the Vice-Presidential nominee dies, and in that case the President may choose one; Two, a person is elected by faithless electors, and thus the Vice-Presidential nominee written in by a majority of electors would be sworn in.

Vandenberg would choose Charles Lindbergh as his running mate, primarily to gain the effect of his celebrity. La Follette’s choice would be Wendell Willkie, former Republican Presidential candidate. Byrd chose former New Jersey Governor Charles Edison for Vice-President. The final candidate would be former Postmaster General James A Farley. For Vice-President, Governor Joseph P Kennedy of Massachusetts would be chosen. While Farley was not the most nationally known of candidates, he had worked diligently behind the scenes, helping to control New York City after Mayor Fiorello’s death and eventually being appointed interim Mayor of the city until the 1944 election, Farley was known to the people of New York and would work to be known to the rest of the country.

On December third, 1944, interim Mayor James Farley would be elected first President of the Atlantic Coalition.

Former United States Postmaster General James A Farley (MH)/Governor Joseph P Kennedy (MA) Independent: 95 electoral votes
Former Senator Arthur H Vandenberg (MI)/Aviator Charles Lindbergh (NY) Independent Conservative: 83 electoral votes
Former Senator Harry F Byrd (VA)/Former Governor Charles Edison (NJ) Southern-Conservative: 30 electoral votes
Former Senator Robert La Follette Jr. (WI)/Businessman Wendell Willkie (MH) Progressive: 13 electoral votes

James A Farley: The first President of the Atlantic Coalition

With that, the commencing of the Atlantic Coalition would begin.

*The full text of the constitution can be found in the appendices.

-Atlantic, John Eisenhower

NOTE: MH stands for Manhattan Island, where NYC is located. In later posts, the NYC will be taken out. MH doesn't get to be called MI, sadly, because we still have Michigan.

[feeblepizza]

Interesting use of NYC.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

31. Herbert C Hoover (R-CA)/Charles Curtis (R-KS) March 4th, 1929-March 4th, 1933
32. Alfred E Smith (D-NY)/John Nance Garner (D-TX) March 4th, 1933-March 4th, 1937
33. Alfred Landon (R-KS)/Arthur H Vandenberg (R-MI) March 4th, 1937-March 4th, 1941
34. Paul V McNutt (D-IN)/Joseph C O'Mahoney (D-WY) March 4th, 1941-February 11th, 1943
35. Joseph C O'Mahoney (D-WY)/vacant February 11th, 1943-March 26th, 1943

**After McNutt's death at the hand of rioters, O'Mahoney took office in a very private ceremony in Virginia. However, the Union would not hold together and the Federal Government was rendered basically inexistent. While O'Mahoney might officially have continued to be President of the United States, he remained President of a country that no longer functioned, had broken up into separate pieces, and had no government at all. Historians date the final demise of the United States at March 26th, 1943, when the Senate chambers officially closed down and the Supreme Court was emptied while the Whitehouse was a smoldering pile of ruins because of the riots on the 11th of February. After March 26th, Mahoney retreated to a house in Maryland surrounded by generals, cabinet members, and pieces of his staff. However, he held no true power and in 1944 left for Wyoming hoping to find rest after the month of Hell his Presidency had been.**

Joseph C O'Mahoney: America's final President

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

A quickie update to explain the final fate of the US.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Possible update tonight, though that's doubtful. I've started one however.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Update coming tonight.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

“I guess the first step in the creation of the modern Republic of Texas began in 1942. Former Vice-President John Nance Garner, also known as “Cactus Jack” had retired to his home in Texas in 1937 after the loss in the three-way race of 1936. However, at home, things only seemed to get worse as he would hear daily news of bandits, fighting, food shortages, and other events quintessential to the period’s utter chaos. In 1942 as Governor Coke R Stevenson was in a fierce battle for re-election and it seemed Texas might have its first Republican Governor since Reconstruction, the former Vice-President, after being begged and begged by the local Democratic establishment, announced he would be running for Governor “to set things straight, give this state a fair deal, and above all restore order to the chaos that has become part of our daily lives.” He would easily be nominated over the embattled Governor Stevenson despite Garner’s obvious “age problem”. By 1942 he was over seventy years old.

Garner took office as a popular Governor in early 1943. However, only a month after his inauguration he would hear from news reports that Washington DC, where he had been both Congressman and Vice-President, was in flames and that President Paul V McNutt was dead, possibly shot, possibly trampled under the feet of angry workers who were by then unemployed. Chaos, which “Cactus Jack” had come into office promising to quell, only swelled. However, Garner was determined to maintain order and he did the best that any man could under such a situation. However, he was forced to watch as his country collapsed around him, hearing news that Oklahoma and New Mexico had been fully consumed by the riots and the bloodbaths and the poverty. Among it all, Cactus Jack promised to “remain a firm and steady leader of this great state. We shall not falter, we shall not trip and though the other forty-seven of us may fall face first into the ground, we as Texans, will not.” In the ensuing confusion of the era, it seemed Texas was surrounded to the West and the North by those that had tripped, as he put it.

June 4th, 1944
A conversation between Governor Garner and Congressman Sam Rayburn.
Garner: Let’s face it! The House chambers have been emptied, Washington a smoking shell! The United States doesn’t exist anymore.
Rayburn: But Jack, what government will we recognize if not that of the United States? All is not lost Jack, we can rebuild.
Garner: You’re too damn optimistic, Sam. Oklahoma’s gone! New Mexico’s gone! God knows where Arizona dropped off to. The only other places I hear that still maintain some semblance of civilization are either California or up in New York. I hear a new country’s forming up there! It’s time to be realistic. The last time you even sat in a Congressman’s chair was over a year ago.
Rayburn: Then what? What should we do?
Garner: We’ll just have to make our own.
Rayburn: Our own what?
Garner: Our own country, Sam. That’s the only choice left to us.
Rayburn: You’re crazy.
Garner: Well if I was, it’d be a lot more evident before now! Hell, the Yankees are up there making their own damned nation, why shouldn’t we? We’ve stood on our own while places like Arkansas have gone to the dogs! There’s no other course of action in my book.
Rayburn: You make sense, Jack. But, but, do you have any idea how damn surreal this sounds? The creation of a country? Eight years ago talk like this was hogwash outside of the deep south, and now it seems like the most reasonable conclusion! Do you have any idea how far we as a former nation have fallen?
Garner: You’re one Hell of a master of the obvious if you’ve realized we’ve fallen far. I’ll give you that.
Rayburn: How-how do you go about making your own country?
Garner: Well we’ll declare it of course! There’s no damn legal system anymore inside or outside of the state, so it shouldn’t be an issue.
Rayburn: That seems like the only thing we can do.
Garner: It’ll be done. It’s the only way we can survive.

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Public response would be hard to gauge, as, well, any sort of polling firms at the time were no longer in use, had been shut down, or just hadn’t survived the collapse. However, according to primary source documents, the people were behind their President and both House of the State Legislature voted overwhelmingly in support of the Republic of Texas.

This not only set up Garner as the first President of the Republic of Texas, but gave him a much freer hand to “clean out government”. This included the re-organization of the law enforcement and cabinet. The Legislature, which was no longer a state legislature but a national legislature, voted in the creation of the Agricultural Bureau, Justice Bureau, War Bureau, Fiscal Bureau, and Commerce Bureau. These five bureaus would replace the existing cabinet. In order to head the Bureau of Warfare, viewed as having the potential to become the most important bureau, General Douglas MacArthur would be contacted. MacArthur had a complicated past in terms of location. He had grown up in Arkansas in America’s “Old West”. However at age nine he and his family moved to Washington DC. In 1893 his father, Douglas MacArthur Jr. was posted in San Antonio Texas. In 1896 MacArthur moved with his family to Saint Paul, Minnesota. He entered West Point in 1899. Serving in the military after that, MacArthur had held residency in a number of places, and had served bravely in the Great War. Since the fall of the United States in 1943, MacArthur had returned from overseas to take up residence in New York. Contacted by a man who had traveled to New York by car, for telegraph and telephone lines had been destroyed, MacArthur gladly accepted the position as Head of the Bureau of War. Thus, MacArthur’s residence in the American South-West would continue.

MacArthur, however, would have his focus mainly on organization, creation of a chain of command, and making a stream-lined process of communication and orders for the new country’s War Bureau. Also, national defense would be an issue. MacArthur would advise government investment in manufacturing in cities such as Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and other in order to create machinery for a Navy. Looking along the Texas coast, MacArthur chose the city of Port Arthur, Texas, for the head of the Texan Navy.

Location of Port Arthur, Texas: The Designated capital of the Texan Navy

Funds for the creation of not only factories, but for the creation of barracks, were set aside. One might ask “Where would the money to fund a military come from? After all, was not the country in a Great Depression?” Well, despite the generally down economy of the land that used to be the United States, Texas was recovering because of a strongly pro-growth and pro-business environment. This can be easily explained in the April 15th, 1940 issue of TIME Magazine, when Garner, a former Vice-President, was running for the Democratic nomination.

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Garner wasn’t an old Confederate, he was the man for business growth, for commerce, for trade, for the entrepreneur, and this, to a great extent, is what helped Texas’ economy to grow so much in the Post-American world.”

-A Texan History, James R Perry

[feeblepizza]

The pipe is boss.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The pipe is boss.

I know, right? The most epic corn-cob pipe I've yet to see!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Any ideas what to name the last remaining region, the South? Confederacy seems to cliche, and I used it last time, so any suggestions?

[Pingvin]

Commonwealth of Dixie.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Commonwealth of Dixie.

Maybe, going on that, have the capital in Atlanta, and have it  called something like "Commonwealth of Atlanta" or something.

[Person Man]

I was hoping for a New California Republic myself.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I was hoping for a New California Republic myself.

I really didn't want one state to have its own country. The Republica of Texas will eventually grow to take over most of the American South-West as states are drawn to it.

[Person Man]

I was hoping for a New California Republic myself.

I really didn't want one state to have its own country. The Republica of Texas will eventually grow to take over most of the American South-West as states are drawn to it.

Perhaps the Lone Star Republic and the New California Republic can fight over the west and parts of Mexico while the LSR and the New York-based commonwealth can have incursions into an unstabilized Canada and with the LSR over the borderstate and the midwest. Perhaps there will be a run to take over more and more destabilized regimes in the new world. Another question to be asked is what will happen with WWII. Japan? The Soviet Union? The Nazis?  I would think two of the three would become world powers.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I was hoping for a New California Republic myself.

I really didn't want one state to have its own country. The Republica of Texas will eventually grow to take over most of the American South-West as states are drawn to it.

Perhaps the Lone Star Republic and the New California Republic can fight over the west and parts of Mexico while the LSR and the New York-based commonwealth can have incursions into an unstabilized Canada and with the LSR over the borderstate and the midwest. Perhaps there will be a run to take over more and more destabilized regimes in the new world. Another question to be asked is what will happen with WWII. Japan? The Soviet Union? The Nazis?  I would think two of the three would become world powers.

Funny thing is that I don't view these politicians as genuinely horrible people, so I can't really see them saying "We're gonna send our boys down there and take Arizona before those damn Texans do!" I guess I'd have to go against my instincts to write like that. However, I guess I could edit the part about the Western American Republic so they don't have all the land yet and fighting can still occur between the AC, WAR, LSR.

As for foreign events, I'll eventually map those out after I've got the states divvied up.

[Person Man]

I was hoping for a New California Republic myself.

I really didn't want one state to have its own country. The Republica of Texas will eventually grow to take over most of the American South-West as states are drawn to it.

Perhaps the Lone Star Republic and the New California Republic can fight over the west and parts of Mexico while the LSR and the New York-based commonwealth can have incursions into an unstabilized Canada and with the LSR over the borderstate and the midwest. Perhaps there will be a run to take over more and more destabilized regimes in the new world. Another question to be asked is what will happen with WWII. Japan? The Soviet Union? The Nazis?  I would think two of the three would become world powers.

Funny thing is that I don't view these politicians as genuinely horrible people, so I can't really see them saying "We're gonna send our boys down there and take Arizona before those damn Texans do!" I guess I'd have to go against my instincts to write like that. However, I guess I could edit the part about the Western American Republic so they don't have all the land yet and fighting can still occur between the AC, WAR, LSR.

As for foreign events, I'll eventually map those out after I've got the states divvied up.

Hmmm...maybe not conquest per se, but perhaps the willingness to promote a certain idea of what America was and use that idea to build a new America in that image they have. It would be a really interesting story, really- there are two or perhaps three or four major competing idea of what America is today. Perhaps there could be a world where those three or four Americas live side by side

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I was hoping for a New California Republic myself.

I really didn't want one state to have its own country. The Republica of Texas will eventually grow to take over most of the American South-West as states are drawn to it.

Perhaps the Lone Star Republic and the New California Republic can fight over the west and parts of Mexico while the LSR and the New York-based commonwealth can have incursions into an unstabilized Canada and with the LSR over the borderstate and the midwest. Perhaps there will be a run to take over more and more destabilized regimes in the new world. Another question to be asked is what will happen with WWII. Japan? The Soviet Union? The Nazis?  I would think two of the three would become world powers.

Funny thing is that I don't view these politicians as genuinely horrible people, so I can't really see them saying "We're gonna send our boys down there and take Arizona before those damn Texans do!" I guess I'd have to go against my instincts to write like that. However, I guess I could edit the part about the Western American Republic so they don't have all the land yet and fighting can still occur between the AC, WAR, LSR.

As for foreign events, I'll eventually map those out after I've got the states divvied up.

Hmmm...maybe not conquest per se, but perhaps the willingness to promote a certain idea of what America was and use that idea to build a new America in that image they have. It would be a really interesting story, really- there are two or perhaps three or four major competing idea of what America is today. Perhaps there could be a world where those three or four Americas live side by side

Thanks for giving me an idea for a whole new direction to take with this! I can see the WAR being Progressive, Republic of Texas (soon to expand into the South-West) being mreo Libertarian/Conservative, the South being more Populist/Conservative, and the Atlantic Coalition being probably the most diverse country, but with a lean to whatever Liberal party rises.

Hopefully I can think out how I should pull off the South, and if I should edit some of what I've already put up so it adds to the storyline.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I edited part of the WAR update to give it less land than I originally gave it, so land disputes can pop up and stuff.

Anyway, I intend on updating this once the smoke clears and I'm freed from my schedule. For a person that has no life, I don't have that much time.