Oh, Franklin Roosevelt. What potential he had: No FDR in politics

[Peter the Lefty]

      April 16, 1947: President Thomas makes a surprise radio address to the nation, confirming the reliability of the reports of the Klan's return. 
"To my fellow Americans,
      Yesterday, we learned that what is perhaps the most vile, disgusting, disgraceful, and contemptible organizations this country has ever known was resurrected.  It pains me to tell you that the reports of the revival of the Ku Klux Klan are accurate and veritable.  For many of you in this nation, the news brings fear and horror.  And for me, it brings not only fear for those of us who are black, Catholic, Jewish or of any other demographic whom the Klan has targeted with their vile hatred.  It also brings sorrow for the fact that there still exists the vile element of intolerance in this nation to the degree that such an awful group can be brought back from hell. 
      Twice the Ku Klux Klan has besmirched our nation.  Both times, it died out.  And now, it has returned to defile our country yet again.  As is my duty as President, I will work to protect all people of this nation, regardless of color, ethnicity, religion, gender, or any other divides among our population.  And it is why today, I am sending the National Guard to all Southern states to protect any potential targets of the Klan's terror.  We will not be intimidated.  We will not be bullied into submission to terrorism.  We will swiftly confront any violations of the law and appropriately punish the violators.  We have defeated fascism in Germany, Italy, and Japan, and by God, we will do it in our own country as well."

[Peter the Lefty]

      April 17th: The National Guard is sent into all Southern states, as well as much of the Midwest.  There is to be a ratio of 4 per population of 500 people, but with no less than 3 per town, or villiage.  Thomas says that their mission is to "protect all potential targets of the Klan's terror, and arrest any perpetrators of all failed or successful acts of terror."

[Peter the Lefty]

      April 25th: After a very tense 8 days, a lynching is attempted in the Klan's birthplace of Pulaski Tennessee.  The targets are a black family living on the city's outskirts.  The 38 national guard members patrolling the streets are able to stop it before it starts.  The 22 Klansmen are charged with attempted murder. 

[Peter the Lefty]

      Late April-early June, 1947: The lynching attempts continue, with most being thwarted.  A poll is released showing that, surprisingly, the American people blame mainly Thomas, for pushing an issue that the nation "wasn't ready for."  

[Peter the Lefty]

      June–August, 1947: The vast majority of lynching attempts are thwarted.  Immediately, a sense develops that KKK activities are a lost cause, and the organization's membership declines.  
      August 8, 1947: Democratic Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy gives a soon-to-be famous speech in the Senate:
      "Friends and colleagues, there is no doubt that America has an administration which is hellbent on bringing communism to this nation.  We have Communists working at every level and department of government, operating under the guise of socialism, or even so-called "social democracy."  But the true fact of the matter is that communism, socialism, social democracy, and every other one of these ideologies are essentially the same ideology, the same goals, and the same danger.  We have an administration which is rapidly changing the system and laws of the state and knocking over checks and balances to impose the same system of which Stalin has imposed in Russia.  Let me make that clear: the "socialism" which they espouse IS communism.  And anyone who thinks differently need only look closely at the ideologies and compare.  They are both atheist philisophies.  They reject God, morality, and decency in favor of the state.  And look what faith in the state has lead to in Russia!  Every member of the current cabinet is an avowed communist.  So are 46 Senators and 152 members of the House of Representatives is a communist.  They are not merely enemies from within.  They are enemies at the top.  So for the sake of defending Chrisianity against the advances of atheist Communism, we God-fearing Christians in Congress will and must stand up in both Houses to fight this government's statist agenda and restore morality to this great nation!"


      

[RogueBeaver]

So he federalizes all the Guards? Interesting. Almost a second Reconstruction.

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 10, 1947: Senator McCarthy denies accusations of scaremongering, saying that the federalization of the National Guards and the actions of sending them into the Southern states represented the beginning. 
      "The President has consolidated the power of the states and taken them to the federal government.  He has sent in the military to perform the duties of the police forces of the states.  All of this is part of his strategy to achieve complete control of America to enforce his communist agenda.  He has used the actions of the Ku Klux Klan as an excuse to send the domestic wing of the military to impose, what is, essentially, martial law in the Southeast.  To those who still say that I am fearmongering or dellusional, I will soon be investigating senior officials in our current administration, for suspected links to the Soviet Union, communist sympathies, or Communist Party membership, past or present.  I am confident that we will prove this administration to be doing the bidding of the Soviet Union."

[RogueBeaver]

Interesting that McCarthy crops up even in a much more left-wing TL, where WI Progressives should be stronger. Keep it coming Peter.

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 15, 1947: Senator McCarthy's resolution to create a Senate Standing Committee on National Loyalty.  He is elected Comittee Chairman.  He announces that the first target of his investigations will be Vice-President Wallace.  

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Interesting. I'd hate to say "Go Joe", but in the case of this world, there might be some legitimate threat where he's looking. Obviously a government much more likely to embrace the Soviet Union.

[Peter the Lefty]

Interesting. I'd hate to say "Go Joe", but in the case of this world, there might be some legitimate threat where he's looking. Obviously a government much more likely to embrace the Soviet Union.

Well, Thomas was always quite clear about defining the difference between socialism and communism, and in rl, he even accused FDR of being too hesitant to attack Stalin's human rights record, even though he ironically sided with pro-Soviet radical idiots in the SPA to overthrow the Old Guard (the social democrats led by Morris Hilquit and later Waldman).  Wallace, however, was quite stupidly head over heals for the Soviets, of course. 

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 16, 1947: McCarthy suddenly announces a change in tactics.  He announces that the Secretary of State, Homer T. Bone, will be the first target.  The decision is seen as bizarre, though many speculate that he is saving Wallace up for last, since he is by far the most widely suspected member of Thomas's administration of Soviet ties.  As it is later revealed, he was persuaded by Senator Taft to keep Wallace free from distractions so that Wallace could run for President, since he is far easier to portray as a communist than any other potential Socialist candidates. 

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Is Alger Hiss in any low level State Department/foreign policy position?

[Peter the Lefty]

Is Alger Hiss in any low level State Department/foreign policy position?

He briefly had a stint there, but he was kicked out by Bone, who, along with Thomas, wanted to prove the administration to be anti-communist.  Plus, McCarthy is after far bigger fish in this TL. 

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 19, 1947: Democratic Senator Robert Taft of Ohio is the first to announce his candidacy for President.  Echoing McCarthy's rhetoric, he repeatedly refers to the Thomas administration as communist, saying that the "final goal of the current Socialist administration is to "overturn the constitution, achieve absolute power for themselves, end the place of Christianity in our society, and ultimately, to impose a system in which the state tells the citizens, every moment of every day, what to say, what to do, what to think, what to feel, and how to act.  One need only look at how their comrades have governed the Soviet Union as a model.  Anyone who dissents against the orders of the state is sent to die a slow, painful death in a gulag.  I don't want such a system to prevail here.  I am running for President to defend liberty, economic and political, and to protect our national religion, Christianity, against the onslaught of godlessness and statism!" 

[Rooney]

This is really good. I applaud your efforts.

[DC Al Fine]

Go Taft Go!

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 21, 1947: Maryland Senator Millard Tydings throws his hat into the Republican race, becoming the first Republican to do so.  
      "We've had 8 years of deregulation, income and corporate tax reductions for the wealthiest, and social devastation, in the misplaced hope that the banks and the big businesses would end the crisis themselves.  Now, we've had 6 years of government control over the entire economy, massive and inefficient spending projects, and tax rate increases to strangling rates, in the belief that the state can make things better.  I am here to tell you that it will take a co-operation between the people and limited government intervention to grow our economy.  I am standing for the sensible middle that we have lost these past 14 years.  

[Peter the Lefty]

This is really good. I applaud your efforts.

Thank you!  It's been tricky, but I really want to do it.  It's really fun to do these!

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 23, 1947: Former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen announces his candidacy for the Presidency, joining Tydings in the Republican race.  He promises to maintain the PHC as well as all of Thomas's education investments, his welfare programs, his civil rights legislation, the minimum wage, his labor laws, his conservation programs, and all other such programs.  He does, however, vow to privatize US Steel and the mines, saying that nationalization "has strangled the economy."  He does, promise, however, that the privatizations won't be "no-strings-attached givaways," saying that if the former owners or anyone else wish to buy these corporations, they must agree to regulations that forbid bad business practices. 

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 24, 1947: California governor Upton Sinclair denies speculation that he will challenge Vice-President Wallace in the Socialist primary, saying, "I support fully the current administration.  I have not the will, the energy, nor the health needed for the Presidency.  And I am sure that Mr. Wallace will make a fine President.  

      On the same day, South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond announces his candidacy for President, becoming the second Democrat to throw his hat into the ring.  He says that the South "has been unduly invaded yet again," and that "we have had troops of our own country forcing our churches, our swimming pools, our restaraunts, our bus seats, our parks, and our schools, but I have a message for them: They will never succeed in their attempts to integrate us with inferior races.  They will never be able to send enough troops–they can send the entire army–but they will not overcome the wrath of the White South.  We white Sotherners are TIRED of being the victims in this country!"  

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 25, 1947: Former House Speaker Clarence Senior announces his candidacy yet again for the Presidential nomination, saying he wants to "revolutionize the state institutions" and "save this party from itself." 

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 27, 1947: Civil Rights Secretary A. Phillip Randolph condemns Governor Thurmond's remarks in very strong terms. 
     "Governor Thurmond, I have a very simple message for you.  On Sunday, the twenty-fourth of August, 1947, you, speaking on behalf of all white Southerners, in your view, claimed to be the victim of the advancements that have been made throughout this country's history in the field of civil rights.  You claimed that equality for all people, as ensured by our constitution and bill of rights, regardless of color, is an attack on white Southerners.  You call yourself the victim.  I want you to tell every family which has lost a relative to the terror of the Ku Klux Klan, that you and the white population of the South are victims of their assaults on yourself.  Tell the race which was forcibly brought here as slaves by racists such as yourself that you are the victim.  Tell the race which has been forced into second-class citizenship that you are the victim.  You will get a response which I am sure will interest you." 

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 28, 1947: Republican Senate leader Scott W. Lucas of Illinois announces his candidacy for President, calling for "a return to fiscal responsibility, but the maintenance of the social justice that has finally been achieved in recent years. 

[Peter the Lefty]

      August 30, 1947: A Gallup poll on potential and declared candidates is released.  

Registered Democrats:

Senator Robert Taft of Ohio–28%
Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina–15%
Businessman Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts–13%
Senator Richard Russell, Jr. of Georgia–10%
Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan–8%
Governor Benjamin Travis Laney of Arkansas–5%
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin–4%
Undecided–11%
Another candidate–6%

Registered Republicans:

Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota–22%
Senator Millard Tydings of Maryland–16%
Senator Harry Truman of Missouri–13%
Senator Scott W. Lucas of Illinois–11%
Representative William Joseph Martin, Jr. of Massachusetts–9%
Senator Irving Ives of New York–7%
Borough President Thomas E. Dewey of New York–5%
Undecided–10%
Another candidate–7%

Registered Socialists:

Vice-President Henry A. Wallace of Iowa–42%
Governor Charles Solomon of New York–27%
Another candidate–21%
Former House Speaker Clarence Senior of Kansas–8%
Undecided–5%