Peter's Parliamentary America Timeline: 1960-1964

[Peter the Lefty]

Very good TL.

Thank you!

[Peter the Lefty]

All members of the cabinet as well as Stevenson's security advisers, and a number of key backbench MP's are sitting at the cabinet room of Number 16.
Lyndon Baines Johnson: The Soviets have been providing military assistance to Cuba for some time now.  But until now, we believed that it was only for defensive purposes, as they assured us it would.  These photographs were taken by an American U2 aircraft, and we've identified a number of the missiles we see on the ground as intermediate and medium range surface-to-surface missiles.  If launched, they could wipe out most of the American Commonwealth within minutes.  The Southeast would be gone in five minutes.
Roswell Gilpatrick: We believe that this indicates a major doctrinal shift within the Soviet government to a first-strike policy, and either way, this does alter the tables. 
Hubert Humphrey: How long until they're operational? 
LBJ: Thirteen Days.
Adlai E. Stevenson: (sighs) Well, feel free to share your thoughts, gentlemen.
(pause)
Stuart Symington: Well, obviously, they have to be removed, to start.
Most nod and many vocally express agreement.
AES: Does anyone here disagree?  Don't be shy about it. 
Humphrey sits up uneasily, afraid that Morse, McCarthy, McGovern, or another Labor left MP will start to object.  Silence for about 10 seconds.
Eugene McCarthy: I see no reason why they must be moved.  After all, we have Jupiter missiles in Turkey.
Robert Kennedy: Gene, these are modern, advanced missiles they're putting in Cuba.  Our missiles in Turkey are obsolete.  They're scheduled for withdrawal, anyway.
Many look over at this young, six-year backbench MP, whom most simply know as "Jack's brother," and whom most had thought little of.  Humphrey appears pleasantly surprised that Bobby has spoken up, and done his own work of smacking down McCarthy for him.
AES: So lets get to our options for removal.
Maxwell Taylor: Prime Minister, we have constructed three options.  The first is very basic and elementary.  It's an air strike against the main missile constructions sights.  The second is a much larger air strike that will get not only the missiles, but it'll wipe out their entire defensive capabilities.  The third is what we recommend.  The air strikes of the second option, followed by an invasion of Cuba to ensure the removal of Fidel Castro.
Uneasiness is felt among a significant portion of the people in the room.
AES: Thank you, general.  Now for diplomatic options for removal.
Dean Acheson:...What?
Maxwell Taylor: You can't actually be serious. 
J. Edgar Hoover: Adlai, please.  This isn't a time for appeasement.
Jacob Javits: How about we'll talk about that after we announce what we've found.
William Averell Harriman: We don't announce it yet.  We have a meeting with Andrei Gromyko tomorrow.  It's been on the books for months.  Here's what we do: we make them assure us that there are no surface-to-surface missiles in Cuba.  We'll use that direct lie-to you, Adlai-to shame them.  Meanwhile, we start making military preparations for the first option.  Preparations only.
LBJ: We're preparing to implement all three options already.
AES: Good.  But I say when they go into affect.  Thank you, gentlemen.

[Peter the Lefty]

      Adlai Stevenson sat in the House of Commons that afternoon for Question Sessions.  His mind wandered off as the speaker gave the usual introductory speech.  He pondered the way in which the Soviets might respond when his government announced the discovery of the missiles.  Once we demanded their withdrawal, he wondered, what might they say?  Would they even try to negotiate?  Would they care what the Americans threatened to do?  Then, he realized that the gruff voice of Richard Nixon had stopped.  The speaker had already given him the floor to answer the question of the dark-haired Californian.  A small nudge from Humphrey, so subtle it could hardly be seen from the opposition benches, finally knocked Stevenson out of his trance to get up and say, "Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.  With regards to the meeting with Mr. Gromyko tomorrow, we plan for it to be a friendly meeting on Soviet-American relations..."
      After his questioning was finished, and other ministers were to have their turn being accused of this, that, and the other thing, the Prime Minister returned to his trance.  Who was pulling the strings in Moscow?  Was Khrushchev at risk of being sidelined, as he was?  Did the Soviets truly intend to use these?  How negotiable would they be?  And what deal could possibly be worked out that would be agreed upon by his cabinet?  He knew that if the Soviets were willing to negotiate, they might demand the withdrawal of our missiles from Turkey.  But would that not equate to trading the safety of our ally for our own?  Or at least, would it not be perceived that way?

[Peter the Lefty]

The cabinet sits at the table in the cabinet room, along with the security rank-and-file.  Stevenson is seated next to Johnson.
Adlai E. Stevenson: Lyndon, if we begin air strikes, of any calibre, you know what it'll lead to.  If there are any alternatives, even if they're short-term, even if they sound underdeveloped, I want to hear them.
Lyndon B. Johnson:(looking at the table)...We tested out a scenario a few months ago.  It is, as you said, short-term, it has plenty of disadvantages, and it makes it harder to follow it up. 
AES: Which is...
LBJ: A naval blockade of Cuba.  But all that it would do would be to stop them from putting missiles there.  It'll only end the flow.  It won't get rid of the ones they've already put there.  And we'd loose one crucial thing, Adlai: the element of surprise.  We can demand that they withdraw the missiles from Cuba in, say, 48 hours. 
John F. Kennedy: Well, at least it looks better to the rest of the world than attacking them without warning. 
Stewart Udall: Giving them a chance to withdraw their missiles...
Joseph S. Clarke, Jr.: Plus, if we strike them, they're quite likely to retaliate against Berlin.
Robert S. Kerr: What?  You afraid your socialist comrade Brandt will fall?
JSC Jr: Yes.  Quite frankly, I am.
AES: We can't throw away West Berlin.  Anyways, I think this meeting can come to a close now.  Thank you, gentlemen.

[Peter the Lefty]

October 18, 1962
The door opens.  The sound of reporters shouting is heard as Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko, Ambassador Dobrynin enter the meeting room of Number 16.  Prime Minister Stevenson, Foreign Minister Harriman, Deputy Foreign Minister Mansfield, Deputy Prime Minister Humphrey, and Defense Minister Johnson are all in the room.  All of the members of each side shake hands with all of the members of the other.
Cut to a point in the meeting
Adlai E. Stevenson: Now, if it's all right with you gentlemen, I'd like to turn the subject to Cuba.
Andrei Gromyko: It is fine by us.
AES: Firstly, I'd like to clarify something personally to you.  The coup plot which you discovered was misunderstood.  It was simply a course of action which we had as a plan to use should Cuba begin to pose a military threat to America.  Obviously, one would only need to look at a map to see that it would be highly improbable for such a scenario to occur.  The only way it would do so would be if surface-to-surface missiles were installed on the island.  And we had not been intending to use the plans at any point, before their discovery or since.
AG: It is a relief to hear that, Prime Minister.  However, the fact that your government is actively planning for such an event is what worries the Soviet government.  And forgive me, but given your government's instability, it is not difficult to imagine a change to a new American government sometime in the next few years; one which, most likely, would seek to attack Cuba or change its regime, regardless of its military capabilities. 
AES: And that is why you're providing this military assistance to Cuba.
AG: Yes, it is.  Because we also fear that the type of person who may lead such a government (gives Stevenson a look with one eyebrow raised, as Stevenson smiles and nods), may prefer to use the route of invasion rather than a coup.
AES: Well, I can assure you that this government is not, as of this moment, seeking regime change in Cuba.  But I must insist on one assurance on your part. 
AG: And what would that be?
AES: That no surface-to-surface missiles are being placed in Cuba.
AG: Premier Khrushchev's statement made it clear that we are doing no such thing.
AES: And there are none there already?
AG: None.
AES: And there are no plans to place any there.
AG: No, there aren't.
AES: Thank you, gentlemen.  With no missiles there, you can rest assured that our government will not attempt to invade Cuba or remove its government in any way.

[Peter the Lefty]

October 19, 1962
Adlai Stevenson sits at his desk.  A knock on the door is heard.
Adlai E. Stevenson: Come in!
Dwight D. Eisenhower walks into the room.
AES: Governor General,
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Prime Minister.  (The two shake hands.  Eisenhower sits down.)
AES: A pleasure.
DDE: And for me.  First off: no.  I am not here to tell you that you must invade Cuba...at least today I'm not.  I'm just going to make an offer to you.
AES: Oh?
DDE: I'm sure you'd find it sensible to notify the leader of the opposition of the discovery?
AES: Oh, yes.  That should be done.  We're planning to, we're just trying to find the right way to relay it to him.
DDE: I'll do it.
AES: Wh-why thank you!
DDE: And what about the other party leaders?  Would you like me to notify Russell?
AES:...Tell him there's a major crisis going on, and that the ANM would do well not to cause a diversion with inflammatory rhetoric.
DDE: And what about Goldwater?
AES: Goldwater?
.....................

[Peter the Lefty]

October 19, 1962

Libertarian Party Founded; Goldwater to Lead It

      The Libertarian Party of America was launched at a convention in Concord, New Hampshire.  The convention included a number of activists and intellectuals, including author Ayn Rand.  Three sitting independent MP's joined the new party, though it would not have official party status in the House of Commons. 
      The convention universally chose Barry Goldwater, one of America's most widely known MP's, as its first leader.  Goldwater's political past was certainly interesting.  During his teenage years, in the 1920's, his already-well-formed political views lay with the nearly-extinct classical liberal wing of the Liberal Party, but by the time he turned 18, he'd given up on the Liberals completely and had switched to the Conservatives.  He very much admired Conservative leader John Nance Garner, whose acceptance of lower tariffs than previous Conservative leaders had accepted, and support for prohibition repeal, made the Torries seem like the perfect fit for a Libertarian.  After Dewey defeated Garner for the leadership in 1941, he became rather disenchanted with the policies of the party establishment.  He still ran for parliament as a Tory in 1948, though he voted against the first two budgets of the Conservative government, and finally switched his affiliation to Independent in 1950. 
      The party platform called for greater respect for provincial rights, across the board tax cuts, flat taxes, a reduction in the number of MP's, repeal of minimum wage and labor laws, the privatization of the Royal American Commerce Commission, Social Security, and all other New Deal agencies.  It also called for the role of government to be scaled back to "the most elementary public services."

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Interesting bit on the Libertarian Party and Ayn Rand. Rand was a strong supporter of only two Presidential candidates-Wendell Willkie, and Barry Goldwater. Rand, however, detested Libertarianism itself. She preferred her own philosophy of "Objectivism." She had a really interesting correspondence with John Hospers, the 1972 Libertarian nominee, in which she condemned the philosophy of Libertarianism as “baseless.” So, I can imagine that her relations with the party will falter over time, though she may remain involved longer seeing as Goldwater could remain leader of his party for potentially decades as opposed to just in 1964.

[Peter the Lefty]

Yeah, she kind of stops supporting it after Goldwater goes.  But he leads it for quite a while.

[Peter the Lefty]

      Stevenson's cabinet soon came to embrace the blockade option, though Johnson and most security advisors remained opposed.  But it did take hours of debate to come to that conclusion.  Stevenson had asked his speechwriters to write two speeches: one for the airstrikes, one for the blockade.  Having picked the latter option, he now sat in his office in Number 16, on October 22.  His press spokesman had announced that the Prime Minister would be delivering a speech that evening at 7 PM, on a matter of the "highest national urgency."  He sat in his office, reading over his speech, making editing marks, and pondering the endless possibilities of this crisis.

[Peter the Lefty]

     "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  As you know, the past few months have seen a major buildup of Soviet military forces on the island of Cuba.  This government has been maintaining the closest possible surveillance of the buildup to ensure that no surface-to-surface missiles are being installed.  The Soviets have repeatedly insisted that their assistance to Cuba is of a defensive nature only.  This past Thursday, I was personally assured by the Soviet foreign minister himself that no nuclear warheads of any sort are being put into place in Cuba.  Yet we have, within the past week, uncovered undeniable proof of the existence of intermediate and medium range nuclear missiles in Cuba.  As a result, a strict naval quarantine will be put into effect in the coming days to prevent the continued placing of missiles in Cuba.  However, we will not block any non-military materials from reaching the island....."

[Peter the Lefty]

      Soon after the speech, the Soviet response came in through the teletype.  Poorly written, it derided the blockade as a violation of the right to freedom of the seas.  It was clear the Russians were unsure of how to respond to Stevenson's address.  
      The next morning, before the blockade began, a series of low-level areal photography flights were made over Cuba.  Knowing full-well that the brass-heads were arranging things for a shooting war, Symington called the pilots on Stevenson's behalf to urge them to, if necessary, lie about the source of the bullet holes in the planes should they be fired at.
      Meanwhile, the American military went on alert to a C-Level Warning (with A-level being the highest.)

[Peter the Lefty]

October 23, 1962

OAS Gives Unanimous Backing to Quarantine

     The Organization of American States gave the American government what most thought was unthinkable: a unanimous vote sanctioning the American Quarantine of Cuba.  Many credited it to the efforts of American Foreign Minister William Averell Harriman, whose persuasive diplomatic abilities may have been what got many Latin American governments on board.  Governor General Eisenhower then proceeded, on the Prime Minister's advice, to sign the Order in Council to put the Quarantine into effect the next morning at ten o'clock.

[Peter the Lefty]

The Birth of a Commonwealth

      In 1852, the young, tall, and skinny Justice Minister of Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, was elected to the leadership of the Liberal Party of Illinois, thus assuming the highest office any politician in Illinois could achieve at the time: the Premiership of the province. 
      Upon assuming power, he began to organize a group of Liberal Premiers in the cause of greater Home Rule for the British colonies in North America.  With Premiers Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, William Seward of New York, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Benjamin Wade of Ohio, and John C. Fremont of California, and Francis Hincks of Canada East, Lincoln co-authored a petition to Queen Victoria advocating a federal parliament and government of all of the North American colonies.  It also pushed the abolition of slavery in all British territories in North America.  While he'd been one of the holdouts on including the demand for abolition, Lincoln did most of the wording for the letter, and having been the one who organized the movement, he emerged as its unofficial leader. 
      As the Premiers announced their petition to America, it was widely laughed at.  White Southerners were enraged by the demand for the abolition of slavery.  True to her imperialist ideology, the Queen sent a rejection to the Premiers' proposal.  It came as a major defeat to the new Premier, especially one year before the next provincial election.  And it took its toll.  In the 1853 provincial election, Stephen Douglas's Conservative Party swept to power.  Douglas derided Lincoln as "anti-royalist," "radical," and "republican."  Douglas was also a dynamic leader, and the status of Illinois politics soon became a gauge of the national zeitgeist. 
      In 1857, Lincoln and the Liberals surged back to power in Illinois.  He reorganized all of the Liberal Premiers of the British North American colonies, and another petition was sent to the Queen, demanding Confederation and an end to slavery.  The Queen again rejected it.  Another petition was sent a year later, with the same requests, and was rejected yet again.  Yet Liberals were now consistently winning North American provincial elections (except in the Southeast), and it was clear that Lincoln's movement now had the support of the majority British subjects in North America.  In 1861, the Liberals in Illinois (and many other provinces) scored smashing majorities, leading the Queen to give in to both demands. 
      The British government then declared that a gradual, 18-year phase out of slavery would be introduced in the North American colonies, and replaced (over the protests of Stevens and his followers) by a system of racial segregation.  Then, there would be a one-year period in which the dust would settle.  Then, two separate Commonwealth governments would be created: one including Quebec, the far-Atlantic provinces, Canada West, and British Colombia (and all territory in between).  The other would include Washington, Florida, California, Texas, Maine, and all territory between.  The reason was simple: Quebec and the Southeast were both regions which had cultural and historical bitterness bottled up inside, and should they join together they'd pose a major threat to any single-Commonwealth government that included them both (and the possibility of the then-pro-slavery Irish Catholic population of the American Northeast joining such an alliance could have made it lethal.). Therefore, they had to be in separate "countries," so to speak.  Both "Canada" and "America" would have enough people from the rest of the country to keep the "trouble regions" in check. 
      Before the deal was made, however, the Queen made it very clear to Lincoln that he must agree never to become involved in federal American politics.  She mistrusted him, believing he was an upstart, a man who was too intelligent to be trusted, and someone with secret radical tendencies.  In truth, he was a secret republican.  Yet he was very pragmatic.  He secretly saw the Commonwealth concept as a stepping-stone to a republic, since he felt it could prove that the "primitive" colonists could be trusted with self-governance.  And for it, he was willing to sacrifice his political aspirations. 
     
      A century and a year later, the first Liberal Prime Minister who had been an Illinois Premier announced six words to all American forces via radio: "The quarantine is now in effect."

[Peter the Lefty]

October 24, 1962

Naval Showdown Averted...For Now

      After the quarantine was put into effect, a fleet of 26 ships was still continuing for the quarantine line.  A submarine between the two ships at the front, the Gagarin and the Kimovsk, had the Americans quite worried.  Stevenson ordered the naval ships at the quarantine line to prepare to force the submarine to the surface (though he had no intention of actually ordering them to do so).  Suddenly, reports came in that most of the Soviet ships, including the two at the front of the fleet, were stopping.  Some were even turning around.  Six, all of which were days away, were still continuing for the line.  Stevenson ordered continued close surveillance of those six.  Yet for the time being, armed conflict had been averted.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Glad to see this is back . Stevenson avoided war...for now. I hope his health holds up through the next crisis. He died of a heart attack in 1965, I think.

[Peter the Lefty]

October 25, 1962

B-Level Warning

      Just after a naval crisis had been averted, the military of the American Commonwealth increased its alert level to a B-Level Warning.  It had been done without Stevenson's permission. 

Stevenson's Cabinet as well as other key government MP'S sit Down.  It is 6:00 in the morning.
Adlai E. Stevenson: Good morning, gentlemen.  I hope you're all well rested.  If not, there are coffee machines all over the building.  (Pause).  I'm afraid that coffee is all that's keeping me awake.  I'm not sleeping at night.  I have the television turned on to the ABC all night, watching the news.  Last night, something caught my eye that I hadn't expected.  Last night, American armed forces were put on a B-Level Warning for war.  Now, I hadn't authorized it.  In theory, of course, the monarch–or in her absence, her representative, the Governor General–makes these decisions.  Yet our constitution was amended in the 1934 so that such a decision could only be made on the advice of the government–which, in theory, is spoken for by the Prime Minister.  So right now, we are dealing with three possible scenarios: Either A. The Governor General is in violation of the constitution.  B. I was removed as Prime Minister overnight without being notified.  Or C. Members of this government have given the Governor General advice while claiming to speak for me.  Sadly, I believe that the third is by far the most likely option.  And in any of these scenarios, an escalation has been signaled.  So I will ask you gentlemen: which of you advised the Governor General to authorize this escalation?
Silence
AES: After this crisis, this cabinet is going to be reshuffled.  Now, we have a showdown at the UN today.  And I want each of you in this building so that none of you can undermine me while out of my sight.  Is that understood?
All nod.
AES: Jesus Christ in heaven.

[Peter the Lefty]

      Llewellyn Thompson was a seasoned diplomat and a skilled negotiator, who, on October 25, knew he was in for the showdown of his life.  He was America's Ambassador to the United Nations, charged now with the task of taking on whatever arguments his Soviet counterpart, Valerian Zorin, would throw at him.  If Zorin denied the existence of the missiles, he had to call his bluff.  If he didn't, then Thompson would have to push him on the true motives behind the placing of the missiles in Cuba, and pull world opinion in favor of the United States.

[Peter the Lefty]

Valerian Zorin: The so-called American Commonwealth has deliberately and intentionally brought the world to the brink of war through its actions.  Recently, they have sent Air Force planes to fly over missile sights in Cuba, to try provoke us.  They have blockaded Cuba, hoping to see bullets fired on either side.  It is the American Commonwealth that has created this threat, not the Soviet Union.
Llewellyn Thompson: Ambassador Zorin has created an alternate universe wherein the criminal is not the one who commits the crime but the one who discovers and reports it.  The American Commonwealth has taken only the most elementary and basic steps to protect ourselves from your missiles in Cuba.  We did not attack your missile sights, nor have we invaded Cuba.  We have simply taken measures to insure that no further missiles can be installed in Cuba.  And the planes which we were flying over Cuba were not there to attack you.  They did not carry ammunition of any kind.  They were carrying only cameras. 
Valerian Zorin: The AC is the one who has created an alternate universe.  You, Ambassador Thompson, claim to have incontrovertible evidence that the USSR has been placing medium- and intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. But neither you nor your have ever presented such evidence.  No photographs from these planes, which you claim carried only cameras, have ever been shown to the world.  Perhaps the AC is mistaken?
Llewellyn Thompson: Ambassador Zorin, on Tuesday, you did not deny the existence of these missiles.  If what I believe you now claim is true, that there are no nuclear missiles in Cuba, then I imagine you would have said so on Tuesday.  Now you claim they do not exist?
Silence
Llewellyn Thompson: Well, let's find out if that's what you mean. Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that there are ballistic missiles being installed at sights in Cuba?
Silence
Valerian Zorin: You are making me feel intimidated, as if I am being interrogated, Ambassador Thompson, and I wish you would end your combative style of questioning.
Llewellyn Thompson: I am asking you a "yes" or "no" question.  Is the USSR placing surface-to-surface missiles in Cuba?
Valerian Zorin: You will get your answer in due course.  Continue your statement, please.
Laughter
Llewellyn Thompson: All right, if you won't answer the question, I will. 
Enlarged photographs of missiles are put up
Llewellyn Thompson: Ladies and gentlemen, if you will observe, in photograph A....

[Peter the Lefty]

      World opinion was now firmly in favor of the American government.  Thompson's job was done. 

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Glad to see this back

[Peter the Lefty]

October 26, 1962
      The next day, Stevenson had a very interesting visitor: ABC correspondent John A. Scali.  Scali told him of his acquaintance with KGB station chief Alexander Fomin, who happened the highest ranking Soviet spy in America.  Scali was presenting a message from Fomin, who claimed to speak for the Soviet government.  The offer was that the Soviet  Union would remove its missiles from Cuba if the American Commonwealth pledged never to invade the island country.  It sounded too good to be true for Stevenson.  The key words being "too good."  He gathered all of the RAIO data on Fomin. 
      The RAIO data on Fomin revealed that his real name was Alexander Feklisov.  He was the KGB station chief in the American Commonwealth.  He didn't seem to have any spectacular array of credentials, so Stevenson and his allies (Interior Minister Javits, Humphrey, Harriman, and Symington) figured he must have been acquainted with someone important to get the position (i.e. Khrushchev).  Evidence showed that they were likely to have become acquainted during the war.  It was a gamble, but Stevenson went with it, and instructed Scali to meet with Fomin.
      At the meeting, Scali confirmed that the American government would respond favorably to such an offer.  Fomin confirmed that he would report the news to Premier Khrushchev.

[Peter the Lefty]

      That night, a letter came in through the teletype to Stevenson's office.  Analysts predicted that it had been written by Khrushchev himself, due to the intense emotionalism of the language used.  But it contained everything Stevenson seemed to want.  It offered to remove the missiles in exchange for a pledge that neither the current American government, nor any future one, would invade Cuba. 

[Peter the Lefty]

October 27, 1962
Adlai E. Stevenson: Gentlemen, I regret to tell you that last night's good news seems to have been a farce.  This morning, I received another letter over the teletype from Moscow.  This was far more refined.  My analysts tell me that it was clearly not written by Khrushchev, while last night's letter was.  This one had a far more hard-line tone, and we fear that Khrushchev was either replaced overnight in an internal coup, or at very least co-opted by hardline elements in the Soviet government.  And it doesn't matter, frankly.  Both possibilities mean a more hardline Soviet government.  I have come to the conclusion that we must issue pre-invasion orders to our forces. 
Hubert Humphrey: What did it demand?
AES: Withdrawal of our missiles in Turkey.  We are going to be prepared to invade.  Lyndon, prepare the airstrikes.  36 hours. 
Robert Kennedy: Why? 
(Everyone stares over at him)
RFK: Can't we at least consider withdrawing the missiles from Turkey?  They're obsolete.  Scheduled for withdrawal.
AES: I used to concur with that view, Bobby.  But if we make such a move, we will lose countless allies.  The world won't view it as timetables.  They'll view it as the American Commonwealth selling out its ally in Turkey for its own safety.  We have time for one more round of diplomacy, but that's it before the missiles become operational.

[Peter the Lefty]

      The same day, an American U2 flying over Cuba was shot down.  Stevenson was only able to keep the war hawks in line by the fact that he was already preparing to begin an invasion, preceded by air strikes.