The United States: 'Advantages without Obligations'

TC Pilot: Oh dear, Stukov comes to kill Lindbergh.

Faelin: In real life, sure enough, but with 8 years of Presidential influence, anything's possible. He only has a couple years left anyhow

CSL-GG: I think MacKenzie is trying to figure out Canada's international orbit right now.

cthulhu: Now that's plain frightening, sir.

Bagricula: Why thanks...I've thought about novelization, of course, maybe I'll look more closely when this whole thing is finished. Assassination attempts are certainly possible...maybe not publicized.

MAC: Thanks very much!

Vincent Julien: The US is in the middle of the various fuels, moderator, reflector. The Soviets should be a couple techs ahead though I haven't checked in a year or two.

RossN: As Bagricula answered, I think the Republicans are adrift attempting to be a centrist party in the midst of such partisanship. They can't really portray themselves as more anti-communist than Lindbergh and the Nationals and of course they won't drift left, so by trying to appealing to a unity in the center, it hurts them in bitter elections.

Evil Capitalist: Thanks for that story...I never even knew that had happened. Crazy stuff. I know of the original proposals to combine the CIA and FBI into a single agency and that's generally where this is coming from. Of course, since there wasn't an OSS in this timeperiod, the intelligence arm is weaker versus the FBI so it's a bit easier to fold the former into the latter.

Meltdown1986: I'm sure stuff will happen soon. Good point on the internal situations...I'll try to work some stuff in this year, especially as the US deals with these countries more.

elbasto: Thanks, sir, it's great to be back.

February 1949: All the King’s Horses – Part I

The American military had existed in a manner of limbo since the conclusion of the Pacific War in 1946. With a slow and steady decline in overall manpower, the potential still remained in place for a vast army along the lines of that contemplated during the latter stages of the conflict versus Japan. While the Army consisted of the shells of a couple hundred under strength divisions, the Navy was still undergoing the vast modernization undertaken under the auspices of President Lindbergh’s ”replace and upgrade” compromise with Congress. In essence, enough ships were under construction or being planned to completely replace the Navy of the 1940s with something more appropriate for the coming decades. The Air Force, meanwhile, had seen drastic reductions in recent years, though research and development were not touched. In addition, the fruition of the United States rocketry program also saw an increase in the vitality of this youngest branch of the armed forces.

To provide continued leadership for this transitional phase in the military, President Lindbergh placed several proposals before Congress as advocated by the leading generals and admirals in the military. The Defense Reorganization Act (DRA) of 1949 called for a permanent institution of the ad hoc “Joint Chiefs of Staff” which had existed during the 1940s, formalizing this body with the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and governed by a Chairman proposed by the President. A second aspect of this bill was the creation of a Secretary of the Air to complement the current Departments of War and the Navy. This Air Department would include oversight of the Air Force, the rocketry program, and civilian aviation. Owing to the greater attention focused on the NIA Bill, the DRA passed relatively quickly, with only a couple amendments, the first being the requirement for Senate approval of a Chairman and the second being the removal of the Marine Corps Commandment from the JCS.

Lindbergh would replace three of the four top spots in the military leadership, retaining only General Curtis LeMay as Chief of Staff of the Air Force. LeMay’s advocacy of a strong strategic bombing corps was very much in keeping with the President’s own aviation philosophy. For Chief of Staff for the Army, the President turned to Mark Clark, whose performance in Australia had made him one of the top generals in the service as well as a potential presidential candidate for a time. A proponent of the ”big and modern” school, Clark was another commander who matched Lindbergh’s intentions. To round out the services, Admiral Louis Denfield was promoted to Naval Chief of Staff, or Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Advocating a strong “big carrier” force to protect the ocean fronts and to sustain America’s overseas relationships, Denfield favored the full implementation of the proposed United States-class ‘supercarriers’.

Perhaps Lindbergh’s most public selection was his tapping General Douglas MacArthur, former political rival, to become the nation’s first Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although his military record to this point was more a matter of political promotion than battlefield success, MacArthur was very much in the public eye as a commander whose anti-communism rivaled only the top members of the National administration. However, within a day of the announcement of his promotion, charges were immediately leveled at he and the President, with accusations of a ”corrupt bargain”, trading his chance at the Presidency for a certain nomination to the military’s top spot. Although the strong Republican presence in the Senate would ensure his confirmation, MacArthur’s position as JCS would be questioned for some time.

In all, the President had put into place one of the strongest military leadership teams of the past decade, with four men who were unrepentant crusaders for the massive expansion and improvement of their services. Already, lines were being drawn in Congress for what was sure to be a major 1949 budgetary battle.

Draco Rexus: Any future war will be massive and scary, you don't have to worry about that. The size of the armies involved are potentially frightening, not to mention all the countries who will contribute their own little militaries.

cthulhu: Well, it's not much of a mandate for Lindbergh's electoral victory but he certainly was able to dodge the Democrats' tough talk about Reassessments mainly by playing for time and letting the world stage look a little more frightening.

Faelin: Still got a ways to go in this but great stuff. A good geopolitical read and some of the US recommendations at the end are good to think about. Thanks!

TC Pilot: He's around. He's not one of the top administrative generals like Clark and MacArthur but Operation Wallaby in Australia rehabilitated him and he did gain some serious credibility with his swift armored thrust through the Outback. I would say, out of all the commanders, he was one of the top performers. I doubt you've heard the last of him.

Frankie: Yeah, Clark is more established because he and Simpson were the two major corps commanders in Australia - though MacArthur generated enough press buzz to artificially boost his own credentials.

Vandelay: You never know...


Sir Humphrey: A military coup where? Plenty of candidates...

Ladislav: Oh yes, it's quite a black and white cause with capitalism vs. communism. The three-way dynamic is gone and it's basically a Cold War gone hot. The military leadership team is definitely the best one yet in this AAR. Took a while to get there though.

Wilhelm VI: I think the US wants to keep Japan friendly, or at least neutral, especially as Japan is fighting the Soviets currently, a major help in any future European war.

The Archduke: I was missing you, sir. Yes, it's not close to ending just yet.

ThewEiRdOne27: Thanks very much. A fourth term would be a big stretch without an emergency. Unless Lindbergh was coming off a major victory (knock on wood), or if the US happened to be in a war at the time...then maybe. Still, a Republican/Democrat alliance is always possible if the Republicans want him out that bad.

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Break today, guys, lots of work to do...well, at work. I'll resume tomorrow, never fear.