"The Footsteps of Illustrious Men"- USA GC AAR

demokratickid: Indeed. Luckily I'm safe and nestled across the Atlantic.

RGB: Never! Plus, the French are in trouble, serious trouble

stnylan: Chances are good that Roosevelt would be remembered well. He sort of road the Jingoist wave to power and did what he promised without ever being dragged through the mud.

PrawnStar: Sir not appearing in this AAR... yeah I totally forgot him

JimboIX: Yeah, I was really hoping that would not be the case.

Update tonight.

The Election of 1920
~~

The biggest question coming into 1920 was who would represent the Republicans. There seemed to be a very clear geographic divide in where support was coming from. George Bruce Cortelyou had a lot of support coming out of the West and deep south, where most Republicans were only active thanks to Roosevelt’s legacy. Cortelyou also had a strong base of support inside the capital, given both his position and his ties to the Roosevelt administration. James P. Goodrich’s popularity was based in his home state of Indiana and its neighbors in Illinois and Iowa. Goodrich was also one of the biggest supporters of the Women’s suffrage movement within Washington, leaving him one of the more radical Republicans. The final candidate, James E. Watson, was primarily supported by New England, where more anti-Socialist policies were popular. The race was on for the south.

As the primary came closer and closer, it became clear that Watson’s strong anti-socialist rhetoric was loosing him support in the South-East, but his support in the New England region left him still a strong candidate, it was clear that no compromise would be found, and the Republican National Convention would decide the nominee. A total of 14 candidates were on the ballot, but no one had any belief in the chances for the bottom 11. By the time the fifth ballot came around, the top three were clearly separated from the group. But when the Virginia delegation moved en masse to support James Goodrich, the die was cast. Watson and Gortelyou bowed out and recognized that the party’s trust was now placed in Goodrich. William Cameron Sproul was elected to serve as Goodrich’s vice presidential candidate, in an effort to win over his home state of Pennsylvania which had very nearly gone Socialist in 1916.


James P Goodrich

The Nationalists and Socialists kept course going into 1920 with Pershing and Johnson returning. Once again the three-faced assault on American politics began. The battlefield would be the Mid-West, and New York. Johnson campaigned hard in Pennsylvania and Ohio, hoping to overcome the nostalgia of Republican rule in both states. Robert M. La Follette won the nod for vice-president and immediately began solidifying support for the Socialists in New York and the North-West. The major coup for Johnson came in a three-way debate in St. Louis, Missouri. The state had been solidly Nationalist, and the audience was thoroughly behind John Pershing. But this debate was heavily covered by newspapers very impressed by the promise of non-intervention. When the New York Times ran a very positive review of Johnson, his popularity only spread.

For Pershing, this was his final hurrah, and he hoped to really make an impact. As he saw his influence in Ohio and Indiana fading, he turned to the South, hoping to take way some of the old Republican strongholds like Georgia and Kentucky. Pershing wanted an outright win, but was beginning to understand that it was unlikely without a huge swing in the southern states, and it was clear that no such swing was coming. But with his attention so heavily focused on the East, he began to loose support in the West. The first great swing would come when South Texas Governor William Pettus Hobby publicly endorsed Hiram Johnson, saying it was time for a change in Washington. Hobby brought South Texas, and its 16 Electoral votes with him to the Socialist cause. As results flowed in from the East, it seemed that the Republicans were in trouble.

New England, but for New Jersey, stayed true to the Nationalists, as did the Chesapeake states of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. But the Socialists took New Jersey, New York, and the coup of Pennsylvania. The Germans in Florida helped push the Socialists over the top and swung that state from red to purple. Meanwhile the Nationalists regained control of the old south, taking Georgia and Tennessee away from the Republicans. It was a bloody day for the Republican’s future. Ohio and, surprisingly, Michigan both went Republican, but the rest of the Mid-West was won over to Johnson, including the heavy mining state of Kentucky (but not West Virginia). The rest of the country stayed to predictions, but it didn’t matter. Thanks to the swings in Pennsylvania, South Texas and Florida, the Socialists, and Hiram Johnson, were finally taking the White House.


James P Goodrich and William C. Sproul- Republican- 126
Hiram Johnson and Robert La Follette- Socialist- 318
John J. Pershing and Jared Young Sanders- Nationalist- 103

Strategos' Risk: War will be discussed soon enough. Things have been slow on that front in general.

RGB: Not pacifists, but isolationists.

stnylan: Got to love that big government. Unfortunately, a socialist party means Capitalists no longer did the work for me...

PrawnStar: Yeah, I love the idea of a third party, it really makes the shift in politics more significant, and more entertaining.

demokratickid: Workers of the world!

JimboIX: It very much is a very different USA

Cleaning House
~~

The Socialists swept into the White House and immediately followed the precedent set by Theodore Roosevelt and cleaned house. Republican loyalists, some who had been in office for over a 12 years, were removed overnight. In the greatest bureaucratic turnaround since the America party took office in 1850, the Socialists removed all traces of Republican control. Called cronyism by his Republican and Nationalist detractors, Johnson moved to put long time Socialists and party leaders into important posts around the country. For the most part the Republicans and Nationalists allowed the victor to have the spoils, that was until the nomination of David Franklin Houston to the position of Secretary of the Treasury. The opposition came from fears that Houston, a businessman and socialist who had helped orchestrate very socialist-friendly farm subsidies in the far west, would greatly disrupt agriculture.

President Johnson was forced to compromise. He refused to commit himself to Republican demands of a outright confrontation with Japan on the high seas, the Nationalists seemed eager to work out a deal. The Nationalist party still held firm to the foreign policy summed up by reporters as the “MacArthur Plan”, named after the late Secretary of Foreign Affairs whose journey around the coast of South America had become a political legend. A far more interventionist version of the “Monroe Doctrine” established in the early 19th century, the Nationalists called for the US military to enforce pro-American economic and political establishments in South and Central America, and wanted an American pull out of China and the Philippines.

Johnson, eager to gain favor, called on his party to cross the isles and vote with the Nationalists to ok the purchase of Caribbean islands from Great Britain and Denmark. The Danes, in a deep financial whole thanks to the conflict in the North-Sea, sold the Virgin Islands. The United Kingdom meanwhile was spiraling in depression due to the cost of fighting a two front war (Against the Russians in the North Sea and the Germans in Iran and the Mediterranean). Rather than risk loosing the war entirely, the United Kingdom agreed to sell vast tracks of Caribbean land to the United States for a huge shot of revenue, as well as the use of naval bases in the Pacific, trade rights and newly laid battleships produced at the end of the Republican rule. By the end of 1920, the United States took control of the Leeward Islands and Trinidad, and by the end of 21, the US was given Jamaica and the Bahamas (although sugar rights still belong exclusively to the British).


Hiram Johnson, 25th President and founder of the “American Lake”

Abroad things were not going well for the democracies. The French, though valiantly holding the Germans out of the west, were succumbing to the Austrians once again. Already the Austrian troops, pouring out Italy, had driven the French out of their southern defenses. But the French, quickly learning the futility of their counter offenses, dug in and hoped to hold the Austrians back. The use of heavy machine guns and long-range artillery turned the Austrian assault into a slow grind. All along the French border the war ground to a slow, grueling halt, as the English landed troops to aid. Meanwhile the Russians and British had both been driven out of Persia entirely, and the Germans seized control of the country. By early 1921, the Germans were pushing into Russian held Asia, as well as threatening British positions in Iraq (although owned by the Ottoman Empire, the British had vast economic control over the region). The only participants remaining quiet were the Americans and the Japanese, who continued to avoid pitched naval battle.

However, while the Americans were busy shifting from Republican jingoism to Socialist isolationism, the Japanese were hatching a plan to drive the Americans out of Asia. Chinese resentment was still widespread, and after the Republicans were removed that resentment rose up. The Socialists, eager to distance themselves from their more radical counterparts in Communism, cut off aid to the rebellion of Zhu De. Already the Imperial government had won some significant victories in the North of China, capturing and killing the Warlord Zhāng Zuòlín. With their attention thus relieved, and the drying up of American arms and money in the South, suddenly winning the civil war became a real possibility for the reactionary Imperial government. In response, Zhu De turned to another government for aid, this time the Japanese. Zhu helped stir up revolts in the American held territory, and in his finest coup, convinced the conscripted Chinese garrison at Hangzhou to rise up against the American military.

Although the revolt was put down, it was a black eye to Johnson’s foreign policy plans. Although by 1923 he was able to ‘liberate’ the Philippines, and establish a US-controlled, strongly socialist democracy in the islands, he was stopped from creating an independent Formosa, or returning the mainland territories to the Chinese. Nationalist and Republican fears that the Japanese would overcome America for dominance in the Pacific ensured any such move towards independence would be halted. Regardless, the first three years of foreign affairs was considered a success for Johnson, and his spearheading of domestic reform would take the same path. Through coercion, compromise and diligence, the Socialists pushed through a series of worker’s bills, enforcing further increases in the minimum wage, health benefits and work-day restrictions. In return for these victories, the Socialists accepted Women’s Suffrage, an increased presence in China, and a military endeavor which would lead to war, and a radically different Central America.


General Douglas MacArthur, a man who would rise to fame in 1922.

Strategos' Risk: Too cold. Besides, the Socialists want nothing to do with Europe, and that is all Greenland is good for.

Mettermrck: The Virgin Islands, and all the English islands pretty much gave me control of the Caribean, so I though an "American Lake" was appropriate.

RGB: Indeed, what would late 19th early 20th centry American politics be without worries of nepotism and cronyism

JimboIX: Expand or die. A sort of international pseudo-Darwinian socialism lets say...

Dr. Gonzo:That is an excellent break down, and very much the point I was hoping to get across. The Socialists in America are just members of the Socialist Party. They are not radicals by any sense.

stnylan: Take a couple hits abroad, gain a couple domestically, it is a worth while trade.

Update coming shortly.

The Panic of 1921
~~~

Immediately following the election of 1920, the Stock Market hit a series of dips. The booming market of the 1910’s slowed, and fears of drastic changes to the US economy caused that slow to turn into a drop. By 1921, the drops had become a full blown recession. The expense of maintaining a US presence in China was becoming a serious drain on the economy, and the added expense of new Socialist policies sent further ripples through the economy. This culminated in a panic in 1921 over energy industries. Leading socialists were attempting to pass a series of bills calling for a national energy department, which would control the growing supply and demand for power. As more and more people moved to cities, and more and more electricity was used, the energy companies became more powerful. But when the Socialist backed bill began to gain momentum, and the market continued to decline, investors became worried. The result was a mass-selling of energy stock. Stock in coal, oil and energy companies hit an all time low, and then went through the floor.

Hiram Johnson, with some creative use of his previous budget, went into action. The Department of the Interior, headed by John Barton Payne, suddenly found itself with a wildly raised budget, and instructions to buy up as much energy stock as possible. Through a rather dubious closing of the Market, Johnson ensured that the US government emerged in control of almost 40% of the nation’s energy companies. This shot up to 60% after congress passed the Nationalized Industry Bill in 1923. This trickery was the last straw between the Republicans and Socialists. Those Republicans at the top of the party declared any crossing of the isles to be counter to the Republican war, although the message was generally ignored. The result of the panic was a rise in unemployment, which was aided by a temporary slow down in the Great War. But Socialist programs for unemployment, as well as new public-work organizations helped pick up the slack. Although this almost doubled the expenditure of the government, the profits from the energy company and the Income Tax more than covered the new costs.


Secretary of the Interior Payne

All of this however took a backseat to a more pressing concern. The United States of Central America, seeing the shift from Republican jingoism to Socialist isolationism, pounced on the opportunity. Long oppressed by American industry, especially American fruit companies, the President of the USCA, José María Orellana, who’s coup had come with the promise of ridding the USCA for American influence, was ready to fulfill his promise. In December of 1921 he began raising new, heavily armed regiments. These existed under the guise of suppressing rebels in the North. But by January it was clear that these new forces existed for more sinister reasons. On January 22nd 1922, the army of the United States of Central America seized US owned fruit companies and packing factories and arrested the businessmen in charge. 7 divisions of Central American infantry rushed to the border between Costa Rica and American Panama, prepared to repel the oncoming invasion.


General José María Orellana, President and Dictator of the USCA

For two weeks, President Johnson attempted to diplomatically isolate and pressure the USCA into reversing its policy. But every day that passed without American intervention President Orellana became bolder. When he declared to the world that American dominance of Central America had come to an end, President Johnson’s hand was forced. On February 10th the United States declared war on the United States of Central America. General Chamberlain and Admiral Alfred Selway, a Socialist political ally, proposed to Johnson that a total-force policy be used. The 3 divisions in Panama could well hold off any assault from Costa Rica, but would be hopeless in an offense. General Chamberlain, whose primary experience had been fighting the vastly out-gunned Chinese, proposed a full assault. Johnson agreed, and a full 224,000 troops were deployed to Central America, combined with two fleets. It was the full might of the American army unleashed upon the hapless Central Americans.


Mobilization!

The initial assaults were a disaster of epic proportions. 15,000 American soldiers died in the first week of the war, as Costa Rican defenses were well prepared for the frontal assault. Disease ran rampant through the US lines, and Chamberlain was dumbfounded. The assaults, which had so quickly broken the back of Chinese armies in the past, were failing here in the jungles of Central America. On March 15th, a month into the conflict, Chamberlain was recalled and replaced him with General Charles P. Summerall. In an attempt to shoot new life into the army, Summerall replaced the command staff en masse. The old guard were swept away and replaced with a new group of officers, including the popular General Douglas MacArthur (who would lead the assault and capture of San Jose), and General Malin Craig. These new men, who had been trained in the combat styles of the Spanish American war, were more prepared for the trench warfare.

These new men shifted the focus on the war. Rather than long, extended offenses, it was to be directed fire and targeted assaults. Naval guns were unleashed with unique accuracy, and artillery strikes became more directed. The goal was to break just one whole in the line, and snap the moral of the defenders. The sheer weight of artillery and naval bombardment took its toll. One by one the Central American defenses crumbled to overwhelming American fire. On May 19th, the lines were broken, and the Central Americans were fleeing. By May 29th, Costa Rica had fallen, and the USCA army was preparing for another defensive stand. But it was too late, the firepower was too much for the outnumbered Central Americans. Although it would take a year to occupy the country and subdue the last remnants of Orellana’s army, the war was effectively over by July of 1922. The result was a radically different Central America.

Four independent governments were established over the ruins of the United States of Central America. The first was the Republic of Honduras, ruled by the long-time Honduran rebels who had plagued the USCA for many years. A new pro-American, pro-Socialist government was established in Tegucigalpa, and granted certain rights over American industry in the region. The other two Northern Socialist states established were Guatemala, with its capital in Guatemala City; and Nicaragua with its capital in Managua. The rest of the country was divided in two. Costa Rica was declared independent, with its capital in San Jose, but it was nothing more than an American economic zone. The final country was the Republic of El Salvador, which took over the remainder of the USCA. Its government was an extension of the Mexican regime of Álvaro Obregón, a very pro-American President. The Mexicans were granted control over their new puppet with the understanding that American oil interests in Mexico would go un-disturbed. The treaty was signed May 29th, 1923, and the United States of Central America ceased to exist.