"The Footsteps of Illustrious Men"- USA GC AAR

With Fire and Sword
1936-1940
~~

President MacArthur tore through the inauguration speech like a triumphant hero. It was the great moment of Nationalist victory, and MacArthur was in love. In a moment he could reach out across the nation and influence the lives of even the smallest man. In all that he did, MacArthur was single minded and wanted to do good. He began calling for a series of public work’s projects in the south, building roads and infrastructure in New Leon and South Texas. The Nationalists of course threw their weight into the projects, but found rather sharp resistance from the Socialists and Republicans. Why, they asked, should the Southern states get favoritism just because the President’s party as in the south? The debates over public works dragged on and on, and the longer they did the more President MacArthur became frustrated. In his first two years in office, nothing happened. The Nationalist gains in the West and North dried up, and suddenly McArthur was leading from the minority.

By the midpoint of his first term, MacArthur had had enough, although he had escaped the fire in which hid party had become engulfed, he was still angry. Revenge was a dish McArthur had tasted well and often. He decided, since the Congress would not help him, he’d go around them. On a whirlwind tour of two dozen states, MacArthur pitched his plan to the governors and state legislators themselves. As momentum built, the smart politicians got on board. MacArthur himself put the first boots on the ground of a dozen new infrastructure projects, including damns, roads and agricultural centers. The press clamored for his re-election. MacArthur was the champion of the little man, the rebuilder of America, the second coming of George Washington. And he shook the very nation to its core with his presence.


Douglas MacArthur, 28th President

Meanwhile on a different front, things were moving more smoothly. For years the Nationalists had been building up control of the House and Senate Armed Services committee. And now, with a White House friendly to their designs, their plans began to unfold. A series of drastic changes were made to military planning and development. The American government began spending its research and development dollars to inspire and finance private corporations in their own R&D. The birth of the military-industrial complex began just weeks after Roosevelt left office. But as the mid-term elections rolled around and the Nationalists began loosing ground, the heads of the party began to get worried. They were faced, in 1938, with a decision. They could either spend their lot and try to make changes too strong to be overruled, or run to the middle. MacArthur made their decision for them. Arriving at the party headquarters in Washington on the day after the party was handed a black eye in the election, he laid down the law. The party would run to the middle, and he would be its light house.

The big mechanics of military development began to slow in 1938, and instead the power of state militias was reinvigorated. The idea behind MacArthur’s plan was to spread the wealth around. He had the military vote, and as states were granted “militia development budgets” used both to recruit as well as to begin more internal development projects. Each man who joined in the state militia was another man whose vote would be swinging to MacArthur. Although the General helped drive the economy forward by leaps and bounds, he also dug the Federal government into mounting debt. At this point he turned to his enemies in the Socialist Party who developed a taxation play to help rebuild the government. Taxes on rich North-Easterners and foreign companies owned by Americans grew significantly in the 2 years following the elections of 38. The immediate result was a drop in the success of foreign owned businesses and a boom in domestic production. MacArthur, and his party, shifted the blame not to his policies but instead to the growing power of nationalist parties in South and Central America. The pre-election talk of war in the South began to rear its head again.


Lázaro Cárdenas, Nationalist President of Mexico

The Roaring Forties
1940-1944
--

In 1940, MacArthur won re-election in a landslide. President MacArthur carried all of his 1936 states, as well as sweeping the Mid-West and taking much of the Center of the country. Only the far North in New England and Colombia gave their votes to their respective parties. The Socialists ran Clarence Wallace of Colombia, the first ever Candidate from the former British colony, while the Republicans ran Robert A. Taft, hoping to win some sort of support based upon his last name. The election went as well as the Nationalists could have hoped. MacArthur returned to office with the same fanfare and triumph as he first arrived. But as with many re-elected presidents, the second term was far less easy going. The economic rebirth slowed again, and people started wondering of the “MacArthur boom” was about to turn to bust. The Nationalists, eager to cling to what power they had, moved quickly. American diplomats began a flurry of activity across the South Americas. Countries amenable to the “American Way” saw wider access to American made weapons and American military factories. Those who sought their own way found their access barred.

Political experts noted that without access to American manufactured goods, the Mexican economic experts would have to turn outwards, to Europe. The MacArthur administration was not going to let that happen, and deployed the Navy. It was clear that war was coming, and before it arrived, the American people wanted to get goods while they could. The flurry of spending at the start of the conflict sent the economy through the roof. Government spending only aided the growth. But with every dollar earned by the Americans, another was lost by Mexico. Before long Mexican agitation turned into aggression. Smugglers crossed over the American Naval blockade daily, and every smuggler found became another part of the plot for war. On June 14th, the American diplomats issued an ultimatum to the Mexican government. The demands amounted to total economic slavery, and the Mexicans of course had no choice but to turn the Americans away. War was Declared three days later, July 17th, 1941.


The American Flying Fortress, the symbol of total war

The American military machine began the swiftest conquest the world had ever seen. Titled “Operation Lightning Bolt”, the Bolt Campaign sent shockwaves through the global field. Before the foreign powers could even lodge their complaints, the Americans were into Mexico City. The American Navy crushed what Mexican resistance could be raised, and assaulted the port cities, while the combined Air and Ground campaigns stormed through the north. The Mexicans had hoped to hold off the Americans, using a series of trench defenses, until the world could be motivated to the aid of the Mexicans to at least resolve a fair peace. America would have none of it. Tactics which had worked for nearly 50 years on the ground were now obsolete. The sheer industrial might of the modern age simply swept away the Mexican resistance. Within a week the Mexican armies were routed, within a Month, Mexico lay defeated. The war, while sending the American government into deep debt, sent the American economy into boom. Sudden access to cheap natural resources throughout Mexico (controlled now through Military “governors” and a puppet Mexican government), a returning labor force and confidence in the American way all contributed as the economy began to rebuild quickly.

The result was felt across the globe. Confidence in the American economy led to confidence in the economy of all the Americas. And fear of a similar military adventure by their enemies caused many Europeans to build their own military machines. Germany, England and Russia all began pouring money into their military industrial complex. The fears that their rivals would be stronger faster sent the world into a state of paranoia. The result was vast growth in national security jobs, military pay and industry. It was fear which pulled the world out of the great depression, fear of an even great catastrophe. Historians would later point to the general ebb and flow of the economic currents as to the primary catalyst for the economic boom, but at the time it was all thanks to President MacArthur. As the election of 1948 approached, many people wondered if MacArthur might run for a 3rd term. And he did, by all accounts, consider it. But in the end he was persuaded against it by the party, who was hesitant to rock the tradition set out by George Washington.

With the shot at a 3rd term gone, MacArthur became uninterested in politics. He left the Nationalist Party, as many strong Presidents often do to their base, without a leader. His Vice President, the left-leaning Gordon Weaver Browning, took a commanding lead heading into the nomination over more right wing candidates like South Texas Governor Allan Shivers and Missouri Senator James Kem. His early surge would hold fast and Browning would win the nomination, with Floridian Claude Pepper as his running mate. They were met at the starting gate by former Colorado Governor Teller Ammons of the Socialists, and former General George Marshall of the Republicans. It was a timid debate in comparison to years prior, with all three men avoiding outright battle. Eventually the American public latched on to the Republican “Marshall Plan” for America, and elected Marshall (and Vice President Elmer (“E.”) Lee Andersen) to the Oval Office by a slim majority of the college.


George Marshall and E. Lee Anderson- Republican- 276
Teller Ammons and James W. Huffman- Socialist- 94
Gordon Browning and Claude Pepper- Nationalist- 120

demokratickid: Not dead, just on a long hiatus, the unfortunate effect of real life. As to your Socialists, they are down, but not out in any way.

RGB: It wouldn't be America without some conquered Mexicans

candyman82 said:

Epilogue??? Please?

Click to expand...

Alrighty, given my current status between jobs, I will get on that.

TheHyphenated1 said:

Still any chance?

Click to expand...

You know what, why not. I thought being unemployed I would have a little more time, but as it turned out in the end I spent more time looking for work than enjoying what free time I had. Equally ironically because my new computer crashed and died, I had to open up the old laptop, which has most of my work on it.

Let's see if we can't grave dig this sucker and perform a little mouth to mouth.

How Far We've Come
~~

A review of the last 100 years.


(The United States of America. In 1959 the Union was Expanded to include Hawaii as the 52nd State)
From Top Left to Bottom Right


In 1836 the long term of Jackson (Andrew I to his Whig opponents) came to an end. As the hero of New Orleans rode off into the sunset, he was replaced by the less-able Martin Van Buren. It was Van Buren who saw the fall of Texas, an American ally, to Mexico and the stain carried him out of office 4 years later. He was replaced by Founding Father John Forsyth, who, after a year in office, passed away. Forsyth's vice president, Mahlon Dickerson, took over. Dickerson saw 1842 bring the United States into war against Mexico, ending 2 years later with minor extensions of American power into the West. In 1844 Henry Clay rose from the halls of Congress to the White House, and compromised his way into infamy. Bending to the will of the hawks, Clay pushed the British for the Columbia territory in the Pacific, and had his presidency extended by the Ballot Crisis of 1848.


Martin Van Buren (Democrat); John Forsyth (Democrat); Mahlon Dickerson (Democrat); Henry Clay (Whig)

In 1850, the American Party (also known as the Know-Nothings) rose to prominence and power under the guidance of Charles M. Conrad of Louisiana. From 1850 to 1858, Conrad led a nation at war. Under flimsy pretenses Conrad went to War with Mexico, only to find himself besieged by Slave Revolts and the Métis Revolution in Columbia. The American Party went out as quickly as it came in as Conrad saw his legislature turn against him even with conquest of the South-West. But with the influx of new states, the ugly specter of civil strife reared its head. William Patterson would drive the American army into Texas, and become embroiled in scandal as a war of personal conquest brought him out of office. He was replaced by a Republican, Daniel Clark. Clark lead the Union in its 3 year conflict against the South (but for Texas). By temporary amendment, Clark served from 1866 to 1872 to realign the 4 year cycle of the Presidency. Clark was succeeded by the forgettable Thomas Ewing Jr who saw power slip away during the post-war economic crisis.


Charles Conrad (American); William Patterson (Democrat); Daniel Clark (Republican); Thomas Ewing Jr (Republican)


Justin Smith Morrill lead the nation back into conflict, this time marching to liberate Central America from Franco-Italian influence. He is followed by Rutherford B. Hayes, who drives the United States into another war, this one less successful as the American army slugged its way through the Colombian Republic. Hayes was undermined and replaced after one term by Benjamin Harrison, who saw the admittance of the West into the Union and officially ended Reconstruction in the South. In all, Harrison welcomed 8 new states into the Union, ironically bringing with them the eventual opponent of the Republican Party, the Populists. Harrison also brought Americans into control of Hawaii (directly) and Haiti (indirectly). Harrison was defeated after 4 years by Populist John Daniel, a Southern former Democrat who helped bring about the first major reforms in the rights of industrial workers.


Justin Smith Morrill (Republican); Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), Benjamin Harrison (Republican); John Daniel (Populist)

The Populist wave continued as William Vincent Allen seized control of the party. It was Allen who saw the sinking of the USS Maine off the coast of Cuba following the gradual slipping of American economic influence in Central America. Allen had the misfortune of seeing the First European army land on American Soil, near Baltimore, since the War of 1812. Despite the setbacks, Allen was able to, through sheer force of will, split from the Populists and win re-election as a Republican. He would end the Spanish-American war in 1901, only to see American troops brought into another conflict, this one in China. By the end of his 2nd term Allen had established an American Empire. He was followed by Republican David Clough, who continuing in the drive to empire, battled with the French over Indochina. The war is, disappointing, and Clough's two terms forgettable. He is replaced by the stubborn Robert Bacon, who's devious maneuvering secured him unpopular but strong power. Bacon began pulling back on the Populist agenda, and supported Prohibition, but his weak foreign policy adventures doomed him to defeat by his own party. The energetic populist-Republican Teddy Roosevelt swept Bacon from his office, but kept his Vice President William Howard Taft. Roosevelt purchased the Danish West Indies (The Virgin Islands) from the cash-strapped Danes and set the stage for the eventual American domination of the Caribbean.


William V. Allen (Populist/Dem-Republican); David Clough (Republican); Robert Bacon (Republican); Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)

It was Taft who replaced Roosevelt when the latter died in office in 1919. For a year, Roosevelt was bedridden, even as the American Army aided the Communist Revolution in China, helping drive back Austrian-backed imperial armies. It was however, what happened in Europe that so ignited the world. Austria invaded Serbia setting off a conflict which would last for almost 20 years (on and off) and involve every major power in the world. Taft, likeable and high spirited, had no desire for the White House, and so was happy to see it fall to Hiram Johnson of the Socialist Party (successor to the Populists) in 1920. For eight years, Johnson undid the damage Bacon had accomplished in four. Johnson saw the purchase of Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Leeward Islands and Trinidad. As a Socialist, Johnson was also deathly afraid of the red taint, and so abandoned the Chinese revolution and outcast many within his own party. He also orchestrated the destruction and liberation of the United States of Central America into their independent republics. As his final act, he led the Americans into war against the Empire of Japan after the Japanese invaded the recently freed Philippines. The two year conflict saw the American fleet become dominant in the Pacific. Following Johnson was the like-minded Herbert Hoover, who's presidency came to an end after the disastrous American entrance to the great war led to the sinking of the American Atlantic fleet by the Germans. Hoover brought British Angola but lost to Roosevelt in 1932. Roosevelt pulled America out of war, but was in turn knocked aside by the Great Depression which followed the end of the Great War.


William Howard Taft (Republican); Hiram Johnson (Socialist); Herbert Hoover (Republican); Franklin Roosevelt (Socialist)

Roosevelt was swept aside by the charismatic, driven and eager Douglas MacArthur who set out to end the depression as best he knew how; conflict. The 4th Mexican-American war ended in less than a month as Operation Lightning swept aside the Mexican Army. The resulting spending and business opportunities pulled the United States, and the world, out of war. After 8 years, MacArthur became bored with public office and left his party, the Nationalist Party (inheritors of the Democrats who dissolved after 80 years out of power) out in the cold. MacArhur was followed by another military man, George C. Marshall who saw the rise of the American industry to unparalleled heights, and who in turn became disgusted with the bickering of politics and stepped aside for Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg to win office in 1948. Vandenberg's term would end after just two years and his Vice President would take office and lead the country into the 1950's. Earl Warren would witness the start of the second Great War.


Douglas MacArthur (Nationalist); George C Marshall (Republican); Arthur Vandenberg (Republican); Earl Warren (Republican)