In deo speramus

[nickvorp]

It is January 1st, 1936. The United States of America, under the guidance of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is beginning to emerge from a great economic depression. New Deal policies, hastily enacted, and bitterly contested have, at least temporarily, stymied the tide of rising unemployment, homelessness, and hopelessness. However, the effects of protectionism and isolationism have rendered the USA an island to itself, dependent on the vastness of the oceans and an aging and increasingly obsolete navy to protect it from the forces of totalitarianism that are growing across the seas. There are those within the government of the United States who believe isolationism is no longer a viable policy and wish to become a more active player on the world stage. Those who oppose them though are vocal and have the support of much of the citizenry, who do not wish to once again send a generation of boys to die on foreign soil.

The future of the United States is cloudy and perilous; in 1946 the United States could be the leader of a world united or an isolated island, withering away like a single grape on a vine. Roosevelt's radical economic policies could lead to prosperity and safety for all citizens or the utter collapse of an entire nation's economy. Trust must be placed in a higher power, whether that be God, fate, luck, or chance, that the United States of America would be guided along a path of freedom, justice, and liberty for all.

IN DEO SPERAMUS

[nickvorp]

Greetings.
This is my humble attempt at using what I think are HOI3's enormous AAR role playing possibilities to make a GC US AAR. It will be a narrative / history book style AAR that focuses on making real world policy decisions with the information that is only available at the time. You will shortly see what President Roosevelt and his cabinet wish to accomplish. I will then use the game mechanics to make that happen. I have no real goals other than to exist in the world as it is presented in the game. If Finland invades Japan, I shall deal with that reality. One can never know what life will throw at you, and the goal of this AAR is not to recreate history, but to live life in 1936. I will try to keep an index below.
Cheers,
Nick

[Myth]

Sounds like this should be an interesting AAR! Try as one might, it's always difficult to avoid or even minimize hindsight.

[nickvorp]

January 1, 1936
Washington, D.C.


President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt summoned his cabinet for a New Year's meeting. It was a federal holiday, but he did not care; there was work to be done, and as the saying goes, "there is no time like the present." One by one they filed into the cabinet room, there was Henry Morgenthau, his longtime friend, associate, conservative economist and Secretary of the Treasurer. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, and forever willing to compromise, Claude Swanson, the steady Secretary of the Navy, and the oddly cast Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the only woman in the room who wasn't a servant of some type. Others were present as well, present by courtesy and necessity; J. Edgar Hoover, a constant thorn in the side of Roosevelt and Director of the FBI, the heads of the uniformed services, and Vice President Garner, one time political rival, declarant that the Vice-Presidency wasn't worth a "bucket of warm piss", and likely future malcontent. It was a motley bunch, assembled from many places, but, it was his cabinet and would have to serve as the means of implementing Roosevelt's policies across the vast federal bureaucracy. Finally, all were present and it was time to begin.

Unable to rise from the chair that served as a constant visible reminder of his affliction, Roosevelt instead tapped a gavel on the table to silence the idle chit-chat and pleasantries that filled the room and to focus the attention on what he was about to say.

"My dear cabinet members and other invited guests, I thank you for sacrificing some of your New Year's Day to meet with me and each other. I promise to be brief. I will speak with each of you on a more in-depth basis in the coming days. America has been bred to greatness. God himself calls us to be a leader of nations, and a shining example of efficient, effective governance so that those nations we lead may look to us for guidance, as a ship in a storm looks to a lighthouse. Accordingly, we shall embark upon a campaign of reinvestment in America. Factories shall be built where there are no jobs. Roads shall be built and paved where there is no access. Boys will be turned into men, and girls into women. We shall extend the hand of friendship and co-operation to our brother nations. I expect all of you to support me in this endeavor. Moreover, I expect your co-operation with each other as this project proceeds. Turf-battles and squabbling shall be met with a request for a resignation. Let there be no mistake; I serve at the pleasure of the people, whose interests I am determined to protect. You all serve at the pleasure of me. Shall I determine that you are no longer pursuing the interests of the people in a way I see fit, you shall no longer be at my pleasure."

"To begin this program, we will embark upon a program of factory and infrastructure building in some of the areas most hard hit by the economic crises at hand, and in need of assistance. I would invite Secretary Morgenthau to outline the concept of this plan."

--=--

To be continued.

[Myth]

So, time for some industry. Industry is good, as it makes things.

[Lordban]

So far, it's a classical concept.

It might get a little less classical later on, but we'll see

[nickvorp]

January 1, 1936
Washington, DC




Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., son of a prominent diplomat, an expert in agriculture by training and experience, and unlikely economist rose from his seat just to Roosevelt's right. This place of honor was earned by years of friendship and loyal service.

"As part of the emergency appropriations contained for the Works Progress Administration in the last budget passed by Congress, there is a provision allowing for the President to embark upon construction projects in the public's interest. It has been determined that the most efficient use of these funds, to generate long-term prosperity and wealth would be to build factories in economically depressed areas. These factories will be constructed with specific purposes in mind - some will be optimized for the production of aircraft to be used in rural airmail service for example - and equipped with the most modern equipment to achieve this purpose. The initial capital expenditures will be borne by the federal government from the WPA budget and the buildings and equipment will then be leased to interested private entities at a rate designed to recoup the cost within 20 years. This is a very favorable rent agreement for the concerned firms, and we anticipate many applicants. Additional requirements regarding the pay and benefits accorded to workers shall be attached to the lease to ensure good jobs become available for as many as possible out of this program."


WPA Employees Working on an Infrastructure Improvement Project.

"Additionally, there are many parts of the country where it is simply impossible to get from one point to the next in a safe manner. Vital infrastructure such as paved roads, railway right-of-way, and air mail capable landing fields are lacking. In order for any future economic development, and indeed for the quality of life of the citizens, it is necessary to expand these vital services. States shall receive grants of money from the federal government to embark upon needed infrastructure improvement projects. In turn they shall contract a percentage of WPA labor to complete the tasks. WPA workers will be paid at the going rate in the area and receive on the job training that will enable them to transition to a civilian job as soon as is practicable. I would ask that Harry, whose agency will be running the program to share some of the finer points of execution with you."


Harry Hopkins, WPA Director and Time Magazine Feature

Harry Hopkins, was not a cabinet member in the sense that he headed an executive department of the United States, but as head of the Works Progress Administration, his presence was a vital one. A fine product of the Midwest and it's tradition of fine education, this Grinnell educated social worker had become another trusted confidant of Roosevelt and this project was his time to shine.

"Thank you, Henry. I would like to first address the infrastructure improvement plan. There are two steps to this plan. The first is to develop basic infrastructure in areas where it is lacking. This is being done in three areas of the nation that are the most under-developed and lacking in state funding to achieve needed advances. These are the vast expanses of the American Southwest and Northwest. Money is being directed to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to improve infrastructure in desert areas. Additional funds are being directed to Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming to build up the capability to deal with the equally harsh terrain and challenging conditions that exist in the north of the country. The third area that is being targeted is Appalachia. Up and down the Appalachian mountains live some of the poorest of our poor and exists some of the worst infrastructure in America. Daniel Boone blazed a path across those mountains in 1775, and I do not believe it has been touched since. If any meaningful growth is to occur in these regions, the infrastructure must be improved. Therefore, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky , and West Virginia will all receive funds to improve infrastructure in these mountainous areas. The gray shaded areas on one of my maps are the areas that will be targeted."


Ares Where Badly Needed Infrastructure Improvements are Being Conducted

"The second stage is to develop advanced infrastructure in the areas where it can stimulate the most economic growth. Accordingly, a dense network of super-highways, capable of handling large quantities of motor traffic, and high volume rail lines, such as that that already exists from Boston to New York to Philadelphia will be extended to the great centers of American Industry; Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. This interstate transport system will engender the development of future economic growth and promote trade between the regions. Secondary centers such as Fort Wayne, Gary, Akron, and Toledo will be included in this net and future expansion to Minneapolis, Des Moines, and Indianapolis, and then south-ward and west-ward are foreseeable. If you look at the map I have attached, the primary cities are marked in green, secondary in yellow, and future expansion in red. The route is outlined in green and future route in red. We expect to see initial results from these projects in November of this year and final completion in October of next, barring any unforeseen circumstances."


A New Interstate System of High-Capacity Rail and Road Links for the Industrial Heartland

"As Henry explained factories shall be built in currently economically depressed areas. They have been selected on basis of current economic status, ease of access - to promote easy shipment of goods produced - and proximity to larger, more well-developed areas, from which talent and manpower may be drawn. The sites selected for the first batch of construction are: Madison, Wisconsin, Lafayette, Louisiana, Waco, Texas, Sunnyvale, California, and Savannah, Georgia. We expect these factories to be completed in November, and will look for new candidate areas at that time. You can see the locations of these cities on my final map."


Locations of Federally Financed Factories

Hopkins sat down and looked towards to the head of the table and the President, who began to speak again.

"Gentlemen, I thank you; your presentation has been most enlightening. I expect the rest of you to consider how your organizations can help with these programs and to submit proposals within two weeks. I have decided to name this program "The Great Society". We are done with The New Deal. The New Deal has taught Americans they can rely upon their government to support their basic needs. The time for the government merely supporting basic needs has passed. It is now time for us to build up the people into a Great Society where much is expected and extraordinary becomes the norm. I believe you all agree with my vision and will use this new year, full of promise, to build up this society to a level of prosperity, and tranquility that this world has never seen before. May we all trust in God that it shall become so."

[nickvorp]

Myth - Thanks for reading...it is hard to avoid foreknowledge, but I think it's really fun to force yourself to think like someone 80 years ago. Industry, as you said builds things, and there wasn't much stuff being built, so I think FDR would approve.

Lordban - We shall see how classical it goes If Mexico invades Germany, there may be some consequences. Patton always enjoyed his time in Mexico...

Patton is a "bandito"

[Lordban]

I take a good note of how high your Construction practical will shoot.

You have given a plausible explanation, but it's still going to skyrocket and... well...

[Myth]

Yeah, construction practical is going to go sky high. And then, well, then you can pretty much pave over the entire country in three days and with two IC.

[nickvorp]

Yeah, I know the the practical is going to be absurd, and I think it's pretty gamey, and I really hate gamey. I like the general concept but it needs to be capped. I'll probably mod it down a bit. I think 20 was the cap most people were suggesting, so I will use that as my cap and adjust accordingly. That's the other thing I should have mentioned in my set-up. I am obviously playing an unmodded version of the game, but I will make save game tweaks as necessary to maintain realism. Examples are adding Advanced Construction Engineering as a tech for the US in 1936 so I could build infrastructure, which I believe was a scenario set-up error on the part of Pdox...it's the United States, they can build infrastructure, and now modding down my construction practical.

Thanks for reading and I should have another update up tonight Any preferences on a military update or a diplomacy update?

[Lordban]

I would say diplomacy, then military, if you're still going to introduce the situation of the USA in 1936