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"Are you ready to Chiang the world?"

I suspect that joke shouldn't be near as funny as it is to me. I blame the hour. In any case, this can only turn out well given the real-world interest of the Chinese government from time immemorial in their bordering states.
 
Once the defense is secure, attacking comes next...
 
And finally the chinese awake from their slumber. That they were suplying the (living in the) North Koreans is as disturbing as if it had been the Soviets themselves.

BTW, how's European NATO doing and can they hold their part of the front against Russia (strategically speaking, of course)?
 
That Navy could be just as problomatic as their nuclear program.
 
Interesting......China looks like it's looking for a fight. Surprised Chiang would ally himself with the Soviets, but given the modernization of his Military and Economy, looks like it's the right choice, at least for him.
 
c0d5579: I actually chuckled at your joke. :)

Kurt_Steiner: I think Japan would be a logical target for Chinese aggression. You know what they say about pay back.

Mr. Santiago: NATO's hoping they won't have to find out if they can hold out against the Russians.

J.J.Jameson: Especially when you consider the lack of models this game gives Nationalist China. I used Communist China's models partly because the Nationalists don't have very many models.

Mr. Sulu: Chiang can afford to blow off the American superpower, which is an ocean away. Chiang can't really blow off the Soviet superpower because...well...it's his northern neighbor. He's friends with Moscow not because he supports Communism but because he wants to stay on the good side of the big Red Bear.

The reason why the Soviet relation with Chiang works TTL while the historic Soviet relation with Mao fell apart is ideaology. Unlike Mao, Chiang has no interest in competing with Khrushchev over the direction Communism should take. Since their friendship is largely built on economic interests, it's much easier for the two countries to deal with each other and benefit from each other.
 
Wow I wasn't expecting that! Another good example of inserting actual game events into the wider historical narrative. The development of nuclear weaponry as a deterrent makes perfect sense, even though we are talking about Kai-Shek I imagine he'll accept the same M.A.D ideas that the other nuclear powers have. His continuing co-operation with the Soviets to engineer regime change in Korea sounds just like Chiang though, given his wholly utilitarian approach to internal and international affairs, this episode shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise. Noooo issues with undermining the power that saved his skin at all.

The whole secret photos thing with the U2 and so forth reminds me of Call of Duty: Black Ops and its CIA-orientated awesomeness. I wonder what form the game would take in TTL. One of those butterflies you just wouldn't think about normally.
 
Can you please keep Disney in Florida? Millions upon millions have visited it. It's not like the northerners DON'T come down.

Could you also show the allied and Soviet ORBAT for all categories?

Could you do a what if scenario where WW3 breaks out?
 
Andreios II: Thanks. Even though it doesn't look like it at times, this AAR is very much attached to HOI.

The scene with the secret photos and the U2 was inspired by Thirteen Days. I even threw in Francis Gary Powers as a cameo.

As for games, I doubt Homefront will get made. After all, it's hard for North Korea to go military-crazy when it doesn't exist. You do bring up an interesting point: it will be interesting to see what modern-day military games (including the HOI MDS) will look like TTL.

Undead-Hippie: Of course, it's the US' fault. They put him back into power after all.

red1: Of course. I live in Florida after all.

Have no interest in doing so.

If WW3 breaks out, this AAR is pretty much over.

Here's a little sneak peek of what's coming next. ;)

[video=youtube;AKXpJQ1_RhY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXpJQ1_RhY&feature=related[/video]

Yes, it's historical footage but it gives you a taste of what's to come.
 
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Andreios II: Thanks. Even though it doesn't look like it at times, this AAR is very much attached to HOI.

The scene with the secret photos and the U2 was inspired by Thirteen Days. I even threw in Francis Gary Powers as a cameo.

As for games, I doubt Homefront will get made. After all, it's hard for North Korea to go military-crazy when it doesn't exist. You do bring up an interesting point: it will be interesting to see what modern-day military games (including the HOI MDS) will look like TTL.

Undead-Hippie: Of course, it's the US' fault. They put him back into power after all.

red1: Of course. I live in Florida after all.

Have no interest in doing so.

If WW3 breaks out, this AAR is pretty much over.

Here's a little sneak peek of what's coming next. ;)

[video=youtube;AKXpJQ1_RhY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXpJQ1_RhY&feature=related[/video]

Yes, it's historical footage but it gives you a taste of what's to come.
Tricky Dick Nixon:eek:hmy:
 
CIA disliked old Chiang even IOTL CW, I hardly dare to think what would be American opinion about him in that universe! I think that his actions in your story are very plausible considering his personality and way of thinking.
 
Can you please keep Disney in Florida?
red1: Of course. I live in Florida after all.

Why is it that you guys want to keep Disney in the very Deep South? I'm from the the North (specifically in Maryland), and I think that us Northerners would really appreciate it if Walt Disney World is built ITTL in Virginia or Maryland's Eastern Shore. At least anywhere within the Mid-Atlantic, to provide at least some equal distance between the North and South.
 
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PvtPrivate: The one and only!

Asalto: I think American opinion would view Chiang as a traitor. After all, he enjoyed American sympathy and he stabbed the US in the back in return.

hoi2geek: We gave you Washington, D.C. That in itself is a theme park.

Xie: What was wrong with that ending?
 
Now that the G.O.P. has rolled out its' ticket for 2012 (Romney-Ryan), let's see the ticket the G.O.P. will roll out for 1960.
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The 1960 Republican National Convention
Pawling, New York is a small town located in the picturesque Hudson Valley. Surrounded by rolling hills, the beauty of Pawling has attracted famous residents over the years including:
  • John Lorimer Worden: commander of the famous Civil War ironclad warship USS Monitor
  • Lowell Thomas: a writer best known for making T.E. Lawrence of Arabia famous
  • Norman Vincent Peale: one of the leading advocates of positive thinking
  • Edward R. Murrow: the famous CBS broadcast journalist whose live radio reports from London during the Battle of Britain electrified American audiences
Pawling’s most famous resident is none other than Thomas E. Dewey. In 1938, while serving as the gang-busting District Attorney of Manhattan, Dewey purchased a large farm there called Dapplemere. According to presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, who published a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Dewey in 1982, the young man “loved Dapplemere” and would “work like a horse five days and five nights a week for the privilege of getting to the country on the weekend.”
In 1945, after serving a brief stint as Governor of New York, Dewey became the nation’s thirty-fifth President. Dapplemere during his eight years in office served as a second White House, providing a quiet place for the President to go whenever he wanted to escape the confines of Washington. The estate became his refuge from the divisive domestic brawl with Taft Conservatives which marred much of his tenure. After leaving office in 1953, Dewey retired from public service to focus on writing his memoir and building his presidential library. The Thomas E. Dewey Presidential Library and Museum opened in July 1957 and became Pawling’s main tourist attraction. Following Dewey’s death in March 1971, Dapplemere became a National Historic Site due to its significance.
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It was here in July 1960 that the great battle for the Republican Presidential nomination reached its’ climax. For months, Governors Knowland and Rockefeller had locked horns in a series of primary contests. After losing in New Hampshire and Wisconsin, Knowland bounced back to score wins in Illinois and New Jersey. He then steadily amassed victories which enabled him to build a commanding lead in the delegate count ahead of the nominating convention in Chicago, Illinois. A sore loser, Rockefeller went negative and tore into his opponent’s conservative principals as wholly unacceptable. He said anything he could to make the nomination battle an “us-versus-them” showdown between “forward-looking progressivism” and “stone age conservatism”. Conservatives were naturally enraged at being mistreated in such a fashion and even some of Rockefeller’s own supporters were alarmed by Nelson’s harsh rhetoric. Dewey was one person not happy with his fellow New Yorker…and that’s putting it mildly. Having been blamed for the ideological civil war which tore the G.O.P. apart a decade earlier, the former President wasn’t going to sit back and watch Rockefeller refight that no-win battle simply “to appease his own damn ego!”
With the convention set to open on July 11th, the elder statesman – until then neutral in the fight – decided to intervene and arrange a ceasefire between the two warring sides. He asked both candidates to visit him at Dapplemere so they could hammer out an understanding and cease the in-fighting before the convention began. Knowland, eager to put this all behind him, readily agreed to fly out to New York. Rockefeller refused; over the phone, he informed Dewey that his "image" prevented him from joining "the enemy" for a sit-down discussion. Hearing this made the listener’s blood boil. “Now you listen to me you S.O.B.,” he shouted into the phone, “You’re too stupid to know that your image isn’t worth a damn!”
Dewey had a reputation for having zero tolerance towards those who didn’t do things his way – the late Eisenhower being the sole exception according to Smith – and now Rockefeller got a heavy dose of it. The New York Governor was told at point-blank that “not many people actually like you” and that “your arrogance is threatening our chance to win in November!”
If Rockefeller persisted in tearing down his California counterpart just because and the Republicans lost the Presidential race due to it, “no one in this Party will ever get behind you again! That includes ’62 [when Rockefeller would be up for re-election]!”
The former President warned him that if he didn’t show up at Dapplemere, the Republican Party of New York would retaliate by dumping him from the gubernatorial ticket in two years. “I’ll personally make sure of it,” he coldly promised.
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It was this threat of being dumped by his own Party that convinced Rockefeller to fly out to Pawling for the July 8th meeting. He knew that the ex-President had fired people in his administration who didn’t follow his orders and that he also bore grudges against his political enemies. If Dewey promised to destroy you politically, chances are he would. “That bastard would probably have me arrested and thrown in jail,” Rockefeller told an aide with a degree of seriousness in his voice. Rather than face that risk, he obeyed the order and arrived at Dapplemere like a student summoned to the principal’s office after getting into trouble. The meeting lasted a half hour; “the longest half hour in my life,” Nelson would later remark. If he thought the telephone conversation was hell, being face-to-face with Dewey was even worse. The elder statesman scolded him for the way he had run his campaign into the ground and using attacks “to cover up the fact that you have lost.”
Rockefeller was then dictated to like a small child: he would withdraw his name from consideration and release his delegates from their obligation in order to ensure that Knowland would be nominated without the kind of floor fight which had ruined the Republican convention eight years earlier. As for Knowland, the California Governor was instructed to name Connecticut Governor Prescott Bush as his running mate to appease the Eastern Establishment and create national harmony for the ticket. Knowland was flabbergasted by this. He didn’t expect Dewey to tell him whom to put on the ticket and protested that he wanted to give the Vice Presidential slot to his friend New Jersey Governor Malcolm Forbes. Dewey dismissed Forbes as unacceptable for a running mate because he was known to be anti-Rockefeller. “That is no good if we are to have party unity,” he elaborated in a party boss-like manner. Bush, by contrast, was a member of the Rockefeller camp and would therefore be acceptable to the liberal/moderate faction of the Republican Party. The idea of a Knowland-Bush ticket was one neither Governors liked for their own reasons but was one Dewey insisted on. After staring at each other for a few moments, the two rivals reluctantly agreed to the terms of the brokered agreement. It was the outcome neither one wanted…but to say “No” to the broker was an exercise in futility.
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Three days after what the press called “The Dapplemere Summit”, the 1960 Republican National Convention convened in Chicago’s International Amphitheatre. It was in this 9,000 seat arena in 1952 that the late Robert Taft was controversially nominated after he outmaneuvered Eisenhower in the balloting. Eight years later, the building was given a second shot at producing a winning ticket. Since tradition dictated that he remain away from the convention hall until after he was formally nominated, Knowland stayed with his family at their Conrad Hilton Hotel suite. While the convention unfolded, the Governor worked on his acceptance speech and met with the preordained Vice Presidential nominee. His resentfulness at being told to pick him notwithstanding, Knowland liked Bush well enough. The Connecticut Governor was a charming man with a competitive streak a mile long – something that appealed to his California counterpart. He was also a devoted family man, made evident by the fact that he happily brought his wife Dorothy and their five children (including thirty-six-year-old George, shown below grinning alongside his father) along with him to the hotel suite to meet the presumptive head of the G.O.P. ticket.
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Knowland also hosted prominent African-Americans in his suite. Knowing that civil rights would be an issue in the upcoming campaign, blacks came to Chicago to remind the Republican Party of its’ historic commitment to their cause. Indeed, the delegation itself was historic due to its’ three-man leadership: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins. President of the pro-civil rights Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King became a well-known leader of the Civil Rights Movement after leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956 which prompted the Supreme Court to rule that segregated buses were unconstitutional. Randolph was a union leader who helped guarantee black railroad workers the higher pay and shorter workweek that whites enjoyed doing the exact same job. He had fond memories of working with the Willkie and Dewey Administrations to end racial discrimination in war industries, government agencies, and the United States military. Wilkins was the articulate executive secretary of the NAACP, the best known civil rights organization in the country. What these leaders wanted was a pledge from Knowland to show more executive support for the Civil Rights Movement if elected President. They were very disappointed to see the Civil Rights Act of 1960 fail in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives and wanted the post-Sparkman White House to be more assertive in demanding equal rights for African-Americans. Knowland invited these three leaders into his hotel suite for coffee and sandwiches. He listened to these men and told them exactly what they wanted to hear. He reminded them of his support for civil rights legislation while in the Senate and pointed out that advancing the civil rights cause was one of his top concerns in Sacramento. As President, Knowland promised King and the others that “I will throw the full weight of my office behind the idea that men and women should not be treated differently simply because of their skin color. If Strom Thurmond or anyone else tries to stop me, I will throw the full weight at them!”
Upon hearing this, King politely shook his head. While he understood the context behind that comment, the Baptist minister replied that he preferred a nonviolent approach to “the most pressing moral issue facing our nation.”
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Between his meetings with various persons and drafting his speech, Knowland followed the progress of the convention via television. As usual, the major news networks rolled out their established teams to broadcast convention coverage to households across America. On CBS, Walter Cronkite – growing popular with viewers – manned the anchor chair for the third time. Over on NBC, the nightly news duo Chet Huntley and David Brinkley returned for a second round following the success of their co-anchoring four years earlier. What Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley saw were a series of speakers standing at the podium making the same argument: after eight years in the political wilderness, it was time to return a Republican to the White House. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. – who led the Party to defeat in 1956 – spoke at the convention; so did Dewey (who wasn’t booed like he was in 1952). Herbert Hoover, the only other living former President, delivered remarks of his own. At age eighty-five, Hoover had proven himself to be a political survivor. Twenty-eight years after being driven out of office at the height of the Great Depression, Hoover had rebuilt his image by overseeing the home front rationing effort during World War Two and feeding war torn Europe afterwards. With his health in poor shape, this convention appearance would be his last. “My good friends,” he began slowly, “Your reception is indeed a demonstration of great friendship.”
He went on to echo the talking point that it was time for a change:
“Today, America is in the midst of a frightening moral problem. You are convened here – not alone to nominate a President and a Vice President – but to declare anew the principals and ideals which must guide our country.”
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After the “rally the troops” speeches came the nominating speeches. A few minor “favorite son” candidates were put forward for consideration, largely for symbolic show on the part of the state delegations involved. When it came time to nominate Rockefeller, the delegates were informed that the Governor would take to the rostrum to issue a statement. Reluctantly following through on the “agreement” reached at Dapplemere, Nelson appeared before the convention to announce that he was withdrawing his candidacy. “For the unity of the Republican Party,” he said in an awkwardly worded statement that was clearly done in haste by someone who didn't really want to write it, “And with victory in November as our objective, I now move to release my delegates to the Republican National Convention of 1960 to unanimously endorse Governor William F. Knowland as the Republican candidate for the President of the United States.”
With Rockefeller now out of the way, the road to the nomination was clear of road blocks. All that was left was the formality of placing Knowland’s name in nomination. That honor went to the man the Governor credited with helping him turn his primary campaign around: Barry Goldwater. The junior Arizona Senator and former Phoenix Mayor agreed to give the speech but asked for a freehand in deciding what to say. Knowland agreed and eagerly watched his friend on television mount the podium to address the convention. Since this was a major speech, all of America was watching the bespectacled and square-jawed speaker make the pitch for Knowland’s candidacy. What they heard was unlike any other speech made so far inside the International Amphitheatre. It wasn’t just a speech nominating Knowland; it was a speech strongly advocating a return to conservatism. Speaking highly of the Governor’s integrity and willingness to lead on any issue, Goldwater espoused Knowland’s conservative principals as being the best way to return the country “to proven ways – not because they are old, but because they are true.”
He alleged that seven-and-a-half years of Democratic rule had resulted in “a nation divided. We have lost the brisk pace of diversity and the genius of individual creativity. We are plodding along at a pace set by centralized planning, red tape, rules without responsibility, and regimentation without recourse.”
Goldwater went on to warn that if Jackson was elected and was allowed to implement his Fair Deal, then terrible things would happen to the cause of freedom:
“Those who seek to live your lives for you, to take your liberties in return for relieving you of yours, those who elevate the state and downgrade the citizen must see ultimately a world in which earthly power can be substituted for Divine Will, and this Nation was founded upon the rejection of that notion and upon the acceptance of God as the author of freedom.”
In contrast to the Democrats' insistence on four more years of Big Government, the Senator played Knowland up as the Republican standard-bearer who would “resist concentrations of power, private or public, which enforce such conformity and inflict such despotism. It is his belief that power should rightfully remain in the hands of the people.”
Instead of building a welfare state, President Knowland would focus on building a society “which, while never abandoning the needy or forsaking the helpless, nurtures incentives and opportunities for the creative and the productive. We must know the whole good is the product of many single contributions.”
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It was a combative speech; one which threw down the gauntlet by portraying the election as being more than the typical Democrat versus Republican fare. To Goldwater, the two major candidates represented two contrasting visions for the future of America. One candidate represented the liberal belief that the bigger the government the better. The other candidate represented the conservative belief that government should offer a second chance to those who needed help, not a permanent welfare lifestyle. The nominating speech, while upsetting some, was positively received by others. As Goldwater stepped away from the podium, a pro-Knowland demonstration developed on the convention floor which lasted for about ten minutes. Meeting with his friend shortly thereafter, Knowland told Goldwater “that was a hell of a good speech you gave, Barry.”
This sentiment was echoed by William F. Buckley, Jr., the trailblazing editor-in-chief of the conservative magazine “National Review”, who expressed his belief that Goldwater gave the best speech of the entire convention. Ever since Taft’s death in 1953, conservatives had largely gone without a national spokesman who could effectively advocate their philosophy. Then, like a breath of fresh air, Goldwater came along and gave this speech which just electrified conservatives like almost nothing else. Here was a man who was unapologetically right-wing in how he saw the world and had no qualms saying exactly what he thought of it. Although he was speaking for Knowland, Goldwater’s speech was seen as being more than promoting a man…it was promoting an entire ideology. Almost overnight, “The Speech” – as it would become known as – made Goldwater a star and would have a major impact on the future of his political career.
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With his nomination formally in place, things moved quickly for the man featured above. The Governor was nominated for President on the first ballot. Governor Bush was then nominated for Vice President by acclimation. With the Knowland-Bush ticket now official, it was time for the two men to take center stage. With balloons raining down from the ceiling of the convention hall, Bush took to the podium to accept the running mate position. In his speech, Prescott expressed his thanks for receiving “this symbol of your trust” and promised to work hard in making the case for Republican leadership in a way that “all of us, regardless of whatever differences of opinion we may have, can be very proud of.”
California Senator Richard Nixon, sporting a large “Knowland” metal badge, followed Bush and gave the speech introducing his fellow Californian. Nixon, who had won his Senate seat from Knowland in 1958, was enthusiastic in welcoming to the stage “the man who will succeed the current Democratic President next January!”
The freshman Senator’s enthusiasm stemmed in part from his huge ambition. Nixon wanted to run for President one day and saw this speech as his big chance to garner himself national exposure. He therefore chose his words carefully, writing and re-writing sentences aimed at revving up the audience to receive Knowland. It worked. When the Governor and his wife Helen joined Nixon at the podium, the convention hall was pumped up with excitement. A band nearby struck up a rousing rendition of “I Love You, California” (the official state song), adding to the joyous atmosphere. Welcomed by a sea of pro-Knowland signs, the Governor waved to the audience and basked in the glory of the moment. He was now one campaign away from the White House. The convention concluded with his acceptance speech. In a forceful and dynamic speech, Knowland articulated the conservative course he wanted to take the country on over the next four years. He noted the need for leadership driven by personal convictions, using famous Republicans Abraham Lincoln (nominated in Chicago one hundred years earlier) and Theodore Roosevelt as strong examples of “those who are true to themselves and rise to the occasion with no feeling of phoniness about them.”
He was highly critical of the Democrats’ domestic handling, accusing them of being intentionally reckless with the nation’s economy. He said that the high national debt accumulated over the last seven-and-a-half years and the lack of a balance budget were “the twin failures of a philosophy in which discipline is thrown out in favor of spending as much money as you can on whatever special interest group will get you votes.”
In contrast to the Democrats’ reliance on Big Government to create growth, the Republican Presidential candidate promised to create greater and wider prosperity through the promotion of the private sector. “It is people who build businesses and create jobs and puts money into peoples’ pockets,” he proclaimed, “Not some faceless bureaucrat sitting in an office somewhere living off the taxpayers’ dime.”
Knowland wasn’t opposed to welfare and said that he understood that the Federal Government had an obligation to help the average citizen help themselves. What he was opposed to was too much welfare. He didn’t think it helped people to give them so much welfare assistance that it “makes it very difficult for people to stand on their own two feet without being smothered by overzealous government generosity.”
Interestingly, Knowland’s acceptance speech didn’t delve much into foreign affairs. In writing the speech, the Governor privately believed that the Democrats had actually done well in this field and didn’t feel like confronting them on it. He was more comfortable talking about domestic affairs. He concluded his speech by discussing the biggest domestic issue of all: civil rights. In language and forcefulness that made Dr. King quite pleased, Knowland attacked racial discrimination head on. He vowed to do everything in his power to support African-Americans and audaciously pledged before his first term was over that “every black person in this country will be able to vote wherever they want, go to school wherever they want, eat wherever they want, drink from whatever water fountain they want, and even be buried wherever they want!”
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The Republicans left Chicago ready to take on the Democrats…who were busy fighting each other on the eve of their convention in Los Angeles.
 
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A Powerful speach from Mr. Conservative.
 
Well, it seems that Knowland will get the White House sure as sure...
 
Now it's time to see if the Democrats will be able to rebuke using their relative success in the foreign affairs front. Howhever, if the Repubicans do end up beeing the champions of civil rights to the blacks it'll be a nice divergence from OTL... Considering how important the minority vote is nowadays..