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The Second Reconstruction-A Post-Civil War Kaiserreich USA Quest

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At least we can safely say we tried.

Now whether future generations will think that our attempts to save the nation were either to little to late, or we did not go far enough to save it will remain to bee seen.

All I hope for is that Macarthur doesn't decide to do something stupid like coup the federal government and become a Caeser. The Republic needs to survive dammit!

FOR THE REPUBLIC!
 
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The Die is Cast, Part 3
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    • "...will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."​



    "the President may call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws" -Article 10 of the US Code    ​

    In many ways the First American Civil War had a clear starting point, the shelling of Fort Sumter. From that moment on, there was to be no peace, only a brutal years-long struggle. The Second Civil War didn't have nearly as clear a starting moment. Was it when the Commune of Detroit was declared? Was it the day before when National Guardsmen turned their guns on each other? Was it when Federal employees were attacked and killed in response to the Anti-Lynching Act? Was it sooner, later? In the end though, it doesn't entirely matter. The nation was on the path to tearing itself apart and all it needed was an official spark.

    In 1861 the final straw for the South had been when President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers in response to the shelling of Fort Sumter. It sent a clear signal that the Federal Government would use lethal force to bring an end to secession and led to several states, including Virginia, to publicly back the Confederacy. While very different conflicts, it is a point of historical irony that history would repeat itself with President Olson's mobilization of the National Guard.


    President Olson giving one of the press conferences common to his early Administration    ​

    President Theodore Roosevelt had helped modernize the Presidency's relationship with the press by giving them a briefing room. His son would help revolutionize the Presidency's relationship with the entire nation by convincing Olson to do a series of radio broadcasts upon taking office, during which Olson put his considerable rhetorical skills to work making the case to the American public on why the actions the Olson Administration had taken were necessary. Yet following the declaration of the Detroit Commune and the aggressive actions by the South, he would have to give his most important speech yet. So, live from the Oval Office, Olson would address the nation. He laid out the events, as he saw them, leading to the conflict. While he did mention the Detroit Commune, he spent most of his time highlighting the escalating instances of refusal by the Southern States to violate Federal Law. With them refusing his demobilization order, he stated he had no choice but to consider the governments within those states to be in rebellion, much as Lincoln had in 1861. He had ended his speech by announcing two major executive orders, one that he had invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 to give the South a two week deadline by which for the insurrection to disperse or Federal Troops would be used to put it down. The other was another reference to Article 10 of the US Code, announcing the placing of almost every National Guard unit in the nation under the direct authority of the Department of War.

    The message to the South was clear, Olson would not give in, he would use his corrupt regime to defend the unfolding Syndicalist revolution. Government officials all across the South would flood into New Orleans, the largest city in the South, to attend an emergency meeting called by Senator Long and the AFP governors to decide their response. The idea of resurrecting the old Confederacy was touted but when Long took the floor, he had a different idea. He made the argument that the South couldn't survive without the rest of the country and the rest of the country needed the South. Instead he called for a new regime, one that better maintained the traditions and liberties that (white) America had held so dear for so long. The current government was under the sway of social liberals and socialists and thus was no longer legitimate. A new government was needed.


    Cactus Jack still remained an influential figure within Texas even as war descended across the country    ​

    Following Long's speech, in a much anticipated moment, Speaker John Nance Garner took the floor. Garner started his speech listing the many grievances he had with President Olson and the many times he had opposed him. But then he came to a crucial moment… "But legislative defeat is not a reason for insurrection. The loss of an election is no reason for treason." He then gave an impassioned defense of the American experiment and called upon the informal convention to reject Long's words and instead vote to subject itself to the laws of the Federal Government. While certainly an eloquent speech, it would fail to move the New Orleans convention, which would by a strong majority vote to call for a new constitution. Garner would storm out of the building, returning to Texas. A day later the Governor of Texas acknowledged Olson's order to mobilize the National Guard, with Virginia and Kentucky soon following suit, being the only Southern states to do so.

    While political leaders in Washington and New Orleans prepared for war, the situation in the north descended into chaos. Non-socialist Governors across the Steel Belt looked at the events in Michigan with horror and decided to take action, mobilizing their National Guards to not go South but to crush the Red Guards instead. Things would only get worse when the Governor of Illinois, the only Socalist Governor in the country, mobilized his state's National Guard to instead aid the Red Guards. He would suffer a fate similar to many Roman Emperors when a State Police officer assigned to protect him instead shot him dead in his own office. The result was violence.

    Afraid that they would soon suffer the fate of some of their comrades in Detroit, and the Governor, Red Guards would go on the offensive attacking a variety of government and economic buildings. Their fears were certainly warranted as police and corporate mercenaries would attack strikers all across the country. Soon Communes would be declared in cities like Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and even Chicago. In Lansing, Lt. Colonel Eisenhower would assume command of the remnants of the National Guard. Determining that they couldn't hold, Eisenhower ordered all Federal armories in the state emptied and the National Guard began the long march to Kentucky. When Norman Thomas caved to the pressure of his allies and declared the Commune of New York, the message was clear. An emergency session of the Central Committee of the CSA would meet and Reed would emerge, declaring that a new American Revolution was at hand, this time a socialist one. The red flag would fly across America!


    General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff of the Army and the man whose job it was to fight to save America    ​

    When news of Reed's declaration reached New Orleans, it would prove to be the final straw. The convention would declare Huey Long as interim President of a "new American Union" and charge him with crushing the reds and their patsy in the White House. John Lewis and much of the AFL leadership would leave Chicago and instead call for a peaceful resolution. While Lewis didn't go so far as to fully endorse the Olson Administration, he did call for strikes that hampered the deployment of Federal forces to come to an end so that the Federal Government could focus on the "murderous, authoritarian Longites in the South". Olson for his part would issue another invocation of the Insurrection Act, this time to cover the entire nation.

    General MacArthur and the War Department got to work drafting up plans to "restore order to the nation". By the expiration of the deadline set by the second Insurrection Act order, MacArthur estimated that the Federal Government would have at most 60,000 men mobilized between Federal troops like the 1st Cavalry Division, Army reserves, and National Guard units. The Army Air Corps had successfully redeployed and would soon be ready for flight operations. McArthur also noted a growing issue of concern was the fact more and more soldiers, including senior officers, were not showing up or deserting their posts. The plan eventually approved by the Cabinet was

    [ ] To dig in around Washington and wait for the full mobilization of Federal Forces

    [ ] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    [ ] Coordinate with the US Navy to launch an offensive along the Mississippi to seize New Orleans
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • War has come! I am incredibly tired so i'll answer questions in the morning and fix and glaring errors. Also I have another long day of work tomorrow, so the soonest there will be an update is Thursday evening but don't count on it tbh.
     
    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war
    And so it begins! Time to rally to the flag and raise arms against the successions and Traitors to the Union once more!
     
    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    Hopefully it's too early in the war for them to have sufficiently organized a substantial defence of the city, or at least to have spread out beyond into the rest of the state at large.

    Going for New Orleans in a pseudo-Anaconda would be nice but I don't really have the confidence in coordinating with the navy in the earliest stages of an insurrection where everyone is screaming at each other. At least with Chicago, pressure can be applied early and in force. Hopefully, at least.
     
    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    If we plan on taking back the country we need the industrial heartland under control as soon as possible. With the steel belt we can roll out armor and artillery to crush the agrarian South while reassuring the loyalist southern states that we are separate from the socialists.
     
    [X] To dig in around Washington and wait for the full mobilization of Federal Forces

    At least the republic still lives, the post-war purges are going to be a thing to behold.

    Edit:

    New information changed the ideal plan, this is going to be a massive mess no matter what isn't it.
     
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    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war
    We need the industrial heartland of America back. May enemies of the Union remember why they always lose.
     
    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    We need to get as much industry as possible then crush the south since north is more industrialized.
     
    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    With the departure of most of the AFL leadership I believe we can regard the SPA as officially having lost most of its right wing, even if they aren't embracing Olson. I would also note that we actually still have almost all of the state governments in the Steel Belt on hand, whereas most of the Southern state governments have gone over to Long wholesale.

    I am as a whole, satisfied. Communes have been declared in several large cities which means a hell of a lot of fighting but declaring a Commune is different from actually holding a city, and I am hopeful particularly in regards to Philadelphia and Minneapolis which were not mentioned. If eastern Pennsylvania is reasonably secure then the Commune declared by Norman Thomas in New York City is doomed, the Appalachians separate New York City and most of the rest of the CSA. It is simply a matter of hunger from that point onward as we presumably have a reasonably solid land corridor from Richmond to Albany. Beyond that, if Minnesota and Iowa are relatively secure, we can probably hold on to the rest of Wisconsin with relative ease. Historically La Follette's Progressives had a tacit understanding not to run candidates against each other in Milwaukee, and we know La Follete Junior and his Progressives are still a real force. With Milwaukee really just being on the one side of the state next to Lake Huron, we can probably secure the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin.

    At this stage, we definitely need to try to just strangle the CSA in the crib before they gain real momentum. I had definitely hoped that there wouldn't be a declaration of a new revolution, but honestly at this stage everything is still so muddled that if we move quickly we might be able to make this into one of those revolutions that "only" end in thousands of deaths rather than hundreds of thousands or millions in the fighting without the CSA ever actually developing to the point of having meaningful state characteristics. Either way we basically have to take this option anyways because it would really suck for the Federal Government's territories to be in 2 pieces throughout the war.

    As for Long, I suspect he isn't going to be immediately active against us, I suspect with his consolidation of power that he's going to spend the short term settling a lot of old scores and eliminating any threats to his position which will delay a coordinated move by the South. We are fortunate Texas, Kentucky, and Virginia stayed on. Virginia gives DC a lot of depth from the South, there's a great deal of rivers in parallel, and the flanks are covered by the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic. Kentucky gives us a good staging ground whether we head north or south, and Texas massively reduces frontage on the western side of the American Union State.
     
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    Jeeshadow said:
    President Theodore Roosevelt had helped modernize the Presidency's relationship with the press by giving them a briefing room. His son would help revolutionize the Presidency's relationship with the entire nation by convincing Olson to do a series of radio broadcasts upon taking office, during which Olson put his considerable rhetorical skills to work making the case to the American public on why the actions the Olson Administration had taken were necessary.
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    Our boy's a good speaker? Excellent.

    Jeeshadow said:
    The idea of resurrecting the old Confederacy was touted but when Long took the floor, he had a different idea. He made the argument that the South couldn't survive without the rest of the country and the rest of the country needed the South. Instead he called for a new regime, one that better maintained the traditions and liberties that (white) America had held so dear for so long. The current government was under the sway of social liberals and socialists and thus was no longer legitimate. A new government was needed.
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    Ah, Long wants not just to secede, but to entirely replace us. I suppose that was inevitable. He's bold, I'll give him that. But well, we already knew that. Only a bold man would wrangle the South into agreeing with a flat wealth cap.

    Jeeshadow said:
    Following Long's speech, in a much anticipated moment, Speaker John Nance Garner took the floor. Garner started his speech listing the many grievances he had with President Olson and the many times he had opposed him. But then he came to a crucial moment… "But legislative defeat is not a reason for insurrection. The loss of an election is no reason for treason." He then gave an impassioned defense of the American experiment and called upon the informal convention to reject Long's words and instead vote to subject itself to the laws of the Federal Government.
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    Good man. Good man. Very nice to see someone match Long word for word.

    Jeeshadow said:
    While certainly an eloquent speech, it would fail to move the New Orleans convention, which would by a strong majority vote to call for a new constitution. Garner would storm out of the building, returning to Texas.
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    Sad, but expected.

    Jeeshadow said:
    A day later the Governor of Texas acknowledged Olson's order to mobilize the National Guard, with Virginia and Kentucky soon following suit, being the only Southern states to do so.
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    Daaaamn. Very nice, I'm very happy to have Texas on-side. Kentucky and Virginia are nice too. Especially Virginia for the symbolic value. Robert E. Lee is supposed to have fought for the Confederates because he couldn't bear to fight against his home state of Virginia, who went Confederate. Now we have his spirit on our side, metaphorically. Texas also means Eisenhower doesn't face a similar dilemma, though the man's enough of a professional that I doubt it'd make him switch sides. I mean, if MacArthur, the egotistical prat, is sticking with us while Arkansas is presumably with Long, then Eisenhower's definitely in no danger. I expect we also have Missouri, which means Omar Bradley. Maybe I'm just overvaluing this though. Patton's from California, much as he vigorously attempts to convince you otherwise with his image, and he's apparently with Long in Kaiserreich.

    Anyway, of note is that that's 3 of the 4 states that Byrd won, missing only Oklahoma. Definitely seems like the Dixiecrats weren't quite ready to jump ship for real in the end.

    Jeeshadow said:
    The red flag would fly across America!
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    In your dreams, Reed.

    Jeeshadow said:
    John Lewis and much of the AFL leadership would leave Chicago and instead call for a peaceful resolution. While Lewis didn't go so far as to fully enforce the Olson Administration, he did call for strikes that hampered the deployment of Federal forces to come to an end so that the Federal Government could focus on the "murderous, authoritarian Longites in the South".
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    Good. Long's splintering even more. Though, I think 'endorse' was meant instead of 'enforce'.


    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    The advantage here is the fact that we have the National Guard and they don't, plus we managed to evacuate the federal armouries in at least one state in good order thanks to Eisenhower's cool head. Hopefully we're better-armed and better-organised, and striking while the iron is hot will prevent them from doing too much to rectify either of those weaknesses. Maybe we won't knock them out, but we'll regain some of our crucial industry at the very least.

    Politically, validates those governors who were mobilising to take out the Red Guards, rooting them a bit more firmly to our side. I, egh, can't entirely blame them for doing that. It's understandable that they'd be afraid.
     
    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war
     
    [] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war

    Good old Cactus Jack, loyal and sensible till the end.
     
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    [X] Concentrate forces and push on Chicago to knock the CSA out of the war
     
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