Dark Earth: From Sea to Shining Sea

He is indeed. A sprightly old fellow

And that, as they say, is that, the end of From Sea to Shining Sea.

It turned out to be a slightly longer storyline than I intended back in the beginning, but it hopefully served a purpose in bridging some storylines, fleshing out the world and telling a good story.

You're most welcome and thanks for providing many interesting questions that have stimulated deeper discussion and world building.

That is a long time, it makes him the Darkearth Version of William Lyon Mackenzie King.

America in 1961

At the beginning of the year and a new administration, the USA stands well positioned. There are some key differences from @ and some common chords.

Economically, the USA has a GDP of $5.62 trillion and a GDP per capita of $19557.5. The national debt is at 40% of GDP and falling. It has recovered strongly from the recession of 1957, which saw a GDP fall of 0.83%, with growth in the subsequent years being 5.24%, 4.96% and 4.47%. This level of growth is driven by manufacturing, the backbone of the US economy, although services overtook it in 1950; the largest industries are automotive, housing, steel, defence, aviation, electronics and telecommunication, petroleum and chemicals. There are four major car manufacturers - Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and American Motors. The major US airlines are TWA, American Airlines, United Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Capital Airlines, with Pan Am and US Airways concentrating on international flight.

Politically, the Democrats hold the House (264 Democrats, 194 Republicans, 36 Liberals/Whigs, 22 Conservatives, 4 Independent) and the Senate (52 Democrat, 40 Republican, 7 Whig, 1 Conservative) as well as the Presidency. The chief areas of difference between the major parties are domestic: health, welfare and the role of government; there is general concurrence on defence and foreign policy. Civil Rights aren't the same level of issue, due to earlier gradual desegregation moves. There is still a large amount of prejudice and de facto discrimination, but it has not come to the boil, so to speak, for a number of reasons.

Demographically, the USA is a small but noticeable amount more White. Hispanic migration in the South West hasn't begun to rise to the same exent and the Black population is more centred in the South. There are more Indians on the West Coast and a larger Native American minority. White is 90.5% (1.8% Hispanic), Black is 8.2%, Asian is 0.7% and Native American is 0.6%. The postwar baby boom is gradually slowing, but is still going strong.

American society is extremely homogenous, with the melting pot philosophy of migration still prevalent. The class divide is continuing to contract with the postwar boom in affluence. This is the heyday of the nuclear family. The move towards suburbanisation has been a major factor throughout the 1950s, with car ownership rates very high. It is a very Christian society, with Protestant denominations comprising the majority and church attendance around 75%. Unionisation rates are at 25% and falling slowly. 39% of the adult population are smokers and there is still quite an influential temperance movement, with the lack of nationwide Prohibition being a factor in its survival. Television ownership rates are very high and it is becoming the dominant medium in popular culture. Rock and roll never progressed beyond a regional musical style and variations of country and pop are the most popular musical styles. Fashion is quite conventional and formal, as in @, and hats are still considered de rigeur. Films and comics are still subject to fairly strict self-regulation of content.

The 1960 US military has 5,692,495 personnel (2,457,136 Army, 1,429,356 USN, 369,524 USMC, 1,636,479 USAF) or 1.97% of the population compared to 2,476,435 (873,078 Army, 617,984 USN, 170,621 USMC, 814,752 USAF) or 1.37%. There hasn't been the 1950s post-Korean War contraction in conventional strength in favour of nuclear weapons, particularly in the US Army. Of the 2,458,793 young men who turn 18 and reach military age annually, roughly 65% are drafted, many going on to serve part of their time in the reserves.

Interservice rivalry is still strong, with all three major services fielding their own nuclear missiles and the US Army looking to expand its fixed wing aviation assets. The USAF has SAC, TAC and ADC as semi-independent air forces after a certain fashion; there is something of a move towards common air frames in relevant cases. The general posture of the armed forces is trending more towards Europe than the Pacific in the aftermath of the Korean War, with US forces in Europe set to rise significantly. Deployment to Korea is likely to wind down completely within the first Kennedy Administration, given its position as a united American ally; it has already shrunk from a 1956 level of 5 divisions to a single infantry division, with copious support brigades and units. Kennedy's defence policy is going to be noticeably different with Clark Savage as SecDef. There won't be the same move away from bombers in favour of ICBMs, for one. The US Army is likely to expand.

The Cold War is going strong without a Khruschev thaw, although there has been greater cooperation since April 1960. Without a Red China, the strategic threat does not seem as monolithic, but it represents its own challenge. The Soviet empire in Eastern Europe lacks Bulgaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Slovakia and half of Germany, but this comprises a minor reduction in their threat and capabilities. The USSR's influence is somewhat constrained by the different geopolitical position of Africa and the Middle East; the Third World or Non-Aligned Movement simply isn't around.

US foreign influence and prestige is the strongest in the world, although the British Empire and France have varying degrees of independence of action and differences of view. The recent moves towards rapprochement by the Thompson administration have shuffled general alignment closer to what we'd be familiar with, but the 1960s will see some interesting changes. The League of Nations doesn't have the same power or cachet as the United Nations at this point.

(All economic stats are in 1990 USD for ease of reference and convertability)

It is a different development. The Liberals (generally still called the Whigs, despite their 1950s name change) have their heartland in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana, drawing from the constituencies of the Farmer-Labor Party and the Progressive Party of LaFollette. Their fortunes depend to wax and wane.

No, it was not, due to a pre-existing party and constituency for the same general alignment.