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Philip Fox La Follette, 34th President of the United States.
Administration:
Vice President: Michael A. Musmanno
Secretary of Peace: Douglas MacArthur (1951-1952 (interim)), Clarence Dill (1952-1953)
Secretary of State: Douglas MacArthur (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of War: Ralph Immell (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of the Navy: Francis P. Matthews (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of the Air Force: Charles Lindbergh (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of Production: Ralph Immell (1952-1953)
Secretary of the Treasury: Rexford Tugwell (1949-1951 (resigned to assume office as Governor of New York)), Harold Lord Varney (1951 (interim)), Ralph Immell (1951-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of the Interior: Mildred H. McAfee (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Energy: Floyd Dominy (1950-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Agriculture: Gerald Nye (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Labor: George Meany (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Science and Technology: Karl T. Compton (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Prosperity: Francois Duvalier (1952-1953)
Attorney General: David Lilienthal (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Secretary of Health: Francois Duvalier (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Postmaster General: Gerald T. Boileau (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Secretary of Education: Sara Gibson Blanding (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity)
President La Follette would announce a major reorganization of cabinet departments following his 1951 impeachment, uniting the Air Force, Navy, War, and State Departments into one grand “Department of Peace,” despite opposition from both military leadership and Secretary of State MacArthur, who would depart from the Administration at the commencement of 1952 and be replaced by Farmer-Labor doyen Clarence Dill. The President has framed the move as embodying the national seal of an eagle carrying both arrows and an olive branch, while promoting centralization to improve efficiency while avoiding involving the United States in entangling alliances, an effort that has led to the end of the effort to unite American allies on both sides of the Pacific into a mutual defense pact. First Lady Isen La Follette, personally notably introverted, has been brought before the public as the chief public campaigner for the Department of Peace.
With the centralization of foreign and military policy in full swing at the executive level despite the opposition of Congress, the spring of 1952 would see a second round of mass centralization, with longtime ally Ralph Immell appointed as the head of a new Department of Production, devised by Texas’s Lyndon B. Johnson, to supervise the old Treasury, Interior, Energy, Agriculture, Labor, and Science and Technology Departments, while Dr. Francois Duvalier has been appointed to lead the centralization of the Justice, Health, Education, and Post Office Departments into a united Department of Prosperity and Human Services, commonly referred to only by the former. As in the case of the Department of Peace, the former departments are slated to remain at a sub-cabinet level, and the efforts of opposition forces have successfully left the proposed integrations largely on paper for the time being.
On the level of sub-cabinet departments, the Bureau of Investigation has been merged with the Office of Strategic Services to form the National Security Agency (NSA), an intelligence agency combining the foreign and domestic. Meanwhile, an executive order would begin the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with former President Charles Lindbergh appointed as its first head, however, Lindbergh would soon be dismissed as a part of the executive’s compromise with congress’s impeachers, with businessman Howard Hughes taking his place.
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Opposition Representative Richard Nixon shakes hands with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie during the Emperor's visit to the United States, where President La Follette would emphasize American support for non-communist anti-colonial movements.
Foreign Policy:
-President La Follette has found rare common ground with the opposition on matters of foreign policy towards the Soviet Union, echoing Arthur Vandenberg’s declaration that “politics ends at the water’s edge.” The Administration has secured funding for the rebuilding of Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea under social democratic anti-communist governments, with President La Follette describing the initiatives as building an “iron curtain” against communism.
-President La Follette’s term would see the death of two of the world’s premier foreign leaders: Marshall Philippe Petain of France and Chinese General Feng Yuxiang. President La Follette would visit Paris in 1951 for the funeral of Petain after nearly four decades in power, having hailed the French publicly as future allies in the battle with communism. Yet, already suspicious of the new government of Petain protege Charles De Gaulle after the leaking of America’s role in Smedley Butler’s assassination by Ambassador Gaston-Henry Haye, La Follette would find himself increasingly disenchanted with the French, with private reports indicating his horror at the mass deportation of Flemish, Germans, and Catalans into the French Congo from areas in Europe newly annexed into France.
-However, the President would nonetheless side with the French-supported Roman Legion rebelling against Greece in 1951, marking the creation of the Republic of the Pindus as the first state for the Aromanian people in world history. However, the new state has been accused of engaging in the ethnic cleansing of the Greek population.
-Meanwhile, touring China after the death of Feng Yuxiang, La Follette would become increasingly worried about the possible alignment of the nation towards the Soviet Union and controversially refuse to return the island of Taiwan to China until the election of a successor to Feng. With Communist leader Zhou Enlai rising in popularity and an election planned, American support would be thrown behind former warlord Yan Xishan, who would be selected President by the National Assembly in January of 1951 and promptly announce an indefinite delay on elections. Despite rising tensions with China’s Bolshevik-backed Communist Party, La Follette would sign a treaty of return in February of 1952 relinquishing Taiwan to Chinese control. However, after six decades of intense Japanization under colonial authorities, Taiwan has found itself culturally isolated from the rest of China, speaking almost entirely Japanese and Hokkien rather than Mandarin.
-A similar issue has emerged on the formerly Japanese territories of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Owing to their close location to the Soviet Union, La Follette has authorized it as the site of dozens of American nuclear tests throughout his term and refused to cede sovereignty, with China, Japan, and Russia all harboring alternate claims to the islands.
-The President has impounded funds from the 1950 and 1951 budgets passed by Congress to distribute for the reconstruction of American allies and occupied regions in the Third Pacific War, enacting the MacArthur Plan without the authorization of Congress and repeating to Chinese Premier Yan Xishan his famous remark that “vermin are infesting and polluting democratic organizations and the government itself.”
-Working with the Latin American and East Asian nations in the American sphere of influence in the aftermath of the Franco-British Conflict, the President has moved the United States into the new Parliament of Nations headquartered in Rome, sending New Hampshire Progressive Senator Robert P. Bass as the first United States Representative to the largely powerless global body intended to facilitate global cooperation. Notably, however, the La Follette Administration has resisted efforts to include communist-aligned nations into the fold despite the membership of many French-aligned authoritarian regimes and absolute monarchies such as the Ethiopian Empire or the Caliphate.
-1951 would see the formalization of the Treaty of San Diego, officially ending the United States occupation of Japan, and with it La Follette's rule by decree of the islands, while maintaining an American military presence on the island chain and transferring to American control the Ryukyu Islands, Iwo Jima, Samoa, and the Japanese stake in the Nicaraguan Canal shared with Argentina, where former Milford W. Howard associate Harold Lord Varney has been appointed as High Commissioner.
-President La Follette held a summit with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and Madagascar Prime Minister Joseph Raseta in 1951 to commemorate the longstanding American support for independent nations in Africa, hosting, among others, independence activists Seretse Khama of Botswana, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and Hastings Banda of Nyasaland. Further, American jazz artist Andy Razaf has taken the throne as King of Madagascar following the lack of an heir apparent to deceased Queen Marie-Louise, however, unfamiliar with the island of his ancestors, the newly-crowned Andriamanantena I has been sidelined by Prime Minister Raseta.
-With rumors of Lazar Kaganovich planning Bolshevik expansion into Central Asia abounding, President La Follette and Secretary of Peace Dill would issue a joint statement in January of 1952 promising American opposition “by any means necessary” to “one more inch” of Bolshevik expansion, with Dill describing Kaganovich’s policy towards France and the United States as “trying to play both sides against the middle.”
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Destiny launches off the coast of Puerto Rico, inaugurating a new era in human history,
Domestic Policy:
-”Our attainments in space are a major element in the competition between the Soviet system and our own, they are part of the battle,” so would declare James E. Webb, Deputy Administrator of NASA, on October 4th, 1951, mere weeks after the failure of the impeachment of President La Follette, as he, former President Lindbergh, and gasping crowds of onlookers watched Destiny take flight, the first manmade satellite in human history to orbit the Earth. President La Follette would tout the achievement as the administration having begun the conquest of “the final frontier.”
-Working with Japanese scientists in the aftermath of the occupation, space policy has reached the fore as La Follette launches an aggressive series of follow-up satellites, beginning with Lewis and Clark and most recently including Stagecoach. However, rumors hold that the French have begun construction on their own site for space rocket launches.
-Staring down the barrel of Speaker Joseph McCarthy’s aggression and Senator Estes Kefauver’s investigation into the assassination of Smedley Butler, La Follette turned away from Congress in 1949 to fulfill his promise to “win the peace.” Acting first in April of 1949 shortly after the arrest of John L. Lewis, La Follette would issue Executive Orders 15092 and 15093, authorizing the building of an interstate highway system and national system of hydroelectric plants to be overseen by General Lucius D. Clay and the Army Corps of Engineers under the supervision of the Department of the Interior for the former and Department of Science and Technology for the latter, while authorizing the creation of a new Department of Energy, operating entirely on impounded funds and largely focusing on research on the utilization of nuclear energy.
-In the latter effort, the President has found the support of prominent opposition financier Lewis Strauss, who has nonetheless argued that the development of nuclear energy is hampered by New State bureaucratic centralization.
-Opposition politician Joseph Alioto has criticized the interstate highway system, pointing to the funding of La Follette’s campaign by the Firestone Tire Company and arguing that road dependent companies have colluded to impede the further expansion of rail infrastructure.
-Most controversially would be Executive Order 15097, issued in June of 1951 and seen as largely the brainchild of Secretary of the Treasury Rexford Tugwell, declaring the complete and total nationalization of the healthcare industry and authorizing the establishment of a National Healthcare Service (NHS) in the United States under the Department of Health. Although implementation has been plagued by legal challenges and billions in funding from healthcare providers to opposition candidates, the President has utilized impounded funds to subsidize healthcare for the elderly and impoverished.
-Executive Order 15102 in December of 1951 would establish under the Department of Labor an employers’ syndicate led by former General Electric CEO Gerald Swope called the Business Council, leading to denunciations from across Farmer-Labor despite the low participation in the attempted employers’ union.
-However, the 1946 executive orders declaring a national moratoria on the payment of mortgages and enacting wage and price controls were ended soon after the 1948 election.
-In the face of a rapidly growing economy, La Follette has worked with new Federal Reserve Chairman Bernard Baruch to digress on the expansionist monetary policy that characterized his first term, with interest rates quadrupling to 15% in an effort that has successfully brought inflation from 13% to a mere 3% annually. Unemployment has fallen to 3.2% as the GDP as a whole has grown nearly 9% over La Follette’s second term, an economic boom fueled by mass exportation to Europe and newly decolonized nations elsewhere. While the President has continued to voice support for the nationalization of the Federal Reserve, the issue has remained on the backburner.
-An executive order in January of 1952 has set the new national minimum wage to $7.00 an hour from a previous $3.25, causing mass business outcry despite the President’s argument that the increase is necessary to guarantee a “living wage” after post-war inflation. The Department of Justice has been authorized to prosecute offenders, however, critics have argued that businesses aligned with the President’s political opposition have been unfairly targeted.
-Rufus B. von KleinSmid of the Un-American Activities Board, appointed by the President to monitor journalism for seditious content, would attempt to suppress the release of an account by actress Frances Farmer of her forced confinement to a mental institution in 1948, where she was sterilized under La Follette’s Executive Order 14768 from 1946, authorizing the mass sterilization of the mentally ill and those with “criminal tendencies.” Further investigations into the ramifications of the order have led to staggering revelations of up to 200,000 sterilizations performed annually since 1946, largely under duress, on Americans in prison and mental institutions as well as former criminals. The President has defended the policy while authorizing a Department of Justice investigation into abuses by low level doctors.
-The President would support the prosecution of a half dozen prison wardens accused of citing Executive Order 14767, establishing cooperatives for prisoners to work without pay on natural beautification projects, to turn prisoners into de facto slave laborers working 18 hour shifts as contract labor on farms. While the President has argued that the system itself has brought boons to the environment and American agriculture, critics have claimed that abuse remains widespread.
-While delaying and, in some cases, entirely pausing the implementation of his executive orders in the wake of the promises of moderation amidst the impeachment trial that rescued his presidency from the brink of collapse, fascist Blackshirts and radical Mormon Destroying Angels have become increasingly violent in the months since impeachment, with headlines telling tales of opposition presses raided and armed men watching poll stations. Another conspiracy theory has held that the death of Committee for the Preservation of the Republic chairman Thomas Schall in a motor accident over the winter of 1951 was the result of an intentional Blackshirt hit-and-run.
-While many have blamed the fiery speeches of Vice President Musmanno for encouraging Blackshirts, President La Follette and his brother in the Senate have fiercely denounced all violence on behalf of their movement, appealing to supporters for calm as they call for the speedy prosecution of the allegedly Blackshirt bombthrowers that took the life of elderly comedian Will Rogers. Nonetheless, fear of political violence has led to the cancellation of the 1952 Progressive-Federalist presidential primary in favor of a convention held in tandem with the Liberty League under the auspices of the Committee for the Preservation of the Republic.
-Meanwhile, Washington Senate candidate Marion Zioncheck would throw himself off a building while campaigning to succeed Clarence Dill. In a coma, Zioncheck’s supporters have accused the administration alternately of reigniting his documented mental health issues and being behind the attempted murder themselves.
-September 14, 1951, the height of Blackshirt violence in Philadelphia, St. Louis, and New York City, has been labeled the “Knight of the Long Knives” by opposition critic Styles Bridges. Vice President Musmanno has stood alone in the administration in defending the actions publicly despite condemnation from President La Follette that has carried into the authorization of NSA prosecutions of Blackshirt perpetrators. Representative Richard Nixon, the lead impeachment manager in the La Follette trial, has credited J. Edgar Hoover with the investigations rather than La Follette and accused the administration of only condoning them under pressure from his brother.
-”People of America, wake up!” The last words of House Minority Leader Eduardo Chibas, broadcast into a million homes seconds before his suicide on live radio, has fueled the creation of local opposition organizing groups calling themselves “Wide-Awakes” and aiming to bridge opposition interests against the La Follette Administration.
-The President has made a half a dozen speeches across the nation under the banner of his loyal National Progressives of America calling for the ratification of a 20th Amendment to shift to the president the powers of Congress, restricting the republic’s legislative branch to a mere veto power, while arguing that the need for a strong legislature would be replaced with a 21st Amendment establishing a process for national referendums. Although not passed by Congress, several state legislatures, including those of Alabama and Washington, have passed resolutions indicating a willingness to ratify the amendment.
-The President further floated the concept of reforming the legislature into a “Chamber of Corporations” balancing representatives from the General Trades Union and Business Council.
-With the arrest of CIO leaders John L. Lewis and Tony Boyle, leadership of the nation’s chief opposition union has fallen to Walter Reuther and Jimmy Hoffa, representing the left and right of the organization. With widespread prosecutions against members and supporters such as Fulgencio Batista, however, Reuther and Hoffa have found themselves fighting to prevent the CIO’s collapse. Nonetheless, the CIO would hold a 1950 celebration of the life of former Vice President Lena Morrow Lewis, with President Alf Landon hailing her role in the opposition and using the funeral as a means to rally anti-La Follette sentiment.
-Following a career in national politics spanning nearly seven decades, former President William Randolph Hearst would stop the presses for a final time on August 14th of 1951, passing away at the age of 88 in his castle in San Simeon, California. Having been alternately king and kingmaker in American politics for a half century, Hearst’s funeral would leave the streets around the Grace Cathedral full for blocks, with his son and heir William Randolph Hearst Jr. managing proceedings. Yet, in light of Hearst’s turn to the opposition and support for Fulgencio Batista, President La Follette would be notably absent from the funeral of the man who once coronated him the Farmer-Labor Party’s nominee for the presidency.
-President La Follette would push for the statehood of the territory of Tannenbaum, initially in a tandem effort with Territorial Representative Ernest Gruening’s push for Jewish colonization of the region as an alternative to the increasingly violent Palestine. However, with public sentiment against statehood riled up by Father Charles Coughlin in a campaign tinged by anti-semitism, Senator Henrik Shipstead would filibuster the statehood bill, prompting the Administration to declare a moratoria on statehood efforts and a reconsideration of whether statehood stands in line with national security interest.
-At the urging of singer turned Tennessee Governor Roy Acuff, a group of anti-La Follette Hollywood stars have formed The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, including Jane Russell, Ronald Reagan, Zasu Pitts, Gloria Swanson, June Allyson, Pat Buttram, Orson Welles, and Shirley Temple.
-Senator John Horne Blackmore has proposed an additional tax on chain stores to encourage the development of small business, while he, former New York Governor Ezra Pound, and publisher James Laughlin have called for the revival of the American social credit movement.
-Alabama and Illinois have established themselves as the fastest growing states in the nation, demonstrating success in Single Taxer Paul Douglas’s new “Illinois Model” as well as the continued prosperity of Alabama in the wake of Milford W. Howard’s fascist “Alabama Model” that has inspired emulation globally.
-Farmer-Laborite Maine Senator Benjamin Bubar’s investigation of Hollywood has led to the firing or blacklisting of several dozen actors on charges of alleged homosexuality, with the Administration attempting to tie the issue to support for the President’s political opposition, citing the blacklisting of Greta Garbo and Tennessee Williams as precedent for the firing of longtime members of the foreign service on charges of possible homosexual activities.
-Notable inventions and scientific breakthroughs during President La Follette’s term include the discovery of DNA by scientist Rosalind Franklin; the hydrogen bomb, newly tested on the island of Sakhalin; the first successful kidney transplant; and a revolutionary new vaccine for polio invented by University of Alabama doctor Jonas Salk.
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In John L. Lewis's stead, dynamic young Jimmy Hoffa has led the independent labor movement.
The Supreme Court:
-Justice Thomas C. O’Brien, appointed in 1939 as a part of President Lindbergh’s takeover of the court, would die in November of 1951 at the age of 64. With the Presidency still reeling from impeachment, La Follette would nominate Michigan Supreme Court Justice Evo DeConcini to the position. However, the hostile Senate would overwhelmingly refuse to confirm the appointment, with Progressive-Federalist Leader George Pritchard vowing to oppose any La Follette nominee. With neither side budging, the position has remained vacant.
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Map of the world as of 1952.
World Events:
-After 9 years of prolonged conflict, the Franco-British War would conclude in August of 1950 with the Treaty of Amsterdam signed by Marshal Petain and British Prime Minister Oliver Baldwin, largely ceding French colonies to the British Empire, with the exception of the Congo, on the time table for independence, and Guiana and Algeria, incorporated directly into metropolitan France. Meanwhile, French dominion has been de facto recognized over most of Western Europe, with the west bank of the Rhine, Catalonia, Luxembourg, and Belgium directly incorporated into France while Germany has been divided into a series of puppet states.
-Although the Spanish Republic has survived, the French-influenced, Catholic monarchist CEDA led by José María Valiente Soriano has received significant funding in challenging Prime Minister Jose Ortega y Gasset, with a similar situation emerging in Italy following the democratization of the nation by former dictator Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who has been succeeded by the pro-French Achille Lauro.
-Alongside the neutral Netherlands, Portugal has stood outside of the French bloc, as fascist leader Francisco Rolão Preto has held onto power while courting the support of both Bolshevik Russia and the United States, explicitly citing Milford W. Howard as his model for rule.
-In what the French government has labeled “le épuration de la frontière,” (the border purification), a forced exodus has occurred from newly annexed territories, driving millions from their communities and largely to French Africa, where the government has resettled hundreds of thousands each of Catalans, Germans, Greeks, Flemish Belgians, Italians, and the Occitan as French settlers claim their former homes.
-Meanwhile, the international process of decolonization has sped up rapidly, with a proposal by Choudhary Rahmat Ali being adopted by the British to partition the former Raj and form the states of India and Pakistan, alongside a Christian state in the far east.
-Mexican Prime Minister Manuel Gomez Morin has emerged as the primary center of power in the Empire after the crowning of 8 year old Maximiliano II as Emperor.
-Under the leadership of Prime Minister George Drew, the Progressive-Conservatives have won yet another Canadian election, yet the rise of the Social Credit Party in Quebec has driven them to status as the nation’s official opposition. Drew has hosted an Anglo-American Summit alongside President La Follette and Newfoundland Prime Minister Joey Smallwood.
-With Bolshevik Russia as the senior partner, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has been established as an alliance between Russia and its satellite states in Kazakhstan and the Caucasus.
-The Hashemite Caliphate has experienced increased unrest in both Palestine, where radical Jewish and Muslim militias have clashed, and the majority Christian regions of Mount Lebanon and newly annexed Nubia, where order has been nearly impossible to enforce.
-Following the death of Jorge Carlos Mariategui after two decades at the helm of Peru, Jorge del Prado Chavez has succeeded him, shifting the nation further towards Bolshevik Russia and ending all possibility of Peru entering a Pacific defense pact.
-The National Party’s oppressive regime of white rule in South Africa has been used as a model by a growing movement for a white minority government among the displaced, largely German white population in the French Congo, slated for independence within the decade.
-Social Democrat Mohammed Mossadegh has been elected President of the Republic of Iran, bringing the Georgist nation closer to Bolshevik Russia geopolitically as a counterweight to fiercely pro-British Caliph Abdullah and pro- French Turkish President Celâl Bayar.
-Greek dictator Konstantinos Logothetopoulos would be deposed in a 1952 revolution following the successful secession of the Aromanians, with communist Markos Vafeiadis leading a Provisional Democratic People’s Government with Bolshevik support. However, prominent author Nikos Kazantzakis has emerged at the fore of an anti-Vafeiadis protest movement for democratic socialism influenced by Georges Sorel.
-Adopted throughout the Habsburg Realm, Soviet Union, and among many Jews in Palestine and Europeans in the Congo, the Esperanto language has gained nearly 50,000,000 speakers and become the official language of diplomacy for the newly founded Republic of Korea.
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Bolshevik Russia's \"Iron Lazar\" Kaganovich.
View Poll

Looking for some honest feedback about this quote for some work we need done on our garage. Our previous contractor really burned us on several things, and we don't want to throw good money after bad.
What We Want Done

• New concrete pad poured
• Wall constructed to replace demo'd garage doowall
• Wateflooding mitigation

QUOTE FROM NEW CONTRACTOR
Questions

• Is this quote too high, too low or reasonable?
• Is there anything missing that we should have thought to ask for based on the info/context/pictures shared below?
• Is it too good to be true?
• All comments/questions/ideas welcome!!

PICTURES/VIDEO/NOTES FOR CONTEXT
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Structure: 1 car detached garage, approximately 15.5' x 11.5'
End Goal: To turn it into a functional office/studio space (NOT an ADU)
What was it before: a barely serviceable space with a faux garage door on the exterior and poorly done drywall on the interioopposite side of the "garage door", that leaked whenever it rained.
BEFORE PICTURE

• We had a previous contractor (the one that boned us) run power underground from the main house to the garage (previous owners had a very sketchy electrical wire that was just slung from the house and went through a hole in the garage)
• They broke up the concrete in front of the garage door and re-poured it when they were done
• That garage door was not functional when we bought the house. It was literally tacked up onto a wood frame (you'll see in subsequent pictures) by the previous owners

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN IT RAINED

• Link to Video
• We tried to clear that drain AND had a different BETTER contractor out to install a french drain (you'll see in another picture) which helped, but this wintespring saw SO MUCH rain in LA, that even the french drain wasn't able to fully keep up (we are thinking that there are likely roots we'll need to have broken up further down the pipe)?
• Picture of French Drain

PICTURES OF OUR DEMO WORK
With the goal being to regain this space as a functional room/studio, we knew we had to have professional help. To mitigate costs, we decided to do as much of the demo as we could ourselves, including removing the garage door, the drywall, and breaking up as much of the concrete slab as we could

• Underneath the Laminate FlooInterior Concrete Picture Post-Rain
• Garage Door Removed
• Drywall Removed
• Demod Concrete

1. Gaint cabbage... hercules
2. Savoy cabbage
3. Summer cabbage
4. Purple brussel sprouts 5/6 Cherry tomatoes
5. Purple brussel sprout
6. Purple French runner beans
7. Broccoli
8. Cucumber..melon cantaloupe..gerkins..sugar baby melons
9. Broccoli
10. Gaint winter leeks

All grown in normal compost and feed chicken manure pellets apart from fruiting veg

President Henry Martin “Scoop” Jackson

41st President of the United States
Vice President
Nellie Stone Johnson
Secretary of State: Claude Pepper
Secretary of the Treasury: Maurine Neuberger
Secretary of Defense: William Winter
Attorney General: John Tower
Secretary of the Navy: Arleigh Burke
Secretary of the Interior: Edmund Muskie
Secretary of Agriculture: Hubert Humphrey
Secretary of Commerce: Asa Randolph
Secretary of Labor: Leonard Woodcock
Secretary of Education: Jane Jacobs
Secretary of Health & Welfare: John Gardner (Since March 1965)
Speaker of the House: Charles Halleck (Republican, 1965-1967)/Adam Powell Jr (Labor, 1967-)
Pro Tempore: Lyndon Johnson (Labor)

1964 Election Results

Presidential
Liberal candidate John Kennedy receives 115 electoral votes
Margaret Smith received 38.57% of the vote
John Kennedy received 20% of the vote
Henry Jackson received 41.43% of the vote
Jackson defied poll numbers
While polling has consistently showed the election as a close race, almost all polls had the incumbent President, Margaret Smith, winning by 1 or 2 points up until the election. The last poll conducted on October 28th had Smith leading by 1 point, and Kennedy far behind both major candidates. Some have already begun to blame the Liberal Party and Kennedy for stealing moderate voters from another Republican victory. Regardless, The ever-ambitious Senator Scoop Jackson will enter the White House come January 20th.
House Results
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House Results After Liberal Dissolution (1965)
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• The one Independent is Speedy O. Long of Louisiana

Senate Results
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Senate Results After Liberal Dissolution (1965)
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• The one Independent is Russell B. Long of Louisiana

First 100 Days

Revenue Act of 1965
The Revenue Act of 1965 would take a more progressive approach to taxation, increasing income taxes up to 7% in the highest tax bracket; all while lowering income taxes down by 4% for lower income households. The Act would also increase the Social Security Tax to 8%.
House voted 228-207
Senate voted 52-48
Mass Transit Tax Act of 1965
The second Mass Transit Tax Act would lower short range rail and air transport by an average of 5%, while increasing long range rail and air transport by an average of 2%. International flight tickets would be increased as well, by an average of 6%.
House voted 236-199
Senate voted 62-38
Minimum Wage Act of 1965
The long-standing federal Minimum Wage of $0.80/hour has been around since 1949, with no increase on the federal side of things. President Jackson and other Laborites were able to pull their weight and increase the federally-mandated minimum wage to $1.30/hour. Although the Labor Party advocated for a higher hourly wage, others in Congress feared a wage any higher would result in another economic panic following the near-collapse of the National Debt Ceiling a few years prior.
House voted 227-208
Senate voted 52-48
Department of Health Foundation Act of 1965
Founded the Department of Health and Welfare to help administer and regulate various healthcare practices and the distribution of Social Security, medical tax breaks, and more. Though indirectly, Congress soon changes the Executive budget to cut the Department of the Interior's funding by 40%; most of that money going into the new Department of Health and Welfare.
House voted 249-186
Senate voted 64-36
National Environmental and Water Policy Act of 1965 (NEWPA)
Championed heavily by the President and young members of the Labor Party in Congress like Edmund Muskie, NEWPA places greater regulations and laws into place regarding water safety and treatment, water pollution, trash allocation, dump sites, and recycling; unseen since the progressive era of the early 1900s. These regulations are expected to greatly improve the environmental state of decay for decades to come.
House voted 221-214
Senate voted 54-46

Death of former President, Theodore F. Green: May 19, 1966

This morning, former President Theodore Francis Green passed away in his Rhode Island home at the age of 98, marking the oldest President at the time of his death. Green was a member of the Democratic Party and briefly the Anti-Fascist Alliance, taking charge from his previous position as Secretary of State after the sudden assassinations of sitting President Earl Browder and Vice President Upton Sinclair. President Green helped uncover the “Business Plot” orchestrated in part by J.P. Morgan Jr. and Prescott Sheldon Bush Sr, the latter being the father of sitting Texas Congressman George Bush.
President Theodore F. Green led us through the horrors of the second world war after the sudden attack on Pearl Harbor, resigning his post and organizing a special election the year following the conclusion of the war itself. He was instrumental in the foundation of the United Nations and eventual foundation of both NATO and EATO two Presidents later. He was, and still remains a national hero in our hearts. President Henry Jackson, among former Presidents and dignitaries are expected to show up for his public funeral in Providence, Rhode Island. The public has been allowed to pay their respects at his grave site before his proper burial et to take place from May 19 at 9:00 AM to May 20 at 9:00 AM.

Foreign Policy Ventures prior to the 1966 Midterms

Embargo Act of 1965
Supported already by the majority of the country, Scoop Jackson directed Congress to pass a full embargo of all raw and manufactured Cuban goods on entering the United States through any port or checkpoint.
House voted 313-122
Senate voted 76-24
With the law being signed by the President in August that year, he would make a speech in Miami celebrating the passage of the act, glorifying its protections of American, anti-communist goods. Scoop would face some backlash over his anti-communist posturing, as the Labor Party has a small (but noticeable) sect of Communists in their ranks.
The Saigon Summit
In July of 1965, after riots against the French government in Saigon, and the breakout of a guerrilla war in French Cambodia, a summit was called in Saigon to determine the future of the city. President Jackson, President Ho Chi Minh, and President Charles de Gaulle met within the French administrative building to discuss the recent riots in the city and future between Saigon and Vietnam. Although much of Vietnam was granted total independence from French rule in 1950, French Saigon remained a thorn in Vietnam's side. France wished to keep as much of its dying empire as possible, and no one would fight harder at that than Charles de Gaulle himself. President Jackson wished to keep the peace and eventually coerce Vietnam into rejoining EATO.
Talks were messy at times, as yelling could be heard from the chambers the talks were being held in, but the three would come to an agreement. Saigon would be administered by a joint Vietnamese-French government, and policing and law would gradually transition to local and Vietnamese systems. In return, Vietnam would promise to not get itself involved in the Cambodian guerilla war.

1966 Midterms

House Results
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7 Third Party/Independents

• Speedy Long (Louisiana Independent)
• Edward "Ted" Kennedy (Massachusetts Independent)
• deLeppes "Chep" Morrison (Louisiana Independent)
• Spiro Agnew (Maryland Independent)
• Gus Hall (Minnesota Communist League)
• Jarvis Tyner (New York Communist League)
• Charlene Mitchell (California Communist League)

Senate Results
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2 Independents

• Russell Long (Louisiana Independent)
• Edward Brooke (Massachusetts Independent)

Invasion of Saigon

In December 1966, a clash between Vietnamese and French police during a riot led the Vietnamese side of the Saigon Transitional Government to call on Vietnamese military aid. Within hours, the Republic of Vietnam marched into the jointly occupied city. Rumors immediately began amassing that the Saigon police force worked with the Vietnamese government in order to cease Saigon before the transitional period was up. Although these rumors were just that, President Jackson was surely worried when the news hit him the next morning; alongside the French Ambassador asking for an audience with the President.
French Ambassador Hervé Alphand would share with Scoop three things:

1. France intends to treat the invasion of Saigon as an act of war.
2. France is already mobilizing troops to southern Cambodia for a naval invasion of Vietnam.
3. France intends to call on the force of NATO and EATO to defend “France in her hour of need.”

No matter how Jackson tried to argue, Alphand was keen on these points. Jackson would argue that the incident be investigated by the United Nations to determine whether it was an act of war; while Alphand threatened that American delay on the issue could lead to French withdrawal from both NATO and EATO. Jackson, reportedly furious, refused to be threatened by a “dying empire”. He denied meeting with any French foreign dignitary for the time being until they promised to allow the UN for an investigation.
The French response was quick, with France officially leaving both NATO and EATO on December 18, 1966. The French declaration of war and further campaign into Vietnam began on the 20th. With naval and air landings concentrated around Rach Gia, Can Tho, My Tho, Saigon, and Vung Tau, the Second Indochina War began. Although Australia would provide weapon assistance, the other nations within both NATO and EATO held their breath on what to do. France had left the two most powerful military and economic alliances in the world, and President Jackson could not be more angry.

Glasgow Conference of 1967

With the war having gone on for nearly three months, and French military forces having begun to get bogged down by the Vietnamese harsh tactics; Can Tho remained the only major French-held territory in the young Republic. And although Vietnamese war tactics were questionable at best; much of the world was united in believing the French declaration of war was not entirely justifiable; with President Scoop Jackson and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev at the forefront of organizing peace efforts within and without the UN. Although the United Nations have begun investigations into both the Vietnamese invasion of Saigon and the French declaration of war, they both had gotten bogged down by the surrounding war effort.
It was agreed upon by several major powers to meet in Glasgow with French and Vietnamese delegates to discuss an armistice. The United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China agreed to enforce the following terms:

1. Saigon and surrounding territories that formerly made up the French Vietnam Territory following the 1950 Treaty of Manila shall be ceded to the Republic of Vietnam. Saigon and the surrounding territories shall become a United Nations sponsored demilitarized zone until an official peace treaty between the 5th Republic of France and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
2. French military and bureaucratic personnel shall be allowed free and safe passage out of the cities of Can Tho and Saigon; sanctioned by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. The French and Vietnamese governments must release all prisoners of war; sanctioned by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.
3. Saigon officials implicated in the initial invasion of the city on December 16, 1966 must release all official, personal, and private documents to the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs for investigation.
4. Vietnam must retain its promise from the 1964 Saigon Summit to not aid or abet Cambodian guerilla forces or rebels.
5. All combat between the 5th Republic of France and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam shall cease and abide by the above rules, the United Nations, and Geneva Conventions.

Although both nations had much to say and change in their favor, the above is the final version of the armistice agreed upon by all parties. The armistice paper was signed by:

• President Henry Martin Jackson of the United States
• General Secretary Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev of the Soviet Union
• Prime Minister James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx of the United Kingdom
• Chairman Mao Zedong of the People's Republic of China
• Foreign Minister Ernest Charles Lucet of the 5th French Republic
• Foreign Minister Nguyên Duy Trinh of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Military Aftermath of the Second Indochina War:

• 57,000 KIA (66% Vietnamese)
• 12,000 MIA (81% French)
• 72,000 WIA (52% French)
• 134,000 Civilians KIA/MIA (89% Vietnamese)

Although the Glasgow Conference was seen as a great triumph of diplomacy between the major powers, Taiwan (the Republic of China) was greatly hindered in its geopolitical influence for the time being. President Jackson had recognized the People’s Republic of China the week prior to the Conference; Communist China would replace Taiwan's spot as a permanent member of the UN Security Council within the month.

The Better Society Plan

Plans drawn up between Pro Tempore Lyndon Johnson, Representative Claude Pepper, and Speaker Adam Powell Jr. would be taken to the President's desk following the first relatively calm year in the administration's history. Although much of the work on marketing the plan would be placed on Scoop himself; Johnson, Pepper, and Powell would act as the main sponsors of each piece in Congress. What would become the beginnings of the “Better Society Plan” would officially pass both houses of Congress throughout mid 1968.
Cheap Food and Housing Act of 1968
A large bill authored primarily by Speaker Adam Powell Jr. and Secretary Hubert Humphrey; the Cheap Food and Housing Act would cover extensive social programs. Although, with weak support in Congress, many Republicans were able to push to soften these programs and add their own agendas on top of them. The final contents of this massive bill were as follows:

1. A federal Food Stamps program would begin and be administered and funded by the Department of Health and Welfare. Certain imported foodstuffs would receive a 15% higher tariff. All American citizens that either fall below or are less than 6% above the poverty line would be eligible for the Food Stamps program.
2. Store-bought meat products will receive price controls to fit the monthly income of the average family. The Federal Government will cut 60% funds toward GMO Agriculture, Meat, Fish, and Poultry research.
3. Houses that take up less than a certain area size will be price capped based county-by-county income. This job is in the hands of State Governments. (Apartments are not covered in this)
4. Housing discrimination shall be made illegal based on identity.

House voted 241-194
Senate voted 53-47
Medical Bill Reduction Act of 1968
This bill was authored by Representative Claude Pepper and Secretary John Gardner in order to fundamentally reduce medical expenses for the youth, elderly, and medically unable. The bill however was weakened significantly by the Republicans in Congress, only allowing for those receiving Social Security benefits to have reduced medical expenses paid for partially by the Department of Health and Welfare; no matter if the recipient is signed on with private insurance or the Public Option.
House voted 220-215
Senate voted 53-47

Apollo 8: Americans on the Moon in November 1968!

Thanks to streamlined efforts by Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Margaret Smith the past 11 years, NASA and furthermore America were able to place the first men on the moon on November 12, 1967. In a speech made on national television that night in the hour following the conclusion of the live coverage of the moon landing, Scoop Jackson would put much of his thanks on the “Greatest mind our nation has ever had,” referring to Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer, since 1961, has been placed in a secondary charge of the Apollo missions and a potential moon landing until his resignation in January 1967 and death the following month. Dr. Oppenheimer's expertise in theory and former President Smith's dedication for space exploration are likely candidates as to the victory America achieved that night.
State of Asia in 1968
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The United Nations has concluded their investigation into the potential legality and coercion in the events leading up to the invasion of Saigon.
“While France has made compelling arguments for the contrary, regarding available documents and other pieces of evidence, the Vietnamese military occupation of Saigon was not a result of coercion, manipulation, embezzlement, bribery, or corruption within the Republic of Vietnam. The invitation of Vietnamese armed forces into the territory limits was done by the legal Vietnamese co-government of said territory, and therefore, is deemed a semi-legal occupation of the city. The United Nations upholds the results of the Glasgow Conference.”

Gearing up for Reelection: A look at Potential Challengers

Notable Republicans that have declared candidacy
Former Vice President, Richard Nixon
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Richard Nixon is back at it with his 4th attempt at a Presidential run, and if he wins the nomination or is selected as a running mate, 3rd attempt on a Presidential ticket. He is generally a moderate, but is definitely the wildcard. Despite his past of losing elections, he is somehow the safest, and perhaps most dangerous, to the Jackson administration.
Governor Ronald Reagan
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The Governor of California has perhaps one of the most charismatic voices in the nation, and is definitely a threat should he receive the Republican nomination. While he is charismatic, he is also the most Conservative of the major players for the Republican nomination. Reagan has instituted a mix of conservative and liberal policy as Governor of California, but has spouted rhetoric like all the former dixiecrats; just without blatant racism. Scoop believes Reagan is not only a credible threat to his Presidency, but also a threat to minority groups nationwide.
“Draft Jack Kennedy” and “Draft Bobby Kennedy”
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Despite neither Kennedy having decided to throw their hat in the ring this year, 1960 and 1964 Presidential candidate John Kennedy has received some support among anti-nixon moderates for the head of the ticket later this year. He has an air of charisma around him, much like his fellow Republican Ronald Reagan, but Kennedy has only commented on the matter stating he is “far too tired” for 3 Presidential runs in a row. The Senator's health is seemingly beginning to fail, as well. Despite the unlikeliness of the matter, Jackson is prepared to deal with Jack Kennedy again if he wins a draft.
Opposed to his older brother, Governor Robert Kennedy has remained Non-Partisan since the fall of the Liberal Party 3 years prior. Bobby has had moderate support from both parties since the beginning of his governorship in 1963. Despite this, and probably with wishes to go against one of his brothers, Bobby Kennedy has denied to run or entertain a draft movement in his name. Scoop has declared Bobby to be of little threat.
Other potential challengers
Senator Russel Long
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The long-serving Senator and son of former President Huey Long has walked the line of conservative, liberal, and progressive support throughout his career. In recent years, he has become more supportive of progressive social policies, and definitely leans economically toward Labor; but his reach across rural southerners matches a more populist approach. Long has already declared his independent candidacy for President. If Nixon isn't one, Long is certainly the most dangerous wildcard if he plays his hand right. Scoop will closely watch him.
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