duckduckgo search "can you destroy all your internal organs by focusing really hard"
This was...well, fun seems like the wrong word. It was very interesting and fractally awful in a compelling and in-depth way for what is essentially a gimmick list. Apart from Jamil. Probably the only bright spot.
I was the one who invented the notion that you should continuously be pretending to be drinking alcoholic beverages when you're doing a youtube video essay.
Before me, people weren't doing it. Like, nobody.
Then I said, "I think you should pretend that you're drinking something alcoholic when you're doing this video. Like, always have a drink in your hand, or a glass of wine, or whiskey or something! Trust me, people are going to be like, oh, this person is cool and serious and in control, they're drinking alcohol, it's almost self-destructive in that not really that serious way, like, they're flirting with being dangerous, they're dangerous! How radical!"
Gonna be completely honest, I don't know exactly. A few of them have exact positions and the rest are just vaguely in a group. I leave it to the reader's imagination.
Gonna be completely honest, I don't know exactly. A few of them have exact positions and the rest are just vaguely in a group. I leave it to the reader's imagination.
Gonna be completely honest, I don't know exactly. A few of them have exact positions and the rest are just vaguely in a group. I leave it to the reader's imagination.
@Tsar of New Zealand gave me an idea of making Tennessee Ernie Ford (the guy who sang Union Dixie in all those memes, etc) the equivalent to LBJ, so have a list.
If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
Presidents of the United States of America
1961-1965: Vice President Richard Nixon (Republican) 1960 (with Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.) def. Stuart Symington / Ed Muskie (Democratic)
1965-1973: Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) 1964 (withJohn Connally) def. Richard Nixon / Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (Republican)
1968 (withPat Brown) def. Nelson Rockefeller / Jerry Ford (Republican), John Connally / Louise Day Hicks (Connally For America)
1973-1975: Wisconsin Governor Bronson La Follette (Democratic) [assassinated] 1972 (with Ernest Ford) def. Richard Nixon / Bob Dole (Republican)
1975-1981: Vice President Ernest J. "Tennessee Ernie" Ford (Democratic) 1976 (with George McGovern) def. Spiro Agnew / Paul Laxalt (Republican)
1981-1985: New York Governor Jack F. Kemp (Republican) 1980 (withDick Lugar) def. George McGovern / Andrew Young (Democratic), John Connally / Jim Webb (Connally For America)
1985-1987: FormerPresident Ernest J. Ford † (Democratic) [died in office] 1984 (with Lindy Boggs) def. Jack F. Kemp / Dick Lugar (Republican), Pat Robertson / Jerry Falwell (Independent)
1987-1993:Vice President Lindy Boggs (Democratic) 1988 (withTed Wilson) def. Pete du Pont / John B. Anderson (Republican), Pat Robertson / Claude Kirk (Moral Majority)
1993-1997: Connecticut Governor Joe Lieberman (Republican) 1992 (with Sonny Bono) def. Lindy Boggs / Ted Wilson (Democratic)
1997-2005: Nebraska Governor Dick Cheney (Democratic) 1996 (with Skip Humphrey) def. Joe Lieberman / Sonny Bono (Republican), Donald Trump / Jack Welch (Independent)
2000 (with Skip Humphrey) def. Sonny Bono / Lisa Murkowski (Republican), Donald Trump / Peter Navarro (Freedom)
2005-2009:Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin (Democratic) 2004 (with Marty Walsh) def. Bob Corker / Abel Maldonado (Republican)
2009-2013: Colorado Senator Scott McInnis (Republican) 2008 (with Betsy DeVos) def. Shirley Franklin / Marty Walsh (Democratic)
2013-2015: New York Senator Anthony Weiner (Democratic) [resigned] 2012 (with Ted Strickland) def. Scott McInnis / Betsy DeVos (Republican) 2015-2017: Vice President Ted Strickland (Democratic)
2017-2021: Alaska Senator Sarah Palin (Republican) 2016 (with Rick Lazio) def. Ted Strickland / Kathleen Rice (Democratic), Alan Grayson /Cornel West(Green-"Weiner" Democrats)
2021-0000: Tennessee Governor Tim McGraw (Democratic) 2020 (with Jane Fleming Kleeb) def. Sarah Palin / Rick Lazio (Republican)
Cross-posting my entry for the last list challenge. This month's theme is Independence, the link is in my signature, and there's still nearly 2 weeks to get your entries in!
The Reserves
General Secretaries of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement
1921-1954: Wal Hannington 1923: attempted split by Gunnar Soderberg prevented
1927: General Strike called; militant action begins
1931: General Strike ends; NUWM represented at Provisional Trade Union Congress of the United Kingdom
1932: Co-operative Commonwealth Charter: NOT APPROVED 1932: British Soviet Charter: NOT APPROVED 1932: Liverpool Agreement Charter: APPROVED 1941: Declaration of Great Anti-Reactionary War; NUWM militants reorganised intoReserve Army of Labour 1947: End of Great Anti-Reactionary War
1950: Beginning of "Bobby Battle" with British Revolutionary Army and National Union of Police and Prison Officers 1954: Wal Hannington made honorary president of the Amalgamated Federation of Engineers
1954-1956: Ewan MacColl 1956: Dissolution of NUWM: APPROVED
History of the People's Republic: End-of-Term Exam
Topic: The National Unemployed Worker's Union
Question 1:While the NUWM largely stuck to logistical action or street brawling during the General Strike, they did face the Royal Army once during the Battle of Chester-le-Street. Please answer the following questions about the battle [5 marks]: >How many casualties did the NUWM take during the battle?
a) 300
b) 1600
c) 1300
d) 2100 >Which regiment of the British Revolutionary Army arrived to relieve the NUWM?
a) 1st Waldrige Coal Miners Militia
b) 5th Feltham Yard Rail Workers Militia
c) 3rd Jarrow Shipbuilders Militia
d) Reconstructed Northumberland Fusiliers >Which notable Martyr of Labour perished during the battle leading the NUWM?
a) Wilf Gray
b) John Loverseed
c) Alex Armstrong
d) Constance Pickles
Invigilator's notes: Right, Jan, can you shift the questions when you give them out to the class, they've been silly buggers at the Exam Board and made all the right answers c) again. Also, I'm pretty sure we stopped making kids memorise the Martyrs of Labour back in 2006, so maybe change the wording on that one.
Question 2: "Wal Hannington's motivations in blocking both the "Co-operative Commonwealth" Charter and the "British Soviet" Charter were primarily ideological, rather than pragmatic." Do you agree or disagree? Make reference to Gunnar Sonderberg's UWO, Mikhail Koltsov's role in the Poplar Soviet's collapse, co-operation between the NUWM and the worker councils, and Hannington's visit to Petrograd in your answer. [25 marks]
Invigilator's notes: Annoying we got this question the year we finally stop doing Anglo-Russian relations in Geography, eh? Anyway, this can stand on its own I think--maybe make it a bit clearer that it's an either-or rather than mandatory to use all those bits of evidence.
Question 3: Read through the sources below about the "Bobby Battle":
>"Black Bonapartism in the Ukraine and Here (anonymous pamphlet, attributed to Wal Hannington, 1952)" OR "The Policeman Stays The Same: The Reactionary's Many Disguises (anonymous pamphlet, attributed to Wal Hannington, 1951)"
>"Remarks on the Recent Disturbances in Minehead (report, Henry Goodrich, 1952)" OR "Medical Report on Battle of Minehead" OR "Living History: Minehead and 'the day the police arrested each other' (film, BBC Local History, 1983)"
>"The Demands of Total Mobilisation (pamphlet, Tom Wintringham, 1941)" OR "Warriors of the Home Front: The Reserve Army (film, British Cinemaworkers Union, 1943)" OR "The Demands of the Continued Emergency (speech, Wal Hannington, 1948)"
>"A People's Police (legal proposal, Tommy Thiel, 1949)" AND "Rising Like Lions: How a Revolutionary Army means a Revolutionary Populace (book, Bert Levy & Jenny Patrick, 1949)"
>"Forward Unemployed?/The Ballad of Ewan MacColl [chapters 17-21] (book, Ewan MacColl, 1969/1981)"
>"My Life And Struggles Among the Unemployed (book, Wal Hannington, 1964)" Now, pick one of the following questions to answer, making it clear which one you choose on your exam sheet [30 marks]: A. How important was the Great Anti-Reactionary War and the union's use to secure the home front in allowing the NUWM to become a "parallel state", relative to its role in the General Strike? B. Is it relevant to describe the Bobby Battle as an ideological conflict between anarchism, syndicalism, and socialism? C. "Without the Bobby Battle, organised crime in Britain would not be a problem". To what extent do you agree? D. Was the Battle of Minehead the point where retaliation against Hannington became inevitable? If not, why not, and when? E. Were Ewan MacColl's experiences in the NUWM a major influence on his decisions as part of the Trade Union Congress Stewardship Committee? Now pick two sources from the above describing the same events. Which do you consider more accurate? Explain why. [15 marks]
Invigilator's notes: We'll have to scrap this whole question, I think, Jan. Some of those sources aren't even included--I've been looking for hours and I can't find this mysterious Medical Report anywhere--and a bunch of them are barely relevant. They're not even well-distributed, considering how little there is for C--seriously, would it kill them to throw in an episode of Muswell Hillbillies or something? Just throw out the usual piss-easy essay questions on "Was Hannington aiming to overthrow the government?" or "What does the modern NUPPO owe to the conflict?" or whatever. Colin, if you're reading this, I'd appreciate it if, while undermining me, you picked an Exam Board that wasn't run by clowns who think you can read five chapters in half an hour. At least leave me some dignity.
Head of History Department's notes: Analysis of sources is a vital skill for historians, so replacing the above with a sourceless question would be ludicrous. Simply slim down a few of the quoted sources to make it less heavy. I'd also like to remind my colleague to keep his comments directly related to the exam paper, and not to grousing about necessary changes to a schlerotic and antiquated exam system.
1911-1917: Allen G. Rushlight (Republican, then nonpartisan) 1911 def. Joseph Simon (Independent – Commission Government), George Thomas (Democratic), Charles H. Otten (Socialist), J. Allen Harrison (Prohibition)
1913 def. H. Russell Albee, Fred Merrill, C. L. McKenna Note: in 1913, Portland voters approved a switch to nonpartisan city-commission government, with members elected at large, replacing the traditional mayor-council ward system. 1917-1921: C. E. S. Wood (nonpartisan) 1917 def. George Baker, William Trufant Foster
1919 recall: NO 1921-0000: George Baker (nonpartisan) 1921 def. Will Daly, Asbury Barbur
Stonewall wasn’t really the start of sexual liberation in this country. More like an overture or prelude. What Stonewall did, more than anything, was to put sugar in the tank of the Progressive steamroller. And for that we all still owe him our thanks.
Oswald West, Governor of Oregon, is just as much a villain today as his contemporary President Wilson. But when he was elected, everyone called him a friend of the working man because he fought “corruption.” Broadly defined. Progressivism was all about having a society that ran efficiently. This was the era of Frederick Winslow Taylor, timing factory workers with a stopwatch, trying to turn human beings into machines. And efficiency requires homogeneity. It had no room for vice – whether that be actual criminal behavior and people getting hurt, or just messy fun times and drunken carousal. It had no room for sex workers trying to earn a buck, or any kind of altersexuality, either practical or expressive. It had no room for the disabled, or for immigrants who acted as something more than a quiet disposable workforce. To West and Wilson, all of that was corruption and disease. The prescription was sterilization, segregation, prohibition.
So when West took office he launched an investigation into “corruption” and “vice” in Portland, still one of the seediest port cities in the world. He turned up all sorts of dirt on his opponents, the leading Republican families of Portland, many of whom were revealed to secretly own brothels. But when West’s investigators overstepped their bounds, they began to unravel not just the Great Prude’s career, but the contradictions his ideology was built upon.
In early 1912, one of West’s spies, intently watching a pair of male lovers in a shadowy corner of Lownsdale Square, realized that he recognized one of his quarries from the newspaper. Sensing fame and fortune in the making, he hollered for a constable, and soon one Edward Stonewall Jackson McAllister was being taken down to the precinct for questioning.
Stonewall, as he’s become known to history, was a liberal defense attorney and local leader in West’s own Democratic Party. Much more than the governor, he was an actual friend of the working man, and so when he was brought up on charges of indecency, Henry Pittock’s conservative local press jumped on the story. The Portland establishment, eager to distance themselves from West’s charges of vice and corruption, called Stonewall an interloper in their midst: a man who’d brought the perversions of the North End and of decadent Greek immigrants all the way to the doorstep of the Multnomah County Courthouse. They recruited as spokesman a young Progressive-reform leader named William Trufant Foster, the president of newly founded Reed College and leader of an outfit called the Oregon Sexual Hygiene Society, which advocated birth control and sexual education but also promoted eugenics and the rooting out of altersexuality. Foster accompanied police raids on North End bawdyhouses and gave well-attended lectures on sexual hygiene at the YMCA. It was a classic moral panic, and it united both the Republican city fathers and West’s Democrat moralists against Stonewall, against his small band of intellectual friends and allies - and, soon, against the working class of the city.
Because that’s when it all fell apart. As the trial began, it emerged that Mr. McAllister hadn’t been slumming it in the North End at all; he was part of an entirely separate upper-middle-class altersexual subculture that had its center right under the city fathers’ noses at the YMCA they all financially supported. Dana Sleeth and his populist rag the Portland Daily News were quick to ridicule the hypocrisy and accuse the city and state governments of meddling in the trial, trying to put McAllister away before anybody looked at his address book. Sleeth further romanticized his stories by portraying Stonewall as a stoic, dignified martyr in the dock. And when A. W. Lafferty tried to make a career for himself by taking the Homosexual Conspiracy story national, the Daily News exposed the Representative’s own heinous sex crimes. All the while, Governor West frequently and publicly lost his temper with the upstart journal – boosting its circulation even higher.
In the end, America’s first famous altersexual ended up walking free with a suspended sentence, leaving the ruins of Oregon Progressivism behind him. The Portland public, whipped up by the Daily News, turned against the hypocrisies of moral reform. Mayor Rushlight, a moderate on reform issues, defeated a Progressive to win re-election, and former councilman Fred Merrill made a good showing on his new political libertine campaign. Merrill was a celebrity bicycle daredevil turned bicycle salesman and tavern owner, and advocated the complete non-enforcement of moralistic ordinances under the slogan “Keep Portland Wide Open.” Before his involvement in politics, he’d been best known for the fact that his bicycles were favored by the city’s ladies of the night.
Meanwhile, Os West’s political black eye had jeopardized his big priorities – alcohol prohibition and a eugenic sterilization law. The latter failed in the state legislature, now too closely associated with the “crank professor” Foster; the former narrowly lost out in a statewide referendum in 1914. The governor turned bitter, and after an attempt to enforce local-option prohibition with state troopers went violently awry, he left public life altogether.
Political libertinism became Portland law under Stonewall’s friend and defender, the flamboyant Mayor C. E. S. Wood. The celebrity attorney, war hero, booster, philosopher and artist found that his “moral laxity” was in fact his least controversial platform: it was his vocal opposition to the Great War that earned him his two assassination, and one recall, attempts. By the time Wood got bored and quit politics, vice and moralism had been set aside for good. Portland politics had become a straightforward battle between left and right, fought on issues of class, economics, and infrastructure. The space was kept wide open for the rise of America’s first openly altersexual culture.
Stonewall himself left town shortly after the case, and eked out a quiet life on a farm in Myrtle Creek. But he died admired by thousands – and lives on to this day admired by millions, his name a byword for pride and rebellion.
Like a lot of the local history lists I’ve done on here, this one probably needs some background. The “Portland vice scandal,” as it was known, is an incredibly important and understudied moment; from what I understand it was the first time the existence of a gay subculture was revealed to straight America. Queer stuff in the newspapers had always been either faraway celebrity gossip (like Oscar Wilde’s trial) or police-blotter reports about working-class men and racial minorities being busted for gay sex. It had been easy for straight society to imagine that it was just an occasional anomaly, deviant behavior by a few people on the fringes. That was harder to do after the “vice scandal” implicated a bunch of upper-class white men.
But in reality the scandal unfolded a little differently in reality than the way I’ve depicted it here. In November 1912, a teenager was arrested for shoplifting, and to exculpate himself he claimed that he’d been corrupted into a life of crime by a circle of homosexuals operating out of the Portland YMCA. Investigators soon found that there was indeed a gay scene centered at the Y, and about 70 men were arrested, almost all for private, consensual sexual acts. Only seven were ultimately found guilty, but all were publicly humiliated and forced to incriminate each other in court.
Because many of the accused were professional types – doctors, lawyers – and because the YMCA was a major charitable project of the city’s elite, the Portland establishment tried to keep a lid on the scandal. The main newspapers reported it soberly. William Trufant Foster and the sexual hygiene folks were brought in to restore the credibility of the YMCA. Dana Sleeth, on the other hand, saw this coverup as further evidence of the establishment’s corruption, and so his paper launched into lurid, conspiratorial, bile-filled coverage of the gay scene that did wonders for his circulation. Ultimately, the “vice scandal” just became weaponized by reformers to tar their opponents as decadent sodomites, and was used to support Os West’s eugenics laws. It was an ugly sequence of events, and while it was historically significant it’s hard to find anything uplifting in the story.
Here, I’ve tried to turn it into a moment of light instead. Since McAllister is implicated alone at first, and it looks like an establishment persecution of a people’s champion, Sleeth and the yellow press are happy to hit the hypocrisy angle instead of the homophobia angle. In doing so, they crack some of the contradictions of the Progressive Era and open up space for something that might become a gay rights movement entirely unlike our own.
1911-1917: Allen G. Rushlight (Republican, then nonpartisan) 1911 def. Joseph Simon (Independent – Commission Government), George Thomas (Democratic), Charles H. Otten (Socialist), J. Allen Harrison (Prohibition)
1913 def. H. Russell Albee, Fred Merrill, C. L. McKenna Note: in 1913, Portland voters approved a switch to nonpartisan city-commission government, with members elected at large, replacing the traditional mayor-council ward system. 1917-1921: C. E. S. Wood (nonpartisan) 1917 def. George Baker, William Trufant Foster
1919 recall: NO 1921-0000: George Baker (nonpartisan) 1921 def. Will Daly, Asbury Barbur
Stonewall wasn’t really the start of sexual liberation in this country. More like an overture or prelude. What Stonewall did, more than anything, was to put sugar in the tank of the Progressive steamroller. And for that we all still owe him our thanks.
Oswald West, Governor of Oregon, is just as much a villain today as his contemporary President Wilson. But when he was elected, everyone called him a friend of the working man because he fought “corruption.” Broadly defined. Progressivism was all about having a society that ran efficiently. This was the era of Frederick Winslow Taylor, timing factory workers with a stopwatch, trying to turn human beings into machines. And efficiency requires homogeneity. It had no room for vice – whether that be actual criminal behavior and people getting hurt, or just messy fun times and drunken carousal. It had no room for sex workers trying to earn a buck, or any kind of altersexuality, either practical or expressive. It had no room for the disabled, or for immigrants who acted as something more than a quiet disposable workforce. To West and Wilson, all of that was corruption and disease. The prescription was sterilization, segregation, prohibition.
So when West took office he launched an investigation into “corruption” and “vice” in Portland, still one of the seediest port cities in the world. He turned up all sorts of dirt on his opponents, the leading Republican families of Portland, many of whom were revealed to secretly own brothels. But when West’s investigators overstepped their bounds, they began to unravel not just the Great Prude’s career, but the contradictions his ideology was built upon.
In early 1912, one of West’s spies, intently watching a pair of male lovers in a shadowy corner of Lownsdale Square, realized that he recognized one of his quarries from the newspaper. Sensing fame and fortune in the making, he hollered for a constable, and soon one Edward Stonewall Jackson McAllister was being taken down to the precinct for questioning.
Stonewall, as he’s become known to history, was a liberal defense attorney and local leader in West’s own Democratic Party. Much more than the governor, he was an actual friend of the working man, and so when he was brought up on charges of indecency, Henry Pittock’s conservative local press jumped on the story. The Portland establishment, eager to distance themselves from West’s charges of vice and corruption, called Stonewall an interloper in their midst: a man who’d brought the perversions of the North End and of decadent Greek immigrants all the way to the doorstep of the Multnomah County Courthouse. They recruited as spokesman a young Progressive-reform leader named William Trufant Foster, the president of newly founded Reed College and leader of an outfit called the Oregon Sexual Hygiene Society, which advocated birth control and sexual education but also promoted eugenics and the rooting out of altersexuality. Foster accompanied police raids on North End bawdyhouses and gave well-attended lectures on sexual hygiene at the YMCA. It was a classic moral panic, and it united both the Republican city fathers and West’s Democrat moralists against Stonewall, against his small band of intellectual friends and allies - and, soon, against the working class of the city.
Because that’s when it all fell apart. As the trial began, it emerged that Mr. McAllister hadn’t been slumming it in the North End at all; he was part of an entirely separate upper-middle-class altersexual subculture that had its center right under the city fathers’ noses at the YMCA they all financially supported. Dana Sleeth and his populist rag the Portland Daily News were quick to ridicule the hypocrisy and accuse the city and state governments of meddling in the trial, trying to put McAllister away before anybody looked at his address book. Sleeth further romanticized his stories by portraying Stonewall as a stoic, dignified martyr in the dock. And when A. W. Lafferty tried to make a career for himself by taking the Homosexual Conspiracy story national, the Daily News exposed the Representative’s own heinous sex crimes. All the while, Governor West frequently and publicly lost his temper with the upstart journal – boosting its circulation even higher.
In the end, America’s first famous altersexual ended up walking free with a suspended sentence, leaving the ruins of Oregon Progressivism behind him. The Portland public, whipped up by the Daily News, turned against the hypocrisies of moral reform. Mayor Rushlight, a moderate on reform issues, defeated a Progressive to win re-election, and former councilman Fred Merrill made a good showing on his new political libertine campaign. Merrill was a celebrity bicycle daredevil turned bicycle salesman and tavern owner, and advocated the complete non-enforcement of moralistic ordinances under the slogan “Keep Portland Wide Open.” Before his involvement in politics, he’d been best known for the fact that his bicycles were favored by the city’s ladies of the night.
Meanwhile, Os West’s political black eye had jeopardized his big priorities – alcohol prohibition and a eugenic sterilization law. The latter failed in the state legislature, now too closely associated with the “crank professor” Foster; the former narrowly lost out in a statewide referendum in 1914. The governor turned bitter, and after an attempt to enforce local-option prohibition with state troopers went violently awry, he left public life altogether.
Political libertinism became Portland law under Stonewall’s friend and defender, the flamboyant Mayor C. E. S. Wood. The celebrity attorney, war hero, booster, philosopher and artist found that his “moral laxity” was in fact his least controversial platform: it was his vocal opposition to the Great War that earned him his two assassination, and one recall, attempts. By the time Wood got bored and quit politics, vice and moralism had been set aside for good. Portland politics had become a straightforward battle between left and right, fought on issues of class, economics, and infrastructure. The space was kept wide open for the rise of America’s first openly altersexual culture.
Stonewall himself left town shortly after the case, and eked out a quiet life on a farm in Myrtle Creek. But he died admired by thousands – and lives on to this day admired by millions, his name a byword for pride and rebellion.
Like a lot of the local history lists I’ve done on here, this one probably needs some background. The “Portland vice scandal,” as it was known, is an incredibly important and understudied moment; from what I understand it was the first time the existence of a gay subculture was revealed to straight America. Queer stuff in the newspapers had always been either faraway celebrity gossip (like Oscar Wilde’s trial) or police-blotter reports about working-class men and racial minorities being busted for gay sex. It had been easy for straight society to imagine that it was just an occasional anomaly, deviant behavior by a few people on the fringes. That was harder to do after the “vice scandal” implicated a bunch of upper-class white men.
But in reality the scandal unfolded a little differently in reality than the way I’ve depicted it here. In November 1912, a teenager was arrested for shoplifting, and to exculpate himself he claimed that he’d been corrupted into a life of crime by a circle of homosexuals operating out of the Portland YMCA. Investigators soon found that there was indeed a gay scene centered at the Y, and about 70 men were arrested, almost all for private, consensual sexual acts. Only seven were ultimately found guilty, but all were publicly humiliated and forced to incriminate each other in court.
Because many of the accused were professional types – doctors, lawyers – and because the YMCA was a major charitable project of the city’s elite, the Portland establishment tried to keep a lid on the scandal. The main newspapers reported it soberly. William Trufant Foster and the sexual hygiene folks were brought in to restore the credibility of the YMCA. Dana Sleeth, on the other hand, saw this coverup as further evidence of the establishment’s corruption, and so his paper launched into lurid, conspiratorial, bile-filled coverage of the gay scene that did wonders for his circulation. Ultimately, the “vice scandal” just became weaponized by reformers to tar their opponents as decadent sodomites, and was used to support Os West’s eugenics laws. It was an ugly sequence of events, and while it was historically significant it’s hard to find anything uplifting in the story.
Here, I’ve tried to turn it into a moment of light instead. Since McAllister is implicated alone at first, and it looks like an establishment persecution of a people’s champion, Sleeth and the yellow press are happy to hit the hypocrisy angle instead of the homophobia angle. In doing so, they crack some of the contradictions of the Progressive Era and open up space for something that might become a gay rights movement entirely unlike our own.
first of all, the guy being known as Stonewall is a very nice bit of historical convergence done well
second of all, i'm almost as gay for municipal politics as i am for women so i really like this
Had this idea for a list and it took way too long as usual.
Should be reasonably clear what's going on, but feel free to speculate otherwise, and I'll come back in a bit to discuss the point of it. (This is an algorithmic gimmick list with a theme, not intended to be realistic).
List of Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States
1977-1981: James A. Rhodes / Donald J. Mitchell (Republican) 1976 def: Hugh Carey / Matthew E. Welsh (Democratic)
1981-1981: J. William Stanton† / Bernard M. Kilbourn (Republican) 1980 def: Frederick C. Weyand / Earl Hogan (Democratic)
1981-1985: Bernard M. Kilbourn / (vacant) (Republican)
1985-1989: Mario Cuomo / Matthew E. Welsh (Democratic) 1984 def: William Cohen / Charles H. Percy (Republican)
1989-1993: Richard Lugar / Evan G. Galbraith (Republican) 1988 def: Mario Cuomo / John Glenn (Democratic)
1993-1997: Mario Cuomo / Paul N. Carlin (Democratic) 1992 def: Richard Lugar / Joe M. Rogers (Republican); James A. Leach / J. Marshall Coleman (Reform)
1997-1999: George Voinovich / Alfred N. Beadleston† (Republican) 1996 def: Peter Hoagland / Thomas C. Mapother IV (Democratic/Reform fusion)
1999-2001: George Voinovich / (vacant) (Republican)
2001-2001: George Voinovich† / George Pataki (Republican) 2000 def: Peter Hoagland / Paul N. Carlin (Democratic)
2001-2009: George Pataki / Paul Helmke (Republican) 2004 def: Judith Kaye / Jay Rockefeller (Democratic)
2009-2012: Francis J. Harvey / Sherwood Boehlert† (Republican) 2008 def: Peter Hoagland / Joe Donnelly (Democratic)
2012-2013: Francis J. Harvey / (vacant) (Republican)
2013-2021: Jon Corzine / Joe Kernan (Democratic) 2012 def: George Pataki / Arnold Schwarzenegger (Americans Elect); Francis J. Harvey / Sherwood Boehlert† (Republican); Sheila Klinker / Tom Barrett (Occupy America)
2016 def: Carl Paladino / Paul Helmke (Republican)
2021-2023: Rob Portman† / Charlie Baker (Republican) 2020 def: Ed FitzGerald / Janine A. Davidson (Democratic)
2023-2025: Charlie Baker / (vacant) (Republican)
2025-2029: Charlie Baker / Mick Mulvaney (Republican) 2024 def: Matthew Barzun / Carol Blood (Democratic); Tammy Baldwin / Steve Bullock (Independent/fusion)
Had this idea for a list and it took way too long as usual.
Should be reasonably clear what's going on, but feel free to speculate otherwise, and I'll come back in a bit to discuss the point of it. (This is an algorithmic gimmick list with a theme, not intended to be realistic).
List of Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States
1977-1981: James A. Rhodes / Donald J. Mitchell (Republican) 1976 def: Hugh Carey / Matthew E. Welsh (Democratic)
1981-1981: J. William Stanton† / Bernard M. Kilbourn (Republican) 1980 def: Frederick C. Weyand / Earl Hogan (Democratic)
1981-1985: Bernard M. Kilbourn / (vacant) (Republican)
1985-1989: Mario Cuomo / Matthew E. Welsh (Democratic) 1984 def: William Cohen / Charles H. Percy (Republican)
1989-1993: Richard Lugar / Evan G. Galbraith (Republican) 1988 def: Mario Cuomo / John Glenn (Democratic)
1993-1997: Mario Cuomo / Paul N. Carlin (Democratic) 1992 def: Richard Lugar / Joe M. Rogers (Republican); James A. Leach / J. Marshall Coleman (Reform)
1997-1999: George Voinovich / Alfred N. Beadleston† (Republican) 1996 def: Peter Hoagland / Thomas C. Mapother IV (Democratic/Reform fusion)
1999-2001: George Voinovich / (vacant) (Republican)
2001-2001: George Voinovich† / George Pataki (Republican) 2000 def: Peter Hoagland / Paul N. Carlin (Democratic)
2001-2009: George Pataki / Paul Helmke (Republican) 2004 def: Judith Kaye / Jay Rockefeller (Democratic)
2009-2012: Francis J. Harvey / Sherwood Boehlert† (Republican) 2008 def: Peter Hoagland / Joe Donnelly (Democratic)
2012-2013: Francis J. Harvey / (vacant) (Republican)
2013-2021: Jon Corzine / Joe Kernan (Democratic) 2012 def: George Pataki / Arnold Schwarzenegger (Americans Elect); Francis J. Harvey / Sherwood Boehlert† (Republican); Sheila Klinker / Tom Barrett (Occupy America)
2016 def: Carl Paladino / Paul Helmke (Republican)
2021-2023: Rob Portman† / Charlie Baker (Republican)
2020 def: Ed FitzGerald / Janine A. Davidson (Democratic)
2023-2025: Charlie Baker / (vacant) (Republican)
2025-2029: Charlie Baker / Mick Mulvaney (Republican) 2024 def: Matthew Barzun / Carol Blood (Democratic); Tammy Baldwin / Steve Bullock (Independent/fusion)
1989 - 1993: George H. W. Bush (Republican) 1988 (with Howard Baker) def: Michael Dukakis (Democrat)
1993 - 1997: Paul Tsongas (Democrat) 1992 (with Bob Graham) def: George H. W. Bush (Republican), Ross Perot (Freedom)
1997 - 2005: John Engler (Republican) 1996 (with Carroll Campbell) def: Jerry Brown (Democrat, Freedom)
2000 (with Colin Powell) def: Jerry Brown (Democrat, Freedom)
2005 - 2009: Fred Thompson (Republican) 2004 (with Antonin Scalia) def: Wesley Clark (Democrat), Bernie Sanders (Labor)
2009 - 2017: Antonin Scalia (Republican) 2008 (with Richard Hanna) def: Wesley Clark (Democrat), Bernie Sanders (Labor), Jerry Brown (Freedom Democrat)
2012 (with Donald Trump) def: Jerry Brown (Democrat), Bernie Sanders (Labor)
2017 - 2021: Tim Kaine (National Union - Democrat - Republican) 2016 def: Jill Stein (Labor)
2021 - 2027: Mark Milley (Republican) 2020 (with Charlie Baker) def: Bernie Sanders (Labor), Joe Manchin (Democrat)
2024 (with Bill Ackman) def: Joe Manchin (Democrat), India Walton (Workers’)
2027 - 2033: Bill Ackman (Republican) 2028 (with Tucker Carlson) def: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Workers’), Sri Kulkarni (Democrat)
2033 - 0000: Ilhan Omar (Workers’) 2032 def: Bill Ackman (Republican), Richard Ojeda (Democrat), Matthew F. Hale (Christian)
Yeah. For the avoidance of doubt, it's transposing US presidents and veeps forward one century, not using analogues based on similar views or background, but just taking them based on what offices they held. I.e. if a president was Governor of Ohio 1891-1893 or whatever, use the person who was Governor of Ohio 1991-1993 (closest to), while keeping the parties consistent - so I used OTL losing candidates a couple of times. So for example George Pataki isn't much like Teddy Roosevelt, he's just in there because of occupying the governor's office at the right time. I think I only cheated once and used a thematic connection rather than one of office.
The point is to illustrate two oddities of Gilded Age US politics, which perhaps stand out more when transposed to today:
- The executive was pretty much a stranglehold by New York and Ohio, and to a lesser extent Indiana and Illinois. If you weren't from one of those four big swing states, forget it. The South, Pennsylvania, and, to a lesser extent, New England get pretty much totally ignored, never mind the west. If you were Governor of New York at any point, you have an almost guaranteed chance of being considered at the convention for the presidential ticket - which surely must have influenced people's career paths.
- Veep candidates can be from incredibly obscure and minor backgrounds, just because they were on a president's team when they were a governor or did some party favour of them - which, in the case of Chester A. Arthur, ended up elevating them to the presidency. So there are a lot of names on here who are real people from the 20th century, but almost nobody will have heard of, even US political history experts.
This sort of gimmick is much more possible for the US than for other countries, due to the rigid electoral calendar and the unchanging states. It only got complicated when Congressmen were involved and I had to work out which congressional district area geographically corresponded.
In one 1960 parliamentary exchange, liberal MP Ugo La Malfa asked PCI general secretary Palmiro Togliatti how a party with such strong roots in the Stalin-era Third International (the Comintern) could nonetheless proclaim itself the best defender of Italian democracy — indeed, the patriotic “party of the whole Italian people.” Togliatti replied that La Malfa was like “the man who visiting a zoo, and seeing a giraffe, denies the evidence in front of his eyes, insisting that such a creature could not exist.” La Malfa conceded that there was no doubt that the “giraffe” existed, but what strange gestation process linked it to its “rhinoceros, elephant or lion” forebears?
1945 - 1948: Alcide De Gasperi (Christian Democracy) 1946 (Coalition) def. Pietro Nenni (Socialist), Palmiro Togliatti (Communist), Luigi Einaudi (National Democratic Union), Guglielmo Giannini (Common Man's Front)
1947: President Truman orders De Gasperi to purge PSI and PCI from the cabinet
1948 - 1956: Palmiro Togliatti (Communist) 1948 (Majority — Garibaldi List) def. Alcide De Gasperi (Christian Democracy), Pietro Nenni (Socialist — Garibaldi List)
1948: United States government cuts off all Marshall Plan funding to Italy, Soviet Union agrees to provide imports 1948: Assassination attempt of Togliatti leaves Prime Minister's life in jeopardy for days, Pietro Secchia organizes strikes, start of Italian Revolution, workers seize means of production, economies of Genoa, Venice, and Turin (Red Triangle) under 75% worker control
1949: End of the Berlin Blockade, as part of negotiations the USA agrees to reinstate Marshall Plan funding to Italy
1950: Independence of Eritrean People's Republic
1953 (Majority — Garibaldi List) def. Giuseppe Dossetti (Christian Democracy — Garibaldi List), Pietro Nenni (Socialist — Garibaldi List), Roberto Lucifero (National Bloc) 1956: Togliatti criticizes Khruschev's Secret Speech, declares that Stalin was the victim of "endless persecution"
1956: Togliatti visits Yugoslavia, reinstates relations with Tito regime
1956 - 1958: Giovanni Gronchi (Christian Democracy) 1956: Nenni-Togliatti split following PCI's support of suppressing the Hungarian Revolution, formation of an "organic center-left"
1957: Palmiro Togliatti gives "Italian Way to Socialism" speech, requests that the USSR adopt a more flexible form of Marxist-Leninism
1958 - 1964: Palmiro Togliatti (Communist) 1958 (Majority — Italian Way) def. Giovanni Gronchi (Christian Democracy — CsX), Tullio Vecchietti (Left Socialist — Italian Way), Pietro Nenni (Autonomist Socialist — CsX) 1958: Giacomo Lercaro becomes Pope Leo XIV, promotes ecumenical reforms and positive relations with PCI...declares "church of the poor"
1960: Independence of the Socialist Union of Somalia
1960: Banning of the Italian Social Movement after national anti-fascist protests
1963 (Majority — Italian Way) def. Giorgio La Pira (Christian Democracy — CsX), Tullio Vecchietti (Left Socialist — Italian Way), Pietro Nenni (Autonomist Socialist — CsX) 1964: Togliatti calls for a conference between China and the USSR to resolve the Sino-Soviet split, dies before dream could be achieved
1964 - 1964: Luigi Longo (Communist) 1964: Luigi Longo succeeds Togliatti, intended as a temporary compromise between "left" and "right" factions
1964 - 1969: Luigi Longo (Unitarian Socialist) 1964: Reversal of the 1921 Livorno split, PSI and PCI reuinted
1967: Italian intelligence agencies reconstructed amidst growing fears of an American-backed coup
1968: Strikers seize FIAT and Lancia factories, Longo urges factory workers to back down and start negotiations
1968 (Majority) def. Giorgio La Pira (Christian Democracy), Sandro Pertini (Socialist Refoundation) 1969: Luigi Longo retires in light of a stroke
1969 - 1973: Pietro Secchia (Unitarian Socialist) 1969: Pietro Secchia named as Longo's successor, favors dialogue with student protesters
1970: General Giovanni de Lorenzo, once deeply trusted by the left, arrested after organizing a coup
1973 (Majority) def. Sandro Pertini (Socialist Refoundation), Fiorentino Sullo (Christian Democracy), Giovanni Malagodi (Liberal)
1973: Secchia dies, conspiracy theorists accuse Americans of poisoning Prime Minister
1973 - 1978: Enrico Berlinguer (Unitarian Socialist) 1973: Berlinguer outmaneuvers Amendola by claiming the legacy of Togliatti
1973: Assassination attempt against Berlinguer in Bulgaria, Soviet involvement suspected
1976: Giuseppe Siri becomes Gregory XVIII, expresses opposition to Vatican II and staunch anti-communist views
1976: Finance Minister Franco Modigliani adopts a post-Keynesian turn, scala mobile temporarily frozen
1977: Strike wave breaks out, Catholic trade unions supported by American intelligence
1978: Giorgio Napolitano kidnapped by far-left terrorists, hostage negotiations prove unsuccessful
1978 - 1983: Carlo Donat Cattin (Solidarity) 1978 (Majority)def. Enrico Berlinguer (Unitarian Socialist), Marco Panella (Radical)
1980: Enrico Berlinguer assassinated by American-trained fascists, mourned throughout Italy
1981: Cattin resigns over squabbles within Solidarity Party, reappointed by President De Martino to avoid new elections
1982: Marco Donat-Cattin, son of the Prime Minister, flees to Eritrea after being accused of orchestrating left-wing domestic terrorism
1983 - 0000: Nilde Iotti (Unitarian Socialist) 1983 (Majority) def. Carlo Donat Cattin (Solidarity), Marco Panella (Radical) 1987 (Majority) def. Salvatore Toscano (Solidarity), Salvatore Valitutti (Liberal), Marco Panella (Radical)
1945 - 1948: Alcide De Gasperi (Christian Democracy) 1946 (Coalition) def. Pietro Nenni (Socialist), Palmiro Togliatti (Communist), Luigi Einaudi (National Democratic Union), Guglielmo Giannini (Common Man's Front)
1947: President Truman orders De Gasperi to purge PSI and PCI from the cabinet
1948 - 1956: Palmiro Togliatti (Communist) 1948 (Majority — Garibaldi List) def. Alcide De Gasperi (Christian Democracy), Pietro Nenni (Socialist — Garibaldi List)
1948: United States government cuts off all Marshall Plan funding to Italy, Soviet Union agrees to provide imports 1948: Assassination attempt of Togliatti leaves Prime Minister's life in jeopardy for days, Pietro Secchia organizes strikes, start of Italian Revolution, workers seize means of production, economies of Genoa, Venice, and Turin (Red Triangle) under 75% worker control
1949: End of the Berlin Blockade, as part of negotiations the USA agrees to reinstate Marshall Plan funding to Italy
1950: Independence of Eritrean People's Republic
1953 (Majority — Garibaldi List) def. Giuseppe Dossetti (Christian Democracy — Garibaldi List), Pietro Nenni (Socialist — Garibaldi List), Roberto Lucifero (National Bloc) 1956: Togliatti criticizes Khruschev's Secret Speech, declares that Stalin was the victim of "endless persecution"
1956: Togliatti visits Yugoslavia, reinstates relations with Tito regime
1956 - 1958: Giovanni Gronchi (Christian Democracy) 1956: Nenni-Togliatti split following PCI's support of suppressing the Hungarian Revolution, formation of an "organic center-left"
1957: Palmiro Togliatti gives "Italian Way to Socialism" speech, requests that the USSR adopt a more flexible form of Marxist-Leninism
1958 - 1964: Palmiro Togliatti (Communist) 1958 (Majority — Italian Way) def. Giovanni Gronchi (Christian Democracy — CsX), Tullio Vecchietti (Left Socialist — Italian Way), Pietro Nenni (Autonomist Socialist — CsX) 1958: Giacomo Lercaro becomes Pope Leo XIV, promotes ecumenical reforms and positive relations with PCI...declares "church of the poor"
1960: Independence of the Socialist Union of Somalia
1960: Banning of the Italian Social Movement after national anti-fascist protests
1963 (Majority — Italian Way) def. Giorgio La Pira (Christian Democracy — CsX), Tullio Vecchietti (Left Socialist — Italian Way), Pietro Nenni (Autonomist Socialist — CsX) 1964: Togliatti calls for a conference between China and the USSR to resolve the Sino-Soviet split, dies before dream could be achieved
1964 - 1964: Luigi Longo (Communist) 1964: Luigi Longo succeeds Togliatti, intended as a temporary compromise between "left" and "right" factions
1964 - 1969: Luigi Longo (Unitarian Socialist) 1964: Reversal of the 1921 Livorno split, PSI and PCI reuinted
1967: Italian intelligence agencies reconstructed amidst growing fears of an American-backed coup
1968: Strikers seize FIAT and Lancia factories, Longo urges factory workers to back down and start negotiations
1968 (Majority) def. Giorgio La Pira (Christian Democracy), Sandro Pertini (Socialist Refoundation) 1969: Luigi Longo retires in light of a stroke
1969 - 1973: Pietro Secchia (Unitarian Socialist) 1969: Pietro Secchia named as Longo's successor, favors dialogue with student protesters
1970: General Giovanni de Lorenzo, once deeply trusted by the left, arrested after organizing a coup
1973 (Majority) def. Sandro Pertini (Socialist Refoundation), Fiorentino Sullo (Christian Democracy), Giovanni Malagodi (Liberal)
1973: Secchia dies, conspiracy theorists accuse Americans of poisoning Prime Minister
1973 - 1978: Enrico Berlinguer (Unitarian Socialist) 1973: Berlinguer outmaneuvers Amendola by claiming the legacy of Togliatti
1973: Assassination attempt against Berlinguer in Bulgaria, Soviet involvement suspected
1976: Giuseppe Siri becomes Gregory XVIII, expresses opposition to Vatican II and staunch anti-communist views
1976: Finance Minister Franco Modigliani adopts a post-Keynesian turn, scala mobile temporarily frozen
1977: Strike wave breaks out, Catholic trade unions supported by American intelligence
1978: Giorgio Napolitano kidnapped by far-left terrorists, hostage negotiations prove unsuccessful
1978 - 1983: Carlo Donat Cattin (Solidarity) 1978 (Majority)def. Enrico Berlinguer (Unitarian Socialist), Marco Panella (Radical)
1980: Enrico Berlinguer assassinated by American-trained fascists, mourned throughout Italy
1981: Cattin resigns over squabbles within Solidarity Party, reappointed by President De Martino to avoid new elections
1982: Marco Donat-Cattin, son of the Prime Minister, flees to Eritrea after being accused of orchestrating left-wing domestic terrorism
1983 - 0000: Nilde Iotti (Unitarian Socialist) 1983 (Majority) def. Carlo Donat Cattin (Solidarity), Marco Panella (Radical) 1987 (Majority) def. Salvatore Toscano (Solidarity), Salvatore Valitutti (Liberal), Marco Panella (Radical)
Presidents of the United States of America 2017-2021: Donald Trump / Mike Pence (Republican) 2016: def. Hillary Clinton / Tim Kaine (Democratic) 2020 (Elected): Michael Bloomberg † / Andrew Yang (Democratic) 2020: def. Donald Trump / Mike Pence (Republican)
January 6, 2021: 2021 Capitol Insurrection; assassination of President-elect Michael Bloomberg caused by pipe bomb at DNC
January 12, 2021: Removal of Donald Trump from office after Senate conviction on charges of incitement of insurrection; subsequent vote to bar him from office succeeds 2021-2021: Mike Pence / vacant (Republican)
2021-2021: Andrew Yang / vacant (Democratic) March 26, 2021: Confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as Vice President 2021-2022: Andrew Yang / Tulsi Gabbard (Democratic) April 23, 2022: Tulsi Gabbard leaves the Democratic Party (later joining the GOP before resigning), citing disagreements with Yang’s decision to send aid to Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War 2022-2023: Andrew Yang / Tulsi Gabbard (Democratic | Independent)
2023-2024: Andrew Yang / Tulsi Gabbard (Democratic | Republican) 2024-2024: Andrew Yang / vacant (Democratic)
2024-2024: Andrew Yang / Patty Murray(Democratic) July 4, 2024: Andrew Yang forms the Forward Party after losing the Democratic nomination to Gavin Newsom 2024-2025:Andrew Yang / Patty Murray (Forward | Democratic)
2025-2033: Nikki Haley / Brad Little (Republican) 2024: def. Gavin Newsom / Anthony Fauci (Democratic), Andrew Yang / Joe Rogan (Forward)
Despite selecting Anthony Fauci as his dark-horse pick for running mate, Gavin Newsom is narrowly defeated by “moderate” Republican Nikki Haley, no doubt helped by the Forward Party. President-elect Haley becomes the first Republican to win the popular vote in twenty years, winning 2.4 million more votes than Governor Newsom.
September 28, 2028: the Warsaw Ceasefire is signed, ending the Russo-Ukrainian War: while Ukraine is forced to cede some territory to Russia, it is accepted into the EU
2028: def. John Fetterman / Pete Buttigieg (Democratic), Andrew Yang / Evan Low (Forward)
President Haley is re-elected by an even narrower margin over progressive Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, with the election coming down to Arizona; while establishment Democrats blame the nominee’s progressive leanings, the base blames Yang for once again splitting the center-left vote. Haley loses the popular vote to Fetterman by 2.7%.
August 8, 2032: Former Vice President Tulsi Gabbard is officially nominated by the Republican Party as their presidential nominee. 2033-0000: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez / Bee Nguyen (Democratic) 2032: def. Tulsi Gabbard / James Craig (Republican), Evan Low / Whitney Williams (Forward)
A chaotic, dysfunctional Republican campaign hands the Democrats a landslide, winning Alaska, Ohio, North Carolina and Texas in addition to their (IRL) 2020 states sans New Hampshire; meanwhile, the Forward Party’s better-run, non-ego-vehicle campaign nets them Alaska and Utah.
