Abridged Timeline Part 1 (PJW)

The Abridged Timeline covers the presidency of John Wayne.

Part 1
June 1953

On the morning of June 3, 1953, newspapers across the country carry grim news: beloved general, and Republican front-runner, Dwight D. Eisenhower was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack in his Sacramento hotel room after a long day of campaigning. While the general is expected to recover, his health issues cast a cloud over his election chances; indeed, with concerns over his health, Dwight makes an announcement: the office of president calls for a great, healthy leader, and he just isn't that man.

Thomas Dewey curses in his office; as Dwight's campaign adviser, he had full confidence the general would beat Robert Taft and whomever the Democrats chose. Dewey just doesn't trust Taft; too conservative and isolationist for the tastes of Dewey and the eastern moderates. As he pondered his next move, Dewey sighed. He already lost an election, but he still had a good deal of support within the party. And who else in the party could he nominate that would have enough strength to beat both Taft and the Democrats?

Dewey quickly wrote up a message on his typewriter to send to his supporters. If you want something done right, you better do it yourself, right?

Part 2
July 1954

The Republic National Convention in Chicago is a tumultuous scene. Dewey took most of Eisenhower's delegates, and a few more after Harold Stassen sent his to Dewey and and even more after Taft's supporters were evicted from the south. Dewey considered that a fair play, despite claims coming from an enraged Everett Dirksen that Dewey was bringing the Republicans down a road to defeat. But it wasn't enough, and with both men neck and neck, the winner was going to be determined in a back-room deal.

In a smoke-filled room, it's clear this stalemate won't be broken easily. Taft and Dewey are deadlocked, and with neither man willing to budge, the other fellows in the room suggest a compromise candidate that both men can agree on. "Like who, Warren?" One of them jokes with a round of laughter in the room. The idea of Warren is immediately shut down as too liberal. The perfect compromise candidate was not too conservative but not too moderate, anticommunist, strong-willed, and to top it off, a nationally known icon that could carry the Republican Party back to the White House for the first time in nearly twenty years.

In Hollywood, John Wayne receives a phone call.

Part 3
August-October 1953

Turns out most Republicans actually do like the choice of Wayne. An outsider is needed in Washington, or else men like Truman will end up in power and make a mess of things. Speaking of Truman, the beleaguered president announced he would not be running for another term. The Democrat front-runner was Senator Estes Kefauver, but party bosses could not throw their weight behind a man that exposed their dealings with the less savory elements of the criminal world. Instead, after a rousing welcoming speech, Governor Adlai Stevenson agrees to throw his own name on the ballot; he is elected on the third.

Quickly, the two candidates focus on their differences. Stevenson's argument is simple: do voters want a politician or an actor in the White House? Of course, he doesn't put it that simply; Stevenson is a skilled orator, but perhaps too skilled; his campaign advisers fear that his speeches, while eloquent, are going over the heads of the average American voter...

Wayne positions himself as the champion of that average American voter. He's not some career politician, he's an average man, just like you and me, that has jumped at the chance of doing the greatest duty his country can ask. A modern-day Cincinnatus or Washington, if you ask him. He's not an egghead like Stevenson; he understands the plight of the American voter and he'll fight for them in Washington, which needs a good cleaning of the Democrats that have remained in power for too long and allowed corruption and foreign operatives to creep into the capital.

That last part gets Wayne the full endorsement of a demagogue Senator from up north, Joseph McCarthy.

Part 4
November 1953

Both parties are worried on election night. Republicans fear the one-party system ruling Washington will continue; Democrats are worried that an actor will defeat them in an election. The Democrats fears are based on real information: for the past two months Wayne has been leading Stevenson in the polls. Wayne's issues, such as lack of experience, had been assuaged with the choosing of Everett Dirsken as his running mate (which was no doubt another compromise; Dirksen was a Taft man).

At 1:12 AM, Wayne pops open a champagne bottle with his supporters. New York has gone red, the Republicans have won. Sometime later, Stevenson calls Wayne to congratulate him, makes his concession speech, then retreats to Illinois, disgusted with national politics.

Wayne's victory was decent, not a landslide, but comfortable. And wouldn't you know it, an actor was in the White House.

Part 5
December 1953 - March 1954

Wayne now found himself the responsibility of filling out his cabinet. The General, despite his worsened health, was still well enough to give some advice as for good picks for the cabinet. Men like John Foster Dulles for State, Charles Erwin Wilson for Defense, and Herbert Brownell Jr. for Attorney General were all picked by Eisenhower's hand. When businessman George M. Humphrey declined working with Wayne (I'd work with Eisenhower was president, he allegedly said), Wayne decided to throw a bone to the man that helped him get to office and nominated Thomas Dewey for Treasury.

As for his own personal retinue, Wayne was independent; despite warnings from Eisenhower to stay away from McCarthy, the senator's personal consultant G. David Schine was chosen as the president's adviser, in a position known as Chief of Staff. Thus began the close relationship between Wayne and McCarthy.

Meanwhile, Soviet dictator Stalin is found dead after a severe stroke; his successor, with Khrushchev, Beria, and Malenkov all struggling for power, is unclear...