Guest Post: POTUS Barkley

This article first appeared on the Today in Alternate History based on an original idea by Robbie Taylor.

November 1, 1950 - Tragedy at the Blair House

President Truman was assassinated by Puerto Rican nationalists at the Blair House. Truman had been staying at the less-secure Blair House because of remodelling at the White House, and the Puerto Ricans had gotten his schedule from a sympathizer on the staff there. Vice-President Alben Barkley assumed the office of President and ordered the F.B.I. to begin a series of raids to eradicate the nationalists in Puerto Rico. The island possession of the U.S. was a hotspot of political turmoil until it finally gained its independence in 1981.

Barkley was only the third POTUS from the Bluegrass State, following Abraham Lincoln and Zachary Taylor. He took the massive political gamble of firing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Omar Bradley for his failure to properly prepare the US Armed Forces for the Korean War. Bradley, the "General's GI," was replaced by Dwight D. Eisenhower who become embroiled in a bitter dispute with Douglas MacArthur over Korea. The drama in the military proved to be the action of the commander-in-chief in hopes of interrupting Eisenhower's potential candidacy for the coming presidential election.

Barkley's most immediate concern was the significant opposition he faced to win the nomination for the forthcoming presidential election in two years' time. A veteran politician of four decades standing, he arrived at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago determined to fight for his re-election. In spite of his seventy-three years of age and heart problems, he briskly walked the seven blocks from the bus station to his campaign headquarters.

Barkley enjoyed the support of key party figures including Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Democratic National Committee chairman Frank E. McKinney, House Majority Leader John William McCormack, former chairman James Farley and Senate Secretary Leslie Biffle. The challenge was from a group of labor leaders led by United Automobile Workers President Walter Reuther. They were convinced that Barkley's distant cousin, the more youthful Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II, stood a far better chance of winning the election in November.

Through his decades of experience as an astute political operator, Barkley had an ace up his sleeve. At the suggestion of Sam Rayburn, he introduced first-term Texan senator Lyndon B. Johnson as his preferred running mate. As then-VP and President of the Senate, Barkley had sworn in Johnson two years earlier. He was eight year younger than the Illinois governor, suggesting Johnson might seal the deal for voters wanting a youthful voice. Stevenson himself was also at the meeting, and he confidently stated that he favored nominating Barkley and wished to serve as Secretary of State. Truth be told, Stevenson was a complex personality that unsettled the labor leaders slightly; they belatedly realized that Barkley was a stronger candidate. As a consequence of his historic meeting, the Barkley-Johnson ticket ran in '52. Due to the Democrats holding the White House for twenty years, however, they faced an uphill battle that fall and lost to a Republican rally around the returning Eisenhower.

Barkley would die of a heart attack on April 30, 1956, and was buried in Mount Kenton Cemetery near Paducah in Kentucky. Against doctor's orders, he had been vigorously campaigning for Lyndon Baines Johnson's race for the White House. Earlier in the year, Barkley had taken a principled stand by refusing to sign the Southern Manifesto, declaring opposition to racial integration of public places. The document had been signed by nineteen US senators and eighty-two representatives from the South; ninety-nine were Democrats; two were Republicans. Consequently, his refusal to sign became a major campaign issue for Johnson. Nevertheless, he was still hopeful of LBJ beating Richard M. Nixon in the fall. Nixon had taken the place of Eisenhower after the president's own fatal heart attack on the golf links and sought to continue his presidency after '56 with his press team calling up memories of Republican Theodore Roosevelt.

Ironically, Johnson himself had suffered "the worst heart attack a man could have and still live" the previous year, aged only forty-seven. Notwithstanding that, the Johnson vs. Nixon campaign was a fierce contest between much two younger men, both of whom were both ruthless political operators. Following the new generation theme for '56, they selected running mates of similar ages. This led to the surprise decision of LBJ to choose Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, but many Democrats felt that JFK was only preparing his own run for '60.

 

 Provine's Addendum

 

Those suspecting JFK was using LBJ as a stepping stone would be proven correct in the 1960 election. Johnson, twice defeated on the national level, continued his work in the senate before retiring back to Texas. Kennedy went against Nixon, who had to frequently remind the populace that the 22nd Amendment allowed for another run since he had spent less than two years in office after taking over from Eisenhower. Despite Nixon having a strong record and being remembered as one of the nation's middling presidents, the confusions raises suspicions, and Nixon's volatile temper was caught on live television. Kennedy handily won the election.