Before you read the introduction and the timeline, I would like to admit here and right now on the all-holy Bible that I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
This fic is inspired by the following stories: Strange Surroundings by PaladinDelta, Days of Fire by ghost company, Resistance by Jay Simpson, and Star Wars: A New Ally by Wolf2.
However, this is not a conventional Earth in the Star Wars universe fic because this story takes place in an alternate 1960s where JFK survived his assassination attempt and General George S. Patton is still alive!
But that's not to mention the fact that Earth in the story is set in the Cold War era because it makes sense for the sake of the setting and in a way to make the story unique from the other fics.
Imagine an unlikely alliance (no pun intended by me due to my other work) between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in which Fortunate Son plays in Huey helicopters and Russian tanks followed suit playing the U.S.S.R. National Anthem as they both made an epic charge as the unified forces of Earth battle the Empire! (Sorry for saying this to one of my favorite conservatives in history; Ronald Reagan, but for this story, it's a situation of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. At least you still have your evil empire. May you rest in peace, sir.)
Even though this is alternate history, it is assuming that things will have to be worse before it gets better and as part of this disclaimer I just want to let you know that in no way am I trying to be whatever label you put here.
Just understand that this is the 1960s we're talking about and to be fair in actual history the Civil Rights movement took longer than what will happen in the backstory of this fic but...
JFK managed to pass Civil Rights legislation in the spring of 1964 due to, other than not being assassinated, coughs awkwardly as the author here reveals the alternate vote on a certain amendment proposed by this historic individual that was added in actuality and is still in effect today an amendment to Title VII proposed by known Segregationist Howard Worth Smith of Virginia was voted down, and while on the topic: I want to warn you that there will be at least some depictions of sexism and racism in the story so be aware and the views of the characters in the story are not my view at all.
What I'm trying to say is that once again it is the culture of the period, not my personal beliefs, so please do not call me a racist, sexist, homophobic, bigot, etcetera just because I wrote some dialogue or scenes for this story. And to be honest with you there's certainly will be cases of messy situations occurring as it usually does whenever cultures clash.
Besides, this is a Star Wars story and the Sith Empire is portrayed as being speciesist, which is a form of racism. Fictional yes, but it is still undeniably racism.
Oh, and the Vietnam War ended by the Summer of 1967 just to let you know. I will not get into too much detail about it here in the main story since it is still a sore subject even today and there will be a prequel in the future centered around the conflict, but just know that in this tale Vietnam will be reunified but with Hanoi being renamed instead of Saigon.
With the above disclaimer out of the way, I hope you enjoy this unique take for an Earth in Star Wars fanfic :)
Happening in an alternate 1960s
And in a galaxy not so far away...
[*Cue the Star Wars theme immediately followed by Dawn of Instruction by The Jayhawkers*]
Earth: A Rendezvous with Destiny
Man has made a surprising discovery on the moon! AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS MICHAEL COLLINS, NEIL ARMSTRONG, and EDWIN EUGENE 'BUZZ' ALDRIN, JUNIOR had made official FIRST CONTACT with extragalactic life!
What they have encountered is a diplomatic ship carrying a Senator, two SPACE MONKS, and other representatives from a government known as the 'GALACTIC REPUBLIC'.
News quickly spread of the discovery of the STAR TREK loving (but mistaken by the extraterrestrials as a documentary) extra-galactic civilization and the war that was going on between them and a faction called the Sith Empire.
Realizing that the SITH EMPIRE is essentially 'SPACE NAZISM', the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and other nations of the world eventually allied themselves with the REPUBLIC and prepared for the inevitable confrontation with the 'SPACE NAZIS'
Witness the events of the Earth-Sith War and the Revolt against the Eternal Empire through the eyes of three Earthlings: JACOB GREGORY MEYER of the UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS and SAMUEL DAVID WESTBROOK of the UNITED STATES ARMY'S famed 82ND AIRBORNE DIVISION; alongside HANZO ELWOOD NILSSON of the PRINCESS PATRICIA'S CANADIAN LIGHT INFANTRY as they fight the 'Space Demons' known to the rest of the galaxy as 'Sith Purebloods' and eventually Robots controlled by two deranged siblings.
Alternate Earth Timeline
Alternate Earth Timeline
1929
17th March: In a cruel sense of irony as retaliation for the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, hitmen of the Ziegler Mob - a German-American criminal syndicate allied with the Irish-American Northside Gang and based out of neighboring East Chicago, Lake County, Indiana - attacked a warehouse owned by Capone with Flammenwerfer M.16s while impersonating firemen of the Chicago Fire Department. The press decided to refer to the deadly and gruesome arson incident as the 'Saint Patrick's Day Massacre'.
1930
14th November: The Semi-Automatic Rifle Board, consisting of officers from the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, declared that submitted designs could have holes drilled directly in the barrel i.e. 'gas ports' as long as they were upheld as reliable.
16th November: After receiving his copy of the report, John Cantius Garand immediately began experimenting with a 'gas port' design for his prototype, drilling into his barrel, and moved away from the 'gas trap' system akin to the Bang series of rifles that was implemented in his T1E2 prototype.
1931
17th October: Infamous mob boss Alphonse Gabriel 'Al' Capone aka Scarface was acquitted of Tax Evasion after he proved that the Federal Government constantly refused to see his tax returns, much to the embarrassment of Melvin Purvis and the 'Untouchables'.
1932
4th January: The joint interservice Semi-Automatic Rifle Board, consisting of officers from the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, recommended the adoption of John Cantius Garand's T1E3 prototype with a 'gas port' system as the next official general issue mainline service rifle of the American military
1933
3rd August: Upon final approval after rigorous field trials, the Garand T1E3 rifle was officially adopted by the American military as the U.S. Rifle, Semiautomatic, Caliber .30, M1.
'Semiautomatic' was soon dropped from the nomenclature as there was no need to denote the type of mechanism.
1934
4th January: Two years after the board reccomended the adoption of Garand's design, production of the new standard arm, U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, was on track to begin in early to mid February with the first units to be equipped by the end of the year.
19th May: A bombing plot to murder travelers at a train station in Tientsin, Hebei Province, China was foiled by local authorities.
14th October: The 3rd Infantry, 19th Infantry, 4th Cavalry, and 20th Field Artillery Regiments of the United States Army became the first units to turn in their M1903 rifles and be reequipped with M1s.
The rest of the Regulars would receive the new arm and exchange the previous weapon for them within months.
The United States Army Reserve and National Guard units of the several states were expected to phase out their bolt-action rifles within the next five years with servicemen authorized to purchase the surplus rifles for private ownership at reduced cost and the Department of the Army plans to offer surplus rifles on the open market per policy.
The United States Marine Corps, on the other hand, decided until further review to retain the M1903 for most of their forces except for the Defense Battalions, believing that the Garand design was inherently less accurate than the Springfield.
1935
19th May: Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence of the British Army, internationally known as 'Lawrence of Arabia', was interviewed by The Times a couple days after enjoying his motorcycle ride in the English countryside.
1936
16th June: Commandant of the Marine Corps, Major General John Henry Russell, Junior, ordered that the First and Second Marine Brigades of the United States Marine Corps, along with the reserves, be reequipped with the new M1 Rifle in due haste.
1937
7th July: Acting without orders weeks earlier, rogue elements of the Imperial Japanese Army staged the 'Marco Polo Bridge Incident' and the Japanese government was forced to officially declare war on China, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War.
1938
10th October: Nazi Germany announced the annexation of the Sudentenland from Czechoslovakia.
8th November: The United States Department of War and the Department of the Navy disputed if the next war was going to occur in the Pacific as the Navy suggested or Europe once more per the Army though there were some naval adherents of an open war in Europe or even against Britain and army officials whom believed Japan would attempt to target American territories in the Pacific.
Ultimately as a compromise a War Plan Orange-Black would be studied as an contingency with preparations to be made for a two-front conflict.
1939
1st September: Forces of Nazi Germany, in coordination with the Soviet Union, invaded the sovereign nation of Poland.
Within hours, Great Britain and France officially declared war on Germany.
1940
14th August: In Great Britain, both the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited factory at Small Heath - the only factory manufacturing Lee-Enfields on the eve of war - and the Royal Small Arms Factory in London, got struck during the Battle of Britain with all machinery lost.
Even the shadow factories were reduced to rubble, revealing that the Germans may have successfully infiltrated the Ministry of Defence but nonetheless the occurrence forced Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill to negotiate for more war material with small arms now becoming an urgent priority of the Lend-Lease program.
And the matter was indeed urgent as after the Evacuation from Dunkirk the British Army were underequipped of modern weapons due to being forced to abandon vehicles and armaments, nevermind hardly any spare Lee-Enfields left to be spread across the forming Home Guard units.
Within the week after gaining an understanding with the American government, the Ministry of Defence ordered units to officially begin the process of being reequipped and familiarize themselves with the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, Browning Automatic Rifles, and M1911A1 Handguns with ammunition shipped over as part of Lend-Lease while civilian arms were shipped overseas courtesy of a public awareness campaign by the National Rifle Association of America which were issued to the Home Guard upon arrival.
There were also machinery deemed to be 'surplus' inbound to manufacture them on the Isle and technicians sent to advise British factories being set up on producing the M1s, M1918s, and M1911A1s.
1941
31st November: Tipped off due to creditable intelligence reports that unwittingly validates the sensational headlines and vindicates the 'war warnings', the United States Navy in coordination with the Hawaiian Division of the United States Army prepared a trap for the inevitable incursion.
7th December: Under the guise of an unannounced live fire military exercise, the American garrison were prepared when the raiders arrived.
The Japanese aggressors were stunned by the response of the garrison, not even holding a contingency plan if the Americans were not attending church nor resting in general.
The U.S.S. Arizona (BB-39) was the first American battleship to sink five enemy vessels before taking on water with the loss of most hands.
The U.S.S. Ward (DD-139), with a crew who were reservists from Saint Paul, Minnesota and also claiming to have sunk an enemy submarine earlier in the morning, barraged the trespassing aggressors in vengeance of the crew lost aboard the Arizona.
Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft pursued the enemy bombers and Zeros while other American planes began strafing and bombing every ship of the Rising Sun on sight with mixed success.
As a result of the unanticipated catastrophe courtesy of a stiff defense, the Japanese naval forces were forced to retreat.
8th December: In addition to using his strategy, MacArthur immediately enacts the measures directly from War Plan Orange in addition to the "Elaborate additions of my own to massacre the enemy" after learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, also approving an retaliatory raid against Japanese shipping in the region by his bombers with the potential benefit of delaying any invasion force if there were transports in the vicinity of the islands.
On the same day, the Führer decided to declare war on the United States of America in aid of his ally.
11th December: The Japanese attempted to conquer Wake Island but were repulsed by the garrison composed of United States Marines and armed civilian workmen who were on the island building infrastructure at the time.
12th December: The second attempted assault by the Japanese, orchestrated haphazardly due to the unexpected resistance, failed as well.
20th December: Reinforcements composed of the 2nd Marine Defense Battalion arrived on Wake to augment the unit detached from the 1st Marine Defense Battalion and despite offering evacuation, most of the contractors decided to remain on the island to aid in the war effort.
23rd December: Regarded as a Christmas miracle, Wake Island successfully held out and broke the spine of the enemy.
Due to the fiasco, the Japanese Military were forced to be on the defensive.
1942
31st January: In addition to the disaster around Wake, the invading Japanese forces were being slaughtered as the Philippines gradually became recognized as a needless bloodbath and drain on resources.
The MacArthur Line, as the defense centered around Bataan came to be known internationally, was held despite the relentless onslaught though munitions were running low but food supplies were plentiful to last up to six months.
A joint relief effort was in the works by CINCPAC and the War Department to relieve the defenders at Bataan.
16th April: The MacArthur Line was pierced by the invaders and The Big Chief immediately ordered his troops to conduct a guerrilla campaign until reinforcements from the States could arrive.
17th-18th August: With the intention of raising national morale in addition to being a strategic blow against Japanese forces in the region, Leathernecks of the Second Marine Raider Battalion raided the atoll of Makin Island and annihilated the Japanese garrison and destroyed war material before departing on the submarines U.S.S. Argonaut (SS-166) and U.S.S. Nautilus (SS-168) with no casualties in return and every man accounted for.
26th September: American reinforcements land on the Philippines and in an iconic photograph taken in Manila showing the divergence, the soldier unfolding Old Glory to be raised was still attired in the old pre-war uniform reminiscent of the Doughboys with the M1917A1 pattern of helmet while the GI with the M1 helmet prepared to use the winch.
1943
15th August: It was decided by Allied bombing command to focus on targeting electricity grids in Nazi Germany with the anticipation of causing collapse of the Third Reich's war machine due to not being able to manufacture material.
Bombing routes were also adjusted to strike at oil fields in Romania and railroad junctions across occupied Europe as well.
22nd December: The U.S.S. Lafayette, formerly the French luxury liner S.S. Normandie before its seizure as angary by the United States of America, made its five hundredth run to Britain transporting embarked troops, rations, and war material plus Christmas gifts as well.
1944
20th July: Operation Valkyrie was initiated by Colonel Von Stauffenberg, leading to a detonation of an explosive suitcase within the Wolf's Lair. Adolf Hitler, as well as key members of his inner circle including Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, were killed in the blast. However, Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, was not present at the meeting.
Regardless, the Reserve Army was called upon and Joseph Goebbels, the Head of Nazi Propaganda, and key members of the SS and Gestapo within Berlin were arrested on the pretense of a joint-conspiracy between Goebbels and Himmler to assassinate the Führer, with additional orders being sent to all occupied territories.
21st July: Ludwig Beck was sworn in as the new Chancellor of Greater Germany according to the last will and testament of Adolf Hitler. He addressed the nation, declaring that Goebbels and Himmler had the Führer assassinated due to his wish to seek peace with the Allies, and that all members of the SS and Gestapo were to surrender or be treated as traitors of the state.
Karl Dönitz, head of the Kriegsmarine, having been contacted by Heinrich Himmler on the 20th, issued a counter statement, stating that Beck and his cabinet were the true conspirators and that an illegal government had taken hold of the Reich. He called upon all members of the German Military to resist the orders of the false government and issued orders for the arrest of Beck and members of his conspiracy.
Heinrich Himmler likewise issued secret orders to the regional commanders of the SS military divisions to seize command of the various military theaters, codenamed 'Ritterfall'.
22nd July: Ritterfall was put into effect and was met with initial success on the Eastern Front. Multiple Field Marshals and Generals were taken prisoner by the SS, and command of several Army Groups were reverted to them.
However, Ritterfall became undone when an attempted coup against Army Group B in France under Field Marshal Johannes 'Erwin' Eugen Rommel failed. In retaliation, the famous Desert Fox ordered the arrest of all SS military units in France. Chancellor Beck issued new orders that all SS military forces which did not surrender by midnight of the 22nd were to be considered hostile forces and shot on sight.
23rd July: Attempted SS coups in Northern Italy and Balkans were thwarted by their respective battlegroups. Pitched battles against the outnumbered and out positioned SS forces led to the death and/or capture of sixty-four percent of their combat troops. The Eastern Front was thrown into chaos as various army groups were left to try and hold back the advancing Red Army and deal with the traitorous SS.
24th July: Erwin Rommel was transferred to the Eastern Front to take overall command of the situation and eliminate the rogue elements taken over by the SS. Orders are issued to Army Group B to begin preparations to evacuate France and take up positions at the Siegfried Line.
5th September: After a series of operations, the various SS divisions were either crushed, captured or driven into controlled pockets. SS control of the various Eastern Army Groups were relinquished and Rommel issued orders to begin a series of strategic retreats from the Soviet Union. New defensive positions were placed in the heartland of Poland and the Northern Balkans, referred to as the 'Warsaw Front.'
10th September: Initial attempts to negotiate an armistice with the Western Allies failed due to their adherence to an unconditional surrender, and the unreasonable territorial demands of the new German Government.
13th September: France and the Netherlands were completely evacuated and all German Forces in the west were focused on defending the Siegfried Line.
20th September: While Rommel was able to hold the Soviet forces in the East back after two weeks of brutal fighting, a sudden uprising in Warsaw began to draw critical resources from the front. The Western Allies begin a series of operations against the Siegfried Line with mixed results.
3rd October: With continuous pressure from the Soviets and the drain of attempting to pacify Warsaw, Rommel ordered the withdrawal of German forces towards the German border. Romania formally surrendered to the Soviet Union.
7th October: German forces evacuate Warsaw, and a new Polish government was established in the newly liberated city, with the government-in-exile located in London making preparations to return to their home. The question of Polish independence in regards to Soviet occupation becomes a heated debate between the Allies.
11th October: Soviet forces surrounded the city of Warsaw and demanded it to capitulate. Polish leadership was in session with the probability of rejecting the ultimatum when a series of explosions killed a number of Soviet troops on the outskirts of the city. Soviet leadership declares that 'SS Terrorists' have taken refuge in the city, and that only Soviet occupation would pacify the city.
12th October: Soviet forces entered Warsaw and met heavy resistance from the Poles. The government-in-exile was outraged and demanded the immediate withdrawal of all Soviet forces. Soviet ambassadors accused the Poles of aiding the new German government, stating this was the reason German forces have withdrawn wholesale from Poland.
21st October: Warsaw formally surrendered to the Soviets. The government-in-exile issued a stand down order to their forces with optimistic assurances from the Allies of elections being held post-war. Soviet forces begin advancing toward the German border.
29th October: The Siegfried Line was breached and Allied forces began a dash towards the Rhine River in hopes of capturing Germany before the end of the year.
7th November: In what would be his final election, incumbent Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected President of the United States over Republican nominee Thomas Edmund Dewey.
17th November: Soviet forces breach the Eastern Front, and German forces begin a bitter fighting retreat as the Soviet begin a push towards Berlin.
8th December: Utilizing the Swiss government as a backwater channel, Führer Beck reveals to the world the horror of the full extent of the Concentration Camps and how the Waffen-SS, the elite of Germany, are being purged or sent to the East as 'Penal Legions' to "Wash away their crimes to the Fatherland and humanity itself by facing the inhumanistic, Communist horde as they approach the outskirts of Berlin".
Those apart of Einsatzgruppen units were simply shot and left to rot as a reminder that their crimes were no longer tolerated by the German government.
10th December: Negotiations with the Western Allies were opened again with the condition that Germany was able to retain its original 1933 borders. Soviet representatives were ordered to stall the negotiations to prolong the war long enough for the Soviet Union to capture Berlin. Suspicious of this, General Eisenhower issued secret orders to core commanders to push for Berlin and hold its outskirts before Soviet forces arrived.
Negotiations were planned between the Allies and the Reich in Geneva but were expected to take at least a month.
13th December: Forces under Generals Patton and Bradley breaches the southern flank of German defense (speculation exists that Rommel issued secret orders to allow this breach to occur) and raced to reach Berlin.
15th December: Allied forces begin to surround Berlin, with Western forces on the South Western part of the city. However, Soviet forces were the first to enter and did so early in the morning. Fighting began in earnest as the Western Allies remained on the outskirts, waiting for orders to enter themselves. Beck and the cabinet, along with most of the political leadership, evacuated and fled to Hamburg.
20th December: Rommel and the Eastern Army were pushed from their defensive positions to the north and were forced to abandon Berlin, reorganizing around Hamburg. Negotiations remained stagnant as the Germans continued to refuse an unconditional surrender.
22nd December: In a secret occasion aided by MI5, Patton sent a message to Rommel, urging him to convince German leadership to accept an Unconditional Surrender, stating: "It's better occupied by the West than by the Reds".
23rd December: Eisenhower was authorized to enter Berlin, and American and Commonwealth forces proceed through the southern part of the city. German forces begin abandoning their southern positions and move north to resist the Soviets for as long as possible. Mass surrenders begin to occur throughout Germany to Anglo-American forces.
25th December: On a day known as 'Schwarzes Weihnachten' (Black Christmas) by the German people, Soviet forces captured the Reichstag. Berlin formally surrendered to the Allies, with the city effectively split down the middle between the Anglo-Americans and Soviets. Beck and the cabinet in Hamburg formally accepted an unconditional surrender
26th December: An armistice was declared and Germany formally surrendered. Occupation began in earnest.
27th December: Heinrich Himmler was captured by surrendering Wehrmacht soldiers on the outskirts of Berlin, having been dressed in a common soldiers uniform. The Wehrmacht soldiers formally turned him over to British forces.
1945
21st January: The Treaty of Geneva was signed with the stipulation that Berlin was to be jointly occupied amongst France, Britain, the United States and the USSR in addition to the partition of Germany down the middle of the former capital, with occupation of the country split along the 52 Parallel.
16th February: Lieutenant General George Smith Patton, Junior made a remarkable recovery from his injuries when his vehicle was collided by a truck after making an impronto inspection of the occupation forces in Bavaria, and after released, was transferred to Five Star General Douglas MacArthur's Staff.
The Third Army volunteered en masse for the final push against the Japs instead of being sent home, stating that they were in it to the end with Old Blood and Guts.
14th April: Elements of the 4th Armored Division, in typicalness, spearheaded the advance of the Third Army, the units fresh from Europe supporting the Marine's III Amphibious Corps and XXIV Corps of the Tenth Army at Okinawa, securing Kadena Air Base.
The veterans from Europe admitted that Tojo was hellish, especially the banzai charges being tenacious with comparisons being made with the still resisting SS.
2nd August : The Portland-class Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis (CA-35) arrived at port safely though there were grumblings as to why the vessel traveled alone in waters still heavily infested with Japanese submarines.
An internal United States Naval investigation later found that the ship which secretly delivered components for 'Little Boy' should have in fact traveled with an escort of Destroyers and the officers who planned the route were immediately relieved of their commissions for negligence, poor conduct, and misuse of government property.
6th August: The atomic bomb codenamed 'Little Boy' was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
9th August: Three days later due to refusing to capitulate, 'Fat Man' completely leveled the Japanese city of Kokura.
Facing an imminent invasion by the allies, the Emperor ordered his military to lay down their weapons instead of lives. Hideki Tojo, meanwhile, was executed on the spot through beheading by one of Hirohito's guards after protesting the order to stand down for 'disrespecting his majesty', thereby inadvertently ending the Prime Minister's puppeteering reign of the monarch.
1946
1st January: At the invitation of the Beck government, an international tribunal was held in Nuremberg to try and convict those who committed crimes against humanity. The city was significant in which the Führer rose to power and the Pre-War rallies were now representing the downfall of Hitler's regime. One of the first to be tried was none other than Heinrich Himmler, caught by British forces at Berlin in a failed attempt to disguise himself as a common soldier.
2nd March: The Nuremberg Trials concluded with the execution and imprisonment of many Nazi officials. The Beck government was formally cleared of charges, which created a great deal of controversy among the Allies, especially the Soviets and French.
6th June: On the second anniversary after the landings at Normandy that marked the beginning of liberating mainland europe from the yoke of the Third Reich, Lieutenant General George Smith Patton, Junior, the hard charging spearhead for the European Theater then Okinawa, was lauded in a ticker tape parade in San Diego.
25th July: Talks begin of a January election to take place in Poland. Fearing Soviet influence and possible harassment against the Polish People's Party (PSL), Truman authorizes the reinsertion of the former Free Polish Brigades into Poland to help protect the PSL during elections. These assertions prove correct as the communist National Unity Front (BA) begins harassing and even outright persecuting supporters of the PSL.
27th November: Bolesław Bierut of the BA suddenly dies of a heart attack. The popularity of the BA plummets as a result, and Stanisław Mikołajczyk of the PSL leads in the polls with Tadeusz Michejda of the Labor Party close behind.
1947
21st January: Elections were held and the PSL emerged victorious. Josef Stalin was furious at the election, and a massive mobilization of Soviet forces occurred. The head of the new Polish government was sworn in at Warsaw, however Soviet forces began a blockade of the city, placing restrictions on all traffic coming into the city.
In response, Western forces likewise mobilize and the Truman administration demand the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Warsaw.
12th February: French fashion designer Christian Dior presented his debut haute couture collection in Paris and it was immediately dubbed as the 'New Look' after Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow told Christian: "Your dresses have such a new look!".
3rd March: Truman authorized the use of airlifts to deliver supplies and information to Warsaw. Furious, Stalin ordered the tightening of the city's traffic and unconfirmed raids commenced in the city. Also unconfirmed were reports of Soviet forces entering the city illegally and being shot by Polish Home Guard.
27th June: Facing economic sanctions from neutral nations as well as the West, not to mention the potential usage of the atom bomb by the Americans, Stalin reluctantly backed down and the blockade was lifted. The resulting events became known by historians as the Warsaw Crises and Warsaw Airlift. Soviet forces also began withdrawing their occupying forces, although this was speculated not to be completed until 1952.
8th July: The United States Army admitted that a local farmer discovered a crashed USAAF weather balloon outside Roswell, Chaves County, New Mexico and granted reporters open access to the debris. It was an embarrassment to the Truman administration yet the President regarded it as a correct move after the Japanese conducted an explosive balloon campaign during the war. Stalin demanded compensation for having the helium-filled spying devices floating over Eastern Europe and Soviet airspace.
However, rumors of a coverup and the object being described as a UFO lingered in the minds of the public.
1948
21st April: As part of the so-called 'Key West Agreement', despite objections of the barely months old branch - the United States Air Force - due to believing that they should own anything that flew including naval aviation, the United States Army was allowed to retain fixed-wing aircraft for the purpose of close air support so the Air Force could concentrate on tactical and strategic bombing missions and the Army could remain self-sufficient if need be.
1st June: Fearing that the isolationist and head of the Republican Party's Conservative Wing, Senator Robert Alphonso Taft Senior of Ohio, would get the nomination, Dwight David 'Ike' Eisenhower decided to quit retirement from his Gettysburg, Pennslyvania farm and run for President.
25th June: At the Republican National Convention in Philadephia, Pennslyvania, candidate Dewey convinced Eisenhower to be on the ticket in return for his pledged delegates as otherwise Taft would be the nominee and Ike agreed. Later the same day after being nominated, New York Governor Thomas Edmund Dewey publicly announced that the war hero would be his running mate.
26th July: President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, abolishing discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces and ordered the branches to begin integration effective immediately.
2nd November: In what later becomes an iconic photograph in American history, Republican Presidential nominee Thomas Edmund Dewey of New York triumphantly upheld the edition of the Chicago Tribune announcing his victory over incumbent President Harry S. Truman.
1949
20th January: Thomas Edmund Dewey was sworn in as the Thirty-Fourth President of the United States.
4th July: Despite opposition from the barely two years old United States Air Force, Secretary of Defense Robert Abercrombie Lovett decided that the USS United States (CVA-58) would be built as part of the 'flexible response' policy.
1950
25th June: The Korean War began when Communist forces from the North cross the border and invade the Democratic South.
15th to 19th September: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur directed elements of the US 1st Marine Division and the Army's X Corps to land at Inchon to be followed by Patton's Fifteenth United States Army. The 82nd Airborne secured the flanks of Green Beach while the 28th Infantry Division linked up with the 1st Marine Regiment under the command of Patton's second cousin Lewis Burwell 'Chesty' Puller.
14th October: Congress, with some reluctance, officially expanded defense funding to Lovett's proposed maximum budget of twenty billion dollars a year with the intent of having a 'flexible response' policy even though critics pointed out that it would have been cheaper to rely on nuclear weapons alone.
The five military branches of the United States: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard were to be expanded and modernized, the size of the bomber fleet would be upscaled, and the Montana-class Battleships that previously weren't constructed would be revived with the only significant design change being the possibility of including nuclear propulsion.
To supplement the Montana's, the two previously canceled Iowa-class Battleships Illinois (BB-65) and Kentucky (BB-66) were to be resurrected as well.
27th November to 13th December: Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Marines under Lewis Burwell 'Chesty' Puller held their position while his cousin attempted to relieve the besieged troops in an outflanking maneuver with a mixture of fresh tanks and rallied soldiers who earlier fled from the Chinese forces.
The joint Chinese/North Korean forces took a pause as they realized that the yellowlegs were augmented by 'Old Blood and Guts' and his men, forcing the Commies to dig in. However, MacArthur ordered a withdrawal to the port city of Hungnam as ChiCom forces begin pressing the offensive south of the 38th Parallel.
1951
14th April: Upon getting officially censured by his colleagues in response to publicly criticizing MacArthur and lashing out at Old Blood and Guts, not to mention being denounced as a Communist sympathizer by Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin, Harry S. Truman resigned from the Senate.
16th April: Upon returning to his hometown of Independence, Missouri, the disgraced Truman was shunned by former friends over his long simmering personal vendetta against Generals Douglas MacArthur and George Patton which in the end tainted his legacy.
1952
1st November: Three days before election day - in what was criticized by some as a political stunt to further tarnish the legacy of the disgraced former President of the United States, Harry S. Truman - Republican Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin exposed scientists David Greenglass, Theodore Hall, George Koval, Oscar Seborer, and Arthur Adams of the Manhattan Project as spies, condemning them for giving the Soviets the blueprints on making Atomic weapons and lambasting their Judas and Benedict Arnold beliefs within the Congressional Chambers.
4th November: Popular President Thomas Edmund Dewey was re-elected in a landslide over Democratic Governor Adlai Ewing Stevenson II of Illinois, especially with one of the popular campaign slogans used during the election: 'A Vote for Dewey and Ike is a Vote for Mac and Pat'.
1953
22nd January: Citizens of the United States of America and the world awakened to shocking news that Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady and widow of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died after slipping on a bar of soap as she stepped out of the bathtub, occurring sometime during the night of the 21st after she stepped down from her tenure as the United States Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
1st February: Tragedy struck the United States once again as barely a month into his second term, Dewey was in a plane being flown by a close friend in upstate New York before it crashed, the wreckage was found after a two-hour long search with no survivors. A grief-stricken nation mourned the loss and Vice President Dwight David Eisenhower, the former Supreme Commander of the Allies during World War II and the 16th Chief of Staff of the Army before retirement, succeeded Dewey as President.
3rd February: Despite rumors that Eisenhower would fire Lovett and replace him as Secretary of Defense to implement a so-called 'New Look' policy of massive retaliation, the President himself dispelled the scuttlebutt to the press after announcing acclaimed Senator Richard Milhouse Nixon of California would be his Vice President, publicly stating that the usage of nuclear weapons should be used only as a last resort.
12th February: After a private meeting with the President, Commander of UN forces in Korea MacArthur agreed not to venture north as the new policy was to keep the Commies north of the 38th Parallel with a willingness to negotiate a return to the status quo if the deadline of 3rd April was met by the Reds.
5th March: Primer of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Josef Stalin dies in his bed from an Intracerebral hemorrhage according to state media.
12th March: The Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship and the advisory board to the United States Secretary of the Army - The National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice - decided to retain the 1,000 Yard stage for the official course of fire for the upcoming National Matches held for the first time since 1940 at Camp Perry in Port Clinton, Ottawa County, Ohio instead of having the service rifle competition be shot at only 200, 300, and 600 Yards distance as dropping it would run contrary to the mission of maintaining proficiency with military arms for military members and ready civilians for service in times of national need.
19th June: Alongside Julius and Ethal Rosenberg, the five traitorous researchers were executed on the electric chair for espionage at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York despite some appeals for clemency.
United States Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin and vocal supporter of McCarthy's crusade against Communist infiltrators, U.S. Senator William Ezra Jenner of Indiana, both publicly denounced the appeal advocates as Pinkos and Fellow Travelers.
1954
26th January: While celebrating his Seventy-Fourth Birthday out in public, Douglas MacArthur announced to the press that he refused to run for political office despite pleas from the Conservative wing of the Republican Party as he felt he was more of a soldier than politician, not to mention out of surprising humbleness believed that his former subordinate, Ike, was doing an excellent job.
However, even so, the 'Big Chief' proclaimed that if America ever needed him, he vowed to return.
Coincidentally on the same day in Capitol Hill, Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy's bill of having January 26th become a national holiday, MacArthur Day, passed unanimously in the Senate and overwhelmingly in the House with the President expected to sign it.
7th May: Three hours before the besieged garrison surrendered at Dien Bien Phu, an unknown French marksman killed Võ Nguyên Giáp while he inspected a Viet Minh artillery battery.
Lieutenant Ngo Dinh Diem was also the last death suffered by the defenders after an artillery round struck his foxhole. Diem believed that while colonialism was morally wrong, having his nation become communist was worse and his posthumous memoirs became an instant best-seller.
10th May: After receiving confirmation, 'Uncle Ho' orders a month of mourning for the loss of the beloved strategist, becoming a martyr for liberation.
21st July: Vietnam is divided along the 17th parallel as the DMZ with elections set to be held in order to reunite the two nations peacefully.
1955
8th June: Bella Savitzky Abzug was attacked by an unknown assailant and robbed while walking home and she was pronounced dead upon arrival at the nearest hospital.
21st August: On the evening of the 21st, five adults and seven children arrived at the Hopkinsville police station claiming that "little green men" from a spaceship were attacking their farmhouse and they had been holding them off with gunfire "for nearly four hours". Two of the adults, Elmer Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor, claimed they had been shooting at "twelve to fifteen" short, dark figures who repeatedly popped up at the doorway or peered into the windows.
Concerned about a possible gun battle between local citizens; four city policemen, five state troopers, three deputy sheriffs, and four military policemen from the nearby United States Army Fort Campbell drove to the Sutton farmhouse located near the town of Kelly in Christian County. Their search yielded nothing apart from evidence of gunfire and holes in window and door screens made by firearms.
1957
22nd January: Sisters Barbara and Patricia Grimes - aged fifteen and thirteen years respectively - were shocked to bump into their favorite musician Elvis Presley while heading to a local pizza establishment and after a short chat with the celebrity, gained autographs.
1st May: The T44E4 was formally adopted as the United States Rifle, Caliber 7.62 mm, M14 and classified as the "Standard A" mainline general-issue infantry weapon of the United States Armed Forces.
16th May: With up to date drawings that included the latest design changes and specifications such as a solid non-slotted fiberglass handguard (a ventilated fiberglass handguard was considered to replace the wood handguard as well as to permit adequate ventilation during sustained fire but it was relatively fragile for rigorous military use and gave off a mirage effect during rapid fire that obstructed the sight picture) and the use of a single-piece operating rod made from a one-piece forging, not to mention funds procured from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in hand, the United States Army Ordnance Corps issued direction for Springfield Armory to begin production of the newly adopted rifle as soon as the machinery was installed.
1st July: The United States Army Ordnance Corps handed out contracts to Harrington & Richardson and Winchester to produce the M14 Rifle after the two firms won the bid.
1958
9th December: The John Birch Society was established in the American city of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.
Named after the missionary Captain John Birch who was tragically murdered by Chinese Communists, the organization had the purpose of being a vanguard against communist subversion in American society and uphold the virtue of limited government.
1959
15th May: An agreement was reached between David John McDonald, President of the AFL-CIO affiliated labor union 'United Steelworkers of America' and the industrialists, thereby averting a nationwide strike by steelworkers in a time of high profitability for the industry.
In addition to a wage increase and extending the contract for one year, there would be a joint committee formed to study changes to Section 2(b) of the national labor contract and the contract's benefit structure.
6th June: After deciding that it was necessary to bring in a third contractor, and much to the surprise of the firearms industry, the United States Army Ordnance Corps announced Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc. - also known as TRW - as the winning bidder and although they were not the only non-gun maker bidding for the contract such as Studebaker and General Electric, it was still surprising that a car manufacturer and the largest supplier of jet aircraft engine components won out of the forty-two companies who submitted bids.
However, as the manufacturing of aircraft parts by nature required the utmost attention to the smallest detail, close tolerances, and impeccable quality control, it turned out not to be as unconventional as it initially seemed.
1960
5th October: Primer of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev was approached by Liu Shaoqi to discuss Mao Zedong. The secret meeting was held amidst souring relations between the two Marxist nations and the pair both agree that the ideology of Maoism was dangerous to world revolution.
1961
2nd April: Chairman Mao died from acute heart failure brought on the stress of the Long March according to State Media broadcasts. However, rumors of poisoning by the KGB on the orders of Moscow lingered among the recently departed leader's cabinet.
1962
16th to 22nd October: The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. For thirteen days, President Kennedy bickered with Primer Khrushchev over the placement of Medium-Range Nuclear Warheads inside Castro-controlled Cuba. Fears of World War III breaking out was in the minds of many across the globe yet the situation was thankfully resolved.
1963
22nd November: Off-Duty Patrolman Jack Leon Ruby noticed the distinct signature of a rifle barrel sticking out of the Dallas Schoolbook Depository. Fearing that an assassination plot to kill the President was underway, the officer intervened and after a short shootout with other Policemen, the gunman and Communist sympathizer, Lee Harvey Oswald was killed.
31st December: The Reawakening War began after officers loyal to the deceased Mao launched a coup attempt against Chairman Liu. Primer Krushchev and the nations of the Warsaw Pact pledged forces to 'advise our allies against an unlawful Putsch against the legitimate successor to our friend Mao' and Fidel Castro also promised support. Veterans of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and the 'Bay of Pigs' invasion were amongst the first wave of 'advisors' in the Northwestern Chinese provinces, freeing up ChiCom troops for the rebelling South.
1964
31st March: The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 passed both chambers with Eighty Percent of Republicans and Sixty-Five Percent of Democrats voting for the measure but an amendment to include 'sex' for Title VII of the Bill proposed by well known Segregationist, Representative Howard Worth Smith [Democrat-Virginia] was immediately voted down, not just for the preposterous nature of the proposed amendment by Representative Smith in the minds of his peers, but also to disassociate themselves from him. Less than an hour later, with Doctor Martin Luther King Junior and controversially Malcolm X at his side, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy immediately signed the Bill into Law.
20th June: Secretary of Defense Omar Nelson Bradley places General Creighton Williams Abrams Junior in charge of Military Assistance Command Vietnam. Fears of the Civil War escalating to intervention by one of the factions into Indochina complicated the situation yet the Warsaw Pact forces primarily focused on securing Northwestern China such as Qinghai and Gansu Provinces from Maoist forces. However, it also provides an opportunity to be exploited as the Chinese were amidst a Civil War, leaving a possibility for ARVN forces to capture Hanoi after the guerrillas inside the South were dealt with.
8th August: The Fort Knox incident occurred. An international gang of thieves under the directive of rogue businessman Auric Goldfinger attempted to infiltrate the United States Bullion Depository as he desired to create global inflation in order to increase his profits. However, details about the robbery attempt remains classified.
3rd November: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was re-elected, defeating Liberal Republican and Governor of New York Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller.
Months prior to the Presidential Election, Senator Barry Morris Goldwater of Arizona decided to not seek nomination, instead focusing on building up the Conservative base within the Republican Party.
1965
2nd February: Sensing blood in the water and believing confidently that Kennedy wouldn't risk nuclear war by intervening, Ho Chi Minh orders a full-scale invasion of the South.
7th February: The USS Maddox, while in the Gulf of Tonkin gathering intelligence, was sunk by North Vietnamese forces with the loss of all hands.
16th February: President Kennedy demanded that the NVA begin withdrawing from South Vietnamese soil within Twenty-Four Hours, recognize the South as a sovereign nation, and pay compensation for the lives lost aboard the Maddox or the United States will declare war and SEATO forces as a whole will directly intervene.
18th February: After a unanimous vote by Congress, John Fitzgerald Kennedy announced that there's an official state of war between North Vietnam and the United States of America after Hanoi ignored the deadline.
8th March: After a bombardment from the guns of all six Iowa-class Battleships: U.S.S. Iowa (BB-61) , U.S.S. New Jersey (BB-62), U.S.S. Missouri (BB-63), U.S.S. Wisconsin(BB-64), U.S.S. Illinois (BB-65), and U.S.S. Kentucky (BB-66); United States Marines of the Third Marine Division conducted an amphibious landing at Da Nang, surprising the North Vietnamese defenders as while they were expecting an American intervention, the Reds didn't believe that it would come soon nor at this specific location, yet after an intense five hour battle at the cost of two thousand American lives, the enemy retreated back into the jungle.
10th March: The Third Marines declared the area around Da Nang and Chu Lai to be secured and within twenty-four hours, reinforcements from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States began arriving in order to cutoff NVA units already within South Vietnam from reinforcements.
1966
6th April: Even though the decision enraged the United States Air Force establishment, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Omar Nelson Bradley decided that the United States Army would retain their fleet of CV-2B Caribous and armed helicopters were an Army matter.
When questioned by the media, the recently retired Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Curtis Emerson LeMay, remarked that "The Air Force by right should be operating everything that flies, down to the last puddle jumper as otherwise what's the point of having an independent Air Force in the first place? Is Kennedy attempting to give up the independence and place the Air Force back under the control of the Army?"
26th June: Actress Jane Seymour Fonda was caught by a patrol from First Platoon, C Company, 1st Military Police Battalion of the United States Marine Corps in northern Quảng Trị province-just south of the DMZ- as NVA soldiers demonstrated operating a ZPU-2 Anti-Aircraft Gun. Evidence of 'providing aid and comfort to the enemy' were discovered on her person and she was arrested on the spot in country for treason.
4th July: Coincidentally, the treasonous starlet, now known infamously by the public as 'Hanoi Jane' arrived back in the States on the patriotic holiday escorted by Military Policemen and US Marshals with local law enforcement providing a taskforce in case of rioting.
1967
21st-31st January: The last great offensive of the conflict occured. The NVA launched one final, desperate assault against the American presence, targeting the garrison at Khe Sanh in an effort to prevent the usage of the base as a stepping stone to invade the North. Rumors of Maoist forces being amongst the attackers were inconclusive according to CIA and DIA analysts. However, it is confirmed that Che Guevara was among the dead, supporting limited evidence of Cuban involvement.
4th April: Well known anti-feminist activist Phyllis Stewart Schlafly was almost assassinated in Dallas by Valerie Jean Solanas, author of the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, after Solanas was spotted stalking by heroic cop Jack Leon Ruby in a next-door coffeehouse and the Off-Duty Policeman once more intervened, rescuing Schafley but sadly died from a stab wound.
The Pink Liberation Army vowed to retaliate for the death of their founder and make Dallas burn.
5th April: President Kennedy immediately issued a nationwide state of mourning and directed all flags to be flown at half-mast in response to the slaying of Jack Ruby. John vowed to Ruby's family that he would take care of their finances out of his own pocket and directed J. Edgar Hoover to do more in combatting the Pink Liberation Army.
6th April: The National Organization for Women released a public statement condemning the actions of the Pink Liberation Army and listed how they were hurting the feminist cause, including but not limiting to: bombings, the murder of women who opposed the necessity of subjugating and enslaving men, the death of the valiant Law Enforcement Officer Jack Leon Ruby, and defending the traitor Jane Seymour Fonda, who was on Death Row for treason.
21st April: The Treaty of Paris was signed between Ho Chi Minh and President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, agreeing to a ceasefire. Peace, however, was tense between the two former foes and not expected to last. It was a matter of when war reignites, not if.
1st June: Terrorists of the Pink Liberation Army's Free Fonda Now Battalion took hostages at Camp Lejeune, demanding that Jane Seymour Fonda whose execution was inemiant be instead pardoned and released. The local Military Policemen immediately responded and one of the men, Private First Class Jacob Gregory Meyer, took a vantage point and successfully dealt with the hostage-takers after negotiations broke down.
1st June: South Vietnamese forces took the PAVN off guard by conducting an amphibious landing at Haiphong, the surprise being as the majority of North Vietnamese forces were ten miles from the DMZ guarding the border against incursion. Rerouting their forces North, Ho took the bait and ARVN tanks streamed across the DMZ.
14th June: The last stronghold of the Maoist rebels in Hunan Province, near the former Chairman's birthplace of Shaoshan, were crushed. Estimates of casualties from the conflict range from a low-end of one million to upwards of two and a quarter million lives.
14th June: After bitter fighting, ARVN forces captured Hanoi, utilizing the distraction of the final push against the Maoists by numerous ChiCom Army Groups to their advantage. However, guerrillas will remain a constant threat for the liberators.
16th June: First Contact was made by astronauts of Apollo 11 Neil Alden Armstrong, Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin Junior, and Michael Collins. The new faction, calling themselves the 'Galactic Republic' desires to open a peaceful relationship with Earth despite being at war with a faction known as the 'Sith Empire'.
Correlated First Contact Timeline
06:16:14 ATC/June 16th, 1967 An unexpected announcement by the President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and the United Nations Secretary-General, U Thant alongside the Cathar Republic Ambassador: Zorin Krasul. It was revealed to the world that Earth was not alone in the universe and immediately diplomatic relations were formed with the Republic.
07:04:14 ATC/July 4th, 1967 The Republic Ambassador to Earth, Zorin Krasul participates in the local New York City Fourth of July celebration, cementing further ties between the United States of America and the Republic. Also on the same day, President Kennedy visits Arlington in an emotional tour of the sacred sight, the lives of scores of American servicemen throughout the generations lingering in his thoughts. But Jack also pondered over the recent confirmation that there was life beyond Earth.
10:24:15 ATC/ October 24th, 1968 After learning of the Sith's plans to conquer the Sol System, Earth decides to conduct a preemptive strike against the Empire in Operation: Mars. Under the command of World War II hero and Six Star General George Smith Patton Junior, United Nations forces consisting of a joint North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Warsaw Pact force assisted Republic Forces in the raiding of Korriban.
Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we'll only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he'll forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer - not an easy answer - but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right.
We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we're willing to make a deal with your slave masters." Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one." Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one guaranteed way you can have peace - and you can have it in the next second - surrender.
Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face - that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand - the ultimatum. And what then - when Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we're retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary, because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he's heard voices pleading for "peace at any price" or "better Red than dead," or as one commentator put it, he'd rather "live on his knees than die on his feet." And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us.
You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin - just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the Pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the Cross? Should the Patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all.
You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." "There is a point beyond which they must not advance." And this - this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "Peace through Strength." Winston Churchill said, "The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits - not animals." And he said, "There's something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.
We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.
~ Excerpt from Ronald Wilson Reagan's "A Time of Choosing" Speech at the 1964 Republican Party's National Convention
Spoken in San Francisco, California on October 27th, 1964
This story is an official collaboration with the following co-writers that I'm proud to call friends of mine: OfficerDonNZ, Mandalore the Survivor, BraveSeeker3, JSailer, and PaladinDelta. Some of these co-writers will have characters of their own appearing but overall if you enjoy this story, I can guarantee that you will enjoy theirs as well and I urge you to please consider reading their stories once you finish Earth: A Rendezvous with Destiny as they have all put a lot of effort into making E:ARD possible and they'll appreciate it. I honestly couldn't have done it without them :)
And here are a few recommendations : (No, they didn't put me up to this in all seriousness. Honest! I actually decided on my own accord to advertise their works here as a mark of my appreciation.)
The Time Displaced Sith by OfficerDonNZ
The Force Awakens Rewrite by JSailer and Squasher (the story is listed under JSailer's profile, FYI)
Strange Surroundings by PaladinDelta
Par Yaim, Aliit, bal Ijaat by BraveSeeker3
And finallly
KOTOR: The Beginning by Mandalore the Survivor
It's no rush but I feel like advertising their stories is the least I could do to show my gratitude even though I will humbly admit that I owe them much more.
But enough yabbering: Please grab a bucket of popcorn, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride :)