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"Home of the Brave" - A Cold War US Forum Game

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Introducing...

THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK
-1952-
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The Doomsday Clock, which is published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, is a counter to world destruction. Every time the clock moves, I will be posting an update to it. As of 1949, we have been at 3 minutes to midnight. If the clock hits 0, it will (according to the Bulletin,) be the end of the world, so that's fun. Your actions will determine its position, although a great deal of the movement on the clock will be due to circumstances beyond player control, that isn't always a bad thing...​
 
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Name: James "Jay" W. Spencer
Date of Birth: April 22, 1917 (age 35)
State: Illinois
Party: Republican Party
Father: Robert Leonard Spencer (b. 1871, d. 1925)
Mother: Eileen Winifred Spencer (b. 1890)
Employment (prior to 1952):
  • Shoe-shiner: 1928 - 1931
  • Paperboy: 1931 - 1936
  • Mechanic: 1936 - 1941
  • United States Marine: 1941 - 1951

Biography: Jay Spencer was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 22, 1917. He was the eldest of six sons between Robert Spencer, a Chicago police officer, and his wife, Anna. He has a twin brother, John, and four younger brothers; Robert Jr, Alexander, Stephen and Theodore.

Jay's father was killed by mobsters when he was 8 years old, and as a result, Jay has been a notorious enemy of organized crime. He seeks to become Governor of Illinois as a stepping stone to the White House in order to lead a national campaign of law, order, and eliminating corruption. He intends to run for the office of President of the United States in 1960, provided he wins the Gubernatorial race in 1952.

When he was 9, his mother and his brothers moved to Joliet, Illinois; away from the Democratic political machine, and from the mob threat. After his father's death, and the United States economy crash in 1929, James spent his days trying to bring in money for him and his family, working as a shoe-shiner and a paperboy.

When he was 18, he was employed as a mechanic and began to work on anything that came across his workbench or into his repair bay. This would involve motorcars being repaired for little money and spare parts, or any consumer goods such as sewing machines. He served in this position for 5 years. During this time, he managed to get into the University of Illinois, and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

However, from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the Spring of 1951; he served in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the 2nd Marine Regiment from 1942 to 1946, through out World War II and the short occupational duty in Nagasaki, Japan after the war concluded. Before the 2nd Marine Regiment returned home to the USA, In 1946, he was transferred to the 11th Marine Regiment and shipped out to Tianjin, China. This lasted until early 1947, when the 11th Regiment returned to the United States to be scaled down.

He was transferred to the recently reactivated 7th Marine Regiment and helped evacuate Americans from China during the horrific advance of the Chinese Communists between 1947 and 1949. After the evacuation was complete, there was a period of rest before the Korean War began.

Serving under the 7th Marine Regiment, he hit the shores of Korea with General MacArthur's Incheon landing. He served until he was injured in battle in the summer of 1951. He was honorably discharged as a Second Lieutenant (O-1), and returned to the United States and began planning his next move.

He is a member of a group of Republicans seeking to get General Eisenhower into the White House, and is a large scale advocate of ending the War in Korea. He is fluent in Japanese, Chinese and English. He was elected to the title Governor of Illinois in 1952.
 
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Name: Michael F. Redford
Date of Birth: May 5th, 1912 (Age 40)
State: Vermont
Party: Republican

Biography: Practically all Redford knows is Vermont, being born and raised there. He himself comes from a rural farming family in Vermont, a true "Green Mountain Boy" so to say. Redford's father was killed in World War One during the Hundred Day's Offensive leading to his mother predominantly raising him from that point with the aid of maids the family employed. Like many others he served in the Second World War with the Marine Corps leading to him serving with distinction in the Solomon Islands, Saipan, and Okinawa. Following the war given how he contributed to the war it was relatively easy to secure a position in the Vermont House of Representatives from one of Chittenden's districts, which has been his position for the last 6 years.
 
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Name: Robert Converse
Date of Birth: March 22 1917 (31)
Party: Republican
State: Florida

Bio: Son of middle class parents migrating from New York, Robert Converse attended Florida State University earning a degree in Political Science and Civil Engineering. From there he got a keen interest into politics entering at the municipal level and eventually becoming part of the state legislature. After serving at the state level for 4 years as a senator he would move on to the Congressional level attempting to run for the Senate of the United States Congress.
 
((All right, the main IRC for Republicans is #Conservatives, we can make more))
 
((Do you want a different channel name? Conservative is the branch of policy Republicans usually follow, but all right. Changing thread to #Republicans))
 
Alexander J. Campbell
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Date of Birth: January 12, 1905 (47 as of November, 1952)
Party: American Labor Party (The ideal of a Social Democracy and Worker's Rights are the two main pillars of the ALP)
State: Oregon
Bio: Alexander Johnathan Campbell was born in Portland, Oregon, on January 12, 1905. A third generation working-class Scottish-American, Alexander was taught from a young age to respect the toiling workman and maintain a sense of community an individual freedom. Like his ancestors, Alexander worked from a young age, delivering newspapers at the age of 11 and stocking shelves at 15. At the onset of the Depression, the Campbells led the cause of helping those hardest hit in their neighborhood, and the ideals of Socialism began to be instilled into Campbell, then a young adult. In 1936, a strongly anti-fascist Alexander scraped up all the money he had gained from years of work to buy a ship ticket, his destination: Barcelona, Spain. Upon arriving, he enlisted in the Republican International Brigades, and was put in the (primarily) Anglo-American 15th Brigade, commonly referred to as the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade". However, at the Battle of Jarama, Campbell was both shot in the forearm and took shrapnel to the leg, and had to be sent home with the thanks (and money) of the Spanish Republic. Upon his arrival, emotional injury was added to physical when Alexander's father died of pneumonia at the age of 67, and his frail, cancer-stricken mother soon followed.

Alexander was the only son and was thus the sole inheritor of the family "Fortune" (roughly $1,000 1937 dollars), as well as their cramped Portland apartment. With this along with his Spanish compensation money, The now 32 year old Alexander enrolled in the University of Oregon, attaining a master's degree in Political Science. As well, Campbell learnt that he was politically a moderate socialist, putting a face to his once unknown political alignment. In 1940, Alexander met Irene E. Patterson, a middle-class young woman from one of the more affluent neighborhoods of Portland at a local grocery, and a romantic relationship began, eventuating in marriage in 1941. Their first child, Thomas, followed in 1944. According to Alexander himself, an activist belonging to the American Labor Party arrived at the doorstep of the Campbell household in 1947. His words intrigued Alexander and the ALP seemed remarkably fitting towards his ideals. In the years that followed, Alexander took nearly a dozen trips to New York, where the ALP was almost exclusively present, to work towards exporting it to the West Coast. These endeavors saw limited success, with roughly 2,000 ALP members on West Coast by 1952, most of which are concentrated in the cities of Portland and Salem, Oregon. Recently, Campbell has been saying that he will be shooting towards Congress or the gubernatorial seat of Oregon, but wishes to increase the ALP's popularity.
 
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William Hughes attending a party to win contracts for United Aircraft​

Name: William Hughes
Date of Birth: October 29rd, 1915
Party: Republican
State: Connecticut

Biography:
William was born in Hartford Connecticut to Thomas Hughes, an executive at G. Fox & Co., a department store centered in the city, and Mary Green. He attended the Roxbury School, now Chesire Academy, finishing first in his class in 1931. He would go on to enroll at Yale University, where his father and uncle had matriculated. In addition to playing varsity golf, he would join the Skull and Bones society during his senior year.

After graduating second in his class in 1936, he went to work for United Aircraft. He married soon after and was promoted to vice-president in 1941. During WWII he spent most of his time in Washington managing the company’s wartime production contracts and securing new ones. During this time he met Senator Robert A. Taft, who he golfed with several times. It was thanks to Taft that Hughes developed a genuine interest in politics, and in 1952 Hughes looks to enter onto the political scene, advocating a policy of noninterventionism in foreign affairs and at home.
 
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Name: Nicholas B. Hausmann
Date of Birth: August 28th, 1915
Party: Socialist Party of America
State: Wisconsin

Bio: Hausmann was born and raised in Milwaukee in the beginnings of the Sewer Socialist movement and was thus an avid follower of Victor L. Berger and was brought up on romanticized stories of Eugene V. Debs. His father was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and thus grew up in the middle of the radical union movement. He knew his union hall much better than his local church. In 1936 he took his entire savings and loans from friends and family to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. There he fought at the battle of Jarama and throughout the war for the Republican government. When the war was over he returned to Wisconsin and was drafted in 1943 to serve in the US army and fought on D-Day and throughout the end of the Second World War.

Initially a sympathizer of the Soviet Union, Hausmann has since rejected Bolshevism and Stalinism since his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. Hausmann now maintains himself as a Syndicalist and supporter of unionization. On policy positions he favors a socialist economy, democracy, anti-segregation, and a more isolationist view in foreign policy. Hausmann has worked as a staff member of the Socialist Party since the end of the Second World War and is considering running for elected office in Wisconsin.
 
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Name: Herman Lincoln Rhodes
Date of Birth: 24th April 1912; Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Party: Democrat [1946-1952]
State: Tennessee
Bio: Born into a world of segregation Herman was never expected to achieve great things. His mother and brother were shot when he was 14; the killers weren't brought to justice. Following the horrific event Herman began studying to be a lawyer. He migrated North and began to do small time work defending Afro-Americans. When war broke out he volunteered as an officer, he was assigned as a 2nd Lieutenant to an Afro-American Regiment. He served in the Invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign; when a bomb hit the officer's mess tent most of his regiments officer corps was destroyed. As the most senior officer he was promoted to Lieutenant Corporal. Following the war Herman returned home to find the situation in the US slightly better. Soldiers who had served in the war had bonded and no longer saw so much of a distinction between black and white, instead he was seen as a fellow survivor. In 1946 Herman began his political career by serving as the Mayor of Jackson, a city with a large black population; his campaign focused on Afro-American Civil Rights, a common slogan of his was: "Soviets support segregation". In 1950 he chose not to stand for re-election despite the fact that polls showed that he would've probably won; instead he was running for Tennessee's 8th Congressional District.

References from National Media:

1952:
Hello Tennessee, this is Tennessee Radio and we are here to tell you the latest in political news. On the national front there have been talks of General Dwight D. Eisenhowerbeing the Republican candidate for the presidency. For those of you who do not know General Eisenhower was the man who won the war for America. During the Battle of the Bulge he was outnumbered by German troops but his valiant efforts led to victory for the US Army. We can't wait to see you at the voting stations cheering for the General. There is big news in the Congressional Elections as Afro-American Herman Rhodes has put his name forth for Tennessee's 8th Congressional District after Tom J. Murray announced that he would not be running for re-election. The news becomes worse, recent polls have shown that Herman is likely to be elected due to the large non-white population in the district. That's all from us in the political section, next we'll be looking at the new potato diet; does it really work?
 
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Edward J. Bartlet


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Bartlet pictured in 1961.​


Name: Edward Josiah Bartlet
Born: September 12th, 1916; Manchester, New Hampshire
State: New Hampshire
Party: Democrat
Biography:

Edward Josiah Bartlet (b. September 12 1916) is an American politician and academic.

The third son of Ezra Edward Bartlet (b. 1888) and Elizabeth Fitzwilliam (b. 1890), Bartlet was born into the prominent New Hampshire Bartlet family. His three times great-grandfather Josiah Bartlett (1729–1725) had been a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Through his mother, he is of Irish ancestry and, owing to his mother, he was raised a Roman Catholic.

Educated privately in New Hampshire, Bartlet matriculated at Columbia University in 1933, studying economics. At Columbia, Bartlet became a supporter of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt and joined the Democratic Party in 1934. He would often speak at debates in the university in favour of New Dealism, and soon became a proponent of a form of Keynesian economics. He received a bachelor's degree in 1936 and a master's in 1938. After leaving Columbia, he took up a position in the economics faculty at the University of New Hampshire. In 1940, he married Eleanor Dearborn (b. 1919) and the couple had their first child, Josiah Edward Bartlet. A second son, Robert Fitzwilliam Bartlet, was born in 1942.

With the entry of the United States into the Second World War in late 1941, Bartlet enrolled in officer training school, receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in the army in autumn 1942. Before he saw any action, however, he transferred to the Army Air Force in January 1943. Piloting a P-40 fighter in the 75th Fighter Squadron, Bartlet was deployed throughout the remainder of the war in the China–Burma–India theatre, mainly involved in intercepting Japanese bombers. He was also engaged frequently in strafing exercises over Japanese-occupied China, helping to secure US air superiority in the region. Bartlet was awarded four kills and two probables during his two years of service. By the time of his honourable discharge in 1945, Bartlet had been promoted to first lieutenant and mentioned twice in presidential unit citations.

Released from active service in June 1945, Bartlet returned to the University of New Hampshire and was appointed an associate professor. He received a scholarship to study for a doctoral degree at Princeton University, receiving his degree in 1947, whereupon he was appointed a professor of economics at New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Bartlet contested and won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, where he sat as a New Dealer Democrat. He continued to serve in the house until 1952, when he declined to run again in order to make a bid for Congress, standing as a Democrat in the marginal New Hampshire 1st district, which had been held by the Republican Chester Earl Merrow since 1943. Bartlet won the seat by a comfortable margin.

Bartlet's election to Congress spurred a remarkable rise within the national Democratic Party, with him being elected House Majority Leader in 1953. As Majority Leader, Bartlet worked with Speaker Claude H. Elam in drafting and proposing a raft of legislation reforming the United States' infrastructure, notably including the Federal-Aid Highway Act in November 1953.

Positions:

Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives (1947–1953)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for New Hampshire's 1st District (1953–Incumbent)
House of Representatives Majority Leader (1953–Incumbent)

Family:

Father: Ezra Edward Bartlet (1888–Present)
Mother: Elizabeth Fitzwilliam (1890–Present)
Wife: Eleanor Dearborn (1919–Present)
Children:
  • Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet (1940–Present)
  • Robert Fitzwilliam Bartlet (1942–Present)

External Links:

Speech upon the announcement of his candidacy for the New Hampshire 1st Congressional District (Manchester, NH; August 12 1952)
In Profile: Edward J. Bartlet (New England Union Leader; November 5 1952)
On Holiday With the Bartlets (Life Magazine ; July 20 1953)
 
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DensleyBlair said:
((I'll have to revisit this biography later, as I'm on my phone operating with questionable WiFi, but this game looks excellent.))

Name: Edward Josiah Bartlet
Born: September 12th, 1916; Manchester, New Hampshire
State: New Hampshire
Party: Democrat
Biography: To come.
Click to expand...


Heh Lets hope this one game will have better luck than England had. :D
 
CaesarCzech said:
Heh Lets hope this one game will have better luck than England had. :D
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((What do you mean "had"?

Not that that's a conversation for here…))
 
DensleyBlair said:
((I'll have to revisit this biography later, as I'm on my phone operating with questionable WiFi, but this game looks excellent.))

Name: Edward Josiah Bartlet
Born: September 12th, 1916; Manchester, New Hampshire
State: New Hampshire
Party: Democrat
Biography: To come.
Click to expand...

((I nearly made a McGarry character! D: ))
 
CaesarCzech said:
i mean the Green and Pleasant Land you Majesty William.
Click to expand...

((Oh, I know. I meant more that that game isn't dead yet. ;)))

Sakura_F said:
((I nearly made a McGarry character! D: ))
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((I'd assumed that "J. Spencer" plus the army background was a more subtle reference than my own.))
 
DensleyBlair said:
((I'd assumed that "J. Spencer" plus the army background was a more subtle reference than my own.))
Click to expand...

((Well, yes, that too. And my guy was a Marine, not Army. ^^))
 
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