Very American Civil War

[FramFramson]

Another fun fact:

Most people think of Patton with that fantastic George C. Scott voice from the movie. In real life, Patton had a rather high-pitched nasal whine. In fact, Patton's voice embarrassed him enough that he usually avoided public speaking.

There exists one video clip of Smedley D. Butler that I know if with sound (there are probably one or two more in some Marine Corps archive somewhere, I'm sure). It's film footage from his testimony before congress. And you know whose voice actually does sound a lot closer to the commanding Patton movie voice? Smedley D. Butler.

(voice clips start at about 1:25)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1-o8MVvQd7w#t=81s

 

[commissarmoody]

http://www.amazon.com/War-Racket-Americas-Decorated-ebook/dp/B003XRDBJY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1347517072&sr=8-4&keywords=Smedley+D.+Butler

Check out his book if you want, Its a good read.
Also I am wondering who, makes some good interwar states side US infantry?
Also looking for some good representative of the silver legion to.

[leadfool]

For silver legion I opted for WWI Austrians.  They look similar to the Germans in soft cap,
Mark

[commissarmoody]

I read online that there uniforms looked like this.
"Modeled after Hitler's Brownshirts, the paramilitary Silver Legion wore a silver shirt with a tie along with a campaign hat and blue corduroy trousers with leggings. The uniform shirts bore a scarlet letter L."

I read that as meaning a "smokey the bear" Style cap. Can you post a pic of your Legion please

[mysteriousbill]

A VERY AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
History Lesson 1

The Reality of 1930's National Politics.

The following is a simplification. I'm sorry, I don't  feel like writing a 100 page essay on the way politics used to be. While gamers might know their history, I think it is better if I state the obvious for those younger people who don't know what things used to be like, and for foreigners might not know this stuff  about the United States to begin with. Hell, I wasn't born until 1959, and things just started to change in the
60's

In the 21st Century saying Republican is like saying Conservative.

 In the 21st Century saying Democrat is like saying Liberal.

That was not at all the case in the 1930s.

 In the south, most white people were conservative and Democrats. They were referred to as Yellow Dog Democrats (they'd vote for a Yellow Dog before voting for a Republican). The solid South was solidly for the Democrats (not like now when it is solidly for the Republicans). Roosevelt didn't get a majority of black votes (where blacks could vote) until 1940. Though from a later time period Robert Byrd (who served as a Democratic U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a Democratic U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010) had been a Klansman.  Yes,  white Southerners  were conservative, but it was an anti-banker/Wall Street kind of conservatism that didn't keep them from accepting government help. Given the economic state of the Old South during the Depression (remember most poor sharecroppers were white) it was help they needed.

Also there was a strong stream of liberalism in the Republican Party. Teddy Roosevelt busted the trusts. Western Republicans like  Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. and his sons in Wisconsin (from about 1900 to 1946), and western leaders such as Senator Hiram Johnson in California, Senator George W. Norris in Nebraska, Senator Bronson M. Cutting in New Mexico, Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin in Montana, and Senator William Borah in Idaho supported the New Deal and Unions.  Starting in the 1930s a number of Northeastern Republicans took liberal positions regarding labor unions, spending and New Deal policies. They included Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in New York City, Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, Governor Earl Warren of California, Senator Clifford P. Case of New Jersey, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts, Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut (father of George H. W. Bush), Senator Jacob K. Javits of New York, Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania, and Governor George Romney of Michigan.

 And needless to say moderates abounded in both parties at the time, but what fun are those in a Civil War.

Next time I'll go into some weapons and equipment.

[leadfool]

Don't forget that FDR's VP for the first 8 years was John Garner, a Texan conservative democrat, that spent the 8 years opposing the New Deal.  It was said that Garner had to "fix" his seat, as a the Republican candidate, an American of Mexican descent was his opponent, in the congressional election.  Some say he was elected, but the black and hispanic (ie Republican) ballots were lost.  There was never a recount. 
I guess lost ballots expains how a lot of districts in Chicago could get 150% voter turn-out.  

Unions were still having disputes between the types of unions.  There were the original select trades unions model and the General union model.  The first would only be specific jobs, like railroad engineers or boilermakers.  The second would be industry wide, like United Autoworkers, or United Steelworkers.  
Within Unions you also had splits on ethnic or national origin lines.  Labels like Socialist or Communist were badges of honor to some and fighting words to others.  Unions aren't likely to have fought each other, but different unions would support different factions, and might fail to support an attack or fail to show up on time etc.  

[mysteriousbill]

"President" Garner is hiding out in Texas at the moment. He'll be up to something. Maybe not Texas Indpendence but how about "devolution".

Or in American terms, we are still part of the United States, except for those laws we don't like.

[mysteriousbill]

Next update the BAR

http://mysteriousbill.weebly.com/2/post/2012/09/1.html

When you get tired of thsesx just let me know and I'll wait until I have an AAR to post anymore.

[Cory]

Nice thing about the BAR is how many gangster figs in 28mm are already equipped with them.

[FramFramson]

You know, it's an old trope to have a tough female gangster/criminal/mercenary/soldier wielding a gun far larger than they are. The BAR always reminds me that the one real and true example of that happening in real life was Bonnie Parker's known use of and love for that same gun.

[mysteriousbill]

She really liked using Armor Piercing ammo with it.

[Arlequín]

It is a very iconic weapon with a long career... yet when you think about it, it wasn't 'all that'. I have to admit I loved wielding one in the L.A. Noir X-Box game;

"They're BARs. You get the odd guy who sneaks one of them home from the war. How did he get three of them?"

 

[Plynkes]

Michelle Phillips (her out of The Mamas and the Papas) briefly gets to tote one in the 1973 Dillinger movie. That picture is just chock full of the things.

[leadfool]

Most of the motor gangsters (John Dillinger, B&C, MG Kelly etc) got theirs by the simple expedient of stealing them from local National Guard armories.   The organized gangsters (Al Capone, the detroit purple gang, the New York  five families etc.)  would have bribed or blackmailed them out of an armory

 Some BARs and a lot of Thompson submachineguns were legally purchased, as you could buy a machine gun in the US without restriction until 1934. 

After 1934 there was a 200 dollar transfer tax along with the requirement that you get permission from local law enforcement.  That permission is/was easier to get for some peoplle then for others and varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.   

The "Civilian" verson of the BAR was the Monitor.  Slightly shorter barrel, and no bipod.  The Bipod disappeared off many military weapons, as a field expedient in weight reduction.

Many other BARs were made under license by other counties.  The Polish government made an 8mm caliber version that had an added pistol grip.  Many considered  that an improvement for prone firing. 

Most of my factions have a figure per squad that is armed with a BAR.  Well except for the commies that get Stalinist/Soviet foreign assistance. 

[leadfool]

Check out our ACW2 Campaign from last year in the "Fire in the Valley" posts b Skrapwelder.