Jerryworld 6: Carousel

Fourth Reich Archaeology

Here we go! In our last episode, Jerry bought the ticket to Congress, and in this episode, he takes the ride. Already aboard the ride and two years deep into their own nascent political careers were fellow Navy combat vets Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon, whom we cover in this episode.

This week, we pick things up with Jerry during the first term of his Congressional career. He's the classic outsider candidate turned people's Congressman. You know Jerry is on that grindset, and once he is in office he works round the clock for the people. His constituent services are top-notch. He's chasing down social security checks. He's finding jobs at the pentagon for recent college grads. The people of Grand Rapids, and everywhere else, love him.

And, we call this episode "Carousel" because the people, events, and themes that come up in JW6 will come up again and again in significant ways. In other ways, "Carousel" is apt because here we see, yet again, that time is a flat circle. For example, in this episode, Jerry says goodbye to his mentor, Senator Vandenberg, who now views Jerry as the man who will be his legacy—the new man of the people for Michigan. With Vandenberg's death, the student becomes the master.

We don't mean to get too folksy about it, after all, Jerry is not just a folk hero congressman. He is cutting his teeth as an insider, too. For starters, Jerry had no personal reason to campaign in the 1950 election cycle, as he was hot stuff and the shoo-in incumbent. There were even murmurs that Jerry would be the obvious choice for Senate in 1952. And so he didn't have to put any effort into campaigning to keep his seat. So, he campaigned for his political allies. And in the process, caught the eyes and ears of very important people.

And then, of course, we dive into what we call our "bizarre love triangle." The budding friendship of Jerry Ford, Jack Kennedy, and Dick Nixon during their early years in Congress. Well, Jack was more of a frenemy to Jerry. The real bromance was between Jerry and Dick. A friendship that would bear fruit for both Nixon and Ford in more ways than either could ever imagine and which would eventually see them both embroiled in the assassination and cover-up of their one-time friend, Jack. A man they got to know as a shy but confident playboy bachelor, complaining to them in his Boston-Brahmin drawl about how boring it was to be a lowly Congressman...

We also take a brief contextual detour into the sociopolitical scene at large during the late 40s and early 50s. The battle between communism and capitalism was under way, fueling (and providing propagandistic moral cover for) the rise of American imperialism worldwide. The national security state had just oozed onto the scene. On the domestic front, politicians were building their careers and their political platforms around the "Red Menace." Dick Nixon was just one such politician. Hand-selected by the likes of Nazi-funder and dynastic patriarch Prescott Bush, and ideologically aligned with … well, another dynastic patriarch, and ... er Jack's dad, Joe Kennedy.

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