Akagi Accords

The Akagi Accords is a treaty that formally ended the Second World War. The Accords, signed on the aircraft carrier IJN Akagi by US President Thomas E. Dewey was a humilitation for the United States.

In these Accords, the United States was made to surrender the territory of Hawaii to Japan, along with almost all of its Pacific possessions. In addition, large ports and naval bases in Los Angeles and San Francisco were to be leased to Japan in perpetuity. In addition to this, the US was forced to pay massive reparations as well as lift its oil embargo from both Germany and Japan.

These Accords are a key factor to understand the US attitudes towards the other two superpowers, as well as the political situation within the United States.

Background

General Mac Arthur surrendering the rest of the US Pacific Fleet and Army, some time before the signing of the Akagi Accords.

By 1945, things were not looking great for the Allied Powers, with the capitulation of Britain, the loss of the British Raj and the failed invasion of the Philippines the year prior, the likelihood of the Allied Powers winning the war became slimmer, day by day. But hope was not yet lost, as the Americans believed that the Manhattan Project could claw back the Allies from the jaws of defeat. However, it was too late.

On July 4th, 1945, the war was lost.

A flash of light in Hawaii destroyed Pearl Harbor, and with it, the remaining support for the war as well. Fifty thousand dead, a large portion of the rebuilt Pacific Fleet destroyed, and the realisation that the war could not be won. The very next day, July 5th, President Dewey received word from New Mexico that the Manhattan Project had borne fruit - a nuclear device had been successfully tested. But it was too little, too late. The Axis had won the race for the atomic bomb.

The President announced that night that the United States would be seeking a conditional surrender with Japan and Germany. This conditional surrender would culminate in the end of the Second World War.

In late August 1945, President Dewey signed the Official Peace Accords Ending the State of War Between the United States, Japan, and Germany, commonly known as the Akagi Accords, aboard the IJN Akagi. These Accords required the United States to surrender the territory of Hawaii to Japan, along with almost all of its Pacific possessions under a 100-year lease. Additionally, Japan would have perpetual leases on the major ports and naval bases in Los Angeles and San Francisco. As part of the agreement, the US had to pay substantial reparations and lift its oil embargo on both Germany and Japan.

While many Americans viewed this as an end to the war that had needlessly claimed so many lives, an equal number were enraged that the United States had suffered its first-ever defeat in history, and a crushing one at that.

Aftermath

After the humiliation, the Republican Party faced landslide defeat in 1946, but many Americans blamed the "socialistic" policies of Roosevelt for weakening America and making the war inevitable. The 1948 Election tested these attitudes, matching isolationist Republican Robert Taft against internationalist Democratic Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike would win, but not before exposing deep dissatisfaction with the Establishment.

Ike attempted to complete Roosevelt's unfinished work. However, a rift with progressive Vice President Burton Wheeler over an intervention to defend Portuguese Angola from Germany sabotaged his presidency. In 1952, he only narrowly won re-election to his second term. Ike's second term was disappointing. Wheeler proved unable to guide the Senate to popular policy and Eisenhower resorted to executive orders to pass his agenda. As dissatisfaction grew, a new Nationalist Party formed from disgruntled Dixiecrats to support Gen. George S. Patton in 1952.

After Ike, the Establishment was unwilling to support his progressive Vice President Burton Wheeler. Instead the Democrats nominated moderate Estes Kefauver while the Republicans nominated moderate Everett M. Dirksen. The Nationalists and a revived Progressive Party soon became home for those disaffected by the mainstream parties bickering.

Kefauver barely triumphed over his rival but the backlash by those disgruntled with the political system was swift. In the midterms, dozens of new parties forced themselves on the ballot. Chaos reigned as a result, with senators elected with a third of the popular vote amidst allegations of fraud and corruption. However, there was a silver lining as a result of the midterms.

The Nationalists, Progressives, and other smaller parties realized they could vanquish the two-party establishment if they worked together. They formed an alliance of convenience, the National Progressive Pact, led by Progressive Scoop Jackson and States Rights leader James Fullbright. Republicans and Democrats, seeing an existential threat, formed a coalition of their own led by the conservative Richard Nixon and the liberal John F. Kennedy. During the 1960 US Presidential Election, Nixon would go on to beat the NPP’s candidate Henry Jackson. Nixon would be inaugurated as the 36th President of the United States on January 20th, 1961.

Prior to Nixon's inaguration, President Kefauver tore up the Akagi Accords and resumed a total embargo against the Japanese Empire, as a result America and Japan entered a tense international standoff known as the Hawaiian Missile Crisis. With Hawaii being recognised as a state, the Japanese responded in kind, installing missile sites capable of launching nuclear missiles onto the US heartland.

With Japanese ICBMs and smaller range missiles on Hawaii, threatening not only the West Coast of the US but potentially half the nation, Vice-President Kennedy and Japanese Prime Minister Ino engaged in tense negotiations defusing the conflict, as a result rolling back the doomsday clock. Whilst Vice-President Kennedy is praised by the R-D core, President Nixon is attacked for his lack of action during the entire standoff.