Houston (fictional U.S. state)

The state of Houston is a fictional U.S. state in the American Empire series by author Harry Turtledove. It was first mentioned in the book ', and was prominently mentioned in '.

History

The state was created in 1917 after U.S. forces entered western Texas during the Great War. It was named after Sam Houston, who had tried to keep Texas in the U.S. in 1861.

Houston takes up much of western Texas. Its cities include Lubbock, Littlefield, Amarillo, and El Paso. The city of Houston, however, is not part of the state. The state borders New Mexico (which includes our timeline's Arizona), Chihuahua (a state in the Confederacy in this timeline), occupied Sequoyah, and what remained of Texas.

On July 4, 1918, Houston officially became the 36th state in the Union. Until 1934, it voted Democratic in elections, both Congressional and presidential. The conservative Whig ideology that had been prominent in Texas gave way to an equally conservative following for the Democratic Party (which is conservative in this timeline). The Socialists were not favored in Houston for most of its time in the Union.

After the inauguration of Jake Featherston as president of the Confederate States in 1934, the state elected Freedom Party men to Congress. One prominent Freedom representative of Houston from this era was George H. Mahon. In Congress, Mahon, along with fellow Freedom representatives from both Houston and Kentucky, frequently interrupted sessions by calling for plebiscites to be held in both states (as well as Sequoyah, which was an occupied territory) so that they could return to the Confederacy.

As Houston, which had never really been loyal to the U.S., became more rebellious, occupation forces under Daniel MacArthur tried, without much success, to put down the Freedom-endorsed rebellion.

As per the Richmond Agreement of 1940, a vote was called for January 7, 1941 in Houston, Kentucky, and Sequoyah to determine their status in the U.S. This would hinge on the 1940 U.S. Presidential election between President Al Smith (who had reached the agreement with Featherston) and Robert Taft (who opposed it). Since many Houstonians wanted to return to the Confederate States, Houston went Socialist in the 1940 election (the only time it did so in its time in the Union).

On January 7, 1941, residents of Houston voted for a return to the Confederacy, ending its 23-year stay in the United States. Featherston welcomed this result, as well as that in Kentucky; he was much less pleased about the result in Sequoyah, which had voted to stay in the United States.

In 1942, U.S. forces under Major General Abner Dowling entered west Texas, and several cities began to fall again to the United States. It was around this time that Dowling noticed Camp Determination, located in Snyder, Texas. Dowling made it his goal to liberate the camp, finally taking the ruins of the abandoned camp in September 1943.

As Dowling advanced past Lubbock, the United States of America announced plans to re-admit the State of Houston into the Union.