Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

[frustrated progressive]

Love/hate the idea of someone using “2020s style” as a synonym for “low-key subdued social issues”. We clearly have further to fall. We’re not even doing discourse about ventriloquists yet!

We have the authority!

 

[Thande]

I’ve always wanted to do something different when it comes to lists like this, with Reagan ascending to the Presidency rather than being elected.

That was also done in the TL I mentioned, but it was quite different to this list because it was Ford-Reagan being elected in 1980, then Ford being killed by John Hinckley Jr and Reagan ascended. It was noted that this was a rather unlikely sequence of events, with the author writing a scene where shenanigans at the convention lead to Reagan becoming the VP when he didn't want to be on a ticket with Ford.

 

[TheKennedyMachine]

That was also done in the TL I mentioned, but it was quite different to this list because it was Ford-Reagan being elected in 1980, then Ford being killed by John Hinckley Jr and Reagan ascended. It was noted that this was a rather unlikely sequence of events, with the author writing a scene where shenanigans at the convention lead to Reagan becoming the VP when he didn't want to be on a ticket with Ford.

Huh. Never read that one before.

 

[Thande]

Huh. Never read that one before.

I think it ultimately started as someone doing a joke 'Turtledove as President' thing - it's the one where, hilariously, they start out with "Nobody actually knows what Turtledove's politics are, so I've made him a moderate Republican" - obviously this is before he was on Twitter.

But then it got rebooted into more of a serious TL that opens with the POD being Carter deciding not to run for a second term, and I'm not sure if it even ever got back to the original premise. I found the description interesting of Ford-Reagan hotly contested primaries, Reagan getting stuck in the VP slot past his prime despite not wanting to be, Ford winning and then Hinckley killing Ford soon afterwards so Reagan becomes President anyway. An unusual bit of 'in spite of a nail'.

 

[TheKennedyMachine]

1961 - 1964: John F. Kennedy / Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)
1960 def. Richard Nixon / Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (Republican), unpledged electors [Harry Byrd / Strom Thurmond] (Southern Democratic)
1963: Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates retired U.S. Major General Edwin Walker in Dallas, and is arrested the following day
1963: President Kennedy has a five-city tour of the state of Texas, hoping to seek support for the 1964 election
1964: Vice President Johnson resigns as VP in light of the Bobby Baker scandal
1964 - 1965: John F. Kennedy / Vacant (Democratic)
1964: Viet Cong forces assassinate Secretary of Defense McNamara and Ambassador Lodge in South Vietnam, Kennedy promises "swift justice"
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson primaries Ralph Yarborough in the 1964 Senate election in Texas
1964: First US combat troops enter Vietnam
1964: Kennedy nominates Terry Sanford as Vice President at the 1964 DNC in Atlantic City
1964: Operation Heavyweight begins, a sustained bombing campaign of North Vietnamese infrastructure
1965 - 1969: John F. Kennedy / Terry Sanford (Democratic)
1964 def. Barry Goldwater / Gerald Ford (Republican)
1965: Kennedy Administration sees cabinet reshuffle, Robert F. Kennedy moved to Secretary of State
1965: President Kennedy signs an omnibus Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in the United States
1965: PM Hugh Gaitskell commits to British Army involvement to Vietnam, the decision is controversial and a growing anti-war movement grows
1965: President Kennedy fires General Westmoreland and replaces him with Maxwell Taylor as commander of US forces in Vietnam
1966: Voting Rights Act is signed by President Kennedy
1967: The US, UK, and USSR sign the Outer Space Nuclear Ban Treaty
1967: President Kennedy travels to Cuba and normalize relations with Fidel Castro
1967: Kennedy increases troop levels in Vietnam by 40,000 but he refuses to raise draft levels for the conflict
1968: Richard Nixon dies in explosion on the tarmac at Nashua Airport when reporter Hunter Thompson flicks a lit cigarette into an exposed container of jet fuel
1969 - 1972: Nelson Rockefeller / Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1968 def. Eugene McCarthy / Philip Hoff (Democratic), George Wallace / Curtis LeMay (American Independent)
1969: The policy of Vietnamization is put into effect per insistence of Secretary of Defense Bush
1969: My Lai Massacre is revealed to the public by journalist Seymour Hersh
1969: General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev is assassinated by deserter Viktor Ilyin -- Mikhail Suslov succeeds as leader of the USSR
1971: Pentagon Papers leak -- clashes begin between Secretary of Defense Bush and Secretary of State Kissinger
1971: Lin Biao becomes leader of China after death of Mao Zedong, begins reorienting towards the Soviet Union diplomatically
1971: Senator Ted Kennedy announces campaign for President
1972: President Rockefeller is assassinated by Arthur Bremer during a visit to Ottawa, Burger Commission formed to investigate assassination
1972 - 0000: Ronald Reagan / vacant (Republican)
1972: Secretary of State Kissinger is ousted, Reagan nominates intelligence officer Howard Hunt as new Secretary of State
1972: Death of J. Edgar Hoover, William C. Sullivan becomes new FBI Director
1972: Senator Ted Kennedy dies in plane crash on the campaign trail, Robert F. Kennedy appointed to Senate seat
1972: the 1972 Democratic National Convention nominates Henry Jackson, southern and anti-war delegates walkout

thinking of turning this into a TLIAW ...

 

[theflyingmgoose]

Yitzhak Rabin (Alignment) - June 3, 1974 - June 20, 1977
-Selected 1974 (Alignment, Ratz, Independent Liberals, United Arab List)
Ezer Weizman (Likud) - June 20, 1977 - May 26, 1985
-Elected 1977 (Likud, Dash, Shlomtzion, Independent Liberals)
-Re-Elected 1981 (Likud, Dash, Telem, Independent Liberals)
Shimon Peres (Alignment) - May 26, 1985 - September 13, 1987
-Elected 1985 (Alignment, Shinui, Ratz, Progressive List For Peace)
Amnon Rubenstein (Hetz) - September 13, 1987 - November 5, 1987
-Selected 1987 (Alignment, Hetz)
Yitzhak Rabin (Alignment) - November 5, 1987 - November 12, 1989
-Elected 1987 (Alignment, Hetz, United Arab List)
Amnon Rubenstein (Hetz) - November 12, 1989 - December 4, 1991
-Selected 1989 (Alignment, Hetz, United Arab List)
Ariel Sharon (Likud) - December 4, 1991 - March 23, 1994
-Elected 1991 (Likud, Labor, Meretz, Dash, Kadima, United Arab List)
Ehud Olmert (Labor) - March 23, 1994 - September 18, 1996
-Elected 1994 (Labor, Likud, Meretz, Kadima, United Arab List, Dash)
Meir Kahane (Kach) - September 18, 1996 - November 23, 2005
-Elected 1996 (Kach, Mafdal, United Torah Judaism, Shas)
-Re-Elected 2000 (Kach, Mafdal, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Moledet)
-Re-Elected 2003 (Kach leading National Religious Unity Front)
Binyamin Kahane (Kach) - November 23, 2005 - January 25, 2006
Emergency IDF Military Administration - January 25, 2006 - March 1, 2007
Yair Golan (Meretz) - March 1, 2007 - October 12, 2013
-Elected 2007 (Anti-Haredi Action Front (Meretz, Labor, United Arab List, Liberalim))
-Re-Elected 2011 (Meretz, Kadima, Labor, Liberalim, United Arab List)
Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) - October 12, 2013 - May 12, 2014
-Selected 2013 (Meretz, Kadima, Labor, Liberalim, United Arab List)
Tzipi Livni (Kadima) - May 12, 2014 - May 29, 2018
-Elected 2014 (Kadima, Yisraeli Beiteinu, Likud, Liberalim)
Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) - May 29, 2018 - September 12, 2020
-Elected 2018 (Meretz, Labor, Liberalim, United Arab List)
Merav Michaeli (Labor) - September 12, 2020 - August 8, 2021
-Selected 2020 (Meretz, Labor, Liberalim, United Arab List)
Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) - August 8, 2021 - January 23, 2024
-Elected 2021 (Yisraeli Beiteinu, Kadima, Likud, Liberalim)
Stav Shaffir (Labor) - January 23, 2024 - Incumbent
-Elected 2024 (Labor, Meretz, Liberalim, Green, Ale Yarok)

 

[Meppo]

1889 – 1897: Benjamin Harrison (Republican)
'88 (w. Levi P. Morton): Grover Cleveland / Allen G. Thurman (Democratic)
'92 (w. Whitelaw Reid): Grover Cleveland / Isaac P. Gray (Democratic), Leonidas L. Polk / John G. Otis (People's)
1897 – 1901: Robert E. Pattison (Democratic)
'96 (w. Adlai Stevenson): Levi P. Morton / Joseph W. Fifer (Republican), Leonidas L. Polk / James H. Kyle (People's)
1901 – 1905: Redfield Proctor (Republican)
'00 (w. Charles W. Fairbanks): Robert E. Pattison / Adlai Stevenson (Democratic), Frank Steunenberg / Thomas E. Watson (People's)
1905 – 1909: Joseph B. Foraker (Republican)
'04 (w. Henry T. Gage): Calvin S. Brice / Patrick H. Winston Jr. (Democratic), Ignatius L. Donnelly / Milford W. Howard ("Straight-Out" People's)
1909 – 1914: John A. Johnson (Democratic)
'08 (w. Carter H. Harrison): Joseph B. Foraker / Charlemagne Tower Jr. (Republican)
'12 (w. Carter H. Harrison): Albert Beveridge / James S. Sherman (Republican), Eugene V. Debs / Carl D. Thompson (Socialist)
1914 – 1921: Carter H. Harrison (Democratic)
'16 (w. J. Hamilton Lewis): Charles E. Hughes / Charles Dick (Republican), Emil Seidel / Arthur LeSueur (Socialist)
1921 – 1929: Frank O. Lowden (Republican)
'20 (w. Charles S. Whitman): J. Hamilton Lewis / James W. Gerard (Democratic)
'24 (w. Charles S. Whitman): Albert C. Ritchie / Michael Liebel Jr. (Democratic)
1929 – 1933: Charles S. Whitman (Republican)
'28 (w. Hanford MacNider): A. Harry Moore / Jesse H. Jones (Democratic), Lynn Frazier / Huey P. Long (Christian Reform)
1933 – 1936: William G. McAdoo (Democratic)
'32 (w. Edmund G. de Valera): Charles S. Whitman / Hanford MacNider (Republican)

• 23.) Benjamin Harrison | Rep. | Ind. – a "living and rejuvenated Republican" who established high tariffs to pay for high veterans' pensions and federal education, fought to pass substantial civil rights protections, and presided over a brief war with Chile and a severe economic depression.
• 24.) Robert E. Pattison | Dem. | Penn. – the young Governor of Pennsylvania, who triumphed in 1896 more so due to the continuing Panic of 1893 and his reform credentials than his "sound money" outlook; generally deemed a bland figure by historians, whose mildly successful economic policies faltered amidst Attorney General Olney's reprisals against striking workers and the intervention of the German Empire to mediate the Cuban Insurrection.
• 25.) Redfield Proctor | Rep. | Vt. – former Governor of Vermont and Secretary of War under Harrison, who pursued the establishment of a forestry service and projected a "peace through strength" policy through further expansion of the Navy despite his own overall isolationism; chose not to run for another term owing to health issues.
• 26.) Joseph B. Foraker | Rep. | Ohio – U.S. Senator from Ohio who reversed course on his precedessor's foreign policy, notably getting involved in the Colombian war against the neo-Bolivarianist dictator Cipriano Castro, annexing Panama, and antagonizing the German Empire in regards to the annexation of the Philippines; though regarded well by modern historians owing to his support of black voting rights, the Foraker administration was marred by Republican internal quarrels and Secretary of War Roosevelt's racist statements towards German-Americans.
• 27.) John A. Johnson | Dem. | Minn. – Swedish-American Governor of Minnesota, erroneously called "the first Hyphenated President" upon his narrow election; a timid orator who relied heavily on bipartisan deals to pass progressive measures such as freight rate regulation and the Pure Drug Act, Johnson remains popular among diaspora politicians despite dying of gastrointestinal cancer shortly into his second term.
• 28.) Carter H. Harrison IV | Dem. | Ill. – Blue-blooded newspaper publisher who went a long way from Mayor of Chicago to Vice President, Carter Harrison is generally regarded as an above-average President, one who pragmatically avoided entering the First Great War and mediated the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland; however, opposition to Prohibition, race riots, a sex scandal in the Navy and the establishment of Zapatismo in Mexico have generally turned the President's reputation as a "lax, tolerant but solid reformer" on its head.
• 29.) Frank O. Lowden | Rep. | Ill. – the conservative Governor of Illinois who won in a landslide over his less moralist predecessor, Lowden is generally ranked an average President; popular for much of his Presidency (in part due to his hands-off approach to government), Lowden had seen his administration marred by the end of his term on account of Prohibition and spending scandals.
• 30.) Charles S. Whitman | Rep. | N.Y. – Vice President and former Governor of New York, initially selected for his notability as an anti-corruption attorney who effectively prosecuted the so-called "Russian Bureau plot" of 1919; generally unpopular among historians for his conservative economic policies, in particular due to reliance on "commerce czars" Andrew Mellon and Odgen Mills, which are generally believed to have contributed to his defeat in 1932.
• 31.) William G. McAdoo | Dem. | Tenn. – former Secretary of the Treasury and one-time Governor of Tennessee, long vaunted as a party leader and potential presidential candidate before his compromise nomination and eventual inauguration at the ripe old age of 69; generally ranked an above-average President for his role in alleviating the effects of the German debt crisis of 1930 and the Dust Bowl on the American markets, creating the Tennessee Valley Federal Authority, and tacit support for the Anglo-Franco-Japanese Allies against the Sobor Powers in the ensuing Second Great War, even over the dissent of his authoritative Vice President and eventual successor.

 

[Kaddeus]

2021-2024: Fumio Kishida (Jiyu-Minshu)
2021 (coalition w/ Komei): Yukio Edano (Rikken-Minshu), Ichiro Matsui (Ishin), Natsuo Yamaguchi (Komei), Kazuo Shii (Kyosan), Yuichiro Tamaki (Kokumin-Minshu), Taro Yamamoto (Reiwa Shinsengumi), Mizuho Fukushima (Shakai-Minshu)

It began, as all the greatest of the LDP do, with a brutal defenestration.

August, 2021. The LDP was in meltdown. Yoshihide Suga, hurriedly anointed Prime Minister after Shinzo Abe shocked the political world, had overseen a rebuke of the party from his very hometown of Yokohama. Something had to be done. Names flew around. Kono. Ishiba. Noda. Maybe even Abe himself.

Enter Fumio Kishida. Son of Hiroshima. Quiet, but not a pushover. Reformist, but not a radical. One for the impossible. Sure, there'd been naysayers. Those who said that the LDP's return had been built off of Abe and Abe alone, that the Opposition's unification in the SMDs finally spelt doom for the government. The polls ticked up. The prognosticators forecasted doom. He closed it all off, battered down the hatches. Weather the storm.

Indeed, by election night, the tornado had changed course. As the Prime Minister pinned rosette after rosette to the wall of candidates, it was Edano who was barely ahead in Saitama's 5th. Ishin had come out nowhere - but they could always be bargained with. Sure, Ishihara had lost, Amari had to find solace on the PR bloc, but no matter. This victory was never theirs. It was his. Twenty years after the Kato Rebellion had split the Kochikai apart, they had climbed back to the top of power. He could tell that the scion wanted his old job back - but no matter. He'd go the way of the old ones, learning his place as a head of the faction, not head of the party. Not anymore.

The Prime Minister got to work. Cabinetry was always the hardest part - who to reward? Who to dispose of? It was his brokerage now, anyways. As he trumpeted the virtues of his New Capitalism, the Opposition locked horns not with him, but with each other. Bring on the Upper House showdown. Tokai, Tokyo, those venerable strongholds would only further erode. Kinki was one to watch - didn't Takaichi angle to manage that? Sure, let's send someone over. Him? Of course.

Nothing was the same after that day. First came the Church, now exposed in all its ugliness. Then came Ishin, its parchment green barreling into a tidal wave out west. Everything was a blur after that. What to do? The same as always - bunker down. Weather the storm. It's what the party had always done. Son threw a party in the office? No big deal. Tax increases for the military? It's what he would've wanted. Biden wants to meet at Hiroshima? Of course.

And so, he rose from the ashes, seemingly on autopilot. The party's approval ratings had taken on the trend of a heartbeat, pulsing up and down with the mood of the nation. It was apropos, perhaps. In the halls of Nagatacho, in that building with 自民党 strapped atop it, liquid power pumped from those arteries to every corner of the country. Rising and falling, falling and rising - they would endure.

Then came December. Millions of yen. Billions, perhaps. Campaigns cost money, after all. Still, it was all them! Well, mostly them. The Prime Minister smiled bitterly. Beyond the grave, he still ruled the roost. Even as his successors tore each other apart for the throne, it was still his party. Perhaps it'd never been his. But, as the old adage went, in chaos - opportunity.

Yes, I've urged their committee to dissolve the faction. I've done the same. Look, it's a study group now! Reform, he cried, like he was possessed by Koizumi himself. The earthquake was a brief respite. Still, even as the numbers sank further into the abyss, he was zen. Motegi was stodgy. The Seiwakai was smashed. Aso was mad, but the old man had always been since '09. At least one of them had won an election.

Nonetheless, the pressure was mounting. The Party was now regularly submerged beneath Aoki's line, that oh-so-venerable benchmark that had sunk many a Prime Minister during the era of revolving door. The vultures were circling. Ishiba, Koizumi, and Kono would only play rock/paper/scissors among themselves for so long before two of them finally fell in line behind one. Yoko proclaimed silence, but he knew that she'd take the chance if it came. Takaichi didn't even bother hiding it.

But yet, he was beholden to no one. Motegi'd make noises, but he'd fall in line. To throw them off the trail, he threw himself into his work even more. A meeting with Kim'd shut them all up. Biden too. And that left...April.

Perhaps now, it was finally time to prove that it was his party.

The campaign was a bolt out of the blue. Commentators' jaws dropped as the Prime Minister proclaimed his intent to dissolve the House while his approvals mirrored the Titanic's in their depth, to deliver on a true mandate for structural reform. It would be his majority now. Shocked and stunned, the party slowly recombobulated itself into fighting shape. Ishin and the CDP were just as much at war with each other. Prices were still rising, but this was the LDP's Japan. His Japan. Komei would come in handy, they always would. He'd bought them off once more, that devil's bargain that kept rearmament moving at a glacial pace. Never mind the polls. They'd been wrong before. As the Prime Minister hopped off his plane and idly fiddled with his own rosette, something told him he'd make history tonight.

2024 (minority): Kenta Izumi (Rikken-Minshu), Nobuyuki Baba (Ishin), Natsuo Yamaguchi (Komei), Tomoko Tamura (Kyosan), Taro Yamamoto (Reiwa Shinsengumi), Yuichiro Tamaki (Kokumin-Minshu), Seiji Maehara (Kyoiku-Musho-ka), Mizuho Fukushima (Shakai-Minshu), Sohei Kamiya (Sansei)

Humiliation.

The LDP, Japan's great party of government, had plummeted to just a quarter of the vote, crashing below the majority mark to finish just above 200. Worst of all, Komei's vaunted campaign machine had given way, its ranks reaped by Kronos himself. As the night wore on, hushed whispers turned to barely concealed panic as they realized their 30-seat coalition cushion had been cut by a third.

Still, it was no matter. This was no 2009. The opposition was hopelessly divided among itself. Tamaki could be bribed with a cabinet post. Yamamoto would never agree to prop up anything with Ishin. The CDP would vote for Izumi, Baba would be backed up by Maehara, and Tamaki would vote for, of course, himself. Fucker could be bought off by a cabinet post anyways - he spent all of last year practically begging for one. As the Prime Minister walked into the Diet, he held his head high.

2024-present: Seiji Maehara (Kyoiku-Musho-ka)
2024 (coalition w/ Rikken-Minshu, Ishin, Kokumin-Minshu): Fumio Kishida (Jiyu-Minshu), Kenta Izumi (Rikken-Minshu), Nobuyuki Baba (Ishin), Natsuo Yamaguchi (Komei), Tomoko Tamura (Kyosan), Taro Yamamoto (Reiwa Shinsengumi), Yuichiro Tamaki (Kokumin-Minshu), Mizuho Fukushima (Shakai-Minshu), Sohei Kamiya (Sansei)

Gay marriage for Ishin and the CDP. Somehow even more proportional representation for the Communists and Yamamoto. The Ministry for Assuaging One's Ego for Tamaki. And at the centre of it all, the only man who the coalition could agree on to be Prime Minister.

Well, he'd certainly done the impossible this time.

Spoiler: always show your work

1. Maehara's somehow still relevant
2. LDP's horrific polling example 1
3. LDP's horrific polling example 2
4. April snappy: delulu is the solulu

 

[Time Enough]

Lynn Frazier / Huey P. Long (Christian Reform)

What an aggressively American name for a Left Wing Christian Democratic Party, also woo, some Lynn Frazier love.

Great list, some figures I’m genuinely surprised don’t appear more like Whitman in there.

Seiji Maehara (Kyoiku-Mushō-ka)

This man and his political journey confuses me a fair bit. To be fair, that describes most Japanese Politicians.

 

[Kaddeus]

This man and his political journey confuses me a fair bit. To be fair, that describes most Japanese Politicians.

The idea for this was based off of the recent bout of shit polling for the LDP, me realizing that there's a non-zero chance LDP + Komei both get pushed below 233 by the thinnest of margins. After that, I thought about who could serve as a unity candidate for Ishin/CDP since they'd both refuse to let the other serve as PM (CDP has more seats, Ishin finishes higher in PR bloc vote) and, with some inspiration from 1993's PM selection process, came up with a horrific idea.

 

[Meppo]

What an aggressively American name for a Left Wing Christian Democratic Party, also woo, some Lynn Frazier love.

Great list, some figures I’m genuinely surprised don’t appear more like Whitman in there.

It wasn't supposed to be that left-wing but I couldn't find any other fitting running mate in there...

Thank you so much!

 

[Meppo]

Originally posted to The Thirty-Seventh HoS List Challenge Thread.

A CORNERED RAT

1995 – 1996: Viktor Chernomyrdin (Our Home – Russia)
1996 – 2003: Anatoly Sobchak (Our Home – Russia)
1996: Gennady Zyuganov (Communist), Aleksandr Lebed (CRC), Grigory Yavlinsky (Yabloko), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPR)
2000: Gennady Zyuganov (Communist), Yury Luzhkov (Fatherland), Grigory Yavlinsky (Yabloko), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPR)
• 2003 died of coronary heart disease
2003 – 2004: Mikhail Kasyanov (nonpartisan)
2004 – 2006: Yury Skuratov (Communist)
2004 def. Aleksandr Rutskoi (Derzhava), Alexei Lebed (Fatherland), Sergei Shoigu (The Bear), Ilya Zaslavsky (Democratic Choice)
• 2006 died in car crash
2006 – : Sergei Muravlenko (Communist)

...from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Путин; [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn]; 7 October 1952 – 22 February 2009) was a Russian politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1998 to 2003.

Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel before resigning in 1991; he subsequently joined then-mayor of Leningrad Anatoly Sobchak's administration, following him to Moscow following the 1996 presidential election. Under President Sobchak, Putin briefly served as Deputy Chief of Staff and then as director of the Federal Security Service before being appointed Prime Minister in June 1998. As Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin oversaw increases in macroeconomic and political stability and played a central role in the conduct of the Second Chechen War and the reestablishment of federal control over the region, and the 1999–2003 dispute over gas prices with Ukraine.

Domestically, Putin was perceived by many as Anatoly Sobchak's grey cardinal and potential successor, referred to by many Western and Russian journalists as well as former Deputy Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov as a leader of the so-called "conservative current" of the Sobchak administration, a tough manager who sought to establish more equal cooperation with NATO[citation needed]. During much of his tenure Vladimir Putin had been embroiled in a number of corruption scandals, many stemming from his early years in the St. Petersburg city administration. He resigned as Prime Minister in February 2003 due to protests pertaining to Concordgate and the Putin government's response to the Moscow theater hostage crisis, largely deemed to have led to unnecessary casualties, shortly before Sobchak's death from heart disease.

After his resignation, Vladimir Putin became a critic of Mikhail Kasyanov and Yury Skuratov, notably publishing materials regarding the latter's sex scandal and allegations of a close financial relationship with the family of Boris Yeltsin. In November 2007 Putin was found guilty of fraud and money laundering and sentenced to 11 years in prison, but was acquitted of involvement in the death of President Yury Skuratov in a separate trial; the high-profile nature of the trials and the confirmation of the involvement of a former FSB officer has led to the emergence of wide-ranging conspiracy theories pertaining to Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin died of vertebral osteomyelitis on 22 February 2009.

 

[Steve Brinson]

1953-1957: Dwight Eisenhower (Republican)

'52 (with Richard Nixon) def. William Orville Douglas (Democratic)​

'56 (with Richard Nixon) def. William Orville Douglas (Democratic)​

'57 assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald​

1957-1965: Richard Nixon (Republican)

'60 (with Sherman Adams) def. William vanden Heuvel (Democratic)​

1965-1969: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (Republican)

'64 (with Leslie C. Arends) def. William Orville Douglas (Democratic)​

1969-1977: Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democratic)

'68 (with Vance Hartke) def. Richard Nixon (National), Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (Republican), Walter Reuther (Labor)​

'72 (with Vance Hartke) def. William Joseph Brennan (Republican)​

1977-1980: Robert Novak (Republican)

'76 (with Meldrim Thomson) def. Wendell R. Anderson (Democratic)​

1980-1985: Meldrim Thomson (Republican)

'80 (with James Gavin) def. Cyrus R. Vance (Democratic), Scoop Jackson (National)​

1985-1989: Lee Iacocca (Republican)

'84 (with Ben Nighthorse Campbell) def. Ed Koch (Democratic)​

1989-: Donald J. Trump (Democratic)

'88 (with Jim Wright) def. Lee Iacocca (Republican)​

'92 (with Jim Wright) def. Mike Hayden (Republican)​

Eisenhower sincerely never wanted his legacy. He thought he would be a peacemaker, pouring oil on the waters of domestic politics through economic growth and using his gravitas and his soldier's credibility to bring peace to troubled lands. Then Mohammad Mossadegh got himself elected Prime Minister of Iran, a Soviet-backed coup overthrew the Kingdom of Iraq, and the USS Little Rock sunk under mysterious circumstances off Bahrain - and domino theory and the press set Foggy Bottom's hair on fire. Eisenhower duly ordered troops to overthrow the outposts of a new Red Empire, both in the Gulf and in Guatemala - and set forward an Eisenhower Doctrine of support for anti-Communist forces the world over. Three years later, chickens came home to roost in the form of a Moscow-sympathizing dishonorably discharged Marine sniper, and Nixon took the helm.

Richard Nixon, iron-assed young man with ideas, took the helm no-one really wanted for him. As the Democrats tore themselves apart over environmentalism, fear of Douglasite mob rule in the halls of power, and perhaps most importantly the polarizing figure of Bill Douglas himself, Nixon reached across the aisle to make (admittedly half-hearted) overtures to the Civil Rights Movement while instantiating the New Nationalism of conservative family values at home and imperialism abroad. He bestrode American politics like a colossus, even after his Presidency - including breaking the career of his anointed successor Rockefeller to let another New Nationalist through.

But Moynihan differed from Nixon in a few key ways. Nixon was a cheerleader for American intervention in the Third World War, who wanted to protect America's vital strategic interests in Europe and East Asia - Moynihan saw it as a distraction from his domestic agenda of rationalizing the economic system and the welfare state, and even then Secretary Douglas resigned over his continuation of Nixon's normalization efforts in China, seeing it as tacit support for the United Front. As the People's Liberation Army and European Defense Force bled in the Balkans and Mongolia, Moynihan won a narrow victory on a platform of keeping the United States out of the war - then reversed course in '73 as fear of unrestricted ICBM warfare and a Mexican Front convinced the public that the time was right to go to war against the Red Menace. It was too late for China, where the strains of the war effort led to a traditionalist uprising - but the Second Russian Revolution fatally undermined the Comintern, and the Treaty of Schönbrunn brought an end to that chapter of history. Though Moynihan attempted mightily to use the moment to create a new international order, he was undone by an American public hoping for a return to normalcy.

The rest of the story can be told quickly - as Europe reconstructed itself and the new Chinese government won its war and charted a new path, the American economy boomed. Not even the austere conservatism of Thomson was enough to undermine the good times. Then the bottom fell out, despite Iacocca's better efforts, and a new Democratic President, a filthy-rich New York dynast with no clear vision but a lot of ideas and good words, came to power. A decade into the Second Depression, the economy is showing signs of life - but many Americans still see more light down the path of Li Hongzhi's China, or Eduard Savenko's Russia. The latter, in particular, might pose a threat - increasing restrictions on Russian Jews and an ever closer alliance with ultranationalist regimes in India and Argentina mean that many Americans fear a Fourth World War just around the corner...

 

[prezZF]

1953-1957: Dwight Eisenhower (Republican)

'52 (with Richard Nixon) def. William Orville Douglas (Democratic)​

'56 (with Richard Nixon) def. William Orville Douglas (Democratic)​

'57 assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald​

1957-1965: Richard Nixon (Republican)

'60 (with Sherman Adams) def. William vanden Heuvel (Democratic)​

1965-1969: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (Republican)

'64 (with Leslie C. Arends) def. William Orville Douglas (Democratic)​

1969-1977: Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democratic)

'68 (with Vance Hartke) def. Richard Nixon (National), Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (Republican), Walter Reuther (Labor)​

'72 (with Vance Hartke) def. William Joseph Brennan (Republican)​

1977-1980: Robert Novak (Republican)

'76 (with Meldrim Thomson) def. Wendell R. Anderson (Democratic)​

1980-1985: Meldrim Thomson (Republican)

'80 (with James Gavin) def. Cyrus R. Vance (Democratic), Scoop Jackson (National)​

1985-1989: Lee Iacocca (Republican)

'84 (with Ben Nighthorse Campbell) def. Ed Koch (Democratic)​

1989-: Donald J. Trump (Democratic)

'88 (with Jim Wright) def. Lee Iacocca (Republican)​

'92 (with Jim Wright) def. Mike Hayden (Republican)​

Eisenhower sincerely never wanted his legacy. He thought he would be a peacemaker, pouring oil on the waters of domestic politics through economic growth and using his gravitas and his soldier's credibility to bring peace to troubled lands. Then Mohammad Mossadegh got himself elected Prime Minister of Iran, a Soviet-backed coup overthrew the Kingdom of Iraq, and the USS Little Rock sunk under mysterious circumstances off Bahrain - and domino theory and the press set Foggy Bottom's hair on fire. Eisenhower duly ordered troops to overthrow the outposts of a new Red Empire, both in the Gulf and in Guatemala - and set forward an Eisenhower Doctrine of support for anti-Communist forces the world over. Three years later, chickens came home to roost in the form of a Moscow-sympathizing dishonorably discharged Marine sniper, and Nixon took the helm.

Richard Nixon, iron-assed young man with ideas, took the helm no-one really wanted for him. As the Democrats tore themselves apart over environmentalism, fear of Douglasite mob rule in the halls of power, and perhaps most importantly the polarizing figure of Bill Douglas himself, Nixon reached across the aisle to make (admittedly half-hearted) overtures to the Civil Rights Movement while instantiating the New Nationalism of conservative family values at home and imperialism abroad. He bestrode American politics like a colossus, even after his Presidency - including breaking the career of his anointed successor Rockefeller to let another New Nationalist through.

But Moynihan differed from Nixon in a few key ways. Nixon was a cheerleader for American intervention in the Third World War, who wanted to protect America's vital strategic interests in ?East Asia? - Moynihan saw it as a distraction from his domestic agenda of rationalizing the economic system and the welfare state, and even then Secretary Douglas resigned over his continuation of Nixon's normalization efforts in China, seeing it as tacit support for the United Front. As the People's Liberation Army and European Defense Force bled in the Balkans and Mongolia, Moynihan won a narrow victory on a platform of keeping the United States out of the war - then reversed course in '73 as fear of unrestricted ICBM warfare and a Mexican Front convinced the public that the time was right to go to war against the Red Menace. It was too late for China, where the strains of the war effort led to a traditionalist uprising - but the Second Russian Revolution fatally undermined the Comintern, and the Treaty of Schönbrunn brought an end to that chapter of history. Though Moynihan attempted mightily to use the moment to create a new international order, he was undone by an American public hoping for a return to normalcy.

The rest of the story can be told quickly - as Europe reconstructed itself and the new Chinese government won its war and charted a new path, the American economy boomed. Not even the austere conservatism of Thomson was enough to undermine the good times. Then the bottom fell out, despite Iacocca's better efforts, and a new Democratic President, a filthy-rich New York dynast with no clear vision but a lot of ideas and good words, came to power. A decade into the Second Depression, the economy is showing signs of life - but many Americans still see more light down the path of Li Hongzhi's China, or Eduard Savenko's Russia. The latter, in particular, might pose a threat - increasing restrictions on Russian Jews and an ever closer alliance with ultranationalist regimes in India and Argentina mean that many Americans fear a Fourth World War just around the corner...

Ike as McKinnley, and so on?

 

[Steve Brinson]

Ike as McKinnley, and so on?

You got it! Not really happy with the foreign analogues but so it goes.

 

[prezZF]

You got it! Not really happy with the foreign analogues but so it goes.

Trump as Roosevelt is certainly a take. Is (insert last 2 terms of FDR) succeeded by Stuart Symington Jr or Jerry Litton?

 

[AceofShovels]

54. William S. Stancil / Mallerie Stromswold (NDP) - January 20, 2049 - Incumbent (June 2076)
'48 def. Vivek Ramaswamy (AIP) - 49.1%-45.5%
'52 def. Jack Francis (AIP) - 75.3%-21.2%
'56 def. Ben Shapiro (AIP) - 66.1%-30.4%
'60 def. Ben Shapiro (AIP) - 64.9%-33.9%
'64 def. UNOPPOSED
'68 def. UNOPPOSED
'72 def. UNOPPOSED
2049: A limited nuclear exchange breaks out between India and Pakistan
2050: The "Norwegian Model" of prisons is fully introduced in the US
2051: Massive investments in reforestation and reversing the effects of climate change
2052: Mexico's population reaches 440 million as it officially enters a crisis
2053: NATO establishes a protectorate over the Amazon
2054: The Soviet Union finally collapses
2055: The Warsaw Pact is formally disbanded
2056: Chinese annexation of Siberia
2057: The Caliphate attempts to launch a space program (and fails, of course)
2058: Over $500 Billion is approved for the newly-free eastern Europe
2059: Night City is established as the 16th federal city (it's the same location as the OTL Cyberpunk one, and still has the megacorps & crime, but it is obviously way less impoverished)
2060: Life expectancy in the west officially passes 100 for the first time, with highs of 106 and 110 in the US and Japan, respectively
2061: Rollout of the first Power Armor divisions
2062: Paid leave extended to one year
2063: War between several major corporations over African holdings ends after President Stancil sends in the military.
2064: Chinese GDP growth outpaces the US for the first time in recorded history
2065: Total off-Earth population reaches 300,000
2066: The Caliphate launches a pre-emptive strike on METO positions. Israel's Aloni-class interceptors shoot down all of the missiles, except for one that strikes West Jerusalem
2067: A ceasefire agreement is signed between the Caliphate and METO, after the former agrees to give up all nukes and free the rest of Syria
2068: President Stancil's summit on nuclear disarmament fails
2069: The "20 year limit" of holding a single federal position is repealed
2070: NATO and METO form the World Treaty & Defense Organization
2071: Mexico's population reaches 600 million as mass famine begins to break out
2072: Jose Sanchez Puerto Jr, in office since 2057, is forced to resign as Chief of the Mexican Secretariat in favor of his more moderate but mentally ill son
2073: The National Democratic Party is made the only legal party for "national security reasons"
2074: Congress approves a military intervention in Mexico, although President Stancil declines to use the powers "for the time being"
2075: The National Reforestation Program is completed, doubling the amount of green land
2076: The White House announces that the President will seek an eighth term as tensions with the Chinese, Mexicans, and the Caliphate reach an all-time high

dropping this like a grenade and running

 

[Ebolaman123]

dropping this like a grenade and running

 

[TheKennedyMachine]

POD: Johnson leaks the Chennault Affair, leading to Humphrey (narrowly) winning in 1968.

1969 - 1973: Hubert Humphrey / Edmund Muskie (Democratic)
1968 def. Richard Nixon [arrested] / Spiro Agnew (Republican), George Wallace / Curtis LeMay (American Independent)
1973 - 1979: Ronald Reagan / Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
1972 def. Hubert Humphrey / Edmund Muskie (Democratic)
1976 def. Edmund Muskie / Jimmy Carter (Democratic)
1979 - 1981: Ronald Reagan / vacant (Republican)
1981 - 1989: Ted Kennedy / Lloyd Bensten (Democratic)
1980 def. George Bush / Richard Lugar (Republican)
1984 def. Howard Baker / Anne Armstrong (Republican)
1989 - 1993: Lloyd Bensten / Gary Hart (Democratic)
1988 def. Dan Quayle / Bob Dole (Republican)
1993 - 0000: George W. Bush / John McCain (Republican)
1992 def. Lloyd Bensten / Gary Hart (Democratic)

 

[theflyingmgoose]

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
44. Dick Cheney / Sam Brownback (R) - January 20, 2009 - August 16, 2009
'08 def. John Edwards / Bill Richardson (D), Mike Gravel / Ralph Nader (G), 270-265-3 EV / 57,405,425 (45.6%) - 57,783,092 (45.9%) - 8,938,125 (7.1%)
45. Sam Brownback / VACANT then Rick Perry (R) - August 16, 2009 - January 20, 2013
46. George Takei / Joe Biden (D) - January 20, 2013 - ?
'12 def. Sam Brownback / Rick Perry (R), Rod Dreher / Michael Maturen (AS), 537-1-0 EV / 88,464,788 (62.3%) - 43,309,406 (30.5%) - 8,235,887 (5.8%)

Plenty of campaigns have been fumbled in American history. But none more so than the Democrat's dropping of the ball in 2008.

Still, President Cheney governed exactly as you would expect- domestic policy was generally ignored as the US military was prepped for an intervention in Iran. Domestically, the economy would continue to deteriorate, with unemployment reaching 10% by the end of the year. Still, in comparison to his successor Cheney is seen as a rather mediocre figure, and his support for gay marriage well before it became a mainstream political position has led to him being reassessed in recent years.

None of that would have ever happened, however, if not for that aforementioned successor. Sam Brownback is commonly considered one of the worst Presidents in American history, and for good reason. Upon taking office, he would immediately propose a massive tax reform bill that would set a flat tax rate of 15% for all Americans. Even more absurdly, Brownback proposed the complete elimination of child tax credits and the EITC from the American tax code, stating that "all Americans need to have skin in the game".

Almost immediately, massive protests broke out throughout the country, culminating in a "million man march" on Washington D.C. Brownback would threaten to veto any law sent to him by Congress that did not include his domestic program. Theoretically, this put the Democrats in a bind.

However, the Democrats had, in the aftermath of the 2008 election, brought on a brand new leadership team- one that wasn't afraid to play dirty. Under the direction of new DNC chairman James Carville, congressional dems would propose a series of bipartisan bills to give Republicans a choice- filibuster popular laws, or force their deeply unpopular President to veto them. The first law to be proposed under this rule was the Anti-Lynching Act of 2010, which would finally conclude decades of work. The GOP filibustered it. Democrats invoked the nuclear option, sending the bill to President Brownback's desk. He vetoed it.

This would continue throughout the first part of 2010 with the Free School Meals For All Children Act and the Providing Healthcare To Military Families Act, both of which were vetoed. When the government completely ran out of money in March of 2010, Democrats would be forced to negotiate with a coalition of sane(r) Republicans to pass a budget over the President's veto, which would enact massive cuts to things like education and healthcare.

Brownback, for his part, would present his "blueprint to a bright future" only a few weeks after the shutdown ended in May, calling for the privatization of Medicare and Social Security. The legislation proposing these things was introduced in the fall of 2010, corresponding with news from several school districts (largely in red states) that their school years would be cut short due to a lack of funding.

In the 2010 midterms, the American people decided that they had enough of right-wing austerity, and voted accordingly. Democrats surged from 57 to 73 seats in the Senate, and from 256 to 311 in the House. With unemployment at 19.7%, they had their work cut out for them. In the first six months of the Democratic supermajority, bills repealing all of the cuts enacted the previous year were forced into law, and a $600 Billion stimulus package was finally approved.

With all of these accomplishments, it became a question of who-not if- would evict President Brownback from the White House on January 20, 2013. The Democratic primaries would be full of dozens of contenders seeking to take on the besieged President, but many Americans wanted true change- not politicians who reminded them of the duo that had started this mess in the first place. Because of that, many increasingly rallied behind a curious character- actor and activist George Takei.

Taking advantage of the split vote, Takei would romp to a massive victory in Iowa, followed by a narrower (but still decent) victory in New Hampshire. Attempts to "stop" him would prove fruitless, both because of his genuine popularity and because despite his inexperience, he wasn't all that extreme, running as a moderate progressive to the left of previous Democratic nominees but far from the sort of radical who had cost the Democrats the election in 2008.

Takei would wrap up the nomination by May, and would quickly select Delaware Senator Joe Biden as an olive branch to the establishment. President Brownback, seeing no other option, would begin a massive homophobic ad campaign targeting Takei. While this would see some initial success- it would be hopelessly shattered by the Democratic nominee in the presidential debates.

"President Brownback, I'm part of a very large community in America that we've heard you and your running mates speak about with very harsh words last week. Tens of millions of Americans- black and white, rich and poor, rural and urban, from all religions and walks of life- identify as LGBTQ+. Mr. President, can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you believe I, and these millions of Americans represent in your office, are, and I quote, 'all sinners who corrupt our country with disease'? That we are 'going to burn in hell'? That our life and love are 'no better than bestiality and pedophilia'? Mr. President, how can you possibly be President for all Americans when you speak about so many of us with such hatred?!"

With these last-ditch attempts failing, Brownback would all but concede the election in the final days of the campaign, focusing instead on minimizing Republican losses downballot. However, he would even fail at that, as the Democrats would run the table on all levels. Takei would win every single state, minus Nebraska's 3rd District. Democrats would also surge to 83 seats in the Senate, and 339 in the House of Representatives.

President Takei would be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America on January 20, 2013. Upon taking office, unemployment was a whopping 15%, the economy was growing at a piecemeal rate, and millions of Americans were languishing in poverty. The new Democratic majorities would leap into action to fix this, passing a massive $1.2 Trillion relief package within Takei's first week in office.

The White House would also announce the "Final New Deal", which would attempt to fix as many issues as possible in the first 100 days of the new administration. These would include the expansion of unemployment benefits, an increase in the minimum wage to a full $15 per hour by 2015, and several hundred billion for infrastructure. To compensate for the increased spending, Congress would also pass a massive tax increase targeted at the wealthy, with the top tax rate being increased from 37% to 45% and new ultra-wealthy brackets of 50% and 55% being added at $1 Million and $10 Million respectively.

The long-time white whale of the Democrats, healthcare reform, would also be tackled in the President's first year. The National Healthcare Act would expand Medicare to cover all American citizens, with out-of-pocket costs being capped and the government being given free reign to negotiate drug and medicine prices. To quash the "high drug prices fund research" question, Takei would also approve over $100 Billion in new funding for medical research over the next decade.

Internationally, Takei would oversee the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq and the transition to nationbuilding in Afghanistan. The funding freed up from overseas adventures would allow for the passage of paid parental leave, minimum social security benefits (at 125% of the poverty line), and further funding for education. That last part would also lead to the provision of free higher education for all Americans by 2021.