Americana Revised:
1953-1961:
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican and then
Union)[1]
1952 def. (with Richard Nixon) Adlai Stevenson II (Democratic)
1956 def. (with Frank Lausche) Happy Chandler (Democratic), Douglas MacArthur (Anti-Communist backed by Republican)
1961-1964:
Stuart Symington (Democratic)[2]
1964-1965:
Charles E. Bohlen (Independent)[3]
1960 def. (with LeRoy Collins) Frank Lausche (Union), J. Bracken Lee (Anti-Communist)
1965-1969:
Earl Hutto (Democratic and then
Anti-Communist)[4]
1964 def. (with Eugene McCarthy) Henry Cabot Lodge II (Union), Evan Mecham (Anti-Communist)
1969-1977:
Happy Chandler (Union) [5]
1968 def. (with Nelson Rockefeller) Eugene McCarthy (Democratic), Earl Hutto (Anti-Communist)
1972 def. (with Nelson Rockefeller) Frank Moss (Democratic), Ezra Taft Benson (Anti-Communist)
1977-1981:
John Chafee (Union) [6]
1976 def. (with
John H. Buchanan)
Donald W. Stewart (Democratic), Roy Cohn (Anti-Communist)
1981-1989:
John Kerry (Democratic) [7]
1980 def. (with Charles Woods) John Chafee (Union), Larry McDonald (Anti-Communist)
1984 def. (with Charles Woods) James Allen (Union), John Rarick (Anti-Communist)
1967-1969:
Malcolm Shabazz (AAUC-Islamist)
1969-1975:
Malcolm Shabazz (AAUC-Islamist) / Fred Hampton (AAUC-Power)
1975-1981:
Fred Hampton (AAUC-Power) / Kwame Montsho Ajamu Somburu (AAUC-Islamist)
1981-????:
Kwame Ture (AAUC-Unification)
note: AAUC chairmen are denoted by what ideological "wing" they belonged to, the "Power" and "Islamist" wings were relatively defined from 1967 to 1981, before Ture's "Unification" governance of the organization and the end of the co-chairmanship.
[1] Described as "Mr. Illegitimate" by many in the United States, Eisenhower's once-clean image became hurt by his
two popular vote losses (but electoral college victories), his reluctance to support desegregation, his destruction of labor unions and the beginning of mass racial violence in the south. However, he would begin the transition away from the Democratic-Republican system and the beginning of America's Union-Democratic-AntiCommunist system.
[2] America's beloved president Symington was nominated in 1960 as a "compromise" between the U.S. South and Labor Unions, with Symington, after Lyndon Johnson's death via heart attack, being seen as the best possible candidate for the job. Symington began the process of desegregation despite his backing from many Southerners, leading to the passage of the 1963 Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the ending of poll taxes in the United States. However, despite Symington's efforts, private discrimination for employment and for public businesses still remained throughout much of the South. His assassination at the 1964 DNC Bombing (based loosely on
this and
this) led to a beloved version of Symington, although many would point out his extremely hawkish foreign policy (including the invasion of Cuba in 1961) and support for international KMT drug trafficking that began the "Second Opium Wars".
[3] Largely known as the guy who replaced Symington, Bohlen had spent years as a dignified leader of United States foreign policy, leading to his appointment as Symington's Secretary of State. After President Symington, Vice-President LeRoy Collins, Speaker McCormick, and President Pro Tem Carl Hayden were killed at the 1964 DNC, Bohlen rose to the presidency. Bohlen would only serve a few months, with his most noted accomplishment being the creation of the Kennedy Commission (led by Attorney General Robert Kennedy) to investigate the DNC bombings.
[4] Earl Hutto was a relatively conservative Democrat, elected to replace LeRoy Collins at age 35, and despite his conservatism he remained a moderate on Civil Rights issues, promoting a "New South" in attempts to moderate Florida's image to business interests. Meanwhile, his national profile shot up due to his sending in of Floridian troops during the Cuban War, and as Democrats picked up the pieces of the party after losing their leaders to the DNC bombing, illness (Jack Kennedy had died from prostate cancer in late 1963, Lyndon Johnson from a heart attack in 1958). However, Hutto's term would be remembered extremely poorly by a majority of Americans. His administration would see the rollback of many civil rights successes, the financial support of South Africa, Rhodesia, and Portugal, and after liberals continued to challenge and annoy him, he flipped to the Anti-Communist Party. Assassination attempts from black nationalists and his "War on Hate" where he equated the new Afro-American Unity Congress and the KKK to each other only served to make him more hated, and today he is remembered as a 20th-century Johnson.
[5] The first ever presidential candidate to run against a Union Party nominee, Chandler would end up joining the party, despite his 1956 loss to the party being one where he won the popular vote. His time as governor of Kentucky from 1965-1968 saw him lead as a fiscal conservative and racial moderate, and he had appeal to groups that other leaders of the Union Party simply didn't. Backed by Southern Unionists and many in the north, he won the 1968 Union Party nomination and beat back a split Democratic Party. While Chandler would introduce many reforms, his administration's failure to end private discrimination in the south, his continued support for Apartheid regimes, and the noted Laotian War, which lasted from 1970-1978, and became a major factor in the International Opium Crisis, as KMT, CIA, and Vietnamese forces would make billions off of the trade. This would hurt Chandler's reputation amongst historians, but his 8 years in office saw a relatively strong economy (backed by "hyper-Keynesianism " as Chandler would bring in full employment with the support of congressional liberals (and cuts to welfare)), and he had good relations with many African-Americans and unions, even meeting Malcom Shabazz and Fred Hampton (co-chairmen of the AAUC) in the White House.
[6] John Chafee would stand in for Chandler in 1976, having been his Secretary of Defense, and after a narrow victory against Donald W. Stewart, would get the pleasure of suffering the downfall of the popular Chandler reforms. The economy bottomed out in 1978, as Saudi Arabia collapsed into Civil War, and oil prices skyrocketed. Chafee would respond to this by beginning the "Solar Boom", producing tons of solar power, and allying with James T. Baldwin to produce houses entirely utilizing solar and wind power. While Chafee's bad economy would lead to him being unpopular at the time, his reforms in solar, his exit of Thailand, and the end of government backing of Apartheid regimes made him a very popular man.
[7] The "Great Reformer", Kerry's victory in 1980 returned the liberal wing of the Democratic party to power, and with this power, the young president produced an administration compared to the likes of FDR. The liberal dreams of Universal Healthcare and an end to private discrimination were produced under Kerry, but his most notable accomplishment was the United States Committee on CIA Drug Trafficking, or the "Woods-Kay Committee" which, during the height of the opium crisis, saw America confronted with the government's actions. Kerry would see various
unrelated assassination attempts, the recognition of The People's Republic China as the ROC fell out of favour, and extreme popularity as time went on. Meanwhile, his assistance in the Solar Boom allowed for mass production of solar power in houses, and a move away from oil.