Ho Chi Minh Dies in ‘70:
Richard Nixon (Republican) 1969-1972
Spiro Agnew (Republican) 1972-1973
Def. (with Spiro Agnew) Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) George Wallace (American Independent)
Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) 1973-1975
Reubin Askew (Democratic) 1975-1977
Def. (with Reubin Askew) Spiro Agnew (Republican) John Rarick (American Independent)
Spiro Agnew (Republican) 1977-1978
Lenore Romney (Republican) 1978-1981
Def. (with Lenore Romney) Reubin Askew (Democratic) John Rarick (American Independent)
David Wade (Democratic) 1981-1989
1980 Def. (with James Corman) Lenore Romney (Republican) Larry McDonald (American Independent)
1984 Def. (with James Corman) Bill James (Republican) Ron Paul (American Independent)
Ken Kramer (Republican) 1989-1997
1988 Def. (with Mike Curb) James Corman (Democratic) Ron Paul (American Independent)
1992 Def. (with Mike Curb) Rebecca Vigil-Giron (Democratic)
Mike Curb (Republican) 1997-2005
1996 Def. (with Tommy Hartnett) Tony Campolo (Democratic)
2000 Def. (with Tommy Hartnett) Jim Folsom Jr. (Democratic) Jim Clymer (American Independent)
Ed Garvey (Democratic) 2005-????
Def. (with Ronnie Musgrove) Tommy Hartnett (Republican) Joe Edwards (Freak Power)
Here’s a rough breakdown of what happens because I’m too lazy to write a full post:
-Ho Chi Minh lives through 1969 and as a result the Sino-Soviet War breaks out into a full scale conflict with weapons of mass destruction (nuclear and chemical) being used throughout the conflict
-As a result Nixon suffers a blow in popularity, largely due to the massive defects on crops that the use of nuclear strikes bring to the entire planet, and also because he’s still Nixon
-Nixon tries to ram a peace deal through in Vietnam before an incredibly destructive midterm, but he bungles it and there’s peace in Vietnam around 1971
-Hubert Humphrey is nominated by the Democratic Party in 1972 who attempt to run a “return to normalcy” campaign against Nixon
-Nixon is down in the polls but ends up getting shot by Bremer and dies
-Despite a slight boost from Nixon’s assassination, Agnew can never fully recover in time for the 72 election and fails to beat Humphrey, although his campaign team does shut down a slight corruption scandal in Baltimore
-Humphrey uses the 70-72 house and senate gains to ram through some cool policies like Universal Healthcare and even Taft-Hartley Reform, but he dies and New South Governor Askew bungles it all up
-Agnew, a surprisingly popular figure for some of his “National Unity” calls throughout 1972 is able to be nominated as a Republican with Michigan governor Lenore Romney
-Agnew pulls out a bigger than expected victory in 76, and is able to bring Republicans back into the White House
-Of course Agnew gets caught with like a cartoon bag of money being handed to him by like Lamar Hunt, and is forced to resign
-The Romney administration does not go well, as Romney faces conservative opposition within her own party, a Revolution in Saudi Arabia tanking the economy, and a still Democratic congress fighting against corruption
-Enter David Wade, the former head of the Louisiana National Guard and also an anti-corruption Democrat swept into office in 1975 as Louisiana was struck with its own corruption crisis. Wade gained national attention for his public fights with corrupt leaders and alliance with the AFLA, which lead to him being a front runner for president as the United States was reeling from a corruption crisis and a 1970s where no president served a full term.
-Of course Wade won, as Republicans struggled to turn out the base for Romney, and Wade entered office a popular man.
-While Wade spent much of his first term fighting for progressive policy (and overseeing the end of the Sino-Soviet War), his age and anger at perceived corruption caused him to become more “eccentric” towards the end. He famously called for the removal of 3 representatives in the house indicted for corruption, he called upon Attorney General Mike Bowers to investigate multiple high ranking officials, often appeared in his old WWII uniform (including once when he appeared in Louisiana to oppose gubernatorial candidate David Duke, where he openly threatened Duke due to his KKK past), attempted to repeal the 22nd amendment, and lead two cabinet purges in 1987 alone after attempts were made at removing Wade through the 25th amendment were blocked by Attorney General Bowers and Senate Pro Tempore Henry M. Jackson. This lead many to compare Wade to a Latin American dictator, especially as he remained popular, but Wade left office constitutionally and with surprisingly high popularity.
-After Wade came a massive storm of Republican support for Kevin Kramer, who ran on a platform of taking America back to the good ol’ days (you know when we weren’t overseeing nuclear conflict or extremely corrupt), and with a popular and attractive California governor on his side, Kramer was able to destroy Democrat James Corman who was unable to whip up the same support as Wade
-The Kramer administration is able to push for some more economically right wing policies, such as cutting Healthcare funding, and pushing for strong drug criminalization policies.
-Kramer was able to shake off a small recession at the beginning of his administration to have a generally popular presidency, even as war broke out in the Middle East and the United States sent troops overseas for the first time since Vietnam
-With this came the election of Mike Curb. While Kramer had been president and a strong advocate for Republican polices, Curb had generally been the most popular part of the administration due to his charisma and furious campaigning against drugs, with this he was widely expected to defeat any Democrat in 1996, which he promptly did as Democrats put up “Christian Democrat” and Pennsylvania Governor Tony Campolo for president
-While Curb’s personal popularity got him two terms, the blowback of a decade of more conservative economics happened as Curb was hit with a recession almost as soon as he was inaugurated for a second time.
-As a result, Democrats put up Ed Garvey, a Wisconsin Democrat with ties to organized Labor who destroyed the Republicans and their nominee Tommy Hartlett, even as a third party candidate, Colorado Governor Joe Edwards split the vote for Democrats. Time will only tell how Garvey’s administration is remembered...