First time posting to this thread, so any pointers are welcome!
Timeline of U.S. Presidents in "Divided Worlds: An Alternate Space Race"
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D): 1933-1945 [1]
Harry S. Truman (D): 1945-1949 [2]
(Insert Staunch Anti-Communist GOP Prez Here): 1949-1953 [3]
(Insert 2nd Staunch Anti-Communist GOP Prez Here): 1953-1961 [4]
Richard M. Nixon (R): 1961-1977 [5]
John M. Ashbrook (R): 1977-1981 [6]
Ronald W. Reagan (R): 1981-1989
George H.W. Bush (R): 1989-1997 [7]
John S. McCain (R): 1997-1999 [8]
[1] Chose not to run for a fourth term on health grounds.
[2] Fought to maintain the New Deal coalition and programs, but solidly conservative in foreign policy; not enough for the GOP, Dixiecrats or a slim majority of the voters, though, in the face of the Comintern and its specter of "Permanent Revolution" advocated by GenSec Trotsky. Seen by some academics and politicos as the bridge to an era of uncompromising "bipartisan" anticommunism in the U.S. and the League of Democratic Nations generally.
[3] Eisenhower doesn't seem of the right temperament given the basically unending "Red Scare" by this time; thought about McCarthy, but that seemed a bit obvious. Currently thinking about Dewey, as one of the last "moderate" GOP types and the other end of the "bipartisan anticommunist bridge"; if anybody's got ideas, share away!
[4] Ditto.
[5] Defeated Kennedy by a fair though not outstanding margin in 1960. 22nd Amendment wasn't passed in Truman's time, though "principle"/"tradition" kept previous GOP presidents from trying for three terms. Nixon's doing so prompted a short-lived party rebellion that dissuaded him from running again in 1976, though he did manage to get a 22nd Amendment analogue shot down in Congress in 1967.
[6] The "traditionalist" wing of the GOP got their man into the White House; he then promptly decided not to run again in 1980, now that the "principle" was cemented
.
[7] Last one to seriously consider a third term; internal party fighting prevented this. Saw the first construction begun on the League's sector of lunar base Terra Unum in 1993. Having former astronaut John Glenn as VP got even more funding and resources devoted to this and the League Aeronautics and Space Administration (LASA), and a flood of both beginning in '96 when construction of the Soviet sector looked to be making better progress.
[8] President at the time of the novella.