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Nothing but Schadenfreude: A Test Thread

List of Presidents of the United States

1837 - 1845: Vice Pres. Martin Van Buren (Democratic)
1836 (with Richard M. Johnson) def. OTL
1840 (with Richard M. Johnson) def. William Henry Harrison (Whig)

1845 - 1847: Vice Pres. John Tyler (Independent, with Democratic and Cotton Whig)
1844 (with Lewis Cass) def. Senator Henry Clay (Whig), Secretary Silas Wright (Anti-Annexation Democratic)
1847 - 1849: Vice Pres. Lewis Cass (Democratic)

1849 - 18XX: Senator Henry Clay (Whig)
1848 (with Abraham Lincoln) def. Fmr. Pres. Martin Van Buren (Free Soil), Pres. Lewis Cass (Democratic)
 
Designated: the Return of Rockefeller Republicans
​

Contingencies are put in place as a last resort. Most of them are never or rarely used. In the two decades between the World Wars, the United States had a plan for war with the British Empire that went to waste. The nuclear deterrent was only used twice in Hiroshima and Nagasaki decades, ago, and the House picked the President just twice in hundreds of years of American history.

The Designated Survivor plan was another once of these contingency plans that was never expected to be used. A Cabinet official chosen to succeed the President and all others within the Line of Succession in the event of absolute chaos. It was a circumstance so far fetched that the position was almost entirely a ceremonial honor.

Almost.

Margaret Heckler was one of the last Rockefeller Republicans. Voting almost evenly for and against President Reagan during her time in the House, she shifted her position slightly to the right in order to gain her current position, Secretary of Health and Human Services, in 1983. Though disliked by much of Reagan's inner circle, she was chosen to be the first female designated survivor, a footnote in history, a trivia night question, an interesting "what-if" of American politics. She treated her job in the same light, casually watching the inauguration with her family in an undisclosed location. She was almost dozing off to sleep when she was woken by a loud "boom" from the television and greeted by a burst of static that came on. It took her several hours to realize that the hell had just happened in Washington.

An unknown culprit had planted a series of bombs at President Reagan's second inaugural ceremony, which went off, as he was giving his address. He was cut off while delivering the line, "Well, with heart and hand, let us stand as one today." Him, the entire Cabinet and dozens of members of the United States House and Senate were cut down in an act of terror, worst than any that America had witnessed in its years. Thousands would be included in the body count, many more would be listed as missing, and many, many more were injured in the blast. Vice President Bush, to the surprise and happiness of most appeared to be in the latter camp, miraculously rising from the rubble. He was inaugurated in a hospital bed. However, not all good things are made to last. He died just five hours later, having received fatal injuries. America now had its third President inaugurated on that day.

Not all contingencies happen, but the ones that do tend to have the most severe realignments.

1981 - 1985: Fmr. Gov. Ronald W. Reagan (Republican)
1980 (with George Bush) def. Pres. Jimmy Carter (Democratic), Rep. John B. Anderson (Independent)
1984 (with George Bush) def. Fmr. Vice Pres. Walter Mondale (Democratic)
1985 - 1985: Vice Pres. George Bush (Republican)
1985 - 1989: Secretary Margaret Heckler (Republican)

1989 - 1993: Fmr. Senator Gary Hart (Democratic)
1988 (with Joe Biden) def. Pres. Margaret Heckler (Republican), Minister Pat Robertson (Conservative Values)

1993 - 19XX: Fmr. Gov. Thomas Kean (Republican)
1992 (with Donald Rumsfeld) def. Pres. Gary Hart (Democratic), Minister Pat Robertson (Conservative Values)
 
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The Supreme Court under President Gary Earl Johnson (2017 - 2021)

Chief Justice: John Roberts (2005, G.W. Bush)

Clarence Thomas (1991, G.H.W. Bush)
Stephen Breyer (1994, Clinton)
Samuel Alito (2005, G.W. Bush)
Sonia Sotomayor (2009, Obama)
Elena Kagan (2010, Obama)
Merrick Garland (2016, Obama)
Tom Campbell (2018, G. Johnson)
Bill Weld (2020, G. Johnson)
 
1961 - 1966: Senator John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1960 (with Lyndon B. Johnson) def. OTL
1964 (with John Connally) def. Senator Barry M. Goldwater (Republican)

1966 - 1971: Vice Pres. John Connally (Democratic)
1968 (with Eugene McCarthy) def. Senator Thruston B. Morton (Democratic), Fmr. Gov. George Wallace (Dixicrat)
1971 - 1973: Vice Pres. Eugene McCarthy (Democratic)

1973 - 1981: Senator Richard Nixon (Republicans for Integrity, then Republican)
1972 (with Terry Sanford) def. Governor Spiro Agnew (Republican), Vice Pres. Eugene McCarthy (Democratic), Fmr. Governor James Gray (Dixicrat)
1976 (with Rep. Al Quie) def. Senator Teno Roncalio (Democratic), Fmr. Gov. James Gray
 
Things Get Worse

2021 - 2023: Fmr. Vice Pres. Joe Biden† (Democratic)
2020 (with Kamala Harris)† def. Pres. Donald Trump (Republican)
2023 - 2025: Speaker Donald Trump (Republican)
2025 - 2025: Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (Democratic)

2025 - 2025: Governor Gavin Newsom (Democratic)
2024 (with Nadja West) def. Pres. Donald Trump (Republican), Activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Independent)

2025 - 20XX: Vice Pres. Nadja West (Democratic)
2028 (with Andy Beshear) def. Fmr. Gov. Ron DeSantis (Republican), State Senator Wendy Rogers (Keep our Oaths)
 
Political Career of David E. Duke (WIP)

1964 - 1975: American Nazi Party, Private Citizen

1975: Democratic, candidate for Louisiana State Senate
1976 - 1984: Democratic, member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 10
1975, 50.1%, def. Ken Osterberger (Democratic, 49.9%)
1979, 53.51%, def. Ken Osterberger (Republican, 46.49%)

1983: Democratic, candidate for Governor of Louisiana
1984 - 1988: Democratic, Governor of Louisiana
1983 primary, Dave Treen (Republican, 35.8%), def. David Duke (Democratic, 22.8%), J. Bennett Johnston (Democratic, 20.84%), Woody Jenkins (Democratic, 15.7%), Gillis Long (Democratic, 4.86%)
1983 general, 51.3%, def. Dave Treen (Republican, 48.7%)

1987-1988: Democratic, candidate for President of the United States
1988 Democratic primary, 35.1%, def. Jesse Jackson (29.8%), Paul Simon (11.45%), Pat Schroeder (10.8%), Douglas Applegate (5.67%), Reubin Askew (4.5%)
1988 Democratic convention, 2,060 delegates, def. Jesse Jackson (1,701), Douglas Applegate (265), Reubin Askew (43), Jim Traficant (5), various others (31)
1988 general, Gerald Ford (Republican, ) def. David Duke (Democratic, ), Jesse Jackson (Write-in, )
 
States' Rights Party tickets[a]

1948: Governor Strom Thurmond (SC) / Governor Fielding L. Wright (MS), 2.4% [39 EV]
1952: Endorsed Governor Adlai Stevenson II (IL) / Senator John Sparkman (AL), 44.3% [89 EV]
1956: IRS Commissioner T. Coleman Andrews (VA) / Thomas H. Werdel (CA), 0.18% [0 EV]
1960: Endorsed unpledged electors slate[c], 0.42% [15 EV]
1964: Endorsed unpledged electors slate[d], 4.5% [46 EV]
1968: Governor George C. Wallace (AL) / Lt. Governor Charles L. Sullivan & Governor Evan Mecham (AZ) / Governor George P. Mahoney, 5.78% [46 EV][e]
1972: Endorsed Actor John Wayne (CA) / Governor George C. Wallace (AL), 39.53% [122 EV][f]

[a] The States' Rights Party was not a formal political party until the 1965 elections, when it was declared as an Southern opposition party and began to formally seek ballot access in that years downballot races
Harry F. Byrd Jr. and William E. Jenner received just under 3,000 votes under the States' Rights Party name, but neither declared their candidacy. Additionally, Democrats Walter Jones and Eugene Talmadge received one electoral vote from an Aabama faithless elector that is often misattributed to the States' Rights Party.
[c] All electors voted for Harry F. Byrd Jr. and Strom Thurmond, except for one Oklahoma elector who cast his Vice Presidential vote for Republican Barry Goldwater.
[d] Fiften electoral votes were cast for George C. Wallace, twelve for Russell Long, ten for Richard Russell, eight for Strom Thurmond, six for Ross Barnett & Orval Faubus, four for Jimmie Davis, and three for Herman Talmadge, with all Vice Presidential votes were cast for J. Bracken Lee. As George Wallace came in third, he moved on to the resulting contingent election, where him and President Richard Nixon made a deal, commonly known as the Second Corrupt Bargain to keep the latter in the Presidency, in exchange for rollbacks on Nixon's Civil Rights policies.
[e] In an effort to nationalize the party, Wallace and Sullivan were on the ballot in Southern states, while Mecham and Mahoney were on the ballot in the Northern and Western states. The Wallace led SRP ticket earned 35 votes, while Mecham won 11 votes. The pair were unsuccessful in repeating their 1964 success, as Democratic Senator Philip Hart beat Former Republican Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in a landslide.
[f] Despite being on the Republican ticket, in several Southern States, Wayne and Wallace were on the ballot as States' Rights candidates, either to appeal to Southern voters, as was the case in Alabama or because the state party endorsed another candidate, as was the case in Arkansas, where the Republican party Endorsed former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller's Progressive Conservative ticket in the general election.
 
1865 - 1878: Vice Pres. Benjamin F. Butler (Republican)‡
1868 (with Lovell Rousseau)† def. Fmr. Rep. George Pendleton (Democratic)
1872 (with Franklin J. Moses) def. Governor Horatio Seymour (Democratic)
1876 (with Franklin J. Moses) def. Senator James G. Blaine (Republican), Fmr. Secretary Jeremiah Black (Democratic)

1878 - 1885: Vice Pres. Franklin J. Moses (Republican)
1880 (Marshall Jewell) with def. Governor George F. Edmunds (Republican), Fmr. Rep. James English (Democratic)

1885 - 1889: Senator James G. Blaine (Republican)
1884 (with John F. Lewis) def. Pres. Franklin J. Moses (Republican)

1889 - 1893: Governor Edmund W.M. Mackey (Liberal)
1888 (with Henry L. Dawes) def. Rep. Lew Wallace (Republican), Faithless electors for James G. Blaine, "Straight" Democratic faithless electors

1893 - 1901: Senator Adelbert Ames (Republican)
1892 (with Chester A. Arthur) def. Pres. Edmund W.M. Mackey (Liberal)
1896 (with Chester A. Arthur) def. Senator Amherst Cheney (Liberal)

1901 - : Secretary Robert Todd Lincoln (Republican)
1900 (with Jefferson F. Long) def. Governor Charles F. Adams Jr. (Liberal), Rep. William Jennings Bryan (Temperance), Scattered Republican electors, Senator Robert Smalls (Republican)†
 
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1945 - 1951: Vice Pres. Harry S Truman (Democratic)
1948 (with James Forrestal) def. OTL

1951 - 1959: Secretary George C. Marshall (Independent, with Democratic support)
1952 (with Earl Warren) def. Senator Robert A. Taft (Republican), Fmr. Senator Glen Taylor (Progressive, with "Populist" Democratic support)
1956 (with Earl Warren) def. Ret. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Republican)

1959 - 1965: Vice Pres. Earl Warren (Democratic, with Republican and Progressive support)
1960 (with Orville Freeman) def. Senator Barry M. Goldwater (Ind. Conservative)

1965 - 1973: Vice Pres. Orville Freeman (Democratic)
1964 (with Nelson A. Rockefeller) def. Senator Barry M. Goldwater (Conservative), Gov. William Scranton (Republican)
1968 (with Nelson A. Rockefeller) def.
 
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