Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

[Oppo]

👁👁

jokes aside, what were your favorite parts of the list?

I really enjoyed the build-up and level of tension that happens at the start, but instead of blowing up catastrophically there’s a happy ending.

 

[Time Enough]

"A vision of you is following me all around":
1979-1986: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
1979 (Majority) def: James Callaghan (Labour), David Steel (Liberal), William Wolfe (SNP)
1983 (Majority) def: Michael Foot (Labour), Roy Jenkins-David Steel (Liberal-SDP Alliance)
1986-1991: John Moore (Conservative)
1987 (Majority) def: Neil Kinnock (Labour), David Owen-David Steel (Liberal-SDP Alliance)
1991-1998: Ann Clwyd (Labour)
1991 (Coalition with the Dems) def: John Moore (Conservative), Lindsay Granshaw (Democrats), David Owen (Reform), Sara Parkin (Green)
1992 PR Referendum: Yes 38%, No 62%
1993 (Majority) def: Michael Howard (Conservative), Lindsay Granshaw (Democrats)
1995 Maastricht Referendum: Yes 47%, No 53%
1998-2004: Francis Maude (Conservative)
1998 (Majority) def: Ann Clwyd (Labour), Malcolm Bruce (Democrats), Cynog Dafis-Peg Alexander-Mark Ashton (Green Left Alliance), Margaret Ewing (SNP)
2002 (Majority) def: Andrew Smith (Labour), Matthew Taylor (Democrats), Peg Alexander-Lynne Jones (Red & Greens), Margaret Ewing (SNP)
2004-2008: Mark MacGregor (Conservative)
2004 (Coalition with Reform) def: Andrew Smith (Labour), Matthew Taylor (Democrats), Rob Flello (Reform),Peg Alexander-Lynne Jones (Green Left), John Swinney (SNP)
2007 Euro Referendum: For 42%, Against 56%
2008-2014: Peter Hain (Labour)
2008 (Majority) def: Mark MacGregor-Rob Flello (Conservative-'Pro Euro' Reform), Tavish Scott (Democrats), Jeffrey Titford ('Anti Euro' Reform), John Swinney (SNP)
2012 (Majority) def: Alan Howarth replacing Michael Fallon (Conservative), Diana Wallis (Democrats), Mark Ashton-Caroline Lucas (Green Left), Angela Constance (SNP)
2014-2017: Kerry McCarthy (Labour)
2017-: David Gauke (Conservative)
2017 (Majority) def: Kerry McCarthy (Labour), Diana Wallis (Democrats), Mark Ashton-Angela Constance (RISE), Paul Embery (Workers)
2021 (Coalition with Dems) def: Stella Creasy replacing David Prescott (Labour), Julia Goldsworthy (Democrats), Rachel Maskell-Carla Denyer ('Just Transition'-Green Left), Paul Embery (Workers), Dr Bill Wilson-Gray Crosbie (SNP-RISE), Priti Patel (British People's Party)
STV Referendum: Yes 57%, No 43%

And the U.S.A Presidents list for this world, no write up here just the Presidents;

"Little Dark Age":
1981-1989: Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1980 (With George H.W.Bush) def: Jimmy Carter (Democrat), John Anderson (Independent)
1984 (With George H.W.Bush) def: Walter Mondale (Democrat)
1989-1997: Pete Du Pont (Republican)
1988 (With Jack Kemp) def: Gary Hart (Democrat), Russell Means (Libertarian)
1992 (With Jack Kemp) def: Mario Cuomo (Democrat), Tom Laughlin (Independent endorsed by Citizens, Greens & Libertarian)
1997-2005: Bob Kerrey (Democratic)
1996 (With Douglas Wilder) def: Jack Kemp (Republican), Ross Perot (Libertarian), John Hagelin (Write In)
2000 (With Douglas Wilder) def: Steve Forbes (Republican), Ross Perot (Libertarian), Dick Lamm (Populist)
2005-2009: John Kaisch (Republican)
2005 (With Bill Janklow) def: John McCain (Democratic), Shelia Wellstone (Citizen's-Green), David Lynch (Libertarian)
2009-2017: Howard Dean (Democratic)
2009 (With Deval Patrick) def: John Kaisch (Republican), Ron Paul (Taxpayers), Jesse Ventura (Libertarian), Jello Biafra (Green-F*ck Kaisch)
2012 (With Deval Patrick) def: Jon Huntsman Jr. (Republican), Tom Tancredo (Taxpayers)
2017-: Deval Patrick (Democratic)
2016 (With Beau Biden) def: Herman Cain (Republican), Richard Spencer (Taxpayers), Lawrence Lessing (Libertarian)
2020 (With Kate Brown) def: Rick Santorum (Republican), Ariel Marcus Rosenberg (Taxpayers), Krist Novoselic (Libertarian), Howie Hawkins (Greens-United Left)

 

[Meppo]

And the U.S.A Presidents list for this world, no write up here just the Presidents;

Doesn't seem so bad at first glance

President Pete du Pont and Vice President Bill Janklow are pretty bad though

 

[Time Enough]

President Pete du Pont and Vice President Bill Janklow are pretty bad though

Oh yeah, I was like 'How could we get 16 years of the Deanites?' and I realised that Du Pont, Kerrey and finally Kaisch would likely cause this.

 

[frustrated progressive]

Doesn't seem so bad at first glance

President Pete du Pont and Vice President Bill Janklow are pretty bad though

What's that bad about Du Pont compared to Reagan and Janklow?

 

[Meppo]

What's that bad about Du Pont compared to Reagan and Janklow?

He proposed phasing out government subsidies for farmers. He said he would wean welfare clients off their benefits and get them into the workforce, even if government had to provide entry level jobs to get them started. He suggested students be subjected to mandatory, random drug tests with those who flunked losing their drivers licenses. (c) Only In Delaware, Celia Cohen

Oh yeah, I was like 'How could we get 16 years of the Deanites?' and I realised that Du Pont, Kerrey and finally Kaisch would likely cause this.

I recall that Howard Dean was considered the most left-wing Democratic candidate once.

 

[Time Enough]

I recall that Howard Dean was considered the most left-wing Democratic candidate once.

I get the sense that becoming the DNC chairman and campaigning for Obama caused him to sand off any possible 'Left' edge of him. Though his policies and stuff for the 2004 campaign seem to be bog-standard Populist stuff and given his admiration for the Lib Dems he would definitely be a Beveridge Group type.

 

[rosa]

And the U.S.A Presidents list for this world, no write up here just the Presidents;

"Little Dark Age":
1981-1989: Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1980 (With George H.W.Bush) def: Jimmy Carter (Democrat), John Anderson (Independent)
1984 (With George H.W.Bush) def: Walter Mondale (Democrat)
1989-1997: Pete Du Pont (Republican)
1988 (With Jack Kemp) def: Gary Hart (Democrat), Russell Means (Libertarian)
1992 (With Jack Kemp) def: Mario Cuomo (Democrat), Tom Laughlin (Independent endorsed by Citizens, Greens & Libertarian)
1997-2005: Bob Kerrey (Democratic)
1996 (With Douglas Wilder) def: Jack Kemp (Republican), Ross Perot (Libertarian), John Hagelin (Write In)
2000 (With Douglas Wilder) def: Steve Forbes (Republican), Ross Perot (Libertarian), Dick Lamm (Populist)
2005-2009: John Kaisch (Republican)
2005 (With Bill Janklow) def: John McCain (Democratic), Shelia Wellstone (Citizen's-Green), David Lynch (Libertarian)
2009-2017: Howard Dean (Democratic)
2009 (With Deval Patrick) def: John Kaisch (Republican), Ron Paul (Taxpayers), Jesse Ventura (Libertarian), Jello Biafra (Green-F*ck Kaisch)
2012 (With Deval Patrick) def: Jon Huntsman Jr. (Republican), Tom Tancredo (Taxpayers)
2017-: Deval Patrick (Democratic)
2016 (With Beau Biden) def: Herman Cain (Republican), Richard Spencer (Taxpayers), Lawrence Lessing (Libertarian)
2020 (With Kate Brown) def: Rick Santorum (Republican), Ariel Marcus Rosenberg (Taxpayers), Krist Novoselic (Libertarian), Howie Hawkins (Greens-United Left)

I like this. Sheila Wellstone in this role is fucking inspired

 

[rosa]

I'd love to see the election maps

 

[Time Enough]

I like this. Sheila Wellstone in this role is fucking inspired

I imagined that after McCain wins the nomination (thanks Bob), Paul wanted to do it, but his multiple scrilosis means he can’t, but Sheila (Governor of Minnesota) takes the reigns of a Left coalition and does incredibly well against McCain and gains Minnesota and D.C.

Sadly this means Kaisch and the Republicans get in and things go a bit south.

I'd love to see the election maps

Sadly I can’t do them, but I’m always up to provide ideas.

 

[Bene Tleilax]

Tossing the Canadian Salad

1948-52: Lester B. Pearson (Liberal) - The Protege Promoted Prematurely
1953-57: John Diefenbaker (Progressive Conservative) - Populism, Yeah, Yeah!
1958-62: Louis St. Laurent (Liberal) - An Old Man in a Hurry
1962-70: John Diefenbaker (Progressive Conservative) - Hail to the Dief
1970-80: John Turner (Liberal) - The Golden Boy
1980: Pierre Trudeau (SDP) - "Placeholder"
1980-82: Jean Chretien (Liberal) - The Firebrand who tanked his party's future
1982-93: Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) - Clarkmania
1992-97: Kim Campbell (Conservative) - The Iron Lady who took a rightward dive off a supermajority
1997-2003: Paul Martin (Liberal-SDP "Alliance") - The Great Unifier
2003-11: Brian Mulroney (Conservative) - The elder statesman who tied his party to Quebec
2011-15: Justin Trudeau (Democrats) - The Straight-Laced Socialist
2015- : Steven Harper (Democrats) - The Popular Populist

 

[Bolt451]

‘IF A PIRATE I MUST BE’


GOVERNORS OF NEW PROVIDENCE



Benjamin Hornigold, 1713-1714, The Happy Return

Benjamin Hornigold, 1714-1716, Benjamin

Henry Jennings, 1716-1719, Marianne

Thomas Barrow, 1719, St Marie

Charles Vane, 1719, Ranger

Edward Teach, 1719-1720, Queen Anne’s Revenge


The 'Republic of Pirates' was born slowly, hesitantly, a patchwork of jumped-up bandits, mercenaries, drunkards and the odd idealist. Benjamin Hornigold was a veteran of Caribbean privateering. It helped that he had been the Captain of several of the trade's most accomplished leaders- Edward Teach, Charles Vane and 'Black' Sam Bellamy had all been his officers at one time or another.

Work done in the 1880s by the pioneering historian R.L. Stevenson has shown that Hornigold's proclamation of the Republic was probably driven by James Flint, a rare pirate with experience as an officer in the Royal Navy. Flint was ambitious and able, but he was never able to overcome the suspicion of his peers and rise to true leadership. He did, however, play a decisive role in holding the temperamental captains together- in 1716, when Hornigold and Henry Jennings clashed over the prize Marianne, Flint established the 'Council of Captains,' a loose governing structure that allowed the Republic to manage its affairs without a Captain abandoning the islands entirely every time the 'Governor' ruled against them. The voting structure was modelled after the division of prizes- every ship had a number of votes equal to its crew, with captains and officers having more. Its quasi democratic nature has been idealised out of all proportion- yes, pirate crews had a great deal more freedom than their law-abiding counterparts, but they remained a brutal affair. Flint himself was a notoriously dictatorial figure- possibly due to his naval experience- who relied on his prize money to keep his crew happy, and his quartermaster (not a mere 'sea-cook') to keep them scared.

Jennings, like Hornigold, was largely Governor only in name. The Republic might not have lasted had it not been for the renewed outbreak of war in Europe- the War of the Quadruple Alliance (the Restoration War, as its known in English) distracted the great powers from squashing the emerging republic. When Woodes Rogers finally arrived in the islands, his expedition was so underfunded and undermanned, stripped as it was of ships and men that could have been used against the Spanish, that he lost the 'Battle of Eleuthera' when the pirates surprised him while he was still regrouping at the other side of the islands. It was still a lesson in the superiority of naval drill: the Royal Navy, though driven off, inflicted far more casualties than they took- Jennings himself would die of alcohol poisoning shortly after the battle.

Thomas Barrow attempted to steal a march on his rivals by immediately declaring himself the new Governor; he in turn was murdered by the vicious Ned Lowe, who was clever enough to proclaim for Charlie Vane and the Ranger. Vane was Governor for all of three weeks, before it became apparent that the Council intended to depose him. He might have fled with his crew, or stepped down, but instead he attempted to murder his fellow captains and was instead personally strung up (besides Lowe) by the new Governor- Edward Teach, better known as 'Blackbeard.

Teach surprised everyone by his mixture of terror and competence. Instead of abolishing the Council, which would have guaranteed that the Republic's ships were scattered to the winds, he listened to it. He imposed his own captains on the 'rebellious' crews of Barrow, Vane and Lowe- which created a solid voting bloc of Teach's allies under the captains Black Caesar, Stede Bonnet and James Hook. This 'pragmatist' party counterbalanced the 'idealists' of the Flint group. Teach was not short of daring; he declared that the Republic would 'enter the war.' Rather than sacking English colonies- which would guarantee retribution- or attacking the French or Spanish, he calculated which colonial power was the weakest and least likely to be able to attack after the war.

Thus, in 1720, the Republic sacked the Dutch port of Curaçao. The Captains of the Council became wealthier than they had imagined possible. It astonished the world. The 'disappearance' of the Queen Anne's Revenge in a storm on the return trip, a storm that miraculously left the other Republican ships untouched, perhaps led to the supposed demoralisation of the Captains. To the disquiet of their crews, when Woodes Rogers returned to the islands with reinforcements, this time around the Captains were entirely happy to accept the King's Pardon.



GOVERNORS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS

Woodes Rogers, 1720-1721,

John Hildesley, 1721-1722

Woodes Rogers was Governor of a volcano, and he knew it. An adept commander and administrator, he did not have the resources to keep the republic in check. The expedition to pacify the Bahamas had been planned years before, when it was Hornigold's collection of sea-thieves and New Providence little more than a brothel with a port attached. Now it had a population of thousands, and the ex-pirate crews were more than happy to live off the loot of Curaçao rather than take up honest work. Rogers' subordinates chafed at his willingness to pardon the captains who had humiliated the Royal Navy the year before, but Rogers realised that any refusal to give amnesty would spark a rebellion that, though unlikely to overthrow the British position, would certainly bankrupt the new colonial government. Instead, Rogers hoped to provoke individual captains into stepping out of line and breaking their parole- if a crew turned pirate, they could be hunted and hanged. Hence, Sam Bellamy being chased up the coast of North America before being taken off the coast of New York, and the execution of James Sparrow after a farcical attempt to steal one of Rogers' brigantines. A year after taking the islands, Rogers could feel confident that he was beginning to control the situation.

Then his subordinate John Hildesley demanded satisfaction after a perceived slight. In any other colony, Rogers could have ignored the insult- but the Bahamas were not yet civilised, and the resentful Royal Navy officers- promised prize money that had not eventuated after the general amnesty- were openly disrespectful. Rogers faced the younger man, and died.

Hildesley's plan was to crack down hard on the pirates by arresting the captains on shore and seizing their ships. The crews would be forced onto farms, and order forcibly restored. He fell at the first hurdle, botching the attempt to take the captains by surprise. A series of running battles across the port turned in favour of the pirates; too many of the Royal Navy's crewmen were drunk in the brothels and taverns and unable to rally to the flag- others decided a life of piracy seemed more promising. In a shocking lapse of ill-discipline, the gates to the harbor fort had been left open, and were famously rushed by a party of cutlass-armed women under the command of Mary Read and Elaine Marley. The remaining Royal Navy ships now came under fire, first from the fort and then from the small boats of the harbor that swarmed alongside.

The Pardons from King George had certainly been voided; luckily new ones from King James were on their way.

ADMIRALS OF NEW PROVIDENCE

Edmund Morcilla, 1722-1733, King James Restored

James ‘Jack’ Rackham, 1733-1740, Ranger

Bartholomew Roberts, 1740-1746, Royal Fortune

Anne Bonny, 1746-1752, Providence


Edmund Morcilla was not Edward Teach. Edward Teach was a vicious buccaneer, a giant man with long black hair and beard decorated with fuses. Edmund Morcilla was a patriotic privateer, a giant man with an entirely shaved head. Edward Teach had died in a storm in 1720, whereas Edmund Morcilla was very much alive. Morcilla had suddenly arrived in the Carribean two years before with a letter of marque from the Spanish government; after the Old Pretender had been installed in London, Morcilla had sailed to Charleston and requested a commission to pacify the 'Hanoverian' stronghold of New Providence. After a donation to South Carolina's governor- made in Dutch guilders, curiously enough- he was furnished with such a commission. He was brought to New Providence on strange tides indeed.

Morcilla had judged the situation well. The restored Stuarts were fragile indeed, and the 1720s were marked by continual wars in Europe as the alliance system fragmented; Britain joined France and Spain against the Dutch and Austrians, but its colonial empire was fragmented by the Fourth Civil War, and France and Spain turned against each other not long afterwards.

Morcilla commanded the support of the council throughout the decade, and it was no mystery why- the trade networks of the Caribbean were being cut to shreds by privateers and pirates, and even the privateers knew that they could best fence their goods in New Providence. The 'Stuart' loyalties of Morcilla lasted a half decade or so; when it became convenient to take British shipping in the name of 'the True Protestant King,' the pirates did so.

Morcilla died very fat and very happy, a horrendously brutal man who had become the Pirate King. It remains a cherished folk belief in the islands that in time of need, he will return to rule under yet another pseudonym.

He was succeeded by another fat and happy man, Calico Jack Rackham. A notoriously incompetent sailor, Rackham's rule marked the tricky transition towards actual republican government. The other captains were unhappy knowing that power lay in the hands of the Admiral's first mate, and a woman at that- but as peace began to take hold, there was a growing worry that the republic's days were numbered. It seemed wiser not to be the Admiral when the Royal Navy finally, surely, arrived to take the islands.

It never happened. Peace was accompanied by financial collapse. As the wars had slowly wound down and negotiations began in Ghent and Geneva, investors had built great castles on the trade that was to follow. Alas, reality was unkind to the investors in the South Sea and Mississippi Companies, and first France and then Britain saw massive bankruptcies and insolvencies. This spread across western Europe, and eventually across the Atlantic. Navies were cut to the bone.

In 1736, the British and French dictated the Treaty of Nassau: New Providence would be paid to 'secure its waters,' in exchange for recognition of the Republic's independence. The Republic took the deal; many crews were dismayed, but most of the great captains were aging now and beginning to yearn for some sort of secure retirement. The Republic was a horrendously unequal place: its farms and fishing vessels supported the flamboyant captains, but their grinding poverty was not coupled with any representation. The Captains now took on the role of insurance agents- inspecting vessels for the correct paperwork, collecting the 'escort tax,' and accompanying those that complied to safety. The Spanish and Dutch refused to sign the Treaty, and spent several more years being the target of traditional raids- but after decades, the Golden Age of Piracy was coming to an end.

In 1740 another milestone was marked: the peaceful transfer of power through an election. Bart Roberts was fabulously wealthy, having taken over a thousand ships in his career. He also had delusions of culture, and had once abducted a chamber quartet to play while he sailed. His six year reign was a time of generous spending: public monuments, the Gallery of the Republic and even the commissioning of the 'Caribbean Symphony.' It remains a great source of embarrassment to the abolitionist Peaceful Society of Friends that their first member to become a head of state was a slave-trading, murdering, gambling, kidnapper. He died on top of a sex worker, and was given a state funeral that, to the shock of the ambassadors and the few missionaries on the island, became something of an orgy. He remains a staple of fiction set in this period- like Charles Stuart II, a tyrant mitigated by sheer style and amicability.

To general surprise, he was succeeded by Ann Bonny. By the end of Roberts' tenure Spain had finally signed the Treaty of Nassau; the Captains now spent most of their time in port or on patrol, not swapping stories of daring raids and captured prizes. With the need to find ships that could protect the Republic more than the ad hoc collection of brigantines and sloops and refitted frigates that had served for decades, some in the islands realised that there was a chance to buy a franchise. Bonny took her accumulated fortune and pooled it with the subscription of various fishing, farming and labouring families on the islands. It was enough to purchase a- very small- frigate from the shipyards of Portugal. As well as its permanent crew, it had a rotating roster of hundreds of people who could only afford to spend a few weeks at sea a year- enough to count as crew, and therefore receive a vote. Within a few years, most of the Republic's new vessels operated under such an arrangement. It created an effective system of naval reserves, allowed a release valve for the disenfranchised and still kept power largely in the hands of the nautical aristocracy.

Bonny spent less on art than Roberts, but more on the islands. Distrusted by her fellow captains, she relied upon the bulk of the population for the legitimacy of her reign. She opened the Saint Joan Hospital, as well as various schools. Her most risky decision was to press for abolitionism. New Providence had never been much of a slave-trading state, though that was hardly comfort to the poor souls who had been captured and resold by various captains. It had always had an unusually large population of free Africans, and some had even had voting rights- going back to Teach's appointment of the man known only as Black Caesar as a captain. But with the decline in piracy fewer and fewer Europeans were leaving their ships to join the islands, and that meant fewer and fewer people to crew the fleet that kept New Providence alive. Bonny's decision to abolish slavery was only reached when yet another Anglo-French war broke out, lessening the chances of reprisal.

Bonny passed in her sleep in 1752. She is venerated as a saint in Bahamian Vodou, and the portrait of 'Grandmother Bonny' still adorns many a kitchen and clinic wall in the islands.

Over the 1750s and 1760s, New Providence would become the great creole port of the Caribbean. As the century closed, the Age of Revolutions would bring the last great outbreak of Caribbean piracy- but this time, men and women like Admiral Tacky would be liberators as well as thieves.

This is Brilliant, Chickpea!

 

[xsampa]

(Modern) Presidents of the United States /// Presidents of the North American Technate

1913 - 1916: Woodrow Wilson / Thomas Marshall (Democratic)
1912 def. Theodore Roosevelt / Hiram Johnson (Progressive), William Howard Taft / James S. Sherman (Republican), Eugene V. Debs / Emil Seidel (Socialist)
1916 - 1917: Charles Evans Hughes / vacant (Republican)
1917 - 1919: Charles Evans Hughes / Warren G. Harding (Republican)
1916 def. Woodrow Wilson / Thomas Marshall (Democratic)
1919 - 1921: Warren G. Harding / vacant (Republican)
1921 - 1925: Warren G. Harding / Calvin Coolidge (Republican)
1920 def. Woodrow Wilson / Lawrence Tyson (Democratic)
1925 - 1929: Henry Ford / John W. Davis (Democratic)
1924 def. Warren G. Harding / J. Will Taylor (Republican), Robert M. La Follette Sr. / Burton K. Wheeler (Progressive)
1929 - 1933: Calvin Coolidge / Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1928 def. Henry Ford / John W. Davis (Democratic)
1933 - 1935: Calvin Coolidge / Andrew Mellon (Republican)
1932 def. Al Smith / William G. McAdoo (Democratic), William H. Murray / various (Southern Democratic), Norman Thomas / James H. Maurer (Socialist)
1935 - 1935: Andrew Mellon / vacant (Republican)
1935 - 1935: Jacob Coxey (Coxey's Jobless Army to Restore the Republic)
1935 - 1937: Andrew Mellon (Republican)
1937 - 1937: Henry Ford / Hugh S. Johnson (Democratic)
1936 def. Herbert Hoover / Styles Bridges (Republican), Norman Thomas / Upton Sinclair (Socialist)
1937 - 1942: Henry Ford / Hugh S. Johnson (Organization)
1942 - 1943: Henry Ford / Howard Scott (Organization)
1943 - 1949: Howard Scott / Alvin M. Owsley (Organization)
1942 - Approved by the Organization
1949 - 1955: Alvin M. Owsley / Prescott Bush (Organization)
1948 - Contested by the Organization
1948 def. Rexford Tugwell / Walter Rautenstrauch (Organization), various spoiled ballots
1955 - 1961: Buckminster Fuller / Henry J. Kaiser (Organization)
1954 - Contested by the Organization
1954 def. Prescott Bush / Howard Hughes (Organization)
1961 - 1967: Robert Moses / Philip Willkie (Organization)
1960 - Approved by the Organization
1967 - 1973: B. F. Skinner / C. Douglas Dillon (Organization)
1966 - Contested by the Organization
1966 def. Richard Nixon / Howard Hughes (Organization)
1973 - 1979: George F. Kennan / Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (Organization)
1972 - Approved by the Organization
1979 - 1981: Richard Helms / George Bush (Organization)
1978 - Approved by the Organization
1981 - 1982: George Bush / vacant (Organization)
1982 - 1982: Andrew Goodpaster (Military Transition Council)

The scars left by American involvement in World War I (1916 - 1919) and German-American Internment (1918 - 1919) created the powder keg of 1919 as economic recession and ethnic tensions exploded in a summer of labor strife and racial violence. President Hughes would be assassinated by an anarchist's bomb while on leave at his townhouse in New York in late summer, joining thousands upon thousands of Americans whose lives were already claimed by depression and violence.

Warren G. Harding would seemingly right the ship of state. The violence would subside by election season and by then the economy was turning up enough to prevent Wilson's comeback. But Harding would fair far worse in his own term than he did finishing Hughes' term. Corruption around Harding's Secretary of the Interior and the burgeoning oil industry would dominate the early 1920s and ultimately doom his re-election campaign as Bob La Follette's left-wing independent ticket won several western states and Senator Henry Ford was able to unite the disparate wings of the Democratic Party.

Ford's administration would find great difficulty getting its agenda through a Republican congress, largely only being able to push Republican-sponsored economic legislation. Ford's status as a potential lame duck - in an era where many Americans were withdrawing from politics - would continue past the midterms and even contribute to his narrow loss against the "Republican Dream Ticket" of former Vice President Calvin Coolidge and businessman Herbert Hoover.

With an administration untainted by the scandals of the recent past, the Republicans sought to utilize their nigh-unprecedented control of government. At least until the Black Friday crash of May, 1930. The Great Depression (1930 - 1941) crippled Coolidge's administration, especially as he pointedly attempted to roll back what little financial regulations there were in its wake. By the time election season came around in 1932, Coolidge's presidency was on life support. "Coolidgeville" tent cities had sprung up across the nation and the President's nickname "Silent Cal" was used in a far more pejorative way due to his inaction. At the 1932 RNC it seemed like Coolidge barely wanted the job anymore. But before he could formally recuse himself, Vice President Hoover attempted a challenge and Coolidge's allies cajoled him to fight Hoover and bring the nomination to a vote. With a narrow victory over Hoover on the first ballot, Coolidge now found himself trapped with the big money interests who sought to prop him up against his rivals. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, a man seen as almost as responsible for the Depression as Coolidge, was now to serve concurrently as both Treasury Secretary and VP.

Meanwhile, the 1932 DNC ended with the supposed "Democratic Dream Ticket" of former New York Governor Al Smith and California Senator William G. McAdoo. This ticket was not a dream for most of the Democratic base, however. Smith's Catholicism caused a southern walkout led by the populist Oklahoma Governor William H. Murray, and the ticket's alienation of progressives was a massive shot in the arm for the surging Socialists. These problems and more would set back the Smith campaign and on election night Coolidge would pull off a narrow electoral college victory, despite losing the popular vote.

Coolidge's second administration was no better than his first. The President's health could at best be described as diminishing and so more and more responsibilities were placed on the lap of Secretary Vice President Mellon. After the 1934 midterms the Republicans would finally lose control of both houses of Congress. But now the newly inaugurated President Mellon would veto even some of the most meagre recovery plans. With the President's popularity nearing the single-digits, men like Jacob Coxey sought to galvanize extra-legal opposition to the President. In early September, 1935 "Coxey's Army" marched on Washington once again, except this time thousands marched on the houses of American governance demanding relief. The Capitol Building and White House would be briefly seized before the U.S. army would ultimately rout the marchers. Mellon, forced to evacuate to Richmond, now had his already tenuous legitimacy shattered. Upon his arrival back at the White House, congressional leaders held Mellon hostage and threatened impeachment if he doesn't vow against running in 1936 and support an aid package.

The race to succeed Mellon was already decided on the Republican side. Former Vice President Herbert Hoover ran an "I told you so" campaign while the Democrats turned to the only man who able to unite the party a decade earlier. In the end it was very close. Institutional damage to the Republican Party made voting for the GOP a poison pill for most voters and Henry Ford would be ushered back into the White House in a landslide as Norman Thomas' Socialists collected nearly 20% of the vote.

Back in the White House, Ford had a mandate large enough to do anything. And so he did. Ford called on a long-time associate, Technocracy Inc. leader Howard Scott, to join him in rebuilding the country. With the approval of the nation's business moguls and several prominent politicians, Ford suspended the Constitution and took on the American Legion as his personal bodyguard. By the fall, the United States was no more - replaced by the North American Technate and its governing Organization.

Ford's rule was comprehensive but would ultimately not last. A stroke in 1941 left him largely incapacitated, with governing responsibilities split between Chief Secretary Howard Scott and the terminally ill Vice President Hugh Johnson. In 1942's first Organization-run selection Scott and his running mate would win well over the three-fifths required for instant approval. Now, it was time for the Technate's James Madison to govern as President.

And govern he would, in the eyes of many. The implementation of the Price System was finally finished and although territorial expansion was a no-go many Latin American countries would end up adopting Technate-inspired governments, rivalling the growing spheres of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The Technate would even fare better than just about any other nation during the so-called German Recession (1945 - 1949) of the late 40s.

Divisions within the Organization would boil over in time for the 1948 selection. An internal faction of liberals and progressives who had survived the Second Red Scare (1937 - 1941) had finally regrouped enough to openly challenge the hard-right wing presumptive nominee, Alvin Owsley. In the initial selection Owsley barely garnered over 50% of vote and the selection was forced into an open contest. Director for Urban Planning Rexford Tugwell - his star rising - answered the call and challenged Owsley alongside former Chief Secretary Walter Rautenstrauch. Together the two called for a return to "traditional American democracy," a relaxation on economic controls, the re-legalization of unions, and an overhaul of the new Constitution. Despite their vision they would fail. Although Owsley would barely scrape off more votes to achieve a 51% total, it would be enough to carry him over the line. Owsley's first directives in office would contribute to the start of the Third Red Scare (1949 - 1954).

The mandate that allowed Owsley to carry out an internal party purge would not last him long enough to leave a more substantive legacy. An economic downturn in 1954 would ultimately poison the nomination of his chosen successor in favor of two business gurus who to most Americans (and more importantly, most members of the Organization) embodied the new society they were in. Director for Interstate Infrastructure Buckminster Fuller was considered to be the "new Henry Ford" after his Dymaxion cars took over American roadways in the 1930s and 40s while business magnate Henry J. Kaiser used his new telecommunications clout to promise a television in the home of every American. Fuller, along with his successor Robert Moses, would create the (at least superficially) prosperous, (mostly) peaceful America that members of Generation 4 remember.

But calamity would strike in 1963. The death of Hitler led to a nuclear civil war that devastated Europe and caused the disintegration of the overseas Nazi Empire in a matter of months. Careful balance of power forged during the nascent Cold War had ended. In 1964, the leaders of Japan's corporate Zaibatsus leveraged their power to purge an increasingly aggressive and cultish armed forces. By early 1966, American military forces had been sent into more military conflicts in the past five years than in the ten before that. Out from the shadows of this chaos came America's next President, Director for Citizen Morale B. F. Skinner.

Skinner was an unorthodox candidate, with an unconventional personal background and having come from an obscure cabinet position, but when his name was floated during Organization deliberations people took note of him. Skinner vowed to use his knowledge of the human psyche to create a utopia, one where the Organization and America would be dominant while the average citizen would be complacent and satisfied. But Skinner's academic idealism wasn't universally respected within the Organization and come time for the initial selection Skinner would receive just shy of 45% of the vote, opening up space for a challenger. That challenger would come in the form of Pacifica's Commanding Director Richard Nixon, who campaigned on jingoism and confrontation with those who threatened America's resource interests. Nixon and Skinner each vigorously campaigned across Organization back-rooms but Nixon seemed to be the predicted winner. Nixon would not win in the end though, as Skinner would pull through by a fraction of a percentage point - likely due to last minute support he acquired from President Moses.

Skinner's experiments failed. His attempts to use universities as psychological testing grounds for the next utopia turned the nation's massive youth demographic against him, and his heavy-handed attempts at population control earned condemnations from across the world. Organization hawks ruthlessly criticized Skinner for his retreat from global affairs and blamed him for potentially leading Japan and decolonization movements get the upper hand. After all his promises of a better world, Skinner's faction would be rejected as Director for African Diplomacy George F. Kennan used the birth of the Pan-African Bloc to fearmonger his way into the Executive Mansion.

Kennan's wars were a disaster. The Pan-African War (1973 - 1982) resulted in millions of casualties cumulatively and the series of sporadic "Resource Wars" across the Middle East and Latin America drained American manpower and morale. The rise of Japan would be thwarted - however - by China in the Sino-Japanese War (1975). Tens of millions died in the brutal nuclear conflict and America was left as king of the ashes.

Kennan's chose successor, Richard Helms, easily won in the initial selection as a terrified Organization desperately hoped that a victory overseas would lead to the end of domestic discontent and economic stagnation. Helms did not know that he would preside over the end of the Organization's regime. The Technate was typically responsive to domestic threats (see: the crushing of the Appalachian Revolt (1952) and the King Alfred Revolt (1967)) and the price system tended to institutionally dissuade even protest but the efficacy of domestic intelligence had been decreasing in recent years and by late 1981 most of those who cared in government were anticipating a Pan-African inspired black revolt that was never seriously in the works.

And then it happened.

The Last Persecution occurred on Christmas Day, 1981. On that day factory workers lynched their bosses, soldiers turned on their commanding officers, students fought university administration, and tens of millions marched in the streets - paralyzing the Organization at its very core. In the nation's capital of Columbia, located in the exact geographical center of the country, President Helms struggled to maintain control of the country with every region outside of the capital reporting various levels of dissidence. The next morning, Helms resigned the presidency and fled to London, leaving George Bush to cling on to the end of the Organization. And cling he would. On the 27th, Columbia was put under siege by rebelling soldiers so George "The Butcher of Omaha" Bush moved the capital of his rump regime to Omaha as the city's streets ran red with dissident blood. But Bush's emergency regime wouldn't last. On February 5th, with the Organization's final holdouts under siege, President Bush signed a conditional surrender to the military leaders that had turned on the Organization just weeks before.

Now it waits to be seen whether Andrew Goodpaster and the Military Transition Council can keep together a deeply divided nation amidst a collapsing global order.

What countries are the Pan-Africans based in? Also, can we have an accompanying map since TTL is one of the few to combine the Technate with a former limited axis victory?

 

[Stuyvesant]

The Imperial Throne was created by the Royal House of Gristol at the culmination of the War of the Four Crowns and was the first government to unite The Isles since the Great Burning of Year 1. The Morgengaards ruled the empire for 43 years before Empress Jalle was murdered by her Morleyan bodyguard, Aneirin. The Rhydderchs would not last long on the throne before being deposed in favor of the Morgengaard claimant. However, Hurien’s later insanity led to the collapse of central authority in what became known as the Crisis of the Seventeenth Century.

The Crisis would eventually come to a dramatic end with the end of the Morgengaard Dynasty and the Rectification War which saw the Abbey of the Everyman become the official faith of the Empire, spearheaded by its new Tyvian Royal Dynasty. The Olaskirs would rule for almost a century of peace that was shattered by the Morleyan Insurrection. The Insurrection appeared to have dissipated until Revolutionaries struck at the heart of Dunwall, a bomb blast wiping out the entire remaining Olaskirs in an instant.

The Empire was paralyzed, until the Regency Council took control, comprised the trifecta of Duke of Redmoor, Euhorn Kaldwin, High Overseer Scott Grafton, and Royal Spymaster August Barkham. The three men took decisive action and put down the Insurrection with vigor and overwhelming force. Afterward, Kaldwin was declared Emperor and his dynasty would rule the Empire with only two two-month interruptions until the office of Emperor was abolished and replaced with a Presidency upon the death of Emily Kaldwin in 1902.

Emperors of the Empire of The Isles

1626-1651: Finlay (Morgengaard)
1625: Gristol under the House of Morgengaard unites the Isles in the War of the Four Crowns against Tyvia, Morley, and Karnaca
1651-1668: Valessa (Morgengaard)
1668-1669: Jalle† (Morgengaard)
1669: Murdered by Bodyguard, Aneirin Rhydderch, declares himself Emperor
1669-1675: Aneirin (Rhydderch)
1675-1678: Ailish* (Rhydderch)
1678: Morgengaard Loyalists restore Jalle's son Hurien to the throne, deposing the Rhydderchs
1678-1705: Hurien (Morgengaard)
1691: Beginning of the Crisis of the Seventeenth Century, widespread chaos in the provinces, collapse of Royal Authority
1701: The Abbey of the Everyman is founded by Benjamin Holger
1705-1714: Yefim (Olaskir)
1705-1708: The Abbey of the Everyman embarks on the ‘Rectifcation War’ against its rivals, culminating in the Siege of Whitecliff
1711: The Abbey is established as the Official Faith of the Empire
1714-1727: Zolana (Olaskir)
1727-1751: Daniil (Olaskir)
1751-1783: Alexy (Olaskir)
1783-1801: Larisa† (Olaskir)
1 Ice, 1801: Morley Insurrection begins
8 Clans, 1801: Larisa is assassinated by Morleyan dissidents without issue, a regency council is formed to decide upon a successor and to prosecute the Morley Insurrection
1801-1803: First Regency, led by Euhorn Kaldwin
1803: Lord Regent Euhorn Kaldwin declares himself Emperor following his leadership during the Morley Insurrection
1803-1825: Euhorn (Kaldwin)
1825-1837: Jessamine† (Kaldwin)
1835: The Rat Plague begins, secretly introduced to the city’s slums by Royal Spymaster Hiram Burrows
18 Earth, 1837: Empress Jessamine was assassinated by the assassin Daud, triggering the Regency Crisis
1837: Second Regency, led by Hiram Burrows
28, High Cold, 1837: Regency Ends, Emily Kaldwin is enthroned
1837-1852: Emily (Kaldwin)
18 Earth, 1852: Empress Emily is overthrown in a palace coup by her Aunt, Delilah Copperspoon, with the backing of Duke Luca Abele of Karnaca
1852: Delilah (“Kaldwin”)
24 Harvest, 1852: Empress Delilah is deposed in a counter-coup
1852-1902: Emily (Kaldwin)
17 Timber, 1852: The Abbey of the Everyman is dissolved by Imperial Decree following the twin blows of the Battle of Dunwall Tower and the Void Rift Crisis
1902: The Office of Empress was dissolved by the Will of Emily Kaldwin, who had no issue

 

[Comrade Izaac/Izzy]

An expansion of an old list back on AH.com I called Blast from the Past

Basic Basis: Lisa Murkowski gets electorally capped by a certain cursed figure from our not too distant past, the same year Trump literally shits himself to death at mara-lago and Biden's average approval ratings reach 46% at the highest.

2021-2025: Joe Biden (Democratic)
(With Kamala Harris)
2020: Joe Biden/Kamala Harris (Democratic) [51.3%/306 EV] Def. Donald J. Trump/Mike Pence (Republican) [46.9%/232 EV] and Various Others

2025-2027: Sarah Palin (Republican)
(With Ron DeSantis)
2024: Sarah Palin/Ron DeSantis [46.37%/282 EV] Def. Kamala Harris/Ed Markey [46.43%/256 EV] and Justin Amash/Larry Sharpe (Libertarian) [5.4%/0 EV] and Various Others
2027: "Bermuda Triangle Incident"; Disappearance of Air Force One, President Palin, Vice President DeSantis

2027-2029: Kevin McCarthy (Republican)
(With Jeanean Hampton)

2029-20xx: Karen Carter Peterson (Democratic)
(With John Sarbanes)
2028: Karen Carter Peterson/John Sarbanes (Democratic) [52.6%/351 EV] Def. Kevin Mccarthy/Jeanean Hampton (Republican) [31.7%/187 EV] and Lauren Boebert/Micheal Flynn Jr. (THE TRUTH) [13.6%/0 EV] and Various Others

 

[Qaz_plm]

2027: "Bermuda Triangle Incident"; Disappearance of Air Force One, President Palin, Vice President DeSantis

well that's original

 

[Comrade Izaac/Izzy]

well that's original

...thank... you?

 

[Makemakean]

I get the sense that becoming the DNC chairman and campaigning for Obama caused him to sand off any possible 'Left' edge of him.

He was already trying to sand off any possible 'Left' edge to him when he ran in 2004. It's to be remembered that in 2004, the Iraq War was still in its early days, the War in Afghanistan had immense public support, and Bush's approval rating going above 90% was still in very recent memory. Many people believed that the best way to get rid off Bush was by means of some triangulation in the neocon direction, hence why Michael Moore early on endorsed Wesley Clark. To frame yourself as the candidate of the Left would do you no favours, and so Howard Dean's campaign put a lot of effort into trying to portray him as a mainstream Democrat whom all factions within the party could unite around.

 

[Qaz_plm]

based on a convo I had with @Oppo and @gentleman biaggi
B R O W N T O W N
2007-2012:Gordon Brown(Labour)
2007:David Cameron(Conservative),Menzies Campbell(Liberal Democrat)
2012-2012:Dave Miliband(Labour)
2012-20??:Theresa May(Conservative)
2012:Dave Miliband(Labour),Chris Huhne(Liberal Democrat)
2016:Alan Johnson(Labour),Lembit Opik(Liberal Democrat)


2009-2013:Hilary Clinton/Tom Vilsack(Democratic)
2008:Ron Paul/Chuck Hagel(Republican)
2013-2017:Mike Huckabee/Tim Pawlenty(Republican)
2017-20??:Elizabeth Warren/Cory Booker(Democratic)
2016:Mike Huckabee/Tim Pawlenty(Republican)
2020:Marco Rubio/Scott Walker(Republican)


"David Cameron and Ron Paul were both representatives of types of right wing thought that bla bla bla I'm Adam Curtis" - Adam Curtis "The World We live in,We love,and We hate"

 

[Comrade Izaac/Izzy]

bla bla bla I'm Adam Curtis

yo that's crazy he actually said that!!!