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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

Three's A Crowd
Part Two: The Political Merry-Go-Round

31: Huey Long (Populist) 1933-1941
1932: def. Upton Sinclair (Democratic) and Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1936: def. Frank Knox (Republican) and Lynn Frazier (Democratic)
"Every Man a King, Every Woman a Queen..."
Ah, Huey Pierce Long Jr., the "Kingfish", the man who transformed a country yet managed to do the impossible and drive the left and right together to kick him out. A decade of authoritarianism, a decade of absolute power in Long's America as the "Populist regime" drove forward in its zeal to "Share The Wealth, at times loved and reviled by both Democrats and Republicans

It all started in the darkest of days when the Great Depression was crushing many Americans, and they turned to radical options. Even as Hoover pleaded with Americans to "reject radicalism", people rallied towards the socialistic rhetoric of Upton Sinclair and the bombastic demegaoguery of Huey Long. The Republicans collapsed as the country polarised

Yet Sinclair just couldn't win. The Democrats had too much ground to make up and the Populists had the Solid South. So Huey Long was inaugurated and America trembled in anticipation and fear at what he had planned. And... at first surprisingly little. The Populists were overall not sold on Long, with a considerable amount of them still following President Underwood's mildly progressive policies. So when Long was frustrated yet again by Speaker Garner's frosty reception to his radical bills, he turned to the Democrats and especially to one man, William Randolph Hearst

Hearst and Long shared similar viewpoints on foreign policy and Hearst knew the Democrats as a whole weren't particularly hostile to Share The Wealth, but Hearst always looked out for Number One and in exchange for exceptions specifically crafted to benefit Hearst's media empire at the expense of others, Hearst would encourage his Democrats to vote the bills through to the floor and vote for them. And the Democrats, still trying to get Long to do something on civil rights, would be blindsided by Hearst's unexpected intervention and in the end broke for Share The Wealth

Republicans made hay out of this, of course. "Nary a dime worth of difference between the Populists and Democrats!" and benefited from a backlash in the north-east against the Democrats that led to Republican gains there while losing elsewhere

In 1936, Share The Wealth was... working? It's ambiguous. The President says so, but the Republicans says no. And the Democrats, well... "it works, but it could have been better" which doesn't sell that well to the voters. The Republicans nominated the only man who could rival Hearst for media dominance, the newspaper magnate Frank Knox who was spurred into it upon seeing that Hearst's empire was now being preferred for government taxation cuts and all those sweet pork. In the 1936 election, it was mainly a war of headlines between Hearst's centre-left newspapers and Knox's centre-right newspapers, with Hearst ending up the winner on election night as Knox's prediction of a narrow Republican victory proving laughable. With Hearst clearly preferring Long, the Democratic candidate Lynn Frazier got short stick but still fought anyway

In Long's second term, he became more dictatorial. Now given an outright mandate for Share The Wealth and a strong Populist majority, he increasingly attacked the Court for their conservative opinions including declaring a key part of STW unconstitutional. While he did succeed in appointing several new judges to "re-balance" the Court, it proved intensely controversial, and as the war in Europe brewed on, the Democrats and Republicans met together and discussed a "preparation" ticket, much to the horror of Hearst who increasingly backed Long's isolationism

32: Franklin D. Roosevelt (National Union) 1941-1945*
1940: def. Huey Long (Populist)
1944: def. Charles Lindbergh (Populist)
"This Country Seeks No Conquest"
"FDR", as many knew him as, is possibly the most beloved four-year-long president, having Won The War and established the Concord of Nations and a lot of pithy sayings that sticks with people decades later. Elected on the National Union ticket against the polarising Huey Long, he was a liberal Republican [such was uncommon, which is why he was picked] running with a Populist-turned-Democrat in the form of former Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Wallace. The two could have not been so different, and yet they made the perfect ticket

As America shouted "Washington Wouldn't, Grand Couldn't, Long Shouldn't!" and voted in FDR, it was the first time the Democrats was in the cabinet since the ill-fated years of Grover Cleveland all those years ago. And due to the influence of Hearst and the Socialists, it was a very different party and one very unused to cabinet positions. It was the duty of the Republicans to "show them the ropes" so to speak. And this the Republicans did, while making sure to take advantage of the Dems' inexperience to push through GOP policies

But of course, the top priority was Military Preparedness, which the Populists condemned as "getting us into European affairs" and Hearst was shouting into the ether about how this was betraying his party, the party he made. But the Dems were now mostly ignoring Hearst after he pushed for them to vote through Share The Wealth in 1933. VP Wallace was very eager for Military Preparedness and was seen conversing with the Soviet Ambassador about possible war actions which got him told off and denied access to diplomats, a slight humiliation but America was planning to work with the Soviets anyway, so it wasn't like it explicitly went against the Administration's policies. Still a mess

By 1942, America was now rolling to war due to an Italian attack on Puerto Rico and this led to a rally around the flag effect, with many Populist congresspeople declaring they were now backing "National Union" in order to get re-elected. They would be part of the 1944 NU convention and unanimously re-nominate FDR. Wallace, on the other hand... It took seven ballots and the narrow defeat of William O. Douglas due to Populists preferring the ex-Populist over the hardline liberal [Douglas would later be appointed Chief Justice] but Wallace was also re-nominated

The rump Populists, now taken over by ex-America First people who ran on opposition to FDR's "internationalism", promised to win the war and get America back to splendid isolation. Their nominee, Charles Lindbergh, was intended to stoke American interest in electing the "Lone Eagle" president, but it turned out America had no time for celebrities yet, and elected FDR in a landslide

The war was all but finished when a report came in of the death of the President...

33: Henry A. Wallace (National Union, then Democratic) 1945-1953
1948: def. Harold Stassen (Republican) and Richard Russell (Populist)
"I'm Just Wild About Harry"
"A Democratic president? Dearie me, when was the last time that happened?" was one old grandmother's remark at the ascendance of Henry Wallace to the Presidency. Wallace, although an ex-Populist, represented something astonishingly new to the American scene. The Democrats were at once the oldest and newest party in American politics, and they now had a President. And one that had to decide if he would work with the Soviets in the proposed Concord of Nations. Wallace, guided by his naive view of them, gladly agreed to welcome them in [which got Republicans' condemnations]. But as time went on, President Wallace's rose-tinted glasses grew more sour and by 1947 at the least, he was increasingly anti-Soviet [and peculiarly enough, pro-Chinese], which displeased some on the Democrats' far-left but was popular with the majority of Americans

There was a short and sharp post-war recession which entering 1948, was mainly over but it energised Republicans into believing they could win 1948 and get rid of Wallace and his "socialism" for good [the NUP was dead in 1947 when the Republican cabinet members resigned]. They nominated Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota, a young up and comer who they saw as likely to win the election. Stassen campaigned quite well and proved affable on the campaign trail, and the Populists hoping to recover from 1944 nominated former Secretary of the Treasury Richard Russell who united the party behind his policies and platform and some hoped of no electoral majority and Russell as a compromise choice

But President Wallace did not act like a dead duck, oh no. Acutely aware of his flagging poll numbers, he subjected himself to an exhaustive campaign, including the "Portable White House" [a briefcase with several papers faxed over] that he dealt with in between kissing baby heads and shaking hands. And the speeches, they promised of a "radical renewal" of America. And Wallace's policies appealed. Even 16 years after the 1932 election, people felt that they still needed a radical solution to what plighted them, and Wallace offered this where the others didn't. Stassen dismissed Wallace's campaign as "the last desperate tactic of a failed president" but just like Hearst in 1904, Wallace was to defy expectations

As New York and Pennsylvania and Illinois and Missouri turned for Henry Wallace, his victory was assured. The Democratic Party, 56 years after their last victory, could now savour victory again. Americans finally accepted them back into the political mainstream, giving them a plurality in the House, several more seats in the Senate and their man returned to the White House

The second term would prove rather disappointing after all that euphoria and celebrations. As part of Wallace's increasing anti-Soviet and pro-China tendencies, he negotiated an alliance with China in early 1948 that ended up biting him in the ass when in 1949, China asked for American troops to prevent the People's State of Manchuria troops from invading them. The Manchuria War would end up a war where Wallace would contribute as few troops as possible up to 1951, when reports of defeats after defeats and a terse conversation with President Chiang Kai-shek pushed him to authorise a surge which would end up intensely controversial, and by 1952 the man once condemned as being too "pro-Soviet" was now seen as too much of a Cold Warrior. America clearly needed a man who knew which wars to fight, and they got that

34: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican) 1953-1961
1952: def. Estes Kefauver (Populist), Dwight D. Eisenhower (National Populist) and Henry A. Wallace (Democratic)
1956: def. John Sparkman (Populist) and Glen H. Taylor (Democratic)
"A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Eisenhower would probably have been remembered better if it wasn't for the series of events that actually happened under his Presidency. First there was dealing with the Manchuria War. As Ike grumbled once - "Only Wallace can go to China" - with them being more distrustful of Eisenhower than of Wallace. Nevertheless, the war was fought and finally finished by 1955 [if you count status quo ante bellum as finished or won...], giving Ike some accolades that he could carry into the election and tout as a success of his first term

But dogging him was controversy regarding civil rights. In 1952, the Populists narrowly nominated pro-civil rights Estes Kefauver, and the states of Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina replaced his name on the ballot with that of Eisenhower and Eisenhower felt that he had an obligation to not rock the boat. Wallace integrated the military, so repealing that like Southern Populists wanted would be rocking the boat. But too would doing anything about segregation. So when Chief Justice William O. Douglas passed down the verdict in Williams vs. Board of Education that segregation of education facilities were unconstitutional, Eisenhower was faced with a conundrum now that "not rocking the boat" was impossible. In the end, he sided with the status quo in 1956 and did nothing which angered some pro-civil rights Republicans, but not enough to doom him

In his second term, the Soviet Union tested their biggest nuclear bomb to date [private records would say that the plans for the first bomb was given to them by Wallace, but that's classified] and that led to an alleged "missile gap" that Populists banged the drum on, especially Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. Also going on in the 1950s was McCarthyism, but by 1958, it collapsed totally as McCarthy ended up accusing the President of being a communist [he was likely highly drunk at the time] and people just stopped listening to him instantly

By 1960, Ike was ready to retire...

35: Lyndon B. Johnson (Populist) 1961-1969
1960: def. Richard Nixon (Republican) and Michael Mansfield (Democratic)
1964: def. Barry Goldwater (Republican) and Michael Harrington (Democratic)
"A Collection of Communities"
The Populists' most impactful president, far beyond Huey Long, was Lyndon Johnson. A seasoned Texan politician, he was highly ambitious and hungered for the Presidency for quite a while. The 1960 election was heated and all three parties [the Dems now free of McCarthyism's effect and Wallace's unpopularity was now bouncing back] nominated strong candidates. LBJ for the Populists, VP Nixon for the GOP and Senator Mansfield for the Dems. And with Eisenhower's popularity gone and people willing to take a more critical eye on the Republicans as a whole, they came up wanting. LBJ won a clear majority while Mansfield bounced the party back from its 1950s slump

LBJ's most famous speech was "A Collection of Communities" which defined his "Big Society" policies. LBJ was someone who demanded a legacy, and he was going to build one. Waxing lyrically of a "war on poverty", he worked with Democrats to continue on the legacy of Huey Long and Henry Wallace, and surprisingly enough, this Southerner met with civil rights leaders and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which led to some Deep Southern states screaming bloody murder at their president's "betrayal". However, the Populist Party has always trod an uncertain line on race, with Oscar Underwood was considered in his time one of the most "liberal" of Southerners and Huey Long somehow weaved a path between portraying himself as a friend to black people and as a friend to the white establishment. So it never quite was a party that fully embraced racism, even if many of its structure involved the suppression of African-American votes in the South. Once he signed it, it received the condemnation of Barry Goldwater, a Republican from Arizona, for breaching "civic liberties" and forcing the government into people's lives

That meant Goldwater, the 1964 nominee, would lose many states in the North yet be the only Republican after Reconstruction to win Mississippi and by a narrow margin Alabama [despite Governor Wallace's spirited campaign for LBJ there] and win South Carolina too. Yet he was incredibly unpopular and Johnson won a landslide over him and similarly unpopular Senator Michael Harrington of New York

His second term would be one of dread. China, Henry Wallace's friend, was now asking America to put missiles on Chinese soil so that it could response to the Soviet missiles in Manchuria. LBJ obliged, and this started the Missile Race that would go higher and higher before it reached fever pitch in mid 1968. Richard Nixon pledged to "win the peace" and get the Soviets to drop their missiles, LBJ maintained that the Soviets would give in, and the quixotic Eugene McCarthy pledged to disarm first. As election night came closer, the doomsday clock ticked closer and closer...

*BANG*

"The President is down!"

"I have very troubling news. The President is in critical condition and is in surgery..."

In the end, this was perhaps the respite needed to cool heads down, as once LBJ recovered and was wheeled out of hospital, he declined re-nomination for a third term [which the Populists were glad to give him anyway] and recommended his protege the Governor of Alabama. Stuck in a wheelchair, LBJ's main priority was to undermine Nixon, which his botched negotiations would have done if only for the Soviets receiving a tip of missiles in Japan which LBJ swore were not there. Of course, that tip came ultimately from an office of one certain Richard Milhous Nixon...

But that's for another story

Coming Eventually
Part Three: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
 
Three's A Crowd
Part Three: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

36: Richard Nixon (Republican) 1969-1974*
1968: def. George Wallace (Populist) and Eugene McCarthy (Democratic)
1972: def. George McGovern (Democratic) and George Smathers (Populist)
"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Richard Nixon is remembered as a complex man. A terrible and tragic man, but a deeply complex one. And his end will definitely go down in history as the first time it ever happened. The vice-president to Eisenhower, his loss to LBJ rubbed him deeply and although he won the Governorship two years later, he still had a massive chip on his shoulder that never healed. And in 1968 with LBJ possibly running for a third term, Nixon announced his run hoping to finally end LBJ for good. When the Chinese Missile Crisis heated up, Nixon saw an opportunity and took it. As LBJ increasingly withdrew from political campaigns, up to the assassination forcing him to withdraw his candidacy, Nixon increasingly plotted to exploit Johnson's weakness

The Japanese rumour would only come out as having come from Nixon in 1974, but it doomed LBJ and the Populists as not even Governor Wallace's heated campaign arguing for people to "protect the Big Society" would save the Populists from defeat. The Republicans were back. But Nixon was not the shiny liberal he was in 1960, but an embittered man who would seek to assure America's place in the world. LBJ, Ike, Wallace, they were too soft. Nixon would be remembered as the archetype of the Cold Warrior, a deeply paranoid man who hated Communism with a passion

Universal healthcare, long a goal for the Democrats and left-Populists, would find a willing man to sign it in President Nixon. Nixon in 1971 would sign the American Healthcare Provision Act that would end up the short name for the new American healthcare system [as AHPA], making history even if conservative Republicans condemned this growth in the state's power over individuals

Nixon's running mate and Vice-President John Connally was seen as on the party's right compared to Nixon's ambiguous liberal-conservatism, but he was full-throatedly backing Nixon's foreign policy of neoconservatism. America busted onto the global scene with a vengeance, couping several socialist-aligned countries in the Western Hemisphere, intensifying alliances with China and Nusantara and rattled the Soviet Union quite a bit

At home, the 1972 election was looming, and the Populists were tearing apart with the left led by Governor Wallace facing against the right led by Senator Smathers in the primaries. Nixon intervened to push the scale on Smathers' favour and succeeded, weakening the Populists as they shifted away from their traditional left-wing-y rural-populism to a more conservative stance alienating many Northern Populists to the Democrats. And yet Nixon turned his eye on to the Dems as well. George McGovern was rallying the student movement against Nixon's aggressive neoconservatism and he was seen by many as a "hippie" like the 1968 candidate Eugene McCarthy. The "labor" bit of the Democrats deplored him and backed their candidate Walter Reuther who provided a more union-friendly face. Nixon, aware of the potential to appeal to the "hardhat" demographic, arranged for rumours of Reuther taking money from the unions to undermine him enough for McGovern to win

The 1972 election was a landslide, with Nixon winning a clear majority of the vote and a whopping huge amount of electoral votes as well. McGovern's base held up better than Smathers' did, and he could at least tout that he brought the Dems back in second place for the first time in 24 years, and Smathers came under greater criticism from a bitter Wallace for "losing a winnable election"

In 1973, Senator Ed Muskie received a parcel from an anonymous Texan address, imploring him to open it and use it wisely. This was Johnson's revenge on Nixon, as he spent the last five years tracking down Nixon's actions regarding the "Japan rumour" and upon finishing it, sent it to a Senator he knew despised Nixon with all his heart. Ed Muskie was a Democrat who consistently opposed Nixon's neoconservatism and his attempts at rolling back certain civil rights bills. Muskie, true to Johnson's expectations, arranged for further investigation to see if the tricksiness of Nixon in the Japan rumour spread elsewhere. By the cold frost of early 1974, Muskie had all he needed

Committing treason by aiding America's enemies via the Japan rumour, subverting the 1972 conventions via dirty means, threatening Senator Reuther via the FBI to prevent him from running an independent campaign, holding blackmail of what exactly happened that night he drank and drove over Senator Ted Kennedy's head in order to get him to give in and back AHPA, the list went on. It was clear, Nixon subverted American democracy as a whole for his own means. Nixon rejected all those allegations, but yet the Washbucket Commission [named after the label Muskie gave his investigation - "Operation Washbucket"]. In the end, the House of Representatives voted to impeach the President, and it was up to the Senate to decide his fate. Or not, as one fateful day in September 1974 would reveal...

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits", "You won't have President Nixon to kick about anymore" and "I will not leave the White House a disgraced man, I would rather it be as a corpse" are three quotes from the final speech of President Nixon, broadcast live on national television. And what came after, oh God, there was a lot of people being sick at that

37: John Connally (Republican) 1974-1977
"Kicked Upstairs"
As the nation recoiled from their President doing the unimaginable [and there was a surge of suicides after that, something worrying AHPA], now President Connally was ushered into a side room and sworn in, barely aware of what exactly happened. Connally was shaken at the news, even refusing to believe that Nixon could actually do that. "My God, I thought he was fine in the head". Connally, although a fiscal conservative who wished for AHPA to be reduced down, signed through a bill allocating more funding for mental health care. Mental health was becoming a topic widely discussed after Nixon's suicide, one legacy that he left America

But Connally had his own skeletons in the cabinet, something that dogged him and sank his popularity even as Congress was reluctant to follow up on a second investigation into a President in just one term. In the end, economic stagnation struck in early 1976 and doomed the GOP

38: Jimmy Carter (Populist) 1977-1981
1976: def. Frank Church (Democratic) and John Connally (Republican)
"A New Mood in America"
And the 1976 election turned into a fight between the Populists under Governor Jimmy Carter who weaved folksy rhetoric and an "outsider" appeal, and the Democrats under Senator Frank Church which campaigned on strong reforms and on "returning America to good times", with Connally struggling to re-unite a party bitterly divided between him and the "Bushites" under George Bush which advocated for moderation and opposed Connally's dragging the party to the right. In the end, Carter won

Jimmy Carter's presidency could be summed up as one of division. The Populists were divided between an increasing conservative-populist faction and a more "moderate" centrist one - the "Jerry Falwells and Dale Bumpers" as a future president would describe them as, and Carter weaved a narrow line as a president of an evolving party. Intensely religious, he tended to side with the conservatives on certain issues and on financial grounds, he tended to side with the moderates, and the combination alienated both of them and made people see Carter as a rather conservative president, overall, and that was from a party America grew accustomed to seeing as the "centrist option"

The economy stagnated even more, before breaking into a recession in 1979, which led to Carter losing 1980. To an actor?

39: Robert Redford (Democratic) 1981-1989
1980: def. George Bush (Republican) and Jimmy Carter (Populist)
1984: def. Jay Hammond (Republican) and Fob James (Populist)
"The Age of Things"
Charles Robert Redford. What is there to say about a legend? One of the Democrats' three presidents after Grover Cleveland, and the first one since Andrew Jackson to win two consecutive terms. The one to start the "Green Consensus" that would make America known as one of the most environmentalist countries. The one to blaze a bold social policy that would have impacts decades down the line? Perhaps it's best to start like many stories do, at the beginning, namely the 1980 election...

In 1980, people were quite disaffected with Carter and with the Populists, and increasingly feeling like the whole decade was badly mismanaged by both parties. Despite George Bush's centrist rhetoric appealing to some suburban areas and Jimmy Carter still having pull in the South, a lot of people were appealed by the Democrats and their affable young Hearstwood-actor-turned-Senator who promised "Morning Again in America". So the red wave happened and the Democrats were swept into the Oval Office for the first time since Henry Wallace's ill-fated second term. And yet again, they were transformed. Under Wallace, they were a labor party that had a history of sitting with socialists, but by Redford they became a clear alliance between labor unions and the "Young Left" movement containing student radicals, LGBT people, racial minorities, environmentalists and suburban liberals who were once formerly Republican. And all that was given a mandate from the people

But still, even with the most Democrats for decades in Congress, President Redford had to tread carefully. While of course there was traditional Democratic fare in economic policy, bringing back higher tax [something slashed in the Connally-Carter years] and regulation on the banks, foreign policy called Redford's attention to China. The Kuomintang government asked for help containing rebels that they asserted were associated with the Soviets. Redford, like many Democrats, still followed the Wallace model of Cold Warriorism of helpful alliances and limited intervention, but something was off about the reports. The rebels were young, their demands didn't sound Sovietesque but outright democratic ["They're calling for fair elections. How is that Soviet?"] and the Kuomintang has gone more right-wing since the 1950s. So the party of the alliance with China would tell China to democratise and Redford's announcement that "America supports democracy everywhere. Yes, everywhere" led to the KMT collapsing and the Democratic Progressive movement taking over. And once more, China's alliance with America was rekindled as Redford went to Beijing to sign a Treaty of Co-operation and Friendship with new President Liu Xiaobo. At first, the "betrayal of our Chinese allies" were condemned by Republicans and Populists, but Redford came out of it smelling roses as he could tout that "our friendship with the Chinese people is now closer than ever"

Returning back home from Beijing in 1983, President Redford announced several executive orders, the most controversial of which was his lifting of the ban on gay soldiers serving in the Army. Redford won the primaries with the help of the growing LGBT rights movement and he was always minded to help them. This led to the Republicans and Populists [and more "traditional" Democrats] condemning Redford's helping "the gay agenda". Another thing Redford did was order AHPA to look into helping those with LIDS, a disease mainly found in gay men. But even as those polarised the country, something would engulf the news and prove President Redford's most personal challenge yet

Sid Wells was a young University of Colorado student who wished to fly for the Navy, and to make some money he rented out a room. The man who he rented the room out to was Thayne Smika, a college dropout. As time went on, Sid Wells had trouble collecting the rent from an uncooperative Smika, and in August of 1983, Sid's older brother found his corpse with a shotgun blast to the back of the head and Thayne Smika nowhere to be found. Now, how is this relevant to President Redford? Well, Sid Wells was dating Shauna Redford, the "First Daughter". And President Redford personally liked Sid Wells, calling him "a good man to know". So when the reports came in, the President was right on top of it, demanding the police investigate the matter and make it their priority, even bringing into the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Presidential pressure to "find the culprit" led to the arrest of Thayne Smika. The District Attorney was considering dismissing the case and releasing him, but then he realised that there was immense political pressure from the President, from media scrutiny and from those above him, to try Smika, which he gave in to. Thayne Smika was sent to prison and the media wave attracted to this unique case was over

On much less sensational matters, President Redford was now overlooking a booming economy and people were glad to reward the Democrats first in the midterms as they won their first majority in, oh, 80 years? It has been a while. And by 1984, it was a done deal, President Redford would enjoy something once thought impossible for Democratic presidents, re-election. And a consecutive one at that! The last time was one hundred and fifty-two years ago. The Redford campaign was one of heady optimism and economic prosperity, with many suburban voters inclined to give the President a landslide. It was up to the Republicans and Populists to argue otherwise

The Republicans nominated Jay Hammond, Governor of Alaska and perhaps the only person who could rival President Redford on environmentalist credentials - "we stand together on preservation of our Earth" as Hammond declared in the first debate - and the Populists Governor Fob James of Alabama, a "champion of rural areas" and critic of Redford's more... "liberal" actions regarding social issues. But still, the economy was booming and both Hammond and James failed to really cut into Redford's undefeatable aura. Hence the landslide as Redford turned many states red

The Democrats gained more seats in Congress and clearly enjoyed a popular mandate once more. Redford's personal project, that of a global environment conference that would get every CoN member to agree to fossil fuel limits and green energy encouragement, was a-go, and in 1985 it finally happened. And despite many of Redford's ideas being watered down and the final agreement being a vague one to limit fossil fuels and to support the environment, he left it victorious with a historic green agreement - "The Future is Green!" he declared on his return to Washington

The Soviet Union collapsing in early 1986 was certainly a feather in Redford's cap as he could claim to be the president who "won" the Cold War, but as Russia itself started falling apart and nuclear bombs were nowhere to be found, new fears arose, fears of a Post-Cold War era

The booming economy started to stagnate in the summer of 1986 dooming the Dems in the midterms, but Redford was confident that it would bounce back. And indeed by Election Night 1988 it was turning up like he predicted. But still, the Democrats were always the "third amongst equals" and their election was always a break from the normal Republican/Populist elections. Would people be willing to give them a third term? Well...

40: Lee Iacocca (Republican) 1989-1993
1988: def. Mario Cuomo (Democratic) and Richard Riley (Populist) [elected in the House]
"Trouble Shared is Trouble Halved?"
The 1988 election was chaotic. The Democrats nominated Mario Cuomo, Senator from New York and firm liberal, to continue Redford's legacy, while the Populists chose to go "liberal" [by Populist standards!] by choosing Governor Richard Riley of South Carolina, a man known for opposing the death penalty and for investment in education and local healthcare. And the Republicans? Well, they went with Michigan superstar Lee Iacocca, who led Chrysler back from bankruptcy and became one of the most famous businessmen in America. Beloved in the Midwest, he cut deep in a region that was once considered safe Democratic and more than made up for the loss of many states to the resurgent Populists

But it wasn't enough. As Cuomo walked away with the plurality of the popular vote, Iacocca had the plurality of the electoral votes and Richard Riley hoped that he could successfully come away as the elected "compromise" candidate. Focus turned to the running mates of both Cuomo and Iacocca, namely Governor Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania [both of which failed to win their states for their running mates] and how the Populists would vote. In the end, it wasn't even close as Harkin's rural background and record of working with Populists trounced Heinz at every turn and he was elected Vice-President. But for the Presidency itself?

As President Redford waited to know who his successor was, Congress voted again and again before Iacocca made a deal with the Populists that they would receive some seats in the cabinet, and they voted for him. The Iacocca cabinet was perhaps the first and only "truly" tripartisan cabinet, with a Republican president, Democratic vice-president and Populists in the cabinet

Iacocca's perspective was always fiscal conservative and he wanted to cut back on Redford's spending. But with Congress split three ways and the Populists forming an unofficial alliance with the Democrats to prevent cuts to rural infrastructure, it seemed impossible. But then entered William Jefferson Clinton, the new Secretary of Agriculture. Clinton came up with a plan build on public-private partnership that managed to assure many of the old-school Populists that this wouldn't harm rural people and the Dem-Pop alliance broke as spending was slashed much to former President Redford's displeasure. Redford's welfare spending was also cut with the argument that "there's no such thing as a free lunch!". This hurt Iacocca's popularity in his native Midwest, but he would still be set to win re-election, right?

The historic North American Free Trade Agreement split all three parties, with Iacocca Republicans cheering it on while more conservative Republicans being sceptical, "Young Left" Democrats nodding it through while labor unions condemned it and centrist "Dale Bumpers" Populists voting for it while more traditional rural Populists made their displeasure known. But still, it passed!

The fall of the Soviet Union meant that there was increasing unsureness in the world, and this unsureness led to a wobble in the economy in 1991. Iacocca was widely blamed for it, and much to his displeasure the opportunistic Bill Clinton resigned from his cabinet post declaring "Iacocca is leading us off a cliff!", clearly planning to run for the Presidency in 1992. And on top of that, another famous businessman declared that he would run against the entire NAFTA and bring America back to where it was before "the giant sucking sound". Indeed, Donald Trump was tapping into quite a bit of popular sentiment that NAFTA was ultimately to blame for the recession

But President Iacocca assured himself, he could win! People could see through Clinton's opportunism, reject Trump's insular rhetoric and whatever Vice-President Harkin was saying, and give him a second term! Right?

Part Four: A Bridge to the 21st Century
 
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Thinking the Unthinkable

1979-1991: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
1979 (Majority): James Callaghan (Labour), David Steel (Liberal)
1983 (Majority): Michael Foot (Labour), Roy Jenkins and David Steel (SDP-Liberal Alliance)
1987 (Majority): Neil Kinnock (Labour), David Owen and David Steel (SDP-Liberal Alliance)
1991-1996: Neil Kinnock (Labour)
1991 (Progressive Alliance with Social and Liberal Democrats, Social Democrats, Green and Communist): Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
1992 (Progressive Alliance with Social and Liberal Democrats, Green and Communist): Michael Heseltine (Democratic Alliance - Conservative and Social Democrats)
1996-1996: Eric Hobsbawm, Baron Hobsbawm of Highgate (CPGB leading Emergency Provisional Government)

Since Eric Hobsbawm's iconic "The Forward March of Labour Halted?" burst onto the political scene in 1978, concerns over the prospect of Labour's ability to ever win majority government in Britain again spread like a cancer throughout the British Left. The decline of the traditional manual working class (who had never really fully rallied to the Labour cause anyway) posed such great demographic barriers to electoral success that many began to argue could only be overcome through some sort of electoral arrangement between Britain's progressive parties. The election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, followed on by her re-election in 1983 and 1987, both times on decreasing minority shares of the vote, only further strengthened this view among the British left-intelligentsia, which was spreading from the niche annals of Marxism Today to the more widely-read pages of the centre-left broadsheets. The extreme division among opposition parties in 83 and 87 only fueled further the belief that if only differences could be put aside for the greater good, the natural anti-Conservative majority could overcome Thatcher, salvaging what was left of the post-war consensus as a result.

By 1988, talks of an electoral pact to deny Thatcher an unprecedented and nightmarish fourth term reached fever pitch. The poorly handled merger of the Alliance had pissed off enough SDP members to keep David Owen's splinter group a viable political project. In the aftermath of their disastrous performance in Richmond and the European elections, Paddy Ashdown was forced to give in to Owen and Cartwright's demands, with a Second Alliance finally taking shape before the end of the year. The Green Party's own incredible performance in the European Elections was able to maintain its momentum through the leadership reforms of Sara Parkin, with her becoming the first official leader of the growing political movement in a largely bloodless queue, despite a walk-out led by David Icke and a few nutters.

By 1990, with Thatcher seeing off a strong challenge from Michael Heseltine, and a few last minute jitters within the Kinnock camp as John Smith threatened his own challenge in the team rooms of parliament, a formal deal was finally struck. A Progressive Alliance was formed between Labour, the SLD-SDP Alliance, the Greens, and, most controversially of all, the newly revamped CPGB (under the leadership of Eric Hobsbawm himself, the brainchild of the "new popular front" that was taking shape), though the latter was only granted a few polite peerages for the MT editorial board and Hobsbawm himself.

In the end the electoral pact was able to sweep away Thatcher's majority quite easily, though by no means through the landslide some of its most excitable supporters had predicted. The new coalition took shape largely in accordance to Kinnock's shadow cabinet, with exception of Ashdown becoming Foreign Secretary, David Owen taking up office at the MOD and Sara Parkin moving to Health. The new Lord Hobsbawm, the world's greatest living historian, took on the new position of Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

After electoral reform was finally achieved with the introduction of STV a snap election 18 months later finally achieved the new political settlement many had dreamed of. The Progressive Alliance was returned easily enough, the only major changes being David Owen's decision to lead the SDP into an agreement with Heseltine's Conservative-led Democratic Alliance.

A slow but steady series of post-Thatcher reforms into the 1990s saw the fruits of a recovering economy passed into greater public provision, along with many long overdue constitutional reforms. Things trudged along nicely, with many anticipating a third election victory for Kinnock and his remarkably successful cobbled coalition of the centre-left, this time abandoning the pacts of the FPTP in favour of open contest with the expectation of coalition after the results had come in.

However, halfway through the 1996 election campaign, an IRA bombing on the now infamous Sheffield Rally took the lives of both Kinnock and half the cabinet, with almost all those remaining Labour ministers hospitalized. In the ensuing chaos the need for an emergency government until the (now heavily postponed) election could be finished became apparent. While Paddy Ashdown appeared apparent, his now far more ambiguous position as the leader of a competing political party (one posing a serious threat to both of the major parties) left many fearful of the image of a "power-grab" before Kinnock could even be buried. A far more conciliatory and inoffensive candidate was finally found in the ageing Professor Hobsbawm, reaching the lofty heights of political office few communists dared to dream of since the days of Harry Pollitt. As the architect of a progressive alliance that re-shaped the contours British politics arguably more than any other self-described Marxist, it seemed fitting he would, for however short a time, take residence at No.10 to oversee Britain's historic transition from one century to the other.

Interesting times indeed.



(p.s. if you liked this you'll love my thesis)
 
Three's A Crowd
Part Four: Bridge to the 21st Century

The last one! I'm glad you all have enjoyed this weird list in which I look at the politics of an America with a stable three-party system, that of the left-wing Democratic Party, the right-wing Republican Party and the peculiar agrarian-y centrist Populist Party. This was mainly inspired by Scandinavia, and especially by Finland with its big three parties - the SDP, National Coalition and Centre Party. I vaguely recalled that someone said the Finnish Centre Party was quite soc-con in the rural areas and tends moderate in the cities or something, and since I like the idea of a three party system, I tried to come up with an American equivalent, and well, it turned out to be the Populists of Three's A Crowd. I hope you like this part too

41: Bill Clinton (Populist) 1993-2001
1992: def. Donald Trump (Independent), Tom Harkin (Democratic) and Lee Iacocca (Republican)
1996: def. Arlen Specter (Republican) and Jerry Brown (Democratic)
"I still believe in a place called Hope"
The opportunistic backstabber, the centrist boy marvel, or the bourgeois sellout, Bill Clinton is still a figure that divides America. The 1992 election was a divisive one with the already chaotic three-party system being even more upset by a fourth contester - the billionaire Donald Trump. As Trump won over workers in the Midwest who felt hard-done by NAFTA and by the whole system, the Democrats and Republicans floundered. And the young go-getter Bill Clinton increasingly appeared as the "anti-Trump". From a poor, broken, family where Trump came from a wealthy one. Internationalism with a folksy twang as contrast to Trump's insularity with a paternalistic bombastic tone. And ultimately relatable as contrast to a "messiah candidate"

Bill Clinton cleaned up on Election Night, much to President Iacocca's displeasure. But Iacocca was the past, and Bill Clinton's promised "Tomorrow Presidency" was the future. Clinton's brand of Populism was a break from Long and Johnson, and even Carter. He took his inspiration from a president way before the Big Society or Share The Wealth. He took his inspiration from Oscar Underwood and his "pragmatic progressivism". And he was the ascendance of the "Dale Bumpers" faction of the Populists - the fiscal centrist, social moderate, rural infrastructure kind of people that made the Republicans antsy. It was indeed time for a bridge to the shining light of tomorrow, like his inauguration speech declared

The first priority on President Clinton's agenda, of course, was getting America out of the recession. While Redford's Keynesianism worked for his time and Iacocca's policies were... unpopular, Clinton was minded not to blindly follow either of them. For a president who said "I feel your pain", slashing welfare recklessly like Iacocca did was not the solution, but neither was copying from the Democrats' platform. Clinton would walk a thin line as the centrist in between the GOP and Dems, and his first challenge was making sure that welfare cuts "ending welfare as we know it" would be combined with economic incentives for states to invest into infrastructure and jobs. The economy boomed by 1995

But 1994 would be known as the "Nuclear Summer" as the collapse of the Soviet Union back in the 80s led to many Soviet nuclear bombs and missiles falling into private hands and by 1994 one of those private hands carved out a fiefdom in central Russia before declaring that it had enough missiles to destroy London, Washington and Beijing. This brought the attention towards the unknown location of many nuclear missiles. There was a Nuclear Scare as many Americans panicked that nuclear missiles would be fired from unknown sources. And it was ripe fodder for a whole new genre of "cybernuke" novels, of course. The President had to defuse the crisis, and well, he did so. The documents are top classified but here's what we know - the Republic of Novgorod sent an American in to blow up the nuclear facility the Siberian State had, it was successful, everyone agreed to sign a beefed up version of President Redford's environmental treaty [much to the former President's delight] including a vow to seek and dismantle any nuclear weapons and support of nuclear energy in America died a sharp death as people rallied to the growing green energy sector instead

With the economy booming and the "Nuclear Summer" over with nobody dead, people had a very positive view of Bill Clinton. A landslide was certain. But then the Reps and Dems nominated two very good candidates and made it vaguely seem like a contest. The Republicans nominated Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, someone widely considered to be a "moderate" for the GOP and paired him up with a Western libertarian. The West has always been rather sceptical of Bill Clinton, with his victory margins being rather slim there in 1992 and Specter benefited from this and turned many Western states blue. On the other hand, the Dems nominated Governor Jerry Brown of California, someone who was widely seen as slightly eccentric but still "moderate" for the party and a firm environmentalist in the vein of Redford. The two parties were aiming solidly at the Clinton coalition and the President was on the defensive. But he was still popular, and won a comfortable victory

The second term of Bill Clinton was controversial. The economy was still good, the Internet Boom was happening as the economy increasingly became digital, but there was a deep anger within the right-wing. Clinton was a social moderate in a party that contained many hardline conservatives on social matters, and for some of them, Drastic Action would have to be made

The assassination attempt in Dallas happened on 22 November 1997 and albeit it failed, it set off a series of attacks by the "Christian State of America", a terrorist organisation based around Christian fundamentalism and American supremacism. The cry "Make America Great Again!" was used every time they attacked a school [schools were favourite targets of theirs, being particularly vulnerable] and as newspapers flooded people's senses with lurid descriptions of the CSA [everyone picked up on the abbreviation] and their horrific attacks, Clinton decided that It Was Time. Meeting with Republicans and Democrats, he negotiated a bill that would allocate funding to states that passed laws sending police to protect schools from terrorist attacks, and authorised the Armed Forces to go in and crush the CSA for good

By the dawn of 1999, the CSA was all but collapsed and their members on the run. But school shootings would still be a thing, particularly by young white radicalised men and this would be a problem that would linger in American society. Still, President Clinton could boast that he led America through two national crises and brought around a booming econo-

oh

The Internet Boom imploded spectacularly and America was now in a recession. Oh dear

42: Joe Lieberman (Republican) 2001-2009
2000: def. Al Gore (Populist) and Dennis Kucinich (Democratic)
2004: def. Bernie Sanders (Democratic) and Rick Perry (Populist)
"The Nettlesome Man from Connecticut"
Joseph Isadore Lieberman would be the first Jewish president of the United States, something making rump CSA groups go mad in fury at. But for most Americans, they now held no truck with voting for or against someone based off their religion. Lieberman was considered slightly conservative by Republican standards, certainly more to the right than Arlen Specter, but not too extreme. The 2000 election was always favoured by the Republicans, with the Populists struggling to change the narrative of "economy bad. change party" and Democrats the narrative that it was a Lieberman vs. Gore race with Kucinich as an "also-run", the third man in a two-horse race

But Al Gore and Dennis Kucinich put up spirited fights and if only it wasn't for that recount in Michigan, things would have gone to the House. Now Lieberman was president, and the Republicans now had Plans. Big Plans!

Lieberman filled his cabinet with neoconservatives including his vice-president Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz and they all had one country in mind - Nusantara. Once an American ally, it has fallen to a left-wing nationalist party led by Megawati Sukarnoputri which encouraged "Nasakom" [an alliance of nasionalisme ('nationalism'), agama ('religion'), and komunisme ('communism')] which incorporated the once-banned Communist Party into the cabinet. This set off alarm bells in the neoconservative think-tanks and once Lieberman got in, the ball was rolling for a military intervention to "protect democracy" and "stop communism" with some fig-leafs to protecting minorities in Nusantara

The Democrats decried this as needless military intervention and argued that America could instead work with Nusantara, like how President Redford worked with DPP China [by then the KMT was back in, but China's still a democracy] and Populists were cagey on the matter but when pushed to it voted to authorise Lieberman's Nusantara war. By 2002, the Nasakom regime was... well, not toppled but certainly in hiding. Turns out when you invade a jungle, you kind of have a hard time of it. But as reports of deaths in the jungle went up and up, the Democrats increasingly was viewed as right all along on Nusantara, and the Populists lost a lot of their middle-class Clinton voters to either the Democrats or Lieberman

The Republicans won a majority while the Populists fell to third. The ever-shifting American political scene was changing yet again. One of the loudest critics of the Nusantara War was Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Seen as on the left of the left-wing party, he rallied many students and promised a swift end to the war, a return to Redfordism and more spending to the beloved AHPA. As he grew higher and higher in the polls [leading one dodgy newspaper to splash their front page with "JEW VS JEW?" and for some anti-Semites to declare that this was the final step before the Great Replacement], the Populist candidate Rick Perry floundered. While a firm enemy of the CSA and authorised one of the country's most harsh laws against terrorism. he was quite socially conservative and intensely religious, which turned him off from the increasingly secular Northern middle-class suburban areas. In the end, while the people liked Bernie's honesty, they decided Lieberman was doing fine as is and re-elected him

Lieberman's second term would be dominated by what happened in late 2007, but before that the lustre was starting to go off the President. The Nusantara War was still going on... and on... and on... with no sign of victory. And as the American people grew more and more impatient, the Democrats soared in popularity. The Populists were still torn between Clintonites and those to his right, and the Democrats was on message and won a clear plurality of the seats in the House, before negotiating a coalition with Populists to put Andrew Cuomo in as Speaker. Also notable in Lieberman's second term was the Supreme Court casting down the decision in the 2007 case Hart vs. United States that same-sex marriage should be legal nationwide. This led to a rise in social conservative anger, but certainly nothing like the 1990s

Donald Rumsfeld was still the favourite to win the 2008 Republican nomination. Vice-President to Lieberman for eight years and faithfully pushing their neoconservative message, he was seen as The Candidate. But in mid-2007 Air Force Two went down due to an engine malfunction and the nation was without a Vice President. Lieberman, in due time, nominated Senator John McCain, a personal ally and more significantly, someone more popular than the icy blinkered technocrat that Rumsfeld was [although Rummy was then gathering a peculiar fanbase on the Internet that called him "The Donald" and came across as particularly fanatic in their devotion], so could be counted on to win 2008 or at least give a good showing

The 2008 election was shaped by the 2007 financial crash. The economy was always on shaky grounds all through Lieberman's presidency, even if it could be argued to be "good", and by late 2007 things were starting to fall apart. Lieberman's economic policy was straight out of the Iacocca playbook, including welfare cuts and relaxing bank regulation, and it came back to bite him. As banks declared bankruptcy and the value of the dollar went down, Lieberman worked with the Populists and Speaker Cuomo to negotiate a bank bailout in early 2008 that although saved the economy, was intensely polarising and led to many calling for "a people's bailout" [often with a hashtag on Chirpit]

43: Warren Beatty (Democratic) 2009-2017
2008: def. John McCain (Republican) and Rick Santorum (Populist)
2012: def. Lincoln Chafee (Republican) and Sarah Palin (Populist)
"Government is not Show Business"
For a man who many expected to be a return to the glitzy Hearstwood days of Robert Redford, Warren Beatty proved just the opposite. He was a self-declared "puritan" who was notable for speaking out against Hearstwood's obsession with youth, for marrying later in life and for having... well... how do I put it this nicely, an attraction to the far-left. His uncle A. A. MacLeod was the Canadian Communist leader for many years, and Beatty has said that he was 'inspired' by him. First attracted to the Democratic Party by George McGovern's 1972 campaign, he ended up entering politics full time in 2002 by running for the Governorship of California against unpopular Populist governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and was re-elected in 2006 in a landslide as people turned against the Nusantara War and rallied behind the Democrats

Beatty's 2008 campaign was not flashy like Redford's 1980 one was, but it had something Redford lacked. The personal touch. If you think an actor can't be a President, okay, why don't you go to a campaign meet-and-greet and talk to the candidate himself? Many who come away from meeting Beatty remarked that he didn't seem like a typical actor, but like a humble politician willing to form a team and lead the country. And for those who weren't sure about an actor from Hearstwood and the "Left Coast", there was the fiery working-class rhetoric of his running mate Senator Anthony Weiner of New York who was widely seen as someone who took no shit and attacked the other two parties for "failing America"

Up against Vice-President John McCain and Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and for the Populists, the fiery demagogue Governor Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Governor Peggy Wallace Kennedy of Alabama, it was an election to remember. While McCain and Beatty enjoyed a pre-existing friendship and agreed on several issues, like campaign finance reform, so the debates between the two were often portrayed in the media as a civil disagreement of a bipartisan friendship which likely enabled Rick Santorum to bounce back his flagging campaign to tap into people's disgruntledness at the "chumminess" shown between McCain and Beatty. But in the end, Beatty won. Too much people lost their jobs, and although the economy was on paper starting to recover, nobody felt that recovery. Everyone was angry. And Beatty was their candidate

Top of President Beatty's agenda was his promised "People's Bailout", a slew of programs designed to make the recovery "work" for every American. including a level of debt forgiveness that made Wall Street nervous [and possibly led to a slight dip in the economy in 2010]. While Republicans and "New Populists" decried this as socialism, the old-school Populists nodded. Here was a common-sense solution, one fit of Huey Long himself. And for the person on the street, the common John and Jane Doe-Smith, things were getting better. People they knew were getting jobs, the economy was humming once again and President Beatty was clearly a trustworthy figure, even if not as glitzy as they originally thought. Hey, that was good!

The exposure of a Hearstwood film manager's sexual abuse of actresses seeking to get ahead, led to a social ripple in early 2011 and ultimately led to the fall of several Hearstwood big names. Of course, many kept their eye out for a possible mention of the President himself, but no such name appeared. What did, after everything came out and the social ripple reached politics, was Vice-President Anthony Weiner. Weiner denied ever sexting an underage minor, but upon President Beatty receiving word of it, he made it clear in a press conference that "Anthony Weiner now has no place in my Administration" and called upon Weiner to resign "for the good of the country". Weiner persisted up until early 2012, when he accepted a plea deal in the trial that included him resigning from office. President Beatty came across as a firm man of values, including no tolerance of anything sexually misconducting or abusing and his popularity increased a bit. Since it was so close to election day, Beatty chose to not appoint any new vice-president, but his new running-mate was Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota

In the 2012 election, trans rights was then a heated social topic, with Beatty being clearly and uncompromisingly in favour of it [he had a trans son he was very proud of] while the Republicans narrowly after a bitter primary nominated Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who was considered quite a "liberal" for the GOP including on LGBT rights. The only social conservative in the race was Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, a Populist. And Palin made sure to exploit this opportunity all she could, to take as much votes from the Republicans and perhaps eclipse them as the main right-wing opposition to the Democrats [a far cry from Clinton's "moderate centre" attitude], Endorsed by conservative talk radio, she ended up bringing in the Populists' worst result electoral vote wise, but a marked improvement votewise from Santorum, and dragging the Populists to the right

But with Palin taking Chafee votes that Chafee just couldn't quite make up for, the 2012 map was a redwash, with Beatty getting almost 400 electoral votes. President Beatty chose to take this as a confirmation of his path going forward being right

In 2013, Chief Justice Antonin Scalia died. Beatty, already with two confirmations under his belt, chose to push the boundary a bit and nominated Chai Feldblum, a disability rights and LGBT rights lawyer, what struck many conservatives was the fact she would be the first female and first lesbian Chief Justice [and indeed first LGBT justice overall], something that many of them had a problem with. But she was competent, and Democrats had an advantage in Congress - they were reasonably united while Populists and Republicans were split between moderates, liberals/populists and conservatives. In the end, Beatty got his Chief Justice. And continuing with his uncompromising social agenda, was the long-dreamt-of Equal Rights Amendment. In the 80s, it was set rolling by President Redford yet stagnated under Iacocca, Clinton and Lieberman. The Palin-Chafee division allowed Democrats to make gains in enough states to confirm it as a constitutional amendment at last, and much to conservatives' fury, Chief Justice Feldblum cast down a judgement from the Supreme Court that it covered gender identity as well

Ultimately all those led to a conservative backlash and Democrats lost control of the House and Senate to a centre-right Pop-GOP coalition. The heady days of social progress were seemingly over, but American society was already rapidly transformed. In his final two years, the President turned his attention to environmental matters. Green energy was quite a growing sector, with it accounting for 30% of America's energy usage, and the President wanted to spread that to other countries and push it to a dreamed of 50%. Working with Secretary of Energy Jill Stein and new Republican Speaker Gwen Graham, new tax incentives on people to adopt green energy was adopted, as well as encouragement to use new green cars and of course quite a bit of investment into public transit in cities via a board that would work with the states using Congress-allocated funds to grow public transit and cut down people using cars [or at least carpool]. All of those was part of the "Cultural Revolution" President Beatty boasted of

Abroad, the President had more free rein and he desired to "Green the World", so he arranged for a conference of the Concord of Nations and acutely aware that the world leaders were more interested in nuclear disarmament instead of green energy, he negotiated a treaty that covered them both. The most energetic adopter was the Republic of China which declared a "Green Dream" of a sustainable China. At that conference, America and China rekindled their alliance yet again, underlining the Democrats as the most pro-China party. And of course, we can't mention foreign policy without Nusantara. Nusantara was a nuisance for Lieberman as his hoped for victory became a stalemate in the hot stifling jungle. Beatty knew victory was impossible, but he couldn't just withdraw yet even though the Dems originally backed Nasakom, due to the fact that the Nusantara regime has retorted to human rights violations to fight off American troops. So what was President Beatty to do?

A rather ingenious thing indeed. The Concord of Nations had a peacekeeper force, but not one that would be enough to defeat the regime and keep things stable. All Beatty needed was to clean America's hands of it, and upon getting China and Dravidia to agree to back up CoN peacekeeper forces, he started a plan for withdrawal receiving applause from Americans across the political divide [well apart from some crusty Republicans]. Whatever troops were left there, were officially under the aegis of the CoN, not under America

This gambit received a backlash as the President overreached once more as was his tendency. In the 2016 election, one person emerged as the main anti-CoN critic, arguing that America was still in Nusantara just under CoN pretenses and that America should do less for the CoN than it currently does. That man would go on to win the 2016 election and make a splash in the history books as well...

44: Marco Rubio (Populist) 2017-present
2016: def. Amy Klobuchar (Democratic) and Bill Haslam (Republican)
"A Dreamer and a Believer"
America's first Latino president was Marco Rubio of Florida. A Senator originally famous for declaring that "Warren Beatty knows exactly what he's doing" when he was giving the Populist response to the 2014 State of the Union Address, he grew in stature as he criticised Beatty's ambitious global gambits while cannily avoiding any social issues [well apart from the growing non-binary issue, which he made his point clear on - he thought they didn't exist, instead maintaining that "God made us, male and female"]. He promised to "bring troops back home" and review America's commitments to the CoN [not exiting it, merely reviewing, he insists] and this was popular with a big chunk of Americans

But even though he captured the zeitgeist of distrust of the world, he faced firm opposition. Vice-President Amy Klobuchar proved a strong opponent and had a strong argument as well, namely that of "the economy is doing well. why change horses?". Meanwhile the Republicans were firmly internationalist and nominated Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee, someone who had some appeal with the youth voters for his provision of free college in Tennessee [that and weird "Bill Haslam Will Make Anime Real!" memes]. But Rubio was clearly shaking up the Populists and driving them on a more insular yet more moderate line. Drawing heavily from the legacies of Huey Long and Oscar Underwood, Rubio managed to come across as someone who... well... knew exactly what he would be doing. Sorry. The most notable thing he said in the debate was... "While Klobuchar and Haslam talk about what they apparently know will happen if my plans happen, I can only tell you this. I only know what I believe, and I believe in American greatness. I believe in the American Dream. And I believe in America asking for a better deal from the world" which spread around on the Internet quite a bit as a gif on Chirpit and Facepage and linked to by grandmothers on "RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Finally some sense!!!" emails

Making historic gains in the Midwest, Rubio won the election by a narrow margin in American history [with recounts in Indiana and Arizona being part of the post-election drama as Dems and Reps tried to deny Rubio a majority] but he did it. Sworn in as President, he would seek to not destroy Beatty's treaties, but adjust them. And... at first it didn't sound promising. The Concord of Nations expected Rubio to keep Beatty's treaties and to maintain troops in Nusantara, but with negotiating with China and Dravidia, Rubio managed to end American troops in Nusantara for good in exchange for lucrative trade deals for both countries as a "reward". This got some condemnation back home, but all the American people cared was that their president delivered on his promise to finally finish the Nusantara War for good

Now, on broader renegotiation with the Concord of Nations? Ah. That's something still going on, and it doesn't seem good at present. Rubio is a very stubborn man, but he is trying to alter decades-old structures with little interest from others. The economy is fine, people are getting jobs, the Populists don't expect to lose much seats in the midterms, but the Democrats and Republicans will try to undermine him of course

Such as is for America in its eternally chaotic yet tragically beautiful three-party system
 
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extremely dumb idea incoming

A Different Kind Of Atompunk

1953-1957: Nikita Krushchev (CPSU - 'Deformed')
1957-1970: Nikita Krushchev (CPSU - 'Reformed')
1970-1973: Roman Zambrowski (CPSU - 'Reformed')
1973-1982: Zhao Ziyang (CPSU - 'Reformed')
1982-1987: Eric Hobsbawm (CPSU - 'Reformed')
1987-1998: Thomas Sankara (CPSU - 'Reformed')
1998-2001: Lakshmi Sahgal (CPSU - 'Reformed')
2001-2005: Wei Jingsheng (CPSU - 'Reformed')
2005-2008: Wei Jingsheng (CPSU - 'True Internationalist')
2008-2011: Wei Jingsheng (Nonpartisan)
2011-0000: Barack Obama (Nonpartisan)

Inspired by reading that Krushchev was the only leader of the USSR who genuinely believed in the end goal of communism being a stateless utopia. In this world, he gets at least halfway toward that dream, with risings in Eastern Europe negotiated amicably, ultimately integrating them into the truly internationalist institution of the USSR, rather than the Big Russia Stalin had turned it into - reactionaries at home are crushed and he is only toppled by the brief atomic conflict with China in 1969-1970.

His successors continue his work, expanding the frontiers of the USSR and building socialism with a human face. While critics of the Communist Party's dominance called it authoritarian, the fact the party consistently large popular majorities at regularly scheduled elections even under a form of proportional representation only served to enhance its success. Red Plenty extended across the planet and by the end of the 1990s, only the Western Hemisphere held bastions of anti-communism. These too would fall, the United States' clerical dictatorship collapsing under its own weight.

The state was beginning to dissolve as enormous federal infrastructures became effectively meaningless and civil self-organisation in the dozens of societies that composed the Soviet Union replaced top down bureaucracy. In 2005 Wei Jingshen initiated the final modernisation by formally dissolving both the Communist Party and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In its place arises the United Earth, the framework for organising the stateless society of a united humanity in a common cause, guided by free association and the democratic ballot. The need for back breaking labour has been eliminated, the need to seek a wage to live has dissolved. Now all human beings work for is to better themselves and the rest of humanity.
 
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