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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

First time posting to this thread, so any pointers are welcome!

Timeline of U.S. Presidents in "Divided Worlds: An Alternate Space Race"

Franklin D. Roosevelt (D): 1933-1945 [1]
Harry S. Truman (D): 1945-1949 [2]

(Insert Staunch Anti-Communist GOP Prez Here): 1949-1953 [3]
(Insert 2nd Staunch Anti-Communist GOP Prez Here): 1953-1961 [4]

Richard M. Nixon (R): 1961-1977 [5]
John M. Ashbrook (R): 1977-1981 [6]
Ronald W. Reagan (R): 1981-1989
George H.W. Bush (R): 1989-1997 [7]

John S. McCain (R): 1997-1999 [8]

[1] Chose not to run for a fourth term on health grounds.

[2] Fought to maintain the New Deal coalition and programs, but solidly conservative in foreign policy; not enough for the GOP, Dixiecrats or a slim majority of the voters, though, in the face of the Comintern and its specter of "Permanent Revolution" advocated by GenSec Trotsky. Seen by some academics and politicos as the bridge to an era of uncompromising "bipartisan" anticommunism in the U.S. and the League of Democratic Nations generally.


[3] Eisenhower doesn't seem of the right temperament given the basically unending "Red Scare" by this time; thought about McCarthy, but that seemed a bit obvious. Currently thinking about Dewey, as one of the last "moderate" GOP types and the other end of the "bipartisan anticommunist bridge"; if anybody's got ideas, share away!

[4] Ditto.

[5] Defeated Kennedy by a fair though not outstanding margin in 1960. 22nd Amendment wasn't passed in Truman's time, though "principle"/"tradition" kept previous GOP presidents from trying for three terms. Nixon's doing so prompted a short-lived party rebellion that dissuaded him from running again in 1976, though he did manage to get a 22nd Amendment analogue shot down in Congress in 1967.

[6] The "traditionalist" wing of the GOP got their man into the White House; he then promptly decided not to run again in 1980, now that the "principle" was cemented :D .

[7] Last one to seriously consider a third term; internal party fighting prevented this. Saw the first construction begun on the League's sector of lunar base Terra Unum in 1993. Having former astronaut John Glenn as VP got even more funding and resources devoted to this and the League Aeronautics and Space Administration (LASA), and a flood of both beginning in '96 when construction of the Soviet sector looked to be making better progress.

[8] President at the time of the novella.
 
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[3] Eisenhower doesn't seem of the right temperament given the basically unending "Red Scare" by this time; thought about McCarthy, but that seemed a bit obvious. Currently thinking about Dewey, as one of the last "moderate" GOP types and the other end of the "bipartisan anticommunist bridge"; if anybody's got ideas, share away!
Harold Stassen, Moderate but also Anti-Communist is a good pick.
 
(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.
 
Harold Stassen, Moderate but also Anti-Communist is a good pick.

He seems to work best for the '48 slot: war hero and eager for the spot, unlike Eisenhower in OTL up to 1952. In the case of '52-'61, I considered Rockefeller at first, but ultimately felt like aiming for a more hardline GOP type; suggestions?
 
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Prime Ministers of New Zealand

2017-2024: Jacinda Ardern (Labour-NZFirst coalition w/ Green c&s, then Labour majority)

'17: defeated Bill English (National), James Shaw (Green), Winston Peters (NZFirst), David Seymour (ACT), Te Ururoa Flavell/Marama Fox (Māori), others
'20: defeated Judith Collins (National), David Seymour (ACT), Winston Peters (NZFirst), James Shaw/Marama Davidson (Green), Jami-Lee Ross/Billy Te Kahika (Advance NZ), Geoff Simmons (TOP), John Tamihere/Debbie Ngarewa-Packe (Māori), others

- Introduction of the Zero Carbon Bill, nationwide ban on plastic bags
- Attack on Christchurch mosque by white ethnonationalist kills 51
- First world leader to give birth in office in almost 30 years
- Land occupation standoff at Ihumātao
- Referendum to decriminalise cannabis fails by 3.6%
- COVID-19 pandemic results in national lockdown, economic slump
- Housing affordability at worst point in 'at least 17 years', NZ declared as having the highest homeless population in the OECD
- Federated Farmers strike results in repeal of planned alterations to the emissions trading scheme
- Brunswick Variant outbreak results in second national lockdown, accusations of 'socialistic fascism' by the right-wing
- 2023 Recession exacerbates housing crisis

2024-2031: Christopher Luxon (National minority w/ ACT & Conscious Conservative c&s, then Conscious Conservative c&s)
'24: defeated Jacinda Ardern (Labour), James Shaw/Marama Davidson (Green), Matt McCarten (People Before Profit), Okusitino Paseka (Conscious Conservative), Will 'Ilolahia (Polynesian Panthers), Rawiri Waititi/Mariameno Kapa-Kingi (Māori), David Seymour (ACT), others
'28: defeated Kiri Allan (Labour), Marama Davidson/Ricardo Menéndez March (Green), Brooke van Velden (ACT), John Minto (People Before Profit), Okusitino Paseka (Conscious Conservative), Vanessa Kururangi (Mana Movement), Andrew Bayly (Rally for NZ), Tākuta Ferris (Māori), others

- Resource Management Act repealed and water regulations revoked
- Privatisation of public libraries, Kiwirail and city bus services, creating conflict with City Councils
- GAPCPS trade agreement signed with China amid widespread human rights abuses
- Hospital workers protest nationwide amid budget cuts for healthcare
- Second referendum to decriminalise cannabis fails following 'unapologetic fear-mongering'
- Housing market slump sees increased sale of state houses, homelessness climbs to 3.3% nationwide
- Rupturing of the Alpine Faultline

2031-2032: Christopher Luxon & Kiri Allan (Crisis Government)
serving with National, Labour, Green, Conscious Conservative and ACT parties
- 19,202 deaths, 16,157 injured, and 11,529 people missing as of most recent census
- South Island agriculture and infrastructure declared 'unsalvageable', subsequent Migrant Crisis in the North Island
- Govt. purges remaining assets amid fiscal hole, triples national debt
- Hate crimes surge once again as emergency hosting comes into effect
- 'Millionaires fleeing kiwi shores' as property investors move en-masse to Australia
- Nelson-Tasman claimed as ground zero for the Felon Labour Agricultural Renewal Scheme
- Refugee quota halted indefinitely in face of national crisis

2032-2035: Christopher Luxon (National Majority)
defeated Jessica Hammond (Labour), Marama Davidson/Ricardo Menéndez March (Green), Brooke van Velden (ACT), James Roberts (People Before Profit), Lee Williams (Conscious Conservative), Tākuta Ferris (Māori), Solomon Tor-Kilsen (South Island Independence Movement), others
- National economy floats thanks to rapid foreign investment
- Auckland labeled 'deathtrap' due to housing shortage
- PM passes law revoking journalist protections for entities 'overtly critical of the government mechanism'
- Outlaw motorcycle clubs arrested with cache of 'military-grade weaponary, planned violent government overthrow'
- Report: 'little-to-no' evidence found of biker gangs planning coup
- GCSB preforms multiple arrests of antigovernment agitators

2035-20??: David Seymour (National Majority)
defeated Jessica Hammond (Labour), Felix Poole (ACT), Lee Williams (Conscious Conservative), Chloe Swarbrick (Green), Te Ropu Poa (Māori), Samuel Buitrago (New Communist Party of Aotearoa), others
- Widespread accusations of electoral fraud reported
- Nuclear Free Zone Act reversed to 'combat increased demands for energy'
- Hate crimes against Asian New Zealanders, Pasifika peoples surge due to increased use of domestic hosting schemes
- Prime Minister calls demands for reinstatement of the Public Health Service 'subversive marxism'
- Felon Labour Agricultural Renewal Scheme expands land purchases down South Island disaster zones
- Increased theft and assault in ultra-dense metropolitan areas spurs instatement of volunteer Civilian Patrol Corps
- Expose reveals government 'refused' to investigate mystery fires that burned down migrant tent cities

*​

Leaders of the Ātete Movement

2036-20??: Lourdes Vano

serving with Revolutionary Senior Council
- Based in South Island, carry out acts of domestic terrorism on 'Milk Farms' and structures of strategic importance in the North
- Members of the public sympathetic to Ātete harassed by law enforcement
- Prime Minister maintains Ātete is financed by 'foreign interests'
- Time Magazine features cover detailing "The Troubles Down Under"
 
Just gonna yeet this out into the ether so it's not plaguing my mind anymore. Writeup may or may not come at a later point in time.
A/N: This list is from the broader timeline of my steampunk succession game on the other place, Destiny Made Manifest, and parts of it (particularly the McClellan presidency) are subject to change.

Presidents of the American Republics (The USA, The CSA, and The CAR)

The United States of America
1861 - 1865: Abraham Lincoln / Hannibal Hamlin (Republican Party)
1865 - 1869: Abraham Lincoln / Andrew Johnson (Republican Party)
1869 - 1873: George H. Pendleton / George B. McClellan (Unionist Democratic Party)
1873 - 1884: George B. McClellan / Winfield Scott Hancock (Unionist Party)

The Confederate States of America
1862 - 1869: Jefferson Davis / Alexander Stephens (Nonpartisan)
1869 - 1873:
Alexander Stephens / Judah P. Benjamin (Democratic Party)
1873 - 1879: John H. Reagan / Robert Toombs (Democratic Party)
1879 - 1884: Jubal Early / Wade Hampton III (Democratic Party)



The Central American Republic
1858 - 1861: William Walker (Democratic Party)
1861 - 1861: Chatham Roberdeau Wheat (Interim President)
1861 - 1869: George Grimshaw (Democratic Party / Knights of Japheth)
1869 - 1879: George Washington Danson (Democratic Party / Military Clique)
1879 - 1884: Andrew Lette (National Party /
Military Clique)
 
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i went slightly insane this morning



The United Communist Federation, British Regional Branch Paramount Leaders

1962: General Ivan Konev
1962-1987: Gerry Healy (Socialist Worker's Party)
1987: Peter Taaffe-Ted Knight-Arthur Scargill (Socialist Worker's Party)
1987-1988: Peter Taaffe (Socialist Worker's Party)
1988-1990: Arthur Scargill (Socialist Worker's Party)


Leaders of The United Kingdom of Great Britain

1990-1992: Derek Hatton (New Beginning)

The British Civil War
1992-2005: Stage One (Major Conflict)


MAJOR FACTIONS
The Socialist Alliance
1992: Ken Livingstone-Tommy Sheridan-Arthur Scargill
1992-2005: Tommy Sheridan
2005-: George Galloway


The Organisation of Royalists (Nicknamed "The Purple Boys")

(De Jure)
1992-: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

(De Facto)
1992-1995: "The Commissioner" Jeffrey Archer
1995-2005: "The Admiral" Ian Duncan Smith

2005- "The General" (Name Unknown)


MINOR INSURGENCY GROUPS
"The Tartans"
1992-2008: George Kerevan


"The Army of Wales"
1992-: No Central Leadership

"The Alliance For A White Britain"
1992-: No Central Leadership

Treaty of Calais Signed, United Kingdom of Great Britain Re-Established

2005-: Stage Two (Active Insurgency, Ongoing)

2005-2015: Charles Kennedy (New Radicals)
2005 (Majority) def: Ian Duncan Smith (Conservative), Collective Leadership (Scottish Interests), Ken Livingstone-Arthur Scargill (Stop French Interference/Free The Prisoners)
2010 (Minority) def: Ian Duncan Smith (Conservative), Michael Sugar (Torch Of Liberty), George Kerevan (Scottish Socialist Clan), Graeme Logan (Scottish Interests)

2015-: Michael Sugar (Torch Of Liberty)
2015 (Majority) def: Charles Kennedy (New Radicals), Ian Duncan Smith (Conservative), Progressive Alliance (Zac Goldsmith (Earth)-Ash Sarkar (Freedom For Minorities)), Graeme Logan (Scottish Interests)
2020 Election Suspended due to ongoing pandemic and the "Liverpool Nuke"
 
A less plausible one, but the idea did have me wondering: What if the United States had been like Argentina?

Of course this is far more stable than the concept would imply, but I didn’t want this one to have over 60 entries and endless asterisks and little civil wars.



General War Directorate

1776-1777: Gen. George Washington

1777-1778: John Jay

1778-1779: Gen. Benedict Arnold

1779-1783: Gen. Henry Lee III

First Confederation Period

1783-1787: John Jay

1787-1790: Nathaniel Greene

1790-1793: Alexander McDougall



The Hamiltonian Republic

1793-1797 Thomas Pinckney (Federalist Party)

1797-1803 Alexander Hamilton (Federalist Party)

1803-1805 John Adams (Federalist Party)



Second Confederation Period

1805-1809 Anthony Wayne (supported by former anti-administration party)

1809-1813 James Wilkinson

1813-1817 John Randolph

1817-1837 Andrew Jackson (Democratic-Republican)

Second American Republic
1837-1841 Winfield Scott (Democratic-Republican)

1841-1845 Lewis Cass (Democratic-Republican)

1845-1849 Joseph Lane (Democratic-Republican)

1849-1857 Abraham Lincoln (Republican)

1857-1861 William Seward (Republican)

1861-1865 Horace Greeley (Liberal Republican)

1865-1873 George B. McClellan (National Republican)

1873 Salmon P. Chase (National Republican)

1873-1877 James G. Blaine (National Republican)

1877-1881 Thomas F. Bayard (Civic Reform Party)

1881-1885 George B. McClellan (National Republican)





As was the case with most of the states born out of revolution and war in the new world, The early history of the United States of America was characterized by internecine struggle between differing regional interests, competing ideologies and the great question of government, which for most of its existence plagued the young republic.



The ineffectual military directory which led the Thirteen Colonies during the war for independence -the respected but conservative general Washington of the French and Indian War, the more ambitious but unreliable hero of Quebec, Benedict Arnold, and finally the man who led the nation through Yorktown, Paris and the Articles of Confederacy, General Lee-, was followed by an equally divided system in which the states held greater power than Congress or the largely ceremonial and toothless presidency, which for all the pomp and fuss was seen as inconsequential for most of its existence. The sole exception was the tenure of John Jay, who held both the presidency and the position of Secretary of State, and as such wielded at least enough diplomatic power to properly represent American interests in a difficult period.



The transition period towards the First American Republic, or the Hamiltonian Republic as it is often called by historians, was fraught with conflict between those advocating for a strong central government and those who defended the system created by the Articles. The key figure of this period, as the name implies, was Alexander Hamilton, who first from Congress and then as president Pickney’s secretary of the treasury, slowly sought to add attributions and special privileges to the national executive.



While Hamilton’s own presidency and the passage of the Constitution of 1797 are perhaps the biggest watershed moments of the period, in truth the creation of the Hamiltonian Imperial Presidency was a process going on for over a decade of long and hard work for Hamilton.



The defining moment of the Hamilton presidency was nevertheless not the creation of the National Bank or the fight over the tariffs or the Shennadoah Rebellion, but America’s entry into the war against France. While the question of whether the United States’ aggressive foreign policy precipitated the beginning of the war of the second coalition is one that still surrounds any debate about the Hamilton Administration, the fact that the war was much sought after by the president, and that the administration’s centralizing, authoritarian impulses were exacerbated by the war are harder to deny.



Neither the conquest of Florida nor the aging Benedict Arnold’s victory over Leclerc’s Grandee Armee at New Orleans could overcome the growing popular opposition against “Hamilton’s Tyranny”, whether it took the form of higher taxes and martial law, the new “Supreme” Court’s generous over interpretations of the Aliens and Sedition Act or the threats to shut down Congress. In the end, General Anthony Wayne’s Army of the Ohio was the only thing keeping the angry mobs from attacking President’s House, and more controversially, a decisive factor in Hamilton’s impeachment and the appointment of Wayne as Adam’s secretary of war.



The return to the Articles of Confederation did not do away with every single of Hamilton’s reforms nor did it strip the president of all the powers accumulated in the past twenty years, but President Wayne largely shied away from any of his predecessors excesses.



The same could not be said of Wayne’s rival and successor, General Wilkinson. A man of great ambition but a dubious and scheming character, Wilkinson plotted with elements of both the deposed Hamiltonian faction and the former anti-administration -and even the Spanish government, as was eventually proved-, faction to elevate himself to the presidency and then persecute his predecessor with the power of both the Press and courts behind him. Anthony Wayne’s sham trial and imprisonment deeply divided and mobilized the people as few issues did since the end of the war. When rumors spread that the General was to be executed by a firing squad in secret, there was no troops and no scruples stopping the raging mob from ransacking the Presidential residence, or indeed, much of that area of Philadelphia.



Neither the release of General Wayne nor General Wilkinson joining the despised Hamilton and divisive Arnold in exile did much to calm the waters, and the turbulent decade would eventually birth to a fourth and even greater monster: General Andrew Jackson.



A humble son of the west, Jackson had been a hero of the Florida and Ohio campaigns, and was seen as a good, strong unifying figure in a time of great national division. Yet despite coming to power on the back of the Planters’ and farmers’ interests, Jackson would with time prove to have autocratic instincts to rival those of Hamilton and Wilkinson.



Indeed, moved more by instinct than by ideology or high minded ideals, Jackson did not waste time founding Banks or Courts, but rather moved through Congress and acted as interpreter of the Will of the People. Invested by Congress with emergency powers in the name of curbing the citizenry’s discontent and political instability, Jackson soon found himself in an endless search for enemies both foreign and domestic to feed the angry mob, taking advantage of everything from anti-Masonic hysteria, fear of slave revolts, anti-immigrant prejudice and anti-British sentiments to keep his government in a constant state of alertness and paranoia.



Bucking convention by seeking a second and even a third presidential term, the Jackson administration’s growing authoritarianism was equally lauded and criticized for a time, the destruction of Tecumseh’s Confederacy and the Five Tribes giving Jackson enough political capital for a time to allow for even his most notorious excesses to go unnoticed.



In the end, though, Jackson had simply made too many enemies, and was fighting on too many fronts, and what neither the Hardtford Conspiracy nor the Nullification Rebellion could do was finally accomplished by Winfield Scott, one of Jackson’s very own Generals, and perhaps the best one, at the head of an army of northern militias, western tribes and even Canadian and British contingents, all eager to see the end of Jackson’s reign.



In the aftermath of the Battle of Miller’s Farm many a thing were made clear and many a thing had to happen: for once, the Articles of Confederation were finally put to pasture and a new constitution, one that established a strong central government without promoting central tyranny was promulgated. In a compromise between the southern and northern states, the capital was moved from Richmond back to Philadelphia, while the question of slavery in the western territories was temporarily put on hold by the Gray Amendment.



Still, the conflict between southern and northern states, and indeed, the Slave Question, remained brewing in the background for the next decade, only occasionally threatening to erupt, until the election of a young reformist by the name of Abraham Lincoln, and the beginning of the Great American Civil War.
 
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Hot damn can't believe I missed this one

2016-2020: Zakhar Prilepin (For Russia-Left Front)
2016 (With Darya Mitina) def: Andrey Savelyev (Rodina), Nadya Tolokno (Oborona)

ah, so that is the fabled meme leftie-nationalist coalition Surkov wanted to bring into existence IOTL

seems like it didn't last here either 😏😛

2020-: Alexei Navalny (Rodina)
2020 (With Anna Kushchenko) def: Zakhar Prilepin (For Russia), Darya Mitina (Left Front), Nadya Tolokno (Oborona)

wow

How friendly is Navalny with the West and China, and what's the state of the Northern Caucasus (and one Ramzan Kadyrov in particular) ITTL?
 
Hot damn can't believe I missed this one
The best ones are always the ones you have to find I guess.
The Curtis themes permeates further than expected it seems. I genuinely didn’t know this, I just guessed that in a world where the National Salvation Front didn’t exactly lose that those forces would have more connections. Though also a NatBol-Communist government would be a fucking mess for a variety reasons and collapse quickly.
Originally it was going to be a generic right winger, but I remembered that Navalny has a lot of connections to the Nationalist Right and has had made interesting statements in the past.
How friendly is Navalny with the West and China
Well he’s more friendly to the West, though that’s to help isolate China which is going very ‘New Left’ under Bo Xilai.
state of the Northern Caucasus (and one Ramzan Kadyrov in particular) ITTL?
Not sure, ain’t my forte there. Expect more wars and general Russia influence in the region I guess.
 
Well he’s more friendly to the West, though that’s to help isolate China which is going very ‘New Left’ under Bo Xilai.

Bo as Maoist ideologue is definitely an image he cultivated successfully in Chongqing to paint over his opportunist core, but I think even in a world where the CPC gets completely hollowed out in the 90s he'd have difficulty getting that high up the ladder because he's just too nakedly ambitious and egotistic to exist in the party system like that. Really the ones who stand to win in the China-as-90s failed state Russia scenario are the real free-market freaks, they almost did in the 80s IOTL anyways. I'd love to see a Bo Xilai's China played straight though, he's a very fascinating figure that captured people's imaginations at the time because he was so out of step with the party leadership.
 
Bo as Maoist ideologue is definitely an image he cultivated successfully in Chongqing to paint over his opportunist core, but I think even in a world where the CPC gets completely hollowed out in the 90s he'd have difficulty getting that high up the ladder because he's just too nakedly ambitious and egotistic to exist in the party system like that. Really the ones who stand to win in the China-as-90s failed state Russia scenario are the real free-market freaks, they almost did in the 80s IOTL anyways. I'd love to see a Bo Xilai's China played straight though, he's a very fascinating figure that captured people's imaginations at the time because he was so out of step with the party leadership.
The idea in that scenario that @Meppo was referencing was a list I did in which the Free Market Freaks do take over in the late 90s with the support Zhao’s former supporters (Zhao managing to become leader in the late 80s) but what started occurring in the 00s is ‘hypercorruption’ and essentially pitched battles between farmers and gangsters occur across China (think 90s Russia). Generally China starts to break down and the leaders have no clue to what to do to fix it.

Bo comes in on a message of order, Maoist ideals and a return to the ‘good times’ as it were. Of course it’s all window dressing for Bo bulldozing his enemies with the support of the law and order types and the army who have become sick with the ‘Capitalist’ experiment. Essentially Bo is supported, only as long as is needed but he rallies the people and gets them motivated
 
Really the ones who stand to win in the China-as-90s failed state Russia scenario are the real free-market freaks, they almost did in the 80s IOTL anyways.

Could you please elaborate on this? I find China's slow progression to superpower status (and its struggles along the way) to be a fascinating topic but I don't know much about it; are you saying here that hardline free-marketeers could have deposed Deng in the 1980s?
 
Could you please elaborate on this? I find China's slow progression to superpower status (and its struggles along the way) to be a fascinating topic but I don't know much about it; are you saying here that hardline free-marketeers could have deposed Deng in the 1980s?

Nah, just the 80s and 90s liberalization could've been a lot more severe thanks to overzealous local party leaders really keen on privatizations and adopting the western economic model, and Deng isn't the one who'd stop it.
 
Nah, just the 80s and 90s liberalization could've been a lot more severe thanks to overzealous local party leaders really keen on privatizations and adopting the western economic model, and Deng isn't the one who'd stop it.

By a lot more severe do you mean something akin to the sort of "shock therapy" that Russia experienced the early 1990s? What could push China in that direction as opposed to OTL's?
 
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