1973: The Year of the Four Presidents

[Nofix]

Indeed, but Carl Albert was a rare individual. And if you want to be cynical, this is a good opportunity to look good compared to the disgraced Republican Party.

Indeed.

He consistently appears on lists of the greatest Presidents in the YotFP timeline because of that.

And poor Gerry Ford?

Also, this is something I don't know if I'd ever mention elsewhere, I thought for the longest time Ford became President because he was Speaker of the House, and not appointed to the VP slot. I thought that way for years before I found out I was wrong.

 

[Duke 4]

I know Albert said he would do it. But saying and then when the opportunity came up are two different things. The presure on him would have been HUGE!. First off the deal making behind closed doors would have had these scenarios. 1. Who would they pick and who would that person pick to be VP. This is assuming he picks a democrat which I believe from experience he would have done. Lots of jockeying and lots of promises would have been made. The deal making would make LBJ's eyes spin. 2. The plan to off set the roar of anger from the GOP , would be by saying the GOP can't be trusted with the leadership of the country when they have a person like Agnew has their leader. The impeachment of Agnew would have caused hard feelings and would have put a big dent in what Albert said and what he would have been forced to do. 3. Say he picked a Republican.2 things come to mind. A. He needs to pick some one who can be beat in 76. Don't kid your self it all about power with these people and they are always thinking about the next election. There is no such thing has Cincinnatus in real politics and there never has been. Maybe Washington but that was 200 plus years ago. So who is a really weak GOP person who could care taker the office? B> The VEEP job if a Republican gets the Presidency will go to a Democrat, that is not out side the realm of being done. The Dems will want a piece of the pie. 4. The Democratic party will take their chances on the coutry forgotting and forgiving if they get a Democrat has President in 73. 76 is along ways off and the new President will have time to build his own record. Sounds dirty and disconcerting . Well that is real politics and it is about one thing only Power. Sad but true. But I will get off my sad soap box now and I am looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

A quick question . Why would Carl Albert in a democratic party dominated Senate pick a Republican Gerald Ford to be his VEEP?[/QUOTE]

They would see that appointing a Democrat would be seen as a power grab. in addition Gerald Ford was respected and liked by Congressional Democrats.

 

[Sabot Cat]

The 'Democratic Deluge' began almost as soon as Carter took office, headed by Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill (who was selected by the House upon the ascendency of Carl Albert to President, who soon retired from politics). During Carter's first few months in office, the National Health Insurance Act (sponsored by Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy) was passed in both houses of Congress on March 1977. Carter feared that such a bill would tamper with the national budget and vetoed it. However, his veto was overturned in Congress, and the NHIA soon became law.

Despite these early clashes, Carter worked with legislators to campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. He believed that ERA could help resolve the differences between himself and those in Congress, and thus often emphasized its importance: “The Equal Rights Amendment is to the 19th Amendment what the 14th was to the 13th. And by that I mean women are allowed to vote, but it is still legal for the federal government to abridge their rights as citizens of the United States.” Florida, Illinois, and Louisiana soon approved what would become the 27th Amendment in May 1978. Other major legislation that passed during the Democratic Deluge included a jobs program, various environmental reform bills, an energy conservation program, and broad economic deregulation.

But for southern pastor Jerry Falwell, the passage of the 27th Amendment was the straw that broke the camel's back. He founded an organization known as the Moral Majority in April 1978, whose campaign to repeal the 27th Amendment garnered national interest, including the interest of Ronald Reagan. Reagan may have lost the 1976 election, but he still had an interest in becoming President. Reagan used his political connections to help the Moral Majority with a massive media blitz seeking to promote a platform of “pro-life, pro-defense and pro-America”. Their efforts culminated in Republicans picking up nearly twenty seats in Congress during the 1978 midterm elections.

Nonetheless, the Democrats still held a majority in both houses of Congress, and many of their party brass believed that a fringe movement like the Moral Majority couldn't seriously effect Carter's hold on the White House. This shared calm among liberal legislators would change in 1979. On October 31st, the USSR intervened directly in Afghanistan and in response to this, Carter pledged to lead a boycott against the 1980 Moscow Olympics while the Senate failed to ratify SALT II. Also during that year, the Islamic Revolution in Iran saw the ousting of the Shah, who attempted to go to the United States for medical treatment but was narrowly denied it, thus being hospitalized in Switzerland. On November 2nd, the Soviet embassy in Iran was seized by a group of students and everyone inside was held hostage. Their demands were for the USSR to immediately withdraw from Afghanistan, among other things. In response, the Soviet Union supplied their secular ally Iraq in huge quantities in preparation for an invasion.

Many in the growing conservative movement called for a U.S. show of force in Afghanistan but President Carter was reluctant to overtly escalate the conflict further. Nonetheless he terminated the Wheat Deal with the USSR, reinstated the draft, and oversaw a covert program to fund and arm the Afghan insurgents in the early days of 1980. On April 1st 1980, Deputy Prime Minster of Iraq Tariq Aziz was assassinated along with 14 students by Shia militants. In addition to the high-profile assassinations carried out in the previous months, this was used as a justification for the Iraqi invasion of Iran on May 16th 1980, with the full backing of the USSR. Carter feared that the Persian Gulf would soon be completely in the Soviet sphere of influence, and thus authorized another transfer of funds to Iran.

 

[Michel Van]

37th: Richard Nixon (January 20th 1969-January 31st 1973)
38th: Spiro Agnew (January 31st 1973-May 7th 1973)
39th: Carl Albert (May 7th 1973-July 4th 1973)
40th: Gerald Ford (July 4th 1973-January 20th 1977)

A quick question . Why would Carl Albert in a democratic party dominated Senate pick a Republican Gerald Ford to be his VEEP?

Albert was since 1947 in US politics, now 65 years old in 1973 and being president during this time is hell of a job !

why he take Republican Gerald Ford ?
House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford was second in line of succession after the 25th Amendment,
also He made his good reputation under the Warren Commission (he was even appointed by President Johnson)
as House Minority Leader from 1965, he criticized the Vietnam War under Johnson
under President Nixon, Ford's leadership was instrumental in leading revenue sharing in Congress
during 1965-1973 Ford make many friends in the House of Representatives, because of his fair leadership and kind personality.

he was the perfect man to be president during this situation !

 

[Paul V McNutt]

OTL Albert suggested Ford to Nixon.

 

[Archibald]

Just a little nitpicking: it is Apollo or the shuttle but not both, and the shuttle can't fly in time for the bicentennary.
Bad news: the POD is after Nixon endorsed the shuttle on January 5 ,1972.
The good news is, support for the shuttle was extremely weak, and it won't be too hard to kill it in 1973. Walter Mondale will be so happy, and William Proxmire.
Now there's no reasons that Apollo can't continue past Apollo 20 in 1974. As Michel Van said, you need to restart Saturn / Apollo / CSM production line.
Cancelle Skylab, the nuclear NERVA and it should do the trick; just focuse NASA on the Moon and nothing else (no Mars, no space station, no space shuttle !)

You just need a big, unmanned lander to bring the crew more supplies while they are on the lunar surface. A single Saturn V launch that thing to the lunar surface without any rendezvous. A handful of landers like this give you a lunar base.

icing on the cake: good old Gerald Ford was a member of the committee that created NASA back in 1958. It may help.

 

[Sabot Cat]

Just a little nitpicking: it is Apollo or the shuttle but not both, and the shuttle can't fly in time for the bicentennary.

In OTL, the Enterprise took off in 1977. I'm sure with increased funding they can do it a year earlier. I'm also not sure why there can't be both an Apollo 18-20 and the Space Shuttle if there's no Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (and whatever ancillary programs that would have to be scuttled).

 

[neopeius]

In OTL, the Enterprise took off in 1977. I'm sure with increased funding they can do it a year earlier. I'm also not sure why there can't be both an Apollo 18-20 and the Space Shuttle if there's no Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (and whatever ancillary programs that would have to be scuttled).

The Space Shuttle was very expensive, and the Enterprise took off for atmospheric tests in 1977 (unveiled in latter 1976).

I hate to burst the bubble (and the space stuff is auxiliary to your main story anyway), but the Shuttle won't be ready until the late 70's, and that's if progress is ahistorically fast.

Apollo/Saturn missions are fine, though. Eyes Turned Skywards is probably your reference.

 

[Archibald]

Enterprise was only at "empty" mockup. The first true shuttle was Columbia that flew in 1981. The shuttle engines and thermal protection system were very troublesome and took three years to fix. First flight of Columbia was initially planned for 1978.
Depends if you want to follow OTL (Apollo, then retreat to the shuttle) or if you want a moon base. Maybe the space program is not this TL main focuse thus the OTL option is enough (we space cadets hate the shuttle and always dream of seeing Apollo continuing indefinitively )

 

[Sabot Cat]

I appreciate the input with the space exploration stuff, as it's not really an area I'd claim expertise in. Is the consensus for a Bicentennial Apollo mission instead of a space shuttle launch then? I think that would be more interesting anyway, honestly.

 

[neopeius]

I appreciate the input with the space exploration stuff, as it's not really an area I'd claim expertise in. Is the consensus for a Bicentennial Apollo mission instead of a space shuttle launch then? I think that would be more interesting anyway, honestly.

For sure. Perhaps an extended lunar stay or at least the long-term polar mission.

 

[Sabot Cat]

In reaction to the recent news, many in the growing conservative movement called for a U.S. show of force in Afghanistan. President Carter was reluctant to overtly escalate the conflict further, but nonetheless terminated the Wheat Deal with the USSR, reinstated the draft, and oversaw a covert program to fund and arm the Afghan insurgents in the early days of 1980. Despite the new found support of hawkish policies among the general public, Reagan did not come out on top in the Republican presidential primaries, trailing behind George H.W. Bush and even John B. Anderson in some states. This was because many in his party blamed him for the results of the 1976 election, believing that Ford would have defeated Carter if he would have won the nomination for President.

Thus on March 28th 1980, Reagan withdrew from the Republican presidential primaries and announced his intent to run as an independent with the support of the Freedom Fighters and the Moral Majority. He played upon the public's growing distrust of the political system, emphasizing that “the people have been able to choose their President since 1972, and they haven't had one elected fair since 1968”. Through his grassroots campaigning he achieved nationwide ballot access and polled strongly against both Carter and Bush. Bush named his running mate as Jack Kemp in July, while Reagan named James L. Buckley as his running mate in August, and garnered headlines when he engaged in high-profile debates with both Bush and Carter. The latter was disadvantaged by two largely negative campaigns directed at him for the struggling economy, while Bush and Reagan had the misfortune of competing for the same votes.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

I am looking forward to the 1980 election. That is an odd feeling. I don't have too many happy memories of the 1980 election.

 

[Sabot Cat]

The presidency seemed to be anyone's game, as polls saw Carter win key swing states due to the spoiler effect, while Reagan was neck-and-neck with the incumbent President throughout the South. It was in these circumstances that Bush's campaign manager privately contacted Spiro Agnew. In exchange for an unknown amount of money, Agnew endorsed Ronald Reagan and made a speech praising his platform as “akin to what I would do”. Reagan's ratings dipped, but he still held strong due to the aggressive promotion being delivered by televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham. They painted George H.W. Bush as a “traitor to the Christian values this country was founded upon” for his support of the 27th Amendment and his opposition to an amendment that would ban abortion. In response to these criticisms Bush said “Why should I be considered a traitor for pledging to uphold the Constitution as it stands?”

When election night rolled around on November 4th 1980, Reagan managed to carry Alabama (9), California (45), Indiana (13), Mississippi (7), North Carolina (13), South Carolina (8), Virginia (12) and Washington (9) for a total of 116 votes. Bush took Alaska (3), Arizona (6), Colorado (7), Connecticut (8), Florida (17), Idaho (4), Illinois (26), Iowa (8), Kansas (7), Maine (4), Michigan (21), Montana (4), Nebraska (5), Nevada (3), New Hampshire (4), New Jersey (17), New Mexico (4), North Dakota (3), Oklahoma (8), Oregon (6), Texas (26), South Dakota (4), Utah (4), Vermont (3), and Wyoming (3) for a combined 205 pledged electoral college votes, and finally, Carter ended up with 217 votes from Arkansas (6), D.C. (3), Delaware (3), Georgia (12), Hawaii, (4) Kentucky (9), Louisiana (10), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (14), Minnesota (10), Missouri (12), New York (41), Ohio (25), Pennsylvania (27), Rhode Island (4), Tennessee (10), West Virginia (6) and Wisconsin (11). The popular vote was split fairly evenly between Carter (39.6%), Bush (40.1%) and Reagan (21.3%).

The race was once again without an absolute majority winner, and the Democratic Congress made Carter a sure bet for victory. This was put into doubt when Ronald Reagan issued a Shermanesque statement of concession on December 8th, before endorsing George H.W. Bush as 'the people's choice for President'. When the Electoral College cast their votes on December 9th, the electors from California, Indiana and Washington gave the votes they had pledged for Reagan to George Bush, bringing his total from 205 to 272.

Carter was outraged, as California and Washington both had laws prohibiting such practices. Thus he took his plight to the Supreme Court, who ruled on December 12th 1980 in the case Carter v. Bush that electors have a constitutional freedom to vote as they may chose in the electoral college, and that state governments do not have the power to enforce pledges, despite retaining the ability to require them (Ray v. Blair). Thus, on January 20th 1981, George H.W. Bush became the 42nd President of the United States.

 

[Nofix]

Bush needs 270 electoral votes to become President not just 218 (which is only more than Carter), the election would again be thrown into the House.

 

[Sabot Cat]

Bush needs 270 electoral votes to become President not just 218 (which is only more than Carter), the election would again be thrown into the House.

Haha, well this got more interesting than I thought it was.

 

[Nofix]

Haha, well this got more interesting than I thought it was.

If Reagan can get some House Republican (or even conservative Democrat) delegations (like from states with 1 reps) he might be able to extract certain promises from Bush, or even Carter if he can get those Conservative Democrats on his side.

 

[vultan]

You should probably give Reagan a more high-profile running mate. Maybe one of the Buckley brothers?

 

[Sabot Cat]

If Reagan can get some House Republican (or even conservative Democrat) delegations (like from states with 1 reps) he might be able to extract certain promises from Bush, or even Carter if he can get those Conservative Democrats on his side.

The House is still pretty much dominated by Democrats, despite Republican gains. The Senate on the other hand, who decides the Vice Presidency...

You should probably give Reagan a more high-profile running mate. Maybe one of the Buckley brothers?

Good idea, James L. Buckley seems to be a good choice considering he's a conservative outside of the Republican party with national political experience.