Five Decades of Fear & Loathing

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

So, I've decided to take a completely left turn, and am once again reworking the Democratic convention. Everything that has happened until this point is still in tact, but events after the convention might need a retouch. Might not get an update tonight, but certainly tomorrow!

[Another Middling Leftist]

This is going to be a doozy.

[anbarret]

So, I've decided to take a completely left turn, and am once again reworking the Democratic convention. Everything that has happened until this point is still in tact, but events after the convention might need a retouch. Might not get an update tonight, but certainly tomorrow!

At least the two-party system still seems stable at this stage unlike after the Wallace Presidency in the original Gumboverse .

A major theme of the original TL appears to be the deconstruction of the idea that stronger third parties will help the US with its problems.

[anbarret]

Will there be an equivalent of OTL John Anderson's independent liberal Republican ticket in 1980? There has already been Lowell Weicker's brief primary challenge.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Saturday, July 5th, 1980: The assassination of Senator Kennedy throws the Democratic race into turmoil as the leading candidate lays dead in a New York City morgue. There is immediate frenzied speculation about the future of the Democratic Party as the remaining candidates in the race hurriedly sprint to court Kennedy delegates who are now no longer bound to any candidate. There is also the possibility of other candidates reentering the race.

Joan Kennedy, accompanied by her sister-in-laws Jackie Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy arrive in New York to receive the late Senator’s body and accompany it to Washington, where the Senator will lie in state at the capital. The iconic photograph of the three widowed Kennedy wives is on headlines on newspapers across the country the following morning. Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts begins building a small campaign apparatus in the wake of the Kennedy assassination, using the vacancy caused by the Senator’s assassination as a means to wrangle the support of political bosses across New England to build support for a late entry into the Democratic nomination fight.

John Hinckley Jr. is charged with murder in a New York City courtroom. He will spend the next several months at Rikers Island as his trial is set to commence. Meanwhile, in the wake of Senator Kennedy’s assassination, there is growing debate over access to guns in America, with several terror attacks abroad and domestically being linked to weapons purchased readily in America. One of the leading crusaders for gun control to emerge from the Kennedy shooting is Mayor Mario Cuomo, who promises to push for a handgun ban in New York City.
Sunday, July 6th, 1980: On NBC’s Meet the Press, Governor Hugh Carey of New York announces he will enter the Democratic nomination fight at the upcoming convention and forms an exploratory committee to fund his efforts. Carey’s campaign manager is Arthur Goldberg, a former Supreme Court Justice and UN Ambassador who ran for Governor unsuccessfully in 1970. Goldberg quickly enlists the support of Sargent Shriver in convincing much of the Kennedy campaign staff to join Carey’s efforts to stop Askew or Robertson from winning the nomination.

A World War I type static front develops in Kwangsi, between Naning and Chin-hsien, between the Vietnamese and Chinese forces in southern China. What develops until well into 1981 is a series of deadly battles along trench lines which soon evolve into a war of attrition. By the logic of numbers, the Vietnamese should be forced back; the fact that they aren’t, and are able to hold-off a much larger Chinese military is attributable mostly to poor leadership and equipment and low morale on the Chinese side. During much of the fighting the Vietnamese routinely take large numbers of prisoners who are mainly starving men with PTSD who give-up because they can’t go on. The Chinese are able to hold-off any Vietnamese advances only because they have more bodies to throw into the lines than the otherwise better equipped Vietnamese forces.
Monday, July 7th, 1980: The Safra massacre, or Day of the Long Knives, occurred in the coastal town Safra on July 7th, 1980, during the Phalangist civil war, as part of Bashir Gemayel's effort to consolidate all the Christian fighters under his leadership in the Lebanese Forces.

The Phalangist forces launched a surprise attack on the Tigers, a 500-man militia that was the armed force of the National Liberal Party of ex-Lebanese President Camille Chamoun. The attack was supposed to be conducted at around 4:00 a.m., but in order to save the life of Camille's son and commander of the Tigers Dany Chamoun, the attack was postponed to 10:00 a.m. to make sure that Dany left for Fakra. The attack claimed the lives of roughly 83 people.

Prior to the attack, Camille Chamoun decided to disarm the militia in order to avoid further bloodshed from both the Phalangists and the Tigers. After the attack, Chamoun’s faction declined in influence.

Since the collapse of the PJO and PLO and with Western and Central Syria under western occupation and backed by the Israeli military presence in the South of Lebanon, the Phalange have largely taken control of Lebanon and defeated or encircled various Arab militias. The Phalange remain heavily armed with support from Israel.

After the Safra Massacre Charles Malik, the then President of Lebanon, steps down from office.
Tuesday, July 8th, 1980: A wave of anti-communist strikes begins in Lublin, Poland.
Wednesday, July 9th, 1980: Pope Pius XIII visits Brazil; 7 people are crushed to death in a crowd greeting his motorcade upon arrival in Rio de Janeiro. 

Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral is held in Washington D.C. at the National Cathedral, where he is eulogized by Sargent Shriver, who becomes the effective patriarch of the Kennedy family in the wake of Ted’s demise. Kennedy is buried next to his brothers at Arlington National Cemetery afterwards. President Reagan, as well as former Presidents Gavin and Nixon also attend the funeral, as does much of the Senate, including Senator Henry Jackson (D-WA), who reenters the race at a hastily organized press conference later in the day.
Friday, July 11th, 1980: Atlas Shrugged, an action-drama film directed by Sam Peckinpah and loosely based on the novel by Ayn Rand, is released and distributed by United Artists. Starring Farrah Fawcett and Kris Kristofferson, the movie is poorly received by critics but still manages to be a major blockbuster, raking in millions in revenue and selling out theaters across the country.

Senator Frank Church (D-ID), in an effort to attract anti-war delegates who had previously backed Senator Kennedy, names Congressman Otis Pike (D-NY) as his desired running mate ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

Governor Dukakis of Massachusetts confirms that he is willing to accept the Democratic nomination if drafted, and will allow his name to be entered into consideration at the Democratic National Convention in New York City. Dukakis stops short of announcing his candidacy for President outright, however, preferring to see how the first ballot works out before committing himself to the nomination fight.
Sunday, July 13th, 1980: Bachir Gemayel is elected President of Lebanon by the rump parliament dominated by the Phalangist forces.

Governor Mike Dukakis of Massachusetts appoints Paul Kirk, the late Ted Kennedy's chief of staff, to the vacated Senate seat previously held by the slain Senator. Kirk is expected to run for reelection in a special election that will take place in November.
The 1980 Democratic Convention coming tonight/tomorrow. Here's a quick taste of the leadup to it.

[jojoju1998]

Minor correction. Since Kennedy was a catholic, his funeral would probably be at St Matthew’s cathedral or the Basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Monday, July 14th, 1980: The Democratic National Convention opens in Madison Square Garden; the first day is dominated over debate over the platform, with Askew and Robertson delegates uniting unsuccessfully to stop from the party from adopting a resolutely pro-choice plank. The party also embraces planks supporting full employment, universal healthcare, and a rollback of the Reagan tax cuts. Most controversially, the party embraces a much more dovish foreign policy, condemning the American military interventions in Central America and South Africa as well as gun control initiatives in the wake of the Kennedy assassination.

Hugh Carey.

Monday, July 14th, 1980.

The Waldorf-Astoria.

2:25 PM, New Yor City, NY.

[1]

Governor Carey was a big burley man, one known for his physically imposing build, who could be easily spotted in a crowd. Known in his youth as a boxer from Brooklyn, Carey went onto marry, father fourteen children, graduate law school, pass the bar exam, and eventually get elected to Congress in 1960 before being elected Governor in 1974. A popular executive who was often credited with “saving” New York City following the suspension of the city’s self-governance due to the fiscal crisis, Carey had been speculated as a presidential candidate throughout the late 1970s.He would, however, ultimately defer in favor of Senator Kennedy in part due to the intense personal grief he felt following the deaths of two of his sons and wife.

But then, just ten days earlier, Senator Kennedy was killed in Grand Central Station. Chaos followed, and sensing familiar territory, Governor Carey stepped up. Absorbing much of the former Kennedy operation, the Carey campaign was able to keep most of the late Senator’s delegates from the northeast in line. But in the Midwest, support from Kennedy delegates was wavering, and others – namely Indiana Senator Birch Bayh and Minnesota Senator Douglas Fraser – were being thrown about as potential draft nominees. Carey knew he had to act quick to unify the party, having already asked Ted Sorenson to write his nomination speech for him with a special message designed to bring the fractured Democratic Party back together. That is why, from his room in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where his campaign had set up an informal headquarters, he picked up the phone and asked the operator to connect him to Goldberg, who was already on the convention floor. From a phone installed on the floor for each state delegation, Goldberg answered the call, shieled by a phalanx of New York delegates to make sure his conversation was out of earshot of any reporters.

“We start with the tri-state delegates” warned Arthur Goldberg, the unofficial campaign manager for Carey’s convention efforts, “and branch out from there.”

“It’s all about momentum” Carey noted, “the more momentum we have, the more the undecideds and the holdouts and the uncommitted gets suckered into its wake.”

“Exactly” Goldberg concurred, “we just need to keep the message up that you are invincible, that Reagan is afraid of you more than he is afraid of Askew, and everything will…everything should fall into place.”

"You're sure we're over a thousand down there?" Carey asked.

"100%" Goldberg affirmed, "I am 100% convinced that we'll scare any potential second ballot competition out of the race."

"Good...God forbid someone comes out of nowhere and f**ks this all up."
Tuesday, July 15th, 1980: The Democratic National Convention convenes at 9:00 AM for the first ballot, which is held over the course of two hours as thousands of delegates cast their votes. The first ballot, as widely expected, was inconclusive. Governor Carey wins the lionshare of former Kennedy delegates thanks to political allies of the slain Kennedy brothers rallying delegates around the New York Governor’s candidacy. Endorsements from the Kennedy family are highlighted by the Carey campaign, which try to reignite the sparks of the slain Ted Kennedy’s campaign to craft a blazing image of “a second Camelot” in the 1980s.

1980 Democratic National Convention (First Ballot): 3,315 Delegates, 1,658 for Majority.
Hugh Carey: 30.3% - 1,005 delegates.
Reubin Askew: 23.4% - 777 delegates.
Jesse Jackson: 15.6% - 516 delegates.
Pat Robertson: 14.6% - 485 delegates.
Henry Jackson: 5.7% - 189 delegates.
Frank Church: 4.6% - 154 delegates.
Jerry Brown: 2.7% - 89 delegates.
Michael Dukakis: 2.0% - 66 delegates.
Walter Mondale: 1.0% - 33 delegates.
Lyndon LaRouche: 0.1% - 1 delegate.

After the first ballot, the Jackson and Robertson campaigns begin seeing cracks in their numbers as delegates committed to them flee to either Governors Carey or Askew (depending on their political persuasion) due to the frontrunners successfully painting the two Reverends as being unelectable. A second ballot is held at noon, with similar results – an inconclusive round of voting, with two clear frontrunners. Frank Church drops out after the first ballot.

1980 Democratic National Convention (Second Ballot): 3,315 Delegates, 1,658 for Majority.
Hugh Carey: 37.7% - 1,250 delegates.
Reubin Askew: 24.8% - 823 delegates.
Jesse Jackson: 14.5% - 481 delegates.
Pat Robertson: 11.7% - 389 delegates.
Henry Jackson: 7.4% - 245 delegates.
Jerry Brown: 3.8% - 126 delegates.
Lyndon LaRouche: 0.1% - 1 delegate.

The third ballot begins at 3:00 PM, with the same trends of momentum for Governor Carey as he gets closer to clinching a narrow majority of delegates. Robertson refuses to drop out of the race until Askew agrees to name a pro-choice running mate, which Askew continues to insist is politically unpopular.

Meanwhile, Reverend Jackson meets with Governor Casey, discussing a wide range of issues facing voters who are often ignored or maligned by the Democratic establishment. Governor Casey agrees for a renewed push for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1980s and promises to push for a full employment law as well as greater civil rights reforms but does not give into Reverend Jackson’s demand that he name Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (D-TX) to the Democratic presidential ticket. As a result of this refusal, Jackson insists that he will remain in the race and will not support Casey just yet. The rumored talks between the Governor and the Reverend are enough to inspire Senator Brown to get out of the race, and though he does not endorse any specific candidate, he makes it clear that he is amenable to a Democratic ticket led by Governor Carey.

As the hours tick on towards the third ballot, and with Casey coming closer to the nomination, Robertson’s support begins to collapse. Robertson delegates bolting for either Senator Henry Jackson (due to his strongly pro-Israel foreign policy) or Governor Askew as part of a last ditch “stop Casey” effort in turn impacts Jesse Jackson’s campaign, with panicky supporters of the civil rights leader looking towards Casey as a lesser of two evils.

1980 Democratic National Convention (Third Ballot): 3,315 Delegates, 1,658 for Majority.
Hugh Carey: 44.9% - 1,487 delegates.
Reubin Askew: 30.2% - 1,002 delegates.
Jesse Jackson: 13.6% - 451 delegates.
Henry Jackson: 9.1% - 301 delegates.
Pat Robertson: 2.1% - 73 delegates.
Lyndon LaRouche: 0.1% - 1 delegate.

The third ballot, held at 6:00 PM, is also inconclusive. Governor Carey is closer to the nomination, with Askew absorbing some of Robertson’s supporters while Henry Jackson slowly ticks upward in the delegate count. After the famously hawkish Washington Senator expresses his belief that he will (eventually) be nominated as a compromise candidate with a (yet to be named) southern running mate, Reverend Jackson realizes that he has run out of momentum and is only further dividing the party. After nominating McKeithen and Wallace, the Reverend Jackson is adamant that the party should not nominate another southern conservative, and thus throws his support, reluctantly, behind Hugh Carey in order to put him over the top. The fourth and final ballot is held at 9:00 PM.

1980 Democratic National Convention (Fourth Ballot): 3,315 Delegates, 1,658 for Majority.
Hugh Carey: 51.9% - 1,720 delegates.
Reubin Askew: 33.0% - 1,093 delegates.
Henry Jackson: 15.0% - 501 delegates.
Lyndon LaRouche: 0.1% - 1 delegate.

After four chaotic ballots, the delegates are getting tired. Senator Jerry Litton (D-MO) is unveiled as Governor Carey’s running mate, and he is nominated by acclamation (even though it is clear that an audible majority of delegates voted for a roll call ballot, the “ayes have it” according to convention chairwoman and Congresswoman Lindy Boggs (D-LA), which angers Jackson delegates who wanted to press for a more liberal VP nominee). The Carey/Litton ticket limps out of the Democratic National Convention wounded but still ahead in the polls.
Wednesday, July 16th, 1980: The third night of the Democratic National Convention is marked by several notable speeches, including a keynote address by Senator Gloria Schaeffer (D-CT).
Thursday, July 17th, 1980: The fourth night of the Democratic National Convention ends with Senator Jerry Litton (D-MO) delivering a widely well received acceptance speech after being nominated for the Vice Presidency by acclamation two days earlier.
Friday, July 18th, 1980: On the final night of the Democratic National Convention, Governor Carey delivers his acceptance speech; like his running mate’s remarks the night before, Governor Carey’s speech is widely praised by the press. The speech had been written by former Ted Kennedy aide Ted Sorenson.

Hugh Carey

Friday, July 18th, 1980.

Madison Square Garden.

9:00 PM, New York, NY.

My fellow Democrats and my fellow Americans, we gather today in the shadow of tragedy, undeterred and determined to live up to the towering legacy of a giant statesman who sadly tonight does not walk amongst us anymore.

I have come here tonight not to argue as a candidate but to affirm a cause. I'm asking you -- I am asking you to renew the commitment of the Democratic Party to economic justice. I am asking you to renew our commitment to a fair and lasting prosperity that can put America back to work. I am asking you to renew our commitment to the life and legacy of the Kennedy brothers, who fought so hard for so long to make America a more equitable and just nation for all!

The pain of our grief for Senator Kennedy is immense and it is personal, but the pain of our recent loss is nothing new; the pain of the people that I have met across my state, and indeed in my travels across the country, has not abated over the last decade. It has in fact worsened.

Campaigning with the late Senator, I have learned that it is important to take issues seriously, but never to take ourselves too seriously. Senator Kennedy embodied this in his commitment to social and economic and racial justice in America. I seek to embody these virtues too. And that is that the commitment that I renew to you, the voters, tonight.

The serious issue before us tonight is the cause for which the Democratic Party has stood in its finest hours, the cause that keeps our party young and makes it, in the second century of its age, the largest political party in this republic and the longest lasting political party on this planet. Our cause has been, since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the cause of the common man and the common woman.

Our commitment has been, since the days of Andrew Jackson, to all those he called "the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers." On this foundation we have defined our values, refined our policies, and refreshed our faith.

Now I take the unusual step of carrying the cause and the commitment of my campaign personally to our national convention. I speak out of a deep sense of urgency about the anguish and anxiety I have seen across America.

I speak out of a deep belief in the ideals of the Democratic Party, and in the potential of that party and of a President to make a difference. And I speak out of a deep trust in our capacity to proceed with boldness and a common vision that will feel and heal the suffering of our time and the divisions of our Party.

The economic plank of this platform on its face concerns only material things, but it is also a moral issue that I raise tonight. It has taken many forms over many years. In this campaign and in this country that we seek to lead, the challenge in 1980 is to give our voice and our vote for these fundamental democratic principles.

Let us pledge that we will never misuse unemployment, high interest rates, and human misery as false weapons against inflation.

Let us pledge that employment will be the first priority of our economic policy.

Let us pledge that there will be security for all those who are now at work and let us pledge that there will be jobs for all who are out of work; and we will not compromise on the issues of jobs.

These are not simplistic pledges. Simply put, they are the heart of our tradition, and they have been the soul of our Party across the generations. It is the glory and the greatness of our tradition to speak for those who have no voice, to remember those who are forgotten, to respond to the frustrations and fulfill the aspirations of all Americans seeking a better life in a better land. We dare not forsake that tradition.

The same Republicans who are talking about the crisis of unemployment have nominated a man who once said, and I quote, "Unemployment insurance is a prepaid vacation plan for freeloaders." And that nominee is no friend of labor.

The same Republicans who are talking about the problems of the inner cities have nominated a man who said, and I quote, "I have included in my morning and evening prayers every day the prayer that the Federal Government not bail out New York." And that nominee is no friend of this city and our great urban centers across this nation.

The same Republicans who are talking about security for the elderly have nominated a man who said just four years ago that "Participation in social security should be made voluntary." And that nominee is no friend of the senior citizens of this nation.

The same Republicans who are talking about preserving the environment have nominated a man who last year made the preposterous statement, and I quote, "Eighty percent of our air pollution comes from plants and trees." And that nominee is no friend of the environment.

And the same Republicans who are invoking Franklin Roosevelt have nominated a man who said in 1976, and these are his exact words, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal." And that nominee whose name is Ronald Reagan has no right to quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The great adventures which our opponents offer is a voyage into the past. Progress is our heritage, not theirs. What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to win.

We are the party -- we are the party of the New Freedom, the New Deal, and the New Frontier. We have always been the party of hope. So this year let us offer new hope, new hope to an America uncertain about the present, but unsurpassed in its potential for the future.

To all those who are idle in the cities and industries of America let us provide new hope for the dignity of useful work. Democrats have always believed that a basic civil right of all Americans is that their right to earn their own way. The party of the people must always be the party of full employment.

To all those who doubt the future of our economy, let us provide new hope for the reindustrialization of America. And let our vision reach beyond the next election or the next year to a new generation of prosperity. If we could rebuild Germany and Japan after World War II, then surely we can reindustrialize our own nation and revive our inner cities in the 1980's.

To all those who work hard for a living wage let us provide new hope that their price of their employment shall not be an unsafe workplace and a death at an earlier age.

To all those who inhabit our land from California to the New York Island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf stream waters, let us provide new hope that prosperity shall not be purchased by poisoning the air, the rivers, and the natural resources that are the greatest gift of this continent. We must insist that our children and our grandchildren shall inherit a land which they can truly call America the beautiful.

To all those who see the worth of their work and their savings taken by inflation, let us offer new hope for a stable economy. We must meet the pressures of the present by invoking the full power of government to master increasing prices. In candor, we must say that the Federal budget can be balanced only by policies that bring us to a balanced prosperity of full employment and price restraint.

In closing, let me say a few words to all those that I have met and to all those who have supported me at this convention and across the country. There were hard hours on our journey, and often it seemed that we were sailing against the wind. But we always kept our rudder true, and there were so many of you who stayed the course and shared our hope. You gave your help; but even more, you gave your hearts.

And in spite of our recent tragedy as a party, because of you, this has still been a happy campaign. You welcomed Senator Kennedy into your homes and neighborhoods, your churches, your campuses, your union halls. I witnessed the Senator engage with voters across my own state ahead of our primary, and though I will never make a promise that I cannot keep, I will make the promise to you tonight that I will campaign for the Presidency with the same vigor and vitality that Senator Kennedy offered in his all too short life. And when this race is over, I shall think back of all the miles and all the months and all the memories, and I will think of you. And I recall the poet's words, and I say: "What golden friends I had."

Among you, my golden friends across this land, I have listened and learned. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Wednesday, July 16th, 1980: The Democratic National Convention closes with the Carey/Litton ticket taking a strong lead in the initial polls.

1980 Presidential Election (Gallup).
(D) Carey/Litton: 53%
(R) Reagan/Bush: 39%
Undecided/Other: 6%
(L) Paul/Clark: 1%
(E) Commoner/Nader: 1%
That was a doozy to write, sorry for the delay. I kept changing my mind. At one point I had Biden winning after ten ballots but decided I liked using Carey (who has impressed me in Bicentennial Man, King Sweden's awesome timeline on AH.com) as the best figure for a Democratic 1980s.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Minor correction. Since Kennedy was a catholic, his funeral would probably be at St Matthew’s cathedral or the Basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception.

Will correct in a bit. I thought that the National Cathedral has hosted Catholic services in the past, but I'm not sure, and St. Matthews or the National Shrine make more sense.

[Prez_zf]

"Askew agrees to name a pro-choice running mate"

Was this supposed to say a Pro-life running mate? Also, I'm curious, did Mondale, Adlai Stevenson III, Gravel, McGovern, Bayh, Carter, Bentsen, etc have any role in the convention? Who was on Carey's shortlist?

[Lord Byron]

So far, this TL looks to be less dystopian than Rumsfeldia will be, IMO (except for China and other parts of the world--poor China)...

And the conspiracy theories from JFK's assassination onwards in TTL will be something to see, I'll say that much...

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

"Askew agrees to name a pro-choice running mate"

Was this supposed to say a Pro-life running mate? Also, I'm curious, did Mondale, Adlai Stevenson III, Gravel, McGovern, Bayh, Carter, Bentsen, etc have any role in the convention? Who was on Carey's shortlist?

Good catch, will correct later. I’d say Litton was likely Carey’s first pick, but Senators Carter, Bentsen, and a wildcard (probably Martha Keys) would be seriously considered.

[anbarret]

So far, this TL looks to be less dystopian than Rumsfeldia will be, IMO (except for China and other parts of the world--poor China)...

And the conspiracy theories from JFK's assassination onwards in TTL will be something to see, I'll say that much...

And Arabia and South Africa (Malan has still come to power).

[anbarret]

Well, you previously mentioned how Reagan in this TL might be seen as the second coming of Herbert Hoover. If so, it looks like both men might be succeeded by a Democratic Governor of New York!

[anbarret]

I sense that President Hugh Carey and Prime Minister Denis Healey might get along well. They are both large, imposing figures from the right-wing of centre-left parties with disillusioned left-activist wings.

[Another Middling Leftist]

If TTL's 80s will be Democrat dominated like how OTL's GOP, then who might be the next GOP president if they don't come until at least 1988-1992? The bigger question is how the "Fear and Loathing" will fit in the later years without Rumsfeld, since the TL was more "chaos and dystopian" than OTL.

[anbarret]

If TTL's 80s will be Democrat dominated like how OTL's GOP, then who might be the next GOP president if they don't come until at least 1988-1992? The bigger question is how the "Fear and Loathing" will fit in the later years without Rumsfeld, since the TL was more "chaos and dystopian" than OTL.

President Lyndon LaRouche? 

There is also the fact that the two-party system seems remarkably stable so far in a reality with no President George Wallace.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

There will be no Lyndon LaRouche presidency, but I do like how he got his tentacles into all sorts of high level places in OTL, so you’ll see that ITTL too.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Thursday, July 17th, 1980: The Washington Post reports on White House Chief of Staff Bob Dole’s plans for the future, citing several sources both within the Kansas Republican Party and the White House that confirm rumors about Dole planning a gubernatorial run in 1982. Dole does not rule out a return to elected office in the future but denies plans that he is specifically lining up allies and benefactors for a run for Governor of Kansas.
Saturday, July 19th, 1980: The Moscow Olympics open in the Soviet Union; as President Reagan had promised, the United States does not send an Olympic Team to the games, boycotting the competition entirely in protest of various instances of Soviet aggression on the global stage.
Sunday, July 20th, 1980: Supporters of Jesse Jackson attempt to organize the so called “Grand People’s Convention,” an event in which they intend to launch Jackson’s potential third party candidacy. But their efforts reach a snag when the Reverend and civil rights activist declines to mount an independent bid for the White House, citing the difficulties in fundraising and obtaining ballot access. As a result, both the Peace and Ecology tickets continue their ongoing competition with each other for the votes of disaffected Democrats.
Monday, July 21st, 1980: Imam Abdel Muhram, a senior Wahhabi cleric in exile from Arabia is shot to death in Cairo, Egypt. It is believed his murder was ordered by the Iraqi secret service as he was gathering exiles around him to resist the Iraqi occupation of Arabia. The Imam was a prominent supporter of Mahrous bin Laden.
Tuesday, July 22nd, 1980: The Seventh Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly is convened by Senegal to consider the issue of a Palestinian homeland and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. The special session will last through August 19th, but ultimately ends without any resolution.
Thursday, July 24th, 1980: President Reagan confirms that Vice President Bush will be joining him on the Republican ticket again in 1980 ahead of the upcoming Republican convention; despite disagreements between the two men behind the scenes, particularly over the leadup to the Panama War, the President had none the less built a solid working relationship with the Vice President and saw no need to drop him from the Republican ticket.
Friday, July 25th, 1980: The album Back in Black is released by the Australian rock band AC/DC.
Sunday, July 27th, 1980: The deposed Iranian Shah Reza Pahlavi dies in New York City at the age of 60.
Tuesday, July 29th, 1980: The Israeli government passes a bill which declares that the official name of the area “previously known as the West Bank of the Jordan River” shall now be called “Judea and Samaria.” The bill also calls for an increase in Jewish settlements. Many opponents of the settlements in Israel see this bill as a first step toward annexation of the West Bank. The passage of the bill evokes protests in Israel as well as anti-Israel demonstrations in many Arab cities.
Wednesday, July 30th, 1980: New polling is released by Gallup ahead of the 1980 presidential election.

1980 Presidential Election (Gallup).
(D) Carey/Litton: 52%
(R) Reagan/Bush: 40%
Undecided/Other: 5%
(L) Paul/Clark: 2%
(E) Commoner/Nader: 1%
Friday, August 1st, 1980: Vanuatu gains independence from the United Kingdom and France.
Saturday, August 2nd, 1980: A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200. The terrorists believed to have been involved are associated with groups who attempted to stage a right-wing coup in 1979.
Sunday, August 3rd, 1980: American fugitive murderer Charles Manson (under the name Claudio Marino) begins organizing anti-regime revolutionaries in the backcountry of Nicaragua near the Honduran border. Marino/Manson will become a key figure in helping to revitalize the largely decimated Sandinista resistance to the Managua regime. Few among his new allies realize that Commandante Toro (as he will become known) is being paid by the Honduran regime to destabilize their neighbor or that the Commandante is in fact a fugitive cult leader.
Monday, August 4th, 1980: The British government announced an extra public spending package of £48 million for Northern Ireland to try to alleviate the high level of unemployment in the region which stood at 14.7%. This announcement came after a meeting between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTUs) and Dennis Healey.
Wednesday, August 6th, 1980: Lt. General Mohammed al-Karami, the exiled former head of the Saudi Air Force is gunned down by suspected Iraqi agents in Basel, Switzerland.
Thursday, August 7th, 1980: Former Senator Lowell Weicker (R-CT) confirms that he will not seek the Presidency as an independent, citing fundraising and ballot access hurdles. Weicker refuses to endorse President Reagan for reelection, but also declines to support the Libertarian or Democratic presidential tickets either, telling The New York Times that he plans to write-in former President James Gavin in November.
Friday, August 8th, 1980: Bachir Gemayel is sworn in as the 12th President of Lebanon for a six year term.
Sunday, August 10th, 1980: Hurricane Allen (category 3) pounds southeastern Texas.
Monday, August 11th, 1980: The Republican National Convention opens in Detroit at Joe Louis Arena; the first night of the convention concludes with a well-received keynote address by Senator John McCain (R-VA). Following in the tradition of Pat Nixon, who made brief remarks at the 1972 Republican National Convention, First Lady Nancy Reagan also addresses the delegates, delivering a 35-minute-long speech in which she outlines her husband’s strong anti-drug policies as an example of his administration fighting to defend family values.
Tuesday, August 12th, 1980: The second day of the Republican National Convention sees the Reagan/Bush ticket renominated unanimously. On the second night of the convention, Vice President Bush delivers his acceptance speech.

Indian and Chinese forces exchange fire in Nathu La on the (disputed) border between the two countries. As in Southeast Asia, some Chinese troops take the opportunity to defect.
Wednesday, August 13th, 1980: The Republican National Convention concludes in Detroit, with President Reagan delivering his acceptance speech after being renominated unanimously the delegates present on Tuesday. The convention closes with an emotional performance of “America the Beautiful” by Ray Charles that doesn’t leave a dry eye in the entire convention hall.

37 people die as a result of fires started by arson at adjacent London nightclubs.

Ronald Reagan

Wednesday, August 13th, 1980.

Joe Louis Arena.

8:00 PM, Detroit, MI.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, delegates to this convention, and fellow citizens: In less than three months days, I hope we enjoy a victory that is the size of the heart of Michigan. Nancy and I extend our deep thanks to the good and decent people of Detroit for all their warmth and hospitality.

Four years ago I didn't know precisely every duty of this office, and not too long ago, I learned about some new ones from the first graders of Corpus Christi School in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A little girl was asked by her teacher to describe my duties. She said: ``The President goes to meetings. He helps the animals. The President gets frustrated. He talks to other Presidents.'' How does wisdom begin at such an early age?

Tonight, with a full heart and deep gratitude for your trust, I accept your nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I will campaign on behalf of the principles of our party which lift America confidently into the future.

America is presented with the clearest political choice of half a century. The distinction between our two parties and the different philosophy of our political opponents are at the heart of this campaign and America's future.

I've been campaigning long enough to know that a political party and its leadership can't change their colors in just four days. We won't, and no matter how hard they tried, our opponents didn't in Madison Square Garden. We didn't discover our values in a poll taken a week before the convention. And we didn't set a weathervane on top of the Brooklyn Bridge before we started talking about the American family.

The choices this year are not just between two different personalities or between two political parties. They're between two different visions of the future, two fundamentally different ways of governing -- their government of pessimism, fear, and limits, or ours of hope, confidence, and growth.

Their government sees people only as members of groups; ours serves all the people of America as individuals. Their government lives in the past, seeking to apply the old and failed policies to an era that has passed them by. Ours learns from the past and strives to change by boldly charting a new course for the future. Theirs lives by promises, the bigger, the better. We offer proven, workable answers.

Over the course of the last five decades, the Democratic Party has committed itself deliberately to the growth of government in every way possible. The Democratic Party has nothing to offer the American people in 1980 that they haven’t offered before; they can wrap their platform up in whatever pretty paper they choose, but they can’t fool the American people.

For almost all of those 50 years, deficit spending has been their deliberate policy. Now, however, they call for an end to deficits. They call them ours. Yet, at the same time, the leadership of their party resists our every effort to bring Federal spending under control. For three years straight, they have prevented us from adopting a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. We will continue to fight for that amendment, mandating that government spend no more than government takes in.

We will fight, as the Vice President told you, for the right of a President to veto items in appropriations bills without having to veto the entire bill. There is no better way than the line-item veto, now used by Governors in 43 states to cut out waste in government. I know. As Governor of California, I successfully made such vetoes over 900 times.

The Democratic Party’s long journey has taken them up a road of no return; they had tried, in 1972, and in 1976, to present a “new vision,” but the American people saw through these lies. We must not let the Democrats lead this great and wonderful nation up the same path they took as a party. We must not as a nation embrace the intellectual bankruptcy of the Democratic Party. We must look towards a different American journey for inspiration.

I can think of another journey, one which wasn’t made this year. That of the Olympic Torch; this year, Americans didn’t line the streets in town after town to see the flame make its progress. And there was a good reason for this; this year, American athletes didn’t participate as usual in the international games, because the United States could not engage the Soviet Union in good faith when the Soviets and their international lackeys across the globe have reeked nothing but havoc around the world. To put it plainly, there is no winning with the Soviets when we meet them on their terms. Likewise, there will be no winning with the Democrats, if we continue to let a biased media and their allies in big labor, big business, and big media dominate the tone and premises on which our dialogue as a nation is based.

The Olympic Torch brings to mind another torch, the one that greeted so many of our parents and grandparents. Just this past Fourth of July, the torch atop the Statue of Liberty was hoisted down for replacement. We can be forgiven for thinking that maybe it was just worn out from lighting the way to freedom for 17 million new Americans. So, now we'll put up a new one.

The poet called Miss Liberty's torch the ``lamp beside the golden door.'' Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now you really know why we're here tonight.

The glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America.

Her heart is full; her door is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the eighties unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed.

In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America's is.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
Thursday, August 14th, 1980: Actress Jodi Foster and actors Paul Newman and Warren Beatty headline a Commoner/Nader rally in Los Angeles, where the three throw their weight behind the quixotic Ecology Party campaign. The selection of Henry Jackson to the Democratic ticket has alienated many anti-war Democrats, who had been energized by the events of recent years and have grown to be a powerful constituency within the Democratic Party.
Saturday, August 16th, 1980: Gallup releases a new poll, which shows the Republican ticket trailing their Democratic challengers by nearly ten points.

1980 Presidential Election (Gallup).
(D) Carey/Litton: 51%
(R) Reagan/Bush: 42%
Undecided/Other: 4%
(L) Paul/Clark: 2%
(E) Commoner/Nader: 1%
Sunday, August 17th, 1980: In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo. The case draws international attention as suspicion falls on the baby’s mother, who is believed by authorities to be involved in her daughter’s disappearance.
Wednesday, August 20th, 1980: United Nations Security Council Resolution 484, voted on 20 August 1980, declared Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law a violation of international law, and states that the Council will not recognize this law, and calls on member states to accept the decision of the council. This resolution also calls upon member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city. The law declared Jerusalem to be Israel's "complete and united" capital.

The resolution was passed with 13 votes to 1 against, with the United States vetoing the resolution. After vetoing the resolution, UN Ambassador Ann Armstrong voices the Reagan administration’s commitment to Israel’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty.
Friday, August 22nd, 1980: Two East German advisors to the South Yemeni Army are murdered by gunmen disguised as South Yemeni soldiers. It is believed they were anti-Iraqi insurgents from Arabia operating within South Yemen.
Saturday, August 23rd, 1980: The Reagan and Carey campaigns agree to two Presidential debates and one Vice Presidential debate, to be moderated by the League of Women Voters. All four debates will take place in October.
Monday, August 25th, 1980: The Israeli Navy torpedoes a Cypriot registered freighter which was attempting to smuggle PJO commandos into the coastal areas of Israel. The Cypriot crew are killed along the Palestinians. It is not immediately known whether the Cypriot freighter’s crew were aware of the presence of Palestinian militants onboard.
Tuesday, August 26th, 1980: The missing first half of the diary of Arthur Bremer, who had stalked U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and Alabama Governor George C. Wallace before shooting Wallace in 1972, was located underneath a bridge in Bremer's hometown of Milwaukee.
Wednesday, August 27th, 1980: Nguza Karl-i-Bond was named as the new Prime Minister of Zaire three years after he had been sentenced to death by firing squad for treason. Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko, who had ordered Karl-i-Bond's death sentence in 1977 but later pardoned and released his former aide, approved the appointment of the former condemned man to the head of government with the title "First State Commissioner". Karl-i-Bond replaced Bo-Boliko Lokonga, who had been elevated to the position of Executive Secretary of Mobutu's Popular Movement of the Revolution, the nation’s sole legal political party.
Thursday, August 28th, 1980: Representative Michael "Ozzie" Myers (D-PA) became the first member of Congress to be convicted of accepting a bribe during the FBI's Abscam investigation. The House of Representatives begins expulsion proceedings against Congressman Myers, who refuses to resign in the wake of his conviction.
Friday, August 29th, 1980: China’s Premier Wang Hongwen addresses the National People’s Congress in Beijing, where he outlines a new economic program that seeks to address some of the economic deficiencies caused by the ideologically driven policies of the late Mao Yuanxin.
Sunday, August 31st, 1980: Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, has made efforts all summer to negotiate with the anti-regime forces, but this has failed. After returning from a Warsaw Pact Summit in Moscow, where he was strongly warned by the other Warsaw Pact leaders to get his house in order (more strongly by the East German, Czech and Hungarian leadership than by the Soviets, who did their best to "advise" Gierek) he declares Martial Law and orders the military and security forces to restore order. This declaration is met with unrest and rioting in many major Polish cities, leading to an even more brutal crackdown.

Gierek's order generates significant international protest, especially notable from the Communist Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Berlinguer, who considered Gierek to be a more enlightened leader. Many citizens in Poland are dismayed by this use of marital law by the regime almost forty-one years to the day Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.

The strikers in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk close-up the shipyard to resist the army and manage to hold out against the incursion for a further eighteen days.

1980 Presidential Election (Gallup).
(D) Carey/Litton: 51%
(R) Reagan/Bush: 41%
Undecided/Other: 5%
(L) Paul/Clark: 2%
(E) Commoner/Nader: 1%

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Monday, September 1st, 1980: Former President Spiro Agnew is invited to speak to a far-right, hardcore Zionist group in Israel roughly one month ahead of the anniversary of the 1973 October War. During his visit to Israel, Agnew – who is largely remembered positively by Israelis due to his support for the Jewish State during the October War – meets with members of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in an attempt to enlist their support for the Republican ticket of President Reagan and Vice President Bush.

After his speech, Agnew is invited to Qatar, where he is hosted by the Emir of the small peninsular country in the Arabian Gulf. Though it is not known to the public at the time, Agnew reportedly meets with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Sa'dun Hammadi, where he offered (on behalf of Secretaries Kirkpatrick, Rumsfeld, and Secretary Casey) to effectively cede eastern Arabia to Iraq in exchange for increased oil output which could lower gas prices in time for the election.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 1980: Pope Pius XIII denounces the declaration of Martial law in Poland and the arrest of senior Polish clergy by security forces. In a rare show of solidarity, he meets with both the Italian President Noberto Bobbio and the Communist Party Prime Minister Enrico Berlinguer to join with their condemnations of the Polish government action.

Indian Prime Minister Sundar Das declares that China is “a nation without credibility” and predicts that it will soon descend into medieval chaos. Indian troops are deployed to the nation’s long border with Red China in response to mysterious troop movements on the other side of the border following a recent spat between the nations that turned violent. Secretary of National Intelligence William Casey briefs the President on the matter, with the CIA’s analysis of the situation describing the Chinese motivations as “a blustering show of force” to deter the western world and China’s larger neighbors from interfering in their internal affairs at a time of great political instability.

In Spain, the governing Socialist Workers Party defeats The Republicans and the Communist Party in a hotly contested democratic election, the first to take place since the declaration of a republic and the downfall of the ruling royal family. Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez remains Prime Minister, joined in a coalition government by other smaller leftist parties and the Communists.
Wednesday, September 3rd, 1980: A BBC report on former President Agnew’s visit to Israel and Qatar airs, raising speculation about the impeached 38th President’s activities in the Middle East. Agnew continues to insist that his meeting with the Qatari Emir was a social call, and that photographs published in the Iraqi media showing him meeting the country’s foreign minister were purely “coincidental.”  When pressed on the story, White House Press Secretary Lynn Nofzinger insists that the President and his administration were not involved in or had any awareness of Mr. Agnew’s activities.
Thursday, September 4th, 1980: Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Senator Jerry Litton (D-MO) calls upon Attorney General William French Smith to appoint a special counsel to investigate the alleged violations of the Logan Act on the part of former President Agnew. The Justice Department does not initially respond to Litton's demand.
Saturday, September 6th, 1980: Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the exiled former head of the Saudi Arabian secret service is assassinated in Paris by Wahhabi radicals.

The Israeli government passes a law banning flights by El-Al, the national airline on Saturdays (the Jewish Sabbath). Another Sabbath law is debated in the Knesset, which would prohibit the flying of foreign flags in Israel on the Sabbath and requires foreigners, including tourists, to remain in their lodgings or hotels from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday fails to pass.

Edward Gierek survives an attempt to depose him by Politburo member Stanislaw Kania and Polish Defense Minister General Wojciech Jaruzelski. Gierek, with the aid of Military Security Chief General Czeslaw Kiszczak, retains nominal control of the government, although Kiszczak increasingly becomes the strongman behind the scenes as the martial law regime plays out. Kania and Jaruzelski are jailed, along with Jaruzelski allies Generals Florian Siwicki and Michal Janiszewski. General Joseph Uzycki, previously a colonel loyal to Kiszczak is promoted and becomes commander of the Polish military forces (and Kiszczak's right hand).
Monday, September 8th, 1980: Ahead of the first presidential debate, and perhaps wanting to get out under the shadow of divisive Democratic convention, Governor Carey charges that President Reagan has been using Spiro Agnew as an intermediary to hold secret backchannel talks with the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein as part of an effort to keep gasoline prices low through the election. President Reagan angrily denies the accusations, and accuses the Democrats of "looking backwards"  in order to "distract" the electorate from his administration's successes.
Wednesday, September 10th, 1980: The Israeli government passes a bill which funds the increase in the number of Jewish settlements in the Sinai. This is seen as a precursor of annexation of that region by Israel. At the same time Israel has been driving Palestinians out of Gaza and toward enclosed areas within the Sinai region. Opponents call this scheme “the Warsaw Ghetto in the desert”, a term which infuriates Menachem Begin who becomes ever more resolute in his design to make Sinai a part of Israel. This act effectively ends Secretary Brzezinski’s efforts to mediate a peace agreement between the two.
Thursday, September 11th, 1980: The DuPont Company announced the closure of one of its plants in Derry with the resultant loss of 400 jobs, citing the ongoing violence and poor economic climate in Northern Ireland as their reasoning.
Friday, September 12th, 1980: The eighth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly opens in New York. Over the next three days, the delegates debate the ongoing situation in Poland, where martial law has been declared as rumors of a Soviet intervention swirl around the UN headquarters in New York. Led by Secretary of State Kirkpatrick, members were requested to consider sanctions against the USSR and Poland for the imposition of martial law in Poland (and the Soviet Union's failure to call for the Polish government to reverse its decision).

The USSR veto of a resolution led the other members to invoke the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution to defer the issue to the General Assembly in an emergency special session. It was the sixth emergency special session since the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution was adopted in 1950. The session was dominated by questions of its legitimacy since the Polish Communist government representative represented a martial law government being used to put down the Polish people who were calling for more freedoms. The session rejected the Polish (Communist) government argument (supported by the Soviet delegate) that martial law had been necessary in the interests of stability after a general strike had crippled the Polish economy that summer.

The U.S., Britain, and France each denounced the martial law as unlawful and an attack by the Polish government on its people, and called on the Soviets to use their leverage over the Warsaw government to end the martial law regime, which was fashioned into the resolution from the General Assembly, which also called for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of troops from Poland's streets, so that its people could freely choose its own economic, political and social systems. The Soviet Union and its allies, including the Polish representative, denounced the special session as “a provocation” and “an unwarranted intrusion into the internal affairs of the Polish sovereign state.”
Sunday, September 14th, 1980: Senator Henry Jackson (D-WA) warns in an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation that the Soviet Union is “willing and ready” to “march into Poland” as part of an effort to stabilize their client regimes, citing the precedent set by Leonid Brezhnev in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Jackson’s remarks do not sit well with Governor Carey, who is attempting to keep the presidential race centered around the economic situation.
Tuesday, September 16th, 1980: Polish security troops enter the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, to remove the last of the “Polish Summer” strikers. They are met with violent resistance and general mayhem ensues before the security forces put down the revolt. Casualties are not published but are estimated to be around 2,000.
Wednesday, September 17th, 1980: Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is assassinated in an ambush on his motorcade in Managua, Nicaragua. He is succeeded by Vice President Fernando Bernabé Agüero Rocha. The culprits are discovered to be Irish Republican mercenaries (and one South Vietnamese Catholic). Their actual employer is not uncovered, but it appears that the PIRA are hiring out some of their members in order make money for the organization.   
Thursday, September 18th, 1980: Premier Levesque calls a provincial election to secure a mandate for separation talks with Canada.
Friday, September 19th, 1980: Israeli Navy ships shell the coast of Turkish Northern Cyprus near an area where the PJO terrorists are believed to have embarked aboard a Cypriot ship for Israel. Later the same day two Israeli Missile boats, the INS Nitzachon and the INS Gur exchange fire with the USS John Young and USS O’Brien, after the Israeli boats tried to ward off the American patrols from intervening in their raid on Cyprus.
Sunday, September 21st, 1980: On NBC’s Meet the Press, Vice President Bush controversially states “read my lips – no new taxes.” This comment is seized upon by Governor Carey and Senator Litton, who argue that the nation’s budgetary tightness and slower than expected economic recovery can be pinned on the Reagan tax cuts.
Monday, September 22nd, 1980: Youth riots in the capital of the Soviet Republic of Estonia are quickly put down.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 1980: The Carey campaign airs a controversial ad in several swing states that portrays an actor resembling Ronald Reagan pushing an old lady in a wheelchair off a cliff; the point of the ad is to portray the Reagan administration as being too willing to pursue economic austerity policies even in a time of economic depression. The controversial ad is the subject to much praise and criticism from varying corners of the press.
Thursday, September 25th, 1980: John Lennon, in an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show, hints at a Beatles reunion possibly taking place in 1981.
Friday, September 26th, 1980: The Mariel Boatlift officially ends. Fidel Castro has used the opportunity to clean-out his prisons, hospitals, and mental asylums to send criminals, the chronically ill and lunatics to the United States along with other assorted riff-raff from Cuban society (among some legitimate refugees). Castro also uses the occasion to send undercover DGI intelligence agents to the US.
Sunday, September 28th, 1980: On CBS’s Face the Nation, President Reagan responds for the first time to the recent Carey ads, which he dismisses as “fearmongering.” Reagan, who had made waves in his 1976 campaign for flirting with the possibility of privatizing Social Security, is pressed by host George Herman to commit to not cutting or privatizing Social Security, a position that Reagan attempts to deflect and dodge.
Monday, September 29th, 1980: The Washington Post publishes Janet Cooke's story of Jimmy, an 8-year-old heroin addict (later proven to be fabricated).
Tuesday, September 30th, 1980: Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.

Colonel Enrique Bermudez of the Nicaraguan National Guard stages a coup which ousts President Agüero Rocha from office and replaces him with a military junta led by Bermudez, Adolfo Calero and José Aristides Sánchez Herdocia. Adolfo Calero becomes the civilian President of Nicaragua, while Bermudez becomes Chief of Staff of the National Guard.

New polling is released ahead of the upcoming presidential debates.

1980 Presidential Election (Gallup).
(D) Carey/Litton: 52%
(R) Reagan/Bush: 40%
Undecided/Other: 4%
(L) Paul/Clark: 3%
(E) Commoner/Nader: 1%
More tomorrow.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

So the original plan, which I shelved, restored, then shelved again, had Kennedy winning the nomination and Presidency only to end up in a coma after being shot by Hinckley in 1981. Acting President Scoop Jackson leads the country through his own death in 1983 from an aneurism following a major crisis between the USSR and USA, leading to Speaker Trent Lott becoming President. But I wasn't sure how to handle events between 1985-1989, so I went with a different direction.

You may notice some similarities to Bicentennial Man. Like KingSweden's epic timeline on AH.com, the goal was to have a Democratic 1980s that dramatically alters America's economic and political history. But killing off Kennedy and Jackson seemed a bit much, so I decided to go for a quieter 1980s in the United States. I don't think the system would survive into the present day if I went down the original route.

The timeline will still have a lot of international upheaval and chaos, but the United States and its democracy will survive in tact (at least as of the present day!)

[username5243]

So the original plan, which I shelved, restored, then shelved again, had Kennedy winning the nomination and Presidency only to end up in a coma after being shot by Hinckley in 1981. Acting President Scoop Jackson leads the country through his own death in 1983 from an aneurism following a major crisis between the USSR and USA, leading to Speaker Trent Lott becoming President. But I wasn't sure how to handle events between 1985-1989, so I went with a different direction.

You may notice some similarities to Bicentennial Man. Like KingSweden's epic timeline on AH.com, the goal was to have a Democratic 1980s that dramatically alters America's economic and political history. But killing off Kennedy and Jackson seemed a bit much, so I decided to go for a quieter 1980s in the United States. I don't think the system would survive into the present day if I went down the original route.

The timeline will still have a lot of international upheaval and chaos, but the United States and its democracy will survive in tact (at least as of the present day!)

Okay, good to know American democracy will survive at least for the next while.

I do wonder what'll happen to old Spiro after Reagan's (presumed) exit, will his show on not!Fox News go past 1980 here?

And as for the Soviets I do wonder what their long-term fate will be or if any of the reforms implied in Rumsfeldia will happen here.

I do hope we do get less "total chaos" zones overall - I don't know if the disintegration of India will still happen here. And I still don't quite get what Drew had in mind when he started breaking up Brazil for no apparent reason...

[Lumine]

Having stumbled into Dialogue with Litton while doing research for the 72' game, I must confess I'm deeply impressed by the man. He really gives the vibe that he would have gotten really far had fate not intervened so cruelly, and it's interesting to see him reach the VP spot here.

[anbarret]

So the original plan, which I shelved, restored, then shelved again, had Kennedy winning the nomination and Presidency only to end up in a coma after being shot by Hinckley in 1981. Acting President Scoop Jackson leads the country through his own death in 1983 from an aneurism following a major crisis between the USSR and USA, leading to Speaker Trent Lott becoming President. But I wasn't sure how to handle events between 1985-1989, so I went with a different direction.

You may notice some similarities to Bicentennial Man. Like KingSweden's epic timeline on AH.com, the goal was to have a Democratic 1980s that dramatically alters America's economic and political history. But killing off Kennedy and Jackson seemed a bit much, so I decided to go for a quieter 1980s in the United States. I don't think the system would survive into the present day if I went down the original route.

The timeline will still have a lot of international upheaval and chaos, but the United States and its democracy will survive in tact (at least as of the present day!)

A quieter 1980s will arguably make certain issues become dormant and leave room for more chaotic decades ahead.

I do think the idea of both Ted Kennedy and Henry Jackson dying in office would be an interesting plot device.

[anbarret]

So the original plan, which I shelved, restored, then shelved again, had Kennedy winning the nomination and Presidency only to end up in a coma after being shot by Hinckley in 1981. Acting President Scoop Jackson leads the country through his own death in 1983 from an aneurism following a major crisis between the USSR and USA, leading to Speaker Trent Lott becoming President. But I wasn't sure how to handle events between 1985-1989, so I went with a different direction.

You may notice some similarities to Bicentennial Man. Like KingSweden's epic timeline on AH.com, the goal was to have a Democratic 1980s that dramatically alters America's economic and political history. But killing off Kennedy and Jackson seemed a bit much, so I decided to go for a quieter 1980s in the United States. I don't think the system would survive into the present day if I went down the original route.

The timeline will still have a lot of international upheaval and chaos, but the United States and its democracy will survive in tact (at least as of the present day!)

Okay, good to know American democracy will survive at least for the next while.

I do wonder what'll happen to old Spiro after Reagan's (presumed) exit, will his show on not!Fox News go past 1980 here?

And as for the Soviets I do wonder what their long-term fate will be or if any of the reforms implied in Rumsfeldia will happen here.

I do hope we do get less "total chaos" zones overall - I don't know if the disintegration of India will still happen here. And I still don't quite get what Drew had in mind when he started breaking up Brazil for no apparent reason...

I wonder if it will nevertheless take longer for the two main American parties to settle into their geographic "bases" of OTL 2000. Keep in mind that as late as the two Bill Clinton elections, a Democrat could still win Deep South states like Louisiana and Arkansas. Meanwhile, New England and the Far West used to be GOP strongholds.

[anbarret]

If many parts of the world (especially South Asia) descend into chaos zones, I can see the growth of nativist parties decades in developed countries decades  earlier than OTL.

In addition, I can see some interesting pre-PC sitcoms develop on the misadventures of refugees adapting to their new homes.