The Zen Presidency of Jerry Brown

[Sec. of State Superique]

The Zen Presidency of Jerry Brown
Protect the Earth, Serve the People and Explore the Space


President of the United States (January 20,1981 to January 20,1989)

Summary:
Introduction
Preface: The 1976 Election

Introduction

The skepticism of traditional historians on working the process of developing Alternative History is one of the most saddening facts in our lifetime. The creation of other futures and the development of facts that would never happen in real life may seem a little bit childish, unscientific and unprofessional but once a greater look under this process is taken, it can be easily noticed that Alternative History can provide a lot of goodies for human societies. Dealing with matters of parallel universe thinking is an useful exercise to take a closer look on diverging beliefs from human societies and it also allow us to took a more critical looking in historical personalities. Furthermore, it enables us to better analyze the context where decisions are made and it helps us to recognize that although some of them maybe unpopular, they were in fact the right policies.

Although Alternative History will never provide us with clear answers and conclusions, it can propel debate about important historical facts; it can question the effectiveness of some policies that were introduced in the last eras and it can bust myths that were created under the popular imaginary. In the United States, for example, it’s not very uncommon we find out people overestimating the Reagan Years and underestimating the policies approach taken by the Presidency of Jimmy Carter. Alternative History thinking can show more clearly for us the significant differences between public perception and the real effectiveness of the measures taken. Would Reagan measures pointed out by himself during the 1980 Campaign be better for the country than what Carter stood for during the mid 70s? All of this can be thought with Alternative History and although not providing clear answers, it help us to think more critically about the political forces of America during that time. This novel that you are about to read is mainly interested on focusing about a fictional Jerry Brown’s Presidency (for the writer’s pleasure) but it also wants to discuss about a possible Reagan Presidency that would start on January 1st of 1977.

[badgate]

Count me in!

[Sec. of State Superique]

Preface – The 1976 Election

The Republican Primaries - Part I:

After the terrible days of Watergate, President Gerald Ford was still recovering from the pardoning of Richard Nixon and from the difficulties of his government. Conservatives saw the fall of Saigon, the Helsinki Accords and SALT as a treason movement inside the White House and there were many prospects that former Governor of California and Hollywood Actor Ronald Reagan would beat him in the Primaries.  At the beginning of 1975, President had no idea that both a Conservative Republican and a Liberal Republican would challenge him. While Ford himself was not loved by the conservative faction of his party, he saw as a real threat to his election a liberal republican challenging him.

Reagan calls for true compromise with fiscal responsibility and strong foreign policy.

 In November of 1975, Reagan announced his willingness to run for President.  The old but fresh former Governor of California stood for strong foreign policy and a hawkish fiscal policy. He called for a balanced budget, saying that government was the “sole responsible for inflation, and advocated for state rights. The actor insisted that making Medicare and other welfare programs become state programs would bring 90 billion on savings and told that the years of “Ford’s fiscal irresponsibility” would be gone if he was elected.

Mathias was alarmed by the current "Conservative Trend" of his own party

In October of the same year, Senator Charles Mathias, the liberal congressman of Maryland, announced a challenge for President’s Gerald Ford. Citing the increased conservative trends of the Republican Party and Ford’s intentions to keep it up moving on that direction, Mathias justified his bid as an attempt to bring back the Republican Party to the center and to impede an excessive radical platform for the party during the year of the General Election. Mathias got the early support from moderate-to-liberal leadership of the Republican Party, like Edward Brooke and Lowell P. Weicker.

  Ironically, the Republican Primaries started to look like the Democratic Primaries of 1968. The Iowa Caucus was especially difficult for the President; he had a narrow win getting 42,57% of votes, while Reagan and Mathias won 40,15% and 9,38% respectively. The Caucus was seen as a win of Ford’s Opponents, there were even inside advisors claiming that Gerald was a little bit disappointed about its own results.

At New Hampshire, it was the turning point of Ford’s bid. Mathias worked hard on the state, campaign with his friend Lowell Weicker, Senator from Connecticut. The two promoted what they called a “new and more moderate Republican Party and in touch with people demands”.  With opposition of the two sides of the aisle, the President lost the Granite State. Reagan got 43,38% of the votes while Ford got 35,43% and Mathias polled strongly in the state where he was able to garner 20,58%. The political analysts called President Ford’s waterloo but he did not gave up at that moment, he still wanted to see the results of Vermont and Massachusetts.

The Republican Map:

February 27th of 1980 at Gerald Ford’s Presidential Campaign Headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

Gerald: You know folks; I called you here because things are really not that good. That goddamn Goldwateresque governor from California and this democratic senator in Republican covers are destroying our path to the nomination. Each day that passes, we are seeing more and more criticism about our Presidency and it’s really hard to find a way of doing any good policy without the Conservative or the Liberal factions of this part start to criticize me!

Chief of Staff Richard Cheney:  Mr. President, we still have very good prospects and it’s highly possible that we can win this nomination and then the general. We wait the National Convention and we make a deal with whoever got more delegates, all you have to do is keep it up at the center.

Gerald: I know Richard, but we really need to see what’s going to happen in Massachusetts and Vermont. If I loose one of them, I’m over with it, I’m telling you, I can’t be like a ing idiot just waiting to a party that don’t like me vote for me.

Chairman Howard Callaway: But Gerald. I believe that you are being too pessimistic! I’m telling you that you can win this, just keep it up with your convictions and you will see the great results come for us in November!

Gerald: I have a whole terrible feeling about this campaign Howard. I have just this feeling that this election will doom my political life. It’s just a feeling but let’s see what happens…

Chairman Howard Callaway: See you tomorrow. We are going to discuss our agenda inside the state and a little bit about how to address the issue of Foreign Policy. See you tomorrow Jerry?

Gerald: See you “Bo”!

[Brewer]

Yes! Yes! Yes!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Am reading.

[Sec. of State Superique]

The Democratic Primaries – Part I:

After Watergate and the innumerous failures of the Republican Party in the White House, many Democrats believed that whoever won the primaries would be considered the winner of the General Election. The difficult way that President Ford saw ahead of him stressed this feeling on the Democratic Camp and it was with no surprise that many names appeared to be chosen as the Democratic Nominee. The biggest announcements were from Washington Senator Henry Scoop Jackson, Arizona Senator Morris Udall, Indiana Senator Birch Bayh and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. However, some other contenders appeared as well such as Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris, Sargent Shriver, Robert Bird and the well-known Governor of Alabama, the crazy segregationist George Wallace.

The new liberal, the centrist and the traditional democrat

The primaries were set to be a chaotic conflict with different factions of the same party trying to get the nomination. It was in fact a battle between the old-liberalism of Scoop and the new liberalism of Udall, or what McGovern would call as the “New Politics”. There were however some minor factions on the fight that was soon to happen, Mr. Bentsen was playing the “centrist gentleman” and George Wallace kept his Dixiecrat ways, both were counting on the South to get the nomination. Birch Bay had a strong appeal with liberal voters and organized labor but after joining in the process only in October, he was poorly organized. With this crowded field many important but still young or less well known politicians decided not to run, such as the Governor of California Jerry Brown and DNC Chairman and Former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter.

Announcing in July of 1975 and eating ice-creams, Udall was rising in the pools despite not being front-runner!

“One day in 1975, I guess it was almost Christmas, I remember calling to my dad and saying, “Dad, I’m running for President, what do you think?” he clearly didn’t like the idea but he gave me an answer that I couldn’t just disagree with it.  He said, “No, you are not. Just take a look at this primaries, you may win some with your fresh new age looking but you have just two years as Governor. No way you are winning this Jerry!” Those were pretty strong words at that time but they were pretty useful in the long run.  I didn’t use to hear my Dad but he was really nervous and he was right at that time. Not campaigning in 1976, would actually pave my way a greater political success.” – The Memories of Moonbeam, an autobiography by Jerry Brown – 2000

“Thanksgiving of 1975. Right after dinner, I was seated with my wife, Rosalynn, in the couch and I asked her, “What do you think about the White House, honey?” She looked with disbelief to me, laughed a little and said “It’s a great place but clearly it’s not the place for you yet!” I was impressed by Rosalynn’s reaction “yet? Why yet?”; while arranging herself in the couch  she said “We’ve got Scoop, Bentsen, Udall, Wallace, Shriver, Harris. Where’s the place for a governor of Georgia? Really Jimmy, wait for 1980, it will be your time!” I laughed and gave up of the idea of running at that time, eyeing the Senatorial Seat of 1978, that wasn’t from Sam Nunn anymore, then Governor.” – How to lead a party? Being the Democratic Chairman in the 70s by Jimmy Carter – 1983.

The Early Developments:

Henry M. Jackson - Called for a return to the old days of Liberalism: Strong Foreign Policy and Domestic Policy for the Common Man

At a first moment, the clear front-runner was Scoop. The strong and inspiring Senator from Washington was seen as the successor of Truman and LBJ, advocating for “fairness to the common man” in Domestic Policy and for “fighting for freedom and democracy” with hawkish stances on Foreign Policy. With Hubert Humphrey announcing in January of 1976 that he would not run for President and Birch Bay poor organization, Scoop was able to build part of the traditional coalition that existed since the New Deal, he got the support of middle aged man from urban areas, he got a strong support from the Catholic Vote and he had the backing of many AFL-CIO leaders ( that treated with disbelief the sorts of the Southern and Western candidates that were running at that time and that have had some contradictory records in the past). However, this was not the sixties anymore and he would face the same new coalition that ended up putting McGovern at the top of the ticket in 1972. While Bentsen and Wallace threatened Scoop’s prospects of having a more regional diverse basis, it was Mo Udall, the one-term Senator of Arizona, which would make things difficult for Jackson and represented a clear challenge for his nomination.

The primaries season started very shaky, with ups and downs of most of the Democratic contenders. Following the path of McGovern, Udall worked on grassroots of liberal supporters in the Iowa Caucus and managed to win the “American Heartland”. The win in Iowa ended up the euphoria of Scoop supporters and provided momentum for Udall’s bid that already had good numbers in Iowa but not so strong numbers nationally. Bentsen and Wallace were clearly losers in the election night, with Fred Harris quixotic race getting a close forth place with Bayh.

Iowa Caucus:

Morris Udall – 25.72%
Henry Scoop Jackson – 19.54%
Birch Bayh – 17.41%
Fred Harris – 16.95%
Lloyd Bentsen – 10.47%
George Wallace – 6.11%
Sargent Shriver – 3.8%

 Then, New England was the chance of the Senator from Washington recovers from his first defeat. After a tough and close challenge, Scoop managed to win, but Udall was clearly winning ground. The bold Arizonan told reporters that he was the “comeback folk” and that he was going after the “Hawk of Washington”. One day after the New Hampshire Primary and getting a disappointing forth place, Birch Bay withdrew from the race and endorsed Scoop for President.  Harris was the big surprise of the night, saying that his was building a “libertarian-progressive coalition”.

New Hampshire Primary:

Scoop – 26.47%
Udall – 26.23%
Harris – 17.89%
Bayh – 10.45%
Shriver – 9.8%
Uncommitted – 7,86%
Wallace – 1.3%
Bentsen – Not contested

Massachusetts saw a great showing of Udall and Scoop started to fear more significantly Udall and his other contenders. Vermont, however, was a relief in that same day of March 2nd, Scoop coming at first and, with Udall’s decision not to contest the state, big surprises of the night with Shriver being almost tied with Harris in the second place.

Vermont Primary:
Scoop Jackson – 40.3%
Sargent Shriver – 28.94%
Fred Harris – 24.23%
Lloyd Bentsen – 6.53%

Fred Harris started to make strong showings mixing libertarianism and liberalism to get young voters. Udall had some fears about his campaign, but not so much.

Massachusetts Primary:
Mo Udall - 23.58%
Scoop Jackson – 20.91%
Lloyd Bentsen – 17.43%
George Wallace – 12.35%
Fred Harris – 12.54%
Sargent Shriver – 8,55%
Uncomitted – 4,64%

With Udall and Jackson having a clear regional disadvantage in Florida, it was the chance of Bentsen and Wallace to use their power in the south to get back in the race. Bentsen was trailing in polls and did not have so much support but would get a bump when Senator Albert Gore Sr. and Former Governor Albert Brewer made a joint statement endorsing Bentsen, “calling him a fresh and important face of moderation in the Democratic Party”, and criticizing Wallace, calling him “an obsessed racist that has no purpose for this nation other than fighting for Jim Crow”. The event was nicknamed by the media as the “The Wallace-bashing-day” and later in life Bentsen would say, “those guys didn’t love me at all, but they hated Wallace and his Dixiecrat friends.”

"Do you believe that George Wallace is a trustable man?"

Florida Primary:

Lloyd Bentsen – 33.47%
George Wallace – 27.86%
Scoop Jackson – 22.72%
Morris Udall – 15.95%

As a result, Wallace lost the primary and would find a hard time to gain ground while Bentsen used this whole situation to nominate himself “as the true face of southern Democrats.”The stage was set and the fight would get even more difficult as the time passed and many surprises were still ahead to come.

The Map

Senator from Washington, Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson - 2 states
Senator from Arizona,  Morris "Mo" Udall - 2 states
Senator from Texas, LLoyd Bentsen - 1 state

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Go Reagan, Jackson, or Bentsen!

[Sec. of State Superique]

Go Reagan, Jackson, or Bentsen!

Enjoying it?

[Sec. of State Superique]

I forgot some of the Caucus, so here it's an update:

The Democratic Primaries and Caucus

Senator from Washington, Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson - 4 states
Senator from Arizona,  Morris "Mo" Udall - 4 states
Governor from Alabama, George Wallace - 2 states
Senator from Texas, Lloyd Bentsen - 1 state
Fmr. Senator from Oklahoma, Fred Harris - 1 state