Five Decades of Fear & Loathing

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Wednesday, August 1st, 1979: An initiative by Senator Edward Kennedy and Governor Hugh Carey of New York to stop the sale of arms to the RUC by US manufacturers is undercut when the Reagan administration green-lights the sale. The aim of Kennedy and Carey and other of their supporters had been to try to bring pressure on the British government to reach a settlement in the Northern Ireland conflict. President Reagan and Secretary of State Kirkpatrick however had sided with the British, who had placed the order for the RUC, and in so doing had continued the US official policy of not interfering with Britain’s policies in the conflict.
Friday, August 3rd, 1979: French troops are mobilized along the border between France and Spain to prevent incursions from Spain and to add extra protection to the land border. French air force jets no fly into border areas, keeping Spanish and Portuguese air force jets away from the French border.

A coup in Equatorial Guinea is launched against erratic President Francisco Macias Nguema; the army, backed by Cuban troops based in the country, take control of the capital as Nguema flees with much of the national treasury packed into suitcases. The army declares his nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the new President of Equatorial Guinea.
Saturday, August 4th, 1979: The infamous “Bad Brother” operation begins in Khartoum, Sudan. A senior Iraqi General, Mushad al-Quami, tries to defect to the Americans, by entering the U.S. Embassy and asking to see the CIA station chief. While he waits, an American man approaches him, tells him to leave the Embassy, and meet him and his associates at another part of town.

General al-Quami leaves the Embassy, to the puzzlement of the local staff. He meets his CIA contacts at a food packing plant in Khartoum and agrees to spy for the United States inside the Iraqi regime.

What al-Quami doesn’t realize at the time is that the CIA officers who diverted him are in fact Israeli Mossad who have taken over the General as an agent in a “false flag” recruitment. The U.S. Embassy is not aware of what happened, so the brief encounter with al-Quami is never properly reported to the U.S. intelligence authorities.

The recruiter who sat down beside al-Quami in the Embassy waiting area and spoke with him briefly is a Mr. Walter Parton, a businessman from Wilmington, Delaware who proceeds to his scheduled meeting with the Trade Counsel to discuss export opportunities – and thus not arousing suspicion at the time. (The real Walter Parton is tracked down years later in Wilmington and found to be truck driver whose identity was appropriated: most importantly the real Parton had never applied for a passport in his life).

The Israelis had been watching al-Quami, who was in Sudan supposedly on a military assistance mission and had worked out that he was planning a discreet visit to the U.S. Embassy during his stay. Six Walter Parton type figures (three, including Parton, used U.S. identities, two used British identities and one used a Canadian identity) had appointments with assorted officials at the U.S. Embassy, so that the Israelis had coverage for intercepting al-Quami when he decided to drop in.
Sunday, August 5th, 1979: As the Spanish war bogs down into a stalemate, and the United States and Soviet Union continue to warily circle one another at sea.  There are several risings by leftists in Spain led by anti-fascist elements. The Spanish government is now forced to deal with an insurrectional element that is starting an urban guerrilla war in its rear.

The Moroccan military invades Mauritania on the orders of King Hassan II, striking several Polisario Front bases near the border with the disputed region of Western Sahara. The Mauritanian military is unable to rally and counterattack in time to defend their territory, and are quickly routed by the better equipped and larger sized attacking force.
Monday, August 6th, 1979: An MEK taskforce successfully detonates three bombs at Iran’s Bandar Abbas oil processing facility, causing a massive, uncontrollable fire that damages Iran’s oil exporting capability. There is a slight uptick in the global price of oil due to the attack. Combined with the Arabian oil moratorium and the Venezuelan insurgency, the price of oil goes up even higher to a new record price of $75 per barrel.
Tuesday, August 7th, 1979: The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting is held in Lusaka, Zambia. Hosted by President Kenneth Kuanda, the Commonwealth of Nations agrees collectively to take an even harder line against Rhodesia and South Africa. Prime Minister Dennis Healey’s government agrees to back up Kuanda’s efforts to isolate the Apartheid regime in South Africa internationally, but his attempts to persuade the Reagan administration to divest itself militarily from South Africa fell on deaf ears.
Wednesday, August 8th, 1979: President Reagan announces that he is weighing opening up the nation’s emergency petroleum reserves to alleviate prices at the pump. Though critics insist that the move is politically motivated to help the President’s reelection efforts, the Reagan administration insists that the move is necessary to keep the economy moving.
Friday, August 10th, 1979: Michael Jackson’s breakthrough album Off the Wall debuts, selling seven million copies to become the young singer’s first platinum album.
Saturday, August 11th, 1979: The 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision occurred on 11 August 1979 when two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collided over the Ukrainian SSR, near Dniprodzerzhynsk. All aboard both aircraft were killed. The Head of Ukrainian civil aviation was removed from his post and later shot over this incident.
Monday, August 13th, 1979: The two Soyuz 32 Cosmonauts return to Earth on the Soyuz 34 capsule. Their mission lasted 175 days, a new endurance record surpassing the 139-day mission by the Soyuz 29 crew in 1978. Both Cosmonauts had some trouble speaking for a time after landing, Lyakhov lost 5.5 kg during the flight (Ryumin's weight was the same) and both experienced a 20 per cent reduction in lower leg volume. They recovered in seven days, several days faster than expected.
Tuesday, August 14th, 1979: Abuna Theophilos, the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, is released by the ruling military junta from imprisonment after two years in custody. The decision to release the Orthodox patriarch was partially due to the Ethiopian regime’s westward reorientation and was intended to appease the nations which provide the bulk of the country’s foreign aid.
Wednesday, August 15th, 1979: Apocalypse Now premiers in theaters nationwide. The controversial Vietnam War movie becomes one of the biggest blockbusters of the year and is widely praised by reviews.
Friday, August 16th, 1979: Former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker dies at 83.
Sunday, August 18th, 1979: President al-Gamsay of Egypt visits Moscow in order to solicit military assistance and aid. He also wants supplemental training by the KGB for his internal security forces. The Soviets are weary of Egypt, given the 1975 decision by then President Sadat to evict the Soviet military from the country. President al-Gamsay is able to convince the Soviets to provide limited technical support, which alarms the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
Tuesday, August 20th, 1979: Former Congressman Ron Paul (L-TX) addresses a large rally in Galveston, Texas, on his 44th birthday. The growing support for Paul’s candidacy has been an alarming sign for the Reagan campaign, who fear that even a 1% showing in the popular vote for Congressman Paul could be a threat to the President’s reelection in what is anticipated to be another tight election.
Thursday, August 22nd, 1979: Terence Boston, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, rejected a proposal that Hugh Carey, then Governor of New York, should chair talks in New York between Boston and Patrick Cooney, then Irish Foreign Minister.
Friday, August 23rd, 1979: Senators Jerry Brown (D-CA), Frank Church (D-ID), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Henry Jackson (D-WA), Walter Mondale (D-MN), former Governors Reubin Askew (D-FL), Henry Howell (D-VA), and the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson debate each other in the first ever televised primary debate. Anchored by Barbara Walters of ABC News, the debate is widely watched, with focus groups afterwards pinning Governor Askew as the strongest candidate on the stage.
Sunday, August 25th, 1979: In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, President Reagan states that he will not debate Lowell Weicker ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Reagan argues that his “record speaks for itself” and claims to have the near unanimous support of the Republican Party.
Monday, August 26th, 1979: An effort to assassinate Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma (the King’s uncle) by certain members of the IRB is foiled when the Irish Gardia intervene and defuse a bomb aboard Lord Mountbatten’s fishing boat. (Earl Mountbatten was in County Sligo in the Republic at the time). Apparently, the PIRA and Sinn Fein arranged the tip-off to the Irish police. In a latter statement the PIRA noted that “almost killing one royal didn’t do much good” and “killing another will only hurt the people.” The PIRA statement also referred to the irresponsible action of “hot-heads” who “think with their rifles and bombs instead of their heads,” an obvious swipe at their break-away cadres who formed the IRB.
Wednesday, August 28th, 1979: A national referendum is held in which Ethiopian voters approve a new liberal constitution, promulgated by President Aman Mikael Andom to placate the United States.
Thursday, August 29th, 1979: Pope Pius XIII announces he will visit Armagh, Northern Ireland, as part of his scheduled visit to Ireland in September. The British government agrees to allow the Pope’s visit, and arranges for heavy security to keep radical unionists from targeting the Pontiff in revenge for the attack on the Queen in 1976.
Friday, August 30th, 1979: As a part of Prime Minister Healey’s consultations a decision was taken by the British government to increase the size of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) by 1,000 officers to 7,500. This reflected a continuation of the policy of 'Ulsterisation' or 'police primacy'. There was some continuing friction between the British Army (BA) and the RUC over this policy.

New Gallup polling is released as the presidential primaries grow nearer.

1980 Democratic Primaries (Nationwide).
Ted Kennedy: 40%
Reubin Askew: 21%
Jerry Brown: 13%
Jesse Jackson: 12%
Pat Robertson: 6%
Walter Mondale: 2%
Henry Jackson: 1%
Frank Church: 1%
Cliff Finch: 1%
Henry Howell: 1%
Lyndon LaRouche: 1%

1980 Republican Primaries (Nationwide).
Ronald Reagan: 90%
Lowell Weicker: 9%
Harold Stassen: 1%

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I see the Arabian Caliphate is rapidly giving Red China a run for its money as the most insane regime on the planet. Although the excesses of the latter do appear to have been toned down compared to Drew's version - I do wonder if we'll get more of a look at that once the younger Mao falls from power.

Speaking of rather insane regimes: Is Idi Amin still in power? He was out of power by this point OTL.

I do plan on expanding a bit on the internal situation in China. It's not quite as desperate it Drew's version, more in line with North Korea than Pol Pot's Cambodia, but unlike the Kims (who survive in this ATL), Mao Yuanxin has already squandered his good will amongst the army leadership that has survived his numerous purges. You'll see some major flashpoints involving China in the next couple of updates, actually.

As for Idi Amin, yes, he is still in power, and will get even crazier in the coming years. I have a plan up for him through 1987, though none of it has been written beyond 1980.

[username5243]

I see the Arabian Caliphate is rapidly giving Red China a run for its money as the most insane regime on the planet. Although the excesses of the latter do appear to have been toned down compared to Drew's version - I do wonder if we'll get more of a look at that once the younger Mao falls from power.

Speaking of rather insane regimes: Is Idi Amin still in power? He was out of power by this point OTL.

I do plan on expanding a bit on the internal situation in China. It's not quite as desperate it Drew's version, more in line with North Korea than Pol Pot's Cambodia, but unlike the Kims (who survive in this ATL), Mao Yuanxin has already squandered his good will amongst the army leadership that has survived his numerous purges. You'll see some major flashpoints involving China in the next couple of updates, actually.

As for Idi Amin, yes, he is still in power, and will get even crazier in the coming years. I have a plan up for him through 1987, though none of it has been written beyond 1980.

Oh, yes. I know exactly what the original had coming up. This and a few other bits in the next couple months from the update you just posted were what I had in mind when I talked about the climactic moments of the original thread. Not that the de-facto proxy war in Iberia isn't already making things plenty tense already

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Since we're almost through the first ten year block of the timeline, I thought I'd do a "where are they now" type thing. Name any political figure, dictator, musician, actor, actress, author, etc, and I'll try and write out a little paragraph or two explaining how the alternate universe has effected them.

I'll start with some dictators, and even drop a spoiler or two to paint a picture of the ATL world of 2024 in this timeline.

Fidel Castro: Fidel is at the peak of his power, and is the leader of a bloc within a bloc of sorts. Along with the Portuguese duo of Goncalves and Cunhal, Castro leads the third world bloc of socialist countries under Soviet influence, and often acts on Moscow's behalf to give the Kremlin plausible deniability. This includes arming third world liberation groups in Africa, giving shelter to plane hijackers, funding urban guerilla movements in Latin America, and supporting smaller socialist regimes like Benin, pre-invasion Panama, etc.

Kim Il Sung: Having survived a 1973 coup attempt sponsored by Moscow, the Kims initially drew closer to the Chinese over the course of 1974, only to revert back to the good graces of the Russians after Suslov forced out Brezhnev. After purging his party and army of enemies over the course of 1974-1979, and having built his cult of personality to newer and grander heights than any spare for that of Chairman Mao the Elder and Younger, is grooming his sons to succeed him. The question as to which son succeeds him will be answered in the 1980s.

Mao Zedong: Unlike the original timeline, the influence of the elder Mao does not wane after 1973, and he remains the leader of China, nominally, to his death in 1976. His last three years see him sidelined by health problems, and this leads to a more realistic and slower rise of Mao Yuanxin to power.

Mao Yuanxin: Stay tuned!

Saddam Hussein: Saddam is freshly in power. In the original timeline, Wallace knocks him out by informing Al Bakr of his treasonous activity behind the scenes, and he is rather unceremoniously tortured, purged, tried, and hanged. Without spoiling too far ahead, I plan on Saddam surviving through 2011, with Iraq becoming this timeline's version of Syria by that point. But none of it is written out, just planned in my head.

Nicolae Ceausescu: The Romanian tyrant will survive 1989, without giving out too much detail as to whether the rest of the Eastern Bloc holds or not. By 2024, Romania could be the North Korea of Europe under his son and ideal successor, or it could be just another Stalinist hellhole behind the Iron Curtain. Time will tell!

Enver Hoxha: Will live until 1985, and while he will not survive any longer, Hoxhaism and his Stalinist regime will indeed last into the 2000s and perhaps beyond.

Idi Amin: The plan for Amin is to stay in power through 1987, when he gets caught up in the Great African War and is ultimately removed from power in a coup. He'll flee to Libya, where he'll die in exile in 2003 like OTL.

[username5243]

In the spirit of that first batch, what about Augusto Pinochet or any of the other South American military leaders from this time, such as Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner who lasted to 1989 OTL?

As for US politicians (at least as of 1979):

Gerald Ford
George W. Bush
Bill/Hillary Clinton
Al Gore (Jr)
Dick Cheney
Bob Dole

(Dan Quayle would've make this list, but he was unfortunate enough to get killed off in Jonestown a while back. Don't think that one was in the original, either.)

As for other things:

Is John Hinckley Jr. (Reagan's OTL attempted assassin) going to be known at all here?

What are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates up to here? I remember the computer industry was set back quite a bit in the original, although partly that was from Rumsfeldia's corporate backers ing up everything.

And are any of the OTL post-Mao leaders of the PRC still around or did some of them get purged?

I do have one more in the US political figure list I want to ask about, especially if you're teasing future plans, but I think I might hold off on that one until you get to the 1980 election results...

[Continential]

Osama bin Laden
Donald Trump
Billy Graham
Jerry Falwell
Yahweh ben Yahweh

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

In the spirit of that first batch, what about Augusto Pinochet or any of the other South American military leaders from this time, such as Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner who lasted to 1989 OTL?

As for US politicians (at least as of 1979):

Gerald Ford
George W. Bush
Bill/Hillary Clinton
Al Gore (Jr)
Dick Cheney
Bob Dole

(Dan Quayle would've make this list, but he was unfortunate enough to get killed off in Jonestown a while back. Don't think that one was in the original, either.)

As for other things:

Is John Hinckley Jr. (Reagan's OTL attempted assassin) going to be known at all here?

What are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates up to here? I remember the computer industry was set back quite a bit in the original, although partly that was from Rumsfeldia's corporate backers ing up everything.

And are any of the OTL post-Mao leaders of the PRC still around or did some of them get purged?

I do have one more in the US political figure list I want to ask about, especially if you're teasing future plans, but I think I might hold off on that one until you get to the 1980 election results...

Gerald Ford: After failing to win the Speakership repeatedly, Ford retired from Congress in 1979. He does not have any ambitions to run for higher office, nor will he agree to serve in any potential administration. He's probably invited on television a lot in the early 1980s to commentate on the Congress, but fades away into a comfortable and quiet retirement come 1985.

George W. Bush: After returning from Vietnam, Drew had George W. Bush become a popular actor. I think his war hero status would boost, rather than detract, from his political ambitions, and he runs unsuccessfully for Congress in 1978. After losing (and with a worse drinking problem fueled by some PTSD from the war), Bush is hoping to enter the oil industry in the 1980s, and has ambitions to one day buy a baseball team.

Bill/Hillary Clinton: I have big plans for the Clintons and won't reveal much, other than that Bill is presently the Senator from Arkansas elected in 1978, while Hillary is a rising lawyer in Washington. Bill is currently carrying on an affair with Gennifer Flowers, a staffer in his Senate office.

Al Gore: Al Gore, in this timeline, actually contributed to the invention of the internet through some of his legislation, and is considered a rising star within the Congress, to which he was elected in 1978. He may run for Senate at some point, likely in 1982 or 1984, depending on the environment.

Dick Cheney: Currently the Congressman for WY-AL, having worked for the Hughes Network as a corporate executive and lobbyist after being denied a job as Rumsfeld's Deputy at the Pentagon by other members of the Reagan administration.

Robert Dole: Currently the White House Chief of Staff, though he is considering a return to the politics in the 1980s after Reagan's administration ends. His wife Elizabeth, currently the Secretary of Commerce in this timeline, has hinted at an ambition to run for office herself in her native NC.

Osama Bin Laden: Currently a rising bombmaker and organizer for the Ikhwan, the jihadist armed forces of the Caliphate of Arabia. Iman Bandar has viewed him as a rising star within their ranks, one who can export the revolution to other Muslim majority countries.

Donald Trump: Big plans for Trump. I won't spoil when he runs, if he wins, or if he runs at all, but he's going to be stirring the pot in this one.

Billy Graham: Basically the same as real life. He's not running for anything, and has been somewhat critical of politicized evangelism, such as Robertson or Jackson.

Jerry Fallwell: Well, there won't be a Christian theocracy rising from Rumsfeldia, so Fallwell won't be part of the Rummyhorror. In this timeline, the Wallace verse Reagan race ensures that evangelicals are part of both party's coalitions, instead of becoming a reliably Republican electorate.

Yahweh ben Yahwho?

John Hinckley Jr: Shoots somebody. Won't reveal who or when.

Augusto Pinochet: Is riding high in Chile following the defeat of the Argentinians (which also of course butterflies away the Falklands War). I plan on him holding office well into the early 2000s if possible, but I have to do more research on Pinochet era Chile to determine what I do with him.

Alfredo Stroessner: Haven't given him too much thought. Good pick, because he is one of the more interesting of the right-wing military dictators of the period.

[Huey Long is a Republican]

Michael Flynn
John Kerry
Ed Markey
Barrack Obama
JFK Jr
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham
Mike Pence
Pat Buchanan

[Prez_zf]

I'm curious about the following:

RMN

Agnew

Ted Kennedy

George Romney

John Lindsay

John Connally

Rudy Giuliani

Mario Cuomo

Mitt Romney

Roy Cohn

Bernie Sanders

Jimmy Carter

Colin Powell

Barry Goldwater

Mo Udall

Nancy D'Alesandro

Paul Tsongas

Ed Brooke

George Wallace

Bob Dole

Bibi and Yoni Netanyahu

Mikhail Gorbachev

Boris Yeltsin

Thanks!

[username5243]

On the "foreign dictators" line, two more for yo:

Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines)
"Baby Doc" Duvalier (Haiti)

[Another Middling Leftist]

Will the part from the original timeline where in October 1979 the

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

nuclear bombings of Kwangsi and Lop Nur

 still be intact?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Michael Flynn
John Kerry
Ed Markey
Barrack Obama
JFK Jr
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham
Mike Pence
Pat Buchanan

Michael Flynn: Good question, I plan on factoring him later in the 2010s-2020s, but right now he's just a college student in Rhode Island and will be commissioned as an officer in the military in 1981. Basically the same as OTL.

John Kerry: Elected to Congress in 1974, reelected in 1976, and defeats Ed Brooke in 1978 to take the Senate seat he'd eventually hold in real life six years earlier.

Ed Markey: Congressman from MA since 1976. No major plans for him, though he might end up as Secretary of Energy in a future Democratic administration.

Barack Obama: Another good one. Right now, he's a 17 year old in Hawaii. I plan on having him go into academia.

JFK Jr. Though he is only a teenager, John Kennedy Jr. is already considered a rising star and has been actively promoting his uncle Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1980.

Mike Pence: A young evangelical Democrat from Indiana and a student at Hanover College. Pence is supporting Pat Robertson's campaign for the Democratic nomination, having volunteered for the pro-life Askew campaign in 1976.

Pat Buchanan: White House Communications Director under Reagan, though is planning to lead the White House at the end of the President's (first or only?) term to take on a role at the Hughes Network, where there is speculation that he may replace the fading Agnew on Point program.

I'm curious about the following:

RMN

Agnew

Ted Kennedy

George Romney

John Lindsay

John Connally

Rudy Giuliani

Mario Cuomo

Mitt Romney

Roy Cohn

Bernie Sanders

Jimmy Carter

Colin Powell

Barry Goldwater

Mo Udall

Nancy D'Alesandro

Paul Tsongas

Ed Brooke

George Wallace

Bob Dole

Bibi and Yoni Netanyahu

Mikhail Gorbachev

Boris Yeltsin

Thanks!

Richard Nixon: Currently actively engaged as a lecturer, writer, and commentator, Nixon is finding his post-prison life to be sort of a personal renaissance. He's living in New Jersey with his wife Pat, and has recently welcomed grandchildren into his life.

Spiro Agnew: Agnew has found second wind as a television host on Hughes Network, but his show is running out of steam, and viewership is on the decline as Agnew's rants become more and more predictable. He's entertaining ambitions to fund a potentially lucrative Frank Sinatra tour of South America, and is in touch with several former allies domestically and internationally.

Ted Kennedy: Currently running for President in 1980, and is the clear frontrunner in the race.

George Romney: Basically same as OTL. He is retired, and his wife's political ambitions didn't pan out either.

John Lindsay: Former Mayor of New York and 1972 candidate. Currently a television guest host of Good Morning America. Unlike OTL, he does not plan on any political comeback attempts.

John Connally: Retired from political life after being denied the position of Secretary of State under Reagan, basically up to the same stuff he was in OTL.

Rudy Giuliani: Once a Democrat, Giuliani became an indie in order to get a job in President Gavin's Justice Department, where he served as Chief of Staff to Deputy Attorney General Joseph Sneed (father of Carly Fiorina, BTW). Currently employed as a lawyer at the Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler firm in New York after being denied a job in the Reagan administration.

Mario Cuomo: Mayor of New York since 1977, eying reelection in 1981, and then the Governor's mansion in 1982, when Carey is set to retire.

Mitt Romney: Working at Bain Capital like OTL.

Roy Cohn: Same as OTL. He comes into play a bit later, but not now.

Bernie Sanders: A activist who ran for Governor and Senate several times in the 1970s as the Liberty Union candidate. Almost got elected as Governor in a close three way race, and is now in talks with members of the Liberty Union Party and the Ecology Party as a potential candidate for Mayor of Burlington in 1981.

Jimmy Carter: Senator from Georgia, elected in 1974 and up for reelection in 1980.

Collin Powell: Currently stationed in Panama, where he saw action during the war. He's widely considered an up-and-comer at the Pentagon, and is rapidly rising through the ranks.

Barry Goldwater Sr: The Senator is up for reelection in 1980; he has alienated many conservatives for his opposition to Agnew and support for his impeachment, and he is still seen by moderates and liberals as the face of American conservatism. He's in for the fight of his life, politically.

Barry Goldwater Jr: Lost the 1978 gubernatorial race to John Tunney (sorry but there will be no state of Jefferson or Governor McCloskey), and is weighing future options. Ronald Reagan has promised him a cabinet post in a potential second term.

Mo Udall: Lost the 1976 Senate race and is out of office currently. Mainly works as a lobbyist and lawyer, I guess. He will likely get a cabinet position in the next Democratic administration.

Nancy Pelosi: Like Trump, she'll show up later with a big role. Right now her life is similar to OTL. As of 1979, she's a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Paul Tsongas: After losing the 1978 Senate primary to the more liberal John Kerry, Paul Tsongas is currently a lawyer in Lowell, weighing a political return by running for Governor in 1982 if Dukakis decides to retire.

Ed Brooke: He's now left the Senate and is currently continuing his ongoing affair with Barbara Walters.

George Wallace: Is currently recuperating from a severe lung infection that nearly killed him, is locked in a nasty divorce, and pretty much totally out of the running for President in 1980. But the Governor's mansion in Alabama has become his home, and he wants it back - with that in mind, he's fixing to make an epic political comeback in 1982.

The Netanyahus: Big plans for Bibi later on. Yani is still a hostage of Idi Amins in Uganda and is being used as leverage. Maybe one day he'll return to Israel.

Mikhail Gorbachev: Killed in a 1973 plane crash that effectively started the Sino-Soviet War of 1973.

Boris Yeltsin: Good one! I don't know how he'll factor in just yet.

Will the part from the original timeline where in October 1979 the

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

nuclear bombings of Kwangsi and Lop Nur

 still be intact?

There will be a major confrontation with China, yes.

On the "foreign dictators" line, two more for yo:

Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines)
"Baby Doc" Duvalier (Haiti)

No real plans for either yet, Baby Doc probably will fall at the same points he did in OTL. Marcos is thinly sketched out, but I'm not sure how to land the plane with him so to speak.

[username5243]

What's Margaret Thatcher up to after losing her seat in Parliament?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Saturday, September 1st, 1979: The U.S. Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.

Religious and pro-government protestors conduct protests outside the Soviet Embassy in Tehran. They denounce the Soviet government for supporting the MEK.

On orders from President Reagan two ballistic missile submarines are deployed on special duty. The USS Kamehameha takes up station in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The USS Stonewall Jackson is deployed to the Atlantic waters off the coast of Portugal.
Sunday, September 2nd, 1979: A suicide truck bomber crashes into an American military barracks in Damascus, Syria, on the site of Fort Gavin. 137 American soldiers are killed when the massive explosion levels the building. It is the worst loss of life in a single incident recorded since the onset of the American intervention in Syria six years earlier.

The 1979 Fort Gavin bombing was a turning point in Syria.
[1]

Anastasio Somoza Debayle is re-elected President of Nicaragua in an election that is widely regarded as fixed (he received 82% of the vote). His principal opponents were Violetta Chamorro (widow of Pedro Chamorro) and Francisco Urcuyo (the colorless speaker of the Nicaraguan Assembly and a Somoza stooge). The Chamorro forces cry foul over the results of the election, creating an international scandal.

Donald Rumsfeld

Monday, September 3rd, 1979.

The White House.

1:30 PM, Washington, D.C.

[2]

“137 dead Marines. In one day.” Reagan’s words were solemn, strained with pain that only a Commander-in-Chief could know.

“We believe the Muslim Brotherhood to be responsible” said Secretary of National Intelligence William Casey, “but this is a much more powerful, sophisticated bomb than we believe them capable of building.”

“The shear power of the explosion was equivalent to several hundred pounds of TNT going off” Secretary Rumsfeld added. “We don’t believe the Muslim Brotherhood are capable of stockpiling such a massive quantity of explosives – there is evidence of Arabian involvement.”

“The Arabians?” asked Reagan, perplexed. The new isolationist Islamist regime in the country was known to be hostile to America, but they had not poked the eagle until this point.

“Yes” answered Casey, who was annoyed that Rumsfeld informed the President of this development before he could. “Forensic experts on the scene believe the TNT used in the bomb may have been supplied by a Saudi construction firm owned by the Bin Laden family, who are sources in the country believe have aligned themselves with Iman Bandar and his ilk. One of the Bin Ladens, Osama, was wanted in the country for building a bomb that prematurely exploded in his university dormitory. We know he has the connections to supply such a large amount of material. We also know that he has ties to the Palestinian Jihad Organization through an Egyptian doctor named Ayman al-Zawahiri.”

“They’re spoiling for a fight with us. A showdown” Rumsfeld noted.

“Well, we’re prepared to bring them that…but I know we simply do not have the manpower necessary to occupy the Arabian Peninsula, and if we learned anything from Syria, it’s that they’ll turn the dessert into a meatgrinder. I will not authorize any military response until they openly attack our personnel or naval assets.”

“But Mr. President” Rumsfeld attempted to inject, but Reagan continued.

“For the last two years, I’ve been jammed between a rock and a hard place in regards to Syria. Israel won’t let them remilitarize. They want us to just stay there forever, as if Damascus would be the 51st state. That is unfeasible, and I am going to call Begin’s bluff once and for all. We’re out of Syria. We’re done.”

“Mr. President –“

“Can it Don, there is no solution to this quagmire. I am ordering you to prepare a planned phased withdrawal of all American forces from Syria, to be started at least partially within the next 100  or so days.”

“What does this say to the world, Mr. President?” asked Rumsfeld, exasperated and surprised by Reagan’s resolute decision to withdraw from Syria. “What does it say if America cuts and runs?”

“Cowards cut in run. Victors leave in triumph. The victory was won when Allied tanks rolled into Homs, and sent Bayanouni to hell. We have to leave sometime. Might as well be now, while we’ve got the momentum.”

“What if we leave, and Syria is forced to rearm their military. The National Police aren’t doing the job, everyone knows it, so they’ll be forced to rearm. Begin had stated that he will not allow for Syria to be rearmed and will launch airstrikes.”

“Then let him try and piss out the fire!” said Reagan, “it’s no longer our problem. My order is final, Don.”
Monday, September 3rd, 1979: Anti-war sentiments flare in the wake of the Damascus bombing. Former Senator Lowell Weicker (R-CT) calls on President Reagan to end the American military mission in the country. In a phone call to the President, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin argues against the pull-out of American forces, warning Reagan that Israel will not tolerate a Syrian militarization, especially with Egypt attempting to ingratiate itself to the Soviet Union once again.

Former President Spiro Agnew addresses a large rally of conservatives at the Lincoln Memorial, where he calls on President Reagan to take an even harsher stand against Arabia and China. The crowd of Agnew fans later clashes with anti-war demonstrators who were attending a nearby anti-war rally led by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Tuesday, September 4th, 1979: Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd and House Speaker John Murphy announce the planned establishment of a Joint Committee on the Panama Canal. The new congressional joint committee will be tasked with investigating the failures in intelligence gathering leading up to the Panamanian surprise attack on the Panama Canal Zone. It will be chaired by Senators Frank Church (D-ID) and Congressman Otis Pike (D-NY), with Senators John McCain (R-VA) and Congressman Benjamin Gillman (R-NY) serving as Ranking Members.
Wednesday, September 5th, 1979: In a televised address from the Oval Office, President Reagan announces that the United States will begin its drawdown from Syria. American forces will be fully withdrawn from the country within a hundred days, with only a small garrison force left at “Fort Gavin” in Damascus to assist the government of Syria in combating extremism and militant activity in the country.

Tanks are deployed to the streets of Rome as soldiers surround the presidential palace and close off access to the Vatican in an apparent military coup. Elements of the army and security services move to arrest the government. A junta is formed to govern the country lead by former General Vito Micelli, former head of Military Intelligence. The majority of the Cabinet, including Prime Minister Berlinguer, are arrested at the Palazzo Chigi (official Prime Minister’s office and Cabinet meeting place) and held incommunicado in a military prison.

Soon after making its declaration of having assumed power at the Palazzo Chigi, the Junta goes to the Quirinal Palace to receive the President’s blessing. President Norberto Bobbio refuses to see them and orders his guards to arrest the Junta, which leads to a tense stand-off in the plaza in front of the Presidential palace.

President Bobbio manages to appear on television before soldiers seize the offices of the national broadcaster, where he denounces the coup in the strongest terms.
Friday, September 7th, 1979: The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (EPSN) premieres on American television. It is the first sports cable network to be launched, and quickly becomes a powerhouse in sports broadcasting over the coming years.

An attempted rally by PCI supporters in Rome is put down by military authorities using tear gas and rubber bullets. General Orazio Giannini, commander of the Guardia di Finanza, and a P-2 member, refuses to participate in the coup and indicates that his Financial Guards force will not help either. This is the first sign of a crack in the solidarity of the coup plotters. Pietro Longo, secretary of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI), and a member of P-2, denounces the coup.

Pope Pius XIII denounces the Italian coup and calls for a restoration of the elected government.
Saturday, September 8th, 1979: A second rally and march on the Palazzo Chigi is organized by a broad spectrum of PCI supporters, members of other parties and the trade unions. Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, the Vatican Secretary of State and most senior Italian official, agrees to join the march. (The Pope had expressed a desire to do this, but was persuaded not to because he was a Portuguese national rather than an Italian: it was felt an Italian Cardinal leading the procession would have greater impact).

Nonetheless, Pope Pius XIII addresses the crowd as it gathers outside of the walls of the Vatican to encourage a peaceful restoration of the government.

Fearful of a reaction, the coup plotters do not interfere with the protest.

The second protest on the Palazzo Chigi causes the Junta to withdraw its offices to the Ministry of Defense. At the end of the second march (which ends at the Quirinal Palace) President Bobbio (without bodyguards) appears before the crowd and makes a defiant speech denouncing the coup and upholding the Republic. He is cheered by the crowd and personally blessed by Cardinal Cassaroli.

Events in Rome are broadcast by Eastern Bloc media as an example of the failure of western style democracy and in solidarity with the PCI government. The images of popular protest however inspire other ideas not intended by the Soviet and East Bloc authorities.
Sunday, September 9th, 1979: South Korean General Chun Doo Hwan attempts to stage a coup against President Kim Jong-pil’s government, but the coup fails when President Kim rallies support from politicians and other elements of the South Korean Army opposed to General Chun. General Chun and a number of his co-conspirators are arrested. President Kim then announces that he will step down at the end of his term in September 1981, after elections are to be held. After the coup a revised South Korean Constitution is promulgated limiting the President to one six year elected term. The President is to be chosen by a popular vote of the people, but the election must be confirmed by a majority vote of the parliament.

Pope Pius XIII, in his capacity as the Bishop of Rome, begins talks with the Junta in an effort to get them to surrender. The Junta is reportedly deeply divided as a result of the national and international reaction to their coup.

A third march in Rome, this time on the Ministry of Defense. Military units keep the crowd at bay, and are ordered to open fire on the demonstrators should they try to storm the building.

Against the advice of his security experts, President Mitterrand of France files into Rome and makes a visit to President Bobbio at the Quirinal Palace.

Heeding a request from the Pope, the Chief of Police of Rome announces that his men will not fire on protestors.
Monday, September 10th, 1979: Agostinho Neto, President of Angola since 1975, dies during cancer surgery in Moscow. He is succeeded as President and General Secretary of the MPLA by Jose Eduardo dos Santos, his chief deputy and designated successor. The new Angolan President is known to support close ties with Moscow and Cuba.

On the fourth day the coup collapses. Prime Minister Berlinguer and his Cabinet are released when a detachment of Italian police loyal to the President march up to the front gate of the prison where they are being held with a court order signed by a magistrate ordering their release to the custody of the President of the Republic. The Governor of the prison, after some hesitation, decides to release the Cabinet to the police.

In a moment of solidarity Prime Minister Berlinguer and President Bobbio embrace in a public gesture in front of the Quirinal Palace. The Prime Minister calls the President Bobbio a hero of the Italian people, and promises “there will be no vengeance, only justice” and that “Constitutional government has been restored by the valiant people of Italy who would not bow down before these usurpers of the people’s rights.” Berlinguer also thanks the foreign governments that supported them in the crunch.

Of the coup plotters and supporters Umberto Ortolani, Gusieppe Santovito, Giovanni Torrini and Silvio Berlusconi are arrested. Vito Micelli flees to Spain, where he finds that he is not particularly welcome: the Spanish deport him back to Italy in November. Pietro Musumeci disappears for a time, his whereabouts being a mystery for over a year, before he is located in Chile, where the government gives him asylum. Other supporters and enablers of the coup are also arrested or flee Italy to other countries (usually under assumed identities). Roberto Calvi, one of the main bankers of P-2 is also arrested, while the mysterious head of the order, Licio Gelli, disappears and becomes an international fugitive. (Calvi and Gelli were in the background during the Junta’s activities).
Tuesday, September 11th, 1979: Unknown to the western world, the Soviet Union, or even most of China, a revolt breaks out in Kwangsi after members of the People’s Liberation Army mutiny against the regime of Mao Yuanxin after being informed they’d be deployed back to Laos. The rebels quickly seize control of local radio and broadcast their intention to march on Peking, but this message only reaches locals on a regional level due to the fierce media censorship in the People’s Republic of China. American spy satellites detect strange troop movements across southern China, but top analysts as the CIA and the Department of National Intelligence are unable to verify what appears to be taking place. President Reagan is informed of this during a briefing by Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Casey, and National Security Adviser Richard Allen.
Wednesday, September 12th, 1979: Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) accuses former President Spiro Agnew of providing aid and comfort to the failed Italian coup, possibly in violation of the Logan Act and other federal statutes. The Department of Justice declines to open an investigation into the matter, citing a lack of evidence supporting Kennedy’s claim.

Inspired by the Pope (the former Bishop of Lisbon) and his actions during the recent coup attempt in Italy, Portuguese citizens take to the streets to demonstrate against the Goncalves regime in the country. They are quickly and brutally suppressed by police and military units deployed to put down the unrest, and several of the demonstrators are charged with counter-revolutionary subversion and subsequently imprisoned on lengthy sentences stretching up to ten years.

Similar to the Italy and South Korea, a coup is attempted in Egypt by junior officers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and possibly inspired or aided by Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator of neighboring Libya. The coup quickly unravels, and the officers involved are killed in a firefight after being cornered by military units loyal to the President.
Thursday, September 13th, 1979: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announces that Iraqi forces have taken the city of Sakaka in Arabia after days of fierce fighting with jihadist fighters. This creates a firm buffer-zone between the Nafud desert, encompassing all of eastern Arabia including Riyadh and Damman all the way down to the border with Qatar. Hussein credits the victory due to the assistance of “Arabian republican militias” who fought in solidarity with “Baathist ideals.” This is the first indication that the Iraqi President intends to establish a puppet regime in the region and will have control over some of the largest oil reserves in the world.
Friday, September 14th, 1979: Twelve firefighters are killed in Oregon when their DC-7 air tanker crashes while deploying flame retardant over a wildfire in Winema National Forest.
Sunday, September 16th, 1979: Eight people between two families escape the Iron Curtain in the most dramatic fashion when they defect from East to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon.

Soviet General Secretary & Chairman of the Presidium Yuri Andropov addresses the Soviet Union in a rare televised speech, in which he roundly condemns the Reagan administration’s aggressive posture in the Atlantic towards Portugal and reaffirms Moscow’s support for the Goncalves regime as the war rages on in Iberia.
Monday, September 17th, 1979: The Italian Parliament is dissolved, and new elections are called for October 14. The Prime Minister believes that he needs a new mandate from the people before taking any political actions as a result of the coup. Berlinguer is popular and it is widely believed that his government will be returned to office. He also wants the mandate to clear the air over the Credolo scandal which started the matter; but he needs the people to endorse his judgment in keeping on his Defense Minister etc.
Tuesday, September 18th, 1979: A US Navy F-14 and a Soviet operated Yak 40 being used as a reconnaissance aircraft collide over the Atlantic off the coast of Portugal. Two American personnel and nine Russians and three Portuguese nationals are killed. The situation leads to a tense few hours as both sides bluster about who is at fault, before backing away from open hostilities.
Wednesday, September 19th, 1979: US strategic forces are moved to DEFCON 3 on the orders of President Reagan in the wake of the latest incident in the Atlantic between the American and Soviet navies.

Andropov was of the opinion that the Arabian situation was an Iraqi problem. Al-Bakr had made his mess, he could deal with the problems. Our Navy was sent merely to reinforce our position as a first rank power, there was never any consideration that we would fight the Americans just to save Arab face.

The Portuguese affair was a different matter. As the General Secretary’s statements of the period made quite clear, Andropov and the rest of the Politburo considered this to be a question of Revolutionary solidarity. The fascist regime in Spain – which after all had consorted with Hitler and sent troops to fight us in 1941 – was conspiring to reverse the Portuguese Revolution, and this we would not allow, anymore than counter-revolutionary forces had been allowed to undermine Communist regimes in East Germany, Hungary of Czechoslovakia. Portugal’s Revolutionary regime, like Cuba’s, had fought its own way into power, and that made it an even more valuable example of the viability and enduring nature of Communist ideology, which so many argued had been killed by Stalin. Andropov was determined not to let Portugal to succumb to imperialist conspiracy, because to do so would send a message to all other revolutionary regimes that the Soviet Union was not a reliable partner.

Of course, the recent demise of Suslov had a hand in this too. Many had found the timing of Suslov’s death to be convenient, and there were many who ready to spread scurrilous rumours about Andropov and the KGB having taken a hand in rushing the former General Secretary into the grave. From a political standpoint Andropov now had to prove that he was a more committed Communist than Suslov, if only to persuade the Suslov adherents of his own fitness to lead the Party and the nation. For better or worse, the Portuguese revolutionary struggle with Fascist Spain came along at just the time when Andropov needed to prove his ideological credentials, and so it became a testing ground for his fitness to lead. That was a most unfortunate circumstance.

Anton Dobrynin, Memoirs., 1995
[1] Taken from Wikipedia Commons (Public Domain).
[2] Taken from YouTube.

[username5243]

"Unknown to the western world, the Soviet Union, or even most of China, a revolt breaks out in Kwangsi after members of the People’s Liberation Army mutiny against the regime of Mao Yuanxin after being informed they’d be deployed back to Laos. The rebels quickly seize control of local radio and broadcast their intention to march on Peking, but this message only reaches locals on a regional level due to the fierce media censorship in the People’s Republic of China. American spy satellites detect strange troop movements across southern China, but top analysts as the CIA and the Department of National Intelligence are unable to verify what appears to be taking place. President Reagan is informed of this during a briefing by Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Casey, and National Security Adviser Richard Allen."

I've got a bad feeling about this...

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Thursday, September 20th, 1979: An MEK guerrilla successfully fires an anti-tank rocket into the U.S. Embassy compound in Tehran, detonating the fuel tank on a delivery truck and killing three U.S. Marines on guard duty.
Saturday, September 22nd, 1979: General Mohammed Farrah Aidid leads a failed military coup in Somalia against Soviet backed President Siad Barre; the coup unravels quickly as pro-regime forces, backed up by Cuban advisers, are able to protect the Presidential palace from the mutinying soldiers.

The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test. Although official U.S. government reports would later attribute this to a faulty sensor on a Vela Hotel observation and spy satellite, sources in South Africa would confirm that this was the result of a South African test of a nuclear weapon. (South Africa it should be noted was covertly supplying uranium to Israel, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea at this time).

A Muslim Brotherhood member sets himself on fire in Tahrir Square in Cairo to protest the military government.
Monday, September 24th, 1979: The Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve vote down a proposal to change from an interest rate target policy to a money supply target policy.
Wednesday, September 26th, 1979: Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Charles of Wales to Amanda Knatchbull, the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten. The wedding is scheduled to take place sometime in the next year.
Thursday, September 27th, 1979: Angolan government (MPLA) forces cross the border into Southern Zaire, ostensibly to attack UNITA bases. In fact, they are stirring-up local resistance movements in an effort to further destabilize the anti-communist Zairean regime of President Mobuto.
Saturday, September 29th, 1979: Pope Pius XIII visited Drogheda, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. The Pope spoke to an estimated crowd of 250,000 people and appealed for an end to violence in Northern Ireland, "On my knees I beg of you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace.” To underscore his point, the Pope excommunicated fourteen of the worst offenders (in terms of violence against civilians).

The Pope visits the retreat in Demagore where on September 16, 1975 six friars were killed in a raid by British forces who mistakenly believed the place to be a PIRA safe house. The Pope conducts a mass for the souls of the “martyred” friars.

Francisco Macias Nguema, the deposed (and deranged) dictator of Equatorial Guinea is executed by a firing squad weeks after being removed in a military coup. The firing squad is composed of Moroccan soldiers flown into the capital city of Malabo, because the soldiers who once served under Nguema’s command were worried he’d haunt them from beyond the grave due because of a witchdoctor curse.
Sunday, September 30th, 1979: Pope Pius XIII conducts an open-air mass in Armagh, Northern Ireland amidst very right security (ironically both the PIRA and its militant wing the IRB provide “unofficial security” from the Roman Catholic side. The real concern is an action by the INLA or by Loyalist paramilitaries). Ian Paisley and a number of Loyalists are stopped by British troops from marching against the Pope in Armagh. When Paisley tries to march through the line of troops and police he is arrested and detained until October 2nd.   

New Gallup polling is released.

1980 Democratic Primaries (Nationwide).
Ted Kennedy: 39%
Reubin Askew: 21%
Jerry Brown: 13%
Jesse Jackson: 12%
Pat Robertson: 7%
Walter Mondale: 2%
Henry Jackson: 1%
Frank Church: 1%
Cliff Finch: 1%
Henry Howell: 1%
Lyndon LaRouche: 1%

1980 Republican Primaries (Nationwide).
Ronald Reagan: 90%
Lowell Weicker: 9%
Harold Stassen: 1%
Monday, October 1st, 1979: The Vela Hotel satellite observes a second flash off of the South African coast. The National Reconnaissance Office concludes that this is a second nuclear test by the South Africans.

Rumors filter out of mainland China that there has been some sort of uprising by PRC troops in Kwangsi Province (primarily led by troops who had been engaged in the war in Laos and North Vietnam) against the regime’s security forces. These rumors, spread by defecting PLA soldiers on the frontline near the Sino-North Vietnamese border, are substantiated by satellite imagery showing large scale troop movements.
Tuesday, October 2nd, 1979: Pope Pius XIII arrives in Washington, D.C., where he is hosted by the Reagan’s at the White House, the first stop of a weeklong tour of the United States. The President and the Pontiff discuss the events in his native Portugal and their mutual opposition to the Goncalves regime during a private meeting in the Oval Office.

Religious protestors seize the Soviet Embassy in Tehran. A tense stand-off begins as forty-seven Soviet diplomats are held hostage by the protestors. The government is reluctant to storm the Embassy for fear of killing the Soviet diplomats. The protestors demand that the Soviets stop supporting the MEK and that an Islamic Republic be declared in Iran.

The Soviet government warns the Iranian government to resolve the hostage situation quickly or it might feel obligated to use its own forces. The Soviets and Iranians also argue over jurisdiction. The Soviets want to send in their own Spetsnaz Special Forces to liberate the Embassy as they do not want to grant Iranian forces permission to enter the Embassy grounds. The Iranians do not want the Spetsnaz troops operating on their soil.
Wednesday, October 3rd, 1979: Pope Pius XIII addresses a joint session of Congress, where he calls for Christians around the world to work together towards a peaceful resolution to conflicts in Iberia and Northern Ireland.

Ronald Reagan

Thursday, October 4th, 1979.

The White House.

2:25 PM, Washington, D.C.

[1]

The President read the briefing with his reading glasses, leaning in and squinting as he reviewed its contents with an increasing sense of alarm. The Situation Room was crowded, with Vice President Bush, Secretary Kirkpatrick, Secretary Casey, Secretary Rumsfeld, and National Security Adviser Richard Allen huddled around the President as he read the briefing.

“Our satellites detected a nuclear flash here, in Kwangsi Province, south of Nanning, early this morning” said Casey, “both seismic recording and air sampling have confirmed that a nuclear event took place. South Vietnamese observers several hundred miles away noted a flash in the general northeast direction and felt both seismic shocks and winds consistent with such an event.”

“A nuclear event?” asked Kirkpatrick, perplexed and horrified by the grim developments.
General David Jones, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, confirmed the stunning news. “Yes, Secretary Kirkpatrick, a nuclear weapon was used.”

“Our preliminary estimate would be something in the range of thirty to forty kilotons – devastating but not huge – possibly mounted on one of their CSS-2 IRBMs.” President Reagan looked grimly horrified as Secretary Casey read from the prepared briefing.

“On their own people?” Reagan asked, “my God!”

“Over the past week we have noted some unusual military maneuvers on the ground involving several armies located throughout Kwangsi. We attributed these either to a preparation for a possible new campaign in Laos, or for an exercise.” The President nodded, and Casey continued.

“There were unconfirmed rumors of an uprising by some troops, but we lacked hard intelligence to make that determination. This morning’s events would tend to give those rumors more weight.”

“Could they have somehow accidentally detonated a nuke as part of these exercises?” asked Reagan. The others huddled in the Situation Room looked to him in anticipation of whatever he had to say next.

“This was bigger than a tactical warhead, Mr. President” confirmed Casey, “we also detected an IRBM launch and followed its track from Lop Nur – which as you know is the Red Chinese strategic development and testing site – to Kwangsi. Our only plausible conclusion is that this was a deliberate launch of a strategic weapon against these armies and the surrounding population center.”

“It looks like they used a nuclear weapon to put down an insurrection among their troops, maybe even a coup attempt.” Richard Allen, the National Security Adviser, seemed to confirm. An aide quietly entered the room and handed another briefing packet to Casey, who quickly glanced over it and turned to Allen and shared with him the documents.

“Turns out the Mad Mao really had a screw loose” sighed Reagan, who in hindsight had recognized that the erratic nature of the Chinese regime was building up to this the whole time. He also realized, in that very moment, just where this road was leading to if some type of punitive display of force was not shown.

“We have more and more circumstantial evidence that Mao’s nephew, who seems to be the big boss now, is off-balance.” Allen’s words affirmed the President’s fears.

“I have just received a report that Chinese state television is blaming us for this event” interjected Casey.

“We have also noted an increase in the alert levels in the Soviet Union” added General Jones, adding to the collective sense of concern.

“They are reacting to this insanity” replied the Vice President, “don’t forget, they share a border with this lunatic.”

Richard Allen didn’t agree. “We have to respond with a comparable alert” he warned. Perhaps traumatized by his experience as Secretary of State under Spiro Agnew, Bush felt a chill go up his spine. The crisis presented by the Mad Mao was clearly on par with the crises faced by the United States during the Agnew years, and though the Vice President was relatively confident in Reagan’s competence, he also knew just how easy it was for a President to bungle a major foreign crisis.

“We need to match the Soviet alert in order to keep our readiness levels in parity with theirs” warned General Wilson, “if they decide to go on the attack, we must be ready to match them at a moment’s notice.”

“The Navy can be your spear Mr. President, but only if you are ready to unleash it if the enemy tests us.”

“Increase the alert” ordered the President, who turned towards his Secretary of State. “Jeanne, let Moscow know in no uncertain terms that this is aimed at what just happened in China, not them.”
Thursday, October 4th, 1979: American strategic forces are put on DEFCON 2 in response to the apparent nuclear event in China.

Four missing U.S. Air Force personnel, together with a fifth man, a U.S. Navy sailor previously thought dead, were paraded before the cameras of the Chinese state television network, and charged by the People’s Court of China with war crimes. The Chinese authorities maintain that the five were shot down by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force after they had dropped a nuclear bomb on Kwangsi Province. The reclusive, Communist government of mainland China, which shuns relations with most other nations of the world, has been claiming that the nuclear blast, which occurred in the early hours of October 1st, was a deliberate act of war carried out by the United States against the People’s Republic of China. The captured Americans are meant to be evidence of this attack.

Four of the five Americans have been identified as Captain John Hartman of Boise, Idaho; Lieutenant Lewis Elmand of Ojai, California; Technical Sergeant Roy Paulk of Juneau, Alaska, and Staff Sergeant Paul Wjornick of Skokie, Illinois. All were members of the crew of a B-52 bomber that crashed in Southern China in December 1972 after flying a bombing mission over Hanoi. The United States has known since that time that these men were in Chinese custody and has been trying to secure their release since. The fifth man has now been identified as Machinist Mate Wayne Stocks of Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Stocks was serving aboard the U.S.S. Douglas Fox, a U.S. Navy destroyer, at the time that it was sunk in the Gulf of Tonkin – allegedly by a Soviet submarine – in the spring of 1973. Seaman Stocks had been recorded as dead, however he was apparently rescued by Chinese ships operating in the area. His survival has opened questions as to whether or not other survivors of the Fox may have been picked-up by the Chinese Navy.

Stocks, an African-American, has been identified by the Chinese as the air crew’s on-board servant; a definite allusion to Chinese propaganda which maintains that racial segregation is still the official policy in the United States.

Senator John McCain (R-VA), himself a former POW who was held in China, confirms that he was told of other American prisoners by his Chinese captors prior to his release in 1975.
Friday, October 5th, 1979: Speaking at a large campaign rally in Iowa, Pat Robertson issues a dire warning. “The time of Jesus’ return may well be upon us; the signs and portents are clear. The next four years could see the coming of the New Jerusalem and the Judgment. That is why your vote for President this time is so important, because it is not just an ordinary election. In 1980 the American people will be called upon to choose the leader who will safeguard them on the road to their eternal destiny. These are the stakes in 1980. It’s not about taxes or the state of the American union; it’s about the state of each and every American soul.”

The British and Irish governments agreed to strengthen the drive against paramilitary groups. The British Labour Party conference voted against a resolution calling for British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
Saturday, October 6th, 1979: The situation has not calmed in China as the world reacts to the ongoing developments. There are more alarming signs from the People’s Republic of China that seem to confirm that a nuclear detonation had indeed occurred. The HMAS Bayonet, an Australian Navy patrol boat currently supplementing the allied force protecting Hong Kong, came across three burned bodies floating on what was a raft down the Pearl River. All three bodies were confirmed to be radioactive and the individuals, presumed to be Chinese peasants from their clothing, had died of what appeared to be radiation sickness.

The U.N. Security Council passes a unanimous resolution condemning the People’s Republic of China for using a nuclear weapon on its population.
Sunday, October 7th, 1979: Major cities around the world are the scene of large peace and anti-nuclear demonstrations. The U.N. headquarters in New York and White House are surrounded by demonstrators on both weekends.
Monday, October 8th, 1979: Rhodesian forces enter Eastern Botswana in search of ZPLF and Zambian forces which have taken refuge in the area. These incursions are followed-up by air strikes which hit Botswanan troops and civilians. South Africa moves in support units from the Namibian side of Botswana. The MPLA government in Angola reacts by extending an armed security zone south into Botswanan territory.
Tuesday, October 9th, 1979: The Louisiana gubernatorial election’s first round is held; the so called jungle primary pits Fox McKeithen, a State Senator and son of the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, against Republican candidate David Treen.

1979 Louisiana Gubernatorial Election (Round One).
(D) Fox McKeithen: 23.6%
(R) David Treen: 19.9%
(AIP) John Rarick: 15.5%
(D) Jimmy Fitzmorris: 12.2%
(D) Louis Lambert: 11.1%
(D) Paul Hardy: 10.3%
(D) Sonny Moulton: 7.4%
Wednesday, October 10th, 1979: President Reagan signs an executive order that effectively ramps up the “war on drugs.” The new order directs the DEA and the FCTB to take more aggressive measures against heroin trafficking into the United States. Reagan additionally authorizes the Department of Defense to begin prosecuting heroin traffickers connected to China under the terms of the Military Commissions Act of 1977.
Thursday, October 11th, 1979: Jake Lovitt (Yakob Lemo) is arrested in Miami, Florida for strangling three women after he had reportedly seduced and robbed them. Lovitt/Lemo confesses and claims that his spiritual guru, whom he calls “brother”, talked him into it. The physical description that he provides of brother closely resembles the escaped fugitive Charles Manson. A manhunt for Manson begins in Florida.
Friday, October 12th, 1979: Sir Seretse Khama, the President of Botswana, is killed when his plane is shot down. The Angolan air force blames the Rhodesians and South Africans, while they in turn blame the Angolans and the Zambians. Opposition politician Kenneth Koma, backed by the powerful Bangwaketse tribal chief Bathoen Gaseitsiwe, seizes the Botswanan Presidency in the aftermath of the Presidents death, displacing Vice President Quett Masire. The pro-socialist President Koma immediately puts out peace feelers to the Zambians and the Angolan government. American bombers at the freshly constructed Walvis Bay Air Force base are ordered to prepare for potential strikes inside Botswanan territory.

Secretary of State Jeanne Kirkpatrick announces that President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Andropov will meet for a high-profile summit in Dublin, Ireland, to discuss the ongoing crisis in China and the world’s response to it.

Thorbjorn Falldin assumes office as Prime Minister of Sweden after his Centre Party forms a coalition government with the Liberal and Moderate parties, ending the Premiership of Olaf Palme and the three decades of dominance by the Social Democratic Party.
Saturday, October 13th, 1979: Archibald Roosevelt, son of Theodore Roosevelt, dies at the age of 85 in Stuart, Florida. The late Roosevelt had been known for his fiercely conservative politics and activism within the John Birch Society.
Sunday, October 14th, 1979: 75,000 Gay Rights protesters descend on Washington for the first major LGBT march in American history. Among those who address the marchers is the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is strongly criticized by fellow Reverend and Democratic presidential candidate Pat Robertson.
Monday, October 15th, 1979: Salvadorian President Carlos Humberto Romero is overthrown in a military coup; the ruling military junta that replaces him immediately launches a violent crackdown on leftist guerilla groups active in the country, effectively plunging El Salvador into civil war.
Tuesday, October 16th, 1979: The HMS Antelope fires upon a Soviet naval vessel in the Atlantic near the coast of Portugal, the latest alarming sign that tensions between the Soviet Union and NATO are not easing despite the pressing crisis in China. With Reagan and Andropov scheduled to meet in Dublin, there is hope (and high demand) for a resolution of the Iberian War as a prerequisite for forming any type of alliance with the Soviets against China.

[KaiserDave]

The Italian failed coup story is genuinely inspiring.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The Italian failed coup story is genuinely inspiring.

Credit to Drew for all of that!

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Wednesday, October 17th, 1979: In his first public remarks since the nuclear incident at Kwangsi, Mao Yuanxin addresses a rally of over a million members of the Red Guard in Peking at Tiananmen Square, where he calls upon the peasants and workers of China to “defend the revolution to the last drop of blood is shed.” However, on this same day, the regime of Mao Yuanxin allows for the flow of fresh water into Hong Kong for the first time since the seizure of Macau. This confusing gesture is viewed by British intelligence analysts as an attempt to lull the British into a false sense of security. Prime Minister Healey discusses this development with President Reagan, persuading him to send a further 5,000 American troops from South Vietnam to Hong Kong.

This decision is resisted by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who warns the President that a smaller American presence in Vietnam could invite the Viet Cong and possibly the North Vietnamese to launch an attack on South Vietnam. Rumsfeld instead argues that the President should be prepared to federalize the National Guard and send those soldiers to Hong Kong, which he believes will ultimately fall to China should they launch an attack due to the PLA’s staggering advantage in manpower.

Three North Korean soldiers trying to defect to South Korea are killed by American and South Korean soldiers; the exchange of gunfire alarms North Korean troops on the other side of the DMZ, who scramble for their assigned positions. Fortunately, the incident doesn’t escalate as North Korean and South Korean military officers are able to meet with one another in the “Peace House” on the border to hash out the details of what happened. This is yet another worrying reminder for the Reagan administration that war in Asia can start at any moment’s notice.
Thursday, October 18th, 1979: President Reagan departs Washington for Dublin ahead of a critical summit with Soviet leader Yuri Andropov. He is accompanied by Secretary of State Kirkpatrick and National Security Adviser Richard Allen, who will hold talks with their Soviet counterparts as part of the broader effort to create a joint-superpower response to the Kwangsi crisis.

Ronald Reagan

Thursday, October 18th, 1979.

Air Force One.

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean

[1]

As Air Force One soared through the skies enroute to Dublin, President Reagan felt the weight of office hanging around his neck like an albatross. Gathered in the presidential suite of the plane with him were his wife Nancy, whose advice he trusted above anyone else, White House Chief of Staff Bob Dole, Secretary of State Kirkpatrick, and National Security Adviser Richard Allen. Vice President Bush remained in Washington, where he was to hold down the fort (and keep the increasingly difficult Secretary of Defense reigned in.)

“Bob, how many hours ‘til we touch down in Dublin?”

“About four hours out” Dole replied, “General Secretary Andropov and the Soviet delegation should be arriving at any moment there. I’m awaiting confirmation from the embassy.”

“Good” affirmed the President without looking up from the briefing in front of him. There was a moments silence, before the President looked back up, and with cinematic perfection dismissed his Chief of Staff and his wife with a simple nod. Nancy smiled and exited the room. Dole, understanding that his job was mostly political and organizational in nature, also exited, leaving the President alone with Secretary Kirkpatrick and the National Security Adviser.

“Lay it on me” he said to Richard Allen, who began briefing the President on the impending talks.

“You should thank God you went with your gut about not taking us into Arabia” Allen said, referring to the Secretary of Defense’s proposal to intervene militarily against both the Islamic Caliphate based out of Mecca and the Iraqi occupiers who had seized the eastern oil fields.

“You and me both, Richard” replied Reagan, “we’re going to need a mobilization of forces not seen since the World Wars if this goes hot with China.”

“Even with Soviet intervention from the north” added Secretary Kirkpatrick, “it’d take unprecedented manpower to occupy the coastal cities of southern China alone. With our forces committed already in Vietnam, Korea, and Panama, we’d be looking at a divided China as the best case scenario, with the western provinces and the interior likely falling victim to warlords and roaming hordes of bandits.”

“Just what we need” sighed Reagan, “a Soviet controlled North China.”

“Surely there is a way that we can bring down Mao in a…controlled fashion?” asked Kirkpatrick.

“Our best hope for containing this would be to back the PLA into a corner” noted the National Security Adviser, “and give them the choice – fight us to the death or knock off the madman in Peking once and for all.”

“How do we do that?” asked Kirkpatrick, “I’m not so sure that can be accomplished without a drastic display of force.”

“The only thing that a tyrant like Mao Dong-zing understands” said Reagan, intentionally mispronouncing the name of his Chinese counterpart with trademark humor, “is brute force.”

“If we initiate any kind of force against China, we must be prepared for one of two options” said Allen, “option one is that they rally around the flag, or in this case, the revolution, and fight is with everything they have. We can expect the Soviets to get involved in that scenario. The other is that we punch them so hard that they are stunned, and hope that someone takes advantage of the chaos that follows.”

“What do you think the odds of this going hot are?” asked the President. “75%, maybe more, if I am to be frank Mr. President” replied Allen.

“I don’t like ‘em odds” the President said, “do we have any intel on any potential claimants to the Red Throne?”

“Mao Yuanxin has not indicated a potential successor since assuming the office of First Secretary of the Communist Party. The next most powerful man in Peking is Wang Hongwen, the Premier. He is a radical, committed, die-hard Maoist and a former ally of Jiang Qiang until she disappeared. But he’s also a rational enough actor on the global stage. He’s more of an ideologue than a pragmatist. Hell, he may be a more ideological figure than even the younger Mao, but we’re confident that he’s…all there. There is also some evidence that the senior Generals of the PLA, who have been left untouched by the Cultural Revolution due to their status as veterans of the Long March, are wearied by Mao Yuanxin’s erratic actions and ambitions.”

“Has this intel been shared with the Soviets?” the President inquired, “or are they unaware of this?”

“This intel actually originates from the Soviets” said Allen, “a CIA asset in Moscow shared this information with us last year. It was confirmed as credible by Ion Pacepa following his defection last year.”

“Why hasn’t Casey briefed me more thoroughly on China’s leadership?”

“He has, sir. Several times in fact.”

“Oh...” said Reagan, looking wearily out the window at the clouds passing the presidential plane.
Friday, October 19th, 1979: President Reagan and General Secretary Andropov meet in Dublin, Ireland, for the first day of a high profile, high stakes summit between the two opposing superpowers on how to best confront China.

Comrade Chairman Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov agreed to meet with President Reagan and Prime Minister Healey in Dublin, Ireland in large measure to see what could be done to de-escalate the current tension. Yuri Vladimirovich was also keen to teach the rice eaters a lesson about the use of nuclear weapons. Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov had been so bold as to suggest that we should bomb Peking in retaliation, a suggestion which received consideration within the Politburo. There was an increasing concern by all of us that the adventurism of this lesser Mao was going to cause a serious problem for stability along our common frontier and the Pacific. It didn’t take much discussion to establish that the Americans and British had a similar concern with regard to the Pacific.

The summit, held at Dublin Castle, in fact dealt with three related issues. The first was a de-escalation of the naval conflict in the Atlantic, which itself was a derivative of the Iberian War. Developments in Spain and as a result of the intervention of the Pope and the Italian anti-fascist hero President Bobbio were already working to ease the situation on the peninsula. It was left to us to draw back from open warfare among ourselves on the high seas. There was a very real danger of this occurring, as just five days previously our ship Kerch had been fired upon by the British ship HMS Antelope (although the British stubbornly maintained that our ship had fired on them – which was preposterous, of course). The working group managed to reach an agreement to allow access for our ships to the ports of the Democratic Progressive Republic of Portugal in return for a commitment on our part to encourage our Portuguese comrades to withdraw their forces to the international border between the two states. We also agreed to the setting-up of a joint observer force which could better co-ordinate the security of that border, and the Americans and British agreed to pressure the Spanish Fascist to disarm the outlaw fascist army of Portuguese renegades which had been plaguing northern Portugal.

We could not agree on the Basque question, as the Soviet Union was determined to stand in support of the free aspirations of the Basque people, especially against colonial rule from the Fascists in Madrid. The British were particularly exercised on this point, as they felt that France would not co-operate on such a venture, given that they had a significant Basque population of their own which was being denied freedom. It never failed to puzzle me; I could understand the reactionary Reagan’s view on this stance – had he not once sent provincial soldiers into Los Angeles to break up races riots? But here were the British Labour Party leaders, nominal bourgeois Social Democrats speaking of a nominally socialist government (but in reality a reactionary bourgeois social democratic party as well) and both opposed freedom for an oppressed people. Was the legacy of colonial domination so strong that it overcame common sense and socialist reality? Were these not the leaders of their country’s anti-colonialist party? It was a puzzle I would need to study more.

For now, through the working groups, we could agree on a positive move forward out of a conflict, although the Basque issue was unresolved.

The second was the matter of the Iraqi occupation of Arabia. Although the Iraqis, socialist in name but reactionary nationalists and quasi-fascists in their true nature, had rid Arabia of a Medieval theocracy, which itself had revolted against a Medieval monarchy, we could recognize there were no long-term gains to us in encouraging Iraq to stubbornly hold out in Arabia.

“Comrades,” Yuri Vladimirovich had said in Moscow before we left for Ireland, “there is little future in the situation as it stands. We have already seen the feckless side of the Iraqis – you will note that they have turned to the French for many of their equipment needs. They like being associated with our superpower prestige, but are not acquiescent or comradely on many significant issues. What is more, they sit atop so much oil now that they could become the world’s pre-eminent oil power. I, for one, do not find this a sound proposition. Does anyone disagree?”

Unlike previous leaders, Yuri Vladimirovich was tolerant of discussion – to a degree, and only within the confines of the Politburo meetings. With Suslov gone there had been more robust discussions of late. But on Iraq, there was general agreement that the regime could not be tolerated as a long term possessor of so much oil, and the consequent power that would flow from it. There were suggestions from the KGB Chairman that we fund a Communist coup in Iraq and redesign a regime more to our liking, but this was pie-in-the-sky for our present dilemma.

At the Dublin conference we agreed to encourage Iraq to enter serious negotiations to manage a withdrawal from Arabia. At the same time we obtained from the Americans and the British an assurance that they would undertake no precipitous military action which could de-stabilize Iraq or lead to a larger conflict. We were quick to remind them that we still held Iraq’s national sovereignty as important, and that our own troops were deployed along the border with Syria, implying that we could defend Iraq if required, although there was a division over whether we wanted to do that. They didn’t need to know that. The end result was a commitment to further negotiation on the issue.

President Reagan gratuitously offered the support of the United States with the difficulty of our foreign service workers being held hostage inside our Embassy in Tehran. This had been a cause of major concern, and some embarrassment, for Yuri Vladimirovich, who was pressuring Iran to do something about this disgrace. Unknown to all but a handful of us, he had already tasked the Red Air Force and the Spetsnaz to develop a rescue operation which would allow us to use military force, without staging an actual invasion of Iran.

Taken aback by this offer, Yuri Vladimirovich nonetheless thanked the American President for his offer, but did not follow-up on it.

The third subject was China, and the recent use of a nuclear weapon by the lesser Mao against his people. This, of course, was the real reason why we had come to Ireland on such short notice. This was a matter that only Reagan and Yuri Vladimirovich could address personally.

The final meeting included only Reagan and Yuri Vladimirovich, with their translators and one technical advisor each. Healey and his translator sat in as a courtesy, but he didn’t say much as the real conversation was between the superpowers.

They were a study in contrasts. Yuri Vladimirovich was tall, owlish behind his glasses, his hair and face gray-turning-to-white, his face a sculpture of the stern revolutionary set in stone. The American President sat in confidently, displaying almost cinematic composure. A star of the silver screen, his jet-black hair – surely dyed – shown not one strand of silver. This Hollywood icon straight out of central casting played the part of President well, a convincing performance in Yuri Vladimirovich’s eyes. Both were strong willed, and now they were deciding the fate of the world in this ancient residence of nobility.

“A message must be sent, a clear one, that this will not be tolerated,” Yuri Vladimirovich said.

“We have an old expression in America,” Reagan replied, “I learned it from George Wallace, my opponent in the last election.” Yuri Vladimirovich leaned in curiously, awaiting Reagan’s next words. “If a man puts a skunk in your drawers, you don’t respond with just a few angry words.”

The American translator had better luck making the idiomatic meaning of ‘down home’ understandable than Yuri Vladimirovich’s translator could.

“I take your meaning to be one of action? Military action?” Yuri Vladimirovich replied once the bizarre expression had made its way into an understandable Russian equivalent.

“The United States could act alone in this, we feel that on behalf of our British allies here, whose territory and citizens have been imperiled by this, we have a certain obligation,” the President said, looking towards Prime Minister Healey. “But I prefer a united message, to drive home to Peking that they can’t do this kind of thing, not without expecting retaliation in kind.”

“In kind?” Yuri Vladimirovich asked, alerted to the underlying meaning. “You wish to use a nuclear device on China?”

“I wish to send an appropriate warning under both our names,” the President said.

“You would kill millions,” Yuri Vladimirovich objected.
“No,” Reagan said, shaking his head. “Thousands maybe, not millions. We have in mind to target Lop Nur with one missile. This is where they’re assembling and testing their bombs, so it would be the right place to strike. Unless you’ve got a better choice?”

Yuri Vladimirovich mulled over the challenge; Reagan was implicitly trying to get him to reveal if we had better intelligence than they did. The stone-faced former spy chief would not take the bait. “I concur,” he said. “But it is a long way to fly by air.”

Reagan expected such an answer and smiled at that. “We’ve had them looking at the air, expecting that. I propose instead to use a submarine launched missile, one shot from under the China Sea. It has the advantage of reminding them that we’ve got technology they don’t, and we can come at them from more than one angle. Many, in fact”

Yuri Vladimirovich asked, “You have undersea launched missiles with the range?”

“Yes,” the President replied. “But I’m sure the KGB has already told you that.”

The slight tightening of Yuri Vladimirovich jaw told me that they had not, but he would not give that away. There would be a reckoning with the Naval Intelligence Directorate of the GRU when we returned to Moscow.

“We must be clear,” Yuri Vladimirovich said, “that there must be an agreement if the Chinese decide to retaliate.”

“I will pledge to support the Soviet Union if the Chinese attack you. You must in turn agree to join us, should they attack Hong Kong or Taiwan or Japan.”

“Hong Kong and Taiwan are parts of China occupied by colonial forces. Their defense against the rightful claim of the Chinese people –“

“That’s a matter for another day, and another government in Peking,” the President broke in. “It’s all or nothing on this.”

Yuri Vladimirovich glared at the confident, almost arrogant figure for a minute. “Very well. We shall agree to assist in the event of Chinese aggression against those places you name, and you in turn will assist if our border is attacked. This must be communicated to Peking, to insure they have a full understanding when they make their choice to react.”

“We’ll make it clear,” the President said.

“This is a contingency for this one emergency,” Yuri Vladimirovich reiterated. “This is not a precedent for future action.”

“Frankly, Mr. Chairman, I can’t see anyone else out there as nutty as the lesser Mao, which is why we have to take off the kid gloves to put him in his place. He’s sort of unprecedented, but we got to stop him before someone else gets the idea that they can do this too. I know it’s kind of a worn-out cliche, but I’m reminded of Hitler here. Now is the time to stop him, with global resolve, before we have a bigger problem.”

“You will of course warn us before you fire this missile, so that we can track it to Lop Nur,” Yuri Vladimirovich added.

“You got it. You’ll, of course, tell us before you do anything, ok?”

“Da.”

"We might also want to talk about you dismantling one of your warheads, of equal power, to match the one we're sending to China," the American President added.

"Perhaps the experts should look at that," Yuri Vladimirovich replied evasively.

Unknown, Behind the Fortress Walls., 1983
Saturday, October 20th, 1979: President Reagan and General Secretary Andropov meet in Dublin for a second day in a row to discuss the ongoing crisis in China. Afterwards, they appear briefly before the media to take a few questions, though the nature of their discussions and the substance of the quiet agreement made between the two leaders remains a closely guarded secret.
Sunday, October 21st, 1979: After the conclusion of the Dublin Summit, President Reagan meets with the Irish President and Prime Minister briefly to discuss the security situation in Northern Ireland, much to the aggravation of Prime Minister Healey and the British government in London. Afterwards Air Force One flies the President to London, where he is hosted at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.
[1] Taken from Wikipedia Commons (Public Domain)

[KaiserDave]

This is excellent.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This is excellent.

Thank you. The narrative portions are my own, but most of the events here (and the book quotes) come from Drew's original timeline.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Monday, October 22nd, 1979: A two-day long NATO heads of government meeting convenes in London, with French President Francois Mitterrand attending as “an invited guest.” Although the ostensible purpose if for President Reagan and Prime Minister Healey to report on the Dublin Summit talks, in fact the NATO leaders discuss a plan for retaliation against the People’s Republic of China over the Kwangsi nuclear incident. Most NATO leaders and President Mitterrand agree to support the U.S.-Soviet plan. Italian Prime Minister Berlinguer dissents, calling it “unjustified” and “further escalation.” The French President is not happy with the lack of resolution over the Basque question.

The NATO summit also discusses developments in the Iberian Peninsula and to discuss the de-escalation of the Naval confrontation with the Soviets in the Atlantic.

Issues pertaining to the Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia are also discussed, but no consensus reached on how to manage the Middle Eastern crisis.
Tuesday, October 23rd, 1979: Secretary of State Jeanne Kirkpatrick travels to Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei to explain what has been decided at the Dublin Summit and confirmed at the London Summit. All three governments are surprised by what Kirkpatrick tells them, and all three are fearful that they will be the targets of Chinese retaliation. The United States guarantees their safety, which only goes so far in assuaging security fears by the leaders of these nations.

This period will be remembered in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan for the U.S,’s high-handed, unilateral decision to act, and what is regarded among these three nations as a less than full regard for their security interests in the decisions taken in Europe.
Wednesday, October 24th, 1979: Father Charles Coughlin dies at the age of 88; the controversial Catholic priest was famous for his radio broadcasts in the 1930s, in which he promoted antisemitism and flirted with fascism.
Thursday, October 25th, 1979: The United Nations Security Council passes a unanimous resolution condemning both the use of a nuclear weapon by the People’s Republic of China and authorizing the use of force by member nations against Chinese weapons production facilities and storage sights if required to preserve peace and prevent a re-occurrence of the Kwangsi bombing.
Friday, October 26th, 1979: President Reagan holds a high stakes meeting in the Situation Room with his top National Security staff, including Secretaries Casey, Kirkpatrick, and Rumsfeld in addition to Richard Allen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Supreme Allied Commander “Gunfighter” Emerson to plot out a potential NATO strike against Red China’s southern coastal cities.
Saturday, October 27th, 1979: The Washington Post reports that retired General Curtis LeMay was on the White House visitor log the day before, with the controversial former Vice-Presidential candidate refusing to disclose the content of his discussions with the President. LeMay had ironically run for the Vice Presidency in 1968 with Governor Wallace on the American Independence Party ticket.

Captain Ward Newell.

Sunday, October 28th, 1979.

The USS Francis Scott Key.

5:40 AM, The South China Sea.

[1]

***Emergency Action Message***********

TO: TB-4

National Command Authority directs implementation Sigma-One. Sigma-One authorized.

***End EAM*****

“The message is authentic,” the Radio officer reported.

“I concur, the message is authentic,” said the Executive Officer, Lt. Commander Kelso. A silver missile key dangled on a cord strung around his collar.

“The message is authentic,” Captain Ward Newell confirmed. “Ready condition one for firing of weapon. Chief of the watch bring her steady to twenty-feet and prepare for firing.”

The Chief of the watch repeated the Captain’s order for verification as Newell pulled out his own missile key and strung it around his neck.

The Scott Key came-up to shallow depth beneath the ocean surface, where one of her sixteen missile tubes opened, prepared to launch one of the brand new Trident C4 SLBM’s, which had a range of 4,600 miles. Captain Newell had been pleased that the Scott Key had been one of the first SSBN’s in the active fleet to be retro-fitted for the new bird. He and his gold crew had set sail from Bremerton only a week before to conduct a one-hundred twenty day patrol, when abruptly they’d been called in to Pearl Harbor. There the technicians had tampered with one of this brand new birds – so new they still had a new missile smell – while he received the top secret Sigma One orders from the Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet himself. No one else in the chain of command had been cleared to see what he now read in the CincPac’s top security situation room buried well beneath the naval facility next to Honolulu, Hawaii. Sigma One had come from the President himself, via the SecDef, CNO, CincPac and into Newell’s hands.

Once Captain Newell read the orders he felt a quiver shake through his body. This wasn’t going to be an ordinary patrol; he and his gold crew were going to do what all “boomer” crews had been training to do for nearly twenty years, but what no one had ever done before. Fire off a missile – or a “bird” in Navy parlance – in anger at a bona fide target. No test, but a real boom this time.

“We are at optimum, skipper. Weapons board shows green; bird two ready for firing on your command,” Kelso reported, interrupting the CO’s reflections.

“Firing authorized as per Sigma One command,” Newell ordered.

“I concur with firing command,” Kelso repeated in the oft-drilled procedural dialogue which was meant to assure the crew that the firing order was legal. Under the Navy’s two-man rule both the CO and the XO had to concur on firing a missile, no one officer could give the order alone.

Newell and Kelso each went to their pre-designated firing stations and inserted their keys into a slot. Both officers had to turn their keys at the same time to connect the firing circuit, otherwise it would disengage. The two stations were more than two arms lengths apart, so that no one man could turn both keys at once.

At the end of the three count both men turned their keys, lighting up the boards before them. Both officers hit the firing button for “bird two” at the same time.

The Scott Key shook as the Trident missile was ejected by jets of compressed air into the water. Once in the water and clear of the submarine the first stage rocket motors ignited. Within seconds the missile broke through the surface into the night air, beginning a pre-programmed trajectory which would carry it and its devastating payload west and into the heart of mainland China.

“Okay boys, let’s get out of here,” Newell ordered.

Ronald Reagan.

Sunday, October 28th, 1979.

The White House.

6:00 PM, Washington, D.C.

[2]

“Good evening. As has been reported today, the United States fired a single missile equipped with a nuclear warhead at the People’s Republic of China. This missile impacted the Lop Nur nuclear research facility in central China, where our initial analysis indicates that we have delivered considerable damage to the Chinese nuclear weapons program. We will fire no more weapons at China, unless we are provoked to do so by aggressive acts initiated by the People’s Republic of China itself. This weapon was launched by us, against a military facility – and not a population center – in response to the detonation by the People’s Republic of China of a nuclear weapon near numerous civilian population centers in the Kwangsi Province of China on October first. We have responded to an unprecedented and completely unwarranted act of aggression by a nuclear armed nation by attacking the means of aggression.

Should the People’s Republic of China initiate aggressive action, then let me communicate this directly to Chairman Mao and any other figure of political authority: The United States will regard any attack initiated by the People’s Republic of China against any other nation, including any attack against the territory or people of the Soviet Union, as an attack by the People’s Republic of China against the United States, for which we will take full retaliatory measures. To be clear, this statement of protection includes the Republic of China on Taiwan and the British crown colony of Hong Kong. The United States will not, I repeat, the United States will not tolerate any aggressive action on the part of the People’s Republic of China using conventional or nuclear weapons. Should the People’s Republic of China seek to detonate any further nuclear weapons over any population center within Chinese borders, then the leadership in Peking can expect a measured response from us in keeping with what they have experienced today.

The United States has coordinated its actions today with the highest leadership of the Soviet Union. While Soviets and our country often disagree over many points, we stand firmly together in our resolve to curtail any attempt by any nation to use nuclear weapons in an aggressive fashion. Chairman Andropov and I concur completely in our abhorrence at the use of nuclear weapons against civilian populations, or forces which present no nuclear danger. On October first, the leadership of the People’s Republic of China detonated a nuclear device near several densely inhabited population centers, for what purpose we still do not know. But we know it was not because they were threatened by an imminent nuclear attack, so we know that the use of such a weapon was both unreasonable and reckless. While we cannot know the exact figures, as we have no access to mainland China, we can assume that the casualties have mounted into the tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands, with more injured and dying every day. The United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and many other world nations have joined in offering relief aid and assistance to the People’s Republic of China – to aid their citizens afflicted by this reckless act of wanton destruction – but we have been rebuffed by a callous and unfeeling leadership in Peking.

Many of you hearing my voice will be distressed that the United States, with the concurrence of the Soviet Union, our NATO partners, and the Japanese government, has used a nuclear weapon in anger. In recent days you have exercised your rights as free citizens to make your feelings known in the democratic nations around the globe. I hear your concerns, and I am committed to a peaceful resolution. It was only with a heavy heart and after much soul searching that I chose the response I did, as a measured response to the reckless and ill-advised actions of the mainland Chinese government. All of you, including the leadership in Peking, should note that at my direction the United States Armed Forces chose to target a military facility. Lop Nur is the center of China’s nuclear weapons development program, and the weapon which detonated over Kwangsi Province had its origins at that facility. Accordingly, we have retaliated not against innocent populations or areas where there might be great harm to innocent people as a result of our action. These considerations were not taken into account before the Chinese leadership elected to use a nuclear weapon in a densely populated area. Instead we have struck at a weapons facility- a military target. We have done so in this fashion so that there can be no doubt about our determination, or our resolve to meet this challenge.

The People’s Republic of China currently has in custody five United States citizens whom you have been holding in violation of all international law and without a shred of decency or regard for at least seven years. In one case we can confirm that you are holding an individual whom you rescued at sea and allowed to be declared dead, rather than reporting his rescue to the proper United States authority, as required by international law. This will end. These individuals are members of the United States Armed Forces who have undertaken no hostile action against the People’s Republic of China. The United States demands their immediate return alive and in good physical condition. Anything less will be regarded by the United States as an expression of aggression by the People’s Republic of China against the United States, requiring an appropriate response by the United States.

In closing, I call again upon the leadership of the People’s Republic of China to open their doors and receive our emissaries, to meet with us in order to resolve our differences. Our offers of assistance to the victims of the Kwangsi explosion remain open. We will also assist anyone who have been injured by the detonation of a weapon at Lop Nur. Ours is a heartfelt willingness to come to your aid in this difficult moment; the United States offers to the people of China the hand of peace. Do not rebuff us; do not turn inward. The choice is yours. But if you choose the path of aggression and destruction, then you are assured that the aggression you may start will be visited back on you a thousand-fold.”
Monday, October 29th, 1979: Massive anti-war marches shut down traffic in the major cities of the United States and Europe as hundreds of thousands protest the nuclear response of the Reagan administration to the Kwangsi crisis. Reverend Jesse Jackson condemns President Reagan as the “butcher of Asia,” while other Democratic candidates such as Senator Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Henry Jackson (D-WA) praise the President for taking decisive action against the Chinese.
Wednesday, October 31st, 1979: New Gallup polling is released.

1980 Democratic Primaries (Nationwide).
Ted Kennedy: 40%
Reubin Askew: 18%
Jerry Brown: 15%
Jesse Jackson: 10%
Pat Robertson: 9%
Walter Mondale: 3%
Henry Jackson: 1%
Frank Church: 1%
Cliff Finch: 1%
Henry Howell: 1%
Lyndon LaRouche: 1%

1980 Republican Primaries (Nationwide).
Ronald Reagan: 92%
Lowell Weicker: 7%
Harold Stassen: 1%
[1] Taken from Wikipedia Commons (Public Domain)
[2] Taken from YouTube.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

And we're done with Red October, the most exciting chapter of the timeline that I wrote thus far.

I am going to keep posting updates through July 1980, but after July 1980, I will be rehashing and rewriting everything through October 1980 (where I left off) before regular updates resume. So you can look forward to about ten-fourteen more updates in the next week or two before I slow down a bit because I am resuming writing.

As always, credit to Drew - the author of the original timeline - for all of it.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Thursday, November 1st, 1979: Former Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) rules out another third-party presidential bid in 1980 on the Peace Party ticket. Instead, McCarthy rather surprisingly endorses former Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s Libertarian candidacy.

Former Mississippi Governor Cliff Finch announces he will seek the Democratic nomination in 1980, but his candidacy faces an uphill climb as he enters a crowded field dominated by bigger names such as Ted Kennedy, Reubin Askew, Pat Robertson, Henry Jackson, and Walter Mondale amongst others.

The Irish security forces seized a quantity of arms at Dublin docks which were believed to have originated in the United States of America (USA) and to be bound for the Irish Republican Brigade (IRB). The shipment totaled 156 weapons and included the M-60 machine gun and was worth an estimated £500,000. Paddy Donegan, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), stated that he believed that the shipment of guns “goes to show how far you can believe the words of the men talking in France.”

Chinese military forces begin a build-up along the border with Hong Kong. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Vietnam all contribute forces to increase the western defense of Hong Kong. More Taiwanese forces are also contributed covertly.
Saturday, November 3rd, 1979: Five protesters were killed by the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party members in the Greensboro massacre in Greensboro, North Carolina. This incident was the culmination of attempts by the Communist Workers Party to organize the unemployed, both white and black, in the area, into so-called “employment action groups.” The CWP had been planning to lead a march of the unemployed on the Greensboro city government to demand housing and food.

An otherwise obscure Klan figure, Virgil Lee Griffin, as a pre-text for declaring his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President. To the embarrassment of the Republican National Committee Griffin’s Klan affiliation was not officially discovered until after he had already qualified for the ballot in Iowa, New Hampshire, and a number of other primary and caucus states. This “discovery” was to become the subject of controversy during the 1980 Election campaign due to the fact that Griffin never hid his Klan affiliation and was quite open about his extremist views.
Sunday, November 4th, 1979: The 11/4 Incident takes place in China. Chinese state radio and television announce to a stunned world that Mao Yuanxin is dead, having fallen from “great strain and exertion” in the wake of a nuclear attack. What is not known to the western world (yet) is that Mao Yuanxin was killed in an apparent military coup led by Premier Wang Hongwen and Wang Dongxing, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission after ordering a full-scale attack on Hong Kong as well as nuclear strikes against Taiwan, a move which the elders of the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army viewed as too far. An unofficial troika emerges in the wake of Mao Yuanxin’s demise. The Politburo of the Communist Party of China elects Marshall Ye Jianying as the First Secretary, though it is unclear immediately who exactly is the paramount leader of China.

B. J. Vorster, having hung on as Prime Minister of South Africa (serving since 1966) is finally compelled to retire by more hardline elements in the National Party government of South Africa. In the tense war environment General Magnus Malan, Chief of the South African Defense Forces, is able to use conservative support for the military to catapult himself into the office Prime Minister, which assumes a quasi-military authoritarian position. Malan will soon acquire the reputation as the Pinochet of South Africa. Within a year Malan fuses the offices of President and Prime Minister (occupying both) and establishes a military dominated Cabinet, moving civilian politicians into a secondary or supporting role.
Monday, November 5th, 1979: Airey Neave is elected leader of the Conservative Party by the party’s MPs, besting Geoffrey Howe in a close vote. Neave, a reliably right-wing member of the party, plans to take the Tories in a more monetarist direction than the politics of the post-war consensus that the previous Heath government embraced.

In Tehran negotiations breakdown between militants holding the Soviet Embassy staff hostage and the Iranian Government. Soviet intelligence reports that the Iranians are planning a rescue operation, but there is concern that an Iranian effort will be a disaster.
Tuesday, November 6th, 1979: The Portuguese and Spanish governments agree to send representatives to the Vatican on Thursday, November 8th, to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire agreement as the Iberian War continues to rage. The frontlines have largely stabilized, and a tense trench warfare-like scene plays up and down the battlelines.
Wednesday, November 7th, 1979: Canadian Prime Minister Peter Lougheed survives a motion of no-confidence by two votes, ultimately relying on the support of the Social Credit Party to retain their majority in the House of Commons.
Thursday, November 8th, 1979: Talks between the Portuguese and Spanish governments are mediated by the Pope in Rome.  A ceasefire agreement is put into place, with the two warring nations agreeing to participate in further peace talks to end the Iberian War.
Friday, November 9th, 1979: The NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected a purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. The United States moves to DEFCON 2 and launches nuclear bombers, as well as sending out a global alert. The U.S. activity causes the Soviet command to suspect an imminent first strike by the United States. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert was cancelled. It takes two days of diplomacy for the United States and the Soviet Union to quietly turn down their alerts. The U.S. forces are at DEFCON 2 November 9 – 12, 1979.
Saturday, November 10th, 1979: Father Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, the Pope’s personal representative to the Basque Country, meets with Ramón Rubial Cavia, Carlos Garaikoetxea Urriza, Jesús María de Leizaola Sánchez and other Basque leaders. Father Errazuriz undertakes to provide neutral ground through which competing Basque factions can negotiate to produce a functioning governmental system. His brief is to achieve the development of a peaceful government, oriented toward democracy.
Sunday, November 11th, 1979: Iranian troops storm the Soviet Embassy compound in Tehran. What ensues is a blood bath. An unknown number of militants are killed, along with twenty-five Iranian soldiers and all but two of the Soviet hostages.
Monday, November 12th, 1979: The Kremlin issues a statement expressing outrage at what has happened in Tehran and calling the Iranian government’s actions a “callous act of war.” The Iranian Ambassador is asked to leave Moscow.
Tuesday, November 13th, 1979: A weakened Yuri Andropov appears on Soviet television to express Soviet outrage over the failed hostage rescue attempt. His breath is heavy and labored during the address and close observation shows that he is sweating heavily. Kremlinologists begin to speculate about Andropov's health just a few months after he took over the leadership of the Soviet Union from the late Mikhail Suslov.
Wednesday, November 14th, 1979: In response to the speech by General Secretary Andropov, the Iranian regime of Prime Minister Azhari launches a crackdown on the Marxist MEK, arresting dozens of leading leftists and suspected guerilla fighters as well as sympathetic intellectuals and journalists.
Friday, November 16th, 1979: President Reagan forcefully warns the Soviet Union from intervening in Iran, stating in no uncertain terms that the United States will stand behind the young Shah and his government in Tehran.
Sunday, November 18th, 1979: Soviet forces begin to mobilize along the borders with Iran; naval activity in the Caspian Sea increases. Iranian commercial vessels in the Caspian Sea are increasingly challenged by Soviet Naval patrols.
Monday, November 19th, 1979: Iranian Prime Minister (General) Azhari declares Soviet actions as an affront to Iranian sovereignty. He orders a mobilization of Iranian forces along the joint border and calls on the United States to assist Iran if the nation is invaded.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein travels to Moscow as part of an effort to make amends with the Soviet Union, who are angry at his regime for recent weapons purchases and trade agreements made with France. Hussein offers to intervene on the side of the Soviets in Iran, in return for Khuzestan being ceded to Iraq. The Soviets seriously ponder the Iraqi President’s offer.
Tuesday, November 20th, 1979: Emilio Óscar Rabasa of the Institutional Revolutionary Party is elected as the President of Mexico. His term will last from December 12th, 1979, until December 12th, 1985.
Thursday, November 22nd, 1979: A split developed within the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as to its approach to the Terrence Boston's, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, invitation to attend a conference on the future of Northern Ireland. Gerry Fitt, then leader of the SDLP, wanted to attend the conference even without an Irish dimension being on the agenda. Others, including John Hume, then deputy leader of the SDLP, did not want to attend unless an Irish dimension was to be discussed. As a result of this dispute Fitt rather than resigning, split the SDLP in two by expelling Hume and his supporters.
Friday, November 23rd, 1979: Fugitive Charles Manson escapes capture by police in North Carolina. He has been associated with the CWP and the troubles there. His whereabouts continue to remain unknown.

Several bombs explode in Tehran, killing a dozen people and injuring others. The MEK acting under KGB influence is suspect. The Iranian regime cracks down on the MEK
Saturday, November 24th, 1979: A fourteen-nation summit conference (US, UK, USSR, Iraq, Jordan, Iran, Arab League, North Yemen, South Yemen, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt) convenes in Vienna to negotiate the terms of an Iraqi withdrawal from Arabia and its replacement with a consensus government. The talks quickly fall apart when Iraq rules out withdrawing from Arabia in the event that the House of Saud is restored to power. Egypt and North Yemen likewise are opposed to any military action against the Caliphate of Arabia in Mecca, fearing that any intervention in Arabia would inflame Islamist sentiments in their own countries.
Sunday, November 25th, 1979: Soviet Air Force bombers and fighters begin over-flights of the Soviet-Iran border area.
Monday, November 26th, 1979: US alert level goes back to DEFCON2 in response to the level of Soviet military activity along the Soviet-Iran border.
Wednesday, November 28th, 1979: Air New Zealand Flight 901: an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mount Erebus (in Antarctica) on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board.
Thursday, November 29th, 1979: Hong Kong goes on alert as the Chinese military engages in invasion drills along the border. Secretary of National Intelligence William Casey briefs President Reagan on the matter and convinces him that the Chinese maneuvers are in reality a demonstration of strength to the outside world as the chaotic situation within China remains unknown.
Friday, November 30th, 1979: President Reagan authorizes over flights of Chinese costal positions around Hong Kong in a clear warning that the U.S. will retaliate for any military action taken against Hong Kong.

New Gallup polling is released.

1980 Democratic Primaries (Nationwide).
Ted Kennedy: 40%
Reubin Askew: 17%
Jerry Brown: 14%
Jesse Jackson: 11%
Pat Robertson: 10%
Walter Mondale: 3%
Henry Jackson: 1%
Frank Church: 1%
Cliff Finch: 1%
Henry Howell: 1%
Lyndon LaRouche: 1%

1980 Republican Primaries (Nationwide).
Ronald Reagan: 92%
Lowell Weicker: 7%
Harold Stassen: 1%

[Yelnoc]

The PRC is going completely off the rails. I am reading Ezra Vogel's biography of Deng Xiaoping right now, and reading these two together really emphasize how close China was to a full-on breakdown after the latter Mao years.