These are both good options. Obviously we'll cover the Republican nomination process in depth, but I believe it will be deep and wide, unlike OTL 1992 or even 1996. More akin to 2012 or 2016.
The Accidental President: A Jesse Jackson Wins 1988 TL
- Thread starter VVVVVV
- Start date
It would be interesting if Jackson got assassinated, i mean the black president & the first “New Left”-ish president IN 1988 !!
I think it’s possible for him for Jackson to win, but I think it would be cool to see legacy as a the next Kennedy.
I think it’s possible for him for Jackson to win, but I think it would be cool to see legacy as a the next Kennedy.
I feel like the GOP would win 92. The backlash against such a Progressive POTUS for the time as well as a black man in office would likely be enough to push them to victory.
First, I want to commend you because I have long wanted to write a Jackson wins timeline but have struggled with how to make it happen plausibly. I have several doubts - beginning with the idea that a frontrunner for the nomination and former US Senator would seemingly joyfully choose to go from out-front candidate to behind the scenes staffer for a candidate thought to be running a campaign about a moral statement rather than a serious effort to win, and including the appointment of a corrupt former president who was run out of town by the party of the Democratic president and by his own party. Yes, his image was in the process of rehabilitation, but it never reached the kind of post-presidency euphoria Jimmy Carter has experienced and it didn't happen as quickly as you posit. The Clinton/Nixon relationship was a significant factor in the rehabilitation of Nixon's image. I'm also struggling with the running mate choice. Is there any real evidence Jackson and Collins enjoyed a close relationship? Also, the idea of a nation that fell for the Willie Horton trap electing a ticket without a white man seems ... a stretch.
Mostly, I have a problem with this. First, why is Rehnquist retiring a few years after his appointment? That seems unlikely given the fact Rehnquist would clench the gavel until his death -- nearly twenty years later. Second, why would Jackson - who is a civil rights leader - appoint a man who once penned a memo about how Brown v. Board of Education was wrongly decided to lead a National Committee on Race. That seems the most absurd point of the timeline. Even if you want to argue Jackson would find a conservative or moderate Republican to give the findings of this Committee more weight, there are choices who are not avowed segregationists. Rehnquist's appointment makes just a tad more sense than naming, say, Strom Thurmond.
I do think this is an important topic and an interesting one to explore, but I think some of these particulars are distracting from what could be a grand narrative.
Mostly, I have a problem with this. First, why is Rehnquist retiring a few years after his appointment? That seems unlikely given the fact Rehnquist would clench the gavel until his death -- nearly twenty years later. Second, why would Jackson - who is a civil rights leader - appoint a man who once penned a memo about how Brown v. Board of Education was wrongly decided to lead a National Committee on Race. That seems the most absurd point of the timeline. Even if you want to argue Jackson would find a conservative or moderate Republican to give the findings of this Committee more weight, there are choices who are not avowed segregationists. Rehnquist's appointment makes just a tad more sense than naming, say, Strom Thurmond.
I do think this is an important topic and an interesting one to explore, but I think some of these particulars are distracting from what could be a grand narrative.
This scenario absurdly exaggerates the extent to which an assassination attempt can make a presidential candidate overperform the "basics." If anyone should have been helped by such an attempt, it was Theodore Roosevelt in 1912--the way he insisted on continuing his speech won huge admiration--, yet he still finished with only about a quarter of the vote, far behind Wilson, and just barely ahead of the unpopular Taft. And in the present scenario, the attrmpted assassination is at the convention (not in October as with TR) giving any bump Jackson got from it months to fade...
BTW, a March 1988 Washington Post-ABC News poll:
Bush 58
Jackson 34
(Yes, the poll overestimated how well Dukakis would do against Bush, but to me that just shows they underestimated Bush, not that Jackson would do better than Dukakis...)
BTW, a March 1988 Washington Post-ABC News poll:
Bush 58
Jackson 34
(Yes, the poll overestimated how well Dukakis would do against Bush, but to me that just shows they underestimated Bush, not that Jackson would do better than Dukakis...)
Did you not read the part of him almost getting assassinated? Reagan broke the curse of POTUS's getting assassinated.
That is a good idea, lol.
Maybe, maybe not. To speculate further might be spoilers. Also, Nixon was the last progressive POTUS. Jackson is just the first black POTUS. There's a major difference.
Jackson isn't elected because he was almost assassinated. He was elected because he campaigned. Ya'll racism is showing, LOL. Sad. Try again.
Yes, now we're talking. But to be clear, the campaign manager doesn't run the campaign, they "manage" it. She was chosen for the optics. Jackson and Hart truly ran the campaign in this scenario, not even the woman who they hand picked to run it.
Thank you all, I just got home from a rather long walk and will work on an update now. I appreciate all the input, especially the wrong ones.
... and that's the end of the Presidency right there. Rehnquist goes public and (recognizing that whatever a Democrat President can do, a Republican President can also do) a near-unanimous vote of the Senate (re-)confirms Rehnquist. Most of the Cabinet (led by former President Nixon, who got Rehnquist on the Supreme Court in the first place!) turn in their resignations. The rest of the term is speculation on the Democratic nominee for '92, and can the Democrats not lose both Senate and House in '90?
In all seriousness, I see President Jackson being talked out of this course of action by his staff, and instead floating a list of potential names for the next Justice of the Supreme Court "... if and when an opening should occur ...", with some perhaps very-behind-the-scenes talks about getting Rehnquist to retire. If he can convince Nixon to help Jackson, then a suitable transition plan can be worked out.
But up until that point, you've had a REALLY believable timeline. I am still looking forward to what comes next.
I am sorry if I exaggerate the importance of the attempted assassination in your TL but you were the one who wrote "It is also said, due to the fact Jackson rushed towards the gunman, angry that anyone could have even made the attempt, won him the upcoming election."
I remain a skeptic toward the idea that any Democrat--let alone one who was as controversial, whether for good or bad reasons [1], as Jackson--could have won in 1988, given peace, prosperity, and the recovery of Reagan's ratings from their 1987 slump. But if you want to believe (contrary to what historians and political scientists believe) that a good campaign can magically overcome all fundamentals , fine. I would only note that the notion that Dukakis lost in OTL simply because of campaign blunders is not supported by the evidence as I noted at https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-dukakis-didnt-run-in-1988.467826/#post-18942531 ("Dukakis' lead in the polls over Bush had already disappeared by the time of the GOP convention, well before the Willie Horton ads--or for that matter many of the other supposed game-changers of the campaign like the ride in the tank or Dukakis' wooden answer to Bernard Shaw's question about the rape and murder of Kitty Dukakis. In fact, after the GOP convention, Bush was always ahead: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/01/06/its-time-to-stop-the-endless-hype-of-the-willie-horton-ad ") In any event, "He [Jackson] was elected because he campaigned" makes no sense--it's not as if Bush didn't campaign!
BTW, there was absolutely nothing racist in my post. I did note how poorly Jackson did against Bush in the polls, and no doubt racism explains part (not all) of that poor showing, but even if racism is the sole explanation for Jackson's poor showing in the polls, recognizing the existence of racism is hardly the same thing as endorsing it.
[1] Was racism part of it? Obviously. But some of the things he said and the positions he took were legitimately controversial. For example, both his position on Israel and his "Hymietown" remarks hurt him among Jewish voters. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-10-19-tm-5850-story.html
It was an outlier that Bush won in 1988, that's why I take contention with your statements. Is that fair, at least? I didn't necessarily cover how Bush lost because that's not what interested me. I wrote the Jackson campaign in detail. If you have contention with my story, please stop reading.
You don't understand presidential politics, sorry.
edit: If you haven't seen the West Wing, you aren't going to keep up with this story. Sorry guys and G(I)s, not sorry.
Chapter 5
So President Jesse Jackson went to work on the bill to institute universal health care in the United States. Plans like these had been attempted before, but had
never passed the Congress before. This is for one, very simple reason: the money interests in America. What truly scared the nation at this time was not
the fact that Jesse Jackson was black, but rather the simple fact that the world knew he wasn't bought. And you could not buy, and in fact, no one ever did,
buy Jesse Jackson, in any sense of that word.
President Jackson worked closely with the Lion of the Senate, Teddy Kennedy himself, to put out the best possible bill. To work on the partnering bill, they, together,
chose freshman Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, recent winner of the California 12th, to work on the House bill. Teddy had the Senate.
While these bills were literally being written, a few were passed: Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989
(which was revised to include a provision that forbid the United States itself from selling biological weapons), and finally the Ryan White Comprehensive
AIDS Resources Emergency Act were all passed. The last one especially was important to President Jackson, as he had promised the people of New York during the
1988 campaign that he would address the pandemic as POTUS. And so he did...
On the day he signed the latter bill into law, President Jackson flew to New York City with his entire administration and started personally handing out checks.
It went over as a riot. The people loved it. And President Jackson smiled and winked into all the cameras he saw.
As the 100 days were wearing thin, a tragedy happened: the Exxon "Oriental Nicety" struck the Bligh Island Reef, causing a massive oil spill just off the coast
of Alaska. President Jackson was furious. How could something so idiotic have happened? Writing his first Executive Order, he banned the use of oil tankers
to transport oil to and from the United States.
And this would cause the first true battle with the 101st Congress...
never passed the Congress before. This is for one, very simple reason: the money interests in America. What truly scared the nation at this time was not
the fact that Jesse Jackson was black, but rather the simple fact that the world knew he wasn't bought. And you could not buy, and in fact, no one ever did,
buy Jesse Jackson, in any sense of that word.
President Jackson worked closely with the Lion of the Senate, Teddy Kennedy himself, to put out the best possible bill. To work on the partnering bill, they, together,
chose freshman Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, recent winner of the California 12th, to work on the House bill. Teddy had the Senate.
While these bills were literally being written, a few were passed: Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989
(which was revised to include a provision that forbid the United States itself from selling biological weapons), and finally the Ryan White Comprehensive
AIDS Resources Emergency Act were all passed. The last one especially was important to President Jackson, as he had promised the people of New York during the
1988 campaign that he would address the pandemic as POTUS. And so he did...
On the day he signed the latter bill into law, President Jackson flew to New York City with his entire administration and started personally handing out checks.
It went over as a riot. The people loved it. And President Jackson smiled and winked into all the cameras he saw.
As the 100 days were wearing thin, a tragedy happened: the Exxon "Oriental Nicety" struck the Bligh Island Reef, causing a massive oil spill just off the coast
of Alaska. President Jackson was furious. How could something so idiotic have happened? Writing his first Executive Order, he banned the use of oil tankers
to transport oil to and from the United States.
And this would cause the first true battle with the 101st Congress...
mspence
Banned
So no Willie Horton ad from Bush against Jackson (which was a low blow but which was effective in painting Dukakis as being weak on crime among Republican voters?) I might have gone with Sam Nunn for Secretary of State.
I'd love to see President Jackson on the Arsenio Hall Show (a la Obama on the Tonight Show and Letterman in OTL)
I could see Colin Powell being a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2000 if he's part of a Republican administration after Jackson.
I'd love to see President Jackson on the Arsenio Hall Show (a la Obama on the Tonight Show and Letterman in OTL)
I could see Colin Powell being a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2000 if he's part of a Republican administration after Jackson.
Dukakis doesn't even run for the office in this timeline. I mentioned all 4 candidates by name. The crowd cleared for Cuomo. Nothing akin to Willie Horton. VP Bush thought the election was being handed to him, and Jackson came in and said nothing is ever handed to the president.*
Sam Nunn as Sec of State might be good for later on, but I thought Jackson would feel he had to appoint a Republican to a VIP position, and who better than the best Republican ever to live, Nixon himself? It's also so crazy it just works.
President Jackson on the Arsenio Hall Show might just be in the next update.
Colin Powell isn't a Republican in this TL. Neither is Condi Rice.
* Also, W. is the one who is responsible for that Willie ad, not H.W. . Maybe in this TL, W. actually decides to become baseball commissioner.
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Chapter 6
It felt as if the entire world immediately reacted to President Jesse Jackson's first Executive Order. The major oil producing states in the Middle East and
elsewhere, and especially the 101st Congress. The conservative members of the Congress, almost too quickly, began to publicly criticize the POTUS.
President Jackson felt as if the nation, and maybe the world too, were already turning their back on him. How could this have happened? Not like this, it couldn't.
So he called an international summit, to take place in Greensboro, North Carolina, and it would be there that the whole of the world decided what to do about
the Exxon "Oriental Nicety" oil spill.
Before the nations of the world could assemble, President Jackson flew to Alaska with select members of the administration, including Secretary of State Richard
Nixon, Secretary of the Interior Al Gore, Secretary of Commerce Ralph Nader, and Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary. The devastation of the oil spill was
like nothing they had ever seen. It is said tears rolled down the cheeks of Nixon as he attempted to counsel the president.
They set to the business of cleaning, using Dawn Dish Soap and other things the government recommended. President Jackson was sure nothing like this would ever
happen again. An NPR camera crew tagged along and documented everything for the world to see.
This footage was demonstrated later, when the international summit came together. But first, President Jackson had to address the Congress...
elsewhere, and especially the 101st Congress. The conservative members of the Congress, almost too quickly, began to publicly criticize the POTUS.
President Jackson felt as if the nation, and maybe the world too, were already turning their back on him. How could this have happened? Not like this, it couldn't.
So he called an international summit, to take place in Greensboro, North Carolina, and it would be there that the whole of the world decided what to do about
the Exxon "Oriental Nicety" oil spill.
Before the nations of the world could assemble, President Jackson flew to Alaska with select members of the administration, including Secretary of State Richard
Nixon, Secretary of the Interior Al Gore, Secretary of Commerce Ralph Nader, and Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary. The devastation of the oil spill was
like nothing they had ever seen. It is said tears rolled down the cheeks of Nixon as he attempted to counsel the president.
They set to the business of cleaning, using Dawn Dish Soap and other things the government recommended. President Jackson was sure nothing like this would ever
happen again. An NPR camera crew tagged along and documented everything for the world to see.
This footage was demonstrated later, when the international summit came together. But first, President Jackson had to address the Congress...
