TLC1 - 53 States Timeline

[Alcuin]

It's just after midnight so it's time for me to start posting. I'll try breaking it down into Presidencies. This one's Dewey.

1948
It was the most widely predicted result for years. As long ago as a year before, newspapers were calling Thomas Dewey the next President of the USA. In the event, the result was frighteningly close. Pollsters had Dewey way ahead the night before but when the next day dawned, Truman was only a whisker behind. He was so close that, had he won one of the smaller states, such as Rhode Island, he would have won.

Afterward, Pollsters argued about how they could have got the result so wrong but vice-President, Earl Warren had the last word. “Folks, we ran the dullest campaign, even I was tempted to vote for Truman. I'm glad I did not though. Dewey will be a great President.”

Warren's successor as Governor of California, Goodwin Knight, introduced reforms to the way gubernatorial elections were conducted in California. Firstly, Governors could only be elected twice (although partial terms in which Lieutenant Governors became Governors did not count toward this total) and it was no longer permissible for a candidate to stand for election in the primaries of a party with which he was not registered. (This meant that nobody would be able to repeat Warren's achievement in 1946 of winning the Republican, Democratic and Progressive primaries and standing for governor un-opposed).

1949

Little changed at first, Dewey was in favour of so many of the things Truman had put in place. The Berlin Airlift continued as did the Marshall Plan. However, he also suspended Truman's plan to withdraw troops from Korea. In Asia, the nations of India and Pakistan came into being.
The Soviet Blockade of Berlin was lifted on 28 January after a note from Earl Warren to Joseph Stalin stating, “We've just had an election, there's a new President and he's not about to back down. Do you really want to keep this up for four more years”?

Stalin's answer was twofold. First, he immediately ended the blockade of Berlin, agreeing that goods could be brought to West Berlin from what he also recognised formally as West Germany via a single road and rail route.
The second part of the answer was more sinister. On 16 July 1949, exactly four years since the United States exploded its own first nuclear weapon, the Soviet Union tested a nuclear device at Semipalatinsk. It has been reported that both the date and the design (an exact copy of the American “Fat Man” bomb exploded over Nagasaki), were both chosen at the insistence of Lavrenty Beria, later to succeed Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union.

1950

Two major events were to change the world in 1950. The first was the arrest and trial of Nuclear Scientist, Klaus Fuchs by the British and the second, the unexpected death of Josef Stalin on 25 March.
We all know the conspiracy theory around Stalin's death. Even today, many people do not want to believe that the great dictator died from something as simple as a stroke. While some point out Beria's gain from the death of Stalin, and his rehabilitation of Polina Zhemchuzina, who was both the wife of Vyacheslav Molotov and a close friend of Israeli Ambassador Golda Meier, the story of plot and counter plot including the injection of an air bubble into Stalin's bloodstream, is more the stuff of fiction than any serious history of the time.

In the case of Fuchs, the conspiracy was more obvious. Fuchs's trial showed the involvement of several Americans in the spy ring that gave the Soviets the atom bomb. Later events showed that, coincidentally, Fuchs gave the hydrogen bomb to both the Soviets and the Americans although the Americans had followed a different path before returning to that suggested earlier by Fuchs and leading to the Teller-Ulam design in the West and Sakharov's “Third Idea” in the Soviet Union. Fuchs was sentenced to fourteen years in prison and served nine years in Wakefield before being allowed to return home to Dresden.

The Americans on the other hand were not so lucky. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, David and Ruth Greenglass, Harry Gold, and William Perl were executed and Morton Sobel who was sentenced to death in his absence but had already fled to Mexico. Sobel remained effectively stateless for several years until he was granted Israeli citizenship in 1965. However, despite his statelessness, Mexico refused to extradite him, citing an attempt by an armed gang to repatriate him forcibly rather than through official channels.
Senators Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon of HUAC tried to build the scandal into a purge of anyone who might be a communist from public life. The purge was stillborn, however, when Dewey made his famous, “American Democracy” speech at the Boot Monument in Saratoga Historical Park.
“America is a democracy”, said Dewey, “This monument is a monument to a hero although we never use his now blackened name. There are those who would end that democracy and not all are on the outside. There are those who would deny the Americanness and patriotism of their fellow Americans simply because of political beliefs. That is un-American. It is with a heavy heart that I have today signed federal death warrants on seven Americans. They will die because of their actions as spies, not for any other reason. Anyone who then tries to blacken the names of other Communists, other Jews or even other New Yorkers because of this has no place in American public life.”

North Korean troops build up on the border with South Korea and on June 25th they invade. American troops move to positions behind the RoK lines but more interesting is the joint statement by Dewey and Beria demanding that North Korea return to the negotiated border.

It is not clear what happened but after a visit to Peiping by a delegation consisting of Nikita Kruschev and Vyacheslav Molotov from the Soviet Union and William Knowland and Richard Nixon from the USA ended, North Korean forces pulled back to their own border. A de-Militarized zone was set up between the two Koreas to be policed jointly by East and West German troops.

1951

This was the year when the Treaty of San Francisco was signed. This was the official treaty in which 48 countries announced that they were now at peace with Japan.

The United Nations building officially opened in Rotterdam, Netherlands. New York had been suggested but Dewey and Earl Warren suggested that, since the last war had taken place in Europe, the headquarters of the UN, a symbol of peace should also be in Europe. A competition was held in which the mayors of candidate cities (and two villages) made presentations explaining why they should host the UN. The final cut was between Berlin, Rotterdam and Oswiecim. Rotterdam was chosen after an impassioned speech by mayor of Rotterdam (and former Dutch Finance Minister) Pieter Oud, who promoted not only Rotterdam's candidacy but also the Design for the new centre of Rotterdam (including the United Nations Building) produced by his brother, Jacobus Oud, the architect.

In February, radio host Paul Harvey was shot dead by an FBI agent while trying to break into the Argonne National Laboratory. Papers found at Harvey's house suggested that he was attempting to raid the laboratory, which had formed part of the Manhattan Project, in order to show the vulnerability of American Government facilities to Communist infiltration. He proved the opposite.

Dewey responded to Harvey's death by stating that he would not seek re-election in 1952. He placed responsibility for Harvey's death firmly in the hands of the Conservative wing of the Republican party and, in particular Senator McCarthy. In effect, Dewey ended McCarthy's career. Dewey himself was as much against Communism as McCarthy but believed the poisonous atmosphere engendered by constant red scares was harmful to America.

Beria came close to proving Harvey right, however when he wrote to President Dewey in April suggesting that both countries should test their hydrogen bombs on the same day. This led to the last “Red Scare” in the USA, as a fruitless search began for Soviet agents. None came and when the US tested its first Hydrogen bomb on May 25 at Enewetok Attol, it was alone. It seemed that Beria did not have spies, or at least not enough to locate intelligence about the date of the test. Instead Beria waited precisely one week before testing his own Hydrogen bomb at exactly the same time on 1 June at Severnaya Zemlya.

Nuclear Scientist, Julius Oppenheimer disappeared from Long Beach, California in May only to resurface a month later in Tel Aviv saying that he had decided to emigrate to Israel as a “returned Jew”. He said that he had been excluded from working at his chosen profession as a nuclear physicist because of his political views and that he would now concentrate on writing his memoirs, painting and writing poetry.

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1951 went to Linus Pauling of the USA, who was, of course, later to become President of the United States, still the only Nobel Laureate to become President.

Other events in 1951 included the founding of the European Iron and Steel Community (later shortened to European Community) and the prevention, after a joint Soviet-Israeli operation, of the assassination of King Abdullah of Jordan after Friday prayers in Jerusalem.

1952

In February 1952, King George VI of England died.

On 26 February 1952, Winston Churchill announced that Great Britain had an atom bomb. This was followed on 5 March by an identical announcement by Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion made a similar announcement.

Although the timing seems obvious, both Beria and Ben Gurion always denied that the Soviets gave Israel the Bomb.

Although there were accusations at the time, the CIA announced two years later that it did not believe that Oppenheimer was responsible for passing nuclear secrets to Israel since his knowledge had been six years out of date by the time he defected.

On March 10, Fulgencio Battista staged a military coup to become President of Cuba. This was the beginning of Cuba's period under Communism, which lasted until the US sponsored uprising by Fidel Castro. Although not a member of the Communist Party, Battista had worked closely with Communist Party officials to stage the coup as well as seeking funding from the Soviet Union for public works projects.

On March 27, West German chancellor Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer was assassinated by Eliezir Sudit, a former agent of Irgun and, according to his confession, a member of the Israeli, Herut Party. He was followed by Franz Bluecher.

When Herut leader Menachem Begin was implicated directly in the plot to assassinate Adenauer, Prime Minister Ben Gurion ordered his extradition to face trial in West Germany. At the same time, in the Hague, Israel announced that it was seeking 3 billion dollars' reparations from Germany for atrocities during world war two.

In June, the majority of American troops were withdrawn from Japan. However, a “token” force of 25,000 remained, as in South Korea, to guarantee an American defence of Japan in the event of invasion.
Later in the year, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale on the little known White Wolf fault caused severe damage to Edwards Airforce Base in California. The government denied that the earthquake was caused by an underground nuclear weapon test.

On 6 August, Puerto Rico became the 49th State of the USA.

The German re-unification conference was established in Luxembourg in September. Representatives attended from Israel, Poland, the Soviet Union and the USA. The Conference reached agreement in 1954.
In October the Mau-Mau uprising began in Kenya. Jomo Kenyatta, later President of Tankanda was arrested by British forces. Eleven Senior Communist officials from Czechoslovakia (all Jewish) sought and obtained Israeli citizenship.

In Egypt, after King Faroukh declares himself a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, he is deposed in a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasir. However, within three days, British forces from Cyprus and Italian (in fact Libyan) forces from Libya restore King Faroukh to the throne. That is the last act of the Italians in Libya and as order is restored in Egypt, Italy announces Libyan independence.

 

[Alcuin]

Warren

In the US Presidential Election, Vice President Earl Warren sees off challenges from Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur to gain the Republican Nomination. He chose Harold Stassen as his running mate, after the latter released his delegates to support Warren and helped him defeat Conservative Robert Taft. In the election itself, Earl Warren defeated the Democrat, Carey Estes Kefauver.

1953

The year began with a flood. The surge tides and storms of January and February inundated vast areas of England and the Netherlands, killing 2,000 people in the Netherlands and 500 in England as well as a large number at Sea, including 135 people on the ferry, Princess Victoria, which sank in the Irish Sea.

Later in the year, there were major floods on Hondo island in Japan (killing 1700 people) and two separate major tornadoes killed 200 people in Waco, Texas and 130 in Flint, Michigan (the latter only a month before the first Chevrolet Corvette came off the production lines at Flint).

This was also the year when Christine Jorgensen, the world's first trans-sexual, returned to New York City from Denmark, ready to begin her new life as a woman. It was the year the structure of DNA was discovered, a polio vaccine was introduced, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and Everest was conquered. It was also the year when Werner von Braun began work in on what was to become the joint Soviet-American Moon mission.

The Russian Zones of Austria and of Vienna were handed over to the Austrian government. Leaders of a workers' uprising in East Germany were sentenced to death but this was commuted to an indefinite sentence to end when Germany was reunited.

Raoul and Fidel Castro led an unsuccessful attack on Moncada Barracks in Cuba. After this, they escaped to Miami where they planned the eventual Cuban Revolution.

An attempt by the Shah of Iran to overthrow the republican government of Mohammed Mossadegh was foiled.

General Strike begins in France on 4 August. During the time of the Strike, the French government ousts the Sultan of Morocco, Sidi Mohammed bin Yousuf and exiles him to Corsica. The strike continues and on 26 September, the French government falls. All French colonies become independent over the following seven months. Algeria and Corsica remain French for another two years.

In the United States, the 22nd amendment of the Constitution is passed. No President after Earl Warren will be able to stand for a third term.
Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1954

The German reunion conference eventually agreed that Germany would pay Israel 3 billion Marks in reparations for World War Two, however the Soviet Union withdrew its own claims for . Germany would continue to maintain armed forces both for its own defence and for policing the de-militarized zone in Korea, however, it was forbidden to acquire nuclear weapons or to spend more than 2 percent of Germany's GDP on defence. East Prussia was to separate from Russia and return to Germany but under a United Nations mandate rather than as an integral part of Germany. The defence of Germany and East Prussia was guaranteed by the USA and the Soviet Union.

In January, the Sultan returned to Morocco, announcing that ties with the new French government would be warmer and that those who helped the previous government to oust him would be punished. However, the punishment was relatively light, the highest sentence being five years imprisonment for Pasha El Glouai of Marrakesh. Even this was changed and after two months, not only was El Glouai released, but was also appointed as Prime Minister.

The Berlin Conference formalised German reunion and Austrian independence with German and Austrian neutrality guaranteed by all four powers. France proposed that the time was ripe for the end of empires, world powers and war as an instrument of foreign policy. Britain in particular disagreed.
The death of Beria of a stroke on 25 March 1954, four years to the second after that of Josef Stalin led an eerie coincidence to the affair. He was succeeded by Vyacheslav Molotov who promised Soviet citizens an election in 1956, although that election would be restricted to candidates who supported the basic tenets of dialectical materialism and of communism itself.

The Murder of Emmet Till in Money, Mississippi became a cause celebre throughout the National Negro Network and beyond, leading directly to the Desegregation Acts. When Till's murderers were found guilty, President Warren pledged to give every support to a Republican candidate who would stand against the openly racist Governor James Eastland in Mississippi. Dr Martin Luther King Jr of Montgomery, Alabama accepted the challenge and moved from Montgomery to Biloxi in order to establish residency.

Dr King defeated Eastland to become the first black governor of a US state and the first Republican elected official in Mississippi since the 1880s. The election was an ill-tempered affair with Federal Troops clashing with the Mississippi national guard as they ensured that black voters in Mississippi were able to vote. The Federal Government spent $5 million in paying the “poll tax” levied on black voters in Mississippi in an attempt to stop them voting.

In the United States the Hudson Motorcar Company took over Nash-Kelvinator in one of the biggest takeovers in history. This was also the year when the National Negro Network was formed, initially with forty affiliated Stations.

Gamal Abdel Nasir, Ali Maher and Mohammed Naguib, leaders of the abortive 1952 coup against King Faroukh of Egypt were hanged in Cairo.
In a deal brokered by the Israeli Ambassador to Moscow, Golda Meir on behalf of the Israeli Government, Italian Oil concluded a deal with President Mossadegh of Iran to explore and exploit oilfields in Iran. Thus the Anglo-Iranian oil company (by then part of British Petroleum) was excluded.

1955

In the February election for a chancellor of Germany, Willi Brandt, the Mayor of West Berlin, unexpectedly beat both of the favourites, Bluecher and Hoennecker to become the first democratically elected Chancellor of the whole of post war Germany. The Governments of France, Yugoslavia and Israel were first to congratulate him.

Lavrenty Beria died of an embolism on 25 March 1955. The coincidence of the date, four years to the day after that of Stalin, has fuelled many a conspiracy theory over the years but there is little or no evidence other than the dates for any link. He was succeeded by Polina Zhemchuzina, wife of Vyacheslav Molotov. Zhemchuzina was a good friend of Israeli Ambassador to Moscow, Golda Meier, herself later to become Prime Minister of Israel.

Others to die that year included Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Sir Alexander Fleming and Walt Disney.

The Union Mundial pro Interlingua founded in Tours, France. Interlingua, a form of Latin with simplified grammar and syntax was later to become the official language of the European Union.

Ng Dinh Diem declared himself President of Vietnam after a transparently fraudulent election. However, Ho Chi Minh's Communists swiftly began the insurgency which led to the Vietnamese revolution. Emperor Bao Dai called on both sides to lay down their arms. However, after a brief civil war, the People's Republic of Vietnam was born.

Algeria and Corsica gained independence from the French Socialist Republic. Both were invited to join the European Community as it became known. Corsica accepted but Algeria did not. Later that year, the Community was expanded to include Yugoslavia, Israel and Hungary. President Nagy of Hungary in his diaries wrote that, had Beria or Stalin remained in charge of the Soviet Union, Hungary would probably have been invaded by Soviet Troops when it joined the Community. Fortunately for him, President Zhemchuzina saw the value in establishing a non-soviet, socialism friendly grouping in Europe as a way of defusing the obvious conflicts that might arise between capitalism and communism.

1956

Great Britain became the first country to ban heroin. Over the next five years, most countries of the world followed suit.

Werner von Braun's World Space Agency in Peenemunde, Germany announced the launching of the joint American-Soviet Space Programme's first Satellite, Soyuz/Liberty I.

Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands. Tunisia gains independence from Algeria.

King Faroukh of Egypt dies. After his death, Egypt becomes a Republic and elects its first President, Mohammed Anwar Sadat. Britain withdraws from Sudan, leaving that country under Egyptian administration.

Morocco seeks the re-integration of the International City of Tangier into Morocco along with the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish forces land in Morocco but after France moves armed forces toward the Pyrenees and Britain conducts naval exercises off the coast at Trafalgar. this leads to a humiliating Spanish climbdown and indirectly, the collapse, two months later, of the Franco regime.

In the US Presidential Election, Earl Warren retained his presidency after defeating Adlai Stephenson. The election was something of a lackluster affair with few surprises in any of the primaries. One delegate at the Democratic Convention nominated Governor King of Mississippi as a candidate but this was rejected by the convention as pointless showboating.

Fidel Castro lands in Cuba and begins the coup which ousts Battista and returns Cuba to the American sphere of influence.

1957

The Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957 was awarded to Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee of the Institute of Advance Study, Princeton, New Jersey for their work into the so-called Parity Principle. This work showed that even at the fundamental particle level, symmetry was not necessarily maintained. Their work was vital to the discovery in 2005 of Instantaneous Matter Transmission.

Ghana becomes independent as a merger of the British Colonies of Gold Coast and British Togoland.

The Treaty of Rome formalises the European Community with its initial ten members, Belgium, Corsica, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Yugoslavia. Over the next fifty years, ties between these countries (and those that joined later) became closer and closer until it became the European Federation we know today.

EMS Namboopiridad became the first Communist leader to be elected by popular vote when he lead his party to victory in the Indian State of Kerala, becoming Chief Minister of the State.

The assassination of Frank Costello by Vincent Gigante led to a bloodbath among the American Mafia, essentially leaving organised crime in America ... well, frankly disorganised. The Mafia became a spent force.

Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set the record for a filibuster with his 24 hour 13 minutes speech intended to talk out the Civil Rights Bill. At the end of the speech, he suffered the heart attack, which killed him. Governor King of Mississippi described the heart attack as “The Wrath of God”. Discussion of the Bill was postponed sine die.

In Arkansas, Governor Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black school children from enrolling in Central High School, Little Rock. President Warren sent in Federal Troops as he had in Mississippi the year before. Warren echoed Dewey in making a major speech about American Democracy but made a gaffe when he thought the microphone was switched off. he was clearly heard to say to an Aide, “Why don't these Sons of Bitches just fire on Fort Sumter?”

The World Space Agency launched the first of its experimental solar-power rebroadcast satellites. It was unsuccessful at this stage but the design was later refined as we all know, proving vital when Saddam Hussein attempted to bring the world to its knees through his control of oil in the 1970s. Later, the WSA also launched the first animal into space, a Russian dog named Laika.

President Sukarno of Indonesia was assassinated. His successor claimed that Dutch agents were behind the attack and ordered the expulsion of all 326,000 Dutch nationals in Indonesia.

1958

On 2 March, General Franco of Spain was assassinated by Aitor Goixiberra, a Basque Separatist. Goixiberra's entire family was murdered by Spanish Legionnaires and he himself was executed by public burning at the stake in San Sebastian. France, Britain and Israel all announced that there was “unfinished business” in Spain but did not intervene after pressure from the United States.

Fidel Castro was elected president of the newly democratic Cuba. He promised that there would be a plebiscite aimed at giving him permission to negotiate with the United States on Cuban Statehood.

The West Indies Confederation was formed in January with a view to forming an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth on the lines of Australia or Canada. Of the “West Indian” colonies, only Guyana and the British Virgin Islands remained outside the Confederation. The former saying it considered itself a South American Nation while the former began negotiations to join with the American Virgin Islands. The Confederation would have 13 provinces: Antigua and Barbuda; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Dominica; Grenada; Jamaica (including its dependencies the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands although the dependencies were later moved to the Bahamas since they were closer geographically); Montserrat; St Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Lumbee tribe of Robeson County, North Carolina ambushed a rally called by the Ku Klux Klan who claimed that the Lumbee by insisting on the Federal Recognition they gained in the Lumbee Act, had “moved above their place”. The Klansmen were captured, stripped and photographed, the photographs being distributed throughout North Carolina. Over the next three years, all fifty of the Klansmen present at the rally were convicted of crimes against various black citizens in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

On the death of King Abdullah of Jordan, the crowns of the Hashemite Kingdom and Iraq were united briefly under King Faisal of Iraq. However, within six months, King Faisal had been killed in a coup d'etat in Iraq. Abdul Qassim became President of Iraq. In Jordan, King Hussein, with the help of British, Egyptian and Israeli troops, was able to separate the Hashemite Kingdom from Iraq and avoid the bloodshed spreading across the border.
After a bloody coup, Nikita Kruschev became Premier of the Soviet Union. President Zhemchuzina and her husband Vyacheslav Molotov escaped the country and claimed political asylum in Israel.

Richard M Nixon was appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
Charles de Gaulle attempted a coup in France but this was easily defeated. President Druart announces that there will be no punishment for de Gaulle save for the knowledge that he is a dinosaur and in the new France, de Gaulle's form of Nationalism is a subject of jokes, not passion.

Czechoslovakia beat England 3-1 in the World Cup Final in Sweden to become the first team from the Soviet Sphere to win the trophy. In the third place play-off, France beat Germany 4-3.

On 7 July, Alaska became the 50th American State.

The World Space Agency launched the first of the American Explorer Satellites, previous satellites having been mostly Russian in design. Another scientific-technological triumph was the invention by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments of the integrated circuit (which in turn paved the way for the Silicon Chip). As the design was patented in 1959 (and extensively copied in Japan, Israel and the Soviet Union), Kilby became the first scientist employed by a commercial company to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Chinese troops captured Kinmen and Matsu from the Nationalists, confining the Nationalists to the island of Formosa.

With the death of Werner von Braun, Ernst Mohr replaced him as the new director of the World Space Agency. Mohr, a rocketry specialist vowed that, within ten years, von Braun's dream of men walking on the moon would be reality.

George Wallace defeated John Patterson in the Alabama gubernatorial primary, the elections being a mere formality in Alabama. The Ku Klux Klan had supported Patterson for years but in 1958 switched their support to Wallace because they held Patterson responsible for the election of the Reverend Martin Luther King, a black Alabamian, as Governor of Mississippi.
Robert Welch and Fred Koch formed the John Birch society out of frustration with what they saw as the liberalism of the Republican party. Their original aim was to attempt to return the Republican Party to what they saw as its individualist origins by seeking to persuade William Knowland to stand against Earl Warren for the Republican party nomination in 1960. (They believed that Warren would run for a third term). However, when the split came, the John Birch society joined the American Party, and were later instrumental in bringing that Party to drop its opposition to desegregation.

1959

Cuba conducted a plebiscite on American Statehood 58% of those voting (on a 52% turn out) voted to begin negotiations. Although some critics have pointed out that only about 30% of those eligible to vote for Union actually did so, that does not detract from Castro's achievement in obtaining the mandate. (Cuba was not admitted to the Union until 1961). Later in the year Hawaii joined the Union as the 51st State.
Cyprus gained its independence from Great Britain. Greek Cypriots had been agitating for “enosis” with Greece but there were safeguards in the constitution to prevent this from happening without the consent of the Turkish minority. This was initially a source of frustration for Cyprus's first President Mihailis Mouskos (Archbishop Makarios) but he recognised that as President, he was responsible to the Turkish as well as the .Greek community. He sought good relations with both Greece and Turkey as well as Yugoslavia and Israel. He resigned as both Archbishop and Ethnarch, the better to serve both communities.

Britain introduced a national holiday on Commonwealth Day (May 24). This day celebrates both the British Empire and the commonwealth sates with which Britain remains aligned. Over the years, May 24 is to become as important to Britons as July 4 to Americans or July 14 to Frenchmen.
Brunei, Malaya, Singapore and Sarawak all gained independence from Great Britain while remaining within the Commonwealth.

A three front invasion of the Dominican Republic by exiles led by Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto Guevara forced the overthrow of the dictator Rafaelo Trujillo.

French, Moroccan, and British forces and a joint Israeli-Yugoslavian-Italian force invaded Spain to intervene in the Second Spanish Civil War. Within hours, Francoist forces surrendered. The Occupiers remained to make sure that there were no reprisals against Francoists and that the first democratic elections in Spain were conducted fairly.

 

[Alcuin]

Pat Brown

Pat Brown is my Third President but it's time for bed now so I'll post the next three when I get back from work (still on 15 May)

1960

Contrary to popular expectation, President Warren declined to run for a third turn. The Republican Party chose Vice President Harold Stassen as its Presidential candidate. However, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party split in 1960 (the Republicans over the perceived Liberalism of the Warren Presidency and the Democrats over Civil Rights). Under the influence of the John Birch Society, William Knowland launched the American Party. Knowland chose as his running mate, the Democratic Governor George Wallace of Alabama. Wallace led a smaller revolt from the Southern section of the Democratic party after Edmund G “Pat” Brown, the Governor of California was chosen as the Democratic Party candidate. Thus the 1960 Presidential Campaign was fought by three candidates, Stassen for the Republican Party, Knowland for the American Party and Brown for the Democrats. Brown (and running mate John F Kennedy) won with only 38% of the Popular vote.

The World Space Agency launched the first navigational and communication satellites. These were followed by the first manned spacecraft, piloted by Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union, followed a fortnight later by John Glenn of the USA. Elsewhere in the USA, the laser was invented.

Cyprus and Greece joined the European Community as separate members to the disappointment of many Cypriots who had expected President Mouskos to negotiate for Enosis with Greece.

1961

Soviet troops move into Congo in order to protect the government of Patrice Lumumba from attacks by Kasavubu and Mobutu.

The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution allowed residents of Washington DC to vote in Presidential Elections. The District was also allowed one Senator and one Representative. Cuba was admitted as the 52nd State of the USA.

Korea was united as a single state and admitted to the United Nations. President Pak welcomed the former citizens of North Korea into the fold and predicted years of prosperity to come. .

On 6 August, the West Indian Confederation became a Dominion of the British Commonwealth. The former British Virgin Islands joined the American Virgin Islands.

1962

The Nobel Prize for Literature was won by Julius Oppenheimer, who had been a leading light on the Manhattan Project. The “clarity, simplicity and cruel beauty” of his collection of poems, “Skin of an Older God” was said to have captivated the judges so that no other choice was possible. This was a controversial choice since the German, French and American governments all publicly said that it was bizarre that the Prize could go to the producer of a single volume of poetry rather than a literary giant such as Steinbeck, Camus or even Achebe.

The World Space Agency built another launch facility at Kourou in French Guyana. There was now a launch per month from each site, including four two-man crewed flights with Soviet and American Cosmonauts. They also launched the first successful power Satellite, Tesla-1 which provided the power needs of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. As further such satellites (although of more modern design, incorporating integrated circuits, microwave lasers and other improvements, particularly in control engineering) were launched, The USA, the Soviet Union, the British Empire and the European Community began to reduce their dependency on oil. Later, this was extended worldwide.

The American party won its first election as Major General Edwin Walker was elected Governor of Texas, joining George Wallace of Alabama as its second Governor. Walker had been asked to resign from the army in 1961 after conducting a protest against the enrolment of James Meredith, a black man, at the University of Mississippi. Governor King had complained directly to President Brown, seeking Walker's court martial and dishonourable discharge.

The 24th Amendment to the US constitution was ratified. This made Poll taxes illegal within the United States (and effectively ended the most common way in which black people were disenfranchised in the Southern States).

Soviet troops massacred 200 Congolese civilians at Ebola, Congo. It would have been more were it not for the intervention of Helicopter pilot Danila Mikoyan, who landed his helicopter between soviet forces and the company committing the massacre and ordered his gunner to open fire should the company fail to drop their weapons. The leader of the Soviet force, Lieutenant Yussuf Ahmedov, was court-martialed for leading the atrocity and sentenced to two years in jail.

Spain, Austria and Morocco joined the European Community, bringing its numbers up to fifteen. Britain, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Irish Republic, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland formed the European Free Trade Association, whose goal was to form a single market and to increase trade with the European Community. However, unlike the EC, EFTA did not pool sovereignty, but merely established a multilateral free trade zone.
Tensions grew in Greece, suggesting that the political instability of that country might have meant they were unsuitable for membership of the EC. In April, Crete applied to the EC to be recognised as a separate state, rather than part of Greece. Greece responded by sending troops to Crete and began a military crackdown on dissidence. In September, members of the Greek Parliament criticised the Government for accepting EC membership without incorporating Cyprus, thus abandoning the “Megalo” doctrine, under which all lands with Greek Majorities should be incorporated into Greece. By the end of the year, Greece had descended into Civil War.
Jiles Perry Richardson, the Disc Jockey formerly known as “The Big Bopper” (the first white man to work as an anchor on the National Negro Network) was elected to Congress, representing the Republican Party in Texas.

1963

Forces from the Dominican People's Republic attacked Haiti. The United States sent troops to defend Haiti. There was an armed clash between American forces and Soviet forces sent to help the Dominican People's Republic. Two Soviet and one American soldier were killed. After an ultimatum from President Brown, Kruschev ordered all Soviet troops pulled out of Hispaniola. American troops withdrew to Haiti.

A smallpox epidemic killed 4,000 people in Scandinavia before it was brought under control. It was the last smallpox outbreak in Europe.

On June 3rd Gordon Cooper and Valentina Tereshkova formed the crew of a spacecraft known as Voshkod 12 to the Russians and Gemini 12 to the Americans. Tereshkova was the first woman in Space. The pornographic film of their journey was condemned by both the Soviet Union and the Southern Baptist Congregation as “scurrilous, shameful and just plain wrong”.

Indonesia declared war on Malaya, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore(the four states). Australia, the United States, great Britain and the Netherlands all declared war on Indonesia. This was to prove the longest conflict in the twentieth century, being a cause of civil unrest in Europe, north America and Australia and eventually leading to the breakup of Indonesia. The four states defy Indonesia and join together to form Malaysia over Indonesia's objections.

On 10 April, prospective American Party presidential candidate, Major General Edwin Walker, Governor of Texas was assassinated in his own home by a sharpshooter. Suspicion eventually fell on Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US Marine who had spent time in the Soviet Union. Oswald was arrested and convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to death.
Kenya and Zanzibar became independent from Britain.

Greece was expelled from the European Community in June. However, in December (or January 1964 depending on the calendar in use) Crete was admitted in its own right. Portugal and Canada joined EFTA, which was renamed NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Area) also in December.

1964

The Virgin Islands were incorporated into the State of Puerto Rico.
Colonel Harvey Ball of Massachussetts invented the Smiley, which he used on all of his campaign literature in his attempt to get elected as a US Senator. He defeated Edward Kennedy, brother of the Vice President.
Svetlana Singh, daughter of Josef Stalin, travelled to India with her third husband, Brajesh Singh. During the visit, she claimed political asylum for herself and her two children, Josef Morozov (aged 19) and Ekaterina Zhdanova (aged 14). She became an Indian citizen in 1967.
In January, an attempted coup by African Nationalists in Zanzibar is foiled. Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah declared Martial Law and called in Egyptian and Pakistani troops to keep order.

The East African states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika unite to become the Tankandan Federation (also known as Tankanda). The first Tankandan President, Jomo Kenyatta, condemns the declaration of martial law on Zanzibar and pronounces his support for African Nationalists. While this brought condemnation from Arab states and the EC it can have done no harm to Tankanda's reputation in Africa.

White supremacist, Byron de la Beckwith was convicted of the murder of Republican Party activist Medgar Evers. His appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down with Supreme Court Justice, Richard Nixon, commenting that, “While the Supreme Court exists as a safeguard against the excesses of the other branches of Government, I see no reason here why this man should not have been convicted. Not only did he end the life and promising career of a young African-American man, but his was also an attack on America itself.” In making the speech, Nixon became the first to use the phrase “African-American”.

President Brown and Premier Kruschev announce simultaneously, plans to reduce the production of and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. This becomes the basis of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.

However, in space exploration, both built separate launch facilities in 1964 at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Baikonur in Kazakhstan, rather than use WSA facilities at Peenemunde or Kourou. While this move is clearly predicated on the two countries' determination to race each other to the moon, it left spare capacity for the WSA, which began working with the EC, Britain, China, Japan and even Argentina.

The Vice President and his brother, former Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts were killed in a plane crash near Southampton, Massachusetts. With only five months to go before the election and with the Democratic Primaries already completed, President Brown chose as his vice president and running mate, the Vice-President's remaining brother, the Attorney General, Robert Kennedy.

 

[Alcuin]

Goldwater

The next one's Goldwater, but now I seem to have deleted my TL by mistake. I'll try to post more from backups.


In the 1964 Presidential election, the Republican Candidate, William Scranton, was pushed into third place behind President Brown and American Party candidate, Barry Goldwater. Goldwater's election as President of the USA, spelled the end of the Republican Party, although it did field a candidate in 1968 (gaining no electoral votes). Many Republicans joined the Democratic Party, but were uncomfortable at first, until the Democratic Party renamed itself as the Modern Party in 1969. At that point, the Republican Party dissolved itself, with the United States returning to two-party politics. The Democratic Party itself had found the sixties a difficult period, especially with the election of former Democratic Governor of Alabama, George Wallace as Vice President.

Goldwater's was one of the most difficult Presidencies in the history of the United States, the American Party had very little support in Congress and Goldwater found himself opposed not only by Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B Johnson, but also Senate Minority Leader, Jiles Richardson. (Ironically, Johnson and Richardson were later to compete against each other for the Modern Party's nomination for Governor of Texas).

1965

The American pro-Soviet spy, Morton Sobell was granted Israeli citizenship, bringing to an end his fifteen years on the run after a United States Federal Court sentenced him to death in 1950. President Goldwater condemned the move, saying that Sobell was an American Traitor and that he considered Israel's granting of Citizenship as a “Slap in the face to America”. Goldwater declared that, should he leave Israel, the USA would seek Sobell's detention in and extradition from whichever territory he visited.
In response, President Goldwater sought to grant US Citizenship to Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele and Martin Bormann. However, Supreme Court Justice Richard Nixon pointed out that none of these people had applied for citizenship and it was not even clear whether they were alive. In a joint response, the EC criticised Goldwater's comments, saying that Sobell's crimes were less than those of the three mentioned by Goldwater, by several orders of magnitude.

India adopted English as its official language after a series of riots from various sections of Indian Society objecting to establishing majority language, Hindi as the official language.

Ranger V became the first satellite launched from Cape Canaveral. The United States and the Soviet Union withdrew from the World Space Agency. Britain, India, Japan, the EC and Australia agreed to replace the funding provided by the US and Soviet Union but cutbacks became inevitable. Recognising that the WSA would not be able to race the Americans or Russians to the Moon, Ernst Mohr began to redirect WSA's research to three goals: Building Habitats in Space (eventually including the L-5 Habitat, Werner von Braun); visiting (and perhaps later colonising Mars); and attempting the terraforming of Venus.

Malcolm Little (formerly known as Malcolm X) declared that he intended to seek to form a Black Nationalist Party and seek election. He argued that Governor King, Carl Evers and Senator Jackson, the most prominent black politicians had become marginalised by seeking to be involved in “White-Man's politics”.

American troops landed in West Irian, beginning the dismantling of Indonesia. This was followed by an Australian landing on Bali and a joint Indian-Malaysian landing on Sumatra.

In a major upset, Republican candidate, the Reverend James Reeb won the Governorship of Alabama after it was vacated due to George Wallace's election as Vice President of the USA. The result came after President Goldwater and Vice President Wallace sought to distance themselves from the American party candidate, David Duke. Duke was leading close to the election until the Democratic candidate withdrew in favour of Reeb.

Cosmonaut Alexsei Leonov, became the first man to walk in space. His spacecraft was the first to be launched from Baikonur.

25,000 people marched on Washington in protest against the War in Indonesia. The march ended in violence with three marchers seriously injured.

Humberto Delgado of the Portuguese Liberation Front led an unsuccessful attempt to invade the country. He was captured by forces loyal to Salazar. His death sentence was later commuted by Salazar to life imprisonment.

The US protested against mistreatment of Haitian nationals by the Communist government of the Dominican People's Republic. President Guevara denied that any such mistreatment has taken place. Later the DPR repelled an American sponsored invasion from Haiti.

Having captured all of the Nationalist Forces' territories off Fujien province, the People's Republic of China began preparing for an invasion of Formosa itself.

President Goldwater ordered an increase in the Draft in order to cope with multiple threats worldwide including Indonesia, China, Haiti, Panama and Rhodesia (the last being threatened by the possibility of war with Soviet Forces in the Congo after its Unilateral declaration of independence from Britain).

Dutchman Pieter Oud became the Secretary General of the United Nations. He recommended that the UN offer membership to the People's Republic of China. However, this proposal was vetoed by the US.

In Iraq, an attempted coup against the Al Qassim government by Ba'athists is unsuccessful. however, four months later, the execution of the coup's leaders proved to be the distraction that allows the remaining Ba'athist leader, Saddam Hussein to grab power for himself.

The Organisation of African Unity demands that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesian independence. The Soviet Union says that if Britain does not intervene, it will. Britain requests access to Portuguese bases in Mozambique in order to launch military action against Rhodesia. British, Indian and Australian forces land on Christmas Day and move quickly through Mozambique to invade Rhodesia.

King Hassan II abdicates the throne and Morocco becomes a Republic with Mehdi ben Barka as its first President.

French astronaut, Gilles Condom became the first man to be launched in space by the World Space Agency since the Soviet Union and the USA withdrew from the WSA. His ship was launched from the WSA's facility at Kourou in French Guiana.

1966

Syria and Iraq merge to form the United Arab Republic under Saddam Hussein.

The British Occupation of Rhodesia begins.

War rages in Indonesia as Malaysian, British, Australian, American and Indian Forces seek to control Java, Borneo, Bali, Sumatra and West Irian. This sparks off massive protests in Britain, America and Australia.

Indira Ghandi, daughter of former President Jaharwalal Nehru and leader of the Congress Party becomes Prime Minister of India in a close run election with Congress needing support from moderate elements within both the Communists and the Hindu Nationalist Mahabharata party. Even with this support, only the mutual antipathy between the two main opposition parties allowed her to run the country at all.

China announced that it would stop all aid to Indonesia in return for cessation of “outside interference” in its conflict with nationalist China. Japan, Korea and Vietnam agreed to this but President Goldwater did not, stating that “The United States will not stand by while yet more people are condemned to a life under Communism”.

Church of Satan Inc. was founded by Anton Szandor La Vey.

Sumatra asked Malaysia for peace terms, seeking to remove itself from the rest of Indonesia. The Indonesian Government condemned the move, stating that it would not recognise the government of Sumatra. However, Malaysia agreed and later Sumatra gained a seat on the United Nations.
British space probe, Surveyor 1, launched from Peenemunde, became the first man-made object to make a soft landing on another world, namely the Moon.

Joaquin Balaguer became Prime Minister of the Dominican People's Republic, although Ernesto Guevara remained President. Although widely seen as a puppet, Balaguer was instrumental in carrying out the environmental protection work, in which the DPR led the world long before such programmes became popular.

On June 5, Eugene Cernan became the first man to walk on the moon, followed closely by fellow Gemini 15 crewman, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (later legally named Buzz Aldrin). Thomas Stafford remained in the Command module orbiting the moon.

“Cultural Revolution” began in China. This led to bloody conflict throughout the People's Republic. It also delayed plans to invade Formosa.

France announced that it had obtained nuclear weapons, which it described as “La Force de Frappe”. It did not perform a nuclear weapons test, stating that it had bought a complete weapon system from an unnamed source and was confident that it was in working order. It is widely believed that the device came from the Soviet Union although Britain and Israel are also occasionally cited as suspects.

Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California. This was the last time a candidate from the Republican Party was elected as Governor before the Republican Party abolishes itself in 1969. Another Republican, Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts was elected Governor, becoming the second black Governor (after Governor King of Mississippi). Segregationist, Lester Maddox became the American party governor of Georgia. Greek-born Andreas Papandreou was elected Governor of New York (the only American Governor to later serve as head of State of another Country)

Communist, Walter Ubricht was elected Chancellor of Germany. He was the first, and so far the only Communist elected to the Office. Ulbricht was a hard-line communist and had long been associated with the Soviet Union. Although he attempted to begin negotiations for Germany to leave the EC and join the Soviet Bloc, these did not come to fruition.

Soviet troops withdrew from Congo, announcing that President Lumumba had achieved control of the country. This was technically true for the Western and Northwestern provinces but the mineral-rich Katanga province seceded (and later federated with Zambia)

1967

Forces from the United Arab Republic invaded and conquered Kuwait in January. Kuwait was declared to be a fully integral part of the Iraqi half of the UAR. The move was condemned worldwide but a joint Russian and Iranian proposal that UN Forces should liberate Kuwait was vetoed by the United States.

The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Albania and the People's Republic of China. Later the Soviet Union sends troops to the Chinese border.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution, setting out procedures for succession should the President or Vice President no longer be fit for office.
Donald Sangster became President of the West Indian Confederation. He is largely responsible for the industrialisation of the West Indies, building a manufacturing economy based on Jamaican bauxite, Trinidadian oil and chemicals manufactured first in the Bahamas and later, after the Bahamas became a province of Canada, elsewhere in the federation. He was also responsible for bringing Belize and Guyana into the Federation.

After the death of President Mossadegh, elections were held in Persia. Contrary to expectations, they were won by the leftist Tudeh party and Ali Khavari became the new President.

Sumatra was recognised by Malaysia, Britain, the US, Australia and India as an independent nation, separate from Indonesia. Elsewhere in Indonesia, fierce fighting continued. Huge demonstrations against the Indonesian War take place not only in Britain, Australia and the US but also in the various countries of the EC. Protests culminate in a rally in New York City at which Governor King of Mississippi condemns the war and pledges that, if elected President in 1968, he will withdraw American forces.

Democratic Governor of New York, Greek born Andreas Papandreou, announced that he would not be standing for a second term in 1970 but that he intended to do whatever he could to restore Democracy to his homeland. Eventually this was to lead to him renouncing US citizenship in order to stand for election as President of Greece after the Junta was overthrown.

Biafra declared independence from Nigeria. This nation, mostly consisting of members of the Igbo tribe was attacked from all sides but against the odds, after a bloody war, became fully independent.

Forces from the United Arab Republic attacked Israel via the Golan heights. Israel retaliated, pushing them back from the border. Simultaneously a joint Yugoslavian-Cypriot force landed at Aleppo and Presidents Tito and Mouskos announced that they would give Israel their full support against aggression. The United Arab Republic surrendered quickly but intervention by President Goldwater meant that Israel gained nothing beyond the Golan Heights in the armistice.

Years later it became clear that, after Israel fired on the USS Liberty, believing, correctly, that Liberty was spying on Israel and (wrongly) that the Americans were passing information to Baghdad and Damascus, President Goldwater proposed sending American troops to encourage Jordan and Egypt to join the attack on Israel. Fortunately, nothing came of this proposal. Many Scholars believe that this event brought the world close to nuclear war.

1968

Anton Dubcek was elected chairman of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party and declared the era of “Communism with a Human Face”. Later in the year, troops from Poland, Rumania and the Soviet Union invaded in an attempt to remove him from power. However, Dubcek disappeared, only to reappear nine days later on television in Budapest, calling on Czechs and Slovaks to refuse to co-operate with the invading forces. Later there were waves of strikes in Poland (after Riszard Siwiec, a 59 year old accountant, made himself a human torch in front of 100,000 people in Dziesieciolecia Stadium) and the Baltic States, while in Romania, President Nicolae Ceausescu was assassinated with a crossbow.

Dubcek returned to Prague as the invading troops returned to take care of their own problems. Many of those troops mutinied and civil wars began in Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union.

Moderate Socialist Student Leader, Rudi Dutschke of Germany was assassinated by a right wing extremist. This is seen by many as the spark that caused the Anarchist 11 April Group and the Marxist Baader-Esslin Group (also known as the Red Army Faction) to begin their terrorist activities aimed at the “denazification” of German society. It also led to the collapse of moderate socialism in Germany leaving the CDU with an iron grip on power and the Communists as the nearest thing to a credible opposition.
At the end of the Cultural Revolution, relations between China and the Soviet Union were normalised, leaving China free to prepare its planned invasion of Taiwan. This began in April. President Goldwater sent American troops to defend Taiwan. Some of those troops were withdrawn from West Irian but the majority were fresh draftees.

China announced that it possessed nuclear weapons and demonstrated with a test explosion in Sinkiang. On the orders of President Goldwater, the United States declared war on China, insisting that China dismantle all of its nuclear materials and recognise the independence of Taiwan.

Governor Martin Luther King of Mississippi was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee (now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum). King was widely mourned by people from all parts of the political spectrum and his birthday was later declared a public holiday. Perhaps, had he lived, he could have saved the Republican Party, of which he had been a member since President Warren had invited him to stand for Governor of Mississippi.

 

[Alcuin]

Pauling

Whew... and here's Pauling. More later.

The 1968 Presidential election was fought by an unprecedented five candidates. Malcolm Little of the Black Separatist, Emancipation Party polled 10% of the. Spiro Agnew of the Republican Party, polled 15%. Agnew had been chosen by Governor King as his running mate but was then chosen by a hastily recalled Republican Convention as its candidate after King's murder. Although polling a mere 1% of the votes nationally, Hubert Humphrey of the Democratic Farmer-Labour Party (which had at that time ended its affiliation with the Democratic Party and had not yet affiliated to the Modern party) won the electoral votes for his home state of Minnesota. President Goldwater managed a respectable 35% of the vote, but the surprise was Modern Democratic (later changed to Modern) candidate, Professor Linus Pauling, who won with 39% of the vote. Pauling (who had previously won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry) was the only President to have won that Prize. He was also the only President never to have held any other elected office. Pauling chose as his Veep, Senator Harvey Ball of Massachusetts.
1969
Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) founded in Baghdad with Yasser Arafat as leader.
Reformist forces involved in the Siberian theatre of the Soviet Civil War clashed with elements of the People's Liberation Army as they accidentally crossed into China.
Students from SDS seized the administration building at Harvard. Vice President Ball visited the occupying students and asked them to leave. He announced that American troops would be withdrawn from Indonesia but that neither he nor the President had any intention of ending the war with China unless the People's Republic made serious concessions. American troops were withdrawn from Indonesia in May.
British troops were sent to Northern Ireland in order to restore order after a series of riots and intimidation of the Catholic community by the Loyalist majority.
China shot down an American EC121 reconnaissance aircraft, killing all 31 of the crew.
A “rock festival” turned ugly as “Hippies” destroyed and pillaged the town of Zap, North Dakota.. The nation was shocked at scenes more reminiscent of the aftermath of a visit by the Mongol Hordes than a student festival. Order was only restored three days later with the arrival of the North Dakota National Guard. The event was recorded on film by Ken Kesey and became the huge underground hit Zap.
A coup in Libya leads to the deposition of King Idris and his Crown Prince Hasan. Libya became a republic with Captain Muammur al-Qaddafi exercising a leadership function although he did not claim any official function. Captain Qaddafi did promote himself to Colonel, but this was a purely ceremonial position. At no time did Qaddafi take a post in government but he exercised power through persuasion and the respect in which he came to be held.
The British made Hawker-Siddley Harrier Jump Jet enters service in the British, German, Yugoslavian, Israeli, Canadian and Italian armed forces. Later the USA also buys them
1970
Britain removed power from the Stormont Parliament and began a period of direct rule over Northern Ireland from London.
Nigeria recognised Biafra, thus bringing to an end the Biafran War of Independence.

West Irian seceded from Indonesia and after a plebiscite became part of Papua-New Guinea. The island of Papua was accepted as an Australian state. American troops withdrew from Indonesia as promised by Harvey Ball at Harvard. However, Australia, Britain and Malaysia continued the fight.
WSA launched the Japanese Satellite, Ozumi.
Joseph Alioto, an Italian American and Mayor of San Francisco elected as Modern party Governor of California. Governor Papandreou of New York leaves office and renounces his American citizenship prior to returning via Cyprus to Greece. Jiles Richardson beat Lyndon B Johnson for the Modern party nomination as Governor of Texas. Texan Musician, Charles Hardin Holley (known as Buddy Holly and an associate of Richardson's when the latter was known as the Big Bopper) was elected to the US Senate as junior Senator for Puerto Rico. After serving two turns as Governor of Cuba, and so unable to stand for a third, Fidel Castro instead becomes Governor of Florida.
Fierce fighting continued in Taiwan with casualties on both sides. Advisors to President Pauling suggested that China would win a war of attrition unless the United States used nuclear weapons. Pauling was not prepared to do so.
An insurrection in Jordan resulted in the deposition of the Hashemite ruler, King Hussein and his replacement as President by Yasser Arafat, leader of the PLO.
The Soviet Civil War comes to an end and Andre Amalrik becomes Chairman of the Communist Party and President of Russia. He announces his intention to disassemble the Soviet Union's apparatus of control over the next ten years, bringing to an end the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”. Kruschev was exiled to Tmutokoran on the Black Sea and forbidden to return to Moscow or St Petersburg
Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan. This was achieved after a brief “civil war” ending when India refused to allow Pakistani planes to fly over its territory.
Spain recognised the independence of Gallego, Catalunya and Euzkadi. All three became member states of the EC.
The Soviet Unmanned Spacecraft Venera 7 became the first man-made object to land on another planet and transmit back information when it reached the surface of Venus.
Czechoslovakia applies to join the EC.
Haiti applied to become a US State but was rejected. At the same time, despite not having sufficient population, the District of Colombia (along with some areas of Maryland and Virginia) became Urbania, the 53rd State of America. The Government of the United States was moved to Kansas City, however, both Houses voted against the idea of establishing a new Federal District. Instead, rather than taking responsibility for policing the capital, the Federal Government would pay a grant to the State of Missouri in which the capitol was based.

1971

Charles Manson and his followers were sentenced to death by gas chamber for the Polanski-Tate murders.

WSA launches Ares 1 from Peenemunde. It is to be two years before the crew of eight : four men and four women from France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Morocco, Spain, Netherlands and Austria, will reach Mars.

Vladislaw Volkov became the first Russian to walk on the moon.

Israel aids Jordanian monarchy in an attempt to regain power from the Palestinian majority government. This attempt is unsuccessful. Jordan sought admission to the United Arab Republic, which was accepted..
The United Kingdom applied to join the EC.

The Italian province of Alto Adige (South Tyrol) asked to become a canton of Switzerland. Italy and Austria object and, for a brief moment, there seemed to be a possibility of war between Italy and Austria on one side, and Switzerland on the other. This threat faded when Switzerland announced that it had no intention of incorporating any more territory.

The United States withdrew its troops from Taiwan. However, contrary to popular expectations, this did not lead to an immediate collapse by the Nationalist Chinese government. Two years of bloody fighting remained before the People's Republic of China announced its re-unification.
Former New York Governor, Andreas Papandreou began broadcasting from Crete in an attempt to encourage his countrymen to revolt against the Military Junta in Greece.

1972

Charles Manson, Lynette Frome and several other members of the Manson Family were executed by gas-chamber.

 

[Max Sinister]

Answer to post one:
Battista a Communist? And Castro toppling him later?? That's almost ASBish.

Adenauer assassinated? That'll make bad blood. And not help Israel and the Jews.

And I doubt Franz Bluecher would become next chancellor: You see, in Germany we have most often coalition governments. Adenauer was of the big party CDU, Bluecher of the smaller FDP. And the German vice-chancellor (which he was, good research) hasn't the importance of the VPOTUS. If a chancellor dies, anyone else could become his successor. Ludwig Erhard maybe (although he'd better stay minister for economy). Maybe they'd even decide to form a big coalition with the SPD.

 

[Alcuin]

Answer to post one:
Battista a Communist? And Castro toppling him later?? That's almost ASBish.

Adenauer assassinated? That'll make bad blood. And not help Israel and the Jews.

And I doubt Franz Bluecher would become next chancellor: You see, in Germany we have most often coalition governments. Adenauer was of the big party CDU, Bluecher of the smaller FDP. And the German vice-chancellor (which he was, good research) hasn't the importance of the VPOTUS. If a chancellor dies, anyone else could become his successor. Ludwig Erhard maybe (although he'd better stay minister for economy). Maybe they'd even decide to form a big coalition with the SPD.

On the first, I know it sounds ASBish but believe it or not, I did the research and found that, while not actually a Communist himself, Battista really was a Marxist in OTL and relied on Communist help to gain power. Castro, on the other hand, was an opportunist who would use whatever help he could. He only became a Marxist AFTER gaining assistance from the Soviet Union... so, I just imagined a President who would support him and then allowed Castro to become (eventually) an American patriot.

The assassination of Adenauer was attempted in OTL.

As for the third. Yes, Bluecher wouldn't really have been chancellor but I loved the name so much.

 

[Alcuin]

Jackson/Landrieu

Anyway, let's continue. Two presidents for the price of one here because Henry "Scoop" Jackson's presidency was too short to be worth a separate post and he was soon succeeded by his VP, Moon Landrieu

In the 1972 Presidential Election, the American Party finally distanced itself from segregationism. The American Party candidate, Henry ”Scoop” Jackson, Governor of Washington, announced that “American values, conservative values, are not about separating the races. I accept that States have a right to do what they wish without interference as long as their actions are compatible with the constitution, but as President of the United States, I will work to end the prejudices that divide American from American, pushing Black Americans into the hands of Communists and worse. American values, conservative values, are the values that will lead to a strong America.” This contention proved popular as he eased out both John Schmidt and George Wallace in the primaries. He illustrated his stance by choosing as his running mate, Maurice “Moon” Landrieu, the governor of Louisiana who had removed all traces of segregation from New Orleans when he was mayor, and Louisiana, as Governor.

Jackson's opponent was vice-President Harvey Ball, President Pauling having announced that he was too old and too sick to run again for the Presidency. Pauling was 71 years old and suffering from a duodenal ulcer but many critics at the time believed that Pauling was merely embarrassed to have been awarded the VI Lenin International Peace Prize by the Soviet Union in 1971. Ball chose as his running mate, Joseph Alioto of California. Jackson won the election by a substantial margin.

On the collapse of the Military Junta in Greece, Andreas Papandreou landed in Athens and was acclaimed the new president.

1973

President Jackson was shot dead by Arthur Bremer in February 1973, making his one of the shortest Presidencies since that of William Henry Harrison. Vice President Moon Landrieu became president and surprisingly appointed Malcolm Little as his Vice President. Asked why he had accepted the nomination, Little said, “This white guy did more for the blackman in Louisiana than Governor King did in Mississippi or any of the Modern party did anywhere else. His is a message of self-reliance and that, my friends, is something I can agree with”.

The United Kingdom's application for EU (as it was now called) membership was rejected, but that of Czechoslovakia was accepted. The EU announced that Britain had been interested in free trade with the EU and the EU was happy to combine its markets with those of NAFTA, of which Britain was already a member. However, the intention of the EU was to integrate and become, eventually, a “United States of Europe”.

The Xerox Corporation released the X-1. The first “personal computer” designed for use in the home. It was the beginning of a race to put an exponentially increasing amount of computing power into people's homes. It has a graphic User Interface, built in speakers and a colour screen, making it a quick favourite not only with people who wanted to play with them at home, but also with serious computer professionals, delighted by the easier interface.

After an about turn, the Italian, Austrian and Swiss governments announce that they will operate a plebiscite on the future of Alto Adige province. This is eventually decided in favour of Switzerland. While the province is mostly German speaking, it also has a high number of speakers of Ladin, a Rhaetian language related to Rhaeto-Romansch. Switzerland declares Ladin to be a fifth official language after French, German, Italian and Rhaeto-Romansch.

The Nationalist Government in Taiwan finally surrendered and the People's Republic of China announced the re-unification of China.

Ares 1 landed on Mars. Captain Ibrahim Nurr'din of Morocco, who won the draw when the crew cast lots to decide who would be first to set foot on Mars, announced that mankind had set foot on the first of many alien worlds.

1974

In the Senate elections of 1974, American party candidates lost in many areas they might have been considered shoe-ins. In particular, in the South, many were defeated by being squeezed between the Modern party and a number of die-hard segregationists who called themselves “The Democratic Party”. This was not, however, a democratic revival but merely the last gasp of segregationism. By 1976, segregation was widely seen as a dead issue except by a few remaining extremists in the Ku Klux Klan.

The EU declared Interlingua to be its official language but that the languages of all member states would also be encouraged since diversity of culture in a powerful, modern confederation was of inestimable value. It also renamed itself as the European Federation (”Federa Europae”)

The WSA launched the Anglo-French construction satellite Lagrange, which was to begin the work of building the L-5 space Habitat that would eventually become the Werner von Braun habitat.

The New York Dolls' “Seven Day Weekend” becomes the first album released in a new format known as a microdisk. The new technology consists of disks of aluminium, much smaller than the traditional vinyl record, where the music is read by lasers instead of the traditional diamond stylus. Other releases in the format include Lou Reed's “Metal Machine Music” (which was swiftly withdrawn after complaints of headaches and bleeding from the ears after listening to the album) and Dame Janet Baker's version of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (which showed the purity of sound delivered by the new technology)

1975

With Java's surrender, the Indonesian war comes to an end. Before surrender, Javanese “hackers” released binatang yang bela (”insects of vengeance”) the first of what later came to be called computer viruses into British and EU computer systems. All countries passed laws to describe the manufacture of computer viruses as a war crime. In December, Danila Bodnarchuk, a Ukrainian teen was the first person convicted under the new warcrime legislation. He was sent to the Gulags in Siberia and remained there even after Ukrainian independence.

The Bahamas splits from the West Indian Confederation. The Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands join the Dominion of the Bahamas.

Josef Morozov, grandson of Josef Stalin leads the Indian Communist Party to victory and becomes Prime Minister of India.

Forces from the United Arab Republic attack Israel. President Saddam Hussein announces that the existence of Israel is not only an affront to the Palestinian people, but also an insult to the entire arab race. He publicly vows to reproduce Auschwitz in the Middle East. The European Federation (formerly the EU) responded with overwhelming force. Not only did all members provide troops to support Israel's defence, but a medium range missile carrying a bunker-buster warhead, launched from Cyprus by the Yugoslavian Air Force, destroyed the Presidential Palace but left the rest of Baghdad intact.

Although Hussein was not in the palace at the time, he ranted on television about the deaths of his sons Uday and Qinsay. He declared that he intended to pull the plug on the world's oil supplies, disrupting the world's economy unless Israel was dismantled. Yugoslavia (on behalf of the rest of the EF) responded by destroying six oil wells in Iraq and one in Jordan, using the same precision weapons that had been used to destroy Saddam's palace. President Tito announced that oil was no longer essential to the world economy since Tesla satellites had achieved world coverage.

In December 1975, British Leyland announced the Morris Redoubt, a car that required no oil to run. Instead it was a hybrid fuel-cell and electrical vehicle, capable of charging itself in action or of being recharged at night but also of running on vegetable oil.

1976

On July 4 (the bicentennial day), Steven Spielberg released his epic film based on Isaac Asimov's “The Bicentennial Man”. The film swept the board at the Oscars and went on to break all box office records.

Lebanon applied to join the EU

 

[Alcuin]

Castro

And here, one of my unlikeliest Presidencies. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the President of the United States, Fidel Castro!

The Modern Party primary came at the end of a hard-fought campaign. Governors Jerry Brown of California (son of President Pat Brown) and the Reverend Jesse Jackson were early front runners but after a thoroughly negative campaign had left the front runners battered and bruised (metaphorically) two more front runners emerged, Jimmy Carter of Georgia and Fidel Castro of Florida were neck and neck going into the convention with a small number of delegates planning to vote for Governor Richardson of Texas. Finally, Richardson withdrew in favour of Castro, in return for the vice presidency, thus tipping the balance.

In contrast, the American Convention was more of a coronation for Moon Landrieu, although some members sought to replace Malcolm Little with Ronald Reagan of California. Although the attempt failed, it seems likely that the attempt itself was enough to explain the preponderance of black voters voting Modern. Fidel Castro of the Modern Party was elected President with Jiles "Jape" Richardson as his Vice President.

1977

The Sex Pistols, managed by former New York Dolls manager, Malcolm McClaren, became a worldwide phenomenon as they topped the charts despite their record being banned in most countries. Even the arrest of the lead singer, Johnny Rotten for sedition after an incident involving a riverboat on the Thames, did nothing to dampen their success.

The Bahamas became a province of Canada.

Lebanon joined the European Union as did Denmark, Poland and Finland.

Prime Minister Morozov of India changed his surname to Stalin.

1978

A surprise election called by British Prime Minister, James Callaghan proved inconclusive, with Labour needing the support of the Liberal party to continue ruling.

The Werner von Braun habitat was completed and the first residents moved in. After a test case, in which Nigeria claimed that inhabitants of the habitat must be liable to Nigerian taxes for the portion of the orbit in which the L5 was above Nigeria. The court declared that the Werner Braun habitat was EF but not German territory. In effect the L5 habitat had become another state of the EF albeit a state with no citizens.

1979

The British Conservative Party elected Michael Heseltine as its leader after Margaret Thatcher led it to defeat in the 1978 election.

The British Government passed the Election Reform Act, transforming the existing First Past the Post system to a modified Single Transferable Vote system with Regional Lists.

The Irish Republic joined the EF. Britain began negotiations with both the Irish Republic and the EF about the future of Northern Ireland. This was met with storms of protest among the Protestant community in the North.

1980

The Soviet Union declared itself defunct and claimed that the state had successfully withered away. In its place was a confederation of independent states, of which Russia was, of course, the largest. Moldavia immediately joined to Romania and Karelia joined Finland.

Fidel Castro was elected for a second term with Joseph Alioto of California replacing Jape Richardson as his vice President. In the American Party, Ronald Reagan and Malcolm Little fought a bitter battle for the Party's nomination which resulted in a win for Ronald Reagan. Little left the American party at that point. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panther Party announced that Little had joined his party but Little denied it.

Civil War broke out in Saudi Arabia as the Saudi Royal family realised that, without oil, they did not have resources to maintain control. There were three sides in the war, The Democrats, based around Riyadh, the Wahabists in the Hejaz, particularly around Mecca, and the Arab Nationalists who sought merger with the United Arab Republic.

1981

Malcolm Little was assassinated in New York City. Although Nation of Islam Temple leader Louis X of the Boston Temple was arrested, the Grand Jury found that there was no evidence against him. Later, Little's widow, Dr Elizabeth Shabazz announced that she did not believe Louis X was involved in the murder of her husband.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Moscow, Russia and the USA agreed that the moon should be shared between them. The WSA on behalf of other spacefaring nations declared an objection but, with the EU concentrating in development of L5 and later attempts to terraform Mars and perhaps later Venus and Titan, and with other nations more interested in Mars than the moon, the objection was purely formal.

A huge explosion in the centre of Gloucester sent shockwaves around the world. The bomb, a truck bomb consisting of several tonnes of fertilizer based explosives killed 47 people. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) claimed responsibility. This was followed by a second, smaller bomb in Dublin. Home Secretary, David Owen announced that, should Labour win the next Election, they would hold a plebiscite on the future of Northern Ireland.

1982

Senator Charles Holley was elected Governor of Puerto Rico.

In Britain, the first election under the new system resulted in Michael Heseltine's Conservative party being the largest party. However, they did not have enough seats to form a majority government and were forced to negotiate with other parties including the Liberals, Greens and Ulster Unionists. After two months, Heseltine admitted defeat and James Callaghan formed his third government in coalition with the Greens and the Northern Irish SDLP.

1983

A plebiscite in Northern Ireland resulted in a surprisingly narrow minority in favour of remaining within the Union, with about a fifth of the Protestant majority favouring independence over remaining British.

British Prime Minister, James Callaghan resigned after a heart attack. Neil Kinnock narrowly defeated David Owen in the election for labour leader.

 

[Alcuin]

Reagan

After the most unlikely President one of the few from OTL, Notice the posts are getting shorter. This is partly deliberate. I am skimping on details now to give the impression of pellmell progress. After all, I am planning to have 75,000 people on Mars by 2007.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you.... Ronald Reagan

1984

Vice President Joseph Alioto chose as his running mate Governor Mario Cuomo of New York. Ronald Reagan of California won the American party nomination with Kermit Roosevelt, a former director of the CIA and related to both Theodore Roosevelt and FDR as his running mate. Roosevelt was blamed for the negativity of the Reagan campaign, widely regarded as one of the most disgraceful campaigns in American history. The result was a victory for Reagan over Alioto and an unprecedented degree of polarisation in American politics.

In Britain, David Owen left the Labour Party along with several of his followers, known as the Gang of Five, after a popular beat combo from Leeds, to form the Sociel Democratic Party. This was the beginning of the realignment of British politics.

1985

The joint Russian/American moon-base was completed and the first permanent crew arrived. Over the next twenty years, this was to develop into the city of Tsiolkovsky.

While Israeli, Czech and Yugoslav troops landed in Riyadh to defend the Democratic Faction in the Saudi Civil War, American troops landed in Egypt and began exercises aimed at supporting the UAR against the Saudi Wahabists. However, the invasion did not take place after the Modern Party majority in Congress and the Senate convinced President Reagan that it would not be supported. However, the UAR defeated the Wahabists anyway without American help.

Saddam Hussein's triumphant march into Mecca was condemned throughout Islam.

1986

Rock Star Eric Boucher, lead singer of the Southamptons, was elected Mayor of San Francisco for the People's Pogo Party. He kept his election promise and forced San Francisco police to wear clown masks and to distribute ice cream, severely damaging the reputation of the Police. Bizarrely, there was no breakdown of law and order in San Francisco, which Boucher claimed was down to his introduction of “Conflict Resolvers” to “maintain the peace”.

In Britain, both the Conservative Party and Labour party split along left-right lines. The Right of the former Labour Party, the SDP and the Left of the Former Conservative Party then joined together to form the Centre party. The other parties to emerge were the Free Democratic Party, the Democratic Socialist Party, and the Militant Labour Party was a remnant of Labour's far left.

The Centre Party conference, surprisingly elected Michael Heseltine over David Owen. In that Autumn's election, David Owen became Prime Minister in a coalition with the Liberal, Green and SDLP parties.

1987

The WSA officially announced the beginnings of a 100 year project to terraform Mars and a 500 year project to terraform Venus. All countries of the world were invited to contribute to both projects, and in the case of Mars to make proposals for domed communities that could be placed on Mars in the early stages of the project. These domes would be built in 20 years. the WSA envisaged an initial Martian population at that stage of 50 to 75,000 people.

 

[Alcuin]

Richardson

Now this is an unlikely Presidency, this and the next are two of my favourites, even though their survival to this date was purely accidental. Ladies and Gentleman, I am proud to present, the most telegraphed presidency in this timeline... The Big Bopper!

1988

President Reagan failed to win a second term as he was roundly defeated by a resurgent Jiles “Jape” Richardson. The Big Bopper was President of the USA, with fellow Texan, Governor Holley of Puerto Rico as his vice President.

Elvis Presley was shot dead by an Arab-American called Nasir Ahmed. Ahmed claimed that Elvis was a symbol of all that was evil in the West, which, with its beamed power and refusal to use oil had condemned the Dar ul Islam to poverty and left it at the mercy of Saddam Hussein.

1989

Simultaneous attacks by United Arab Republic forces on Lebanon, Egypt and Israel were initially repelled by EF forces. However, this time there was no collapse and the war continued for eight months, during which time the borders moved several times. The war came to a climax when British intelligence announced that they had evidence that Sadam Hussein had opened concentration camps. An invasion by British, American, EF and Australian forces pushed Saddam's trooops out of the former Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

 

[Alcuin]

The last 17 years

This is rushed as mankind accelerates toward the stars. I won't even separate the last three presidents even though one of them is Buddy Holly. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the future and the last three presidents of this timeline... Charles Holley, Pat Buchanan and William Jefferson Clinton.

1990

President Richardson was killed in a plane crash in Mason City, Iowa. President Holley chose as his vice President, Governor Gary Hartpence of Colorado.

On the death of Che Guevara, the Dominican Republic sank into chaos. A civil war began with seven or eight different sides. Haiti asked for help to protect it from the danger of war spilling over into Haiti. The West Indian Confederation invited Haiti to join and immediately began to raise Haiti's infrastructure and security to its own level.

1991

Scientists in Seattle, Washington produced the first recognised artificial intelligence. Known as Alice, the intelligence lived in an array of 20 parallel processors and had the intelligence of a five year old human.

With the death of President Tito, democratic elections were introduced in Yugoslavia, removing the last of the old dictators from Europe.

1992

President Holley was elected for a second term, beating Governor Pat Buchanan of North Dakota by the narrowest of margins. Indeed there was a delay of two weeks before the announcement as the votes in Pennsylvania had to be recounted a record 47 times.

1993

After negotiations, Northern Ireland left the United Kingdom to be an independent state within the EF. There was some dissatisfaction within Eire but other EF members, particularly, Corsica, Crete, Euzkadi and L5, pointed to the EF's emphasis on self-determination for minority groups, including the Protestants of Northern Ireland.

1994

The WSA launched the Japanese spacecraft Amaterasu, which travelled to orbit around Venus and began the long process that we hope will lead to the terraforming of Venus within the next 200 years.

1995

After the death of Pope Paul VII, Cardinal Sin of the Philippines became the first non-European pope, and the first non-Italian for centuries. He took as his papal name, Hadrian IX.

1996

Against vice-President Hartpence, Pat Buchanan is more successful than he was against Holly, being elected President. Like Ronald Reagan before him, Buchanan chose Kermit Roosevelt as his running mate.

1997

Pat Buchanan ordered an attack on the United Arab Republic. American forces were joined in this venture by EU, British, Russian and Egyptian forces. This time Saddam Hussein was captured and the UAE broken up. There was an attempt to keep the occupation Islamic, using Egyptian, Turkish, Iranian and Pakistani troops but that was enough for blohards such as Osama bin Laden who began a guerilla war against the West.

1998

Former Prime Minister Stalin of India died of congestive heart failure at a relatively young age. He was mourned by all sections of Indian society.

In California, Mayor Eric Boucher of San Francisco was elected governor. By this time, he had abandoned the “People's Pogo Party” and joined the “Reform” Party, sponsored by millionaire Ross Perot.

1999

Scientists claimed that earth could be headed for an Ice Age and a conference was called in Melbourne to consider how it might be prevented. It was concluded that the lessons to be learned from the terraforming of Mars and Venus might serve to terraform Earth should that prove necessary.

2000

Pat Buchanan was defeated for the Presidency by William Clinton of Arizona with John Edwards as his running mate. Ross Perot and his running mate, Eric Boucher made a respectable showing for a Third Party.

2001

A nuclear attack by terrorists loyal to Osama bin Laden on Atlanta, brought swift (albeit conventional) retaliation from the United States. A reward of a billion dollars was offered for his capture. After a private meeting with Islamic Leaders, both Saudi and Iranian religious authorities announced that to seek such reward was a holy undertaking.

2002

Osama bin Laden was captured and publicly executed on world wide television.

2003

The world was eerily quiet, as if drawing a breath. This was the first year since the 19th century when no war took place anywhere in the world.

2004

President Clinton won his second term with a massive 78% of the electoral vote over American Party Candidate Rush Limbaugh. His choice of running mate and vice President was unprecedented, his wife, Hilary Rodham Clinton.

2005

Frithjof Karsch and Leslie Rosenberg of the University of Dresden produced the first verifiable macro-scale matter transmission. This built on the work for which Yang and Lee won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957 and of course, years of painstaking work by countless scientists in countless institutions. The test object was a copy of “Skin of an Older God” by Julius Oppenheimer.

2006

The WSA launched 48 “supercraft” from Werner von Braun for Mars, carrying a total of 75,000 people from 48 different countries. These volunteers would arrive on Mars toward the end of 2007.

2007

Vice President Hilary Rodham Clinton announced her candidature for the 2008 election.

The first 75,000 volunteers arrived on Mars.

 

[nemo1986]

Yeah I don't actually see the US gov just up and moving like that to Kansas City. and Urbania??? From What I remember they were trying for New Columbia.

 

[Alcuin]

Yeah I don't actually see the US gov just up and moving like that to Kansas City. and Urbania??? From What I remember they were trying for New Columbia.

You're right of course. I wracked my brains for an appropriate 53rd state once I'd chosen the title. I'd forgotten I'd done that. I should have changed that and made Northern Ireland the 53rd state.

 

[Fyrwulf]

Um, did you ever even mention Alaska? I don't remember seeing it.

 

[Alcuin]

Alaska

Um, did you ever even mention Alaska? I don't remember seeing it.

Yeah, 50th, right after Puerto Rico. 7 July 1958.

 

[pieman3141]

Re: Oil

What about oil-based products? The majority of plastics, synthetics, etc. are from petroleum too.

 

[Alcuin]

Re: Oil

What about oil-based products? The majority of plastics, synthetics, etc. are from petroleum too.

They are but most can be synthesized from vegetable oils and coal.

There are also interesting things that can be done with complex ceramics and glasses. I read in New Scientist, for example, of a ceramic produced in India (OTL) that was a superconductor at 200K (still a long way below room temperature, but way above absolute zero.)

 

[nemo1986]

what happened to hawai'i?

 

[Alcuin]

what happened to hawai'i?

1959. I hid it at the end of the paragraph about Castro's mandate for Cuban statehood.