Big Jim Thompson, the longtime anti corruption Illinois governor, is an interesting possibility in a Bushless 1988.
"Hipster" PMs and Presidents Thread
- Thread starter Comisario
- Start date
For a while, I've considered CEO Pete Coors, who ran for the senate as a Republican in 2004 (but received flak for his company's relatively pro LGBT stances), an interesting alt-president. I'm kind of surprised that no one's used him as a proto Trump figure in a President Gore scenario.
@Brundlefly , was there any alternative to Erich Honecker following Ulbricht's resignation or was he the only acceptable option to the Soviets?
Re Lindbergh, now I want to find this Paradox Hearts of Iron 2 AAR that featured a President Lindbergh. I read it probably ten years ago or more, so it may well have disappeared into the ether, but I remember enjoying it greatly. Of course, it's likely that it suffers from all the actual plausibility of a Paradox game...
But for hipster Presidents, let's look at the aviator's father, Charles August Lindbergh. A member of Congress, and an outspoken one, who was Progressive and anti-Wilson all at once. He had ambitions to higher office -- in 1916 he ran for Senator, and in 1924 was running for Governor on the Farmer-Labor ticket when brain cancer took him; the Farmer-Labor ticket came in second in Floyd Olson's first run for governor (he'd go on to win in 1930), so it's possible (if not necessarily likely) that Lindbergh could've won the election had he made it to run. It'd be a tricky challenge to get him into the White House, but if you butterfly away the brain cancer, perhaps he can make a successful run back on the Republican ticket in '28 as a challenger to Hoover; perhaps we can even go so far as to make him Vice President instead of Curtis. That's probably the peak of his rise unless he manages to persuade Hoover into a different response to the Depression, but it's not outside the realm of possibility (even if we're off into significant improbability).
Of course, having a Vice President as a father may well change the trajectory of the young aviator's career, so...
But for hipster Presidents, let's look at the aviator's father, Charles August Lindbergh. A member of Congress, and an outspoken one, who was Progressive and anti-Wilson all at once. He had ambitions to higher office -- in 1916 he ran for Senator, and in 1924 was running for Governor on the Farmer-Labor ticket when brain cancer took him; the Farmer-Labor ticket came in second in Floyd Olson's first run for governor (he'd go on to win in 1930), so it's possible (if not necessarily likely) that Lindbergh could've won the election had he made it to run. It'd be a tricky challenge to get him into the White House, but if you butterfly away the brain cancer, perhaps he can make a successful run back on the Republican ticket in '28 as a challenger to Hoover; perhaps we can even go so far as to make him Vice President instead of Curtis. That's probably the peak of his rise unless he manages to persuade Hoover into a different response to the Depression, but it's not outside the realm of possibility (even if we're off into significant improbability).
Of course, having a Vice President as a father may well change the trajectory of the young aviator's career, so...
Another idea I have had is Winston Field, OTL he was the first Rhodesian Front Prime Minister of (South) Rhodesia; but he was born in Worcestershire and educated locally there, before emigrating to Rhodesia at the age of 18. If he possibly had remained in the UK he could have gone somewhere in the Conservative Party; especially with the League of Empire Loyalists and the Monday Club; potentially he could be the party's right-wing candidate in 1965 (though he was seen to be to the left of virtually everyone in the RF and was not known for racist opinions)?
Japhy
Banned
I've considered it before and it's not the biggest hurtle in all of AH. But Lindbergh Senior was born in Sweden and thus, ineligible.
That said someone who would be eligible but who's family went back to Europe was Wolfgang Kapp of the Kapp Putsch. And had his father actually made a go at it Horace Greeley Haljmar Schact could have been an American Wise Man rather than the Banking Dictator of Weimar and Hitler's wunderkinder for finance.
Ah, curses! Somehow I missed that bit. I suppose the Governor's office is the highest Lindbergh is capable of reaching, then.
Japhy
Banned
I mean you can always get rid of the clause. But it's a hassle to build momentum for an ammendment on one hand and a major butterfly problem on the other to have it be excluded, especially when there was a sound logic in including it at the Constitutional Convention at least.
But Lindbergh at least would be viable in an Era long after the fears of Prussian Princes would have faded. So anything is possible.
At that time, Honecker was very much Brezhnev's man, and most of the Politburo members were basically behind Honecker. Ulbricht became something of a megalomaniac during the Sixties and regarded the GDR as the frontier state of the Eastern Bloc, coining the phrase "Outperforming without overtaking" vis-a-vis West Germany, and even suggesting that the NVA should be part of the crushing of the Prague spring in 1968 (which was too much even for the Soviets, as it would have brought along strange 1938 associations). He went so far as saying that the GDR is a "genuine German state" and "We are not Belarus, we are not a Soviet state". Other Politburo candidates, like Willi Stoph, Kurt Hager or Heinz Hoffmann were more in line with Moscow and Honecker, so basically the outcome of one of them taking over wouldn't lead to a different policy than Honecker's (funnily enough, in 1989 it was Honecker and this faction who rejected perestroika by sticking to orthodox Marxism-Leninism). I was looking for a sort of German version of Imre Pozsgay or Miklos Nemeth for a timeline where the reunification is postponed, and the only possible candidate might be Michael Kohl, who was responsible for the treaties with West Germany in the early 1970s.
For a different outlook of the GDR, you'd have to go back a bit earlier to the 1950s, when there were rivalling power factions in the Soviet CPSU after Stalin's death. There was a faction in the SED that was closely aligned to Berija and Malenkov: Wilhelm Zaisser and Rudolf Herrnstadt, who proposed a different economic policy prior to the 1953 uprising. With Berija and Malenkov gone, they too were sidelined and Ulbricht became stronger, effectively ending up being more Stalinist than Krushev.
An interesting thing would be to have Hermann Axen or Albert Norden, two Politburo members with Jewish roots, as leader of the council of the state.
Chris Mullin, noted diarist and longtime tribunite, is an underused figure for 'left ascendancy timelines', and would be vastly more original than Benn et al.
Thanks for the reply! Very interesting!
Former Premier of Ontario Mike Harris was frequently talked about in the early 2000s as someone who could "unite the right" in Canada, as it was split between the Alliance and the PCs during this time. A strong fiscal conservative who was friends with Preston Manning, he might have been able to take the leadership of the federal Conservatives.
William H. Crawford is mostly known as "That other guy" who ran in 1824, who had a stroke and was unable to campaign well. While by '24 he was the leader of the old guard at a time when people were moving on to new kinds of politics, Crawford had a long and distinguished career before that. It wouldn't be implausible for him to get nominated in 1816 rather than Monroe if he was interested in the idea.
He did stand in 1816, but after losing the caucus vote to Monroe, agreed to stand down.
Spotted this fella on Charles Stross' blog.
Ignaz Trebitsch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Trebitsch-Lincoln
Hungarian born con-man, former Liberal politician, mingled with German fascists and became a Buddhist. Did I mention he was a spy too?
Imagine this guy becoming PM and having access to the Treasury.
Ignaz Trebitsch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Trebitsch-Lincoln
Hungarian born con-man, former Liberal politician, mingled with German fascists and became a Buddhist. Did I mention he was a spy too?
Imagine this guy becoming PM and having access to the Treasury.
shiftygiant
Gone Fishin'
He'd need something resembling financial stability and for the Liberals to not tear themselves apart.
Well alternatively he could be a better German politician if the Kapp putsch suceeds, he was actually made the minister for Information after using his charisma on Kapp and met Hitler during it.
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