I’m considering rebooting my Missed Him By That Much TL as a straightforward wikibox affair (as in each update comes with a wikibox) so dm me if you’re interested (I need the motivation, plus my computer is being repaired, so working/researching on it on my phone is even harder). Anyway, here are the US Presidents for that TL as it currently stands.
Sen Robert Kennedy (D-NY)/Sen Fred Harris (D-OK) (1969-1977)[1]
def. VP Richard Nixon (R-NY*)/Gov John Volpe (R-MA), Gov George Wallace (AIP-AL)/Gov Happy Chandler (AIP-KY)
def. Gov Raymond Shafer (R-PA)/Sen Robert Griffin (R-MI)[2]
Gov Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/Gov John Connally (R-TX)* (1977-1981)[3]
def. VP Fred Harris (D-OK)/Sen Frank Church (D-ID), (on the Centrist Party ticket) Gov John Love (R-CO)/Sen Elmer Rasmuson (R-AK)
Sen Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D-MA)/Sen Harold Hughes (D-IA) (1981-1983)[4]
def. Pres Ronald Reagan (R-CA)/VP James Buckley (R-NY), (on the Centrist Party ticket) Sen Jack Eckerd (R-FL)/various
Pres Harold Hughes (D-IA)/Gov Liz Patterson (D-SC) (1983-1993)[5]
def. Sen Charles “Chuck” Percy (R-IL)/Sen Max Rafferty (R-CA), (on the Centrist Party ticket) Gov Pete du Pont (R-DE)/various
def. Gov James Brickley (R-MI)/Sen Arlen Specter (R-PA), (on the Conservative Party ticket) Rep Larry McDonald (D-GA)/various, (on the new Popular Party ticket) Gov Woody Freeman (R-AR)/Rep Mark Siljander (R-IL)
Mr. Jim Walton (R-AR) (until 1995) (F-AR)/Sen Lowell Weicker (R-CT) (1993-1997)[6]
def. Sen Nick Galifanakias (D-NC)/Sen Walter Cronkite (D-MO)*, (on the Popular Party ticket) Mayor Mike Lawrence (R-TX)/Judge Paul Hatfield (D-MT)
Speaker Don Riegle (R-MI)/Gov Fred Grandy (R-IA) (1997-2005)[6]
def. Gov Bronson La Follette (D-WI)/Gov Lawrence Fountain (D-NC), (on the new Freedom Party ticket) Pres Jim Walton (F-AR)/various
def. Sen Rush Holt Jr. (D-WV)/Sen Barbara Kennelly (D-CT), (on the new Party For Freedom ticket) Sen Jerry Brown (FF-CA)/Gov Dean Barkley (FF-MN)
Gov Roger Weidner (FF-OR)/Sen Jimmy Osmond (FF-UT) (2005-2009)[7]
def. Gov Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)/Sen Tommy Thompson (R-WI),
Gov Dave Boswell (D-KY)/Sen Cecile Richards (D-NJ)
Sen Joe “Chip” Yablonski (D-CL*)/Sen Larry Echo Hawk (D-ID) (2009-2013)[9]
def. Gov Ed Thompson (R-WI)/Sen Keith Olbermann (R-NY), Pres Roger Weidner (FF-OR)/VP Jimmy Osmond (FF-UT)
[1] PoD is Robert Kennedy surviving the attempt on his life, he goes on to just barely carve out a victory at the DNC and then the general election, with Nixon picking liberal Governor of MA John Volpe and Wallace picking Happy Chandler. Nixon/Volpe is styled as a moderately conservative ticket with some liberal tendencies. Wallace/Chandler is more of a Southern Pride ticket than overtly segregationist (as Chandler opposed segregation).
[2]Gov of PA Raymond Shafer pulls of a surprise win in a crowded primary that even included Former Governor William Scranton, who was practically his mentor. In an "Anybody But Reagan"-style move all of the moderate Repubs coalesced around Shafer to give him the nomination and he picked other noted moderate Senator Robert Griffin. As a ticket that was made up entirely of people who had voiced support for some of RFK's legislation (both having been accused of being Kennedy Republicans) and not really standing for much of anything, they lost by a pretty big margin.
[3]Harris had always been a sort of outsider in Kennedy's cabinet and would run as one as well, going far to the left and embracing populism. He would be seen as about as radically to the left as Reagan is to the right. Reagan quickly took the nomination this year, after having been beaten by Nixon in '68 and beaten by a coalition of moderates in '72. He picks Democrat turned Republican, John Connally as his VP for his appeal to Democrats who supported continuing Vietnam (which ended in '71), for his deep financial and political connections, and for his reputation as having an incredible eye for detail. Connally wrote a lot of Reagan's platform and campaigned strongly alongside him. The Centrist Party, formed in '75 would be shocked by this outcome and would run Love/Rasmuson as a Centrist alternative to the Republicans, but would get about as many Dem and Repub voters. Tragedy would strike Reagan/Connally just 10 days before the election. Reagan wins in a close race.
[4] Dogged by foreign conflicts abroad and an unpopular domestic policy of cutting spending anywhere, Reagan/Buckley was pretty much doomed from the start. Having fought the Democratic Congress at every turn, with the first conflict being the confirmation of Buckley as Reagan's VP proving difficult and souring their relationship. Jack Eckerd, having been a political opponent of Reagan since the '72 Primaries, would basically run an anti-Reagan campaign on the Centrist Party ticket. Ted Kennedy, who had not even run in the primaries, was offered up as a compromise candidate between multiple opposing forces and would be seen as an end of the '70s government experimentation and a return to the moderately liberal, Kennedy dominated New Deal Coalition. Kennedy would be forced out of office nearly three and a half years later.
[5] Harold Hughes had come into office with the Dems facing massive unpopularity in spite of the economy booming under them. He would run for office in a very presidential way, discussing his troubled past, his faith, his humanity, and his love for his country while hardly ever going on the attack directly, preferring to use surrogates for that. Percy/Rafferty would be infamous for having lost while having started far in the lead over Hughes/Patterson. This election would be the only time the Conservative Party ran a decent campaign and the first one where the Centrist Party combined with the Constitutional Party and a variety of other small parties to form the ironically named Popular Party.
[6] Jim Walton, who had previously been an independent and a supporter of the Centrist and Popular Parties, along with having never held public office, would shock the country by winning the Republican nomination and then the presidency. He would be the first President born after WW2 and the first to never have served in the army or in public office. After having only one a single election since 1960, the Republicans would end up seriously backing a complete outsider. He would govern as an independent, having signed an unprecedented, nonbinding contract of governance when the Democrats retook the Senate in the same election where the Republicans took the House for the first time since the 50s. Receiving widespread condemnation and opposition from his own party, Walton would leave the Republican Party while in office and set up the Freedom Party for the sole purpose of his own re-election campaign.
[7] Don Riegle was the first Republican Speaker of the House in a generation, a member on the liberal faction of the Republican Party (economic moderates, social liberals) and had been stonewalled in every attempt to reach higher office (running for and failing to get the nomination of Governor of Michigan twice and Senator of Michigan once). He would eventually win the Presidency and be the first two term Republican since the '50s. His election would often mark the beginning of the Sixth or Seventh Party System. The Freedom Party and the Popular Party would combine into the Party For Freedom, serving as a centrist to conservative alternative to the Repubs and Dems.
[8] The first third party ticket elected since before the Civil War would come after the financial crash in early 2004. Weidner/Osmond would set about using economically liberal means (deregulation, cut spending, bailouts, etc.) to try to bring about economic recovery with only minor success.
[9] The first Democrat ticket elected since the '80s, Yablonski would be the first President from the US's second youngest state of Columbia. Larry Echo Hawk would also be the first VP of majority native ancestry. Yablonski would be one of the oldest presidents ever, only surpassed by William Henry Harrison. He would also be the first President of Polish descent. Yablonski would lead the hard left economic policies of the Democrats back into popularity, after having seen privatization, deregulation, and economic liberalism for nearly twenty continuous years.
