New Deal Coalition Retained and Revisited
1961-1963: Richard Nixon/Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
1960: Lyndon B. Johnson/Wayne Morse (Democratic) , Various Unplegded Southern Electors
1963-1965: Nelson Rockefeller/Vacant (Republican)
1965-1969: John F. Kennedy/Stuart Symington (Democratic)
1964: Orval Faubus/Ross Barnett (Dixiecrat) , Nelson Rockefeller/Thomas Kuchel (Republican)
1969-1970: John Connally/William Scranton (Democratic/Republican)
1968: John Connally/Sam Yorty (Democratic) , Barry Goldwater/William Scranton (Republican) , Eugene McCarthy/George McGovern (Progressive)
1970-1970: John Connally/Vacant (Democratic)
1970-1977: John Connally/Henry M. Jackson (Democratic)
1972: John Tower/Roy Cohn (Republican) , Gore Vidal/Pete McCloskey (Progressive)
1977-1985: Ronald Reagan/Donald Rumsfeld (Republican)
1976: Henry M. Jackson/Hugh Carey (Democratic) , Jerry Brown/Cesar Chavez (Progressive)
1980: George McGovern/John McKiethen (Democratic)
1985-1989: Donald Rumsfeld/Jesse Helms (Republican)
1984: Daniel Inouye/Patrick Leahy (Democratic)
1988: Jim Jones/Leo Ryan (Democratic)
Alright, here we go. A watered down voting rights bill gives the Republicans enough of a push in the North to topple New York and send Richard Nixon into the White House. Once in 1600 Penn, Nixon plays a very good
President Focus Group. Nixon continues to waffle on civil rights and pushes forward a civil rights bill that even Barry Goldwater supports (see: a really fucking weak one). In foreign policy, Nixon's presidency is marred by continued support for the right-wing elements in the ever increasingly bloody Cuban Civil War. Historians still debate whether or not Nixon could have redeemed himself with a second term, or at least, moved on to greater things, but he would be gunned down in December, 1963, thrusting Nelson Rockefeller into a curious position.
For all his talk and bluster, Nelson Rockefeller didn't accomplish much of anything. To be fair, he never had much time, but still. Running on the bloody banner of Dick Nixon and 'four more years' Rockefeller was able to pull ahead of Senator John F. Kennedy. At least until his affairs came out. Rockefeller's lead was decimated by the revelation of a six-year long affair and JFK and his campaign team (spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy) absolutely pounded it in. A one-on-one debate between Kennedy and Rockefeller proved absolutely disastrous for the President. Ronald Reagan decides to forgo any public support for either candidate (mostly due to Rockefeller's moderate and liberal tendencies than anything else) and the end result is an utter bloodbath for the Republicans as southerners vote as a bloc for Faubus' Dixiecrats and everyone else would rather just vote for Kennedy.
Kennedy was dealt a bad deck, a really bad deck. Urban unrest and protest movements turning to violence made Kennedy look really bad, especially given his harder push for civil rights. Thankfully, Speaker Albert helped Kennedy avoid an absolute disaster legislatively but still things were not going well in his direct by the midterms. Republicans win big in the midterms and, much to the chagrin of former President Rockefeller, the conservative faction is clearly on top. This does not come out any more clear than in the razor-thin victory of former actor Ronald Reagan against incumbent Californian Governor Pat Brown.
1967 is a turbulent time around the world. Czechoslovakia's communist government falls to revolutionaries and the country is divided as the Czech Republic and Slovakia (in the American and Soviet spheres, respectively). This failure on the global stage, resulted in the removal of Soviet leader Khrushchev shortly thereafter. America would ramp up its involvement in the conflicts in Vietnam and Cuba (now referred to by the general public as a 'War', and 'Quagmire' respectively). Meanwhile, the Indians and Pakistanis would once again spar to a draw.
An energetic primary challenge is enough to drive the saber right into the collapsing Kennedy administration and by the convention John Connally of Texas is the next Democratic nominee. The only thing that saves the Democrats' electoral chances that year was the nomination of the utterly loathsome (at least to most of the American public) Barry Goldwater by the Republicans. And then, in an election that was already giving too many people flashbacks to 1924, Senators Eugene McCarthy and McGovern, long against the candidacy of Connally, announced their independent liberal campaign, in the vein of LaFollette's historical one.
As one might imagine, the election was a complete and utter clusterfuck and the Progressives (as they took to being called) even managed to grab a couple states, despite the disheveled nature of their campaign. The electoral college is hung and much to McCarthy's delight, their supporters in Congress now select who goes to the White House. Their selections were predictable. Connally was more favorable to civil rights than Goldwater, just as Scranton was to Yorty.
Connally's term in office begins about as well as his predecessor's ended. The riots continued even though a "law and order" candidate was now in office and so would America's military presence overseas. On the plus side, the War in Cuba finally ended in the fall of 1969, bringing a seven-year and bloody conflict to a close. On the downside, Vietnam would only get worse and more bloody with a sinking public approval by the day (especially after the death of Vice President Scranton on a visit to the front lines).
Of those who still supported the War in Vietnam, they were left clamoring for blood following the death of the VP. The Connally administration is encouraged to double down in the region and the nation's attention is turned towards Southeast Asia. Republican and Progressive gains in the midterms places Connally on shaky ground as he witnesses his base collapsing due to failure to govern effectively from what was basically the middle of the American political spectrum.
Around the world, the world gets darker. European nations become aggressive in holding on to their colonies and Japan becomes nationalistic, shocking the world but its bogged down allies can't afford to give it any attention. A lighter note of the year 1971 is the American moon landing, and while a few more would occur in the following four years, the rest of the missions would be shelved by a hard scrabble Connally administration.
The 1972 election would become yet another mess. Conservative Republicans dominated as they had in previous elections and their party's nominee would be John Tower. Connally would survive, albeit barely, a challenge from George McGovern over the Vietnam War. All of this left the nascent Progressive Party simmering and they were revitalized again to defend the left of the political spectrum. Gore Vidal would be nominated due to his closeness to protest groups and would select the former liberal Republican Pete McCloskey as his running mate. This election is as much as a nailbiter as the last one but the morning after voting the race can narrowly be called for Connally. Historians attribute his victory to fierce and vicious campaign tactics that would draw him into legal trouble following his presidency.
Vietnam becomes a meat grinder by 1974 and the continued American support of the clearly lagging Vietnamese enrages the nation's youth and liberals, already incensed by the prior War in Cuba. Popular opinion turns viciously against the war in the midterms and through this rise in liberal sentiment, the Republicans take advantage of a split vote and take both houses of congress.
Unsurprisingly, the situation in Europe degrades. Salazar is overthrown in Portugal only to be replaced by Soviet-backed communists. The National Front take over in France as the French continue their colonial struggles. Various other European right wingers are given bumps in their respective parliaments (ad nauseam).
In 1976, Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese and the slow American withdrawal that had begun a year prior rapidly accelerates. Jumping on this train of jingoistic rage is Ronald Reagan who makes a vow in his Republican campaign to "Make America Great Again" in an odd appeal to some vague nostalgia. The Democrats select Vice President Scoop Jackson to be their sacrificial lamb in the midst of a lost war and an economy in a tailspin. The Progressives meanwhile nominated two activists: Jerry Brown and Cesar Chevez following a ruthless primary season. Predictably, Reagan curb-stomps his opponents, sweeps the South, and sails into the White House.
Amid this fear and loathing, Reagan acts as you would expect. No better at law and order than his predecessor (a lot more national guard on the streets though) and arguably worse at managing the economy. To many it feels that the country is breaking down, this opinion rises substantially following the Energy Crisis that occurs once the Middle East is thrown into chaos by a wave of fundamentalist revolts. Oh, and just to make things worse, German nationalists make a resurgence.
By 1980, Ronald Reagan is not in a good position, but neither are the Democrats. Following the absorption of the Progressive Party after a disappointing 1978 midterm, the Democrats find themselves leaderless and squabbling. Progressive favorite George McGovern is nominated by a divided convention amid hisses and boos. Reagan collects splitting conservative Democrats or "Reagan Democrats" who are comfortable enough with him to not run on their own. Even with domestic chaos and economic free fall, McGovern still gets killed.
The world descends during the early 1980s. Reagan saber rattles with a freshly inaugurated hardline Soviet government, Africa (still fighting colonial wars) falls into maddening local conflicts, the Middle East struggles to recover from years of religious warfare, the Chinese and Japanese posture, Europe becomes increasingly dominated by hard right wing elements, and Britain refuses to join the European Customs Union.
The Republicans suffer some losses to a divided Democratic Party in the 1982 midterms, most notably the California Governorship goes to Jim Jones. The Democrats use this momentum, no matter how small it may be, to take the attack to likely 1984 nominee Donald Rumsfeld. After another arduous primary and convention (becoming a bit more of a regular thing now), the Democrats nominate Daniel Inouye and Patrick Leahy as Rumsfeld heads out, now geared up with former Southern Democrat Jesse Helms.
In the end, Inouye just isn't able to win enough northern votes to account for the Republicans' southern dominance, this compounded with ruthless campaigning by Rumsfeld's campaign manager Lee Atwater led to a sorry state of affairs for the Democratic Party on election day.
The world continues to get worse (see: above). German nationalists (see: Nazis) take over Germany and South Africa begins to, like its unfortunate neighbors, descend into racial warfare. This, of course, gets worse with the Stock Market crash of 1987.
The struggling American economy gets thrown off a cliff and the social safety net is not there to prevent most Americans from falling, hard. Through this economic anxiety, Governor Jim Jones announces his run for president based on economic issues. The following campaign between Rumsfeld and Jones is vicious though by October Jones has the upper hand just due to the dire straits of America's economic situation. That is, until Gerhard Frey (yes, the Nazi one), who is Prime Minister of West Germany catches wind of a minor firefight that had occurred on their border with the East Germans, resulting the wounding of one West German soldier. This pushes war between the superpowers to the brink as Rumsfeld backs up Frey and the Soviets stick to their guns. This fear is enough to barely push Rumsfeld over Jones.
Days later, on November 14, 1988, the Doomsday Clock hits midnight.