Today is National Siblings Day!
So here's something I (fairly) quickly put together...
President Bush (b. 1931) grew up in a prestigious New England family and began his professional career as a banker in Connecticut before entering politics over disapproval of President Sam Houston Johnson’s 1967 tax reforms. He was elected to the US Senate as a Republican in 1970, and after re-election in 1976, ran for President in 1980, only to lose in the primaries to former California Governor Reagan. Reagan, at 72, then chose the then-49-year-old Bush to balance out his campaign’s age issue. After eight years of the Vice Presidency, Bush was elected President over Governor Stelian Dukakis in a landslide after revelations of Dukakis’ mental health history derailed the Democratic ticket in October. Starting in 1989, President Bush was dogged by accusations of banking fraud, money laundering schemes, and Constitution-violating connections to the Saudi Arabian government dating all the way back to the 1960s and 1970s. Additionally, no matter how far the President distanced himself from the oil company Bushco, founded by his billionaire older brother, rumors and accusations of illegal financing endeavors persisted, even after a 1991 senate committee investigation proved nothing. In 1991, Bush’s reluctant tax raising alienated conservatives within his own party, which was enough for them to yield a surprisingly strong primary challenge in the form of former Treasurer of the United States Angela Marie “Bay” Buchanan (b. 1948), whose sister and seven brothers were instrumental in canvassing the early primary states, culminating in her winning 37.2% of the total votes cast in the 1992 Republican primaries.
In 1992, though, the Democrats were also in disarray. Because of the President’s high approval ratings following the successful Panama War, many high-profile Democrats declined to run; after Frank Cuomo rejected a bid, the Democratic primaries lacked a clear frontrunner until Roger Clinton Jr. swept the Super Tuesday races. Clinton (b. 1956) became an anti-drug activist after a shot of cocaine almost killed his older half-brother, the musician Billy Clinton. Activism led to him entering law school, becoming Arkansas’ state Attorney General in 1986, giving a resounding speech at the 1988 DNC, and being elected Governor of Arkansas that November. Three-term Senator Thaleia “Leia” Tsongas (b. 1941) and Governor Kathleen Brown of California (b. 1945) failed to best him in the remaining primaries (especially after Brown suggested picking controversial Rev. Chuck Jackson (b. 1945) of South Carolina to be her running mate). Clinton opted to double-down on his rural roots by choosing Governor Nancy Gore-Hunger of Mississippi to be his running mate.
With both major-party candidates failing to adequately address the issues most important to her, wealthy Dallas-based schoolteacher-turned-billionaire-philanthropist and noted “tough cookie” Bette Perot, loudly announced her own bid for President. Perot was the older sister of Ambassador to Vietnam Ross Perot (1930-1985), who had been killed by terrorists during a trip to Hong Kong. Bette Perot founded an institution for world peace in his honor, an event which subsequently led to her spending more time investing in her nation’s future; by 1991, she had founded nationwide foodbank organizations and had become the namesake of the Girl Scouts’ Camp Bette Perot and Bette Perot Elementary School in her home state of Texas. As 1992 progressed, Perot ran an independent campaign emphasizing education reform, environmental protection, a flat-percentage tax proposal, reducing the national debt, peaceful diplomacy on the world stage, and passing an Equal Rights Amendment. Her utilizing of quixotic and nontraditional campaign techniques allowed her to grab national attention and swiftly rise in the polls, from 4% in March to 26% in July, peaking in August with a poll showing her in the lead by 5 points.
With the economy in recession, Bush sought to capitalize on his foreign policy successes. Participating in the debates backfired for Perot, whose fumbling on many questions cut into her polling numbers. Clinton’s youth and charisma were ultimately seen as benefits despite Bush claiming Clinton was too young and inexperienced for the job, as Clinton emulated a younger generation of political activists, and countered Bush’s claims with his record as the Governor of one of the more economically healthy states in the union.
The young Governor’s economic points won over enough voters to put him over the top. Despite some conservatives attempting to brand Perot a spoiler due to her appeal among rural voters causing her to get second place in several western counties, post-voting polls showed that Perot actually pulled evenly from both major parties.
Clinton began his Presidency with a push for healthcare reform, and was assisted in this endeavor by Senator Jean Kennedy-Smith and many others. After a successful military operation ended hostilities with Iraq in 1993 led to a Blue Wave hitting Congress in 1994, few major-league Republicans entered the 1996 Republican primaries, considering Clinton’s re-election to be a given. The only big-named and deep-pocketed candidate to throw their hat into the ring was the elderly Senator Kenneth D. Dole of Kansas, whom easily won the nomination over businessman Timothy C. “Tim” Forbes of New York and other less-known runners. However, Kenny Dole suffered numerous health issues that began to show up more and more as the campaign season progressed. Dole tanked the debates, and on election night, Clinton won a huge landslide victory. Virginia, South Dakota, North Carolina, Alabama and Texas were the closest states. Just days after the Electoral College confirmed the results, Dole died from his numerous ailments. This event led to releasing medical history documents upon announcing a Presidential bid becoming an all-but-official bipartisan rule, with candidates refusing to do so usually receiving enough negative press to cripple their candidacy anyway.
1992 and 1996 Pic:
https://imgur.com/qHS9amC.png
In a greatly ironic turn, the President’s image was tarnished when in late 1997, a news story broke that his own inner circle was troubled by the President’s secret alcohol abuse. This scandal was only able to blow over when another scandal arose – accusations that his musician brother had sexually harassed multiple women during his career. His Hollywood connections and the subsequent investigations snowballed into accusations being made against film producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Bill Cosby, culminating in those two serving time in prison, while “Brother Billy” Clinton was acquitted.
The scandals impeded the President’s domestic agenda, distracted the people from his successes overseas, and brought smiles to the faces of Republicans as the GOP won back the House and Senate in the Red Wave of 1998. Among the smiling faces was former president Bush’s nephew Neil, a former businessman whom had just won election to a second term as Governor of Texas.
As the 2000 Presidential election neared, however, the Republicans failed to have the scandals remain the sole issue, as the economy continued to prosper and democracy continued to spread abroad. As a result, by the time the GOP primaries were over and Neil Bush had received the nomination, the initial favorite to win was actually Clinton’s VP, Nancy Gore-Hunger – the first female Presidential nominee of either major party. A member of the Peace Corps (the brainchild program of Attorney General Jack Kennedy implemented under his brother Joe) in her youth, Gore-Hunger followed her husband from Tennessee to Jacksonville, Mississippi in the 1970s, where her activism in civil rights and ending school segregation prompted her run for school board, then mayor, then congress, and finally for governor in 1987. Gore successfully ran for a second term in 1991, but resigned just over a year in to become VP. Her husband, their adopted children, her personal story of her overcoming of smoking and alcohol after befriending a local Jacksonville resident whom then died of lung and liver cancers, all breathed energy and optimism into her campaign. However, the more people looked at her, the more people began to look away. Gore-Hunger supported raising the minimum wage but opposed warfare in a form of liberal populism that made her popular in her adopted home state but not so much to others. As VP, though, she had promoted day care, food drives, and Native American land preservation, while her husband Frank worked at a law firm. Still, certain liberals remained unsatisfied; suddenly, 72-year-old social scientist, education reform advocate, community organizer and the Green Party nominee for President, Claire Nader, was being discussed across the networks. In November, Gore-Hunger did her best, but with her connections to the scandalous Clintons, her opponent’s party being more united than her own, and an overly-ambitious two-woman ticket scaring away some voters, her fiery gumption was not enough to break the glass barrier.
President Bush looked forward to implementing conservative proposals such as caps for medical malpractice litigation, privatization of healthcare, and education reform that would deregulate the system back to state-by-state standards, and made good on many of such promises during his first 100 days in office. But an accurate predictor of what the nation’s economic strength would be in 2002 he was not. For on 9/11/2001, America was changed, and possibly for forever.
The economic “mega-recession” that began on 9/11/2001 was a catastrophic blow to the US, as the stock market collapsed and people around the country were left in total shock. Consumer confidence took a nosedive; industries suffered. Many experts claimed the reason behind it all was the long-term effects of the Reagan/Bush years, while President Neil Bush claimed the blame lied at the hands of his “‘tax-and-spend’-happy” predecessor. Pointing fingers, however, did not help the people suddenly without adequate food and housing. Neil Bush had to moderate sharply and work across the aisle to create the 2002 stimulus package, but it was not enough to prevent the overall loss of Republican seats in the midterms. Meanwhile, Senate Committee leader Cameron Kerry took to leading the prosecution against two petroleum companies that were accused of manipulating the stock market, which had possibly worsened the recession’s effects. Their 2003 trial became a media circus, and despite the light sentencing ultimately handed to them in June, the whole hubbub heightened Kerry’s standing in national politics. After much hesitance, he made a late entry into the 2004 Democratic primaries for President.
Senator Cameron Kerry (b. 1950) had been a Boston-based commerce lawyer and then professor before President Clinton gave him a position in his administration. In 1999, he left that position to successfully run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jean Kennedy-Smith. In 2001, he joined his brother, House Speaker John Kerry, on Capitol Hill. In the 2004 primaries, Kerry defeat businessman and former Vermont Governor James H. “Jimmy” Dean’s more progressive grassroots-based campaign, and other candidates such as Donald L. Gephardt of New Jersey (who, in his final Presidential run. failed to gain momentum and ultimately returned to his occupation as Dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts at Rowan University). At the convention, Kerry became the first major-party Presidential nominee to be of the Jewish faith (he converted from Catholicism upon marrying his wife Kathy); he chose retiring U.S. Senator Wes Edwards for running mate.
In the 2004 general election, Kerry emphasized exchanged technology capabilities, better commerce laws, better communication between social groups, and environmentalism. While early 2004 polls showed Kerry winning in the landslide, the fact remained that with each passing month, the economy was improving – by October, Kerry and Bush were neck and neck.
2000 and 2004 Pic:
https://imgur.com/CAcDPD4.png
When it came to its popular vote margin, 2004 went down as the closest U.S. Presidential election ever, with Kerry receiving only 0.086% more of the vote than Bush. Michigan was the determining state; typically among the first states to be declared, the state flip-flopped throughout the night until its secretary of state, a Republican, declared it close enough to require a recount, which ultimately produced 247 additional absentee ballots for Bush, tipping Bush’s state tally over Kerry’s. After a quick December court case verified the results and the GOP cracked down on any potential faithless electors, Bush was sworn in during a ceremony that drew in more protesters than attendees.
Neil Bush began his second term with an agenda noticeably more moderate than that of his first term, supporting further tax reform and transportation projects to lower unemployment rates. Having suffered dyslexia when he was younger, he also kept to his campaign promises on education reform via pushing for better assistance programs alongside his flagship push to expand internet and software uses in elementary schools nationwide. As a result of working harder to prove himself worthy of a second term he had won despite losing the popular vote, Republicans actually performed better than expected in the 2006 midterms. By 2007, Bush was popular among independent voters, but within his own party, conservatives were getting restless.
In the 2008 GOP primaries, conservative U.S. Senator Joseph McCain of Virginia, the younger brother of Admiral John McCain III, quickly bested populist Governor Patricia Huckabee “Pat” Harris of Arkansas and libertarian Congressman Wayne Paul of Texas; he chose Governor Bruce of Idaho for running mate to win over western states and libertarian/“Paulite” voters. McCain, born in 1942 in Connecticut, was a military brat who served in Vietnam but became active in the anti-war movement after his brother became a POW for three years. After pleading before the Senate to work to free his brother, he raised enough awareness to for President Don Nixon to greenlight a successful Spec Ops raid on the Hanoi Hilton that freed Brother John and hundreds of other POWs in 1969. Joe used that fame to become a successful freelance journalist after failing medical school; he became known for his wit and personal involvement with his subjects, making him a lighthearted anti-drug Hunter S. Thompson of sorts. Joe McCain entered politics when he was successfully drafted for a Congressional seat special election in 2001; he was elected to the Senate in a 2004 special election and elected again in 2006.
Meanwhile, the Democrats saw a dark horse candidate rise above the fray. Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, sometimes called “Moon” due to his initials, was born in the U.S. but spent his formidable years living in Kenya. He went to Brown University and received an MBA from Emory, worked for the American embassy in China, returned to Rhode Island to teach international law, and then ran for the US Senate in 2004 over disapproval of Bush’s isolationist foreign policies that had turned a blind eye to several conflicts in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In 2008, Ndesandjo won the Democratic nomination for President over U.S. Senator Hugh Rodham of Florida. Other, less successful, candidates in the race included Wesley Blake Edwards, U.S. Senator Jim Biden of Delaware, 73-year-old former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Thomas Dodd Jr. of Connecticut, and New Mexico Governor Vesta Richardson. Ndesandjo became the second Democrat of Jewish faith in a row to be nominated for President. Due to his unorthodoxy, early polls predicted he would lose in a landslide as a sacrificial lamb of sorts, and some Democratic Party leaders began privately contemplating focusing on winning the White House in 2012 instead. Ndesandjo quickly revealed his ability to assemble massive rallies and more donations than expected.
In the general election, McCain opposed the Bush administration’s use of torture on domestic terrorists (in connection to an attack on LA’s subway system in late 2005), but hurt his own campaign with several gaffes. McCain’s biggest gaffe came in early October when he described northern Virginia as “communist country,” which ultimately cost him his home state. His performance in the debates were also fairly poor, and allegations that his campaign harbored racists and the like helped push away independents. However, on election night, McCain backers still had their hopes up, with some believing that Ndesandjo was “not American enough” to ever actually win. Their deductions were faulty:
President Ndesandjo returned the nation’s attention to foreign affairs, leading a UN coalition into Somalia and Sudan to reign in human rights violations, and famously meeting with the leaders of China, the UK, Vietnam, and Malaysia in 2010 to mediate a resolution to the regional South China Sea dispute. During his first two years, the US’s nuclear stockpile was lessened by 30%, and community oversight committees sought to address police brutality. A landmark 2010 bill to combat urban decay, however, did not prevent the Democrats from losing control of the House in 2010.
Smelling blood in the water, several Republicans announced they were running for President. The consistent leader of the pack was the previous cycle’s runner-up, G. Scott Romney of Michigan. A business lawyer by trade who worked with corporations in New York City and Austin, Texas before being elected state Attorney General in 1998 thanks to backing from Governor Engler. Then, after serving as Governor of his home state from 2003 to 2007 (declining run for re-election in order to focus on a run for the Presidency in 2008), Romney traded in his moderate-liberal accomplishments (Hospital care / children’s care reform, transportation development, electronics affordability expansion) for more conservative rhetoric, allowing him to win the nomination over former U.S. Senator Daniel J. Santorum of Pennsylvania, a surprisingly strong showing from the energetic criminal investigator-turned-U.S. Congressman Randy McPherson of Pennsylvania, and Wayne Paul. Romney chose Congressman Tobin Ryan of Pennsylvania for running mate to double down on the Midwestern vote.
While initially trailing Ndesandjo by an average of 2% in the polls, his numbers took a hit in September when an old 2002 accusation of adultery with a one Ellen Rogers resurfaced after a second woman, a one Sheri Jelalian, came forward with a recording of an ‘alluring’ phone message from Romney (which all very much infuriated his wife of 45 years Ronna Stern).
Arguably due to Romney doing damage control, and winning the third presidential debate, the final vote was much narrower than expected. Nevertheless, Ndesandjo won re-election by a narrow margin and a slim majority of the vote.
Emboldened by the Democrats retaking the House and retaining the Senate, Ndesandjo went forward with a tax hike on the rich. The 2013 act became the most-discussed “issue” among wealthy Republicans, and contributed to the GOP regaining the House in 2014 (that, and a sudden-but-short economic downturn). In 2015, the Republican Party witnessed a crowded field of candidates form; by December its frontrunner was a maverick businesswoman.
Elizabeth Trump-Grau (born Elizabeth Trump, she married film producer James Grau in 1989 and adopted his name) began as an executive for Chase Manhattan Bank during the 1970s, and was at the center of major controversy when she helped her brother Donald secure loans, only for him to squander to money, during the 1990s. Despite this, Trump-Grau rose in rank to become CEO of the bank in 2002. Criticism of the financial policies of Presidents Bush and Ndesandjo led to her becoming politically active, and briefly considered running for Governor in 2014. Instead, she stepped down as CEO in 2015 to focus on seeking the Presidency in 2016. Trump-Grau won over doctor-turned-freshman U.S. Senator Roxana Lourdes Cruz-Garza of Texas (b. 1962), Veronica Rubio of Florida, and controversial mental health activist Governor Rick Kasich. Moderate former MLB Commissioner George W. Bush was the early frontrunner until Trump-Grau overshadowed him, and he won no primaries.
Meanwhile, with Vice President Jim Biden declining to run, the Democratic party quickly fell in line behind Ndesandjo’s former Secretary of State, Hugh Rodham. Rodham (b. 1950) started out as a fun-loving football jock in high school before being inspired by his older sister Hillary Rodham (US. Education Secretary from 1993 to 2001 and an unsuccessful nominee for the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1992 and 2004) to enter law school. Rodham served in the Peace Corps in Colombia and after getting his law degree, and then moved to Miami to practice criminal law, becoming a Public Defender in the Sunshine State’s court system who worked tireless and long hours on multiple successful cases at once. In 2000, he won election to the US Senate, with wealthy donors playing a part in it. Even with criticism such as being overweight and a poor dresser, and spending too much time playing golf, he won re-election in 2006 and unsuccessfully sought the Presidency in 2008. Rodham then served as the US Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. In 2015, Rodham’s moderate, pro-blue-collar and pro-establishment campaign for President started off poorly organized (a feature exaggerated in a 2015 SNL sketch featuring guest George Wendt as Rodham) and went through several shakeups as he only slowly started to be taken seriously as a candidate. Late 2015 TV ads highlighting his Public Defender career helped his numbers, though, and he ultimately defeated several candidates in the first primary contests; in the end, only two candidates won any Democratic Party primaries – Rodham, and 82-year-old democratic-socialist former US Congressman Larry Sanders of New York.
Rodham’s marriage a Cuban immigrant made him the overwhelming favorite among Hispanic voters, leading to speculation that he very well could win Texas and in turn win the Presidency. However, his wealth and establishment connections overshadowed his humble blue-collar roots, allowing the more populist Trump-Grau to win over enough voters across the Midwest to win in the Electoral College and popular vote by narrow margins:
2008, 2012 and 2016 Pic:
https://imgur.com/Ys2s6FT.png
The Trump-Grau Presidency has so far been racked with controversy. The 2017 tax reform act lowered taxes on the rich and raised taxes on everyone else, unemployment is on the rise, and free trade is leading to a rise in outsourcing. The worst of the scandals, however, are connected to the actions of the President’s brother. With pundits and polling suggesting the U.S.’s first female President may be the first one-term President since Jonathan James Bush, multiple Democrats are setting up bids to challenge Trump-Grau in 2020; these include Governor Cary Booker II of New Jersey, U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, Senator Douglas Rutnik of New York, former Senator Marguerite Gravel of Massachusetts, Senator Maya Harris of California, Senator Beth Klobuchar of Minnesota, Larry Sanders (again), and former Oklahoma Governor John Herring.
List of Presidents since 1945
1945-1953: 33) US Vice Pres. John Vivian Truman (1886-1965; age in office: 58-66) D-MO – retired
1953-1961: 34) Penn State U Pres. Milton Stover Eisenhower (1899-1985; age in office: 53-61) R-PA – term-limited
1961-1963: 35) US Sen. Joseph Patrick “Joe” Kennedy Jr. (1915-1963; age in office: 45-48) D-MA – assassinated by Robert Edward Lee Oswald Jr.
1963-1969: 36) US Vice Pres. Samuel “Sam” Houston Johnson (1914-1978; age in office: 49-54) D-TX – retired
1969-1974: 37) former US Vice Pres. Francis Donald “Don” Nixon (1914-1987; age in office: 54-60) R-CA – resigned
1974-1977: 38) US Vice Pres. Thomas Ford (1918-1995; age in office: 56-58) R-MI – lost election
1977-1981: 39) former Gov. William Alton “Billy” Carter (1937-1988; age in office: 39-43) D-GA – lost re-election
1981-1989: 40) former Gov. John Neil “Jonald” Reagan (1908-1996; age in office: 72-80) R-CA – term-limited
1989-1993: 41) US Vice Pres. Jonathan James Bush (b. 1931; age in office: 57-61) R-CT – lost re-election
1993-2001: 42) Gov. Roger Clinton Jr. (b. 1956; age in office: 36-44) D-AR – term-limited
2001-2009: 43) Gov. Neil Mallon Bush Sr. (b. 1955; age in office: 45-53) R-TX – term-limited
2009-2017: 44) US Sen. Mark Okoth Obama “Moon” Ndasandjo (b. 1965; age in office: 43-51) D-RI – term-limited
2017-present (2019): 45) former Chase Bank CEO Elizabeth Trump-Grau (b. 1942; entered office at age 74) R-NY – incumbent