Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

[historybuff]

More well done updates. With no USSR, what's up with Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and other post-Soviet politicians, and who's part of Volkov's cabinet? Has the KGB been split into the FSB and SVR?

 

[Igeo654]

OK, looking at the polling, it's apparent that Bellamy isn't gonna be president. Miss. Kennedy is as good as it gets on that front, though hopefully, she'll consider Bellamy as her running mate. One thing is for sure, it may be a few decades overdue, but a Kennedy will sit in the White House for the majority of the 90s. For anyone wondering, this is what she might sound like as President.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Yeah, I voted Glenn for the Democrats - not just as an Ohioan, I think a good centrist candidate is important with the divisiveness of the last decade or so, but I wouldn't mind Kennedy-Shriver. TTL I'd definitely be puling for Glenn, I think, figuring the Demcorats were going to win. Plus he's an American icon, someone, as mentioned above, who can sayh they are above the political fray. (And, isn't wthat part of what endeared voters to Colonel Sanders in '64 anyway?)

And, hey, my first Prfesidential election. So I can really figure on who I'd have voted for; I voted for Brooke but I do like Thomson as the potential nominee; I actually like kemp in 1980 when he ran, seeming to be a less radical version of Reagan, and might have actually felt sorry for him here; I think he has maybe less chance than Ford did of winning after he became President, since the scandals have been so enormous, it feels like it was worse than Watergate.

Great job with the irony in that "U.S. coudn't have survived this during the Cold War" quote. In a world where Watergate didn't happen, it would seem like it. (Although of course, as I said, this feels like it was worse. THen again, having been too young to have followed Watergate much, it's hard to say. Watergate just after the Vietnam War might have made it just as bad for America's psyche as TTL's Potomac Scandals.)

 

[Igeo654]

OK. So the moment I say she isn't going to win, suddenly, out of the blue, Carol B suddenly jumps up the polls. Suffice to say that if she DOES somehow win this polling, I am gonna be one happy camper. So, fingers crossed for the upset of the century, folks. And since I gave Mrs. KS a mention, I figure I should do the same for Carol.

 

[Ogrebear]

Chapter 56: December 1986 – July 1987

Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America, - well that's a telling title!
Interesting way to pardon, but not pardon Denton there. Suitable for politicians def.
Support for gay marriage up? Nice
Considering new recpices- I wonder if the Colonel would consider a veggie burger for KFC before he goes?
Go fix China President Sanders!
Selling of public housing to its tenants - Mrs T did this and it was/is quite popular in the UK
Free elections in Libya, how there is not a line you write often in a 80's timeline...
Governor Thyra Thomson sounds like a sensible woman
Why JOE POLONKO as VP? Is he a friend of Kemps?
The Sorensen-Schneider bill seems like an interesting reversal of OTL 80's econmoics
Japan avoided her permanent Recession? Nice
The NASA using metric bit is funny
Yugoslavia and Albania merger actually makes some sense. USY kinda
I hope Richard Strauss get sent down for a decent long period. Males can be sexual abuse victims too
Sounds like Global Climate Disruption will get more poltical attension than Climate change does OTL
Female Australian PM in 87? Nice. I wonder how well Shirley de la Hunty will do?
No crime and debt ridden New York in the 80's? Well that will change things for sure!
"1987 saw the Russian economy begin to finally recover from the effects of the USSR’s collapse" well this is good news for the global economy. A sucessful, non oligrach Russia will have an interesting effect on the world stage. Good they got back into space too- wonder what United Turkestan did with the old space facilities? Satalite launching could be good income for the new country
This Stargazer Delight disaster is going to lead to a crack down on oil companies and more environmental laws I bet...
Bob Ross into politics?
Shrimp Burger? Yuk- not for me

 

[President Earl Warren]

Go Eunice! The only Kennedy I can stand

 

[Ogrebear]

Chapter 57: August 1987 – December 1987

"Punish the government, never the people." wise word Colonel, wise indeed
Before It’s Too Late - sounds like a timely piece. I bet the conspiracy theorists blame Gore for the Alaskan disaster so he can sell a few more film tickets...
Start of the Technet - bet that first chat group had a Star Trek room in the first week of operation...
Wonder if the Star Wars franchise only stops at 3 films here? Does Lucas hand the reigns to someone else? Perhaps a TV show or TV movies? Probably no Holiday Special, well at least as we got it- I think there is some legs in an anthology type show based from a cantina like location showing various stories from the Star Wars universe, just without the singing...
So no Simpsons for Groening then? Well that will impact popular culture!
"KEMP SIGNS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN BILL INTO LAW" - good!
Hopefully Mongolia will take more of a lead from Russia than China here and throw off the Red Flag
Hah, no Frenchxit!
I remember the 87 Storm in the UK. Wasn't strictly a hurricane, but it was bad...
Barry Goldwater taking to the campaign trail at 78? Might be bad for one's health
Ishtar is a mild success? Wow, those must have been good rewrites!
1987 Conservative win feels realistic, esp with Labour disintegrating. Did Sinn Fein and co not win any seats in NIreland in this election? What about Wales?
Interesting internal moves inside China there. I wonder if they will look into Alt Energy (those wind blown Stepps could hold a lot of wind turbines) rather than just pump out more coal and oil stations? Maybe prevent the infamous Beijing smog?
H. Salt Esquire Authentic English Fish and Chips? Sounds like my kinda place!
KFC for Christmas dinner? I'd do that...
Man that is a crowded field of candidates from both parties there!

 

[Igeo654]

So, here is how I see the next election going, given everyone's suggestions and votes.

For the Dems: Kennedy-Shriver/Bellamy.

For the GOP: Reagan/Thomson or as an alt, Reagan/Goldwater. It's almost certain that this election will be one of the most important and historically significant in TTL's history. At least until America elects it's first Black President.

 

[AndyWho]

Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick (b. 1918), a Democrat, was the state Board of Regents for Higher Education from 1977 to 1984 before being elected to the state senate in 1983

Interesting choice in a candidate for Governor of Louisiana. Didn't know that much about her.

 

[Windhover]

It seems like the current frontrunners are Kennedy-Shriver and Reagan.

I am happy that it looks like Kennedy-Shriver is about to win the nomination. As for her running mate I am guessing Paul Simon. My thinking goes like this: 1) She would likely want someone who has been a governor since that is an experience that she lacks. 2) He is an advocate for civil rights which is an important contemporary issue. 3) As a moderate he can help to unify the party after they have chosen the progressive Kennedy-Shriver as the nominee. 4) He is an almost ideal choice geographically speaking. Illinois is a swing state with a large number of delegates and it is in the midwest which also a large swing area. Combining Kennedy-Shrivers east coast appeal with Simons midwest appeal is a potent combination come election day. 5) I am not certain that the Democrats are willing to gamble that America is ready for its first female president and first female vice president in the same election.
As for what I think Bellamy should do? Well, there is a Republican senator in New York up for reelection in 1988...

Reagan is the frontrunner for the Republicans which is a choice. I previously mentioned that the Republicans need to be unified to have even the smallest of chances in this election after everything that has happened. And while most moderate republicans will bite their teeth and support a fiscal conservative I have a hard time imagining a possible scenario where the "Religious Right" will back a pro-choice nominee. I would be shocked if there won't be a third party movement if Reagan gets the nomination.

 

[Unknown]

Good updates; glad Strauss got exposed, BTW...

I'd probably like living in this version of the US; New York is probably not completely "crime-free", but the crime rate is likely similar to NYC in the late 1990s IOTL (and without some of the...questionable policies that made NYC have a lower crime rate in the late 1990s IOTL)...

And congrats for going over 500k words--this TL is a doorstopper...

 

[Igeo654]

I am happy that it looks like Kennedy-Shriver is about to win the nomination. As for her running mate I am guessing Paul Simon. My thinking goes like this: 1) She would likely want someone who has been a governor since that is an experience that she lacks. 2) He is an advocate for civil rights which is an important contemporary issue. 3) As a moderate he can help to unify the party after they have chosen the progressive Kennedy-Shriver as the nominee. 4) He is an almost ideal choice geographically speaking. Illinois is a swing state with a large number of delegates and it is in the midwest which also a large swing area. Combining Kennedy-Shrivers east coast appeal with Simons midwest appeal is a potent combination come election day. 5) I am not certain that the Democrats are willing to gamble that America is ready for its first female president and first female vice president in the same election.
As for what I think Bellamy should do? Well, there is a Republican senator in New York up for reelection in 1988...

Yeah, but here's the thing. Bellamy is clearly the 2nd most popular figure here. It makes more sense in terms of gaining voters to have the runner up on your side. Simon has about 1 vote and that's about it. Sure, Lamar Alexander wasn't the runner up for Denton in the Republican Primaries back in 1980, but let's face it, EKS isn't Denton. Americans ITTL are sick to death of moderates and even more so with the Religious Right screwing things up. What they want now, above all else, is secular, progressive policies in order to enhance their freedoms. Sure, Eunice has only one of those down, but that's exactly why she needs Carol Bellamy as her VP. She is going to be the one to drive her hopefully get BLUTAG rights up to a high level before her 2nd term is over, probably leading to legal Gay Marriage nationwide by the early to mid-00s. Furthermore, Bellamy will Lead America to become a leader in Humanitarian aid and, though both of their progressive natures, de-censorship in the media and entertainment. Not to mention combatting and recognising climate change. + there's one more benefit of Bellamy over Simon, because while the latter IOTL died only a year after the future president, Carol is still alive and influential.

 

[Windhover]

Yeah, but here's the thing. Bellamy is clearly the 2nd most popular figure here. It makes more sense in terms of gaining voters to have the runner up on your side. Simon has about 1 vote and that's about it. Sure, Lamar Alexander wasn't the runner up for Denton in the Republican Primaries back in 1980, but let's face it, EKS isn't Denton.

I disagree here from a strategical standpoint. I believe that the choice of who to pick as your vice president should depend on who can pull in voters who are not behind the presidential nominee and who can cover the presidential nominees flaws. For example, Mondale might have chosen Gravel in order to avoid a contested convention but by doing that he also ensured that the progressives were pulled in. Unlike in 1980 when there was a third party progressive campaign. The same with the other succesful vice presidents ITTL. Alexander may have not been ideologically very different from Denton, but he was the favored candidate of the "Religious Right" and Denton wanted them to get on board to have party unity. Sanders was old and had southern appeal and Scranton had youthful energy along with Rust Belt appeal which helped in the general election. None of these vice presidents were the runner up in their respective primaries.

The question then becomes if Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver cover each others weaknesses and I don't think they do. Because while there are differences between them, there are also a lot of similarities. No matter which of them win, there will be a progressive on top of the ticket so the progressives will be happy. Geographically speaking they are both from the same area of the US. And when it comes to their "bad points" as mentioned by gap80, boths would best be countered by a running mate that is, for lack of a better word, folksy. That is why I believe from a strategic point of view that if either Kennedy-Shriver or Bellamy becomes the nominee then the other should not be their running mate. And if either of them becomes the nominee then the best running mate would be the same for both of them, Paul Simon or John Glenn. This is because they can unite the party and cover up the presidential nominees weak points the best (wrote about Paul Simon in post #691 but John Glenn would also be a good fit, he has national recognition, strong midwestern appeal and a long and distinguished record of military service which never hurts in an election).

 

[Igeo654]

Both Democratic frontrunners have good points and bad points: Bellamy is unapologetically dedicated to progressive/humanitarian causes and comes from humble origins, but (as documented in Source 2 of her wiki article) she is temperamental, childless, and single (the latter two bits will likely hurt her polling among mothers / older / married voters); Eunice, on the other hand, supports universal healthcare and can appeal to suburbanites with her pro-life/pro-family views, but hails from a very wealthy/elitist/well-connected family (one that, remember, never had OTL's romanticizing "Camelot" era in this TL).

There's probably going to be a 90s Camelot era ITTL, if Eunice gets the presidency. Probably with no assassinations this time. 89 to 96 will be the most idealized time on this earth, even more so than IOTL.

 

[gap80]

Chapter 58: January 1988 – August 1988​

“Mud thrown is ground lost.”

– Texan proverb



HOT ON THE TRAIL!: Presidential Candidates Make Their Cases To Early Primary Voters

…The Democrats have a wide field, with the Gravelite progressive wing (led by Soglin, Bellamy, and Alexander) vying for voters against liberals (led Kennedy-Shriver, Osborne, and Florio) and centrists (led by Glenn, King, and Simon), with candidates like James Taylor and Andrew Young running on unique campaign platforms …In the GOP, President Kemp is attempting to fight off several challengers – most notably Pastor McCormack of the “deeply conservative” wing, Governor Thomson of the Colonelite “rational conservative” wing, Senator Goldwater of the growing "libertarian" wing, and former Senator Reagan of the right-of-center "moderate" wing – to win the nomination for a full term. …Ronald Reagan says “You can always count on Mermie,” using to the retired politician’s nickname for his daughter…

– The New Hampshire Gazette, 1/7/1988



Guest political commentator Bern SANDERS: “The economy has doubled since 1978, but wages have only grown by 30%. Where is the money going? With slashed taxes for those who can afford taxes, revenues are shrinking, instead of expanding. Where is the money going?”

Special Guest Senator Ron PAUL: “Well let me just say that Jack [Kemp] should count his lucky stars that the Balanced Budget Amendment hasn’t yet been approved by enough state legislatures, because this year’s federal deficit shows that congress can’t budget their own checkbook, and they so shouldn’t touch other people’s checkbook until they fix their own! Buying and borrowing slowly during the 1980s was a terrible idea, because if the economy dips down again, the continuation of these irresponsible policies will lead to an anemic recovery the next time a recession hits.”

SANDERS: “And rest assured the way moderate elitists run things, the next recession is right around the corner.”

PAUL: “I agree. That’s why I’m running for President - to get the feds off the necks of the working class.”

SANDERS: “The feds should work with the working class, not against them like that.”

PAUL: “Naw, naw, that’s where they get you. When governments say they want to work with you, they really mean they want to control you. To take your hard-earned money and use it to pay for unnecessary things like more cameras in space, more weapons for their sick war games, and more red tape to suffocate businesses.”

SANDERS: “Now hold on, Senator, taxes should go where they are needed – paying for hospitals, Medicare, Medicaid, road repair – things that the individual American cannot pay for on their own.”

MODERATOR: “Gentlemen, we’re running late, so let’s move on to the continuation of partial American intervention in Civil War-torn Colombia.”

SANDERS & PAUL (in unison): “We need to bring our boys home!”

– Round-table discussion on the topic “the changing economic landscape in America,” KNN, 1/11/1988



ALASKAN OIL SPILL LARGER AND DEADLIER THAN INITIALLY BELIEVED, A NEW STUDY SAYS

– The Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota newspaper, 1/12/1988



“The Politburo in China is working with the dictatorial Xi Liannian to round up hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims into what essentially are concentration camps. Now I’m not one to point fingers, but this current administration has not done enough to address this issue, and the previous one, the Denton administration, worked with the P.R.C. more than once, such as getting Premier Deng to join international trade, energy, resources, and technology –related accords. We shouldn’t be doing business with dictators, plain and simple.”

– House Speaker Hale Boggs (D-LA) to a reporter, 1/12/1988



US HOUSE ENFORCES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON RED CHINA

…with Kemp signing off on the measure with little fanfare, the sanctions will affect Chinese exports of plastics, electronics, and multiple other items…

– The Washington Post, 1/13/1988



KEMP TOUTS LAST YEARS’ HOUSING REFORMS IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS: Claims ZEDs, Tenant Ownership Laws Are The Start of “A Better Era For Millions Of Americans”

– The New York Times, 1/18/1988

[pic: https://imgur.com/NUc6myk ]

– Kemp’88 logo, c. January 1988



“In 1983, a promotion to Major General was on the horizon for me, but then a falling-out kind of thing happened between President Denton and I over his refusal to disclose certain military information to certain military officers for the sake of security. When I confronted the President on the manner, he coolly replied, ‘Well, we all have our secrets, now don’t we…’ and then referred to me by a name I had been running from for decades. I should have known that I couldn’t hide it forever, but it still shocked me in the moment. I think I turned pale. Denton continued, saying he could have the blemish permanently expunged from all obtainable records, that only he and I would ever know, but only if I stopped complaining about the Defense Department continuing to keep a tight lid on their long-term plans, strategies and goals for Libya. I retired from the military instead.”

– Former US Secretary of Defense Donnie Dunagan, 1991 interview



On January 19, researchers at the Pentagon discovered the misfiled personnel documents and records for Secretary Dunagan and promptly showed them to their supervisors to confirm their authenticity. During that sharing of information, one employee anonymously contacted the Walt Disney Company for confirmation of a curious detail concerning Dunagan’s young life. At some point during these communications, the story was picked up by the tabloids…

– The Houston Chronicle, article “Dunagan Reflects on Embracing His Past Life,” 2008



KEMP’S SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WAS THE VOICE OF BAMBI!

…Dunagan recorded the voice of the young deer character ten years before joining the Marines…

– The New York Post, 1/22/1988



“Cammie King visited me to tell me stay on, as her own voice acting past had not been a hindrance to her success in the U.S. House of Representatives. She told me, ‘You should never be ashamed of where you come from; what you’re doing now is more important than what you did way back when. Just look at how far you’ve come!’ She said to me I should be press on and ignore the critics. But I insisted I spare my Commander-in-Chief the embarrassment. The President was already facing numerous confrontations, and I did not wish to contribute to them with the brand new claims that I withheld information during my Senate confirmation hearing. Which I didn’t – they didn’t ask about my pre-pubescent years, so I didn’t tell. Anyway, I did not wish to be a burden or a nuisance. After some reluctance, Kemp accepted my letter of resignation.”

– Former US Secretary of Defense Donnie Dunagan, 1991 interview



DEFENSE SEC. DUNAGAN STEPPING DOWN AMID CLAIMS OF HIDING PAST DURING CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

– The Washington Post, 2/7/1988



“You can’t lead soldiers, direct them into battle, order them around, if you have that kind of thing in your background. You just won’t be taken seriously.” Dunagan went back into retirement in shame. Despite his exclusivity, fans still managed to send him fan mail after his home address was leaked to the press by a nosy neighbor later that year. Dunagan was touched by the sheer number of people who had enjoyed films such as Bambi and Young Frankenstein growing up, and confessed he himself had always enjoyed the film Bambi. “I would put in on for my grandchildren all the time,” he explains. He soon started to see “the reveal” of his secret as a positive thing, and ultimately agreed to appear at Disney’s official promotion of the 50th anniversary of Bambi in Anaheim, California.

After half a century, Dunagan finally embraced the identity of being Bambi’s voice, at last seeing it as a source of personal pride and fame, not shame.

– The Houston Chronicle, article “When Bambi Fought The Viet Cong,” 2001



“The unmerited ridicule that the War Hero Don Dunagan had to put up with during the past two weeks will likely help Kemp in the long run. The sympathy vote could go a long ways in the primaries if Kemp reminds people of how unfairly his administration has been attacked since day one.”

– Political commentator William Saxbe, CBS roundtable discussion, 2/8/1988



GLENN (a Senator since 1971): “We need a president who can stand up to China. Their new leader, Li Xiannian, is unleashing a new wave of terror on the ethnic minorities in the western regions of his nation. We cannot sit idly by and let it continue any further. Sanctions are not enough – we need to get the UN and all our allies to take a stand in solidarity with one another. We need to push China out of the world economy and off the world stage, and not let them back in until they end their human rights violations. For that, you need the kind of experience that spending two decades in the Senate gives you.”

KENNEDY-SHRIVER (a Senator since 1962): “And for it to work you need to spend three decades in the Senate, that's three total.”

MODERATOR 1: “Senator Kennedy-Shriver, please wait your turn.”

[snip]

BELLAMY: “China is tricky business because it is a nuclear power, an important trade partner, and a nation of people controlled by a ruthless national government. We have to do the opposite of what Senator Glenn proposes and open up talks with Chairman Li in order to find a better solution to China’s overpopulation crisis, one better than replacing the people of Xinjiang and Tibet with excess people from the Chinese coastline.”

[snip]

OSBORNE: “We need a federal law that helps state law with abortion by allowing federal funds to go to necessary abortions – rape, incest, danger to the mother – but not to voluntary abortions. A child should not be killed before they are born just because the family is poor or the mother don’t feel ready to be a mother. Financial or emotional burdening is no excuse to end any life!”

[snip]

OSBORNE: “Carol, you don’t have the experience of a Senator or a Governor, and in this moment in our nation’s history, with tensions with China on the rise and Colombia still in turmoil, we need a President with actual governing experience!”

MODERATOR: “Alright, now, Mayor Bellamy, your rebuttal?”

BELLAMY: “Martha, Kentucky has about three-and-half million people right now, while New York City’s population passed the seven-million-people mark less than eight years ago. And like any state, the city does business with countries the world over, so geopolitics comes with the job. Demographically, New York’s actually more diverse in terms of race and jobs than Kentucky. In the past six years, New York City’s economy has nearly double, while Kentucky is the twentieth most prosperous state in the nation right now. I have the experience necessary to be President. I’ve tackled issues big and small. From fixing potholes to maintaining funds for free daycare when President Denton cut federal grants in ’83; from improving relations between police and their communities, to keeping big companies in the city despite raising taxes on them because of the opportunities the city provides. Vote for me in New Hampshire, then in the March Cluster, and in November, and America will have a President with actual governing experience!”

– Snippets from the Democratic primary debate in Concord, NH, 2/10/1988



Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver were ideologically similar on several domestic policy issues. Both favored All-Inclusive Health Care, expanding Social Security Benefits, increasing US-led humanitarian efforts abroad, and making more frequent adjustments to the nation’s Negative Income Tax Rebate in lieu of the Balanced Budget Amendment. Both were heavily involved in causes promoting the protection of children long before being elected to public office, and both had consistently left-leaning voting records. As a result, what made their campaigns distinct from one another was style more so than substance.

Both politicians were not exactly cut from the same cloth. Bellamy was born to a middle-class family in New Jersey, her parents being a nurse and a telephone installer; Kennedy-Shriver was born into the wealth accumulated by her father, a successful stock and real estate investor who later became the US Ambassador to the UK and considered running for President in 1940. The Bellamy campaign sought to depict the Mayor as having grown up wanting, while the Senator grew up in luxury and excess. This was no difficult task – Kennedy-Shriver’s eldest brother Jack was a former Senator, and her second-eldest brother Robert had raised a family of 14 children on a lavish estate in Virginia known for having several exotic pets and hosting “wild” birthday parties.

Their differing backgrounds were highlighted – if not outright exaggerated – by how the media depicted their personalities. In an early example, New York magazine ran an article in 1982 that claimed Bellamy was temperamental and impatient around her interns: “Her staff meetings resemble nothing so much as Federal Express commercials. She jiggles her knee, taps a pencil against her head, slips into mild snits over the wording of press releases no one will remember… Even with a reporter present, Bellamy’s temper flares with slight provocation whenever a staff member seems to be moving – or even just explaining – too slowly.” [1] Kennedy-Shriver, however, was often depicted by her many friends and connects in the media – thanks to her brother, KNN co-founder Ted Kennedy – as the very epitome of the term “presidential.” Classy and sophisticated, Eunice was presented as refined but relatable, elegant but electable, in tune to the domestic and geopolitical issues in DC while still exuding a charm that appealed to suburban housewives, college-educated white-collar workers, and the white-ethnic skeletal remains of the New Deal Coalition responsible for Presidents Roosevelt, Truman Johnson and Mondale. In her defense, Bellamy embraced the image of having a rough exterior as a way to standing out from “the prim, polished, pro-status-quo politicians,” and of being detached from “the Potomac elite,” a term Bellamy campaign aide Rosina Abramson thought up to remind voters of the Potomac Scandals and to “hammer in” Mayor Bellamy’s “outsider” status.

Their respective families played into the Kennedy-Shriver game plan as well, especially once Bellamy began to rise in polls, and initial frontrunner Martha Osborne underperformed in the New Hampshire debate. KNN reported more than once on the Mayor being single, childless, and having no apparent love life. These “critiques” were nothing new to Bellamy, though, as she once controversially stated in 1985 “I love it when people say I don’t understand the problems of raising a family. Well, I’m not raising a family, but I come from a family. I have a mother. I’ve watched a nephew growing up. I’m not saying I understand what it was like to go to the market yesterday and shop for four people.” [1]

As the primaries began, Bellamy’s chief of staff, Karen Burstein, complained that such inquiries were of sexist origin: “There’s just no grace given to a woman in politics. If she put government service over being in love, how does that distinguish her from any number of male politicians who are married?” [1] Bellamy’s campaign could not take such defense when criticized by the likes of Kennedy-Shriver and Osborne, and thus the Mayor sought to instead focus on the “real” issues on the race.

Indeed, two major issues that set Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver apart from one another were abortion and the use of wealthy donors. The Mayor favored legalizing the former in all states and territories, while her campaign was almost entirely grassroots-oriented – the bulk of Bellamy’s base basically being of blue-collar bona fides – and breaking from the use of big bucks. Conversely, Kennedy-Shriver fiercely opposed abortion, while the well-connected Senator – and her well-connected family – had deep ties to top Democratic donors.

– Paul F. Boller’s Campaign’88: An American Melodrama, Viking Press, 1989



Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, rumors began to circulate that Governor Osborne was ineligible for the Presidency. The claim went that she was born in Bagdad, Iraq, to British parents and moved to the US a short time later; in reality, Osborne was born in the town of Bagdad, Kentucky, and family moved to Shelbyville, Kentucky, when she was in the sixth grade. While Osborne was quick to denounce the rumors as “attacks on [her] momentum-building campaign,” the attention did not boost her poll numbers, not even out of sympathy, due to her poor performance in the pre-primary debates…

In the GOP, President Kemp declined to participate in the last debate before New Hampshire. With his approval ratings hovering between 45% and 49%, he believed he would weather the competition, and decided to best spend his time overseas his 1988 agenda – cutting further regulations, boosting the economy, and addressing Japan’s growing presence in American markets…

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



THOMSON: “Our economy can’t afford the Democrats’ tax-and-spend ideas. Americans are adventurous and braves, willing to cure diseases and go into space, but Americans are also smart. Americans know that inundating businesses, schools, and communities with federal red tape and tight regulations do not lead to adventure and bravery in the economy.”

[snip]

BROOKE: “When people treat corruption as a routine part of the process, you have something far worse than wrongdoing or moral failing. You have a political cancer that breeds cynicism about democratic government and infests all of society. Fortunately, the Denton Presidency exposed to the world that Americans will never stand for corruption. And I will not ever stand for it either …My entire life has been devoted to breaking down barriers, to finding common ground. I am the only candidate on this stage that has proven time and again to be able to work with Democrat-majority congresses like the one we have right now. Bipartisanship is the best direction for our party and for our country…” [2]

[snip]

McCORMACK: “There’s been a lot of talk about reversing Protection of Marriage Act, of making it illegal to stop BLUTAGs from teaching in schools in all fifty states, and of even letting them serve in the military. A Democrat in the White House would do nothing to stop this corruption of our morals.”

MODERATOR 1: “Senator Goldwater, you raised your hand first, you have one minute.”

GOLDWATER: “Billy, there’s nothing wrong with BLUTAGs in the military because you don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.” [3]

McCORMACK: “What you are saying is an affront to all things natural.”

GOLDWATER: “And you’re an affront to all things political. You have no first-hand experience for this kind of job. You don’t see preaching from your pulpit, do you?”

McCORMACK: “It bucks nature.”

GOLDWATER: “Oh buck off with that bull! These men and women love each other, and there’s nothing unnatural about that. There’s nothing wrong with consenting adults in love.”

MODERATOR 2: “Gentlemen, please, let’s keep this civil and professional.”

GOLDWATER: “Tell that to the people running the pastor’s campaign.”

[snip]

REAGAN: “I’d like to take this moment to congratulate how far we’ve come as a party and as a nation. Women candidates have historically had two unique problems, those being trouble raising money and being taken seriously by the media. Women tend to give political candidates only about 10 percent of what males give, and males give women candidates only 10 percent of what they give to males. But here, on this stage, are Thyra and I, and not once have we been asked if a woman can win major office thanks to the efforts of Republican women and organizers everywhere responsible for there being fourteen women in the US Senate, and for Thyra and I being on this stage in the first place.” [4]

– Snippets from the GOP debate held four days before the New Hampshire primaries, 2/12/1988



LARRY DINGER NOMINATED FOR DEFENSE

…Larry Miles Dinger (b. 1946) grew up in Iowa, graduated from Macalester College in 1968, and served in the US Army in Cambodia from 1968 to 1970. Dinger graduated from Harvard Law in 1974, and practiced law as his home town’s sole practitioner in 1975 before election to a U.S. Congressional seat in 1976. After losing a bid for a US Senate seat in 1980, Dinger was chosen to be the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala 1981, and became the U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador 1982; he served both position until 1985. In 1985, he took on the position of U.S. Ambassador to Chile, but stepped down in September 1986 in protest of the Potomac Scandals. Five months later, Dinger returned to Washington to become President Kemp’s U.S. Undersecretary of Defense...

– The Washington Post, 2/14/1988



On Tuesday, February 16, President Kemp won the GOP New Hampshire primary with a plurality of 35%. Senator Brooke came within 5% of taking first place; Reagan came in fourth, while Goldwater surprised pundits with an impressive fifth place finish (after initially polling in seventh behind Thomson and McCormack), cementing his position as the libertarian wing’s choice. These results were far from the landslide that Kemp, his supporters, and early polling had anticipated, and sent Kemp’s election campaign into an uproar of havoc. …Senator Ron Paul withdrew from the race after, acknowledging that the more popular and better-funded Senator Goldwater was “the libertarian choice of this season,” as he bitterly put it later that May…

In the Democratic Party, history was made with Mayor Bellamy upsetting Kennedy-Shriver to become the first woman to win the Gravel state in a presidential primary. Despite Senator “EKS” spending twice as much funding as Bellamy, the Senator lost to the Mayor by a 1% margin. Coming in an impressive third was the state’s US Senator Endicott Peabody, knocking Glenn down to fourth place. The biggest “loser” of the night, though, was Governor Osborne, who underperformed with a sixth-place showing…

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



The ’88 Winter Olympics in Falun, Sweden, ended on the eighteenth. The US’s humiliatingly crushing defeats in several events worsened American morale, already low due to the lingering court cases stemming from the Great Potomac Scandals and the Second Ark Wave, and the rise in tensions between the nuclear powers of US and China raising fears of warfare not seen since the fall of the USSR four years prior…

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010



CERN became the largest technet node in Europe in 1988, and was soon followed by Berners-Lee joining hypertext with the technet. With domain name systems, NSFNET and Nordunet, essentially, partially co-created the International Network, the largest documentation system in history... [5]

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



McCormack gained momentum by narrowly winning the February 23 Georgia primary over Kemp, with Thomson coming in a close third, boosting her prominence in the race as well. It became apparent that Thomson and McCormack were winning over “religious right” party members, with McCormack appealing to the bulk of the faction and its most conservative members, and Thomson appealing to female and suburban religious conservatives alongside more libertarian-minded and fiscally-concerned voters. Concurrently, Maureen Reagan edged Kemp for victory in the GOP’s primary in Maryland; with Brooke tapping into the state’s minority populations, the race was a three-way tie. Kemp campaign leaders began to sweat more profusely as the President lost the first three contests, and soon began to invest heavily in the March Cluster contests. …Bob Dole dropped out soon after, having failed to gain traction or even that much attention in such a crowded field…

That same night, Senator Kennedy-Shriver won the Democratic Party’s Georgia primary over Glenn, with Bellamy predictably coming in third. Former frontrunner Osborne against heavily underperformed. Kennedy-Shriver also secured victory in Maryland, likely thanks to the state’s high level of Catholic voters, despite US Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) praising Bellamy’s actions as Mayor (though he did stop short of an official endorsement). The group “Youth for Eunice,” which oversaw young activists from high school and college organize, coordinate and mobilize volunteer campaigners across Maryland and Georgia, was seen and thus often cited as being responsible for making Kennedy-Shriver’s victories in both contests so comfortable and propelling her to frontrunner status ahead of the March Cluster...

– Michael Stewart Foley’s Front Porch Politics: American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s, 2013 net-book edition



In an unpopular move, Kemp raised interest rates incrementally from September 1987 to February 1988 in an attempt to control economic growth. While the shift in fiscal policy, albeit temporary, was meant for the “long-term” goal of holding back the next recession, the rates aggravated many voters “in the short-term”. [snip] ...On February 24, Kemp attended the funeral of Emperor Hirohito instead of campaigning ahead of the March Cluster. He had considered sending Secretary of State Dinger in his place, but decided that the photo-ops there could boost his foreign policy bona fides. Kemp surrogates such as VP Polonko took to the campaign trail in his stead.

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010



In late February 1988, increased diplomatic pressure from the Kemp administration to end Li Xiannian’s “relocation” policies in western China led to the new Premier threatening, via communicating through US-Chinese liaisons, to formally recognize the US government’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Native Americans during the 1700s and 1800s during a trip to the UN later in the year. Kemp considered this a bluff, believing that Li knew that to do such a thing would damage US-Chinese relations. “The truth is that with the Soviets gone, America is the world’s last superior. We won the Cold War. We lead the western world. What we say goes, and if we say ‘Europe, cut China out of everything,’ suddenly their rudimentary free markets are going to experience a recession that could make China crumble like they’re the USSR.” Kemp relayed back to China that if Li followed through on this, he would acknowledge “the unadulterated truth about my country’s history – something that you have not done with your own country’s history.” Li did not reply to the remark.

– Bo Yibo’s The Dragon and The Eagle: Chinese and American Dances, Daggers and Dinners, English translation, 1998

[pic: https://imgur.com/cQYBOCL ]

In It To Win It; Let’s Restore America’s Pride

– Reagan’88 logos, c. early March 1988



“When you’re a Senator, you sit behind a desk and support whatever bill your party tells you to. But it takes real leadership to sit behind a Governor’s desk. You have to be pragmatic to get done what has to get done. To return safety to our streets, to our cities, to our schools, to our country. When you vote for me in November, you will turn the promise of a vision into a mighty fine and grand reality!”

– Former Governor Martha Layne Osborne (D-KY) in a Las Vegas, NV stump speech, 3/1/1988



OSBORNE: “Look, I just think that perhaps we should just keep abortion a state-by-state issue due to the differences in culture. You can’t force morality, or at least your own version of morality, onto someone else.”

BELLAMY: “Tell it to a missionary, Martha. Banning abortion in only some places creates travel issues, interferes with business practices and trade between the states, and complicates women’s health insurance policies. The state-by-state system is divisive, too; it has led to liberals moving into some states and conservatives moving to others.”

MODERATOR 2: “Mayor, Governor, please settle down. Senator Kennedy-Shriver, you raised your hand first, you have thirty seconds.”

KENNEDY-SHRIVER: “Thank you and let me just say that I agree with Bellamy, not on abortion, but on the notion that it should be a federal-level decision, because letting it be a state-by-state decision promotes the notion that we aren’t a united country. Decentralization has historically been a cause for much trouble in many countries around the world. We as a nation need to be united – it’s in our name, after all! This is the United States, not the Self-governing states!”

OSBORNE: “But this very discussion proves that some state are too different for either side to be alright with things being centralized!”

MODERATOR 3: “Governor Osborne, please wait your turn!”

[snip]

GLENN (when asked about an inconsistency in his fiscal centrism voting record): “Whatever my position is, it’s always been the same, if not consistent.”

[snip]

KENNEDY: “No, I do not at all believe that my religion, or anyone’s religion, can impede any ability to serve a secular position. …One of the bills I am most proud of was a bill that became law in 1964, a law the established the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This institute aims to study problems of pregnancy and early childhood development so that infants who were lost because of birth problems and lack of research on fetal life could survive. My interest in children stems from my moral values, but do we not understand that religious beliefs and moral values are not the same? The right to life of a newly conceived fetus is a value held by many people who are not Catholic. And while I disagree with them, I as President would defend the rights of the Abortion Rights League to advance its views.” [6]

[snip]

OSBORNE: “I turned my words into action during my time as Governor. I addressed integral social issues and worked with Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, and achieved legislative victories for hardworking people in my state. That’s the difference between Senators and Governors – actual executive experience. It’s vital. With experience, I learned how to turn words into action as a state senator, I perfected the skill as governor, and I’ll take those skills into the White House and continue to turn words into actions as your next President.”

[snip]

BELLAMY: “The next President must return pride and pragmatic change to Washington and the White House, to do away with the seeds of corruption and return focus to the issues that truly matter – expanding healthcare, aiding our allies abroad, and protecting children from food insecurity and disease. I have worked hard on these issues all my life, and that will not change regardless of what happens this year.”

– Snippets from the Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas, NV, 3/2/1988



“I think it’d be a good thing if I won this election. I think I could bring people together with universal common ground, you know, things like the love we have for family, the love we have for our country, the love we have for this planet, for our health and happiness. That’s what’s it’s all about in the end. And I also think that it’ll be good to know that you’ve got a friend in the White House, winter, spring, summer and fall.”

– Presidential candidate James Taylor (D-NC), stump speech in Reno, Nevada, 3/3/1988



The March 4 contests of Nevada and Vermont set the stage for the March 8 “cluster” of 12 primary contests. The GOP saw Brooke win Nevada in his first primary victory, while Thomson won Vermont in an upset over Kemp and Brooke; this was due to Brooke appealing to minorities, of which Nevada has many, while Vermont has few.

On the other side of the political aisle, Democratic Party saw Bellamy win her second contest of the season by picking up Vermont in a landslide. Nevada went to Glenn, his first victory of the race, with Kennedy-Shriver and Bellamy virtually tied for second place, and Osborne once more underperforming. With her campaign hemorrhaging money, and not wanting to experience the loss of her home state in four days, Osborne dropped out the next day. Senator Kyros followed suit on the sixth.

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018

[pic: https://imgur.com/uBsR5TN ]

– Former Presidential frontrunner Martha Osborne (D-KY) solemnly suspending her campaign, 3/5/1988



…It is now 7:00 PM on the east coast, and we’re starting tonight’s breakdown with the results of Massachusetts, the easternmost contest of the night, where Senator Kennedy-Shriver and Brooke have already been declared the winners of the Democratic and Republican races there, respectively. …Early results indicate that Brooke will also win Washington, D.C.’s GOP primary while the city’s former Mayor Clifford Alexander will win the nation’s capital’s Democratic primary… In the state of Florida, President Kemp is the projected winner, giving him his first contest victory of this primary season, while the contest remains too close to call on the Democratic side… In Kentucky, for the Democrats, we’re projecting that when the votes are counted there, Kennedy-Shriver will be the victor, while the Bluegrass State will likely vote for Reagan on the GOP side. In Tennessee, on the Republican, here’s something interesting, it is currently still too close to call, with Kemp and Reagan vying for first, while Senator Glenn has already been declared the winner on the Democratic side of the state…

[snip]

…It is now 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, and for those of you just tuning in to tonight’s primary contests, President Kemp is trailing former Ambassador Reagan in the delegate count, and has won only two primaries tonight, the states of Arkansas and Florida. At the same time, Democrats faced off in twelve contests, and the night has been very good for Senator Glenn and Mayor Bellamy. Glenn is the projected winner of Alabama and Arkansas, while Bellamy has been declared the victor in North Carolina and, surprisingly, Louisiana, while she is expected to win the state of Washington as well. On the Republican side, Pastor McCormack has won the state of Louisiana, while Senator Reagan is projected to win North Carolina and Washington state, and Governor Thomson has impressively won Alabama, and the delegate-rich state of Texas.

[snip]

…Kentucky has just announced a winner – it seems Kennedy-Shriver will win the state of Kentucky, along with the state of Texas…

[snip]

Alright, and finally, the last primary state election has been called. With a plurality of roughly 30%, Pastor McCormack carries Hawaii. On the Democratic side, again, Governor Jean King will win all of the state’s delegates…

[snip]

…Last night yielded a lot of interesting votes, but most importantly, I think, has proven that women politicians can win elections outside of their home regions. But Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver are from the northeast, and yet they each won several states in the west and south last night… The night left former Ambassador Reagan with a total of five contest victories of the primary season so far. Compare that to the campaigns of Kemp, Brooke, Thomson and McCormack, each of whom have won only three contests so far. This does not bode well for President Kemp… Kemp will definitely have to focus more on the primary contests coming up later this month and possibly in April, too, if he wants to stay viable for a term of his own…

– KNN, 3/8-9/1988 broadcast



“China’s ‘re-education camps’ in Eastern Turkestan target, repress and commit borderline genocide to the indigenous people there. The creators of this atrocity must be put on trial and the atrocity itself must be brought to an end. We have to do more than pay lip service to human rights. China’s government leaders have to be held accountable, their actions must have consequences. That’s why I am calling for everyone to stop buying from China. It’s a better strategy than threatening them with warfare!”

– Presidential candidate Carol Bellamy (D-NY), 3/10/1988



It almost became a trend of sorts for Muslims to rise up against totalitarianism after the Cold War ended. The post-Soviet people of Central Asia, for example, began resuming traditional practices like pilgrimages and festivals, including at shrines located deep in the Taklamakan Desert, or even travelling to Mecca for the hajj.

With attitude came to a boiling point in the western Chinese city of Urumqi. The capital of Xinjiang saw unrest on March 13, when Uyghur and Hui Muslims raided a local police station to free five Muslim youths arrested for throwing rocks at Han Chinese police officers. The next day, martial law was declared after 150 people in total were injured and three more people were killed in the subsequent riot-turned-impromptu street warfare. The day after that, UK PM Alastair Goodlad joined US President Jack Kemp in once again condemning “Li’s atrocious treatment of his fellow citizens.”

– Bo Yibo’s The Dragon and The Eagle: Chinese and American Dances, Daggers and Dinners, English translation, 1998



IS IT FAIR FOR KENNEDY-SHRIVER TO USE KNN?

…all of the other candidates are at an unfair disadvantage… The Senator is continuously praised by the 24-hour news channel, the aptly-named Kennedy News Network, co-headed by her brother Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy. …If there was ever a reason to re-instate the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine (the legislation that led to the suspension of KFC commercials featuring the Colonel during Sanders’ 1964 run for the Presidency that was repealed under Denton), the fourth-largest news channel in the United States being unapologetically biased in favor of one candidate would be it…

– The New York Times, 3/13/1988 op-ed



On March 14, a piece by The New York Post resurfaced “the Jack issue,” concerning Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver’s older brother Jack. Jack, the former Senator from Massachusetts and unsuccessful Democratic nominee for President in 1968, had since led a quiet retirement raising his family, managing a liberal think tank in D.C., and writing several non-fiction best-sellers. However, he had barely survived the Frist Ark Wave, and his use of marijuana for his Addison’s disease was been fairly well-known by the politically-savvy. To the average voter, though, the Post’s coverage made this news to them, and it had mixed emotions. While Kennedy-Shriver’s poll numbers took a hit among the party’s more conservative voters who opposed recreadrugs, further coverage of Jack’s use did expose the idea of medical marijuana to a wider array of Americans, which impacted the nation’s viewing of recreadrugs in the long run…

– Michael Stewart Foley’s Front Porch Politics: American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s, 2013 net-book edition



On March 15, Bellamy won Alaska and Colorado, while Kennedy-Shriver barely won South Carolina, with Glenn coming in second. Glenn won his home state of Ohio with ease. On the GOP side of the night, Maureen Reagan won Colorado and Ohio, while Kemp carried South Carolina, his fourth victory. The Republican contest in Alaska was the most interesting one of the night, as it saw Goldwater win first place with just under 30% of the vote, with McCormack coming in second place in a five-way split between the pastor, the then-79-year-old Goldwater, and Kemp, Thomson and Reagan…

[snip]

The contests held on March 22 saw Kennedy-Shriver recover from the previous week’s losses in Colorado and Alaska by picking up the states of Connecticut, Illinois and Virginia. However, Bellamy’s momentum, and her endorsement from the pro-union Governor Jim Slattery, allowed her to win Kansas; Bellamy’s campaign touted this victory as proof that the Mayor of New York City could win over voters in Rural America… On the Republican side of the night, Thomson won Kansas, Reagan carried Connecticut and Virginia (via plurality, as Thomson and McCormack again split much of the conservative vote), and Kemp achieved victory in Illinois. The next day, Brooke, having failed to bounce back into contention by investing resources into Virginia and Illinois, conceded that his “window through the primaries [had] closed,” suspended his campaigned, and endorsed President Kemp.

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



KENNEDY-SHRIVER CAMPAIGN HIT WITH FEC VIOLATION LAWSUIT

…the Federal Election Commission claims the Senator’s campaign violated donation limits by accepting hefty sums from wealthy philanthropist backers who back the Senator’s support for the arts. …Kennedy-Shriver’s campaign includes calls for more historic preservation efforts, and expanding music and art programs in grade and vocational schools…

– The Los Angeles Times, 3/24/1988



…Tonight, on the Democratic side, Mayor Bellamy has won both primary contests held in Michigan and Maine, while on the Republican side of the political aisle, Kemp won Michigan and Reagan won Maine…

– The Overmyer Network, 3/29/1988 broadcast



GLENN SUSPENDS BID FOR PRESIDENT!

…After a string of primary losses and in the wake of a shrinking war chess, Glenn had placed all of his chips on a win in Michigan last night. The veteran Senator instead came in a distant third behind Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver… The only male candidates left in the race are singer James Taylor, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and former US Secretary of Commerce John Moss, whom, as of yesterday, are polling at 5%, 3% and 2%, respectively. The withdrawal of Glenn from the race thus all but guarantees that this year’s Democratic nominee for President will be a woman – either Mayor Bellamy, or Senator Kennedy-Shriver. The question that remains, then, is to which of these two campaigns Glenn’s supporters will flock.

– The Dayton Daily News, 3/30/1988



…The CEO of Kmart, the national retail store, has today announced that the American company will join the UK’s Asda Stores Ltd in boycotting Chinese products! Another major distributor to recently join the list of capitalist enterprises refusing to conduct business activities with China’s government, due to that nation’s human rights violations in its western provinces, is J. G. McCrory’s Department Stores…

– CBC Radio One, Canadian radio station, 3/31/1988 broadcast



In 1986, the US Defense Department began helping United Vietnam build up their military posts in the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea, off the coast of Vietnam and China and claimed by both Vietnam and China, after learning that Deng Xiaoping had been doing the same since the previous year.

On the second day of April 1988, the Johnson South Reef in the Union Banks region of the Spratly Islands saw a skirmish unfold between a Vietnam military patrol boat and a Chinese military transportation ship. From my perspective, they fired first after we sailed to close to them, but they claim the opposite.

Either way, the fact remains that the Chinese officer who responded to reports of an attack on Chinese officers, Chen Weiwen, initially believed that we were an American vessel, and then he gave the order to fire back. I received three bullets to the arm before I made it below deck. A gun battle broke out between the two ships, and both were damaged badly until, suddenly, the Chinese guns stopped. Officially, Weiwen’s C.O. had been ordered to cease firing because his higher-ups had discovered that we were a Vietnam ship. They apparently did not see our flag due to it being a fairly cloudy day. At least, that is their official telling of the events. Personally, I, and the rest of my shipmates believe this too, we are certain they knew were we Vietnamese soldiers, and that they kept firing because they either wanted to try and drag the US into a military conflict, or to intimidate Vietnam into one. Who can say for sure?

– Deputy Brigadier Tran Duc Thong of Vietnam, Saigon-TV interview, 2001



…Breaking news: newly-discovered documents reveal that China tried to lure the US into a war with them in April 1988 in order to intimidate the US into ending their economic sanctions on them…

– KNN “Breaking News Alert,” 2019 broadcast



KEMP APPROVAL RATINGS STILL LOW

– The Los Angeles Times, side article, 4/3/1988



GOLDWATER: “When it comes to choosing whom should be your next President, ask yourself this: what really makes a leader? Take, for instance, my opponent, Billy McCormack. Does condemning people of a lifestyle different from his own make him a leader? Or how about his promoting of hatred under the guise of spreading Christian Doctrine, or endorsing underhanded tactics to get what you want even if the stats show most people don’t want it? Does that make for a good leader? No. Those actions and rhetoric make him a whole lot of things, but none of them is a good leader. And I will never acknowledge such a person as leader, either. Not now, now ever.”

THOMSON: “I won't lockstep or goose-step with those who apply political pressure either. I think I'm probably somewhat more liberal than a lot of my fellow conservatives and I am not ashamed of that.” [7]

[snip]

KEMP: “Every time in this century we’ve lowered the tax rates across the board, on employment, on saving, investment and risk-taking in this economy, revenues went up, not down. There are no limits to our future if we don’t put limits on our people. But economic growth doesn’t mean anything if it leaves people out. I unabashedly, unashamedly, unequivocally support the explosion of entrepreneurs in the capitalist system. There’s no limit to what free men and free women in a free market with free enterprise can accomplish when people are free to follow their dream.” [8]

[snip]

MODERATOR 1: “And Ambassador Reagan, same question – your stance on immigration.”

REAGAN: “Our borders should be open but secure. Open to refugees and hardworking people seeking a better and more prosperous life that is the American experience, but secure from potentially dangerous elements. Borders that are inviting but clearly defined are the best way to maintain order and simultaneously appeal to the people and businesses of other countries. Those kind of borders promote open trade with allies and potential allies. Speaking of which, I think greater investments into the economies of Africa and the Middle East would yield great results short-term and long-term, and making trade and immigration deals with key players in those areas will be a major part of a Reagan White House.”

[snip]

GOLDWATER: “You cannot be a good leader without having certain qualities – logic, tolerance, understanding, honesty, and integrity. Billy McCormack has none of these. Billy McCormack has taken to depicting conformity and bigotry as individuality and order. As President, I will bring honesty and integrity to the White House and I will bring peace and justice to the USA.”

[snip]

THOMSON: “Four years ago, when I traveled to Wales to trace my ancestor’s roots homes, I stayed in inns that date from the 1400s. One of the most beautiful inns we stayed in—Sugamvar—is older—dates from before Plymouth Rock. You know, it just blew my mind to think that these beautiful places are still being used when in the United States we tear down buildings because they're 30 years old. It made me even more supportive of architectural, historic, and environmental preservation. We have to protect the remnants of the past and the wonders of the present for the generation of the future.” [7]

– Snippets from the GOP debate held on 4/3/1988



The next “pairing” of primaries (this time, Wisconsin and Minnesota) was on Tuesday, April 5. Democrats saw Bellamy again win both contests of the night, worrying EKS donors and supporters. On the Republican side, Reagan narrowly won Wisconsin while Kemp narrowly won Minnesota...

– Paul F. Boller’s Campaign’88: An American Melodrama, Viking Press, 1989



ANOTHER KIND OF K.F.C.: Introducing Korean Fried Chicken!

The Colonel has cooked up another special offer, taking the world-renowned classic KFC recipe and giving it a Korean twist – this chicken is fried twice, making the skin crunchier, crispier, and less greasy and the meat still soft and tender, while still made with the Colonel’s special assortment of 11 Secret Herbs and Spices. Using top-quality young chicken meat, the finest health-conscious ingredients, and handled with the loving care that only Kentucky Fried Chicken can provide, come on down and try the Colonel’s all-new take on a Korean classic – try Korean Fried Chicken!

It’s Finger Lickin’ Good!

(Available in select participating Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in California, Washington state, South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and the Philippines)

– KFC advertisement first published in numerous magazines and newspapers, c. 4/9/1988



The April 12 primaries shifted the dynamics of the race. The Democratic Party saw Bellamy win Arizona and Wyoming, while EKS won West Virginia. EKS’ victory was noted for being much easier than expected, as her brother Jack had had to work extensively to win over the state in 1968 amid anti-Catholic prejudice. Twenty years and one Catholic President (Denton) later, though, the Kennedy family’s religion was no longer an issue; instead, the conservative state embraced Eunice and rejected Carol over the latter’s pro-choice stance. The GOP saw more significant change-ups, as Goldwater won his home state while Thomson won her home state; this gave both of these campaigns a boost while the frontrunners Reagan and Kemp continued their focus on the next pairing of primaries – New York and Idaho…

– Paul F. Boller’s Campaign’88: An American Melodrama, Viking Press, 1989



…With the final results in, we can confirm that Reagan has won yesterday’s Presidential primary contests in both Idaho and New York, defeating regional favorites Thyra Thomson and Jack Kemp, respectively. The dual victories come after Reagan, the second-best-funded candidate in the GOP field, renewed her campaign’s focus to fiscal conservatism talking points. On the Democratic side of things, last night saw Mayor Bellamy easily carry New York; Bellamy also won Idaho, but by a very narrow margin. This gives Bellamy sixteen contest victories to Senator Kennedy-Shriver’s ten, and the night also gives former Ambassador Reagan thirteen primary victories to President Kemp’s seven. This was considered to be a make-or-break night for Kemp, as he risks becoming the first incumbent President to lose a bid for his own party’s nomination in well over a hundred years…

– CBS News, early 4/20/1988 broadcast



“Abortion is a slippery slope. It could lead to greater irresponsibility and selfishness, which could lead to sexual immorality, which could lead to the devaluation of human life. And where could that lead us to? Eugenics, that’s where!”

– US Senator Bob Casey Sr. (D-PA), stumping for fellow pro-life US Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D-MA) in Harrisburg, PA, 4/25/1988



LAST NIGHT’S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES: Carol & Eunice Still Neck-&-Neck, Maureen Pummels Jack Again!

…Republicans saw Reagan again beat Kemp in both contests, this time in Utah and Pennsylvania, though each victory came with a very narrow margin. For the Democrats, last night saw the continuation of the fight between the Mayor and the Senator. Bellamy won Utah, while “EKS,” backed by Senator Bob Casey, narrowly won Pennsylvania. This is Kennedy-Shriver’s first contest victory (except for West Virginia two weeks ago) to come after a string of failures. …The Senator has noticeably begun shifting to trying to appeal to more conservative members of her party, calling for a less ambitious version of Bellamy’s tax reform ideas, and for a foreign policy that is considered to be tougher than the Mayor’s. The Kennedy-Shriver campaign likely hopes this will better distinguish the Senator campaign from Bellamy and breathe fresh air and momentum into her campaign, as the conclusion of the primaries nears…

– The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/27/1988



…Alright, so the recall campaign launched last year reached a crucial step today. After submitting an impressively large number of signatures – 115% of the number required, if I remember correctly – uh, to request a recall petition from the state Division of Elections department, the state Attorney General, a Republican appointed by Fink, reviewed the signatures submitted to determine if the petition presented a legitimate case for recall. After declaring that said petition had failed to meet any of the listed grounds for a recall, the Division of Elections rejected the petition. However, the group organizing the recall effort immediately filed an appeal of the AG’s decision in state supreme court. The appeal hearing was held last week. And now, earlier today, the judge presiding over the case has ruled in favor of the recall bid! This means that he’s allowing it, the recall, to finally move forward to the next phase of the process. However, it’s another big thing – collecting a second, even larger gathering of signatures to force a recall…

– KBYR (AM) Anchorage, Alaskan news/talk radio, 4/29/1988 broadcast



“Maureen’s personal life says about her character. She’s been married three times. Her first marriage, to a cop, lasted less than a year. Her second marriage last three. Her current husband is some PR fella named Dennis Revell that she married seven years ago. And while I bet there are some really interesting stories behind why those first two marriages ended, it’s more noteworthy that none of her marriages have yielded any children. I mean, yes, except for two little girls that she adopted from some Polish orphanage during her time in the Senate, but, again, why no kids for her marriages, hmm? What about that? Because, well, you know, that makes me think that she’s bad at judging character, and the last President we had who was bad at judging character got impeached. Do we really want to go through all that mess again?!”

– Controversial conservative commentator Stanley Bruce Herschensohn, 5/2/1988 radio interview



REAGAN, BELLAMY, CALL OUT RECENT RISE OF “SEXISM”

…separately, the two Presidential contenders have openly condemned “nasty and misogynistic attacks” on their respective campaigns, “attacks” that have risen in recent weeks alongside the campaigns of both politicians… Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver has also been the subject of negative media attention as of late as well…

– The Boston Globe, 5/4/1988



…Le Pen’s fight with teachers unions over history books that included the Holocaust was the final straw for most. His approval ratings slipped down to 28%, and calls for Le Pen’s removal from office began to grow in earnest. Legal experts went about reviewing constitutional law to determine the requirements that would allow parliament to remove Le Pen from office, as the President refused to resign in spite of everything…

– Jonathan Marcus’ Le Pen: The Impact of The National Front on French Politics, Second Edition, New York University Press, 1999



“Eunice’s victory in Pennsylvania encouraged her wealthier supporters to continue backing her despite it prolonging the primary process. On May 10, Bellamy lost to Eunice in Nebraska, and almost lost Indiana to her as well. A week later, the tit-for-tat evenly-split race continued, with Bellamy winning Oregon, but losing Rhode Island by a hair.”

– Former US Congressman Hamilton Jordan (D-GA), Southern states primaries coordinator for the Kennedy-Shriver’88 campaign, KNN interview, 2011



In a futile effort to slow the “Maureen Momentum,” Kemp decided to double down and call for further tax cuts overall. This fiscal shift to the right led to Kemp and Congress disagreeing on the appropriation of funds for several federal operations and agencies, which in turn led to the nation’s first-ever Federal Funding Gap [9]. Ever since a 1980 interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act, a "lapse of appropriation" due to a political impasse on proposed appropriation bills requires that the US federal government curtail agency activities and services, and close down non-essential operations. [10] Non-essential personnel were furloughed in a “mandatory temporary leave of absences,” raising public awareness of a condition dreaded in D.C. because of how it disrupts the government’s systems’ processes. The FFG did a number on the stock market, but the DOW recovered once Kemp yielded to the Democratic majority in the House and signed two “center-lane” appropriation bills into law two weeks later on May 21. What did not recover, however, was Kemp’s approval ratings.

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010

[pic: https://imgur.com/ZemlOr2 ]

– President Kemp speaking to reporters after attending a re-election fundraiser in Sioux Falls, SD, 5/22/1988



Kemp was certain he would win Mississippi despite his dropping poll numbers due to Reagan’s moderate pro-life stance, and thus focused solely on South Dakota. The day before the election, Kemp failed to mount a horse, stumbling and falling in a comic manner in front of reporters who hurriedly printed the story. Meanwhile, Reagan campaigned across Mississippi, maintaining her focus on the fiscal, not social, issues near and dear to her.

When Kemp lost the South Dakota and Mississippi primaries, it blocked him from having a clear path forward. Even if he won all five primaries remaining, his delegate count would still be short of the number required for him to win on the first ballot. Reagan, however, would clinch that number if she won all five contests, and she had a substantial plurality of the primary popular vote. Kemp had to decide – drag out the nominating process by sending the party to a brokered convention and deny the primary voters the candidate who won the most votes, or give up the ghost?

On May 24, Kemp held a press briefing in the White House in which he shocked pundits by withdrawing from the race. This made Reagan the de-facto nominee-in-waiting.

– Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes’s Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America, Sentinel Books, 2015



Another contentious region formerly belonging to the Soviet Union was Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous forested region in the middle of Azerbaijan, distinct from the rest of the overwhelmingly-Muslim nation by having a mostly-Armenian population. Soon after Azerbaijan’s independence, this ethnic enclave experienced the escalation of an enthusiastic nationalist movement in favor of Uniting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The movement’s leadership, however, was torn between navigating peaceful venues such as demanding a referendum or for Armenia to purchase the region from Azerbaijan, or navigating more militant venues such as armed guerilla warfare. The 23-year-old nationalist organizer Tatul Krpeyan soon joined the latter groups and formed the “Dashnaktsakanner” volunteer group meant to intimidate the Azerbaijani government into capitulation. Tensions steadily mounted as massive demonstrations were held in cities such as Baku and Stepanakert. Most Armenians in the regions, however, hoped a peaceful resolution could be found before the enclave’s leaders “felt obliged to resort to Krpeyan’s way of thinking,” as described by President Vazgen Manukyan of Armenia in 1996. With this in mind, prominent movement member Movses Gorgisyan, who actually favored independence for Nagorno-Karabakh, called for the situation to be discussed at the 10th Annual Chicken Dinner Summit in Jerusalem, or the very least, for regional and national leaders to formally meet and address the increasing hostile scenario threatening to pull both nations into a state of outright warfare.

Back in Moscow, Volkov supported Azerbaijan’s suggestion of granting the region nothing more than greater “cultural and educational but not economical” autonomy, likely due to Russia benefiting from mutually-beneficial trade relations with that nation, but the Soviet President himself privately sympathized with the Armenian rebels. As a result, Volkov hoped the two nations would settle the matter without direct Russian interference being necessitated.

[snip]

On domestic issues, relations between Volkov and Commerce Secretary Boris Yeltsin continued to worsen. Yeltsin was continually at odds with Volkov of the pace of economic reform, with the Secretary believing drastic “macroeconomic stabilization” austerity measures were necessary to combat inflation, and the President believing that a slower pace would better ease the former command economy into a market-reliant one. Volkov’s refusal to cut the last remains of the Soviet-era economy – subsidies and welfare programs for the poorest regions – was supported by some and opposed by others. One such supporter, in an odd alliance of sorts, was Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev, once a rising star and briefly the second-most powerful man in Russia under Premier Yakovlev, had fallen from grace. Unwelcomed in Moscow for his role in the collapse of the Communist system that he still supports even to this day, Gorbachev nonetheless has remained prominent and influential, establishing a political talk radio program in the southern Russian city of Privolnoye. From there, Gorbachev praised Volkov retention of “the best parts of the old system – the parts that worked best for the people.”

– Alexander Korzhakov’s autobiography From Dawn to Dusk: A Cutthroat Career, St. Petersburg Press, 1997



“Alright, so, tonight’s Presidential primaries were in Oklahoma and Missouri, and we’ve got the results back, so here’s the breakdown: for the Democrats, Bellamy won Oklahoma and Missouri, both by thin margins, while for the Republicans, Reagan once again won both contests. Now, I think the victory in Missouri could be tossed up to surprisingly high young voter turnout in the state, a lot of support from urban centers like St. Louis, and from Senator Litton’s endorsement of Bellamy. That seemed to have helped the New York Mayor win them mostly-rural Show-Me State Democratic primary by roughly 5 or 6%. Uh, Senator Kennedy-Shriver was hoping to win over pro-life Republicans upset that their likely nominee in August is going to be a pro-choice politicians to and win rural and more conservative counties, but, uh, well that didn’t work for her tonight. But, you know, if ‘EKS’ can pull off an upset next week and win the nomination, and Reagan does the same as she is expected to, then we’ll be seeing a unique situation where the general election is between a pro-life Democrat and a pro-choice Republican!”

– WDRC-AM’s late 5/31/1988 radio broadcast



In the final “cluster” of contests, held on June 7, the last five states – California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and North Dakota – finally voted. With Kennedy-Shriver still lagging behind, Bellamy swept all five states, finally allowing her to clinch the nomination thanks to the hefty number of delegates allotted by California and her birth state of New Jersey. In the GOP, Reagan swept the final round with ease. McCormack as her sole remaining competitor; the pastor, still bruised from the beatings he took from Goldwater in the debates, failed to crack 15% in any of the contests.

– Paul F. Boller’s Campaign’88: An American Melodrama, Viking Press, 1989

[vid: youtube, N_dOc8FBiCI ]

– Video of Carol Bellamy in 1979



KEMP SIGNS TAX REFORM BILL INTO LAW

…Key provisions of the bipartisan-approved “Fair and Simple” Tax bill include reducing the tax rate for 8 out of 10 Americans to 15% while increasing the personal exemption to $2000... At the signing ceremony, Kemp noted “I want to challenge my fellow Americans to reach our highest ideals and greatest potential. I believe in a future of unlimited and boundless opportunity for all Americans. I believe that this law, along with the many other bills I’ve signed into law during these past 18 months, will make this future a reality.” [11]

– The Washington Post, 6/17/1988



REPORT: SECTORAL BARGAINING IS ON THE RISE IN POST-SOVIET EUROPE!

– The Wall Street Journal, 6/18/1988



FRANCE’S “SOCIALIST” SOCIAL STRUCTURES UPHELD IN COURT RULING

…France’s highest judiciary court, the Supreme Court of Appeals, has struck down French President Le Pen’s latest round of efforts to end funding for publicly-owned institutions and subsidized cooperative businesses… the ruling also favored French parliament’s decision to reject Le Pen’s latest attempts to expand the powers and law exemptions of private businesses… The ruling is a boon to the people of France who are empowering unions by forming a united front against Le Pen’s presidency… Le Pen’s approval ratings have already sunken below 30%...

– The Guardian, 20/6/1988



…Governor Fink’s misuse of funds, accounting errors in budget vetoes costing the state millions, and his lowering of oil and gas transportation regulations both before and after the Chevron Oil Spill, and other improper authorizations and actions, qualify as recallable actions of “incompetence,” “negligence of duty” and, possibly, “corruption.” [12] And the people of this great state are clearly frustrated with Fink’s frequent failures to lead. His approval ratings are in the proverbial toilet, and even major state Republicans are distancing themselves from him. That’s why I’m happy to report some really big, big news to all of you out there listening to KBYR radio this morning. The big news of the day is this – the date for the recall has finally been set! State law says it has to fall on a regularly scheduled election unless one is more than 180 days away, in which case it may be held as soon as 80 days after the recall’s certification. However, after Lieutenant Governor John Lindauer, a Republican crony of Fink, dragged out the inspection of the second petition, he’s now announced today that the recall has been certified, as we expected it would, but since the Alaskan presidential primaries have already passed – we can thank Lindauer for that – and since the next regularly scheduled election – which is the Presidential Election in November – is now less than 180 days away, Alaskans will vote for a new Governor the same night they will vote for a new President. The first part of the recall ballot – hold on, I got the sample right here, fresh off the presses – yeah, the question “Should Governor Tom Fink be recalled?” will be the first of two parts of the ballot. And the second part is the vote for Fink’s replacement should the first part lead to his recall. A majority of the votes is not needed; a plurality victor will be declared the winner even if receiving less votes than the “yes” column of the first part of the ballot. [12] So, yeah, basically, it’s now just a matter of who will run for the job, and who will convince us they’re the best person for the job…

– KBYR (AM) Anchorage, Alaskan news/talk radio, 6/21/1988 broadcast



Prime Minister Chretien faced further criticism for his handling of multiple cases of First Nations protests, an off-shoot of the Second Ark Wave, in which First Nations began calling for better treatment from Canada’s government. Former MP Annie Aquash supported the growing Fist Nations movement for equal treatment, pushing for a string of laws that both Conservatives and Liberals opposed for being too extreme. While Chretien simply claimed that Aquash “want[ed] the government to redefine its powers and position, to overstep the boundaries and interfere with the MPs, and to do the job of Premiers of the Provinces,” MP Erik Nielsen accused her of “treason” for “putting radical ideology ahead of her country.”

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



FORMER CHINESE POLITBURO MEMBER REVEALS LI “WORRIED” ISOLATION WILL PLUNGE CHINA INTO RECESSION!

…Hu Yaobeng, a high-ranking member of China’s Communist Party until his rival Li Xiannian rose to power, now lives in an undisclosed location in Australia. …Hu’s claims match those made by members of the South Korean intelligence community and anonymous members of the CIA – that the global movement to reject doing business with China is beginning to have its intended effect on China’s ruthless leader…

– The Los Angeles Times, 6/24/1988



It is now clear that Chinese leaders are concerned that their Orwellian experiment in Xinjiang will come undone if it is met with broad censure from the international community. A stronger, more coordinated effort is thus required to force them into finally capitulating to international pressure and cease their actions in Xinjiang. We owe it to the courageous people who are speaking out in the face of direct harassment by China’s security forces to keep this situation firmly on the international agenda until that time comes. [13]

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 26/6/1988 op-ed



...With the film Used Cars finally joining the other notches on his metaphorical belt upon its release in June 1984, Zemeckis returned his focus to another film that had been “on the back-burner” for a very long while – a science fiction project entitled “Back to the Future.” …The film follows the adventure of an 18-year-old High School student named Marty McFly (played by a then-25-year-old Michael J. Fox) who accidently time travels to 1958 via going 99 mph in his eccentric scientist friend’s "time-car," a modified DeLorean. Bob Gale considered 1958 to be “an excellent year for a time travel story – it’s at the rise of the beatniks, it’s at the apex of the idealistic teen era of malt shops, Rock-and-Roll, civil rights, and suburban expansion – it’s a time right before all hell broke loose in the early ’60s.”

[snip]

The film was originally conceived in 1980. The first draft of the Back to the Future script was finished in February 1981, but every major film studio rejected the script for the next four years for not being what studio executives were looking for, as the film did not match the popular risqué “anti-establishment” teen films of the day [14]. Meanwhile, Zemeckis worked on other projects. He was convinced to work with Spielberg again after producing the successful Romancing the Stone film of 1985 [15], which to Zemeckis proved that he wasn’t successful just because of working with Spielberg. Additionally, legal problems concerning ownership of the script and who owned the rights to the film and ideas thought up for film while under Columbia came up after the film switched over to a Universal Studios Production in 1985.

[snip]

Filming did not begin until 1986, by which point original cast members John Lithgow (as Doc Brown), Eric Stoltz (as Marty McFly) and Claudia Wells (as Jennifer Parker) had moved on to other projects, their roles being filled by Christopher Lloyd, Michael J. Fox, and Courteney Bass Cox (after Bridget Fonda also left production), respectively. …The film was finally released on July 3, 1988.

[snip]

…Another famous, though somewhat dated, set of lines was the following exchange that reveals Doc Brown’s knowledge of football:

Brown: “Then tell me, Future Boy, who’s President of the United States in 1988?”

McFly: “Jack French Kemp.”

Brown: “Jack Kemp? The new quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Ha! And who’s Vice President, Alan Ameche? …And I suppose Elroy ‘Crazy Legs’ Hirsch is the Secretary of the Treasury!”

– Norman Kagan’s The Cinema of Robert Zemeckis, 2003



LUIS H. ALVAREZ ELECTED PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

Mexico City, MEXICO – Luis H. Alvarez of Chihuahua, 66, leader of the “Christian Democrat” center-right National Action Party (PAN), secured roughly 62% of the vote in last night’s elections. Running on a platform of government transparency and a zero-tolerance stance on crime, Alvarez will be the first President to not be of the National Revolutionary Party (PRI) in over 50 years. Alvarez won over the initial frontrunner, PRI nominee Carlos Salinas, after Salinas became embroiled in a scandal concerning an alleged plot to rig the election in his favor; he came in second place with roughly 29% of the vote. Another prominent candidate in the race was Cuahtemoc Cardenas of the newly-formed National Democratic Front (FDN), who underperformed and received roughly 8% of the vote in the end. …The term-limited incumbent President Miguel de la Madrid could be seen as the reason for Alvarez’s stunning rise to power, as de la Madrid presided over several economic and foreign policy crises, a devastating earthquake, uneasy relations with the US, and an increasingly problematic and deadly recreadrug-related crime spike, all problems that de la Madrid apparently failed to handle, tanking his approval ratings…

– The El Paso Times, 7/6/1988



Two years ago, the United States spent months contemplating removing their President from office via the process of impeachment. In France, this procedure is called “destitution.” As French Parliament apparently believes that their President, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has willingly and willfully violated France’s national laws and Constitution, both the French National Assembly and the French Senate are seeking to begin the process of Le Pen’s destitution. Upon both bodies completing the process of “acknowledging” this impeachment process and both the upper house and lower house have agreed to it, said houses will unite to form the High Court, which will ultimately decide whether or not to declare the impeachment of President Le Pen…

– BBC World News, 7/7/1988 report



Bellamy chose her running mate carefully. The most commonly discussed were US Senators Paul Simon of Illinois and John Glenn of Ohio, Governor Paul Soglin of Wisconsin, and US Congressman Itimous Valentine Jr. of North Carolina. Simon, like Glenn and Soglin, could win over crucial states in the Midwest; however, a fact that many pundits overlooked was Bellamy’s opposition to the Balanced Budget Amendment (which was still working its way through the state legislatures at the time), for which Simon’s legislative work was often credited. Glenn, on the other hand, had spent nearly twenty years in the Senate, was a popular figure among supporters of NASA and the military, and could win over undecided and less left-leaning voters with his experience and name recognition. Be that as it may, the fact remained that Glenn disagreed with several of Bellamy’s campaign platforms; no love was lost between the two when Bellamy declined to select him in the end, reportedly telling his people that he would be more helpful if he remained in the Senate. The same could be said about the uninspiring Valentine. Soglin, on the other hand, was a strong surrogate for Bellamy in the early primaries, after the former peacenik suspended his own Presidential bid in January due to low funds and polling; however, Soglin as running mate would fail to win over more center-leaning members of the party, and was dislike by military veterans for his life-long opposition to the army forces, most notably his controversial 1962 arrest for partaking in a sit-in at an Army recruitment office in Milwaukee to protest the Cuban War.

Ultimately, though, Bellamy believed that the four men had been reviewed so often by the news that selecting any of them would be unexciting and not even interesting, minimizing the affect their selection would have on the typical post-selection boost in polls. As a result, the Mayor began to think outside the box as the DNC neared. The Mayor wanted someone ideologically close to her, and would counter her urban appeal and alleged inexperience; most importantly for her, she wanted a second-in-command with whom she could enjoy working on policy. With this last note in mind, she initially considered veteran politician Ralph Nader, officially an Independent, of Washington, D.C.; both were progressive-leaning, anti-corruption, pro-reform, and career-obsessed politicians. However, as both were dedicated entirely to their jobs, neither had a spouse or children, and so such a pairing would turn away parents at the polls; Bellamy ultimately decided to keep him in mind for a Cabinet spot. Governor Jim Slattery of Kansas was a major supporter of the Mayor and would bring in rural support, but he had been in office for less than two years, and was roughly seven years younger than Bellamy, as so he was not chosen, either. Then, after heavily considering US Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, US Senator Nick Galifianakis of North Carolina, former Governor Jim Hunt of North Carolina, and US Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Bellamy ultimately decided to go with a populist from a rural background – US Senator Jerry Litton of Missouri.

With folksy charm and demeanor, the 50-year-old Litton had served on the Senate Budget Oversight Committees and on the chamber’s military-related committees. After mulling a bid for the Presidency in 1984, he decided against running for President in 1988 to instead run for a third term in the Senate, due to the anti-D.C. mood that had followed the Potomac Scandals. Litton had endorsed Glenn prior to the March Cluster despite being closer aligned with Bellamy and EKS, and had endorsed both women prior to the Missouri primary. Bellamy’s campaign believed that Litton could appeal to both the west, the Midwest, and the south, to rural voters, and to parents due to Litton’s large family. Litton would also give the ticket more experience without creating a “bottom-heavy” ticket, as Litton was, surprisingly to many who worked on his first Senate campaign, not that major of a player on the national scene, instead finding that his job was easier to actually do if he did not, let’s say, stop to smile for the cameras.

– Jules Witcover’s The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, Colonial Press, 2014

[pic: https://imgur.com/cEDRxMD ]

CONVENTION:
Date(s): July 18-21, 1988
City: Atlanta, Georgia
Keynote Speaker: Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire of Texas

PRIMARY VOTING:
[snip]
Alexander – 990,456 (4.1%)
King – 845,512 (3.5%)
Young – 362,365 (1.5%)
Simon – 338,201 (1.4%)
Taylor – 265,732 (1.1%)
Peabody – 193,264 (0.8%)
Osborne – 72,485 (0.3%)
All other votes – 48,114 (0.2%)

[snip]

CONVENTION VOTING:
Total Delegates: 4,105
Votes Needed for Nomination: 2,054

Results (for President):
Bellamy – 2,516 (61.3%)
Kennedy-Shriver – 1,215 (29.6%)
Glenn – 325 (7.9%)
All others – 49 (1.2%)

No. of Ballots: 1

– clickopedia.co.usa/1988_Democratic_National_Convention



…Bob’s sister-in-law June later revealed in an interview, “Not too many people know this, but in 1988, Bob attended the D.N.C. in disguise and nobody knew. He had his hair straightened for the occasion, he wore sunglasses, and he put on a baseball cap.” Bob was reportedly interested in Bellamy’s environmental policies, and did not want his presence to distract from the political goings-on. In truth, Bob was actually a fairly shy man. In an interview that Bob gave with Egg Magazine, who specifically sought him out because they realised nobody knew anything about him, Bob sheepishly admitted that he liked to “stay hidden” adding that he was “sort of hard to find” [16] whenever he was not on camera, making his latest tutorial or promoting a cause…

– Kristin G. Congdon, Doug Blandy, and Danny Coeyman’s Happy Clouds, Happy Trees: The Bob Ross Phenomenon, University Press of Mississippi, 2014



LATEST POLL SHOWS 57% SUPPORT FOR BELLAMY/LITTON

– Gallup, 7/28/1988



DAN RATHER: History was made tonight when former Senator and former Ambassador to the UK Maureen Reagan officially received the Republican nomination for President of the United States. This marks the first time that an incumbent President was denied his party’s nomination since Chester A. Arthur lost a bid for a full term of his own in 1884. More importantly, this nomination confirms that for the first time in our nation’s history, both major party nominees are pro-choice women, and all but assuring that the next President of the United States will be woman. Joining us now live is Bob Schieffer, who’s our correspondent at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans. Bob, what does Reagan’s nomination mean for the general election?

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well one thing I can tell you, Dan, is that the matchup of Bellamy and Reagan is dissatisfying to many social conservatives in the party. Even at the convention tonight, a small group of former McCormack were protesting Reagan’s ascension, jeering at the candidate they consider too liberal for them. The former Senator’s stance on abortion was a tricky issue during the primaries, and the controversy surrounding it does not seem to be going away anytime soon. I was surprised no walkout occurred tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a more conservative third-party candidate, like former Congressman Larry McDonald, started to gain more support after this, or if even a new candidate entered the general election.

RATHER: Any word yet on the President’s reaction to Reagan’s official nomination?

SCHIEFFER: The White House has been mute thus far, Dan, but the President is expected to give a speech on the final day of the convention. We spoke to a former member of the Kemp campaign who told us that he will endorse Reagan. I’ve heard rumors that Kemp will not give a boisterous, stirring speech, but a milquetoast, lukewarm-like speech, but is yet to be seen.

– CBS News, 8/16/1988 broadcast



As Maureen Reagan had expected Bellamy to select John Glenn for running mate, another astronaut-turned-Senator, Republican Jack Lousma of Michigan, had already been vetted and expected to be chosen for the number-two spot on the GOP ticket. Earlier in the race, Reagan considered picking early drop-out Bill Daniels, the former Governor of Colorado with many media connections, to combat EKS’s media advantage should she had won the Democratic nomination.

Once Litton picked, though, Reagan began to consider other potential picks. The conservative US Senator Richard Obenshain of Virginia was known for supporting tax cuts, “preserving and expanding the realm of personal freedom in the life of this country,” [17] but was also known for opposing immigration and the Democratic Party in general. US Senators William Armstrong of Colorado, Bob Dole of Kansas, Roger Jepsen of Iowa, and Clyde C. Holloway of Louisiana were all considered as well. Moderate Governor Lyon G. Tyler Jr. of Virginia, pro-Balanced Budget Amendment former Governor Charles Thone of Nebraska, and former Governor Hal Suit of Georgia each could appeal to Southerners – if they were not so uninspiring, that is. Former Governor Vernon B. Romney of Utah received some support from Reagan herself, but her campaign ruled it out due to the regional proximity of Utah to Reagan’s home state of California. Governor-turned-Congressman-turned-former US Ambassador to Panama James Carson Gardner of North Carolina could win over conservative Democrats in the eastern South, but it was uncertain how influential he would be. Buford Pusser, who underperformed in the primaries and dropped out before the March Cluster, was briefly considered, too.

Ultimately, Reagan decided to mimic Bellamy’s decision, and looked for a politician that she could work with, and got along well with when “off the clock.” Reagan found that in fellow Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana. One of the few Republicans to survive re-election in 1986, Lugar and Reagan had gotten along well together in the Senate, working on legislation well and visiting each other’s families on occasion. The Reagan/Lugar ticket was announced two weeks before the convention and made official on the second day of the RNC, the 16th of August.

– Jules Witcover’s The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, Colonial Press, 2014

[pic: https://imgur.com/mgVF5nt ]

– Colonel Sanders attending the 1988 Republican National Convention, 8/17/1988



“Folks, we ain’t going to fly if we flap around with two right wings. That’s why I think Reagan is our best chance at winning in November. Her campaign, I think, has found the correct balance between liberalism and conservatism. Maureen Reagan supports moral values without trying to tie any particular church to any particular state, seeing how this here nation is a democracy, not a theocracy. Maureen Reagan understands that businesses big and small are like wild stallions; they’ll flourish if let out of the barn that if federal red tape, but will become careless, wild, and harmful to the people around if they’re not fenced in. And Maureen Reagan knows that divisive distractions, backward backroom deals, and unpopular pernickety proposals will not win in November. But if we all get together and get behind them and support them, the Reagan/Lugar ticket will win in November, or my chicken ain’t fried!”

– Colonel Sanders’ speech on the penultimate day of the RNC, 8/17/1988

[pic: https://imgur.com/C8Wq3nw ]
All other votes – 277,924 (1.4%)

– clickopedia.co.usa/1988_Republican_National_Convention



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Italicized quote/claim found here: https://books.google.com/books?id=qecCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=%22Carol+Bellamy%22+%22scotch+plains%22#v=onepage&q=scotch%20plains&f=false
[2] Found here: https://www.azquotes.com/author/56931-Edward_Brooke
[3] He said this IOTL, as quoted in “Goldwater Backs Gay Troops” in a June 11, 1993 NYT article.
[4] Pulled from here: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/maureen-reagan-quotes
[5] Full disclosure: I’m not entirely sure what the heck I’m talking about here; basically, the long-term effects of the pro-entrepreneur policies of the Sanders administration has led to TTL’s internet assembling/being co-created/forming earlier than IOTL…
[6] OTL quote from 5/8/1990 opinion piece (found through her Wikipedia page)!
[7] Italicized part is quote found here: https://www.wyohistory.org/oral-histories/thyra-thomson-wyoming-secretary-state-1963-1987
[8] Quote is a compilation of quotes from here: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jack-kemp-quotes
[9] TTL’s version of/term for a government shutdown
[10] Italicized part is from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States
[11] The part in italics was grabbed from here: http://www.4president.org/brochures/1988/jackkemp1988brochure.htm
[12] Details from here: http://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/petitionrecallprocess.php
[13] Italicized passages (or, at least, the second passage (the first one was from The Guardian for sure)) are from The Guardian’s OTL article “Bulldozing Mosques: The Latest Tactic in China’s War Against Uighur Culture” by Rachel Harris, 7 April 2019
[14] Like in OTL, only here, it’s that but even more so, as Denton anti-teen “moral crusade” made for more antiestablishment films to be more popular among anti-Denton teen crowds.
[15] Released a year later than OTL due to production problems of its own.
[16] Italicized quote nabbed from here: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/09/surprisingly-mysterious-life-artist-bob-ross/
[17] OTL quote found on his wiki page.

Also: the primary results here are based on the previous post's polls' results on/as of Thursday (noonish), which showed Bellamy leading EKS by 1 vote and Reagan leading Kemp by 2 votes.

The next chapter's E.T.A.: early March 14 at the very latest.

It's good to see Back to the Future finally get made ITTL, even if it's three years late. However, and this is going to sound nitpicky, but changing the speed of the DeLorean from 88 to 77 feels... off to me. Like, I understand there's practical reasons why (the movie's production was delayed three years, meaning this isn't 100% the same script as IOTL; having the top speed be 88MPH in a movie made in 1988 is a little too on the nose; possibly some aspect of the production of "Used Cars" meant that Zemeckis decided to lower the speed), it just... feels weird, is all, feels too slow...

You're right; I'll change it to 99 mph, @Clorox23

1) Considering new recpices- I wonder if the Colonel would consider a veggie burger for KFC before he goes?
2) Selling of public housing to its tenants - Mrs T did this and it was/is quite popular in the UK
3) Why JOE POLONKO as VP? Is he a friend of Kemps?
4) Yugoslavia and Albania merger actually makes some sense. USY kinda
5) wonder what United Turkestan did with the old space facilities? Satalite launching could be good income for the new country
6) Bob Ross into politics?
7) Shrimp Burger? Yuk- not for me

1) I'll look up if veggie burgers were around / a thing back in the 1980s...
2) Good to know, thanks! Maybe here, PM Goodlad will, in a twist, implement it based loosely on or inspired by the US model!
3) Yeah, I mentioned before that they both were high-ranking congressmen (both were first elected in 1970, in fact) and have worked well with each other for years. It's also an example of the ripple/domino/for-want-of-a-nail/butterfly effect, a result of the Colonel's handling of Vietnam in the late 1960s (see Polonko's link for detail)
4) Thank you! I wasn't certain how realistic this was
5) Good idea!
6) Maybe. . .
7) It's an acquired taste

1) Wonder if the Star Wars franchise only stops at 3 films here? Does Lucas hand the reigns to someone else? Perhaps a TV show or TV movies? Probably no Holiday Special, well at least as we got it- I think there is some legs in an anthology type show based from a cantina like location showing various stories from the Star Wars universe, just without the singing...
2) Barry Goldwater taking to the campaign trail at 78? Might be bad for one's health
3) 1987 Conservative win feels realistic, esp with Labour disintegrating. Did Sinn Fein and co not win any seats in NIreland in this election? What about Wales?
4) Interesting internal moves inside China there. I wonder if they will look into Alt Energy (those wind blown Stepps could hold a lot of wind turbines) rather than just pump out more coal and oil stations?

1) I'm honestly not sure, but an anthology series focused on exploring places and the non-main characters could work. I'll look into it, and thanks for the suggestion!
2) Yes, the age question will be brought up, but in Goldwater's defense is the fact that the Colonel was President from the age of 74 to the age of 82.
3) Sinn Fein won 1 seat (Adams') while Plaid Cymru won 3, IIRC.
4) Maybe not immediately due to Li Xiannian's anti-reform attitudes, but long-term? We shall see...

Good updates; glad Strauss got exposed, BTW...

I'd probably like living in this version of the US; New York is probably not completely "crime-free", but the crime rate is likely similar to NYC in the late 1990s IOTL (and without some of the...questionable policies that made NYC have a lower crime rate in the late 1990s IOTL)...

And congrats for going over 500k words--this TL is a doorstopper...

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying this!

I cannot believe that Carol managed to pull off this kind of upset.

What? @Igeo654 Dude, either I didn't explain it well in the write-up despite putting a lot of thought into it, or possibly you misread it. Your inability to entertain the idea of Bellamy mounting a successful primary bid (based on her "outsider" status/executive experience/urban appeal coupled with Democratic voters rejecting the "elitist"/much-closer-to-DC Eunice in the aftermath of the Great Potomac Scandals) makes me wonder why you were so enthusiastic about her candidacy before, and it also makes me wonder if you read the bit at the end mentioning how these primary results were based on the results of the poll. And it was never a surefire thing that EKS would "have a coronation" or anything like that, in neither the TL nor the poll. Again, the whole romanticization of the Kennedy dynasty never happened here. Basically what I am saying is that I think this is a realistic scenario, and that you have given no explanation as to why you "cannot believe" it. So...why can't you believe it?

I have no doubt in my mind that, even with the colonel supporting Maureen, Bellamy will in fact become the president for 1989 onwards and I'd be willing to vote on that in another straw poll.

I don't make polls for the November elections; otherwise the entire TL would be one big unrealistic liberal-wank. Didn't you notice their absence in all the previous November Election-related posts?

As for Litton, It's great to know that he and his family survived that crash.

@Igeo654 I mentioned Litton being elected to the Senate in 1976 and 1982. Did you miss those parts?

Isn't it high time that Britain had it's first female PM, for better or for worse? I nominate either Edwina Currie or Virginia Bottomley.

Shirley Williams was the UK's PM from 1983 to 1987. She was discussed in the last chapter (late 1987).

I'm beginning to suspect you're not actually reading this TL. If true, it's a bit disappointing, but I'll get over it...

My disbelief regarding Bellamy being the candidate is because of the straw poll. When I checked it last, I was certain nothing would change EKS's lead. I'm very grateful that the tides turned for her though.

That being said...yeah, there's no excuse. I am reading this TL, but clearly, I've forgotten or accidentally overlooked several important details and for that, I am so sorry. You deserve better readership than me it seems. I'll try hard to remember these things in the future because, TBH, you've put a lot of effort into TTL and I'll try to pay better attention and remember these important things in future. Sorry for disappointing you and rest assured, your efforts aren't in vain, I just screwed up for some reason. I know I have a poor memory at the moment but even I can't believe how many mistakes I've made in a single post.

Don't worry about it, @Igeo654 ; no harm no foul!
[Insert sympathetic/understanding smile emoji thingy here].

Americans ITTL are sick to death of moderates and even more so with the Religious Right screwing things up. What they want now, above all else, is secular, progressive policies in order to enhance their freedoms. Sure, Eunice has only one of those down, but that's exactly why she needs Carol Bellamy as her VP. She is going to be the one to drive her hopefully get BLUTAG rights up to a high level before her 2nd term is over, probably leading to legal Gay Marriage nationwide by the early to mid-00s. [Snip] + there's one more benefit of Bellamy over Simon, because while the latter IOTL died only a year after the future president, Carol is still alive and influential.

"Sonny, you're putting the cart before the horse there," is what I think the Colonel would say.
I think we should see how the primaries (remember: the early primary states (the ones prior to the "March Cluster" (a.k.a. "Super Tuesday")) are NH, MD, NV, and GA) unfold first.

Both Democratic frontrunners have good points and bad points: Bellamy is unapologetically dedicated to progressive/humanitarian causes and comes from humble origins, but (as documented in Source 2 of her wiki article) she is temperamental, childless, and single (the latter two bits will likely hurt her polling among mothers / older / married voters); Eunice, on the other hand, supports universal healthcare and can appeal to suburbanites with her pro-life/pro-family views, but hails from a very wealthy/elitist/well-connected family (one that, remember, never had OTL's romanticizing "Camelot" era in this TL).

Regardless/nevertheless, I appreciate your enthusiasm for and interest in this TL's upcoming primaries; thank you for the videos and for the comments!

Also: the next chapter's E.T.A.: soon!

 

[Igeo654]

I cannot believe that Carol managed to pull off this kind of upset but I for one am deeply happy about this. I have no doubt in my mind that, even with the colonel supporting Maureen, Bellamy will in fact become the president for 1989 onwards and I'd be willing to vote on that in another straw poll. As for Linton, It's great to know that he and his family survived that crash. He'll make a great VP, both for the country and for Madame President. Since, no doubt, the whole ''90s Camelot'' idea is no more, I think it's only right, since Thatcher never became PM ITTL, that Bellamy takes up the ''Iron Lady'' title in her stead.

Finally, isn't it high time that Britain had it's first female PM, for better or for worse? I nominate either Edwina Currie or Virginia Bottomley.

 

[Igeo654]

My disbelief regarding Bellamy being the candidate is because of the straw poll. When I checked it last, I was certain nothing would change EKS's lead. I'm very grateful that the tides turned for her though.

That being said...yeah, there's no excuse for the rest of it. I am reading this TL, but clearly, I've forgotten or accidentally overlooked several important details and for that, I am so sorry. You deserve better readership than me it seems. I'll try hard to remember these things in the future because, TBH, you've put a lot of effort into TTL and I'll try to pay better attention and remember these important things in future. Sorry for disappointing you and rest assured, your efforts aren't in vain, I just screwed up for some reason. I know I have a poor memory at the moment but even I can't believe how many mistakes I've made in a single post.

 

[historybuff]

Very interesting. Both tickets are candidates that are obscure, to me, at least. Who'd Maureen pick for her running mate? Nice to see things in the former USSR. What of Rutskoy, and other Yeltsin era people?

 

[Igeo654]

One thing I'd like to see is how having a true progressive like Bellamy in power would do to culture. I mean Bill Clinton's tenure was a far cry from the years of Reagan and Bush Sr IOTL, but he wasn't quite as to the left as Carol is. Her policies could very well turn America towards something greatest than it has. I'm not sure how the Colonel might react, considering he just endorsed Maureen, though, ideally, I'd like to think he'd react with dignity and acceptance, albeit with some degree of suppressed disappointment.

 

[Clorox23]

It's good to see Back to the Future finally get made ITTL, even if it's three years late. However, and this is going to sound nitpicky, but changing the speed of the DeLorean from 88 to 77 feels... off to me. Like, I understand there's practical reasons why (the movie's production was delayed three years, meaning this isn't 100% the same script as IOTL; having the top speed be 88MPH in a movie made in 1988 is a little too on the nose; possibly some aspect of the production of "Used Cars" meant that Zemeckis decided to lower the speed), it just... feels weird, is all, feels too slow...