alternatehistory.com

1960-1973: Earl Browder (APC)
def. 1960: Stan McGovern, Vito Marcantonio, George Meany, Medgar Evers
def. 1965: George Meany, Frank Zeidler, Ed Brown, Arvo Halberg, Medgar Evers
def. 1970: George Meany, Tommy Douglas, Bill George, Medgar Evers
1973-1975: Will Lee (APC)
1975-1980: Frank Rizzo (APC)
def. 1975: Jimmy Hoffa, Cesar Chavez, Tommy Douglas, Leonard Woodcock, Malcolm Little
1980-1982: Walter Reuther (APC)
def. 1980: F. Vincent Zappa, Claire Culhane, Warren Hartpence, Claudette Colvin
1982-1985: Warren Hartpence (APC)
1985-1992: Mario Puzo (APC)
def. 1985: Warren Hartpence, James P. Hoffa, Ron Carey, Bill George, Paul Rose, Eldridge Cleaver
def. 1990: [Constitutional Convention]
1992-1995: Ted Turner (APC)
1995-2000: Patricia Hearst (APC)
def. 1995: Ted Turner, Jefferson Blythe, Jerry Rubin, Laureen Hobbs

The victory of party stalwart Earl Browder at 1960's American People's Coalition Party Conference came as a disappointment to Undercommissioner for Development and Communities Stan McGovern and his collection of supporters, who promoted McGovern's own brand of agrarian socialist thinking - known as 'McGovernism' in years after his purging in 1971 (he became an unknown hero, in spite of his more radical actions during the Browder years). Browder's regime would be one of faux progress, as economic stimulus promised to the Black Quarters never materialised - indeed, the goons of Defense Commissioner George Meany often crossed into the Black Quarter to 'inflict law and order' upon the communities. The Federal Motorworks and America By Rail were stagnating in production and had become usurped by the advances in air travel - 'Jet Set Communism' was a particular refrain both in and outside the continent. Browder quickly shut down negotiations with the Quebecois Republic, now the last bastion of capitalism in the North, after the country attempted to encourage cross-border trade and the establishment of bilingual customs agencies. The Vietnam War also dominated the zeitgeist of the late 60's as the People's Republic entered a state of disagreement with the nigh on fascist Vietnamese State. Their own Communist regime tumbled from internal corruption as the VS emerged victorious with help from the powerful Japanese (and some say, the Russians). Browder brutally suppressed protests against the detaining of political activist Andrew Warhola, who was brought in for questioning after defaming a statue of famed diplomat Harry Dexter White. Warhola would sit in a People's Penitentiary until the 1980's, famed as a political prisoner.

Browder passed on 1973, giving way to the kindly old Will Lee, who ushered in a brief and constricted period of reform. He intended to secure another term in 1975, but was strong-armed out of it by the non-pragmatic party faithful. Instead the tyrannical Frank Rizzo swung his way into the Executive Council, clunking his way through five miserable years of governance as he took the Browder era policies up to their max potential, locking up political activists in bulk and sending many ex-council figures to pluck Corn in the fields of Nebraska, guarded by barb wire. Rizzo would also compete with the Russian Republic on the world stage, challenging President Masherov's dominance of the Europeans. Rizzo dramatically increased the security budget, establishing a People's Commissioner for Safety, as well as aiming to put cameras in every street-corner in America. He would not succeed in doing so, but he was able to achieve construction of archipelagos in and around the Canadian Territories. Rizzo was forcibly retired, but not before executing Black Quarter leader Malcolm Little in a sham trial. Walt Reuther brought in another era of reform, finally democratising internal union elections and breaking up the 'monopoly' of the declining America by Rail. Reuther also set a number of political prisoners free. For reasons unknown, Reuther's plane en route to Montreal was downed by gremlins the ghost of george meany frank rizzo russia broken engines loss of pressure unknown circumstances. The flashy hardliner Warren Hartpence, nicknamed 'Lothario' for rumours of his affairs, took over with gusto and quickly tried to establish a personality cult around himself. This effort was in vain, as his popularity plummeted as an economic recession gripped the west, and this time exports of iron and steel weren't going to assist the matter. Hartpence went down in defeat in 1985 to the first longlasting reforming Chairman of the PRA.

Puzo, an acolyte of former Premier Vito Marcantonio, survived many assassination attempts from the state sanctioned mob on his way to the top. He would institute a great number of reforms, finally liberalising the creaking American Bureau of Intelligence by initiating a five year long audit of files and records, cracking down on corruption in the Council, lightening restrictions on the Black Quarter (and mooting a reconciliation), devolving powers to the Canadian Territories, opening trade routes with the Hawaii Government (but still not recognising it), and in 1990, calling a Constitutional Convention on re-organisation of the state. The Convention resulted in the cancellation of 1990's conference, resulting in an outcry from hardliners willing to muscle their way back in. Puzo stepped down in 1992 after winning a referendum on the Convention's ratification - seeing the blurring of state-by-state lines into regional territories, the abolition of the Black Quarter and reintegration into the rest of the state, the shutting down of Alaskan/Canadian archipelagos, the modernisation of the Iron and Steel monopolies, and other provisions. Puzo's replacement, People's Media Mogul Ted Turner would introduce free market reforms and bring Ryabushinsky Mills into the PRA for the first time. In 1995, he would stand for the Presidency under the new plebiscite system. In an amazing show of force, the radical Patricia Hearst pipped him to the post in the runoff. Sexist critics deemed her 'Little Pattie', but her reign would be feared by many.