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Mumby - Directors of the Department of Opposition (and Acting Presidents of the Second Republic of the United States of America)
Directors of the Department of Opposition (and Acting Presidents of the Second Republic of the United States of America)
1967-1970: Strom Thurmond (Southern Democrat --- National Coalition)
WW1 had been called the war to end all wars, but WW3 was the real deal. The last of America's true rivals was dead, but the country had won it's victory at terrible cost. In the Reich's death throes, she had scarred the United States with her inferior nuclear arsenal. The Cabinet was decimated, including most of the line of succession. The highest ranking survivor was the leader of one of Secretary Johnson's post-coup innovations. The Deparment that was to be 'devil's advocate', a loyalist who could 'think the unthinkable', the only thing in the country for whom seditious talk was permitted. Thurmond inherited a ruined country and had to find a course to guide the ship of state off the rocks. Thurmond refused to take office as President, hoping someone would be discovered who could step into the breach. As it was, the Department of Opposition found itself to be the closest much of the country had to a government, thanks to it's broad network of informants, secret police, and it's cellular structure designed to prevent a particularly sensitive President from entirely purging it's capabilities.
Thurmond abandoned the post-atomic wastelands of the Mid-Atlantic Eastern Seaboard and the broad plains of the Midwest, and drew back what forces were still listening to south of the Mason-Dixon Line and East or the New Mexico River. Much of the country was falling into bedlam, riots becoming revolutions. By 1970, Thurmond's national triage had saved a rump of the United States, but he was succumbing to radiation sickness and it was clear to the military figures who had steadily refilled the Cabinet that the Acting President was incapable of restoring American dignity. He was quietly removed in a coup, never to be heard from again.
1970-1976: Lawrence Patton McDonald (US Navy --- National Coalition)
The military figures who dominated the Cabinet chose one of their own, to be Director of the Opposition and Acting President. They would soon come to regret their decision. MacDonald was an arch-conservative and far more strident in his opinions than even Thurmond who as Director had still been an Administration man. McDonald took his twin roles very seriously. He abolished the National Recovery Administration and restored the powers of state governments which had been suspended since the 1930s. The Federal Civil Defense Administration was also abolished and the new state governments (installed by appointment by Department of Opposition officials) were composed largely of Opposition and Civil Defense veterans. The alarmed military establishment attempted a coup to remove the radical Acting President who threatened to destroy the myriad accomplishments of the Second Republic. But McDonald had inherited a formidable militia from Thurmond's years and had built a loyalist base with his reforms. The attempted coup was a wash and McDonald successfully purged his opposition.
Once firmly installed, McDonald slashed even more of the federal institutions established in the Johnson era. He was happy to allow their functions to be carried on by the restored state governments but saw no place for them in Federal government. Controversially, he did enforce racial integration upon these institutions as a condition of their devolution. Nevertheless, he made no attempt to dissolve the Second Republic and restore the 1789 Constitution, likely out of pragmatism given the extreme situation the country was in. McDonald pushed the boundaries of the United States westwards, crushing the warlords of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, eventually being halted by a coalition of new countries including Deseret, Nevada, California and Great Dakota. McDonald was ultimately felled by an assassin's bullet in his home state of Georgia, fired by a white supremacist disappointed by McDonald's tolerance for black civil rights.
1976-1985: Hunter S. Thompson (Freak Power --- National Coalition)
As McDonald's armies moved westwards, they encountered many warlords who had carved out a domain for themselves in the mountains of the Rockies. They found a particularly odd realm when they uncovered the High Sheriff of All The Colorados, whose domain consisted of a small area around Pitkin County. The High Sheriff quickly bent the knee and was rewarded for his obedience by being made the first Acting Governor of the restored State of Colorado. McDonald was soon so impressed by Thompson's peculiarities, that he was soon made Deputy Director of the Department of Opposition. He was the perfect man to think the unthinkable.
On McDonald's death, Thomson became Director and Acting President, and the neutered Cabinet could do little to stop him. Thompson accelerated the pace of restoring civil liberties, abolishing the FBI and restoring law enforcement to the states. The right to bare arms was restored. The National Parks Administration was maintained and even extended, with the irradiated regions under New Washington's control made National Parks. In light of petrol shortages, a ration was introduced which Thompson intended to use to abolish the automobile and encourage the use of bicycles and horses. Social and morality laws were abolished at a federal level and when Thompson was disappointed that the states did not follow suit, restored elections at a state and local level. The nomadic tribes of the Plains were recognised by being given a 'non-territorial state' in the union, and in so doing set the United States to expansion northwards into the chilly plains of what had once been Canada. He also extended the border north of the Mason-Dixon line, agreeing a boundary with the New England Confederacy in the wilderness of the Appalachians.
Against Thompson's better judgement, the United States butted heads with the Cuba led Caribbean Compact, mostly due to the acts of petrol pirates hunting for fuel off the Gulf Coast. This escalated into a short war which saw the re-establishment of American naval power in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Thompson made one final act as Acting President in 1985, signing legislation to abolish the 1935 Constitution and establish a Third Republic, which he hoped would entice the Western States to rejoin the union. The Constitutional Convention failed in this, but did finally restore democracy at a Federal level. The Third Republic has no Department of Opposition and no Acting President, the executive branch being composed of a five member council, designed to prevent a return to the personal autocracy created by Secretary Johnson.
1967-1970: Strom Thurmond (Southern Democrat --- National Coalition)
WW1 had been called the war to end all wars, but WW3 was the real deal. The last of America's true rivals was dead, but the country had won it's victory at terrible cost. In the Reich's death throes, she had scarred the United States with her inferior nuclear arsenal. The Cabinet was decimated, including most of the line of succession. The highest ranking survivor was the leader of one of Secretary Johnson's post-coup innovations. The Deparment that was to be 'devil's advocate', a loyalist who could 'think the unthinkable', the only thing in the country for whom seditious talk was permitted. Thurmond inherited a ruined country and had to find a course to guide the ship of state off the rocks. Thurmond refused to take office as President, hoping someone would be discovered who could step into the breach. As it was, the Department of Opposition found itself to be the closest much of the country had to a government, thanks to it's broad network of informants, secret police, and it's cellular structure designed to prevent a particularly sensitive President from entirely purging it's capabilities.
Thurmond abandoned the post-atomic wastelands of the Mid-Atlantic Eastern Seaboard and the broad plains of the Midwest, and drew back what forces were still listening to south of the Mason-Dixon Line and East or the New Mexico River. Much of the country was falling into bedlam, riots becoming revolutions. By 1970, Thurmond's national triage had saved a rump of the United States, but he was succumbing to radiation sickness and it was clear to the military figures who had steadily refilled the Cabinet that the Acting President was incapable of restoring American dignity. He was quietly removed in a coup, never to be heard from again.
1970-1976: Lawrence Patton McDonald (US Navy --- National Coalition)
The military figures who dominated the Cabinet chose one of their own, to be Director of the Opposition and Acting President. They would soon come to regret their decision. MacDonald was an arch-conservative and far more strident in his opinions than even Thurmond who as Director had still been an Administration man. McDonald took his twin roles very seriously. He abolished the National Recovery Administration and restored the powers of state governments which had been suspended since the 1930s. The Federal Civil Defense Administration was also abolished and the new state governments (installed by appointment by Department of Opposition officials) were composed largely of Opposition and Civil Defense veterans. The alarmed military establishment attempted a coup to remove the radical Acting President who threatened to destroy the myriad accomplishments of the Second Republic. But McDonald had inherited a formidable militia from Thurmond's years and had built a loyalist base with his reforms. The attempted coup was a wash and McDonald successfully purged his opposition.
Once firmly installed, McDonald slashed even more of the federal institutions established in the Johnson era. He was happy to allow their functions to be carried on by the restored state governments but saw no place for them in Federal government. Controversially, he did enforce racial integration upon these institutions as a condition of their devolution. Nevertheless, he made no attempt to dissolve the Second Republic and restore the 1789 Constitution, likely out of pragmatism given the extreme situation the country was in. McDonald pushed the boundaries of the United States westwards, crushing the warlords of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, eventually being halted by a coalition of new countries including Deseret, Nevada, California and Great Dakota. McDonald was ultimately felled by an assassin's bullet in his home state of Georgia, fired by a white supremacist disappointed by McDonald's tolerance for black civil rights.
1976-1985: Hunter S. Thompson (Freak Power --- National Coalition)
As McDonald's armies moved westwards, they encountered many warlords who had carved out a domain for themselves in the mountains of the Rockies. They found a particularly odd realm when they uncovered the High Sheriff of All The Colorados, whose domain consisted of a small area around Pitkin County. The High Sheriff quickly bent the knee and was rewarded for his obedience by being made the first Acting Governor of the restored State of Colorado. McDonald was soon so impressed by Thompson's peculiarities, that he was soon made Deputy Director of the Department of Opposition. He was the perfect man to think the unthinkable.
On McDonald's death, Thomson became Director and Acting President, and the neutered Cabinet could do little to stop him. Thompson accelerated the pace of restoring civil liberties, abolishing the FBI and restoring law enforcement to the states. The right to bare arms was restored. The National Parks Administration was maintained and even extended, with the irradiated regions under New Washington's control made National Parks. In light of petrol shortages, a ration was introduced which Thompson intended to use to abolish the automobile and encourage the use of bicycles and horses. Social and morality laws were abolished at a federal level and when Thompson was disappointed that the states did not follow suit, restored elections at a state and local level. The nomadic tribes of the Plains were recognised by being given a 'non-territorial state' in the union, and in so doing set the United States to expansion northwards into the chilly plains of what had once been Canada. He also extended the border north of the Mason-Dixon line, agreeing a boundary with the New England Confederacy in the wilderness of the Appalachians.
Against Thompson's better judgement, the United States butted heads with the Cuba led Caribbean Compact, mostly due to the acts of petrol pirates hunting for fuel off the Gulf Coast. This escalated into a short war which saw the re-establishment of American naval power in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Thompson made one final act as Acting President in 1985, signing legislation to abolish the 1935 Constitution and establish a Third Republic, which he hoped would entice the Western States to rejoin the union. The Constitutional Convention failed in this, but did finally restore democracy at a Federal level. The Third Republic has no Department of Opposition and no Acting President, the executive branch being composed of a five member council, designed to prevent a return to the personal autocracy created by Secretary Johnson.
- Mumby
- Word Count: 1.1k