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Worsergate
1968-1971: Richard Nixon / Spiro Agnew (Republican)
def. 1968 Hubert Humphrey / Edmund Muskie (Democratic), George Wallace / Curtis LeMay (American Independent)
1971: Richard Nixon (Republican) / vacant
1971-1974: Richard Nixon / John Connally (Republican)
def. 1972 George McGovern / Kevin White (Democratic)
1974-1975: John Connally (Republican) / vacant
1975-1977: John Connally / Bob Dole (Republican)
1977-1981: Frank Church / John Glenn (Democratic)
def. 1976 Daniel J. Evans / Kit Bond (Republican)
1981-1985: Frank Church / Les Aspin (Democratic)
def. 1980 James Holshouser / Alan Simpson (Republican), Jerry Brown / Ron Paul (New Millennium)
1985-1989: Les Aspin / Jim Hunt (Democratic)
def. 1984 Bill Roth / Vic Atiyeh (Republican)
1989-0000: Ed Meese / Al D’Amato (Republican)
def. 1988 Les Aspin / Jim Hunt (Democratic)
Inspired by that Worst-Case Watergate thread from a few days ago. Here's how I thought it might go.
Agnew’s corruption comes to light earlier and he’s replaced in December 1971. The scandal provides a boost to the Democrats, and the Plumbers are given even more leeway to fight them. They make a fatal mistake in April 1972. Intending to humiliate columnist Jack Anderson, a White House operative slips him a large dose of LSD at a dinner party. Anderson becomes disoriented and frightened on his drive home, loses control of his car, and collides head-on with another vehicle. Several people are killed. Anderson survives and insists to police that he must have been drugged. The incident remains unexplained until the events of Watergate begin to unfold; when it becomes clear that the Nixon administration’s shenanigans were responsible for real death and disaster and that the President might have tried to cover up the drugging of a political opponent, the backlash is even more intense than IOTL. Shortly after Nixon’s resignation and Connally’s accession, the new president’s own scandal emerges, with allegations that he was bribed by the dairy lobby to fix milk prices during his tenure as Treasury Secretary.
Connally isn’t impeached over the milk case – the evidence is inconclusive and people want at least a little bit of stability in government – but he serves out his term as a lame duck while Nixon’s criminal trial drags on and White House officials receive lengthy prison terms for manslaughter. He can make no domestic policy and is essentially forced to appoint the harmless Bob Dole (unseated in the 1974 midterms) as VP. In 1976 the Republicans put up known Nixon-hater Daniel Evans to stem the landslide, but Frank Church – crusader against the Imperial Presidency – wins in a walk.
The Democrats, despite their supermajorities in both houses of Congress, are soon faced with a few problems of their own. Church is an old-school Western liberal, but most of the new intake in Congress are neoliberal, clean-government Watergate Babies. They cooperate on reining in the executive branch, passing almost all war-making and intelligence powers to Congress, and on some signature social issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment and DC statehood. But on the economy, a new cross-party Conservative Coalition becomes dominant as the stagflation crisis drags on. Church is re-elected with a significantly reduced majority, and is forced to replace Vice President Glenn with one of the House’s leading young technocrats after a minor lobbying scandal.
Les Aspin succeeds in 1984 by channeling the libertarian Brown campaign of the previous cycle and running almost as much against his President as against his Republican opponents. America, however, is getting sick of a bipartisan post-Watergate consensus of small, squeaky-clean government. In 1989, the Republicans resurrect themselves with Ed Meese’s promise that the nation will no longer have to suffer for Richard Nixon’s sins.
1968-1971: Richard Nixon / Spiro Agnew (Republican)
def. 1968 Hubert Humphrey / Edmund Muskie (Democratic), George Wallace / Curtis LeMay (American Independent)
1971: Richard Nixon (Republican) / vacant
1971-1974: Richard Nixon / John Connally (Republican)
def. 1972 George McGovern / Kevin White (Democratic)
1974-1975: John Connally (Republican) / vacant
1975-1977: John Connally / Bob Dole (Republican)
1977-1981: Frank Church / John Glenn (Democratic)
def. 1976 Daniel J. Evans / Kit Bond (Republican)
1981-1985: Frank Church / Les Aspin (Democratic)
def. 1980 James Holshouser / Alan Simpson (Republican), Jerry Brown / Ron Paul (New Millennium)
1985-1989: Les Aspin / Jim Hunt (Democratic)
def. 1984 Bill Roth / Vic Atiyeh (Republican)
1989-0000: Ed Meese / Al D’Amato (Republican)
def. 1988 Les Aspin / Jim Hunt (Democratic)
Inspired by that Worst-Case Watergate thread from a few days ago. Here's how I thought it might go.
Agnew’s corruption comes to light earlier and he’s replaced in December 1971. The scandal provides a boost to the Democrats, and the Plumbers are given even more leeway to fight them. They make a fatal mistake in April 1972. Intending to humiliate columnist Jack Anderson, a White House operative slips him a large dose of LSD at a dinner party. Anderson becomes disoriented and frightened on his drive home, loses control of his car, and collides head-on with another vehicle. Several people are killed. Anderson survives and insists to police that he must have been drugged. The incident remains unexplained until the events of Watergate begin to unfold; when it becomes clear that the Nixon administration’s shenanigans were responsible for real death and disaster and that the President might have tried to cover up the drugging of a political opponent, the backlash is even more intense than IOTL. Shortly after Nixon’s resignation and Connally’s accession, the new president’s own scandal emerges, with allegations that he was bribed by the dairy lobby to fix milk prices during his tenure as Treasury Secretary.
Connally isn’t impeached over the milk case – the evidence is inconclusive and people want at least a little bit of stability in government – but he serves out his term as a lame duck while Nixon’s criminal trial drags on and White House officials receive lengthy prison terms for manslaughter. He can make no domestic policy and is essentially forced to appoint the harmless Bob Dole (unseated in the 1974 midterms) as VP. In 1976 the Republicans put up known Nixon-hater Daniel Evans to stem the landslide, but Frank Church – crusader against the Imperial Presidency – wins in a walk.
The Democrats, despite their supermajorities in both houses of Congress, are soon faced with a few problems of their own. Church is an old-school Western liberal, but most of the new intake in Congress are neoliberal, clean-government Watergate Babies. They cooperate on reining in the executive branch, passing almost all war-making and intelligence powers to Congress, and on some signature social issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment and DC statehood. But on the economy, a new cross-party Conservative Coalition becomes dominant as the stagflation crisis drags on. Church is re-elected with a significantly reduced majority, and is forced to replace Vice President Glenn with one of the House’s leading young technocrats after a minor lobbying scandal.
Les Aspin succeeds in 1984 by channeling the libertarian Brown campaign of the previous cycle and running almost as much against his President as against his Republican opponents. America, however, is getting sick of a bipartisan post-Watergate consensus of small, squeaky-clean government. In 1989, the Republicans resurrect themselves with Ed Meese’s promise that the nation will no longer have to suffer for Richard Nixon’s sins.
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