Bicentennial Man: Ford '76 and Beyond

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I take it Kissinger takes Bush's old job in Beijing as ambassador? I will look forward to any future events including Rhodesia and Iran during 1977-80 along with late 70s pop culture.
 
The Inauguration of Gerald R. Ford
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    • KingSweden24

    "...as I consider the ideals of this nation, of the peaceful transition of power and our constitutional system of government that has girded our way of life for two hundred years now, I nonetheless reflect on the circumstances of my own initial ascension to his office. It calms me, and bears mentioning, that even in the most unusual and unprecedented of circumstances - for me, personally, and for our nation thirty long months ago - the traditions and precedents that have marked the renewal of government, through oath and law, every four years, endure as ever before. I ponder in particular that this year is the first year of our third century as a free republic. Though none of us here today will live to see its close, I am confident that a hundred years from today, a free President will stand on the steps of the Capitol that houses the free Congress, elected by and answerable to the people of a free republic, to continue this nation's promise into our fourth century.

    "...two years ago I stood before Congress and declared, that the state of the union is not good. Today, I see a marked improvement since I began my stewardship as President of this great republic. But nevertheless, there is room for improvement. Too many Americans remain out of work, too many businesses struggle with high prices and high taxes, and too many wonder if they will enjoy the same prosperity as the generation that emerged from the crucible of the Second World War. I cannot answer these questions alone. I call now for all Americans to come together and work as one people and one country. I remain as confident as I have ever been, that if we join hands, if we propel ourselves towards common purpose, that the answer to this question will be resoundingly positive.

    "...and so I conclude with no words other than to make the same humble request I made to you, the American people, who though they did not hire me the first time I took this oath saw it fit to renew my stewardship for a full for years. Whether or not I earned your vote, and whether or not you find me to align with your values and beliefs, I ask for your prayers. In return, I pledge again: to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God helps me see to that right, and to do my very utmost for this country. God helping me I shall not let you down. Thank you."

    - Inaugural address of Gerald Ford, January 20, 1977

    "...Ford's address had the same blunt, straightforward and folksy style that all his speeches did. Perhaps most notably, he repeated the closing remarks from his first inaugural, emphasizing a continuity with his previous approach to taking office..."

    - "On Inaugurations Through the Years"
     
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    • Vrancea Earthquake
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    • KingSweden24

    "...reports from overnight of a major, high-magnitude earthquake behind the Iron Curtain, in Romania..."

    - ABC News, March 4, 1977

    "...the earthquake most notably took the life of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, who had meant to take a trip to Nigeria during that week but postponed it to meet instead with Yugoslav Premier Djemal Bijedic. The earth shook both literally and figuratively within the Communist Bloc, as one of the East's most eccentric figures was gone, leaving his debt-ridden and deeply impoverished country reeling. The Soviets breathed some sigh of relief - Ceausescu had often marched to the beat of his own drum and now the opportunity was there to find a figure more willing to toe Moscow's line. For the Romanian people, of course, the devastation in Bucharest and the countryside only furthered the calamities and economic mismanagement of their land..."

    - Behind the Iron Curtain
     
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    • 5000 Cows

    At least you won't have one building taking up to a fifth or whatever of the national budget and demolishing much of central Bucharest in the process
     

    Rfl23

    Interesting and oh i wonder what is the relationship between the balkan country ittl with crazy albania,greek dictatorship and now the death of the ceausescu (on a side note even though it happen in 1974 i think if you could make some change in the turkish invasion of cyprus perhaps making the greeks declare war on turkey (i think the whole conflict started after a greek backed coup happened in cyprus and turkey demanding the return of the old govt back)) and also 1977 (also 1978) is the year where the south mollucans is dping some terorist stuff in the netherlands tp force the dutch and indonesian goverment recognise the repubkic of south mollucas homever the intetesting part happened in 1975 where a group of south mollucans is caught planning to kidnap queen juliana by ramming the gates of the soetdjik palace maybe make them succesfull and lead to some drastic action by the dutch and indonesian goverment
     
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    State of Emergency Ends
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    • KingSweden24

    "...the state of emergency ending in India and the Congress Party getting waxed looked like a new dawn inside the White House. I know George [Bush] was particularly interested in visiting, now that Indira was gone, and that nutjob son of hers too. A major focal point of the administration was going to be a peace through strength approach, of rebuilding American prestige abroad in new lands to carve them away from the Soviets after Vietnam..."

    - Dick Cheney, Interview with ABC

    "...the State of Emergency remains supremely controversial in India even today. It was a dark time if you cared about democracy, human rights... such a big country for something that dark to be going on in."

    - Denis Healey, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
     
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    • 100 Days
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    • KingSweden24

    "...Ford wanted an ambitious agenda for his first 100 days, and floated a return of the Whip Inflation Now! campaign, only to be persuaded that that was a poor idea. An orthodox conservative on budget matters, Ford made an address to Congress in early April where he proposed "to solve the economic crisis of our time, by reducing the tax expenditures of the average American in tandem with reducing their daily energy costs and thus growing their pocketbooks." The Economic Stimulus Act of 1977 was relatively small-bore and built around a package of personal and business tax cuts [1], a policy of deregulation of the airline, trucking and railroad industries in what he promoted as an omnibus National Transport Reform Act, and finally what became known as the National Energy Policy Program, or NEPP, which would have as its "spearpoint" the creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Energy to coordinate American energy policy, most prominently reviewing national coal and oil reserves as well as substantially financing an even more aggressive expansion of the country's nuclear fleet..."

    - The Presidency of Gerald Ford

    "...Miller's loose monetary policies were a problem, of course, as was the fact that [Treasury Secretary] Simon was a lot more right-wing than Jerry was on the issues, on all this spending, that is to say. The "Trident Plan" to shake up the economy - tax cuts, deregulation and energy reform - were pretty boilerplate conservative stuff at this point, but a lot of the right wanted Jerry to go even further. I think it was Reagan, that asshole, always stepping on the White House messaging, who remarked "we need fewer Cabinet departments, not more!" in some interview. Of course, all this was really just shadowboxing over the real problem - Panama."

    - David Gergen, White House Communications Director, 1999 Interview for "Ford and America, 25 Years On"

    [1] I'm basing these largely on Carter's proposal to Congress in 1977
     
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    • John Fredrick Parker

    Donor
    Enjoying this so far. TTL's Ford Administration is looking to be interesting, in the chinese sense -- HW Bush and Snowcraft being the point men on Foreign Policy, while Simon and Greenspan design Economic Policy, with Dick Cheney sitting at the center of things.
     

    KingSweden24

    John Fredrick Parker said:
    Enjoying this so far. TTL's Ford Administration is looking to be interesting, in the chinese sense -- HW Bush and Snowcraft being the point men on Foreign Policy, while Simon and Greenspan design Economic Policy, with Dick Cheney sitting at the center of things.
    Click to expand...

    Thanks! It’s definitely been sort of memory holed that Ford was well to Nixon’s right on fiscal issues, largely due to the shadow of Reagan and the salience of social conservatism post-1980
     

    John Fredrick Parker

    Donor
    KingSweden24 said:
    Thanks! It’s definitely been sort of memory holed that Ford was well to Nixon’s right on fiscal issues, largely due to the shadow of Reagan and the salience of social conservatism post-1980
    Click to expand...
    That's partly why liberals like the idea of Ford winning in 76 so much - it lets these wacky right wing economic ideas a chance to succeed or fail (with the latter being generally understood to be the most likely) in the midst of an actual economic crisis, rather than getting swept up in a host of other factors pushing the GOP and the country to the right.

    Assuming a Democrat wins in 1980 (likely), that means the next time the country is ready for another "Conservative" administration, it's quite likely to ditch these more niche experiments to focus on things directly appealing to the traditionalist backlash of whatever the ATL 1980's has managed to accomplish; assuming further that the Republicans don't return to the White House until after the Cold War is done (also quite possible here), it also means they're unlikely to push for things like massive military buildup, and may not even give much thought to foreign policy in general, or just defaulting to the soft realpolitik of Bush and Snowcroft.

    Imagining the alternate 1980's and 1990's are always the most fun things in this scenario, but that doesn't mean I don't love seeing a TL take its time getting there to give the alternate late 70's their due.
     
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