A Duty to be Done

XIV: Tales From the Old EOB
XIV: Tales From the Old EOB

On November 2nd, as Gerald Ford secured his reelection so did Senator Bob Dole secure his election as America's 42nd Vice President. The new Vice President-elect would resign his Senate seat on December 15th (two days following the meeting of the Electoral College) as questions and speculation intensified over who would take his now vacant Senate seat. As had been stated in October by Governor Robert Bennett, he would confer with both Senators Dole and Pearson before ultimately making his decision over whom to fill for Senator Dole's seat. The discussions between the three had brought another concern, in that Senator Pearson had made it clear in private that he was not intending to run for reelection again in 1978. This had brought another consideration into play in order to avoid losing any strong nominees in '78 to prevent the Democrats from taking the seat. On December 28th, Governor Bennett would announce that former Representative Wayne Angell would take the vacant Senate seat.

Arriving 'officially' in the White House, the new Vice President found himself in the Old Executive Office Building, with a question of what new principal policies the Vice President would chair. Vice President Rockefeller had been the chair of the Domestic Policy Council, with President Ford agreeing to have the Vice President as a full and equal member in terms of domestic policy. However in practice, that had not been the case with then-Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld objecting heavily to that of domestic policy going through the Vice President before the President, and in turn giving the image of President Ford as a 'caretaker' President (Rumsfeld had viewed as that with public perception having Secretary Kissinger in charge of foreign policy, and Secretary Simon in charge of economic policy, President Ford had to be shown in charge of domestic policy). This was also exacerbated by that of the conflicting political views between President Ford and Vice President Rockefeller along with how policy itself was processed within the Ford Administration. President Ford had told his Cabinet secretaries that they would have the primary responsibility in terms of handling the policies per each department, thus further removing the kind of 'policy' centralization under the White House (which was usually handled under the Domestic Policy Council). With the kind of issues faced by the Domestic Policy Council with no clear direction, and that of a consistent increase in influence by the Economic Policy Council, it was made consistently clear that there was no role for the Vice President in that of helping in a directionless Domestic Policy Council.

In terms of principal policies for the new Vice President, it would come to be in that of handling the newly recreated National Space Council and that of agricultural issues and other such issues that dominated the Plains' states. The National Space Council had given that of Vice President Dole a significant amount of responsibility as the Shuttle's development was continuing to pick up, and the growing need for the required national security payloads to be designed for the Shuttle. This was also brought alongside that of the questions for where NASA would head in the 80s after the Shuttle was ready for flight. In regards to the agricultural issues, for Vice President Ford it was arguably dominated by one of the bigger aspects being food stamps. For the Ford Administration it had been the view to restrict that of food stamps below that of the poverty line (which had been defined by the OMB as $5,500 for a family of four), and it had been a contentious issue between Congress and the Ford Administration throughout 1976. With Congress lacking in terms of the cuts that President Ford had sought (Congress had moved for cuts weighing in at a total of $241 million, versus the $1.2 billion that Ford had wished for), he had tried to move towards such measures by ordering the Department of Agriculture towards a series of new regulations aimed at restricting food stamp measures, which had seen a temporary injunction issues in both June and in July (when new regulations were attempted to be pushed forward).

Yet for 1977, it was a continuation of the food stamp fight between President Ford and that of the Democratic-controlled Congress, except for one exception. Food stamps were supposed to run out on September 30th, 1977, and so set into place a time limit for a reform act to be passed. The sides in the fights over food stamp reform had changed since 1976, with Senator James Buckley having lost reelection to Senator Moynihan and Senator Bob Dole having become Vice President. In the period of time however between the end of the 94th and the start of the 95th Congress, was the boost in support of that of the proposed Dole-McGovern Bill from the 94th Congress, of which had that of the most important component, the elimination of the extended purchase requirement. The extended purchase requirement, mandated that so someone would need to pay cash for the food stamps first, and then receive the food stamps after that; the elimination of the requirement would make it so that the amount of food stamps received would be deducted from that of the cash that would have been originally used to pay for the food stamps. The presence of Bob Dole as Vice President did not worsen matters for them as the fight over food stamps geared up for the 95th Congress.

It would be in this instance that the first 'clashes' between President Ford and Vice President Dole would be that over food stamps and a sharp difference of opinions over it. President Ford would be insistent on that of a refusal for the elimination of the 'extended purchase requirement' and to maintain a series of large cuts upon that on food stamps, while Vice President Dole would be insistent upon the elimination of it, arguing the major reductions in bureaucratic costs and that it would reduce the kind of 'food stamp fraud' that was being argued as prevalent. For now however, it had setup a rift in the Administration between that of the President and Vice President. Meanwhile in Congress, three 'sides' existed in the mess that was the food stamp reform, that of McGovern's proposed reform to eliminate the purchasing requirement, increase the gross income limit to $9,000 for a family of four, and a standard deduction of $125 a month; that of the Ford Administration's to have a gross income limit of $6,250 for a family of four, a standard deduction of $100 a month, and finally the most important provision within it, would have eligibility judged on the average actual income of the past 90 days; and then there was finally that of the Senate Agricultural Committee's (Senator Talmadge), which proposed a poverty-level income ceiling (after deducting income taxes and Social Security taxes) of between $100-$125 a month, with the maximum gross ceiling being limited to $7,800 before the income and Social Security taxes, with a further recommendation that eligibility be computed on earnings during the prior thirty days.

Yet what would become apparent was that Senator McGovern's proposed bill would be slowly gaining support, especially after a 'coincidental' meeting between that of the Vice President and the Senator, when Vice President Dole was heading to meet with Senator Minority Leader Robert Griffin. During President Ford's trip to the United Kingdom and the Middle East, Senator McGovern secured a major step of getting the elimination of the extended purchase requirement through the House and Senate Agricultural Committees (despite tough votes on them), although it would set an income limit of $7,000 for a family of four and that of a standard deduction of $125 a month. It was slowly becoming clear that a major and more liberal food stamp reform than what President Ford had desired was making its way through both the House and Senate and having an increased and worrying sign that it would wind up clearing cloture in the Senate.

President Ford's return and arrival back at the White House would be met to a degree by that of grimness by that of Vice President Dole and Director Bush over two pieces of news. The first piece of news having been that of a reply by the Soviets in terms of the meeting with Foreign Minister Gromyko over SALT II. The second piece of news would be that of a recent series of Soviet arm sales to the Derg (the Provisional Military Government of Soviet Ethiopia) and the rapidly changing geopolitical signs in the Horn of Africa...
 
Hmm food stamp reform? I will step back on that one as I work grocery retail and have deep opinion on that subject.

As to the Soviet arm sales to the Derg and the Horn of Africa, here is my thoughts
hold-onto-your-butts-velociraptor.gif
 
I always forget that Bob Dole was Ford's running mate in 1976. I'm sure Bob Dole does too.

Hmm food stamp reform? I will step back on that one as I work grocery retail and have deep opinion on that subject.

As to the Soviet arm sales to the Derg and the Horn of Africa, here is my thoughts
hold-onto-your-butts-velociraptor.gif

Actually, that's an amusing thing about this. I was thinking about just how many people would think about Bob Dole as Ford's Vice President here, and I felt like doing a chapter focused explicitly to open up about Bob Dole's role in the Administration and also for whom would replace him in his Senate seat.

Admittedly the choice of food-stamps was on something to contrast explicitly with that of between both Ford and Dole admittedly and one of the few things at this time did exist. In regards to what is going to happen with the Derg and Horn of Africa, there are always after effects from certain actions done (aka Northern Star). ;)
 
Admittedly the choice of food-stamps was on something to contrast explicitly with that of between both Ford and Dole admittedly and one of the few things at this time did exist. In regards to what is going to happen with the Derg and Horn of Africa, there are always after effects from certain actions done (aka Northern Star). ;)
And that is why I feel that gif is so fitting to this.
 
XV: Turning Back the Clock
XV: Turning Back the Clock

The Soviet response to what had been said in the Ford-Gromyko meeting was that of a maintained displeasure at that of the hybrid systems, but was stated that it could be likely agreed upon based on other conditions separate from that of SALT II. The State Department had concluded that it seemed aligned to that by an increase in available credit to the Soviet Union by the United States and an expansion of grain sales (this was in part because of the 1975 trade agreement signed with the Soviet Union which mandated they purchase a minimum of six million tons of grain annually, with a duty to notify Washington in advance if they were to purchase more than eight million tons for that harvest period). State was suspecting the two were most definitely linked, with the expansion off credit enabling an increase in grain sales by a certain factor over the possibility of a troubled harvest, with the Soviet Union having stated they were intending to purchase at least an additional one and a half million tons of grain beyond that of the eight million tons. Both Agriculture and CIA however were dissenting with that, with their estimations in line of the 215 million tons that were expected to be produced by the Soviet Union, with CIA suggesting it might be more in line with that of the other primary opinion from State. The other primary opinion from the State Department report suggested it could be an indicator for the possibility of expanded commerce with the United States, although Commerce had disagreed with this pointing to existing trade between the United States and the Soviet Union, arguing instead they would head to our allies to purchase such goods (with CIA raising the possibility it was more intended at gaining developments to improve their R&D and keep pace with the West). The picture from which the counter offer had been made seemed more of a general consensus that the increase in credit was directly linked to that of an increase in grain sales to the Soviet Union, although it was sharply mixed on the considerations of it if it wasn't intended for that of an increase in grain sales.

For President Ford, the proposed measure offered that of the only likelihood for achieving a successful SALT II treaty. The matter of expanding the agricultural sales was principally executive based, requiring only to confer with that of American officials before going ahead; the extension of credit on the other hand was a matter of the legislature, and one he'd need to talk with Byrd and O'Neill about. The meeting with both the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker presented that while it was possible, there were two principal options for it, the first having it added as an amendment on the current food stamp reform bill, with the second as part of the next budget. For President Ford, either option presented issues for him; in the case of the first, he would be forced into signed a food stamp reform act which went entirely what he had hoped for alongside that of a sharp uptick in the budget when he had hoped to reduced it, while in the case of the second it was just as likely that any kind of amendment could wind up deleted in committee or on the floor in such a budget bill, which would torpedo any kind of efforts of getting SALT II accomplished. The meeting presented Ford of more of a devil's agenda in terms of which possible option could be done, considering that it was likely that some of the toughest barriers to get the kind of increase in credit through had found itself imposed within the Senate (known most specifically as Scoop Jackson). There was also the matter with that of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which presented a significant restraint on that of the capacities available for American foreign policy. In part, it would be via 'indirect' channels to that of David Rockefeller (who was in charge of Chase Manhattan Bank) to increase the amount of available credit to the Soviet Union with the limitations present via the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.

Despite the matter over the credits, the negotiations on SALT II were rapidly moving forward as the 'verification' issues on that of the Backfire were 'solved' by the inclusion of them in a set hybrid limit, although the issues of the 'multiple basing scheme' for the MX missile were being criticized harshly by the Soviet Union in the negotiations to secure verification for it. The multiple basing scheme had its own problems in the internal discussion among the Department of Defense in terms of the cost necessary to handle such a thing for a low number of missiles to be based. The Soviet announcement of the retirement of the SS-16 Sinner had brought a sigh of relief to that of the arms control advocates within the Administration, considering the sharp concerns that the third stage from the SS-16 could be easily added to the SS-20 Saber to make it ICBM-capable. With SALT II getting closer and closer to that of managing a successful negotiation between the United States and the Soviet Union, President Ford on June 29th would nix that of the multiple basing scheme for the MX missile citing cost-grounds with it also having been related to that of getting SALT II culminated.

Alongside that of the matters in SALT II, was the pressure from within that of the Senate on the matter along with other concerns. While both the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee were increasing meetings with Administration officials to hear on the status of SALT II, there also came the uptick in meetings from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on that of the negotiations between the United States and Panama and that of the Foreign Relation Subcommittee on African Affairs, chaired by Senator Dick Clark of Iowa. While the Subcommittee on African Affairs totaled only three Senators (Dick Clark, Hubert Humphrey, and James B. Pearson, not including both the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee (John Sparkman) and the Ranking Minority Member (Clifford P. Case)), it still represented a significant amount of power in simply being a Senate Subcommittee, with Senator Clark wanting to open up discussions in terms of the Ford Administration's plan involving the Horn of Africa. The meetings had been agreed to start in earnest on July 12th in communications between the Ford Administration and Senator Clark, with the Ford Administration preparing to finalize a series of negotiations between that of the United States and Somali Democratic Republic.

On July 9th, Director Bush would be awoken early in the morning of recent news involving Somalia and Ethiopia. Recent satellite photography would confirm that elements of the Somali National Army had crossed into Ethiopia and the news would also issue from that of the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs confirming the fact. For President Ford, he would be faced with that of a new international incident just in the wake of the United States most recent foreign policy moves in the Horn of Africa.
 
Still hoping SALT II fails, but why do I get the feeling what is happening in the Horn of Africa is going to become a mess of an epic scale?
 
Doomsday Clock?

Yeah. I was hoping it'd take longer than a minute for someone to figure it out and answer it. :p


But in regards to what is happening over Ethiopia and Somalia, that is going to be the focus of the next chapter, which is also going to be talking a bit about the history of the US relations with that of Somalia and Ethiopia to sort of understand a bit of the geopolitics in it in relations to the United States.
 
Right, this isn't an update (I'm trying to work it out along with where to take this timeline in terms of the updates to follow), but I will be cross-posting this timeline to that of Sufficient Velocity, in their new alternate history subforum, linked here: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/forums/alternate-history.87/

A link to my timeline on the subforum will be here: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/a-duty-to-be-done.40432/

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I love this TL, and consider it to be amongst the best I have seen on this site, both in terms of writing and realism. I have always wanted to see a Ford wins in '76 TL fully fleshed out, and am glad to see someone finally doing it. Excellent work.
 
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I love this TL, and consider it to be amongst the best I have seen on this site, both in terms of writing and realism. I have always wanted to see a Ford wins in '76 TL fully fleshed out, and am glad to see someone finally doing it. Excellent work.

Thank you. It's something of a rather interesting piece of work considering the sheer amount of research that has gone into it, but also something of a challenge in writing when trying to think it out considering how tumultuous the late 70s were.

Are you leaving AH.com altogether or branching out?

While I sharply disagree with that of the administrative actions taken, I will be branching out to that of SV and I will be continuing to staying here but likely much less of a presence outside that of the alternate history portions of the forum and some other areas.
 
Again, sorry for lack of an update, but not for trying.

I've been trying to figure out a bit of a path forwards to a degree while also covering what is going on in the Ogaden. One of the more particular issues I feel a bit with how I've wrote this timeline is the kind of granular detail I've tried to cover in my own research to try and at least talk about both the similarities and differences between what a second term Ford Administration would've looked like as compared with the Carter one. Now, I'm not saying I'm stopping the timeline. Rather, after trying to 'storyboard' this and sketch out future chapters and being hit with writer's block on this part, I've sort of narrowed down a hopeful path for a solution. First and foremost, I feel that of the buildup to what will eventually happen in Iran and that of Iran is the 'meat' of this timeline and something I've wanted to cover since I began it, with one of the frustrating points a bit in terms of trying to catalogue the buildup. Considering the kind of issues that is going to be present (in just the kind of chapters alone into hitting the midterms, let alone what happens in Iran), I've sort of plotted out a way to sort of begin moving forward with Iran. The rest of 1977 and 1978 (for the most part) aren't going to be covered like how they have been. However, I do intend to cover them but in a sort of 'different' fashion. I'm planning on having it start up again with the 1978 midterms which are probably going to be spread out over... at least four or five updates probably in a sort of 'hour by hour' discussion on major results by states mixed in with that of the events that have happened since the start of July, 1977. This might not be the necessarily best way to do it, but I sort of feel it's probably the best way for myself to get through it in how I feel.
 
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