United States
“I, Gerald Ford, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
Those 37 words marked the beginning of Gerald Ford’s second term in office. President Ford knew that he would have a lot on his hands as he would have to deal with a Democratic congress (now more hostile to him) and a nation giving him approval ratings in the mid 40s. Ford’s goal in the first one hundred days of his second term was to unite the American people and get as many things done as he can to further the Republican agenda. However, because of said hostile Democratic congress, most legislation supported by the Republican Party either didn’t get passed or had to be watered down to get some Democratic support.
Outside of Congress, there was a growing movement calling for the abolition of the electoral college. Sure, many times in the past were there suggestions of an abolition of the electoral college, but this movement had support of over 60% of the American people and most Democrats in Congress. One of Congress’s most vocal proponents of the movement to abolish the electoral college was Birch Bayh, who eight years ago had proposed a similar amendment to make America’s electoral system that of a popular vote and had nearly succeeded had the amendment not been filibustered. Now, with the support of most of the American electorate Bayh again proposed an amendment which would had abolished the electoral college. This amendment made it through Congress (Jimmy Carter’s support for it convinced many small state Democrats to support it as well) and was sent to the states for ratification. The Popular Vote Amendment, was it was to be called, was about as controversial as the Equal Rights Amendment, which too was beginning to receive opposition as ratification was seemingly imminent. The strongest opposition to this was from the smaller states, which feared losing power if the amendment was ratified. Both the ERA and PVA were sources of debate, and both supporters and opponents of both amendments began to hold rallies making their cases for and against the amendment. The PVA was given the ratification deadline of February 28th, 1984, making it possible that a Democratic administration will support it and lead to the abolition of the electoral college. In any case, due to immense opposition both amendments face, failure for them to be ratified will be a real possibility.
When it came to foreign policy, one of the most pressing issues was the Angolan Civil War. Ever since its independence in 1975, it was locked in a struggle against communist and anti-communist forces. The conflict began to embroil Cuba, which was funding the communist MPLA, and Zaire, which was funding the anti-communist UNITA, turning the conflict into an international one. As far as the latter nation was concerned, it was facing an insurgency in its southeastern area by a group known as the Front for Congolese National Liberation, for FCNL (FNLC in French). FNLC was trying to achieve the independence of Katanga, which was briefly independent in the early 1960s. On March 8th, the FNLC, with the support of the USSR and Angola, started their first offensive against the Zairian government, which ended in the capture of the vital mining town Kolwezi. Mobutu, fearing civil war, sent troops into Katagna. While Mobutu expected the FNLC to quickly fold, it ended up putting a stronger fight than expected. With Zaire on the brink of collapse, Secretary of State Kissinger convinced Ford to send monetary and military aid, along with sending some Air Force elements to Zaire. Mobutu engaged in a fair bit of fear mongering saying that an independent Katagna would lead to the collapse of his government, leading to Soviet dominance over Central Africa. Mobutu also received the help of Morocco, Belgium and France. With this, the FNLC started to collapse, yet this was not before putting up a good fight. In the days of April 3rd to April 6th, FNLC fighters managed to kill two American air traffic controllers of the Combat Control Team, along with five French troops and five Moroccan ones.
Zairian troops in Shaba
The French and Moroccan governments were, needless to say, apoplectic about the news, and they both opted to send troops numbering 3,000 and 2,500 respectively. Egypt and Belgium joined in soon after, sending 1200 and 1100 troops respectively, yet those numbers was set to increase. Surprisingly, this lead to a larger backlash among the people of Katagna as it led to an increasing nationalistic feeling among them. The FNLC also received larger support from the MPLA, East Germany and the USSR, along with support from Cuba.
Kissinger, upon seeing the deteriorating situation in Shaba, urged President Ford to send US troops to the Congo and up support for UNITA. Ford was willing to send a small number of troops yet worried of the backlash it would cause. Vietnam was fresh in the minds of many Americans, and many weren’t eager to get embroiled in yet another conflict in the name of anti-communism. Eventually, Ford decided to send 500 US troops to Shaba. This move was condemned by the Democratic Party, and legislation was being drafted which would cut off aid to Zaire unless democratic governance is introduced. Such legislation was vetoed, yet it sent a message to Ford that intervention in Africa would not be the best move. That was until the assassination of US ambassador to Zaire, Deane R. Hilton on May 29th, 1977 by a member of the FNLC.
The reaction to Hilton’s assassination in the United States was one of anger. Conservatives in Congress allied with hawkish Democrats in the post-assassination anger narrowly managed to get legislation passed which repealed the Clark Amendment, making it legal for US arms to be sent to anti-communist elements in Angola (Kissinger’s insistence had Ford not vetoing it). Thus aid to UNITA resumed, and with it the increasing of tensions with Cuba, which had been sending soldiers to Angola to help the MPLA. Tensions reached its height when UNITA rockets, supplied to them by the US, nearly killed Fidel Castro while he was visiting MPLA fighters (the rockets had missed him by only a couple inches), leading to a war of words which some thought would escalate to war, but nothing came out of it. Tensions began to decrease as time went on, yet US support for UNITA remained, along with US support for Zaire in the Katanga insurgency (which, as time went on, looked less likely to stop).
Another foreign policy issue for the Ford administration was the issue of the Panama Canal. Many Panamanians desired a turnover of the canal to Panama, and this sentiment led to Panama breaking off relations with the US in the 1960s, leading to the start of negotiations between Panama and the United States. Conservatives opposed a treaty giving the canal back to Panama, but most Democrats along with Republican moderates supported it. A treaty was passed on September 7th, and the canal was set to be handed over to Panama in 1999. Ford’s support of the treaty, and the conservative wing’s opposition to it, increased tensions between the two wings of the GOP.
Nuclear Fuel Assurance Act again, which was tabled in the senate in 1976. This aroused suspicions from Democrats, but they surprisingly came around and the NFAA managed to get passed. Because of the passing of the NFAA, contracts would be signed with companies which specialize in nuclear energy. The result was a lessened energy crisis which in turn led to higher approval ratings for Ford. This did not show in the midterms where the Democratic Party kept both houses and increased their majorities.
Senate Elections, 1978
Party Seats Won Leader Seats Before
Democratic 64 Robert Byrd (WV) 61
Republican 35 Howard Baker (TN) 38
Independent 1 Harry Byrd (VA) 1
House Elections, 1978
Party Seats Won Leader Seats Before
Democratic 300 Tip O’Neill (MA-8) 292
Republican 135 John Rhodes (AZ-1) 143
The Democratic Party also won or increased their majorities in numerous state legislatures in 1977 and 1978. This led to the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, along with more states ratifying the Popular Vote Amendment. Ford’s support of the former and moderate opposition to the latter increased conservative opposition to his presidency. Talks of a conservative third party began, but opposition from Ronald Reagan and other conservatives led to no such party being made.
As the last two years of the presidency began, Ford was a lame duck president. He was attacked by both the left and the right, and whenever he tried to compromise with one the As the last two years of the presidency began, Ford was a lame duck president. He was attacked by both the left and the right, and whenever he tried to compromise with one the other would rally against him. As the 1980 election was in its opening stages, the Republicans knew they were on the defense. While Ford had not done anything bad, he had not done anything
good either. It was pretty clear that history will remember him as a lackluster president, and with a resurgent Democratic Party it would take the GOP’s entire persuasive acumen to convince the American people to give them a fourth term.
United Kingdom
When Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, the Labour Party was put in a more tenuous position. Its small majority couldn’t be counted on to have them pass much of their agenda. It became clear to Callaghan that a new election should be called in order to increase their majority.
United Kingdom General Election, 1977
Party Leader Seats Won Seats Before Popular Vote
Labour James Callaghan 339 319 40.1%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 260 277 35.0%
Scottish National William Wolfe 12 11 3.0%
Liberal David Steel 9 13 14.3%
The result was better than expected. A combination of the fallout from the Thorpe affair and simple bad luck led to the Liberals falling into fourth place in seat count, behind the Scottish Nationals. This result resumed calls for proportional representation from them, but such calls fell on deaf ears. Callaghan, with a guaranteed five more years in office, is set to enact much of the Labour platform, and with 20 more MPs has a good chance of doing so. A leadership election was called for both the Conservative and Liberal parties, resulting in an ouster of both of their previous leaders. Jim Prior became the new Conservative leader, while David Steel narrowly held on to his post.
Horn of Africa
The region of the Ogaden, in Ethiopia’s eastern sector, is majority Somali and since the early 1970s was facing a nationalist insurgency with the goal of making the Ogaden a province of Somalia. Such an idea gained support of Somali dictator Siad Barre, who began preparing for a conflict in order to strengthen his regime.
Irredentist claims to the Ogaden region existed for some time. After the end of the Second World War, the British were forced to return the Ogaden back to Ethiopia after their allies started to put pressure on the British. While the British did promise autonomy for the Somalis, Ethiopia took full sovereign control of the area. The British tried to retake the Ogaden peacefully in 1956, but that failed. As such, a consensus emerged among Somalis that the takeover of the Ogaden by Ethiopia was an injustice which would one day be fixed. Barre knew that if he would be the one who would fix it, he would be seen as a national hero, and his regime would be secure. Alongside that, Somalia had a very good chance of winning as Ethiopia’s military, and with the country in general, was nearing collapse. On July 13th, 1977, Barre made his decision. 70,000 Somali troops were sent into the Ogaden, allying with separatist insurgents and routing the Ethiopian military. By the end of the month 65% of the Ogaden laid in Somalia’s hands.
As both Ethiopia and Somalia were Marxist states, this lead to a dilemma among the Soviet leadership as they were split on who to support. Seeing Ethiopia’s influence over the African Union, along with its bad relations with US allies such as Egypt convinced the Soviet Union that Ethiopia was the better choice. However, Soviet aid wasn’t large and the fact it was sending aid at all convinced the US along with its allies to fund Somalia with much larger aid quantities than what the Soviets were doing to the Ethiopians. By September the Ogaden was entirely under Somali control, and Siad Barre was willing to continue the war for as long as it took to capture Addis Ababa, in an attempt to humiliate Ethiopia. He was not able to do that, as the UN declared a ceasefire and issued a resolution, calling for a referendum in the Ogaden. Somalia agreed to this eagerly, aware that it would be a victory for them. Ethiopia reluctantly agreed when the Soviet Union threatened to cut off aid if they refused. The referendum showed a 98% victory for integration into Somalia, which lead to Somalia’s annexation of the region.
Siad Barre was victorious. He had fixed what Somalis believe to be a historical injustice, and as such became extraordinarily popular. He cut off ties with the Warsaw Pact and moved into the US sphere, opening his country up for investment from the west. He ordered the declaration of a decoration which was titled “Order of the Blue Star Republic”, which was made as the highest award for those that shown “Great service to the Somali nation”. He subsequently awarded himself with it.
The reaction in Ethiopia was a lot angrier. Mengistu, and indeed a lot of the Derg regime lost credibility. Mengistu knew he was a dead man, and fled to Warsaw with his family a day after the referendum. With that, the Derg regime collapsed into infighting, and soon Ethiopia was embroiled in flames, collapsing into a total anarchy. The UN managed to gather a coalition of numerous African nations and few Islamic nations to embark on a peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia, but due to its ineffectiveness the mission ended in the summer of 1978. America and Somalia were supporting the numerous separatist movements along with anti-communist Amhara fighters, while the USSR was funding Ethiopian communists who soured on the Derg regime early on, such as MEISON. The result was large movements of refugees, and numerous food and water shortages. As the 1970s came to a close, it was clear that Ethiopia had become a no man's land. Time will tell if they manage to pick themselves up together in the 1980s.
China
During Ford’s second term, China was starting to recover from the disastrous Cultural Revolution, which ended in the deaths of millions. The hardline Gang of Four was removed, and the moderate Hua Guofeng became the new paramount leader. His position was tenuous, as he was devoted to Mao and even when he began to stray from Maoism much of his ideas were unrealistic. Deng Xiaoping, a communist party official who was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution was becoming increasingly popular, and seemed set to outmaneuver Guofeng and become paramount leader himself. Then, as he was going to Beijing after visiting his hometown of Guang’an, his plane crashed, killing him.
Deng Xiaoping, 1904-1977
The death of Xiaoping lead to infighting in the anti-Hua reformist movement. This allowed Guofeng to strengthen his power through some moderate reforms, which allowed criticism of certain aspects of the Cultural Revolution (the whole thing, however, was off limits). Guofeng was a useful partner to the west against the USSR, and it was said he got along well with Kissinger. However, his reluctance to liberalize China did not bode well for the domestic situation.
Iran
For 38 years, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ruled over Iran. For sixteen of them (following a western backed coup), he was their absolute monarch, ruling over the Iranians with an iron fist. This unsurprisingly led to a lot of resentment building up against him. Democrats, Islamists and communists all united against his regime. As anger was beginning to grow, the Shah knew desperate measures had to be undertaken in order to stem it. Iranian foreign intelligence conducted poisonings of those such as Mostafa Khomeini (son of Ruhollah, a very popular anti-Shah cleric) and taking a harder stance on Iraq, which was funding separatists. Iraq, in turn started destabilizing Iran, devolving into a cold war situation between the two states.
The spark for the Iranian revolution was Khomeini’s heart attack on January 13th, 1979 as he was going on a walk in Paris (which he was exiled to after Iraq kicked him out, Saddam fearing he would spread revolution to Iraqi Shias). Khomeini had the heart attack near the Iranian embassy. News of this convinced his followers that after killing his son the Shah had gone ahead and killed Khomeini himself. Riots broke out, pictures of the Shah were burned, pictures of Khomeini were raised in its place. The Iranian government cracked down hard, but all it did was precipitate an even larger reaction, with communists, separatists and democrats revolting against the Iranian regime. Leftist guerilla groups announced they would march on Tehran and overthrow the government. The collapsing situation of the Iranian government had forced the Shah to try to flee to France just one and a half month later, yet his plane crashed while en route.
The Iranian military took control, with General Abbas Gharabaghi announcing on state television that “anti-social forces shall be given the harshest of punishments”. As leftist groups entered Tehran and began to fight with government forces there, Gharabaghi decided to embark on a reign of terror, having Iranian intelligence agencies go after leftist leaders hoping that their deaths would lead to the collapse of their armies. This led to the death of Massoud Rajavi, leader of the Islamo-Communist Mujahedin-e-Khalq, which was given aid by Iraq. The MEK collapsed, and many of its members either stopped fighting or some, in spite of the hatred between them and the MEK, went to fight for the Tudeh Party. Shortly after Gharabaghi’s coup, Iraq declared war on Iran on April 8th with the aims of capturing Shatt-al-Arab and making an independent republic of Arabistan. The fast expansion of Iraqi forces (due in large part to the collapse of Iran) had led to the loss of confidence in Gharabaghi’s government among the military, which forced him to resign and made Mohammad-Vali Gharani president. Yet Gharani’s government collapsed shortly after the Battle of Tehran concluded, having Tehran be in the hands of leftist forces. Gharani and many other junta leaders were executed publicly in the streets of Tehran. The capture of Tehran marked the beginning of the Iranian Civil War. The Iranian Civil War led to an increase in oil prices in the west, putting a dent in Ford’s popularity. The United States decided to send aid to Islamists, but were aware of their anti-American bent, making the aid limited.
Right now, the Islamists are on the defense. Most major cities are under communist control, and their influence is extending to rural areas, which makes up most of Islamist territory. However, the growing Iraqi attack has led to some communists and Islamists suggest a ceasefire to fight against the common enemy of Iraq, but the higher ups of those factions are not open to the idea, but the idea is certainly gaining traction among the common people.
Iranian Civil War, December 1979
White - Areas not controlled by any faction
Brown - Iraqi Military
Pink - Separatists (funded by Iraq)
Red - Tudeh Party (funded by the Soviet Union, East Germany)
Hot Pink - Maoists (funded by: China)
Green - Islamists (funded by: The United States)
Blue - Democratic forces (Funded by: France)
Afghanistan
As the month of April in 1978 draws to a close, a communist revolution/coup occurs in the Central Asian nation of Afghanistan. A communist uprising in Afghanistan was some time coming, with the monarchy, and later Daud Khan’s, repression of the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which was popular among a decent amount of Afghans. The trigger for the revolution was the murder of Mir Akbar Khyber, a prominent PDPA leader, leading to rumors that he was killed by the Afghan government, leading to a fear among PDPA leaders that Daud Khan is planning to exterminate communism in Afghanistan. During Khyber’s funeral, anti-government protests broke out leading to most of the PDPA’s leaders being arrested on order of the government. This led to the remaining leaders forming an alliance with sympathetic elements in the Afghan National Army to lead a coup against Daud Khan’s government.
Nur Muhammad Taraki, the first General-Secretary of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, would become the first leader of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. In the beginning of his presidency he cultivated a cult of personality, with propaganda calling him “The Great Teacher”. He enforced secularism, land reform and other reforms which incensed traditional Afghans. After some prodding by Pakistan, Islamist forces in Afghanistan declared war on the Afghan government, and they very quickly put much of Afghanistan under their control. Their advance was seen with alarm by the Soviets, and some even wanted to intervene, yet they ultimately decided not to, instead they sent military aid to the DRA. The United States, wanting to cause a headache for the Soviets in their own backyard began funding the Mujahideen through Pakistan. Like in Iran, they were small Maoist uprisings, yet this showed a little chance of succeeding. Right now, the Mujahideen has the upper hand, and it will take a lot of work by the DRA to try and crush them.
Afghan Civil War, January 1980
Red - Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (Supported by the Soviet Union, East Germany and India)
Grey - Mujahideen (Supported by the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt)
Pink - Maoists (Supported by China)