AHC: Have a general become president after Eisenhower.
- Thread starter Lemonfish
- Start date
Colin Powell might be one of your better bets. He was encouraged to run both in 1996 and 2000, but ended up declining both times. He was broadly popular and had the Gulf War under his belt.
He was who I was going to suggest.
Alternatively, if the War on Terror goes better, maybe one of the generals from that conflict could parlay his popularity into a successful presidential bid.
I know Elmo Zumwalt was an admiral, but still. And he did run for the Senate in 1976.
Almost too easy.
You can get one in 1964. All Goldwater (Major General, USAF-R) had to do is not scare the crap out of 3/4 of the people in the United States.
After that is gets a bit tougher. Wallace had no shot in 68, which takes Lemay of of the "one Heartbeat away from the Presidency" position (and if there was a more likely individual to wind up assassinated in the era than President George Wallace I'm not aware of them). John Glenn capped out at Bird Colonel. in 1992 you had a low but non-sero chance of a Vice Admiral (James Stockdale) getting the 'One Heartbeat" job.
After that you have Colin Powell ann Wesley Clark, one wouldn't run because his was was 100% certain that he'd be assassinated and the other was simply not "Democratic" enough (also had questionable qualifications)
You can get one in 1964. All Goldwater (Major General, USAF-R) had to do is not scare the crap out of 3/4 of the people in the United States.
After that is gets a bit tougher. Wallace had no shot in 68, which takes Lemay of of the "one Heartbeat away from the Presidency" position (and if there was a more likely individual to wind up assassinated in the era than President George Wallace I'm not aware of them). John Glenn capped out at Bird Colonel. in 1992 you had a low but non-sero chance of a Vice Admiral (James Stockdale) getting the 'One Heartbeat" job.
After that you have Colin Powell ann Wesley Clark, one wouldn't run because his was was 100% certain that he'd be assassinated and the other was simply not "Democratic" enough (also had questionable qualifications)
Garrison
Donor
Yeah if you can persuade him he has to run for good of the country you might get him to stand, but he didn't seem thrilled by the idea.
LeMay presidency... not much of civilization outside US would be exist by the time he leaves the office.
I remember reading at the time the rumor around Washington that Colin Powell wanted to run, but Alma Powell was completely opposed.
Only four-star generals and admirals count, with 1961 POD you can easily let McCain become one though.
LeMay gets an enormously bad rap.
What was his job in the military, WHILE UNDER ORDERS of superior officers, in WW II? Oversee and command the Bombing Offensive to destroy an enemy with which the U.S. was in a DECLARED state of War using any and all weapons placed at his disposal. He followed those orders, didn't hop around with joy over them or go on newreels proclaiming how well his "dehousing" campaign was going. He found a manner to follow his orders (including, unlike certain other Commanders of Bombing offensives, diverting more than half of his assets to a sea mining campaign that burned down not a single structure, but crippled a vast part of the Japanese economy), vastly reduce losses to the men under his command, degrade and deny the enemy of its ability to wage war and by doing so was a major part of the reason that Operation Downfall never took pla. By doing so he saved, at minimum 400,000 American Lives, minimum 800,000 civilian lives in Japanese occupied areas of Asia (assuming the entirety of Downfall was 8-9 months in length), minimum 500,000 Japanese military KIA (like x3), and a minimum of 3 MILLION additional Japanese civilian fatalities.
What was his job as Commander of SAC (again, while under orders of bother superior officers and the civilian National Command Authority)? Create, equip, and train a strategic nuclear force capable to utterly destroying the enemy IF and only IF given orders to proceed by the NCA. What was the slogan he gave to Strategic Air Command? Peace is our Profession. He, and probably 98% of the personnel under his command (there are a few sociopaths in any group) woke up every morning and prayed that they would never have to do the job that they were trained for, and went to bed every night thanking God that they hadn't been forced to carry out their assigned task while on duty that day. They all did that for YEARS, if not decades. They stood at the Sharp End and faced the Soviet threat. By doing sp, following LeMay's training and procedures , they ensured that the only two cities on Earth to suffer the horror of a nuclear attack were destroyed in 1945, despit the fact that the total number of nuclear wepons in the world at one point approached 70,000, none were ever used after that terrible 9th of August morning in 1945.
LeMay was a profession soldier. You will never find a person who despised war more than a professional soldier.
McCain would never had made full Admiral. Even Vice Admiral would have been a rank he was award upon retirement. Maybe Rear Admiral, Upper Half. Commander of a CVBG.
Idk if too current politics, but if he kept it in his pants, didn't mishandle classified info, and seemed more interested in the idea, 4 Star General/CIA Director David Petraeus could run in 2016 and win as a moderate Republican.
Petraeus might have had a shot if
1) He'd in anyway wanted the job.
2) Didn't have his scandals come out.
Perhaps Norman Swartkoff?
William Westmoreland wins the South Carolina Republican Primary, gets elected Governor in 74. Then gets chosen as Veep for the GOP Presidential runner in 76/80 and assumes the Presidency once the #1 gets nailed
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Petreaus was believed to have had Presidential ambitions in OTL. That affair with the Bond-Girl name lady put paid to that.
I know some people said Franks 2008, but that died in the exploratory committee of the exploratory committee. (He was a dumb fuck anyway).
Maybe @CalBear could tell us if he was around then but...was Haig ever a contender?
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