claybaskit
Gone Fishin'
inspired by make ford greatest president make Jimmy Carter one of Americas greatest president s in the 20th century
This is what I was going to do basically, throwing in Carter managing to actually successfully work with the Democratic Congress to pass universal healthcare and a bunch of other successful domestic reforms.(1) Have Carter narrowly lose the Democratic nomination to Mo Udall in 1976.
(2) Have Udall narrowly lose to Ford (Udall does much worse than Carter in the South and can't quite make it up in the North and West).
(3) Have Ford do a really terrible job in his only full term (1977-1981).
(4) Have Carter win the Democratic nomination in 1980--the failures of Humphrey, McGovern and Udall finally convince the Democrats that a northern or western liberal can't win, and they need to go with a southern moderate. Moreover, the liberal vote in the primaries is split among several candidates.
(5) Have Carter defeat Reagan in 1980. Not as hard as it may seem--in this ATL it is the *Republican* brand that has been hopelessly tarnished in 1976-80, so that even Reagan can't save it.
(6) The Federal Reserve Board as in OTL squeezes inflation out of the economy at the cost of a major recession in the early 1980's--and then eases up by 1983, so that Carter can blame the recession on Ford and take credit for the recovery in 1984.
(7) After Carter's re-election, Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the CPSU, and the Soviet Union disintegrates on schedule. (For those who reply that it couldn't have happened without Reagan's military build-up, I would remind them that even in OTL the build-up--and aid to the Afghan rebels--began with Carter. In any event, it's not as though the Soviet Union didn't have enough economic problems even if faced with a smaller US military build-up. )
Hence, Jimmy Carter, the man who restored prosperity and defeated Communism!
This is what I was going to do basically, throwing in Carter managing to actually successfully work with the Democratic Congress to pass universal healthcare and a bunch of other successful domestic reforms.
To do that, you need to give Jimmy a personality transplant. He was an outsider who didn't "get" Congress.
I wonder how many presidents there have been who have never met another president from their own party.
So here's an idea: Herman Talmadge's various scandals, both financial and marital, come out in 1973 - perhaps by Nixon leaking them to try to discredit the Watergate Committee Talmadge was a member of- and Carter challenges him in 1974, running on a reformist platform against the corrupt Talmadge. He wins the primary and then gets easily elected Senator, so by 1980 he has 6 years of Senate experience.To do that, you need to give Jimmy a personality transplant. He was an outsider who didn't "get" Congress.
Apart from John Adams (hah!), the most likely candidate is Grover Cleveland - I'm pretty sure he hadn't met Buchanan, Pierce, Van Buren, or Andrew Johnson when he was President. Woodrow Wilson would have met Cleveland via Princeton University before becoming President, while Franklin D. Roosevelt and Wilson were both at the 1920 Democratic Convention.
Eisenhower comes close - from 1933 to 1961, Herbert Hoover was the only living former Republican President, but Hoover was at the 1952 Republican Convention, so we know they met. Kennedy is another close one - I'm pretty sure he would have met Truman though.
Hence, Jimmy Carter, the man who restored prosperity and defeated Communism!