AHC: President Charleton Heston

In 1982, Charlton Heston decides to follow the Ronald Reagan playbook and run for Governor of California. He manages to narrowly beat out George Deukmejian for the Republican nomination, and is elected. He'll win a second term in 1986 and leave in 1990. Now due to butterflies, George Bush will narrowly be defeated in 1988 by Gary Hart (Donna Rice isn't discovered, once again, due to butterflies). Hart becomes unpopular, due to the bad economy. The very conservative Heston runs for President in 1992, and wins the GOP nomination. Just a week before the election, Donna Rice is discovered, and Heston wins in a landslide. With the 1990s economy, Heston is a wildly popular President, winning a 49 state landslide in 1996. He'll leave with a 61% approval rating, and his Vice President, John Warner (selected to ideologically balance the ticket), narrowly wins the 2000 Presidential election.
 
I think he was approached to run for Governor back in the 60's when he was a Liberal Democrat. I think it may have been counterpoint Reagan as well.
 

Teleology

Banned
Approached to run for Senate as a pro-Civil Rights Democrat.

I think if that had happened he'd have stayed a Democrat, and I wouldn't imagine he ever really lost his socially liberal views to along with his libertarian views that would manifest later.
 
I'm not sure I can do it with a singular POD. But I think the following scenario has been mentioned before. It does require multiple pods and assumes that both Watergate and the Gerald Ford Presidency still occur despite Heston's elevation to the senate.

So we begin with Heston's election to the Senate in 1970. We see him gradually shift rightward over the course of the decade. Someone with more knowledge of the history of Heston's ideological evolution than I have may have some issues with the plausibility of this. I'm not sure if I'm speeding things up for Heston here or not. I know he was a republican by the 1980's.

Obviously he won't change party labels here, but his ideology itself can still drift towards a more conservative stance.

While Heston serves in the Senate, Watergate happens, Nixon resigns ect.

In 1976, Heston is elected to a second term in the Senate. While Gerald Ford narrowly defeats Governor Carter.

By 1980 Senator Heston has become something of what we would now consider a "Bluedog" or more conservative democrat. He runs for the democratic nomination in that years primaries. His major opponent in the primary is Senator Kennedy. But thanks to Kennedy's somewhat incompetent campaign, and Heston's appeal for the voters known IOTL as Reagan democrats Heston defeats Kennedy in a hard fought campaign.

1980 is an election that is very difficult for any incumbent party to win. But in any case 1980 is interesting. It's likely Heston vs. Reagan in this scenario. But for our purposes, Heston wins.

How the Heston Presidency goes probably depends a lot on how the extended Ford administration goes. I'm not sure without Paul Volcker we would have seen either the recession of 1982, or the recovery and boom of 1984. If the boom still happens than Heston is probably reelected.

President Charleton Heston 1981-1989.
 

Kharn

Banned
Alright, so Heston is elected to the US Senate 1970, re-elected thrice, and runs for Pres 1992.

This. Except elected in 1988 and manages a two-term office. The economic downturn might not be as bad with the Defense spending not getting cut. A few more regulations here and there, maybe a secured border, and, hopefully, the Civilian Marksmanship Program will be a legal requirement, with Garand's everywhere.
 
I'm not sure I can do it with a singular POD. But I think the following scenario has been mentioned before. It does require multiple pods and assumes that both Watergate and the Gerald Ford Presidency still occur despite Heston's elevation to the senate.

So we begin with Heston's election to the Senate in 1970. We see him gradually shift rightward over the course of the decade. Someone with more knowledge of the history of Heston's ideological evolution than I have may have some issues with the plausibility of this. I'm not sure if I'm speeding things up for Heston here or not. I know he was a republican by the 1980's.

Obviously he won't change party labels here, but his ideology itself can still drift towards a more conservative stance.

While Heston serves in the Senate, Watergate happens, Nixon resigns ect.

In 1976, Heston is elected to a second term in the Senate. While Gerald Ford narrowly defeats Governor Carter.

By 1980 Senator Heston has become something of what we would now consider a "Bluedog" or more conservative democrat. He runs for the democratic nomination in that years primaries. His major opponent in the primary is Senator Kennedy. But thanks to Kennedy's somewhat incompetent campaign, and Heston's appeal for the voters known IOTL as Reagan democrats Heston defeats Kennedy in a hard fought campaign.

1980 is an election that is very difficult for any incumbent party to win. But in any case 1980 is interesting. It's likely Heston vs. Reagan in this scenario. But for our purposes, Heston wins.

How the Heston Presidency goes probably depends a lot on how the extended Ford administration goes. I'm not sure without Paul Volcker we would have seen either the recession of 1982, or the recovery and boom of 1984. If the boom still happens than Heston is probably reelected.

President Charleton Heston 1981-1989.

This, except he would be elected in 1988 or 1992. Any time after that is too late, given he would be in his late sixties and going into his seventies. Despite differences between the two, I doubt that he would mount a challenge against Carter, given that he would have to defend his own seat that year (he would be elected in 1968, not 1970)

His Presidency would be......interesting to say the least.
 
Anyone want to take a shot at this?

I was thinking about doing so for the last seven months (including the possible Senatorial career of Herbert Hoover, Hiram Johnson resurrecting the Progressive Party during the 20's and 30's, among other ideas). However, I do not have access to the kind of records that would require, and I am not sure as to his politics in given situations. That, and my credibility got shot during that unspeakable thread I had started and I see occasionally creep back up here. I least I think it was given the response.
 
This, except he would be elected in 1988 or 1992. Any time after that is too late, given he would be in his late sixties and going into his seventies. Despite differences between the two, I doubt that he would mount a challenge against Carter, given that he would have to defend his own seat that year (he would be elected in 1968, not 1970)

His Presidency would be......interesting to say the least.


I believe he was approached in 1969, which means he would have been elected in 1970. Unless the POD is that he is approached two years earlier so he runs in 1968. I'm not sure how necessary such a change is to the overall plan to make Heston President. And I think you misread my idea. The concept was Ford beats Carter in 1976. Ford is the incumbent President come 1980.

I'm pretty sure Carter would not be running for the nomination in 1980 if he had lost in 1976. Like I said, I'd imagine the main candidate would be Senator Kennedy, though maybe Walter Mondale would run here too. I think Senator Heston can probably win the nomination if he's running against Kennedy, if Kennedy's campaign is as incompetent as it was in OTL, though that's by no means a given proposition. In any case Heston will probably appeal to elements of the party that Kennedy can't really appeal to.

Perhaps experience would be an issue, but then again Heston would have been in the Senate for a decade in 1980 and that might be enough.

Indeed, the only problems with the Heston in 1980 I see are the fact that it requires multiple POD's regarding Ford's victory in 1976, and the fact that Heston's opponent is likely to be Ronald Reagan. Reagan vs. Heston is a somewhat humorous proposition. And that might make it somewhat unlikely.
 

Teleology

Banned
My idea is a world where basically Heston is the Reagan figure.

Heston, elected with no political experience to Senate in '68 as an anti-war Democrat with civil rights activist credentials, is able to start expressing both aspects of his political views rather than switching from all one to another.

It's not as simple as a Libertarian Liberal Democrat or making Left individualism more coherent by removing gun control hypocrisy. The older he got the more focused on supporting the troops and general security bullishness Heston seems to have become. A tough liberal? Someone who could enact strong border security on one hand and illegal immigrant amnesty on another, dramatically increase access to firearms on one hand while drastically overhauling standards of safety training and background checks (to keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill) on another?

Basically, have Heston as the notable figure in the creation of a powerful wing of liberals, within the Democratic party, that has with strong libertarian and hawkish tendencies.

I would basically put his conservative type views in terms of "support our troops" and his libertarian type views in terms of "individual right to self-defense, privacy, etc."; rather than having him be the Platonic classical liberal. By which I mean, not using his libertarian views as an excuse to make him a Free Market Economics advocate like Reagan; so having him increase gun liberty and other individual rights rather than lowering taxes on the rich or deregulating industry.
 
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