Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes II

[Nofix]

One shot

Jerry Ford gets his wish​

After the narrow re-election of President Johnson over former Vice-President Nixon, with the latter having been revealed working to undermine the Vietnam War peace talks, the Democrats thought their worst moments were over. Peace was going to come to Vietnam, the split between Doves and Hawks would be no more, all was right in the world. Right?

The 1970 House elections flipped control of the lower house to the Republicans for the first time since 1952, Eisenhower's re-election. The Senate also lost 9 Democrats and gave the body to the Republicans (factoring in their Conservative colleague from New York). The New Republican Speaker was Gerald Rudolph Ford of Michigan's 5th district. He would serve throughout the first half of the Humphrey Administration, narrowly won without being able to take the House, but taking the Senate by several seats.

While not a fire-breather himself, Ford pushed hard on Johnson and Humphrey to cut back on spending with the Great Society and the "wasteful" space programs. The House Republicans, with their first majority in a generation, pushed hard on Ford to defund everything possible and dare Johnson to veto it. After a few rounds were Minority leader McCormick, later Boggs, was able to exploit the Republican divisions, Ford's right flank hunkered down and let him lead.

Ford was asked by former Vice-Presidential candidate Agnew to be his own Vice-Presidential partner, but Ford turned him down. After Humphrey narrowly won, and the Democrats were within reach of House control, Ford had to play a careful balancing act, don't upset the moderate voters who voted them in, don't agitate the right-wingers in his party. By the time Ronald Reagan won office, helped and anointed by Nixon in 1976, Ford was ready to retire, and with good timing as the Democrats swept back into office in the House will taking a major blow in the Electoral College.

 

[Angry_scottsman_1989]

not a wiki box per se, but in the same spirit. a little teaser for something I'm working on.

 

[racefan31]

Third infobox:

No comments on that?

 

[Archangel Michael]

No comments on that?

Could we have a little context for this?

 

[racefan31]

Could we have a little context for this?

All three of the infoboxes I made are from my TL, The Trouble with Tariffs. It can be found here.

 

[Rascallite]

Very interesting, a surviving West Indies? I don't know much of that country, but I do love me the idea of nations unifying into one. Hope this becomes a series, and I can learn me some good.

I don't know if it'll ever become a series. Truth is, I've had some ideas on my mind for a while about an eventual timeline, but I'm not if they'll ever materialize (I haven't even started writing it yet ). In the meanwhile, I'll just make some infoboxes. Andrew Chung is one of them.

 

[Charles James Fox]

Grimond-mania

What-if the Liberals' famous victory in the Orpington by-election of 1962 accelerated the resurgence of the party? Hugh Gaitskell survives, presiding over a lacklustre election campaign and a divided party struggling to come to terms with the new affluent society. At the same time, the Conservatives are mired in scandals and see their middle-class support ebb away to the Liberals. The result is Labour winning a 10 seat majority on a reduced share of the popular vote, with the Liberals gaining over twenty seats and achieving their best performance in a general election since Lloyd George led the party in 1931...

The Liberal perform particularly well in the 'Celtic fringe'. In Scotland, they gain Aberdeenshire West, Angus North & Means, Caithness and Sutherland, Inverness, Ross & Cromarty and Roxburgh Selkirk and Peebles. In Wales they gain Carmarthen, Denbigh and Merioneth. In the South West they gain Bodmin, Chippenham, Cornwall North, Dorset North, Tavistock, Tiverton, Torrington and Truro. Elsewhere in the country, they gain Cheadle, Colne Valley, Derbyshire West, High Peak, Huddersfield West and St. Ives.

Notable newcomers in the Liberal contingent are:

Mark Bonham Carter, the former publisher and grandson of Herbert Asquith.
Richard Wainwright, a long-term Liberal activist, member of the party's executive and active Methodist lay preacher.
James Davidson, a farmer from the Scottish Highlands and naval historian.
George Mackie, a Scottish cattle rancher and President of the Scottish Liberal Party.
Alan Davies, a prominent Welsh barrister and brother of the poet and critic Aneirin Talfan Davies.
David Steel, a young activist in the Scottish Liberal Party who at 26 years old becomes Baby of the House in the new Parliament.

 

[Emperor Charles V]

The upset of the century...

 

[Emperor Charles V]

If only...

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The opening election of Split the Vote, a participatory electoral game that's now up to 1964, and all people welcome!

United States presidential election, 1948

When President Truman found his veto of the Taft-Hartley Act overriden by the Congress, he hoped it wouldn't affect his relationship with organized labor.

After all, he tried his best to prevent it from becoming law, and they would appreciate that, right? Plus, they wouldn't go for Henry Wallace over him.

Organized labor was angry at him for not doing more to prevent it from becoming law, and Truman's second prediction was indeed correct. Labor would never go for Wallace. But neither would they go for Truman...

After getting a disappointing result in the Democratic primaries, labor unionist and Senator from Massachusetts Jack Boyd* announced his general election campaign, backed by the American Labor Party (who switched their support from Wallace to him).

Pro-Boyd labor unions managed to get ballot access for him and his running mate, African-American civil rights campaigner A. Philip Randolph, in all industrial states and the West Coast. Seeing the writing on the wall, Henry Wallace withdrew and endorsed Boyd, enabling him ballot access in most of America.

With the Democratic vote split between Truman, Boyd and Thurmond, the result was a foregone conclusion. Despite winning the plurality of the popular vote, Harry Truman lost the electoral vote as Earl Warren picked up a bare majority. The American Labor Party found themselves a major party as they almost surpassed the Republicans in terms of vote, and after the elections, a good chunk of laborist and leftist Democrats defected to them.

This would herald an era of multipartisanship in American politics.

* Fictional character.

 

[Charles James Fox]

Grimond-mania

Here's a follow-up to my earlier post. Labour enters office with a large balance of payments deficit inherited from the Conservatives and the incoming Chancellor Tony Crosland opts for devaluation - leaving Labour vulnerable to Conservative attacks. The British government gives token support to the American military effort in Vietnam, infuriating the Labour Left. In 1967, Gaitskell dies suddenly from an attack of lupus erythematosus and is succeeded by Labour's Deputy Leader, George Brown, a gaffe prone and aggressive alcoholic. In 1968 and 1969, the government faces a series of economic crises, including a destabilising dockers' strike.

The result is a hung parliament, with the Conservatives as the largest party. The Liberals continue their rise, capitalising on discontent with Labour's foreign policy and Edward Heath's uninspiring Conservative campaign, winning almost fifty seats. They gain East Aberdeenshire (won by Robin Sinclair, the son of former Liberal leader Sir Archibald Sinclair), Banffshire, Darwen, Eastbourne, Farnham, Finchley (John Pardoe unseating Margaret Thatcher), Hastings, Ipswich (Manuela Sykes), Leominster, Middleton and Prestwich, Oxford (Ivor Davies), Rochdale (Beatrice Seear), Scarborough and Whitby, Stretford, Wells, and Westmorland.

Heath has informal discussions with Jo Grimond about the possibility of the Liberals supporting a Conservative government, but both parties fail to agree over constitutional reform. Heath forms a minority government with the support of the 11 Ulster Unionists in the House of Commons.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The second election of Split the Vote, a participatory electoral game.

United States presidential election, 1952

The presidency of Earl Warren was uncontroversial, but the Korean War damaged his popularity a little.

The Democrats, wanting to take back the White House from the GOP, nominated Admiral William Turnbull* of Florida, who chose Estes Kefauver of Tennessee as his running mate. They ran on a classic New Deal platform, promising to carry on Roosevelt and Truman's policies.

The Republicans, suffering a split as the libertarians and old-style conservatives walked out to form the Freedom Party, easily re-nominated Warren/Stassen.

The aforementioned Freedom Party chose to nominate Congressman James Jacoby* of Wyoming and Congressman Howard Buffett of Nebraska. They ran on a platform of classical liberalism, old-style conservatism and a return to the 1920s.

The American Labor Party (now often just referred to as the Labor Party) chose to nominate the man who stood aside for Boyd in 1948, Henry Wallace. By 1952, he was elected to the Governorship of Iowa, so had more experience. He ran with Russell Long of Louisiana to appeal to the "Gumbo Machine".

In the end, Labor won a great victory in the popular vote, but most of it was focused in their regional base and they failed to win a majority of the electoral college. The Democrats and Republicans arranged for Turnbull to be elected President and Stassen to be re-elected VP by Congress as the two united against the "socialist" threat that they saw Labor as representing. The National Democratic Party was born amidst cries by Labor of a "Corrupt Bargain".

* Fictional character.

 

[Hominid]

The upset of the century...

What happened there?

 

[Tayya]

The best plugs are shameless

From the timeline in my signature, which I hope you've checked out. The results in this infobox also has severe political implications!

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The third election of Split the Vote, a participatory electoral game that anybody can join.

United States presidential election, 1956

The birth of the National Democrats (NDP) was full of controversy. The conservatives in the party (former Republicans) left and set up the National Union Party, evoking back to Lincoln. Due to a dispute over the NDP-Labor supported universal healthcare scheme, a chunk of liberal Republicans also left, setting up the fourth Progressive Party in American history (they attached a "New" to it, but dropped it after the election).

With Freedom welcoming the libertarian Republicans who didn't defect before the merger, the right was heavily split.

Yet President Turnbull* beared personal popularity with the American people who saw him as their leader. He was a strong reformer who knew the wishes of the American people wasn't to the far-left or the anti-New Deal right, but stability, progress and a government that does what it can for the people.

The controversy over the circumstances of his accession to office was still there, but most of America moved on from that, and even Labor did.

President Turnbull won the NDP nomination and after Stassen declared his wish not to continue as VP (he already served two terms, first under Warren then under Turnbull), the VP balloting turned to a victory for Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas on a draft movement.

The Labor Party chose superstar Senator from Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey. Charismatic, fresh-faced and relatively young, he represented a new generation of Americans. He ran with Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon in order to give the ticket more experience.

The Freedom Party ended up backing the charismatic and principled Barry Goldwater of Arizona who energized the base. He ran with controversial Senator from Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy who delighted in using the red card against the ticket's opposition. This arguably damaged Goldwater/McCarthy's chances.

The National Union Party, often called "the Republicans by another name" (and indeed they would change their name to that after the election), nominated General Dwight D. Eisenhower of Kansas, but Ike himself didn't want to run, and indeed he was a member of the NDP and appeared in a NDP advert. Richard Nixon was the de facto NUP candidate as he did most of the campaigning.

The New Progressive Party (aka the fourth time the name Progressive was used, how original...) chose to run 1944 GOP nominee and former NY Governor Thomas Dewey and ran him with Governor of California Goodwin Knight. Their platform was criticized by the others as "inconsistent" and "not really progressive". Indeed, it had a promise to repeal the National Health Service and cut down government smaller than the New Deal.

In the end, Turnbull got a higher amount of vote than in 1952 and Labor lost in voteshare, but the splitting of the right enabled Labor to win its first majority.

* Fictional character

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The last election before the current one in Split the Vote, a participatory election game that anybody can join.

United States presidential election, 1960

Hubert Humphrey was the first president in 104 years to not be a Democrat or a Republican. His first term saw foreign policy stumbles despite Dwight D. Eisenhower being kept on as Secretary of State from the Turnbull administration, but concrete policies regarding Civil Rights. Liberal Republicans, some Freedomites, all Progressives and pro-civil rights Democrats voted along with Labor to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1958.

Now it is 1960, President Humphrey is criticised for his foreign policy stumbles regarding Cuba, some Progressives has gone McCarthyist in criticising the administration, darkly hinting at "Russian spies in the government", with Margaret Chase Smith being a prominent red-baiting Progressive.

Humphrey and his vice-president was easily re-nominated in the Labor primaries and ran on "The People's Ticket for a People's Government" platform that promised a "New Society" in which the government would be expanded to create a modern welfare state.

The Democrats (formerly the NDP before they rebranded, being containing of mostly former Democrats anyway) nominated Senator and Majority Leader George Long* of Iowa for president and Southern populist Governor James Crawford* of Georgia for veep.

The Republicans nominated Governor Richard Nixon and Freedom nominated J. Bracken Lee. The two men met up and agreed to run on a fusion ticket with Nixon on top and Lee the running mate. Nixon/Lee immediately got the Plains strongly for them due to no vote splitting.

The Progressives nominated Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, a red-baiter who shot to prominence when she accused the Humphrey Administration of harboring communists. She ran with moderate-liberal Senator from Massachusetts John F. Kennedy.

In the end, Labor failed to win a majority, and after failed negotiations, tensions was high in the Labor Party as they feared another "corrupt bargain" happening like in 1952. In the end, after 4 months of Acting President James Crawford (who was confirmed as vice-president in the Senate), Humphrey managed to get the Republicans to back him in exchange for being given seats in his Cabinet, which already had Democrats who was kept on from the temporary Cabinet Crawford assembled.

* Fictional character

 

[racefan31]

From the timeline in my signature, which I hope you've checked out. The results in this infobox also has severe political implications!

How is Israel able to participate when they're not even in Europe?

 

[Tayya]

How is Israel able to participate when they're not even in Europe?

They're members of the European Broadcasting Union and thus eligible to enter. In fact, they've won the contest thrice OTL since they started participating in the 70's.

 

[Gonzo]

2016 minus Hillary...

 

[Emperor Charles V]

What happened there?

2030 is a great year for moderate and liberal Republicans. The same year, supposedly safe blue state Democratic incumbents Kamala Harris (she narrowly lost to Xavier Becerra in 2016 and ran again and won in 2018) and Chris Murphy also lost re-election to liberal Republicans.

Jeb Bush narrowly beats Hillary Clinton in a close race in 2016, but unlike his brother in 2000 wins the popular vote. However, the economy begins to fail early into his term and 2018 ends up being a massive wave year for the Democrats (where they make many gains but fall short of retaking both the Senate and the House). Though Bush's numbers begin to improve they fall again when tensions rise in the Middle East and people on both the left and right heavily criticize the President's reaction to this crisis. However the nail that seals the coffin of Bush's re-election chances is when vice-president Rand Paul announces he will challenge him for the Republican nomination, the first time a sitting Vice-President has done this to a sitting president since 1940. Bush narrowly beats Paul, but Paul declines to concede and instead announces a run as an independent candidate (which the Libertarian Party endorses). Paul's run gains so much traction he ends up coming in second in the General Election beating out Bush and handing the election to Democratic nominee Elizabeth Warren. The Democrats pick up both the House and the Senate in the process.

2022 is a modest Republican gain but Democrats keep both Houses of the Congress. In 2023, Warren announces she will not run for re-election next year. She cites her age, health concerns and the fact that she "finished her job." However most people say this was to ensure she left office with a good legacy. Vice-President Martin Heinrich easily wins both the primary and general election of 2024.

Capitalizing on voter fatigue, a revamped platform and the many shortcomings of the Heinrich administration, Republicans take back the Senate and make major gains in the House in 2026. New York elects its first Republican governor in two decades although he is very liberal for the party. Heinrich citing a booming economy wins reelection in 2028...but a year later almost on the hundredth year anniversary of the Great Depression, the economy crashes and the President and his party's approval ratings plummet. The Republicans play on the offensive and sweep nearly all competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races the next year.

And yes, Gillibrand is one of the many casualties of the "Dem-pocolypse" of 2030. Republicans nominate the popular, young, charismatic state Attorney General Carlos "Charlie" Cortez to face Gillibrand. Although he initially polls as much as twenty points below her, Cortez runs a very positive and optimistic campaign focusing on reaching across the aisle and actually doing things. Gillibrand and her team on the other hand mercilessly attack Cortez especially his wife for no apparent reason other than to humiliate him. Scoring a passionate endorsement from New York's very popular Governor running at the top of the ticket, and surprisingly also from the state's other Senator (a Democrat!) the 36-year-old Cortez bests Gillibrand by a point and defeats her marking the conclusion of almost a quarter of a century in politics.