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hey, all. ive been working on my ATL again and have devoted some of my attention to the presidential elections of the united states. as well as asking about potential candidates for the future, id also like to try to hammer out some details of previous elections.

the elections stay the same as IOTL until 1917, when Wilson campaigns for re-election. instead, his opponent from 1916, Charles Evans Hughes, is elected. here's what i have so far for the divergent elections and those between them:

Woodrow Wilson (1913 - 1917)
Charles Evans Hughes (1917 - 1921)
Warren G. Harding (1921 - 1923; dies in office)
Calvin Coolidge (1923 - 1929)
Herbert Hoover (1929 - 1933)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933 - 1945; died in office, served three consecutive terms)
Harry S. Truman (1945 - 1953)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 - 1961)
John F. Kennedy (1961 - 1963; assassinated)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963 - 1965; fails to be re-elected as he did IOTL)
Barry Goldwater (1965 - 1969; though he gains enough support to be elected in '64, he's unable to maintain it during his presidency and therefore is not re-elected)
Richard Nixon (1969 - 1974; resigns over Watergate Scandal)
Gerald Ford (1974 - 1977)
Barry Goldwater (1977 - 1981; second president to serve two non-consecutive terms)
Robert F. Kennedy (1981 - 1989; elected instead of Reagan)
George H. W. Bush (1989 - 1993)
Bill Clinton (1993 - 2001)
George W. Bush (2001 - 2005; fails to be re-elected as he did IOTL)
Edward M. Kennedy (2005 - 2009; dies of brain cancer in-office)
Barack Obama (2009 - 2017; first African-American president)

things to keep in mind concerning the united states ITTL:

  1. a regional war of austria & turkey vs. balkans and russia replaces WW1, which never expands out of eastern europe, and therefore does not involve the US.
  2. the great depression still occurs
  3. WW2 as we know it does not occur, but there's a bunch of regional wars instead, two involving the US: first the Pacific War, in which the US gives economic and some military aid to its ally japan against China and the Dutch East Indies, and the second being a Spanish-American War analogous to the pacific theater (with the spanish empire replacing japan in this case)--the Spanish-American War here gives FDR the support he needs to be re-elected, and eisenhower's famed military command allows him to be elected as IOTL
  4. there is no USSR; the bolshevik uprising was crushed by the tsarist government, but russia later becomes a constitutional monarchy most similar in its form of government to our british UK (britain ITTL has a slightly different government in which the monarch is absolute head of state). thus, there is not as much anti-communist sentiment and no cold war between the US and russia, and no vietnam war, either (korea is a possibility, though it would be japan vs. china directly with the US supporting japan)
  5. kennedy is a bit of a quandry for me. a possibility is that nixon is elected instead, but then what? should nixon be re-elected, or is he assassinated? does kennedy get elected later on and assassinated anyway?
  6. what do you all think is really the plausibility of a goldwater election? i gathered that many republicans felt he was too right-wing to appeal to most republicans. if there's no 'nam, would LBJ be re-elected or would he lack support and lose it to goldwater? and what would be the plausibility of re-election, consecutive or otherwise?
  7. what do you all think is the plausibility of RFK being elected instead of reagan? assuming he isnt assassinated in '68, would he be able to gather enough support to beat reagan? would he succumb to the same fate as his older brother and be assassinated in-office? i currently have him as living to serve two full terms.
  8. i think a major contributing factor to W's election was the iraq war. that war doesnt exist ITTL, so he doesnt get re-elected in 2004, which instead goes to ted kennedy. if anyone's got any ideas about how this could come about or a more plausible candidate (aside from kerry), id be happy to hear them.
  9. i currently have it so that ted kennedy gets re-elected in 2008, but then dies of brain cancer as he did IOTL. since obama was his running mate for the '08 election, he still becomes the first african-american president, just a year later than IOTL. i asked family members what they thought obama's chances for re-election were, and gathered that, as yet, his chances are rather high. with a lack of war in the middle east, i think that boosts his chances even further so he gets re-elected in 2012 and therefore remains president until 2017
  10. i think i pretty-well covered everything about the ATL that concerns the elections, but if anyone needs any clarification for something i may have missed, just say so
after hammering out those details about previous presidents, of current politicians, who do you all think are the most plausible future presidents and for which years until they all die or otherwise quit politics because of their age? after that, i'd just need to fill in the future presidents with fictional ones
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