ATLIAPOT: A Damn Foolish Thing

[rick007]

What is this?
A Timeline In A Period of Time.
Is this that What If World War I timeline that you started a while back?
Yes why do you ask?
I thought you abandoned it.
I did.
Then what's this then?
Just my attempt to finally get it done
How so?
History of the world from 1914 on through America's presidents.
Ah. Hopefully it goes better than the other two times.
Indeed.

 

[rick007]

Woodrow Wilson

Vice President: Thomas Marshall

March 4, 1913-March 4, 1917

Woodrow Wilson was very lucky to get into the White House. The fact that the Republican Party was split in 1912 was what gave him that election. He knew this and was able to use it to barely win the White House. The next four years were moderate successes for Wilson. There was a bit of a scare when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914. However, the conflict didn't widen beyond France accidently invading Belgium.

With not European conflicts to worry about Wilson was able to focus on domestic policy. Although what was going on in Mexico needed the intervention of the army in 1916, Wilson largely stayed out of foreign affairs. Without American involvement, the war in Europe stopped in 1916, though not before Nicholas II and Czarivich Alexei were killing by Bolsheviks earlier that year, leaving Nicholas' brother Mikhail in charge.

However, it was the interventions in Mexico, along with the Republican Party reuniting in time for the 1916 election that cost Wilson that election.

 

[Garrmactad]

Interesting.

 

[rick007]

Albert B. Cummins


Vice President: Charles W. Fairbanks


March 4, 1917-March 4, 1921

Albert Cummins came into office as a Progressive. However, his presidency only served to anger those who had only just come back into the party after the split in 1912. It was not a comfortable time for him. Domestically, Cummins tried to, rather unsuccessfully, get big business under control. It didn't help that Fairbanks died in mid 1918. He was having as much success as Taft did. While Cummins got some worker compensation and other labor laws passed, it was not enough for him to be re-elected.

In foreign affairs, President Cummins sent probes to the British, French, Germans and Russians to have a conference to deal with Austria-Hungary after it started to collapse under its own weight in late September, 1918. Nothing ever came of it, none of the other powers were interested. Germany and Russia in particular were just interested in extending their spheres of influence. It could lead to another war. However, there was nothing Cummins could do about that. He just had to sit on the side lines hoping that his successor would be able to handle things better than he did.

 

[rick007]

Thomas R. Marshall


Vice President: Robert L. Owen


March 4, 1921-April 15, 1925

President Marshall had many difficult tasks ahead of him both foreign and domestic. While he left foreign affairs to his Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby, Marshall tried to put forth more progressive domestic policies. Not that they always work, as they are sometimes blocked by the more conservative (i.e. mostly Southern) members of his own party. However, Marshall tried anyway. He had some advice from Former President Woodrow Wilson, who retired from politics when he left the presidency in 1917.

However, President Marshall was able to get a lot of good social programs, like decent wages and hours for all Americans. He even managed to get the 17th Amendment passed allowing women the right to vote in 1922. This gave the Democrats a boost in the 1924 elections and returned Marshall to the White House. Unfortunately for Marshall, he died just over a month into his second term.

 

[rick007]

Robert L. Owen


Vice President: No one(First Term)/Duncan U. Fletcher(Second Term)


April 15, 1925-March 4, 1933

Coming off of his processor's sudden death, President Owen, the first person of partial Native American descent to be president, started by continuing President Marshall's policies. Thought that served him well in his first two years, by the final year of his first term, President Owen felt confident enough to move out on his own. He set up a trade conference in Washington D.C. for February 1928.

It was a moderate success. The nations managed to pull together until disagreements started to fracture that unity in 1934. In the meantime, President Owen won another term in office with Senator Duncan U. Fletcher of Florida as his running mate, beating Leslie M. Shaw of Iowa for President and Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts for Vice President. During this time, the stock market was stable. However, on March 2, 1931, the stock market crashed. President Owen tried to help turn things around but by 1932, the recession had turned into a depression. By the time the 1932 elections rolled around, Owen was blamed for everything.

 

[rick007]

Hiram Johnson


Vice President: George Norris


March 4, 1933-March 4, 1941

When Hiram Johnson took office, things were starting to look bleak. Fortunately, Johnson appointed good people to help him stimulate the economy. For the most part, he is successful. There were a few areas where he made limit progress, like in civil rights. With so much focus on domestic policy, that Johnson leaves the rest of the world alone. Mostly. He does get worried about Japan making moves in East Asia.

However, Johnson decided not to intervene. After all, it wasn't America's place to tell countries in other hemispheres what to do. In the 1936 election, Johnson beat John Nance Garner of Texas and Al Smith of New York. Though it was a narrow win. Johnson's second term was pretty much like his first with one exception: he kept a covert eye on Japan. Throughout the rest of Johnson's term, the economy grew. In 1940, Japan attacked China and Korea. Johnson, in the final year of his term, did nothing.

 

[rick007]

Cordell Hull


Vice President: Henry A. Wallace


March 4, 1941-March 4, 1945

President Hull was considered a good manager, but a poor president. While he may have started the process of putting America on a war footing it was not fast enough. On the home front, domestic policy suffered. Policies that were intended to help the poor were allowed to lapse. While many of them were renewed, it was too late for President Hull.

It was not a good time for America. But it was bound to get worse before it got better. Especially after the twin deaths of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Czar Mikhail II of Russia in 1941. King Edward VIII of Great Britain, a relation of both men, visited America in 1944. During this visit Edward decided to reaffirm relations between the two countries. President Hull, going into the presidential race that year, was grateful. But, again, it was too late.

 

[rick007]

Quentin Roosevelt


Vice President: Earl Warren


March 4, 1945-January 15, 1953.

The second Roosevelt to occupy the White House and the second son to take the position. The sad part is that Theodore Roosevelt died in 1922. Still Quentin did more than what his father was able to accomplish. After the Civil Rights Act of 1946 entered the House in May of that year however, the Japanese attacked the United States, Britain, Germany and Russia. So the Civil Rights Act was shelved. On June 1, 1946, President Roosevelt asked for and got a declaration of war from congress. The war would end with Japan's defeat on July 4, 1949.

It was during the war that President Roosevelt realized that having Inauguration Day on March 4, made no sense any more. So he asked Congress to change it to January 15. After the war, the Civil Rights Act of 1949, was passed. In July, 1951, Kaiser Wilhelm III died, to be replaced by Frederick IV. This caused the Space Race, which had started with the launch of the satellite Forscher the previous year, to really heat up. However, President Roosevelt wouldn't be serving through this crucial period. That would be started by his successor.

OOC: Could not find a picture of Quentin in a suit. So WWI uniform it is.

 

[rick007]

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.


Vice President: Estes Kefauver


January 15, 1953-January 15, 1961

President Kennedy, while popular in his time, is now considered a bad president. While he didn't enforce the Civil Rights laws that were on the books, he didn't take them down either. The Space Race, and other foreign affairs, were where he stuck to. In the beginning, he was a little over his head. On July 21, 1953, the Germans sent Major Hjalmer von Richthofen from Wilhelmstadt, German Cameroon, to be the first man into space. America started to feel the pressure. Shortly after the Republicans won the 1954 midterm elections, President Kennedy reluctantly agreed to fund an American Space program. On October 5, 1955, Captain Simon Holloway became the first American man to go into space.

After barely beating Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Congressman James Wilson of Kentucky in the 1956 election, President Kennedy started to include domestic affairs in his agenda. In 1957, both Alaska and Hawaii joined the union as the 49th and 50th states respectively (Alaska on March 7, Hawaii on November 8). Then on March 12, 1960 Captain Rayland Vaughn of Alabama became the first man on the moon. It was not enough for a victory in November however.

 

[rick007]

Nelson Rockefeller


Vice President: Harold Kimball


January 15, 1961-January 15, 1969

Being elected, with veteran political operators like Nelson Rockefeller of New York and Harold Kimball of North Dakota as VP, was like being given the keys to two dozen Porsches for the Republicans. Though it was not always smooth sailing. First, President Rockefeller pushed through more Civil Rights legislation than any other president before or since. Second, the Democrats managed to successfully challenge a lot of it in the courts.

On April 2, 1964, Puerto Rico becomes the 51st state of the union. On April 29, 1964 Czar Pavel III dies of an apparent heart attack. President Rockefeller wins reelection against Senator Mark Holmes of Tennessee and Jones Thomas of Idaho. In 1965, President Rockefeller started a national infrastructure plan that included a national highway system. That same year, he started what he called the War on Poverty to show that America really is the best nation in the world rather than a middle power. He had hoped that Vice President Kimball would continue that in the 1968 election. He was wrong.

 

[rick007]

William Jones


Vice President: Edmund Muskie


January 15, 1969-January 15, 1973

President Jones, a Texas Democrat of the first order, actually studied at the feet of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. Though more conservative than Johnson, he kept many of the Roosevelt/Rockefeller reforms in place. At the same time, he made sure that any new legislation that the Republicans had going forward, or would go into effect during his time in office, were watered down significantly.

There were several pieces of legislation that Jones enacted that helped the world: the Environment Protection Institute and the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. It wasn't particularly well funded, at least not during Jones' time in office, but it was still there. Sadly, this did not sat him from being voted out of office in 1972.

 

[rick007]

John Hatfield


Vice President: George Prentiss


January 15, 1973-January 15, 1981

Shortly after being elected President Hatfield met with King Richard IV, who had taken the throne the year before. The native Oregonian was happy that the king was going to start the decolonization, at least from his country, very soon. Although a middle power, America had certainly gained a lot of influence thanks to its space program. Germany too, would start to decolonize though that wouldn't happen until Kaiser Otto I took over in 1978.

President Hatfield was managed to keep an eye on both foreign and domestic affairs. Managing to send people to the moon, while expanding the rights of Americans at home. His Vice President, Pennsylvanian George Prentiss, was, with Secretary of State Richard Nixon and Secretary of the Treasury Conrad Horvath, immensely successful in that. Unfortunately, any hope that he had of that continuing after Hatfield's term was up were dashed.

 

[rick007]

Kenneth Williams


Vice President: Mark Reed


January 15, 1981-January 15, 1989

A popular president during his time in office, President Williams has been reevaluated in recent years. Especially when it comes to domestic affairs. There were massive cut backs to programs. This included the space program. At least at first. He gave a lot of leeway to his Secretary of the Treasury, Ronald Reagan. Of course, President Williams embraced Reagan's theories about trickledown economics.


President Williams maintained an isolationist stance in office and refused to move on Equal Rights. This came from his years as Governor of Michigan. While his way of running things rubbed some the wrong way, President Williams still beat Senator Louis Hart of Colorado and Governor John Tolliver of Maine in 1984. During his second term, President Williams reached an agreement with the Russians about space exploration that he said would be cost effective. In fact, President Williams launched the first space station, named Franklin, to be headed by a woman, Captain Martha Jones, the second woman in space after Major Olga Petrova in 1985.

 

[rick007]

Mark Reed


Vice President: Simon Anderson


January 15, 1989-January 15, 1993

At the Democratic National Committee in 1988, was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It main helped President Reed who was the governor of Mississippi in the '70s. As his VP, Arizona Senator Simon Anderson was chosen. Reed was seen as a good governor, an ok vice president and a mediocre president. Nothing domestically. Nothing foreign policy wise.

It was as though President Reed wanted to coast through his term. But he didn't. Mainly because Congress was controlled by the Republicans though out his term. President Reed, in his own words, spent four years as a lame duck. Every time he wanted to do something, Congress blocked him, every time Congress tried something he would wither veto it or begrudgingly sign it. It was no way to run the country.

 

[rick007]

Lorne Hutchinson


Vice President: Victoria Upton


January 15, 1993-January 15, 2001

A Maine man, President Hutchinson attempted to reengage with the rest of the world, which he was moderately successful at. Softening the Cold War with Germany, helping with decolonization, making sure that people at home are safe from crime. This earned him the enmity of Democrats, which they used to make some gains in the 1994 midterms. This, of course, didn't hurt President Hutchinson's popularity much as people were tired of it by this point.

Still there were was enough to give him pause at the 1996 election. Then he beat Senator Jonas Chaplin of Tennessee and Governor Tom Marcus of Illinois. The subsequent four years were a time of economic growth for America and the world. By the end of his second term, President Hutchinson was incredibly popular with 79% approval. The next president would work on that.

 

[rick007]

Victoria Upton


Vice President: Scott Black


January 15, 2001-January 15, 2005

It seems that as soon as she was inaugurated, President Upton's term was cursed. After beating Businessman Harold Trump of New York and Senator Ken Thomas of Maryland, (the first time the Vice Presidential candidates were from the same state; President Upton was governor of Hawaii before she became Vice President), things started to flare up. Many countries were of the opinion that the United States was a second rate power, in spite of their successes in space.

Domestically, President Upton raised taxes on the wealthy and made the Hutchinson Taxes permanent. By the time of the 2004 elections though, there was a recession happening. This ruined any chance of President Upton winning reelection.

 

[rick007]

Harold Winston


Vice President: Harrison Ellsworth


January 15, 2005-January 15, 2013

Riding high off of his election, President Winston was given a huge mandate. The man from Illinois, and his Louisianan Vice President, were planning great things for the country. Thing was, they started to make decisions that would enrich themselves, financially, while at the same time bankrupt the country. They put as much spin on this as possible, and the full extent of all this wasn't known until after they left office.

In 2008, President Winston beat Former Vice President Scott Black of Maryland for President and Senator Joan Adams of Massachusetts for Vice President. Soon after the election, it started to show that maybe the president and vice president were corrupt. Investigations started to wear down President Winston's foreign and domestic policy of doing nothing. Though both men would serve out their terms, their reputations were severely tarnished.

 

[rick007]

Henry Steward


Vice President: Lucinda Cruz


January 15, 2013-

President Steward, who represented Washington in the House and Vice President Cruz, who was a Senator from Puerto Rico, won big in 2012 making him the first African-American President in history, as well as the first Hispanic Vice President in history. While celebrated in some quarters, President Steward was popular in some areas of the country. However, he did manage to lead the country into a new age, setting up new trade relations with Europe, getting a joint American/Russian Mars landing in 2015.

Things are going well for the world. While there are still vestiges of old empires around the world, the people seem content. President Steward won reelection in 2016, over businessman George Trump of New York and Senator Josh David of Kentucky. All told, the world is at a good place right now, all things considered.

 

[rick007]

Coda

But, of course, that didn't happen. Germany invaded Belgium and brought Great Britain into the war. War lead to depression, lead to war again. A Cold War and its proxy wars followed. This was just one view on what could have happened had France mistakenly blundered their way into Belgium. Your view might be different.

With that in mind, I would like, if I may, to take you to another world. You might even get to speak from The Bully Pulpit.