Bicentennial Man: Ford '76 and Beyond

It Gets Worse, Iran Edition
"...the Tabas earthquake on September 16 killed as many as 15,000 people, possibly more. The junta's response was anemic, sclerotic, and disinterested; it only further agitated protestors, who poured out into the streets. The regime responded with deploying tanks to patrol Tehran's city streets, further fortifying the city and aggressively beating and rounding up dissidents. When this move extended to well-known clerics, the Ayatollahs responded with outrage, most prominently Khomeini in Iraq..."

- Iran on the Precipice

"...Jahanbani was smooth, he was a really good pitchman for the regime. Flawless English, handsome, casually charismatic. He really helped paper over a lot of atrocities going on in Iran at the time, and was a key part of the pressure campaign to keep Khomeini stuck in Iraq, pressuring Western governments not to accept the spiritual leader many protestors looked to from going somewhere where he might have even more reach. He leaned on Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator at the time, to keep Khomeini under close guard. The pressure was just building and building and building..."

- William Scranton, former UN Ambassador
 
I didn't think the junta would be so disinterested in it. I figured they would've used it the opportunity to go and solidy relations with the Americans and the rest of the West to help Iran with the earthquake and maintain control in the region.

Iran is a time bomb.
 
Well i would love to see whats yoyr twist on the egyptian and israeli relation especially with libya gadaffi actually invaded egypt because of sadat pursuing a more diplomatic approach towards israel (though it happened in 1977 but still interesting regardless) and also fun fact after the israeli shot down libya arab airlines flight 114 gadaffi actually planned to destroy the RMS Queen Elizabeth II by using an egyptian submarine in which sadat refused to do as it would result in military escalation (deepining the rift between the two)
 
Any butterflies with the Equal Rights Amendment? I'm guessing it isn't fairing much better ITTL, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Probably fairly similar, unfortunately. The push to rescind ratification predated the POD and how much sway Ford holds with conservatives is unclear. Could maybe have gotten a longer extension on ratification, who knows. I hadn't really pondered the ERA but may be worth doing something with that in what will be a more liberal US overall.
 
Probably fairly similar, unfortunately. The push to rescind ratification predated the POD and how much sway Ford holds with conservatives is unclear. Could maybe have gotten a longer extension on ratification, who knows. I hadn't really pondered the ERA but may be worth doing something with that in what will be a more liberal US overall.
I figured as much. Although the fact Gerald and Betty Ford were both big supporters of the ERA couldn't have hurt.

I'd recommend watching Mrs. America if you haven't seen it yet, it does a great job looking at the ERA and some of the central figures both for and against it.
 
Probably fairly similar, unfortunately. The push to rescind ratification predated the POD and how much sway Ford holds with conservatives is unclear. Could maybe have gotten a longer extension on ratification, who knows. I hadn't really pondered the ERA but may be worth doing something with that in what will be a more liberal US overall.
Does Congress still pass a joint resolution extending the ratification deadline (as it did in 1978 OTL)?
 
Does Congress still pass a joint resolution extending the ratification deadline (as it did in 1978 OTL)?
For simplicity, and so I can decide what I want to do with ERA later, lets say it does.

I figured as much. Although the fact Gerald and Betty Ford were both big supporters of the ERA couldn't have hurt.

I'd recommend watching Mrs. America if you haven't seen it yet, it does a great job looking at the ERA and some of the central figures both for and against it.

I've been meaning to watch that! I'll have to check it out :)
 
Another Quagmire?
"...car bombs rocked the Colombian capital today and senior military officials expressed concern, off the record, of an exhausted United States military, already spent after the long and fruitless war in Vietnam now having to put fires out across Central and South America. The Panama Canal's repairs are now estimated to not be done until 1981 at the earliest; American forces continue to be increased in Panama, Colombia, and Costa Rica with little end in sight, and every day more murders occur in El Salvador and Nicaragua as fighting threatens to turn into civil wars in both states..."

- Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News, October 1, 1978

"...at some you need to define victory, I think, and that's what we struggled with. How do we know that we can bring troop levels down, when you've got Sandinistas and anti-American forces sweeping to power across the region? When the FARC starts escalating its campaign and targeting Americans? We knew, really, we did know this, that Cubans were inserting operatives across the region more aggressively than ever before. They forgot all about Africa, you know, Ethiopia and Angola or whatnot. Panama was the main event now, and El Salvador, and really the whole region."

- Former Secretary of State George Bush, 1997
 
Thatcher Out, Whitelaw In
"...they really did old Maggie Thatcher, Milk Snatcher dirty. Pinned the whole of the loss on her. I think some of it was old fashioned misogyny, but she wasn't the most likable woman to begin with. So she was out, and Whitelaw was in. Fascinating Shadow Cabinet he started putting together. Who would have thought of Neave as a future Exchequer, Howe for Home Office and Pym as Shadow Foreign Secretary? At any rate, we were on high alert from that moment - we knew what Willie was capable of, he was smart, absolutely fierce in PMQs, caught Jim off guard more than once. Talk started in the ranks that maybe it was Jim's time to go, that he'd delivered us a majority and that it was never going to get any better, and maybe he should leave on his terms..."

- Former Prime Minister Denis Healey

"...Willie helped soothe a lot of the bruised egos within the Tories. To Heathites, he was the loyal soldier who had refused to challenge their man in 1975, a strong figure who they believed could have vanquished Callaghan in a general election. To Thatcherites, he had also been a loyal soldier, who had bought into her agenda and never said a word against her, trying to do nothing but help her earn Downing Street. He was the perfect candidate to unite a Tory party nearly fractured by Heath's incompetence, Thatcher's intransigence, and the changing nature of Britain. He was the right man at the right time, and he knew it..."

- "William Whitelaw: The Best Prime Minister Britain Never Had"
 
1978 Senate Elections
1978 Senate Elections

Alabama - Howell Heflin (D) 100.0%
Alabama (special) - Donald W. Stewart (D) 57.9%,
James D. Martin (R) 40.5%
Alaska - Ted Stevens* (R) 68.6%, Donald Hobbs (D) 31.1%
Arkansas - David Pryor (D) 80.5%, Tom Kelly (R) 12.3%
Colorado - William Armstrong (R) 52.7%, Floyd Haskell* (D) 46.3% (R+1)
Delaware - Joseph R. Biden* (D) 62.0%,
James Baxter (R) 37.0%
Georgia - Sam Nunn* (D) 85.1%, John Stokes (R) 14.9%
Idaho - James McClure* (R) 64.4%, Dwight Jensen (D) 35.6%
Illinois - Marty Russo (D) 50.9%, Charles Percy* (R) 45.3% [1] (D+1)
Iowa - Dick Clark* (D) 49.9%,
Roger Jepsen (R) 49.1% [2]
Kansas - William Roy (D) 49.0%,
Wayne Angell (R) 48.8% [3] (D+2)
Kansas (special) - Martha Keys 49.4% (D) ,
Keith Sebelius* (R) 49.0% [3] (D+3)
Kentucky - Walter Huddleston* 64.0% (D),
Louis Guenther (R) 36.0%
Louisiana - J. Bennett Johnston* (D) 61.4%, Woody Jenkins (R) 38.6%
Maine - William Cohen (R) 52.6%, William Hathaway* (D) 37.9% (R+2)
Massachusetts - Paul Tsongas (D) 58.1%,
Edward Brooke* (R) 41.9% (D+4)
Michigan - Carl Levin (D) 54.1%,
Robert Griffin* (R) 45.9% (D+5)
Minnesota - Walter Mondale* (D) 67.0%,
Al Quie (R) 31.5% [4]
Minnesota (special) - Wendell Anderson (D) 55.5%,
Rudy Boschwitz (R) 44.5% [4]
Mississippi - Thad Cochran (R) 42.3%,
Maurice Dantin (D) 41.8%, Charles Evers (I) 16.6% (R+3)
Montana - Max Baucus (D) 58.7%,
Larry Williams (R) 41.3%
Nebraska - James Exon (D) 70.6%, Donald Shasteen (R) 29.3% (D+6)
New Hampshire - Thomas McIntyre* (D) 53.5%,
Gordon Humphrey (R) 45.7%
New Jersey - Bill Bradley (D) 58.3%, Jeffrey Bell (R) 40.1% (D+7)
New Mexico - Toney Anaya (D) 51.6%,
Pete Domenici* (R) 48.4% (D+8)
North Carolina - Jesse Helms* (R) 50.5%,
John Ingram (D) 49.5%
Oklahoma - David Boren (D) 70.5%, Robert B. Kamm (R) 27.9% (D+9)
Oregon - Mark Hatfield* (R) 57.6%,
Vernon Cook (D) 42.3%
Rhode Island - Claiborne Pell* (D) 80.1%, James G. Reynolds (R) 19.9%
South Carolina - Strom Thurmond* (R) 51.6%, Charles D. Ravenel (R) 48.4%
South Dakota - Larry Pressler (R) 52.8%, James Abourezk* (D) 47.2% [5] (R+4)
Tennessee - Howard Baker* (R) 52.5%,
Jane Eskind (D) 42.3%
Texas - Robert Krueger (D) 53.3%, John Tower* (R) 45.8% (D+10)
Virginia - William Spong (D) 55.8%,
Richard Obenshain (R) 44.2% [6] (D+11)
West Virginia - Jennings Randolph* (D) 54.5%,
Arch Moore (R) 45.5%
Wyoming - Alan K. Simpson (R), 60.2%, Raymond Whitaker (D) 39.8%

Senate Before Election - 60D, 39R, 1I
Senate After Election - 67D, 32R, 1I

[1] First big switch from OTL - Percy draws a more credible challenger than IOTL in Chicago Congressman Marty Russo and summarily loses. Russo, only 34 at the time, becomes the youngest Senator!
[2] Clark survives, narrowly
[3] We'll get an update on this in more depth but think of this as a reverse Tennessee 1994; the special for the new VP's seat helps drag down the regularly scheduled Senate election too, and a state previously firm in the other party's camp flips all at once
[4] Maybe a better example for the previous WTF in Kansas was OTL Minnesota 1978 - here, Mondale easily cruises, and of course Wendell Anderson's Senate run isn't nearly as toxic.
[5] Abourezk runs for reelection without a Democrat in the White House, but Larry Pressler's apparent flawlessness is just too much to overcome, and despite a *much* narrower margin Pressler gets his promotion to the upper chamber
[6] Richard Obenshain doesn't die in a plane crash, thus making William Spong's return to the Senate - Andrew Miller having defeated Henry Howell in 1977 and winning the Governor's mansion as a result - much easier than if he had to faceoff against John Warner
 
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Oh btw did ted bundy still got arrested in 1978? And did the unabomber succeed in carrying out his plan? (as the first bomb detonated in 1978 i believe)
 
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