Blue Skies in Camelot: An Alternate 60's and Beyond

[AeroTheZealousOne]

Left-Wing Terror

The RAF in Germany? Black Panthers?

Aid for New York City

Well, Ford manages to about his gaffe here, I believe... considering he is not President.

A fine update, Mr. President! Keep it up.

 

[Bene Tleilax]

How's Lamar Alexander?

 

[President_Lincoln]

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement about the update! I'm finishing up with this semester at long last in three weeks or so, so expect the updates to return and hopefully my responses to your questions as well. I'm thrilled you enjoyed seeing freedom come to Iberia, and I have some big plans in store for the next few chapters.

How's Lamar Alexander?

Lamar Alexander is doing pretty well for himself. After working as a top aide for Senate Minority Whip Howard Baker (R - TN) for several years in the late 1960's, Alexander started looking to start his own political career in earnest. He ran for and won a U.S. House Seat in 1974, and is currently facing reelection come '76, though he is expected to easily win. From there, who knows? Maybe a Gubernatorial run in '78?

The RAF in Germany? Black Panthers?

A fine update, Mr. President! Keep it up.

Thank you, @AeroTheZealousOne! I'm glad you enjoyed the update. Both the RAF and the Black Panthers continue to exist ITTL, so they're both possibilities to be highlighted next update.

 

[President Earl Warren]

Thank you, @AeroTheZealousOne! I'm glad you enjoyed the update. Both the RAF and the Black Panthers continue to exist ITTL, so they're both possibilities to be highlighted next update.

Also the lovely folks at the SLA, speaking about them, hows patty Hearst doing? hopefully shes not killed (like literally every other tl) or brainwashed (like otl)..

 

[AeroTheZealousOne]

"the only good thing the ETA ever did"

You're right about the ETA thing, that does have the makings of a movie.

Well, they gave Spain's space program a good place to start.

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement about the update! I'm finishing up with this semester at long last in three weeks or so, so expect the updates to return and hopefully my responses to your questions as well. I'm thrilled you enjoyed seeing freedom come to Iberia, and I have some big plans in store for the next few chapters.

Thank you, @AeroTheZealousOne! I'm glad you enjoyed the update. Both the RAF and the Black Panthers continue to exist ITTL, so they're both possibilities to be highlighted next update.

You're welcome! Let's see how the Seventies see-saw from here, shall we?

 

[Davies]

Also the lovely folks at the SLA, speaking about them, hows patty Hearst doing? hopefully shes not killed (like literally every other tl) or brainwashed (like otl)..

Sadly, she was killed.

 

[President Earl Warren]

Sadly, she was killed.

Ahh... Hope they were caught.

 

[President_Lincoln]

Chapter 93: If I Needed You - The Reagan Commission, ERA, Weather Underground, and New York City’s Woes​

Above: Vice President Ronald Reagan answers reporters’ questions about his investigation into illicit domestic operations by the CIA, called the Reagan Commission.​

“Dutch” Reagan’s time in Washington had exposed him to a myriad of bad behavior in government, and he didn’t like it any more two years into his time as Vice President than he did the moment he first swore the oath of office. “The Sheriff of Sacramento” had long built an image for himself as America’s cowboy crusader for simplicity, honesty, and necessity in government. For this reason, the corruption and shadowy behaviors being exposed throughout the early to mid 1970’s by journalists and congressional hearings seemed the perfect issue for the Vice President to tackle, especially as he and President Bush strove to forge a constructive partnership without stepping too harshly on the toes of House Speaker Gerald Ford (R - MI) and other, more moderate congressional Republicans. To that end, when President Bush announced on January 4th, 1975 the creation of the President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States, to investigate the domestic activities of the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies, the VP was placed at its head. The Committee was initially founded in response to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post and the New York Times’ damning discoveries about illegal counter espionage and sabotage operations happening at home. The American people were outraged by what they read and turned to Washington demanding answers. When the CIA was first founded, it was not given jurisdiction, so to speak, to operate on American soil. Its spying operations were exclusively meant to gather and protect information from abroad. American citizens should never fear being targeted by their own intelligence community. For Reagan, such flagrant abuses of unchecked power fit snugly into his growing narrative of the federal government’s overuse and abuse of authority. For the Gipper, his role on the Committee brought him joy and fulfillment. After years of moderating his stances, compromising on the issues and the numbers, and consensus building to strengthen the GOP as a whole, Reagan could finally come out swinging hard against some blatant, objective evil. He would be given the chance once again to play the white hat hero in the eyes of the American people, and for “Rawhide” Reagan, that was a dream come true. It was what he had gotten into politics to do in the first place. Newspapers framed the charismatic VP as a “proud defender of individual liberty” as he grilled former CIA agents and department heads in closed door hearings on Capitol Hill. The secrets Reagan uncovered disturbed him greatly, particularly those pertaining to the mysterious project MK-ULTRA.


Later colloquially called “the mind control project”, MK-ULTRA was the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the CIA and were, in almost all cases, highly illegal. These experiments were intended, originally, to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through the use of mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. Officially sanctioned during the Dulles-Eisenhower years in 1953, the project was reduced in scope as a result of increased Kennedy era oversight in 1964, further curtailed by JFK once again in 1967, and finally halted shortly after George Romney took office in 1969, at least officially. Rumors, speculation, and conspiracies abound that the program survived its ‘69 shutdown in some form, and Vice President Reagan was gravely concerned that this could be the case as he began digging through the files along with Senator Frank Church (D - ID) and the rest of the Committee. According to internal CIA reports, American and Canadian citizens were used as unwitting test subjects, given LSD and other chemicals, subjected to hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse (including the sexual abuse of several children being used as subjects), and other forms of torture, all in the name of learning the nuts and bolts, ins and outs of the human mind. These experiments were conducted across more than 80 complicit institutions, including colleges and universities, prisons, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies. Individuals within these organizations were paid tremendous bonuses by the CIA to keep quiet about their activities, and many lied to journalists and investigators in order to help keep their operations a secret. It was “deep state” overreach at its most blatant and traumatizing.

As if MK ULTRA alone wasn’t a repulsive enough discovery for the Reagan Commission to make, further digging into formerly private CIA memoranda from the end of Allen Dulles’ tenure at the head of the Agency revealed references to another ominous proposed project in conjunction with the military and Department of Defense: Operation Northwoods. Proposed and nearly implemented around the end of 1961 after the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Operation Northwoods was essentially a complicated series of plans to have CIA operatives perform false flag operations on American soil against American citizens and military targets, then blame it on Cuba in order for the U.S. to have justification for a formal invasion of Cuba, with the eventual objective being the removal of Fidel Castro’s regime from power. Some of these horrific ideas included the possible assassination of Cuban immigrants to the U.S., sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking commercial airliners, blowing up a U.S. Naval Vessel, and orchestrating violent terror attacks on major U.S. cities. President John F. Kennedy, absolutely livid and dismayed by the very idea of the proposals, rejected them immediately and ordered then Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to shut down the project indefinitely. He also fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Lyman Lemnitzer and replaced him with the more understanding, compassionate commander General Maxwell D. Taylor, whom he correctly believed would never again allow such proposals to reach the Resolute Desk. Since 1962, none of the operations laid out in Northwoods were ever put into action, though they still served as a terrifying reminder of what could have been in the midst of Cold War hysteria. Vice President Reagan, upon reading about this Orwellian nightmare, decided that enough was enough and that it was time to bring the leviathan Central Intelligence Agency to heel. Reagan and Senator Church ultimately allowed MK ULTRA and Northwoods (or as much as declassified about it, which admittedly, wasn’t much) to be publicized by bombshell articles in The Washington Post, New York Times, and Boston Globe. They also recommended for the creation of a permanent Senate Committee on Intelligence to provide oversight and transparency to a greater degree for the federal government. They also called for amendments to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, originally signed by President Kennedy back in 1966. This was fiercely opposed by Donald Rumsfeld (R - IL), ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, as well as White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney, who believed that such changes would critically weaken the CIA’s intelligence gathering capabilities. Almost all of the Commission's’ recommendations, including the permanent committee would wind up being accepted however, with Senator Church becoming the first Chairman of it upon its creation. After a nearly six month investigation, Vice President Reagan announced that he believed the Commission had achieved its goals and gave a press conference from CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia alongside newly confirmed CIA Director Robert E. Cushman, Jr.


In his speech before the news cameras, Reagan laid out the values he hoped the “new” CIA would stand for: “It is not enough, of course, to simply collect information. Thoughtful analysis and well-reasoned judgement are vital to sound decision making here in Langley. The goal of our intelligence analysts can be nothing short of the truth, even when that truth is unpleasant and unpopular. We must make decisions based on our beliefs and our moral convictions, not just what is expedient or easy. I have asked for honest work, and objective analysis, and the President and I shall expect nothing less. Whether you work in in Langley or a faraway nation, whether your tasks are in analysis or operations, it is upon your intellect and integrity, your wit and intuition that the fate of freedom rests for millions of your countrymen and for many millions more all around the globe. You are the trip-wire across which the forces of repression and tyranny must stumble in their quest for global domination. You are called upon today to act like it. You, the men and women of the CIA, are the eyes and ears of the free world. We are rightly regarded a candid and open people who pride ourselves on our free society. Even if your work requires secrecy, you must not take advantage of the trust placed in you by the hearts and minds of the American people. In this country, no one is above the law, period.”


Reagan came out of the whole experience looking like a strong advocate for the good of the nation and for civil liberties, and the administration managed to win back some trust from the public as well. Though President Bush was happy to finally be on the receiving end of some positive press coverage, he was also nervous somewhat that his popular, charismatic VP would overshadow him in the weeks and months to come. He turned to White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney and asked him to “find an issue” that Bush could own and really push on the hill, take the lead on himself. Cheney came up with two: the fledgling Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a popular, bipartisan effort to standardize special education across the nation; and the metric conversion act, which Cheney believed that the President could spin as an effort to strengthen America’s trade position with the rest of the world. The fact that the Vice President was vehemently opposed to the metric system made the initiative a subtle snub as well, which only added to Cheney’s belief that it was the right place for Bush to put his political capital. Both IDEA and the Metric Conversion Act would pass Congress and be signed into law by the end of the year, marking big steps of progress in Special Ed and announcing that the U.S. would begin its transition to the metric system, hopefully completing the switch by 1982.

Above: Newsweek wrote a very positive review of the Vice President’s performance as leader of the Commission, and even went so far as to write that Reagan: “has developed into a capable, respectable leader of the Republican Party as a whole during his time in Washington… no longer merely a paleoconservative, right-wing bomb thrower and provocateur, Reagan is now showing himself to be a possible future Commander-in-Chief in the making.”


The Vice President responded to President Bush’s legislative sweep with his typical smile, but also refused to be sidelined again. Now that he was influencing real policy, Reagan insisted on continuing that trend. He and President Bush were able to come to agreement about promoting freedom and democracy in Latin America, essentially, the United States’ backyard, though in the past, they had butted heads over Bush’s support for friendship with Chile’s Allende government. To help develop a more worldly perspective for his number two, Bush dispatched the Vice President to complete a “goodwill” tour of South and Central America, shaking hands with foreign heads of state, and hopefully gaining an “appreciation for the intricacies of democracy in action abroad.” The trip went better than even the President could have anticipated. Reagan’s sunny optimism and charisma endeared him to every country he stopped at along the way, and several leaders, especially Salvador Allende of Chile, President Carlos Madrazo of Mexico, and President Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela impressed upon Reagan the idea that leaders of differing ideological backgrounds can come together in the name of supporting individual liberty and free government. Though the Vice President would never agree with the Social Democrats and socialists he encountered along the voyage, he grew to appreciate their perspective, obviously very different from his own, and couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps it was best to let democracy take its course at it would when determining a country’s economic system. So long as they believed in democratic values like freedom of speech, the press, and religion, Reagan came to believe that they could be friends and allies of the United States and the rest of the free world. Madrazo especially, the beloved, fierce liberal reformer of the U.S.’s southern neighbor, convinced Reagan to reevaluate his “anti-leftist” stance and teach him to prefer democracies, true democracies to either right wing dictatorships, or authoritarian communism.

…​

Also making news in 1975 was, after long last, the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment by enough of the states for it to be officially adopted as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. When the State Legislature of Nevada voted to ratify by a single Aye on February 17th, 1975, massive celebrations broke out in major cities and even small towns across the country. Betty Friedan, Marilyn Monroe, and other Women’s Rights Activists rejoiced hat after years of push-back and delay, women would finally receive equal treatment and protection under the law, guaranteed by the Supreme Law of the Land. Of course, this would not be the end of Second Wave Feminism, activists in the movement still had a long way to go toward achieving true equality between the sexes, but as U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm (D - NY) said at a pro-ERA rally held in Manhattan the day it was ratified: “It’s about damn time!” Chisholm, an early advocate for the ERA in the Democratic Party, and one of the most prominent progressive politicians in the country, also used the opportunity of the ratification parties to announce, after much speculation on the part of major media outlets, that she would once again seek her party’s nomination for President in 1976. The announcement galvanized the left in America, as Robert F. Kennedy’s implicit exclusion from the Democratic Primary races meant that the liberal vote was largely unchained to any one candidate. The “unbought, unbossed” Chisholm had shocked the establishment with her strong performances in the New York and New Jersey primaries back in 1972, and inspired millions of progressive Americans to take part in a campaign they could really believe in. The iconoclastic New York Congressman Gore Vidal (D) called Chisholm’s first campaign “an inspiration” and offered his immediate and unequivocal endorsement to her the second time around as well. Congresswoman Phyllis Schlafly (R - IL) and other opponents of the ERA meanwhile vowed to “fight this monster” on an issue by issue basis, and refused to submit to a world “where women could be drafted or not granted the special protection they need by the law”. Chisholm shot back that “Women don’t need to be protected. We need to lead.” Over the next several decades, the number of women who voluntarily joined the military skyrocketed, and the first female soldiers would see combat in limited interventions by the end of the 1980’s.


Chisholm and Senator Kennedy, who was up for reelection in 1976, were not the only New York politicians in national headlines. U.S. economic “stagflation” in the Mid 70’s hit New York City particularly hard, amplified by a burgeoning movement of middle class New Yorkers to the suburbs, robbing the City of desperately needed tax revenue. As the situation worsened under Mayor John Lindsay (R) in the late 60’s and early 70’s, Fiercely conservative Governor Jim Buckley (R) made his position on helping the city with state funds or loan relief clear: the city was SOL. Buckley denounced “big city liberalism” for ruining the Big Apple and said that only through bankruptcy could the city learn to live within its means once more and turn a new leaf, regardless of the suffering or consequences this might entail. As one can imagine, this made Buckley a loathed individual by nearly everyone in the city by the end of his term in Albany. Buckley had earned the respect of many upstaters with his “tough talk” with the city, but even most New Yorkers outside of Manhattan knew that the Big Apple was the economic heart of the state. When the city suffered, the state suffered, and many began to push back and demand he help them set their house in order. Buckley’s opponent for reelection in 1974 was Democrat Hugh Carey, a tough Irish-American Congressman from Brooklyn, a decorated veteran of the Second World War (with several medals to prove it), and a man with a deep abiding love for the city he called home. Carey denounced Buckley’s “abominable rhetoric” and insisted that the race for Governor was “about helping as many people as possible” not about “spouting vitriol from some ivory tower built by his [Governor Buckley’s younger brother Bill’s] hubris”. It was a tight race, but thanks to near unanimous support from New York City, Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse, Congressman Carey was narrowly elected over Governor Buckley. As soon as he took office in January, 1975, Governor Carey and newly elected Mayor of New York, Abraham Beame (D) took stock of the situation and developed a new course of action.

Under Mayor Beame and his predecessor, the city had run out of money to pay for normal operating expenses, was unable to borrow more, and faced the prospect of defaulting on its obligations and declaring bankruptcy. The city admitted an operating deficit of at least $600 million, though the actual total city debt was more than $11 billion all told. Because the city had failed to show signs of progress toward financing and paying back this debt, it was also unable to borrow additional money from credit markets. There were numerous reasons for the onset of the crisis. These included overly optimistic forecasts of tax revenue, general underfunding of pensions, the city’s use of capital expenditures for operating costs, and overall poor budgetary and accounting practices. The city’s government was also reluctant to confront municipal labor unions, a charge which Governor Carey admitted on the campaign trail that “Governor Buckley was correct needed changing”. Shortly after Carey took office, Beame assumed pressure from Albany would ease, so he laid off on Buckley-era plans for austerity. An announced "hiring freeze" which was supposed to help cut costs was followed by an increase in city payrolls of more than 13,000 people in one quarter. Further, an announced layoff of eight thousand workers resulted in only 436 employees actually leaving the city payroll. Furious, Governor Carey began to apply his own pressure on the Mayor to “get serious” about the crisis that he had helped to propagate. To do this, Carey turned to the State Legislature and created a drastic solution: the Emergency Financial Control Board (EFCB). A state controlled organization, EFCB had a seven-member board at its head, with only two of those seats being given to representatives of the city. Carey loved New York, but he knew that sometimes, tough love was necessary. The EFCB took full control of the city’s budget and began implementing major reforms. An actual wage freeze for city employees was instituted, as was a major layoff which cut thousands of employees off of city payrolls. Subway fares, bus fares, and other city services were raised for the first time in decades, and tuition would finally be charged at the City University of New York. The Legislature also helped the City by allowing the EFCB to be funded by State taxes, something Governor Buckley had refused to do in his own austerity plans. Buckley’s proposal would have had city sales tax go to the State until such time as any sort of Board was no longer necessary, and would have expected the city to reach a balanced budget within three years. Governor Carey’s plan was somewhat more forgiving. At the urging of his Lieutenant Governor, the vehemently liberal Mario Cuomo, Carey gave the City five years to get its books in order, and allowed for New York to keep its own sales taxes. Despite all of this however, the city was in such bad shape, that the value of its municipal bonds, which it was using to try and pay back its debt, continued to decline and decline. Bankruptcy still seemed inevitable unless painful cuts or help from outside the city presented themselves. Thankfully for New York, its senior Senator, Robert F. Kennedy (D) stepped up to the plate.


Never one to stand by and watch injustice and suffering occur right in front of him, Kennedy took to the streets of the city, walked its poorest districts and hardest hit burroughs, and got to know the individuals who were feeling the pain of this crisis the most. When the ECFB recommended closing hospitals and library branches in order to help close the deficit, Kennedy was furious. “Where are the poorest among us to receive medical care, or have access to knowledge and a decent education?” Kennedy demanded. “Are we to rob the least fortunate to help pay for the mistakes of the wealthy and powerful?” Appearing alongside labor activists and the common people of New York, Kennedy delivered an impassioned speech in front of city hall, in which he called on Mayor Beame to resign and for “our friends all over the country and serving in Washington to alleviate the needless suffering of the millions of Americans in this, our nation’s greatest city.” He appealed directly to President Bush, who was already under pressure from conservative forces to limit spending to decrease the federal deficit, and had previously told The Associated Press that he would not ‘give the city a bailout’ to ‘reward it for its fiscal irresponsibility’. To the President, Kennedy pleaded: “It is not the people of New York who asked to live in a city undergoing a financial crisis. Many who have the means to leave it behind have already done so in a bid to escape. It is not the people of New York who created and continue this crisis. A failure of leadership should not mean the failure of a city, especially one with so long and proud a history as this one. I humbly beseech you, Mr. President, to recall the kinder, gentler nation you wanted to create in your inaugural address, and help us to make that dream a reality by giving this great city the financial support and confidence it needs to find renewed leadership and a way out of the dark place it now finds itself in. We New Yorkers are known for our toughness, our tenacity, our grit. But we are also known for our heart and for our spirit. We will endure this crisis, but we call on those with the power and responsibility to help to do so.” Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young joined with Senator Kennedy in calling the President out on his failure to help New York City in its time of need by writing, recording, and releasing the song “Rockin’ In the Free World” - a bitterly cynical, sarcastic takedown of the Bush Administration, in which Young denounces Bush as a “phony friend” who promises “a thousand points of light for the homeless man” and a “kinder, gentler machine gun hand.” The song skyrocketed to number one on the billboard singles chart and together with Kennedy’s popularity and clout, finally pressured the President, who did hope to be reelected the following year after all, to provide some aid to the beleaguered City. In November of 1975, Bush signed into law the New York City Seasonal Financing Act of 1975, a Congressional bill that extended $2.3 Billion worth of federal loans to the city for three years. In exchange, Congress ordered the city to increase charges for city services, to continuing to reduce or at least freeze the wages of city employees, and to let go “any and all unnecessary workers”. To put icing on the cake of Senator Kennedy’s success, Mayor Beame resigned in disgrace shortly after Kennedy’s speech at City Hall, succeeded by his Deputy Mayor, Harrison J. Goldin, who promised not to seek a term of his own in 1977. Kennedy, who badly needed a victory to reaffirm his status as “the champion of the common man” after the investigation into his early conduct as Attorney General and his brother’s affair with and subsequent marriage to Sharon Tate, got that win in his heroic stand for the city he loved. Though his Senate seat was definitely still “under threat” in the year to come, Bobby Kennedy, it seemed, was beginning to rediscover his voice and return to his crusading roots. He proved that he was still the nation’s leading liberal voice for hope.

These combined efforts, along with modest decreases in entitlement spending, and strongly held ground against municipal unions in refusing pay increases started to turn the tide for the Big Apple. Thanks to Kennedy and Carey’s efforts, federal aid, and the diligent work of the ECFB, the city eliminated its short term debt by 1977 and that same year, elected Herman Badillo, a relative fiscal conservative, to be the city’s first Puerto Rican Mayor. Badillo and Governor Carey developed a strong working relationship and by 1985, ECFB was formally disbanded and New York City announced that it was running a surplus for the first time in decades. Badillo’s term as Mayor would also be characterized by large scale urban renewal and beautification projects, and the passage of tax incentives and other initiatives to bring middle class, largely white Americans back into New York to grow the city’s tax base and promote continued diversity, as well as fight against developing economic de facto segregation in the city’s public schools. “America’s City” still had a long way to go toward solving its issues, but through tough decisions and strong leadership, New York led the nation to believe that there was a chance of emerging at the end of the Seesaw Seventies in a better, stronger place than it began them. This was, of course, not the end of the trouble the 70’s brought however.

…​

Meanwhile, across the country, in San Francisco, California, a disaffected, confused, tortured young woman named Sara Jane Moore struggled to find a way out of her own personal crisis. Born February 15th 1930 to Ruth and Olaf Kahn, a pair of German immigrants in Charleston, West Virginia, Moore had previously been a nursing student, Women’s Army Corps recruit, and an accountant, as well as a five time divorcee with four children by 1975. In the late 60’s, she made her way to San Francisco to be a part of the burgeoning hippie culture, wherein, she hoped to find inner peace and meaning that she could not in her conservative home and Christian background. She tried to find religion, practicing Judaism, then Buddhism, and several others before giving up on that notion. Prayer’s answers came a little slower and more incomplete than she would have liked. Like so many wayward children of the sixties, she eventually turned to extreme politics as an avenue to search for meaning in her twisted world. After attending a rally in support of the Communist Party USA, Moore went to a bar in downtown San Francisco where she met a young far-left revolutionary named Terry Robbins. After sharing a few beers and discussing politics and Moore’s growing sense of disillusionment, Robbins revealed that he was a part of the Weather Underground, a once fierce but now dying terrorist organization that sought to violently overthrow the American government and end U.S. Imperialism. Robbins shared that he was nearly killed in an attempted bombing in Greenwich Village, New York City back in 1970, and had moved out west to escape the authorities for a while. Not wanting his time on the West Coast to be a waste however, he was looking to recruit new members and plan attacks in this part of the country as well. To Moore, a naive, scared woman with nowhere else to turn, the fast talking, violently confident Robbins was a possible answer. She agreed to start attending clandestine meetings with the group and listening to them discuss the evils and hypocrisies of Governor Jim Roosevelt and his “fake friend, imperialist cronies” down in Washington. It was also around this time that she decided that she wanted to do something meaningful to advance the group’s agenda. She had no idea what it would be yet, but she knew she would make it count for all the years of wandering and failure she had endured.

Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: The Race for the Democratic Nomination Begins​

 

[EbolaMan131]

Another good update
The Reagan Commission was interesting
Also looks like the Weather Underground is going to make a comeback

 

[historybuff]

Great update. Great to see Reagan's respecing other Democratic governments. Great news for New York. The last, afraid I don't recognize the name.

 

[President Earl Warren]

great to see Reagan being a badass, Im begging to think He might need it if this line is anything to go on:

It was also around this time that she decided that she wanted to do something meaningful to advance the group’s agenda. She had no idea what it would be yet, but she knew she would make it count for all the years of wandering and failure she had endured.

Im begging to fear another change in the White House is coming.

 

[Worffan101]

So NYC brute-forced a solution with neoliberal nonsense, and Reagan inadvertently sparked 3 billion conspiracy theories? Ouch.

 

[Pokemon Master]

Great update. Great to see Reagan's respecing other Democratic governments. Great news for New York. The last, afraid I don't recognize the name.

She was one of Gerald Ford's attempted assassins OTL

 

[Alpha-King98760]

Great see to Reagan doing good. Also dammit, not the Weather Underground!!

 

[Salvador79]

Wow, I can't believe I would ever say such a thing, but this Reagan is really one I like. No, I love him! He's certainly done some good to the whole world, curbing, denouncing, discouraging and preventing secret police overreach as well as ceasing to support US backing of right-wing dictatorships in Latin America (even though the latter was probably a tad too good to be true?). Actually, he's been doing the opposite of what his GOP successors in office have done (especially Dubya's Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and waterboarding issues) IOTL. He's developing in the direction of what Europeans call a "liberal" (un liberal, ein Liberaler): economically pro-free market and capitalist, geopolitically a torch-bearer for the free world and anti-Eastern bloc, but also pro-individual liberties and democracy everywhere.

Also, awesome developments concerning ERA and metric conversion.

Hopefully, terrorism isn't going to destabilise everything... but I fear it might... Well, it's a highly plausible plight of the 1970s (and not only then, of course).

 

[Salvador79]

Needless to say, if Reagan's Committee legacy lasts, we'll never see popular serials like "Alias" or "Homeland"...

 

[Ogrebear]

Very nice chapter there @President_Lincoln - this VP Reagan seems to finally learnt democracy comes in many forms.

Good to read of the clean-up in NYC - that should change the City's 'murder hotspot' rep going forward. Go Kennedy!

 

[USS_Ward]

Every time i read this timeline it kind of makes me wish that our history was like this timeline's one...

*sadness noises*

 

[Unknown]

Like how Reagan is changing his views (and I like this Reagan better than OTL, BTW...)

Good to read that NYC will be doing better--maybe it won't be "basically The Purge" (1) in the 1980s ITTL...

Oh, God, something's gonna happen to Bush, isn't it? I had the same feeling of dread when Pierre Trudeau took his vacation in Los Angeles...

Wonder what happens to the Weather Underground ITTL (IOTL, the explosion that killed several WU members occurred next door to where Dustin Hoffman was living at the time; kill him off and there's butterflies, to put it mildly...)

BTW, the song "If I Needed You" was sung by none other than Townes Van Zandt and released in 1972, so congrats for continuing the pattern, @President_Lincoln, and waiting for more, of course...

 

[AeroTheZealousOne]

It was also around this time that [Moore] decided that she wanted to do something meaningful to advance the group’s agenda. She had no idea what it would be yet, but she knew she would make it count for all the years of wandering and failure she had endured.

Oh dear...

Reagan inadvertently sparked 3 billion conspiracy theories

I actually found this part quite hilarious in its own right.

(and I like this Reagan better than OTL, BTW...)

Makes two of us, Unknown.

Oh, God, something's gonna happen to Bush, isn't it? I had the same feeling of dread when Pierre Trudeau took his vacation in Los Angeles...

As much as I like TTL's Reagan better than his OTL self, perhaps not seeing him as President would... well, I'm not sure what to say here.

BTW, the song "If I Needed You" was sung by none other than Townes Van Zandt and released in 1972, so congrats for continuing the pattern, @President_Lincoln, and waiting for more, of course...

The playlist was accordingly updated since I missed it earlier today, and @President_Lincoln did good on that promise to rectify the fact that Townes Van Zandt didn't appear at all on the soundtrack of a timeline where he's much better off. Excellent update, as always!