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

Given this timeline's trajectory, however, I wonder if we are subbing Gorby for Tereshkova (given her status as the reformer) and Gorbachev likely taking up some mantle of being the "power behind the throne", if you will.

If I remember correctly (could be wrong), the reason why Gorbachev took over after the stop-gap of Chernenko was because of how close he was to Andropov. I think they also holidayed together in the Caucasus on occasion too. So, assuming Andropov still meets him, I strongly suspect Gorby may well end up in the General Secretary seat regardless; especially if Andropov dies and makes his preference for him absolutely clear along with Gromyko still putting his word in.

The fact Grishin pulled Chernenko to cast his vote when he was dying undoubtedly harmed his standing against Gorby. I'm unsure of Grigory Romanov's qualities though.

If it came down to Gorbachev or a Soviet celebrity the party room would probably go for the party man in my opinion - Gorby had been a party functionary for awhile and he didn't just emerge out of nowhere.
 
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If I remember correctly, the reason why Gorbachev took over after the stop-gap of Chernenko was because of how close he was to Andropov. I think they also holidayed together in the Caucasus on occasion too. So, assuming Andropov still meets him, I strongly suspect Gorby may well end up in the General Secretary seat regardless.

If it came down to Gorbachev or a Soviet celebrity the party-room would probably go for the party man.Gorby had been a party functionary for decades and he didn't just emerge out of nowhere.
I hope so. And assuming Bush wins a second term and then Reagan runs for President in the 80's we could see the two man leading their respective countries and bringing the Cold War in TTL to an end.
 
Gorbachev was actually kinda inept. He came to power with much of the Politburo agreeing that something had to be done to protect their cushy positions if nothing else, and alienated the guys who started off as his allies within months.

Not as bad as Yeltsin, but still a bull in a china shop.
 

AeroTheZealousOne

Monthly Donor
I think I need to post this here. Enjoy.

The joke among leftists of varying flavors such as myself is that he sold out the Soviet Union just for a Pizza Hut in Moscow, or something like that. :p
Still I think he did the best he could with the conditions he faced, in all honesty and fairness. Now Boris Yeltsin, on the other hand... I'd probably need to be as much of a drunk as him to even tolerate how awful Russia ended up because of him. Either way, I mentioned earlier on that "General Secretary Tereshkova" has a nice ring to it, it my eyes.

A non-canon news report said:
"Soviet Premier Valentina Tereshkova has publicly announced a major foreign policy victory with the ascension of a new member state to the Warsaw Pact this previous weekend..."


Wait. How did we go from talking about George Bush's re-election campaign to Soviet leadership? The world may never know.
 
Gorbachev was actually kinda inept. He came to power with much of the Politburo agreeing that something had to be done to protect their cushy positions if nothing else, and alienated the guys who started off as his allies within months.

Not as bad as Yeltsin, but still a bull in a china shop.

Which is why, to me, Tereshkova may hold some more weight as a candidate (celebrity or not) as more of just the placating figure with a troika of reformists. Even if a celebrity, her status and support in the Supreme Soviet could be used to the benefit of a solid structure to help counter the hardliners.
 
Which is why, to me, Tereshkova may hold some more weight as a candidate (celebrity or not) as more of just the placating figure with a troika of reformists. Even if a celebrity, her status and support in the Supreme Soviet could be used to the benefit of a solid structure to help counter the hardliners.

Interesting thoughts, perhaps as a compromise candidate then?
 
Also, on the subject of Treshkova, I wonder how hardline she will be with the Warsaw Pact and the Baltic States. The Phophorite War in Estonia for example led to the national awakening that distablised Soviet control over them - I think similar events took place in Lativa with the more haphazard violent events in Lithuania.
 
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Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)
 
Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)
No worries Mr President. We understand. Take your time.
 
Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)


No worries. I totally understand.
 

AeroTheZealousOne

Monthly Donor
Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)

Take your time! I just started college myself and it's quite an investment of my time, so I understand entirely.
 
Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)

Hey, if you think you can do better, then do better. This is an extremely high-quality TL, and it's better to keep the quality high with sparse updates than churn out frequent but less impressive updates. Also, if you need more time for RL or writing, then don't worry about us! We can wait.
 
Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)

Don't stress yourself. I just started college this semester myself.
 
Greetings all!

I just wanted to make a short post letting you all know that neither I nor this TL have died over the past few weeks. :) I've recently gone back to college and moving in and getting back into the swing of things has taken up a lot of my time... Much to my displeasure and the detriment of TTL. :p To make matters worse, I had several more updates ready to post but after some careful thought, I'm beginning to consider rewriting them. I'm not sure when I will be able to do that, but I'm hoping it will be sometime in the next week. Thank you, as always, for your patience. You're the best audience an author could ever ask for. :)

Pleae take all the time you need, we'd rather have quality rather than quantity. (Ok, being honest we'd like to have BOTH, in every half-hour updates during prime viewing hours, every day of the week. But you know authors get SO upset when you make just a few simple requests... And then if you kidnap them and lock them in a remote cabin chained to a chair and computer they complaine insesently for weeks on end... Er, never mind. Really I don't know what that was, just ignore it! :) )

Randy
 
I have been rally reading this for like three weeks and I have to say it is an amazing timeline, President Lincoln deserves what ever this sites version of an emmy is for it. On a personal note I hope that Nixion undercuts Reagan and becomes president in 1980, I prefer his middle road(not quite Rockefeller but not paleoconservative politics) to those of Reagan and as long as he doesn't abuse his power overtly Nixon would probably make a pretty good president.(I confess however that I took a quiz to see what president I'd be the most like and Nixon was the 2nd highest result)
 
n a personal note I hope that Nixion undercuts Reagan and becomes president in 1980, I prefer his middle road(not quite Rockefeller but not paleoconservative politics) to those of Reagan and as long as he doesn't abuse his power overtly Nixon would probably make a pretty good president.
While I would also like to see the emergence of a middle-road GOP ITTL, I have a lot of qualms about a Nixon presidency. Even if he is steered away from some of his more egregious abuses of power from IOTL, the man was generally insecure, jealous, and lacked a very strong moral compass. While he had some great foreign and domestic accomplishment IOTL, many of his other policies and actions (throwing a wrench into the 1968 peace negotiations, price freezes) were detrimental to the wellbeing of the country and entirely self-serving. ITTL, he's shown no inclination towards being much better, and after his firing, his enemies list might actually be a bit longer than IOTL. I'd much prefer a Bush-inspired GOP, operating pragmatically but also relying upon a fundamentally moral and somewhat idealistic set of goals (vote Bush in 76!).
 
Id perfer Reagan to win,I liked him OTL because of his strong convictions and Anti Communism, he seems to have moderated comparitvely from OTL and can keep the party together while keeping it on a fourth right honest path, providing a strong alternative to Democratic Keynsianism.
 
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