PoD is Arthur Bremer assassinates Richard Nixon in April of '72, Spiro Agnew rises to the Presidency.
* skip the this if you just wanna see Carson's rise to the presidency, had a bit of fun along the way
Initially it seems as though Agnew is going to moderate his previously brash and confrontational conservative persona that he had embraced during the Vice Presidency. His own Vice Presidential pick is moderate former Senator of California, Thomas Kuchel. Kuchel had been the Senate minority leader up until he was primaried by a relatively unknown conservative superintendent, who would go on to lose to current Senator Alan Cranston in the general election.
On the '72 campaign trail it became very clear that Agnew would not come forward with a moderated or toned down voice. His attacks on the media in particular and increasingly reactionary positions on the growing debates in the country, such as over abortion and busing. Johnny Carson, the popular late night host who had spent his career tiptoeing around politics, finally broke his silence over comments made by Agnew at a campaign rally in Iowa, Carson's home state. On his show the next night Carson famously said "Holy hell, can you believe this man talked like that? He is the President." Which prompted his guest to respond "With a man like that in the White House, you could be President, Johnny." Laughed at then, many people point to this as the moment when Johnny Carson the politician was born.
Truthfully, it was the outcome of the 1972 Presidential Campaign that convinced Carson to get into politics. Agnew's brutal take-no-prisoners attitude would be heavily contrasted by the reserved and respectable George McGovern and his running mate longtime Representative from Arkansas and "the most powerful man in Washington," Wilbur Mills. McGovern sat as far to the Left as Agnew did to the Right, with Mills and Kuchel being moderating voices, but also offering less excitement. Agnew's bombastic and aggressive campaign earning him his first elected term as president, winning by eleven points and well over one-hundred Electoral College votes, deeply upset Carson.
The following two years would only further embitter the late night host, as Agnew pushed the Vietnam War into new theaters and did everything he could to crack down on draft dodgers. Carson would retire from television late in 1973, stating that he "loved being an entertainer" but now he felt that he "must move on to other things, perhaps even more important things."
A lifelong Liberal Republican, Carson re-established his residency in the state of Iowa and then in '74 ran for the open senate set left by Harold Hughes, who was retiring from active politics. Carson was able to secure the Republican nomination despite opposition from the White House, with Agnew publicly campaigning for David Stanley, Carson's Republican opponent. In the general election, Carson eked out a small win, becoming Senator Johnny Carson of Iowa.
In the Senate, Carson was a competent debater and a reliably liberal vote, although noticeably little actual legislation was authored or co-sponsored by him.
In 1975, a massive corruption scandal emerged regarding Agnew's time as Governor of Maryland. Agnew had done everything in his power to suppress the evidence against him, but once it blew open, it wasn't going to go away. Republican Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker famously declared "we need to know exactly what the president did." Several attempts in both Houses proposed articles of impeachment for President Agnew, with two of the Senate proposals being co-sponsored by Carson (although such a declaration would be more symbolic than anything, as only the House can impeach).
Later in '75, President Agnew would resign after being directly told that he had lost the confidence of his own party's leadership and President Thomas Kuchel would select House Minority Leader Gerald Ford as his Vice-President, after it was heavily hinted by the Democratic majority that they would only approve of Ford.
In the '76 election, Kuchel did not seem as though he was going to run until he did. The moderate ticket of Kuchel/Ford was able to easily beat back conservative challengers like Bob Dole and Ronald Reagan, with their wing of the party having been thoroughly discredited by Agnew's scandal. The Democrats, particularly those further to the Left smelled blood in the water and knew this would be their best shot to retake the White House, with Representative Mo Udall being the surprise winner of the crowded race. Udall was a strange man, being well over six feet tall, only possessing one eye, being member of the House of Representatives, a body in which he had attempted to take the Speakership in while still a relatively junior member, and also being a practicing Mormon and extremely funny. Udall would pair himself with the notably boring Washington Senator, Scoop Jackson.
The Udall/Jackson ticket would beat the Kuchel/Ford ticket in a close race, with Kuchel having once again making a surprise loss to a much less experienced opponent and having the Republican hold over the White House. Udall was the second sitting member of the House of Representatives elected to the Presidency, the other being James Garfield. Udall-Lincoln comparisons are extremely cliched by this point but they exist too.
Despite having endorsed his party's nominee, Senator Johnny Carson found himself often allied with the Udall White House as they brought the Vietnam War to an end in '78 and sought to pass a number of liberal economic reforms to fight the ongoing economic slump of staglation. As he became more comfortable in the Senate, Carson grew to be seen as a firebrand Liberal in the Senate and would often be described as "a real bastard" when he felt like somebody had crossed him.
In 1980, the Republican Party was still reeling from Agnew, with all sorts of candidates trying to pull the party in different directions. John Connally, former Democratic Governor of Texas, would emerge as the winner and would pick Liberal Republican Governor Daniel Evans of Washington as his running mate. Johnny Carson notably refused to endorse either President Udall or his challenger, after having been convinced by Senator Howard Baker that endorsing Udall would be political suicide. With the economy in recovery and foreign entanglements having settled down a fair bit, Udall/Jackson wins re-election by a wide margin over Connally/Evans.
In 1981, tragedy strikes when President Udall had a seizure while in San Francisco, having been on his way back from a dinner to woo Democratic donors. Overnight the tone and nature of the White House completely changed with Scoop Jackson becoming Acting President. Soon after, news would come out that Udall had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease during his first term and, over health issues, Udall would resign the Presidency. Jackson was sworn in and would almost seem like a President from a different party. He was a military hardliner, especially when compared to Udall, and would make an enemy out of Senator Carson over the coming years, with his cold unavailability to many of his former Senate colleagues and his confrontational foreign policy strategy that gave Johnny Carson nightmares of Agnew.
*
By 1984, Carson had enough and would announce his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination. In the race before him was now Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, as the race's centrist, and former Missouri Governor, the conservative Kit Bond. He ran a decent campaign that appealed to Liberal Republicans as well as a number of centrists and independents, with the real propelling force behind his strong challenger as an alternative to Baker being his name recognition. Even though it had been over a decade since he had left television, everybody still knew Johnny Carson. He would finish in third, with Howard Baker having secured more than enough delegates for the nomination. Baker made the surprise move of picking Johnny Carson as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Baker/Carson would face off against Jackson/Apodaca, after Scoop had picked Governor of New Mexico, Jerry Apodaca to be his Vice President, the first Hispanic to hold that office. Baker/Carson would focus on the issues, pointing out fumbles on the national stage and a double dipping economy as criticisms of the Jackson Administration. In the end, Jackson's poor campaigning and Baker/Carson's strong message of change were enough to win the election. Jackson's campaign was very hurt by the still popular former President Mo Udall never really endorsing him.
The Baker Administration would become beloved for the economic and social stability as well as the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, which would begin early in 1988 and would be completely dissolved in '90 with the declaration of the United Russian Republics. During this time, Vice President Johnny Carson would be a liberal influence on the centrist President, encouraging support just outside Baker's initial comfort zone, like publicly dealing with the AIDS Crisis. President Baker would easily win re-election in '88, with Jerry Apodaca now heading the Democratic ticket paired with the very liberal New York Senator Mario Cuomo.
In 1992, riding on the successes of the Baker Administration, Johnny Carson would run for and win the Presidency.