DBWI: Carter Wins in 76?

Hi all,
This topic is inspired by 2 TV Programmes I've seen this past week.

The first one featured an interview with Ex-Senator, former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, who was of course the 1976 democratic candidate for the US presidency.

The second was that documentary '48 and 76: What Happened?'-which was repeated on the History Channel the other day. I hear the groans from everyone who believes that comparison had been done to death even before Charley Wolfe made that programme (1), but I find it amazing that in 1976 Ford actually beat Carter (2).

So lets say that 'The Democratic Dewey' beats 'The Republican Truman'

What happens to the US (and the world)?

Who would Carter pick for his cabinet? He's not experienced at foreign policy in particular and part of his initial appeal was his lack of experience (and anti-corruption credentials).
Would President Carter have had any more luck in dealing with the events of the late 70's than Ford did IOTL?
I respect Carter's work as a senator, but I personally think his lack of national/international experience at this time would have counted against him, so I'm inclined to say no on that.

Who do the GOP nominate in 1980? Dole as in OTL perhaps? Is Reagan a possibility here? Is Carter able to win a second term?

Would love your responses.

Ooc: (1) ITTL, I can imagine historians comparing the 1948 and 1976 elections to the point where it gets tiresome for many people. Both winners (Truman and Ford) had to fight off challenges to their nomination, despite being the sitting president at the time. Both won a close election against the odds and both were unpopular at the time their presidencies finished.
(2) The pod is no soviet domination Gaf.
 
Carter may have had an easier time in his first year than Ford did because of the whole "not really elected" accusation thrown around. It was rather interesting for political scientists that Ford was not elected President (or VP) at first, and then actually lost the popular vote* to Carter (who actually won an absolute majority of 50.01%!) in '76, but that whole mess along with the ugly recounts in Ohio and Wisconsin really hurt his legitimacy in the eyes of much of the nation by January 20th 1977.

It's a shame really because I think that Ford was an honorable person and a good President, he just was President at the wrong time. Carter should count his lucky stars he didn't have to govern through those messy 4 years!



*OOC: based on the "what if" section of the David Leip's Atlas website for 1976; Ford wins an extra fifty thousand or so votes with just enough in WI and OH to tip the Electoral College while losing the popular vote.
 
Assuming the Economic & Energy Crises and Iranian Revolution don't get Butterflied away, He gets Landslided in 1980 like Dole did in OTL.
 
Oh man, no President Moonbeam!:eek:

I don't even want to think about it.

Even worse: thast would mean no First Lady Linda Rondstat! How would we have gotten through the 80's without that? Thankfully, Jerry gave Ted Kennedy a severe beatdown in the primaries leading up to the 1980 election.
 
Assuming the Economic & Energy Crises and Iranian Revolution don't get Butterflied away, He gets Landslided in 1980 like Dole did in OTL.

The Dole-Bush loss in '80 was heart breaking. It was the 1st time I was eligible to vote. Given the political & economic tumult during a 1977-81 Carter presidency it seems probable that he would have lost his bid for re-election. Perhaps Dole (who would have remained a senator had he lost in '76) would have been the 1980 nominee and won in TTL. I wonder, were his 1979 riding accident butterflied away, if Reagan would have run again?
 
Isn`t 1976 sort of Reagan`s last chance for the presidency? Me thinks, he`s to old by 1980 which is after all why the republicans nominated Dole.
 
Isn`t 1976 sort of Reagan`s last chance for the presidency? Me thinks, he`s to old by 1980 which is after all why the republicans nominated Dole.

Well yeah, but his recent injuries didn't help either -- I mean, TBF, he was in the hospital for some very key early months. Though yeah, even if he wasn't, he was old...

OOC: Sorry had to square the comment with Lord Grattan
 
Oh man, no President Moonbeam!:eek:

I don't even want to think about it.

You know, I always hated that nickname. Jerry Brown turned this country around after 12 years of Republican mis-rule, and created one of the most vibrant economies since the 1950s. He was a great President, and every time i hear sme right-wing lunatic call him that, it makes my blood boil. You guys just can't accept that Brown, Mondale and Feingold have made this country strong, while Buchanan nearly destroyed that prsperity with his idiotic policies!
 
^^I always thought of them as having very different strengths -- Brown had the vision thing down, and if you agree with it you're likely to consider him one of the great presidents (though I personally think he's overrated; he was one of our better Presidents, but not top 5). Mondale, much less so, as his single term was busy keeping the fall of the USSR et el from getting violent, holding together the international order under extreme changes, and what have you -- though I'd say that's a much more impressive feat, which is probably why he gets more bipartisan praise, at least regarding foreign policy.

Of course, you ask me, our greatest President in the past 30 years has to be Schwarzkopf -- I know Dems like to praise the 1980's for getting us out of the 1970's rut, but the 1990's were really something else. (I may be biased, since that's when I grew up.) That said, I'm no fan Buchanan either -- the assassin who killed Bush really fucked up the aughts for everybody.

Feingold -- look, I want to like the guy too, but can we at least wait until he's left office to ask whether "made America strong"?
 
Well yeah, but his recent injuries didn't help either -- I mean, TBF, he was in the hospital for some very key early months. Though yeah, even if he wasn't, he was old...

OOC: Sorry had to square the comment with Lord Grattan


I agree w/you John, ultimately the age issue would have doomed Reagan's bid for the 1980 nomination, though prior to his accident he was showing an amazing vitality for "someone his age".

OCC: Thanks JEP. Both for following my lead and for reminding me that I in turn need to follow the path others lay out.
 
On an unrelated note, liberals love to attach themselves to the Brown Presidency. The most successful Democrat since maybe FDR, right? I can agree with that. However, if you actually look at his policies, aside from healthcare, one of the biggest way he beat inflation was with his balanced budget in 1983. That practicallly sealed the deal for him in '84 and before that, people were saying he might be doomed to go down to Bush or someone. All in all, Brown probably had one of the more Conservative economic policies we've seen, well, definitely better than Mondale or Feingold. I wonder what would've happened to Brown in a world without his Presidency. The Senate perhaps? More Presidential runs in 1984 or 1988?
 
I think Brown would still become president in this scenario, just later than OTL.

Had Carter won in 1976 and managed to beat whatever republican in 1980, Brown could be the 1984 nominee.

Asuming Carter loses to the GOP candidate (Dole or Reagan) in 1980 and the economy progresses in a simelar manner, the Republican would probably be a 2-termer. By the time 1988 roles around, Brown would be an obvious democratic candidate. He could wait until 92, 96 or even 2000 if he likes for his shot at the presidency-a seat in the Senate would be a good way of keeping himself politically relevant until he decides to run.

As for those who speculated about Reagan's riding accident earlier on, I think it's almost certainly butterflied away. Without the republicans in office during the late 70's taking the blaim for the economy, the Iranian Hostage Cryses and a number of other things, there's a good chance at least of a republican president in the 80's. Reagan will take that chance and fight for the nomination-though whether he gets it is another issue. I wouldn't rule him out in 1980, he'd be the oldest president had he been elected, though Churchill didn't retire until he was 80. Besides, we all know how the republicans tried to persuade the voaters that Brown was to young and inexperienced for the Whitehouse. It backfired for the GOP then and I can see democrats harping on about Reagan's lack of youth causing simelarly counter-productive consiquences for them.

A Reagan presidency would be... interesting for many reasons. Would love to see a TL on Reagan being president btw, just to see what happens!
 
I think the situation in Iran would've turned out differently, Carter could've negotiated a release of the hostages and more than nine of them (maybe all of them) would've survived. It was absolutely asinine of Dole to order those airstrikes on Tehran, I'm just glad the ground invasion plans were scrapped because that would've turned into a quagmire.
 
I think the situation in Iran would've turned out differently, Carter could've negotiated a release of the hostages and more than nine of them (maybe all of them) would've survived. It was absolutely asinine of Dole to order those airstrikes on Tehran, I'm just glad the ground invasion plans were scrapped because that would've turned into a quagmire.

Quagmire is putting it mildly. Killing the Hostages forced the US into an openly pro-Saddam position, arms shipments, tactical airstrikes and all. Leaving him in possession of much of Iran along the Iraqi border. Maybe if things hadn't turned out so well for him, he wouldn't have tried his little adventure in Kuwait. But then, if he hadn't, no President Schwarzkopf...:eek:
 
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