H.W Bush/Dole 1980 (Collaborative Thread)

January 18th, 1985: DC Comics accepts a combined proposal by Steve Gerber and Frank Miller to revamp the Big Three (Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman) to compete with Marvel. Miller proposes a dark take on Batman, reminiscent of the O'Neill-Adams run of the 70's and the recent Spielberg film, in a story called The Dark Knight, where Batman would return from retirement in a future America, and fight an oppressive Superman.
 
August 13 1983: Paul McCartney moves to New York City close to where Lennon lives. Media buzzes about a reunion of the Beatles but Paul states it's just a coincidence.
 
realised we forgot Lebanon, so:

October 14-16, 1981: Believing the PLO will start up operations across the Lebanese border at any moment and since the IDF are already at full mobilisation, Israel launches air raids for three days on PLO positions. Bush and Baker are able to talk Begin into stopping this, with Egyptian brokers reaching out between Israel and the PLO under Sadat's orders - Begin doesn't want too long a war and accepts another informal deal. Defence Minister Arial Sharon, riding high, is unhappy with this and starts internal pressure to go in and not just remove the PLO, but perform regime change in Lebanon.

April 2nd to 12th, 1982: Strikes and rioting in the West Bank, which spread sporadically in Gaza. Gunmen open fire on Israeli soldiers on the 5th, 6th, and 10th, which Sharon uses to claim that the PLO are behind this and action is needed in Lebanon. This is passed on to the US, where Baker advises that Israel could succeed in installing a new government but only bring extra nations into the civil war. Bush orders Nixon to begin talking to the Soviets about Lebanon, on the theme that neither of them want "another" problem in the region.

April 14th-16th, 1982: America proposes a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, as part of a broad ceasefire agreement before upcoming elections - the US Marines will contribute a lion's share of the personel. In what's assumed at the time to be the Soviet's keeping their hand in (but is actually part of Nixon's deal), the USSR supports this and says Azerbaijin Soviet soldiers will be sent too. In Lebanon, the US quietly informs President Sarkis that Israel may attack and that it's in his best interests to cut deals; peace talks are hastily begun under UN supervision and Sarkis reaches out to Amal leader Nabih Berri and Christian leader Bashir Gemayel. Rashid Karami is made PM again.

April 17th, 1982: Sharon is forbidden to attack Lebanon before the peace deal - Begin assumes they may need to go to war later but wants the political cover of the UN failing first. To Begin's outrage, Sharon resigns, publicly calls Begin's leadership into question (including saying "the Baathists are still in Bahgdad"), and implies he'll challenge his leadership in the right-wing coalition.

April 29th, 1982: Multinational Force in Lebanon arrives, with US, Soviet, French, Egyptian, and Turkish soldiers (the Turkish military regime wanting to show off domestically and Egypt wants to be sure hold off Israel & one-up Syria). A very shaky national government has formed but the bulk of the militias have not agreed to stand down, and peacekeepers are shot at early.

May 2nd, 1982: Sharon's leadership challenge fails: Begin had managed to talk enough people in the coalition into supporting him over Sharon, using the defeat of Saddam Hussein as evidence he knows what he's doing and indicating Sharon is too loose a cannon. While Sharon is left in the cold and Israeli ambassadors use this to try & sell Lebanon on how Israel is 'friendly' as long as the PLO stay quiet, Begin is quietly having plans drawn up for the (to him) inevitable PLO war.

May 18th, 1982: Three US Marines on patrol are killed at a refugee camp, during a raid by Christian militias. Bush has the flags lowered at half mast. Polls show the population, relaxed about wars after Iraq, are still in favour.

June 2nd, 1982: French embassy in Beruit is bombed, killing eighteen people. Islamic Amal claims responsibility and Nabih Berri denounces it.

June 9th-10th, 1982: Attack on a nightclub popular with US Marines, killing two. Bush uses this to get Congress to approve sending arms shipments to the "legitimate government of Lebanon", who he hopes will hold off their own threats.

August 21, 1982:
Elias Sarkis is re-elected President of Lebanon. (Behind his back, a disgruntled Bachir Gemayal passes on to the Israelis that he's willing to cooperate if tehy want regime change) He announces that "co-operating militias" will be merged into the army if they stand down in the next week.

October 4th-5th, 1982: US helicopter downed while on patrol over Lebanon, supporting the domestic army against remaining militias. It's clear the militias are being given weapons by Syria - the US sends a sharp warning to Damascus, including a threat that if Israel and Syria go to war again, it won't matter what pretext Israel wants to use.

September 10th, 1983: Multinational Force in Lebanon begins to stand down, including half the US Marines going home. The news sends poll approval of the intervention up to 61%: since Glen Canyon, it had been down to 40%. Behind the scenes, Baker gets approval from Sarkis to set up a permanent small Navy base on the coast.
 
January 15th 1984: A fourth national network is announced. 20th century Fox starts it's own network, the Fox Broadcasting Company. (Fox) Operations will begin in September 1984.

March 1st 1984: 500 East German civilians try to flee to West Germany through the US and French embassy. The GDR allows them to leave the country. Altough the regime in East-Berlin wants to keep it silent they fail miserably as the German TV network ZDF reports on the arrival of the refugees from the GDR. The "ZDF Magazin" hosted by Gerhard Löwenthal presents it as a triumpf of Western superiority.

March 3rd 1984: Heavy rioting near the Brandenburg Gate is being reported by Western journalists. Some reports from Poland say that 4 rioters have been shot.
 
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November 25th, 1983: Senator Joe Biden announces a run for the Democratic nomination in 1984.

March 5th, 1984:
General Secretaey Erich Honecker declares a state of emergency in East Germany.
 
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September 9th, 1983: Threads, a PBS show hosted by Carl Sagan and a sequel of sorts to Cosmos, debuts, exploring topical issues and current scientific discoveries and their connection to the real world. The first episode, taking off from The Day After, follows nuclear war, and all the facets related to it.
 
March 11, 1985: On the CPSU Congress, Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Abalkin declare a policy of "uskoreniye"

July 10, 1985: Start of the first demonstrations in Czechoslovakia and Hungary for the reforms

July 30, 1985: Czechoslovakian leader Gustav Husak was resigned. Lubomir Štrougal became a new Czechoslovakian leader
 
February 9th, 1984: Yuri Andropov dies after serious illness [as OLT]. In speeches he had nominated Mikhail Gorbachev as his successor but these are quietly hidden away by part of the politburo [also as OTL], and Nikolai Tikhonov is shuffled into the role by members who want a 'proper' leader.

March 6th, 1984: The EEC and the foreign ministers of all its members call on East Germany to show restraint, while Bush personally informs Tikhonov that the US is not behind any of this and it can be manageable.

March 8th, 1984: A few dozen East Germans appear in Denmark, having stolen boats and fled across the Baltic Sea (they were actually aiming for Sweden). West Germany tells the confused Danes that it can send them by chartered plane.

March 9th, 1984: Over a hundred East Germans make it to Denmark and Sweden, after news gets across. Honecker orders troops to the coast.

March 10th, 1984:
Thousands of people are at the East German coast and being forced back by increasingly stressed soldiers. Honecker asks Tikhonov for Warsaw Pact assistance.
 
March 12, 1984: USSR refuses to help the GDR because of the war in Afghanistan

March 9, 1985:
Nikolai Tikhonov resigns for health reasons. Mikhail Gorbachev became the new General Secretary. Leonid Abalkin became Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Vladimir Dolgikh became chairman of Gosplan
 
March 11th, 1984: The Leipzig massacre. Honecker wants to end the protests and orders the army to shoot at unarmed civilians. 100 civilians are shot. Unbeknown to Honecker some brave East Germans tape the massacre and they were able to get these to ZDF reporters in East Berlin.

March 13th, 1984 Gorbachev announces on Soviet TV that will no longer endorse stalinist leaders. For Hans Modrow, reformist major of Dresden the signal to contact the Kremlin. A certain KGB agent named Vladimir Putin is assigned to prepare a Coup d'Etat against Honecker.

March 17th, 1984: Gorbachev orders the invasion of East Germany. Soviet Troops were ordered not to harm the civilian population and only to occupy East Berlin and Wandlitz, the residence of the East German politburo. Later that day Honecker was arrested by Soviet soldiers.

March 19th, 1984: Gorbachev annouces that the Soviet Union cannot afford to support East Germany. Modrow is installed as new Secretary General. Under Modrow the "Wende" begins. Germans in East and West call for the end of the Berlin Wall. In Romania an uprising against Nicolai Ceausescu begins in Timisoara.

March 31st, 1984: The Wall as visible border in Berlin will exist. Yet East Germans should be able to travel more freely.

April 25th, 1984: As a sign of good will towards Bonn, all East Germans who desire to celebrate Easter with their relatives are allowed to do so. For the first time both ARD and the Fernsehen der DDR air a Easter Service together. This Easter of Joy will repeated with a Christmas of Reunion

April 30th, 1984: A remembrance day is held in West-Germany to commemorate the fallen in Leipzig

May 30th, 1984: The GDR abolishes the death penalty.

July 1st, 1985: In a televized address to the East Germans, Hans Modrow announces that all remaining travel restrictions are lifted. Helmut Kohl is in the USSR meeting Gorbachev who informed him prior to the speech.
 
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September 16, 1985: The first meeting between Hans Modrow and Lubomir Strougal in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

October 10, 1985:
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev declares a new policy called "The Second Wind" (Vtoroye Dykhanie, counterpart of the OTL Perestroika).
 
November 1st, 1984: Western magazines and papers are allowed in the GDR. Also the reception of Western television is legalized.
 
April 26th, 1984: EEC and its member-states announce a new, open policy with East Germany. Bush's US will announce this too, later in the day, and instructs Nixon to put feelers out to see if the Cold War can thaw with the whole Sov block.
 
December 22, 1985: Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski was resigned. General Czeslaw Kiszczak became new leader of the People's Republic of Poland. Zbignew Messner became new Prime Minister of Poland
 
February 2nd, 1984: Geoffrey Dickens MP hands a dossier in to Home Secretary Roy Hattersley. He claims this contains the names of various high-up paedophiles. Hattersley doesn't really believe there'll be much to it, as Dickens has a reputation for crying paedo, but has this looked into on the quiet. Secretary Cyril Smith is mentioned, which Hattersley has checked in case this is a Tory elephant trap.

February 16-17th, 1984: Evidence suggests Cyril Smith might actually have committed child abuse. A horrified Hattersley discusses this with PM Foot and Deputy PM Steel - who is aghast that his friend might be guilty - and after a sleepless night, the decision is made to order a proper police investigation.

February 20th, 1984: Cyril Smith is not just arrested, a police leak told The Sun about it in advance. The country is shocked and Foot declares a major police investigation, Operation Spotlight, which will "root the bad apples out". By the end of the day, BBC star Jimmy Savile and the Tory Shadow Home Secretary Leon Brittan* have both been charged by members of the public. David Penhaligon, barely noticed, is moved up to Employment Secretary.

March 3rd, 1984: Many of the accused on Dickens' dossier have been cleared but not all - and this day drags in Gary Glitter as well. The country's mood is foul.

March 8th, 1984: The Northern Ireland Executive starts up - a power-sharing body that, until elections can be held in late spring, will be formed of appointees based on the number of MPs each contributing political party has. As the DUP won't be involved, the UUP gets a few extra seats but not enough to drive off Sinn Fein. Williams, Foot, Ashdown, FitzGerald, and Irish Foreign Minister Barry are all in attendance, with the US ambassadors for both countries.

This landmark achievement dominates the morning and afternoon news, but the nighttime news brings a story of a new investigation into Kincora Boys' Home leading to arrests. Ashdown and Hattersley learn in secret that MI5 had been aware of some of it and were using that for blackmail** - the options are to cover it up or go with it. The decision is made to order arrests, both on moral grounds and because they can't trust this won't come out & cause greater damage to the peace process.

March 9th, 1984: MI5 agents are arrested. MI5's chief man in Northern Ireland is allowed to "fall on his sword" and resign, and Director-General John Jones resigns on his own. An all-party statement is made stating "no mercy" on paedophiles in high positions.

April 27th, 1984: Foot and Williams fly into East Berlin for a goodwill visit and meeting with Modrow. (This helps the government following 'paedogate', as they finally have something shiny and new to bring up)


* OOC: I'm skirting hard to the wind with this 'un, I'll admit

** OOC: real allegation, somewhat plausible, in it goes
 
July 30th, 1984: South Prime Minister Treunict and several of his cabinet officials meet to discuss the course of the war, which has been going badly for the government. Treunict declares that he will not submit or negotiate with communists, and will use drastic measures to scare them into submission. He states that he use South Africa's nuclear arsenal if he has to. Several of the ministers are disturbed by this, and fear he might go through with it.

August 4th, 1984: Foreign Minister Pik Botha, Internal Affairs Minister FW de Klerk, Defense Minister Constand Viljoen, and major members of the SADF meet in de Klerk's house. Fearing the nuclear option may be utilized, essentially destroying parts of their nation, and also noting how the war is slowly turning to the opposition, they decide to plot a coup to remove Treunicht and deputy PM Clive Derby-Lewis from power, and begin negotiations to end the war on terms everyone can agree on. However, little do they realize that a mole working for Derby-Lewis was in the meeting, and he reports back to the Deputy PM....
 
January 24th, 1984: Senator Joe Biden wins the Democratic Iowa primary with 43.8%, Senator Gart Hart has 42.3%, Former Vice President Mondale has 13.4%
 
January 17th, 1984: Pat Robertson shocks the nation by announcing he'll run for candidate against Bush.
 
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