Chapter XVIII: Old vs New
As Cianci’s position as the world’s number, one crime boss was secured his popularity grew. The economy had recovered to where it was before the recessions of the 70s and more Americans were employed than ever before. Criminals were being thrown in jail and Cianci had proven to resist the reactionary views on abortion and economics the conservatives tried to get him to support. He was the most popular president since Kennedy at the time and there was no doubt that he’d win re-election.
Vander Jagt at the 1984 RNC introducing President Cianci.
Still, someone had to be the Democratic nominee. Former President Jackson had died in 1983 after suffering an aortic aneurysm at his home in Everett Washington. Shortly after his death, the primaries began officially. Without a former president to play the role of kingmaker several candidates scrambled to launch their campaigns. The first was Senator Birch Bayh who was considered the candidate that could take down Cianci. Bayh was a New Dealer like Jackson and also had written the most constitutional amendments of any non-founding father, with the 27th (Equal Rights Amendment), 25th, and 26th amendment under his belt there was no doubt he’d be an effective president. His problem was that labor unions were unenthusiastic about his campaign and key members of the Jackson administration such as former Secretary of State Jeane Kirkpatrick disliked his broadly anti-war views.
Kirkpatrick tried recruit a more hawkish candidate but very few wanted to run for president, and she wasn’t about to endorse a far-right racist like Larry McDonald. After around a month of searching for a hawkish candidate who wasn’t a racist asshole like McDonald Kirkpatrick resigned herself to defeat. When she woke up on September 5th, 1983, she received a call from a reporter. “Yes sir, what do you need?”
“What’s your opinion on former Vice President Fred Harris’s run for president?”
Kirkpatrick had just woken up and quickly snatched the paper from the kitchen table. On the front page it read ‘Harris announces bid for president. Calls for a “century of the common man”’
“No comment,” she said unenthusiastically. She had disliked him during his term as vice president due to his anti-war beliefs and felt like he should’ve been dropped from the ticket for someone who would have appealed to the Midwest like Walter Mondale or John Glenn. As she sat there, she reviewed the choices for America. A cowboy populist, a standard New Dealer, a racist, and a bombastic idiot who lucked out after Laxalt was murdered in New Zealand of all places. Seeing the choices before her she wondered if there was any other Americans who felt the same way? She quickly came to the conclusion there must be a silent majority as millions voted for Jackson in 1976 and 1980. What was with this belief that Kirkpatrick began to plan a run for president.
"America must be the policemen of the world. If we surrender our duty to the Soviet thugs, we'll see decades of darkness consume the free world." Excerpt from Kirkpatrick's presidential campaign announcement.
The first debate was on November 14th, so she had some time and quickly secured endorsements behind the scenes. These included former governor Patrick Lucey, senators Donald Stewart, Lloyd Bentsen, Fritz Hollings, and academic Irving Kristol. At first when she announced her campaign on October 11th, she was met with not any concerns over her support for authoritarian regimes but over her gender. She was the first female Secretary of State and the media only really speculated over how historical it would be for her to become the first female nominee for a major political party.
Still, it gave her campaign publicity and it allowed her to gain some footing in the primary. Her platform was similar to both Harris and Bayh’s on social and economic issues. Supporting the ERA fervently and supporting universal healthcare. What came under attack was Kirkpatrick’s brazenly authoritarian and sadistic foreign policy. She supported increasing the nuclear weapons stockpile by 500 ICBM nuclear missiles, suspending aid to the Italian military, an invasion of Nicaragua, and placing an additional 50,000 soldiers in Europe in retaliation for the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union. The platform wasn’t even supported by the Republican Party who felt like it took things too far. Kirkpatrick did manage to tap into the vicious anti-communist crowd who’s concern over stopping communism was above the human rights they claimed to support.
She quickly became the conservative option in the Democratic Party as McDonald was ridiculed as a racist lunatic who was a member of the John Birch Society. Kirkpatrick was viewed as the only rational conservative Democrat in the mix. Harris despite being a fellow member of the Jackson administration attacked her political views as a threat to world peace. He made clear he was an anti-communist but not one willing to create another Panama in Nicaragua. Furthermore, he and Bayh attacked her refusal to denounce the OPN and JNP’s crimes against humanity in El Salvador. Her support for funding the OPN despite their war against the Catholic Church swiftly angered the large Catholic bloc in the Democratic Party. Even Polish Americans, the most fervently anti-communist group in the Democratic coalition refused to vote for her. The Polish community hated both the communists and the fascists slaughtering Jesuits and bishops in Latin America. Needless to say, her main power was in the South who opposed the march of communism and could give less of a damn about the atrocities in Latin America.
The Iowa caucus to the surprise of very little people was a Bayh victory. Him being from the Midwest easily gave him the advantage and he was popular in the region. Harris came in second 5% behind Bayh with 33% of the vote and Kirkpatrick came in third with a respectable 20% of the vote. In New Hampshire Harris pulled off a victory over Bayh, Kirkpatrick, and McDonald with an impressive 40% of the vote. He was aided by the endorsement of former governor Hugh Carey whose endorsement decisively rallied the Catholic vote to Harris. The rest of the primaries were close. In South Carolina Harris won off a coalition of African Americans, college students, rural voters, and the urban poor. Next McDonald won his only primary in the state of Georgia. Due to his home state advantage, he was able to eke out a win over Kirkpatrick and Harris who split the anti-McDonald vote. Even in more conservative states such as Mississippi and Alabama he got crushed. Former governor George Wallace and Governor William Baxley both endorsed Harris and black and poor voters turned out in masse for Harris in both states, effectively crushing the competition which was split between McDonald and Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick did manage to win Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee where conservative Democrats endorsed her bid for the presidency. Meanwhile Harris swept most of New England off of Catholic and black voters. In the West he blew out Kirkpatrick and Bayh due to his populism appealing to the poor and small farmers.
Harris campaign button (1984).
Bayh’s main strength was in the Midwest where his pragmatic progressive ideals were very popular. He easily won most midwestern states minus Minnesota whose large unions swung in favor of Harris and Ohio that went to Harris for similar reasons. He also dominated the mid-Atlantic states and west coast that were very receptive to his staunch social progressivism. Women turned out in droves for him as the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment easily made him a favorite of feminists and in fact most voters. But it wasn’t enough. California was close and Bayh needed a crushing win to overcome Harris’s delegate lead. He came close but unfortunately for him the victory was followed up with several Harris victories in the west that allowed him to regain a decent lead. Furthermore, Kirkpatrick won the state of Washington by a razor thin margin over Bayh and Harris due to her relationship with the deceased president. By the time the convention came around in Boston no candidate had a majority of the vote. Both Bayh and Harris wanted the presidency and neither Kirkpatrick nor McDonald were willing to rally behind either candidate.
The differences between Harris and Bayh were merely regional and in their rhetoric. Both were social democrats who wanted to implement universal healthcare and fight against racism home and abroad. Both supported sanctioning South Africa so besides them both wanting to become president there wasn’t an issue between each other. Wanting to avoid a contested convention both Bayh and Harris sat down to negotiate. Harris clearly had the advantage over Bayh due to his delegate lead and the negotiations were swift. Bayh endorsed Harris and pledged his delegates to him in exchange for a renewed push to abolish the electoral college if Harris became president. Harris gleefully accepted and despite the media hyping up a contested convention one never came. Next came finding a good vice president. Harris looked to Bayh’s support base to find a possible candidate who’d appeal to them. He also wanted a historic pick, feeling like it could give him more momentum heading into election day. Many wanted him to pick Geraldine Ferraro due to her Italian heritage and liberal record, but Harris decided against her. Senator Elizabeth Holtzman on paper was a good choice. A woman, Jewish, and a fighter in the Senate. But she was too liberal considering Harris was known for being a liberal firebrand. Three days before the convention he made his decision. Lindy Boggs of Louisiana.
A moderate liberal who was known for advocating the ERA but being able like Harris to appeal to conservative constituents. Sure, she was pro-life, but Harris promised to be a pro-choice president who dampened any serious opposition to his candidacy.
The Progressives under Gravel who left the Democratic Party once again met in Chicago to put forward a ticket. The problem was that they had much fewer supporters than in 1980. Gravel gave tepid support to the 4th iteration Progressive Party but was busy dealing with financial issues in Alaska. The convention in Chicago was a mess as socialists, Trotskyites, and environmentalists clashed over who to nominate. Some wanted Eugene McCarthy, but his anti-immigration stances thoroughly pissed off the convention and soon after he endorsed the Libertarian nominee, Ed Clark. Others wanted mayor Bernie Sanders, but he politely rejected the offer. Finally, the convention compromised and selected activist and 1980 vice presidential nominee Ralph Nader as their nominee and selected Michael Harrington as his running mate. Compared to 1980 the Progressives collapsed. They had won 5% of the vote last time and were now polling at a high of 2% and a low of less than 1%.
At the same time the Democrats and Progressives were trying to find effective tickets Cianci considered himself lucky to not have to go through another brutal primary season. He had managed to silence most of the conservative Republicans through a mix of cutting taxes and blackmail so at first, he didn’t worry. But discontent amongst the conservatives within the party were prominent. Two particular examples were Phil Crane and Pat Buchanan. Both hated Cianci’s moderate approach and viewed him as liberal in disguise and a fat cat who got rich off high taxes while sitting in a comfy chair as Americans were still struggling to make ends meet. They met in D.C on July 5th, 1983 and agreed something needed to be done. Taking direct inspiration from Reagan’s primary challenge against Rockefeller they both decided that Buchanan would challenge Cianci.
Pat Buchanan campaigning in New Hampshire.
On August 25th he announced his intention to primary Cianci. Buchanan’s speech instantly destroyed any chance at winning more than 20% of the vote in any state. He derided the popular president as a left-wing sympathizer whose decision to leave Jackson’s healthcare reforms intact was a giveaway to the “socialist Democrats.” Furthermore, he attacked the economy as a house of cards that due to government corruption would collapse and cause unimaginable pain and suffering. Now the latter statement proved prophetic (even though he was referring to welfare and government regulations). Buchanan’s campaign was easily brushed aside by Cianci who used the RNC and his allies (which included 97% of the Republican caucus). Buchan’s best state was in the Libertarian stronghold of New Hampshire where he won an impressive 23% of the vote. It was helped by Senator Meldrim Thompson’s neutrality during the primary but soon after endorsed Cianci as the reasonably conservative candidate in the race. He denounced Buchanan as a saboteur and a useful tool for the Democratic Party. After New Hampshire Buchanan’s campaign was ignored by the media for being essentially a vanity project that they viewed as boosting his own ego rather than having any legitimate concerns with Cianci.
The conventions went as expected. Cianci and Vander Jagt were renominated with little opposition (with twenty delegates going to Buchanan). The keynote speaker was Senator Shirley Temple Black of California who praised Cianci’s first term as a continuation of Laxalt’s legacy and a new dawn for America. One which saw a record recovery for the economy and an unprecedented crackdown on crime. Unbeknownst to her the speech would come back to haunt her for the rest of her life.
Senator Black's giving the keynote speech to the RNC.
Vander Jagt at the 1984 RNC introducing President Cianci.
Still, someone had to be the Democratic nominee. Former President Jackson had died in 1983 after suffering an aortic aneurysm at his home in Everett Washington. Shortly after his death, the primaries began officially. Without a former president to play the role of kingmaker several candidates scrambled to launch their campaigns. The first was Senator Birch Bayh who was considered the candidate that could take down Cianci. Bayh was a New Dealer like Jackson and also had written the most constitutional amendments of any non-founding father, with the 27th (Equal Rights Amendment), 25th, and 26th amendment under his belt there was no doubt he’d be an effective president. His problem was that labor unions were unenthusiastic about his campaign and key members of the Jackson administration such as former Secretary of State Jeane Kirkpatrick disliked his broadly anti-war views.
Kirkpatrick tried recruit a more hawkish candidate but very few wanted to run for president, and she wasn’t about to endorse a far-right racist like Larry McDonald. After around a month of searching for a hawkish candidate who wasn’t a racist asshole like McDonald Kirkpatrick resigned herself to defeat. When she woke up on September 5th, 1983, she received a call from a reporter. “Yes sir, what do you need?”
“What’s your opinion on former Vice President Fred Harris’s run for president?”
Kirkpatrick had just woken up and quickly snatched the paper from the kitchen table. On the front page it read ‘Harris announces bid for president. Calls for a “century of the common man”’
“No comment,” she said unenthusiastically. She had disliked him during his term as vice president due to his anti-war beliefs and felt like he should’ve been dropped from the ticket for someone who would have appealed to the Midwest like Walter Mondale or John Glenn. As she sat there, she reviewed the choices for America. A cowboy populist, a standard New Dealer, a racist, and a bombastic idiot who lucked out after Laxalt was murdered in New Zealand of all places. Seeing the choices before her she wondered if there was any other Americans who felt the same way? She quickly came to the conclusion there must be a silent majority as millions voted for Jackson in 1976 and 1980. What was with this belief that Kirkpatrick began to plan a run for president.
"America must be the policemen of the world. If we surrender our duty to the Soviet thugs, we'll see decades of darkness consume the free world." Excerpt from Kirkpatrick's presidential campaign announcement.
The first debate was on November 14th, so she had some time and quickly secured endorsements behind the scenes. These included former governor Patrick Lucey, senators Donald Stewart, Lloyd Bentsen, Fritz Hollings, and academic Irving Kristol. At first when she announced her campaign on October 11th, she was met with not any concerns over her support for authoritarian regimes but over her gender. She was the first female Secretary of State and the media only really speculated over how historical it would be for her to become the first female nominee for a major political party.
Still, it gave her campaign publicity and it allowed her to gain some footing in the primary. Her platform was similar to both Harris and Bayh’s on social and economic issues. Supporting the ERA fervently and supporting universal healthcare. What came under attack was Kirkpatrick’s brazenly authoritarian and sadistic foreign policy. She supported increasing the nuclear weapons stockpile by 500 ICBM nuclear missiles, suspending aid to the Italian military, an invasion of Nicaragua, and placing an additional 50,000 soldiers in Europe in retaliation for the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union. The platform wasn’t even supported by the Republican Party who felt like it took things too far. Kirkpatrick did manage to tap into the vicious anti-communist crowd who’s concern over stopping communism was above the human rights they claimed to support.
She quickly became the conservative option in the Democratic Party as McDonald was ridiculed as a racist lunatic who was a member of the John Birch Society. Kirkpatrick was viewed as the only rational conservative Democrat in the mix. Harris despite being a fellow member of the Jackson administration attacked her political views as a threat to world peace. He made clear he was an anti-communist but not one willing to create another Panama in Nicaragua. Furthermore, he and Bayh attacked her refusal to denounce the OPN and JNP’s crimes against humanity in El Salvador. Her support for funding the OPN despite their war against the Catholic Church swiftly angered the large Catholic bloc in the Democratic Party. Even Polish Americans, the most fervently anti-communist group in the Democratic coalition refused to vote for her. The Polish community hated both the communists and the fascists slaughtering Jesuits and bishops in Latin America. Needless to say, her main power was in the South who opposed the march of communism and could give less of a damn about the atrocities in Latin America.
The Iowa caucus to the surprise of very little people was a Bayh victory. Him being from the Midwest easily gave him the advantage and he was popular in the region. Harris came in second 5% behind Bayh with 33% of the vote and Kirkpatrick came in third with a respectable 20% of the vote. In New Hampshire Harris pulled off a victory over Bayh, Kirkpatrick, and McDonald with an impressive 40% of the vote. He was aided by the endorsement of former governor Hugh Carey whose endorsement decisively rallied the Catholic vote to Harris. The rest of the primaries were close. In South Carolina Harris won off a coalition of African Americans, college students, rural voters, and the urban poor. Next McDonald won his only primary in the state of Georgia. Due to his home state advantage, he was able to eke out a win over Kirkpatrick and Harris who split the anti-McDonald vote. Even in more conservative states such as Mississippi and Alabama he got crushed. Former governor George Wallace and Governor William Baxley both endorsed Harris and black and poor voters turned out in masse for Harris in both states, effectively crushing the competition which was split between McDonald and Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick did manage to win Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee where conservative Democrats endorsed her bid for the presidency. Meanwhile Harris swept most of New England off of Catholic and black voters. In the West he blew out Kirkpatrick and Bayh due to his populism appealing to the poor and small farmers.
Harris campaign button (1984).
Bayh’s main strength was in the Midwest where his pragmatic progressive ideals were very popular. He easily won most midwestern states minus Minnesota whose large unions swung in favor of Harris and Ohio that went to Harris for similar reasons. He also dominated the mid-Atlantic states and west coast that were very receptive to his staunch social progressivism. Women turned out in droves for him as the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment easily made him a favorite of feminists and in fact most voters. But it wasn’t enough. California was close and Bayh needed a crushing win to overcome Harris’s delegate lead. He came close but unfortunately for him the victory was followed up with several Harris victories in the west that allowed him to regain a decent lead. Furthermore, Kirkpatrick won the state of Washington by a razor thin margin over Bayh and Harris due to her relationship with the deceased president. By the time the convention came around in Boston no candidate had a majority of the vote. Both Bayh and Harris wanted the presidency and neither Kirkpatrick nor McDonald were willing to rally behind either candidate.
The differences between Harris and Bayh were merely regional and in their rhetoric. Both were social democrats who wanted to implement universal healthcare and fight against racism home and abroad. Both supported sanctioning South Africa so besides them both wanting to become president there wasn’t an issue between each other. Wanting to avoid a contested convention both Bayh and Harris sat down to negotiate. Harris clearly had the advantage over Bayh due to his delegate lead and the negotiations were swift. Bayh endorsed Harris and pledged his delegates to him in exchange for a renewed push to abolish the electoral college if Harris became president. Harris gleefully accepted and despite the media hyping up a contested convention one never came. Next came finding a good vice president. Harris looked to Bayh’s support base to find a possible candidate who’d appeal to them. He also wanted a historic pick, feeling like it could give him more momentum heading into election day. Many wanted him to pick Geraldine Ferraro due to her Italian heritage and liberal record, but Harris decided against her. Senator Elizabeth Holtzman on paper was a good choice. A woman, Jewish, and a fighter in the Senate. But she was too liberal considering Harris was known for being a liberal firebrand. Three days before the convention he made his decision. Lindy Boggs of Louisiana.
A moderate liberal who was known for advocating the ERA but being able like Harris to appeal to conservative constituents. Sure, she was pro-life, but Harris promised to be a pro-choice president who dampened any serious opposition to his candidacy.
The Progressives under Gravel who left the Democratic Party once again met in Chicago to put forward a ticket. The problem was that they had much fewer supporters than in 1980. Gravel gave tepid support to the 4th iteration Progressive Party but was busy dealing with financial issues in Alaska. The convention in Chicago was a mess as socialists, Trotskyites, and environmentalists clashed over who to nominate. Some wanted Eugene McCarthy, but his anti-immigration stances thoroughly pissed off the convention and soon after he endorsed the Libertarian nominee, Ed Clark. Others wanted mayor Bernie Sanders, but he politely rejected the offer. Finally, the convention compromised and selected activist and 1980 vice presidential nominee Ralph Nader as their nominee and selected Michael Harrington as his running mate. Compared to 1980 the Progressives collapsed. They had won 5% of the vote last time and were now polling at a high of 2% and a low of less than 1%.
At the same time the Democrats and Progressives were trying to find effective tickets Cianci considered himself lucky to not have to go through another brutal primary season. He had managed to silence most of the conservative Republicans through a mix of cutting taxes and blackmail so at first, he didn’t worry. But discontent amongst the conservatives within the party were prominent. Two particular examples were Phil Crane and Pat Buchanan. Both hated Cianci’s moderate approach and viewed him as liberal in disguise and a fat cat who got rich off high taxes while sitting in a comfy chair as Americans were still struggling to make ends meet. They met in D.C on July 5th, 1983 and agreed something needed to be done. Taking direct inspiration from Reagan’s primary challenge against Rockefeller they both decided that Buchanan would challenge Cianci.
Pat Buchanan campaigning in New Hampshire.
On August 25th he announced his intention to primary Cianci. Buchanan’s speech instantly destroyed any chance at winning more than 20% of the vote in any state. He derided the popular president as a left-wing sympathizer whose decision to leave Jackson’s healthcare reforms intact was a giveaway to the “socialist Democrats.” Furthermore, he attacked the economy as a house of cards that due to government corruption would collapse and cause unimaginable pain and suffering. Now the latter statement proved prophetic (even though he was referring to welfare and government regulations). Buchanan’s campaign was easily brushed aside by Cianci who used the RNC and his allies (which included 97% of the Republican caucus). Buchan’s best state was in the Libertarian stronghold of New Hampshire where he won an impressive 23% of the vote. It was helped by Senator Meldrim Thompson’s neutrality during the primary but soon after endorsed Cianci as the reasonably conservative candidate in the race. He denounced Buchanan as a saboteur and a useful tool for the Democratic Party. After New Hampshire Buchanan’s campaign was ignored by the media for being essentially a vanity project that they viewed as boosting his own ego rather than having any legitimate concerns with Cianci.
The conventions went as expected. Cianci and Vander Jagt were renominated with little opposition (with twenty delegates going to Buchanan). The keynote speaker was Senator Shirley Temple Black of California who praised Cianci’s first term as a continuation of Laxalt’s legacy and a new dawn for America. One which saw a record recovery for the economy and an unprecedented crackdown on crime. Unbeknownst to her the speech would come back to haunt her for the rest of her life.
Senator Black's giving the keynote speech to the RNC.
