"A Win's a Win"
What if Kennedy and Nixon had tied?
1960: John F. Kennedy / Lyndon Johnson (Democratic) [1]
1964: John F. Kennedy/Lyndon Johnson (D) [2]
1965: Lyndon Johnson/VACANT (D) [3]
1968: Jim Rhodes/Edward Brooke (R) [4]
1970: Edward Brooke/VACANT (R) [5]
1972: George Wallace/Strom Thurmond (AI) [6]
1973: Strom Thurmond/VACANT (AI) [7]
1976: Jerry Brown/Lloyd Bentsen (D) [8]
1980: Thomas J. Anderson/Cliff Finch (AI)[9]
1984: Thomas J. Anderson/Cliff Finch (AI)[10]
1988: Jesse Jackson/Bill Clinton (D)[11]
1992: David Duke/Pat Buchanan (AI)[12]
1994: Pat Buchanan/VACANT (AI)[13]
1996: Pat Buchanan/Robert Bork (AI)[14]
2000: Robert Bork/Larry McDonald (AI)[15]
2004: Robert Bork/Larry McDonald (American)[16]
2007: Jerry Brown/Cornel West (National Peoples' Movement) [Provisional Government] [17]
2011: Sam Webb/Bernard Sanders (Communist) [18]
2015: Barack Obama/Greg Pason (Labor) [19]
2019: Bernard Sanders/Cornel West (Communist) [20]
[1] Tied 269-269 in the Electoral College, the Presidential race is thrown to the (Democratic-controlled) Congress. JFK enters office through entirely Constitutional means... but his victory is overshadowed by having lost the popular vote to his challenger. Partisanship rockets. Kennedy's hands are also tied when it comes to several issues, due to political capital he had to spend in order to assure various Democratic politicians that they concerns would not be overlooked with him in the White House.
[2] Kennedy was reelected by a soft margin in 1964, and he used his second term to expand on his "New Frontier" and the ongoing conflict in Vietnam.
[3] Kennedy's sordid love life and crippling drug addiction comes to the fore half a year after his squeaker of a reelection. With his approval rating plummeting and investigations ramping up, he resigns in disgrace. Johnson's role in ensuring that this happened is not revealed until decades later, but is well known in the beltway. Richard Nixon, the incredibly popular "winner" in 1960 waits in the wings, and is widely expected to win in 1968.
[4] Nixon sadly didn't get the chance to run in 1968 as he, while ill was run over by a car in 1967. The race for the GOP nomination is now a slug-fest between the liberal and conservative wings. When Ronald Reagan bows out to wait until 1972 he backs Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes. Rhodes won the race handily after gaining the support of Reagan and powerbroker Senator Strom Thurmond. Rhodes then surprisingly picked (much to Thurmond's irk) liberal negro Massachusetts Senator Edward 'Ed' Brooke as his Running Mate. LBJ handily won the Democratic primaries and picks Florida Senator George Smathers who was an ally and friend of JFK. The election came down to the wire and only after returns from the swing state of Illinois (despite Mayor Daley's 'encouragements') were called for Rhodes that the election was settled.
[5] The assassination of Edward Brooke in August 1970 led to the first Black president. This would prove to be controversial...
[6] Leading to the election of George Wallace, the Southern Democratic candidate for President in 1972; becoming the first third-party President in a very long time. He drafted the old Strom Thurmond to be his VP. His administration was noted for it's firm conservatism and refusal to advance civil rights any further.
[7]The assassination attempt on the Wallace cabinet killed the majority of his inner circle and seriously injured Thurmond. However, the old man survived and cracked down even harder on the civil rights movement. A revengist president can be a dangerous thing.
[8] Jerry Brown, was the Democrats run away candidate, winning all states in the Primaries, some say that if Jimmy Carter, had not died in while being Secretary of State in Wallace's cabinet.
Brown's popularity won him the whole of the West coast and the North East, while with support from his running mate, Lloyd Bentsen and Louisiana Governor, Edwin Edwards, their ticket was able to pull more votes away from President Thurmond.
Being elected aged 38, Brown became the youngest person to be elected president, only 14 years after Kennedy broke the record at 43, and the youngest president (beating Theodore Roosevelt, who was 42 when he became president after the assassination of William McKinley).
Between 1977 and 1981, Brown was having to fight for his presidency not only at home but also abroad.
At home, he created three new offices, the Department of Energy (Secretary Cliff Finch), the Department of Education (Secretary Patrick Lucey) and the Department of Equalities (Secretary Walter Fauntroy.)
The D. of Equ. was set up to support and bring about civil rights laws, in Brown's words "For every citizen in the United States of America, to have the freedom and liberty, our forefathers wanted us to have, whether they are Black, Hispanic, female, disable or homosexual."
After the sudden death of Leonid Brezhnev and the quick succession of Defence Minister, Dmitriy Ustinov, as General Secretary in 1978, Brown was dragged into the Iran–Iraq War, when Ustinov, sent his troops into the Islamic Republic of Iran to support Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran, President Brown, immidiatly removed all Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and sent military support to Iraq, although it is said, that he did not trust, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
The war in the Middle East would carrying on into the next presidential term and became a big debate during the 1980 election.
[9] With the Democrats low in popularity and the Republicans fading into nonexistence, Thomas Anderson of the American Independent Party was elected President by about 70%.
[10] With the early 1980s being seen as the beginnings of a decade of prosperity, Anderson was reelected by an even greater margin in 1984.
[11] In 1988, Jesse Jackson was elected President and promised big, big, changes.
[12] But the Democrats were bitterly divided over Jackson's policies, and heightened racial tensions broke out into racial riots which David Duke managed to blame on President Jackson and the "uppity n*****rs". Al Gore ran an Independent Democratic ticket and handed the election to Duke. The AIP was utterly angry at there being two black presidents, so they moved to make sure it would never happen again. The AIP narrowly controlled a majority of Congress, so they moved fast to kill off the Civil Rights Act by hollowing it even more (this started under President Anderson) and thus enabling the AIP-controlled states to pass bills restricting blacks' ability to vote. With the Democrats collapsing in 1994 due to the restricted franchise and massive racial riots from angered African-Americans turning off even more whites from the Democrats and giving credibility to the AIP's racial-charged rhetoric, the era of AIP dominance began...
[13] Duke's assassination at the hands of an African-American activist radicalized race relations in the United States further, causing riots throughout the United States. With the Democrats collapsing, President Pat Buchanan looks like the likely victor of the 1996 election...
[14] Buchanan was widely popular and was a virtually assured re-election. In the General Election he selected conservative columnist and lawyer Robert Bork. The AIP ticket faced the Democratic ticket of Pennsylvania Governor Robert "Bob" Casey, Sr. and Georgia Senator Sam Nunn. The Democratic ticket was essentially locked on the east coast winning only the southern states from Alabama up to Maryland and the states of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Minnesota and Alaska as well. President Buchanan took office with sky high approval ratings and a good economy - nothing could stop the AIP-revolution...
[15] The 2000 presidential election was one of the most lopsided in American history. The economy was doing well, approval ratings were high, and the ticket of Vice President Robert Bork and Georgia Senator Larry McDonald captured the presidency with over 70% of the vote.
[16] Bork then banned all other parties in 2002, thus ensuring he winnning 2004 by 100%.
[17] Outrage at the clear violation of the constitution and fury over the reinsitution of poll taxes and jim crow nationwide, combined with anxiety in the white middle class over the radical right wing turn the nation has taken, results in nationwide political paralysis. California and New York declare the central government illegitimate after the massacre of 1,000 protestors in the Bronx in 2005. Many other states and regions follow. Order starts to break down, and combined with the extreme stress put on the lower and middle classes since the end of most government services, this leads the nation to a breaking point. Mass defections in the military start to a occur, especially when ordered to fire on civilians. But the central government hangs on, especially in their conservative heartlands. However, it can't last forever. As times goes on, the anti-government movement is coopted by leftist radicals, who have a large base of support in the very large underclass, and the red banners of revolution begin to appear throughout the country. An older, more radical Jerry Brown and his long time friend and influential scholar West, are raised through popular acclaim to the provisional presidency. The embattled Bork administration is finally overthrown by a palace coup, when he attempts to use nuclear weapons against the rebels. In 2007, Brown and West land in Dulles, travel through the ruins of outer DC, and take the provisional oath of office.
What follows is the bloody "Correction". Bork, Buchanan, Duke, McDonald, Finch, the elderly Anderson and the VERY (and somehow still alive) Thurmond are put to death. As is their inner circle, and a fair number of his lower officials. The blood of the crony capitalists and class traitors run reds in the streets of every town and city. Additionally, every legislator (state and federal) and major political figure (in or out of office) is put to death. The death toll in these retroactively legal purges is estimated to be anywhere between 350,000 to 870,000. No one really knows.
Brown would be the farther of a renewed American and elections are planned for 2011 at the earliest. Multi trillion dollar infrastructure projects are begun, private healthcare abolished, and race and gender equality enforced in the new constitution. Unrest in the "heartlands" is put down brutally, with mass deportations numbering in the millions of people. However, for many Americans, this is a time of renewal, especially in states like California and New York, which are rewarded generously for their initial stands against the Bork Dictatorship. Brown's first overseas trip is to the Soviet Union, where he accepts billions in aid and assistance.
[18] Like the Russian Revolution of old, the American provisional government collapsed in on itself. Jerry Brown declined to run for a second term, citing his age. The NPM was split into two feuding factions, one led by Cornell West and the other led by People's Secretariat for Urban Housing and Development Donald Trump. In the end, the 2011 election, was won by the Communist Party and Sam Webb and his more moderate running mate, Bernard Sanders.
[19] The Webb administration, while doing well for its situation, saw itself blamed for the economic downturn. Many blamed the new socialist economy, which allowed Barack Obama and the moderate Labor Party to sweep into power in 2014.
[20] Labor attempts to slightly liberalize the New Economy are used as the perfect election fodder by the Communists to scare the voters about the spectre of "Thurmondism" returning. The popular Cornel West is brought onto the ticket with the promise of a so called "joint-presidency". The hard left has certainly become a permanent part of the American fabric. The Sanders-West Administration begins their term with yet another purge of the far right. No one protests.