List of Alternate Presidents and PMs II
- Thread starter Asami
- Start date
- Status
A King like no other
Prime Ministers of Japan 1962-present
1962-1965 Doctor Shinji Shigezawa (LDP) 1
1965-1970 Doctor Kyohei Yamane (I) 2
1970-1974 Yukio Mishima (I) 3
1974-1980 Tiger Tanaka (LDP) 4
1980-1988 Keiju Mitamura (LDP) 5
1988-1993 Hideto Ogata (LDP) 6
1993-1995 Takeyugi Segawa (JRP) 7
1995-1997 Iwao Hyudo (JRP) 8
1997-2001 Dan Moroboshi (JSP) 9
2001-2008 Junzaburo Ohizumi (LDP) 10
2008-2008 Kim Jong-Il (N/A) 11
2008-2013 Daigo Naotaro (DPJ) 12
2013-present Mariko Yashida (I) 13
Chief Priest of the Church of Gojira aka Children of Godzilla cult
1962-1987 Ichiro Tako 14
1987-2006 Doctor Yosuke Hayashida 15
2006-present Miki Saegusa 16
Current Ambassador to Japan: Kayako Ann Patterson
1. Shigezawa, previously Minister of Defense, became PM after his predecessor and those above him were killed in the final battle between Godzilla and King Kong in Tokyo. One of his important moves was ending the top secret A-bomb project his predecessor had been cultivating covertly.
2. Yamane, the paleontologist who had discovered the first Godzilla and created the science of kaiju-zoology, made kaiju defense and avoidance a priority. He began a program of alternative fuels in hopes of keeping Gojira and other nuclear power-seeking kaiju from attacking Japan for food. Also on the agenda was beefing up education and research. Facing ill health and anger from militant members of parliament he would step down in favor of the next Independent PM..
3. Mishima, former author, actor, and member of the JGSDF, tapped into the anger of those who opposed Yamane's peaceful approach. Reaching out to Romney's America and Goldfinger's Great Britain, he hoped their anti-communist zeal could be combined with Japan and other pacific powers anti-kaiju pride could connect. After Romney resigned and Goldfinger "drowned" during midnight swim, Mishima panicked and tried to seek support from Kissoff's USSR and Madame Piranha's China which irritated the Japanese secret service and President Morrison, who put his full backing in the dirty coup against Mishima. Long story short, Mishima would be carried out of JGSDF HQ in a bodybag and the new PM arrived via underground train...
4. Tanaka, former head of the JSS, reluctantly took the premiership while Mishima's cohorts were arrested or fled to the Red Bamboo. Tanaka would lead the rebuilding of modern Japan after Mishima's misrule and years of destruction from kaiju and extraterrestrials. Rumors that he still had his hand in the intelligence services were delightfully dismissed by the playboy PM.
5. Mitamura presided over the longest, kaiju-free period. However while the economy caught a break, Mitamura was attacked by the military and Premier Gogol and President Tanner after refusing to allow nuclear weapons to be used against Godzilla. Aside from the obvious destruction and possible failure, many Japanese saw Godzilla as the true defender of the land against other threats, and that the SDF merely was a police force. The meek PM would step down after terrorists/ employees of the Umbrella-affiliate BioMajor broke into Japan's central bank and stole a sizeable amount of G-cells.
6. Ogata, one of the two men responsible for the death of the original Godzilla, took charge and intended to continue Tanaka's goal of a self-sufficient, but internationally cooperative Japan. With the rise of kaiju attacks, Ogata established an anti-kaiju unit and ordered development of mech to fight the menace without violating the articles of the constitution. Ambassador Naotaro pled the PM's case at the UN as JSS agents searched for the missing G-cells while Foreign Minister Shindo asked President Tynan and North to force Umbrella/ Bio-Major to return them. Ogata, deemed a hero by most of Japan, resigned after the Mecha-Godzilla "Beserk" crisis was resolved.
7. Segawa, formerly Ogata's MOD, jumped at the chance of being the leader of the Japanese Reform Party. With Foreign Minister Shindo dead from a Godzilla "visit", Segawa appointed scientist Gendo Ikari as Foreign Minister and head of the Japanese anti-kaiju force. Ikari had lost his wife under tragic, mysterious circumstances, and did whatever took to gain funding, prestige, and tools, including sending spies and special forces in Umbrella, Russia, and other private enterprises and sovereign nations. For awhile it seemed Ikari was the power behind the seat of the old military man until both abruptly resigned.
8. Hyudo, former JASDF and JKDF pilot, then current MP and aquarium security guard, was voted in as the next leader of the JRP and thus Japan. Hyudo let the cabinet run the nation, until the Legion invasion forced his hand and he committed the bulk of conventional forces against it. As soon as victory against the insect invaders was assured, Hyudo went on extend vacation and would resign while on a Mexican beach.
9. Moroboshi, not much is known about the kaijuzoologist, astronaut, and avid mountain climber, but he completed the Tanaka plan and led the nation well as the fruits of many decades labor came to fruition. While Japan was spared a bulk of the kaiju attacks leading up to the millennium, sadly the nation suffered at the hands of Aum Shurinkyo the Red Bamboo, and Al Qaeda on the November 2nd attack on Tokyo. Moroboshi would be reported dead after the attack on the former capital and the JSP collapsed...
10. Ohizumi managed to balance the wars on terror, pollution, and kaiju for seven years until that fateful day at the G8 summit...
11. Jong-Il, only on here because he had Ohizumi drugged, captured, and killed before he took his place. The NK leader holds world leaders hostage until the monster Guilala disturbs him and Kim manages to escape to a submarine and get back to Pyongyang.
12. Naotaro, former Ambassador to the UN and candidate for Secretary General, Naotaro declined the position after Japanese was left leaderless. A fashionable dresser and avid dog fan, Naotaro would keep his faithful dog Clint by him during his term in office. After the police and conventional forces of the SDF were at a stalemate with the zombie epidemic, Naotaro moved the government from Osaka to Hokkaido and unleashed the anti-kaiju forces against the undead. The return of Godzilla helped turned the tide, the King of Kaiju burning down zombie citadels were just as brutal as Chinese and Russian methods, but left more civilians and troops alive. Godzilla would return to the ocean, the COG cheered, and Naotaro made way for billionaire and businesswoman Yashida took over in Sapporo.
13. Yashida, granddaughter of Ichiro Yashida, pledged the help of her zaibatsu during World War Z, and much of her personal fortune to rebuild Japan and continue the defense against kaiju. Between the building of Neo-Tokyo, the rebuilding of Mecha Godzilla and development of Japan's Jaeger, and the diversified training of the JSDF, and the professionalism of the Japanese press, little was made about her romance and impregnation by a Canadian expatriate.
14. Tako had previously served as head of advertising for Pacific Pharmaceuticals and Tokyo Television. He was responsible for bring King Kong to Japan in 1962 and ultimately the battle of Kong versus Godzilla, where Kong was killed. Fired, bankrupt, and driven mad (some say), Tako became convinced Godzilla was indeed a God, more than a titan of the greeks or the kami of old. He believed Godzilla would defend Japan against threats that they could not fight themselves. Using what resources he had left, he founded the "Church of Godzilla" (in english terms) and started bringing the "faithful" to his flock. Unlike other cults, this would not end in mass murder or suicide. The "movement" would succeed Tako after his death.
15. Hayashida, a bio-chemist and major proponent of the pro-Godzilla group, took over the Church after Tako's demise. Hayashida's term was more successful than the ad-man's, as he educated the faithful and others about the possible benefits from studying G-cells. Not only could genetic protection from radioactivity be found, but also the cells could provide a way to regenerate organs and limbs. Hayashida worked with the Okouchi Foundation to develop the research necessary for these lofty goals, but left after he uncovered the plans for anti-nuclear energy bacteria and the "Chimera" kaiju. He would ultimately be cleared of the bombing and theft of G-cells and continued the twin goals of research and "peace through Godzilla" until his retirement.
16. Miki Saegusa, the "natural" psychic who could communicate with Godzilla, previously ran the government schools for psychic children until her true power was discovered. She is even more successful than Hayashida, however the lovely priestess' health is rumored to be failing and the hunt for a possible successor is on....
Whew- so basically this ad for an alternate fandom history where the Big G kills Kong and now people see Godzilla as a God or protector. I first thought of this after Quentin Tarentino talked about something called "Under the Reign of Godzilla" and started developing it. Maybe I'll get it written, but it was nice to put this out and see what you guys think.
Prime Ministers of Japan 1962-present
1962-1965 Doctor Shinji Shigezawa (LDP) 1
1965-1970 Doctor Kyohei Yamane (I) 2
1970-1974 Yukio Mishima (I) 3
1974-1980 Tiger Tanaka (LDP) 4
1980-1988 Keiju Mitamura (LDP) 5
1988-1993 Hideto Ogata (LDP) 6
1993-1995 Takeyugi Segawa (JRP) 7
1995-1997 Iwao Hyudo (JRP) 8
1997-2001 Dan Moroboshi (JSP) 9
2001-2008 Junzaburo Ohizumi (LDP) 10
2008-2008 Kim Jong-Il (N/A) 11
2008-2013 Daigo Naotaro (DPJ) 12
2013-present Mariko Yashida (I) 13
Chief Priest of the Church of Gojira aka Children of Godzilla cult
1962-1987 Ichiro Tako 14
1987-2006 Doctor Yosuke Hayashida 15
2006-present Miki Saegusa 16
Current Ambassador to Japan: Kayako Ann Patterson
1. Shigezawa, previously Minister of Defense, became PM after his predecessor and those above him were killed in the final battle between Godzilla and King Kong in Tokyo. One of his important moves was ending the top secret A-bomb project his predecessor had been cultivating covertly.
2. Yamane, the paleontologist who had discovered the first Godzilla and created the science of kaiju-zoology, made kaiju defense and avoidance a priority. He began a program of alternative fuels in hopes of keeping Gojira and other nuclear power-seeking kaiju from attacking Japan for food. Also on the agenda was beefing up education and research. Facing ill health and anger from militant members of parliament he would step down in favor of the next Independent PM..
3. Mishima, former author, actor, and member of the JGSDF, tapped into the anger of those who opposed Yamane's peaceful approach. Reaching out to Romney's America and Goldfinger's Great Britain, he hoped their anti-communist zeal could be combined with Japan and other pacific powers anti-kaiju pride could connect. After Romney resigned and Goldfinger "drowned" during midnight swim, Mishima panicked and tried to seek support from Kissoff's USSR and Madame Piranha's China which irritated the Japanese secret service and President Morrison, who put his full backing in the dirty coup against Mishima. Long story short, Mishima would be carried out of JGSDF HQ in a bodybag and the new PM arrived via underground train...
4. Tanaka, former head of the JSS, reluctantly took the premiership while Mishima's cohorts were arrested or fled to the Red Bamboo. Tanaka would lead the rebuilding of modern Japan after Mishima's misrule and years of destruction from kaiju and extraterrestrials. Rumors that he still had his hand in the intelligence services were delightfully dismissed by the playboy PM.
5. Mitamura presided over the longest, kaiju-free period. However while the economy caught a break, Mitamura was attacked by the military and Premier Gogol and President Tanner after refusing to allow nuclear weapons to be used against Godzilla. Aside from the obvious destruction and possible failure, many Japanese saw Godzilla as the true defender of the land against other threats, and that the SDF merely was a police force. The meek PM would step down after terrorists/ employees of the Umbrella-affiliate BioMajor broke into Japan's central bank and stole a sizeable amount of G-cells.
6. Ogata, one of the two men responsible for the death of the original Godzilla, took charge and intended to continue Tanaka's goal of a self-sufficient, but internationally cooperative Japan. With the rise of kaiju attacks, Ogata established an anti-kaiju unit and ordered development of mech to fight the menace without violating the articles of the constitution. Ambassador Naotaro pled the PM's case at the UN as JSS agents searched for the missing G-cells while Foreign Minister Shindo asked President Tynan and North to force Umbrella/ Bio-Major to return them. Ogata, deemed a hero by most of Japan, resigned after the Mecha-Godzilla "Beserk" crisis was resolved.
7. Segawa, formerly Ogata's MOD, jumped at the chance of being the leader of the Japanese Reform Party. With Foreign Minister Shindo dead from a Godzilla "visit", Segawa appointed scientist Gendo Ikari as Foreign Minister and head of the Japanese anti-kaiju force. Ikari had lost his wife under tragic, mysterious circumstances, and did whatever took to gain funding, prestige, and tools, including sending spies and special forces in Umbrella, Russia, and other private enterprises and sovereign nations. For awhile it seemed Ikari was the power behind the seat of the old military man until both abruptly resigned.
8. Hyudo, former JASDF and JKDF pilot, then current MP and aquarium security guard, was voted in as the next leader of the JRP and thus Japan. Hyudo let the cabinet run the nation, until the Legion invasion forced his hand and he committed the bulk of conventional forces against it. As soon as victory against the insect invaders was assured, Hyudo went on extend vacation and would resign while on a Mexican beach.
9. Moroboshi, not much is known about the kaijuzoologist, astronaut, and avid mountain climber, but he completed the Tanaka plan and led the nation well as the fruits of many decades labor came to fruition. While Japan was spared a bulk of the kaiju attacks leading up to the millennium, sadly the nation suffered at the hands of Aum Shurinkyo the Red Bamboo, and Al Qaeda on the November 2nd attack on Tokyo. Moroboshi would be reported dead after the attack on the former capital and the JSP collapsed...
10. Ohizumi managed to balance the wars on terror, pollution, and kaiju for seven years until that fateful day at the G8 summit...
11. Jong-Il, only on here because he had Ohizumi drugged, captured, and killed before he took his place. The NK leader holds world leaders hostage until the monster Guilala disturbs him and Kim manages to escape to a submarine and get back to Pyongyang.
12. Naotaro, former Ambassador to the UN and candidate for Secretary General, Naotaro declined the position after Japanese was left leaderless. A fashionable dresser and avid dog fan, Naotaro would keep his faithful dog Clint by him during his term in office. After the police and conventional forces of the SDF were at a stalemate with the zombie epidemic, Naotaro moved the government from Osaka to Hokkaido and unleashed the anti-kaiju forces against the undead. The return of Godzilla helped turned the tide, the King of Kaiju burning down zombie citadels were just as brutal as Chinese and Russian methods, but left more civilians and troops alive. Godzilla would return to the ocean, the COG cheered, and Naotaro made way for billionaire and businesswoman Yashida took over in Sapporo.
13. Yashida, granddaughter of Ichiro Yashida, pledged the help of her zaibatsu during World War Z, and much of her personal fortune to rebuild Japan and continue the defense against kaiju. Between the building of Neo-Tokyo, the rebuilding of Mecha Godzilla and development of Japan's Jaeger, and the diversified training of the JSDF, and the professionalism of the Japanese press, little was made about her romance and impregnation by a Canadian expatriate.
14. Tako had previously served as head of advertising for Pacific Pharmaceuticals and Tokyo Television. He was responsible for bring King Kong to Japan in 1962 and ultimately the battle of Kong versus Godzilla, where Kong was killed. Fired, bankrupt, and driven mad (some say), Tako became convinced Godzilla was indeed a God, more than a titan of the greeks or the kami of old. He believed Godzilla would defend Japan against threats that they could not fight themselves. Using what resources he had left, he founded the "Church of Godzilla" (in english terms) and started bringing the "faithful" to his flock. Unlike other cults, this would not end in mass murder or suicide. The "movement" would succeed Tako after his death.
15. Hayashida, a bio-chemist and major proponent of the pro-Godzilla group, took over the Church after Tako's demise. Hayashida's term was more successful than the ad-man's, as he educated the faithful and others about the possible benefits from studying G-cells. Not only could genetic protection from radioactivity be found, but also the cells could provide a way to regenerate organs and limbs. Hayashida worked with the Okouchi Foundation to develop the research necessary for these lofty goals, but left after he uncovered the plans for anti-nuclear energy bacteria and the "Chimera" kaiju. He would ultimately be cleared of the bombing and theft of G-cells and continued the twin goals of research and "peace through Godzilla" until his retirement.
16. Miki Saegusa, the "natural" psychic who could communicate with Godzilla, previously ran the government schools for psychic children until her true power was discovered. She is even more successful than Hayashida, however the lovely priestess' health is rumored to be failing and the hunt for a possible successor is on....
Whew- so basically this ad for an alternate fandom history where the Big G kills Kong and now people see Godzilla as a God or protector. I first thought of this after Quentin Tarentino talked about something called "Under the Reign of Godzilla" and started developing it. Maybe I'll get it written, but it was nice to put this out and see what you guys think.
ZachMettenbergerFan - The New King of Late Night
Well, with all that pop culture stuff, SNL Presidents and all that, this seemed to be a good thing to post.
The New King of Late Night
Nielsen Leaders of Late Night Television Ratings (2008-present)
2008: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 5.4 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.7 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 2.3 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.7 million viewers, Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.6 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.6 million viewers
2009: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 5.0 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 4.0 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.8 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.8 million viewers,
Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.7 million viewers
2010: David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 4.3 million viewers
Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.6 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 2.2 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.7 million viewers, Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.8 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.8 million viewers
2011: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 4.0 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.9 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.0 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.8 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.8 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.7 million viewers
2012: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 4.0 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.7 million viewers, Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.6 million viewers
2013: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 4.1 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.6 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.1 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.6 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.6 million viewers
2014: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.9 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.4 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.5 million viewers, John Oliver (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.8 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.6 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.5 million
2015: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.8 million viewers
Stephen Colbert (CBS's Late Show) with 3.6 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.4 million viewers, John Oliver (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, James Corden (FOX's Nightly) with 1.6 million viewers
2016: Stephen Colbert (CBS's Late Show) with 3.9 million viewers
Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.7 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.2 million viewers, John Oliver (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 2.1 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, Seth Meyers (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.6 million viewers
The New King of Late Night
Nielsen Leaders of Late Night Television Ratings (2008-present)
2008: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 5.4 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.7 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 2.3 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.7 million viewers, Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.6 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.6 million viewers
2009: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 5.0 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 4.0 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.8 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.8 million viewers,
Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.7 million viewers
2010: David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 4.3 million viewers
Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.6 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 2.2 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.7 million viewers, Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.8 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.8 million viewers
2011: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 4.0 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.9 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.0 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.8 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.8 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.7 million viewers
2012: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 4.0 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.7 million viewers, Craig Ferguson (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.6 million viewers
2013: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 4.1 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.6 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.1 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.6 million viewers, Jon Stewart (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.6 million viewers
2014: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.9 million viewers
David Letterman (CBS's Late Show) with 3.4 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.5 million viewers, John Oliver (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.8 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.6 million viewers, Jay Leno (FOX's Nightly) with 1.5 million
2015: Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.8 million viewers
Stephen Colbert (CBS's Late Show) with 3.6 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.4 million viewers, John Oliver (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 1.9 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, James Corden (FOX's Nightly) with 1.6 million viewers
2016: Stephen Colbert (CBS's Late Show) with 3.9 million viewers
Conan O'Brien (NBC's The Tonight Show) with 3.7 million viewers, Jimmy Kimmel (ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live) with 2.2 million viewers, John Oliver (CBS's The Late Late Show) with 2.1 million viewers, Jimmy Fallon (NBC's Late Night) with 1.7 million viewers, Seth Meyers (Comedy Central's The Daily Show) with 1.6 million viewers
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Really, I think I chose him because of SNL's Weekend Update. It feels to me he could be considered for the role if he wasn't picked up for Late Night. I think he'd be an alright host.
TheLoneAmigo - IT’S GRIM DOWN SOUTH
TheLoneAmigo
Donor
IT’S GRIM DOWN SOUTH
Reichskommissar für Großbritannien
1940: German occupation of southern England and Wales, Armistice of 1940
1940-1945: Alexander von Falkenhausen
Reichskommissar für England
1945-1949: Alexander von Falkenhausen
1949-1954: Heinrich Otto Abetz
1954-1962: Ernst Achenbach
1962-1966: Kurt Waldheim
1966: Withdrawal of German occupational authority
Monarchs of the Kingdom of England
1945-1953: Edward VII♰
1953-1954: Bedford Regency
1954-1968: Vacant
1968: Proclamation of the English State
Prime Ministers of the Kingdom of England
1945-1947: Oswald Mosley♰ (National Movement)
1947-1955: John Beckett (National Movement)
1955: Abolition of Parliament, movement of English Government to Oxford
Lord Protectors of the Kingdom of England
1955-1962: John Beckett♰ (National Movement)
1962-1968: Jeffrey Hamm (National Movement)
1963-1969: European Cultural Revolutions, end of German occupation
1968: Coup against Jeffrey Hamm, proclamation of the English State
Protectors of the English State
1968-1969: Maxwell Mosley♰ (Saxon Movement)
1969: End of Cultural Revolution, assassination of Maxwell Mosley
1969-1983: Richard Marsh (National Movement)
1983: Volkserneuerung reforms in the Greater German Reich, establishment of the English Republic and normalisation of relations with United Kingdom. UK PM Margaret Fletcher (Liberal Unionist) famously declares that "Mister Marsh is a man we can do business with!"
Presidents of the English Republic
1983-1988: Richard Marsh (English National Party)
1988-1990: Jeremy Moore (Military Government)
1988-1993: German Civil War
1990-1991: Anthony Wedgwood-Benn (British Labour Party - Liberal Unionist Party - New Democracy coalition)
1990 def. Enoch Powell (Christian and Unionist Democrats), Keith Thompson (League of Saint George), Thomas Jopling (English Democrats), David Irving (Saxon Movement), David Owen (Action for Tomorrow), David Wigley (Welsh Freedom Party)
1991: End of the Separation. Reunification with United Kingdom under UK PM Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Liberal Unionist), return of British capital from Edinburgh to London.
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Uhura's Mazda - Britain Isn't Gainsborough North/Hill - Lords Protector of the British State
Uhura's Mazda
Banned
To briefly jump on a promising bandwagon:
Britain Isn't Gainsborough North/Hill - Lords Protector of the British State
It got renamed with boundary changes, OK.
1973-1977: Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal)
1973 def: Michael Foot (Labour), William Whitelaw (Conservative)
Jeremy Thorpe had dreamed of becoming Prime Minister from an early age. He failed. The office was abolished in 1973 after the Balmoral Incident, along with the monarchy and half of the institutions that had governed the British since time immemorial. Replacing these, in the political sphere, was the role of Lord Protector, to be elected every four years, and a unicameral House of Parliament. Thorpe's previously irrelevant Liberals gained millions of votes due to a simple novelty factor and some very modern television advertising, and beat the two established parties in a three-cornered result. However, the Parliamentary elections were held a month later, and only returned 14 Liberals out of 480 seats in total. For four years, Thorpe was a powerless figurehead, cohabiting first with Labour and then with the Tories as the economic situation ran away from all efforts to control it. The Winter of Discontent in 1976, together with Thorpe's weak response to the Miners' Strike, made him so clearly unpopular that he didn't even dare contest the next election. To make matters worse, the Liberal Party was declared insolvent in January 1977 and the only Liberals in the next Parliament were Independents who subscribed to liberal values.
1977-1985: Airey Neave (Conservative)
1977 def: Tony Benn (Labour)
1981 def: Roy Jenkins (New Liberal), Albert Booth (Labour)
Replacing Thorpe was Airey Neave, who won 72% of the vote in the end, over the left-wing Tony Benn. Over eight years, Neave copied the 'neoliberal' policies of President Carter and Secretary Friedman, even going so far as to privatise parts of the the National Energy Service. However, another version of Liberalism was seizing the headlines. In 1979, the continued left-wing direction of Labour under the unprepossessing Albert Booth had alienated over half of the PLP, who were more frustrated by his poor polling than his policies. They followed Roy Jenkins into a new party together with the Liberal remnants, and ran Neave very close in the 1981 election. In fact, in the legislative elections shortly afterward, they denied Neave a majority, so he was forced to go into coalition with the few dozen remaining Labour MPs. As such, his efforts to continue the economic reforms of his first term were neutered. And the global recovery of the early 80s removed the need to do anything drastic about the unions and the basics of the economy.
1985-1989: Cyril Smith (New Liberal)
1985 def: Airey Neave (Conservative), Jeremy Corbyn (Independent)
The deal with Neave had crippled Labour. Already, all but the hard left had followed Jenkins out, and now the remaining MPs were supporting a Conservative administration rather than talk to their old friends and new enemies in the NLP. Although the Labour Party continued to exist, they did not put up a candidate for Lord Protector - one of their number stood as an Independent, but came third. The victor was Big Cyril, the 29-stone bachelor and sometime pop singer. His term was characterised by social issues, mounting to the point where two million men and women marched through central London in 1988 in protest at his bans on abortion, contraception, drugs and the depiction of 'non-standard' romance on television. Left-wing cartoonist Steve Bell took to depicting him as a large round condom, although Minister for Public Decency Mary Whitehouse banned his work soon enough.
1989-1993: Brig. Nicholas Soames (Independent)
1989 def: Unopposed
Seeing the crisis that was going on, and the fall of the French, American, Canadian and West German states to internal unrest (called the 'Autumn of Nations'), the Army had no choice but to step in to stop the liberals from toppling the Liberals. Winston Churchill's grandson was chosen to lead a unity government, and won the election for Lord Protector just after all political parties had been forcibly dissolved. He was unopposed. Smith's social policies were continued and extended, to the point where even extramarital sex could land you with a large fine. On foreign policy, Soames allied with some of the few outwardly capitalist nations left, including apartheid South Africa. Finally, in 1992, the Armed Forces took it upon themselves to embark on an ill-conceived seizure of Minorca: hundreds of British lives were lost when the Spanish took the place back. However, the detachment of Brits who occupied a bridgehead in Alicante held out under seige conditions for eight years, which eventually inspired a harrowing war drama series called Benidorm. With the Balearic War lost, Soames was forced to allow an Opposition party to come into the open.
1993-1997: Capt. Alan West (Democratic Front)
1993 def: Brig. Nicholas Soames (Independent)
Despite the experience of Soames' military rule, 43% of the population voted for him in 1993. But all the rest backed Captain West, and he did sterling work in restoring Britain's international position. It was also he who ensured that the Fifth International (the body which co-ordinates all the Communist ruling parties, from Washington to Moscow to Wellington) recognised the territorial integrity of the British State. But on matters of domestic policy, West was unable to govern. Soames' supporters had rebranded themselves as Republicans, in the Puritan/Cromwellian tradition, and demanded to be involved in the West Administration. For several years, West refused, but in 1995 his broad tent coalition fell apart, with liberals on the one side splitting off under Alan Beith, and socialists on the other side frequently rebelling against West's wishes. So for the second term of his Protectorate, Captain West appointed Republicans to his Cabinet and allowed them to dictate the best part of his policies. For this action, he lost the support of most of the Democratic Front, and his supporters were not numerous enough to win him the nomination for the 1997 election.
1997-2013: Alan Beith (Radical Reform)
1997 def: Dave Nellist (Democratic Front (Socialist)), Conrad Black (Republican)
2001 def: Michael Heseltine (Republican)
2005 def: Jon Trickett (Party of the Left), Richard Drax (Republican)
2009 def: Derek Holland (Political Soldiers' League), Ian Liddell-Grainger (Republican), Jon Trickett (Party of the Left)
The sixteen-year rule of Alan Beith was the first period of stability in over two decades. Beith finally liberalised the social policies left over from Cyril Smith over the course of his four terms. He also enacted liberalisation of the economy, so as to show the Communists who ruled most of the rest of the world how brilliant economic freedom was. His Land Value Tax was hailed across the world, while his war against what remained of the trade unions smacked a little of ideological vindictiveness. But he was a popular leader, in his old-school way, while both left and right struggled to define themselves ideologically in this new world order. When they did, there would be trouble.
2013-2014: John Cleese (Political Soldiers' League)
2013 def: Alan Beith (Radical Reform), Jon Trickett (Party of the Left), Owen Michael (Republican)
2014-2017: John Cleese (Democratic Independence)
In fact, it was the introduction of Single Transferable Vote in the legislative elections of 2009 which opened up the fall of the Radical Reform Party. The new Opposition was the Political Soldiers' League, an outgrowing of the old National Front, who had decided that in a world overcome by the fanatical ideology of Communism, what the Right needed was an equally crazy system. Cleese, a former actor, was recruited (some say brainwashed) in the 1980s and in 2009 was elected as an MP for Avon. The following election saw him win the PSL nomination, and (after a questionably legal airing of repeats of Fawlty Towers by WorkersTube, the official video streaming website of the Fifth International) the Protectorate. And so ensued a year of crackdowns, disappearances, and riots on the streets. The millions of people who had entered Britain since 1989 were literally decimated. It was unpleasant. Fortunately, after an intervention from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Paddy Ashdown, Cleese left the PSL and countermanded all the Black Orders that had not yet been executed. But he's still a bit of a dick.
Augenis - A Cross in One Hand, A Shield in Another
A hypothetical thought experiment that really requires some imagination and hand-waving from the reader's part. That is, what if Lithuania and the rest of the Baltics never end up annexed by the Soviets in 1940? And Interwar Lithuania thus continued to present day?
I call it:
A Cross in One Hand, A Shield in Another
1938-1945: President Antanas Smetona (Lietuvos tautininkų sąjunga)
After the adoption of the Constitution of 1938, the dictator of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, was unanimously elected for his seven-year term. Smetona's term was intense - in the very beginning, Lithuania received ultimatums from both Germany and Poland, his country lost Klaipėda and was forced to rebuild diplomatic ties with the Poles. As such, Smetona decided to prepare his nation for a final stand, the country was rapidly militarized, and the diplomats led by Juozas Urbšys successfully tried to balance the two superpowers in between the Baltics and play them off one another. Seeing that dealing with Hitler is higher importance, Stalin decided to let the Baltics go for now. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia managed to avoid Operation Barbarossa, Hitler decided that attacking a heavily fortified Lithuania would be counterproductive and he instead obtained military access.
The war eventually turned towards an Allied victory, and the Atlantic Charter was drawn up to guarantee the independence of the Baltic nations. Not wishing to get into bad terms with the Wallies, in the Potsdam Conference Stalin decided to allow the three countries to remain independent, so long as they remain completely neutral in all possible ways after the war, in a Finland type situation. Lithuania joined the anti-Axis coalition on the last months of World War II and got Vilnius and most of East Prussia in the peace, in the last weeks of Smetona's rule, in fact. The old dictator decided to retire after his term was over, and died a natural death in 1951. He managed to save Lithuania from destruction, but the end of his reign loomed with dark times overhead.
1945-1952: President Stasys Lozoraitis (Lietuvos tautininkų sąjunga)
Smetona's minister of foreign affairs and a capable politician, Lozoraitis was picked as the dictator's successor, and his term had two main problems to face. The Soviet Union was running a heavy propaganda campaign, calling Lithuania the last vanguard of fascism, and the devastated provinces of East Prussia had to be rebuilt. Lozoraitis tried to rely on Scandinavia and the fellow Baltic nations in his term, he secured low-interest loans from Swedish banks which he used to rebuild the devastated areas, and he spent a lot of his time trying to modernize his country. Under him, Lithuania's policy of armed neutrality began - much like Switzerland, it was surrounded by hostile powers, and it had to rely on a grassroots army, composed of every capable man in the country, to survive. Lozoraitis was moderately successful, but the situation was very problematic for him.
1952-1960: President Antanas Venclova (Lietuvos socialistų liaudininkų partija)
Despite the Nationalists' best efforts to secure the presidency one more, even going as far as vote rigging, a successful Soviet campaign and the will of the people proved superior, and the famous poet and writer Antanas Venclova defeated Lozoraitis in the elections. Under Venclova, democracy as it was before the 1926 coup was restored, the 1938 authoritarian election was scrapped and rebuilt from scratch in 1953, the term was changed back to four years and the separation of powers returns. Venclova was an East-aligned president - after Stalin's death in 1953 and Mikoyan's ascendancy as Chairman in the USSR, he cooperated with them on a few projects, like a highway between Vilnius and Minsk. This drew out protest from the West, who saw this as an infringement of Baltic neutrality. Venclova was reelected in 1956 despite these scandals, and remained in power until he democratically left office in 1960, starting out as a worrisome potential "Soviet spy" and returning as one of Lithuania's best presidents.
1960-1964: President Kazys Boruta (Lietuvos socialistų liaudininkų partija)
A fellow member of the Socialist People's Party, Boruta was set to continue the legacy of his predecessor, but he was not as successful in his term. Negotiations with the USSR slowed, and the people of Lithuania did not want a Soviet-aligned president anymore. The US was now joining the game of influencing the Baltics to their side, and numerous movements cropped up "out of nowhere", criticizing President Boruta. While the economy was growing, Boruta did not receive credit for that, and he was defeated in the 1964 election. It was starting to look like Lithuania was becoming a major battlefield in the Cold War, and both superpowers had their own parties to influence...
1964-1972: President Jonas Žemaitis (Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai)
Five candidates were running in the 1964 election, but eventually, with tons of foreign backing "from nowhere" and a coalition with a number of parties, Jonas Žemaitis, an army general and conservative officer from the Christian Democratic party, won the race. Žemaitis tried to stay neutral in foreign affairs, but his major focus was the military. The country's army equipment was modernized, numerous fortifications were erected around cities and the border, and military service was made universal, all citizens over 18 years old were required to serve at least a minimum of 2 years. An epitome of "armed neutrality". Žemaitis's charisma and successful presidency led to him winning again in 1968, taking office at a very difficult time - revolts were springing up across Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe, some militants had ties to the Baltics, but the President managed to retain the idea of Lithuanian neutrality and avoid a Soviet intervention. Žemaitis also fostered cooperation between the three Baltic States, forming the New Baltic Entente, a military and economic alliance, in 1971.
In 1970, Žemaitis was approached by US diplomats, in secret, and they offered military aid in exchange for being allowed to place nuclear missiles on Lithuanian soil, of course, in secret. Žemaitis declined - after all, his country's safety and neutrality were more important to him than some American guns. This disappointed the Americans, but the armed President left office in dignity.
1972-1976: President Viktoras Petkus (Lietuvos respublikonų partija)
Disappointed with Žemaitis's neutral stance, the Americans backed a third party candidate, Viktoras Petkus. With the Soviet-backed Socialists in shambles due to party infighting, Petkus raced to the Presidency without much opposition and was successfully elected. He was a somewhat moderate conservative, much like his party, and this reflected in his style of rule. However, his biggest achievement was the hosting of a major meeting between the Western and Eastern Blocs, which led to the creation of the Vilnius Accords, an attempt to mend the rift between the two superpowers. Economically, Petkus was not as successful. Under his rule, Lithuania continued it's development into a first world country, but the oil crisis in the Middle East caused many problems, and the government failed to react appropriately. As such, Petkus was soundly defeated in 1976.
1976-1984: President Sigitas Tamkevičius (Independent)
By the 1970s, the Lithuanians were getting tired of the foreign domination in their politics. Every president was in one way or another pushed through by the two superpowers of the Cold War, and the will of the people was violated. Sigitas Tamkevičius, an ordained priest, a bishop, a member of the Society of Jesu, suddenly proclaimed his candidacy as an independent candidate, free from foreign backing, and this grassroots movement rode through the race for the Presidency handily. As President, Tamkevičius formulated his doctrine of the "cross and shield" (kryžius ir skydas) - the Lithuanian society must be built on Christian values (the cross) and defend itself from foreign domination like their ancestors (the shield). It was, in essence, a form of Christian democracy.
Tamkevičius stayed neutral on foreign affairs, trying to keep up friendly relations both with President Robert Kennedy and with Chairman Alexei Kosygin. His government oversaw a major education reform, establishing universal mandatory free education up to the 12th grade, and the "Vytauto vaikai" high school scholarship program. These educational reforms were vital in Lithuania's later development, and helped create an extremely educated middle class in the long term. In his later years, Tamkevičius watched the events in the Polish SSR with worry, where the "Solidarity" movement with their political and spiritual leader Karol Wojtyla was gaining ground. The USSR was going through hard times, but Tamkevičius's rule ended before that. His style of rule and ideology helped shape Lithuanian politics for the next two decades.
1984-1988: President Jonas Boruta (Kryžiaus ir skydo partija)
Boruta was Tamkevičius's successor, chosen by the Cross and Shield Party as their nominee, and easily won by piggybacking off his predecessor's success. Under his rule, more dioceses were founded and the Church now began to receive funding from the government instead of relying solely on donations. This was seen as an infringement of the separation of the church and the state, and Boruta received a lot of criticism for it from opposition parties. His biggest success was the finalization of the creation of a welfare state in Lithuania, started by Tamkevičius - taking an example from Sweden and Finland, free healthcare was instituted, and the people were protected by the government via a large standing army, unemployment subsidies and similar programs, etc. Much like Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania became an example of the "Baltic Model", a living proof of the success of a mixed economy and the welfare state in comparison to the communism of the Eastern Bloc. Boruta was, however, not reelected.
1988-1996: President Algimantas Čekuolis (Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija)
In the wake of the 1988 election, the Cross and Shield Party merged with the reformed Christian Democrats, and the new united center-right front picked Algimantas Čekuolis, a seaman and journalist, as their nominee, winning the election. Čekuolis's first term was especially complicated - after Chairman Yuri Andropov's botched economic reforms and major unrest in the Polish SSR and the rest of the Kiev Pact, the Eastern Bloc seemed bound to collapse. In 1989, a hardliner coup led by Marshal Dmitry Yazov in Moscow attempted to stop the collapse, and even the Baltics began to fear. Knowing that a lot of the international support for the dissenters comes through the Baltics, Yazov ordered the Soviet Army to draw up a plan for an invasion of the Baltic States, named "Operation Catherine". The Baltic Entente began to mobilize in preparation for a potential invasion, and President Čekuolis ordered an official visit with US President Michael Dukakis to try to secure PATO support. However, this was not needed, as the Soviet Union eventually collapsed under it's weight and dissolved, despite Yazov's best efforts to stop it. Karol Wojtyla was elected as the first President of the Third Polish Republic, the first SSR to leave the Soviet Union, while the leader of the Russian nationalist movement, Mikhail Gorbachev, became the first democratically elected President of the Russian Federation, the successor to the Russian SFSR.
Čekuolis hosted numerous meetings and diplomatic conferences between post-Soviet states to help resolve the chaos that was the former Soviet Union. His government pushed through numerous treaties with Poland, Belarus and Russia, too. However, now that the Soviet Union was dead, his main focus was reconciliation with the West. Because of the enforced neutrality, the Baltics were never allowed to join PATO or the European Communion during the Cold War, but now the gates were open, and the leaders of the EC - France, Italy, the UK and a reunified Germany - were more than glad to accept three developed and highly advanced Baltic nations into their ranks. There was a lot of opposition, of course, some people were worried about this loss of neutrality, and others were sceptical of the project itself, this issue almost split the Christian Democrats. However, a referendum showed that over 60% of the people were in favor, thus Lithuania, along with Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Austria, joined the EC in May 1995.
Čekuolis, outside of being a diplomatic mind, was a patrol of modern technology. His government approved numerous grants to the developing Lithuanian tech sector and helped develop it, which, along with an educated and highly skilled workforce to boot, was about to start a revolution.
1996-2000: President Justas Vincas Paleckis (Lietuvos liaudies partija)
In a shocking turn of events, the incumbent Christian Democrats were defeated by the People's Party, the successor to the Socialist People's Party of the Cold War, and their candidate Justas Vincas Paleckis was elected President. Paleckis was in favor of European integration, but he was also a Russophile, and his dream was "to see Russia as a member of the EC in 10 years". Despite this Eastern stance, Lithuania joined PATO along with the rest of the Baltic states in 1997. Paleckis oriented the country's exports towards Russia, and made numerous trade deals with Gorbachev to secure the massive market for Lithuanian goods. Paleckis also rode on the train of the Information Revolution - Lithuania was becoming one of the most interconnected countries in Europe, even though he himself didn't add much to it. It was around this time that many famous Lithuanian tech companies, like "Žibintas" (creator of the ZB mobile phone series, the dominating force in the market during the early 2000s) and "Kalnapilis" (software developer, creator of the famous "Castle" operating system, later branching off to other fields like video game consoles and auxiliary hardware) began to rise to fame. Paleckis was set for reelection in 2000, but a sudden corruption scandal involving numerous Russian oil magnates within his party turned his chances into dust. He could have gotten impeached for breaking his oath, too, if he hadn't already been thrown out by the election.
2000-2008: President Audrys Juozas Bačkis (Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija)
Representing the "cross and shield" part of the Christian Democrats, Audrys Juozas Bačkis handily defeated the incumbent President in the 2000 election. Under his two terms as President, Lithuania reoriented itself back towards the West. Bačkis was among the signatories of the Act of the Foundation of the European Confederation, a much more closely integrated successor of the EC, and he was vital in the negotiations for the EC expansion of 2005, when most of the post-Soviet states in Central Europe joined the organization. Because of his undying support for European integration, Bačkis was awarded with the title of the European of the Year in 2006. However, Bačkis made some controversial moves as well. Under his tenure, religious education in primary and secondary schools was made mandatory for all pupils, and his cabinet vehemently opposed the legalization of homosexual marriage throughout both of his terms. Negotiations with Russia's entrance into PATO and EC failed, and the new President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Romanov, began to revert Gorbachev's liberal reforms for a slow return of Russian autocracy.
These news were blot out, however, by a new economic crisis in 2007, and Lithuania was hurt by it much like everyone else. Bačkis's government was ineffective in dealing with the recession, and the trust of the people waned. Political fatigue also set in, the Christian Democrats had ruled Lithuania since the 1980s with only a single four year break, and the grassroots "cross and shield" movement was no longer as revolutionary as it used to be. It was a good time to be a third party.
2008-2016: President Arvydas Sabonis (Lietuvos laisvės partija)
A capable politician and the leader of the Freedom Party, Arvydas Sabonis raced to the Presidency and defeated both the People's Party and the Christian Democrat candidates in an upset as surprising as Tamkevičius's victory in 1980. Sabonis was elected on a platform of meritocracy and political renewal, and he wished for unity between all the peoples of the Lithuanian nation, but he had little cohesive plans. His cabinet was a big-tent collection of representatives from various parties, and their first challenge was the economic recession. Sabonis employed a Keynesian strategy, increasing government spending to stimulate the economy and employing the powers of the central bank to control it. His measures were successful, funds from the EC helped a lot as well, and Lithuania was among the first countries to defeat the economic crisis, surpassing it's 2006 GDP in 2010.
Sabonis was a liberal president. He employed numerous measures to adapt the government of the country to the modern age, beginning an "e-government" program to make the government more accessible to the average man. Homosexual marriage was legalized in 2011 despite many protests by the Christian Democrats and their supporters. Much like his predecessors, Sabonis was in favor of European integration, but he also cooperated a lot with the fellow Baltic states, seeing the Baltic Entente as "a trampoline to Europe. Opa, opa, į Europą! ("Hop, hop, into Europe!)". While this statement was ridiculed on the internet, becoming a meme of sorts, Sabonis's efforts to cooperate with the fellow Baltic states were recognized by his peers. Sabonis also criticized the authoritarianism of the Russian state, as well as President Romanov's belligerent actions in the Caucasus.
Sabonis was also a patron of sports, and in a historic moment in the 2012 Hamburg Olympics, the Lithuanian basketball team defeated the Americans and won Olympic gold in basketball for the first time! Such a patriotic victory.
---
So that was my list.
By the way, all of the people mentioned here are Googleable. It might be even more interesting once you know what each of these presidents did IOTL.
Comments, thoughts and questions are appreciated!
I call it:
A Cross in One Hand, A Shield in Another
1938-1945: President Antanas Smetona (Lietuvos tautininkų sąjunga)
After the adoption of the Constitution of 1938, the dictator of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, was unanimously elected for his seven-year term. Smetona's term was intense - in the very beginning, Lithuania received ultimatums from both Germany and Poland, his country lost Klaipėda and was forced to rebuild diplomatic ties with the Poles. As such, Smetona decided to prepare his nation for a final stand, the country was rapidly militarized, and the diplomats led by Juozas Urbšys successfully tried to balance the two superpowers in between the Baltics and play them off one another. Seeing that dealing with Hitler is higher importance, Stalin decided to let the Baltics go for now. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia managed to avoid Operation Barbarossa, Hitler decided that attacking a heavily fortified Lithuania would be counterproductive and he instead obtained military access.
The war eventually turned towards an Allied victory, and the Atlantic Charter was drawn up to guarantee the independence of the Baltic nations. Not wishing to get into bad terms with the Wallies, in the Potsdam Conference Stalin decided to allow the three countries to remain independent, so long as they remain completely neutral in all possible ways after the war, in a Finland type situation. Lithuania joined the anti-Axis coalition on the last months of World War II and got Vilnius and most of East Prussia in the peace, in the last weeks of Smetona's rule, in fact. The old dictator decided to retire after his term was over, and died a natural death in 1951. He managed to save Lithuania from destruction, but the end of his reign loomed with dark times overhead.
1945-1952: President Stasys Lozoraitis (Lietuvos tautininkų sąjunga)
Smetona's minister of foreign affairs and a capable politician, Lozoraitis was picked as the dictator's successor, and his term had two main problems to face. The Soviet Union was running a heavy propaganda campaign, calling Lithuania the last vanguard of fascism, and the devastated provinces of East Prussia had to be rebuilt. Lozoraitis tried to rely on Scandinavia and the fellow Baltic nations in his term, he secured low-interest loans from Swedish banks which he used to rebuild the devastated areas, and he spent a lot of his time trying to modernize his country. Under him, Lithuania's policy of armed neutrality began - much like Switzerland, it was surrounded by hostile powers, and it had to rely on a grassroots army, composed of every capable man in the country, to survive. Lozoraitis was moderately successful, but the situation was very problematic for him.
1952-1960: President Antanas Venclova (Lietuvos socialistų liaudininkų partija)
Despite the Nationalists' best efforts to secure the presidency one more, even going as far as vote rigging, a successful Soviet campaign and the will of the people proved superior, and the famous poet and writer Antanas Venclova defeated Lozoraitis in the elections. Under Venclova, democracy as it was before the 1926 coup was restored, the 1938 authoritarian election was scrapped and rebuilt from scratch in 1953, the term was changed back to four years and the separation of powers returns. Venclova was an East-aligned president - after Stalin's death in 1953 and Mikoyan's ascendancy as Chairman in the USSR, he cooperated with them on a few projects, like a highway between Vilnius and Minsk. This drew out protest from the West, who saw this as an infringement of Baltic neutrality. Venclova was reelected in 1956 despite these scandals, and remained in power until he democratically left office in 1960, starting out as a worrisome potential "Soviet spy" and returning as one of Lithuania's best presidents.
1960-1964: President Kazys Boruta (Lietuvos socialistų liaudininkų partija)
A fellow member of the Socialist People's Party, Boruta was set to continue the legacy of his predecessor, but he was not as successful in his term. Negotiations with the USSR slowed, and the people of Lithuania did not want a Soviet-aligned president anymore. The US was now joining the game of influencing the Baltics to their side, and numerous movements cropped up "out of nowhere", criticizing President Boruta. While the economy was growing, Boruta did not receive credit for that, and he was defeated in the 1964 election. It was starting to look like Lithuania was becoming a major battlefield in the Cold War, and both superpowers had their own parties to influence...
1964-1972: President Jonas Žemaitis (Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai)
Five candidates were running in the 1964 election, but eventually, with tons of foreign backing "from nowhere" and a coalition with a number of parties, Jonas Žemaitis, an army general and conservative officer from the Christian Democratic party, won the race. Žemaitis tried to stay neutral in foreign affairs, but his major focus was the military. The country's army equipment was modernized, numerous fortifications were erected around cities and the border, and military service was made universal, all citizens over 18 years old were required to serve at least a minimum of 2 years. An epitome of "armed neutrality". Žemaitis's charisma and successful presidency led to him winning again in 1968, taking office at a very difficult time - revolts were springing up across Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe, some militants had ties to the Baltics, but the President managed to retain the idea of Lithuanian neutrality and avoid a Soviet intervention. Žemaitis also fostered cooperation between the three Baltic States, forming the New Baltic Entente, a military and economic alliance, in 1971.
In 1970, Žemaitis was approached by US diplomats, in secret, and they offered military aid in exchange for being allowed to place nuclear missiles on Lithuanian soil, of course, in secret. Žemaitis declined - after all, his country's safety and neutrality were more important to him than some American guns. This disappointed the Americans, but the armed President left office in dignity.
1972-1976: President Viktoras Petkus (Lietuvos respublikonų partija)
Disappointed with Žemaitis's neutral stance, the Americans backed a third party candidate, Viktoras Petkus. With the Soviet-backed Socialists in shambles due to party infighting, Petkus raced to the Presidency without much opposition and was successfully elected. He was a somewhat moderate conservative, much like his party, and this reflected in his style of rule. However, his biggest achievement was the hosting of a major meeting between the Western and Eastern Blocs, which led to the creation of the Vilnius Accords, an attempt to mend the rift between the two superpowers. Economically, Petkus was not as successful. Under his rule, Lithuania continued it's development into a first world country, but the oil crisis in the Middle East caused many problems, and the government failed to react appropriately. As such, Petkus was soundly defeated in 1976.
1976-1984: President Sigitas Tamkevičius (Independent)
By the 1970s, the Lithuanians were getting tired of the foreign domination in their politics. Every president was in one way or another pushed through by the two superpowers of the Cold War, and the will of the people was violated. Sigitas Tamkevičius, an ordained priest, a bishop, a member of the Society of Jesu, suddenly proclaimed his candidacy as an independent candidate, free from foreign backing, and this grassroots movement rode through the race for the Presidency handily. As President, Tamkevičius formulated his doctrine of the "cross and shield" (kryžius ir skydas) - the Lithuanian society must be built on Christian values (the cross) and defend itself from foreign domination like their ancestors (the shield). It was, in essence, a form of Christian democracy.
Tamkevičius stayed neutral on foreign affairs, trying to keep up friendly relations both with President Robert Kennedy and with Chairman Alexei Kosygin. His government oversaw a major education reform, establishing universal mandatory free education up to the 12th grade, and the "Vytauto vaikai" high school scholarship program. These educational reforms were vital in Lithuania's later development, and helped create an extremely educated middle class in the long term. In his later years, Tamkevičius watched the events in the Polish SSR with worry, where the "Solidarity" movement with their political and spiritual leader Karol Wojtyla was gaining ground. The USSR was going through hard times, but Tamkevičius's rule ended before that. His style of rule and ideology helped shape Lithuanian politics for the next two decades.
1984-1988: President Jonas Boruta (Kryžiaus ir skydo partija)
Boruta was Tamkevičius's successor, chosen by the Cross and Shield Party as their nominee, and easily won by piggybacking off his predecessor's success. Under his rule, more dioceses were founded and the Church now began to receive funding from the government instead of relying solely on donations. This was seen as an infringement of the separation of the church and the state, and Boruta received a lot of criticism for it from opposition parties. His biggest success was the finalization of the creation of a welfare state in Lithuania, started by Tamkevičius - taking an example from Sweden and Finland, free healthcare was instituted, and the people were protected by the government via a large standing army, unemployment subsidies and similar programs, etc. Much like Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania became an example of the "Baltic Model", a living proof of the success of a mixed economy and the welfare state in comparison to the communism of the Eastern Bloc. Boruta was, however, not reelected.
1988-1996: President Algimantas Čekuolis (Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija)
In the wake of the 1988 election, the Cross and Shield Party merged with the reformed Christian Democrats, and the new united center-right front picked Algimantas Čekuolis, a seaman and journalist, as their nominee, winning the election. Čekuolis's first term was especially complicated - after Chairman Yuri Andropov's botched economic reforms and major unrest in the Polish SSR and the rest of the Kiev Pact, the Eastern Bloc seemed bound to collapse. In 1989, a hardliner coup led by Marshal Dmitry Yazov in Moscow attempted to stop the collapse, and even the Baltics began to fear. Knowing that a lot of the international support for the dissenters comes through the Baltics, Yazov ordered the Soviet Army to draw up a plan for an invasion of the Baltic States, named "Operation Catherine". The Baltic Entente began to mobilize in preparation for a potential invasion, and President Čekuolis ordered an official visit with US President Michael Dukakis to try to secure PATO support. However, this was not needed, as the Soviet Union eventually collapsed under it's weight and dissolved, despite Yazov's best efforts to stop it. Karol Wojtyla was elected as the first President of the Third Polish Republic, the first SSR to leave the Soviet Union, while the leader of the Russian nationalist movement, Mikhail Gorbachev, became the first democratically elected President of the Russian Federation, the successor to the Russian SFSR.
Čekuolis hosted numerous meetings and diplomatic conferences between post-Soviet states to help resolve the chaos that was the former Soviet Union. His government pushed through numerous treaties with Poland, Belarus and Russia, too. However, now that the Soviet Union was dead, his main focus was reconciliation with the West. Because of the enforced neutrality, the Baltics were never allowed to join PATO or the European Communion during the Cold War, but now the gates were open, and the leaders of the EC - France, Italy, the UK and a reunified Germany - were more than glad to accept three developed and highly advanced Baltic nations into their ranks. There was a lot of opposition, of course, some people were worried about this loss of neutrality, and others were sceptical of the project itself, this issue almost split the Christian Democrats. However, a referendum showed that over 60% of the people were in favor, thus Lithuania, along with Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Austria, joined the EC in May 1995.
Čekuolis, outside of being a diplomatic mind, was a patrol of modern technology. His government approved numerous grants to the developing Lithuanian tech sector and helped develop it, which, along with an educated and highly skilled workforce to boot, was about to start a revolution.
1996-2000: President Justas Vincas Paleckis (Lietuvos liaudies partija)
In a shocking turn of events, the incumbent Christian Democrats were defeated by the People's Party, the successor to the Socialist People's Party of the Cold War, and their candidate Justas Vincas Paleckis was elected President. Paleckis was in favor of European integration, but he was also a Russophile, and his dream was "to see Russia as a member of the EC in 10 years". Despite this Eastern stance, Lithuania joined PATO along with the rest of the Baltic states in 1997. Paleckis oriented the country's exports towards Russia, and made numerous trade deals with Gorbachev to secure the massive market for Lithuanian goods. Paleckis also rode on the train of the Information Revolution - Lithuania was becoming one of the most interconnected countries in Europe, even though he himself didn't add much to it. It was around this time that many famous Lithuanian tech companies, like "Žibintas" (creator of the ZB mobile phone series, the dominating force in the market during the early 2000s) and "Kalnapilis" (software developer, creator of the famous "Castle" operating system, later branching off to other fields like video game consoles and auxiliary hardware) began to rise to fame. Paleckis was set for reelection in 2000, but a sudden corruption scandal involving numerous Russian oil magnates within his party turned his chances into dust. He could have gotten impeached for breaking his oath, too, if he hadn't already been thrown out by the election.
2000-2008: President Audrys Juozas Bačkis (Lietuvos krikščionių demokratų partija)
Representing the "cross and shield" part of the Christian Democrats, Audrys Juozas Bačkis handily defeated the incumbent President in the 2000 election. Under his two terms as President, Lithuania reoriented itself back towards the West. Bačkis was among the signatories of the Act of the Foundation of the European Confederation, a much more closely integrated successor of the EC, and he was vital in the negotiations for the EC expansion of 2005, when most of the post-Soviet states in Central Europe joined the organization. Because of his undying support for European integration, Bačkis was awarded with the title of the European of the Year in 2006. However, Bačkis made some controversial moves as well. Under his tenure, religious education in primary and secondary schools was made mandatory for all pupils, and his cabinet vehemently opposed the legalization of homosexual marriage throughout both of his terms. Negotiations with Russia's entrance into PATO and EC failed, and the new President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Romanov, began to revert Gorbachev's liberal reforms for a slow return of Russian autocracy.
These news were blot out, however, by a new economic crisis in 2007, and Lithuania was hurt by it much like everyone else. Bačkis's government was ineffective in dealing with the recession, and the trust of the people waned. Political fatigue also set in, the Christian Democrats had ruled Lithuania since the 1980s with only a single four year break, and the grassroots "cross and shield" movement was no longer as revolutionary as it used to be. It was a good time to be a third party.
2008-2016: President Arvydas Sabonis (Lietuvos laisvės partija)
A capable politician and the leader of the Freedom Party, Arvydas Sabonis raced to the Presidency and defeated both the People's Party and the Christian Democrat candidates in an upset as surprising as Tamkevičius's victory in 1980. Sabonis was elected on a platform of meritocracy and political renewal, and he wished for unity between all the peoples of the Lithuanian nation, but he had little cohesive plans. His cabinet was a big-tent collection of representatives from various parties, and their first challenge was the economic recession. Sabonis employed a Keynesian strategy, increasing government spending to stimulate the economy and employing the powers of the central bank to control it. His measures were successful, funds from the EC helped a lot as well, and Lithuania was among the first countries to defeat the economic crisis, surpassing it's 2006 GDP in 2010.
Sabonis was a liberal president. He employed numerous measures to adapt the government of the country to the modern age, beginning an "e-government" program to make the government more accessible to the average man. Homosexual marriage was legalized in 2011 despite many protests by the Christian Democrats and their supporters. Much like his predecessors, Sabonis was in favor of European integration, but he also cooperated a lot with the fellow Baltic states, seeing the Baltic Entente as "a trampoline to Europe. Opa, opa, į Europą! ("Hop, hop, into Europe!)". While this statement was ridiculed on the internet, becoming a meme of sorts, Sabonis's efforts to cooperate with the fellow Baltic states were recognized by his peers. Sabonis also criticized the authoritarianism of the Russian state, as well as President Romanov's belligerent actions in the Caucasus.
Sabonis was also a patron of sports, and in a historic moment in the 2012 Hamburg Olympics, the Lithuanian basketball team defeated the Americans and won Olympic gold in basketball for the first time! Such a patriotic victory.
---
So that was my list.
By the way, all of the people mentioned here are Googleable. It might be even more interesting once you know what each of these presidents did IOTL.
Comments, thoughts and questions are appreciated!
Uhura's Mazda
Banned
I love this - the Cross and Shield concept feels very Lithuanian.So that was my list.
By the way, all of the people mentioned here are Googleable. It might be even more interesting once you know what each of these presidents did IOTL.
Comments, thoughts and questions are appreciated!
Thank you! I imagined that without the Soviet Union and forced atheism down everyone's throats, Christian democracy would continue to dominate in Lithuania, much like how it did in the Interwar, so that influenced my choice in creating the concept.
Alex Richards - Britain isn't Breaston
Alex Richards
Donor
Running this one into the ground. I used whichever Tory topped the borough because it's slightly more interesting.
Britain isn't Breaston
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
Sir Kenneth Clarke (1973-1983)
Deputy PMs: Sir Edward Heath (1973-1983), Sir William Whitelaw (1973-1983)
1973 def: Harold Wilson (Lab)
1976 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
1979 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
Baroness Margaret Thatcher (1983-)
Deputy PMs: Sir Kenneth Clarke (1983-), Sir William Whitelaw (1983-2003)
1983 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
1987 def: Harold Wilson (Lab), David Steel (Liberal)
1991 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
1995 def: Margaret Bekett (Lab)
1999 def: Margaret Bekett (Lab), Jo Swinson (Liberal)
2003 def: Margaret Beckett (Lab)
2007 def: Gordon Brown (Lab)
2011 def: Gordon Brown (Lab)
2015 def: Gordon Brown (Lab), Diane James (UKIP)
Britain isn't Breaston
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
Sir Kenneth Clarke (1973-1983)
Deputy PMs: Sir Edward Heath (1973-1983), Sir William Whitelaw (1973-1983)
1973 def: Harold Wilson (Lab)
1976 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
1979 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
Baroness Margaret Thatcher (1983-)
Deputy PMs: Sir Kenneth Clarke (1983-), Sir William Whitelaw (1983-2003)
1983 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
1987 def: Harold Wilson (Lab), David Steel (Liberal)
1991 def: Barbara Castle (Lab)
1995 def: Margaret Bekett (Lab)
1999 def: Margaret Bekett (Lab), Jo Swinson (Liberal)
2003 def: Margaret Beckett (Lab)
2007 def: Gordon Brown (Lab)
2011 def: Gordon Brown (Lab)
2015 def: Gordon Brown (Lab), Diane James (UKIP)
Sideways
Donor
Your old stomping grounds?
Is that a BNP guy? Or did you just choose to slightly recolour the Tories?
Uhura's Mazda
Banned
My Dad's family is from there, and it's slightly more interesting than any of the wards I've lived in.
Cleese is a UKIP guy who defected to An Independence From Europe, but good luck working either of those parties into the narrative. The rest are all LD/Con/Lab.
How do you find out the electoral history of a specific ward? (In case I want to bandwagon jump)
Mumby - Directors of the Department of Opposition (and Acting Presidents of the Second Republic of the United States of America)
Directors of the Department of Opposition (and Acting Presidents of the Second Republic of the United States of America)
1967-1970: Strom Thurmond (Southern Democrat --- National Coalition)
WW1 had been called the war to end all wars, but WW3 was the real deal. The last of America's true rivals was dead, but the country had won it's victory at terrible cost. In the Reich's death throes, she had scarred the United States with her inferior nuclear arsenal. The Cabinet was decimated, including most of the line of succession. The highest ranking survivor was the leader of one of Secretary Johnson's post-coup innovations. The Deparment that was to be 'devil's advocate', a loyalist who could 'think the unthinkable', the only thing in the country for whom seditious talk was permitted. Thurmond inherited a ruined country and had to find a course to guide the ship of state off the rocks. Thurmond refused to take office as President, hoping someone would be discovered who could step into the breach. As it was, the Department of Opposition found itself to be the closest much of the country had to a government, thanks to it's broad network of informants, secret police, and it's cellular structure designed to prevent a particularly sensitive President from entirely purging it's capabilities.
Thurmond abandoned the post-atomic wastelands of the Mid-Atlantic Eastern Seaboard and the broad plains of the Midwest, and drew back what forces were still listening to south of the Mason-Dixon Line and East or the New Mexico River. Much of the country was falling into bedlam, riots becoming revolutions. By 1970, Thurmond's national triage had saved a rump of the United States, but he was succumbing to radiation sickness and it was clear to the military figures who had steadily refilled the Cabinet that the Acting President was incapable of restoring American dignity. He was quietly removed in a coup, never to be heard from again.
1970-1976: Lawrence Patton McDonald (US Navy --- National Coalition)
The military figures who dominated the Cabinet chose one of their own, to be Director of the Opposition and Acting President. They would soon come to regret their decision. MacDonald was an arch-conservative and far more strident in his opinions than even Thurmond who as Director had still been an Administration man. McDonald took his twin roles very seriously. He abolished the National Recovery Administration and restored the powers of state governments which had been suspended since the 1930s. The Federal Civil Defense Administration was also abolished and the new state governments (installed by appointment by Department of Opposition officials) were composed largely of Opposition and Civil Defense veterans. The alarmed military establishment attempted a coup to remove the radical Acting President who threatened to destroy the myriad accomplishments of the Second Republic. But McDonald had inherited a formidable militia from Thurmond's years and had built a loyalist base with his reforms. The attempted coup was a wash and McDonald successfully purged his opposition.
Once firmly installed, McDonald slashed even more of the federal institutions established in the Johnson era. He was happy to allow their functions to be carried on by the restored state governments but saw no place for them in Federal government. Controversially, he did enforce racial integration upon these institutions as a condition of their devolution. Nevertheless, he made no attempt to dissolve the Second Republic and restore the 1789 Constitution, likely out of pragmatism given the extreme situation the country was in. McDonald pushed the boundaries of the United States westwards, crushing the warlords of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, eventually being halted by a coalition of new countries including Deseret, Nevada, California and Great Dakota. McDonald was ultimately felled by an assassin's bullet in his home state of Georgia, fired by a white supremacist disappointed by McDonald's tolerance for black civil rights.
1976-1985: Hunter S. Thompson (Freak Power --- National Coalition)
As McDonald's armies moved westwards, they encountered many warlords who had carved out a domain for themselves in the mountains of the Rockies. They found a particularly odd realm when they uncovered the High Sheriff of All The Colorados, whose domain consisted of a small area around Pitkin County. The High Sheriff quickly bent the knee and was rewarded for his obedience by being made the first Acting Governor of the restored State of Colorado. McDonald was soon so impressed by Thompson's peculiarities, that he was soon made Deputy Director of the Department of Opposition. He was the perfect man to think the unthinkable.
On McDonald's death, Thomson became Director and Acting President, and the neutered Cabinet could do little to stop him. Thompson accelerated the pace of restoring civil liberties, abolishing the FBI and restoring law enforcement to the states. The right to bare arms was restored. The National Parks Administration was maintained and even extended, with the irradiated regions under New Washington's control made National Parks. In light of petrol shortages, a ration was introduced which Thompson intended to use to abolish the automobile and encourage the use of bicycles and horses. Social and morality laws were abolished at a federal level and when Thompson was disappointed that the states did not follow suit, restored elections at a state and local level. The nomadic tribes of the Plains were recognised by being given a 'non-territorial state' in the union, and in so doing set the United States to expansion northwards into the chilly plains of what had once been Canada. He also extended the border north of the Mason-Dixon line, agreeing a boundary with the New England Confederacy in the wilderness of the Appalachians.
Against Thompson's better judgement, the United States butted heads with the Cuba led Caribbean Compact, mostly due to the acts of petrol pirates hunting for fuel off the Gulf Coast. This escalated into a short war which saw the re-establishment of American naval power in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Thompson made one final act as Acting President in 1985, signing legislation to abolish the 1935 Constitution and establish a Third Republic, which he hoped would entice the Western States to rejoin the union. The Constitutional Convention failed in this, but did finally restore democracy at a Federal level. The Third Republic has no Department of Opposition and no Acting President, the executive branch being composed of a five member council, designed to prevent a return to the personal autocracy created by Secretary Johnson.
1967-1970: Strom Thurmond (Southern Democrat --- National Coalition)
WW1 had been called the war to end all wars, but WW3 was the real deal. The last of America's true rivals was dead, but the country had won it's victory at terrible cost. In the Reich's death throes, she had scarred the United States with her inferior nuclear arsenal. The Cabinet was decimated, including most of the line of succession. The highest ranking survivor was the leader of one of Secretary Johnson's post-coup innovations. The Deparment that was to be 'devil's advocate', a loyalist who could 'think the unthinkable', the only thing in the country for whom seditious talk was permitted. Thurmond inherited a ruined country and had to find a course to guide the ship of state off the rocks. Thurmond refused to take office as President, hoping someone would be discovered who could step into the breach. As it was, the Department of Opposition found itself to be the closest much of the country had to a government, thanks to it's broad network of informants, secret police, and it's cellular structure designed to prevent a particularly sensitive President from entirely purging it's capabilities.
Thurmond abandoned the post-atomic wastelands of the Mid-Atlantic Eastern Seaboard and the broad plains of the Midwest, and drew back what forces were still listening to south of the Mason-Dixon Line and East or the New Mexico River. Much of the country was falling into bedlam, riots becoming revolutions. By 1970, Thurmond's national triage had saved a rump of the United States, but he was succumbing to radiation sickness and it was clear to the military figures who had steadily refilled the Cabinet that the Acting President was incapable of restoring American dignity. He was quietly removed in a coup, never to be heard from again.
1970-1976: Lawrence Patton McDonald (US Navy --- National Coalition)
The military figures who dominated the Cabinet chose one of their own, to be Director of the Opposition and Acting President. They would soon come to regret their decision. MacDonald was an arch-conservative and far more strident in his opinions than even Thurmond who as Director had still been an Administration man. McDonald took his twin roles very seriously. He abolished the National Recovery Administration and restored the powers of state governments which had been suspended since the 1930s. The Federal Civil Defense Administration was also abolished and the new state governments (installed by appointment by Department of Opposition officials) were composed largely of Opposition and Civil Defense veterans. The alarmed military establishment attempted a coup to remove the radical Acting President who threatened to destroy the myriad accomplishments of the Second Republic. But McDonald had inherited a formidable militia from Thurmond's years and had built a loyalist base with his reforms. The attempted coup was a wash and McDonald successfully purged his opposition.
Once firmly installed, McDonald slashed even more of the federal institutions established in the Johnson era. He was happy to allow their functions to be carried on by the restored state governments but saw no place for them in Federal government. Controversially, he did enforce racial integration upon these institutions as a condition of their devolution. Nevertheless, he made no attempt to dissolve the Second Republic and restore the 1789 Constitution, likely out of pragmatism given the extreme situation the country was in. McDonald pushed the boundaries of the United States westwards, crushing the warlords of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, eventually being halted by a coalition of new countries including Deseret, Nevada, California and Great Dakota. McDonald was ultimately felled by an assassin's bullet in his home state of Georgia, fired by a white supremacist disappointed by McDonald's tolerance for black civil rights.
1976-1985: Hunter S. Thompson (Freak Power --- National Coalition)
As McDonald's armies moved westwards, they encountered many warlords who had carved out a domain for themselves in the mountains of the Rockies. They found a particularly odd realm when they uncovered the High Sheriff of All The Colorados, whose domain consisted of a small area around Pitkin County. The High Sheriff quickly bent the knee and was rewarded for his obedience by being made the first Acting Governor of the restored State of Colorado. McDonald was soon so impressed by Thompson's peculiarities, that he was soon made Deputy Director of the Department of Opposition. He was the perfect man to think the unthinkable.
On McDonald's death, Thomson became Director and Acting President, and the neutered Cabinet could do little to stop him. Thompson accelerated the pace of restoring civil liberties, abolishing the FBI and restoring law enforcement to the states. The right to bare arms was restored. The National Parks Administration was maintained and even extended, with the irradiated regions under New Washington's control made National Parks. In light of petrol shortages, a ration was introduced which Thompson intended to use to abolish the automobile and encourage the use of bicycles and horses. Social and morality laws were abolished at a federal level and when Thompson was disappointed that the states did not follow suit, restored elections at a state and local level. The nomadic tribes of the Plains were recognised by being given a 'non-territorial state' in the union, and in so doing set the United States to expansion northwards into the chilly plains of what had once been Canada. He also extended the border north of the Mason-Dixon line, agreeing a boundary with the New England Confederacy in the wilderness of the Appalachians.
Against Thompson's better judgement, the United States butted heads with the Cuba led Caribbean Compact, mostly due to the acts of petrol pirates hunting for fuel off the Gulf Coast. This escalated into a short war which saw the re-establishment of American naval power in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Thompson made one final act as Acting President in 1985, signing legislation to abolish the 1935 Constitution and establish a Third Republic, which he hoped would entice the Western States to rejoin the union. The Constitutional Convention failed in this, but did finally restore democracy at a Federal level. The Third Republic has no Department of Opposition and no Acting President, the executive branch being composed of a five member council, designed to prevent a return to the personal autocracy created by Secretary Johnson.
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KingCrawa - Britain isn't College/All Saints/Charlton Park and College: Presidents of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Britain isn't College/All Saints/Charlton Park and College: Presidents of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
An analogue list for College/All Saints/Charlton Park and College Ward, Gloucestershire Country Council (it's name got changed a lot)
1973: Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal) An analogue list for College/All Saints/Charlton Park and College Ward, Gloucestershire Country Council (it's name got changed a lot)
Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal) 53.7%
Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Conservative) 37.2%
Harold Wilson (Labour) 9.1%
The details of the Bodmin Incident are well known to any student of recent British history or politics, so there is no need to go into them here. Suffice it to say the transformation of Britain into a presidential republic (modelled on the French system) was the only acceptable solution considering the circumstances.
With both main parties tarred by the cover up, (in fact experts credit the Tories getting as high a vote share as they did to their choice of candidate), the previously moribund Liberals were able to come up the middle, with their charismatic candidate Jeremy Thorpe touring the country and offering Real Change for Britain
Unfortunately, the Liberals did not have the funding to mount a national parliamentary campaign as well and Thorpe was unable to carry his party with him into parliament, finding himself forced to cohabit with the newly re-elected Edward Heath. Fortunately, they both had similar views on Thorpe’s social liberalisation agenda and while it did not move as fast as the President would have liked, decent solid work was still done.
Thorpe was a popular leader at home and abroad and was credited with holding the country together during the period of transition. By 1976 many assumed he was a shoo in for re-election the following year. Until that is, the press got wind of Dartmoor.
1977: Willie Whitelaw (Conservative)
Willie Whitelaw (Conservative) 50.8%
Jo Grimond (Liberal) 49.2%
Come the 77 election, Labour were left with a choice. Polling suggested that the Liberal Party was popular even while Thorpe was under investigation, and while they would have preferred to have one of their own in Admiralty House, splitting the progressive vote only increased the chance of the Tories winning. So, in January of 1977 the Camden pact was formed, where Labour agreed not to field a presidential candidate in exchange for the Liberals not fielding parliamentary candidates in Labour seats.
Unfortunately for both parties, the Tories had nominated the genial Willie Whitelaw and despite the popularity of the former Liberal leader Jo Grimond, Whitelaw was able to take both the Presidency and Parliament by the skin of his teeth.
Fortunately, for both of the other parties, Whitelaw (a One Nation Conservative) alongside Edward Heath, decided to continue pursing Thorpe’s social agenda, while mostly focusing on the grand prize of foreign policy. Entering the EEC. Following a referendum in 1978, in which the country voted overwhelmingly in favour of the entry, Heath left parliament to take up an EU commissioners post and was replaced as PM by Peter Walker.
By the time the 1981 Presidential election came around, Conservative Central Office were confident that Whitelaw would become the first president elected for a second term. What they hadn’t counted on, was the Liberals campaign strategy.
1981: David Penhaligon (Liberal)
David Penhaligon (Liberal) 57.1%
Willie Whitelaw (Conservative) 32.3%
Roy Jenkins (Labour) 10.6%
The Liberals campaigned on the idea that if the President was going to act like a liberal, the President might as well be a Liberal. The campaign worked and David Penhaligon entered Admiralty House with the highest vote margin of any president so far.
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long. Come the parliamentary elections of 1982, the Tories (who had been in power since 1973) were exhausted, and the Liberals had spent a good chunk of their money on the Presidential election. This mean that Labour (who had undergone a prolonged period of soul searching over the last nine years) under republican Michael Foot, were swept to power all be it with a very small majority.
Penhaligon (who favoured slow incremental change) found himself cohabiting with one of the most radical Prime Ministers of the modern era. While he was able to block some of the madder ideas, such as unilateral nuclear disarmament and abandoning the EEC, renationalisation of the industries that had been privatised under Whitelaw and the abolition of the House of Lords slipped through the net.
For many members of the Labour Party, this was too much, and in 1984, several prominent Labour figures (including the 1981 presidential candidate Roy Jenkins) made the Portsmouth Declaration in which they announced they were leaving the Labour Party and forming the Social Democratic Party. Enough MPs crossed the floor, to force Foot to limp along with a minority government, until a double election could be held in 1985. The question on everyone’s lips of course, was how would this affect the upcoming Presidential election?
1985: David Penhaligon (Liberal/SDP)
David Penhaligon (Liberal/SDP) 52.5%
Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) 42.6%
Roy Hattersley (Labour) 4.9%
The answer was it really didn’t. The SDP were aware that they didn’t have the resources to mount a full presidential campaign of their own, and that they had more in common with the Liberals than they disagreed on. Therefore, they approached Penhaligon with the idea of running on a fusion ticket, an idea he happily embraced.
Running with the support of two parties, Penhaligon easily overcame the Tories monetarist standard-bearer Margaret Thatcher and Labour’s Roy Hattersley (running what historians now call Labour’s last serious run for the presidency) and while he had a slightly rocky relationship with the new Prime Minister, Jim Prior, his second term is considered by many to be his best.
1989: David Penhaligon (Liberal Democrat)
David Penhaligon (Liberal Democrat) 51.1%
Douglas Hurd (Conservative) 48.9%
Following the success of the Liberal/SDP fusion ticket the two parties had merged in late 1987. While Penhaligon has been hoping to retire, senior party figures like David Steel convinced him that only he could help the fledgling party win the next election, and at the same time take them into parliament. With Labour, too deep in its own civil war to even field a candidate before the cut-off date, Penhaligon picked up their votes in addition to his own, and found himself returning to Admiralty House for the third time. In addition, the Lib Dems found themselves with a majority of parliamentary seats at the 1990 general election as well.
His third term was mostly focused on foreign affairs with the ongoing events in the Crimea and integrating us further with Europe, taking up most of his time. However, he did pass the two-term limit bill, meaning no future president would ever be able to equal his time in office. While some historians feel his did this to secure his own legacy, others believe he did it to make sure the electorate were presented with a more varied choice of candidates.
David Penhaligon is the longest serving president to date and regularly tops the polls as the most popular president ever.
1993: Alan Beith (Liberal Democrat)
Alan Beith (Liberal Democrat) 50.8%
Geoffrey Howe (Conservative) 45.3%
Dennis Skinner (Labour) 3.9%
Running as the fourth term of David Penhaligon, Alan Beith should have had it easy. But despite the Tories struggling to bridge the gap between their One Nation and Monetarist camps and Labour having been taken over by the far left, it was clear that the Liberals were running out of ideas.
While in his first year in office, Beith was able to get his flagship devolution policy through (leading to today’s system of Mayors and regional assemblies), the success of the Conservatives under Michael Portillo in the 1994 general election, (though Lib Dems continued to hold the Senate) put paid to any further plans, and he spent most of the rest of his term clearing up the Crimea and visiting other countries.
1997: Michael Howard (Conservative)
Michael Howard (Conservative) 46.4%
Alan Beith (Liberal Democrat) 44.5%
Michael Meacher (Labour) 9.1%
After sixteen years of Liberal dominance of Admiralty House, the Conservatives (the monetarists having won the ideological scrap fight) were back with a vengeance, with complete control of both the Presidency and the lower house of Parliament (it would take until the general election of 2003 for the Tories to claim control of the Senate)
Seeing there wasn’t much the Conservatives could do about the devolution to the regions, Howard turned it to his advantage, shrinking the size of central government and distributing more power to the regions. Many industries that had been nationalised since the 80’s suddenly found themselves back in private ownership. When asked to rate which President has had the biggest effect on domestic politics, Howard often comes in second place, just behind Jeremy Thorpe.
2001: Michael Howard (Conservative)
Michael Howard (Conservative) 46.4%
Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat) 45.1%
Ken Livingston (Labour) 8.5%
When most people of the right age, think of Michael Howard, they tend to think of him alongside President Jospin, at the memorial service for the Paris Metro Bombing. That event (committed by the Ukrainian terrorist group Vohon, in retaliation for the Crimea being removed from Russian control) in early 2002 would come to dominate his second term, with foreign policy and the ongoing war in Eastern Europe taking up the majority of his time.
While he and Prime Minister Ken Clarke were able to pass some domestic legislation, mostly relating to taxation and benefit law, it is as an international statesman who took Britain back onto the world stage, that Howard is remembered for.
2005: Nadine Dorries (Conservative)
Nadine Dorries (Conservative) 47.3%
Malcolm Bruce (Liberal Democrat) 37.2%
John McDonnell (Labour) 11.8%
Nigel Farage (UKIP) 3.8%
Most people would assume that Nadine Dorries would go down in history, as the first female President of the UK, or as the winner of the first four party presidential race. While this is true, what she is mostly known as, is as a disastrous one term, no mark.
Capturing the nomination with the support of the angry Eurosceptic far right and winning off the back of Howard’s legacy, she found her policies both at home and abroad blocked at every turn. Her attempts to roll back abortion and consent laws were blocked first by Ken Clarke and from 2006 by Menzies Campbell. Meanwhile her referendum on Britain’s place in the EU (which won her plaudits from UKIP) was defeated by a margin of 56% to 44%.
Come 2009 she was isolated in Admiralty House, unable to do much but meet foreign dignitaries. Then came the final indignity. Dorries became the first incumbent president to lose her parties primary.
2009: Nick Clegg (Conservative)
Nick Clegg (Conservative) 42.3%
Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat) 36.0%
Sian Berry (Green) 11.3%
Nadine Dorries (UKIP) 6.6%
Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) 3.7%
The Conservative wunderkind, Nick Clegg had served in the back rooms of CCO, as an MEP and as an MP since 2006. Concerned about the direction Nadine Dorries was taking the Tory party, he had unseated her in the 2008 primary, under the banner of “A Fresh Direction for the Tories” (Dorries later became the first president to campaign under a different party label) and then come out on top of a crowded presidential field (the Liberal Democrats were still undergoing a period of soul searching) under the banner of “A Fresh Direction for Britain”
Young, intelligent and with a suitably photogenic family, Clegg was the classic example of what a president should be like, (to the point that the creators of the BBC political drama, SW1 have had to deny their fictional president is based on Clegg). But while things were rosy in public, behind the scenes, things were quite tense. The problem was that Clegg – who campaigned on a liberal agenda – has misinterpreted the mood of his party. While they were keen to get rid of Dorries, they were still Conservatives not Liberals, and some of the things Clegg was suggesting – a national living wage, and the adoption of more EU legislation – were just not Conservative enough. In fact, Clegg found himself more and more comfortable with his Liberal Democrat Prime Ministers, first Campbell and then Simon Hughes, who were more than willing to work with his agenda.
Westminster was still stunned however, when Clegg called a live press conference in late 2011 and announced he would be running as a Liberal Democrat in the next election.
2013: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat)
Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) 47%
Theresa May (Conservative) 36%
William Legge (UKIP) 11%
Diane Abbott (Labour) 6%
Still amazingly popular, Nick Clegg’s decision to switch parties, not only made the Lib Dems job easier (the nomination became a technicality) but also made the Conservatives job harder, as they were forced to run against their own record in office.
Increasing his vote share, Clegg’s second term was even more successful than his first. Abroad he strengthened Britain’s reputation as a world power, cementing its relationship with the EU, and taking the lead on the UN’s response to Kazakhstan. At home, he oversaw the introduction of a universal basic income, made Britain the home for new business start-up’s and was a familiar face when London hosted the Olympics in 2016.
In presidential popularity polls, Clegg is regularly ranked as the best President of the 21st century and is often tied with David Penhaligon for most popular president ever.
2017: Unknown
Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat)
William Hague (Conservative)
Jonathan Bartley (Green)
Jess Phillips (Labour)
With the next election (the first double since 1985) only a few weeks away, no one is quite sure who the next resident of Admiralty House will be, or if they will have to negotiate with Prime Minister Hughes or the Leader of the Opposition George Osborne. One thing is obvious however. Whoever wins they will continue to represent the best that Britain has to offer.
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Are you stalking me? Coz I live in All Saints
...was it you who used to live on Keynsham road or something like that? Please say yes, otherwise I'm scared
Also don't tell @BrotherSideways but I might vote Lib Dem next month oshit.
#VoteNormanLamb
- Status