New Deal Coalition Retained III: A New World

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Intro
  • Redcoat

    Banned
    As @The Congressman has stopped work on his TL, some of us have decided to make a fanfiction thread where we can have our own continuation of the story. @Laxault2020 will make a post tomorrow or so. I might help with maps and an update here or there. There are also a couple others involved who will do updates. This will be the start of a fanmade volume.

    Note that the threadmarks aren't marked in the order they were made, but they're grouped with related updates in roughly chronological order.

    If you want to make a guest update, PM me, @Laxault2020, or @Zharques
     
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    The 1992 Primaries I
  • The 1992 Primaries


    Following VR Day, President Donald Rumsfeld was riding high. Approval rating shooting up to nearly 95%, many in the nation were comparing him to Abraham Lincoln and FDR as one of America’s greatest Presidents. And it wasn’t hard to see why. The nation was riding high. Three World Wars and three massive, overwhelming victories with little damage to the homeland. Not one war a defeat and having taken the lead to destroy two malignant, tyrannical ideologies in Nazism and Communism, the national mood in the Summer of 1991 couldn’t be more hyped or jingoistic. America could conquer anything, could surmount any obstacle – could single-handedly pull the world to everlasting peace. While the jingoism and patriotic zeal of victory would not go away, it was tempered with the harsh realities of the post-war era. Worldwide war had greatly disrupted the global economy and trade routes, wartime production orders suddenly halted as the market corrected for a primacy on civilian goods. America (despite some bomb damage) had been spared the devastation that haunted the world, joining China and India (and to a lesser extent South Africa, Australia, and the Asian Tigers) as the primary manufacturing hub as it had following WWII. This helped greatly, but the peacetime shock to a war economy was joined by mass apprehension over the Marburg Virus Epidemic to deal a major blow to the national mood. Unemployment, which had been at a record low of 1.3% in the beginning of 1990, shot up to 6.3% by December 1991 – not a depression by any extent but one that put a damper on the era of good feelings victory had brought. As 1992 began, Rumsfeld’s approval ratings had fallen to 42%.


    Donald Rumsfeld would end his presidency with an average approval of 60%, rated by public opinion and presidential scholars as one of the top leaders of the United States. Domestic policy plaudits were mixed, general lack of major change from the Reagan era (his predecessor considered one of the greatest domestic agenda Presidents by the same metrics), the George Ryan Scandal, and the entitlement reform flop contrasting with the focus on funding scientific advancement. He would be primarily known for fighting and winning WWIII, and cementing America’s superpower status in the following peace. Retiring to their home in Winnetka, Illinois, Donald and Joyce Rumsfeld would continue to be active in public life to this day as one of the most distinguished elder statesmen in the country. After 16 years in the political wilderness, the Democratic Party smelled their chance to finally reclaim 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Rumsfeld had rebounded to about 60% approval, but much of that was largely victory goodwill and relief that the Marburg Virus hadn’t reached the United States. Economic uncertainty and concerns over the post-Warsaw state of the world dominated the national mood and the Democrats saw this as their main opening. Nearly two dozen candidates immediately threw their hats into the wing, but by the start of voting in 1992 only five were left. Representative William J. Clinton – fresh off his 1988 run by putting his extramarital affairs issues behind him – looked to consolidate the crucial southern bloc behind him. New York Senator and former Mayor of NYC Hugh Carey ran as a northern communonationalist, while Governor Dick Durbin of Illinois leveraged his executive experience as a populist liberal. Rounding out the field was Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the great liberal hope. However, it was the fifth candidate in the race that took all the late buzz.


    One of the most recognized names in the country, Lee Iacocca certainly had a charmed life. Having overseen the transformation of the Chrysler corporation into one of the top world automakers, he joined his friend and more partisan colleague Donald Trump in managing the Wartime Business Council, a roundtable dedicated to assisting the US Military in war production for WWIII. Often seen on the Chrysler manufacturing floors where the tanks were built, Iacocca was a popular figure by 1991. Long having been bitten by the political bug, he made feelers to both the Republicans and Democrats, but ultimately threw his hat with the latter after determining a Democrat was more likely to win the 1992 general. At first, most of the field ignored Iacocca as too conservative and too anomalous to win, but many pundits and politicos were shocked as he slowly but surely rose in the polls with universal name recognition and a simple but winning message – namely a robust “Second New Deal” that would boost business, growth, and the social safety net. Hence Iacocca’s slogan: “Get America Working Again.” Polls vaunted him to the lead after a leaked RNC memo cited Iacocca as the “candidate we should be afraid of.” In two primary debates his rivals would attack him considerably over cozy relationships to big business, overly moderate positions, and past support for Republicans. Iacocca would brush it off. “If you’re a businessman in America, you have to get along with everybody. You lose money if you make enemies, and last time I checked I have a lot of money,” he said at a debate to roaring laughter.

    At the Minnesota primary he would come into a close second to Ron Wyden, quickly knocking out Carey and Durbin in New Hampshire while coming in a narrow first above Clinton in Virginia. While Clinton would carry the Deep South and Wyden the West and upper Northeast, by Spring Iacocca would clean up the rest of the nation to clinch the Democratic nomination. To shore up his liberal support – given Iacocca’s moderate views and past conservatism made him mistrusted by the base of the party – he selected Pennsylvania congresswoman Lynn Yeakel, both a noted liberal and the first woman selected for a major party ticket. The Iacocca/Yeakel team would take the convention in Madison Square Garden by storm, exuberant Democrats simply tasting their first national victory since 1972.




    Summary
    "After 16 years of Republican regime, this year will be our Democratic Revolution!" -Lee Iaccoca-

    Credit: The Congressman
     
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    1992 Primaries Part 2
  • Redcoat

    Banned
    1992 Primaries Part 2

    "Our party has been lucky that the American people has given us four consecutive terms. Let's hope we don't lose that luck."

    -Orrin Hatch-
    In the year 1992, the Republicans were at the point where they hadn’t lost a presidential election since the George Wallace’s re-election in 1972. That was 16 years ago, and they were not looking to run out of luck now. President Rumsfeld was legally obligated to not run for a third term, and though there were some movements to repeal the 22nd Amendment to let him run for a third term, they never caught steam and Rumsfeld himself refused to even consider the thought. He never saw himself as any FDR. In the wake of this, many Republicans were setting themselves up to become Rumsfeld’s successor. Only 4 of them were of note.

    · George W. Bush, Majority Whip of the House of Representatives

    · Orrin Hatch, 2 term Utah Senator, deemed a rising star in the party

    · Mark Hatfield, 4 term Oregon Senator, Pro-Peace and isolationist

    · Bob Dole, 4 term Kansas Senator, fiscal conservative platform.

    George W. Bush was an early favorite of the race, a hero of the Portuguese Crisis and scion of the Bush political dynasty, early on he had the weight of a political machine behind him. He had presented himself to the American populace as a populist of sorts, working for the people to get across popular legislation and policies, he would fight the establishment as he forged a new American future, even if they dragged their feet doing so. He was to be beholden only to the American people and not to anyone else...This was of course a lie, George Bush Jr. was as much a part of the establishment as those he claimed he would stand up to as president. His family had been in the federal government since the days of FDR, his father was a governor and his uncle was a Senator, to claim he was anti-establishment was laughable, and the Republican voters agreed. George Bush Jr.’s candidacy had underperformed compared to expectations earlier on in the race, and what he had at first expected to be an easy victory turned out to be a more competitive race then he wanted. That’s not to say Bush’s campaign had completely failed, as he had carried Minnesota, and made second place in New Hampshire to Orrin Hatch, who was positioning himself as the anti-Bush candidate. Many veterans appreciated his heroism in the Portuguese Crisis, so he had gained their vote handily. Bush also had won many states with a plurality of African Americans, with the help of surrogates like Charles Rangel and Harold Washington.

    Minnesota’s Progressive leaning sensibilities had given Mark Hatfield’s campaign a boost when he unexpectedly received second place in their primary, a feat he was not able to build up on. The primary also likely extended the campaign longer then it should have, as he only won a smattering of states in the Plains, and his home state of Oregon. His isolationist message was not popular among Republican voters, except his claims that the Rumsfeld Administration had been acting too harshly in trying to stop the spread of the Marburg Virus to the United States and criticizing President Pinochet’s controversial quarantine measures, something many American voters agreed with. Overall though, Mark Hatfield’s campaign was ignored, and considered an extreme long shot, though he was rather popular with college Republicans.

    Bob Dole’s campaign was entirely oriented around Domestic Policy, namely fiscal policy. He advocated cutting spending on programs he found unnecessary, such as Amtrak and the National Science Foundation, the latter of which he claimed spent too much money into projects without any practicality. He also called for a raise in interest rates to deal with possible post-war inflation. He was also interested in the idea of privatizing government programs which he claimed would be better off under private control. However, his campaign could never get enough momentum to get going, and his lack of foreign policy focus was obviously shown in debates. Parts of his policy eventually gained hold within the Republican party platform going onto the general election.

    Orrin Hatch presented himself as a moderate, a compromise candidate who would be the most fit to carry the mantle of the Republican Party coming into the general election, and proved to be a palatable choice. Bush’s campaign was demolished during a debate between the candidates, when an audience member asked George Bush Jr. if he had ever taken any drugs like heroin or marijuana. Bush dodged the question, something which the other candidates had taken advantage of, spreading doubt about whether or not the candidate was a heroin user. Some began claiming that he started taking heroin back in the 70s, they said that apparently after his plane crashed in the Azores Dogfight, he had gotten hooked on opioid painkillers. Reporters repeatedly asked Bush afterwards whether or not he had taken drugs in the past, to which Bush ignored them. He claimed that these rumors were planted by others to ruin his campaign. An official doctor’s report had dispelled these rumors, but the damage was done. The smears had taken a life of their own. Bush has to this day avoided questions about drug use in interviews.

    Orrin Hatch had avoided major scandal, and after Rumsfeld’s endorsement, clinched the nomination. Mark Hatfield, holding on to a pie-in-the-sky idea that he could win enough delegates to force it to convention, dropped out shortly after. Orrin Hatch had gotten the nomination.
    upload_2018-7-23_12-59-23.png

    Credit @Roberto El Rey for the wikibox

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    George Bush Jr.’s appearance at a rally, shown here.


    At the convention, Orrin Hatch had multiple choices for a Vice President. He had the opportunity to pick a candidate who ran already, though they had their own problems for him... George Bush Jr. was gripped with scandal, Bob Dole refused to accept, and Mark Hatfield was too irrelevant. Names were floated about, John Glenn, Antonin Scalia, and Roger MacBride, to name a few. Hatch picked neither of them...He had a rather unconventional choice…


    HHJ1QTg8r0OWfdm3eVXNwfHv3UVb0tSHWg2LncaLfhbBqwvGtEyvDIIZ0WbVKlgJiqSIBgFhCJlEq-1qsaWN7Ww_mXed4-K8VFzN_8JKV8sjDmY2CnjZfmdJtBIJKYVtRS-lJSpD


    David Eisenhower, grandson of famous general and president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.




    David Eisenhower was a favorite of the establishment, he was almost political royalty as the grandson of the former president, and a frequent donor to the Republican party. He also on his first term as governor of Maine, and was rather popular with the people there. Eisenhower was a rather uncontroversial candidate for all factions of the Republican party, especially since he was a close friend to president Rumsfeld. He seemed to have picked up his grandfather’s military tact, as he often served as an advisor to the president during the war. Eisenhower had appeased the establishment, as they considered him one of them. The Republicans were up and ready for the general election….

    --------------------

    The Progressive party, compared to the Republicans had no trouble at all in picking out their candidate.

    Opposition Leader of the Senate, Dick Lamm was one of the main leaders of the Progressive Party, and its face in the Senate. He met little to no opposition in the primaries, winning every state by above a 60% margin. The Progressives mostly had prepared themselves for the convention as a result of this. Senators Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Lowell P. Weicker Jr. were popular candidates for vice-president, Ginsburg would be the first female vice-president if chosen, something which excited many feminists within the Progressive base, and Weicker was popular among voters in New England, and both were from the East Coast but eventually Lamm chose Tom Harkin, a fellow Senator from the Plains states, as his VP. The Progressive Party was one that had been gripped with divisions, between the Midwestern libertarian and coastal radical factions, but the Midwesterners, which had been pro-war and supported taking down the USSR had won out. With a more united party, the Progressives had an enthusiastic attitude going into the convention. They were hoping that with World War 3 finally over, and with the American people likely looking for an alternative to 16 years of Republican rule, they could take the opportunity to present themselves as such.


    But the Progressives were still a newcomer compared to the old guard of the Democrats and Republicans, and post convention polls from Buckley News showed current polling with:


    Iaccoca/Yeakel: 46.5%
    Hatch/Eisenhower: 29.3%
    Lamm/Harkin: 24.2%

    The election was on.

    (A/N: This took me a while to proofread and get up to standards to my liking. I at least hope I did The Congressman justice in writing this.)
     
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    1992 Election
  • Redcoat

    Banned
    1992 Election

    “America, choose wisely what man you want to win the peace.”

    -Tom Harkin-

    America was heading into one of the most important elections in its history, a sentence which while thrown around a lot during election season, held extra weight this time. World War III had just ended, and whoever became president, be they Republican, Democrat, or Progressive, would have an absolutely crucial role in deciding how America’s position in the new world order would be. And a foreign policy agenda which would be set for decades to come, one parallel to this was the role that the oft-forgotten Truman presidency played in American history, his “Truman Doctrine” had defined American foreign policy for the entirety of the Cold War (or the Second Interwar Period by some historians). It was this question, what America’s new place in the world would be, that had been in the background the entire campaign.

    This race proved an interesting one for the Progressives, as they were much stronger in the polls then they were last election. With a united party base, they were less wracked with the divisions which limited them before. And the general want for a change in leadership affected them and the Democrats as Republican voters looked for different options. The Progressives were also projected to way more than the three states they had won in the last election, possibly up to 15 states. This was a dramatic change in circumstances for them, at the rate things were going, many leaders were hopeful they could force the election to Congress by denying either party 270 electoral votes. It was a long shot, but it was possible. After all, they did do this in 1968, though that year had been a much closer race than this one was suspected to be. The Progs’ Hail Mary was to do well enough in the elections to force another ‘68, and then do well enough in House elections to have their state delegations vote in their candidate into the presidency. Their so-called “Northern Strategy” in the House explains in part their gains down ballot in the House.

    The Republicans knew that it would take effort to convince the American people to vote for them five times in a row, especially now that polls were showing many voters were turning to the Democrats and Progressives almost in droves. Campaigns reminded them that in the 16 years they were in power, their party had the Reagan and Rumsfeld presidencies, the first of which had: restored the economy, oversaw the INF treaty which limited nuclear missiles (and likely saved the world during World War 3), and the Cuban reunification. His Reagan Doctrine had also empowered anti-communist nations around the world, and stemmed the tide of Focoism. Rumsfeld had led the nation in one of its most trying moments, and his calls had ensured victory for the Americans against the Soviet Empire. America was winning, and had been for 16 years thanks to the Republicans. There’s no hurt in winning for 4 more years. Both Reagan and Rumsfeld were regular guests in rallies, both trying to use their popularity to promote their party’s nominee. Oftentimes Hatch would end his speeches with this statement.

    Orrin Hatch: “America, are you tired of winning yet?
    [No!] Are you tired of winning yet?
    [No!] Because I’m certainly not!”


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    Hatch during an interview post-convention.

    Lee Iacocca said in response,

    Iacocca: Well if by “winning” you mean “Overstaying your welcome”, then well yes we are indeed getting sick of winning.

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    Iacocca at a rally outside of Austin


    Orrin Hatch’s campaign left very little to what he would do as president, something which Democrats often criticized. Many claimed that was because he had no plan at all, while some went even further...Iacocca himself had vehemently advocated against this, but many Democrats often digged at Hatch’s Mormonism, suggesting he was really beholden to the Mormon Church, and that they were really the ones calling the shots. These were just as unfounded as accusations at John Kennedy and his Catholicism, though that did not stop criticisms from coming in. Needless to say the Democrats lost Utah in one of the largest margins they have ever seen in their history.

    Both the Republicans and Democrats attacked the Progs, accusing them to have been fellow travelers with the Soviets, (or worse, in cahoots with them), and isolationist cowards not willing to stand up to the menace of the U.S.S.R. and its goons. This was not at all true, as the Progressives supported the war after seeing how power hungry the Soviet Empire had been. They shot back, saying that if they were what they were claimed to be, then they would’ve loudly protested the Administration’s actions in the war every step of the way, which they didn’t. Their poll ratings stayed somewhat steady despite those claims that they were isolationist fellow travelers.

    The Democrats were the undoubted frontrunners of the race, which meant that they were the target of much negative advertising from the Republicans, and to a lesser extent, the Progs. Iacocca was painted as as a greedy businessman, pointing to an example where had laid off a thousand Chrysler employees, moving the jobs overseas for higher profit for himself and his company. They said that if America was trusted in his hands, he would do the same to America, exploiting its people for personal gain. Some Chrysler employees, feeling betrayed by Iacocca, began wearing pins that said "Iacocca is a liar" because of this. However he fired back, stating that he only did what had to be done to save Chrysler as a company, and showed that the results worked. After all, it had rebounded from its moribund state, and returned to being one of the largest car companies in the world. The company as of his campaign recently bought the Italian car company Fiat, making it the 3rd largest car company in the world. He emphasized his past being raised by poor immigrant parents, and how he saw himself as living proof of the wonders of the American dream. His charming personality and wit appealed to the American people, compared to the rather bland Hatch and Lamm.

    Everyone knew Iacocca would win the popular vote by quite a bit, though no one completely knew if he would be able to pass 270 electoral votes. Election night ended later than usual because of four races which decided the presidency.

    Missouri, with its 11 votes was won by only 4,000 votes. New Mexico was won by a margin of 11,000 votes. California, contested mostly with the Progressives, had been won (barely) by 10,000 votes. Orrin Hatch had campaigned hard in Texas, which polls were showing were beginning to favor Iacocca. These efforts were to keep Texas in the red were to no avail too, as it was lost by a sharper 8,000 votes.

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    If all four states fell to the Republicans or the Progressives instead of one, the House may have decided the presidency, and it is possible that the country would be left for months wondering who the president would be. The Progs resigned themselves yet again to third place, but looked forward to the gains they made downballot in the House, hoping they could force through their policies with luck.
     
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    Congressional Elections 1992
  • Congressional Elections 1992


    Ross Perot, the wealthy businessman who made his fortune digitizing records for AmCare, took a deep look into politics during the war. He felt that both major parties had contributed to what he saw as “an avoidable war” (he conveniently kept this thought to himself though). Frustrated with what he saw as a “bloated two party system”, he made a proposition to Dick Lamm, Jim Jones, John Anderson, and the rest of the progressive party leadership: “If you make me the house faction leader I can more than double your seats in 1992.” Wielding with him the “Seven Point Plant”, backed by polling, data analysis, and mathematical models, Perot convinced a Progressive leadership, desperate for new life in the party (and Perot’s campaign donations) to give him a chance.


    Perot’s strategy featured the Seven Point Plan, as follows.


    1. Focus primarily on the house because -

    a. Statewide senate races feature: too many variables in play each election, too much on the line for many voters to vote third party and for donors to spend on a minority party, are too expensive to win, and don’t develop long-run candidates.

    b. House seats in contrast are: (1.) Much easier to flood with money, (2.) More low-stakes in voter’s minds, (making them more willing to vote for the Bull Moose), and (3.) Feature weaker major party candidates more likely to be picked off due to possible scandals or extremist views, with less national coverage that could be sicked against our candidates.

    c. Most importantly: House Delegations by state pick the President in the case of a hung electoral college.

    2. Focus on Smaller States because:

    a. They are ignored by major parties searching for voters to choose their candidate.

    b. They have electorates that often don’t match national profiles based on the needs of bigger states.

    c. They fit our target demographic (discussed later), urban or rural socially liberal, and fiscally centrist to center-right non-religious white voters.

    d. With some small states, if we win one or two house seats we will control their congressional delegation.

    3. Focus on Northern States: (The Famous “Northern Strategy” comes into play here).

    a. These states as mentioned contain very urban or rural socially liberal, and fiscally centrist to center-right non-religious white voters.

    b. These states are small (see previous point).

    c. These states feel alienated by Southern/Blue Collar focused Democrats and African American/Suburban focused Republicans, and feel like both major parties don’t appeal to them.

    d. These states are mostly:

    i. Isolationist and Dovish.

    ii. Socially Liberal (besides Guns see later).

    iii. Fiscally Mixed-they are neither Communonationalist nor liberty conservatives.

    iv. Libertarian with regards to civil rights.

    v. Have a tradition of pre-New Deal progressivism in the likes of William Borah, the Non-Partisan League, the Populist Party, etc.

    4. Social Position Changes

    a. Socially, Democrats and Republicans are quite similar outside of civil rights, which is too toxic to touch, we have an advantage playing as a truly socially liberal, pro-feminist party, which will win us Urban Progressive seats.

    b. To win rural seats we need to be THE anti-gun control party, we must heavily promote Bob Casey Sr. and elevate his faction in the Democrats whilst accusing Republicans of being weak on this issue. We can advocate some sort of regulation, but as a whole be against policies to ban different types of guns.

    c. We can split social conservative voters on this wedge issue, as many in plains states care more about guns than abortion, family-values, etc., and will side with us over the major parties while we continue to gain in urban areas with our social liberalism and support amongst feminists.

    5. Emphasize the Farm Vote

    a. Thanks to Bob Dole’s work with both the liberal black republicans in the Wednesday Group, lead by John Lewis, and the Black Conservative Coalition, lead by Clarence Thomas, they have forced the party establishment to put in the platform a plank calling for an end to all agriculture subsidies. The black community sees them as “welfare for whites” and “part of an unjust economic system meant to keep our communities impoverished”. However, rural white republicans, especially less-religious donor class, love them. We can pick up Republican votes and money by endorsing food subsidies for farmers in the Midwest.

    b. Lee Iacocca has endorsed massive steel and automobile tariffs. This worries the export-dependent farm industry, who fear they may be affected in any future trade wars. In addition, many wealthy “wall-street” liberals enjoy cheaper overseas products that are available thanks to free trade. We already see tariffs as an infringement on personal liberty, so we need to emphasize this to win urban liberal Kennedy Democrats and the farm vote.

    c. Win over hippies and small farmers alike with our support for agricultural co-operatives and unique agricultural business structures.

    d. Farmers hate wars and the rationing, surpluses, etc., that they cause. We need to emphasize that we are the party of peace, especially as farmers start feeling the pain of overproduction thanks to total war. This will lead to claims we are unpatriotic, however, which should be minimized. In addition, if we emphasize the McGovernite “food for peace” program (i.e. sending food aid instead of military aid to help poorer countries develop) we can demonstrate that our agricultural subsidies will go to good use.

    6. Push for more “Direct Democracy”

    a. Create a constitutional amendment to repeal the Supreme Court ruling in Obey v. Dyke and allowing recall elections for Senators, (our anti-corruption stances will win us previously unwinnable seats in these cases).

    b. Emphasize a more open primary system that is less reliant on donors or lobbies at all levels. The goal should be to keep money out of politics. Corporations are not people, after all.

    c. Have the most presidential primary debates of any party to open our candidates, their plans in government, and our platform to The American People.

    d. Change the new Presidential Primary calendar to emphasize small states “left-behind” by both major parties’ respective primaries. (I personally recommend that we make Oregon become the first state in the primaries as it contains a lot of Libertarians and Left-Wing Progressives alike. On another note, the order to primaries should be randomized as well, so that Minnesota and New Hampshire do not receive an unfair advantage every primary season.)

    7. Cater to hitherto un-catered constituencies: The following constituencies have been abandoned and not targeted, we need to emphasize them, especially in the long-term.

    a. Native Americans: Neither Party has addressed their issues with regards to religious liberty, land rights, and opportunity.

    b. Rockefeller Republicans-Wall Street Types that feel nervous about Republicans increasing social communonaitonalism and anti-corporate welfare stances.

    c. Liberated Women and Hippies-disliked by both parties, already voting for us in large numbers, turnout needs to be increased.


    Excerpt from the presentation given by Ross Perot to the Progressive Party leadership from the Library of Congress

    Perot discussing the popularity of various proposals from a recording of this presentation
    billionaire-businessman-ross-perot-pointing-to-chart-during-tv-his-picture-id50705175




    This ultra-detailed platform appealed to a party establishment tired of campaigning on platitudes. Perot considered adding an anti-immigration stance, the so-called “Secret Eighth Point” (as it was hidden to prevent leaks) to win over the Democratic white working class union voters. Left-wing progressives, lead by Pat Leahy, already frustrated with an end to support for gun control, said they would consider publicly not endorsing “The Points” if this plank was added. Even though nominee Dick Lamm was a committed immigration restrictionist in the senate, he did not have enough power with the party elders to force the plank through. Dick Lamm would later say that he would have forced the election to the house if the “Secret Eighth Point” had been added, that way allowing him to run on it rather than avoiding the question, but that is heavily disputed.


    Congress

    200 Dems, 170 R’s 65 Progs

    Thanks to progressive strength and tails from Iacocca's victory, Democrats took the house, albeit narrowly, in 1992. However, a rather bland campaign worked to Democrats’ disadvantage. So did their “party-unity strategy”, an attempt to focus on building a party-wide agenda rather than tailoring candidates regionally. In the end, combined with an united Progressive presidential campaign, Ross Perot’s “Northern Strategy” worked extremely well, more than doubling Progressive representation in the house. While libertarians and left-wing progressives still needed to iron out their coalition, the party looked strong.

    Considering the possibilities, Republicans in the house did fine. However, a new strategy needed to be sewn. Which direction would the Republicans take now? One option was the James Stockdale Strategy: de-emphasize social issues outside of guns, attack Progressives for obstructionist policies, and emphasize conservative economics as truly anti-corporate welfare and against “the man”. Uniting with the progressive vote had saved some key seats in 1992, albeit by small margins. The other was to copy Ted Bundy in Washington State: Possibly to double down with the wars on crime, abortion, and sin? Ted Bundy was a wildly popular figure in the Republican Party, and his tough on crime policy was both admired and mirrored throughout many states.

    Dole’s relative success, especially with black voters across the ideological spectrum, on a platform light on everything besides cutting government programs he saw unnecessary, like Amtrak, the National Science Foundation, and agriculture subsidies in order to cut the deficit while preserving the welfare state, meant that the entire party could agree at least a bit on the economic side. Finally, new leadership in the house delegation would have to be sorted out as Roy Cohn agreed to resign before the 1994 election.

    One thing in particular marked the senate races: candidates were increasingly growing attached to their parties’ platform, and “mavericks” of all stripes suffered as a result. Thanks to the Northern Strategy, socially liberal and fiscally moderate (but not necessarily both) Republicans and Democrats alike were gradually migrating towards the Progressives.

    As far as the actual results were concerned, Republicans performed well, while they lost an easily winnable seat in Ohio to Democrat Bernadine Healy, Carroll Campbell miraculously survived in South Carolina, and pickups were made in the states that Republicans won in the Presidential election. Mormons, infuriated by the accusations thrown at Orrin Hatch by Democrats, put Jon Huntsman Jr. into the senate. 46 Republicans + Conservative NY Senator James L Buckley “Buckley the Younger” made a Minority Government in the Senate headed by Majority Leader Quinn from Hawaii. Progressives, thanks to smaller states like Alaska and party switches by Kent Conrad, and Larry Pressler (who previously ran for office as a Republican), made gains. Joe Biden considered switching to being a Progressive, but enjoyed his position as chairman of the Technology and Development Committee too much to abandon this post. Running a minority government would be difficult, but Majority Leader Quinn decided against making a coalition with the Progressives until absolutely necessary.

    46+1 R, 41+1 D, 11 P Senate


    The Promise of pork, having a minority party leader in the seat and his personal firm stance against illegal immigration made Perot seem more moderate and helped Perot win a pedestrian race in his seat, raising the Progressive count in the Texas delegation to two (Ron Paul held his seat). It didn’t hurt that Perot set a record for congressional spending in one race either.


    (P) Ross Perot vs. (D) James Hill vs (R) Anthony Williams

    donald-trump-ross-perot-businessmen-politics-2.jpg



    The Alaska At-Large seat had been held by Jack Coghill for a very long time. However, when Jack Coghill endorsed George W. Bush over Mark Hatfield, who had a dedicated following in the state, (Hatfield lost to Hatch by 200 votes there with only 1000 votes for Bush) many voters grew frustrated with him as both “Hatch People” and “Hatfield People” distrusted him. Meanwhile, per Perot’s Northern Strategy, Andre Marrou, an ex-Hatfield campaign staffer, and arch-libertarian who flirted with both the Republicans and Progressives, was handpicked by Perot to run in Alaska. Marrou deflected concerns about his relatively extremist stance on economic freedom by stating in his campaign announcement speech “Our state sovereign wealth fund is ingenious and uniquely Alaskan, bringing it, or any welfare policy, to DC would be like riding a camel from Fairbanks to Anchorage”. Democrats chose Tony Knowles, a moderate liberal known to be both boring and a flip-flopper. Making the race interesting was Joe Vogler, the 78 year old founder of the Alaskan Independence Party. Post-war, a dedicated number of Alaskans began to feel isolated from national politics. A disproportionate number of Alaskans died in the Third World War and while Alaskans were a patriotic lot, the state’s growing independence economically (thanks to new oil explored under Rumsfeld’s light regulatory touch), politically (its state government featured a very left-wing sovereign wealth fund while being almost Coolidgeian in its regulation of guns, abortion, etc.) and culturally (the most popular sports in the state-Dog Sledding, Basketball, and Ice Hockey were dying off elsewhere) lead to a growing fringe independence movement. Vogler ran on a platform of increasing Alaska’s economic independence on the federal government whilst supporting Scandinavian style social democracy at home, a referendum on independence, an Internationalist, and a socially Communationalist platform to the extreme (to gain the endorsement of religious voters who felt abandoned by the other three candidates). Johnny Carson put Vogler on his show and joked that he wanted to make Alaska a “freezing cold and Christian Saudi Arabia”. However, Vogler’s age hurt his ability to campaign, and Hatfield Republicans gravitated towards Marrou, as did economically conservative Republicans frustrated with Coghill’s moderate record (having voted against social security privatization). Coghill also fared extremely poorly in debates. Knowles failed to energize any voters and couldn’t campaign in October after breaking his leg. On election day, Marrou pulled it out with 38% of the electorate to Vogler’s 33%, Coghill’s 24%, and Knowles’s embarrassing 5%.



    (P)Andre Marrou vs (R) Jack Coghill (incumbent) vs (D) Tony Knowles vs Akip Joe Vogler

    libertarian-presidential-cand-andre-marrou-standing-in-front-of-the-picture-id50429301



    In a more conventional race, Bob Casey Sr., a prominent Pro-Life Communonationalist, beat Republican incumbent Arlen Spector, by emphasizing his combination of a “whole-life” social stance, tariffs, and pro-family welfare policies that were intended to promote another baby boom after the last generation was heavily devastated by WWIII. Bob Casey was also part of a convention move sponsored by U.S. Catholic Bishops to push gun control onto the Democratic Platform as part of a “whole-life” ideology (which some also thought would win over liberal urban voters too). While defeated in a close delegate vote at the 1992 convention, many pointed towards this as a future Democrat campaign plank, even though gun deaths were not a prominent issue in part thanks to AmCare’s emphasis on promoting mental health to prevent any more expensive treatments once problems emerged).


    D Bob Casey defeats R Arlen Specter and P John Perry


    FullC6318D1987-01-01.jpg



    Pete McCloskey, the Republican 1972 Presidential Candidate, finally chose to retire from the senate in 1992, feeling that his seat was in danger, and seeking a “life after politics”.

    Progressives chose ex-CA Secretary of State Jerry Brown. Thanks to an effective long-run PR campaign, and his work preventing the anti-war protests that dogged the Vietnam war, he had transformed his image into the next Progressive heir-in-waiting and the one who could unite the libertarian progressive and left-wing progressive wings of the party.

    Democrats chose a moderate in the form of rising movie star, Tom Hanks. Beloved for his work in the 1990 comedy film Dragnet, based on the old cop show, which had kept many a mind off the war for two hours in the theater, Hanks was a household name across the country. During the war he had helped mobilize actors in the war effort as head of the “Union of Actors for Victory”. In addition, he had arranged post-war a pay raise for “off-screen” workers, to help meet the increase in the cost of living post-war. Hanks had caught the political bug, and Democrats thought they had their own answer to Ronald Reagan. Outside of the film industry, Hanks didn’t have his own party base, and he had been an outspoken critic of the presidential nominee. While this hadn’t mattered in the primaries, it was a worrisome sign for the general election. He had “the potential to win 10% or 80% of the vote” according to some political pundits.

    Republicans chose James Stockdale, a retired Admiral, who had been studying and teaching Roman history and collapse at Stanford, as part of the Liberty Conservative think-tank Hoover Institution, before being re-enlisted in WWIII as a west-coast strategist. While he had performed admirably in the third world war (his work on coordinating American and Japanese convoys had saved many lives), he was not widely known and had had a much bigger impact in Vietnam, a war now forgotten in the scheme of things compared to the larger WWIII. He had been persuaded to run by his friends at the Hoover Institution, and while initially reluctant, he began to enjoy himself, and became convinced that he had to save the American Republic from what had befallen Rome long ago.

    Many wondered why Stockdale even bothered to run, with such strong Democratic and Republicans candidates. At the first debate, he was polling in the high 10’s. Asked about this in the first question of the first senate debate he thundered: “I’ll you why I’m here, to win this election!”, eliciting a roar in the crowd. He then proceeded to attack the Progressive Party for “increasing gridlock in our constitutional system” and remarked that “I study the fall of the Roman Empire for a living. And believe me, a lot of the policies suggested by the actor and the cultist on this stage are similar to what turned Rome to dust”. Stockdale focused on winning every Republican and Progressive voter in the state, thinking this would get him “over the top”, and so shied away from social issues and emphasized the deficit and “good government”. Stockdale also brought up Jerry Brown’s relationship with Jim Jones, and dubbed him a “dangerous choice”. Meanwhile, Hank’s criticism of Iacocoa and increasing “disinterest in the whole hyper-partisan system of politics” resulted in a poor finish to the campaign season.

    While Orrin Hatch would fail to win the state on election day, Stockdale won enough progressive-leaning voters to go over the top. Tom Hanks’ criticism of Iacocca cost the Democrats a critical senate seat and earned them an outspoken critic of their fiscal policies. Jerry Brown’s past associations with Jim Jones (proven when the LA Times reported that Brown was a registered member of the People’s Temple and used Jones’s contacts on the campaign) cost them a winnable senate seat. Stockdale became famous as “Caesar's Favorite Senator”. He would be fondly remembered for his long-term thinking, references to ancient history in senate debates, and openness to listen to constituents, especially the young, just like the students he taught.


    R James Stockdale vs D Tom Hanks vs P Jim Jones

    A famous photo of Stockdale during his opening statement that made its rounds after the first debate

    upload_2018-7-26_15-9-4.jpeg



    In the bigger picture, Wayne Owens, Dem. Senate Leader from 1988-1992, was defeated for re-election thanks to Hatch's victory in Utah. Strom Thurmond returned to his role as Democratic Senate Leader, but publicly announced he would retire sometime soon, though many wondered what "soon" meant.
     
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    1992 Senate
  • Senators List


    Alabama-

    2. Fob James (D)

    3. Richard Shelby (D) D Gain


    Alaska-

    2. Steve Cowper (D)

    3. Ray Metcalf (P) P gain


    Arizona-

    1. Cesar Chavez (D) D Hold

    3. Samuel Goddard (D)


    Arkansas-

    3. Dale Bumpers (D) D Hold

    2. Bill Alexander (D)


    California-

    1. Edwin Meese (R)

    3. James Stockdale (R) R HOLD


    Colorado-


    2. Dick Lamm (P)

    3. William Armstrong (R)


    Connecticut-


    1. Prescott Bush Jr. (R)

    3. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (P) P Hold


    Delaware-


    1. Mike Castle (R)

    2. Joe Biden (I)


    Florida-


    1. Bob Martinez (D)

    3. Buddy McKay (D) D hold


    Georgia-


    2. John Lewis (R)

    3. Larry MacDonald (D) D Hold


    Hawaii-


    1. William F. Quinn (R)

    3. Patsy Mink (P) P Hold


    Idaho-


    3. Butch Otter (R) R Hold

    2. David H. Leroy (R)


    Illinois-


    3. Dan Rostenkowski (D) D Hold

    2. Harold Washington (R)


    Indiana-


    1. Richard Lugar (R)

    3. Evan Bayh (D) D Hold


    Iowa-


    2. Terry Branstad (R)

    3. Tom Harkin (P) P Hold


    Kansas-


    2. Sam Brownback (R) R Hold

    3. Bob Dole (R)


    Kentucky-


    2. Walter Huddleston (D)

    3. Steve Beshear (D) D Hold


    Louisiana-


    2. Edwin Edwards (D) D Hold

    3. David Treen (R)


    Maine-


    2. John R. McKernan Jr. (R)

    1. William Cohen (R)


    Maryland-


    1. John Glenn Beall Jr. (R) R Hold

    3. William T. Coleman Jr. (R)


    Massachusetts-


    1. John Kerry (D)

    2. Mitt Romney (R)


    Michigan-


    2. Dave Bonior (R)

    1. Fred Upton (R)


    Minnesota-


    2. Rudy Boschwitz (R)

    1. Clark McGregor (R)


    Mississippi-


    2. Medgar Evers (R)

    1. Thad Cochran (R)


    Missouri-


    1. John Danforth (R)

    3. Mel Carnahan (D) D Hold


    Montana-


    1. Pat Williams (D)

    2. Max Baucus (D)


    Nebraska-


    1. Bob Kerry (D)

    2. J. James Exon (D)


    Nevada-


    3. Jim Santini (R) R Gain

    1. Paul Laxalt (R)


    New Hampshire-


    3. Bob Smith (R) R Gain

    2. Alan Shepard (R)


    New Jersey-


    2. Frank Lautenberg (D)

    1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (P)


    New Mexico-


    2. Art Trujilo (D)

    1. Harrison Schmitt (R)


    New York-


    1. Leo C. Zeferetti (D)

    3. James Buckley (C) R/C Hold


    North Carolina-


    3. Jim Broyhill R Gain

    2. Jesse Helms (D)


    North Dakota-


    3. Kent Conrad P Gain (Switched parties)

    1. Byron Dorgan (P-NPL)


    Ohio-


    1. Jerry Springer (D)

    3. Bernadine Haley (D) D Gain


    Oklahoma-


    1. Dewey F. Bartlett (R)

    2. Wes Watkins (D) D Hold


    Oregon-


    2. Ron Wyden (D)

    3. Mark Hatfield (R) R Hold


    Pennsylvania-


    1. Bob Casey Sr. (D) D Gain

    3. Barbara Hafer (R)


    Rhode Island-


    1. Fernand St. Germain (D)

    2. John Chafee (R)


    South Carolina-


    2. Strom Thurmond (D)

    3. Carroll Campbell Jr. (R) R Hold


    South Dakota-


    2. James Abdnor (R)

    3. Larry Pressler (P) P Gain


    Tennessee-


    1. Al Gore Jr. (D)

    2. Lamar Alexander (R)


    Texas-


    1. Kent Hance (D)

    2. Antonin Scalia (R)


    Utah-


    1. Orrin Hatch (R)

    3. John Huntsman Jr. (R) R Gain


    Vermont-


    3. Roger MacBride (R) R Hold

    1. Patrick Leahy (P)


    Virginia-


    1. Pat Robertson (D)

    2. John Warner (R)


    Washington-


    3. Linda Smith (R) Gain

    1. Slade Gorton (R)


    West Virginia-


    2. Ken Hechler (D)

    1. Robert Byrd (D)


    Wisconsin-


    1. Dave Obey (P)

    3. Russ Feingold (D) D Gain


    Wyoming-


    2. Teno Roncalio (D)

    1. Rodger McDaniel (D)
     
    Last edited:
    The 90s Sports Wars
  • NDCR: Pop-Culture Update

    Take me out to the Ball Game: The 90’s Sports Wars


    While the Third World War left a mark in all areas of culture, it made a profound impact on American sports, both professionally and recreationally. The destruction, rebuilding, and increased interaction with the various allied cultures profoundly changed American entertainment and exercise. As the US went into a post-war sports craze, thanks to the rise of Cable TV and the Virgin Group Sports Network, the construction of numerous public athletic facilities post-war, and a general movement towards healthy living, various sports battled it out for the hearts and minds of the American public.

    As in all wars, the sheer destruction made the most marked impact on some sports. Hockey, already waning after unsuccessful NHL expansions and poor US Olympic performance, dropped off the map in the United States because of the war. During the war, ice rinks had to be shut down to preserve badly needed water. In the US, all NHL teams besides the North Stars of hockey-crazed Minnesota had to shut down completely and all youth teams disappeared. Immediately post war most couldn’t afford hockey and didn’t have a personal relationship with the sport. Meanwhile, Canadians began to identify with it increasingly as “their” national game. Restarted NHL teams in New York, Boston, etc. failed to draw enough attendance in the abbreviated 1991 season, resulting in high losses for the NHL. At a junior level, the sports high entry costs and association with the “Ruskies” killed any chances of it returning. By the end of the 92-93 season, the NHL decided that it would remain small and solely Canadian besides the previously mentioned North Stars.

    NHL Regular Season Standings 1992

    1. Toronto Maple Leafs

    2. Montreal Canadiens

    3. Vancouver Canucks

    4. Quebec City Nordiques

    5. Winnipeg Jets

    6. Edmonton Oilers

    7. Hamilton Tigers

    8. Minnesota North Stars

    9. Calgary Oilers

    10. Ottawa Senators

    However, the vast destruction also lead to the emergence of other sports in the American Consciousness. As Soviet tanks barreled towards Paris, a group of investors, including Donald Trump, decided to move the tournament to Milwaukee (a city that grew greatly thanks to war industry) which had already hosted one of the biggest non-Grand Slam events in tennis for the last decade, the Miller Lite Clay-Courts. The American Clay Court Championships rapid successes was thanks in part to a bold business maneuver by The Donald. Throughout the rest of the war, and later even post-war, the entire tournament was broadcast for free to Allied Army, Navy, and Air Force units across the globe. Many permanent tennis fans were created in mess halls across the world. While the French Open would return in 1994, the Official Fifth Grand Slam became a permanent addition to the sports calendar. It would become famous for being “the people’s grand slam”. When Wisconsin-born Bobby Smith made a miracle run in 1990 (tour players being exempted from service for propaganda purposes), the stadium shook from the cheers of the Midwestern crowd. The tournament designed a new special green clay surface engineered to favor booming serves and long, physical points, taking the best parts of traditional hard court and clay court. While the US Open in New York was technically the premier tournament in the United States, in the Midwest, Mountain West, and West Coast, the “Brewer’s Bash”, more than anything else, made people fall in love with the game.


    However, the war also helped the sport grow on a smaller level. During and after the war, many small-town schools and communities had too few you and too little money to have football teams, and as a result, many small towns, in search of a “good natured” and “not terribly violent” game to play with few kids, found tennis. The sport’s rural growth was compounded by the sport’s existing popularity among Asian-Americans, who brought the view of the sport as a sign of reach the middle class and sophistication with them from Asia. As Asian-Americans avoided the bombing by moving to the countryside, the took their existing love of the game with them, and helped make a primarily Californian, Texan, and Floridian sport take root in the great plains. However, creation, not just destruction, would help tennis grow.

    The pre-war military buildup and emergency war construction resulted in the appearance of numerous new airfields and hangers (for strategic bombers and interceptors alike) all across the rural and suburban regions of America, especially in the West and Mid-West. These long concrete strips, both in the open air and indoors needed a new purpose. President Rumsfeld, on recommendation from George HW Bush and in coordination with the newly gender-merged Pro Tennis Circuit (which replaced the gender-divided ATP/WTA structure in 1990 and now headed by legendary Governor Agnew) used public funds to rebuild runways into public outdoor courts and hangers into indoor facilities, thus reclaiming the space. Needless to say, congressional democrats were more than happy to spend on infrastructure funds. Private donations organized by, and directly from, the PTC, provided cheap and modern instruction across the country in these new facilities. In addition, rapid carbon fiber technology improvements, thanks to the war, resulted in the innovative and cheap carbon-fiber rackets that made the game more accessible to beginners and less dependent on the serve and volley.

    What in part helped set up the “sports wars”, our focus, was Tennis’ odd marriage with the Republican Party. Tennis already had deep history within the Republican Party. Spiro Agnew, the 1st head of the PTC, famously integrated all of Maryland’s “tennis facilities” 1967 as part of a “work-around” bill to get some crusty segregationists to “accidentally” vote for the integration of all private and public parks. Rumors had spread that he’d made a couple Maryland Representatives vote his way after beating them on the court. In all, it was natural that the party of individualism and post-war rebirth would gravitate towards the sport. Not to mention that Republican core constituencies: Asian-Americans, African-Americans and non-southern rural whites, all grew to be as passionate about the game as Republican politics.

    Next in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame: The 90’s sports wars”: Football and Futbol

    [A/N: There is no "miracle on ice" ITL, which seriously inhibits Hockey's growth even before WWIII]
     
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    The 90s Sports Wars II
  • “Take Me Out to the Ballgame: The 90’s Sports Wars”: The Football Crisis

    With the rise of TV, American Football looked like it would dominate the sports world in the United States for the foreseeable future. Its pageantry, violence, and abundance of highlight reel plays seemed perfect for the TV Age. However, the Third World War had put a stop to that. Smaller high schools couldn’t find enough kids to field teams during the war. Smaller universities stopped fielding teams due to cost overruns. Many parents began to look down at the game as “too rough”, as one mother put it. This would only be compounded

    The resurgence in American Pride saved the game in the short run. Propaganda films were made highlighting “what makes America special”. These films often pointed to the “national game”: Football, . However, the worries on the horizon still remained.

    Worries about the sport’s popularity were so great that college football decided to adopt a 4-team playoff with a Christmas Day Semi-Final Round and New Year’s Day final to increase interest. During initial negotiations, the Orange (in Miami) and Sugar (in New Orleans) Bowls would host the semifinals, then followed by the Rose Bowl, but the Big Ten, insistent on keeping its own property, forced the Rose Bowl to remove themselves from negotiations. Instead, the Cotton Bowl of Dallas was chosen as the host site for the finals. For good measure, a 5th place game was scheduled for Birmingham, Alabama on New Year’s Eve as a warm-up for the final. In the short-run, the playoff kept college football on the national radar, however, its distinctly southern feel, would hurt in the long run. However, one man’s discovery would change, and challenge, the sport forever.

    On the night of March 14th 1991, Bo Jackson, the football star of the Rumsfeld Years (having decided to focus on this sport alone after rejecting the chance to also play baseball in the summer) who was so popular that the both the NFL agreed to play games for free on US army, navy, and air force bases in return for waiving the army draft for him alone, was found dead by the side of a road. The nations best doctors were sent to examine the body. One man in particular, a certain Doctor Carson, noticed something unusual. While Jackson had technically died of driving his car into a tree from drunk driving, he had been forced to abstain from drinking by his team doctor, who wanted him to lose weight. After interviewing teammates, family, and coaches, he found that Bo had “never broken this rule”. While the body had been too old for a proper analysis of the BOA, Jackson’s corpse did not exhibit signs of much drunkenness. Carson, a neurosurgeon by profession, wanted to examine his brain. In his home office in Baltimore had had recently examined the brains of 2 ex-Baltimore Colts lineman who had died under similarly strange circumstances. He had found evidence of a CTE, spinal fluid overflow into the brain thanks to repeated hits to the head. After examining Bo Jackson’s brain, he found the same. After discussing his findings with the rest of the examination team and crossing out other possible explanations, Carson and the examination team concluded that CTE, caused by the hits to the head Jackson had received as an NFL player, caused him to lose his mind and kill himself by ramming his car into a tree.

    President Rumsfeld, trying to avoid the subject before the elections, quietly set up a Presidential/Congressional task force, headed by Congressman Jack Kemp, an NFL Pro Bowler at Buffalo, to sponsor and coordinate research into the sport of football. Kemp, who wanted nothing to do with the investigation initially, gave Ben Carson and his research team “enough money and time to keep them quiet until they would release an official report in three years, per their mandate”. In the meantime, the NFL was already disturbed by the sudden decrease in participation across the country, with the exception of one region…

    As we know now, the South bitterly clung on to football, “as it clung on to segregation, New Deal Economics, and illiteracy” as PTC president Agnew put it. Southern College Football, which had grown post-WWII thanks to the GI Bill, saw a “second coming” thanks to the second GI Bill. Southern Schools, especially those which were better known for their co-eds and football than their academic prowess, benefited immensely. With this influx of money came the resources necessary to build national powerhouses. Quarterbacks like Georgia’s Ty Detmer, would light up the field every Saturday, leading to Southern dominance in the sport.

    CFB Playoffs

    1991:

    Orange: 4. LSU (SEC) defeats 1. Michigan (Big Ten)

    Sugar: 2. Texas (SWC) beats 3. Clemson (ACC)

    Cotton: LSU defeats Texas

    1992:

    Sugar: 1. Texas (SWC) defeats 4. Oklahoma (Big 8)

    Orange: 2. Georgia (SEC) defeats 3. Florida State (ACC)

    Cotton: Texas defeats Georgia

    1993

    Sugar: 1. LSU (SEC) defeats 4. Houston (CUSA)

    Orange: 3. UMiami (Indy.) defeats 2. TCU (SWC)

    Cotton: UMiami defeats LSU

    1994:

    Orange: 1. Georgia Tech (SEC) defeats 4. UNC (ACC)

    Sugar: 3. Texas (SWC) defeats 2. UMiami (Indy.)

    Cotton: Texas defeats Georgia Tech


    However, the South was no stranger to success in the professional ranks as well. Air conditioning had brought money, people, and NFL teams to The South. The war had created a new set of multibillionaires from the southern steel and defense industries. Being of the “uncultured” sort, their first idea to spend the money (after women and beer) was on NFL teams. Without a strict salary cap, these new owners were able to buy the best players in the world. The Birmingham Bolts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, and Memphis Hound Dogs lit the field up every Sunday against traditional northern NFL powerhouses like the Green Bay Packers, NY Giants, etc. who could no longer compete. Only the Cleveland Browns could field some opposition to “the Confederacy of really good football teams” (Quote: John Madden).

    1990 Superbowl

    Memphis Hound Dogs defeat Dallas Cowboys

    1991

    Dallas Cowboys defeat Cleveland Browns

    1992

    Birmingham Bolts defeat Cleveland Browns

    1993

    Dallas Cowboys defeat Memphis Hound Dogs

    While other parts of the country saw the war as an opportunity to liberate the world and the post-war world as a chance to improve the country they loved “to prevent another war”, the south saw it as an affirmation of “American hard work, community, and teamwork”. Their success on the field compounded their love of the game and made many southerners defensive about “northern attacks on our way of life”. Their party, the Democratic Party, would yet again be forced again to put a lot on the line for a “Southern Tradition”.


    Next in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame: The 90’s Sports Wars”: The Other Football

    Author’s Note: I don’t have anything personal against football.

    Also, I decided to split this entry into 2-parts, to do it justice and not just dump one huge post on everyone.
     
    Last edited:
    90s Sports Wars: Baseball
  • Take me out to the Ball Game: The 90’s Sports Wars: Baseball

    Baseball “America’s Pastime”. No one ethnic, political, or cultural group would ever dominate baseball’s fanbase. Every city would root for its local/regional team and long-time loyalties were built. However, baseball struggled to build national storylines and superstars in part thanks to such strong regional affiliations. In addition, national cable sports executives preferred football, tennis, and soccer because they featured numerous championships as opposed to a single world series. Baseball would remain primarily on local over the air channels. As such it became “everyone’s second favorite sport” and have its place in the “big four” sports. However, the leagues management skillfully avoided a player’s strike in 1994, which helped build a reputation of stability. Team owners and players avoided any hint of entering the ‘sport’s culture war”, which built MLB and the sport as a timeless element in American society that would remain a fixture. However, the sports “lack of energy and excitement” prevented it from becoming the top of the totem pole in American society. Unlike Football, Tennis, or Soccer, baseball did not dominate culturally any one group. It also suffered from an aging fanbase. Lastly, while the game was simple to play, it was relatively space intensive, especially in large cities (not a problem in the burbs or in rural areas though). Intriguingly, the Nippon Baseball League was on the rise. Some of the more bold, outrageous, and outspoken in Japan even predicted that with growing Japanese wealth, it could eventually become MLB's equal.

    In all, to say Baseball was on the downswing would be wrong, but it seemed to be treading water.




    World Series 1991: Cleveland Indians over Los Angeles Dodgers in Six

    World Series 1992: New York Mets over Texas Rangers in Seven

    World Series 1993: New York Yankees over Pittsburgh Pirates in Four

    World Series 1994: Montreal Expos over Chicago White Sox in Five




    0000010311.jpg


    1992 World Champion Mets

    Next in Take me out to the Ball Game: The 90’s Sports Wars: Basketball
     
    90s Pop Culture: Terminated
  • Terminated

    Ridley Scott was born in South Shields, England in 1937. His interest in science fiction was sparked by reading The Time Machine, and he went on to work as a set designer with the BBC, working on many show including Doctor Who. After that, he made many commercial adverts with his brother Tony in the late 60s and early 70s before moving on to Hollywood.

    After his first film, Duellists, which was nominated for several prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, he made his breakthrough film, Tristan and Iseult, based on the Celtic legend. The film was a critical hit and a commercial success, with many critics, including a young Chicago Sun-Times reviewer named Roger Ebert, praising how Scott brought the dark age setting to life.

    After that success, he was approached by 20th Century Fox to release an adaption of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Scott accepted and created an epic, 2 hours and 42 minutes long masterpiece, simply called King Arthur, and considered one of the best films ever made. Its cast has repeatedly been praised, starring Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins as the title character, Ian McKellen as Sir Lancelot, Jenny Agutter as Queen Guinevere, Maggie Smith as Morgan Le Fay, Mel Gibson as Mordred and Richard Burton, in a BAFTA winning performance, as King Uther Pendragon in flashbacks and Arthur's vision.

    What won the film numerous awards, including a couple of Academy Awards, and made it so different was Scott's unique vision. In the film, Arthur was an aging King who has turned cruel over the years, so when Morgana and her son, Mordred, attack Camelot, Lancelot and Guinevere must convince Arthur to fight them back. Also notable was the film’s exclusion of the wizard Merlin, a previously crucial part of the Arthurian legend, who died in the very first scene.

    The film had many notable moments, including Lancelot's famous death scene, and the very last scene where Arthur's boat travels to the Isle of Avalon, never to be seen again (until the Michael Bay-directed sequel). The film earned $350 million in total, and catapulted Scott and the all-British (with the exception of Gibson) cast to stardom.

    In the years following this, Scott was a highly sought after Director, but only made three movies between King Arthur and the war. 1984’s The Man in the High Castle, was a quirky film that flopped on release, but has since become a cult classic. In his 1986 film Fall of the Titans, Zeus' rise to power was documented, as Fox prompted him to return to mythological films. It was a critical and commercial success, but some modern critics consider it to have not aged well. His 1988 film, Macbeth, was based on the Shakespeare stage play, and reunified Scott with Anthony Hopkins, who played the titular character again. The film is considered the definitive adaption of the play, and made back it’s small budget, while winning a slew of BAFTAs.

    During the war, Scott and his brother Tony were highly sought after directors for propaganda films, with the pair directing 37 during the short 3 years of the war. Their films were praised by both President Rumsfeld and General Powell as “the most convincing propaganda film we've ever seen”. They were so successful, that recently declassified documents showed that the KGB were developing a plan to kidnap the brothers.

    While making these films, Scott developed an idea with fellow propaganda film director, James Cameron. The idea was a killer robot chasing down a woman in a small location, ideally some sort of mansion. Scott and Cameron wrote the first draft, and they pitched the film to Fox in October 1991. Fox accepted with two conditions, firstly the robot would have to be a Soviet robot, as the highest grossing films were all very patriotic, and secondly that the film would be released in 1993, preferably the first half of the year.

    Scott and Cameron quickly finalised the script, and casted the film in January 1992. Multiple strong men and body builders auditioned for the part of the robot, named The Terminator by Cameron. Eventually, Austrian-American Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had previously portrayed numerous Soviet villains in Scott's propaganda films, won the part. The heroine, Sarah Connor, would be played by Linda Hamilton, and her husband, President Connor, The Terminator's target, would be played by Harrison Ford.

    Shooting for the film, named Terminated by Scott and Cameron, began in April 1992 and lasted for seven months. In late 1992 and early 1993 Cameron and Scott's team hurriedly worked on the special effects, finishing the film just 2 weeks before the premiere on May 1st 1993. The film was very well received, and made $169 million domestic and $401 million international, for a total gross of $570 million, making it one of the highest grossing films of all time.

    The plot, which consisted of Sarah Connor trying to kill The Terminator in the White House borrowed from haunted house films, and it was enjoyed by millions of scared movie goers. Fox, very happy with the vast profit, immediately instructed the two men to begin work on a sequel.
     
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    Blessing in Budapest, Blasphemy in Bucharest I
  • The Treaty of Warsaw fundamentally redefined the contours of Europe. A continent, having gone through ultimate devastation thrice, was now in a state of perpetual somber. Factories blown to bits, communities ripped in shreds, families blown asunder. Destroyed Opera houses that once sung stories of glory now stand as monuments of sorrow, and individual soils from the Rhine to the Volga begged God, implored the Lord to reveal how such a catastrophe could possibly occur. Europe, still strong even after two devastating wars, was finally at its limit.


    However, the distribution of sorrow across Europe was far from equal. Hungary, for generations bitter over the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, rejoiced as the Southern part of Slovakia rejoined the Hungarian nation post-Warsaw. "Our Polish brothers have blessed us" was common speak from the bustling streets of Budapest to the small, quiet rural villages around Bekes county.

    Many men took claim for the growth of Hungary's borders. Gyula Horn, a veteran in Hungarian foreign relations, claimed that his work was what sealed Hungary's gains. Viktor Orban, a student at Oxford at the time, claimed that his work with the Soros (led by his mentor and patron) foundation strengthening Hungary's global relations was the key to success. However, as the released portion of the Powell report states:

    "The most important Hungarian political leader in terms of leading the transition of the Southern portion of then the Slovak Socialist Republic to now the Third Republic of Hungary was then Slovak politician Pal Csaky. An ethnic Hungary community organizer, Csaky provided the most precise and astute lobbying for the ethnic Hungarians, a minority increasingly oppressed in the final days of the Slovak Socialist Republic. His efforts were paramount in the specific changes mentioned in the seventh article of the treatise in Warsaw mentioned earlier above."

    With Powell's indirect endorsement, Csaky's popularity shot across the rest of Hungary. Already well known in now the Northern part of Hungary, Csaky already had a strong political base. His only real challengers were József Antall, the nationalist leader from Budapest, and Gyula Horn, the influential former Communist (now Socialist) politician. Antall was fanatically popular in his home city, and was seen by social (especially religious) conservatives across the country as their candidate, while Horn was generally respected for his diplomatic career before and during the war and has a voting bloc in the supporters of the old socialist ways (while of course including reform; majority of his supporters were still anti-communist). Viktor Orban however, while predicted by most as having a bright political future, was still very much a youth leader. His support from financier George Soros and also Orban's commitment to cultural nationalism along with fighting for democratic and liberal values cemented his lead over the youth voter, popular across the spectrum. However, the average middle-aged and elder Hungarian voter did not think much of him, preferring the older, more established candidates. In the end, the Powell Report sealed Csaky's victory, not only garnering votes from zealous constituents across the nation but even dominating the Slovak vote. Unlike Horn (and definitely Antall), Csaky called for ethnic grace. He pledged to protect the Slovak minority, calling them "cultural brothers of the Magyar nation". To top it off, Csaky was the only main face familiar to the ethnic Slovak in the former Slovakia provinces. "Better he who we know and partially trust then the others who don't speak our language and whose hearts may be blackened with rage" was the mood in words for most ethnic Slovak voters. In the end, from both Slovaks and liberals who desired ethnic peace and healthy relations to businesses who feared that hot headed nationalism would destroy the already broken business environment permanently eagerly backed the Sahy (now Ipolysag).

    Csaky (for the newly created Hungarian National Party) won with 41.02% of the vote, Antall garnered 30.4%, Horn 11.74% & Orban 8.95%. On the eve of his inauguration, the U.S. State Department's offical response was that "we commend the Hungarian people for conducting free and fair elections, and congrugratulate Prime Minister Csaky for his elecotoral victory. We look forward to building bridges with Budapest for the many years to come. In his inauguration, Csaky promised his commitment to "stability, faith and nation". Even in the physical ruins there was a mass spiritual feeling of jubilancy and a general sense of faith in the return of good times.

    1408677_1200x.jpg

    (Pal Csaky, Prime Minister of Hungary. While blessed with immense adoration and general national unity, he faced the monumental task of rebuilding the highly battered Eastern European nation from the depths of permanent infrastructural and economic destruction.)


    The social atmosphere, however, was far less euphoric in nearby Romania.
     
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    Czechoslovakian Unity
  • Post-war Prague was a scenic sight to behold. Beneath layers and layers of rubble were simple yet soulful creations of patriotic citizens; stands of bars, street kitchens and carnival games for both young and old to behold. Jubilant farmers filled the fields, transporting their produce to the nearest celebratory gatherings. NATO troops, both those stationed there to hold the line and those who had fought in the battlefields during Operation Sledgehammer: Central. Cheers were manifold, fireworks abundant. "To a prosperous Czechoslovakia!" was commonplace, followed with ritual shots.

    The Bratislava aura was far less exultant. The Slovak people not only lost a good chunk of land post-Warsaw, but were no more independent. "Prague and Budapest will bully us like they have always done" was run-of-the-mill on the streets of Bratislava, both physically and metaphorically devastated. The troops stationed there were not celebrating with the public, but were however peace enforcers, stationed in former enemy territory.

    In periled times comes numerous doomsayers and demagogues. One such demagogue was a politician by the name of Jan Slota, leader of the newly created CNS (in English Czechoslovakian National Party). Running on a platform of Slavic nationalism and xenophobia (especially towards the Romani minority), Slota spoke of the "Magyar menace", the "Roma Problem", and some of his speeches hinted about the "Jewish Question". With both prejudices running high and a grim economic situation from west to east, Slota had a vast audience of Slovaks and even Czechs, with the help of Czech leader and party vice president Miroslav sladek (the CNS had more Slovak delegates and thus selected Slota as their leader.

    Regionalists also were present in the election. For the Czechs came Vaclav Klaus's ODS and for the Slovaks was Vladimir Meciar's HZDS. Both parties only conducted elections in only the seats of former Czechia (ODS) or former Slovakia (HZDS). Both parties were nationalistic and shared many traits with the CNS, but differed in the desire for the advancement of primarily regional interests.

    And the front runner for political victory was none other than the democratic hero of the century, Vaclav Havel. Havel was well known for his support of democracy and liberty since the beginning of his political career. An avowed dissident of Communism, Havel and the CDA's popularity only further skyrocketed. But there was one major problem.

    With the reestablishment of Czechoslovakia post-Warsaw under immense Prague domination, the spirit of internal unity, beneath the façade of friendship, was utterly broken. Czechs saw the Slovaks as an ungrateful liberated people, and Slovaks saw themselves as second class citizens in the new Czechoslovakia. Havel was willing to lend a hand to the Slovak people, but politics at the time dictated that the Slovakian voter wanted a leader of their own; they would only vote for a Slovak.

    Chime in Slovak leader Rudolf Chmel. The last ambassador to Hungary from Communist Slovakia, Chmel was already ingrained in the idea of ethnic mutualism and unity. He harshly criticized the racism and hyper nationalism of both Slota and Meciar, attracting liberal, Roma and Rusyn voters across the Slovak spectrum. He also supported economic cohesion between the Czech and Slovak wings of the nation much to the satisfaction of the Bratislava business community. And for the elections, he created a new party called Most, which in Slovak means bridge. Now, there was a proper Slovak Havel, one who shared Havel's vision for a more humanitarian and united Czechoslovakia.

    Havel's CDA and Chmel's Most created a political alliance labeled Unity. Unity, now strong across the board, won with 48% (32% for CDA and 16% for Most) of the vote. Slota's CNS won 13% of the vote, and CDA and HZDS won 19 and 11 percent respectively, emphasizing the strong provincial tendencies in the electorate. Unity's victory emphasized ethnic mutualism at home, and economic and political partnership abroad, with Csaky being the first head of state to visit Czeshoslovakia on a state visit, meeting with both Prime Minister Havel and Deputy Prime Minister Chmel. The U.S. State Department's reaction to the election results were:

    "We applaud Czechoslovakia for upholding free and fair elections. We are particularly pleased to work with Prime Minister-elect Vaclav Havel, one of the greatest champions of liberty in this day and age."


    upload_2018-7-28_13-34-35.png



    At least for now, unity was truly achieved in Czechoslovakia.
     
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    A Tale of Two Families I
  • A Tale of Two Families - Part One: The Road to War


    September 17th 1988 – Jackson, Mississippi

    “Hello Sir, could I interest you in re-electing President Rumsfeld this November?”. The door slammed in Leo's face. Campaigning in the heavily-Democratic Jackson suburbs for a Republic was never going to be easy, especially as most people here thought that they were still living in the 1950s, and Leo was black.
    He didn’t have much success throughout the rest of the neighbourhood either. Most slammed their doors in his face, some politely declined and one old man shoved a gun in his face and yelled “Get of my lawn, you uppity n****r!”.
    Disappointed, Leo walked back to the campaign bus. The vehicle was painted bright red, with ‘Rumsfeld ’88!’ bumper stickers plastered all over it. “Any luck Leo?” asked Phil Bryant, Rumsfeld's campaign manager for Jackson.
    “None. Some people still think it’s 1938 here”, Leo grumbled.
    “Don’t worry Leo, all the polls indicate that Rummy'll carry the state”.

    November 8th 1988 – Jackson, Mississippi
    Leo Allen was grinning, while holding a cold glass of coke. The television screen projected that Donald Rumsfeld will be re-elected as President of the United States. He went over to his friend, Joey Thompson, who was looking glum, unsurprisingly. Joey's family were all hard-core Democrats, being white and unionised, and his father had even attended the 1972 Democratic Convention.
    “Cheer up Joey, I’m sure that you can win in ’92.” Leo, still grinning, told his friend.
    “Why do you vote for the GOP Leo? It’s not like they’ve done anything civil rights related since Nixon”, Joey moped.
    Leo took a long sip of his coke and then replied. “Does not electing George Wallace count?” he joked. “Well, the Russkies have gotten a lot bolder recently, and the Republicans have always provided strong leaders like Lincoln, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and Rumsfeld who have stood up for what is right. We need who is willing to fight for our freedom, not Dick Celeste or atheist hippies”.
    “When the bombs rain down on Jackson, you'll see why I didn't vote for doves like Ronald Reagan and Donald Rumsfeld", Joey sounded melancholy.

    November 13th 1988 – The Thompson's Home, Jackson, Mississippi
    Leo wasn’t normally scared, but for the first time in his life he was petrified by fear. He was sitting on a worn-down sofa in Joey's front room, between his friend and his 16-year old sister, Lucy. Standing behind them were Joey's parents, Al and Maureen.
    Al Thompson had founded Thompson & Allen Construction with Leo's dad in 1974, 9 years before he died. Al had built it into a very successful company, which Leo and Joey had been working for since they graduated from high school, 2 years ago.
    Tom Brokaw was mentioning some countries that the Warsaw Pact had invaded, but Leo didn’t care. He was more worried about what was going to come next. He briefly considered running away to a neutral country like Mexico, but then decided against that. His dad had served in Vietnam for 2 years and repeatedly told him “Leo, never run away from a fight”. Then he remembered why he had campaigned and voted for Rumsfeld. Leo decided that he needed to back up his words to Joey on election night. He decided that he would need to help Donald Rumsfeld fight for freedom. Leo decided that he was going to enlist.
    “I think I’m going to sign up”, Leo said quietly.
    “Joe, did you here that?”, Lucy asked her brother.
    “What? No. Did you say something Leo?. Joey was obviously tired due to watching the news all night long.
    “Yeah. I'm gonna enlist in the military.”, the other people in the room were taken aback.
    “You sure bout that Leo?”, Joey said, “T&A need all the help that they can get. What branch are you gonna join?”
    “If I don’t enlist then I’ll get drafted anyway, the same for you Joey. We are both young and healthy men, we’d get drafted right away. I’ll join the Army because I don’t wanna be encased in an iron graveyard and I’m not Marine material. Are you with me Joe?”
    Joey rubbed his eyes and yawned before saying, “Alright then. Can I go to sleep now?”.

    November 15th 1988 – US Army recruitment office, Jackson, Mississippi
    Joey looked very nervous, Leo could sense that he was regretting the choice he had sleepily made 2 days prior. It was hard convincing Joey’s parents and Leo's mom to let them go. Al had served in Vietnam, and according to Joey, never talked about what he had experienced in Operation Reciprocity. He was extremely against Joey and Leo joining up, but eventually Maureen managed to convince him.
    The recruiter in the office was a stocky man in his 30s of average height. “So you wanna be an Infantryman?” he asked in a thick southern accent.
    “Yes sir”, Leo said.
    “Well, your applications look good. Reception Battalion starts at Fort Benning in three days. It’ll only last a day, while Basic will last 4 weeks and then they’ll send y’all to the front. Are you ready to serve the United States?”
    “Yes, Sir!” Leo and Joey shouted in unison.

    Next Time: Leo and Joey begin basic training at Fort Benning
     
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    Israel 1992 General Elections
  • This post was written by eloydambovich. Thank you for contribution to NDCR Part III.

    Israeli 1992 general elections
    After the war ended, the State of Israel was in a mess. Prime Minister Rabin did succeed in dealing with the rebuilding of the northern part of the country, which was destroyed in the battles of the beginning of the war, but the growing inflation created conditions that made it difficult to create jobs for the masses of soldiers returning from the front in Syria and the Caucasus. Three months after the signing of the Warsaw agreements that ended the fighting, the unemployment rate jumped from a low of 2.3% to 8.2%. In addition, the Rumsfeld administration decided to respond to the recession that hit the country and cut budgets to unnecessary parts, including security assistance.

    As a result, Rabin's public image was damaged and a unity government that during the war broke up. Under the pressure of his party's leaders, on February 5, 1992, Rabin decided to announce his resignation and the holding of general elections on May 10, 1992. The Mapai party would be led by his deputy, Shimon Peres, who served as foreign minister during Rabin's tenure.

    The parties began to prepare for the elections: Gahal implemented the first primaries in their history, and the leading candidates were David Levy, a resident of the small town of Beit Shean who is considered a populist and Yoni Netanyahu, the son of historian Ben Zion Netanyahu and brother of Israeli hero Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was considered the leader of the Liberty Conservatives in his party and was influenced by Reagan's presidency in the United States. The charismatic Netanyahu managed to win the primaries and sweep the members of his party, especially the businessmen, when he proposed a massive cut in the regulatory burden. At the party convention held in Eilat (In the same year, the Gahal party began the tradition of holding an annual convention in Eilat, dubbed by the media "Gahaliada," a term that was later used by the party itself). At the party convention, Netanyahu promised to cut the size of the government, bring to Israel the Jews of Russia, who were liberated from the Soviet empire, and allow the establishment of private farms in the vast areas of the Negev and the Sinai Desert. On the left side of the Israeli political landscape, the situation was different. Many young people, especially from the urban areas of Tel Aviv and the coastal plain, felt not connected to the Mapai Party, which they perceived as old and too culturally conservative. In response to this phenomenon, the journalist Tommy Lapid, together with other left-wingers, such as Shulamit Aloni and Amnon Rubinstein, formed the Shinui (change) party, which adopted a platform reminiscent of the platform of the American Progressive Party. The party supported the separation of religion and state, equality of rights for women and minorities, civil liberties and light pro-business policies.

    When the general campaign began, accusations began to emerge between the candidates. Netanyahu was claimed to be an hedonistic and to hold an extreme capitalist views. Peres is alleged to be a loser (a well-known joke in Israeli politics) and an out-of-touch politician and Lapid and his party are said to lack the necessary experience and to be demagogues toward religious people. Netanyahu tried to position himself as a strong person and suitable for an era in which Israel is an existing fact and is not forced to fight for its existence. Peres tried to position himself as a professional and to preserve the welfare state that was claimed to have been in Netanyahu's sights. Lapid branded himself a liberal and an outsider.

    The constituencies in which Netanyahu was strong were mainly in Jerusalem, in the south of the country and in small towns because of his support for a policy that will accelerate the economy in these areas. Lapid was strong mainly in Tel Aviv and Peres was strong in Haifa and northern Israel, his party's traditional electorate. The Mafdal party (ultra orthodox traditionalists who support pro-family welfare programs) struggled for the last time before being absorbed into Gahal communonationalist wing and was strong in the ultra-orthodox constituencies of jerusalem and didn't nominated a leader.

    On the eve of the elections, Gahal and Netanyahu won 62 seats in the Knesset, sweeping the southern part of the country, Jerusalem and the countryside, Mapai and Peres won 46 seats, mainly in Haifa and the north. Shinui and Lapid won nine seats in the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv and Mafdal won three seats. In his victory speech, Netanyahu promised to create jobs and cooperate with the opposition. To his government, Netanyahu appointed the leading party members: He appointed David Levy as his deputy and defense minister and Yitzhak Modai, the well-known market supporter was appointed to be finance minister. He also appointed Benny Begin, the son of former prime minister Menachem Begin, to the position of foreign minister. Netanyahu surprised the country's political system by appointing his campaign rival, Tommy Lapid to be justice minister.

    Many new faces entered the Knesset. The brother of Prime Minister-elect Netanyahu, hero of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, was elected to the Knesset on behalf of the district of Caesarea, where he lives. The social-democratic journalist Shelly Yachimovich, who was nicknamed "the israeli Lynn Yeakel" by the American media, won a seat in Tel Aviv on behalf of Mapai. Many new Knesset members, including Zahava Gal-On, Musi Raz and many future leaders of the future Israeli left, entered the Knesset from Shinui.

    The outgoing Prime Minister Rabin remained an influential public figure in Israel and was appointed to the ceremonial role of the President of Israel in 1993 by Prime Minister Netanyahu in a gesture of multi-partisanship. After serving full two terms for 10 years, he remained as party elder and held several senior positions in the UN until he died at the age of 93 in 2015. He remained a cultural icon in Israel as a person dedicated his life to the promotion of peace and international cooperation.
    The 1992 Election

     
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    90s Sports Wars Part III
  • “Take Me Out to the Ballgame: The 90’s Sports Wars”: The Other Football. Part 1:

    As mentioned before, the war functioned as a great cultural exchange. American soldiers learned the game of footie, futbol, or soccer from British, Spanish, French, German, and other soldiers. Inner city urban workers took soccer, the world’s working-class game, back home with them. Urban working-class people, unlike those in rural areas or the south, did not have as strong an affinity for Amereican exceptionalism n sports and culture and thus did not have the qualms of adopting “freyist-ball” or “commie-ball”, as the sport was maligned. Post-war, many Progressive Mayors used domestic funds to fund parks and green spaces. Daniel Patrick Moynihyan, while still a registered Democrat, worked on the national Progressive Policy and Analysis Committee that guided the policy of many progressive Urban Mayors and councilmen/women. Moynihyan recommended the construction of public multipurpose greenspaces to create common community properties that would encourage social interaction and destroy the possibility of “individuality atomization” . These greenspaces were perfect fo the weekend leagues, youth soccer teams, and pickup matches necessary to spread the game at a grassroots level. In addition, there was a post-war resurgence in German-American pride, long-dormant, that came with a rediscovery of Germany’s favorite sport. Many of the new “German-American” societies that popped up started sponsoring leagues along the lines of church league basketball. Slowly the sport grew at a grassroots level.

    However, the sport would explode in 1993 thanks to the work of NBC Sports legend Dick Ebersol. NBC lost the contract for NFL football in 1988, a major sports property. While it had a decent selection of more niche sports like basketball, bowling, etc. (to be discussed in the next chapter), there were no “big ticket items”. One day Ebersol was jogging trough central park after a tough meeting with management about the lack of prime-time sports when a boy hit him in the head with a soccer ball, forcing him to go to the hospital. After getting stitches, Ebersol had an idea: a made-for-TV soccer league. NBC would own the league and the rights, while the teams would be sold out of share options anyone could buy-including the “lunch-pail joe” to say they had ‘ownership. 20 teams-just like in England, with multiple teams in major markets to soak up the maximum TV viewership. However, Ebersol knew that someone would have to sell Americans, and the NBC team, on soccer. He had just the man…

    Part 2 coming soon...
     
    1993 Rwandan standoff
  • The 1993 Burundi Standoff


    The Burundi Province of Zaire had been devastated by the Marburg Rwanda virus. In the chaos, all semblance of law and order had disappeared as the central government . The main government had fallen apart. The old tribes of Hutu and Tutsi were now the only sources of security, food, water, and shelter as society began to organize itself around ethnic lines. Competition for the basic necessities of life was fierce, and resulted in the emergence of two main factions organized along the old ethnic lines made by the occupying Belgians: Tutsi and Hutu.


    While open conflict had not yet broken out, thanks in part to the devastation, the situation had definitely worsened once tribes in Burundi began to organize along the same lines, and the central government went into panic mode. While they were happy to gain this during World War III it now proved to be too much of a burden. When Hutu tribesman beat back the first rescue mission of government forces on the 10th of February, the Zairian Dictator Seko asked President Ioccocoa to use US troops and diplomacy to solve the crisis.


    While the President had campaigned on focusing on domestic issues as opposed to the Republicans supposed “foolhardy foreign adventures in suspicious social sciences”, he was still a Communoationalist at heart. After meeting with his cabinet and talking on the phone with the Zairian Ambassador, it was agreed that a roundtable would be held in Kinshasa, where American, Zairian, Hutu, and Tutsi representatives, including the President, would negotiate a peaceful settlement. Accompanying the president would be the 1st Air Cav, who would be ready to pounce on Burundi Province, if necessary. After initial bluster from the mysterious Hutu leadership, which died off with the arrival of the 1st Air Cav, all parties agreed to the talks on the 1st of March. In addition, representatives of the Vatican agreed to administer the talks and act as guides to ensure smooth negotiations.


    While Ioccocoa had achieved domestic victories, he knew that to be re-elected he would have to be seen as “the man who won the peace”. Ethnic strife in Burundi, so soon after the Marburg Virus, would be a serious stain on the resume of “The Great Dealmaker”. Aiding him was ex-academic and Democratic foreign policy thinker Andrew Bennett, a dark-horse pick that now found himself as the Secretary of State, who had engineered the 1984 Frank Church campaign and the 1988 Celeste campaign foreign policy plans.


    -Recording from Air Force One on the way to Kampala from the Lee Iaccoca Presidential Library in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Iaccoca's childhood home-

    Iacocca: “You say it's about 30% Tutsi and 70% Hutu?”


    Secretary of State Andrew Bennett: “Yeah, it used to be 15-85, but the virus killed more Hutu than Tutsi because the Tutsi, being wealthier, had more access to medical supplies"


    Iacocca: “And you say this divide ain’t that geographical, meaning that there’s no ancestral lines to point towards like in Europe.”


    Bennett: “Yep, that’s the puzzle.”


    Iacocca: “Why don’t we just make these lines-*The president points at the map of the current frontlines*-areas on the ground where the two factions have made contiguous, if geographically illogical, areas of control-the borders of two new countries!”


    Bennett: “Well, two things. First, Seko ain’t gonna like losing his hardwon territory, and second, the Tutsi need more land if their gonna defend themselves.”


    Iacocca: “Seko can’t do anything I don’t like, and besides, he doesn't need a civil war.”


    Bennett: “That still leaves the issue of the Tutsis’ minority status.”


    Iacocca: “Hmmm…”


    Iacocca: “Wait I got it!”


    Bennett: “What?”


    Iacocca: “The Hutu need better schools, right?”


    Bennett: “Absolutely.”


    Iacocca: “Why don’t we, the American government, as part of the deal, propose for about 5000 or so Hutu kids to study in the U.S., and then come back home? That way they can use what they learned in their studies to help fix their economy, have an educated bureaucratic class, etc.”


    Bennett: “That won’t be enough, we’ll need a permanent military presence to ensure that nothing spontaneous erupts, and if we use American troops they’ll be hell to be at home there.”


    Iacocca: “We’ll use a UN task force as cover with one division of American troops as the spearhead. God this reminds me, we really need to reform the IMF, I’d loan them money too, but that would open another can of worms.”


    Bennett: “Sounds good, I’ll draw up a plan….”


    -End Recording-

    lee.jpg


    Lee Iaccoca on Air Force One


    Iacocca arrived at the talks with a show of force aboard a brand new Air Force One flanked by fighter jets, helicopter, and Peace Corps employees that put on a show for the locals as the President landed. Many at home thought it was too flamboyant, but this show of force, when paired with Iacocca’s genuine personal kindness for all parties involved, somehow worked. Iacocca seemed like a reasonable man who should be feared if he was dealt with unreasonably. While his bold statements in favor of partition, aid to the Hutus, and a permanent UN presence shocked the conference, (which had quite frankly thought little would be achieved), they were bold enough to catch the imagination of the most important element in this equation: the mysterious Hutu leadership, that as of the time of negotiations had continued to conceal itself, only sending envoys. The promise of American education for the Hutus bothered the Tutsi at first, who were worried that if the Hutu grew too much as a power through education they would “finish” the Tutsis forever. As such, 400 Tutsi scholarships were added to the now 8000 Hutu scholarships. In addition, a few families had to be moved to ensure contiguous, if absolutely garish (some newspaper’s nicknamed the result “border-gore”) lines of partition. These families were compensated with more land than before and first-pick in scholarships. Knowing state-sponsored ethnic cleansing would kill the deal, UN monitors were present throughout. After all parties signed the agreement on the 14th of February, the treaty was sent to the US Senate., Iacocca earned himself a major diplomatic victory and his reputation as “The Great Dealmaker”. While some in the congressional Caucus complained that Iacocca was too focused on foreign affairs and not on rebuilding America, the few independent voters remaining swung heavily towards the Democrats in the opinion polls.While the treaty passed unanimously in the Senate there were points of contention….


    Firstly, some voters, across the three parties, were angered by the fact that foreigners would get free education with U.S. tax dollars. The foreign student population at state universities, and private ones, had been steadily increasing, angering some votes who felt that the relationship between the taxpayer and the public universities had been broken. Rejection of the treaty in the Senate was politically impossible because if war or genocide did break out the party(ies) who did vote against the treaty would be branded as having “blood on their hands”, “warmongers”, and possibly even “anti-American”. However, Governor Ted Bundy found a loophole of sorts to go around this and capture some future political momentum. On June 15th 1993, Bundy signed the “State University and Student Relations Act” which mandated that the student population of all Washington State public Universities to always be within the limits as follows:


    1. 80%-90% from Washington State

    2. 8-15% from “Associated States” (States with which the Governor had signed a contract pledging mutual in-state tuition).

    3. 3-10% foreign born/ residents of U.S. states without an agreement with the state of Washington.

    Washington State’s two premier universities had become world-class thanks to Bundy’s efforts to clean up the state, which brought numerous businesses which felt comfortable that crime (and the hippie movement) had been curtailed. Boeing had experienced a revival during the war, and it supported vast improvements in the engineering, science, and business departments at UW, WSU, and the various smaller technical schools to create an educated workforce. Meanwhile, the UC System, Stanford and many other schools had all been but destroyed during the infamous Second Blitz. As such, there was a post-war boom in the out of state and foreign population at Washington State Schools which angered many Washington residents who felt that their kids were no longer getting the spots they “deserved”. Now, however, the Governor had “protected our students”. This new treaty (or more derogatorily termed "foreign giveaway"), was the "Cherry on Top".


    In reality, the student body populations did not change by more than 5% in any one university, but it was a great act of political theater on the part of Ted Bundy. Bundy had endeared himself to traditionally communonationalist voters, without alienating the “Rockefeller/Business Republican Types” (a 1994 state sales tax cut down to 7% from 10% helped in this department). His star was only growing brighter.

    This bill would be copied by a few Republican and Democratic governors in other states. The Progressives formally announced their opposition to such a policy. The worst imitation of Bundy's bill was Jim Traficant’s “Buckeye Education Bill” which mandated that 96.32% of Ohio State Students be from Ohio, which lead to a steep drop in the reputation of what had been a rising research institution before the mid-90’s.


    Back in Zaire, the Republic of the Tutsi People and Hutuland became independent in July 5th 1993. While Seko was worried about the upswing in democracy (thus empowering opposition to his rule) and disliked losing territory, preventing civil war and ethnic unrest gave him more power and stability than before. Moreover, he had earned the goodwill of Iaccoca for relinquishing control of the now partitioned Burundi which resulted in numerous important infrastructure investments. Both of these new states were officially recognized by the U.N. in December. While relations between both nations were tense initially, and the Hutu leadership remained unknown for some time, by the Mid-1990’s both groups realized that to rebuild from the war and the Marburg virus they would have to work together. While both oddly-shaped small states would remain independent, common infrastructure projects and relatively well-educated populations would help make both states some of the wealthiest on the continent. In addition, they would sign a mutual defense treaty, undergirded by the United States, in 1994, that would make their defense against their larger neighbors mutual, and war against each other much more difficult. While US involvement had "kickstarted" the peace process, it was really the leadership of the Hutu and Tutsi peoples themselves who had assured their own prosperity.


    Many hoped that these two states would be an example of how Africa could move forward from the violence of the past into a peaceful and prosperous future. In addition, the 1993 treaty would become illustrative on how to make multi party negotiations succeed in academic circles whilst being a great defense of Communonationalsit foreign policy in political circles.


    [A/N:

    This post was edited to reflect a previous psot that retconned the Rwandan genocide, this post butterflies away the Burundi civil war (read more about that OTL here: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~gallo22e/classweb/Website-World Politics/Burundi.html

    Also,
    Current UCLA Undergrad Population s are 92.9% Californian (ITL UW is around UCLA in its reputation)

    OTL UCLA and UVA- best reputation of any US State schools worldwide

    For UVA, Virginia State Law mandates that a certain percentage of undergraduates in all state schools be from Virginia. The law isn't particularly partisan.

    In addition, OTL Washington State has an agreement with Oregon and Hawaii that allows Washington State Students to attend their universities while paying in-state tuition.

    What's important here is
    1.how Bundy sells his bill as a major achievement

    2. the fact that unlike in other states Washington Schools continue to maintain such a high reputation/success after such a bill (see Ohio and Traficant), thus balancing the demands of the lower middle class which wants its chance at an education and big business which wants a talented workforce.]
     
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    French Elections 1993
  • Les Jours Ont Changé


    The nation of France throughout its history has experienced countless of wars as did many other nations on the European continent. It was no different during World War III as France saw herself with many men and women deciding to put their nation first, many dying on the battlefronts. History repeated itself once again as men and women would come back home in their homeland of France, being praised as heroes. But at the same time though, many died in the process. To some, they died for a good heroic cause, while to others they’ve died for nothing but for a pointless war for the sake of the Germans.

    Even for those who fought and came back being paraded through the streets of Paris and Lyons, many veterans felt they had lost so much during the war. To some veterans they imagined that ghosts of their French brothers and sisters were being paraded through the streets of their home villages. Their coffins were marched through the streets in pure silence along with the couple of cries from their loved ones.


    After the Third World War, the French nation while recovering from the war it had gone through plenty of political changes as a result. For instance, the French Communist Party (PCF) would be banned due to the negative image of communism the war had brought, (As well as fears of being a puppet of the Kremlin). The French Section of the Workers’ International (SFIO) would end up disassociating itself from the communist ideology, resulting in the party itself changing its name to Parti Pour Le Peuple, (“Party for the Common People” in English), with it’s initials being “PLP”.

    Even before the war began in Europe, France also saw political changes in it’s government as Jean-Marie Le Pen formed his own party called the Movement for France (FLM) after breaking away from the National Front (FN).

    However the 1993 French legislative election would end up seeing many changes as well for the French people. The previous president, Mitterrand, of the SFIO, being too old to run a third term in office decided to not run again for the upcoming election. Because of that, this led to former General Michel Roquejeoffre becoming head of the National Front as many saw a huge chance for the party to regain the presidency. Meanwhile Jean-Marie Le Pen of the Movement for France (FLM) would gain more popularity within the party he created. Within the newly created Party for the Common People (PLP), Lionel Jospin saw his numbers decrease as much of the French population associated his party as being communist even though he and many of his party members abandoned their ties with communism. The Gaullist party, Rally for the Republic (RPR) headed by Jacques Chirac would see more members joining him due to many controversial remarks Le Pen made in the lead up to the election.

    During the election, the Party for the Common People (PLP) would end up getting further weakened due to various scandals, (such as involving illicit financing, involvement with Soviet forces during World War III, contaminated blood, and other affairs), and an intense rivalry between Mitterrand’s potential successors (Lionel Jospin and Laurent Fabius) as they constantly accused one another for being involved with the various scandals.

    For the Movement for France (FLM), Jean-Marie Le Pen saw himself come under fire after making insulting and disturbing remarks about the Russian and Algerian people and in one instance stated that Soviet child soldiers during the war “deserved to die” for helping the communists taking over Europe. With his controversial statements, his party saw their number of seats in the French National Assembly decrease from 17 to 6.

    This led to an eventual alliance being formed between Roquejeoffre of the FN and Chirac of the RPR, making the FN-PRP coalition. It was a large coalition too, forming the largest majority the National Assembly had seen since the year 1958, with a total of 474 seats. Roquejeoffre and Chirac demanded Mitterrand resign from presidency. Roquejeoffre on the other hand did not want to become prime minister in a new “cohabitation” government, so he choose Alain Juppé to become Prime Minister, to which Juppé agreed. He later publicly stated he would not run against Chirac for the next presidential election.

    As a result the conclusion of the French legislative election of 1993, Alain Juppé became the Prime Minister of France for the National Front.

    The days were indeed changing in France, whether for the good or the better.

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    1993 Chilean elections
  • Redcoat

    Banned
    1993 Chilean Elections

    (Told in AP News Bulletins)
    Breaking News: Chilean Parliament backed by President Pinochet, passes new laws restricting freedom of movement in and out of Chile.

    SANTIAGO (AP) -- Today in the Chilean capital, Parliament has passed more quarantine measures to limit movement to and from Chile. The infamous “Shoot-on-Sight” policy is to remain in effect for another six months, though this has received some backlash in Chile. The wartime Unity Coalition is beginning to see cracks, as several opposition leaders criticized the bill, and the proposal was only passed by a slim majority. Many observers are currently concerned that Chile may possibly be slipping into authoritarianism.

    Growing protests in Chile to end draconian policies

    SANTIAGO (AP) -- The citizens of Chile evidently do not agree with parliament’s new laws restricting freedom of movement, with new bills proposing further restrictions on freedom of speech, all in the name of establishing quarantine, and protecting Chile from supposed chaos on all sides. There has been considerable outrage in recent days as a reporter was reportedly shot dead near the border illegally leaving Chile to report on a slum city on the borders of Chile. A siege mentality may be gaining popularity within Pinochet’s government, something which may be dangerous in days to come. Though many are confident in Pinochet’s democratic credentials, as he has now been president for 23 years. As one supporter said, “He doesn’t have an authoritarian bone in his body! I know he’ll see us through”.

    Marburg’s stranglehold on South America officially declared over

    GENEVA (AP) -- The South American Marburg virus epidemic has been officially declared over, as cases across the board have drastically dropped off over the past week. This is a breath of relief for South America, as they finally have received some level of peace after the Third World War. However the continent is still dealing with a rather less than ideal situation, with Chile being the only one being remotely stable, especially so as a democracy.

    Opposition leader Patricio Aylwin calls for Pinochet to resign before his term ends in 3 years.

    SANTIAGO (AP) -- Patricio Aylwin, leader of the Christian Democrats has declared that he believes that President Augusto Pinochet is no longer fit to rule the nation. Pointing to increasingly restrictive laws in the nation, he claims that Pinochet is now setting himself up to become a tinpot dictator, without any real reason for it. The worst of Marburg has passed, he argued in a speech, and soon enough, there will be a vaccine for the virus, which will eradicate it as a threat once and for all. The majority of Parliament (for now) is pro-Pinochet.

    Breaking: Opposition parties projected to gain a majority in Parliament.

    LIMA (AP)---Patricio Aylwin and the “Grand Coalition” of centre, centre-right, centre-left parties organized during the Third World War will likely win a large plurality in Chile’s parliament, thanks in part due to last-minute defections from the centre-right which has been nervous about the post-war chaos. The left-wing alliance of communist and socialist parties also made sizable electoral gains. However, Aylwin rejected calls for them to join the “Grand Coalition” for fears that this would scare some Chileans wary of extremism back into Pinochet’s camp. Pinochet was still considered by many one of the best leaders Chile ever had, why give up on him now? Though anti-Pinochet parties will likely hold a substantial majority in parliament and a mandate for change in Chile. However, the sheer variety in viewpoints of the anti-Pinochet coalitions will make action difficult in the short term.

    Breaking News: President Pinochet declares himself President-for-life.

    IQUIQUE (AP) -- Things have taken a sudden turn of events in Chile, as what seemed to be during a typical stump speech supporting outside of Iquique, Pinochet made the announcement that as a result of “unpatriotic sentiment” within members of Parliament, “I could no longer trust that they had the best interests of our nation at heart. We live in tough times, and tough times means we must take desperate measures. This is why, after many desperate attempts to find other such solution for our nation’s troubles, I only have one. With a regretful heart I dissolve Parliament and have suspended all elections, as I do not believe the opposition should be trusted. We shall stop the evil Marxist-Focoists from tainting Chile, as not even a world war won’t stop them from growing their tendrils throughout the world. We are a city on a hill in the midst of chaos, only we are pure. I will protect this Rome, South America's city on a hill as Cincinnatus.” Pinochet’s speech has had shockwaves through Chile, with the military divided as to what to do. Forces in the Santiago garrison have supported the power grab, and have arrested Parliament. Extra-judicial missions into neighboring nations have been reported by civilians, many claim they were out to capture key Argentine and Brazilian communist leaders currently in hiding, presumably to be executed. President Pinochet has likely directly been involved in these plans.

    THIS JUST IN: Augusto Pinochet killed attempting to drop Argentine Communist off of helicopter.

    VALDIVIA (AP) -- Augusto Pinochet has apparently died in a strange accident only a week after declaring himself dictator. Members of the president’s official guard claim that the president had ordered for the Chilean Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia to track down Señor Fote for an extra-judicial murder. Apparently Pinochet was particularly interested in killing Fote, one of the few surviving members of the 1976 Coup d’etat which formed the Communist Junta. Though their claims are yet to be confirmed, they claim that Pinochet was himself the one throwing Fote off of the helicopter, though he slipped off the edge, leading both to fall to their deaths. This story, unlikely as it is, was considered plausible enough for Pinochet's obituary to cite his cause of death to be an accident, though many claim the Presidential Guard actually killed him by pushing him off the edge. Neither of the bodies have been found. A shocked Chilean populace is gripping with the death of their leader, who had ruled for two decades, and had presided over the nation during World War III.

    Parliamentary elections in Chile underway, anti-Pinochet candidates win in a landslide.

    SANTIAGO (AP) -- In the emergency Presidential elections held on the 5th of November, Patricio Aylwin, the chief of the centrist Christian Democratic Party has won a landslide. Exit polls point to a Chilean desire for stability, democracy, and neutrality (with a pro-American bent) in foreign affairs which contributed to Aylwin and the Christian Democrat’s success. While free trade will remain a lodestone of the Chilean economy, the government will involve itself much more in infrastructure construction and child welfare per the Christian Democrats’ platform. Chile’s flirt with dictatorship has thankfully ended, and the army is fully behind the new president.

    upload_2018-8-4_19-46-5.png





    Little did the people of Chile know that they, and South America weren’t completely out of the woods yet.

    ---

    Augusto Pinochet today has a decidedly mixed legacy in Chile today. Many praise him for his leadership skills in Chile's time of need, with many on the right citing his attempted power grab as a misguided, though good intentioned attempt by Chile's statesman to protect his mother country, a blemish in his history, which should not undercount the positives. The outlook by the left and the center, was that instead, Pinochet had the makings of a dictator all along, which only showed once he began to lose public support after the war ended. The extension of quarantine measures, they say, was to keep the nation on a state of national emergency, so that pro-Pinochet candidates could maintain control of Parliament. When polls were beginning to go against their favor, they claim Pinochet couldn't stand this turn of events, and scared he could lose his next term too, decided to take measures to ensure he never lost power. Many on the right bring up two points in rebuttal, the first being being that Chile was a city on a hill of sorts, which did require drastic measures to protect. This wasn't completely true, however, and likely anachronistic. Argentina for one, had a military government keeping some semblance of authority with the provisional government, as did Peru and Bolivia. The chaos in Brazil had only just started, and Uruguay was really the only country at the time in complete anarchy. The second whether Pinochet ever really had allowed the helicopter plan, or if that was an idea the provisional government set up. But according to one of Pinochet's old friends, Homero Juan Posadino, before running for the presidency, Pinochet had often joked about giving communists "free helicopter rides", a statement which deflates this second point. No matter how one looks at things, Pinochet has been a very influential figure, and his legacy will likely be debated for generations to come.
     
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