Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England

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msmp

msmp

Longtime lurker, first time poster. Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying this timeline a lot; as a New Englander IRL myself, I've always been drawn to AH about the region. Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

(And if you're doing infoboxes/histories still for specific ridings, I'd love to see the one for whatever seat Malverne, NY falls under. I'm guessing Hempstead would be the one!)
 

nyratk1

Kanan said:
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What is Webster and Centreville's equivalent in OTL? Guessing Centreville is IOTL Port Jefferson.

The bridge looks to be based on OTL's failed plans for a New Haven-Shoreham bridge using an upgraded William Floyd Parkway (some plans had I-91 being extended down in that case)

Edit: just realized Camp Upton/Brookhaven National Lab probably don't exist here which means no "God Bless America". Blessed timeline.
 
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Margaret Heckler
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    • Nazi Space Spy

    Banned
    Figures of the Commonwealth: Margaret Heckler
    Our Fair Country - Margaret Heckler.png
    Margaret Heckler was the controversial Minister of Health during the first Bush Ministry; born in Brooklyn in 1931, she was a 1953 graduate of Albertus Mangus College and in 1956 earned a law degree from Boston College, placing sixth in her class - of which she was the only woman - overall. Marrying John Heckler in 1953, she balanced her legal career and domestic life in a way that was then considered taboo. In 1963, the Premier of Plymouth appointed her to an advisory board, where she served as a non-partisan citizen watchdog. Her reputation in Plymouth grew, and soon both the Labour and Conservative parties began courting her as a potential candidate for office.

    By 1965, Heckler had made up her mind. She would join the Tories and run under their banner. She declared her candidacy for the riding of Fall River, a seat held by longtime incumbent Joseph Martin. Having represented the seat from 1929, when Martin himself challenged an 83 year old incumbent, many assumed that the political icon would easily dispatch his challenger. But while Martin withered away in Boston, Heckler was making her presence known and felt in the riding. Signing up scores of suburban women, many of them just ordinary housewives, Heckler's grassroots army took control of the constituency party and dramatically nominated her at a raucous riding convention. Dispatching her Labour challenger as part of the Kennedy wave, Heckler entered parliament and immediately was named the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice.

    When the 1969 election saw Labour swept into power, Heckler sensed a crisis among Conservative women. She would go on to be, in cahoots with Flora MacDonald, one of the leading feminists in the Conservative Party. In part due to their efforts, a number of Tory MPs would support legislation in regards to abortion and equal pay sponsored by the Muskie government. This earned her the ire of the Tory's right-wing, but gained her greater prominence among the "Red Tories" of the party, which propelled her to national fame. In 1973, she was drafted to run for the leadership of the party but declined to enter the race, instead endorsing Bush. Her loyalty to the future Prime Minister served her well; he named her to the Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Minister of Health, where she tackled the Muskie government's record adeptly and ruthlessly. Ascending to the post following the Conservative Party's victory in 1980, Heckler's three years at the post would prove to be tumultuous.

    Though she was by and large considered a "Red Tory," Heckler's tenure as Minister of Health was controversial. Her reluctance to publicly recognize the growing AIDs epidemic angered the LGBT community, in combination of a number of gaffes (including one where she admitted she wasn't experienced in healthcare issues or the bureaucracy) plagued her tenure at the Ministry. Her personal life was rocked by a nasty and public divorce, and in 1983, she was defeated in a stunning upset by Barney Frank, a Labour MP from a neighboring constituency. Retiring from public life in the aftermath of her defeat, Heckler lived quietly in Boston until her death from pancreatic cancer.

    Up next: Howard Phillips?
     
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    • CosmicAsh

    CosmicAsh

    BryanIII said:
    Right in the nostalgia!
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    Right! I got hit with it hard today so I whipped this up :)

    msmp said:
    The quotes around "e-mail" make it absolutely perfect. What a throwback!
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    Haha yeah, and I bet this page took FOREVER to load. Four whole pictures! The nerve of the government...

    Nazi Space Spy said:
    Wow that's what the (ATL) internet looked like four days before I was born. Holy thrownback indeed!
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    Haha wow, who would have thought! And this is, at least, what one website would have looked like :)
     
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