President John Glenn: 1981 - 1989

MrHola

Banned
Suppose that Glenn didn't cut his head in the shower and runs for president. Let's also assume that Reagan won the elections in 1976 and now faces Glenn in the elections. I assume that the late 1970s are just as bad as OTL. Who would win? Glenn or Reagan?

So, what if Glenn? What about the Cold War and such? Who would be his VP?
 
Suppose that Glenn didn't cut his head in the shower and runs for president. Let's also assume that Reagan won the elections in 1976 and now faces Glenn in the elections. I assume that the late 1970s are just as bad as OTL. Who would win? Glenn or Reagan?

So, what if Glenn? What about the Cold War and such? Who would be his VP?

Too many WI´s really. Clarify.

So if Watergate takes place and Dems select Jimmy Carter, Reagan grabs the nomination out of the hand of Ford and then manages to become president despite all odds. (Not impossible of course, Carter managed to lose an incredible amount of supporters,(they were supposed to win in a landslide because of watergate really).

So this Reagan is not as conservative as OTL I imagine, it´d be difficult. In any case the oil crisis still takes place and the economy doesn´t do well.

Then after all that Glenn wins in a landslide since the economy is not doing well and Reagan inherits Nixon´s legacy.
We still don´t know if there is a shah, democracy or an islamic republic in Iran, nor do we know how USA is different.

Well, you´d have to clarify all that I suppose. One can imagine Glenn would be popular at least the first term.
 
You do know that Glenn ran for President in '83/'84, right? He was polling second to Mondale early on.

The Right Stuff was released early in the campaign. Perhaps he could have capitalized on it more?

Personally, I think he was just too nice to be President.
 
Ok. So Reagan beats Ford in '76, either through a slightly better primary performance or at the convention.

Reagan versus Carter is close, but Reagan cuts deep in Carter's Southern base and retains enough other support to win.

With no Carter there's no Mondale (he tried once, before being VP, and decided running for President wasn't for him), so the 1980 field is wide-open.

For whatever reason John Glenn wins. Doesn't matter the details, for a rough sketch.

Up against Reagan Glenn has basically conceded much of the South, but unlike Mondale in '84 and Carter in '80 Glenn has a strong appeal to the same blue collar Democrats that Reagan needs. Glenn takes either Jerry Brown, Governor of California, or some Southerner (preferably from Florida or Texas).

It's a close race but sweeping the Northern states and a surprise victory in California or Texas gives him the Presidency.

Since Glenn was your bog standard moderate Democrat I can't see that much changing.

You do know that Glenn ran for President in '83/'84, right? He was polling second to Mondale early on.

The Right Stuff was released early in the campaign. Perhaps he could have capitalized on it more?

Personally, I think he was just too nice to be President.

We talked about John Glenn in '84 here. I suppose he could have won the primaries, but he probably would have lost to Reagan.
 
I've got a rough TL outline going myself where RFK survives assassination, gets elected in 68, but loses to Reagan 1972*, and Glenn takes the WH 1980.

One aspect of it is that one of the things RFK does differently is slow down the Apollo program after A11 (1969 as OTL), so that there's still some mystery in going into space by 1973, when Reagan pushes something like the Star Wars program of OTL. Whether it works or not is less relevant here than the simple fact that space is more exciting to Americans as late as 1980, when Glenn runs and wins.

*Please be gentle on this point, it's a rough draft :eek:

EDIT ADD: Might as well also say I'd imagine Glenn, being an astronaut himself, would be a major NASA promoter; any other thoughts on what his Presidency might be like?
 
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The problem is that John Glenn had a handicap that was not his own: his wife had a speech impediment causing her to stutter rather badly. Glenn himself felt the party avoided giving him support for this reason, given the expected role of the first lady.
 
The problem is that John Glenn had a handicap that was not his own: his wife had a speech impediment causing her to stutter rather badly. Glenn himself felt the party avoided giving him support for this reason, given the expected role of the first lady.

FWIG, Annie had sought speech therapy in 1973, and though she still doesn't consider herself "cured", she did give speeches afterwords...
 
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Ian the Admin

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Please don't resurrect such an old thread, you could have made a new one for this and it would've been fine.
 
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