The Beginning
Okay. Now, I think I'm leaning away from the Kennedy aspect of the Second Civil War. The timeline now has a POD (besides Latham, Rhodes, and Roberts living through the Vietnam War) of Vice President Bush having a heart attack in late October of 1988. The way I figure it, even that weasel Dukakis has a better chance than Quayle. Anyways, I still have to work out the details of Dukakis's Presidency, such as larger gun control laws, but here are the events of 1992 which precede the Civil War.
June 21, 1992:
President Michael Dukakis is assassinated when his helicopter is shot down by a shoulder-launched missile while taking off from the White House lawn. The assassin, surprisingly, is not caught.
June 27, 1992:
President Lloyd Bentsen appoints a commission to investigate the assassination of President Dukakis. The Commission’s findings are due by the end of July.
July 30, 1992:
The Congressional Commission’s finds that they cannot accurately determine what group (or who) committed the assassination. The militia groups of the Northwest, however, are at the top of the list and the Commission suggests that a Task Force be sent into Idaho to conduct further investigation.
August 10, 1992:
The Federal Task Force, composed mainly of FBI Agents, descends upon Idaho. They soon find that the area is extremely hostile to the federal government and most of the citizens are well armed. Too well armed, in fact. Many possess weapons which violate the Gun Control Acts of the past four years. The Task Force finds that the state governments of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have allocated almost nothing to the enforcement of federal gun laws.
August 16, 1992:
The Task Force receives permission from President Bentsen to enforce those gun laws, since the local law enforcement seems unwilling to do so. In Idaho, the head of the Task Force, Richard Hamilton, begins preparing for a series of searches and seizures, even before they’ve obtained warrants.
August 21, 1992:
The federal siege of Ruby Ridge begins with death of Sammy Weaver and his dog. The federal forces encircle the Weaver family compound, and begin what is to become a five day siege.
August 22, 1992:
Governor Nathan Rhodes calls up A Company, 2nd of the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment as a show of support for the federal agents. The commander of the Company, however, is secretly under strict orders to not intervene, no matter what occurs.
August 24, 1992:
A Company, 2nd of the 116th, arrives with the federal agents besieging the Weaver family compound. The commander sets up camp less than half a mile away from the federal lines.
August 25, 1992:
An NDF unit hears of what is going on at Ruby Ridge, in nearby northern Idaho. Less than three hours later, twelve men, heavily armed with machine guns, assault and sniper rifles, are on their way to the isolated location in northern Idaho.
August 26, 1992:
In the early morning hours the twelve NDF Patriots break the siege of Ruby Ridge long enough to rescue Randall Weaver, Kevin Harris, and two of Weaver’s children. Federal forces take heavy losses, with almost twenty-five men killed. The U.S. Marshals, however, manage to capture four of the NDF Patriots driving away from the location of Ruby Ridge. The Idaho National Guardsmen, as per orders, do not react.
August 29, 1992:
The Task Force receives nearly one hundred warrants for suspected militia leaders from the Federal District Court in San Francisco. Governor Rhodes announces that these warrants are illegal. The Federal Task Force went around the local court system when local judges refused to issue warrants.
August 31, 1992:
The U.S. Justice Department announces that they plan on requesting a change in venue for the Idaho Four. Governor Rhodes announces that he will fight tooth and nail against the change in venue, stating that the four men would not be able to receive a fair trial in San Francisco. They also announce their plans to prosecute the Captain in command of A Company for negligence during the Ruby Ridge siege.
September 8, 1992:
A four-week process of seizing illegal weapons from militia leaders begins. The Task Force finds several huge weapons caches of assault rifles and machine guns.
October 2, 1992:
The change in venue for the Idaho Four is granted. Governor Rhodes is livid. With complaints coming in from citizens concerned over the Federal seizures of weapons and now the movement of four Idaho citizens to a court where they will not have a jury of their peers, Rhodes and his new Attorney General, James Roberts, decide that it has become time to act.
October 13, 1992:
Like the Idaho Four, the National Guardsman in charge of A Company on August 26 is to go to trial – in California. This is the final straw for Governor Rhodes.
November 1, 1992:
The Federal Task Force, while searching a ranch, is surrounded and ordered to halt by Idaho State Police. The nearly sixty agents of the Task Force are escorted to the Federal Court in Boise, where they are detained indefinitely.
November 4, 1992:
Elections in Oregon and Washington see two members of the Constitutional Republican Party (Rhodes's third party which is extremely popular in the Northwest) elected Governor. Since the seizure of weapons in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, public support for the three states in Oregon and Washington has skyrocketed, even in the previously liberal western halves of the states. Both states pledge to back the three besieged states.
November 8, 1992:
With the round up of federal agents in Idaho, President Bentsen orders Governor Rhodes arrested. FBI Agents start massing in Salt Lake City for the drive to Boise.
November 12, 1992:
The federal convoy leaves Salt Lake City for Boise. Idaho State Police spot the convoy of federal vehicles on Interstate 84, just east of Malta, Idaho. They follow the convoy but do not pull it over. Governor Rhodes gives orders to ignore the convoy. The State Policemen, puzzled by the Governor’s orders, are forced to drop back and allow the convoy to proceed, uninhibited by Idaho law enforcement.
At the urging of Attorney General Roberts, Governor Rhodes leaves the Governor’s Mansion in Boise, heading to the National Guard Base at Gowen Field on the outskirts of town. Arriving at the National Guard Base, Rhodes issues the appropriate orders to initiate a call up of National Guardsmen and State Police around Idaho and begins making phone calls to his fellow Governors in Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.
The Governors of the four states, woken by Rhodes’s call, also initiate a call up of all National Guardsmen and an activation of all State Police. The convoy of federal agents arrives in Boise and enter the Governor’s Mansion, intent on arresting Rhodes. Little do they know, however, that Rhodes had already evacuated. The Governor’s Mansion is then surrounded by Idaho State Police, who quickly round up any and all federal agents in the vicinity.
All federal agents are ordered to leave the states of Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming, citing their unlawful searches, seizures, and arrests, as well as the infringement on individual and states’ rights. The call-up of the National Guardsmen is first broadcast on television and over the radio.
More to come, if anyone is still reading this...
). What you say is basicalyl true, but I think in everdaypolitics one can lose oversight of those things...