Any thoughts on BritPol? Or am I the only one this into it?
My knowledge of British politics in this era is admittedly shallow, but from what I can glean from what I do know (such as the Norman Scott situation and Jeremy Thorpe being able to hold on a bit more) it all looks very fascinating..
 
Quite enjoying it! Reading about Tony Crosland and Woy Jenkins and Enoch Powell brings back memories of If Gordon Banks Had Played, my first steps into AH. Great read, as always!
That was one of the first and best. A trip down a rabbit hole that was entirely plausible and scary for what it became. This won't be that dystopian.
 
I had a feeling Reagan would get shot after you gave that hint but damn your writing... it actually made me hope that the Gipper pulls through.
He might live; I'm more worried about Nancy. Could see him blaming himself for Nancy's condition, even if she lives. Reagan knows he was the main target.

And my fiance just brought up a point about Ronald Reagan. He was known for eating Jelly Belly beans since they were a substitute for smoking. What if the stress of the assassination attempt drives him to smoke even more, instead? He could end up with lung cancer or other damages to his body.
 
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Not really. Her friends introduced her to it after he got shot by Hinckley. The timing here could mean anything is in play. The 70s were WEIRD.

As this article about 1970s astrology shows, astrology was just about everywhere in the early 70s. From Betty Crocker zodiac cakes for the kids to Southern Comfort cocktails matched to their parents' signs... and all these were being marketed before this POD.
 
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So I just wanted to step in here and say something:

How have I been sleeping on this gem for ::checks watch:: FIVE GODDAM YEARS!?!?!

This shit is great! I'm only up to October 30th, but this is exceptional so far. I'm serious. I'm somewhat in awe of your research skills.

You've really raised the bar with this one. Now everyone will have to work harder.
Damn you for that, by the way.
First of all, thank you. I greatly appreciate the generous compliments.

Secondly, yes, I research quite a bit. I have an entire bookcase that is purely history books. Another two shelves on a different one are all memoirs and biographies. For a very long time, I have been utterly fascinated by the 1968-1984 time period. Just unbelievable upheaval in the world. And when I write, I want to tell a realistic, plausible, story where the details fit, the personality traits and the technological achievements and the politics. We only got the world we know today because of the 1970s. The style of politics, the focus on image, the relentless negative campaigning, the overrepresented power of evangelicals in American religion and politics, the distrust of government institutions, the strong belief in conspiracies, hyperactive capitalism....all of it started in this decade. What I wanted to flesh out here was not a world in which Carter gets a second term (although @Vidal does an outstanding job with his, a very realistic tale), but in which the Reagan Revolution gets...subordinated. Cut off before it can take flight. John Connally has a combination of many features that Republicans could unite behind: he's got rugged good looks, a ranch, charisma, business-friendly, strong personality, intelligent but knows the folksy talk, a converted Democrat like Reagan (and yes, plenty mistrusted him too because of it, but a lot that did changed their minds if they met him in person), anti-Communist, worked on Ike's battle staff in WWII, then won a Bronze Star in the Pacific dealing with the kamikazes....It's such a wonderful stew to work from, and that's before you bring up his longtime association with LBJ.

I like Gerald Ford. He was authentic. He tried hard. But the problem was that he counted upon some of the worst people to ever infect American politics--Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Alan Greenspan, Bill Simon. He did so in large part because he didn't have enough confidence in himself at times to make these choices. He hadn't planned to be President. Connally, on the other hand, had been thinking about it since after JFK was killed and he survived the bullet. After he was SecTreas, the thoughts grew much louder. So he was waiting for this moment, and he believed in himself from the word GO and brought in the people he trusted to help him, without overshadowing him. He's also a triangulator in the GOP world, and that's why a liberal like Rocky was brought in to be SecTreas, someone who business liked but wasn't a full-blown ogre like Bill Simon, and who could be creative in financing projects without increasing taxes (the really ironic part about all this is that Rocky's right-hand man for bond financing and other schemes for infrastructure in the 1960s was John Mitchell. Yes, the John Mitchell). It's why Jack Valenti is SecCommerce, and Clements is SecDef, and Ben Barnes is CoS--they are all familiar with each other, good friends, and trusted to do as Connally wants because they're all of a similar mindset. He doesn't need strong personalities because he is the strong personality.

One thing that Ford dealt with was a desire to tackle inflation in the most paleoconservative ways possible. He knew economics very well, and his advisers were much the same on this issue. Occasionally he'd come up with a clever plan of sorts, but it was never implemented in a way that could make a big mark. It was all steady on the tiller stuff, except "steady" at this time in Western nations was unsettled in every way. America and Britain were very much in a Cultural Revolution of their own. Connally likes to take big swings. He brought us off the gold standard. So, he's going to think big about inflation. Not just "what can America do," but recognizing it's a global issue and working with partners to tackle it. I'm excited to explore this. I'm excited to explore a world in which we impeached a President and made it something that wasn't impossible. It's great. The next two years are going to be so very much fun to write.
 
On a side note, here's how Charles Manson's parole hearings likely went in his final years:

Parole board head: "OK, who's next? Mr...Manson? Yeah, your parole's already been denied; we're just holding this for the official record. Escort Mr. Manson back to his cell, please."
 
On a side note, here's how Charles Manson's parole hearings likely went in his final years:

Parole board head: "OK, who's next? Mr...Manson? Yeah, your parole's already been denied; we're just holding this for the official record. Escort Mr. Manson back to his cell, please."
I mean, wasn't it that way anyways? :coldsweat:
 
He might live; I'm more worried about Nancy. Could see him blaming himself for Nancy's condition, even if she lives. Reagan knows he was the main target.

And my fiance just brought up a point about Ronald Reagan. He was known for eating Jelly Belly beans since they were a substitute for smoking. What if the stress of the assassination attempt drives him to smoke even more, instead? He could end up with lung cancer or other damages to his body.
Damn I had no idea about the Jelly Belly beans thing😮 Shit you could be right about both Nancy and whatever effects Reagan might develop as a result of the assassination attempt
 
Damn I had no idea about the Jelly Belly beans thing😮 Shit you could be right about both Nancy and whatever effects Reagan might develop as a result of the assassination attempt
I mean, there's also the possibility that he were to resign: he absolutely depended on Nancy to keep him on a steady tiller. For all of Reagan's hard-edged conservatism, he was a romantic at heart. It's part of why he got on with Margaret Thatcher so well. It's hard to imagine, but she too had this sort of romantic view of things, definitely with Denis Thatcher, but also used those aspects of her elsewhere; hence Mitterand's famous quote, "She's got the eyes of Caligula and the mouth of Marilyn Monroe."
 
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