Late American Imperial Politics (1972-1991)
Part 6 - The Calamity
In 1988, the American People gave President Walter Mondale a mandate. A supermajority in Congress and in the States, a landslide Electoral College victory, with one simple task. To end the madness and violence and decline of the last decade. To that end, Mondale immediately set about finally pushing through his "Commonwealth Amendment". Congress finally passed the Amendment in May 1989, when it was then pushed to the states for ratification. Throughout this process the opposition had hardly been quiet however. Both the Socialists and the Democrats had denounced the Amendment at every step, and the FP-ANVA simply would not die down. Mondale worked hard to push for the Amendment's ratification, only taking a break to sign a new Arms Limitation treaty with Helmut Kohl's Germany. Finally, in June 1990, over a year after its passing, Oregon ratified the Amendment, putting it into force. Alec Pomeroy was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of the new Commonwealth of Canada, and Jim Hunt was inaugurated as the President of the Commonwealth of Dixie. For three days, everything went smothly.
Then Pierce made his response known.
Over 200 dead. 200 dead in four states. Atlanta engulfed in riots. Chile leaving the Montreal Pact over "continuing American instability" Gus Halberg making a speech to a crowd of a hundred thousand in Chicago. Approval for the President went from over 60% to below 20% in less than a week. It was an unmitigated catastrophe. The markets collapsing seemingly overnight. A Socialist Congressman from Wyoming introducing articles of Impeachment. Disaster after disaster began to hit Mondale's desk.
And just as things looked as if they couldn't get worse, Boris Lavochkin decided to take the Piercite problem into his own hands.
It was common knowledge that Pierce himself was somewhere in Georgia. Lavochkin therefore took a few divisions, marched into Atlanta, and declared the entire state to be under martial law in August 1990. Mondale was powerless to stop him. Needles to say, this did not go over well with the Georgians.
With the collapse of the state government, the FP-ANVA took direct control of parts of the countryside, lynching whatever "collaborators" they could find. In response, Lavochkin marched into the countryside to meet the Piercites in open battle. Thus, by October 1990, Georgia was in a state of open war.
As the situation deteriorated throughout the next few months, a plot was forged by members of the Military-Industrial Complex to restore order to the country. By March 1991, the group, headed by DNC chairman Donald Rumsfeld and Socialist Congressman Dick Cheney, had settled on a plan of action. Mondale and his Administration was to be arrested, and popular former President Joshua Blackford would be installed in his place to restore order to the country by any means necessary.
The first issue in the plan was Blackford himself, now a recluse on his family farm in Dakota. When the conspirators met with him in May, he flatly refused to involve himself. Thus the plotters were forced to look for an alternative candidate. In the meantime they built up support within the general staff and among the army units stationed throughout the country. By August it was determined that the conspirators were running out of time, and it was now or never. Rumsfeld himself was made into a figurehead, and the plotters struck.
On the 21st of August, 1991, Army units in Arlington attempted to march into Washington D.C. to depose President Mondale. They were halted by units loyal to General Colin Powell, who had prior knowledge of the coup and remained loyal to Mondale. In Philadelphia, Pro-Coup elements successfully seized the city, assembling a rump pro-Coup Congress that rapidly impeached Mondale and installed Rumsfeld as President. By the end of the day, much of the mid-Atlantic was in a standoff. Maryland, D.C., New Jersey, and Ohio had declared their loyalty to Mondale's government in Washington, while Pennsylvania and West Virginia had declared for Rumsfeld's Philadelphia government. Citing the lack of central authority in the US, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Guatemala left the Montreal Pact the next day, while military forces occupying parts of Venezuela began to rapidly withdraw.
By the end of the week, both Commonwealths had declared complete neutrality in the coup. Kentucky and Tennessee, in response, were seized by Pro-Lavochkin army units, and declared for Rumsfeld. The war in Georgia continued to ramp up, with atrocities committed by both sides. It soon became quite clear that the coup would be decided by how army units across the country responded. In Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, they declared neutrality, and would remain so for the duration of the crisis. Governor Sanders as well had declared neutrality, leading to much of New England following suit. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick declared for Mondale by September 10, as did Indiana. By the end of the month Iowa had gone in his camp, while Rumsfeld was recognised by Kansas, Sequoyah, and Missouri.
In October, the two sides entered into dialogue on the Potomac. Former President Blackford, once reluctant to involve himself, represented Rumsfeld, while Vice President George McGovern, who had once served under Blackford, represented Mondale. Though Blackford pleaded with his old friend to come to an agreement with Rumsfeld, McGovern refused to give an inch, viewing the coup as an attack on the very foundations of American Democracy. Nebraska, Washington, Montana, and Roosevelt (British Columbia) declared for Mondale that month, while Rumsfeld took Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and New Mexico declared for Rumsfeld. Montana would later be subjected to a pro-Rumsfeld military coup.
In November, the Mondale government was getting desperate. By this point the Montreal Pact had all but collapsed, with only Haiti and Puerto Rico remaining loyal. Even steadfast Ireland had gone off on its own. The government's last hope hinged on California, hoping its economic might could turn the tide and force Rumsfeld to negotiate on their terms. Nevada had declared for the conspirators, while Oregon had stayed loyal. McGovern and Blackford remained in a standstill, while Canada and Dixie made clear preparations for independence. Thus, when Governor Carl Martin declared California neutral, and the units in the states followed, Mondale's cause was doomed. Much of Roosevelt was seized by Canada, while a pro-coup coup took over Ohio.
By December, it was clear Mondale's administration wouldn't survive. The President thus took the steps he felt were necessary to keep the peace as much as possible. Secretly making contact with Germany, Canada, and Dixie, Mondale agreed to recognise their independence, as well as that of Alaska and the Sandwich Islands, to be known as Hawaii after independence. And so as McGovern and Blackford met and failed to come to an agreement for a final time on the 20th, Mondale made his move.
Five days later, on December 25th, Mondale announced his resignation, and intention to allow pro-Coup army units to enter Washington. Mondale departed to Germany, from where he would never return. As Powell let the pro-coup division cross the Potomac, McGovern hastily had himself sworn in, announcing in a broadcast that Mondale had left the country, and calling for "all those who wish to defend democracy in America" to oppose the new regime.
Accounts differ as to the final fate of the 40th and shortest serving President of the United States. The Coup plotters announced he had committed suicide, an account disputed by Joshua Blackford, who claimed he died fighting. Others have theorised he was captured and executed, while certain...fringe elements insist he survived the whole affair. Regardless, just a day after his death, Donald Rumsfeld stood in front of the White House and announced the end of the "great national calamity". Immediately afterwards, he announced that he, the Kohl Government in Germany, and the Commonwealths of Canada and Dixie had agreed to the independence of Canada, Dixie, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Upon this announcement, a reporter in the crowd pulled out a rifle, and shot President Rumsfeld in the face.
Less than an hour later, Richard Bruce Cheney was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States.
