TLIA(F)D: A Bucket of Warm Spit (or: Second Place Ain't Bad)

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Alben W. Barkley
Democratic
1945-1949


With World War II coming to a close, Franklin Delano Roosevelt did what no man had ever done before: he sought a fourth term in office. Though his health was clearly declining, President Roosevelt was still incredibly popular, and would easily be able to win in 1944. However, many of the higher-ups in the Democratic Party felt that Henry Wallace was too left-wing and sympathetic to the Soviet Union to lead a post-war America if Roosevelt died in office. Reluctantly, Roosevelt agreed, and chose his former ally-turned-rival Alben Barkley as Wallace's replacement. The Roosevelt/Barkley ticket won easily, defeating their Republican candidates.

However, within a few months, Roosevelt died of a heart attack, and Barkley was now president. At 67 years old, Barkley was the second oldest president in American history, only a few months behind the record holder, William Henry Harrison. Barkley's term in office would be defined by the end of World War II, the beginning of the Cold War, and the return of economic stability to America.

As Senate majority leader, Barkley had had a great influence over domestic affairs while Roosevelt's attention was occupied by the war effort. As president, he hoped to use his experience and the Democratic-controlled Congress to continue Roosevelt's New Deal policies, but was, like his predecessor, occupied by the rebuilding process in both Europe and Asia.

Barkley worked with British Prime Minister Clement Attlee to contain Stalin and the Soviet Union's influence in Europe, and sent millions of dollars in aid not only to the actual wartime Western Allies (Britain, France, and many smaller countries in Western Europe), but also to neutral countries, such as Turkey and Spain to keep them out of the Soviet Union's sphere of influence, as well as the defeated Axis nations of Japan, Italy, and the WAllied occupation zones in Germany.

By 1948, Barkley ran for reelection, and hoped to use his successes in foreign policy, as well as the continuation of the New Deal and Roosevelt's popularity to help him towards victory. However, the post-war economic slump, as well as the costs of occupying and rebuilding the Axis nations, had taken a toll on Barkley's popularity. The American people had gotten tired of nearly 20 years of Democratic dominance, and wanted change...​
 
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So what is this?

This is a TLIAD.

Really?

Well...probably not. But I'll try to get this finished within the week.

What's this about?

It's a "Shuffling the Deck" one, but with all the post-WWII vice presidents instead.

All of them?

Hopefully.

Why are you still here? Shut up and get back to work!

...Okay
 
President Spiro Agnew? :confused:

President Dan Quayle?? :(

President Dick Cheney??? :eek:

(Sorry to rag on the Republicans, but I've got nothing against Humphrey or Gore, and Mondale might've done pretty well. Johnson is out of the running, natch.)

Are Nixon, Johnson, Ford and Bush I not counted because they actually did become President at some point?
 
President Spiro Agnew? :confused:

President Dan Quayle?? :(

President Dick Cheney??? :eek:

(Sorry to rag on the Republicans, but I've got nothing against Humphrey or Gore, and Mondale might've done pretty well. Johnson is out of the running, natch.)

Are Nixon, Johnson, Ford and Bush I not counted because they actually did become President at some point?
I do plan on including at least Bush, and I hope to be able to fit Johnson, Nixon, and Ford in there somewhere.
 
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Nelson Rockefeller
Republican
1949-1957
The 1948 Republican National Convention was a tough one, in which candidates such as New York governor Thomas Dewey and war hero General Douglas MacArthur battled it out for the nomination. The Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs was an unlikely candidate, but not only did he emerge triumphant as the Republican nominee, but also went on to defeat President Barkley in the general election.

At only 40 years old, Rockefeller was the youngest president in American history, beating out Theodore Roosevelt by 2 years. As a liberal, Rockefeller was willing to work and compromise with Congressional Democrats, and promised to protect the popular New Deal and its social programs. However, he was attacked by conservative members of his own political party for being "too soft" and accused of being a "Republican in Name Only". One of Rockefeller's more important domestic policy successes was the formation of the Department of Social Welfare, which provided a "safety net" for people who could not afford food, shelter, or health care by themselves.

On foreign policy, Rockefeller tried to improve relations with Latin American countries as part of the Good Neighbor Policy started under President Roosevelt. Rockefeller believed that the best way to keep Soviet influence out of the Western Hemisphere was to maintain cordial relations with the nations within it. Cuban President Fulgencio Batista was pressured to step down and restore democracy, and Rockefeller pledged to limit American involvement within Latin American domestic policies.

However, the end of his first term was marked by the Korean conflict, which saw communist North Korean troops invade US ally South Korea in an effort to reunite the peninsula under communism. President Rockefeller threatened war unless the invasion was halted and the North Koreans retreated back across the 38th parallel. Rockefeller's bluff worked; Stalin ordered North Korean puppet leader Kim Il-sung to pull out of South Korea, and a rather tense peace returned to East Asia.

The post-war economic boom, coupled with his recent foreign policy success in Korea, propelled Rockefeller to an easy victory in 1952, making him the first Republican to be elected to and serve out two full terms since Ulysses S. Grant.

In his second term, Rockefeller was mostly concerned with civil rights. As president, he worked closely with members of both parties to advance the cause of racial equality, but was obstructed by Congressional Southern Democrats and the more conservative Republicans, the latter of who mostly supported equality, but felt that it was not up to the federal government to dictate to the states. Finally, a compromise bill was passed. The Civil Rights Act of 1954 was passed shortly before the Democrats took back control of Congress and reduced President Rockefeller to a lame-duck (or would have, had he been a standard conservative Republican instead of a liberal). It outlawed lynching at the federal level, and declared that no American man may be deprived of his right to vote (needless to say, this was exploited as a loophole by many racists, who used it to prevent black women from voting). Rockefeller left office with mid-to-high approval ratings, something he hoped would help his party in 1956.
 
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I'm now seeing in my head the mirror universe to this one where the losing Vice Presidential candidates become President. I'm sure segragationist President Sparkman would do a great job.

Oh and great stuff, I'll be subscribing to this.
 
I'm now seeing in my head the mirror universe to this one where the losing Vice Presidential candidates become President. I'm sure segragationist President Sparkman would do a great job.

Oh and great stuff, I'll be subscribing to this.

Thanks. If you're looking for "hard" AH, this isn't it, but I'll still try to keep it somewhat realistic.
 
Meh. I forgot to save the file and my Barkley post was lost. And I would've had to figure out the Agnew/Ford/Rockerfeller mess.
Agnew dies, Ford becomes president, resigns due to alt!Watergate, Rockefeller becomes President?

Of course, that's not what I'm doing, (mainly because I already did Rockefeller ;)), but you could try it.
 
Agnew dies, Ford becomes president, resigns due to alt!Watergate, Rockefeller becomes President?

Of course, that's not what I'm doing, (mainly because I already did Rockefeller ;)), but you could try it.

I was thinking Agnew resigns due to tax scandal/watergate, Ford is quickly assassinated and Rockerfeller becomes president.
 
I was thinking Agnew resigns due to tax scandal/watergate, Ford is quickly assassinated and Rockerfeller becomes president.
That could work, too. And as a bonus, you could have Rockefeller be too old to run for reelection in 1976, resulting in Dole running (and losing) against Mondale instead.
 
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Richard M. Nixon
Republican
1957-1961

Following President Rockefeller's two terms in office, the Republicans hoped to capitalize on his popularity by nominating another young politician. Richard Nixon, a Senator from California, was notorious for being a conservative, and a favorite of the GOP establishment, but almost didn't get the nomination because of President Rockefeller's personal dislike for him and his political views. Still, Nixon defeated his challengers and went on to win both the Republican nomination and the general election.

As president, Nixon was much more moderate than he had appeared during his campaign, but was still rather conservative compared to his predecessor. Nixon pledged to be "hard on communism", and to "protect America's children and her future from the Red Menace". He signed the Labor-Management Relations Act [1] into law, significantly decreasing the power that unions had in their place of work and placing restrictions on strikes. Nixon's economic policies would be best summed up as "low taxes" ̶ which was popular with the American people ̶ and "low spending"-which was not. The scale-back of Rockefeller's Department of Social Welfare was extremely unpopular with many people, and saw a Democratic backlash in the 1958 midterms.

Nixon had a much more successful foreign policy. In response to the Soviet blockade of Berlin, he ordered an increase in troops in West Germany, hoping to bluff the Soviet Union into backing down. Like Rockefeller's bluff in Korea, it worked, and Stalin ordered the blockade to be lifted. This made Stalin appear weak, and he was removed in an intraparty coup and replaced as leader of the Soviet Union by Vyacheslav Molotov. [2]

Nixon also continued to give aid to America's allies throughout the globe. A 1957 coup attempt in Panama was foiled by the OSS on the orders of President Nixon, who feared that a military coup could open the door for a communist revolt and loss of control over the Panama Canal. The American people generally approved of his foreign policy successes, and hoped that the period of relative peace would remain.

However, this would not be enough to overcome Nixon's unpopularity at home, and he would go on to lose the 1960 election against his Democratic opponent. In his last few months in office, Nixon caved in to pressures from members of both parties, and ordered the establishment of the National Air and Space Administration [3] in 1960 as a response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik earlier that year. Nixon's legacy would be rehabilitated later, but for now, he left office with mediocre approval ratings.

[1] Pretty much identical to OTL's Taft-Hartley, but it came so much later because conservative Republicans didn't win a big enough majority, and President Rockefeller refused to sign it into law
[2] Molotov never reconciles with Stalin, and instead goes on to have a grudge against him
[3] Stalin living and being in power longer leads to a later start to the Space Race. Also, the acronym of NASA is slightly different ITTL
 
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