TLIAW: Blue Scare

[Superman]

Richard Nixon
1961-1981
​

Richard M. Nixon was the longest-serving Chairman of the NUC in American history, and the second longest American leader overall, after Douglas MacArthur. His reign would be infamous for the erosion of many of the few freedoms Americans had left, and the establishment of a police state with near-constant surveillance.

Nixon was a well-known anti-communist in the Senate, and a supporter of both MacArthur and McCarthy. He was rewarded for his loyalty by being appointed to the National Union Council in 1956. As a part of the NUC, Nixon pushed for increased surveillance of suspected subversive organizations. When Chairman Joseph McCarthy fell from grace in 1960 after his failed attempt to replace President MacArthur, Nixon formed a covert partnership with J. Edgar Hoover, promising even greater powers to the FBI in exchange for helping him become Chairman of the NUC.

In 1962, when MacArthur died, the NUC had the job of appointing the next President. As Chairman, Nixon was a prime candidate, but, as he lacked MacArthur's popularity and charisma, deduced that his presidency would not be as long or popular as MacArthur's. Rather than accept becoming an essentially powerless target, Nixon used his position to appoint a puppet President who would rule for him. Nixon picked the young, handsome John F. Kennedy, who, unknown to the public, was addicted to various painkillers and was very sick. Nixon and Hoover used this information to blackmail Kennedy into supporting their policies.

Under Nixon's reign, the FBI went from being simply a rather authoritarian police force to being something terrifying, shrouded in myth. While people had often been imprisoned for opposing the government, now, they simply disappeared without a trace. The people became paranoid that the FBI always watching their every move. The FBI also dug up dirt on every single member of the NUC, to keep them in line.

Nixon's foreign policy was also notably more hawkish than that of his predecessors. He sent the Army to put down a communist uprising in the Philippines, and used the FBI's overseas branch to assassinate Sundararami Reddy, a left-wing pro-democracy advocate that was dangerously close to being elected in India.

The biggest foreign policy issue within Nixon's reign was the 1963-1967 Pacific War between the Blue Bloc on one side and the Empire of Japan on the other, with the USSR and Red Bloc neutral during the war. The American Navy was comparatively weak, and was unable to defend Guam, the Philippines, and Hawaii from being occupied by the Japanese. However, British assistance ensured an American victory during the war, and the liberation of all occupied territories. Japan was occupied by a join Anglo-American force, and a friendly Blue government was installed in place of the Imperial government.

In 1973, the economy went into a recession, and the Blue government's fiercely pro-business policies were blamed for this. To combat this, Nixon implemented price-and-wage controls, and had the government take a huge role in the economy, far larger than it had ever been in Blue America. However, nobody dared to accuse Nixon of being a Red, out of fear.

When President Kennedy died in 1974, Nixon appointed a relatively-unknown Maryland representative named Spiro T. Agnew to the presidency. Agnew, like Kennedy before him, was simply a figurehead, a puppet for Nixon. However, unlike Kennedy, Agnew was also very corrupt, something that Nixon and Hoover knew and used against him.

However, one area where Nixon actually improved the rights of Americans was civil rights. While the South had improved somewhat during Browder's regime, it quickly regressed back into Jim Crow after the fall of Red America. Nixon, on the other hand, passed comprehensive civil rights acts from 1974 to 1977, and prohibited any sort of racial discrimination in government operations. While most Blues would have stopped there, Nixon went further, and implemented anti-discrimination laws that applied to businesses, with the threat of "disappearance" for their owners.

In 1979, thousands of student protesters from across the country gathered in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to protest for the restoration of their rights as Americans. Chairman Nixon ordered the protesters to leave, but when they refused to do so, he had the Army fire on them, resulting in 635 casualties. The Liberty Massacre earned Nixon the nickname "the Butcher", and sparked off a series of riots throughout the nation. This culminated with an assassination attempt on Chairman Nixon in December 1980. Though Nixon was not killed, he was severely wounded, and unable to exercise many of his powers. The terrifying Nixon Regime was finally over.

 

[Gog (♀)]

Supes, just as a tip for later on. It is much more interesting when you get less known people to be president rather than retreads.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

I'm sorry but civil rights just seem out of place here. It has the taint of communism, affects businesses and alienates many people who Nixon would want supporting his regime.

 

[Superman]

Supes, just as a tip for later on. It is much more interesting when you get less known people to be president rather than retreads.

"President" hasn't really been a very powerful position since ~1950 at the height of MacArthur's power. But if you mean Chairman of the NUC, then, yeah, I'm looking at some lesser known people as well. I do have ideas of who I'm going to do next, but I don't want to make it too convergent.

 

[Gog (♀)]

"President" hasn't really been a very powerful position since ~1950 at the height of MacArthur's power. But if you mean Chairman of the NUC, then, yeah, I'm looking at some lesser known people as well. I do have ideas of who I'm going to do next, but I don't want to make it too convergent.

yeah i ment NUC chairman

A second civil war and a korea situation for 20 years is going to have papa mothra sized butterflies though

 

[Superman]

I'm sorry but civil rights just seem out of place here. It has the taint of communism, affects businesses and alienates many people who Nixon would want supporting his regime.

The thing is, some of this was originally written for Lyndon B. Johnson. I rewrote a lot of it to fit Nixon once I realized that Johnson didn't make any sense at all, but I kept the civil rights, since TTL's Nixon is so feared and powerful that he was the only one that could conceivably do it. Plus, Nixon, while anti-communist, isn't as conservative as McCarthy, so he wouldn't be as opposed to implementing some liberal policies (price and wage controls, though not their circumstances exactly, are from OTL).

 

[Superman]

Larry McDonald​

1981-1991​

Larry McDonald was a young conservative from Georgia, formerly a part of Red America. After suffering under communism, he had come to believe that communism was a danger to the world if it was left unchecked, and grew to despise it. During the Third American Civil War from 1957 to 1959, McDonald fled North and served as a volunteer in the US Army, hoping to destroy Red America, and with it, communism in America.

After the war, McDonald entered politics. Post-war gerrymandering had ensured that South was redistricted to favor anti-communists who had been opposed to the Red Regime. McDonald was elected to the House in 1962 as a strong anti-communist, and he used his Southern background to his advantage by portraying himself as a unifying figure.

In the House, McDonald gained a reputation as a reliable conservative anti-communist. He consistently supported legislation that favored businesses, and was one of the more socially conservative Congressmen, at a time when opposition to communism was nearly entirely economic in nature. McDonald, though he had little power as a member of the House, still advocated pro-life positions and bans on homosexuality, claiming that sodomy and abortion were communistic in nature. He was appointed to the Senate in 1966. In the Senate, McDonald learned to keep his mouth shut out of fear of NUC Chairman Nixon, but secretly maintained his McCarthyist beliefs.

McDonald was a recent appointment to the NUC when Nixon was shot and incapacitated. As a result, he was too new for Nixon and Hoover to have much dirt on him, and was the only member of the NUC who could conceivably replace Nixon as Chairman. Once he was in charge, McDonald quickly reverted to his conservative nature. He eliminated nearly all of the economic changes that Nixon had brought, calling them “communistic”. McDonald pushed for a return to the conservative policies of Joseph McCarthy, and, while he wasn't a racist and didn't oppose civil rights, didn't enforce the regulations on businesses, allowing owners and employers to hire (and fire) whoever they felt. However, McDonald also maintained the ban on government-promoted discrimination, and prohibited the states from denying Negroes the same government resources as whites.

Chairman McDonald also pursued a far less interventionist foreign policy than Nixon. While he continued the nuclear arms buildup, he refused monetary aid to any nation that was not currently facing a communist uprising, though he did sell American weapons to countries with communist rebellions.

Despite his conservatism, McDonald's anti-Nixonian policies also somewhat liberalized the American political landscape. The surveillance powers of the FBI were scaled back significantly after the death of J. Edgar Hoover, and limited only to tracking down suspected communists and not simply anyone the government did not like. He also delegated some powers back to the Senate and NUC, and even to the elected House of Representatives. Some minor conservative political parties even sprung up, and though they had no chance of being appointed to the Senate or NUC, they were allowed to exist as long as they did not interfere with the National Union Party's powers.

However, this liberalization came at a personal cost to McDonald. As the Chairman was no longer as powerful as he had been under Nixon (or indeed, even under McCarthy), the NUC wanted to prevent any future Chairman from becoming too powerful, and placed a ten-year limit on the position. As a result, McDonald was forced to step down in 1991, after ten years as Chairman of the NUC. However, he would be remembered rather favorably, and continued to be an elder statesman in American politics.

 

[Superman]

And sorry folks, but the conclusion will have to come next week. I'm going to summer camp until Friday, and probably won't have access to a computer.

 

[Superman]

Donald Rumsfeld
1991-2001

Donald Henry Rumsfeld was somewhat of a protege of former Chairman Richard Nixon, and had been appointed to the NUC by him. Though Rumsfeld had served in the military, he was in the US Navy, which had seen little combat in the land-dominated Third American Civil War.

Rumsfeld, a well-known hawk, had come to power when America was in a period of relative isolationism. Rumsfeld was elected Chairman to succeed McDonald once his term had ended.

Under Rumsfeld, the FBI was split into a National Police Department (NPD) and National Security Agency (NSA). The 1990s were a period of great technological advancements. Many people now had mobile telephones that were far more powerful than the telephones of old, and could be tracked by GPS. The NSA had a field day with this. Rumsfeld also allowed the public access to the CompuNet, a system that allowed nearly every personal computer to connect to each other. The CompuNet's Central Hub was in the mountains of Wyoming, away from any potential terrorists who might want to attack it and destroy the Net.

Chairman Rumsfeld also utilized the Global Positioning System to spy on communist nations (and secretly on Americans suspected of communism). The ability to monitor people from space was a great asset to the American government, and was often used to prepare for any surprise attack by the Soviet Union or its allies.

Rumsfeld's administration also brought about many economic changes, including government involvement in the CompuNet and communications industries. The "laissez-faire" economic model that the United States had previously had was being gradually replaced by a form of corporatism, with the government clearly and heavily favoring Big Businesses. Regulations were implemented, with enough loopholes to benefit large corporations. These large corporations would, in turn, be essentially fronts for the government to be indirectly involved in the economy. However, Rumsfeld also liberalized laws prohibiting the formation or joining of labor unions. The Department of Labor would be resurrected as a government agency that would approve and regulate the establishment of unions (nearly all of which were government or corporate fronts).

The 1990s were also a period of great geopolitical change. However, much of it was bad for the Blue Bloc. The long-declining British Commonwealth began its collapse when India, the powerhouse of the Empire, left the increasingly-irrelevant organization and declared neutrality in 1993. Eventually, only the United Kingdom itself, Ireland, Canada and Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and Rhodesia, and a few Caribbean nations remained. Rumsfeld faced a major foreign policy crisis when the British-administered Suez Canal was invaded and occupied by the United Arab Republic. After a tense, two-week stand-off, during which the UAR and its Arab socialist allies Syria and Iraq maintained an oil embargo of the United States and Commonwealth, the Blue Bloc agreed to sell the Suez Canal to the UAR in exchange for greatly reduced oil prices. Just to be on the safe side, Chairman Rumsfeld ordered a troop surge in the Panama Canal, to prevent a similar situation from occurring.

In 1996, Rumsfeld decided that it was time for the aging and increasingly senile President Agnew to retire. In his place, Rumsfeld arranged for the appointment of George Bush, Jr., son of the former Texas military governor George Bush, Sr. However, keeping true to McDonald's reforms, Bush had to be approved not only by the Senate, but also by the elected House, making Bush the first President to be somewhat elected by the people since Herbert Hoover.

By the time Rumsfeld left office in 2001, both the United States and the world looked very different that they had at the beginning of his term. The New Millennium would be the start of a new era, for America and the world. ​

 

[Superman]

No comments at all on the last two updates?

 

[Stuyvesant]

Interestingly, this is like a later, reverse of my planned TL.

 

[Superman]

Interestingly, this is like a later, reverse of my planned TL.

Reds win in your world?

 

[Stuyvesant]

Reds win in your world?

It's more Leftists win. Between the WSR's Syndicalism, the Rio Grande Confederation's Populism, and the USA's Progressivism.

 

[Superman]

David Koch
2001-2011
​

The Koch family had long been supporters of the National Union Party, and businessman David Koch was no exception. Koch and his brothers had inherited Koch Industries from their father, and had made it one of the largest corporations in the world.

Koch had campaigned hard to be elected Chairman of the NUC since the incapacitation of Richard Nixon in 1980, but it was not until Rumsfeld's term was up that he was actually successful. Koch's main advantages over the other members of the NUC were his vast fortune and the support of his equally wealthy brothers.

As Chairman of the NUC, Koch fought against the resurrected Department of Labor, and opposed its pro-union policies. The NPD was sent to break up strikes, and Koch even encouraged employers to hire scabs to replace striking workers. Koch also attempted to reverse many of Rumsfeld's policies which had increased government control within the economy, and opposed the corporatist turn that American capitalism had taken.

However, unlike previous leaders, Koch was also a social libertarian, and opposed many of the conservative policies of earlier administrations. The War on Drugs had started under McCarthy, but Nixon had escalated it to the point that even something as minor as drinking before the age of 21 would result in jail time. McDonald and Rumsfeld had continued the War on Drugs to appease the conservative base and elites of the NUP, and by 2000, a large portion of the male population within the United States (mostly "blacks" and other "minorities") were imprisoned for minor drug-related offenses. Koch gradually ended the War on Drugs, beginning with lowering the smoking and drinking ages to 21, and then gradually decriminalizing "soft" drugs such as marijuana. Koch also lifted federal restrictions on gay rights, but did nothing to oppose state or private discrimination.

During the 2000s, the Soviet Union's control over its European puppets began to slip, with the relatively independent ally Spain being the first to leave Comintern and join the Sino-Indian led Non-Aligned Movement in 2003. By this time, both power blocs were beginning to fall apart, and the Cold War was winding down. Chairman Koch arranged for President Bush to meet with Soviet General Secretary Alexander Lukashenko, as a symbol of the "thaw" in the Cold War.

Newt Gingrich, an NUC member from Georgia, had long been an advocate of space travel and exploration. Though the Soviets and British had sent manned missions into space since the 1960s, beginning with the Soviet Zvezda in 1967, the United States had yet to expand its space program beyond unmanned satellites. Councilman Gingrich encouraged Chairman Koch to pursue a manned spaceflight. Space exploration was split off from the Department of Defense into the new Department of Space. On September 8, 2006, Col. John Anderson became the first American in space, aboard the Patriot 6.

Koch was incapacitated in 2007 due to prostate cancer, and left his brother Charles in charge as the de facto leader of the NUC until Koch could return. While many people believed that Koch would resign, he refused to, and returned to his position as soon as he was physically capable. However, he was no longer as powerful as he had been before he left, and much of the power of the NUC had trickled down to the Senate. Now, the Council had declined to being simply a group of advisers to the much more powerful Senate and its President. Koch's term ended with greater competition between the various factions within the government than there had ever been before, and with the tiniest possibility of true democracy returning to the Land that had once been Free.

 

[Superman]

List of Presidents of the United States of America:

1897-1901: William McKinley (Republican) [1]
1901-1909: Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)
1909-1913: William Howard Taft (Republican)
1913-1921: Woodrow Wilson (Democratic)
1921-1923: Warren Harding (Republican) [2]
1923-1929: Calvin Coolidge (Republican)
1929-1933: Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1933-1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) [3]
1933-1937: John Nance Garner (Democratic) [4]
1937-1937: Huey Long (Populist) [5]

List of Presidents of the United States of America (Red):

1937-1951: Huey Long (Populist) [5]
1951-1953: Rose McConnell Long (Populist) [6]
1953-1959: Earl Browder (Populist) [7]

List of Presidents of the United States of America (Blue):

1936-1962: Douglas MacArthur (National Union) [8]
1962-1973: John F. Kennedy (National Union) [9]
1973-1997: Spiro T. Agnew (National Union)
1997-2013: George Bush, Jr. (National Union)
2013-0000: Sarah Palin (American)

List of Chairmen of the National Union Council of the United States of America (Blue):

1936-1949: Douglas MacArthur (National Union)
1949-1961: Joseph McCarthy (National Union)
1961-1981: Richard Nixon (National Union) [10]
1981-1991: Larry McDonald (National Union)
1991-2001: Donald Rumsfeld (National Union)
2001-2011: David Koch (National Union)
2011-0000: Mitt Romney (National Union)

[1] Assassinated
[2] Died in office
[3] Assassinated before taking office
[4] Forced to flee before the end of his term
[5] Overthrown in a coup, then died in office as POTUS of Red America
[6] Not actually President
[7] Overthrown and executed
[8] Died in office
[9] Died in office
[10] Incapacitated by an assassination attempt

 

[Superman]

Sarah Palin
2013-
​

The last few decades had seen a liberalization of American politics, and even the emergence of conservative political parties other than the National Union Party. One of these was the American Party, which was very conservative on social and economic issues (perhaps more so than the NUP itself), but also supported a return to democracy, and advocated for a smaller government with more powers delegated back to the states. As other, more liberal or radical parties collapsed, only the American Party remained to even remotely challenge the National Union Party.

The relatively new and inexperienced Governor of Alaska was an odd choice as the NUP's presidential nominee in 2008 against President Bush, but was expected to lose, just as every other challenger had since the Second American Civil War. However, the sudden and unexpected incapacitation of Chairman Koch threw the NUP into disarray, and Governor Palin had a surprisingly strong showing, especially in the West. President Bush was reelected very narrowly, winning only 270 electoral votes to Palin's 261. In 2012, as the NUP was ravaged by infighting between its various factions in the NUC and Congress, Palin was once again the American Party's nominee, and with an additional four years of experience under her, Palin took advantage of the chaos and defeated Bush, becoming the first challenger and non-National Unionist to win a presidential election since Huey Long in 1936, and the first President to be democratically elected since Herbert Hoover. Palin also made history as the first female leader of Blue America.

Once she was elected, Palin faced strong opposition from both Congress and the NUC, as well as various sexists and misogynists from all areas. Palin was also criticized for her inexperience. Her conservative social policies clashed with the more liberal and libertarian views of the pro-business backers of the still-dominant National Union Party, who believed that bigotry and prejudice was bad for business. Palin's strong opposition to abortion, homosexuality, and drugs were a sharp contrast to Koch's libertarian policies, but completely in line with earlier leaders such as McDonald and Rumsfeld.

Palin also ordered many government agencies to be broken down and devolved to the states. She also decreased funding for the NSA, and attempted to disband the NPD. However, this was met with strong opposition by the NUC, which derived much of its remaining power from its control over the NSA and NPD. In 2014, after the midterm elections saw the House remain in control of the NUP, the NUC attempted to remove Palin from office and replace her with someone more acceptable. However, the coup attempt was unsuccessful, as the NUC's grip over even its own party was slipping, and many socially conservative National Unionists voted with the American Party to keep Palin.

Palin's term has also seen more major geopolitical changes. British Prime Minister Joanne Rowling expressed her desire for a strong, independent UK, and made some comments about wanting to join the NAM. The Blue Bloc was seemingly unraveling faster than the Red Bloc. In addition, in 2014, the South African Civil War began, between the pro-American apartheid government and the radicalized African National Congress. President Palin condemned the ANC for their socialism and apparently violent tactics, and continues to back the government, despite their racism. The current decade is another one of great change, and as detente in the Cold War seems to have come to an end, it remains to be seen as to whether the Cold War will go on, or whether the recent ideological shift within the United States, and the return of democratic government, will change the course of human events for the better.

THE END​

 

[Superman]

I'm a bit disappointed that there haven't been any comments at all on the last two updates.

 

[packmanwiscy]

Great ending Supes. Koch ended up better than I'd think.

 

[Superman]

Great ending Supes. Koch ended up better than I'd think.

Thanks. The Koch's definitely support big business, but they're also libertarians, so I didn't think that he would be very inclined to be as dictatorial as McCarthy or Nixon.

Politics in America has now shifted from the authoritarian anti-communism of MacArthur and McCarthy to more "Tea Party", which is somewhat of an improvement, I suppose.

 

[Lost Freeway]

Sarah Palin as the restorer (well, kinda) of American democracy. Who'd have thought?