Voodoo (Economics) Won't Work Here

Alternate History Debris

Hosted by Cyrus P. Underwood

Season 1: Voodoo (Economics) Won't Work Here



Ronald Reagan. He evokes many different emotions in many different people. To some, he is the very embodiment of American Masculinity in the face of Soviet Aggression, especially during his time in office. He has entered the popular mythology, in their minds at least, as the man who won the Cold War. To others, Reagan did more harm than good with his economic policies and that his attempts at foreign relations were well intentioned to good at best, like the talks with the Soviets about lowering the amount of nuclear weapons, or blunders at worst, like Iran-Contra. But the thing that, I think, we can all agree on was that he has had an effect on the history of the world , for good or ill, since his election in 1980.

But during that election in 1980, things were not so clear cut. Though Reagan was the early front runner, George H. W. Bush beat him in the Iowa Caucus (though only barely 32% to Reagan's 30%) and the Puerto Rico Primary (which Reagan skipped all together to concentrate on New Hampshire). Reagan campaign staffers, and Reagan himself, were desperate for a win to keep them in the race and maybe get ahead of Bush. It all came down to Reagan's then campaign manager, one John Sears (I haven't been able to find a picture of Sears. Sorry.), who had earlier told Reagan that he needed to be above the fray.

Now with that strategy backfiring on him, Sears had to come up with a plan. Fortunately for him, Bush handed him an opportunity. Bush wanted to debate Reagan one-on-one in Hew Hampshire before the primary. Reagan accepted and, on hearing that the Nashua Telegraph was sponsoring the debate, offered to pay for it himself. However, when the other candidates heard about this they demanded that they be included in the debate. Sears got an idea: at the last possible moment Reagan would relent and include the other candidates (except Former Texas Governor John Connally who was too far away to attend). Bush would either have to include the other candidates and dilute the anti-Reagan message or refuse to participate.

Bush chose the later. This, combined with the moderator cutting Reagan's microphone (leading to the line "I'm paying for this microphone Mr. Green[sic]"), allowed Reagan to win the primary and then the nomination. Bush became Reagan's Vice President and together they beat President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election. Though, by the time the election was held, anyone could have beaten Carter.

As for Sears, well that's the thing: Sears was fired the night that Reagan won the New Hampshire Primary. Then again he had been on the ropes with the campaign for a while, as he was firing old Reagan hands left and right. There are some in the Reagan camp that say that Sears was forced out not by Ronald Reagan but by his wife, Nancy. Those same people also contend that Sears knew what was coming and, rather than fight it, helped the Reagan team win New Hampshire.

But what if Sears was fired before he had a chance to? What if, a few days before the debate, the axe came down? What then? This is my interpretation.
 
Episode 1: "Big Mo"

Where were we? Oh, right, New Hampshire, 1980. Reagan was known as "The Great Communicator" and he had to be to get elected. But I feel that, at least some of it, was exaggerated. So when John Sears was fired from his campaign before the debate in the New Hampshire Primary it was probably because he was confident in his debating skills. It proved to be a mistake as George Bush was able to show that he had better debate skills than Reagan. To be fair though, Reagan was out of practice he hadn't really debated since his reelection campaign for Governor of California in 1970. Then again, like I said, Reagan was always able to communicate his ideas. But, for whatever reason, his skills failed him that night. So he lost the debate, and then the primary.

After that, Reagan decided that it was time to withdraw. Which he did on February 29th, 1980. In his concession speech, Reagan said that he would support whomever the nominee would be. Now the race, at least for the Republicans, was wide open. For the Democrats, it was another matter entirely. See President Jimmy Carter was facing a primary challenge from Senator Ted Kennedy for a variety of reasons, mainly because he thought that Carter was not doing as great of a job as he (Carter) could.

Sadly for Kennedy though, he, some early wins like Massachusetts and New York aside, didn't resonate with voters the way his brothers did. Still, both sides would have to wait until their respective conventions for the nominees to be announced.
 
??? John Anderson gains on George Bush and makes the Republican primary a serious two person race ???

??? President Carter reviews the proposed rescue plan for the hostages, decides it's close, he's glad it's on his desk, but in the final analysis there's not enough chance of success ???
 
??? John Anderson gains on George Bush and makes the Republican primary a serious two person race ???

??? President Carter reviews the proposed rescue plan for the hostages, decides it's close, he's glad it's on his desk, but in the final analysis there's not enough chance of success ???

You'll have to wait and see.
 
Episode 2: Two conventions with one Panther

Heading into their national convention in Detroit, the Republicans had a somewhat difficult choice to make. By that time, late July 1980, George Bush won 43 out of the 50 primaries and Washington DC and Puerto Rico, having lost Vermont, Illinois, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Kansas to Anderson and South Carolina to John Connally (though when Connally dropped out on March 18th he endorsed Anderson). So who would be their presidential nominee was easy: George Bush. The difficulty was in choosing the vice presidential nominee. The position was offered to John Anderson but he didn't want to be second banana. After four ballots and no clear winner Anderson did have suggestion: Phil Crane.

Crane was another congressman from Illinois, in fact he took over Donald Rumsfeld's old seat in 1969 when Rumsfeld took a position in the Nixon administration. While Crane would have some troubles later on he was a good choice for the moderate Bush: Conservative, from a Northern state and considered a man of some influence. It wasn't much but it was some. And so the Republicans had their ticket.

Meanwhile the Democrats had their convention in August. President Carter had, by this time, had won most of the primaries 37 plus Puerto Rico to Ted Kennedy's 11 plus DC (Michigan and Alaska went Unpledged). This was in spite of Carter's handling of the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Russian Invasion of Afghanistan. There was even a movement to draft Carter's Secretary of State Edmund Muskie (who became part of the administration in May 1980) because he seemed more popular than Carter. But Carter and his Vice President Walter Mondale were renominated, for better or for worse.

As for the Panther? Well...While the Republican National Convention was going on. Peter Sellers had a heart attack. Fortunately, he was rushed to the hospital in time and he survived. During his stay in the hospital, Sellers finished the script for Romance of the Pink Panther. The film though had to be put on hold while Sellers recovered. The heart attack also forced him to bow out of Unfaithfully Yours and Lovesick, both of which were filmed with Spike Milligan at Sellers' request. Milligan was hesitant, he'd never really done films before. But after he and Sellers talked it over, Milligan agreed to do them.

When Sellers got out of the hospital in August 1980, he had two film projects before him: Romance of the Pink Panther and Grossing Out, a satire written by Terry Southern (who wrote the original book, The Magic Christian, he also co-wrote Dr. Strangelove) and directed by Hal Ashby (who directed Sellers in his last film Being There). At the same time, Sellers was also divorcing Lynne Frederick. So Sellers did Grossing Out first (it was filmed between August and September 1980) and then Romance of the Pink Panther (filmed between October and November 1980), with Sellers' divorce finalized on the set of Grossing Out. It was while Sellers was wrapping up Romance of the Pink Panther that he was approached by the BBC. They were wondering if he would consider being the main character, or rather a reincarnated version of said character, on one of their shows. Sellers said he would think about it.
 
Episode 3: Double Fantasy

George Bush handled himself well on the campaign trail during the general election. There was a feeling among Republicans that, though he wasn't their first choice, Bush would do the best that he could. Besides, Crane was on the ticket as well to give some much needed conservative perspective to the campaign. In California, Ronald Reagan even campaign for, and with, Bush up and down the state, which some pundits say is what swung the state in Bush's favor.

Carter had no such help on his side. His support was slipping, even among liberal Democrats, and this was not helped by a perceived lack of leadership on things like the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. While he and Bush were evenly matched in the Presidential Debates, Carter was visibly under a lot of strain. When the election came that November, George Herbert Walker Bush won, with 56% of the Popular Vote and 44 states.

About a month after the election, John Lennon was walking back to his apartment at the Dakota. Mark David Chapman was waiting for Lennon and as he passed Chapman pulled a gun. Lennon noticed and decided to fight back. The gun went off twice. The doorman of the Dakota managed to get the gun away from Chapman after Lennon fell to the ground before another shot could be fired. The ambulance came and Lennon was rushed to the hospital. Lennon barely survived, though he would remain paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.
 
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