WI: The Enterprise completes its five year mission (Star Trek survives for 5 seasons)

Who should be captain of the Enterprise-D in this timeline's TNG?

  • Patrick Stewart (same as OTL)

    Votes: 50 68.5%
  • Patrick Bauchau

    Votes: 6 8.2%
  • Yaphet Kotto

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Rutger Hauer

    Votes: 11 15.1%
  • Someone else (specify who in the comments)

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • Total voters
    73
  • Poll closed .
So he has no luck getting Genesis Two , Quester Tapes or Spectre off the ground ?
Nope but he will get one of Battleground: Earth or Andromeda off the ground for a few seasons before TNG, probably in the early 80s. He doesn't get past the pilot of Questor, but it is produced. As a deal for getting locked out of producing any of the Star Trek movies he gets the executive consultant credit so he basically earns free $ off the movies like he does IRL, but will also get this for TMP. Roddenberry will die in 1989 ITTL (he had a major stroke in September 1989 IRL that he barely survived). The last two years of his life, he was in almost unremitting pain from that stroke. ITTL, the stresses of producing Battleground: Earth for a few seasons impact his health earlier than IRL, when he didn't play much of a role in the Trek movies and only played a significant role in one season of TNG

If Roddenberry gets Battleground: Earth off the ground, it might butterfly the V series away because Battleground: Earth (IOTL known as Earth: Final Conflict) has a similar concept with aliens coming to Earth supposedly in peace but revealing their true, darker intentions. So Roddenberry might get another somewhat successful series to his name that is not Star Trek
 
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Nope but he will get one of Battleground: Earth or Andromeda off the ground for a few seasons before TNG, probably in the early 80s. He doesn't get past the pilot of Questor, but it is produced. As a deal for getting locked out of producing any of the Star Trek movies he gets the executive consultant credit so he basically earns free $ off the movies like he does IRL, but will also get this for TMP. Roddenberry will die in 1989 ITTL (he had a major stroke in September 1989 IRL that he barely survived). The last two years of his life, he was in almost unremitting pain from that stroke. ITTL, the stresses of producing Battleground: Earth for a few seasons impact his health earlier than IRL, when he didn't play much of a role in the Trek movies and only played a significant role in one season of TNG

If Roddenberry gets Battleground: Earth off the ground, it might butterfly the V series away because Battleground: Earth (IOTL known as Earth: Final Conflict) has a similar concept with aliens coming to Earth supposedly in peace but revealing their true, darker intentions. So Roddenberry might get another somewhat successful series to his name that is not Star T
In a timeline , I am working on, Roddenberry does the pilot for Battleground Earth and while it does not go to series , till Earth Final Conflict , he takes over the V TV series as the Producer .
 
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In a timeline , I am working on, Roddenberry does the pilot for Battleground Earth and while it does not go to series , till Earth Final Conflict , he takes over the V TV series as the Producer .
Roddenberry would probably make V more of a slow-burner than it is IRL, and design it more as the Mission: Impossible television series, just against the aliens. That's my imagination of how a Roddenberry-produced Battleground: Earth would be like
 
Chapter 76: October 1972
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Tomorrow's update will be the 1972 presidential election, so there will be no Trek in tomorrow's update. However, we do have a little Trek news today.

LOU SCHEIMER WANTS TO BRING BACK TREK AS CARTOON

October 2, 1972

Louis Scheimer, one of the founders of animated company Filmation, recently pitched to Paramount and NBC a return of the Star Trek series in a cartoon format. Scheimer, along with Hal Sutherland, told Paramount that they would be able to reunite the original cast of Star Trek within six months. However, the series has yet to be green-lit by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, who would prefer the series to make the jump to the big screen instead. "I told Paramount that I could easily get James Doohan and Majel Barrett, along with me and Hal, to perform most of the voice-overs for the cartoon," Scheimer said. "They told me that it would only be believable if I was to get Shatner, Nimoy and DeForest Kelley back." Scheimer has contacted Star Trek assistant producer and story editor D.C. Fontana to act as series show runner, making her one of the first women to become an executive producer in Hollywood. "Dorothy Fontana is a woman with special talent," Sutherland said. "Some of the best episodes in the old Star Trek were her creations, and we can make a cartoon with stories that are as compelling as the live action series." Sutherland mentioned that the potential Star Trek cartoon could be more exotic and creative than the live action series. "In a cartoon, we are not as constrained by budget and can create very weird looking aliens that were not possible in the old series because of monetary concerns," Sutherland said. "We can change the look of the Klingons, for example, and introduce non-humanoid aliens, of which there were very few in the old series."


STOCK MARKET LOSES 10% OF ITS VALUE; GOLDMAN SACHS ISSUES RECESSION WARNING

October 11, 1972

The New York Stock Exchange and Dow Jones Industrial Average sustained a major hit yesterday in trading. Both indices shed 10% of their previous highs, marking one of the worst days for the economy since the 1929 crash, which ironically also occurred in October. "It seems like October is just bad luck for the markets," Goldman Sachs senior partner Stanley R. Miller informed the Journal. "We do not believe that the economy is headed for a 1929-style depression, but we believe that a recession is almost certain." Last year, President Nixon attempted to freeze prices and stop inflation by decoupling the value of the dollar to gold, changing the dollar to a fiat currency. "Although Moody's projected that no recession would occur in either 1972 or 1973, we believe that a recession is imminent," Miller said. "The economic situation in 1971 was almost impossible for the Nixon administration to escape without some sort of market correction." Currently, President Nixon leads Democratic challenger, Senator Edmund Muskie, of Maine, in the polls, with the election one month away. When asked to determine how the markets will impact the election, Miller opined, "This market shock occurred a little late in the campaign, if Muskie wants assistance to win. It certainly won't hurt him though. We still project a second Nixon term."


KISSINGER, THO RETURN TO PARIS

October 12, 1972

President Nixon's national security adviser Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho met in Paris yesterday to resume peace talks. Hopes of a second armistice in Vietnam rose after American and South Vietnamese success in the war, which restarted in May 1971 after the assassination of North Vietnamese general secretary Le Duan in Hanoi and the disappearance of South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu. Kissinger told the Post, "We are on the verge of ending this bloody conflict in our favor and ensuring a free South Vietnam. No reunification elections will be on the table this time for the North Vietnamese to take advantage of, as were present in our negotiations in 1970. The North Vietnamese will accept harsher terms from Washington." Operations Linebacker I and II were successful in reducing the ability of North Vietnam's army to fight. American military planners believe that North Vietnam cannot launch another general offensive against the South for another 12 months, and are suing for peace, fearing an American invasion of the North. "We informed the North Vietnamese government that we do not intend to stop at the 17th parallel," Kissinger said. "They re-started the war, and if they choose to continue this path, we will finish the war."


MUSKIE REVEALS DIRTY TRICKS AGAINST HIS CAMPAIGN

October 19, 1972

Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie's campaign accused Donald Segretti, an operative working for the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP), of forging documents that attempted to impugn his character. A letter was revealed accusing Muskie of claiming that his Senate colleague and former running mate, Hubert Humphrey, committed sexual misconduct against Senate aides. Muskie's vice presidential running mate, former North Carolina governor Terry Sanford, said that "President Nixon is running the filthiest campaign in the history of the United States. He has attempted to divide the Democratic Party by pitting Senator Muskie against Senator Humphrey, when in reality, they are two of the closest friends in the Senate." Sanford also attacked President Nixon over the faltering economy. "President Nixon is so concerned about attacking Senator Muskie's integrity that he completely forgot about managing the economy, which is entering into a recession," Sanford said. "President Nixon's failing economy is also a part of his failed first-term agenda, and a Muskie-Sanford administration will correct all of the previous administration's mistakes."
 
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Now tomorrow's update is critical. Should I give Nixon a second term or should I surprise everyone and somehow elect a President Muskie? I can go either way here with the news articles I wrote in October 1972. Just to let you know, there will be no President Ford ITTL, either Nixon wins and resigns and we get Agnew, or Muskie wins
 
Now tomorrow's update is critical. Should I give Nixon a second term or should I surprise everyone and somehow elect a President Muskie? I can go either way here with the news articles I wrote in October 1972. Just to let you know, there will be no President Ford ITTL, either Nixon wins and resigns and we get Agnew, or Muskie wins
It is your timeline. Which choice lead to the more interesting developments?
Go with that.
 
It is your timeline. Which choice lead to the more interesting developments?
Go with that.
The election of Muskie itself would be really interesting (I don't think a lot of people have tried a Muskie presidency on AH) but he'd be a pretty unremarkable president unless he somehow passes some sort of expansion of Medicare and ensures South Vietnamese independence, so I can go in that direction which would have lots of future political butterflies. If I have Nixon win ITTL Watergate will proceed faster, Nixon will resign, Agnew will become president and then he'll get in legal trouble, which could lead to a third president within the 1973-1975 timeframe. That would be chaotic as all get-out. I actually want input on this from my readers. A Muskie presidency will be easier for me to write actually because I know by in large what he will do. Nixon's 2nd term will lead to him resigning, then Agnew getting indicted, forcing him to resign as well...choices, choices. My instinct as a politics guy is to reelect Nixon because it's just so hard to get any Democrat to win in 1972 due to the Solid South no longer being Democratic on the federal level
 
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If it's at all possible, could you get rid of Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko?
I'm killing Brezhnev off in early 1977 with a heart attack because he could have died anytime between 1975 and 1982 with his health as it was. However, Andropov takes over after Brezhnev so we will unfortunately have to deal with him for a few years. I could get rid of Chernenko completely as a Soviet premier and just skip from Andropov straight to Gorbachev if you want
 
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I'm killing Brezhnev off in early 1977 with a heart attack because he could have died anytime between 1975 and 1982 with his health as it was. However, Andropov takes over after Brezhnev so we will unfortunately have to deal with him for a few years. I could get rid of Chernenko completely as a Soviet premier and just skip from Andropov straight to Gorbachev if you want
Sounds good. Wonder how Andropov is going to handle Afghanistan?
 
I'm killing Brezhnev off in early 1977 with a heart attack because he could have died anytime between 1975 and 1982 with his health as it was. However, Andropov takes over after Brezhnev so we will unfortunately have to deal with him for a few years. I could get rid of Chernenko completely as a Soviet premier and just skip from Andropov straight to Gorbachev if you want
Andropov getting an extended reign of terror would be interesting. When I took up a Soviet history class, I personally nicknamed him "The Ultimate Nightmare" because of his role as KGB boss. I do approve of skipping to Gorbachev as well.

As for the whole Muskie situation, I say go for him becoming president. Although we would miss the ultimate political double-act joke of the century: three presidents, three comrade secretaries, who's laughing now?
 
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President Muskie could be interesting just cos I have not seen it done on AH, let along a Star Trek timeline. He could be interesting in his quietness.

Nixon II and the chaos of him and his VP going could be fun just to see how the US institutions deal with the situation and how it might effect popular culture. May also disrupt the Republican trajectory towards Reagan which has all sorts of fallout...

Getting to Gorbachev could be interesting if the USSR has a more slow and peaceful transistion into history, and/or Gorbachev can transform it into a Federal or EU style state- I am sure I read a treatment for that sort of thing on AH somewhere.
 
Andropov getting an extended reign of terror would be interesting. When I took up a Soviet history class, I personally nicknamed him "The Ultimate Nightmare" because of his role as KGB boss. I do approve of skipping to Gorbachev as well.

As for the whole Muskie situation, I say go for him becoming president. Although we would miss the ultimate political double-act joke of the century: three presidents, three comrade secretaries, who's laughing now?
OK. I have to write down a couple of more things (early November surprises) before my election night coverage to pull this off
 
Chapter 77: Late October and early November 1972
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Two October and early November surprises shake up the Nixon campaign:

MARYLAND PROSECUTOR BEALL INFORMS AGNEW HE IS UNDER INVESTIGATION

October 22, 1972

Mr. George Beall, the United States district attorney for Maryland, has informed Vice President Mr. Spiro T. Agnew that he is formally under investigation for taking kickbacks while he was the executive of Baltimore County in the mid 1960s, the Governor of Maryland from 1967 to 1969, and later Vice President of the United States. Mr. Beall was disappointed in United States Attorney General Richard Kleindienst's decision to slow the investigation, believing it to be politically motivated to protect the Nixon-Agnew ticket until the election was completed in November. Beall is believed to have gathered significant evidence into Agnew accepting bribes from Baltimore County engineering firms from the state level in Maryland all the way into the White House, but the extent of the evidence is unknown at this time. Vice President Agnew's office continues to deny involvement in any sort of bribery scheme, telling the Times that "this is a Democratic dirty trick, propogated and hatched in Senator Muskie and Governor Sanford's laboratory. The President and I have run a clean campaign, are ahead in the polls, and this is desperation on the part of the Democrats who know they are losing the election."


PEACE TALKS BREAK DOWN IN PARIS AS NORTH VIETNAM LAUNCHES NEW OFFENSIVE

November 1, 1972

The North Vietnamese have launched another general offensive towards the South, defying predictions that they were defeated by President Nixon's national security adviser Henry Kissinger. The United States army still maintains about 225,000 troops in theatre, with the South Vietnamese now controlling the bulk of the responsibility for their own protection. The North Vietnamese action shocked the American forces, who have temporarily run low on aerial munitions after a little over a year of bombing Hanoi and the rest of the country above the 17th parallel. The North Vietnamese have retaken Quang Tri province, but have stalled once again near Hue, as American and South Vietnamese troops have taken a defensive position near the embattled city. Kissinger told the Post, "I believe the North Vietnamese are behaving in a suicidal manner. They know that they cannot win, so why are they sending more troops into the battlefield to be slaughtered? I do not understand their motives here." It is believed that the USSR and Communist Chinese government in Peking have resumed heavily re-arming North Vietnam in mid-1972 to allow the Hanoi government to conduct another offensive, when American military planners saw it as largely impossible. Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie and his vice presidential running mate Terry Sanford took the opportunity to reveal President Nixon's machinations in 1968 by claiming that candidate Nixon at the time used a female intermediary named Anna Chennault to convince the Saigon government, led by Nguyen Van Thieu at the time, not to enter peace talks in a move to damage the Johnson administration and the Humphrey-Muskie 1968 ticket. President Nixon denies the claims that his campaign ever contacted Anna Chennault, calling it "bunk" and "another wild-eyed, Democratic dirty trick."

So now ITTL, the American voters know that Agnew is corrupt (they didn't know that until after the 1972 election IRL) and that Nixon caused the Vietnam War to continue while he was a candidate in 1968 (which voters did not know at the time). With the war in Vietnam seemingly endless, a recession on the horizon, Watergate in a close election, and these facts, Nixon looks far sleazier to the average voter ITTL than he did IRL heading into the 1972 election
 
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President Muskie could be interesting just cos I have not seen it done on AH, let along a Star Trek timeline. He could be interesting in his quietness.

Nixon II and the chaos of him and his VP going could be fun just to see how the US institutions deal with the situation and how it might effect popular culture. May also disrupt the Republican trajectory towards Reagan which has all sorts of fallout...

Getting to Gorbachev could be interesting if the USSR has a more slow and peaceful transistion into history, and/or Gorbachev can transform it into a Federal or EU style state- I am sure I read a treatment for that sort of thing on AH somewhere.
Muskie is the actual WI of the 1972 election. He was ahead of Nixon in polling in at times in 1971. although Nixon pulled ahead in late 1971. Nixon's primary objective early on was to get rid of him because he felt that the senator from Maine was the toughest opponent, which he did with the forged Canuck letter IRL. For all the talk about McGovern as President (which I've seen a lot on AH), I always felt the more intriguing prospect was a Nixon-Muskie 1972 election, which would have been more competitive than any scenario with McGovern
 
Chapter 78: The Surprising 1972 Election
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The 1972 Presidential Election, with all its twists and turns on Election Night and the following day...

Announcer: From NBC News Election Headquarters in New York, this is NBC Nightly News, Tuesday, November 7, reported by John Chancellor and David Brinkley.

Chancellor: And good evening to you all, as we begin our coverage of the 1972 presidential election. David Brinkley and the rest of our team are here to cover the returns for 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 33 in the Senate, 18 governorships, and of course, the presidency. So let's begin with a look at the popular votes recorded so far for the presidency. With one percent of the vote in, President Nixon has a narrow lead over Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. Nixon is winning 53% of the vote, to Muskie's 46%. John Schmitz, the American party candidate, has a small number of votes, and Dr. Benjamin Spock of the People's Party, not to be confused with the alien on Star Trek, an even smaller number. But this pattern, that you see on this screen now, 53% for the President, and 46% for Senator Muskie, is close to what polling indicated in early October. However, this does not take into account the recent shocks that affected the Nixon campaign in the final weeks. The early returns are largely from Southern and Midwestern states that President Nixon was projected to win, such as Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana, whose polls have already closed.

Turnout was extremely heavy in most of the populous states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and California, all hotly contested by each candidate. Turnout was high in New York City and upstate, but believed to be higher in the city. Turnout was also high in Chicago and downstate Illinois, but believed to be higher, once again, in the city. Pennsylvania and Ohio are more of a mixed story in regards to turnout, with extremely high turnout in urban, suburban, and rural areas. In Michigan, long lines were reported in the Detroit metro area. The weather in the Midwest was cold and rainy, but that did not depress the turnout, as was feared by the Muskie campaign. In Ohio, some polling places were forced to extend hours due to problems with the machines. In California, the polls are still open, and long lines persist both in Democratic areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as heavily Republican Orange County.

Sensing an opportunity in President Nixon's home state, Senator Muskie spent the final weekend barnstorming California, with some Hollywood celebrities, such as Leonard Nimoy and Martin Landau, in order to turn out the vote. Leaders of both parties, both the Republicans and Democrats, said that the turnout was good news to them. The Republican National Committee chair believes that they will win most of the states in the South, due to Muskie's unpopularity in respect to his support for civil rights legislation. Despite the fact that Senator Muskie attempted to balance his ticket with a Southern vice presidential candidate, Terry Sanford of North Carolina, he has largely conceded defeat in most of the South, except for North Carolina and West Virginia. Muskie's chances hinge on winning those hotly contested large states in the Northeast, Midwest, and California out west. NBC News has three winners projected already, and David Brinkley will report on them.


Brinkley: We will of course keep you up to date on the popular vote, which is people voting in voting booths. However, we must remind the viewers that the Electoral College elects the President, and it is an election consisting of 50 separate states and the District of Columbia. Speaking of which, the District of Columbia, with its three electoral votes, has expectedly gone to Senator Muskie. We have been able to project the outcome in two other states, both won by Mr. Nixon. As everyone knows but forgets, it is electoral votes that elect the President, not the popular vote. The two states are Tennessee, where we project that Mr. Nixon will win with 58% of the vote, and Indiana, with 56% for Nixon. Our projections also have the President leading in Kentucky, where he is expected to garner 53% of the vote. However, NBC has not honed in on a full projection for Kentucky yet, so we will keep it in the undecided column for now. This means that President Nixon has won 23 electoral votes, while Senator Muskie has won three.

Chancellor: What are we expecting out of those large states which will decide the election: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, and California?

Brinkley: Both campaigns believe that Senator Muskie maintains a sizable edge in New York and Illinois, while the Democrat has a smaller edge in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Both campaigns also believe that President Nixon leads decisively in Texas, with a sizable lead in Ohio. California, previously thought to be Republican territory, has become very close in private polling, to Nixon's surprise. As we know, Muskie spent a lot of time in California to close the campaign, both because it holds the largest number of electoral votes for the first time, and because it is believed to be genuinely close, with California a hotbed of anti-Vietnam War activism, despite its conservative governor, Ronald Reagan, being reelected in 1970.

Chancellor: Any possible surprises in store for us this evening?

Brinkley: Terry Sanford, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, in my home state of North Carolina, has pulled it into competitiveness, with a Muskie win possible there. Additionally, Missouri and Delaware, previously thought to be Republican strongholds, look to be close, with young Joseph Biden running a surprisingly competitive Senate race in the First State against an entrenched incumbent, Caleb Boggs.

Chancellor: If I'm doing my math right, we might have a cliffhanger in store for us this evening, like President Nixon's other two campaigns, where he lost narrowly in 1960 and won narrowly in 1968.

Brinkley: It appears to be that way, John. We'll need some extra coffee in the studio, just like we did those years. I stayed up 48 hours straight in 1960. What an experience that was with the sleep deprivation and the coffee barely keeping me awake. I was almost completely out of it when the Today Show took over for us the morning after in the Kennedy-Nixon election. We won't be able to turn in early, like 1964, when President Johnson won easily.

8:00 PM, November 7:

Chancellor: We can make projections on several states. Kentucky, which we had narrowly in the Nixon column, will go to the President with its 9 electoral votes. Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, conceded early by the Muskie campaign, will also go to Nixon. Massachusetts, a Democratic stronghold, and Maine, the home state of Senator Muskie, enter the Democratic column. This gives President Nixon 67 electoral votes, and Senator Muskie 21 electoral votes, with 270 required to win the Presidency. Your thoughts?

Brinkley: The election is turning out as projected. The formerly Democratic South has defected to President Nixon over civil rights issues, and Muskie won two states that he was easily expected to hold. I believe Muskie has a much narrower path to the Presidency, and will have to almost run the table in the large states, including California, in order to have a chance.

8:45 PM, November 7:

Chancellor: We can make projections in several more states. Georgia, previously one of the great Democratic strongholds, has gone for Nixon, along with its southern neighbor, Florida. Senator Muskie's balancing act with Governor Sanford is currently not paying off, although North Carolina remains undecided. President Nixon has also won the traditionally Republican state of Vermont, the only New England state Muskie failed to visit during his campaign, and Virginia, with its 12 electoral votes. He basically wrote Vermont and Virginia off from the beginning. Senator Muskie has won West Virginia, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, which helps his cause, but is nowhere near Nixon's current haul of electoral votes. At this point in the evening, President Nixon leads with 100 electoral votes, and Senator Muskie trails with 39 electoral votes.

Brinkley: We are looking at a second Nixon term if the President is able to win Texas, Ohio, and California, where he is favored. The senator from Maine has a lot of ground to make up, and I believe his chances to do so are slim, and slim is leaving the building soon.

9:30 PM, November 7:

Chancellor: NBC News is able to project five more states. Three go to Nixon, but two go to Muskie, and our first surprise of the evening has occurred. Nixon has easily won Louisiana, with 10 electoral votes, Arkansas, with 6 electoral votes, and narrowly won Delaware, with 3 electoral votes. However, Senator Muskie is projected to win a surprising state in North Carolina, 13 electoral votes, where Terry Sanford obviously gave him a boost. Muskie also won Vice President Agnew's home state of Maryland, with 10 electoral votes. A corruption issue hurt the Vice President back home. Nixon has 119 electoral votes, almost halfway to the Presidency, while Muskie has 62.

Brinkley: The Sanford pick at least won Muskie one Southern state, my home state. I do not believe he will win any more states in the South, but few had Muskie winning North Carolina, so I suspect more surprises are in order. We are also currently seeing Muskie winning in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, although it is early yet. Nixon is currently ahead in Ohio and Texas, which is what we expected. New Jersey looks extremely close and can go in either direction.

10:15 PM, November 7:

Chancellor: NBC News Election Headquarters is about to make a series of significant projections. New York, with its large 41 electoral vote prize, has gone to Senator Muskie. New York, for Muskie. Pennsylvania, with its 27 electoral votes, will also go into the Muskie column. He ran a very strong race there and it has paid off in the collar counties around Philadelphia, which are traditionally Republican, but defected to the Democrats. Ohio, with its 25 electoral votes, and Texas, with its 26 electoral votes, are in the Nixon column. New Hampshire, New Jersey, Michigan and Wisconsin are currently too close to call, and Illinois narrowly leans Muskie, with 52% of the vote, but is too early to project. At this point, President Nixon has won 170 electoral votes, with Senator Muskie trailing with 130 electoral votes.

Brinkley: Some big states came off the board there, and President Nixon still leads. Senator Muskie is going to need to run the table in the Upper Midwest and win California to have a chance. John, that's your territory and you know it well. What do you think of Muskie's chances in states like Illinois, your home state? We already talked a lot about North Carolina, what about Illinois?

Chancellor: It's the land of Lincoln, traditionally Republican, so I'd expect it to go to Nixon, but Muskie is apparently pulling a major turnout in Chicago, so he has a chance, like Kennedy did in 1960.

11:00 PM: November 7:

Chancellor: It is currently 11 PM on the East Coast, and polls in the last large state, California, have finally closed. We appear to have a very close election on our hands. In the last 45 minutes, Senator Muskie has won the following states: New Jersey, with 50.5% of the vote, New Hampshire, with 50.2% of the vote, Michigan, with 51% of the vote, and Minnesota, with 53% of the vote. President Nixon has won six states in the Great Plains: North Dakota, 3 electoral votes, South Dakota, 4 electoral votes, Nebraska, 5 electoral votes, Kansas, 7 electoral votes, Oklahoma, 8 electoral votes, and Iowa, 8 electoral votes. President Nixon still leads, with 205 electoral votes, but Senator Muskie is close behind, with 182 electoral votes. It's going to be a late night, folks.

Brinkley: Imagine if it comes down to California, John. Muskie was out there with Leonard Nimoy, Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, and other Hollywood stars. I heard they knocked on some 3000 doors in Los Angeles in the final weekend. Imagine if California comes down to such a close margin? It could be a disaster scenario for the country. There will be lawsuits flying everywhere. I do not believe Nixon will stand down like he did in 1960 if controversy occurs in his home state, like it did in Illinois 12 years ago. Nixon was out there with Governor Reagan, also campaigning in the last couple of weeks, but he thought he had the state wrapped up. Could Senator Muskie somehow pull it out in the Golden State? Get your late night coffee ready. We definitely are at NBC Election Night Headquarters in New York.

12:00 AM, November 8, 1972:

Chancellor: We have reached midnight on the East Coast, and we have not elected a President yet. In the past hour, we were able to project the following states. President Nixon won a series of smaller states in the West that he was expected to win. He has added New Mexico, 4 electoral votes, Colorado, 7 electoral votes, Wyoming, 3 electoral votes, Montana, 4 electoral votes, Idaho, 4 electoral votes, Utah, 4 electoral votes, Arizona, 6 electoral votes, and Nevada, 3 electoral votes. Senator Muskie has claimed Wisconsin, with its 11 electoral votes, and has surprisingly won Missouri, with its 12 electoral votes, with 50.8% of the vote in the Show-Me state. Although Muskie still leads in Illinois, we cannot make a projection on that state yet, with votes still being tabulated in both Cook County and downstate. President Nixon currently has won 240 electoral votes, 30 away from the Presidency, and Senator Muskie has won 205 electoral votes. David...

Brinkley: It all comes down to California. California, California, California. Did Muskie somehow pull California, President Nixon's home state, out of his hat? If so, he is the President. If not, President Nixon wins another term. Assuming Senator Muskie holds onto his narrow lead in Illinois, California, now the largest electoral prize on the board with 45 electoral votes, will directly decide the 1972 election. We will be up all night here in New York waiting for the West Coast to report. I hope they count the votes quickly there, because they have a reputation of not doing so. I am shocked that Muskie won Missouri. It was close in 1968, but I thought Nixon had the state won for sure. Somehow Muskie won it. He sent his running mate Terry Sanford to Missouri on the last weekend while he was spending time in California.

1:00 AM, November 8, 1972:

Chancellor: Senator Muskie has won three more states, including the critical prize of Illinois, giving him a legitimate chance at the Presidency. He is projected to take the Land of Lincoln with 51% of the vote. The senator from Maine is also projected to win Washington State, with 54% of the vote, and Oregon, with 53% of the vote. For the first time all evening, Senator Muskie leads in the Electoral College, with 246 electoral votes, and President Nixon trails with 240 electoral votes.

Brinkley: Only three states remain on the board, California, Alaska and Hawaii. However, with California's 45 electoral votes and the current narrow margin in the Electoral College, the results of the two newest states in the Union are not relevant to the conversation. We wait all night on California. In 1960, we erroneously projected California to Kennedy, but it turned out that Nixon won the state. California's result did not matter to the final outcome in 1960, but it does now, and we will be very cautious with our projection there, and perhaps wait until every single ballot is counted.

2:30 AM, November 8, 1972:

Chancellor: We can project that Alaska will be Nixon's and Hawaii will be Muskie's. Only California is left. Muskie has 250 electoral votes, and President Nixon has 243 electoral votes.

Brinkley: So we wait. We might as well take a nap because California is going to be a while.

3:00 AM, November 8, 1972:

Nixon makes a victory speech, claiming that he has won California. Muskie also makes a victory speech, claiming that he won the state.

11:30 AM, November 9, 1972:

Chancellor: We believe that all the votes are counted in California. Senator Muskie currently has an edge of 2,515 votes, with 4,041,493 votes to Muskie, and 4,038,978 votes to Nixon. Edmund Sixtus Muskie, the Senator from Maine, is the apparent winner of California. With California, he goes over the top with 295 electoral votes, and barring a sudden change, will be inaugurated as the 38th President of the United States on January 20, 1973. Edmund Muskie is the President-elect of the United States, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina is the Vice President-elect.

Brinkley: I don't think President Nixon is going to concede. He is going to fight this result as long as he can in the courts. We are in a perilous situation as a country right now, and hopefully better senses prevail on both sides.

Electoral Atlas 1972 map: Democrats in red, Republicans in blue:

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MUSKIE/SANFORD: 295 EV, 48.8% PV
NIXON/AGNEW: 243 EV, 49.5% PV
 
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Well Mr Muskie it seems you have done it- lets hope it's not a poisoned chalice with the various problems you are inheriting in America - perhaps we can suggest looking to Star Trek for an example of how people can co-operate and get on diplomatically together?
 
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