In this update, Ronald Reagan makes his case for President at a rally in Pennsylvania, where he attacks President Muskie on the various issues of the 1976 election ITTL. President Muskie goes to Ohio for a rally, outlining his accomplishments. Plus, riots escalate in Czechoslovakia as more youth leaders are arrested, with Alexander Dubcek and Vaclav Havel now joining in, causing instability in the Warsaw Pact. Finally, the beginning of Star Trek TAS season 3 ITTL. I'll do it all in one update.
Highlights from Ronald Reagan's rally in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on September 14, 1976:
Good afternoon, my fellow Pennsylvanians. Thank you Senator Tower for the powerful introduction. I ran for President to bring America back to greatness as the leader of the free world, a position which we have shirked and abrogated during this liberal Democratic administration under President Muskie. There is unrest all over the world, and it is due to Muskie being soft on communism. South Vietnam, previously on the way to safety as a free country under President Nixon, looks like it is about to fall to communism unless President Muskie takes action, which he is unlikely to do. The only action he seems to be pondering is removing our remaining troops, which will guarantee South Vietnam's defeat. We must not back out of our commitment to the brave South Vietnamese. President Muskie said all options were on the table in regards to another invasion by Communist forces, and what did he do? Allow a Buddhist monk with Communist leanings to overthrow the government which was guaranteeing their independence. In Czechoslovakia, brave young men and women are laying their lives on the line protesting their communist government, and President Muskie will simply let the Soviet Union roll their tanks in once again to crush them. As President, I will never let a country that wants freedom get stomped by the boot heel of Communism. It is our position as leader of the free world to never let that happen. In Cambodia, a horrible genocide is being perpetrated by Pol Pot, a monster who is committing crimes against the Cambodian people similar to what Hitler did to the Jews in Europe a generation ago. When we say "never again," we mean "never again." I will remove Pol Pot from power in Cambodia if I am elected President, and I do not care what Brezhnev and the Soviets or the Communist Chinese think.
This economy, as you like to say in Pennsylvania, is in the dumps. Unemployment is now at seven percent, and inflation has risen to six percent. President Muskie has done nothing to prevent this stagnation from occurring, and he is responsible for all the lost jobs plaguing the country. When the manufacturing sector needed to be strengthened, President Muskie instead proposed environmental reforms that killed industry in this part of the country. In a Reagan administration, industry will thrive again, and I will remove those curbs which are too restrictive on our great factories, the economic engines of America. I will cut taxes to allow more small businesses to thrive, manufacturing to grow jobs again, and relieve the stress of the federal government spending too much on healthcare by proposing a free market system which will not bankrupt the country. I will stop the moral decay occurring in our schools and our cities. President Muskie simply thinks we can throw money at the problem of underachieving schools, and that will fix it. We need moral values and a God-fearing public to fix what is wrong with our schools. Authority figures like teachers must be respected again; youth on the street simply think they can spit on the police and our veterans and get away with it. In a Reagan presidency, I will not allow it. We are currently slightly ahead in the polls, but that is not enough. Polls don't vote, people do. The only poll that matters is on Election Day, November 2, and I need every conservative minded and moderate American to pull the lever for myself and Senator Tower. Thank you very much, and may God bless the United States of America.
President Muskie's rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, two days later, on September 16, 1976:
Vice President Sanford is a charismatic speaker, isn't he? He's a hard act to follow, but I will do my best. The Muskie record is one of success. We have achieved peace in the Middle East between Israel and Egypt. We are working on a further peace with Israel and Jordan. Czechoslovakia is about to break free from the Iron Curtain and join the free world, a huge victory in Europe. We are dividing another Communist nation, Yugoslavia, from the Soviet sphere of influence. South Vietnam is free, when last year every intelligence estimate believed it would be conquered by the North Vietnamese. We are working on a settlement with the new South Vietnamese government to keep them in the American orbit, and I anticipate success on that front. We will bring our troops home, at long last, from Vietnam at the end of the year, ending our involvement in a war that has seemingly gone forever. I have maintained detente, a thaw of relations, with the U.S.S.R., reducing tensions that almost caused World War III fourteen years ago, when the Soviets placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. The Soviet government and economy is at its weakest point in decades. America is winning the battle of hearts and minds with the Warsaw Pact.
At home, the Muskie administration has given affordable healthcare to every American family. Americans will no longer have to worry about paying expensive medical bills if they have children. Children's health care is free, regardless of financial status. We are continuing the war on poverty that the great Democratic heroes, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson waged before me, and we are winning that fight. Urban poverty has declined by 25% in my administration, and schools are being revitalized. Every American child is receiving the best education in the world, with state of the art schools being constructed in our communities. We have revolutionized industry by making it cleaner, protecting this important environment that we all cherish so dearly. We will never see a fire on Lake Erie again caused by rampant industrial pollution. Industry initially had trouble meeting the environmental standards, but they are complying, and the lie that Mr. Reagan is spreading regarding industry cutting jobs because of environmental standards is exactly that: a lie. It is a pernicious lie. Governor Reagan has been in Hollywood so long that he forgot what hard work looked like, and has no experience that can relate to union workers that support the Democrats. Unions know where their bread is buttered, and it isn't with the Republican Party, who tries to crush unions. I have proposed a $50 billion stimulus that Congress must pass, and I have heard enough of the complaints about pork barrel spending; they are hogwash. This stimulus must pass to revitalize the economy and provide good, well-paying jobs. If you elect Ronald Reagan, chaos will follow. But if you reelect me and Vice President Sanford, you will have a steady hand on the wheel instead of a reckless driver. Thank you very much.
SOVIETS MULLING SENDING TANKS AND INFANTRY DIVISIONS TO CZECHOSLOVAKIA
September 22, 1976
Reports from American intelligence indicate that the Soviets are massing troops on the Polish border, ready to enter Czechoslovakia to quell the revolts against their hardline Communist president, Gustav Husak. Over the past few months, Husak has arrested pro-democracy youth groups rebelling against his rule. President Muskie condemned Husak's actions, calling them "antithetical to freedom" and demanded that the youths be freed from prison. Protests in Prague have swelled to riots, and Husak's rule is believed to be endangered. The CIA believes that Alexander Dubcek, leader of the failed 1968 Prague Spring, and Czech actor Vaclav Havel are leading the protest movement against Husak. The Czechoslovakian military exacerbated the situation by firing into the protesting crowd, killing 10 and wounding another 50 civilians yesterday at Wenceslas Square. The USSR believes that the situation is spiraling out of control, and the Czechoslovakian military is ill-equipped to handle large scale protests. "We believe that the Soviets will attempt the same invasion they succeeded with in 1968," Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance informed the media during a press conference. "If the Soviets enter Czechoslovakia again, we will retaliate with economic sanctions against Moscow, perhaps against their grain exports, and we will encourage all of NATO to do the same." Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan did not rule out sending American arms to Czechoslovakia to aid the protesters. "We're seeing cracks in the Iron Curtain, and we have to take advantage," Reagan said at a rally in Ohio yesterday.
SEASON 3 OF TAS begins on September 4, 1976 ITTL. I have to change the 5th Klingon captain's name to Kolag for my TMP, because I found out Kras was killed in Friday's Child, a second season episode.
EPISODE 33: THE FESARIUS (season premiere). The Enterprise crew runs into Balok again. Instead of promising the destruction of the Enterprise, he promises an alliance. The Enterprise crew have to determine whether Balok's outreach is genuine, or whether Balok is trying to bluff them, just like Kirk bluffed him in THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER. Balok's entreaties are genuine, with a catch: The Enterprise must produce the corbomite Kirk said it possessed when they met the last time. Scotty produces a small amount of material Kirk claims is corbomite, and Balok is bluffed again. Air date: September 4, 1976.
EPISODE 34: THE CAPELLAN CRISIS. The Enterprise revisits Capella IV, to enforce the mining contract the Capellans signed with the Federation in FRIDAY'S CHILD. Kolag, a Klingon captain who is a friend of the deceased Kras, comes back with a warship to demand that the Capellan system be ceded to the Klingons, since it lies in the Neutral Zone. Kirk refers the dispute to the Intergalactic Council of Peace. Kolag pleads to the Council that Capella going to the Federation will cause the Neutral Zone to be shifted into Klingon space. However, the Capellan leader, Eleen, wants admission into the Federation. The Council of Peace votes 5-4 in favor of the Federation, and the Klingons declare that if they lose another border dispute, war looms. Air date: September 11, 1976.
EPISODE 35: STRATOS. The Enterprise returns to Ardana in THE CLOUD MINDERS to review their offer of joining the Federation. However, Kirk, Spock and McCoy agree that Ardana cannot join the Federation unless the Troglytes are afforded the same rights as the citizens of Stratos. We see how society is both on the ground and in Stratos. The cloud city dwellers refuse to allow the Troglytes access to the cloud city, and Kirk turns their offer to join the Federation down, despite the fact that the planet is near the Klingon Neutral Zone. Ardana threatens to join the Klingon Empire. Air date: September 18, 1976.
EPISODE 36: ZYTHIA. Sulu and Arex are captured by the Zythians, an unknown species living on the edge of Federation space. The Zythians look like three-headed green aliens with six large earlobes. Kirk, Spock and McCoy have to figure out a way to rescue them, and find that the Zythians have a major weakness: soprano singing. Uhura sings several songs to distract the Zythians, whose ears cannot handle the high pitches of her soprano voice, and Sulu and Arex are freed, albeit reluctantly. Kirk offers the Zythians a transit deal through that sector of space, and relationships open between the Federation and the three-headed aliens. Air date: September 25, 1976.
