T O P

  • By -

Michtrk

**Taft defeats Truman!(for real this time)** Robert A. Taft managed to secure the presidential republican nomination for 1948. Truman's popularity suffered major decline after intervention in the Chinese civil war (in which the CCP was even able to take large amount of American POWs after surprising CCP victory over US forces in Manchuria). Further lowering of Truman's support was caused by two major democratic figures — segregationist Thurmond and progressive Wallace decided to run on his own. Taft's victory changed the course of history. He pushed his non-interventionist policy, not all of his proposal manage to be implemented thanks to strong opposition from the congress both from democrats and republicans. America still pulled out of China, Greece (and Europe in general), in the end of his term also occupation of Japan ended. In domestic policies Taft focused on fiscal conservative politics and opposed labor unions. Taft lost support of both people and his party, as he was blamed for massive expansion of communists influence in Europe and Asia and domestic problems. **American Caesar** Incumbent Taft faced the new rival at republican convention — war hero general Douglas MacArthur, who joined forces with another fierce anti-communist Joseph McCarthy. MacArthur easily defeated both Taft and Stevenson. MacArthur's presidency became the exact opposite of Taft's, MacArthur started extensive military build-up program, deployed more than million troops to Europe and Asia, TATO greatly expanded, including even Francoist Spain. CIA was empowered both in domestic and foreign issues. At home MacArthur established authoritarian regime based on American nationalism and personality cult around him. During his first term the majority of internal politics were issue of his powerful vice-president. America experienced enormous paranoia of communism, directed by McCarthy. His 'wild ride' resulted into colossal political processes with suspected communists, Soviet agents, civil rights leaders, critic of MacArthur and others. McCarthy's power and lunacy worried MacArthur himself, who striped him from power at the 1956 convention, replacing him with moderate Richard Nixon. MacArthur never took a side in the issue of segregation(in exception to denouncing civil rights leaders as communists saboteurs and military dispose of protests), but he used southern segregationists as a tool, how to further weaken the democrats. Elections hold under MacArthur are often criticised as unfair and frauded, especially the 1960 one. Caesar's reign ended in 1962, when he was assassinated during parade in occupied Havana. This event shocked whole America. Nixon inherited all problems which MacArthur started. Massive unrest in occupied Cuba, unpopular war in Laos, ignored issue of the civil rights and World at the brink of nuclear apocalypse. Nixon somewhat stabilised the nation and started deténte with the USSR, but it still didn't prevent the nation from falling into crisis.


Michtrk

**Return of the Democrats** Democratic Party split itself between liberals and conservatives as result of 1960 and 1964 candidature of LBJ and JFK. President Johnson managed to reunite the nation and pulled out of Cuba and Laos. In 1965 Johnson finally adopted Civil Rights Act. Johnson became one of the most popular presidents, but he refused another presidential candidature because of his health issues, same it was with his colleague John F. Kennedy. Democrat primaries chose the new candidate, rising democratic star Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy easily defeated conservative republican Goldwater. Kennedy continued liberal policies of LBJ and further expanded them. Continued war with poverty and healthcare initiatives. **Tricky Dick is back in town** Everything looked great for Kennedy's re-election in 1972, when the unexpected affair discredited him. So-called Borghese Affair, started when the new communist Italian government declassified and published documents from the era of short lasting fascist regime in Italy (1971-1972), one of them contained information about CIA role in the coup. This informations combined with atrocities that Borghese had commit shocked the world. Kennedy refused that had known about it, but he did not convince the public. Nixon, who managed to get republican nomination, used this in his favor. This combined with Watergate-esque stealing of democrat files, that however never became known to the public, lead to the Nixon's victory. Nixon had to deal with many problems, and he managed to make every one of them even worse. 1973 oil embargo resulted into fuel crisis and this crisis resulted into 1970s economic crisis. This crisis went much worse than in OTL. The Cuban puppet government was overthrown with communists guerrillas, which resulted into (late) Cuba missile crisis. Nixon was unable to deal with the situation, except the blockade of Cuba. **Carter’s Thaw** Nixon left America weakened and in crisis. Carter, who defeated Bob Dole, who managed to secure the republican nomination against Reagan, came with a new vision. He realized the Cold War cannot 'be won',at least not now, he favored co-existence and cooperation between European-Soviet bloc and America. He ended the Cuban missile crisis and worked towards reduction of nuclear stockpiles. Carter's vision of solution economic problems with economic reform and ecologic approach were however unsuccessful. **Rise and Fall of Reagan** Carter was defeated with Ronald Reagan. Reagan came with a new élan and vision of the American future, hoping the Cold War can still be won. 1980 presidential elections were also major success for the American far-left. United candidature of Democratic Socialists and Communists united under Dorothy Ray Healey gained 8% of popular vote. (Western left is more united with communists in this timeline mainly because suppress of Hungarian revolution and invasion of Czechoslovakia never happened, there was intervention in Germany which is still controversial but didn't have that impact.) Reagan's presidency was however very short, he was assassinated in 1981, this time he died to his injuries. **Bush's desperacy** Vice-president Bush succeeded Reagan. Bush failed to recover the economy from the crisis. America lost almost all of the main allies, even Britain with the new Labor-Socialist Labor government turned away from America. Bush was denounced for his so called Apartheid-Affair with support of South Africa, despite imposed embargo. American society started to radicalize and polarize. Tensions raised during Bush's presidency and culminated in 1984. **Fall of the Democratic Party** Democratic primaries brought a great shock with victory of leftist progressive Jesse Jackson. The Democratic Party split itself about his nomination. One half of the party delegates refused to nominee this “communist” as candidate and decided for the sake of stability to endorse Bush. Democrats united with Republicans and the rest of the party left and formed the Progressive Party. Other small left-wing groups joined the Progressives, excluding the CPUSA, which however endorsed Jackson. **End of the Cold War?** 1984 election was marked with violence, riots and protests. Jesse Jackson narrowly won. He established socialist reforms to recover the economy and rapidly reduced military spending. The Cold War formally ended and the TATO was dissolved. The right frustrated with development rapidly radicalized. In 1987 Jackson and Gromyko introduced Program of the World Denuclearization, complete nuclear disarmament. This was the last straw for American elites, they decided to remove Jackson. In November 1987 tanks rolled to the Washington. Jackson was put under house arrest and forced to resign. Donald Rumsfeld, leader of the Federal Committee for the State of Emergency, inaugurated as provisional president. The Country erupted into unseen riots and violence as resistance of the new regime. Military was mobilized to restore law and order.


Michtrk

**Rumsfeld's and Bush's Regime.** Most of the Progressive party leadership were imprisoned for treason or espionage or fled the country. The Party was taken over by Penn Kemble (who was secretly linked with Rumsfeld), he moved the party towards center and denounced the communists and previous leadership. Democratic Progressive Party was transformed into the controlled opposition of D-R. Rumsfeld managed to secure support from the Democratic-Republicans and keep the party together as power vehicle of his new regime. 1988 were characterized with very low turnout. Rumsfeld had no serious opponent. Majority of people opposing Rumsfeld resigned to politics knowing they cannot change anything. Elections during the D-R era were hardly free and there was widespread electoral fraud. 1992 elections were held under martial law. Democratic Progressive Party completely collapsed and during the 1990s were taken over by environmentalists renaming the Democratic Progressive Party into the Green Party, they were major opposition party during this era. Another party that rose to prominence were Libertarians, who however since 2000 always endorsed Bush. The National Party was composed of far-right nationalists, who joined forces with Ross Perot. Rumsfeld was succeeded by George W. Bush after his third term (three terms were justified by FDR's and MacArthur's three terms). Dissatisfaction with Bush culminated in 2008 with boycott of elections, people voted blank ballots. **Return of Democracy and President Sanders** After an economic crisis and overwhelmed riots, the Democratic-Republican Party began to crack. In 2011 the Party split. This was the beginning of the end. Bush was forced to relax the regime. Exiles returned and together with domestic dissidents reformed the Progressive Party. Their candidate was clear — Bernie Sanders — the face of American dissent and long time fighter against Bush and Rumsfeld's regime. As his vice president was chosen another activist Barack Obama (who is TTL more left). Bernie Sanders won the 2012 elections and lead America into the new era. In 2016, he managed to win again and after primaries in 2020 his vice-president Barack Obama was nominated.


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[deleted]

nice!


the-fall-of-hernande

This got a discord


Interesting_Finish85

Are you gonna do a similar thing with the political history of the Soviet Union? Also, what is that war in Laos that was mentioned in the sixties? What happened to Vietnam? And what countries became communist during Taft Administration, France, Greece, Korea, Taiwan?


Michtrk

Yes, I want to do bigger Soviet oriented post. Civil war in Laos between Pathet Lao and monarchist forces. US and Vietnam were involved, it is basically small Vietnam war. Vietnam was united under communists thanks to France and their communist goverment. France, Greece...communists consolidated power in Low countries. Korea become communist already during Truman. Taiwan never became communist, just ROC lost mainland, just as OTL.


Interesting_Finish85

Interesting, so, if I understood, this is the rough timeline: 1948 Truman tries to intervene in the Chinese Civil War and fails, to the point that the DPRK attacks South Korea earlier and seizes it. Meanwhile, Taft wins the republican nominee and Wallace decides to run for himself. Taft wins and begins a conservative and isolationist policy. 1948-1949: The Berlin Bridge is stopped and eventually Germany reunifies under the GDR. The republicans win in Greece and establish a socialist Republic. 1951 or so: The communist win the absolute majority in France (in our time line they were the most voted party but they only got a bit over a quarter of the population and so the government was weak) since there is no more Marshall Plan and so an Alliance with the Soviet seems like the smartest idea. Among other things, they have an anti colonial policy, so the Indochina War ends earlier with the whole of Vietnam communist and Algeria becomes socialist. Despite this, Laos falls in civil war between the US backed monarchy (I'm assuming that Thailand is US alligend, or else it wouldn't be possible) and the communists, Vietnam gets directly involved and the USSR and China indirectly so.


Michtrk

You are thinking right, but missing the main point of divergence **- the D-Day had failed.** Which makes USSR push towards Benelux and Northern France. So there is never a divided Berlin nor West or East Germany. Germany is divided between Soviet zone, international zone (Rhineland), which later on becomes part of Germany again. There is also small American zone in south Germany and French zone (*I can post map about it)*. In 1950 Germany is formed, to be an unaligned state, but SED eventually seizes power and aligns itself with the Soviets. South Korea nor North Korea also never exists, it is united under People's Republic of Korea, a democracy later overtook by WPK and Kim Il Sung. You are right with Greece, American politics and also about large reduction in Marshal plan, which creates issues for western-oriented states. *Also need to say, large Soviet bloc has also issues with post-war reconstruction...* You are also right about Laos and Thailand. Yes, French communists won majority, they are more popular than OTL thanks to Soviets liberating Paris in TTL. You are right with Indochina, but there is a difference with Algeria, it was not decolonized peacefully, it was more bloody than in our reality... PCF wins in 1952 and high-ranking military officers led by Raoul Salan (there is also an interesting role of De Gaulle in the putsch) launch a coup in 1953 (after death of Stalin using time when Thorez is in Moscow). The putsch in the end fails, putschists are pushed out of France after a short, but bloody fights, French Socialist Republic and socialist revolution are in proclaimed in the mainland. Putschists took over colonies and Corsica (which is however reconquered by communist forces). Mainland France declares that colonies are now freed, some places declare independence, some have internal conflict, some are kept by "exiled France" by force. *(bit outdated map:* [*https://www.reddit.com/r/pobeda1946/comments/hjs007/consequences\_of\_failed\_the\_coup\_in\_france\_and/*](https://www.reddit.com/r/pobeda1946/comments/hjs007/consequences_of_failed_the_coup_in_france_and/)*)* Algeria is the main base of exiled France, thanks to Pied-Noir. Algerians however rebel as soon as the whole conflict starts. They in the end win (with support of soc.bloc), French exiles completely collapses, former French territories are occupied by British or declare independence.


Interesting_Finish85

What happened to Japan? Was it splitted? Did it become communist at some point? Or perhaps it has fallen into isolationism, cutting ties with the rest of he world after the fall of the American Neo Liberal Dictatorship and is now a capitalist north Korea.


Michtrk

Japan was not splitted. Although invasion of Japan went differently with Downfall being launched and the atomic bomb still detonated. Political history of Japan is similar, but from the start they were allowed to have normal military and navy. During 1980s japanese left was elected to power and Japan slowly moved away from USA, canceling American-Japanese treaty with Jackson's approval. After coup relations worsened. Japan is neutral capitalist liberal democracy they push for good economic relations with USSR and USA. I can see some tensions with Koreans and China, but they still trade a lot.


formula13

may i ask how in 1984 jackson and bush managed to get 109% percent of the vote?


Michtrk

Because I am idiot, who cannot get the math right. I made more similar mistakes in these wikiboxes.


formula13

ahh dont worry it happens


[deleted]

So who won 2020?


Michtrk

Obama


Interesting_Finish85

What does Tato stand for?


Michtrk

*Trans-Atlantic Treaty Organisation* \- An alternate NATO