Unfortunate Son

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What would be the biggest source of division within the Democratic party in 1984 was who exactly to blame for their electoral exodus. The popular narrative was that the Democrats had drifted too far to the left and that, by adopting an anti-war hero as their figurehead and President, they had become too far out-of-touch with the ordinary voter. Senator Hart and Governor Askew proposed two different ways to remedy this: Hart, by abandoning the union base of a de-industrializing country in favor of middle class voters who were seeking real solutions to America's problems, and Askew by getting "back to basics" and appealing to blue collar workers in the North and South who had been turned off by Kennedy's social liberalism and the perception that the Democrats were both "soft on crime" and "soft on communism".

It would be Vermont's Christopher Garrett who proposed the antithesis to both of these "defeatist" philosophies. "My opponents are claiming that only by retreating from what makes us a party that we can win. Even if such ideas were true and we could see a President Hart or a President Askew, such would be a pointless victory, as they can offer this party nothing more than any Republican. Hart would see the New Deal and Great Society dismantled in favor of corporatism, and Askew would bring us another Vietnam with his anti-Soviet brinksmanship. 

While historians would, in fact, agree with his assessment that Kennedy and Brewer had both governed to the right of the liberal Democratic base, few would, looking back, say that Garrett offered the party anything better. Rather, his campaign centered around re-affirming that a Democrat, if only they were left-wing enough, could win. What would be later joking called the "Garrett Formula" would be the idea that an economic liberal would appeal to blue collar, union workers, and that a social liberal would bring in left-wing activists as well as "Rockefeller Republicans" fed up with the GOP's turn to the right. The logic was that while Hart could bring in suburban voters and former Republicans, he would lose the union vote, and that Askew would, at best, completely alienate urbane, college-educated, and upper-class voters. Only Garrett or a similar candidate could revive Democratic strength.

It would be because of this, because of a party in defeat that wanted to re-affirm that a true progressive stalwart could beat back against the Republican popularity and the Presidency of Bob Dole, that Garrett would win the Democratic nomination, many would argue.

Garrett would also profit from various institutional advantages. Unlike George McGovern, or Kennedy's 1968 campaign, he would not be challenging an incumbent. As well, he was able to win the financial support of organized labor early on in the nominating process. As well, Hart and Askew were easily traced to the Presidents they had been connected with--Kennedy and Brewer, respectively. Garrett, by comparison, portrayed himself as independent of the entire last 24 years of Democratic politics, even claiming that "real, true liberalism hasn't been honestly tried by the Democratic party since the days of the New Deal."

The Askew campaign would easily peter out. The Democrats outside of Dixie had little reason to support a Southerner, and Garrett successfully siphoned black votes in the South, undercutting Askew in his home region. Hart, on the other hand, would prove a different sort of animal. While Garrett maintained an advantage in large states due to the influence of organized labor and African-American urban voters, and also ate into the rural Mid-West, Hart would win every state West of the Dakotas but for Garrett's narrow victory in the Washington caucus early on. As well, Hart ironically would perform well in New England, taking New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Nevertheless, with Garrett still appealing to more "traditional" Democratic voters and picking up the majority of Southern support after Askew dropped out, the Vermont Senator would prove victorious.

Green - Senator Christopher Garrett of Vermont
Blue - Senator Gary Hart of Colorado
Red - Former Governor Reuben O'Donovan Askew of Florida

Despite a large polling deficit, Garrett's team would remain optimistic. Guaranteed a first-ballot victory at the Democratic National Convention, the Vermonter felt no need to bargain with Hart or Askew in regards to the Vice Presidency. Instead, he chose to make an historic pick, deciding on Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder of Colorado. To the Garrett campaign, the choice made sense on multiple levels. As a Coloradoan, she was in a position to fight in traditionally Republican territory and the very state that Hart himself represented. Her appeal to women was obvious, but it was also hoped that her advocacy on issues such as child-rearing and paid leave for pregnant women could appeal to working families. The only white male of note would be one-term Governor Lawrence Watson of Pennsylvania. While some on Garrett's campaign advocated for him as a solid liberal who had shown appeal to working-class voters in the state, his "demographic status" was unfavorable.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1984 United States Presidential Election

Christopher Garrett came into the general election with no advantages. The economy had strongly rebounded from the first half of Dole's term, the choice to place Senator George Bush at State following Henry Jackson's death had calmed those worried about unnecessary brinksmanship, Dole's survival of the assassination attempt had given him some of the strongest approvals in history, and Garrett had made few friends after the divisive Democratic primaries. While the choice of Schroeder had at first proven popular, her strongly liberal record did nothing to balance the ticket, women were unenthused by her, and a lot of voters were easily scared by an avowedly pro-choice woman.

Moreover, opposition research would time the September release of Garrett's college writings and early academic career, littered with references not only to Marxism but Democratic Socialism and the like. The Senator's rather impressive repertoire of work included several early involvements in left-wing campus political movements, including op-eds denouncing Presidents Truman and Eisenhower for their anti-communist foreign policies. This served to significantly distract from attempts by Garrett to make points regarding Dole's foreign and domestic policies, as he was busy clarifying the difference between his previously stated views and Soviet-style communism. With obstacle upon obstacle piling up for Garrett, the Democratic National Committee gave up all hope and began rerouting funding to statewide races.

Garrett actually debated rather well according to many in the media. However, his style, tailored by years in academia, was not geared towards reaching out to the electorate. Dole, on the other hand, who had grown up in rural Kansas, was no massive source of charisma, but was far more suited to stating things in terms appealing to voters. While Brewer had a similar style four years earlier, Dole had little trouble deposing his 1984 opponent on both content and style. By election day, Garrett was cast as an out-of-touch, socialist university professor who lacked any identification with the average voter. With an economy in the midst of recovery and a stabilized foreign policy situation framed by the Dole administration's anti-communist rhetoric, Garrett cruised to an easy fifty-state loss.

President Robert J. Dole (Republican-Kansas)/Vice President Alexander Linwood Holton (Republican-Virginia) 535 electoral votes, 61.3% of the popular vote
Senator Christopher Garret (Democrat-Vermont)/Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder (Democrat-Colorado) 3 electoral votes, 36.5% of the popular vote

With that, President Bob Dole won the greatest popular vote victory since the establishment of universal suffrage. His rivals in re-election record breaking would be George Washington and James Monroe, both of whom ran veritably unopposed. Among interesting results would be Dole's taking of South Boston, a heavily Irish Catholic area, and the fact that Dole failed to win over sixty percent of the vote in Alabama. The first was attributed to "Dole Democrats", working class, largely Catholic former Democrats who felt that the Republican party was better at looking after their interests. The latter would be credited to the work of former Senator Jefferson Dent, who had worked tirelessly to bring urban and African-American voters out to the polls on election day.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Rest In Pieces, Senator (literally)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1985

Richard Alexander Hudson married Sarah Jane Madigan on July 7th, 1985. It had been far from a cakewalk. While Hudson had, at the beginning of their relationship, felt like the luckiest man in the world to be dating “the girl every guy in my high school had dreamed about”, things deteriorated after entry into college. Consumed by school, work, alcohol, cigarettes, (some) drugs, and a new social life bursting at the seams, the need for and attachment to her waned over the next two years. In Hudson’s junior year, Sarah had come from Michigan to visit him in New Hampshire and found him still drunk at 2 PM from the night before. Disgusted with his antics, she ended what had been Hudson’s first relationship. The lonely student had many distractions to ensconce himself in, however. Elected the president of both the student government and his fraternity while taking full class loads and assisting with scholarly research projects, it was only after graduation that Hudson  found himself drawn back to Michigan. Working for the Heritage Foundation while serving a stint in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, he had nevertheless wandered home for Independence Day in 1983. Running into her at one of the two liquor stores in the township on July 3rd, he was awestruck. The same half-golden/half-brown hair stretched down to and past her shoulders. The same piercing eyes still glinted at him from under a wayward bang. The same eternally tan skin stretched across her frame. After exchanging a few comments, they parted ways. After a series of phone calls and a few visits back to Michigan, their relationship resumed in November of that year. Hard to maintain across several states and/or Canada, Hudson nevertheless returned to Michigan in autumn of 1984, the last official session of the NH House having wrapped up (despite his term of office ending in 1985), and  he rented a small house with two brothers from Phi Gamma’s Wayne State Chapter, where he enrolled in their graduate program in political science. Proposing to her on Christmas, they both decided, tired of waiting, that they ought to be married within six months. Budgetary and planning issues pushed the ceremony into July. With Hudson working as a research assistant and Sarah, who had served under the township’s only lawyer as a secretary for the last three years, taking a clerical job in Huron Automotive’s miniscule legal department, they were able to afford the rent on a small home in what would become known as Mid-Town.

1985 would be a landmark year for Christian Mattingly as well. The year before, the establishment of Prola Transportation, a subsidiary that worked with municipalities in the production of specific vehicles for their public works and safety departments, had seen success. Nevertheless, the negotiation with third-parties such as construction companies had proved tiresome, and in March of 1985, Prola Construction was formed, completing a years-long period of vertical integration. “We supply the men, we supply the trucks, we supply the architects. We transfer third-party and governmental authority into our hands and minimize skimming by other firms.” Taking advantage of “austere” policies by state and municipal governments, the Prola branches were already seeing good projections for the fiscal year of 1987. As well, on October 2nd of that year, the twins Matthew Ford and Michael James Mattingly were born. Dizygotic, Matt (older by a few minutes) would later grow black hair while Mike had blonde.

Well to the South of Michigan, two statesmen whose roots lay in the Old Confederacy looked ahead optimistically. For Jefferson Dent, a liberal Democrat from Alabama of all places, the landslide defeat of his political ally Albert Brewer was far from a black spot on his career. While friends of his were consoling him on what appeared the demise of a promising political career, Dent was already scheming his return to elected office. His stint as Secretary of State, despite a lack of large scale accomplishments, had improved his national image. Previously, Dent had mid-level name recognition for a Senator, and his reputation was that of a far-left liberal and a political anomaly. The move to Secretary of State had not only spared him from the possibility of defeat in 1980, but had also cemented a national image as an apolitical statesman. While there had been pressure on Dent to pursue the  Alabama Governor's Mansion in 1982, he had resisted, being far from overly fond of having to step into the nitty-gritty of local machine politics and take public stances on state sales tax rates. Avoiding the temptation to try to primary Howell Heflin, Dent had spent 1984 working hard for Garrett in the South. Familiarizing himself with progressive grassroots networks and racial political divides throughout the region, Dent's work had essentially constructed a list of contacts forming the skeleton of a national organization. Combined with allies from his days in DC, Dent was prepared to launch a Presidential bid. "Since Kennedy's resignation, liberalism--true liberalism--has been on the run. While many might think that Garrett's defeat set us back, it proved that there was still enough support within the party to nominate an avowed quasi-Marxist for God's sake! After another four years of Dole, hopefully this country will have come to its senses. Hopefully." Nevertheless, Dent realized that a campaign by a former Secretary of State would be unorthodox, and with eight blank years on his resume. As such, in October of 1985, he announced the campaign to retake his Senate seat.

Above: Former Secretary of State Jefferson Dent during a smoke break on the 1984 campaign trail for Christopher Garrett. Many would compare Dent's actions during the 1981-1988 interim in many ways reminiscent of Nixon's during the 1960's--a rising star struck down by electoral defeat, looking for a comeback. While Dent himself hadn't been on the ballot in 1980, for the man who was without office, he might have well been.

For the other Southern statesman, Vice President A. Linwood Holton also had his eyes on the White House. While he had little considered a run for the Presidency prior to 1980, especially given his growing alienation from his own state party. Nevertheless, the successful 1980 campaign had given him ambitions, and the apparent Republican majority as validated in 1984 made him think that the infrastructure might be there to secure a third Republican victory in a row. While Holton was known for his principled stances, and was associated by-and-large with the liberal wing of his party on political issues, his ambitions would force him to square the circle between principle and politics. As such, Holton began emphasizing those issues on which he'd sided with the establishment. These would largely be in the realm of foreign policy and law-and-order issues. On the stump for Republican candidates in 1984 and for the upcoming 1986 mid-terms, Holton latched onto these issues, which mattered more and more in the face of what was apparently a successful Republican-led foreign policy and the rising tide of crime that characterized the 1980's. Having little attachment to median Republican voter prior to his Vice Presidency, Holton was working overtime to build conservative credentials.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1984 Senate Elections
Despite the Republicans' overwhelming victory in the Presidential Election, they would lose seats in the Senate, as they had in 1982. This was the result of the supermajority the party gained from the 1980 elections. Such numbers would prove unable to sustain, and a number of pessimists in the Republican camp (of which there were few following Bob Kennedy's downfall) were making claims that the majority would be utterly wiped out after 1986. The only Republican gain would be Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.

Republicans: 57 (-3)
Democrats: 43 (+3)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1985, continued

By spring of 1985, Dole's cabinet had undergone a number of changes, though not in any particularly drastic way. Most significant was the gradual retiring of Democratic members originally brought on to ensure a veneer of bipartisanship. As well, some departments, specifically the Pentagon, would see a transition from "a disinterested, past-his-retirement old war horse with few relevant concerns in regards to his own department to a new, professional class". Such words were spoken by Connally's successor at Defense, Donald Rumsfeld himself. With Connally having previously left a large number of duties to his lieutenants in order to focus on the political and public relations aspect of his job, Rumsfeld--then only a lowly National Security Adviser--had begun to involve himself in an unofficial way in a number of the Pentagon's administrative and policy issues. With Connally's retirement in late 1983, Rumsfeld was the obvious choice for the job. Following Dole's re-election, Rumsfeld emerged with an agenda for a revamped army. Ceding that the Cold War was likely not long to last, and had nevertheless failed to erupt into a "hot war" utilizing both nuclear and conventional forces, Rumsfeld proposed that the army, already a volunteer force since the early 1970's, become more professionalized and more efficient. "If our boys do see combat again, I'll wager it'll be a lot more like Vietnam than the Second World War", he remarked. "As such, it's only natural that we prepare to win conflicts like Vietnam as opposed to defeating Hitler a million times over."

Secretary of State: George H.W. Bush (R-TX)
Secretary of the Treasury: Caspar Weinberger (R-CA)
Secretary of Defense: Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL)
Attorney General: Malcolm Wilson (R-NY)
Secretary of the Interior: Stanley K. Hathaway (R-WY)
Secretary of Agriculture: Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R-MO)
Secretary of Commerce: Malcolm S. Baldridge, Jr. (R-CT)
Secretary of Labor: Jackie Presser (R-OH)
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Winfield Dunn (R-TN)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Jack F. Kemp (R-NY)
Secretary of Transportation: Francis Rizzo (R-PA)
Secretary of Environment and Energy: Dixy Lee Ray (D-WA)

American politics would be relatively quiet throughout 1985. Despite a still large majority in the Senate  and good numbers in the House of Representatives, the Republican Party pushed few large pieces of legislation. Aside from deficit reduction packages and less-visible social and spending issues, the major focus of both the Senate and the Presidency would be towards the world stage. With the emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev as the new leader of the Soviet Union, a dramatic change in tone came to the Cold War. The ordinarily gruff Dole, with the guidance of seasoned Secretary of State George Bush, came to actually see the Soviet leader as an ally in ending the Cold War. In what would prove a rather unorthodox move resembling something much more in line with the experimental foreign policy of the 1970's, the enactment of sanctions against South Africa due to its apartheid policies would serve to alienate Great Britain while at the same time appearing almost as an act of good faith in the eyes of the new Soviet leader. In a partnership that few interested in geopolitics would have predicted, Dole and Gorbachev came to bond over their shared rural backgrounds, and the President voiced fervent support for Gorbachev's reform agenda.

Nevertheless, as the narrative grew that the Soviet Union was to broaden its citizens' freedom, the story was reversed on the other side of the globe. The 1980's would be marked by particularly high crime, and, having shifted focus away from economic policy, the President and his administration, in taking into account public opinion, sought to address it. While the Omnibus Anti-Crime Bill that passed in 1986 was, by-and-large, marked by "tough on crime" measures including federal funding for police "gang squads" as well as the development and deployment of new surveillance technologies, earmarks would, ironically, turn it into a more comprehensive proposal. Mid-Western farmers, seeking relief, had been lobbying for more markets for grain. While the Soviet Union had proven a boon to agribusiness, the lowering of eligibility requirements for food stamps, which was included in the OACB, would help them as well. Efforts by Jack Kemp, meanwhile, would round-out the anti-poverty component that few expected to be signed into law, including funding for housing, more extensive job-training programs, and the first federal legislation concerning "free enterprise zones". In speaking to reporters regarding HUD's contribution to the OACB, Kemp remarked "Crime is far from a legal problem; it's a societal problem. Some might say I'm sounding like a liberal Democrat here, but I've had to hear those accusations my entire time in politics. The fact is, we need to be both tough on crime and tough on its causes, otherwise we could see an entire generation of poor and minority children in jail." Some years later, Kemp would look back on those remarks with ire.

With gears turning on both foreign and domestic policy, the three issues that defined 1985 and, to some extent, 1986, would be crime, the deficit, and rapprochement with the Soviet Union. While President Dole seemed to be getting good marks from even liberals regarding new strides in foreign affairs as well as anti-poverty measures, the issue of deficit spending, combined with the economy's slowing growth, would be used to paint the Grand Old Party in a bad light as an election year approached. The inability by the Republican majority in the Senate and the Democratic majority in the House to agree on a meaningful deficit reduction plan would help to stir the previously dormant Democratic base, and Speaker Tip O'Neill was incredibly tired of "watching the Republicans run roughshod over the working class".

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

December 20th, 1985

The Huron Automotive Detroit office Christmas party appeared to finally be wrapping up. Mattingly was sure as Hell glad for that. With Kate stuck taking care of all three of the kids at home, he had been loath to stay at the office during the run-up to Christmas of all times, but she had insisted. "The company needs you! These are good morale boosters!" He disdainfully mouthed her words as he sat, feet on one of the folding tables in the rec room, leaning back in the metal folding chair. Finding his Budweiser empty, he removed his feet from the table and slouched over to the fridge, only to find it empty. Shrugging, he reached towards his shirt pocket only to remember that he no longer kept a pack of cigarettes there. With three kids in the house, Kate had made him swear off smoking. Disappointed, he straightened himself up, cracked his back, noted that the cleaning lady was Mexican ("or some other South-of-the-border variety; good grief, what's happened to this country?"), and prepared to head home. Moving into the hallway towards his office to grab the heavy overcoat he kept there, he groaned to see employees were still in the building. "Sarah... What's her last name? Christ. As if we needed another f#cking secretary... Who's that on her arm? Her pathetic boyfriend or something?"

Sarah Hudson: Oh, sorry Mr. Mattingly! I was grabbing something from my office before going home! Have you met my husband?
Mattingly: [smacking his palm against his forehead] I, uh... I don't think I have. Hello, Christian Mattingly, businessman.
Dick Hudson: Uh, hi Mr. Mattingly. I'm Dick.
Mattingly: [smirks] Of course you are! Wonderful to meet you and all that!
Hudson: Sir, I hope you don't mind my saying, but you look familiar.
Mattingly: Well apparently I'm kinda famous now. Who would'a thought?
Sarah: Richard! Leave him alone!
Hudson: Were you ever involved in the Robert Griffin campaign in 1978?
Mattingly: If... memory serves correctly, then yes.
Hudson: I think I met you there, sir.
Mattingly: I'm sure you did- [un-squints his eyes, blinks] Wait, were you that scrawny kid in the ratty Pink Floyd t-shirt?
Hudson: I believe so, yes!
Mattingly: Did you ever grow up! Jesus F#ck. Do you have any cigarettes?
Hudson: I'm glad to say I quit after I graduated.
Mattingly: Well that's a damned shame, since my wife's forcing me to quit. Do you have any beer? Rec room fridge's all out?
Hudson: I was actually surprised to see a company serving beer-
Mattingly: We're all alcoholics here, Dick. You don't go from nothing to... whatever this is without acquiring some God-awful habits, I'll tell ya that.
Hudson: But no, I don't carry any on me.
Mattingly: Ah, well then it's a pleasure to meet you. I've gotta get back to the wife.
Hudson: [seeing Sarah wait impatiently next to him] It looks like I've got to as well! Listen, would you like to catch up at any point? It's been over seven years since Griffin won that nail-biter!
Mattingly: [removing flask from back pocket] Sure, why not? Bug... Sarah to bring you in on a Friday after 7 PM- after New Year's; I have a family after all.

At that point, Mattingly proceeded to move forward to find his overcoat in his office overlooking the floor of the first factory he'd bought. The Hudsons, meanwhile, made their way towards the exit.

Sarah: You know him? I've only met him a few times, he honestly scares me. Insane or whatever.
Hudson: Not really. I was a volunteer on a Senate campaign in '78 when I ran into him. He didn't strike me as a volunteer, so I've never been sure as to why he was there. Seemed like an interesting guy. Case study in the "Dole Democrat". Naturally, I'd like to pick his brain.
Sarah: I always thought he was terrifying. You should see the intensity in his eyes when he's sober.
Hudson: Speaking of, is he driving home!?
Sarah: Don't worry about it. His tolerance is higher than any of those frat boys you were so fond of back in college. From what I've heard, it's a serious problem. When he said "alcoholics", he wasn't kidding.
Hudson: Strange...

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

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[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1986 Senate Elections
While on its own, the mid-terms would prove a disaster for the Republican party, the party had the ranks in the Senate to take such a hit. The last eight years had vastly over-inflated the GOP's presence int he nation's upper chamber, and as such the Democrats, despite gaining eleven seats, would have a mere fifty-four seat majority. Democrats were able to make uncharacteristic gains in rural areas due to some gun control-related measures involved in the Omnibus Anti-Crime Bill. Despite the Dole administration having signed off on relief for farmers, their economic situation combined with vigorous campaigning by rural and anti-gun control Democrats West of the Mississippi, gains were made in very Republican states.

Democrats: 54 (+11)
Republicans: 46 (-11)

Alabama: Former Secretary of State Jefferson Dent (D), who had previously held the seat, successfully beat Jeremiah Denton (R) with over 55% of the vote. Dent's victory would launch him back into the national spotlight after a six year exodus.
Alaska: In a political comeback, former Senator Mike Gravel (D) was able to beat incumbent Frank Murkowski (R).
Colorado: Senator Gary Hart (D), runner-up in the 1984 Democratic Presidential Primaries, was re-elected to the Senate by a wide margin, upping his prospects for the 1988 election.
Missouri: United States Secretary of Agriculture Kit Bond (R) won election to the Senate in the only Republican gain of the year.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Emergency Management

The City of Detroit had, in many ways, acted as though it were immune to the limits of government. While a protectionist trade policy as well as a reduced tax burden for business had kept the automotive industry in Michigan and continued to provide the city with a firm tax base, Mayor Young’s vision far exceeded the horizon. After over a decade of expensive infrastructure projects combined with the alienation of white ethnics within the city limits, the city was in a worse place than it should have been. Clear racial divisions had formed across 8 Mile, with working-class whites employed by the automotive industry retrenching just north of the major road that constituted Detroit’s northern border. With Young having for years been suspected of attempting to “stamp out” white ethnic groups through gimmicks such as the Poletown Plant, a number of blue collar workers of various ethnicities had kept their jobs while moving their residences out of the city. As such, despite having thriving industry within the city limits, a substantial part of the tax base had been removed. Combined with Young’s policies of large tax giveaways to sports stadiums, the drama reached its height when Detroit filed for bankruptcy in 1987. Michigan’s Governor Blanchard, having developed a record as a successful, pragmatic, moderate Democrat, wasn’t looking forward to tarnishing his reputation by “bailing out” a city that, because of its outspoken and abrasive mayor, had made itself the enemy of surrounding municipalities. Instead, Governor Blanchard made the controversial decision to take the middle ground between a “bail out” and merely letting the city sink: he appointed an emergency financial manager.

Christian Mattingly was surprised when he was first called regarding the position. Presiding over an expanding business and a growing family, he had resisted the urge to become directly involved in politics as a candidate. Nevertheless, his philanthropic and business records had been favorable to Detroit, and a few polls showed him as being much more popular with residents than a number of their elected politicians. The fact that he had created a family of successful businesses, in many people’s eyes, spoke to his financial and entrepreneurial prowess. After speaking with his family and his board of directors, he chose to for the first time enter the public sector. Huron Automotive and its subsidiaries would be handed over to Sid Vicar, who had served as Chief Financial Officer the last two years and had begun his career with Mattingly as an engineer in the late 1970’s.

Above: Christian Mattingly, pictured here in 1988, first entered public office as Detroit's Emergency Financial Manager--the first office of its kind. While at first met with protests, his commitment and a strong public relations campaign would serve to give the appointed office an unofficial legitimacy.

Despite high pre-appointment favorability ratings from those few firms who chose to poll the popularity of a businessman, the decision of Lansing to directly insert itself into Detroit affairs was met with loud protests from community activists and public sector unions, both being liberal groups who had every reason to fear what a Lansing-appointed, white, unelected, “reformist” bureaucrat would do to government salaries and programs. Taking office on March 19th, 1987, Mattingly shouted over protesters as he pledged to bring Detroit back to financial stability. Aware that he had very likely just lied to the residents of the city he’d grown up in and had long been associated with, Mattingly saw his new role as that of a lifetime’s worth of experience, knowledge, and effort.

Ignoring the fact that, due to the nature of Huron Automotive’s rise to power, he was far less wealthy than he led on, Mattingly accepted Blanchard’s appointment with the salary of $1 per year, in a public display that was meant to emphasize his commitment to fiscal responsibility and begin instilling an air of legitimacy in his actions. Shortly following his appointment, the Mattingly Administration sought to do two things: formulate policy proposals that would realistically rein in city-spending without sacrificing economic growth and the loyalty of the citizenry, and establish a largely intangible presence that would allow the city to see Mattingly as a leader of the “people” despite his undemocratic appointment. The first was begun by the hiring of newly graduated Dr. Richard James Hudson, who possessed a Ph.D in Public Policy as well as a plethora of degrees in social science-related fields. Hudson immediately got to work establishing a multi-faceted approach to the city’s problems. The second early objective of the administration was undertaken by Mattingly himself. He  immediately began living in Detroit, eating at Detroit restaurants, wearing suits from Detroit stores, and being seen directing philanthropic efforts to help Detroiters. He as well embarked upon a serious and low-cost campaign to bring business, residence, and charity into the city, speaking before business and activist groups alike. His decision to focus on initiatives beyond just policy was seen by some as innovative and by others as a patchwork attempt at fixing things without a permanent solution. This all served as a buffer to protect from what would inevitably be the ugly side of his reign: the shredding of public employee contracts to save the city money. Left-wing and localist protests became an everyday occurrence while children were instead re-shuffled to money-saving “charter schools”. What didn’t receive media attention was the fact that low-level employees were far from the only people who would face reduced salaries and wages. Administrators and elected officials would as well fall victim to the fiscal scythe. The rooting-out of corruption was also a large source of reduced spending.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Emergency Management (Pt. 2)

One of Mattingly’s greatest coups in both public relations and policy was the appointment of Isaiah “Ike” McKinnon to Police Chief. A Detroit-born African-American who had been with the department from 1964 to 1984 and had, thereafter, gone into teaching and private security, Mattingly liked him for a number of reasons. For one, McKinnon was in many ways the American Dream, given his humble roots; coupled with this was the fact that, while his parents hadn’t gone beyond grade school in education, McKinnon held a doctorate. Furthermore, McKinnon was straight-laced and religious, had a record of reporting and combating corruption, and his father had been a deacon for a number of years. As well, McKinnon was both experienced and an outside; his twenty years as a cop had provided two decades with which to work in an administrative capacity in a number of different sub-departments, while his time in private security left him free of the pall of corruption that hung over city government and had given him a good record of firing insubordinate and unprofessional officers below him. Somewhere, in the animalistic portion of his brain at the back of his head, there was another, relevant reason: while Mattingly had always maintained, at least beyond his group of friends, the belief in equality among peoples, as compelled by his philosophy and religion, he had a contempt for what it seemed black culture had become. McKinnon, with his education, personal conservatism, and professionalism, served as a foil to what Mattingly was afraid was the dominant cultural theme in many urban youth cultures. Lastly, McKinnon and Mattingly had worked together since 1985 due to the need by Huron and its subsidiaries of security work; he preferred hiring people he was already familiar with. In short, McKinnon could relate to the city’s largely minority inhabitants and to the DCPD in particular while being above their negative influences.

Given Mattingly’s lack of background in criminal justice matters, as well as his sadistic side, he insisted on sitting in on meetings between McKinnon and precinct commanders under review. This as well served to send the message that the man holding Detroit’s purse strings was wholly behind the police chief’s actions. While many had questioned the legal ability of an emergency financial manager to control appointments such as that of police chief, Coleman Young had been politically castrated and wasn’t in a position to work the gears of bureaucracy against the McKinnon appointment. Within the first few meetings, the relevancy of police work to Mattingly’s office was made apparent: with a vast number of precinct commanders and other police administrators failing to perform even the basic expectations of their jobs, un- and under-qualified officers seeking political appointment to positions of authority through the mayor’s office and other back channels, and embezzlement by higher-ups including McKinnon’s predecessor, chief Hart, it was clear that the city was effectively flushing money down the toilet in the department.

While his tenure would only last one year, Mattingly would be judged, by-and-large, successfully. Two narratives developed around his short time in power. One, told by the national media as well as Mattingly’s supporters, was that of a spirited reformer who threw out the “crooks”—ranging from corrupt administrators who later faced indictment to the average public sector employee—while also displaying a strong sense of commitment to his city, as exemplified in his activist person, and captured in pictures of him digging into plates of ribs at local restaurants. The other narrative was that of a cruel businessman who adopted a populist façade in order to mitigate public blowback against his decision to eviscerate the government and the community of Detroit. In this story, Detroit-born, black public servants saw themselves replaced by white, suburban substitutes and local culture was steamrolled. What both of these versions failed to capture was the fact of who was in charge. Policy, it turned out, had a limited effect on the city’s fate. While money was saved and redirected, potentially harmful effects of cut spending were combated by something that went beyond what laws and contracts the Mattingly administration changed. Mattingly’s characteristics, ranging from his background in business to his populist persona to his skin color, created a new attitude among residents and business-owners. Those of any skin color who found themselves patronized by Mattingly on one of his regular forays into various parts of the city for a new place to eat dinner found themselves emboldened by what amounted to an endorsement; they chose more aggressive business policies. Firms located outside of Detroit had greater confidence in the government because it was run by one of them, and thus they were more willing to invest in ventures that were within the city limits. The churches that Mattingly visited in order to speak to the congregations and defend his policy helped reach many facets of sub-communities in the city, and to provide a volunteeristic spirit to what activist groups did. Policy accomplished much less than persona in this particular instance, and it was something that Mattingly and Hudson both privately acknowledge and failed to forgive themselves for.

The greatest effect on city politics would be the absolute professionalization of the city bureaucracy. Under Young’s stewardship, city politics—something deemed, by default, corrupt according to popular narrative—had seen a new era of patronage appointments. McKinnon himself recounted how, as early as the Young’s first year in office, he was involved in an investigation targeting the mayor’s brother-in-law. As such, the brunt of Mattingly’s work lay in the largely non-ideological task of taking the city from what Weber might call a mix of traditionalistic and bureaucratic rule to what he hoped would be purely bureaucratic/rational legitimacy. Nevertheless, Mattingly’s presence served to give such a program a charismatic flavor as well.

In June of 1988, with members of the Dole administration resigning over minor scandals, the President sought appointments of people who would provide a façade of competence and integrity to their offices. The headline-making reformer in Detroit had captured the Dole’s attention. Mattingly was reluctant to leave the city, but the public mood by that point was greatly improved, and many numbers were on positive trajectories. With Governor Whatshis providing for a competent replacement, and rumors of a transition back to local rule by 1990 abounding, Mattingly felt comfortable leaving the city in others’ hands for national office. Many would criticize him for “office-hopping”, and it was indeed something Mattingly himself felt guilty for, but he rationalized that the very people criticizing his departure from Detroit were those that had opposed his appointment in the first place, and so such action made up for itself.

Easily confirmed despite a few death stares from some Democrats, Mattingly would be forced to rent a room in Virginia and make a commute of over an hour each way during the week while flying back to Michigan for the weekend. While in the DC area, he also accepted an offer from a community college to teach an Introduction to Business Administration course. Going beyond what he referred to as an easy and unfulfilling curriculum, Mattingly’s one three-credit semester in academia called upon his experience as a worker, labor negotiator, manager, small business owner, large business owner, and public administrator.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The last two posts I wrote while at work on a Word document, so I'm not sure how much they jive. Might have to do some edits.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Tanned, Rested, and Ready: The 1988 Field

The Democratic bench for '88 would be divided largely by "traditional" and "reform" Democrats. While both so-called camps would hardly hold coherent ideologies, it could be broadly stated that the former (made up of working-class whites, African-Americans, urban machines, liberal intellectuals, and establishment types) represented the fading New Deal Coalition, while the latter (surburbanites, Westerners, "post-liberals", moderates, and "Kennedycrats") was comprised of those that sought to push the party towards a new coalition that contained both progressive and conservative strains to appeal to a transformed nation. Heading up the traditionalists would be Senator Jefferson Dent, who was well situated given his connections to grassroots left-wingers, blacks, Southerners, and Washington DC. Meanwhile, Gary Hart of the reformer faction seemed practically entitled to the nomination following his seeming vindication in the wake of Garrett's massive defeat in 1984. Straddling the line between these two camps was former Senator Eugene McCarthy. Once a well-respected liberal legislator who had spearheaded the original campaign against Lyndon Johnson in '68, the Minnesotan was well outside of the mainstream twenty years later. Out of office for nearly two decades, McCarthy's platform was, as one critic put it, "both well to the left of the Democrats and far to the right of the Republicans". The Democrat praised Dole for his limited foreign engagements, tough stance against the Soviets, and "wisdom in moving against the current trend of economic globalization". Among his campaign planks was the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service as well as funding for a broad range of missile defense projects humorously derided as a "Star Wars system" for its ambition and seeming impossibility.

Among those traditionalists in the race, Dent was perhaps the most well aware of the nation's rightward drift. For him, that made the concept of victory much more important. Despite the Democrats' encouraging results in the Senate and House, Dent would privately acknowledge that it was possible for the Republicans to secure a third term in 1988. As such, this was a victory he felt both himself and the country needed. "In the minds of many, what Dole has demonstrated is that conservatism has 'worked'. In this horrifying new world, we should not be surprised that, twenty years from now, we find ourselves with a fascist at the helm."

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The Republican gallery was much less easy to sort out. As opposed to definable camps and factions, there was a diverse mix of candidates seeking to claim and expand on--according to their own terms, naturally--the incumbent President's legacy. The "main event" was Vice President Linwood Holton. Having become well-acquainted with the party's internal structure, fundraisers, and politics, the nation's #2 was assumed by many to be well-prepared to fend off any challenges to his claim as Dole's natural successor. "If there is one thing I would like to emphasize here, in this campaign, it is freedom. Freedom is something that the Republican Party has stood for since its very founding, and it is a value that be embodies the spirit of our nation. In the 1950's and 1960's, I was on the forefront in Virginia fighting for the freedom of African-Americans. In this last decade, I have played a significant role in working internationally to expand freedom to oppressed peoples, from Poland to South Africa." Despite having done significant work since 1984 to get the lay of the land, Holton's rhetoric was nevertheless always slightly out of sync with that of the primary voter. As such, his greatest asset in the upcoming campaign would be his fundraising ability.

There were a number willing to contest Holton's campaign. Senator Gordon J. Humphrey of New Hampshire, pushing for a balanced budget and a repeal to Roe v. Wade, portrayed himself as the Dole administration's natural manifestation. "Over the past eight years, we've seen significant progress on a number of issues. The Soviet Union is on the ropes, the economy has greatly improved, and law enforcement has new tools to battle crime. It is time now that we, the conservatives in the Republican Party, push for the capstone of our agenda. This is not the hour for meekness." Meanwhile, his colleague Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania, billed himself as the architect of much of Dole's domestic and economic policy in the Senate. "My hometown of Pittsburgh is as good an example of the recovery as any", he was wont to say. Reverend Pat Robertson, with many an evangelical in his wake, alienated many an establishment Republican with his calls to place (his version of) God at the center of American public life. Running the two more dovish campaigns of the primary were the right- and left-wings of the party, as represented by two House members. Former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas decried the Dole military budgets as a betrayal of the basic Republican principles of fiscal restraint. Meanwhile, sitting Representative Silvio O. Conte of Massachusetts was running a quixotic campaign in his late sixties for the Presidency on the premise of "winning the peace": "In this day and age, we are appearing to be nearing closer and closer to real co-existence with the Soviet Union. With that in mind, we must be looking much less to winning the war, but, as one fellow Catholic Massachusetts pol once said, winning the peace. Scientific research, environmental protections, and human rights are the new frontiers of this country and the world."

Among those to opt out of a candidacy were HUD Secretary Jack Kemp and former White House Communications Director Patrick J. Buchanan, both of whom enjoyed popularity among different sections of self-proclaimed "movement conservatives".

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[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1988 Presidential Primaries

Early States
The Michigan Republican primary, which was the culmination of a process begun in 1986, was little surprise when it came down heavily in favor of the incumbent Vice President, Linwood Holton. He would be similarly benefited in Kansas, his boss’ home state, and the liberal Hawaii.

Iowa
The Republican result would be a surprise for many, as South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler, running on a vague “reform” platform, walked away with a narrow plurality, trailed by Holton and Humphrey. Many had expected that, thanks to the Dole administration’s competent response to the farm crisis, his Vice President would be practically unassailable in the rural Mid-West. Nevertheless, Pressler’s stump speech, which focused on emerging technology, deregulation, a “national defense for the next century”, and Holton’s lack of a legislative record as opposed to Pressler’s largely conservative one helped him carry the middle in a crowded field. Meanwhile, the Democrats would see little surprise as liberal Senator Jefferson Dent, with his prominent anti-war record and few notable votes on immigration or trade to upset the base, took a comfortable lead in the caucus. While Dent’s victory was expected, Pressler’s was not. Soon, “think pieces” began appearing attempting to explain the phenomenon, including some attempts to relabel him as “a conservative rising star”, “the Right’s Eugene McCarthy”, “repackaged Rockefeller Republicanism”, “a new way forward for the GOP”, and so on. Exit polling, nevertheless, would show that veterans were Pressler’s most significant constituency in the state, and that, combined with his (necessary) appeal in rural Midwestern states, he had emerged a narrow victor. The Pressler organization, with little expectation of victory, was unprepared for anything afterwards and would soon peter out.
 
New Hampshire
Shortly after Senator Humphrey narrowly lost the Wyoming Caucuses to Pressler, the Granite State Senator would come home to an overwhelming victory that few had bothered to contest. Across the aisle, a similar unsurprising victory occurred as Senator Gary Hart won with a coalition strikingly similar to, though slightly larger than, the one he’d won with four years earlier. Of genuine concern to the Dent campaign was Al Gore coming in second place.
 
The Valley
Before Super Tuesday lay a slew of smaller primaries and caucuses in states that, had they not been early in the schedule, would have largely gone unnoticed. For the GOP, the arch-conservative New Hampshire Senator would take the Nevada, Maine, and Alaska caucuses, beating out less conservative opponents. The nation’s Vice President, meanwhile, would edge out his opponents in the "beauty contest" primary of Vermont, and, as the only prominent Southern candidate in the race, take South Carolina—surprising for someone of Holton’s views, and the win was attributed to heavy establishment support from fellow Southerners. In another upset, Senator John Heinz would pull off a victory in Minnesota due to a combination of suburban moderates and blue collar steelworkers. The underdog Pressler would walk away only with his home state of South Dakota. Nevertheless, many minor candidates vowed to stay in until Super Tuesday. The Democratic side would see much of the same polarization between candidates with early victories. While Dent was able to win South Dakota and Minnesota on the backs of significant endorsements from both of those states, he would fail to win outside the Mid-West, with Hart taking Garrett ’84 states Vermont and Maine, and emphasizing his Western credentials with an over 70% victory in Wyoming.
 
Super Tuesday
After their immense, landslide defeat in 1984, the Democratic National Committee had devised the creation of a wave of nationwide primaries on one day, including a number of Southern states, so as to allow for a greater moderate voice within the party. This was intended for candidates such as Gore and Askew. What was not predicted was the emergence of one of the few “liberal South” champions as a candidate. With Dent’s significant name recognition and fundraising advantages early on, as well as his familiarity with the regional landscape, his campaign’s agents overwhelmed the Gore organization, mobilizing welfare recipients, minorities, union members, and the like in favor of the Alabama Senator. Outside of Oklahoma, Gore was prevented from winning a single state aside from his home state. Taking a massive lead in the delegate count that night, Dent was nevertheless isolated outside the South. With Dent’s focus being on solidifying his regional position, Hart crafted his campaign into that of a “nationwide” candidate not confined to any particular area of the country. the Colorado Senator won Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, Texas (narrowly), Virginia, and Washington. With every other candidate having failed to secure a single victory, they proceeded to quickly drop out. The only major name circulating still in the race after Super Tuesday would be McCarthy, who himself had next to no organization and was at that point focusing more on securing the support of various left-wing third parties.

The GOP’s Super Tuesday, had its battleground square in the South. While Vice President Holton was able to capture both the Upper South and the “big states” of Florida and Texas, Humphrey had unexpected success in the more conservative Deep South. Above the Mason-Dixon line, the New Englander was able to win a surprise victory in Massachusetts thanks to the dropout of and endorsement from former Governor Ed King, but Holton won all other non-Southern states aside from Heinz' plurality in Rhode Island.

March’s End
Heading out from Super Tuesday, the March contests were few and far between. For the Republicans, the difference was split as Holton took Illinois and Humphrey took Connecticut. The story was very much the same for the Democrats as Hart took Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, and Connecticut while Dent South Carolina, Illinois, and Michigan.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"In many ways", as one reporter wrote, "the two primary races have been very much the same. We see an establishment Southerner with a long list of endorsements and a large history of civil rights advocacy, with electoral bases in both their home region and the industrial north, fighting against right-wing insurgents who relied primarily on the West and New England for their support. The establishment would win, in both cases, but only after a drawn-out fight and certain concessions made to the opposition."

1988 Republican Primary Map

Red - Vice President Abner Linwood Holton of Virginia
Blue - Senator Gordon J. Humphrey of New Hampshire
Green - Senator Larry Pressler of South Dakota
Yellow - Senator John H. Heinz Jr. of Pennsylvania

1988 Democratic Primary Map

Red - Senator Jefferson Dent of Alabama
Blue - Former Senator Gary Hart of Colorado
Green - Governor Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee

"In retrospect, 1988 was the last cry of the New Deal Era."

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

“Connecticut for Weicker”

Jefferson Dent, despite his party affiliation at the time, wasn’t against endorsing Republicans or former Republicans when he felt it was needed. Nevertheless, the national Democratic establishment was in an uproar when former Senator Lowell P. Weicker and his “A Connecticut Party” received the support of the Democratic nominee for President.

Above: Alienated from his own party, former Senator Lowell Weicker jumped into the 1988 Senate race as the nominee of "A Connecticut Party". Despite his common portrayal as a moderate, Weicker would receive the unexpected support of left-wing activists and grassroots progressive, including Democratic Presidential nominee Jefferson Dent.

After Weicker’s loss to Prescott Bush Jr. in the 1982 Connecticut Senate primary, it seemed he’d disappeared from politics entirely. In 1980, Weicker had been a leading contender for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Even after his primary loss to Dole, many said that, if he ran in 1984 or even 1988, the nomination would be his. Nevertheless, the GOP had shown him its true colors, and Weicker, after 1985, had given up on it. The inclusion of a plank in the 1984 Republican Party platform calling for a “Right to Life” Amendment and the sacking of his former campaign staffer David MacKenzie from the position of Ambassador to South Africa were clear signs that the GOP Weicker had been a part of was no more.

That was why Weicker had made the “brave” decision to launch a third party campaign for Senate. With Republicans nominating the low profile Roger W. Eddy to succeed the retiring Bush, the seat seemed like an easy pickup for Connecticut Attorney General Joseph Lieberman (D). The Democrats might even themselves get Weicker’s endorsement, some thought! Nevertheless, Lieberman seemed a new Scoop Jackson, and many grassroots progressives remembered how “The Senator from Boeing’s” career ended as Secretary of State for a conservative Republican administration. Weicker’s decision to jump into the race on a makeshift third party was expected to be the choice of “Rockefeller Republicans” and “sensible moderates”. Nevertheless, the former Senator’s anti-war, environmentalist, anti-apartheid, and socially liberal stances earned the support of the progressive left, and Jefferson Dent was not immune.

Above: "Right-Wing Democrat" Joe Lieberman, Connecticut State Attorney General and 1988 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Lieberman, despite an early and heavy polling lead, felt his base disintegrate beneath him due to his anti-communist and tough-on-crime stances.

“If this party is to be held hostage by calls to appeal to the lowest common denominator, to moderate to the far-right of the Republican Party, it will fail!” Dent shouted at his Connecticut campaign manager, who protested the Senator’s surprise visit to the state to endorse Weicker in September. Dent hadn’t been the only one. Former Vermont Senator Christopher Garrett, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and Republican Congressman John Anderson had visited the state to support the “maverick” third party campaign.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1988 General Election

A pall of surreality came down upon the nation following the parties' national conventions. Despite Dent's record as a 'far left liberal', the two major party candidates had little to attack each other on. On healthcare issues, Dent favored a single-payer healthcare system while Holton proposed a 'market-friendly approach'. On abortion, both were pro-choice. Both were willing to endorse vague notions of "national defense". Both supported the Dole administration's policy on South Africa. As such, with so little real policy agreement, the election would be marked for its vicious personal attacks on minute wedge issues, social attitudes, and candidates' reputations. To Dent's supporters--depending on who you were--Holton was either a 'Republican by, and for, the ultra rich, who sic'ed policemen on Vietnam protesters and has endorsed the Dole administration's destruction of the middle class', or 'A carpetbagging yankee who talks about the constitution with no real knowledge to back it up!'. Meanwhile, Holton called Dent 'a soft-on-crime, abortion-on-demand radical liberal who's been trying to sell out this country since the 1960's!' While many assumed that the election would be the most civil  in history, its ugliness would be on par with those of the past two decades. In the end, the crime problems of the 1980's would benefit the Republican, and Democrats would lose yet another presidential election.

Vice President Abner Linwood Holton (Republican-Virginia)/Senator Gordon John Humphrey (Republican-New Hampshire) 318 electoral votes, 50.4% of the popular vote
Senator Jefferson Breckenridge Dent IV (Democrat-Alabama)/Former Senator Paul Efthemios Tsongas (Democrat-Massachusetts) 220 electoral votes, 48.5% of the popular vote

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Last Knight of Ripon: The Presidency of A. Linwood Holton

Attempting to decipher what exactly Holton's victory and Dent's loss meant for American politics would prove a riddle wrapped inside of an enigma. While Dent had been a progressive candidate, no doubt, he had hardly led a progressive coalition. A fair number of moderate Democrats who had abandoned the party in 1984 had returned to the fold for 1988--especially in the South--largely not because of policy, but because of Dent's persona. Having won thrice in Alabama of all places as a liberal Democrat, Dent knew how to portray himself to a Southern electorate. Did this mean that progressive Democrats were done for, or that the South was itself a spent force for the Democrats? After all, Dent had lost a number of Northern states that Bobby Kennedy had himself won twelve years prior. Nevertheless, the reasons for Dent's northern losses were another issue entirely: Holton had cruised to victory in large, Northern, industrial states largely due to crime issues. There was little doubt that the reason Dent had lost otherwise Democratic-leaning states was because he had been too liberal, not too Southern. Crime was not the only issue, either. While Dent had managed to hold down his home region through high black turnout, a Southern accent, and emphasis on farm subsidies, that wouldn't cut it above the Mason-Dixon line. Votes liberals previously hadn't had to work for were disappearing; white ethnics, blue collar workers, even union members hadn't put forward enough Democratic ballots to push Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Illinois over the edge. A Senator who had made his name as a Vietnam War opponent and proud social liberal, who had little to say in regards to trade or immigration issues that were mattering more and more to these voters, and had little cultural affinity or connection for them was not the right man to win back the North. Meanwhile, suburban and rural areas of the state were doing little to make up the necessary difference for Democrats. Holton might have been right when he referred to Dent as "the candidate by, and for, the liberal intellectual vote."

Nevertheless, as political scientists, demographers, and the like sought to unravel the mystery of 1988's significance, there was an administration to craft. Coming into office, Holton was determined to produce a cabinet and a White House that would lead in terms of unquestionable expertise and credentials. Moreover, the new President was determined to chart a course for the nation was definitively modern. While he had avoided specifics on the campaign trail, after the election, his advisers unveiled a sweeping reform to America's trade, environmental, crime, and defense policies.

Secretary of State: George H.W. Bush (R-TX)
Secretary of the Treasury: Nicholas F. Brady (R-NJ)
Secretary of Defense: John Chafee (R-RI)
Attorney General: Rudolph W. Giuliani (R-NY)
Secretary of the Interior: Theodore Roosevelt IV (R-NY)
Secretary of Agriculture: John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV (D-WV)
Secretary of Commerce: Jack F. Kemp (R-NY)
Secretary of Labor: Malcolm Wilson (R-NY)
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Elizabeth Dole (R-KS)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Robert Martinez (R-FL)
Secretary of Transportation: Charles Mathias (R-MD)
Secretary of Environment and Energy: Silvio Conte (R-MA)

Chief of Staff: Marshall Coleman (R-VA)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Colin Powell (I-VA)

"A Rockefeller and a Roosevelt!" fumed Vice President Humphrey as he read through the President's cabinet list. There was little doubt in the conservative second-in-command's mind that Holton fully intended to reshape the Republican Party in his own image. "...And what that image is, is ghastly." While a few of Holton's cabinet picks were in deference to the previous administration, including retaining Bush at State and appointing the outgoing First Lady, beyond Kemp and Brady, the entire cabinet could be designated as moderate-to-liberal. There was certainly little evidence of any members of the conservative "movement" having power in the new administration.

George Bush's retention at State was probably the easiest choice Holton'd had to make. Bush had served as a friend and ally during their days in the Dole administration, and they were both moderate remnants of the late '60's Republican rise in the South. Chafee, a veteran, former Navy Secretary, and seasoned legislator, was as well a solid and easy pick for Defense. Replacing each in the Senate would be their sons, as Representative George W. Bush became Senator George W. Bush, and Warwack City Councilman Lincoln Chafee took up his father's office. Attorney General Rudy Giuliani would probably be the biggest concession to the "tough on crime" crowd that anyone could have made. An ex-Democrat, Giuliani had nevertheless made his name as a U.S. Attorney in New York City loyal to the administration's anti-crime goals and prosecuting record numbers of cases with immense publicity. In the late 80's, Giuliani had come to Washington, serving as Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the Justice Department. As such, Giuliani was not only a popular choice, but a well-vetted one. As for Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, his background as a banker would show during his tenure.

Holton's agenda would alienate a number of Dole administration hands. Two men specifically that had declined the offer for retention would be Commerce Secretary Christian Mattingly, who was opposed to the new President's "modernization" policies vis-a-vis tariff reduction and ending industrial subsidies, and Navy Secretary Jim Webb, who found his fellow Virginian's plans for a reduced military distasteful. The two had found themselves with similar dispositions regarding the Soviets, social liberalism, and plans by the administration to "push the economy forward".

Unveiling the 1989 Federal Economic Convergence Act before Congress would be young presidential advisor Jon Huntsman Jr. "I remember seeing the announcement. This crisp, young White House prodigy had taken what was standard boilerplate--we would call it 'Third Way' today--bullsh#t that had been advanced by various administrations since the 1960's and repackaged it as a total theory of life. He'd cloaked it in all this futurist slang terminology, pronouncing that this was a plan for a 21st Century America and all that jazz. How complicit members of both parties were to it was, I must say, disturbing.", stated Christian Mattingly in a 2007 interview for the History Channel. What the FECA (or "fecal" as opponents called it) stipulated was a combination of diplomatic, economic, and technology policies that was both liberal and "pro-market". What it contained was funding for new and emerging computer technology including an "information marketplace accessible to every American", plans for tariff reduction if not outright abolition with a number of countries, including a North American Free Trade Pact as had been proposed in the mid-70's, a proposed "International Human Rights Agreement" that all involved countries would need to sign, banking and technology industry deregulation, increased pressure on coal as well as industrial manufacturers regarding pollution controls, and cuts to conventional weaponry to be redistributed towards weapons technology research.

Above: White House Adviser Jon Huntsman Jr. would first become known the public for his presentation of the Federal Economic Convergence Act of 1989, a comprehensive policy proposal designed to tie economic and foreign policy into one, global diplomatic vision for economic modernization and rapprochement with various powers.

The package, not all of which was subject only to Congressional approval, was the brainchild of a number of young up-and-comers in the party's moderate wing. Not only Jon Huntsman, Jr., but also Massachusetts businessman Mitt Romney, whose father had been a cabinet member and Governor of Michigan, were involved. While Holton himself was no policy genius, he had seen his party take a turn in what he considered an ugly direction and was willing to back the policy initiatives of these knew "mavericks" who were willing to push party policy in a more sophisticated and "long-term-oriented" direction. Secretary of State George Bush, who had been a proponent of freer trade, agreed to stay on due to the policy package and shortly thereafter began entering into negotiations with the governments of Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, and Germany. The President's policy team won the support of "Atari Democrats" including Senators Hart, Tsongas, and Westman and Congressmen Wirth and Clinton for his technology initiatives. While there were very few who supported every aspect of the policy package, an amorphous coalition comprised of representatives from every part of the ideological spectrum would begin to piece together support for the package of bills by mid-1989. Coming into office without a mandate, Holton was determined to make his own.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

November, 1999
The wind will knock the life out of you, I realize as I step off the plane and onto the barren air strip. "So this is Montana..." I say to myself. Scanning the horizon, I remember I'm not an air port, I'm on a private air field. In the middle of nowhere. Towering a few hundred yards off the strip right next to be beat up old Cad he apparently drove here in is the subject of my interview: former U.S. Senator Scott Westman, candidate for President of the United States of America. He tosses the cigarette away, provides some non-descript sarcastic comment whilst shaking my hand, and opens the passenger door.

Westman: I, uh, well, I'd decided I should run a while ago. It was a matter of seeing whether or not I felt I could do it. I was shushed out of a candidate four years ago because Hart looked like the man to save the party from previous electoral exodus, and no one was willing to f#ck with that. I honestly do regret not having pursued the nomination then, but instead I, like many others, was encouraged to do the "politic" thing, and I think that mindset is an important adversary in this race. We've sided with realism and where has it gotten us? If someone from the wing of the party that doesn't care about class struggle, that doesn't care about the worker is nominated, where will we end up?

The candidate's demeanor is a sobering reminder of the country's place right now. Had this interview been held twenty, ten, even five years ago, this reporter no doubt would have been confronted by what could only be described as an hornery, cocky asshole who felt he could take on the world. Scott Westman has, like the rest of the nation, aged far beyond his years.

Westman: Why have my views changed? We all know the story, the pissed off young anti-war protester who was so far away from the party's union wing that he ran on the God-damned Libertarian ticket in 1980. I'll acknowledge that I've changed, that I'v evolved, that so has much of the country. In 1980, I was the rebel, and if I'd kept my stances, Hell, I might be establishment today. I changed and I'm still a rebel, and it's because this country shifted too. Now as to why that happened, I attribute the beginning of this to Linwood Holton. The second the greased up, smarmy White House intern--what was his name, Huntsman?--went before the nation to explain this sweeping new plan for global alignment or whatever in God's name he was discussing, I knew there was something suspicious. In theory, this was something I might have supported, but it was, it was too f#cking disturbing, seeing that. What I began to realize is that the coming globalization, what it would do was incredibly simple. Instead of culture, religion, ideology, even race dividing up the world, the bulldozer of capital would mow everything down. From tribal cults in the, uh, the Western Pacific to the Vatican itself. From conservatism to socialism. Everything would be gone in the wake of global finance. Unrestricted flow of the dollar would crush everything its path. And I realized I'd been wrong. If you want a society that can work together, it needs cohesion. In the world the Holton administration began introducing us to, the individual would be both the center of existence and yet a mere data point. Instead of communities, we would have companies.

But what about social issues? Employee ownership?

Westman: I've come to the realization that, while we can have a relatively hands-off economic policy, what we can not afford is the accumulation of capital at the top, which is what is happening. Employee ownership would still contain the basis of our American system: property and profit, while cutting out the parasitic entity we know as "management". The financiers and bureaucrats of the world have stolen enough from the citizenry, and I don't see why we should allow it to go on. ... In regards to the Drug War, I think it's fairly simple; I had previously opposed legislation against drug usage for personal reasons: I wanted to do drugs, I liked to do drugs, and I wasn't going to deprive anyone of that. Now, it's much more centered on the basic fact that this country can't afford to have its youths in prison, especially for urban and immigrant communities. ... On Roe v. Wade, that's honestly probably my most controversial "flip-flop", shall we say. The fact is, in around about 1985, I found God, a God I'd denied existed for several years and it was with the birth of my first son. I'd opposed war not only because of a hatred of the military-industrial complex, but because I thought that we shouldn't deal out death so whimsically, and the natural conclusion of that line of thought is to oppose the killing here at home. It's the same reason why I oppose the death penalty.

But what about the candidate's family life? His divorce? His strange ties to the, as he now calls it, "Kennedy Crime Family"?

Westman: Caroline? I wish her the best. I really do. And if the American people don't want to elect a President who's divorced, let them say that. But the fact that I've made mistakes in my life will not stop me from working with every fiber of my being to try to save this nation and put it on the right path. ... Hahahaha! No, I don't consider myself a part of the Kennedy Crime Family despite my former ties. I only use that term facetiously, you know. It would always piss my inlaws off, and boy did I like to see that.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1988 Senate Elections

The 1988 U.S. Senate Elections showed little change in balance and by-and-large reflected the status quo. Notable new and returning members would include former National Security Adviser William P. Clark (R-CA) who beat out incumbent Jerry Brown in a race that centered around national security and crime issues, Lowell Weicker (I-CT) who won in a three-way race thanks to support from moderate and liberal voters, and Chuck Robb (D-VA) and Bob Kerrey (D-NE), who were pivotal members in the formation of the Democratic Leadership Council in 1985. Despite Democratic performance at the presidential level in the South, they only won one Senate race of four in the Old Confederacy. Meanwhile, even James Buckley refused to be unseated, winning by a narrow plurality against a two-pronged attack from Liberals and Democrats. It would take that defeat for the Liberal and Democratic parties to begin forging a formal alliance in the Empire State, akin to that between Republicans and Conservatives. In Tennessee, former Governor Lamar Alexander ascended to the Senate, having the honor of serving alongside statesman Howard Baker. In Texas, George W. Bush, son of the Secretary of State, won re-election to his father's old seat. David MacKenzie, former Ambassador to South Africa who had gotten his start in national politics working on the Weicker 1980 primary campaign, would win election to the U.S. Senate from Vermont.

Democrats: 52 (-2)
Republicans: 47 (+1)
Third Party: 1 (+1)

Weicker would, following courting from Jefferson Dent and a gaggle of assorted progressives, begin caucusing with the Democrats in order to secure committee appointments. Weicker's victory would begin the discussion among DNC higher-ups that resulted formally in the "La Follette Initiative": an effort to track down, convert, and recruit moderate and liberal Republicans, especially in the Northeast and the suburbs, to join with the Party of Jackson against "right-wing extremists based out of the South and West". While Holton's presidency reassured many "Rockefeller Republicans", it was clear to long-term-minded political strategists that Holton's kind were not long for the Grand Old Party. In a brief circulated among DNC members and congressional higher-ups, "The existence of men like Weicker, Pete McCloskey, John Anderson*, and the like demonstrates the real danger conservative extremists have put their party in. This is something that this party has not fully taken advantage of and, in doing so, risks losing votes to third party campaigns like that in Connecticut." The memo proposed co-opting such voices instead of risking elections on them and hoping that, as in Weicker's case, it might pay off. Among the list of potential targets were Senators William Cohen, Arlen Specter, and even Larry Pressler.

*Anderson, who has moved to the left since his days as a Bible-toting conservative in the 1960's, had endorsed not only Weicker in his bid for Senate, but Jefferson Dent. It so happened that Anderson had also not run for re-election in 1988.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"Renegade!"

"Coming into the Senate--my first involvement with any legislature since my term in the Vermont House of Representatives--I immediately set up shop as a voice of reason, in many cases stepping between the President, Senate conservatives, and the Democratic majority. As such, I landed on the 'bad' lists of both the far-right and the far-left in Congress, cementing myself as a maverick, unafraid to buck ideological labels for the sake of common sense solutions."

-The Voice of Reasonable Resistance, David MacKenzie, 2005

Above: Future Senator David MacKenzie (R-VT) pictured in 1972; That year, MacKenzie was a volunteer on President Nixon's re-election campaign.

Contrary to his attempts to portray himself as some folk hero for the middle-of-the-road, middle class voter, a modern day combination combination of Theodore Roosevelt's rhetoric and Dwight Eisenhower's politics, MacKenzie remained largely unknown in the Senate until 1993. Moreover, he often sided with the White House in Senate votes and, despite not being a stereotypical conservative, could be--when needed--easily identified as an establishment backbencher. One of many who harbored a certain unspoken nostalgia for the 1950's, MacKenzie viewed President Holton as a new Eisenhower--someone who could unite the country, both ideologically and geographically, behind a middle-of-the-road agenda. When the administration unveiled FECA, MacKenzie jumped at the chance to support it.

Nevertheless, the "maverick" would run into problems with his electorate within his first year. Despite Vermont's cosmopolitan leanings on social issues, there were many, including the following of former Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders--a self-identified democratic socialist--who were opposed to what was obviously a vehicle for mass globalization. Meanwhile, what few conservatives remained in Vermont balked at some of the arms reduction and environmental regulation-related language of the policy package. As FECA came under more scrutiny throughout the "long summer" of 1989, many of its more idiosyncratic features fell by the wayside. What might have shifted the global economy and world balance of power instead became a rather bland set of free trade and environmental proposals. Eventually passed in 1990 with the aid of Republican moderates and Democratic "reformers", it nevertheless came at a political loss to the Holton administration and to MacKenzie domestically. Despite national obscurity, MacKenzie's name was raised in Vermont as the subject of a recall effort led by both Old Right conservatives including former Libertarian candidate Roger MacBride, as well as by Vermont's growing New Left constituency.

"I just don't get it," MacKenzie moaned to his wife, Donna in their Battleboro, VT home. Sipping his club soda, the Senator bemoaned the state of his local popularity. "Ten, twenty years ago, my approvals would be in the sixties! I don't know what happened to this state..." Don't worry, David, we'll overcome--we always do!" "I swear, sometimes it seems the cultural Marxists have got their hands on this state! This- this Bernie Sanders character, how'd he get elected anywhere in the United States!? Socialism's been on the run in this country since 1980! Meanwhile, it's like Republican base voter has gone crazy!" "Dave, the world's always got room for common sense! You know that!" "I guess I do, honey. Sorry, I just get so friggin' worked up some time!" Donna's prediction would seem to be correct, as MacKenzie's opponents failed to get the required signatures, turning their attention instead to other ventures, including 1990 Congressional and Gubernatorial races.

MacKenzie would also provide pro-Holton votes on other issues including the administration's successful drive to raise the drinking age to 21 and mandating "explicit" warning labels on music recordings int he 1989-1993 period.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"The Old Man"

While after his defeat in 1972, many a liberal commentator was glad to proclaim the final death knell for Richard Nixon's career, such was not to be. Between 1973 and 1989, Nixon would be the only living Republican ex-President, and with that came certain gravitas. The fact that he had won the popular vote in '72 would be an eternal source of legitimacy within Republican ranks. Even today, Nixon's actions as President are debated, as few can properly pin-down whether or not he acted in a liberal or a conservative fashion, if he was a good President or one of the worst. Regardless, despite officially leaving the Oval Office on January 20th, 1973, Nixon would find himself returning again and again. The first time would be to bitterly counsel his "upstart" successor, Bobby Kennedy, who in many ways mirrored Nixon's policies of triangulation and detente. The situation was an ironic one, as Kennedy was even more loathe to call on Lyndon Johnson for advice, and preferred the company of the scheming, curmudgeonly Nixon; both viewed themselves as people who could stand above the fray, manipulate it when needed, and, most importantly, look past it towards a greater goal.

However, Nixon's real influence would be in Republican White Houses. By his own account "Between 1952 and 1992, there was only one Republican ticket that I was neither on, nor had I made." Goldwater was the exception. Aside from that, Nixon had himself been on five Republican tickets and Connally, Dole, and Holton were all proteges of his. As such, when both Presidents Dole and Holton needed an older, more seasoned, and more objective voice on important matters, particularly in foreign policy, Nixon was the man to call on. Certainly not Brewer and definitely not Kennedy. As well, the Dole and Holton administrations were both shaped by Nixon, but in their own ways. Throughout the 1981 to 1989 period, Dole in many ways succeeded at Nixon's original attempt to bind populist and blue collar workers to the GOP through casting the Democrats as the party of international weakness and social liberalism. During the Holton Presidency, it was Nixon who urged that Holton craft a "revolutionary" international agenda that led to the crafting of FECA. Nevertheless, Nixon immediately saw that Holton, in many ways not a national politician by training, lost the dialogue.

Above: Past and Present - President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon campaigning with 1969 Virginia gubernatorial candidate A. Linwood Holton and his wife. Holton won the race, and Nixon lost re-election. Nevertheless, Nixon's influence remained strong in the White House well after he left it, and Holton would be one of many Presidents "the Old Man" advised during the latter's post-Presidency.

"Lin, I've been telling you this, your administration's got the right ideas--these guys you've got writing legislation, they're God-damned geniuses. That's not the point. You've got to win the f#cking dialogue. These cocksucking troglodytes in either party aren't gonna f#cking get that. You've got to make this about American power projection, not about American surrender! The blue collar union f#ck, he sees free trade and he thinks his job's gone; combine that with environmentalism and you're done! If you try to debate this in economic jargon, you've already lost!" The former President was displeased. Surely he wouldn't have lost this fight. While Holton had more vision--something the Old Man appreciated--Dole certainly had more balls. "I guess this is what we get for electing a God-damned liberal", Nixon ceded. "If something big doesn't happen by '92, this party's done with power."

The right in a number of former Nixon hands would be representative of the divergent paths of the party's two different wings. While administration higher-ups like Bush and Chafee had served in the Nixon administration, key hands in the Nixon White House were more and more alienated from the Republican establishment. The decision by Pat Buchanan to leave the White House rather than work with and for "A man who we can count on every time to deliver us liberal legislation and liberal judges" was exemplary of the issue. Buchanan, who had gone on to help craft the political message of both Dole campaigns and to give it "legs" in the South and among industrial and blue collar voters, would have no involvement with Holton--despite having been a proponent of his selection as Vice President. Senator James Buckley, who had served under the Old Man as Ambassador to the U.N. from 1971 to 1973, was proving to be the ring-leader against Holton in the Senate.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall in late 1989 would provide a convenient foreign distraction to allow parts of the amended FECA through Congress. Among other legislation passed before 1990 mid-terms would be the Handgun Violence Prevention Act, the Clean Air Act, and Immigration Act of 1990, and the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990. Despite the fact that past presidents like Nixon were able in many cases to sign into law bills that contradicted campaign promises and broke with the positions of their political bases, the Holton administration's failure at proper message control would prove deadly. Internationally, however, under the guiding hands of President Holton, Secretary of State Bush, and Secretary of Defense John Chafee, the administration was able to make public relations gains with actions in Latin American and Eastern Europe.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Wow, I can not seem to get past page 7, can I?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1990 United States Senate Elections

With the Republican Party divided between the White House and conservatives in the House and Senate, the GOP entered the 1990 election season without a unified message. While consensus-minded candidates attempted to foster communion under the message that Republicans had maintained a steady ship, the fact was that some in the White House wanted to ditch the "troglodytic, ultra-nationalist" wing of the party entirely, while populists on the party's fringe campaigned against globalization and social liberalism. As such, there was division and rancor even among the RNC and the legislators in charge of heading the party's 1990 election efforts.

Democrats: 54 (+2)
Republicans: 45 (-2)
Third Party: 1

The notable Republican victories came from anti- (or at least non-) Holton Republicans; while most of these were at the gubernatorial level, Bob Smith's victory in New Hampshire for Gordon Humphrey's old seat was notable. In Massachusetts, Boston College President, Dole administration diplomat, and cantankerous social conservative John Silber won the Governorship as a Republican. In Michigan, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Christian Mattingly beat his Democratic opponent to succeed Governor Blanchard (who had moved onto the Senate); this was without White House support. Those seats that Democrats did pick up were populated largely by members of their "reform" faction of various stripes; the quasi-conservative Al Gore in Tennessee, the "libertarian" Ben Nighthorse Campbell in Colorado, and the technocratic James Blanchard in Michigan. J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., the Louisiana Senator who lost to Republican challenger Ben Bagert, while by no means a standard-issue progressive, was liberal relative to his electorate. Jefferson Dent, who had held the post of Senate Majority Whip since 1989, shuddered as he thought of his caucus lurching again to the right.

In reacting to the increased Democratic majority, the Holton administration attempted to turn this obstacle into an opportunity. Marshall Coleman was replaced as White House Chief of Staff with outgoing Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker Jr. Baker, who was looking forward to retirement after 24 years in the Senate, nevertheless agreed to spend another year in D.C. in order to reconcile an increasingly distant White House with Congress. In a meeting facilitated by Baker, the President attempted to begin to organize what could be viewed as his caucus of support within Congress. Members of his own party included Senators George W. Bush of Texas, David MacKenzie of Vermont, John Warner of Virginia, and Richard Lugar of Indiana. From the opposite bench came Paul Simon of Illinois, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, Chuck Robb of Virginia, and the three freshmen from the 1990 elections. The Democratic group's relative newness to Washington was exemplified in the fact that Simon, elected in 1984, was their most senior Senate member. Holton's agenda, for the remainder of the term, included expanding trade to what had previously been the second and third worlds, financial deregulation, crime control, environmental and public safety protections, and many other initiatives that had been slashed from the initial version of the Federal Economic Convergence Act.

Holton's first major success following this meeting would be the ratification and signing of the North American Free Trade Pact in February, 1991.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Cool timeline. I can't wait to see more.
Having Linwood Holton be president is definitely unconventional.