Unfortunate Son

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

List of United States Senators from New York, Class I
Royal S. Copeland (Democratic) March 4th, 1923-June 17th, 1938
William Westman (Democratic) December 3rd, 1938-January 3rd, 1947
Irving M. Ives (Republican) January 3rd, 1947-January 3rd, 1959
Kenneth Keating (Republican) January 3rd, 1959-January 3rd, 1965
Robert F. Kennedy (Democratic) January 3rd, 1965-December 14th, 1972
Perry B. Duryea (Republican) December 20th, 1972-January 3rd, 1975
James L. Buckley (Conservative) January 3rd, 1975-January 3rd, 1977
Bella Abzug (Democratic) January 3rd, 1977-Present

Before Robert F. Kennedy's election, New York's Class I Senate seat had earned a reputation for electing "conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans". The fact that William Westman had succeeded Royal S. Copeland in 1938 by triumphing a Republican opponent to his left was the first sign of a "trend" for the seat, as both Westmand and Copeland were known fiscal conservatives. When Westman was defeated by Irving Ives in 1946, and when the seat remained in the hands of liberal Republicans well into the 60's, the idea had become firmly entrenched. It was only with the election of liberal Democrat Bobby Kennedy that the seat showed signs of "normalization", and Abzug's election in 1976 over Conservative-Republican Buckley helped complete the process.

While Westman was out of the Senate come 1947, he was far from unpopular in his home state, and had a firmly established national profile. He would go on to work in the Truman, then in the Eisenhower administrations as Ambassador to the Court of St. James. By the time of his official return to the U.S. in 1959, the Westman family patriarch had moved significantly to the right since his days of support Robert La Follette in 1924. Were it not for the presence of the Kennedys and the Republican disaster of 1964, he might well have taken to endorsing Republicans--or at least voting for them, as he had faded from the public following the '50's--nationally. In "the Old Man"'s waning days, he did express dissatisfaction with the Brewer administration, and privately displayed disgust with Bobby Kennedy. His final presidential ballot would be cast for Ed Clark and Scott Westman--"Only to support the boy," he stated--and he was quite pleased with 1980's results.

It would be in the waning years of his life that Christian Mattingly met "Willy" Westman, as the wealthy New Yorker was among his first and greatest investors. While Mattingly's views of Scott Westman would fluctuate and ultimately be appraised as "a mixture of respect and utter disgust", Mattingly would always hold the former ambassador in the highest possible regard and admiration.

The Presidential Voting Record of William Westman
1920: Warren G. Harding (Republican-Ohio)
1924: Robert M. La Follette (Progressive-Wisconsin)
1928: Alfred E. Smith (Democrat-New York)
1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat-New York)
1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat-New York)
1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat-New York)
1948: Harry S. Truman (Democrat-Misssouri)
1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican-New York)
1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican-New York)
1960: John F. Kennedy (Democrat-Massachusetts)
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat-Texas)
1968: Richard M. Nixon (Republican-New York)
1972: Robert F. Kennedy (Democrat-New York)
1976: Robert F. Kennedy (Democrat-New York)
1980: Edward Clark (Libertarian-California)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Considering that those who would vote for Ed Clark were basically a bunch of young liberals, some libertarian guys and some progressive people, would this travestite be a problem anyway?

It is still 1980, they were hoping for some support from the right as well thanks to the "Disraeli faction" that might fall through, and all-around it isn't exactly good press, especially in this era.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Great job so far, Cathcon.  I need to get back to work on mine.  

And BTW, Malcolm Wilson was pro-life?  I could've sworn that he would be pro-choice, being a Republican from New York in the 70s.

Thanks.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Towards the Finish Line

The drama of third parties aside, the 1980 race would be primarily between two candidates throughout; disregarding the various "Let Ed Debate" protests that Dole's and Brewer's guards would have to wade through. Though a two-way race it may have been, it was hardly even. Coming out of the conventions, the Dole/Holton ticket led heavily until the end, something that would be a frequent cause of angst for Democratic staffers. A young and furious Pat Cadell who'd been a leading pollster for the party 1972, would be known to furiously remark on occasion "No one has faced a campaign this futile since Goldwater in '64!" The 'wiz-kid' that had helped lead Kennedy to victory twice was losing it. In a more rational voice, he would explain "Industrial workers are at their lowest point of confidence in the Democratic party since, oh, before we even made these polls!? Meanwhile, the youth vote, which was absolutely crucial for us in our last two victories, where are they? They don't give a damn, that's what! We could only use the draft for so long, and any hope of regaining them after what Bobby did will have to wait until well after the election. The South is the only place where there's a ray of light, and that's just in comparison to the past couple of performances, for God's sake! Finally, we have the coast. The pissed off 'Reagan Democrats' in places like California aren't ready to return to the party just yet, and we only have tepid backing of higher-income liberals. When it comes time to face facts, we are f#cked!"

Post-Convention Polling for President

Blue - Strong Republican
Light Blue - Lean Republican
Gray - Tossup
Light Red - Lean Democratic
Red - Democratic

While Democrats scrambled to gather together their formerly successful coalition, the Dole team was riding high. Pat Buchanan's behind-the-scenes successful organizing of a coalition of conservative and union Democrats (not always easy bed mates) had turned into a relevant "Democrats for Dole" group that opposed what it referred to as "the weak foreign policy and apathetic stance towards the working man that has prevailed in government these last eight years." Meanwhile, more liberal surrogates were hard at work to bring on board "Kennedy Republicans" and fiscally moderate liberals that had supported the Democratic presidential candidate in the last two elections. It would be Lowell Weicker, hoping to gain the favor of the nominee, who devoted a large amount of time to bringing those voters back. "I've head people comment, and this is from my own campaign as well, that the types of primary voters who supported Rockefeller, Evans, and Meskill don't have a home in the Republican party anymore. I'll tell you this: you have a friend in Bob Dole. While the Democrats are busy placating Southern and union interests, the Republicans have maintained their focus on good governance, national strength, and honest reform." It was very important, of course, that these two different outreach groups never totally intersect.

Among those few that did pay attention to "The Dole Scheme" as he called it, was reporter and former Pitkin County Sheriff Hunter S. Thompson. "All in all, it seems that the former Nixon hatchet man is fast at work assembling some strange fascist coalition of Republican dominance that will stand as a Fourth Reich of far-right government. ... From Wall Street traders in Connecticut, to the old Goldwater-Wallace bunch in the Deep South, and union men in the 'rust belt', this campaign has been utterly and sociopathically brilliant at electioneering. For any honest Democrat or liberal these days, it will be a truly scary time ahead." Thompson would later refer to Dole as "The President Nixon wished he'd been."

While Brewer had hoped that the debates would be his chance to make his case to the American people, such was not the case. While Dole himself had been seen as "green" and unready during the 1976 Vice Presidential debate with Brewer, he'd had an entire four years to ready himself for a rematch. One major issue would be over the inclusion of Ed Clark. While the Dole campaign had good reason to favor his inclusion--"Clark is the perfect guy to eat away at young, urban liberal voters that Kennedy relied on", said Buchanan--Brewer insisted that the Libertarian candidate not be allowed. Dole, at last, favoring a direct confrontation with Brewer than a move to humiliate him in a potential Dole-Clark debate, agreed to Brewer's terms. The League of Women Voters would sponsor two presidential debates, one on domestic and one on foreign policy, and one Vice Presidential debate. While Vice President Inouye would be seen as the superior debater against former Governor Holton, Dole managed to dominate the two presidential debates, securing an even larger lead than previously. Unrest in Iran, which had been an undercurrent of Middle East geopolitics since 1977, was once again flaring up against the Shah and Dole used that to his advantage. "The fact that our allies are again so threatened by agents of the Soviet Union is a clear sign of decreasing American stature across the globe thanks to the disaster of a foreign policy that the Democrats have led with these past eight years." Brewer, for his part, was caught in a bind. While not responsible for Kennedy's policies and while having to disown his predecessor's corrupt actions in other areas, in order to make the case for a full term, he would have to defend said policies to the death. Brewer would later write in his memoirs that for nights on end in the campaign he'd wished he'd come to power by any other way.

Election Results
Running on a platform of a renewed and revitalized arms race with the Soviet Union in the name of defending America's national interests, reduced tax rates, social conservatism, and a balanced budget, Robert Joseph Dole was elected to be the 40th President of the United States of America. The landslide Republican victory would sweep all parts of the nation, though Dole's highest totals would come from the "farm belt", where not only was he its favorite son, but it would profit the most from Dole's proposal to re-establish grain sales to the U.S.S.R. The ticket nevertheless, would suffer at certain points. While Republicans made significant inroads into the Democratic-leaning "rust belt", the national popular vote totals would be reflected at dis-proportionally low levels in New England, the South, and the West. New England was an area that Republicans had been losing ground in since the days of FDR. In this case, while Vermont and New Hampshire both gave Dole majorities, the other states he would either lose or gain only by plurarlity. This was seen largely as a result of socially moderate-to-liberal and more affluent voters favoring the Clark/Westman ticket despite the efforts of Dole surrogates in the region. The same could be said for the opposite end of the country, where Westerners of all stripes had given a significant amount of support to the Libertarian ticket relative to its national totals. Political scientists would credit this with the fact that "movement conservatives" and Disraeli supporters were disaffected by Dole's much more "middle America" oriented brand of conservatism, that moderates in states such as California had gone for the "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" ticket, and anti-war activists and former McGovern supporters had preferred Clark immensely over the other two. Dole's lackluster performance in the South relative to Connally's was largely the fact that Dole's campaign had worked mainly to build a coalition of the industrial North and had abandoned some more Nixonian race-baiting tactics, and, obviously the region was where from the incumbent Brewer hailed. Nevertheless, Dole had won not only an electoral majority, but a popular mandate to govern, and with the Senate remaining in Republican hands, it seemed there was little stopping him.

Senator Robert J. Dole (Republican-Kansas)/Former Governor A. Linwood Holton, Jr. (Republican-Virginia) 475 electoral votes, 53.6% of the popular vote
President Albert Brewer (Democrat-Alabama)/Vice President Daniel Inouye (Democrat-Hawaii) 63 electoral votes, 40.3% of the popular vote
Attorney Edward E. Clark (Libertarian-California)/Senator Scott Westman (Libertarian-Montana) 0 electoral votes, 5.7% of the popular vote
Former Congressman John Rarick (American Independent-Louisiana)/Ms. Eileen Knowland Shearer (American Independent-California) 0 electoral votes, .3% of the popular vote
Others: 0 electoral votes, .1% of the popular vote

Kansas Senator Bob Dole would win a resounding electoral victory in the 1980 presidential election, giving what many thought was the Republican Party a mandate to govern as they saw fit.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've had to wait six pages to do this.

List of Presidents of the United States of America
37. Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican-New York) January 20th, 1969-January 20th, 1973
38. Robert Francis Kennedy (Democrat-New York) January 20th, 1973-October 9th, 1978
39. Albert Preston Brewer (Democrat-Alabama) October 9th, 1978-January 20th, 1981
40. Robert Joseph Dole (Republican-Kansas) January 20th, 1981-Present

List of Vice Presidents of the United States of America
39. Spiro Theodore Agnew (Republican-Maryland) January 20th, 1969-January 20th, 1973
40. Albert Preston Brewer (Democrat-Alabama) January 20th, 1973-October 9th, 1978
Vacant: October 9th, 1978-January 8th, 1979
41. Daniel Ken Inouye (Democrat-Hawaii) January 8th, 1979-January 20th, 1981
42. Abner Linwood Holton, Jr. (Republican-Virginia) January 20th, 1981-Present

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Thank you for the comments, y'all. Whenever I update next will concern the Dole cabinet and the 1980 Senate results.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Dole Administration's First Days

Coming into office, the Dole team, while ecstatic with its victory and the increased Republican majority in the House, was careful. Several Republican strategists that would soon be operating within the White House gave advice of caution. "We can not our enthusiasm and possible resulting hubris destroy what we hope to be a new Republican majority," one said. As such, in assembling a cabinet and the first pieces of legislation to be put forward come January 20th, there was an emphasis on creating bi-partisan consensus and legislation that would withstand pressures from the liberal House.

With that in mind, the Dole administration would reflect some of the bi-partisan tendencies of Robert F. Kennedy's. In a personal snub to the Brewer administration and signaling a much more resolute direction of foreign policy, Washing Senator and "Cold War Liberal" Henry M. Jackson, one of the outgoing president's primary opponents, would be chosen for Secretary of State. Years later, Buchanan, who had worked closely with the incoming administration, would regret his then-stated support for the Jackson appointment. “It was through him that all these, well I don’t want to say it, all these types like Wolfowitz and Abrams got their grip on the American foreign policy apparatus. I was far too short-sighted when backing that pick in 1980. Hell, at the time, I was more surprised that Jackson was willing to do it!”

Aside from Jackson, there would be a number of other bi-partisan picks. A fellow enemy of liberal Democrats out of Washington State, outgoing Governor Dixy Lee Ray, would be chosen for Secretary of Energy. “At a time when America faces soaring fuel prices that have affected every facet of life here, this country needs to be willing to tread down paths new and old to find solutions to the problems we face.” In this case, it would be Ray’s support for the pursuit of nuclear energy. That, combined with Dole’s foreign policy and the reversal of a few RFK-era energy regulations, was intended to properly do battle with OPEC and the oil shocks that America had received over the past eight years. The other Democrat of note appointed to the administration would be prosecutor Leon Jarwoski who, in 1977 and 1978, had been among the chief pursuers of the Kennedy administration’s various improprieties.

Secretary of State: Henry M. Jackson (D-WA)
Secretary of the Treasury: William E. Simon (R-NJ)
Secretary of Defense: John B. Connally (R-TX)
Attorney General: Leon Jarwoski (D-TX)
Secretary of the Interior: Stanley K. Hathaway (R-WY)
Secretary of Agriculture: Christopher S. “Kit” Bond (R-MO)
Secretary of Commerce: Donald T. Regan (R-NJ)
Secretary of Labor: Peter J. Brennan (I-NY)
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Winfield Dunn (R-TN)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Jack F. Kemp (R-NY)
Secretary of Transportation: Norbert Tiemann (R-NE)
Secretary of Environment and Energy: Dixy Lee Ray (D-WA)

Ambassador to the United Nations: Jacob D. Beam
National Security Adviser: Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL)
Press Secretary: Robert F. Bennett (R-KS)

The appointment of Connally to the position of Defense was largely a decision based on appearances and appeasement. Connally was a former nominee who Dole owed a large amount to and had an impressive enough portfolio for the job. However, at that point in his career, Connally was uninterested in the specifics of managing the Pentagon. Instead, the tasks of Secretary would fall largely to Dole’s crafty National Security Adviser, Donald Rumsfeld. Despite a shallow level of previous involvement in foreign policy due to what he termed “the Nixon administration’s premature end”, since 1973 he had done his time in both the private sector and a number of conservative think tanks. Serving briefly as an adviser to his former protege Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld had signed onto the Dole campaign early, being familiar with the man from the Nixon days. Weaseling and maneuvering his way up the ladder, he was thoroughly satisfied when offered the low key position of National Security Adviser. “Kissinger could’ve gone far in this position if Bobby Kennedy hadn’t been able to nudge around a few votes in Illinois.” he was fond of commenting up through his first few months in the position.

Above: Donald Rumsfeld, the Dole administration's cunning inaugural National Security Adviser. While Defense Secretary Connally would function as a hand's off manager, Rumsfeld would be all too willing to get his hands dirty in the Pentagon's specifics.

Jack Kemp was a different flavor of Republican than the typical Dole administration appointee, or in general. Representing Buffalo, the former football player displayed throughout his ten year Congressional career strong support for Laffer-esque tax cuts as well as urban issues. Referred to by a few as a “compassionate conservative”, Kemp--who had riled a number of feathers when he criticized the Dole tax plan--was nevertheless appointed to the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Intending to forge a path between arch-conservatives and “tax-and-spend liberals”, Kemp sought to use the office to lead the way in 1980’s urban policy.

Though legislation enacting much of the Dole agenda would have to wait on bargaining with Congress, within the first week of Dole’s inauguration--in which he promised comprehensive reform of the tax system, a stronger foreign policy, and a revitalized American economy--he lifted the embargo on grain sales to the Soviet Union. This was important on both a diplomatic and economic level as it shored up support from his long time farm belt constituents as well as taking the “fight” in the Cold War away from the Soviet people and towards their government, an important rhetorical distinction for the administration.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

October 19th, 1999

Mattingly coughed as he stepped in front of the crowded conference room. The men in it, what a century ago might have been called leaders of the American economy, looked sleepless, weak, and as if the life had been drained out of them. A decade of a Wall Street- and technology-driven economy, combined with free "trade" had decimated the industries he so loved. However, if someone wasn't willing to step up to the plate, who would?

"Since the, eh, so-called 'Atari Democrats' took over, what have we seen? Styling themselves as centrists and post-liberal Democrats, they proceeded to do what liberals have done best: force progress upon the American people. And what did we, America, do about it? We accepted these changes as for the better, necessary, and especially as lucrative. Why wouldn't we? With the technology explosion in '94 and the stock boom following, it seemed the only rational thing was to buy into it. However, the toryhood of change was not to last.

Let us start from the beginning. As opposed to traditional Democratic policies favoring unions or somesuch, in an attempt to prove just how progressive the administration was, it wished not only to push the typical things you'll find from any run-of-the-mill left-of-center administration, but as well to radically push the American economy itself forward. Ironically, we've seen some similar policies pushed by the Conservative party in Thatcherite Britain. In both cases, the government in power accelerated the push away from an industrial economy to one more centered around emerging technology and stock trading. While some might simply shrug this off as 'what had to happen' or something like that, I object. With federal funds funneled towards Silicon Valley and the nation caught up in the mania of easy money, little did any of us see the approaching crash. Meanwhile, the Democrats opened the gates to foreign investment. At the same time, we unleashed a tide of overseas manufacturing from both Asia and Europe into our country, which promoted outsourcing and lowered labor costs. Soon, we had full computer labs and empty factories. Now, I can tell you that each and every one of us in this room is a proud capitalist. However, we are industrial, American capitalists. While the old Democratic party would have sought to destroy our companies and divide the spoils among the workers and welfare recipients, the "New Democrats" since the days of Bobby Kennedy accomplished the same goal by merely lowering tariffs. Instead, of unions, the party in power sees fit to divide our companies among the Japanese and Germans.

In 1896, William McKinley was elected running on a platform of industry and sound currency. His opponent, William Jennings Bryan, sought to drag the country backwards into the world of agrarianism. Now, the Democrats have finally had the gall to leap forward and we have seen where that has left America. The Republican party must be an anchor. Industry has supported America for a century and recent attempts to abandon it in favor of futuristim and half-baked pipe dreams have paid off in economic catastrophe. The reason for my candidacy has been to save the America that I have seen thrive, that I have seen prosper. I grew up the son of a UAW worker and have, through hard work, persistence, good luck, and free market policies, managed to rise to the top. In the America of the Democratic party, a party torn between 'Artari', labor, and Luddites, such would be impossible. This isn't for political power or party numbers, this is for the country we love."

As Mattingly stepped aside he could already hear the cash register sounds as these weakened titans of industry pulled it together to give their country one last shot. While outsourcing had become prevalent over the last ten years, these people had held on. He would not betray them.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1980 Senate Results
The Senate results delivered Republicans a super-majority in the U.S. Senate, giving Howard Baker another two years as Senate Majority Leader. However, the party failed again to win a majority in the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, it was the closest they'd come to it in a long time. That wasn't saying much. Despite the power Baker wielded in the Senate come January 3rd, 1981, it was clear that compromise would still need to be made between the Republicans and their Democratic counterparts.

Republicans: 62 (+9)
Democrats: 37 (-9)
Independents: 1

The Rigors of Recovery

The first meeting between Dole and Baker as President and Senate Majority Leader was congenial. The two had known each other as Senate colleagues since the 1960's. Had Baker not been tied up with his leadership duties, the two men might be meeting at opposite ends of the table after the 1980 election. While the Tennessee Senator had built his career on his ability to reach across the aisle, in this case, his greatest challenge would be in restraining the base.

Above: Howard Baker and Bob Dole, 1979. Within two years, it would be Dole who was Baker's boss, not the other way around. Despite their power shifts, the two would remain close allies.

Dole was of a different breed than several of the "Republican young-bloods" that had begun to inhabit the party. Jack Kemp was perhaps the greatest representative of these up-and-comers. Vigorously in favor of tax-cuts, free trade, and adherents to economist Arthur Laffer, Kemp and his crew differed significantly from the old-fashioned monetarist Republicans that had dominated the party's fiscal views for years. Going back to the days of Eisenhower, even Goldwater himself had only favored tax cuts that didn't affect the deficit. The "supply-siders" cared little about the deficit and favored economic growth instead. Despite the urging of Jack Kemp and others, Dole and his monetarist Treasury Secretary William Simon were determined not to enact a wholly radical economic bill.

The Republicans' conservative wing drew up the Humphrey-Crane Economic Recovery Act, slashing taxes in all brackets brutally and nearly decimating the welfare state. Gordon J. Humphrey and Phil Crane, the two architects of the plan, saw little problem in doing so. Dole, however, in speaking with his administration, was wholly against it. "This will throw the economy into a damned tailspin!" he barked. The difference was much more of practicality than of principle. Such a grand deviation from the set way of things would, it was agreed, have far-reaching and unintended consequences. "Even if this was the administration's goal," Simon stated, "it would be well beyond foolish to attempt it all at once. We can look at Great Britain for an example of that." At that time in history, Margaret Thatcher-led Britain was mired in recession and the government was being pressured to take a "U-Turn".

It was obvious to the administration that such a bill would not pass muster and that an alternative would have to be crafted. Instead of something reflecting the liberals in either the Democratic or Republican camps, the resulting package of bills would be representative more of a shift in the Republican party toward northern industrial centers. Senator H. John Heinz, III of Pennsylvania, whose roots lay in Pittsburgh, and Representative Carl Pursell of Michigan, who previously had been Wayne County Commissioner, were the main sponsors of what was dubbed the Comprehensive Economic Reform Act (CERA, or Heinz-Pursell) of 1981. A shift away from "the politics of slashing" as employed by Crane and his allies, CERA would nonetheless cut both taxes and spending but by less than the conservative ERA. As well, the cuts in spending intentionally outweighed the tax decreases, allowing for saved money to be redirected towards urban investment. Unexpected from Republicans since the 1920's, tariffs would also be raised. These increases were reflective of the two sponsors' bases, as, while several industrial products were given new protection, automobiles and steel would see some of the largest duty raises.

Above: John Heinz, co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Economic Reform Act of 1981, was able to draw Democratic support to his recovery bill. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, would be one of the first to come to its aid following the CERA's unveiling.

The bill took much longer to cobble together than Humphrey-Crane, as it consisted of input from legislators across the board. As critics railed against the administration for seeming inaction on the economy--though a number of smaller bills that would eventually act in accordance with the CERA were passed in the meantime--in April, Heinz and Pursell presented their plan. With the arch-conservative plan having failed in two different votes and a number of both Southern and industrial Democrats consenting to voting for the new bill, it passed easily. On April 17th, 1981, the Comprehensive Economic Reform Act was signed into law by President Dole.

Taxing and spending would hardly be the only focuses of the CERA, however. With entitlement programs receiving cuts, job training programs would replace a number of them. One part of the bill would mandate greater training for functioning in the free market: tax preparation, housing, accounting, and so on. While a small and largely unnoticed section, the requirements, to be phased in for the 1982-1983 school year, would have a subtle yet important effect on the nation's future.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

If Dole was such a "moderate" (as the Tea Partiers suggest), then why would he be popular in the South?

And BTW, Weicker was in Independent when he served as CT governor.  Does he stay a Republican in this timeline?

First off, as 1980 suggests, by 2000, there's already been a male candidate for President with the last name Dole. I doubt anyone would call him a "belle". Secondly, as for Weicker, it remains to be seen. The parties are going to be looking slightly different in this timeline than in real life.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

In Coldest War

Dole Administration Foreign Policy: 1981-1983
With a cabinet comprised of a variety of both hawks and realists, the Dole administration was determined to reignite the arms race, whatever the cost. In taking a line from Jack Kennedy's 1960 campaign, the Dole foreign policy team's motto for the earliest years of his presidency was that there could be no price tag placed on national defense. Many in the President's Office of Budget and Management protested that this ran counter to their aims of reducing  the federal deficit, but the administration nevertheless pressed forward.

The first major policy decision would be Dole agreeing to continue the Brewer-era policy of arming rebels in Afghanistan. Both Robert Kennedy and Brewer had managed to maintain an America-friendly government in Iran, and Dole was determined that the U.S. not cede Afghanistan under his watch. Other actions by the White House would be more public: the signing of a budget for 1982 that significantly increased defense spending, including the development of a number of "Pentagon boondoggles" that had been quietly moved to the back-burner over the past twelve years. While Brewer had consented to modest defense increases, America's construction of nuclear arms had been slowed, and few in the defense and foreign policy apparatuses saw any reason not to support an arms buildup.

The administration has its fair share of critics, to be sure. While Republicans would, by-and-large, fall in line to support Dole's new defense plans, Lowell Weicker and Mark Hatfield would be chief among the President's party in the Senate to oppose his foreign policy. Together with a band of liberal- and libertarian-leaning fellow Republican legislators, they would form a small caucus in both houses of congress known informally as "the Mavericks". Thaddeus O'Connor of Maine would be their leader in the House of Representatives. Outside of Dole's party, a good number of Democrats had little problem trying to stall the administration's foreign policy agenda. Scott Westman became Dole's most vocal critic from the left, along with Senators Christopher Garrett of Vermont and Frank Church of Idaho. However, many in the Democratic Senate Minority spurned Westman as well, who had run for Vice President on the Libertarian line in 1980 and seemed to hold views counter to that of the base on economic and taxation issues.

Within Washington's central intelligence apparatus, a number of significant moves would be taken. Under Director of Central Intelligence Elliot Abrams, "Team B" would be set up. Supported by a number of Jackson's State Department neoconservatives, the idea had come into vogue that, in recent years (especially the eight years of Kennedy-Brewer), the nation had become too optimistic in regards to its foreign policy position. As such, it was Team B's responsibility to re-examine intelligence issues. History would show that it functioned essentially to produce the most pessimistic results, spurring greater funding for covert intelligence operations as well as defense spending in general. Abrams would also preside over CIA activities in Latin America.

The CIA would not be the only point of renovation in intelligence policy. Within the Defense Intelligence Agency, Project Socrates was begun in 1983 to investigate not only American military, but economic competitiveness and prevent the flow of superior technology to military adversaries. Headed by physicist and intelligence officer Michael Sekora, the "bird's eye view" it took would investigate the decline of America's industry and economy on an international level and seek to develop solutions to it. Following the Dole administration, Socrates would be labeled an "industrial policy" and defunded. Similar concepts in in trade and military policy would be brought back in the 21st century, however.

1982 Mid-Term Elections
The mid-term elections showed mixed results. While the economy was failing to recover as fast as Republicans would have liked, and it was obvious that they would fail to maintain their filibuster-proof Senate majority, there were some positive signs for President Dole. In Connecticut, Senator Lowell Weicker, long an enemy of activist conservatives within his own party, would face probably the greatest hurdle of his career. While just two years before he had been one of the leading candidates for his party's nomination, and still possessed a loyal following of Republican liberals, the tide was turning. Prescott Bush, Jr., son of the late Connecticut legislator Prescott Bush and brother to Texas' junior senator, had decided to seek the nomination for Senate that year. In March, Bush resoundingly won a caucus in Fairfield, CT, stunning observers. While Prescott was himself far from a "movement conservative", he received both public and private support from the party's right wing, and was seen as more favorable to them than Weicker. Bush briefly considered, out of party unity, dropping out of the race. However, a call from Patrick Buchanan--then the White House Communications Director--as well as overt endorsements from Prescott's brother George H.W. Bush, the Buckley brothers, and former Governor Ronald Reagan, kept Bush in the race. In the August primary, Bush triumphed with a comfortable victory of 54% over his liberal opponent.

As well, in Wyoming, Senator Beauregard D'Israeli would face a similar fate. While he had been but another loser of the 1980 Republican primaries, following the November elections, revelations began pouring out as former members of his campaign staff reported that D'Israeli, who had always publicly shied away from questions of his personal religion, was an avowed Satanist. Among his small corps of support, many had believed him agnostic or, perhaps, like his brother Congressman Mendelik D'Israeli of Montana, a generic Christian. While D'Israeli scoffed at the accusations, more upper-level campaign members began speaking to the media. The Senator had expected to cruise to re-election due to his state's Republican leanings, however, the rumors paired with his already anti-establishment ideology and abrasive way of doing business prompted one-term Wyoming Governor Alan Simpson to challenge D'Israeli in the primaries. While Simpson was no doctrinaire conservative, he was preferred by liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike to the wiley D'Israeli, and garnered significant funding from national donors, unseating D'Israeli with over 60% of the vote. D'Israeli, angered by the defeat, announced his bid as an independent, "freeing myself and my votes from the confines of the oppressive, collectivist, and moralizing two party system that so seeks to hold us all at the mercy of unions and big religion."

Meanwhile, in Montana, Senator Scott Westman was one of the Democrats that found himself under attack from his own party. Having alienated not only economic progressives, but members of the rank-and-file with his choice to run on the Libertarian ticket two years prior, he was besieged on all sides. However, Westman benefited from a far less organized political opposition than his contemporaries in the Republicans. Garnering 47% of the primary vote, Westman gathered a strange coalition comprised of left-wing anti-war and social issues activists, economic moderates, and "reform"-minded centrists who were impressed with his "taking on of big government and big business alike". Meanwhile, labor, liberals, hawks, and social moderates were split between four different candidates.

While the Democrats would gain five seats, two Republican pickups would put the Senate at a fifty-nine to forty-one seat balance, retaining Howard Baker as the majority leader of a near-fiibuster-proof majority. The Republican caucus would also become more unified as a result of the purging of Weicker and D'Israeli. While Simpson and Bush developed reputations as moderates, their voting records would be far more in line with their party than either of their predecessors.

Republicans: 60 (-3)
Democrats: 40 (+4)
Independents: 0 (-1)

Other initiatives that the Dole administration accomplished in its first two years would be the expansion of nuclear energy to combat rising oil prices and the signing of the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982. Despite President Dole signing legislation that cut federal spending, thus drawing opposition form anti-poverty advocates, the Republican president would nonetheless maintain good relations with urban and minority advocates due to bolstering of funds for minority-owned small businesses. Much of the reductions in Democratic anti-poverty programs would be re-directed towards this and similar efforts.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

"It Ain't the Wedding of the Century, But It'll Do."

Christian Mattingly married Kate McNamara on January 16th, 1981, after they had been dating a little over a year. Shortly after Christmas 1979, their relationship began by attending a friend's New Year's party heading into 1980. It was the most intensely positive feeling the small businessman had felt in a while, and he was loath to see it get away. Kate's cheerful optimism provided a comfortable balance to Mattingly's habitual cynicism in a way that strangely worked, and they were both incredibly sarcastic. While their families were happy for them, few people thought of it as a good decision. The economy, especially the auto industry in which they both made their living, was still in turmoil. While Huron Automotive was getting off the ground with its radical (critics alternated between calling it "predatory" and "parasitic") business policy of buying up closed down "Big Three" factories, there was little guarantee that it would see success. "I like Chris, but Kate's tying herself to ruin. The man's crazy." some tended to say. Meanwhile, Kate's career was by no means secure. General Motors was only a few years off of asking the federal government for a massive loan, and layoffs and restructuring were still frequent. Rumors would start a year later that it was due to the fact that Kate birthed their first child seven months into the marriage. Bryan Patrick Mattingly was born on August 18th, 1981.

Despite the wedding taking place at Shrine of the Little Flower Church on 12 Mile and Woodward in Royal Oak, MI, the ceremony was a humble one due to the couple's lack of finances. The reception was largely BYOB for the same reasons, and there was no grand honeymoon for the newlyweds. An extended weekend in a cottage on Lake Michigan would have to do, given their busy work schedules.

Huron Automotive's business design was based in large part on the hard-working engineering team led by Mattingly's childhood friend Chuck Hurley. While questions were raised as to the wisdom of hiring a group of engineers who were available only through massive layoffs by Detroit's "Big Three", Mattingly would point out in his memoirs that his team had already made what he called "corporate sh#t lists" for designs that were viewed as "too experimental". "The reason America's main automotive corporations were failing was because of the ugly, awful, cheap-yet-expensive, and inefficient designs that they began pioneering in the last third of the 1970's. The team that Chuck put together of corporate rejects was the most competent group of automotive professionals I've ever had the pleasure of working with." Fuel-efficient designs benefited from the oil shocks that Kennedy and his contemporaries had been unable to forestall, and while oil prices began to decline in early 1983, the aesthetic appeal of Huron's designs was able to prevent revenue losses.

However, Mattingly's greatest benefit was the inspiration triggered by his devotion to the company. "Do you seriously think that the lethargic and pessimistic American workforce of the Kennedy recessions was going to act like they did without that bastard at the helm? Well into the late '80's, the company was still paying delayed overtime. Only a leader willing to foresake so much in favor of his company was going to get the type of work out of his employees that allowed the company to succeed." Accusations during his first presidential campaign that he was a neglectful father and husband would come to haunt him. The fact that Kate had to leave the auto industry to become a mother was another source of personal angst for Mattingly. While these would be regrets that he lived with for much of his life, he would continue to rationalize that any children he fathered would have had nowhere near the opportunity that he had afforded them without the sacrifices he made. The press would not be the only source of criticism over his frequent absence during his first-born's formative years. "You think I didn't want to be there, you little sh#t!? Did you want to be raised in a focking trailer park with a laid-off factory worker sh#t dad? Your mother already had to give up her career to raise you, how about we be on welfare like every other person that didn't have the drive to haul themselves up? I scratched to survive since you grandfather died, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be shamed for granting you chances I never had!"

Needless to say, the early 1980's were an incredibly stressful period for the newly formed Mattingly family. Nevertheless, by 1984, with a stabilizing economy and solid growth for Huron Automotive in the wake of reduced foreign competition and the Big Three struggling to catch up, the family was on firmer financial footing. It was with the interests of himself, his family, and his business that he proudly cast a vote to re-elect President Bob Dole.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Blessings of Tippecanoe

The economic recovery of the 1980's was to occur during the second part of Dole's first term. While there were continual pressures from moderates in the party to enact more Keynesian policies to boost the economy, especially given Republican losses in the mid-terms (while Republicans were able maintain a strong majority in the Senate, their near-majority in the House of Representatives had been massively set back), Treasury Secretary William E. Simon led the resistance to such efforts. "The administration's policies have been enacted for long-term recovery. What liberals are pushing for would not only disrupt the recovery we have worked hard to orchestrate through reversing our policies, it would confuse the market, making us worse-off than when we started."

However, whatever push-back the Dole administration received from its opponents going into the 1984 Presidential Election would soon be put to rest. On June 20th, 1983, while leaving a Heritage Institute convocation held to discuss the course of "conservative internationalism" in the wake of the Tories' victory in UK's June 1983 parliamentary elections, President Dole was shot three times. El Salvadorian radicals, in protest to the administration's anti-communist policies in Latin America, had attempted to kill the President. The assailants were quickly apprehended, and Dole was rushed to the hospital. Released six days later, the President showed that "communist lead" wouldn't keep him from leading the nation.

Above: President Dole emerged from the hospital with a renewed sense of confidence and vision that would fuel legislative and political success for both him and the Republican party.

The nation's confidence was rejuvenated with Dole's recovery, and it would affect the market. Despite a June 20th dive in stocks, they soared with Dole's release from the hospital. Scholars would debate for years after whether Dole might have fared nearly as well without the assassination attempt. However, that question mattered little to the Grand Old Party at the time. It was with these high spirits that the Republican party entered the year of 1984.

The last six months prior to the election year, the President and Congress saw as productive session. A personal goal of the President was the comprehensive Disabled and Elderly Americans Act, which received wide-ranging support. Not only would prohibitions based on disability be outlawed in a vein similar to 1960's civil rights act, but voting facilities for federal elections would be required to accommodate for handicapped and aging citizens. Bills regarding social security, cable deregulation, and nuclear energy would also be signed into law. In a nod to the administration's ally Barry Goldwater, the Goldwater Defense Reorganization Act would be pushed through Congress, stream-lining the military chain of command. In the wake of an attempted presidential assassination and heightened Cold War tensions, this was seen as particularly paramount to continued United States military success.

The 1984 Democratic Field
The landslide loss in 1980 had prompted serious conversation for change within the Democratic ranks. Senators Paul Tsongas and Gary Hart had become the most prominent crusaders for "New Democrats", promoting centrist, technocratic, and often quirky policies that were hoped to appeal to swing voters, but alienated the Democratic grassroots base. While President Robert F. Kennedy had managed to hold the Democrats together through his brother's popular legacy and straddling the gap between young left-wing voters and moderates, this new breed of centrist lacked the last name necessary for his degree of electoral success. With the monumental losses the party had suffered in 1978 and 1980 and the divisive primary battle President Brewer faced, the party was coming undone. With Senator Tsongas declining to run for re-election due to medical problems, Gary Hart was the obvious choice for the New Democrats.

Above: Senator Gary Hart (D-CO) would be hailed by the media as the most promising contender in the fight between Democrats to unseat Bob Dole. However, his previous association with the Robert F. Kennedy administration would serve to hinder him among voters who wanted a clean break from the 1970's.

However, Hart was hardly a clean candidate. Despite nearly ten years in the Senate, his political ties traced back to his years in the Kennedy administration. While he had nothing to do with later scandals, he suffered from media speculation regarding their association. Meanwhile, the party's left-wing was hardly satisfied. While Robert F. Kennedy had built his political career on the Democrats' activist base, he had upheld few of their aims following his first one hundred days in office. As such, left-wingers were aching for a nominee of their own. The 1980 primary battle had been one last disappointment for their champion, George McGovern. His failed re-election to the Senate in 1974, dismissal as Secretary of State, and what he viewed as a betrayal of values by Democratic primary voters, and the former South Dakota Senator refused another attempt at the presidency.

This left the claim to the title of liberal stalwart in the hands of Senator Christopher Garrett of Vermont. A pioneer for the party in the once solidly Republican Vermont, Garrett had built his career on uphill political battles, rising from the leader of a small Democratic caucus in the Vermont State Senate, to the U.S. House of Representatives, the Vermont Governor's mansion, and finally the U.S. Senate. It was hoped by some that, in a manner similar to George McGovern, he might be positioned to peel off liberal Republicans and fight for voters in rural conservative states.

The third large "big" candidate in the 1984 Democratic primaries would be Reubin Askew, the former Governor of Florida. Dubbed a "candidate without a party", Askew's progressive record on civil rights was, to many liberals, outweighed by his opposition to abortion and to nuclear freeze proposals. An ally of President Brewer, Askew's association with Southern conservative Democrats to many spelled his doom. However, with his perceived ability to fight for votes in the South, Republican states, and Catholic constituencies was seen as a strength by some insiders, and his surprising second place finishes in the first few nationally-observed primary races put him in contention for the nomination.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The 1984 Democratic Primaries, Part I

The field the Democratic party assembled to go up against Dole was far from at par. While a number of high-profile Democratic Senators including Ernest Hollings and John Glenn considered runs, the assassination attempt against the President in June, 1983, quickly deterred several strong challengers from being willing to challenge the President. While progressives were clamoring him to run, former Vice Presdient Inouye, intent on avoiding the pitfalls of the Brewer administration, was looking instead to rejoin the Senate, and declined to even explore a candidacy.

It would be fitting that the three most high-profile candidates served as critics of recent Democratic administrations. Christopher Garrett had long stood to the left of Kennedy and Brewer, claiming they were "Republican-lite" and "Dixiecrat-lite", respectively, despite previous support for Kennedy; Reuben Askew, if nominated, would be the most hawkish Democratic nominee since at least Johnson; and Gary Hart was a clear turn from the old "New Deal Coalition" politics, even acting critical of organized labor in a number of cases, something few national Democrats would have dared in the past.

Aside from those three would be a litany of candidates that, at the end of the day, went largely unnoticed. While Reverend Jesse Jackson at first ignited support from black voters, attack ads citing controversial statements, and Garrett's lifelong support for civil rights dating back to the 1950's served to undercut that. The idiosyncratic campaign style of Bruce Babbit, the populist James Traficant, and the feminist former Senator Bella Abzug would fall by the wayside in favor of more appealing candidates.

In Iowa, where the Democratic party was defined by labor, anti-war activists, and rural interests, Christopher Garrett was a perfect fit. In a surprise, former Governor Reuben O'Donovan Askew was able to take second place due to the state's Catholic population, blue collar workers dissatisfied with cultural liberalism, and his appeal to rural voters due to his Southern roots. While Gary Hart was polling well nationally, he would take fourth place due to his choice to not focus on the caucus and the hard work that Congressman Dick Gephardt had put into the state. However, in New Hampshire, the reform-minded Hart bounced back with a large margin of victory despite Garrett coming from the neighboring state of Vermont. On the March 13th round of primaries, each candidate would showcase their regional strength, but it would ultimately prove a draw.

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

[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.

[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.