Had an idea for a Dystopia TL based on ChairmanSanchez's wonderful
TL, though as I thought more on it, just one became several and soon, I found myself unable to stop at one pick. THusly, I will give the readers here a choice on the TL idea they can pick that will be based on.
The Failure of Integration - In this TL, Credit Mobilier is exposed early and Joseph Holt, not Andrew Johnson, is selected as Abe's VP in the 1864 Election. Thus, when Holt becomes President in April, his reconstruction plans is more radical than AL and AJ's but less radical than someone like Sumner who proposed State Suicide. When Grant becomes President, he isn't as corrupt and instead his government is extremely competent while he also puts in Pro-CR SCOTUS justices as well while being elected in 1876, 1880, and 1884 before dying of Throat Cancer in 1885 and his VP, Robert Todd Lincoln, succeeds him, being elected in 1888 but not running for another term, leading to President Adlai Stevenson I, who's Presidency sees the Panic of 1893 hit, killing the Silver/Bimetal movement in its cradle as people blame that for the Panic. Meanwhile, in the SOuth, due to the Democrats turning away from the racism of the confederacy in order to stay politically viable in the South, a new third party is formed in South Carolina and quickly grows into the main opposition party to the GOP. By the 1920s, they get their first elected President and said elected President enacts reforms that ends the Republic and brings about an Apartheid like USA with sprinklings of OTL Mussolini's Italy. This one will be more told in character PoV chapters that build up to the end of the series.
The Folly of Progressivism - In the 1916 Election, William Randolph Hearst is the Progressive Nominee and Hughes doesn't spurn Johnson as he did OTL, allowing him to carry CA and the election, alongside the NPV. His interventionism goes similarly to WIlson's outside of the thirteen points and Wilsonianism being widespread in American foreign policy. The 1920 President Election sees the Republicans, Democrats, Progressive/Bull Moose, Socialist, and Prohibition Parties with the winner being Progressive Nominee Robert M. La Follette Sr. of Wisconsin. When his VP is assassinated in 1923, he's forced to go for his Labor Secretary William Z. Foster in 1924 for VP. Follette wins a second term but he dies of a stroke in May of 1925, leading to President Foster. Then news breaks out in 1927 that Foster is in secret talks with the Kremlin for ideas and is potentially giving American secrets away. The GOP and Democrats merge into one party to try and take him down in 1928, but lose and so, much of 1929 is spent building support for a military coup, including getting John J. Pershing agrees to it "
For the best interests of the country" The Coup occurs in 1931 but while successful, large pockets of pro-Foster resistance sprouts up all over the country. Pershing suspends elections temporarily until the red menace is crushed on;y for him to die at exactly the wrong moment and the SACW to get even worse.
The Wrong Plan - On July 1st, 1945, Harry S. Truman dies of a Heart Attack and is succeeded by his Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, who implements the Morgenthau Plan. For the next four years, there are seven United States Presidents as Morgenthau implements his an which leads to the death of 30M Germans from disease, starvation, or riots and another 17-21M leaving the country, with the British settling 50 % (8,500,000 (17M)-10,500,000 (21M)) in Tanzania, 15 % in South Africa (2,550,000 (17M)-3,150,000 (21M)), 10 % in Namibia (1,700,000 (17M)-2,100,000 (21M)), the French settle 15 % in Cameroon (2,550,000 (17M)-3,150,000 (21M)), the Belgians settle 8 % in the Congo (1,360,000 (17M)-1,680,000 (21M)), and the Portuguese settle the remaining 2 % in Angola (340,000 (17M)-420,000 (21M)), leaving only 29-33M Germans left as Morgenthau declares the US will not take any German refugees. Due to the new German refugee problem and the deaths of tens of millions, Morgenthau is impeached and removed in Spring of 1946, replaced by his Treasury Secretary, Harry Dexter White, who is removed from power after having been suspected of being a soviet asset. White is then succeeded by his State Sec, Henry Wallace, who is removed in October by an alliance of Republicans and Southern Dems who hate his guts. Wallace's State Sec, Dwight D. Eisenhower, then becomes President, pardoning Morgenthau, White, and Wallace while pledging to not run for a term of his own. He dies of a Heart Attack in March of 1947 and his State Secretary, James Byrnes, succeeds him. Byrnes is an unpopular Democrat President, leading to an ouster though he runs as a third party candidate, the only Incumbent President to do so, while the GOP nominate Ultraconservative Actor John Wayne after no one can get behind Dewey, Warren, Taft, Vandenberg, or Stassen. Wayne wins the Presidency and is far more hardline than Eisenhower, stomping on a lot of the New Deal's ideas but not going as far as privatizing stuff like SS and Medicare (which not even Taft wanted to do, that is a complete myth). However, the Civil Rights movement is treated much more like a wing of the Soviet Union and is crushed by Wayne, including the arrest and disappearance of people like Parks, Lewis, and King, which leads to more AAs turning to the Radical NoI. Meanwhile, the US goes more and more hardline, electing Robert Welch to succeed Wayne as the USSR collapses in on itself by 1959 due to mismanagement and Stalin living longer, then Welch is assassinated in 1962 and is succeeded by McCarthy, who doesn't run for a term in 1964, leading to President Edwin Walker, who cranks everything to the extreme. In 1972, the first Democrat to be elected President wins, being three term GA Governor (1955-1959, 1963-1967,& 1971-1973) J. B. Stoner, who defeats three term VA Governor (1950-1954, 1958-1962, & 1966-1970), ANP Founder and Leader, ally to the NoI (turned Ba'athist Party USA), and Republican Nominee that year George Lincoln Rockwell. Stoner's Presidency is as horrible as anyone with a brain could predict and the 1980 election sees a four way split that sees an eventual civil war while Haig becomes Speaker and then President, before he is assassinated in May of 1981, leading to President Jesse Helms, who is removed from power in November of 1981, though it isn't until Christmas of 1983 that Michael Flynn becomes military dictator of what becomes known as the Christian Union of American Republics (C. U. A. R.), becoming known as the Premier of the American Christian Union, the leading force of the C.U.A.R. during the SACW.
The Massachusetts Switcharoo - Agnew's activities are exposed in 1971, causing him to resign and Edward Brooke to become the new Vice President, and then Nixon is assassinated by Bremer. In the ensuing 1972 election, no Presidential or Vice Presidential Candidate gets a majority, nor can any person for the Speakership or President Pro Tempore. This leaves the United States Government without anyone in charge from January to May, though Chief Justice Burger agrees to be
Acting President until the House can get its sh**t in order, with a pledge to resign the moment a Speaker takes charge. The Democrats and Republicans nominate for Speaker in May Alexander Haig, who is well respected at this time. When Haig becomes President, he severely cracks down on civil liberties, the press, FoS, and restricts the flow of inromation to the White House, doing a much more extensive Iran-Contra plan for South Vietnam involving Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Saudis, etc, etc. He also gets involved in South Africa, Rhodesia, and Iran. Things continue to get worse until the 1990s, when a military council coups the President in power.
The One in Control - In 1981, Both Reagan and Bush are assassinated around the same time while Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, dies of a plane crash and President Pro Tempore Strom Thurmond of a heart attack just moments before the two men die. This leaves Alexander Haig as the new President of the United States. Guess what happens from here.
Darkness of the Moon's Beam - In 1991, Paul Tsongas dies. This leads to Jerry Brown being nominated by the Democrats and becoming President with Jesse Jackson as his VP. Brown is soon assassinated, leading to President Jackson, who makes Conyers his VP. The 1996 Election sees a corrupt Bargain that sees President Joe Lieberman and eventually, in 2000, that turns into President Pat Buchanan and an even dark USA as time goes forward.
The American Augustus - In the lead-up to the 2020 Election, there were several right wing militia groups that could've turned to extremism and radicalism but didn't outside of blanket threats. What if these groups merged into one force, hid away in the Ozark Mountains, and became an insurgency against the US Government that openly called for a second Revolution, all of it being led by Augustus Sol Invictus as the US Government under President Biden tries, in vain, to crush the rebellion due to mistakes being made, the military/intelligence apparatus being outsmarted/outplayed, or general incompetence in some places.
Will create the poll for voting on the TL ideas.
Poll
