AH Challenge: An American Iron Lady

[Historico]

With all the buzz surrounding Meryl Streep's biopic of Margaret Thatcher entitled The Iron Lady, and I was wondering what would it have taken to have an Conservative Republican Woman as President for the better part of a decade. So I have come up with some qualifications, as to how the scenario could work...

1. The First Female POTUS has to serve 2 & 1/2 terms under the 25th Amendment to last almost as long as Maggie did IOTL
2. She would have to be from the Conservative wing of the party
3. Senator Chase Smith, although she ran in '64 IOTL, is probably to old to serve out a near decade in the '70's or '80's
4. Ronald Reagan is going to have to go away somehow, or have his standing in the party significantly diminished either by an electoral loss, or something...
5. If were looking at a 60's POD, we may have to either Nixon elected in 1960 scenario, for a later democratic administration, or longer Democratic control of the White House(Im more partial to this scenario)

I hope these suggestions aren't to restrictive, but I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

 

[West Ham]

I have an idea. Barry Goldwater does not run for a senate seat in 1966 and thus a Democrat wins the seat instead. In 1974, instead of running for a judgeship, Sandra Day O'Connor runs for Arizona's senate seat and wins. She serves on the senate financial and judiciary committees and impresses Ronald Reagan when he wins the nomination in 1980. Reagan/O'Connor easily beats Carter/Mondale in 1980 and Reagan is either assassinated or his Alzheimers shows up a few years earlier than OTL and thus Sandra Day O'Connor becomes president from 1983 to 1992.

 

[Chipperback]

Condoleeza Rice. There is your American Maggie.


Condi! Condi! Condi! OUT! OUT! OUT!

 

[Devolved]

America is a conservative country despite the modern facade.

For a first female President in a country like America you need someone from a famous political family or someone from the ruling elite.

Hilary Clinton was only noticed at all because her husband had been President. Her own skills wouldn't have got her far IMO.

So you need to find the wife or daughter of a famous American to make the breakthrough and raise the money needed to buy - sorry win the Presidency.

 

[Plumber]

Lynn Morley Martin

 

[RogueBeaver]

MCS and O'Connor were/are both moderates, so IMO it would have to be an ATL character.

 

[Perogo]

"The Iron Lady" has been used for many female leaders other than Thatcher. It denotes strong will and steady leadership, not conservatism. There's no reason a Democrat couldn't be the U.S.'s "Iron Lady" as well as a Republican.

 

[MaskedPickle]

Phyllis Schafly, maybe?

 

[Emperor Norton I]

Jeane Kirkpatrick?

America is a conservative country despite the modern facade.

No it isn't. We are, as a people, majority Progressive, at least by our standards. It doesn't always translate into who gets elected, however. Since the Reagan age, it generally hasn't.

 

[Tom_B]

There is some possibility with Jeane Kirkpatrick but she would have to

1] Become a Republican sooner

2] Get Reagan to make her Secretary of State

3] Develop some greater interest in domestic issues

 

[Ariosto]

Would require quite a bit of work, but maybe Marjorie Holt?​

 

[SonOfFreedom]

Jeane Kirkpatrick?



No it isn't. We are, as a people, majority Progressive, at least by our standards. It doesn't always translate into who gets elected, however. Since the Reagan age, it generally hasn't.

We are a center-right country and have been so since Reagan if not Kennedy.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

There is some possibility with Jeane Kirkpatrick but she would have to

1] Become a Republican sooner

2] Get Reagan to make her Secretary of State

3] Develop some greater interest in domestic issues

It wouldn't be impossible. Ronnie was a New Deal Democrat in his day. But I don't know how you'd get her enough of an electoral history to back her.

We are a center-right country and have been so since Reagan if not Kennedy.

No. The American public has been, by the majority, consistently Left of Center to Liberal on issues. Even in the Reagan era, the public disagreed with Ronnie on everything. It's just that the economy was fine, so he got reelected. However, before the economy picked up in time for 1984, though most people personally liked him, 70% said they wouldn't vote for him again. In short, its the economy. Always has been. The problem is, firstly, Liberal was smeared into a 4 letter word and distorted. So even though most people are Liberals (which you find when you ask them about issues rather than what they call themselves), most don't identify themselves as such because they don't understand the word or believe it means something evil and nasty (a sissy driving a Prius who refuses to say Merry Christmas, for example). Most self-identify as Moderates.

 

[glenn67]

I have an idea. Barry Goldwater does not run for a senate seat in 1966 and thus a Democrat wins the seat instead. In 1974, instead of running for a judgeship, Sandra Day O'Connor runs for Arizona's senate seat and wins. She serves on the senate financial and judiciary committees and impresses Ronald Reagan when he wins the nomination in 1980. Reagan/O'Connor easily beats Carter/Mondale in 1980 and Reagan is either assassinated or his Alzheimers shows up a few years earlier than OTL and thus Sandra Day O'Connor becomes president from 1983 to 1992.

If a Democrat managed to win a US Senate seat in Arizona in 1968, he or she would probably be re-elected in 1974 thanks to the post-Watergate backlash against the Republicans. O'Connor could probably get elected Governor and be re-elected in 1978.

 

[DSS]

Well, here's an idea:

Ronald Reagan goes into politics earlier, shortly after becoming a conservative -- let's say he's elected Governor of California in 1958. He's a successful Governor, and is re-elected in a landslide in 1962. He's a strong possibility for the GOP nomination in 1964, but once LBJ takes office, he sees that he can't win in 1964, and so he endorses Barry Goldwater. Rockefeller wins the nomination, and loses to LBJ, doing better than Goldwater IOTL, but still losing pretty badly.

In 1966, Reagan is reelected to a third term. In 1968, Reagan narrowly defeats Nixon for the GOP nomination (as was actually possible), picks Spiro Agnew for VP to reunite the Nixonites and Reaganites and Rockefellerites (Agnew initially endorsed Rockefeller), and goes on to crush Humphrey in the general election.

In 1970, President Reagan contracts brain cancer. His wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan, attends Reagan's Cabinet meetings for the last month of his life, and essentially, she's President, like Woodrow Wilson's wife was.

President Reagan dies in August 1970. Nancy feels that her husband died before he could make enough if a difference. She decides to finish his work by entering politics herself. In 1974, she runs for a Senate seat in California, and wins.

Meanwhile, President Agnew wins reelection in 1972, but is impeached in 1973 for bribery. His Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller takes office.

In 1976, Sen. Nancy Reagan challenges Rockefeller in the primaries. Rockefeller barely wins, but Nancy accepts the spot of running mate, hoping she can be enough of an influence there. Rockefeller\Reagan wins in 1976, but President Rockefeller dies as per OTL in 1979. Nancy Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President.

President Reagan follows a strictly conservative platform while in office, and she wins reelection over Ted Kennedy in 1980, and again in 1984 by a larger margin. President Reagan has accomplished her husband's goals, and has implemented many conservative policies. She leaves office in 1989, twenty years after her husband had been sworn in, a conservative icon.

 

[black angel]

MCS and O'Connor were/are both moderates, so IMO it would have to be an ATL character.

O'Connor is only a moderate looking back at what's taken her place, she's largely in line with Reagan

 

[Hendryk]

This was the topic of the 1986 film "Riders of the Storm" (released in some countries as "American Way"), a political comedy in which a bunch of Vietnam vets operating a pirate TV station from a vintage B-29 try to sabotage the electoral campaign of a Mrs. Westinghouse, a right-wing presidential candidate who attempts to come across as the American Margaret Thatcher.

 

[V-J]

This was the topic of the 1986 film "Riders of the Storm" (released in some countries as "American Way"), a political comedy in which a bunch of Vietnam vets operating a pirate TV station from a vintage B-29 try to sabotage the electoral campaign of a Mrs. Westinghouse, a right-wing presidential candidate who attempts to come across as the American Margaret Thatcher.

I now want to see that film, if only because it has a character called Mrs. Westinghouse in it.

I'm not really sure if the OP wants a genuine Yankie Doodle Maggie or Ronald Reagan in drag. Two quite different things, there. In fact I'm not even sure it would be possible to have a genuine Maggie analogue in America.

 

[Plumber]

In fact I'm not even sure it would be possible to have a genuine Maggie analogue in America.

Try two.

 

[RogueBeaver]

Try two.

You're joking, right?