Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes VII (Do Not Post Current Politics or Political Figures Here)

e350tb

I couldn't find a version of this thread in ASB or Fandom AH so I think this goes here? Just a fun, silly thing.

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ETGalaxy

ETGalaxy

VeraSera said:
And now continuation of this. After the Crash of 1934, the economy of the United States fell into a downward spiral that claimed half the GDP of the country and made dozens of millions fall into poverty in a short period of time. The economic measures of the Davis administration not only didn't help alleviate this, but in fact worsened the situation. As a result, the 1934 midterms saw a landslide win by the Progressive-Labor Party that now controlled the House and the Senate. In 1935, the architect now turned politician Frank Lloyd Wright started giving a set of speeches and rallies across the nation informally known as the Tour of 1935, where he criticized the ineffectiveness of the Davis administration when it came to addressing the actual needs of the American people. As these speeches progressed, they ended up forming a coherent political programme that would seek to expand the outreach of the federal government in order to, among other things, propose public projects that would help millions out of unemployment. This programme, called the Usonian Idea (which btw it's lowkey based on a real idea he had) also sought to develop suburban communities to eliminate homelessness that would coexist in harmony with the environment and a strong public transport system (also a real idea, Broadacre City). The popularity of these ideas among the American public during the time led to the establishment of the Usonian Party, which for the 1936 election would eventually be endorsed by the Progressive-Labor Party and include its de facto leader, Raymond L. Haight, in the presidential ticket. The broad coalition would also be endorsed by other minor political parties, including the Communist Party, given Wright's more than acceptable policy proposals when it came to workers' rights and his desire to expand cooperation between the US and Rykov's Soviet Union. The Republican Party would nominate President Davis for another term despite a hotly contested Convention, but his economic failures would doom his reelection bid. Many conservative Anti-Davis Republicans would later go on to found another iteration of the Whig Party, which would become a major party years later. Lastly, Democrats would yet again nominate Heflin, who he and his Great South idea had a near absolute control of the party by then. But after the loss of Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Virginia, his leadership and popularity would vanish, giving way to a new generation of Southern Democrats.
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Ooh, a Frank Lloyd Wright presidency? I love it, a lot of architects and urban planners around this time (including Wright) had some pretty whacky political views that make for some very fun alternate history.
 

WheelyWheelyLegsNoFeely

VeraSera said:
Continuation of this. After the assassination of John Beckett in 1931, the British National Trade Union called a new National Congress to elect a new General Secretary, and by extension, a new Prime Minister. However, the election of the 2nd National Congress would show several opposing factions, which in theory were all part of the National Workers' Union, but de facto, division was very real. After almost a month of negotiations and given this sudden split and the potential for quick instability, the Compromise of 1931 was reached, and all 5 faction leaders were elected as a provisional collective head of government: the National Board. The power struggle, however, was far from over.
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I'm really interested in seeing more of this world. I wonder, could this faction system eventually give rise to a new kind of pseudo-democracy in Britain as the factions eventually become de facto political parties even while still officially being under the National Workers' Union?
 

Devoid

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The 1974 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974, as part of the 1974 New York state election, which were themselves part of the larger 1974 United States midterm election, held in the middle of President Hubert Humphrey's first full term. Conservative Party candidate James Buckley was elected over Liberal former New York City mayor John Lindsay, incumbent Republican Governor Malcolm Wilson, and Democratic US Representative Mario Biaggi. The nominating processes for candidates were highly chaotic, which led to a similarly chaotic general election.

The Democratic and Liberal Nominations
The most well-known fight was over the Democratic nomination, which was dominate by a man who did not run in it: Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, the younger brother of the slain President John F. Kennedy, had been elected senator in 1964 despite accusations of carpetbagging (given the Kennedys were originally from Massachusetts). Kennedy, as such, had relatively few roots in the state, and his influence over state politics remained small despite being the state's highest-ranking Democratic politician (since his fellow seatmate, Jacob Javits, as well as long-serving Governor Nelson Rockefeller and his successor Malcolm Wilson were all Republicans). The junior senator, then, had to balance both control over state politics to maintain his seat as well as pay attention to national politics to wield influence. During his first term, he was solidly focused on the latter, given his poor relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson, whom he frequently attempted to undermine, including considering a primary challenge against in 1964 and 1968 (though ultimately deciding against both). In 1970 Kennedy was given a close call in his reelection run [1]; he won only a plurality in an adverse partisan environment, where liberal Republican congressman Charles Goodell lost much right-wing support to, and even came behind, the Conservative Party candidate James Buckley, and arguably split the anti-Kennedy vote. Though his margin

Kennedy, who largely relied on establishment politicians since he had no prior power base of his own in the state, found himself in dire need of solidifying his hold his seat, which would lead to meddling in several state elections in 1973 and 1974 (Kennedy initially considered forgoing such a move and mounting a presidential bid in 1972, but was thwarted in this by Johnson's death in January 1971, thus making Hubert Humphrey president and almost assuring him of the Democratic nomination in the 1972 presidential election). Kennedy's involvement in the 1973 New York City mayoral election ended poorly, as Mario Cuomo defeated Abe Beame for the Democratic nomination and succeeded John Lindsay. Kennedy had already tried and failed to get Beame elected mayor even before this back in 1965; Kennedy still persisted in his efforts. He set his sights upon the 1974 gubernatorial election, hoping to redeem Beame (and his own influence) by having him elected governor.

Under the influence of Kennedy, the New York Democratic Party thus designated Beame for governor in its 1974 convention. However, this generated a strong backlash from the reformist wing of the Democratic Party; they did not appreciate Kennedy's repeated attempts to force Beame upon them and did not want to nominate an establishment politician for office. As such, a quartet of Democratic politicians, specifically Mayor Cuomo and US Representatives Hugh Carey (a future speaker of the US House of Representatives), Shirley Chisholm, and Bella Abzug (a future US senator), united to back the candidacy of State Senator Mary Anne Krupsak, who had initially considered a bid for the office of lieutenant governor. US Representative Mario Biaggi, a fairly conservative Italian-American Democrat who had won the Conservative Party nomination for New York City mayor in 1973, also ran in the primary. A bitter primary ensued. Biaggi, disliked by a large majority of Democrats, was largely disregarded, as attention focused upon the liberal proxy fight between Kennedy and the reformist quartet. Beame and Krupsak viciously attacked each other, and threatened to tear the party apart; Kennedy, meanwhile, could not pay much attention to the contest, as he was involved in a major program of the Humphrey administration regarding Cabinet reform (and in particular wanted to influence the resulting reshuffle, where Kennedy hoped to gain a Cabinet spot for several political allies, most notably his friend South Dakota Senator George McGovern, who seemed likely to (and ultimately did) lose his 1974 reelection bid). The ignorance of Biaggi ultimately worked to his favor, as the intensely negative campaign between the other two candidates drove down both their support; in a similar manner to the win of Mario Procaccino [2], another conservative Italian-American Democrat, in the 1969 New York City Democratic mayoral primary (and later the general election as well), Biaggi won a small plurality in the primary, winning 34.1% of the vote, against 33.5% for Krupsak and 32.4% for Beame. Thus, both the establishment (and Kennedy) and the reformists were dealt a great loss, though the establishment were at least able to get their preferred candidate in Howard Samuels (who faced no opposition in the primary) on the ticket for Lieutenant Governor.

This complicated the situation for the Liberal Party of New York, which had provisionally designated Edward Morrison as its candidate, with the intention of replacing him with the Democratic candidate. However, most in the party were against nominating Biaggi, and despite the relatively moderate stances of Governor Malcolm Wilson an endorsement of him was widely unpopular as well. As such the party chose to back its own candidate; after Morrison withdrew on September 14, the party nominated former New York City mayor John Lindsay, who had already mounted a failed primary bid for the Republican nomination [3]; Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., son of the deceased former president and the party's gubernatorial candidate in 1966, was nominated for lieutenant governor. The result was a a great personal defeat for Kennedy; he was greatly embarrassed by Beame's third-place finish, and found himself in a general election with no candidate whom he could truly back. This completely ended any pretense of control of the New York Democratic Party he had previously had, and it was the main impetus (along with a maneuver by President Humphrey regarding the Cabinet reshuffle in 1975 that severely weakened Kennedy's national influence and his decision that his brother Ted was the better senator of the two) behind his decision to not seek a third term in 1976, paving the way for Bella Abzug to be elected to the Senate.

The Republican and Conservative Nominations
The Republican nomination, similarly to the Democratic one, was greatly affected by the role of the presidential ambitions of man who ultimately did not run in it: Governor Nelson Rockefeller. After three failed attempts in 1960, 1964, and 1968, Rockefeller finally succeeded in winning the Republican presidential nomination in 1972, running against President Humphrey. Rockefeller then chose to resign to focus on his campaign, allowing his long-time Lieutenant Governor Malcolm Wilson to rise to the top position. Rockefeller lost to Humphrey, but his nomination against the very liberal Humphrey caused conservative dissatisfaction that led to a second campaign under the American Independent banner by George Wallace. Though Wallace himself held little appeal in New York, the conservative movement in the state was similarly dissatisfied with such a status quo; James Buckley had already polled large numbers in third party Senate campaigns in 1968 and 1970 (arguably allowing for Robert Kennedy's reelection in the latter), but the Wallacite movement offered little as an outlet for New York conservatism.

As it was, Malcolm Wilson's short tenure would be quite difficult. Economic problems of 1973 and 1974 combined with fiscal crises across several New York cities, most notably including New York City itself, and even the state government itself, to hit the state more forcefully than any other during the economic crisis of 1973-1974[4]. This tanked Wilson's popularity, and he faced severe opposition on both sides. To his left ran former New York City mayor John Lindsay, who blamed the fiscal crises squarely on Wilson, noting that these had occurred once Wilson, not Rockefeller, was governor (it was, in effect, an attempt to absolve his own administration of any part in the crisis that nearly took down his successor). To his right, James Buckley, who was perhaps thought more of as a senatorial candidate, decided he had no chance of beating Jacob Javits (instead leaving Barbara Keating to that task) and decided to also challenge Wilson, blaming both him and Lindsay for the fiscal crises hitting the state. In the end these twin challenges allowed Wilson to take the middle ground, and with the advantage of incumbency, won a weak but clear plurality.

However, the Conservative Party was still not keen; it had always opposed Rockefeller in his runs in 1962, 1966, and 1970, and though Wilson was slightly to Rockefeller's right, Rockefeller's 1972 run, the disaster of Wilson's governorship, and the lengthy period of Democratic control over the presidency engendered a dissatisfaction that caused the party to keep this path and roundly reject Wilson's candidacy. James Buckley, in spite of losing the Republican primary, was therefore selected as the candidate for governor. T. David Bullard was selected for lieutenant governor. Some proposed nominating Biaggi as they had in the previous year's New York City mayoral election, but this idea was widely unpopular and not seriously considered.

The General Election
The Democratic and Republican candidates both faced severe issues in the election. Wilson was an extremely unpopular incumbent presiding over a bad economy, and conservative dissatisfaction with both him and the White House, plus Buckley's name familiarity due to his previous Senate runs, rocketed the Conservative candidate to become the main candidate of the right. Meanwhile Biaggi's conservatism made him unpopular among most Democrats, who, outside of conservative working-class Catholics refused to consider voting for him, with Lindsay absorbing most of this support. As such, the two main parties were both forced to a relatively smaller role, as Lindsay and Buckley took the largest portions of support.

It would be a close election; Buckley was much more conservative than any other who had been elected Governor of New York in recent memory, while Lindsay was hurt by the poor reputation of his time as Mayor of New York City and the fact the many partisan Democrats were still somewhat leery of supporting someone who was at that point still a registered Republican. By Election Day polls had the candidates in a dead heat; however, it would be Buckley who would narrowly win out, as he took slightly over a third of the vote, 33.7%, to win with the lowest winning percentages ever for a New York governor in the 20th century. Lindsay came in second, with 30.9%, while Wilson came in third with 23.8% and Biaggi came a distant fourth with 10.8%.

[1] Kennedy greatly underperformed the rest of the Democratic ticket in 1964 IOTL; his lack of any real New York roots, plus a not-so-favorable political environment due to being an incumbent party candidate in a midterm and his focus on federal politics (gotta stick it to LBJ, yo), combine to make Kennedy much more vulnerable than he should've been and Buckley arguably really does save his ass.
[2] It is very amusing to me all three of these Italian-Americans (Procaccino, Cuomo, and Biaggi) were all named Mario, for some reason.
[3] Nixon's presidency not happening means the main impetus behind Lindsay's party switch in 1971 isn't quite there ITTL, and he sticks with the party a bit longer until Ronald Reagan is nominated for president in 1976, which is what finally causes him to actually quit the party.
[4] Basically the economic crisis in New York specifically is much worse than IOTL and the fiscal crises of the mid-70's strike a few years early. Meanwhile conservatives have just been more on the backfoot in general ITTL, so Wilson is much less popular and the Conservatives much more unsatisfied that they decided to throw their weight around.

EDIT: I realized after posting I made the Republicans red and the Democrats blue even though I inverted the coloring scheme ITTL; I have fixed that error.
 
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CarlosTheAltHistoryGuy

CarlosTheAltHistoryGuy

Devoid said:
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The 1974 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974, as part of the 1974 New York state election, which were themselves part of the larger 1974 United States midterm election, held in the middle of President Hubert Humphrey's first full term. Conservative Party candidate James Buckley was elected over Liberal former New York City mayor John Lindsay, incumbent Republican Governor Malcolm Wilson, and Democratic US Representative Mario Biaggi. The nominating processes for candidates were highly chaotic, which led to a similarly chaotic general election.

The Democratic and Liberal Nominations
The most well-known fight was over the Democratic nomination, which was dominate by a man who did not run in it: Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, the younger brother of the slain President John F. Kennedy, had been elected senator in 1964 despite accusations of carpetbagging (given the Kennedys were originally from Massachusetts). Kennedy, as such, had relatively few roots in the state, and his influence over state politics remained small despite being the state's highest-ranking Democratic politician (since his fellow seatmate, Jacob Javits, as well as long-serving Governor Nelson Rockefeller and his successor Malcolm Wilson were all Republicans). The junior senator, then, had to balance both control over state politics to maintain his seat as well as pay attention to national politics to wield influence. During his first term, he was solidly focused on the latter, given his poor relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson, whom he frequently attempted to undermine, including considering a primary challenge against in 1964 and 1968 (though ultimately deciding against both). In 1970 Kennedy was given a close call in his reelection run [1]; he won only a narrow plurality in an adverse partisan environment against a strong challenge from liberal Republican congressman Charles Goodell, and he was arguably only saved due to the Conservative Party running a separate candidate in James Buckley, who siphoned the conservative vote from Goodell.

Kennedy, who largely relied on establishment politicians since he had no prior power base of his own in the state, found himself in dire need of solidifying his hold his seat, which would lead to meddling in several state elections in 1973 and 1974 (Kennedy initially considered forgoing such a move and mounting a presidential bid in 1972, but was thwarted in this by Johnson's death in January 1971, thus making Hubert Humphrey president and almost assuring him of the Democratic nomination in the 1972 presidential election). Kennedy's involvement in the 1973 New York City mayoral election ended poorly, as Mario Cuomo defeated Abe Beame for the Democratic nomination and succeeded John Lindsay. Kennedy had already tried and failed to get Beame elected mayor even before this back in 1965; Kennedy still persisted in his efforts. He set his sights upon the 1974 gubernatorial election, hoping to redeem Beame (and his own influence) by having him elected governor.

Under the influence of Kennedy, the New York Democratic Party thus designated Beame for governor in its 1974 convention. However, this generated a strong backlash from the reformist wing of the Democratic Party; they did not appreciate Kennedy's repeated attempts to force Beame upon them and did not want to nominate an establishment politician for office. As such, a quartet of Democratic politicians, specifically Mayor Cuomo and US Representatives Hugh Carey (a future speaker of the US House of Representatives), Shirley Chisholm, and Bella Abzug (a future US senator), united to back the candidacy of State Senator Mary Anne Krupsak, who had initially considered a bid for the office of lieutenant governor. US Representative Mario Biaggi, a fairly conservative Italian-American Democrat who had won the Conservative Party nomination for New York City mayor in 1973, also ran in the primary. A bitter primary ensued. Biaggi, disliked by a large majority of Democrats, was largely disregarded, as attention focused upon the liberal proxy fight between Kennedy and the reformist quartet. Beame and Krupsak viciously attacked each other, and threatened to tear the party apart; Kennedy, meanwhile, could not pay much attention to the contest, as he was involved in a major program of the Humphrey administration regarding Cabinet reform (and in particular wanted to influence the resulting reshuffle, where Kennedy hoped to gain a Cabinet spot for several political allies, most notably his friend South Dakota Senator George McGovern, who seemed likely to (and ultimately did) lose his 1968 reelection bid). The ignorance of Biaggi ultimately worked to his favor, as the intensely negative campaign between the other two candidates drove down both their support; in a similar manner to the win of Mario Procaccino [2], another conservative Italian-American Democrat, in the 1969 New York City Democratic mayoral primary (and later the general election as well), Biaggi won a small plurality in the primary, winning 34.1% of the vote, against 33.5% for Krupsak and 32.4% for Beame. Thus, both the establishment (and Kennedy) and the reformists were dealt a great loss, though the establishment were at least able to get their preferred candidate in Howard Samuels (who faced no opposition in the primary) on the ticket for Lieutenant Governor.

This complicated the situation for the Liberal Party of New York, which had provisionally designated Edward Morrison as its candidate, with the intention of replacing him with the Democratic candidate. However, most in the party were against nominating Biaggi, and despite the relatively moderate stances of Governor Malcolm Wilson an endorsement of him was widely unpopular as well. As such the party chose to back its own candidate; after Morrison withdrew on September 14, the party nominated former New York City mayor John Lindsay; Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., son of the deceased former president and the party's gubernatorial candidate in 1966, was nominated for lieutenant governor. The result was a a great personal defeat for Kennedy; he was greatly embarrassed by Beame's third-place finish, and found himself in a general election with no candidate whom he could truly back. This completely ended any pretense of control of the New York Democratic Party he had previously had, and it was the main impetus behind his decision to not seek a third term in 1976, paving the way for Bella Abzug to be elected to the Senate.

The Republican and Conservative Nominations
The Republican nomination, similarly to the Democratic one, was greatly affected by the role of the presidential ambitions of man who ultimately did not run in it: Governor Nelson Rockefeller. After three failed attempts in 1960, 1964, and 1968, Rockefeller finally succeeded in winning the Republican nomination in 1972, running against President Humphrey. Rockefeller then chose to resign to focus on his campaign, allowing his long-time Lieutenant Governor Malcolm Wilson to rise to the top position. Rockefeller lost to Humphrey, but his nomination against the very liberal Humphrey caused conservative dissatisfaction that led to a second campaign under the American Independent banner by George Wallace. Though Wallace himself held little appeal in New York, the conservative movement in the state was similarly dissatisfied with such a status quo; James Buckley had already polled large numbers in third party Senate campaigns in 1968 and 1970 (arguably allowing for Robert Kennedy's reelection in the latter), but the Wallacite movement offered little as an outlet for New York conservatism.

As it was, Malcolm Wilson short tenure would be quite difficult. Economic problems of 1973 and 1974 combined with fiscal crises across several New York cities, most notably including New York City itself, and even the state government itself, to hit the state more forcefully than any other during the economic crisis of 1973-1974[3]. This tanked Wilson's popularity; however, he still managed to win the Republican primary with no opposition. However, the Conservative Party was not so keen; though it had backed Rockefeller in all his runs, and Wilson was slightly to Rockefeller's right, Rockefeller's 1972 run, the disaster of Wilson's governorship, and the lengthy period of Democratic control over the presidency engendered a dissatisfaction that caused the party to roundly reject Wilson's candidacy. Barbara Keating had been selected as the senatorial candidate; James Buckley, one of the party's most well-known figures, was therefore selected as the candidate for governor. T. David Bullard, who initially entered as a gubernatorial candidate, was selected for lieutenant governor. In September, after Biaggi's nomination, some proposed having Buckley withdraw and nominating Biaggi as they had in the previous year's New York City mayoral election, but this was refused and Buckley ran on his own.

The General Election
The Democratic and Republican candidates both faced severe issues in the election. Wilson was an extremely unpopular incumbent presiding over a bad economy, and conservative dissatisfaction with both him and the White House, plus Buckley's name familiarity due to his previous Senate runs, rocketed the Conservative candidate to become the main candidate of the right. Meanwhile Biaggi's conservatism made him unpopular among most Democrats, who, outside of conservative working-class Catholics refused to consider voting for him, with Lindsay absorbing most of this support. As such, the two main parties were both forced to a relatively smaller role, as Lindsay and Buckley took the largest portions of support.

It would be a close election; Buckley was much more conservative than any other who had been elected Governor of New York in recent memory, while Lindsay was hurt by the poor reputation of his time as Mayor of New York City. By Election Day polls had the candidates in a dead heat; however, it would be Buckley who would narrowly win out, as he took slightly over a third of the vote, 33.7%, to win with one the lowest winning percentages ever. Lindsay came in second, with 30.9%, while Wilson came in thrid with 23.8% and Biaggi came a distant fourth with 10.8%.

[1] Kennedy greatly underperformed the rest of the Democratic ticket in 1964 IOTL; while Goodell isn't quite as strong a candidate as the incumbent Keating was in '64, he's no slouch and Kennedy's lack of any real New York roots, plus a not-so-favorable political environment due to being an incumbent party candidate in a midterm, combine to make Kennedy much more vulnerable than he should've been and Buckley arguably really does save his ass.
[2] It is very amusing to me all three of these Italian-Americans (Procaccino, Cuomo, and Biaggi) were all named Mario, for some reason.
[3] Basically the economic crisis in New York specifically is much worse than IOTL and the fiscal crises of the mid-70's strike a few years early. Meanwhile conservatives have just been more on the backfoot in general ITTL, so Wilson is much less popular and the Conservatives much more unsatisfied that they decided to throw their weight around.
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Um just a quick heads up, but if rather you have the Liberals use another color that isn't red beacuse that could get confused with the Republicans
 

lucon50

BREAKING THE MOULD:
Rise of the SDP-Liberal Alliance

In this next election segment, David Owen's Reform have completely shaken up the party system. With others winning seats under proportional representation, realignment has come to both left and right. In government, Reform - alongside Ken Clarke's Tories and Sara Parkin's Greens - radically altered the state by decentralising power, investing in renewable energy, modernising public services including health and moving the economic dial further away from Keynesian corporatism towards a 'social market' model. With the Good Friday Agreement of 1995 setting in, Owen aimed to make his mark on international affairs by cosying up to Ross Perot's White House and putting continued EU membership to a referendum. Ultimately, 'In' romped home with 59% of the vote against 'Out', whose backers ranged from Tony Benn to Mrs Parkin, the prime minister himself and Monday Club remnants in the Conservative party.

As the new millennium dawned, Owen called an election knowing his domestic agenda had been more successful than foreign policy. The Commons had been reduced to 600 MPs as part of the change. Splintering of tribal loyalties saw minor groups such as the BNP, plus independents, picking up support. In the end, the unifying message of Simon Hughes' Alliance resonated with the public and he entered 10 Downing Street in coalition with Labour, just shy of a majority in parliament.

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