A Second Chance

[CathKhan]

    Jack had been content. It would be his last year in office and you could tell the last seven years had taken a chunk out of him that he might never get back. Cabinet meetings were filled with mroe rage and personal opinions he had become more strongly negative. The youthful brother that I had stood close to as he accepted the 1960 Democratic nomination for President was no longer there. The Presidency had made him angry and bitter at Republicans and Democrats alike as he forged his own path.

     However, when news from Munich reached him that the Israeli athletes had been taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists, he came out of his temporary state of contentment. Being Jack, he felt compelled to take charge of the situation and to emerge a hero, just as he had been doing since World War II. He favored a direct approach to the problem while I had offered solutions that in today's world would be seen as much more 'unorthodox', including our own retaliatory hostage taking. However, Jack had long strayed from my advice, whether good or bad, and took his own approach aided by Secretaries Jackson and Connally.

-In My Defense, Robert F Kennedy, (c) 1984

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Gah! This still happens! I am not impressed.

If anything, you could have at least given the Olympics to Madrid, Montrael or Detriot.

Still interesting, though.

[CathKhan]

Gah! This still happens! I am not impressed.

If anything, you could have at least given the Olympics to Madrid, Montrael or Detriot.

Still interesting, though.

My capitalizing "Conservative" and "Liberal"? Anyway, my plan was to go through with the Munich Massacre as in real life, at least as of yet (September 5th).

[CathKhan]

September 5th, 1972; Near Midnight

...And in a strange turn of events, President John F Kennedy, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of this terrorist action in Munich, has comissioned for NATO, in agreement with Munich and West German authorities, to send in troops to Munich to secure the city and make sure no 'unlikely escapes' are staged by the terrorists. United Nations Ambassador Gary Hart and Secretary of State Henry M Jackson had reportedly spoken with the governments of The Soviet Union, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Western Germany. Meanwhile, in Munich itself, the chaos unfolds...

    Bobby: Jack! I don't see why you're so concerned with this incident! Western Germany will handle this, and if need be, there will be action. America does not need a controlling hand in this situation.
    Jack: Bobby, I will not let this tiny Middle Eastern nation show the world that it can get away with the shame of our ally and friend Israel.

To me, it sounded like my dear brother had taken up 'America Uber Alles' as his theme song. Ironically enough, in 1979, a nearly unknown band called 'The Nixons' would release its hit 'Massachusetts Uber Alles' referring to my own actions.

-In My Defense, Robert F Kennedy, (c) 1984

[CathKhan]

September 6th, 1972

...While it is roughly 5:00 over here, it is much later in the day for Munich as, in response to yesterday's deployment of NATO troops, racial violence and rioting has erupted. This, coupled with the emerging hostage crisis, has caused Munich to become a sea of chaos. As for the hostage situation, it is reported that negotiations are going through, but at least two of the hostages are dead.

[CathKhan]

September 6th, 1972; Much Later
...In what is seen as possibly the worst possible turn of events for the unfortunate situation in Munich, unfire erupted earlier today between West German police forces and the Palestinian hostage takers. It is reported that nearly all the hostages are dead, though specifics are unknown. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir has claimed that all those responsible for this will face justice and President Kennedy has offered all possible aid to the Prime Minister. In Israel, West Germany, and parts of the Western World, days of prayer are being held for the dead.

(11/7/72) Do you approve of President Kennedy's performance furing the hostage crisis?
No-52%
Yes-43%
Unsure-5%

[CathKhan]

Any comments? Yes I know it is a tragic ending to the Munich Massacre. The idea is that Kennedy's over-zealousness to show case American power leads to the Palistinians getting nervous or feeling provoked, thus resulting in the "current" situation.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Gee. Makes we wonder how, ITTL, we rejected Goldwater in 1964 yet Kennedy was elected in 1960 and was considered wildly popular. Would Goldwater have done this?

[CathKhan]

Gee. Makes we wonder how, ITTL, we rejected Goldwater in 1964 yet Kennedy was elected in 1960 and was considered wildly popular. Would Goldwater have done this?

Possibly. The thing about the Kennedy charm, is that with a full eight years of it, it's fading. That, along with battles with Congress, have caused much more dis-satisfaction with Jack. Part of Kennedy's "reason" for intervening could invlve an ego boost of some sort after victory in Vietnam. After eight years of being President with Addison's diseas dragging him down, he's not as cheerful or idealistic as the 1960 JFK.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Makes sense, though it does seem to be a bit of a stretch.

[CathKhan]

Makes sense, though it does seem to be a bit of a stretch.

I'll admit it. As a consolation prize, JFK has attempted the Great Society, having created the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Department of Education, though Healthcare stalled in Congress over some ethical concerns. (Note: The Great Society isn't the same as LBJ's Great Society, it's kind of a merger of that and later 1970's government expansion, such as the Department of Education)

[CathKhan]

Any other comments? Right now, I'm thinking of wrapping up the 1972 election with a few more updates.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

How long will this TL go on? I would be happy if it just went to January 20, 1973 but would like to see you continue it pass that.  Perhaps you could do an epilogue at Kennedy's last day. Maybe you could do a single long post of what would happen with Roe v. Wade and the abortion debate, what would happen in the USSR and the Cold War, the Conservative movement, the Space Shuttle, Terrorism, the internet and the future presidents and congressional leaders.

[CathKhan]

I intend to continue this to present day, though I predict it will take a while, especially since I'm on or around page 18 right now. However, I hope that I can completed this.

[CathKhan]

I think I could get the election done tonight or tomorrow, but as of now my gandpa's here, so I'll be obligated to do otherwise.

[CathKhan]

November 6th, 1972

Election is a Pure Tossup!

With only one day to go before the election, it appears that America still does not know who it wants leading it the next four years. Polls show Governor Spiro T Agnew up by a small amount, however, it varies from poll to poll. Vice-President Terry Sanford's campaign took a hit in early September with the failing of hostage negotiations in Munich in West Germany. However, since then he has recovered and for the past two months the two candidates have been battling back and forth. Meanwhile, ultra-Conservative Congressman John Schmitz is polling somewhere between 2 andn 7%, and could possibly take a state, though it would require massive effort by him. Another possibility is that Mississippi and Alabama put up faithless electors who decide to vote for Schmitz or someone else.

[feeblepizza]

I'm hoping that either Agnew wins or Schmitz pulls off one of the most stunning upsets in all political history.

[CathKhan]

November 7th, 1972

Who Will You Pick?

...From NBC News in election headquarters in New York, this is NBC Nightly News, Tuesday November Seventh, reported by John Chancellor and David Brinkley.
    John Chancellor: And good evening to you all as we begin our coverage of the 1972 Presidential Election. David Brinkley and the rest of our team are here to cover the returns and contests for 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 33 in the Senate, and 18 Governorships and of coruse the Presidency, so let's begin with a look at the popular votes recorded so far for the Presidency.

Popular Vote-2%

Sanford 49%

Agnew 48%

Schmitz 2%

    John Chancellor: With 2% of the vote in now, it is obviously very close. However, these are only from the East Coast where such states as New York, expected to go Democratic, take up the lion's share of the vote. John Schmitz, the independent candidate is polling 2%, a small number of votes. This pattern that you see on your screen now may be indicative of the night to come, with a very close election and Schmitz taking up a small, but usable amount of votes. We had a low turn out today in most of the populous states, and it looks like the public isn't as excited as usual about this election. Around the country, there were many polling places with only average amounts of people. In Michigan, there were short lines. In New York, the only long lines were up-state. In Illinois, people were unwilling to brave cold and rainy weather to vote. In Ohio, the vote was made smaller than usual because of trouble with voting machines. The leaders of both parties, the Republican and Democrat parties said that they were dis-satisfied with the low to average turn out.
    NBC News has a couple of winners to declare in this election and David Brinkley will report on that.
    David Brinkley: We will of course keep you updated all night on the popular vote as you've just seen. We uhm, we have been able to project three states, the outcome in three states. They give Mr. Sanford fourteen electoral votes. As everyone knows but often forgets, it is electoral votes that elect somebody President. The three states are Maine, where we project that Governor Agnew will win with 55% of the popular vote, New Hampshire, where Mr. Agnew will most likely win with over 60%, and Massachusetts where Vice-President Sanford, we project, will win resoundingly. That's three states settled so far.
    As everyone knows but often forgets, it takes 270 to elect a President, making you the most powerful person on earth. And so, when we have 270 votes, we will have the winner, and when we do, you'll be the first to know. John?
    John Chancellor: One final note, Harry's Bar in Paris, a common gathering for American expatriates, has held its annual straw poll today. Terry Sanford got 51% of the vote. Don't laugh, Harry's Bar is almost never wrong, though in the last few years, it called 1960 for Kennedy and 1968 for Romney. As the night goes along, we'll see if Harry's Bar can regain its reputation.


Later...
    John Chancellor: ...Spiro Agnew tonight voted in his home town in Maryland. Ron Nesson reports...
    Ron Nesson: Agnew and his wife voted in an Elementary school in Baltimore County, Maryland. Baltimore is where Agnew's political career first started when he was elected the County Executive. Since then, he has been elected to the Governorship twice and is of course the 1972 Republican nominee for President. Agnew humorously declined to say whether he voted Democrat or Republican.
    John Chancellor: Thank you, Ron. Another itneresting anecdote of this election night took place in Whittier, California, where former President Nixon filled out a newspaper sized ballot with over twenty state and local propositions, including a vote on the legalization of marijuana.
    We also are able to call more states as the night goes on. The first few states were Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Later in the night we were able to call Vermont, New Jersey, North Carolina, and others. We may now call a few more states...

Vice-Presidnet Terry Sanford (D-NC)/Senator Hubert H Humphrey (D-MN); 102 electoral votes
Governor Spiro Agnew (R-MD)/Senator George Bush (R-TX); 87 electoral votes
Congressman John Schmitz (I-CA)/Congressman John Ashbrook (I-OH); 0 electoral votes
Green: Too Close To Call
Gray: Still Open

    John Chancellor:...With these numbers, Vice-President Sanford is in the lead. However, with Deep South states and the West coming up, we still can not project a winner.

[CathKhan]

Well, there you go for now. I'll try to keep you in suspense. For the record, there's a video on youtube of the 1972 NBC highlights. If you check it out, you can see just how much I copied from them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJbpC7d7tyk

[CathKhan]

Comments, Questions, Critiques, Complaints, Compliments, Preferred tickets?

[feeblepizza]

Comments, Questions, Critiques, Complaints, Compliments, Preferred tickets?

Question - Will this continue past 1976?
Compliment - Awesome TL
Preffered ticket(s) - Either Agnew/Bush or Schmitz/Ashbrook

[CathKhan]

Comments, Questions, Critiques, Complaints, Compliments, Preferred tickets?

Question - Will this continue past 1976?
Compliment - Awesome TL
Preffered ticket(s) - Either Agnew/Bush or Schmitz/Ashbrook

Answer - Yes, I'm planning to take this all the way to the modern era. It might go past seventy pages, but that's only encouraging me. (I get to be the author of an epic TL!)
Response - Thank you
Response - Funny things will happen in the South.

[CathKhan]

September 7th, 1972; Much later that night

    John Chancellor: ...While in the mountain areas polls are closing, only two so far have been callable. Along with those two, Wyoming and North Dakota, we are able to call several other states in the South and on the East Coast.

Vice-Presidnet Terry Sanford (D-NC)/Senator Hubert H Humphrey (D-MN); 183 electoral votes
Governor Spiro T Agnew (R-MD)/Senator George Bush (R-TX); 143 electoral votes

    David Brinkley: As you can see on the map, both candidates, Vice-President Sanford and Governor Agnew, have uhm, have made significant gains within the last half hour or so. In the 8:00 and 8:30 closings, little has been determined aside from Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota and Wyoming. However, in places that closed much earlier we counted five, that's five states, where we were able to call. These five are Michigan, Kentucky, Florida, Washington DC, and Tennessee, all of which went for Mr. Agnew except for Tennessee. One of the places we were watching closely was Washington DC, where there is a large African American population. That population is largely split on how to vote, both parties having attempted to establish themselves as the Civil Rights parties. In 1964, when first given the chance to vote, it voted for President Nixon who passed the 1963 Civil Rights Act. In 1968 it voted for the pro-Civil Rights Republican George Romney. Once again, it goes Republican, but by a very, very close margin.

[CathKhan]

Okay, so far, after going over everything, the electoral votes are way off. I'm trying to fix them.

[CathKhan]

So right now, there are 20 missing electoral votes that I've got to find, unless there were only 518 electoral votes at the time.