All Along the Watchtower: A Dystopian TLIAW
- Thread starter Vidal
- Start date
An inspired choice to conclude on. At one time, I considered writing a TL where Ralph Reed won the Georgia Lt. Governor’s race in 2006, going on to expand his career from there. I think that an American theocracy after 50 years of chaos is not terribly unrealistic, given other examples in history (e.g., Iran, Afghanistan).
In any case, great TL.
In any case, great TL.
I may be a bit biased, but I think that would be an awesome idea. Assuming Nixon handles Vietnam and Cuba differently from Kennedy, you might have American culture develop in a very different direction. I hope someone picks up on this.
Now we need the sequel
And The World Will Live As One: A Utopic TLIAW
Maybe with the premise of Henry Wallace becoming President.
And The World Will Live As One: A Utopic TLIAW
Maybe with the premise of Henry Wallace becoming President.
AllThePresidentsMen
Banned
When you consider that the POD for this TL is something people consider good (I.e. RFK lives and gets two terms), we should have a "bad" POD. Say, Taft becomes President.
Henry Wallace is commonly portrayed as a incompetent moron who would be more than willing to publicly castrate himself if Stalin told him to, and there's been more than one TL with premise of a Wallace Presidency leading to dystopia, most notably For All Time and to a lesser extent Footprint of Mussolini (it also oddly portrays George Patton fairly positively from what I remember despite his borderline pro-Nazi sympathies).
So him actually being successful would be subversive.
AllThePresidentsMen
Banned
Fair point. I guess I just generally considered POTUS (Henry) Wallace as "good" (at least on the very surface level).
on second thought: a George Wallace '68 TL ending in a utopia.
Wallace '68 turning into a utopia is a very interesting idea. And it makes sense considering the POD that started TTL, since a 1940s POD would be 20+ years before TTL's POD.
The only way I can see Wallace '68 turning into a utopia is if it generates an even greater backlash than what Nixon got. Something like TTL's New Party could be in charge forever!
Well, that is essentially how TTL worked (though from the other side, obviously): RFK's wiretapping scandal so thoroughly discredits him, his policies and his party that the Republicans have free reign for a generation. So it follows that, if one were to do a reverse of this TTL, that'd be the place to start: someone like Wallace or Goldwater is elected president, and they generate so much backlash that the Democrats get an uninterrupted period to push the US leftwards.
That's what I was thinking of as well, although a full parallel to TTL would be a bit too obvious altogether. But it's a fair starting point.
Nice timeline. It had a lot of unique paths and used figures creatively.
I am curious exactly how theocratic Reed’s government is by the present. Is it possible to exist without penalty as a non-Christian who keeps their head down and doesn’t make a fuss about government support for Christianity? Are Jews, Catholics and/or Mormons tolerated?
I am curious exactly how theocratic Reed’s government is by the present. Is it possible to exist without penalty as a non-Christian who keeps their head down and doesn’t make a fuss about government support for Christianity? Are Jews, Catholics and/or Mormons tolerated?
Yes, that's exactly the point its at in 2022. If you're quiet, you're fine. Who can say how long that would last, though...
Deleted member 81475
Taft, Goldwater, and Wallace are all pretty good bad starts to a good end (Wallace could also deadlock things and throw it to Nixon, Agnew, or Reagan in 1968 only to have them mess everything up), but I do think the route I'd go in a first draft is Dewey Defeats Truman.
He had apparently promised to put J. Edgar Hoover on the Supreme Court, so the start gives you a route to bring down Hoover and mire the administration in enough leaked corruption that someone like Kefauver brings the Democrats roaring back. Plus, an early Cold War POD could create room for a more plausible Goldwater or Wallace victory than in 1964 or 1968, which could really shatter the conservative movement.
Part of it is also personal. Lepke Buchalter was my great grandmother's cousin and got her into America with her kids right before Dewey got him the chair.
He had apparently promised to put J. Edgar Hoover on the Supreme Court, so the start gives you a route to bring down Hoover and mire the administration in enough leaked corruption that someone like Kefauver brings the Democrats roaring back. Plus, an early Cold War POD could create room for a more plausible Goldwater or Wallace victory than in 1964 or 1968, which could really shatter the conservative movement.
Part of it is also personal. Lepke Buchalter was my great grandmother's cousin and got her into America with her kids right before Dewey got him the chair.
Or if Wallace has the same "change of heart" that characterized his final term and somehow manages to bring enough of the Boll Weevils along in an Only Nixon sort of way.
That was actually the idea I had for the utopian version of this, that or the same divergence but ending wildly different (obviously)
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