AH Challenge: The Handmaid's Tale

[MerryPrankster]

I just wrote a review of "The Handmaid's Tale" for Amazon.com and I realized that the story could qualify as alternate history (or its close cousin, "future history that didn't turn out as planned").

So...

With a POD no later than 1970, make it so that the United States or at least a significant portion of it (though Massachusetts is apparently under control, there're "Baptist guerrillas" in the Appalachians, black resistance in Detroit, and a group called "Libertheos") is under the control of a "Christian" fundamentalist regime that calls itself "the Republic of Gilead."

The rights of women have been sharply curtailed, Jews have either been forced to convert or expelled, religious and other dissidents are executed and their bodies hanged on walls in public places, violent criminals are publically beaten to death, and there's a sort of religions/political secret police roaming around. The "handmaid" aspect (fertile women are few and far between and thus treated as State property) is a bit too far-fetched, so we should avoid it, unless you can come up with a darned good reason.

 

[Doctor What]

1970--Right in the middle of the all the 'black power', hippie, anti-vietnam and feminist movements, there is a massive terrorist attack in Washington during Nixon's State of the Union Address by Islamic fundamentalists angry over the U.S.'s middle east policies. The president, the v.p. and virtually the entire cabinet as well as most of the congress and senate, are killed in the attack. The only survivor is a right wing christian fundamentalist cabinet member who was going to be booted out by Nixon very soon due to his controversial views. He's sworn in as the new president and immediately declares war on the 'islamic barbarians'.

After a mideast country or two are occupied, the new president brings in a sweeping series of anti-terrorist laws. Officially they are to be used only against 'enemies of the state' but they are so vague that they are used against 'violent protestors' of all political stripes. He stacks a few like minded individuals in his newly formed cabinet and the Supreme Court.

From there--it's a slow but steady move to the "this would never have had happened if we had strict morals and proper ideas of the place of women and 'others' in our society" frame of mind that exist in the movie.

Not sure how to stick in the 'Handmaiden' aspect--other than to some kind of environmental polluntant or disease gets into the ecosystem that makes a large number of women sterile--maybe it's tied to the original terrorist attack?

 

[fhaessig]

. He's sworn in as the new president and immediately declares war on the 'islamic barbarians'.

After a mideast country or two are occupied, the new president brings in a sweeping series of anti-terrorist laws. Officially they are to be used only against 'enemies of the state' but they are so vague that they are used against 'violent protestors' of all political stripes. He stacks a few like minded individuals in his newly formed cabinet and the Supreme Court.
?

Not refering to anything current, are you?

 

[MerryPrankster]

Dr. What,

Any members of Nixon's Cabinet who could qualify to be "the fundamentalist bad guy"?

 

[Doctor What]

Here's a list of all his cabinet members:

Secretary of State: William P. Rogers (1969-73); Henry A. Kissinger (1973-74)
Secretary of the Treasury: David M. Kennedy (1969-70); John B. Connally, Jr. (1971-72) George P. Shultz (1972-74) William E. Simon (1974)
Secretary of Defense: Melvin R. Laird (1969-72) Elliot L. Richardson (1973) James R. Schlesinger (1973-74)
Attorney General: John N. Mitchell (1969-72); Richard G. Kleindienst (1972-73) Elliot L. Richardson (1973) William B. Saxbe (1974)
Postmaster General: Winton M. Blount (1969-71)
Secretary of the Interior: Walter J. Hickel (1969-70) Rogers C. B. Morton (1971-74)
Secretary of Agriculture: Clifford M. Hardin (1969-71); Earl L. Butz (1971-74)
Secretary of Commerce: Maurice H. Stans (1969-72); Peter G. Peterson (1972) Frederick B. Dent (1973-74)
Secretary of Labor: George P. Schultz (1969-70); James D. Hodgson (1970-72) Peter J. Brennan (1973-74)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare: Robert H. Finch (1969-70) Elliot L. Richardson (1970-73) Caspar W. Weinberger (1973-74)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: George W. Romney (1969-72) James T. Lynn (1973-74)
Secretary of Transportation: John A. Volpe (1969-73); Claude S. Brinegar (1973-74)

I'm Canadian and Nixon was impeached when I was 6, so most of these names mean nothing to me. Try googling them to see their bios.

Of course--it's not necessary that it's one of them--you can just have one of the Cabinet unexpectedly die from a heart attack or something and be replaced by a 'temp'--who turns out to be a bit too loony even for Nixon--but Nixon dies before he can replace him.......

 

[Count Dearborn]

Wasn't there a flu scare during Nixon's Administration? Perhaps a vaccine causes the immune systems of 90% of American women to go into overdrive, their drives still work, but their immune systems kill all of the sperm that enters the birth canal. Now add in the fact that in 60% of men their sperm counts are way down because of the vaccine. The fundie nuts will not allow experiments into artifical wombs, or other measures to help fertility. The Handmaids are an out growth of surrogate motherhood.

 

[Weapon M]

Wasn't that the "Swine Flu" that started jumping from pigs?

there are lots more pigs in Asia now, what if the avian flu becomes pig-tacular, and then jumps over into us human types?

There have been lots of "Army of God" people involved in the Michigan Militia...we try to chase them away with luscious militia babes.....

 

[MerryPrankster]

Shoot! The POD should be no EARLIER than 1970, not "no later."

A POD earlier than 1970 could lead to all sorts of weird things (changing the founding of the United States, for example). A later POD would be more realistic.

IIRC the "Religious Right" did not become especially strong until the later 1970s.

 

[Doctor What]

IIRC the "Religious Right" did not become especially strong until the later 1970s.

True--but that RR stuff didn't come out thin air--it had been 'percolating' in politics since at least 1960--it just took a while for everything to amalgamate together. Have a major 'crusade' kick in in the early 70's and the religious right will come into existence a few years earlier for sure.

Interesting history of the religious right here
http://www.wisaflcio.org/political_action/rightwing.htm

Like that swine flu vaccine idea, Count--might actually be doable.

 

[Wendell]

How about nuclear war?

 

[Doctor What]

How about nuclear war?

Way too much overkill, so to speak. The book showed a society, cities, farms, etc--mind you--what about a nuke power plant melting down? Releases a shitload of radiative particles--even if they clean it up successfully, cancer and sterility rates are going to shoot through the roof for much of the surrounding area.

 

[Wendell]

Way too much overkill, so to speak. The book showed a society, cities, farms, etc--mind you--what about a nuke power plant melting down? Releases a shitload of radiative particles--even if they clean it up successfully, cancer and sterility rates are going to shoot through the roof for much of the surrounding area.

Maybe both Calvert Cliffs and Three Mile Island go at once?

 

[Grimm Reaper]

Weapon M, even I can see that presenting militia babes is not the ideal move towards driving the 'be fruitful and multiply' crowd AWAY from the militia.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Way too much overkill, so to speak. The book showed a society, cities, farms, etc--mind you--what about a nuke power plant melting down? Releases a shitload of radiative particles--even if they clean it up successfully, cancer and sterility rates are going to shoot through the roof for much of the surrounding area.

If the nuclear conflict is limited, you might still have all those things AND really nasty polluted areas that are dangerous to clean up.

However, Britain, Canada, and Israel still exist in the world of THT and Britain and Israel would likely no longer exist as organized nations in the event of a nuke exchange between the West and the USSR--they're very densely populated.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Maybe both Calvert Cliffs and Three Mile Island go at once?

Hmm...if THT had included the destruction of several nuke plants as part of the terrorist attack that wiped out most of the original gov't (though I alwaysd that the coup/terrorist attack was part of the religious nuts' elaborate plan).

 

[reddie]

Actually...

The novel is pretty clear about a nuclear war having occurred prior to the establishment of "Gilead". That might put the probable POD further back than 1970...maybe to 1961, during the Cuban missile crisis. Atwood (the author) depicted a pre-Gilead society of both sexual excess and anti-female sexism, which might imply some sort of rule by organized crime. The Nuke War wouldn't have been full-scale, obviously, but some major cities (LA, NYC, Chicago, DC) are probably gone. The fundamentalists may have led an uprising against the mobsters, promising to "restore order" but giving rise to a democracy.

Anyway, there is enough background radiation out there to have sterilized a large segment of the population.

 

[Leo Caesius]

Strangely, this was also the backstory to the film Café Flesh (1984). I wonder if Jerry Stahl got the idea from Atwood's book? I haven't read it.

 

[Max Sinister]

The fundamentalists may have led an uprising against the mobsters, promising to "restore order" but giving rise to a democracy.

Anyway, there is enough background radiation out there to have sterilized a large segment of the population.

I think they destroyed democracy? (Not that America in this scenario was a real democracy under the mobsters, necessarily.)

And I remember one woman saying in the book that she got sterilized voluntarily...

 

[1978]

By far the most jarring part of that book is the early visit by the Japanese tourists. I was always curious what had happened to the rest of the world......

 

[Roedecker]

I personall can't think of a scenario. But I'm really curious to read one. So I'm posting this just to remind people about this thread.