I can also pitch in if you want.
I'm going to be running to you for advice until the end of time.
Challenge: Most Chaotic 1960's Possible
- Thread starter Emperor Norton I
- Start date
I'm going to be running to you for advice until the end of time.
This plus the U.S. draft being extended to college students currently enrolled, MLK assassinated early and the Civil Rights Movement becoming more violent. Also having the Soviets make it to the moon first.
How plausible would it be for North Korea to attempt to restart the Korean War in the mid-60s?
It seems I have a talent for destroying my favorite nation with ideas off the top of my head.
And imagine the Weather Underground when there are two wars going on at the same time, possibly three if we get re involved in Korea.
And imagine the Weather Underground when there are two wars going on at the same time, possibly three if we get re involved in Korea.
Pot probably wouldn't be so bad, but LSD to cause some big shit problems.
Anyways, maybe you have Nixon beat Kennedy, then have Nixon assassinated, so you get President Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
It would be tough for Manson to do anything in the early 60's. He didn't get out of prison until 1967.
I think legalizing LSD would actually lessen the counter culture. Frustration and anger is like a fuel; legalize those two, and you take out two sources of that frustration and anger which is how "The Man" is keeping it illegal.
Lodge wouldn't be so bad. He'd be old, and may retire if he isn't too power hungry.Anyways, maybe you have Nixon beat Kennedy, then have Nixon assassinated, so you get President Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Goldwater is worse (honorable politician but a Conservative in an age of the Welfare state where government action on areas such as Civil Rights is necessary to a degree he is perhaps unwilling to commit to, as he was to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 if memory serves. And there's things like the support of tactical nuclear weapons for commonplace use which exist as a dangerous prospect). If Kennedy of Nixon nominates a Conservative segregationist for their VP who would support war in Vietnam (Smathers comes to mind) and win only to be later assassinated, that'd throw the counter-culture into a frenzy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDolGOLPzdo
Will everyone die or can we get all the angry hippies going on?
I help too.I can also pitch in if you want.
Without ending civilization as we know it I suggest the following for some butterfly action.
LBJ's administration removes some draft exemption statuses possibly including hardship and/or higher education enrollment. I can't really see a reason for this unless the number of volunteers which remained high during the whole of the Vietnam War dropped in 65-66 and LBJ felt no other choice. Maybe a heavy loss in the officer's corps on the field leads to the need for more 2nd Lts?
Race riots after MLK's assassination spill out into white areas (sadly they were mainly concentrated in traditionally black neighbourhoods and these never recovered) bringing whites/blacks into direct conflict rather than organized police forces and the National Guard. Cities where I see this as a possibility include: Wash DC, Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit, Baltimore, Louisville. My mom and dad both witnessed the rioting Kansas City and let me tell - wikipedia does it no justice, a number of rioters were stopped by men in her neighbourhood armed with guns - what if this had turned violent?
The massacre at Kent State kills 25 instead of 4. With 67 shots (and perhaps more) fired into a group of 35-60 in the parking lot this is certainly possible.
LBJ's administration removes some draft exemption statuses possibly including hardship and/or higher education enrollment. I can't really see a reason for this unless the number of volunteers which remained high during the whole of the Vietnam War dropped in 65-66 and LBJ felt no other choice. Maybe a heavy loss in the officer's corps on the field leads to the need for more 2nd Lts?
Race riots after MLK's assassination spill out into white areas (sadly they were mainly concentrated in traditionally black neighbourhoods and these never recovered) bringing whites/blacks into direct conflict rather than organized police forces and the National Guard. Cities where I see this as a possibility include: Wash DC, Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit, Baltimore, Louisville. My mom and dad both witnessed the rioting Kansas City and let me tell - wikipedia does it no justice, a number of rioters were stopped by men in her neighbourhood armed with guns - what if this had turned violent?
The massacre at Kent State kills 25 instead of 4. With 67 shots (and perhaps more) fired into a group of 35-60 in the parking lot this is certainly possible.
Let's start with the 1960 election, which has quite a few unleadened PODs available. (Yes, Palm Beach suicide bomber is a leadened POD)
JFK falls short on the first ballot but has a large plurality. Daley takes manual control from the convention "autopilot" and LBJ is nominated with Symington as his running mate. Nixon picks Sen. Hugh Scott (R-PA, also Catholic) and easily thumps them by winning Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to win 298-223, roughly a reversal of the OTL results EV-wise.
Nixon doesn't bang his knee on the car door, therefore no staph infection and hospitalization for 2 weeks.
Nixon applies makeup in the first debate and is much more aggressive than OTL. The best comparison would be the recent UK election and Brown's "I agree with Nick." Or in Nixon's case: "I don't doubt the sincerity of Senator Kennedy's motives, but..."
To dispell an urban legand: Despite Daley counting Cook's votes the *usual* way, the results are still 271-247 Democratic if Nixon wins IL.
JFK falls short on the first ballot but has a large plurality. Daley takes manual control from the convention "autopilot" and LBJ is nominated with Symington as his running mate. Nixon picks Sen. Hugh Scott (R-PA, also Catholic) and easily thumps them by winning Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to win 298-223, roughly a reversal of the OTL results EV-wise.
Nixon doesn't bang his knee on the car door, therefore no staph infection and hospitalization for 2 weeks.
Nixon applies makeup in the first debate and is much more aggressive than OTL. The best comparison would be the recent UK election and Brown's "I agree with Nick." Or in Nixon's case: "I don't doubt the sincerity of Senator Kennedy's motives, but..."
To dispell an urban legand: Despite Daley counting Cook's votes the *usual* way, the results are still 271-247 Democratic if Nixon wins IL.
Joseph Kennedy Sr. becomes a Republican and the family relationship with McCarthy is strengthened resulting in a winning Nixon/Kennedy Republican ticket in 1960... I'll let you take it from there...
That would require a POD in the 1930s, which is beyond the scope of this OP. It is quite easy to do- JPK Sr. did contribute substantial funds to the Massachusetts GOP in the 1920s IOTL. RFK in 1952-3? Quite easy to do as well.
I didn't know the POD couldn't be before the 1960s, sorry.
Still though, I know how easy it would be but the ramifications? It seems to me that the corruption and scandal (and possibly assassination) in a Nixon/Kennedy administration would be an excellent start to a very chaotic decade. Thoughts?
Nixon's crooked as a three dollar bill. Kennedy didn't have any scandals beyond his affairs, which every man in power back then was practicing anyway (the rest, like the Mafia connections and so forth were either made up by a cynical public or from 1960 campaign mudslinging and equally made up).
here's some ideas Zach to really fill the tl with High Octane Nightmare Fuel:
* have HIV/AIDS jump the species barrier in 1961 and have it go undetected for 7 years.
* show some trouble outside America, especially in places like Northern Ireland and Ethiopia. WMD could also be used by terrorist groups.
* more and bloodier Arab-Israeli wars including the use of nukes.
* In Brazil you could have the political crisis there explode into Civil War.
* have HIV/AIDS jump the species barrier in 1961 and have it go undetected for 7 years.
* show some trouble outside America, especially in places like Northern Ireland and Ethiopia. WMD could also be used by terrorist groups.
* more and bloodier Arab-Israeli wars including the use of nukes.
* In Brazil you could have the political crisis there explode into Civil War.
here's some ideas Zach to really fill the tl with High Octane Nightmare Fuel:
* have HIV/AIDS jump the species barrier in 1961 and have it go undetected for 7 years.
* show some trouble outside America, especially in places like Northern Ireland and Ethiopia. WMD could also be used by terrorist groups.
* more and bloodier Arab-Israeli wars including the use of nukes.
* In Brazil you could have the political crisis there explode into Civil War.
Save the nukes for later in the timeline, maybe it could go to the 70's or 80's.
A dystopia has to be slow, painful, and give you a little bit of hope that slowly fades away until it's a little dot and then the story repeatedly stomps you in the stomach until the dot is gone.