? - what would Goldwater or any other 1970s President do here?

[Keenir]

Writing a story as part of a challenge....and while nobody requested a backstory, I'd like to keep it as consistent as possible.

What if the following three things happened:

• the US gets out of Vietnam (in this ATL, at most we sent Colin Powell and the other initial advisors, but got them out rather than increasing manpower)
• no space program
• Civil Rights suffer massive blows (no Martin Luther King Jr, no Malcolm X, no Rosa Parks, etc)

in such an ATL, in the 1960s/1970s, what might an ambitious US President latch onto? (the only thing I can think of, is making a Fortress America, since the Cold War is still on; that and building and repairing all the roads and damns in the nation)


thoughts?