Alternate History The State of the Future TL

[49ersfootball]

December 2nd, 1988: Benazir Bhutto sworn into office as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

STS-27 is launched into space by NASA.

December 6th, 1988: President Bush names Thomas Pickering as the new US Ambassador to the United Nations.

December 7th, 1988: Soviet President Mikhali Gorbachev makes an official visit to the United States meeting with US President George HW Bush at the Governors Island Summit.

December 8th, 1988: The British government announcing the closure of North East Shipbuilders, which resulted in a loss of 2,400 jobs.

US Supreme Court Associate Justice William Brennan, Jr., was hospitalized with pneumonia at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD.

December 9th, 1988: Final Dodge Aries & Plymouth Reliant rolls off the assembly line in Chrysler factories.

December 10th, 1988: Artic II capsized by large wave of water & sank about 55 miles north of Unimark Pass in AK; All five crewmembers boarded a lifeboat, but captain Stan Micnka & crewman Gary Hieney were both swept off the raft & lost. Three remaining survivors were rescued by fishing vessel American Beauty.

December 11th, 1988: Explosion at an illegal fireworks shop at La Merced Market in Mexico City, Mexico caused multiple explosions & fires killing over 60+ people.

December 16th, 1988: US President George HW Bush announced he was nominating US Rep. Dick Cheney (R-WY) as US Secretary of Defense pending Senate confirmation.

 

[49ersfootball]

December 19th, 1988
AR Governor's Mansion
Little Rock, AR
Strategizing for the next campaign ahead

Five-term AR Governor Bill Clinton (D) analyzed the fallout from the disastrous 1988 Presidential campaign that the Dems blew, one they had no business losing considering the obvious: Reagan's resignation in disgrace due to the aftermath of Iran-Contra on July 14th, 1987; Bush's ascension to the Presidency; Bush's controversial pardon of Reagan which angered many Americans.

Clinton originally had considered running for the Presidency in 1988, but chose not to for obvious reasons: allegations of womanizing had been flourishing for years including allegations of bribery, corruption, intimidation of political opponents, campaign finance violations, etc., For these unspecified reasons, Clinton announced he was not running for the Presidency, preferring to wait until the next cycle.

The assassination of then-TX Governor Mark W. White, Jr., (D) in July 1988 altered the political landscape nationally because many placed their hopes on White being mentioned as a contender for the Presidency in the future. Sadly, some crazed lunatic in San Antonio, TX altered those plans, which all but forced some insiders of the Dems to lobby the Boy Governor from Arkansas.

In the meantime, Dems watched helplessly as Dukakis choked away a 17 point lead in the polls as President Bush aggressively hammered the incompetent three-term MA Governor in controversial negative advertising commercials which some accused the Bush campaign of deploying racially-charged dog whistles.

Once Bush humiliated Dukakis in November, attention quickly turned to Clinton, who quietly began shadow campaign operations nationwide by offering the Third Way in aggressively moving the Dems more toward to Moderate-to-Conservative spectrum. Many Arkansans noticed all of the national news media converging into the Natural State for obvious reasons: covering Governor Clinton, who confirmed plans on seeking reelection to a sixth term in 1990 & the political jockeying among the down-ballot statewide officeholders began to take shape as many of whom realized that Clinton wouldn't serve out his sixth term because anonymous sources all but confirmed the obvious: Clinton was the one person, who could end 12 years of GOP dominance of the White House & become the first Southern Dem to win the Presidency since LBJ in 1964.

 

[filipina84]

December 2nd, 1988: Benazir Bhutto sworn into office as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

STS-27 is launched into space by NASA.

December 6th, 1988: President Bush names Thomas Pickering as the new US Ambassador to the United Nations.

December 7th, 1988: Nelson Mandela was transferred from the Constantiaberg Clinic to a residence at Victor Verster Prison.

Soviet President Mikhali Gorbachev makes an official visit to the United States meeting with US President George HW Bush at the Governors Island Summit.

December 8th, 1988: The British government announcing the closure of North East Shipbuilders, which resulted in a loss of 2,400 jobs.

US Supreme Court Associate Justice William Brennan, Jr., was hospitalized with pneumonia at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD.

December 9th, 1988: Final Dodge Aries & Plymouth Reliant rolls off the assembly line in Chrysler factories.

December 10th, 1988: Artic II capsized by large wave of water & sank about 55 miles north of Unimark Pass in AK; All five crewmembers boarded a lifeboat, but captain Stan Micnka & crewman Gary Hieney were both swept off the raft & lost. Three remaining survivors were rescued by fishing vessel American Beauty.

December 11th, 1988: Explosion at an illegal fireworks shop at La Merced Market in Mexico City, Mexico caused multiple explosions & fires killing over 60+ people.

December 16th, 1988: US President George HW Bush announced he was nominating US Rep. Dick Cheney (R-WY) as US Secretary of Defense pending Senate confirmation.

Tough times ahead.

 

[49ersfootball]

The list of TX Governors in The State of the Future TL:
Mark W. White (D), 1983-1988: Assassinated.
William P. Hobby, Jr., (D): 1988-1995: Didn't seek reelection in 1994.
George W. Bush (R), 1995-2000: Resigned after winning the Presidency in 2000.
Rick Perry (R), 2000-2015: Didn't seek reelection in 2014.
Greg Abbott (R), 2015-present.