The Lost Are Found, The People's Voice Sounds, & Nixon Is Kicked Around

November 6th, 2004

in the Dreaming, the lost ones sent out a signal from the heavens; a great torch burning in the sky, that the people might spin their webs over to them. The people spun madly for many seasons, but the torch was extinguished before the lost ones could be reached.

in 1860, Communist President Walt Whitman is reelected in a landslide against Democrat Andrew Johnson. In his second term, Whitman freed the slaves in the southern states, weathered a brief rebellion by that region, and established new rights for American workers that were unparalleled in western democracy.

in 1900, during the centennial celebrations for the North American Confederation, First Chancellor Himmahtooyahlatkekt announces that contact has been made with the Mlosh homeworld, and a Congress of Nations expedition has been launched towards it. Even with faster-than-light travel, the expedition will be gone for several years; the world breathlessly awaits what they will report back.

in 1906, news magnate William Randolph Hearst is elected governor of New York amid widespread allegations of vote fraud. Hearst uses his newspapers to promote his point of view exclusively, and bribes several people in the judiciary to keep his reputation intact. After quelling the disquiet over his election in New York, he uses the governor’s mansion as a platform to launch himself into the White House in 1912.

in 1917, Russian Prime Minister Kerensky saved his position by managing to convince enough soldiers to defend the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg that the Bolsheviks were unable to take it over. Kerensky offered amnesty to any Bolshevik who swore allegiance to the new government the next day, and thousands took him up on the offer, destroying Bolshevik leader Lenin’s power base.

in 1956, Democratic President Adlai Stevenson defeated Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy in the general election, sweeping all 50 states and crushing him in the popular vote, 67% to 30%. The Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress and became negligible as a political party for decades because of McCarthy’s defeat.

in 1962, Richard Nixon won the governor’s race in California against Democratic incumbent Edmond Brown. He was reelected in 1966, and used the office for another unsuccessful run at the presidency in 1968. After the loss in ’68, he remarked to reporters, “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” He left public life after this and devoted himself to memoirs of his life as Vice-President and Governor.

in 1984, Republican incumbent John Anderson wins in a landslide against his more conservative opponent, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York. Anderson’s legacy includes the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as well as a more fair tax structure.