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On this day in alternate history: September 11, 2001
Twenty-five years ago today, Condoleezza Rice, then-National Security Adviser for President Bush, delivered the Rostov Lecture at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In that speech, Rice laid out the defining vision of President Bush’s foreign policy: a robust missile defense system. Rice foreshadowed her speech on Meet the Press two days earlier,…
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Inventing: When an idea comes
A friend suggested that I share some of my process. These aren’t drafted and revised notes or commentaries, as you saw with my “What if No Watergate?” post. Instead, this is simply the raw notes as they come out of my head. For some brief context, this is something I wrote down earlier today and…
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On this day in alternate history: August 14, 1980
On August 14, 1980, Senator Edward M. Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination for the United States presidency. It was an historic moment for many reasons. It was the reintroduction of Camelot. His defeat of incumbent president Jimmy Carter also marked the first time in nearly 100 years that an incumbent president actively sought and lost…
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What if No Watergate?
January 20, 1977. It’s a frigid January day in Washington as a crowded rostrum of senators, congressmen, and others look on at the 38th president assuming the presidency. The man he is succeeding as president, Richard Nixon, looks on, satisfied that he did all he could over the last eight years to be a good…
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On this day in alternate history: August 5, 1983
A cult classic of cinema, Risky Business starring Brian Backer, premiered on this day forty-three years ago. The plot of the film centers on a down-on-his-luck high schooler, Joel Goodson (Backer), who struggles with the ladies. When his wealthy parents leave for vacation, Goodson meets a call girl. The film follows their exploits while the…
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Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, II
Two Weeks as President-designate In the days after Al Gore’s assassination, Joe Lieberman was tasked with assembling an administration of his own. Who would be in his cabinet? By the time Gore was assassinated, he had yet to formally announce any of his cabinet picks, though many were chosen and some publicly confirmed in the…
