The Presidents: 1836-1936 - An Interactive US AAR

Mikeboy said:

((Well we could do a few chapters of 'I'm not very good at names: Stories of the Spanish-American War'))

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On Distant Shores: Stories of the Spanish American War

Chapter 20: The Battle of Leyte Gulf III, The USS Caroline

The wreckage of Spanish frigates - wooden shells which had no chance against the modern armament of the American battlecruisers - floated past the Admiral’s ship as the commanding officers of the American side convened to discuss further actions. When one piece of flotsam formed - as if by sheer willpower - still in the shape of a ship, drifted past, the remaining Spanish soldiers raised their rifles and shot at the Americans. The officers ducked at the sound, but the shots fell short and rattled against the metal armor of the ship - just as the cannonballs had earlier.

“They’re brave.”

“They’re idiots.” interjected Commodore Vallejo. It was an uncommonly frank statement to say to a commanding officer, but Admiral Wallace was not known to be an easily angered man. He simply laughed at the the commodore’s statement. “You younglings have no sense of romance - it is simply cold hard numbers to you.”

Admiral William Wallace paced the bridge, cursing the slow speed of his damaged cruiser. “What’s happening with the Spanish?”

“The Caroline caught up to them, sir. Apparently the entire Spanish fleet."

Admiral Wallace had a new thing to curse at. The Spanish were not expected in that quadrant - the USS Caroline had been sent with limited support to survey the area. While the Spanish had melted before the American onslaught, these were not the entirely outdated fleet sent to barrage Hawaii. Caught alone, even an ironclad battleship would have trouble.

“Who is the commanding officer?” Wallace asked.

“Commodore Vallejo.”

“I thought so.” Wallace said, smiling to himself. “Signal Vallejo. Tell him to be an idiot.”

“Sir?”

“Just do it.”

The commodore, meanwhile, had no cause to be smiling. The ship was crippled, burning from the inside out when the message came. “Understood.” he said aloud. To the ship’s officers he gave his orders. “Keep firing. Try to stop the Spanish ships, although sinking them is fine.”

“Shouldn’t we evacuate?” an officer asked.

“No, we’re keeping to the ship. The navy knows we’re here. Until they arrive, we’ll be fine if the Spanish don’t take us out the rest of the way. Fire back at them and give them enough hell that they won’t even try. Those are orders.”

The Caroline’s next volley stunned the Spanish forces as much as the American officers had been surprised in Honolulu, though the battleship’s shells were more effective. The Luzon recovered quickly from its surprise. The captain ordered his functioning mortars to strike around the bridge of the ship, as a warning to the American officers who he believed would recognize their frailty and end the conflict. The American commanders did not understand this gesture, and believed it to simply be the success of their attack causing the Spanish to shoot wide. With the bridge damaged extensively, Vallejo moved to the helm of the ship, supposedly saying “It will give them an easier target.”

When the Admiral and the rest of the American fleet arrived, the Spanish ships were still circling the wounded but aggressive USS Caroline. With several new battleships, some of which had been untouched by the previous battles in the chase in Leyte, the battle was shortly over. The Caroline was towed and its crew tended to in a local allied Filipino port. Admiral Wallace continued to lead the navy as it carried Marine landings against the Spanish. Commodore Vallejo, wounded by a passing Spanish shell, was taken to Tacloban to recover - he believed that "it would be a calmer place than Manila to recover".

((Uh... Is it too late to join?))

Mr. M said:

((Uh... Is it too late to join?))

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((Not at all, feel free.))

Seek75 said:

((Wasn't that what you said about the last coalition? And didn't you say you wouldn't approve any more coalitions after they tried to do a coalition when Davis was elected?

Just for the record.))

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((Just to put this "Unity Ticket" in perspective for you, BBB and I have not disagreed on a single issue so far. Our campaign are essentially identical but with different party names. That is the reasoning behind the idea of possibly having a "Unity Ticket". And, like I said, this is for the sake of the story-line. I will have to make quite the sacrifice for the story-line, so don't think this is just to win an election or anything, this is to make the game more interesting and reinvigorate the competition. If I do win the Presidency again, the next update should be incredibly interesting.))

EDIT: BBB, INBOX!

((Opposing unity ticket; the only time I agreed with it was in opposition to the SNP, which was full of radicals; this, I feel, is unjustified... If we went with it solely being on the merit of 'well, these guys are similar; they should work together,' it would be heavily unbalanced. If the ACP has the votes, and is not radical, I think it should go ahead (granted, Davis' regionalism was insane, but, really, we have a socialist president!). As well, Seek expressed another flaw in the system previously...))

(( I am not that happy about this unity ticket talk. I thought I would actually for once have to choose between two good candidates, and I was getting excited.))

Riccardo93 said:

((Opposing unity ticket; the only time I agreed with it was in opposition to the SNP, which was full of radicals; this, I feel, is unjustified... If we went with it solely being on the merit of 'well, these guys are similar; they should work together,' it would be heavily unbalanced. If the ACP has the votes, and is not radical, I think it should go ahead (granted, Davis' regionalism was insane, but, really, we have a socialist president!). As well, Seek expressed another flaw in the system previously...))

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((Look, the FPTP system tends towards two parties (Duverger's Law) and in this case the Federal and Democratic Candidate would be basically identical. What would be illogical and unbalanced would be if we DIDN'T form a Unity Ticket. It would basically be like saying "We have all the same policies, but we're going to run against each other in order to ensure the other guys win." The only reason you disagree with this is because it doesn't give the ACP an advantage. Doesn't mean the elections will be a roflstomp. Look at the last election and combine the Federal and Democratic support. It's still a VERY close race!))

((So guys, what year are we in? Just to plan my character))

Mr. M said:

((So guys, what year are we in? Just to plan my character))

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((1898, I believe. Possibly 1897.))

((1896, I think. We'll be in 1897 when the primaries end.))

Richard Zhdanov was born in 1849 in the small town of Pembroke, Maine. Son of Russian immigrants, he was the 3rd child of a family of 4 children, having 1 brother and 2 sisters. In 1867, richard left his home town, eventually settling in New York City. As his brother Mikhail would say to his friends: "Richard couldn't just stand all this peace we have here".

Shortly after arriving in New York, Zhdanov would join the US Army. He rose to the rank of Corporal, but quit in 1871. Then, his luck changed. After 2 years trying to survive doing various sorts of jobs, Richard met Mr. Pellier, a french explorer. The frenchman, sympathizing with the young Zhdanov, offered him to join his expedition to find the source of the Nile, arguing that the young man's experience in the army would be useful to help protect the expedition.

They set out at Cairo in August 1873. Traveling along with Zhdanov and Pellier, were 6 other men. After 5 months, they were already in the African jungles, and had not found the source of the river. 3 men died, 2 of malaria and 1 in a short confront with natives. Realizing they had failed, the remaining 5 men decided to go all the way back to Cairo, and, if not for Zhdanov's watchful eyes, they would have passed by a gold mine without even seeing it. No need to say, this discovery made the 3 explorers who returned alive to Cairo rich.

After years of failure, the tide had turned in Richard's favor. In 1876 he married Anne Bayer. The Golden Bank was founded in the same year, and in ten years grew to become one of the biggest banks in America. Further investments made by Richard in diverse areas of industry made him even richer. He was owner of mines of copper, gold, coal and silver. His bank gave loans to many nations and people. He had an army of mercenaries, who could serve any nation, should it have enough money. His son, George, was born in 1879. And finally, by the of 1897, Richard Zhdanov, son of Russian immigrants, ex-corporal of the US Army, was one of the richest men in the world. And even so, it was not enough for his ambition.

He would be president of the United States of America. No matter how long it would take.

Richard Zhdanov is a Democrat and mostly a conservative, though he sometimes flirt with the liberals.

((I hope you guys like it))

My fellow Americans,

In order to break this deadlock, I've decided to outline my plan to prevent another economic crisis.

-- Lower taxes for the middle class
-- Emergency tariffs to make up for the loss in revenue, if any
-- Loans for small businesses.

We ought not to punish the successful just for being successful. If any of the so-called monopolists have committed a crime, that is something altogether different.

I find the practice of monopolies distasteful, but I cannot see that any short term extensive federal plan will prevent them from happening again. We need less regulation and more competition.

Mr. M said:

Richard Zhdanov was born in 1849 in the small town of Pembroke, Maine. Son of Russian immigrants, he was the 3rd child of a family of 4 children, having 1 brother and 2 sisters. In 1867, richard left his home town, eventually settling in New York City. As his brother Mikhail would say to his friends: "Richard couldn't just stand all this peace we have here".

Shortly after arriving in New York, Zhdanov would join the US Army. He rose to the rank of Corporal, but quit in 1871. Then, his luck changed. After 2 years trying to survive doing various sorts of jobs, Richard met Mr. Pellier, a french explorer. The frenchman, sympathizing with the young Zhdanov, offered him to join his expedition to find the source of the Nile, arguing that the young man's experience in the army would be useful to help protect the expedition.

They set out at Cairo in August 1873. Traveling along with Zhdanov and Pellier, were 6 other men. After 5 months, they were already in the African jungles, and had not found the source of the river. 3 men died, 2 of malaria and 1 in a short confront with natives. Realizing they had failed, the remaining 5 men decided to go all the way back to Cairo, and, if not for Zhdanov's watchful eyes, they would have passed by a gold mine without even seeing it. No need to say, this discovery made the 3 explorers who returned alive to Cairo rich.

After years of failure, the tide had turned in Richard's favor. In 1876 he married Anne Bayer. The Golden Bank was founded in the same year, and in ten years grew to become one of the biggest banks in America. Further investments made by Richard in diverse areas of industry made him even richer. He was owner of mines of copper, gold, coal and silver. His bank gave loans to many nations and people. He had an army of mercenaries, who could serve any nation, should it have enough money. His son, George, was born in 1879. And finally, by the of 1897, Richard Zhdanov, son of Russian immigrants, ex-corporal of the US Army, was one of the richest men in the world. And even so, it was not enough for his ambition.

He would be president of the United States of America. No matter how long it would take.

Richard Zhdanov is a Democrat and mostly a conservative, though he sometimes flirt with the liberals.

((I hope you guys like it))

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((Great, another uber-rich tycoon. Just so you're aware, the Democrats have morphed into a labor party in TTL. You're most likely more at home in the American Conservative Party.))

We're a very welcoming bunch, the ACP (though, I'm technically independent, I caucus with them...); and might also suggest, should you join us, that you vote for the good Mr. Garrett?

Nay, vote for me; Richard Orleans for lower taxes, renewed growth and an end to this socialist folley.

OOC: Whoever wins the acp primary will get my vote

Gentleman, gentleman

Though I'm inclined by the proposals of the honorable Mr. Orleans, I need first to know the platform of Garret.

((I'm sorry, but I have to side with Seek, whether you guys have the same policies or not shouldn't matter. This just seems like an excuse to ensure our monopolies are destroyed no matter what. And I still feel it is not plausible for the Socialist Hayden and the Liberal Harrison to form a unity ticket.))

King50000 said:

((I'm sorry, but I have to side with Seek, whether you guys have the same policies or not shouldn't matter. This just seems like an excuse to ensure our monopolies are destroyed no matter what. And I still feel it is not plausible for the Socialist Hayden and the Liberal Harrison to form a unity ticket.))

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((Why shouldn't policies matter?))