Nixon has taken office under a cloud. Many are calling for RFK to be tried and imprisoned; many others believe that the released files and recordings are in fact hoaxes, and that Nixon actually stole the election from Kennedy. With that start, things look dire.

Over the next four years, a series of decisions are made that differ from Actual History. For starters: Nixon makes more of a push to get out of Viet Nam sooner; the war is massively unpopular, even more so than IRL due to the collapse in faith in the American political system. Popular opinion on the war collapses catastrophically. By late 1970, the US is on the way out.

Apollo 11 happens as IRL in July, 1969, but to slightly more public enthusiasm (due to it being something good in  a sea of bad). It is immediately decided that this should be built upon. Some voices that IRL called for Apollo to be curtailed are now not as loud: Teddy Kennedy, part of the Kennedy clan that is now under much greater media and legal scrutiny, has been arrested for the drunk-driving homicide of Mary Jo Kopechne on July 18. Soon he is out of office and sent to prison for a term of several years. Others, such as William Proxmire, remain as opposed as ever, though due to the recent collapse in popularity of politicians as a whole, he has less of a public platform . The decision by the Johnson administration to cancel Saturn V production is reversed; Apollo missions to at least 24 are pushed through.

Due to Nixon Administration pressure, Apollo 12 is pushed up by one month with negative consequences; on the way to the moon in October, 1969, a propellant tank aboard the lunar module ruptures. While the crew manages to return safely to Earth, this delays the following Apollo missions. It has the effect, however, of spurring interest in the space program. A disaster that results in the survival of heroes, right at the height of interest (right after Apollo 11), makes both the public and Congress more interested in space. This is aided by Walter Cronkite: just as he had talked down the war effort in Viet Nam after the Tet Offensive in January, 1968, here he talks up the space program. In the general malaise gripping the US after the 1968 election, Cronkite turns Apollo into a point of pride.

As Viet Nam ramps down and Apollo continues on, further plans are put into place. The Apollo Applications Program IRL led to Skylab; it does so in Alternate History as well, but it is joined by plans for lunar bases by 1976 and manned Mars missions by the early 1980’s. The NERVA program is pushed ahead; the Space Shuttle program also proceeds, but as a smaller vehicle (25K lbs payload, limited crossrange, reusable manned first stage, second stage equipped with expendable external tanks). Plans are put in place to revive the Post-Saturn launch vehicles planned a decade earlier, in 1963: in 1971, a design contest is held among major contractors and General Dynamics/Astronautics wins with an improved version of their earlier Nexus launch vehicle. A long development plan is put into place to develop this as the “Neptune” booster.

The Presidential election of 1972, between Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, is both a landslide and a bore. Humphrey goes into the election under the cloud of the Watergate scandal, even though he was uninvolved; Nixon trounces him soundly. But the turnout is the lowest on record.

As IRL, the Yom Kippur War breaks out in 1973. The war plays out as IRL, with the Israelis repelling the Arab attack. As IRL, the Arab oil producing nations respond with an oil embargo against the US. However, things play out slightly differently. With the enhanced space program requiring nuclear power and nuclear propulsion, the nuclear industry is slightly stronger and much more popular than IRL. A consequence is that the OPEC oil embargo leads to a speedup in the approval and construction of nuclear powerplants. By the Three Mile Island incident of 1979, nuclear power is growing, and is seen as not only vital, but patriotic. The collapse of the American commercial nuclear industry following TMI as IRL does not occur. Much of this is due to the events of 1976…

To be continued

The election of 1968, between Robert F Kennedy and Richard Nixon, is held on November 5. The count is very close, with media outlets calling it for first one, then the other. In the end, by the end of the day on November 6 it is called for RFK.

However, remembering his dubious defeat to JFK 8 years earlier, Nixon refuses to concede. And he has good reason: on November 4, the FBI, under J Edgar Hoover, had delivered to Nixon a series of files and audiotapes recorded in the weeks immediately preceding the election. These detail a number of meetings between RFK and other higher Democrat Party officials with various corrupt major city mayors and state governors… all aimed at using whatever means necessary, fair or foul, to assure RFK’s win. Nixon had not released the files to the public due to early polling that showed that he would squeak out a narrow win; releasing the files might look like dirty tricks, so it was decided to risk it. However, with the loss, the reasons for not going public were removed. So late in the day on November 6, the files and audio tapes are released to the media. Most damning was a meeting held the week before between RFK and other officials at the Watergate Hotel, where RFK is heard clearly demanding that the votes go his way in certain vital districts… whether or not the voters in those districts actually vote for him.

On November 7, with Nixon still refusing to concede, the “Watergate Scandal” breaks on radio, TV and newspapers. This immediately throws the system into chaos. Recounts and closer examination show widespread voter fraud, throwing the actual results into disarray. Over the next week, a Constitutional crisis ensues, with the RFK win being held in abeyance. Finally, it is determined that Nixon did, in fact, win both the popular and electoral college votes. RFK concedes on November 16 and Nixon is declared the winner.

In January, 1969, Nixon takes office. While generally acknowledged as the legitimate winner, he does so under a cloud; the political system is held is very low regard, on top of the racial strife of the past decade and the ongoing trouble in Viet Nam. Just about the only thing that seems to being going in the right direction is the Apollo program… and even that has issues. Two years earlier the Apollo 1 fire had killed crew and caused delays; just as bad, NASA – due to budget cuts imposed by the Johnson administration – had cancelled production of the Saturn V in August of 1968. So even though the glory days of Apollo were still ahead, it was clear to the new Nixon administration that this would only provide a rallying point for the public for a relatively brief time. So, changes must be made…

To be continued