1968 presidential election - plus psionics

[RogerBW]

I've been running a game set in 1967-1968, dealing with the discovery of psychic powers. It's mostly set in the UK, but American politics have become a significant background matter. I don't want to give away too many secrets, since the players may read this, but I invite suggestions.

Quick summary for people who don't want to read the full campaign journal: it seems that spacewalking, or certain classes of near-death experience involving hallucinogenic drugs, induce psychic powers (the latter with a very high death rate). The NSA has psi operatives, and was involved in a plot to subvert the government of the UK (part of its global psychic dominance programme). Since then, the existence of psi powers has become public: the UK has a Ministry of Paraphysics, the Soviets have claimed that they have had superior psi powers all along (and they certainly seem to have some psi operatives), and the USA has said nothing official.

It's currently early March, 1968. In mid-February, for no apparent reason, the battle of Khe Sanh ended as the North Vietnamese forces started to surrender en masse. This has been repeated across the country. It's not clear why this has happened, but the smart money is on the American intelligence services. Historically, LBJ bowed out of the presidential race because he was exhausted from dealing with Vietnam, and not being able to concentrate on the things he wanted to do, the Great Society and domestic policy in general - so I think he's likely to stay in. One assumes the NSA, or whoever, will want something from him in return for that victory.

Meanwhile, Wallace/LeMay have tried to win the southern youth vote by pushing for compulsory psi registration - and LeMay has gone public with his wish to remove "the American phobia about psychic weapons", though it's not at all clear how much he knows.

Which leaves Nixon as the only candidate who doesn't appear to have a psi dirty tricks department. And I don't see that lasting.

I'd be interested in thoughts from people who know the era, or study American politics in particular...

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

I'd be interested in thoughts from people who know the era, or study American politics in particular...

Depending on exactly what "early" March means you're either just before or just after LBJ;s humiliation in the New Hampshire primary.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/9...0605/110509966

If events didn't diverge significantly before your date he's in a lot of trouble though. He's already screwed up the early campaign though he might be able to still win based on party bosses like Daley of Chicago who control delegate selection.

On the other hand, the great speed and success of Robert Keneedy's campaign indicates a strong amount of dissatisfaction with the staus quo in the Democratic Party.

There is also LBJ's physical health to consider. Even after leaving office and presumably greatly reducing his stress levels LBJ barely survived the end date of Nixon's first term (which would have been his second full term).

It's entirely possible that he might have decided not to run again even if he was on the brink of winning Vietnam with "Plan Psi from Langely".

Also, if there is a psionic conspiracy inside the Democratic party, RFK is a fine choice to be its' head or figurehead. Old Joe Kennedy (his father) had been scheming for a _ long_ time to make one or more of his sons President. :)

More seriously JFK was pretty firmly tied in to the early developments in counter-insurgency and unconventional warfare in his administration. If there was some sort of major backer in the formative years of secret US Inteligence psi he's likely to be the fellow. The psi spooks could certainly decide to transfer their loyalty or enlightened self-interest to RFK.

Generally you're not at all stuck with LBJ. Many other options are viable.

[Irish Wolf]

It's possible that the existence of psionic operatives might have deterred RFK's interest in solving almost every international crisis with atomic weapons, so I suppose an RFK administration might not have been the disaster in your world that it would likely have been in ours.

On the plus side, telepathic bodyguards might well have stopped Sirhan Sirhan in his tracks - literally.

Nixon's own psi-friends would probably have been working on trying to implement an effective telepathic shield - Nixon was notoriously paranoid about his perceived "enemies", and would likely have have loathed the idea that someone could read his mind. Expect him to keep a low profile until that happens. (In fact, if the method by which psi powers are induced is known, expect Nixon to try that, because it might give him an edge over his opponents. Tricky Dick was not one to pass up an advantage...)

[David Johnston2]

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

[Michael Cule]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

Although North Vietnam was a Russian client (which made relationships with the Chinese interesting I'll bet) I'm not sure what sort of direct investment the Soviets had in the country. They may have supplied arms but direct training and 'military advisors' in country never seemed to come up in the Real World(tim). They would very likely want to keep their psionic resources and knowledge close to their chests. No Fraternal Socialist Psionic Co-operation Program seems likely.

And if the psis were strong enough the subordinates might be there cheering the leaders on.

If you wanted to be really nasty and blacken LBJ's character rather more than I think is justified you could have him risk an experimental procedure to transfer his mind to the body of the more popular RFK...

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Nixon's own psi-friends would probably have been working on trying to implement an effective telepathic shield - Nixon was notoriously paranoid about his perceived "enemies", and would likely have have loathed the idea that someone could read his mind. Expect him to keep a low profile until that happens. (In fact, if the method by which psi powers are induced is known, expect Nixon to try that, because it might give him an edge over his opponents. Tricky Dick was not one to pass up an advantage...)

President Nixon, if in office at the time it was discovered, would likely have ordered NASA to send him up along with the director. His paranoia would lead him to take that one risk in order to be able to assess all his associates (and enemies) readily.

Based upon some of his transcripts, President Johnson was quite possibly even MORE dangerously off his rocker than Nixon. Certainly far more "Alpha-male" in his approach. And not at all popular in his own right.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

Changing loyalties on a "whim" was a staple of Soviet history... usually subordinates realizing that their families were in grave risk from the madmen in power. Stalin was absolutely a sociopath, and well known to be colder than Siberian winters. Kruschev wasn't much better, but appears to have had a shadow of a sliver of a conscience. Brezhnev was a little bit saner still. Changing stance upon a change of the balance of power is certainly not something that would be out of character for any but Stalin.

But, yes, they'd have their own Psi-program. And would likely massively ramp up the space program as fast as possible to get as many psi-spies as possible... then encourage the church back into the open, and mind-read the priest-confessors....

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Depending on exactly what "early" March means you're either just before or just after LBJ;s humiliation in the New Hampshire primary.

Well, campaign-now is 2 March, and things have been going strange in Vietnam for over two weeks. Whether that's enough is not at all clear...

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Given that the Russians were doing just as much psi research and space travel, I find it hard to believe that the balance of forces would be so one-sided that Vietnam turns into a walkover. Or that when communist leaders suddenly change loyalties that their subordinates don't lock them up.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but the Soviets have reasons for not sending their own psi-operators (KGB 8th Chief Directorate, "Horsemen") to Vietnam, even covertly.

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Based upon some of his transcripts, President Johnson was quite possibly even MORE dangerously off his rocker than Nixon. Certainly far more "Alpha-male" in his approach. And not at all popular in his own right.

And he had a mission - the Great Society - which he hadn't been able to accomplish because of Vietnam.

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

But, yes, they'd have their own Psi-program. And would likely massively ramp up the space program as fast as possible to get as many psi-spies as possible... then encourage the church back into the open, and mind-read the priest-confessors....

Part of the problem is that everybody's trying to be a bit covert about how psis are made. It's not clear whether the Soviets know about the spacewalk route, for example, nor whether they know that the Americans know...

It's not too technically demanding at this tech level to get someone up out of the atmosphere and back again if you don't need to get them into orbit as well - and animal experiments suggest that this is sufficient.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

...

It's not too technically demanding at this tech level to get someone up out of the atmosphere and back again if you don't need to get them into orbit as well - and animal experiments suggest that this is sufficient.

That gives you the whole X-15 program.

Come to think of it there are the lifting body protoypes too and it casts a certain explantory light on the Shuttlle design.

[tantric]

It's a bit off topic, but I've always wanted a version of Technomancer where the Event awoke psychic powers rather than magical ones. I had a campaign outline for this, but lost it long ago. It seems like the OP is developing something like this. I'd love to see the details.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That gives you the whole X-15 program.

The X-15 doesn't get high enough - threshold seems to be something over 100 miles up. Also, being sealed inside a capsule doesn't seem to be enough exposure - so far it's only affected the actual spacewalkers.

(An early hint of something weird - to the players, though not of course to the PCs - was a report of the Apollo 1 fire, when Roger Chaffee died, and Grissom and White just barely survived.)