vcczar Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 I'm curious if by playing AMPU, if the game has compelled you to read more about politicians you knew a lot less about. If so, who have you researched? I guess overall, I'm wondering how AMPU has changed your view on US history, events, party, ideology, politicians, etc. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrman104 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Depends how obscure. First and foremost the brief lasting 1916 playtest had me controlling the LW Democrats and with William Jennings Bryan as my faction leader i naturally did some reading on him. I did a few modules in college on populism and with serious fatigue talking about Trump i ended up talking about him a bunch. It even lead me to read Laurence Goodwyn's The Populist moment about the populist movement as a whole in that period which has really reshaped how I look at populism nowadays. Another one is Daniel Patrick Moynihan, i came across him in college as well but only for his (in)famous memo. Looking more into him as one of my faction pols lead me to look more into his views on welfare as a whole only to find I agreed with him more then I thought (which still isnt all that much but still). In a more silly one AMPU was how i found about the wild story of Adam Laxalt's father 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeP47 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 I can't name any specifics right now, but I most definitely look up people I've never heard of regularly, probably most commonly our 1840 faction leaders or Congressional Leaders, at least once a week. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euri Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 I haven’t even played in any of the playtests and I’m already traversing the depths of Wikipedia for obscure politicians, so I think that’s a good sign I don’t think I’ve been looking for anything in particular but every now and then I see a name here that really draws my attention 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeP47 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Just now, OrangeP47 said: I can't name any specifics right now, but I most definitely look up people I've never heard of regularly, probably most commonly our 1840 faction leaders or Congressional Leaders, at least once a week. Like holy shit @vcczar did you know James Semple invented the automobile in the 1840s but industry wasn't advanced enough to mass produce it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcczar Posted May 23 Author Share Posted May 23 20 minutes ago, OrangeP47 said: Like holy shit @vcczar did you know James Semple invented the automobile in the 1840s but industry wasn't advanced enough to mass produce it. I did know, but I totally forgot. Arguably a French guy invented it in the 1780 or 1790s. Lots of “inventors” of the automobile. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezi Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 I mean, I did a lot of research about the Hiesters lmao. Did you know that the last Hiester in the game (Hiester clymer) is notorious for running one of the most racist campaigns of the era? Lmao 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeP47 Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 1 minute ago, Rezi said: I mean, I did a lot of research about the Hiesters lmao. Did you know that the last Hiester in the game (Hiester clymer) is notorious for running one of the most racist campaigns of the era? Lmao I'm gonna have to stop having the AI put him in the PA gov race every single cycle now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10centjimmy Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 (edited) I watched the Tallulah Bankhead movie, Lifeboat. Pretty solid Alfred Hitchcock film. Also really dove into Gerhard Mennen "Soapy" Williams' background. Pretty incredible civil rights record in his 12 years as governor of Michigan. His "controversial" trait in AMPU seems to be from a single comment as JFK's Assistant Sec of State where he said that "what we want for the Africans is what they want for themselves," - a comment which the press took as a dig at the white South Africans and Rhodesians (modern Zimbabwe). Edited May 23 by 10centjimmy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansas Progressive Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 I don't do deep readings but I do browse the World Book Encyclopedia (read: wikipedia) for people I dont know of by name alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Umbrella Posted Wednesday at 04:07 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 04:07 PM Absolutely! I ended up going down a James Michael Curley rabbit hole after having him as one of my only kingmakers, and it was insane. I wouldn't say it's changed my views on parties or history or anything like that, but I do enjoy learning about these politicians that I've never heard of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortKing Posted Wednesday at 04:18 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 04:18 PM I was interested to learn a good bit more about the faction leader I ended up stuck with, Chester Nimitz, and ended up being really impressed with him and wanted to see if I could get him to the White House ( @Murrman104 did not let that happen unfortunately) and I also on a lark ended up googling LeRoy Collins and learning a good bit about this rare Southern Democrat promoting an end to segregation and am hopeful I can get him up the ladder in AMPU. If I go with current in-game Vice President Lewis Douglas as my faction leader, I plan to do some reading on his career as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcczar Posted Wednesday at 07:29 PM Author Share Posted Wednesday at 07:29 PM On 5/22/2023 at 9:47 PM, Rezi said: I mean, I did a lot of research about the Hiesters lmao. Did you know that the last Hiester in the game (Hiester clymer) is notorious for running one of the most racist campaigns of the era? Lmao Yeah. So sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConservativeElector2 Posted Wednesday at 08:44 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 08:44 PM Yeah, I love how playing the game leads to connections with people you did not know very well. For me my most favorite case is so far William Paterson. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansas Progressive Posted Friday at 02:16 AM Share Posted Friday at 02:16 AM Heh its kinda funny seeing Obscure reps gain leadership posts. Like some random ass one term getting majority whip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0ccultist Posted Saturday at 06:43 PM Share Posted Saturday at 06:43 PM On 5/22/2023 at 7:21 PM, vcczar said: I'm curious if by playing AMPU, if the game has compelled you to read more about politicians you knew a lot less about. If so, who have you researched? I guess overall, I'm wondering how AMPU has changed your view on US history, events, party, ideology, politicians, etc. I’m late but absolutely. I have read so much about some people and ended up getting a book on one. I’m forgetting his name but i learned a lot of the only congressmen to be a Russian spy and put him on the Supreme Court because I thought it be funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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