vcczar Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 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, 2023 Author Share Posted May 23, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 23, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 23, 2023 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, 2023 Share Posted May 23, 2023 (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, 2023 by 10centjimmy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansas Progressive Posted May 23, 2023 Share Posted May 23, 2023 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 May 24, 2023 Share Posted May 24, 2023 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 May 24, 2023 Share Posted May 24, 2023 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 May 24, 2023 Author Share Posted May 24, 2023 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 May 24, 2023 Share Posted May 24, 2023 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 May 26, 2023 Share Posted May 26, 2023 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 May 27, 2023 Share Posted May 27, 2023 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...
EYates Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Mainly it has led me to look at people with judicial skill I’m the hopes that if I am ever president I can appoint rather quirky yet useful people to the SC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansas Progressive Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 TIFO who Howell Cobb was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeP47 Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 8 minutes ago, Arkansas Progressive said: TIFO who Howell Cobb was. Only after meming him with us for a few days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcczar Posted June 4, 2023 Author Share Posted June 4, 2023 10 hours ago, Arkansas Progressive said: TIFO who Howell Cobb was. What does TIFO mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euri Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 (edited) 16 minutes ago, vcczar said: What does TIFO mean? Today I found out Edited June 4, 2023 by Euri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcczar Posted June 4, 2023 Author Share Posted June 4, 2023 3 minutes ago, Euri said: Today I found out, I believe Oh ok. Thanks. I first learned of Howell Cobb from an illustrated book on the Civil War. It was definitely sometime K-12. I forgot if it was from the book I was reading in 2nd grade or one of the later books in High School. I've known about Cobb for some time. Just for reference, I knew who all the presidents were, in order of presidency by 3rd grade. I knew where all the states were before then. I think in 3rd grade, the only thing I was good at academically was knowing this information, which wasn't relevant for 3rd grade. I went to sleep reading encyclopedia until like 3 or 4 am. @Arkansas Progressive adding him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkansas Progressive Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 2 hours ago, vcczar said: Oh ok. Thanks. I first learned of Howell Cobb from an illustrated book on the Civil War. It was definitely sometime K-12. I forgot if it was from the book I was reading in 2nd grade or one of the later books in High School. I've known about Cobb for some time. Just for reference, I knew who all the presidents were, in order of presidency by 3rd grade. I knew where all the states were before then. I think in 3rd grade, the only thing I was good at academically was knowing this information, which wasn't relevant for 3rd grade. I went to sleep reading encyclopedia until like 3 or 4 am. @Arkansas Progressive adding him. Cobb should be there since he became president in 1876 in the Civil War playtest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrangeP47 Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 5 minutes ago, Arkansas Progressive said: Cobb should be there since he became president in 1876 in the Civil War playtest Yeah he's one of our big meme machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jestor Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 Found myself looking up my first eligible candidate - Winthrop Sargent -, which in turn led me to hunt down online the poem he wrote. titled simply "Boston". The poem itself is... well, when he talks in the accompanying advertisement about his deficiencies of poetry, I'm just like yeah, that checks out. Hard copies are available for $15-20 apparently, but I'm just like nope. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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