SOLVED. Series of political novels from 70's - included moon mission - last two books in series were alternative endings. [s]

[Sam]

Back in the 70's or no later than the early 80's, I read through a series of novels set in the United States that told an epic political story. There were at least 6 titles in the series - maybe more. One book in the middle of the series focused on an Apollo-like mission to the moon. The international political climate was very tense and there was controversy in the book about whether the spacecraft should have weapons added to it. I think the astronauts all agreed privately to take small arms with them on the mission. There was a rival mission to the moon, and conflict between the two teams resulted in at least one astronaut being killed.

At the end of the series, there was an intense and bitter political campaign. Just before the election, the two candidates and their wives all appeared on stage together. Shots rang out, but you didn't find out what happened until the next book. The series had a double finale. In one book, the liberal candidate had been killed, and the conservative became president. And in the alternative book, it was the other way around.

I can't come up with any of the titles or the author's name. The books were all very thick and the writing style was similar to James Michener or Leon Uris.

These were historical fiction - not science fiction at all despite the one book about a space mission.

[Sam]

Well, I've been looking for this on and off for weeks, and now that I finally decided to post it here, I managed to stumble onto the answer I was looking for.

The series is by Allen Drury and starts with Advise and Consent.

The space book is The Throne of Saturn and it doesn't look like it is actually a part of the overall series, just very similar.

The cliffhanger book that leads to the dual endings is Preserve & Protect and the two alternate finales are Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason and The Promise of Joy.