After a hiatus of nearly three months, I've decided to attempt a revival of this series. For those who weren't around for the first iteration (we'll call that Season 1),
Hail, Columbia! is an interactive elections timeline set in the Commonwealth of North America, a federal republic covering most of the OTL United States, Canada, and Mexico. You can read up on the history of the last 140 years in the
Master Thread (where can be found a comprehensive list of presidents and links to previous elections), but here is a brief overview of where our world stands in 1924:
North America is a united, federal CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of North America was established in 1784 following the success of the
Wars of American Independence (1775-1782). In the first federal elections, Benjamin Franklin was chosen the commonwealth's first president; subsequent presidents expanded the territory of the commonwealth to include Cuba and Santo Domingo in the Caribbean and the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest. The Commonwealth's Charter, as amended, establishes a government of three branches: a popularly elected president, who heads the executive branch; the bicameral Continental Congress, which wields legislative power; and the federal judiciary, whose justices are elected to six year terms per an amendment adopted in the 1890s. The sheer size of the commonwealth necessitated strong provincial governments in the early years of its history, and each province therefore maintains its own constitution and elects provincial governors, legislators, and judges.
Socialists and National Liberals vie for powerThe present party system is characterized by competition between two large coalitions: the Socialists (comprising the American Section of the Workers' International and the smaller Social Democratic Party) and the Liberals (the right-of-center National Liberals and their coalition partner, the Center Democrats). The Concordite Party, the descendant of the classically liberal Whig Party, was once the dominant power in the capital city of Franklin but has seen its fortunes lag in recent years. On the world stage, the National Liberals favor an interventionist and generally pro-French policy, while the Socialists and Concordites wish to remain neutral in foreign squabbling.
Europe is recovering from a great warThe
Great War (1907-1914) left the European Continent in tatters and was the source of great controversy in the commonwealth, where Theodore Roosevelt and the National Liberals argued unsuccessfully for American intervention in the elections of 1908 and 1912. The war pitted the Allied Powers of England, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary against France and her ally, Russia; when the Russian Empire collapsed amidst the Revolution of 1913, France had no choice but to capitulate. The Treaty of Berlin, signed in 1914, imposed a vindictive peace upon the defeated French, who were forced to pay reparations to her conquerors and accept the creation of a unified German Empire to the East. American attempts to come to the aid of her old ally proved unpopular with the voting public, and as the third decade of the 20th century approaches middle age, France - and the world - is fast approaching her day of reckoning.
. . .
The Commonwealth of North America, circa. 1924
The just-beginning administration of Francisco Huerte was cruelly cut short when, on the 8th of June in 1921, he was murdered on the steps of the capitol by a Mexican nationalist who considered Huerte a traitor for accepting the presidency of the commonwealth. As Huerte lay dying, the assassin fired a second shot, wounding Treasury Secretary Upton Sinclair, and might have killed the vice president had not the Speaker of the House of Commons knocked the gun from his hand, pinned him to the ground, and called for the police.
So it was that Charles W. Bryan, just months before a minor legislator from the Province of Kansas, became the 24th President of the Commonwealth of North America. A member of the Social Democratic Party, Bryan was chosen vice president to secure his party's support for Huerte ahead of the 1920 elections; few expected him to play a role of any significance in the new administration, and the SDP leadership was more concerned that their choice for State Secretary, Nathaniel A. Wallace, be confirmed as promised than by the election of Bryan to the largely ceremonial role of vice president. Bryan nevertheless resolved to carry on, declining suggestions that he might resign and allow Congress to elect a new president and instead declaring his intent to "carry out the program of the government as if nothing happened to interrupt its execution."
To the gratification of his friends and the astonishment of his critics, Bryan proved a reasonably able executive. Backed by strong Socialist majorities in the Senate and the House of Commons, he secured the passage of the major objectives of Huerte's 1920 campaign: the nationalization of the oil and steel industries, the expansion of the National Health Service, and the creation of a national unemployment benefit. In a move popular with the left, he likewise signed the repeal of the Sedition Act, which had criminalized membership in anarchist and other so-called Czolgosist societies. On the world stage, he stood with the majority of his party in opposing further aid to France, declaring himself unwilling to entangle the commonwealth in European affairs. Whether due to his own policies or, as claim his critics, residual good feeling from the Taft years, Bryan leaves the country in a reasonably prosperous state as the 1924 election approaches, though opposition leaders warn that his decision to nationalize large sectors of the economy will inevitably lead to ruin.
Vice President Felipe Carrillo Puerto of Yucatan [Socialist]In keeping with his promise not to stand for reelection in 1924, President Bryan declined nomination to a second term, instead throwing his support behind Vice President Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Carrillo has been nominated by the newly-formed Socialist Party, a fusion of the ASWI and her long-time coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party. He has promised to pass the commonwealth's first-ever federal minimum wage, create a nationwide retirement insurance system to complement the National Health Service and the unemployment benefit, and maintain a policy of isolation in regard to the world abroad.
Senator Daniel Heath Goodrich of Indiana [National Liberal-CDP]Most observers expected Calvin Coolidge, the popular governor of Massachusetts, to receive the Liberal nomination, but in a dramatic upset the caucus instead selected Daniel Heath Goodrich, a veteran legislator of Cherokee descent and the party's Senatorial Whip. Goodrich has sharply criticized Carrillo and the Socialist Party, terming the re-nationalization of the oil and steel industries "reckless and disruptive" and warning that the incumbent administration's tolerance of anarchists and communists will cause a return to the bloodshed of the Blackwater Square riots that rocked the country in 1915. He supports an strong foreign policy, calling for the commonwealth to assert herself abroad, particularly in the Pacific where Japan has shown signs of imperial ambitions; yet he opposes further aid to France, instead stating that the Commonwealth ought to look after her own interests. He opposes a national minimum wage, preferring to leave that issue to the provinces, and supports the National Health Service as it stands.
Former Governor Charles Ellsworth Gould of North Carolina [Concordite]Not since the glory days of Manuel Mendez have the Concordites held the presidency, and after failing to capture even 20% of the vote in the elections of 1916 and 1920, few believe the party can regain its former luster. Not among these doubters is North Carolina's Charles Gould, who has been nominated by what remains of the Concordite Congressional caucus. He favors the immediate repeal of the Production Act that nationalized the oil and steel industries, the privatization of the nation's railways, a free trade policy, and legislation to outlaw membership in anarchist and communist societies. He stands opposed to intervention in European affairs, and has accused Goodrich of wishing to provoke a war with Japan.
Three minor parties declined to nominate candidates for the presidency: the National Party of Acadia (a breakaway caucus of Acadian Concordites who took issue with the predominantly-Carolinian leadership of their former party), the National Czolgosist League (whose membership was too disorganized on account of the Sedition Act to field a candidate), and the Liberty and Solidarity Party (a Mexican nationalist faction that refused to nominate a candidate on principle).
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