A Three Party System: LaFollete and the Progressives

[War on Want]

I have decided to keep this going

Xahar- Yugoslavia has successfully absorbed them, and they are ruled by a Semi-Fascist government aligned with Mussolini.

Kreizouriezh- The Christian Democrats went with the Nationalist French, because of fears of a Communist takeover, and anti-Christian politics. Most of this came after the collectivisation proposed by Blum but they really don't mind the Republican French much, as long as they are not controlled by the Socialists.

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Update coming soon!!!

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The Presidency of William Borah

After the inaguation of President Borah on March 4th, 1933, Congress rushed to get to work. During the first two weeks of President Borah's term many small bills were passed, with the help of southern Democrats. These consisted of the Farm Relief Act of 1933, Hunger Prevention Act, the Bank Holiday Act and the Emergency Banking Act. Unfortunatley for President Borah, both the Collective Bargaining and many other programs desiged to fight the great depression were held up in committees, because of many Democrats not supporting what many of them saw as "Pinko" legislation.

Slowly the Economy began to improve after 6 months of Borah's term, especially in the dust bowl and Mississppi Valley areas, which were beginning to recieve federal aid. Borah's list of achievements was relativley small however as the Collective Bargaining Act, National Farming Administration Act and the Mississippi Valley Authority Act were all voted down with only the Relocation Help Act and Rural Electrification Act being passed. Borah was a very lucky man though as the country blamed the Democratic controlled congress for all of their problems. Borah gave many speeches over the coming months about how the Democrats should come together to give aid to the country, instead of bickering over ideologies, and partisanship.

These speeches and public outcry from around the Mississppi Valley, Appalachia and the Great Plains, caused many Democrats in a re-vote in March of 1934, to vote for both the Mississippy Valley Authority Act and the Tennesee Valley Authority Act which were both government corporations used to provide many services and jobs to the poor residents of the Upper South. The Supreme Court almost voted this bill down but in a 5-4 descion the bills were declared constitutional. By July of 1934 many more bills were passed but they were much more minor, and the only one of any major importance to the Nation's economy as a whole was the National Service Act, which created the National Service Corps, which would work all across the nation building roads, buildings and providing services in an attempt to reduce unemployment.

By the fall of 1934 the economy showed its first signs of improving around the nation as a whole. Unemployment rates had dropped 2.5% from the 22.7% national unemployment rate when Borah became president. In many localised areas though, such as around Detroit, New York, Boston and the Upper South, unemployment rates were as high as 35 to 40%. Thanks to many government  programs though, the states with the fastest growing economies were Tennesee, Arkansas, and Lousiana, while Michigan's and New York's economy actually declined...

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Foriegn Events of 1933-1935

Over the next few years in Europe tensions were highered greatley and quickly as a mass military buildup between 3 great, powerful spheres of power erupted, in the midst of a Depression. Both Spain, and Austria built great defensive rebdoubts all across the border of France and Germany, while Italy slowly constructed a large fleet and airforce, which it believed could control both the seas, and skies of the Mediterranian. France underwent new elections in 1934, in which the Radical Socialists were returned to power once more under President Herriot, and in Germany the restructured Worker's Council continued to be led by the Social Democrats(SDP), under Otto Braun, with the Centrist Democats(CDDP) ,under Otto Marx, coming in second and the Communists under Ernst Thalmann coming in a close third.

In both of these closeley aligned nations, and Poland great arm races also were built up against both the Soviets, and Anti-Comintern Pact. All nations increased their military strength and the first formal alliance between the three nations, and also Norway, and Denmark was the Democratic Defense Pact(DDP). The DDP included the client nations of Sweeden, Belgium and Brazil. Meanwhile the Anti-Comintern Pact also grew having Argentina, Finland, Romania and Venezuela join.

 While Europe, and South America was a powderkeg ready to explode the first signs of war had already come from Asia, where an agressive government led by Hideki Tojo readied for an assualt to finally control all of China, and in Africa, Mussolini assualted Ethiopia quickly subding the country in 1933 regardless of threats from the League of Nations, and the DDP. Halie Selassie's army was no match for the modernized Italians, but help did come from the French colonial forces in the form of weapons and ammunition and this did help the Ethiopians have a long guerilla war with the Italians for years on end....

The only major power that was neutral besides the United States was Great Britain. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin refused to have any dealings with what he considered to be the "Socialist" DDP, under Germany and he also despised the warmongering, authoritarian, Anti-Comintern. Even though he did lean to aligning with the DDP, he had many issues with the leadership, which except for Poland, took a very neutral stance toward the Soviet Union, and communism. The Labour Party had a very different take on foriegn affairs and was pushing the idea that Britain should join the DDP, however Baldwin would not allow it and when he dissolved the Parliament in 1933 the Tories only lost 25 seats from 1929 where they had a 100 seat lead over Labour.

Unfortunatley for all of Europe in late 1934, what would be a minor disturbance turned into a major flashpoint as the Sudetenland revolted against Czechoslovakia under the autocratic rule of Andrej Hilnka. This cascaded into a major civil war, as Slovakia also tried to break off of the nation resulting in chaos. This was not helped by the fact that both Austria and Germany funded Sudetenland's revolt, resulting into two major factions forming, one wanting Fascist rule and one wanting Social Democracy. The issue almost caused Austria to break off of the Anti-Comintern Pact but Italy allowed them to fund Sudetenland understand the idea of German nationalism. Even though thousands of weapons, tanks and ammunition were poured into the country, both Sudtentland and Slovakia were crushed under Hilnka's fairly advanced army, and new ruthless Czech National Police.

Map of Europe in 1935:

[War on Want]

President Herriot? Do you mean President of the Council of Ministers or President of the Republic?

President of the Republic

[War on Want]

Interesting that we both have had Borah become President in our TL's about the rise of the Progressive Party.

Yeah it is pretty interesting. I really like your timeline, even though you could make the foriegn events a little more realistic.

[War on Want]

President Herriot? Do you mean President of the Council of Ministers or President of the Republic?

President of the Republic

The post was useless and symbolic, Herriot was not the kind of man to go into useless symbolic titles.

I knew you were going to say that, but honestly I know nothing about France or French politics, so now he is the President of the Council of Ministers.

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1934 Congressional Elections

In 1934 the stage was set for another good year for the Progressives. Their popularity was extremely high in much of Appalachia and the Great Plains. The Democrats were still popular in industrial areas oddly enough, because the Progressives still had not done much in many cities still reeling from the Depression. Still the Progressives looked to make large gains in some parts of the East, South and even Southwest.

House Election Results:

Progressives 109 seats(+19)
Democrats 199 seats(-9)
Republicans 144 seats(-7)

Senate Results:

Democrats: 39 seats(+2)
Progressives: 29 seats(+5)
Republicans: 32 seats(-7)

Yet again the Republicans lost many seats as they were still blamed for much inaction but the Democrats were beginning to feel the popularity of the Progressives in much of Appalachia as they crushed many incumbents who had only one or two slipups. Still it looked as if the large Progressive/Democratic wave was over and the Republicans were already restructuring.

Next comes the last few parts of Borah's first term, and then elections. Probably more European affairs too, as things will start heating up soon.

[War on Want]

President Herriot? Do you mean President of the Council of Ministers or President of the Republic?

President of the Republic

The post was useless and symbolic, Herriot was not the kind of man to go into useless symbolic titles.

I knew you were going to say that, but honestly I know nothing about France or French politics, so now he is the President of the Council of Ministers.

Good idea on the maps too.

Thanks, I will probably have another update up sometime this week.

[War on Want]

The Presidency of William Borah

With a larger base to work with Borah tried even harder to pass the Collective Bargaining Act and the National Farm Administration Act. They both passed by very small margins, with the former passing by 2 votes and the latter passing by 4 votes. This caused quite a stir as the Supreme Court expressed their discontent at both of the bills, but both Borah and much of the country grew very discontent with the Justices, causing both bills to be passed slimly 5-4. As Borah continued to try and help the economy with his policies, the country grew more and more pleased with his presidency, with the only main oppenents being more radical workers in the cities, businessmen and strict partisans.

 Borah continued to largely ignore the industrial workers, as he privately considered them to be "rabble" unworthy of extensive aid, but pressures forced him to try and enact the Government Works Administration, which would try and recruit workers out of mainly industrial areas and improve the infrastructure of cities thus giving them jobs. This was very popular in states such as Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York and passed by quite a large margin with many industrial Democrats joining in to vote for the bill. However this was not enough to stop the more radical Progressive from California ,Claude Pepper*, to form the Workers Party. The party's platform actually was to cooperate with the Progressives as often as possible but they urged more radical steps to solve the Depression, such as nationalising many industries, using more government involvement and creating pension and health packages for most of the nation. They would become very popular over the coming year but as the economy improved and unemployment rates decreased, they became more unpopular

During 1935, the economy had the first boom after Black Monday, where Unemployment rates went down dramatically and the people of the naton were in generally good spirits, except in many innercity areas. Production rates increased as well and in places such as Arkansas, or Kansas things were great compared to how they were in 1931. President Borah's approval ratings skyrocketed up to 61%, from their 50% median and it was an era of good feelings. President Borah however worried that Democracy in Europe was threatened and it was one of areas where he differed from his famous father. He felt that America must help other Democratic nations and so he slowly tried to modernize and build up the military slightly but this was more or less impossible, as the nation was in a Depression. Things were still going well in America though and it seemed that nothing could stop the unbeatable and popular President Borah in 1936....

[War on Want]

1936 Primaries

the Democratic Party Primaries
The Democrats were still a very deeply divided party in 1936. Many of the catholic moderate Democrats, that had jumped ship to vote for Borah, had turned against him as long as a northeastern moderate ran against him, while many southern populists had jumped ship for the Progressives. Another competetive primary season looked to be developing with the main candidates being the more moderate Franklin Roosevelt, the popular governor of New York, John Nance Garner, who once again looked to defeat the Progressives, and the darkhorse candidate William Murray, another conservative from Oklahoma. Over the next few weeks, Roosevelt crushed Garner easily, as he painted him as a looser and as someone who did not have the common man's interests in mind, while Murray emerged as Roosevelt's main competitor. Murray dropped out in late May of 1936, leaving Roosevelt as the Democrats candidate and he worked up the most leftist platform the Democrats had ever seen calling for more programs but still wanting a balanced budget, and the cutting of what Roosevelt called "wasted" farm programs that he said simply were not working. He chose Murray as his running mate to try and carry some of the plains swing states that were against him and to please the more Conservative wing of the party.

the Republican Primaries
The Republicans were simply in disarry as their party had sustained major losses and only had slight areas of popularity on the west coast, and new england. The major candidates were Charles McNary, a popular, more moderate Oregonian Senator, Wendell Wilkie, the darkhorse candidate for the Republicans with very liberal viewpoints, and Arthur Vandenburg. Charles McNary sweeped almost every state against his two fairly weak opponents. Wendell Wilkie was very popular among midwestern farmers however, but still only had minimal support and was totally defeated in almost every state. He did endorse McNary though but most of his supporters decided they were going to vote for Borah in the general election.

the Worker's Party Primary
Whether it was known or not the Worker's Party had many significant divisions between the Socialist wing and the more radical populist wing led by Huey Long which merged with it, and the more moderate wing which was led by the young Claude Pepper, and Thomas O' Brien. Claude Pepper still won overwhelmingly though and planned to carry the party into the future with his corrupt but neccessary running mate Long. Their areas of strength were mainly in industrial states and a few minning areas.

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The General Election

The general election looked to be a landslide for Borah regardless of a major challenger in Roosevelt. He was still almost universally popular in the great plains, many parts of appalachia and the midwest. Roosevelt still nonetheless hammered him for not doing enough for industrial areas, and for being a wasteful spender, while Borah attacked his "lies" for changing his positions over the last 2 years rapidly. McNary really didn't do much but all of his opponents radicals who were only causing harm and campaigning heavily in the west coast and new england. The economy was still improving under Borah's economic plan and so it looked as if many workers would take their improving securities to the polls.  Pepper did his best to use Borah's moderateness to his advantage but this was failing and it looked as if an electoral landslide was in store.
Election Results for 1936

William Borah/Norman Thomas 39.5%
Franklin D. Roosevelt/William Murray 33%
Charles McNary/Alf Landon 24%
Claude Pepper/Huey Long 4.5%

[War on Want]

Can I see results for Louisiana?

Yeah, Lousiana was one of the closest states in the country, because of the Worker's Party, machine politics going for Long, Democratic traditions and Progressive success. The state was fractured by race, and traditions hailing back to the civil war, with the cajun counties, and poor rebelious counties voting heavily for Pepper, rural northern counties, and Shreveport voting for Roosevelt, and most areas around the Mississippi River, and New Orleans being battleground between the Progressives, Democrats, and Worker's Party.
The Progressives main strength however came from its strength in most of the state. It was very consistant and this led them to a slim victory.

Lousiana Results:
Borah/Thomas 39%
Roosevelt/Murry 38.8%
Pepper/Long 22.2%

[War on Want]

Just for fun to show electoral trends here is a map of all elections done in this TL:
1924:

1928:

1932:

(yes I know EV count is wrong for 1932)

1936:

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Update coming sometime this weekend.

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large amounts of updates coming soon

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the Congressional Elections of 1936

In the congressional elections of 1932 nothing major was expected to happen. Most pundits saw a major stalemate between all three parties was going to occur and they were largely correct however the Democrats and Progressives both made minor gains that year and the Republicans still had to fight hard to remain a major player in the House and Senate.(no House map)

Senate Results:
Democrats: 42 seats(+3)
Progressives: 32 seats(+3)
Republicans: 26 seats(-6)

House Results:
Progressives 115 seats(+6)
Democrats 207 seats(+8)
Republicans 140 seats(-14)

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Foriegn Events of 1935-1937

The years after 1935 would bring a great number of horrible events to Europe and to most of the world. A powderkeg that had been building in the continent for many years was about to burst as both Mussolini and Braun increased rhetoric against each others nations and pacts. A great arms buildup was rushed even more during late 1935 and all of 1936 and 1937. Nations in all pacts traded technologies and weapons to one another, however the DDP was much more organized creating a unified command and structure while the Anti-Comintern Pact squabbled over military resources and was largely divided. All of this stress and building up wouild be relieved for a while as the Olympics came to Berlin but not long after it looked like war was imminent. Most unaligned nations now began to pick sides as Greece joined the DDP, while Bulgaria and Albania joined the Anti-Comintern Pact.

In South America, both Argentina, and Brazil both built up against each other and tried to lobby to have other nations join them. Chile joined the DDP in late 1936, as well as Uruguay but Paraguay and Venezuela joined the Anti-Comintern Pact. General Rosas in Argentina seemed to have a firm grip over his country but nonetheless parts of Buenos Aires held large riots when he issued orders to hold a Draft in early 1937. Numerous Anarchist, and Socialist youth clubs soon emerged throughout the country to stage a revolution but these plans were found by Rosas and the student revolutionaries were crushed in only 3 days with most of them being interned in camps. In Brazil, Vargas was re-elected with little opposition and in Mexico, Cardenas continued the path to socialism as he nationalised the oil industry, intiated land reform and also nationalised railroads.

In China, the Japanese quickly advanced against the Nationalist Chinese, destroying many large cities along the way. The Chinese however quickly changed tactics by late 1937, when the Japanese were nearing Nanking and started a large campaign of guerilla warfare, in conjunction with their previous enemies, the Communists. This campaign bogged down much of the Japanese supply lines slowing them down immensly. This did not lead to any major victories for the Chinese and the Japanese still advanced though.

 On early Februrary 18th, 1937 all of the tension in Europe blew up as Italy issued an ultimatum to hold a plebiscite in the area around Nice ,which had previously been part of Italy to see if they wanted to remerge with the homeland. The next day on early February 19th the DDP officially declared war on the Anti-Comintern Pact. Massive bombardments on French soil began as Italy had already mobilized its large Army, Navy and small Air Corps into action only one week earlier. What would be known as the Great Ideological War or the Great Struggle had begun...

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The Great Struggle: European Theatre

As the first shells landed in France, the Unified Defense Command(UDC) of the DDP was getting ready for a large mobilization where a massive two pronged advance would take place under the Germans and Polish, with the Germans advancing on Austria, and Yugoslavia and applying pressure on the Italians, while the Polish advanced southward on Czechslovakia and Hungary. Meanwhile the French would buy time for the Germans and Polish and conduct a strong defense against the Italian and Spanish advance. This was labeled Plan A by the UDC and this went into action immediatley. The Anti-Comintern, however had almost no choerent plan and some countries would absolutley not cooperate with one another, especially in the Balkans.

The Italians continued their advanced for weeks on end, but only making small gains because of a lackluster Spanish advance in the Prynees. Meanwhile in the east, the Germans overwhelmed the weak Austrian defense. There were hundreds of reports of defections along the Austrian lines and Germans were only 20 miles away from Vienna. The Polish were not doing nearly as well with their offensive failing against a determined Czech resistance but it looked as if the situation would improve greatly as the Polish conducted talks with Sudetenland and Slovak leaders to stage a revolution....

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The Great Struggle: European Theatre Part 2

In early April it looked as if the war was a stalemate, with Germany moving forward against Austria, and pushing into Italy and Yugoslavia, and with Italy slowly moving forward against France but on April 10th, 1938 a massive revolution in Czechslovakia broke much of the stalemate, when Sudetenland and the Slovaks overthrew the weakening government and destroyed much of the military over the course of a week. This led to a two pronged assualt into what was called "the Fascist heartland" by UDC propaganda. Resistance was very light in many locations, with unorganized militias and infantry under Hungarian and Yugoslav command being overrun quickly. However by mid-May the quick pace of advance was slowing, as the UDC forces reached Budapest, and Sarajevo and a urban onslaught began.

Meanwhile in France the Italians continued to push forward slowly, almost in the style of trench warfare that raged on during World War 1. They had almost reached Marsielles, and Beascaeon but a stronger French defensive position and more rugged terrain caused their advance to slow dramatically, as well as the fact that their advantage in numbers was quickly dwindling due to the fact that the French had increased the speed of their mobilization. The Spanish were giving little help as well and had barely begun to cross the Pyrnees by mid-May. The situation for the Anti-Comintern pact was not looking well as the war continued on but still the UDC was continuing to meet stifer resistance all across the Balkans and in northern Italy.

In Africa it looked like a quick UDC victory was bound to happen as the French Foriegn Legion quickly advanced on both Libya and the Spanish possesions in northern Africa. France however did look like it would loose Djibuti due to a large presence of Italian men in Ethiopia still occupying the country.

Map of situation by mid-May, 1938:

[War on Want]

I will post all election maps here, then go over a pretty long summary of what happened between 1938 and 2012 and then proceed to go over elections in Europe and more detailed summaries of each country.


1940:


Wendell Wilkie/Claude Pepper 36% 211 EV's
Cordell Hull/Millard Tydings 33% 162 EV's
Robert Taft/Thomas Dewey 30% 158 EV's

1944:


Thomas Dewey/Omar Bradley 43% 384 EV's
Richard Russell/Strom Thurmond 27% 126 EV's
Wendell Wilkie/Claude Pepper 29% 57 EV's

The culmination of events that started in 1938 led to what no one possibly believed would happen. Joseph Stalin took advantage of the destruction and despair of the Great Ideological War and invaded Poland. After one year of brutal warfare, the Anti-Comintern Pact had been defeated by the DDP but still the DDP faced challenges of establishing democracies in the defeafted nations, the possibility of a European Trade Bloc(ETB) and the reconstruction of large parts of their countries. Unfortunatley the declaration of war with Joseph Stalin changed all of this and the DDP had to move into a war focus again. The UDC was reactivated but it was not enough. Using deep defense doctrine the Soviets crushed their opposition within months and by October of 1939 after 2 months of conflict the Poles, Czechs, and much of Romania had capitulated. A coup in Romania overthrow the democratic government led by King Michael, and replaced them with the Iron Guard. They sued for peace with the Soviets but Stalin rejected it and still crushed the remmnants of Romania pushing into Bulgaria and Greece.
Meanwhile in America and Britain disucussions between Prime Minister Baldwin and the Borah Administration were occuring with the agreement to send economic aid packages, and weapons to the DDP. However many in America, most notably America First and the Republicans, opposed this stating America must remain neutral and not aid Socialist unconcerned about economic liberty(this was mostly espoused by Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford and their ilk in America First). This led to the prominent isolationist, Robert Taft, to win the Republican nomination in a shoe-in in 1940.
By this time the Soviets were engaged in a brutal, slow, struggle over Berlin, Vienna and Athens but were looking to win the war as the UDC was ground down in large air raids and crushing assualts by the T-24. This also led to the Progressives to take a more harsh stance even favoring military aid to the DDP, and Wendell Wilkie won the nomination because of this. It is also very aguable that if the War of Red Agression had never occured Cordell Hull would have never won his nomination however he did have a notably more moderate stance on Europe than Wilkie.
The American election was a horse race because of Wilkie's controversial stance on the war in Europe regardless of the economic recovery fostered by the Borah Administration and because of it the Progressives lost much of their support among isolationist farmers in the Great Plains. Most likely either Hull or Taft would have won the election if it was not for victories by the Soviets when the outflanked the German defenses in Berlin and won a decisive victory capturing much of Prussia in the process in late October. This caused many Americans to fear the idea of a communist Europe and thus Wilkie shot up in the polls and won the election with notable losses in support among farmers, and some southerners along the Mississippi River.

[War on Want]

Glad to see you have continued this TL EMD Even if it is elaborating on a few events and Electoral College maps from 1940 through to 2012. What ever rocks your boat I suppose. Anywho onwards to my questions regarding your timeline.

NOOOOOO!!!! President Willkie lost reelection in 1940 I'm assuming he has, considering he's ran for reelection in 1944. How so? I assume it must have to do with War in the European continent. My reasons for bringing that up, are not due to European events posted in your timeline but due to Thomas Dewey selecting General Omar Bradley as his running mate in 1944. Am I on the right path?

Also what's ongoing with my homeland Australia? Have we been invaded yet?

Read my above post for explanation of the events between 1938 and 1940 and why Wilkie won.
I will post more analysis explaining 1944's election as well.

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I figure I might do more of this, if there is more interest.