FEMA Camp Administrator
Cathcon
Atlas Star
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« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2015, 02:41:45 PM » |
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Given the presidency's changed length of office, I believe the role of the office itself would be changed. While enumerated powers would be curtailed, personal/political power would be strengthened. As well, politics remains longer in the hands of an elite, given that it is very much like a monarchy. Therefore, Jefferson and Jackson are confined to the sidelines, sadly enough.
George Washington (Virginia) 1789-1799
Father of the Nation. Oversaw the establishment of several important precedents.
John Adams (Massachusetts) 1799-1826
Never the most popular President, Adams spent nearly twenty years in his least favorite job. During that time, the White House's focus was consolidating American power in the Western hemisphere, building up the Navy and expanding westward.
Henry Clay (Kentucky) 1826-1851
Despite attempts by John Quincy Adams to seek the presidency following his father's death, the South and West banded together to elect one of their own, having already been alienated by the elder Adams over the course of his term of office. Clay continued expansion Westward, earmarked millions toward internal improvements, and carefully dodged the slavery issue.
Winfield Scott (New Jersey) 1851-1866
Never one to dodge an onslaught, the new President tackled slavery head-on, working with state governments and the national legislature over the course of his term to contain and destroy it. In 1854, slave states rose up in protest and the "Old Fuss 'n' Feathers" himself led the charge to reclaim seceding states. Despite the "Civil War"'s legacy as the single bloodiest American conflict, Scott's moral courage is praised by conservatives and liberals alike even today.
Ulysses S. Grant (Illinois) 1866-1885
Like his predecessor, a war hero, Grant presided over a period of peacetime and economic expansion. Compared to Scott's term, the only violence of note would be against neo-secessionists and protesting workers.
James G. Blaine (Maine) 1885-1893
Blaine continued in the essentially conservative line of his predecessors. Nevertheless, the Panic shortly after his death, and in mid-election, would ruin his legacy among many Americans.
James B. Weaver (Iowa) 1893-1900
In 1885, Weaver had risked being yet another radical also-ran, like Thomas Jefferson (1799), Andrew Jackson (1826), Weaver'd gotten his lucky break with Blaine's death and the subsequent Panic of 1893. Weaver would spend his tenure in near constant struggle with an essentially conservative legislature and judiciary. While some initiatives, including a silver coinage (a compromise from his original fiat platform) and lowered tariffs, would pass thanks to the votes of a "reform" faction of Congress, rail and bank nationalization would remain unfinished when the feisty President was assassinated in 1900...
Theodore Roosevelt (South Dakota) 1900-1929
President Roosevelt made no bones about thrashing the legacy of late President Weaver. "For seven years, this nation has waded through the mire, had torn down accomplishment, and has gnawed viciously on its own tail!" Teddy Roosevelt, the "hero of the West" of Eastern descent, had gained a wide following in the two prior decades as a legislator, "cowboy", conservationist, member of high and low society, and the first Senator from South Dakota. In his most recent stunt, Roosevelt had led a volunteer regiment into Cuba to take part in a war between European powers. After over a century of "dull functionaries" controlling the White House, the United States was ready for someone to "Make America Great!" Roosevelt's nearly three decades in office were spent stoking populist fervor against the trusts, immigrants, and socialists while re-industrializing the United States. Roosevelt raised state involvement in the market while at the same time solidifying the social order. Roosevelt would also be proud to see himself play the part of War President--the first since Scott--as commander-in-chief in various conflicts against Mexico, Germany, and the new wave of "collectivist states" that emerged in the East after 1917.
Many would compare Roosevelt to an American Bismarck who united the nation, modernized the economy, and dispelled dissent by turning factions against each other instead of against the government.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (New York) 1929-1944
So entranced was the country by "Theodore I" that his son was narrowly elected against a slew of other candidates in the first act of "dynastism". In 1941, a "motley coalition" of the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and the United States of America formed in opposition to the League of Marxist States (so they were called in the West) that stretched from France to China. The second President Roosevelt wouldn't see the conflict's end, as he died of heart failure in 1944.
John Foster Dulles (New York) 1944-1959
Over five decades removed, Dulles would be the last true "elite" to hold the White House. While any popular general would have easily won election, they were all stationed overseas. With MacArthur declining an offer to come back to the States to campaign, the uncharismatic Dulles, who had led in the second Roosevelt administration in both economic and foreign policy, allowed himself to be entered into the contest. While very different from the last three Presidents, all of which had taken upon the mantle of "popular hero", the nation decided that a steady hand was required in a global war on communism. Following victory in 1948, the nation's focus was on containing Japan, the autocratic power of the East that had been given mandates over much of China and Eastern Russia. As well, Dulles led the coalition backing the creation of Israel in 1950. Following the resolution of the war was a decade of economic gowth, a necessary foil to the eight years of rationing.
Ronald Reagan (California) 1959-1963
After nearly sixty years having been ruled by New Yorkers, the nation looked Westward. In what, despite several contenders, amounted to a matchup between two young Californians--Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan--the "damned cowboy actor" won out. The moderate, feel-good, charismatic actor-turned-politician Reagan seemed to be the right optimistic personality to lead the U.S. in the post-war age. Despite being a political heterodox, Reagan was embraced by liberal politicians. Legalizing birth control nationwide, deregulating several industries to cut out artificial price floors, signing the first major environmental legislation since the reign of Theodore I, and invoking the Adams Doctrine to secure the hemisphere against Japanese encroachment, Reagan was already looking like a transformative President within his first few years. Sadly, however, Reagan was assassinated during a speech against Japanese nuclear proliferation in the South Pacific.
Nelson Rockefeller (New York) 1963-1979
Yet another member of the aristocracy, Rockefeller's status as an ally of President Reagan gained him the support of a number of otherwise left-wing circles, swaying the Pacific Coast in the candidate's favor. Rockefeller would attempt to emulate both his predecessor and Theodore I in style. Nevertheless, with containment having come into vogue after President Dulles' death, he was wary to engage the Japanese. During this time, German-American relations were greatly strengthened through the friendship between the President and German Premier Henry Kissinger. Rockefeller would, despite his upbringing come to be despised by movement conservatives for his personal and political licentiousness.
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