Destiny Must Wait: The 1940 Presidential Election

[hcallega]

Hey folks. So as many of you know I am making a new "timeline" which is actually not the best way to phrase it. In reality it's a narrative history of an alternate 1940 Presidential Election where FDR decides to follow tradition and retire. The style will be chapter by chapter, and will only cover the 1940 Presidential Election. I hope to have my first post done sometime in the next week, but of course i can't be sure. If anyone has any questions or suggestions I would be incredibly happy to answer them/learn from them.

Thanks, and I hope you all enjoy this!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Go

[Hillary 2016]

I would predict a Wendell Willkie victory but it wouldn't be a cakewalk for him.  The New Deal Coalition was untrusting of big business and Willkie was the candidate of big business and the wealthy.  World War II was also looming in the distance and I would imagine that a lot of voters would want someone that kept their sons at home while keeping foreign threats at a distance. 

I shiver at the idea of a President Willkie running that war.  This is where FDR's leadership was needed.

I would have pushed down my lever for President Roosevelt.

[President Mitt]

I would predict a Wendell Willkie victory but it wouldn't be a cakewalk for him.  The New Deal Coalition was untrusting of big business and Willkie was the candidate of big business and the wealthy.  World War II was also looming in the distance and I would imagine that a lot of voters would want someone that kept their sons at home while keeping foreign threats at a distance. 

I shiver at the idea of a President Willkie running that war.  This is where FDR's leadership was needed.

I would have pushed down my lever for President Roosevelt.

Nope.

And What would Wilkie have done wrong? Well he was obviously good enough for your buddy FDR to consider him for VP.

If anything Wilkie was a New Dealer, he just wanted the New Deal to run with more efficiency, and to clean it up a little. God Forbid we clean up Government a little.

Wilkie may have been a terrible candidate, but he would have made a decent President.

[Psychic Octopus]

I am announcing my support for Harold Ickes in 1940! If not, Tom Dewey.

[Sewer]

Wilkie may have been a terrible candidate

lol no.

[hcallega]

   

Chapter 1: Storm Clouds Over Washington

He looked out the window, chin rested peacefully on his hand as if pondering some sort of grand philosophical query. In some ways he was. His title, his job, had been passed down from man to man, official to official, and now the crown rested on his brow. And by all accounts he had done well with it. He had arrived in a time of crisis, and finally after almost eight years the American people began to feel that things were changing. But there was so much left to do! The light at the end of the tunnel was faint if best and there was a storm looming on the horizon, both literally and figuratively.
   As President Franklin Roosevelt sat in the Oval Office, looking out the window at the rapidly approaching rain storm, he knew that the course of history was in his hands. Always one to inflate his stature, Roosevelt knew that this decision would be the most important of his entire tenure ass President of the United States. Many men before him were forced to make similar decisions, but in the President’s mind only one prior instance was relatable. When George Washington, America’s first and most adored President, was forced to choose whether to stand for a third term that he would surely win he made the honorable decision and stepped down. While many questioned whether or not it was the right choice, in retrospect he laid down a precedent that had yet to be broken. After all, who in the world dare compare themselves to the father of America?
But this was different. At no point in history prior had the stakes been so high, at least in the mind of Roosevelt. The economy, for all of the hard work of the New Deal and business itself to recover, was still far behind where it had been prior. Combined with the reality of war in Europe, these factors could make any man worry about his legacy, especially someone so focused on it as the President. But perhaps that is what tipped the scales. No man wants to seem so focused on his legacy that he appears arrogant. And Roosevelt in particular wanted to appear as the kind and omnipresent father. Therefore arrogance was not the image that he intended to grasp, and as the rain began to fall over Washington as it so often does, the President cleared his throat: “Missy! I need to talk to Jim.”


So yeah, I'm planning on doing small installments to keep things interesting and to prevent writers block. I hope you all enjoy!

[Historico]

Keep it comming HC

[hcallega]

   By any definition, James Farley was a political boss. He understood the ins and outs of the political game more so than any other man in the Democratic Party and for many years had been President Roosevelt’s right hand man. It had been Farley who had built the winning New Deal coalition and had successfully predicted the outcome of the 1936 Presidential election with the famous quote, “As Maine goes so goes Vermont.” Some even went as far to say that Farley WAS the New Deal, as his mastery of patronage had been the driving force in creating support for the liberal legislation.
   When the President called for Farley, he had been just walking into the Capitol building. After eating lunch with several prominent Democrats on the Mall, Farley had retreated to the safer confines of the dome when the rains storms rolled in. In fact he was still chatting away with members of both parties when the message that the President wanted him was delivered. Farley wasn’t surprised; the President often requested the man who held so many titles. They were good friends and were both equally indebted to each other. The scrappy Irishmen had no reason to believe that this meeting would be anything out of the ordinary, after all Roosevelt probably just wanted to talk policy.
   When Farley entered the Oval Office he removed his hat and coat, now damp and dripping with the oh so common Washington rain, before addressing his good friend. “Hello Mr. President.”
“Hello Jim, I’m sorry that I had to call you in with all of this damned rain.”
“Oh it’s all right. At least I’m not out there working. Then again I am always working!” “Indeed, indeed. So I called you here for a reason today, and I think that you will find it very worthwhile.”
“Yes, do tell”
“Well you see Jim, for some time I’ve been pondering what my political future holds. “Well I always assumed that you would serve as an elder statesman for whoever came next, and be there to make sure that the Party never lost it’s way.”
“Well I bet a lot of people thought that. But I can’t seem to shake this feeling that I can’t leave, not just yet.”
“Mr. President no man has ever sat in this office for 12 years, much less in this day and age.”
“Jim I know, it’s not that I don’t want to leave. I just feel like I can’t.”
“But you can’t stay. They’ll eat you up. Taft or some other bloody conservative will run you out of town on a rail. And even if by some miracle you do win, well then you’re in real trouble.”
“Hah! I’ve always liked you for your honesty. Why do you think I’ve kept you around for so long!”
“Well I always assumed it was the votes but I suppose my bluntness does have its positives.” “Either way Jim, I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course Mr. President, you know me. I’ve always been willing to do anything for you and yours.”
“I need you to run.”

[Historico]

Hmm...I wonder if Roosevelt support will be enough to ensure Farley(An Irish Roman-Catholic) the nomination only 12 years after Smith's total landslide loss. I wonder what's happing in the Republican Hall of Doom lol jk