Moose Season: A Progressive Party Timeline

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What if Roosevelt's Progressive Party lived on after the 1912 election? I'm writing this TL as an entry on each president, touching on domestic and foreign issues, and (of course) providing electoral maps for each presidential election. It won't be the most realistic TL, but my goal is to keep it somewhat plausible.

My goal is to eventually reach the present day. I'm not sure how long it will take. I have a back log of updates, so I'll probably post one every few days for the next 2 weeks or so.

P.S.: For those of you who are familiar with this TL from another site, I would ask that you refrain from posting any spoilers.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

T. Woodrow Wilson
“The Man who won the War”
Democratic Party
(1913-1919)

The 1912 election was one of the most fiercely fought elections in United States history. With the Republican Party split between a former president and the incumbent president, Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic governor of New Jersey, would win in an electoral landslide. After surviving an assassination attempt unharmed, former President Theodore Roosevelt went on a whistle-stop tour of the Midwest and Northeast in an attempt to boost his fledgling Progressive party in these regions. This tour was successful enough to win several large states and a few smaller ones outside the Progressives’ western stronghold. The split in the Republican Party meant the President Taft was locked out of the Northeast and had to settle for three small western states. The growing Progressive Party would prove to be a major force in American politics in the years to come.



Democratic: Woodrow Wilson/Thomas Marshall 40.1% 374 EV
Progressive: Theodore Roosevelt/Hiram Johnson 29.8% 146 EV
Republican: William Taft/[James Sherman] 24.1% 11 EV
Socialist: Eugene Debs/Emil Seidel 5.0% 0 EV
Others: 0.9% 0 EV

One of President Wilson’s largest projects was the planning of the Lincoln Memorial Highway System, the trunk of which stretched from Boston to San Francisco, connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, St. Louis, and Denver in between. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act created a new national banking system designed to help prevent the frequent economic downturns that had plagued the country for the last fifty years. Wilson’s presidency also saw the completion of the Panama Canal, which was opened by Wilson’s vice president Thomas Marshall.

Wilson’s presidency is also remembered for large amounts of unrest, both domestic and worldwide. Socialists and Progressives seized upon Wilson’s support for the Colorado National Guard’s killing of 70 strikers and their family members at Ludlow and cast Wilson as a conservative who was unfit to consider himself remotely progressive. The city of Denver experienced a small streak of bombings soon after; these were attributed to radical socialists, three of whom were executed. The deaths of two senators in the B&O Viaduct Disaster were also widely blamed on socialists despite investigations suggesting that it was due to a boiler explosion. While Wilson was more progressive than some of his rivals gave him credit for, he was under attack from three sides, all of whom hoped to succeed him. Wilson’s resegregation of government offices also earned the ire of Black leaders and Progressives, among others.

Less than halfway through Wilson’s term, Europe became embroiled in what would later be known as World War One. While the spark is universally accepted as being the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, historians have argued over the ultimate causes of the war, with many pointing towards rising nationalism in Eastern Europe, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and the complicated system of alliances that connected most of the major European powers. Both the Wilson administration and most of the American people saw neutrality as the best course to take, however, events to the south would render that dream impossible. Emilio Zapata and Pancho Villa’s victory in the Mexican Civil War resulted in a largely socialist government south of the United States border. While Wilson was willing to leave Mexico to its own devices (despite having supported Zapata’s rivals), several crucial events would result in the United States joining the war on February 13th, 1916. After previously leaving American oil companies alone, Zapata decided to nationalize the Mexican oil industry, angering American businessmen and the Wilson administration. Zapata’s comrade in arms, Pancho Villa rode north to Columbus, New Mexico, where he attacked the garrison there. After former President Roosevelt took over command, Villa’s forces were decimated and Villa was killed by Roosevelt himself. The final straw was the leaking of the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany promised to seek the return of several American states if Mexico joined the Central Powers; many Americans saw no choice but to declare war on Mexico; however, many were still weary of becoming too entangled in Europe.

The European War would prove to be the decisive factor of the 1916 presidential election. While the Socialists denounced even the war with Mexico (suggesting that America merely guard its borders), the Republicans and Progressives were split, with hawks and doves in both parties. The Democrats, however, were more uniformly in favor of the war in support of their party’s leader. While the Progressives once again nominated Theodore Roosevelt, there were many supporters who were not as keen on Roosevelt’s hawkishness; this was tempered by the renomination of Hiram Johnson as the Progressives’ vice presidential pick. The Socialist Party also chose its previous nominee; however, Emil Seidel was replaced by author and socialist activist Jack London. The Socialists hoped to throw the election to the House where they could exert more influence over who became president. The Republican National Convention of 1916 was one of the longest conventions in the party’s history. After over fifty ballots, industrialist and isolationist Henry Ford was chosen to provide a fresh alternative and to stop the Republican Party’s hemorrhaging. Former Vice President Charles Fairbanks was chosen to provide some weight to the ticket. The Democrats, like the Progressives, named the same ticket as in 1912, despite some rumblings of replacing Vice President Marshall, who was seen as a gaffe machine.

While Vice President Marshall was mostly kept in Washington, DC, directing the administration’s war effort in Congress, President Wilson toured the East Coast using the Lincoln Highway System (it was noted that he was driven in a Pierce-Arrow). Wilson highlighted the successes of the American armed forces as well as infrastructure improvements, which were vital for transporting troops and equipment to the Southwest, where most of the fighting was occurring. The capture of Baja California and the blockade of Mexico would be among Wilson’s major talking points.

Henry Ford was not known for being progressive in any way, shape, or form, however, he did make attempts to boost his standings among common people by showcasing the working conditions and pay at his factories while speaking out against joining Europe’s war.

Eugene Debs, like Henry Ford, attacked the war effort, especially because Mexico was a socialist country. Debs focused on Midwestern and Rust Belt states, hoping to capitalize on progressive feelings among isolationists.

It would be Theodore Roosevelt, not Thomas Marshall, who would be thought of as a gaffe machine after this election. While most historians believe that it would be unfair to describe Roosevelt as such, these same historians note that Roosevelt’s attack on “hyphenated-Americans” drained his support.

(End of Part 1 due to character limit)

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(Woodrow Wilson Part 2)

Ultimately, Eugene V. Debs got his wish: the Republicans rebounded in their Northeastern stronghold, while the Socialists made strides in the Midwest and prairie states, both at the expenses of the Progressive Party. Wilson would hold the South and won several states, such as Wisconsin, that were not seen as traditionally Democratic due to splits among isolationists and interventionists. Unfortunately for Debs, he had to follow the election in jail after speaking out against the draft. In January, Congress met to decide the election and would, after a couple of House ballots, reelect Woodrow Wilson. Thomas Marshall was confirmed in one Senate ballot, casting the tie-breaking vote in favor of himself. While Marshall’s vote was controversial, the Supreme Court upheld his power to do so in a unanimous decision.



Democratic: Woodrow Wilson/Thomas Marshall 35.8% 264 EV **
Republican: Henry Ford/Charles Fairbanks 31.1% 192 EV
Progressive: Theodore Roosevelt/Hiram Johnson 21.5% 70 EV
Socialist: Eugene V. Debs/Jack London 10.4% 5 EV
Others: 1.2% 0 EV

** (Elected by House and Senate, respectively)


Although he did not have much of a mandate, President Wilson continued to force through bills to contribute to the war effort. However, some of these, mainly those seen as curtailing free speech, were very controversial. Due to comments made by Debs and other party members, virtually all of the party’s newsletters and newspapers were stopped, lowering support for the war and President Wilson even further amongst Socialists. Former Socialist Vice Presidential nominee Jack London’s arrest and subsequent death in prison lead to large riots, which were only pacified when the various state National Guard units were called in to take care of the situation. While the ban on the Socialist Party as enacted in mid-1917 would be found to be unconstitutional in Debs v. US (issued in 1920), the Socialist Party never regained strength and many labor activists would join the Progressive Party, pulling it slightly further to the left.

Meanwhile, the war dragged on across three continents. Great Britain had been spared from any major damages; Belgium and Eastern France, on the other hand, were marred by nearly six months’ worth of fighting before the Western Front stabilized and soldiers on both sides descended into trenches. On the rare occasions that one side managed catch the other side unaware, the lines might change by a few hundred yards. This situation would continue for several years until the French developed a lightweight treadnought that could go over trenches with ease. On the Eastern Front, Russia was not doing well against the combined armies of the Germans and Austrians, losing many thousands of square miles a year. The only reason why the Russians were not completely collapsing was that the combined forces of Greece, Australia, and New Zealand were keeping many thousands of Ottoman troops tied down in Thrace. In one of Arthur Zimmerman’s other interventions, the Boers of South Africa had revolted, taking and holding Cape Town for nearly a year before they were pushed back towards German Southwest Africa where they met with German colonial troops under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck who had led his own troops across the heart of Africa. While the Boers did not pose much of a threat after their defeat at Cape Town, they continued to be a thorn in the Entente’s side by keeping troops tied down outside of Europe.

By the time of Woodrow Wilson’s second inauguration, the domestic situation in Russia was also looking dire; the deaths of Tsarevich Alexei and his “healer” Grigori Rasputin at the hands of an assassin meant that neither the Tsar nor his wife were truly fit to run a country. Most of the war planning was left to Russia’s bickering generals, whose choices were just as bad as the few that the Tsar made. Russia’s problems would finally boil over in the middle of 1917. Despite the failings of the Bolsheviks and the deaths or exiles of their leaders earlier in 1917, the people of Russia were ready to be rid of the Tsar. After the Tsar was deposed and promptly assassinated by a surviving Bolshevik named Josef Stalin (who himself was promptly killed), Alexander Kerensky, a relatively moderate socialist, took over. While he had been determined to continue fighting the war, several disastrous defeats lead him to sue for peace, losing much of Poland and the Baltic states to Germany; Kerensky’s Russia also lost Finland, which was attempting to gain its independence.

Even though the United States was not prepared for the war, Mexico was even less prepared. Within a couple months of the American declaration of war, the Baja Peninsula was firmly in American hands and Mexico was entirely blockaded. After the British had reinforced British Honduras, Guatemala declared war on Mexico in support of the United States and in the hope that they would receive land that they had given up as lost thirty years prior. Thanks to the Lincoln Highway System, American troops and supplies were able to reach the border with ease. Due to the damage, both in terms of infrastructure and morale, caused by the Mexican Revolution, Mexican troops were relatively poorly supplied and would suffer far more defeats than victories. The combination of American, British, and Guatemalan troops would encircle Mexico City by early 1917. President Emilio Zapata was killed on June 4th, 1917 by his own guards who had been bribed by more moderate leftists under the leadership of Alvaro Obregon. Obregon declared himself to be the new president of Mexico, promising elections after peace was declared. An agreement was reached in which American troops would occupy Mexico until the war was over in Europe, which would be followed by a peace conference to be held in Washington, DC concerning the future of Mexico. Zapata’s Folly would have great consequences of Mexico’s territorial integrity.

The war on the Western Front continued to grind into late 1918; while it was a more mobile war than it had been previously, neither side made too much progress before the Germans attempted to break through to Paris before their industrial machine ground to a halt. The addition of several thousand American troops helped the British and French resist the German advances. The entente led an offensive of its own the following spring. The Spring Offensive would prove to be the downfall of Germany. On July 30th, 1919, representatives of the German Kaiser and the Imperial Army met with representatives of the United Kingdom, France, and the United States to discuss an armistice which would become effective the following day. After four and a half years, the First World War was finally over, allowing Europe to rebuild for a vastly different future.

Shortly following the armistice, the 18th Amendment was ratified, leading to the prohibition of alcohol. The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote was also ratified, with help from progressives. Before leaving for France to discuss a peace treaty, Wilson went on a cross-country tour to promote his peace plan, the Fifteen Points. However, President Wilson would not make it back to Washington, let alone make it across the Atlantic. After giving a speech in Houston, Texas, the President collapsed while meeting with Robert Todd Lincoln. Wilson was rushed to a hospital where he died of a stroke on November 22nd, 1919.

[Türkisblau]

Very interesting. Keep going.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Thomas R. Marshall
“The funniest man to be President”
Democratic Party
(1919-1921)

Following the death of President Wilson, his Vice President, Thomas Marshall, was sworn into office. Marshall’s first action was to travel to Europe with newly selected Secretary of State Thomas Walsh. While Marshall had some reservations about Wilson’s Fifteen Points, he would advocate for their adoption anyway. The Treaty of Versailles dramatically reshaped Europe, restoring Alsace-Lorraine and giving the Saar region to France, recreating Poland, and dismantling Germany’s colonial empire. Later treaties, some negotiated by Marshall, and others by Walsh, would erase the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. Among the new nations was Yugoslavia, which had been created at the behest of the Pan-Slavic movements in an attempt to douse the powder-keg of Europe. However, Montenegro’s sovereignty was respected and the Italians managed to gain large portions of Dalmatia, which effectively doused the area in gasoline. Recognizing the persistence of the Boers, the British and South African governments gave the reduced German Southwest African Colony to the Boers in the hope that they would settle down; despite the poor quality of the land, many thousands of Boers would join thousands of Germans in emigrating to the Dominion of Namibia. An independent Kurdistan was also carved out of the former Ottoman Empire in return for their services. As promised, Greece received Cyprus (minus several square miles for a British naval base) as a reward for joining the war shortly after it began.

Upon his return to the United States, President Marshall summoned a Mexican contingent led by President Alvaro Obregon to discuss peace with the United States’ southern neighbor. Seeking to show some goodwill while remaining firm, Marshall negotiated a much more lenient peace than Germany and most of its other allies had received. The Baja Peninsula was seized and made into the Territory of Jefferson; the northwestern portions of Sonora were given to Arizona. Marshall also insisted that Guatemala gain some land in return for its aid in the war.

With the war over, Marshall was able to focus his attention towards domestic issues. An ardent supporter of Prohibition, Marshall had no trouble supporting the Volstead Act when it came to his desk and promptly signed the bill that would officially enact Prohibition. While the act would not go into force until the start of 1921, Marshall ordered the creation of the Federal Alcohol Bureau to enforce Prohibition. While the Volstead Act did not prohibit the manufacture of ethanol for some purposes, it stifled any innovation in fields like alternative fuels due to the stringent requirements enforced by the act.

By the fall of 1918, the Iberian Flu was starting to spread throughout Europe, often traveling with sick soldiers who were being transported to more permanent hospitals once it was apparent that field hospitals were ineffective and often made the situation worse. The flu mainly affected younger adults than usual, but those with compromised immune systems were also affected, especially in the second wave, which proved to be much stronger than the first. Former President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been in ill health since a failed trip to map parts of the Amazon River, was one of the most notable casualties. President Marshall tasked humanitarian Herbert Hoover with managing flu-ridden hospitals. Even though many historians note that Hoover did not have a chance to shorten the pandemic because the flu had already began to subside by the time he was appointed, his actions did not prolong it and he was credited by many contemporaries for saving countless lives.

Across the narrow (Bering) sea, most of the surviving Bolsheviks were imprisoned in Siberian prisons of low quality. On September 26th, 1919, a mass prison revolt occurred, and Vladimir Lenin was killed in the commotion, further angering the Bolsheviks imprisoned there. After a night of fighting, the Bolsheviks under Leon Trotsky were in full control of the prison and the surrounding countryside. Within a week, they had recruited thousands of local peasants and destroyed sections of the Trans-Siberian Railroad in addition to cutting off communication between Far Eastern Russia and the rest of the country. By the start of 1920, they had taken over most of Far East Russia and Trotsky was beginning to consolidate his power over the region. While the rest of America was weary of getting into another conflict so soon after the end of the Great War, there was one important person who was not: President Thomas Marshall.

A fervent anti-communist, President Marshall insisted that American troops be sent to crush the red menace. Marshall found a firm supporter of his actions in Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, who targeted many of the more radical socialists still espousing their views in the US. Even though it gave the Bolsheviks more time to organize, Marshall heeded the advice of his reluctant generals and did not send troops until late May of 1920. Supported by French and British troops, 25,000 American soldiers landed in northeastern Korea (where the Japanese had allowed troops to land) and began to march on the Bolshevik capital, Vladivostok. After a couple months of fighting, Vladivostok fell and Bolshevik resistance fell in the surrounding countryside. Russian troops soon arrived to occupy the area and to rebuild portions of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. While America’s victory in Eastern Russia slightly boosted support for intervention, it was still disliked by a large majority of Americans. Marshall attempted to parlay the victory into American accession to the League of Nations; however, the Senate still rejected the League of Nations despite President Wilson’s death, the successes in Russia, and an amended section which would no longer force the US into a war without Congress’s approval.

With the summer of 1920 came convention season. The first to be held was the Progressive Party’s convention, which was held in Seattle, Washington. The 1920 election saw the first attempt at a nationwide primary, when the Progressives tried, but ultimately failed to nominate a president largely of the population’s choosing. The main problem was that the population didn’t really choose anyone. Many states, including most Southern states had very low turnout, leading to a great debate as to how their delegates should be treated. Ultimately, it was decided to use the results as a guideline. Because California Senator Hiram Johnson had received a majority of the votes anyway, there was not a huge controversy in the results, but the lack of organization still reflected poorly on the fledgling party. Johnson picked Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot in an attempt to gain the support of the eastern states.

The Republicans held their convention in New York City. After a few ballots, they settled on Senator Warren Harding of Ohio. While Harding did not offer much substance, he said the right things and did take a distinctly isolationist stand on foreign policy, stating that he would work to withdraw the United States from the League of Nations. He chose the conservative star and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge as his running mate. Coolidge was a known proponent of a smaller, more efficient government at the expense of sour relations with labor who especially hated him for crushing several strikes during his tenure.

The Democratic Convention, held in St. Louis, Missouri, was last. Sensing that they were on the defensive, the Democrats chose St. Louis in an attempt to broaden their horizons without wasting their time having a convention in a place that would vote for a black cat over a Democrat. President Thomas Marshall was nominated for a second term; he chose his Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, to be his running mate, not that Marshall thought the office was worth anything.

The 1920 campaign would go down in history as one of the dullest contests in history. Harding barely campaigned and seemed content to have people come and visit him, Johnson rode around the Midwest attempting to drum up support that had been lost in the 1916 election, while Marshall was trying to get people to think of the Democratic Party as more than just the southern party that it was turning into. Other than the general direction of the country, the main debate was over the League of Nations, which was supported by Marshall and hated by Johnson, who wished to return to the splendid isolation that the US had experienced before McKinley’s presidency, and somewhat disliked by Harding, who disliked having to take a solid position more than anything else. Historians noted that most people were unsurprised by the results of the election.

Here is a world map as of January 1st, 1920. Blue represents the Entente, while Red represents the Central Powers or their successor states. Darker colors are used to show other claimant states. Note: East Prussia has revolted against the German Peoples’ Republic and has not been crushed by the communists, mainly due to League of Nations’ control of the Baltic Sea.



Notes:

Very interesting. Keep going.

Thanks!

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Warren G. Harding
“The Great Enabler”
Republican Party
(1921-1923)

After years of war and progressive reforms, the American people were ready for a change. Americans elected Harding in a relative landslide; with a majority and divided opposition, Harding had sailed to victory and hoped to restore “normalcy” in America.



Republican: Warren G. Harding/J. Calvin Coolidge   53.6% 376 EV
Democratic: Thomas R. Marshall/A. Mitchell Palmer 27.2% 114 EV
Progressive: Hiram W. Johnson/Gifford Pinchot 18.3% 41 EV
Others:  0.9% 0 EV

Harding’s first order of business was to increase tariffs in an attempt to boost businesses and farms that were struggling following the end of the war. Within a few months, Congress had developed the Smoot-McCumber Tariff, which raised tariffs on most manufactured goods to drive job creation and keep existing manufacturing jobs after the war. While farmers were somewhat happy about the increased tariffs on crops, they were harmed by rising prices of farming implements, many of which were made in Europe. Many countries in Europe also raised their tariffs, which ultimately hurt American exports before Congress quickly lowered tariffs back to their previous levels.

Tragedy struck on September 26th, 1921 when a molasses tank burst in Boston. Vice President Coolidge was touring the port with Police Commissioner Edwin Curtis when the tank exploded, sending molasses down Commercial Street at over 30 miles per hour, killing Coolidge, Curtis, and 24 other people. Harding declared a national day of mourning following Coolidge’s death. Noting the deaths of two presidents and one vice president since the start of the century, Harding called for a constitutional amendment that would cement the line of succession and allow a president to choose a vice president in the event of a vacancy. By the end of the year, the text of the amendment had been finalized. In return for giving Harding free reign over his replacement vice president, Speaker of the House Martin Madden ensured that the Speaker of the House would be first in line, followed by the Senate President pro tempore and then the cabinet offices in the order of their creation.

Harding chose his Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall to be his second vice president. While the effectiveness of Fall in gaining western support for his re-election was never tested, it is believed to be one of the major factors behind his nomination, in addition to the great friendship that the two shared. Harding would replace Fall with his Director of the Veterans’ Bureau, Charles Forbes.

In the summer of 1922, Congressional Republicans, with the backing of Harding, sought to restrict immigration, which had been on the rise since the end of World War One and the resulting chaos of post-war Europe, especially in Germany. Many Northeastern Congressmen and Senators were eager to restrict immigration all together, but Western and Midwestern members of Congress resisted and instead, a compromise was reached that would restrict immigration to a small percentage of a given country’s representation in the 1900 census, allowing for larger numbers of immigrants from countries ruled by communist governments, as specified by the Secretary of State.

Harding was seen as largely ineffective (Harding would later be known for doing nothing while his appointees did as they pleased), and this showed in the midterm elections of 1922. For the first time since the start of the fifth party system in 1912*, the Senate was deadlocked when trying to pick a President pro tempore due to Republican losses, Democratic gains, and the Progressives’ strength out west. Because the Democrats had managed to gain a slim plurality, they chose their most moderate member, Xenophon Wilfley of Missouri, as a compromise candidate. Wilfley was accepted by all but the most conservative members of the Democrats and Republicans. In another failing of the Harding Administration, the President failed to force through a reapportionment bill (thus keeping the number of representatives at 435), saying that inner congressional workings were not something that the President should concern himself with. The Republicans managed to keep a very slim majority in the House of Representatives, with Martin Madden staying on as Speaker.

Perhaps Harding’s only success was the passage of the Snyder-Curtis Act, which was sponsored by Representative Homer Snyder and Senator Charles Curtis. The Curtis Act, as it is most commonly referred to today, gave full citizenship to any Native Americans who were not already citizens through other means. Notably, the act also gave them full voting rights. While it, like Albert Fall’s nomination, was seen as an attempt to draw down western support for the Progressives, it is believed that Harding (who was seen as favoring more rights for minorities) genuinely wanted to give Native Americans these rights.

After many delays, the Lincoln Memorial was finally completed late in the summer of 1923. Guests included former Presidents Taft and Marshall, Robert Todd Lincoln, many members of Congress, and President Harding. As the head of the Lincoln Memorial Commission, Taft presided over the dedication, while Harding only gave a short address in honor of their predecessor. As he was leaving the podium, Harding grasped his chest, stumbled, and died of a heart attack before he hit the ground.


* The exact terms are still debated, with some historians suggesting that the tripartite era was an extension of the fourth party system.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Albert B. Fall
“Purveyor of nostrums”
Republican Party
(1923-1925)

As a newly promoted president, Albert Fall’s first task was to select a vice president. Amongst the many well qualified candidates and even those who would make good placeholders, President Fall picked the only one that he knew he could trust: Edwin Denby. A member of the so-called “Ohio Gang,” Denby had served Harding as Secretary of the Navy and was not known to disobey orders. Denby was hastily confirmed and with little questioning.

While President Wilson managed to suppress the many anarchists, Presidents Harding and Fall had no such luck. If they had been granted powers similar to Wilson, Harding may have been able better control them, but Congress did not trust Harding or his successors with unjustified wartime powers. Instead, the anarchists continued to be a thorn, especially in the Northeast. While Harding had done little to stop them, President Fall ordered Prohibition agents to arrest known anarchists on trumped up bootlegging charges. Luigi Marino and Giuseppe Spaldolini were two such anarchists; while the Rhode Island court system would have been perfectly content to send them off to Block Island for the next decade, the men of the jury were not. Their lawyer, Carlo Tresca (a noted anarchist himself), shredded the government’s case and was noted as saying that he was suspicious of this case and others that had come to his attention. In what would be noted as the second greatest scandal of the Fall administration, George Cassiday was hired to take out not only Tresca, but also Marino and Spaldolini so that it would appear that they were, in fact, rival bootleggers. Cassiday was successful at his task; however, the same Prohibition agents that arrested Marino and Spaldolini arrested Cassiday, who was sentenced to death for murder (and also found guilty of bootlegging). While no solid evidence would turn up for nearly 50 years (a young intern discovered a handwritten memo in an old filing cabinet), historians before and after this discovery have noted that Fall was perhaps the most unscrupulous man to have ever occupied the Oval Office. After Cassiday was hanged, Rhode Island Senator Peter Gerry was noted as saying, “Good riddance to the lot of them,” referring not only to actual bootleggers like Cassiday, but the anarchists as well.

Tensions between miners and mine owners once again flared after the Castle Gate Disaster in early March. While no one was left to strike at the Castle Gate Mine, many miners went on strike to protest the poor conditions in their own mines. Pennsylvania Senator William B. Wilson, himself a former coal miner, spoke out in favor of improving safety and introduced a bill with the intentions of doing just that. His fellow Progressive Senator Robert La Follette quickly endorsed the idea and frequently mentioned it in his campaign speeches. The bill even managed to gain the support of a few more conservative Republicans who believed that it would be better for business if mines weren’t blowing up all of the time. Mining magnate Herbert Hoover gave his support as well. While the Wilson Act looked poised to pass, other events meant that the act would be shelved for the rest of the session.

In the middle of March of 1924, Wyoming Senator John B. Kendrick received a letter from a constituent inquiring about the recent sale of some oil fields in his home state. After doing some research, Kendrick started investigating Fall’s Interior Secretary, Charles Forbes; Kendrick thought that Forbes may have accepted bribes in return for leasing the oil fields near Teapot Rock to Harry Sinclair. Kendrick’s investigations into Forbes’ finances turned up nothing related to the oil fields, but he did find that Forbes had recently moved into a house on K Street that had been previously owned by President Harding, who had willed it to President Fall just prior to his death. Kendrick met with Senator La Follette, who suggested that Kendrick investigate property transactions in the area. When Kendrick met with La Follette after discovering that no such record existed, La Follette started a full investigation of the incident.

By summertime, rumors of impeachment were quietly circulating in some circles. La Follette had discovered that Denby signed an order giving the Department of the Interior jurisdiction over several oil fields including the one near Teapot Dome prior to becoming vice president. Shortly thereafter, Kendrick and La Follette’s offices were broken into; the intruder accidentally left his wallet at the scene providing not only evidence, but a spark in the mind of Senator Kendrick. In order to dampen any suspicions, Kendrick asked Montana Senator Thomas Walsh to investigate the burglar, sensing that it would be difficult if he attempted to do so himself. After contacting authorities and locals in New Mexico, Walsh found that the intruder, Oliver Lee, was a close friend of President Fall’s and a slippery character in his own right.

After having investigated the situation for several months, the three senators opened an investigation into the oil field exchanges. Walsh was able to find a wire transfer that Fall had not hidden; they also found payments from Fall to Denby, which they suspected were behind the initial transfer. La Follette then connected Forbes’s residence on K Street to Fall, implying that Fall was not only behind the initial transfer, but also the sale of the oil fields to Sinclair. The mounting evidence against Fall was damning and the investigation took up most of the summer, with headlines being made every other day.

The election of 1924 was a relatively subdued affair. Instead, most of the country’s focus was in Washington where the investigation into the Teapot Dome oil fields scandal was unfolding. Save for a few states that voted for favorite sons, Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette swept most of the Progressive Party’s primaries. La Follette was named the Progressive Party’s nominee at a much less contentious meeting than the convention of 1920. La Follette chose Senator John Kendrick as his running mate. The platform included support for stricter workplace safety standards, increased agricultural research and decreasing corruption. With the remaining progressives in the Republican and Democratic parties leaving to join the Progressive Party over the last several years, the two latter parties were down to their more conservative cores. While they still differed on matters such as immigration and civil rights, they had far more in common with each other than either had with the Progressives. While there had been talks of a joint ticket to ensure the defeat of the Progressives, no such thing materialized and the two parties were left nominating their own candidates. The Republicans settled for Frank O. Lowden in an attempt to wrestle Illinois away from the Progressives; the convention picked former Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover as the Vice Presidential nominee; Hoover was known for both his philanthropy and opposition to what he saw as pervasive corruption in the Fall Administration. After the controversial presidency of Woodrow Wilson, the Democrats did not see a clear path forward and instead focused on holding the South in the hope that the Republicans would work with them rather than the Progressives in the event of another deadlock in the Electoral College.At their convention, they nominated William McAdoo for President and Oscar Underwood for Vice President.

On October 29th, the House of Representatives voted 347- 85 to pass articles of impeachment against President Fall on charges of bribery and obstruction of justice. Vice President Denby, sensing that his time was also dwindling, resigned on November 1st, followed by Secretary of the Interior Charles Forbes on the 7th. January 2nd, 1925 marked an important milestone in American history. President Albert Fall was convicted of bribery by a vote of 86-9 (with one abstention) and he was convicted of obstruction of justice by a vote of 91-0 (with five abstentions). As Congress had never approved of a replacement of Vice President, the line of succession fell to the Speaker of the House, Martin B. Madden. However, Madden was not a natural born citizen and thus was unable to become President in Fall’s place. Instead, the office of the Presidency was entrusted to the Senate President pro tempore for the next two months until his elected successor was inaugurated.

Author’s notes: While most things have been sticking somewhat close to actual history (ie Harding still being elected and Teapot Dome still occurring), things will start to diverge quite rapidly from here on out. I’m hoping to use historical figures to a large extent (I don’t feel that much connection to made up characters), but their lives will be different. If there’s sufficient that would prevent their birth, they won’t exist; otherwise, I’m taking a relatively liberal view.


Any thoughts?

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Xenophon P. Wilfley
“Who?”
Democratic Party
(1925-1925)

Xenophon Wilfley was not a man that anyone expected to become President of the United States. A lawyer and teacher, Wilfley was a minor election office official when he was chosen by the Governor of Missouri (a close friend of his) to become one of Missouri’s Senators following the death of William Stone in the B&O Railroad disaster of late 1915. Until the start of the 1920’s, Wilfley was an obscure Senator who seemed unlikely to be anything more than a footnote in a history book. However, Wilfley put forth a bill to modernize the postal service by connecting major cities with pneumatic tubes for delivering mail. Wilfley was able to gather a coalition of Democrats and Progressives, who liked the idea of putting veterans to work, and Republicans who saw the system as a means to continue mail service when railway workers were striking. The Pneumatic Parcel Post Act of 1922 was passed with large majorities in both houses of Congress and work soon began on the great series of tubes. Later in the year, Wilfley’s fellow Missouri Senator James Reed nominated him for the position of Senate President pro tempore when the Senate was deadlocked after the midterm elections. Despite being third in line for the Presidency, the post was seen as largely ceremonial and Wilfley, seen as a moderate who was willing to compromise, was confirmed with a large majority.

During the summer of 1924, Wilfley remained quiet on the matter of the Teapot Dome scandal, especially after being informed that Martin Madden, the Speaker of the House, was not a natural born citizen and would be unable to become President. After Vice President Edwin Denby resigned, Wilfley was effectively first in line to succeed Fall. During Fall’s impeachment trial, Wilfley abstained from voting in order not to seem too eager to take Fall’s place. Later interviews have suggested that Wilfley, like most Senators, thought that Fall was guilty and that he would have voted to remove him if he had the deciding vote.

Xenophon Wilfley took the oath of office on the steps of the Capitol in a ceremony that looked like there had been more than a day’s worth of planning. President Wilfley gave only a short speech, reflecting not only his ethereal presidency, but also the bitter cold of the January morning of his inauguration. Wilfley’s term was mostly uneventful and was mostly filled with fallout from Teapot Dome, including the indictment of Harry Sinclair on charges of bribing a public official. Given the political instability of the last 5 years, Wilfley felt that it was necessary to name a Vice President even for his short term. While it took a fair deal of persuasion, Wilfley was able to convince his friend William Jennings Bryan to come back to Washington for a month and a half. While many senators hesitated, Bryan was narrowly confirmed, mostly due to the fact that he would be serving such a short amount of time. Wilfley's decision not to pardon Fall has been discussed for nearly a century. At the time, no one criticized Wilfley due to Fall's image as a pariah; more recent works have suggested that Fall's later trial would (inadvertently on Wilfley's part) serve as a distraction for later administrations. Beyond stating that Fall deserved to face the consequences of his actions, Wilfley was silent on the subject. The end of the short Wilfley Presidency ushered in a new era marked by ideological whiplash that would last for the next quarter of a century.

Author's Note: This is a quick update, but I couldn't pass up someone named Xenophon Wilfley; he was a Senator from Missouri for about 6 months in 1918.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
“Fighting Bob”
Progressive Party
(1925-1925)

Following the creation of the Progressive Party in 1912 by Former President Roosevelt, Robert La Follette was left between a proverbial rock and hard spot. Many progressives in both the Republican and Democratic Parties had joined the Progressive Party by the 1916 election once it was clear that the Progressive Party was not a mere one-trick-moose. La Follette and much of the Wisconsin Republican Party were some of the last bastions of outspoken progressiveness in the Republican Party mainly due to La Follette’s loathing of Theodore Roosevelt, on whom he blamed for his loss in the 1912 convention. Following Roosevelt’s death in 1919, Progressive Party leaders began courting La Follette and the Wisconsin progressives, who had a near stranglehold on the Wisconsin Republican Party. Unlike in 1916, when he had given a near endorsement to Debs (stating that he was the best candidate, but not going so far as to officially endorse him), he did not choose any side in 1920. By early 1921, La Follette was convinced that the Progressive party was here to stay, saw an opening to fill the void left by Roosevelt, and thus finally chose to join the Progressives. Almost as soon as he joined, he began preparations for a run in 1924. Combined with Fall’s numerous scandals and years of preparation, La Follette secured the Progressive nomination with relative ease; he chose Wyoming Senator John Kendrick, who had originally brought Teapot Dome to his attention, as his running mate.

Following Democratic fatigue and a loss in confidence in the Republican Party, the American people were finally ready for a new political order. This initial victory for the Progressives in 1924 would cement the fifth party system* following years of instability resulting from the extended tripartisan era. While La Follette barely obtained a majority, his opposition had disintegrated on a national scale. In places with low support for one conservative party, the other was able to eke out wins not only on a presidential level, but also in down ballot races; this would not be enough to grind Washington to a halt, however.

Perhaps the biggest consequence of the breakdown of the Republican and Democratic Parties was the old party bosses’ loss of influence on national politics. While they still held sway over local and state governments, the rise of the Progressives meant that their divisions had only opened up more ways for the Progressives to take control.



Robert M. La Follette, Sr./John B. Kendrick 50.2% 309 EV
William G. McAdoo/Oscar W. Underwood 24.7% 178 EV
Frank O. Lowden/Herbert C. Hoover 24.5% 44 EV
Others 0.6% 0 EV

Following the brief Wilfley Presidency, Robert La Follette, Sr. was inaugurated in early March of 1925, with promises to end the corruption that wracked the Harding and Fall administrations as well as to push for reform. La Follette had been swept into office with Progressive majorities in both houses of Congress, giving him the opportunity to pass major progressive reforms. His first actions did not require legislative action, however. Since the McKinley administration, large portions of Latin America and the Caribbean had been occupied by US troops in repeated attempts to force local governments to accede to the desires of the American government and often, American business. Seeking to build a more isolationist foreign policy and to reduce the influence of large businesses, La Follette declared that United States foreign policy would be driven by what he called “Strength through Peace.” ** La Follette’s vision would guide foreign policy for the next decade and a half.

The first major bill signed by La Follette was the National Mining Safety Act of 1925, more commonly known as the Wilson-Robins Act, named after the two senators (both of whom were former miners) who wrote most of the guidelines. The Wilson-Robins Act was the first modification to mining safety in over thirty years. One of the major new rules increased the amount of ventilation required in coal mines, which would hopefully reduce the number of accidents. Equally important was the enforcement power given to the Bureau of Mines; without this vital power, the act would have been nearly toothless aside from fines imposed in the event of a fatal explosion. Senator Thomas Walsh, who played a part in removing President Fall, introduced a bill that would limit the value of gifts that any ambassador, cabinet official, member of Congress, federal judge (including the Supreme Court), or the President could accept. Walsh’s bill was passed by a nearly unanimous vote in both houses of Congress, where Fall’s impeachment was still fresh in the minds of many.

Chief Justice (and former President) William Howard Taft’s death in the summer of 1925 meant that La Follette had a chance to change the composition of the Supreme Court. He ultimately chose attorney Clarence Darrow, who shared La Follette’s passion for defending civil liberties. Darrow was swiftly confirmed by the Progressive controlled Senate.

La Follette’s brief, but promising, presidency came to an end shortly before Thanksgiving of 1925, when he died of a heart attack. *** His death meant that his successor was able to push for some more radical proposals until the next Congress was seated. Notably, former President Thomas Marshall also died on the 19th, only the second time that two presidents died on the same date.

Notes:

* Stretching from 1912 until 1944, the fifth party system was notable for the emergence of the Progressive Party as well as the coalescence of the Republican and large portions of the Democratic Party to form the Conservative Party in 1926. Some scholars say that the fourth party system lasted until the Progressive victory in 1924, and stating that the fifth party system instead started in 1924 and lasted until 1944.

** Apparently this was Dennis Kucinich’s slogan in 2008. I didn’t know that when I came up with it (I searched for it anyway, because it seemed catchy), but I guess that means it’s a good term.

*** RTL will be relieved to know that he had no “part” in La Follette’s death, nor that of La Follette’s successors.

[Türkisblau]

I don't know how you're going to get too far into the future writing this well. Looking good so far.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

I don't know how you're going to get too far into the future writing this well. Looking good so far.

Thanks!

It's definitely going to take a while. I'm still pretty busy with college, so I try to fit in an update here and there. I have one more update that will be posted in a few days, then it'll be a while before I have another one completed. I have a rough idea of who I want to be president at least to the early 1960's. It's just a matter of coming up with ideas (this is getting harder as things diverge more and more) and writing them down.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

John B. Kendrick
“Ambitious, but mostly rubbish”
Progressive Party
(1925-1929)

On the morning of his hastily arranged inauguration, John Benjamin Kendrick became the fourth person to hold the office of President of the United States in a single calendar year, and the sixth person to do so in five years. His first job was to select a vice president; Kendrick ultimately chose New York Senator Franklin Roosevelt for the spot. While his predecessor had mixed feelings about the new Pneumatic Parcel Post system, President Kendrick was far more supportive and even appointed former President Wilfley as Postmaster General in order to oversee his old pet project.

The Wallace-Frazier Act, passed in late 1925, was meant to assist farmers who had been struggling since the end of price controls during World War I. Under this system, the federal government would guarantee minimum prices for many crops and animal products, with large portions of excess crops and animals being destroyed to keep prices from having to be kept higher than long term average prices (based on prices from the 1910’s). While the act enjoyed large support among farmers who saw a new age of prosperity, urbanites decried the act as a waste of money used as a ploy to attract farmers’ votes.

For the first time in US history, a former president went on trial. Following Albert Fall’s impeachment, investigations into his finances as part of the Teapot Dome Scandal continued. In early 1926, the so-called “Trial of the Century” took place in Washington, D.C., extending into the summer. The trial became one of the first mass media events and was broadcast on radio stations throughout the country, with millions of Americans listening to portions of the trial. Fall was sentenced to serve 5 years in prison for bribery and obstruction of justice.

While the Progressives did gain some seats in mid-western states, they lost many more seats in other parts of the country. The Senate results were the same, without the benefit of gaining any seats. When a few minor party seats and those progressives who still stuck with the Democratic and Republican parties despite their increasing isolation, the conservative Democrats and Republicans together held modest majorities in both houses of Congress. This effectively halted further radical reforms led by President Kendrick. While some modest proposals were passed, they were far weaker than those originally proposed by La Follette and Kendrick.

Despite losing their majorities in the 1926 midterm elections, the Progressives were still seen as the dominant party in American politics because the conservatives of the Republican and Democratic parties were split. In the months after the conservatives took back Congress, leaders from both parties met behind closed doors to discuss a coalition. After several weeks and several truckloads of tobacco products, Democratic and Republican leaders announced that the two parties would form a tentative coalition that would run a single presidential ticket in the 1928 election. Further committees would determine which parties would have influence over which areas; the Solid South would remain under the influence of the former Democratic Party, the West would remain under the control of the Republican Party, while other areas were divvied up according to local politics.

The Ninth of November would always be a fateful day in German history. It would be no different in the year 1927. After enduring eight years under communist rule, the German people were fed up with a drastically weakening currency and inferior living standards compared to the decades before World War One. From their headquarters in Munich, the National Socialist German Workers’ Organization launched a revolution to overthrow the Luxemburg Government; within just a few days, popular support began to favor the Nazis. Within a month, the Nazi party and its so-called “brownshirts” controlled large portions of the country and were in talks with East Prussia concerning the absorption of the latter country. Uprisings ahead of the “Brownshirts” softened the already disintegrating communist defense forces; by Christmas, 1927, the Nazis had effectively taken control of the country aside from a few small areas of resistance. Over the next year, the Nazi party under Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter consolidated power, loosening many economic restrictions and paying minimal war debt payments for several years thereafter. In addition, von Scheubner-Richter exiled many of his own party members including Adolf Hitler, one of his fellow masterminds in the original Munich Uprising. Surviving British documents from the era suggest that the success of the National Socialist coup was in large part due to British aid in both strategy and weaponry. At least one of these documents makes a reference to a now lost cable which is believed to have detailed the Nazis’ further unreleased plans for Europe.

Following the passage of the Wallace-Frazier Act, agricultural prices increased and economic growth started to decline. By 1928, GDP growth was nearly zero percent and some economists were ringing alarm bells. Curiously, a few investors had welcomed the Wallace-Frazier Act, as it temporarily boosted some agricultural stocks. However, in the summer of 1928, the Supreme Court ruled that the Wallace-Frazier Act was unconstitutional. If the nation’s economy had been an egg that was starting to crack, the Supreme Court’s ruling went ahead and tossed the egg on the ground. Plummeting commodities prices led to rapid drops in the stock market.

Despite his low approval ratings, President Kendrick sought re-election and was essentially unchallenged for the nomination, winning every state except for Pennsylvania and Illinois, who voted for favorite sons Gifford Pinchot and Raymond Robins, respectively. The Democratic-Republican nomination was a much more closed process and at least one party leader later wrote that the smoke was so thick that it could almost be cut with a knife. Ultimately, after several ballots, Senator Peter Gerry of Rhode Island, a Democrat, was chosen to be the Presidential nominee, with Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas, a Republican chosen as the Vice-Presidential nominee. As the economy continued to decline, Kendrick’s chances of winning the election continued to slide. By November 5th, it was known that the following day’s election would result in the eighth presidency in the last decade and all that remained was to find out how many states Kendrick would lose. The 1928 election was the first in 20 years in which only two parties received electoral votes.



Peter G. Gerry/Charles Curtis 57.3% 420 EV
John B. Kendrick/Franklin D. Roosevelt 41.3% 111 EV
Others 1.4% 0 EV

Tragedy struck in Argentina in mid-December when the President-elect and Vice President-elect were touring the country. Anarchists infuriated by the President-elect’s past comments concerning Marino and Spaldolini set explosive charges on the train tracks leading from the Pampas into Buenos Aires, which exploded as the train passed over them. In total, 45 passengers and 4 people near the tracks were killed; Democratic and Republican Party officials were awoken with the news that they would need to select a new vice presidential nominee before the Electoral College cast its votes on December 17th.

NOTES: Finally. I've had an idea for this presidency for some time. I didn't want to go all "Progressives win forever and they are amazing." Economics wasn't my best(or favorite) subject, so if anyone has any comments about the declining economy, feel free to share them.