So, this is the revised version of my timeline, The Ruins of an American Party System, with Part One being now subtitled “Implosion”. This thread is for the revisions, please DO NOT COMMENT HERE, all comments about the original timeline or about the revisions can be posted in the the original thread, located here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=301759
There is a Part II, still in progress, subtitled “Collision”.
The world was weary. The Great War had just ended; millions of bodies rotted in Europe after one of the world’s deadliest conflicts. Blood had been spilt upon the streets of Germany, as a failed revolution clashed with the new Republic which had arisen upon the Kaiser’s fall. Versailles produced a treaty, although its effectiveness was questioned. The mighty Empire of Russia was over; Communist Revolutionaries killed the Tsar and were winning the civil war, while Poland and the Baltics wrested their freedom from long years of oppression. Austria-Hungary’s empire lay shattered into numerous smaller countries. The threat of Communism was in the air, but the Hungarian Soviet Republic was crushed. The Ottoman Empire had lost much of their Arab territory, and political instability made it clear that the long-lasting Ottoman dynasty was on its last legs. Even the victors were weak after the war. France and Belgium’s once-fair countryside was covered in the remains of trenches. So many lives had been lost from the British, French, and the other Allies. Their industry and economy had been pushed close to the breaking point, their victory merely occurring because Germany was pushed slightly closer. Political instability and questions shrouded their futures. Italy in particular seemed unstable, with radicalism on the right and left running rampant.
Yet in the midst of this grim world, one nation stood unbroken and powerful. The United States of America had not joined the League of Nations, but it felt it did not need to. They were the greatest industrial power the world had ever seen. Their economy was one of the few modern economies not significantly damaged by the war. They’d lost some men, but could have easily continued fighting years after Europe totally collapsed. America was victorious, despite their late victory. Even with an unpopular administration, no one doubted the strength of the United States. In these last years, huge social changes had occurred. Two Amendments to the United States Constitution had been passed: the Eighteenth, banning the sale of “intoxicating beverages”, and the Nineteenth, allowing women to vote in every election in the country. Now, the United States, one of the oldest republics in the world, prepared to hold a presidential election. All was stable and safe in America; their institutions were strong, their democracy stable. The stress of the war was there, but the American people were confident that they would be able to return everything to the way it was. On that promise the Republican Party had nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for President in their convention from June 8 to June 12. They were confident that victory would come and the long-lost normalcy would follow.
The Democratic Convention was beginning. It was June 28, and a small crowd gathered outside of the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. They were listening to a man who had just left the hall, to tell them the results of the 1920 Democratic Convention. "The first ballot has been counted,” the man announced, “and the results are 266 votes for Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, 256 for Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, 134 for former Ohio Governor James Cox, 109 for New York Governor Al Smith, and more than two hundred cast for a scattering of other candidates."
The crowd assumed that in a few ballots, the nominee would be chosen, and they returned to their homes, expecting to be informed of the results in several hours. However, whenever they returned over the next several days, the man had little fresh news for them.
"The seventh ballot is in, and the results are 384 for McAdoo, 295 for Cox, and 267 for Palmer...
....The twelfth ballot has been counted, McAdoo is leading with 320 votes, Palmer has 299, and Cox just barely behind Palmer with 294...
...The seventeenth ballot, with McAdoo at 357 votes, Palmer at 288, and Cox at 301. Al Smith's lost his last vote....”
Rumors apparently were circulating about McAdoo’s performance, that he was not as clean and incorruptible as previously assumed. Threats of a possible scandal revelation spooked many delegates into voting against him. Very few people knew the source of these rumors.
The crowd listened to the man announce the results once more, “The delegates have voted for the twenty-third time. Palmer now is in the lead, with 333 votes, closely followed by Cox who has 329, and McAdoo with 328. Al Smith has begun to show a small resurgence, now having the votes of 43 delegates....
....Vote 38: McAdoo 301, Palmer 222, Cox 201, Smith at 17....
....For the Forty-Fourth time, the votes have been counted, Cox has rebounded to 340 votes, with McAdoo at 240 and Palmer at 195 votes. This convention shows no signs of ending any time soon."
The San Franciscans were quite amazed at the length of the convention, and they assumed a compromise candidate would come soon and save the Democratic Party from its long quarrel. All of the leading candidates seemed to collapse as soon as they rose, with rumors and concerns suddenly sweeping the convention. The next day brought no relief to the Democratic Party.
"I cannot tell the thoughts of the leaders of the back-room deals in this convention, but it is clear that they are aiming for Vice President Marshall as a compromise candidate, as on the fifty-third ballot he has gained 468 delegate votes, with McAdoo behind at 284, followed by Palmer at 220, Cox at 117, and Smith at 99 votes, with the ever-present scattering of extras...
Now on the sixtieth ballot, the Vice President is just shy of gaining the nomination, with 575 votes, with a divided opposition. This may not be over yet, as no one has shown any indication of dropping out."
So Vice President Marshall would succeed President Wilson. It made sense, and the convention watchers went to bed that night expecting Marshall to win the nomination.
"Now on the Sixty-eighth ballot, Marshall's lead has begun to slip, with only 401 delegates voting for him now, with Al Smith having the votes of 192, Cox of 191, McAdoo of 175, and Palmer of 103. I don’t know why he’s slipping, apparently some Democrats believe that he’s mostly spent his Vice Presidency being useless and failing to aid the Administration. Various other names have been touted as alternative compromise candidates, but no one has begun to pick up momentum yet."
Listening to the tired worlds of the man from the convention, the San Franciscans were shocked at the disarray of the Convention. Surely the Convention would make some desperate compromise soon?
"Now at the 79th ballot, a 'draft Bryan' movement has begun, with the former Secretary of State receiving 124 votes, only three less than former frontrunner Thomas Marshall, but a substantial number lower than McAdoo, who's currently at 329 votes."
Bryan? thought the populace. Surely the Democrats can do better than drag him up again.
Or do worse some thought, but they couldn't imagine how they reasonably could.
"It appears that the Democrats aren't willing to nominate Bryan. After peaking on the eighty-second ballot with 299 votes, he crashed down in support by the eighty fifth, receiving a mere 104 votes. By the last ballot, the eighty-eighth, some of his supporters tried to get his brother Charles nominated instead, but that didn't go anywhere, only 56 votes. McAdoo's on the rise once again, he's got 388 votes, maybe he'll pull off a victory yet. His opposition is scrambling for an opposing compromise candidate"
McAdoo was a solid candidate. Surely the Democrats will nominate him, thought the San Franciscans.
"The anti-McAdoo delegates started rallying around former Ambassador John W. Davis in the early ninties ballots. No sir, I don’t know who suggested him. As of the 102nd ballot, he's gotten 480 delegates to vote for him, and he might be the Democrats' man this year....
...We're on the 109th ballot, and Davis's decline is continuing. He's only got 238 now, and McAdoo's gotten 513 or 514, I can't remember which. I think McAdoo will win after all...
...Now they've started to rally behind Al Smith, to stop McAdoo. Yes, he's a Catholic, I'm as surprised as you. But it's the 112th ballot, so the party is starting the get desperate..."
A Catholic?! The crowd could not believe their ears. A few cast dark looks and left, to telegraph their fellows. By nightfall, telegraphs came pouring in, with angry Democrats proclaiming that they would never vote for a Catholic. The Ku Klux Klan travelled around the South with signs and petitions, urging people to contact the convention. More moderate Protestant groups were also organizing protests against Smith, and there were fears that the pro-Prohibition Harding could gain the support of massive amounts of dry Democratic defectors in opposition to Smith. The tired anti-Smith delegates finally began to rally around McAdoo.
However, reports of the extreme anti-Catholicism campaign began filtering into the convention, and they Catholic delegates were enraged that their candidate would be rejected due to bigotry. Many expected McAdoo to give a vague unity speech and convince them that he was not the bigot many of his supporters were. However, McAdoo was advised to remain firm and shore up his support by giving a speech in favor of Protestantism. The Treasury Secretary alienated far too many delegates, and his support plummeted. Even Protestants began to turn against him, afraid of a revolt among Northeastern Catholics which would spell certain electoral doom for the Democratic Party. He lost nearly a hundred and eighty delegates by the 123rd ballot.
The Democratic convention by this time was a scattered mess. Every compromise candidate (but one) had been tried, and failed. McAdoo could not gain the nomination, but almost no one else could gain his loyal support. Faced with the prospect of failing to nominate anyone, the Democratic leaders quietly consulted with McAdoo, Cox, and Palmer, and convinced them to openly endorse the last option. The very man whose agents had been sabotaging the convention from the beginning in hopes of this result. He was weak, half-dead and paralyzed, but he still was powerful. The Northeastern Urban progressives and the racist southerners and the Klansmen elsewhere all were willing to back him after all else failed. The San Fransiscans listening outside were shocked when it was announced that the Democratic Party had nominated, for an unprecedented third term, the President of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson.
The Germans hated Wilson, who they felt lied to them about the war and had helped shame Germany. The Irish hated Wilson, because they hated the British and Wilson was the UK's best friend in their eyes. The blacks in the North, who could vote, hated Wilson, whose supposed words had helped the Klan, and who had championed discrimination. The Italians disliked Wilson, thinking that he had sold out Italy at the peace conference. The Conservatives despised Wilson, and were eager for a return to normalcy. The Progressives had tired of Wilson, and did not trust the country in the hands of a man who was, by many accounts, nearly incapable of governing. Across America, people disliked his League of Nations idea, and rejected it. Every single demographic and political group except for Southerners had turned against him. His running mate, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, won precious few votes for the Democratic ticket.
Harding and Coolidge were wildly popular. From across America, people came to see Harding in his Ohio home. From before the chaos of war and Progressivism and Prohibition and the 19th Amendment and all of the recent developments came a man who could and would restore the America of nostalgic, by-gone days. The sun was setting over a decade of confusion, loss, and bitterness. It was rising over a new decade, of prosperity and conservatism. Conservatives loved him. Even progressives backed him. Harding could not lose. With Wilson's health so bad, wouldn't it be a mercy to the President to spare him another term?
People who had voted Democratic in every election in their lives were voting for Harding. And if the Republican leader was not so bad, what about giving the Republican congressional candidates a second look? Traditional Democrats were sitting at home, refusing to vote for Wilson. Who cared that there were other, lesser Democrats on the ballot? They probably were just Wilson-backers anyways. And some Democrats, the most radical and anti-Republican of all, began to consider the perennial Eugene Debs, running from within prison for protesting Wilson's pointless war, or Parley Christensen, the Farmer-Labor candidate, or in Texas Pa Ferguson and the American Party, or even Prohibition. Why vote third party for the presidency but a straight Democratic ticket elsewhere?
Almost no one predicted that Wilson would win, except for the dying President himself. Barely able to campaign due to his declining health, he seemed mired in a delusion caused by the stress, both physical and mental, of his attempt to campaign. Mitchell was a vigorous campaigner himself, but he knew he could not win. Even the most die-hard Democrats expected to lose, and in their wildest fantasies the loss was respectably close.
The wild Democratic fantasies were not realized.
Other Candidates:
Parley Christensen/Max Hayes (Farmer-Labor): 786,896 votes (2.94%)
Aaron Watkins/Leigh Colvin (Prohibition): 347,947 votes (1.3%)
James "Pa" Ferguson/William Hough (American): 112,413 votes (0.42%)
William Cox/August Gillhaus (Socialist Labor): 37,471 votes (0.14%)
Robert McAuley/Richard Barnum (Single Tax): 8,029 votes (0.03%)
The White House was quiet for an election night (Mrs. Wilson fearing that too much stress would be bad for her husband's health). The President was sitting in his bed, trying to read a news article about Poland. Alas, his eyes were failing him. Edith came into the room, to quietly inform her husband that no results had come in yet. He gave her the best smile he could and thanked her for the news (or lack thereof). He anticipated the news of state after state falling into the Democratic column. The American people would not abandon the man who won the war, who brought peace to the world. They would accept the League of Nations, and Wilson's third term. A third term! Wilson felt he had accomplished enough to break Washington's precedent. Unlike that buffoon Roosevelt. Imagine trying to go and fight in Europe only a couple years from your death! Although Roosevelt probably had not thought he was going to die. Who did?
Edith came back in the room. "You've won South Carolina," she says gently. Of course, that was no real victory for a Democrat, if Wilson had lost South Carolina pigs would be flying about. But South Carolina would not stand alone. The Democratic wave would sweep the nation, like the League would sweep the world. The biased, Republican-controlled newspapers were all predicting his defeat. Their predictions had failed before, he would laugh as they failed again. They did not understand him. They could not see his strength. Imagine, the rumors they were spreading, that the stress of the campaign was too much for him, that the President's health was failing, that only a miracle could get him to see the end of his third term, if that. He would prove them all wrong.
"So begins the third term," replied the President. Edith returned to see if any other states' results had come in yet. Wilson tried to smile, thinking about his plans for the future. The crushing of the radicals, the creation of a permanent, strong Democratic coalition, the restoration of the correct racial balance, the economic recovery... When America was in the league, what it would accomplish! Speaking of foreign affairs... Wilson lifted up the newspaper to try and read a little more, but it was far too dark to read. Why had Ellen forgotten to turn on the lights? No, wait, Ellen was dead, wasn't she?
The newspaper fell out of the President's limp hands. His glasses sat crooked over unseeing eyes.
Distribution of Democratic Electoral Votes:
Virginia: 12 votes for Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo for President, 7 votes for Attorney Mitchell Palmer for Vice President, 5 votes for Senator Claude Swanson for Vice President
South Carolina: 9 votes for McAdoo for President, 9 votes for Senator Ellison Smith for Vice President
Georgia: 13 votes for Palmer for President, 1 vote for Senator Thomas Watson for President, 10 votes for Watson for Vice President, three votes for McAdoo for Vice President, one vote for William Joseph Simmons for Vice President.
Alabama: 12 votes for President Thomas Marshall for President, 11 votes for Senator Oscar Underwood for Vice President, 1 vote for McAdoo for Vice President
Mississippi: 10 votes for McAdoo for President, 10 votes for Palmer for Vice President
Louisiana: 8 votes for Palmer for President, 1 vote for Marshall for President, 1 vote for McAdoo for President. 9 votes for Ruffin Pleasant for Vice President, 1 vote for Palmer for Vice President
Arkansas: 9 votes for Marshall for President, 9 votes for Palmer for Vice President
Texas: 16 votes for Marshall for President, 2 votes for Palmer for President, 1 vote for Governor James Ferguson for President, 1 vote for Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for President. 19 votes for Senator Morris Sheppard for Vice President, one vote for William Hough for Vice President
Florida: 6 votes for Palmer for President, 6 votes for Senator Park Trammell for Vice President
Wilson's disastrous campaign hurt the Democrats in the House, as many Democratic voters stayed home, while Harding's coattails gained the Republicans many seats. The stronger Socialist and Farmer-Labor third party campaigns by many candidates split the traditionally Democratic vote and allowed the Republicans to make major gains. The victory for Socialist Meyer London in New York compensated for the Republican ouster of Socialist Victor Berger in their total sweep of Wisconsin. With the Republicans taking half of North Carolina's seats, and winning districts in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, the Democratic "Solid South" was broken. The Republicans also defeated the one Prohibition Party Congressman, Charles Randall of California. In the state of Pennsylvania, the Republican Party was so dominant that it turned against itself. In one Congressional district, former Republican Milton Shreve was elected as an independent as the main opposition to the Republican nominee, while in another Republican incumbent Willis Hulings lost renomination and then lost the general election on the Prohibition Party ticket. With more than a 3/4 majority, the Republicans presided over their largest majority since Reconstruction.
The Republicans gained 10 Senate seats from the Democrats as OTL. The only victories for the Democratic Party came from the South. North Carolina Senator Lee Slater Overman was the only close win for the Democrats. Had he polled as badly as Wilson in his state, Overman would have lost, but the Senator, by virtue of being entirely alive and able to really campaign, polled several points higher and won reelection.
There is a Part II, still in progress, subtitled “Collision”.
1920
The world was weary. The Great War had just ended; millions of bodies rotted in Europe after one of the world’s deadliest conflicts. Blood had been spilt upon the streets of Germany, as a failed revolution clashed with the new Republic which had arisen upon the Kaiser’s fall. Versailles produced a treaty, although its effectiveness was questioned. The mighty Empire of Russia was over; Communist Revolutionaries killed the Tsar and were winning the civil war, while Poland and the Baltics wrested their freedom from long years of oppression. Austria-Hungary’s empire lay shattered into numerous smaller countries. The threat of Communism was in the air, but the Hungarian Soviet Republic was crushed. The Ottoman Empire had lost much of their Arab territory, and political instability made it clear that the long-lasting Ottoman dynasty was on its last legs. Even the victors were weak after the war. France and Belgium’s once-fair countryside was covered in the remains of trenches. So many lives had been lost from the British, French, and the other Allies. Their industry and economy had been pushed close to the breaking point, their victory merely occurring because Germany was pushed slightly closer. Political instability and questions shrouded their futures. Italy in particular seemed unstable, with radicalism on the right and left running rampant.
Yet in the midst of this grim world, one nation stood unbroken and powerful. The United States of America had not joined the League of Nations, but it felt it did not need to. They were the greatest industrial power the world had ever seen. Their economy was one of the few modern economies not significantly damaged by the war. They’d lost some men, but could have easily continued fighting years after Europe totally collapsed. America was victorious, despite their late victory. Even with an unpopular administration, no one doubted the strength of the United States. In these last years, huge social changes had occurred. Two Amendments to the United States Constitution had been passed: the Eighteenth, banning the sale of “intoxicating beverages”, and the Nineteenth, allowing women to vote in every election in the country. Now, the United States, one of the oldest republics in the world, prepared to hold a presidential election. All was stable and safe in America; their institutions were strong, their democracy stable. The stress of the war was there, but the American people were confident that they would be able to return everything to the way it was. On that promise the Republican Party had nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for President in their convention from June 8 to June 12. They were confident that victory would come and the long-lost normalcy would follow.
The 1920 Democratic National Convention
The Democratic Convention was beginning. It was June 28, and a small crowd gathered outside of the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. They were listening to a man who had just left the hall, to tell them the results of the 1920 Democratic Convention. "The first ballot has been counted,” the man announced, “and the results are 266 votes for Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, 256 for Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, 134 for former Ohio Governor James Cox, 109 for New York Governor Al Smith, and more than two hundred cast for a scattering of other candidates."
The crowd assumed that in a few ballots, the nominee would be chosen, and they returned to their homes, expecting to be informed of the results in several hours. However, whenever they returned over the next several days, the man had little fresh news for them.
"The seventh ballot is in, and the results are 384 for McAdoo, 295 for Cox, and 267 for Palmer...
....The twelfth ballot has been counted, McAdoo is leading with 320 votes, Palmer has 299, and Cox just barely behind Palmer with 294...
...The seventeenth ballot, with McAdoo at 357 votes, Palmer at 288, and Cox at 301. Al Smith's lost his last vote....”
Rumors apparently were circulating about McAdoo’s performance, that he was not as clean and incorruptible as previously assumed. Threats of a possible scandal revelation spooked many delegates into voting against him. Very few people knew the source of these rumors.
The crowd listened to the man announce the results once more, “The delegates have voted for the twenty-third time. Palmer now is in the lead, with 333 votes, closely followed by Cox who has 329, and McAdoo with 328. Al Smith has begun to show a small resurgence, now having the votes of 43 delegates....
....Vote 38: McAdoo 301, Palmer 222, Cox 201, Smith at 17....
....For the Forty-Fourth time, the votes have been counted, Cox has rebounded to 340 votes, with McAdoo at 240 and Palmer at 195 votes. This convention shows no signs of ending any time soon."
The San Franciscans were quite amazed at the length of the convention, and they assumed a compromise candidate would come soon and save the Democratic Party from its long quarrel. All of the leading candidates seemed to collapse as soon as they rose, with rumors and concerns suddenly sweeping the convention. The next day brought no relief to the Democratic Party.
"I cannot tell the thoughts of the leaders of the back-room deals in this convention, but it is clear that they are aiming for Vice President Marshall as a compromise candidate, as on the fifty-third ballot he has gained 468 delegate votes, with McAdoo behind at 284, followed by Palmer at 220, Cox at 117, and Smith at 99 votes, with the ever-present scattering of extras...
Now on the sixtieth ballot, the Vice President is just shy of gaining the nomination, with 575 votes, with a divided opposition. This may not be over yet, as no one has shown any indication of dropping out."
So Vice President Marshall would succeed President Wilson. It made sense, and the convention watchers went to bed that night expecting Marshall to win the nomination.
"Now on the Sixty-eighth ballot, Marshall's lead has begun to slip, with only 401 delegates voting for him now, with Al Smith having the votes of 192, Cox of 191, McAdoo of 175, and Palmer of 103. I don’t know why he’s slipping, apparently some Democrats believe that he’s mostly spent his Vice Presidency being useless and failing to aid the Administration. Various other names have been touted as alternative compromise candidates, but no one has begun to pick up momentum yet."
Listening to the tired worlds of the man from the convention, the San Franciscans were shocked at the disarray of the Convention. Surely the Convention would make some desperate compromise soon?
"Now at the 79th ballot, a 'draft Bryan' movement has begun, with the former Secretary of State receiving 124 votes, only three less than former frontrunner Thomas Marshall, but a substantial number lower than McAdoo, who's currently at 329 votes."
Bryan? thought the populace. Surely the Democrats can do better than drag him up again.
Or do worse some thought, but they couldn't imagine how they reasonably could.
"It appears that the Democrats aren't willing to nominate Bryan. After peaking on the eighty-second ballot with 299 votes, he crashed down in support by the eighty fifth, receiving a mere 104 votes. By the last ballot, the eighty-eighth, some of his supporters tried to get his brother Charles nominated instead, but that didn't go anywhere, only 56 votes. McAdoo's on the rise once again, he's got 388 votes, maybe he'll pull off a victory yet. His opposition is scrambling for an opposing compromise candidate"
McAdoo was a solid candidate. Surely the Democrats will nominate him, thought the San Franciscans.
"The anti-McAdoo delegates started rallying around former Ambassador John W. Davis in the early ninties ballots. No sir, I don’t know who suggested him. As of the 102nd ballot, he's gotten 480 delegates to vote for him, and he might be the Democrats' man this year....
...We're on the 109th ballot, and Davis's decline is continuing. He's only got 238 now, and McAdoo's gotten 513 or 514, I can't remember which. I think McAdoo will win after all...
...Now they've started to rally behind Al Smith, to stop McAdoo. Yes, he's a Catholic, I'm as surprised as you. But it's the 112th ballot, so the party is starting the get desperate..."
A Catholic?! The crowd could not believe their ears. A few cast dark looks and left, to telegraph their fellows. By nightfall, telegraphs came pouring in, with angry Democrats proclaiming that they would never vote for a Catholic. The Ku Klux Klan travelled around the South with signs and petitions, urging people to contact the convention. More moderate Protestant groups were also organizing protests against Smith, and there were fears that the pro-Prohibition Harding could gain the support of massive amounts of dry Democratic defectors in opposition to Smith. The tired anti-Smith delegates finally began to rally around McAdoo.
However, reports of the extreme anti-Catholicism campaign began filtering into the convention, and they Catholic delegates were enraged that their candidate would be rejected due to bigotry. Many expected McAdoo to give a vague unity speech and convince them that he was not the bigot many of his supporters were. However, McAdoo was advised to remain firm and shore up his support by giving a speech in favor of Protestantism. The Treasury Secretary alienated far too many delegates, and his support plummeted. Even Protestants began to turn against him, afraid of a revolt among Northeastern Catholics which would spell certain electoral doom for the Democratic Party. He lost nearly a hundred and eighty delegates by the 123rd ballot.
The Democratic convention by this time was a scattered mess. Every compromise candidate (but one) had been tried, and failed. McAdoo could not gain the nomination, but almost no one else could gain his loyal support. Faced with the prospect of failing to nominate anyone, the Democratic leaders quietly consulted with McAdoo, Cox, and Palmer, and convinced them to openly endorse the last option. The very man whose agents had been sabotaging the convention from the beginning in hopes of this result. He was weak, half-dead and paralyzed, but he still was powerful. The Northeastern Urban progressives and the racist southerners and the Klansmen elsewhere all were willing to back him after all else failed. The San Fransiscans listening outside were shocked when it was announced that the Democratic Party had nominated, for an unprecedented third term, the President of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson.
The 1920 Presidential Election
The Germans hated Wilson, who they felt lied to them about the war and had helped shame Germany. The Irish hated Wilson, because they hated the British and Wilson was the UK's best friend in their eyes. The blacks in the North, who could vote, hated Wilson, whose supposed words had helped the Klan, and who had championed discrimination. The Italians disliked Wilson, thinking that he had sold out Italy at the peace conference. The Conservatives despised Wilson, and were eager for a return to normalcy. The Progressives had tired of Wilson, and did not trust the country in the hands of a man who was, by many accounts, nearly incapable of governing. Across America, people disliked his League of Nations idea, and rejected it. Every single demographic and political group except for Southerners had turned against him. His running mate, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, won precious few votes for the Democratic ticket.
Harding and Coolidge were wildly popular. From across America, people came to see Harding in his Ohio home. From before the chaos of war and Progressivism and Prohibition and the 19th Amendment and all of the recent developments came a man who could and would restore the America of nostalgic, by-gone days. The sun was setting over a decade of confusion, loss, and bitterness. It was rising over a new decade, of prosperity and conservatism. Conservatives loved him. Even progressives backed him. Harding could not lose. With Wilson's health so bad, wouldn't it be a mercy to the President to spare him another term?
People who had voted Democratic in every election in their lives were voting for Harding. And if the Republican leader was not so bad, what about giving the Republican congressional candidates a second look? Traditional Democrats were sitting at home, refusing to vote for Wilson. Who cared that there were other, lesser Democrats on the ballot? They probably were just Wilson-backers anyways. And some Democrats, the most radical and anti-Republican of all, began to consider the perennial Eugene Debs, running from within prison for protesting Wilson's pointless war, or Parley Christensen, the Farmer-Labor candidate, or in Texas Pa Ferguson and the American Party, or even Prohibition. Why vote third party for the presidency but a straight Democratic ticket elsewhere?
Almost no one predicted that Wilson would win, except for the dying President himself. Barely able to campaign due to his declining health, he seemed mired in a delusion caused by the stress, both physical and mental, of his attempt to campaign. Mitchell was a vigorous campaigner himself, but he knew he could not win. Even the most die-hard Democrats expected to lose, and in their wildest fantasies the loss was respectably close.
The wild Democratic fantasies were not realized.
Parley Christensen/Max Hayes (Farmer-Labor): 786,896 votes (2.94%)
Aaron Watkins/Leigh Colvin (Prohibition): 347,947 votes (1.3%)
James "Pa" Ferguson/William Hough (American): 112,413 votes (0.42%)
William Cox/August Gillhaus (Socialist Labor): 37,471 votes (0.14%)
Robert McAuley/Richard Barnum (Single Tax): 8,029 votes (0.03%)
The White House was quiet for an election night (Mrs. Wilson fearing that too much stress would be bad for her husband's health). The President was sitting in his bed, trying to read a news article about Poland. Alas, his eyes were failing him. Edith came into the room, to quietly inform her husband that no results had come in yet. He gave her the best smile he could and thanked her for the news (or lack thereof). He anticipated the news of state after state falling into the Democratic column. The American people would not abandon the man who won the war, who brought peace to the world. They would accept the League of Nations, and Wilson's third term. A third term! Wilson felt he had accomplished enough to break Washington's precedent. Unlike that buffoon Roosevelt. Imagine trying to go and fight in Europe only a couple years from your death! Although Roosevelt probably had not thought he was going to die. Who did?
Edith came back in the room. "You've won South Carolina," she says gently. Of course, that was no real victory for a Democrat, if Wilson had lost South Carolina pigs would be flying about. But South Carolina would not stand alone. The Democratic wave would sweep the nation, like the League would sweep the world. The biased, Republican-controlled newspapers were all predicting his defeat. Their predictions had failed before, he would laugh as they failed again. They did not understand him. They could not see his strength. Imagine, the rumors they were spreading, that the stress of the campaign was too much for him, that the President's health was failing, that only a miracle could get him to see the end of his third term, if that. He would prove them all wrong.
"So begins the third term," replied the President. Edith returned to see if any other states' results had come in yet. Wilson tried to smile, thinking about his plans for the future. The crushing of the radicals, the creation of a permanent, strong Democratic coalition, the restoration of the correct racial balance, the economic recovery... When America was in the league, what it would accomplish! Speaking of foreign affairs... Wilson lifted up the newspaper to try and read a little more, but it was far too dark to read. Why had Ellen forgotten to turn on the lights? No, wait, Ellen was dead, wasn't she?
The newspaper fell out of the President's limp hands. His glasses sat crooked over unseeing eyes.
Distribution of Democratic Electoral Votes:
Virginia: 12 votes for Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo for President, 7 votes for Attorney Mitchell Palmer for Vice President, 5 votes for Senator Claude Swanson for Vice President
South Carolina: 9 votes for McAdoo for President, 9 votes for Senator Ellison Smith for Vice President
Georgia: 13 votes for Palmer for President, 1 vote for Senator Thomas Watson for President, 10 votes for Watson for Vice President, three votes for McAdoo for Vice President, one vote for William Joseph Simmons for Vice President.
Alabama: 12 votes for President Thomas Marshall for President, 11 votes for Senator Oscar Underwood for Vice President, 1 vote for McAdoo for Vice President
Mississippi: 10 votes for McAdoo for President, 10 votes for Palmer for Vice President
Louisiana: 8 votes for Palmer for President, 1 vote for Marshall for President, 1 vote for McAdoo for President. 9 votes for Ruffin Pleasant for Vice President, 1 vote for Palmer for Vice President
Arkansas: 9 votes for Marshall for President, 9 votes for Palmer for Vice President
Texas: 16 votes for Marshall for President, 2 votes for Palmer for President, 1 vote for Governor James Ferguson for President, 1 vote for Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for President. 19 votes for Senator Morris Sheppard for Vice President, one vote for William Hough for Vice President
Florida: 6 votes for Palmer for President, 6 votes for Senator Park Trammell for Vice President
The 1920 Congressional Elections:
Wilson's disastrous campaign hurt the Democrats in the House, as many Democratic voters stayed home, while Harding's coattails gained the Republicans many seats. The stronger Socialist and Farmer-Labor third party campaigns by many candidates split the traditionally Democratic vote and allowed the Republicans to make major gains. The victory for Socialist Meyer London in New York compensated for the Republican ouster of Socialist Victor Berger in their total sweep of Wisconsin. With the Republicans taking half of North Carolina's seats, and winning districts in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, the Democratic "Solid South" was broken. The Republicans also defeated the one Prohibition Party Congressman, Charles Randall of California. In the state of Pennsylvania, the Republican Party was so dominant that it turned against itself. In one Congressional district, former Republican Milton Shreve was elected as an independent as the main opposition to the Republican nominee, while in another Republican incumbent Willis Hulings lost renomination and then lost the general election on the Prohibition Party ticket. With more than a 3/4 majority, the Republicans presided over their largest majority since Reconstruction.
The Republicans gained 10 Senate seats from the Democrats as OTL. The only victories for the Democratic Party came from the South. North Carolina Senator Lee Slater Overman was the only close win for the Democrats. Had he polled as badly as Wilson in his state, Overman would have lost, but the Senator, by virtue of being entirely alive and able to really campaign, polled several points higher and won reelection.
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