WI: Cleveland wins 1888
- Thread starter Will Kürlich Kerl
- Start date
More likely, after the US presidential election of 1892, which will probably result in a Republican president (the economy wasn't as bad as it would be in 1893-6, of course, but it was sufficiently bad to put the party controlling the White House at a disadvantage) the Hawaiian revolutionaries just bide their time a few months, awaiting the coming of a US government more sympathetic to their plans...
Cleveland might try and stall the admission of the western states, or try to get them merged together - he knows that they will provide more pro-Silver votes and stymie his fiscally conservative agenda. He'll probably alienate the farmers there. He will certainly veto any Silver Act or Force Bill that the Republicans try and pass, assuming they both are able to and willing to under a Cleveland Presidency.
I made an aborted TL on this subject a while ago, and basically my scenario was going to be this: Cleveland messes with the Western states enough to even further alienate the pro-Silver movement and proto-populists from the Democratic Party. However, without the very moderate pro-Silver Harrison in the White House, the Republican Party would remain divided in 1892 over the issue and the Democrats, perhaps nominating Vilas, win a third consecutive term. They then take the full brunt of the Depression, which becomes fully blamed on their pro-Gold policies. The Populists and Silverites, instead of taking over the Democrats, take over the Republicans instead and drive the Gold Republicans out. With the end result being that the Republicans stay the more left-wing of the two parties, and the Democrats remain the more right-wing.
I made an aborted TL on this subject a while ago, and basically my scenario was going to be this: Cleveland messes with the Western states enough to even further alienate the pro-Silver movement and proto-populists from the Democratic Party. However, without the very moderate pro-Silver Harrison in the White House, the Republican Party would remain divided in 1892 over the issue and the Democrats, perhaps nominating Vilas, win a third consecutive term. They then take the full brunt of the Depression, which becomes fully blamed on their pro-Gold policies. The Populists and Silverites, instead of taking over the Democrats, take over the Republicans instead and drive the Gold Republicans out. With the end result being that the Republicans stay the more left-wing of the two parties, and the Democrats remain the more right-wing.
Stolengood
Banned
If Vilas becomes President, at least his term will be beneficial to German-Americans...
And German Americans backed the Gold Standard and opposed Bryan in OTL, so with the Democrats remaining the Gold Party and the Republicans going populist, the German Americans will become a solid pro-Democrat voting block.