The American Caesar

[Beck Reilly]

Who is the best candidate to become the "American Caesar" and how could it have happened? (Preferably, in the first century of US history)


P.S. > I stole this idea from Faeelin on the old forum. Sorry.

[wkwillis]

Washington could have made himself dictator, but nobody else till Eisenhower. American used to be a very federal country with a small and essentially powerless armed forces. They expanded rapidly in wars but shrunk just as rapidly afterwards, and the people in the armed forces thought of themselves as temporarily soldiers who would return to their homes as soon as the war was over. We did not have a permanent officer class.
If you declared you were dictator people would have ignored you. What could you do about it? You were outnumbered tremendously by the militia, and outgunned as well. In 1840 the State of New York had more cannon than the federal government, and a bigger militia by far than the federal army.
Since 1942 the US has had a very powerfull armed force full of careerists and it is at least possible to imagine that you could have a military coup.

[NHBL]

Perhaps a dictator couold arise in the USA in the wake of the Civil War. Had Lincon had a different vice president, perhaps he could end up as dictator. The assassination could have been treated as a deep rooted plot, with extraordinary means needed to find and punish the culprit. Unlike in the extreme, but might be possible. Martial Law is used in several places, and things snowball.
Either that, or a Rebel general, by means of brilliant victories, saves the south temporarily, then is granted broad emergency powers. A cease fire is made, but he delays signing a formal peace--prolonging the need for emergency powers.

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

I think this was the only other candidate. I don't know why everyone said Hamilton; he had no charisma or popularity. Perhaps the power BEHIND the American Caesar. In any case, surely Washington was the #1 possibility.

[Beck Reilly]

Originally Posted by Abdul Hadi Pasha

I think this was the only other candidate. I don't know why everyone said Hamilton; he had no charisma or popularity. Perhaps the power BEHIND the American Caesar. In any case, surely Washington was the #1 possibility.

On the contrary, you're confusing the Alexander Hamilton of the Adams administration with the Alexander Hamilton of the Revolutionary War and Washington administration. In the latter years of his life, Hamilton became bitter and cynical, leading to unpopularity. Before, say 1796, Hamilton was seen as clever, intelligent, and his work with the National Treasury had brought him to the height of power. Also, until his falling out with Adams, Hamilton was universally liked and respected by Federalists around the US (the most powerful group, at the time, in the nation).

[Archangel Michael]

I once made a timeline were Sherman and some others initiated a military coup after Lincoln was assasinated. Sherman declared himself dictator, and he expanded the US's standing army.