United States Presidential Election of 1920
There had been a growing divide within the United States that had festered for decades and which culminated profoundly in the election of 1920. Dating back to President Fernando Wood's military overthrow of Southern state governments in 1857-58, the Southern state governments - and more recently Midwest governments as well - have been hit by the strong presence of federal authority. Robert Lee sent the military back in when violence erupted in the 1860s; Nathaniel Banks authorized a strict 'reconstruction' in the Deep South that saw the
treasonous white elite, who re-started the violence, largely barred from political office, large tracts of land seized and re-distributed. Then President Custer authorized military oversight of elections in the Upper South, where reconstruction had never occurred and state governments had become lax in fighting voter suppression led by the National Knighthood and the local governments. Soon, this military oversight expanded to states across the Upper South and Midwest, occasionally counties even in Pennsylvania becoming subject to 'fair election oversight.'
What followed was a resurgence of the White Knights, as opposed to a decline. Organizing themselves politically by allying and funding the Constitution Party, the champions of "state rights" began to grow their movement. Not everyone that voted Constitutional was a member of the White Knighthood of course; but the Party was undoubtedly the hate groups political and civil face. And even if every Con voter in 1920 wasn't a White Knight, the candidate they voted for
was. Violence had began to grow throughout the 1900s, starting with President Miles first term. In the 1910s, pre-election lynchings throughout the South and the Midwest started to become common. States like South Carolina were forced to ban emergent radical Southron Valentinists, who were openly calling for anti-black measures in a Reconstructed State. On the other hand, the Workers Party and the emerging cities became more and more enthralled with soqualist beliefs of equality. The Workers Party had adopted soqualist stances with Rabinovich, and doubled down hard with the nomination of DuBois. America was becoming increasingly divided.
The Federalist Party had ridden these unstable waves before. It had, in times like these of political instability, hunkered down as a sensible path forward for America. And so, they did so in 1920, nominating Morehead who originated from Platte, a state literally in the center of the country. Behind a campaign of adhering to the De-Militirization Act and balancing budgets, the Federalists thought they'd be able to swing in votes from the center-out. They were wrong. The Federalists had played significant roles in the cultural war that had brewed by 1920, with an image tainted -- were they the Natural Party of Government, or the
Corrupt Party of Government? At many times they have been both. Now, with an image still rehabilitating from Custer, they made the critical error of playing center-field when the action was happening at the goals.
Simply put, DuBois' campaign of strident soqualism -- hell, DuBois' very candidacy, would spark something of a crisis in the nation. To many across the Midwest and particularly in the Upper South, including an array of Federalist voters, a DuBois presidency was the beginning of the end for
liberty in America, as they saw it. Similarly, the reality seemed just as stark for the other side. The Workers base flocked to DuBois (although this election would see many highly religious voters shift to the Cons), the Jackson campaign being seen itself as a disgrace to the good work of many past Presidents in making America a bastion of freedom. This fear caught the eye of many Federalists on the fence as well. Together, the potential of either a Jackson or a DuBois presidency was seen far too objectionably by the electorate, and so the Federalists middle ground campaign collapsed entirely. Morehead would win just 3 electoral votes, which is actually a gain from 1916; but the Party would fail to win even 100 seats in the House, lost an array of Gubernatorial and Senate elections, and overall declined in the popular vote. Wether the Party could make it out from here is to be seen, but one thing is for certain: the Party hasn't been at a lower point in it's history.
After the votes were counted, the Workers had once again won. With their base keeping true to form, they evaded the drawbacks of a failing economy and failure in Cartagena behind the promises of better budgeting by DuBois, and the real danger of 'encroaching racism.' As opposed to the Federalists, whose typical voters scattered in a similar way to how they had done in the 1916 election, the enough of the Workers base stayed on board to keep the opposition too divided. This provided DuBois with a landslide victory, even if he had actually won less votes than Owen did in 1916. DuBois would win just under 40% of the popular vote, but take nearly 75% of the electoral vote. Jackson's campaign, which had been full of personal attacks against DuBois, and which rallied a pro-white, anti-papist, anti-soqualist message, saw itself taking 30% of the popular vote a high-mark for the Party; Jackson would receive the most electoral votes by a Constitution Party candidate ever as well. While the Federalists failed to draw in the voters that voters that had left in 1916 in their entirety, they too gained in the popular vote: Morehead took 27% of the popular vote in 1920 as opposed to Knox's meager 20%. These gains should not be taken positively, lacking an independent campaign running on a platform almost identical to their own like in 1916, gains were expected, and they were supposed to be much bigger.
The 1920 election season would also prove to be one of the most bloody in recent memory. Lynchings across the country surged prior to the election, prompting President Owen to send in troops nearly a month and a half before the elections to various states. This itself caused a great deal of anti-government demonstrations, and on occasion citizen/militia vs troop confrontations. Hate crimes against Catholics also rose significantly throughout the election season, and many recent Southern European arrivals (with immigration from Catholic Europe essentially re-starting under Rabinovich) were also targeted negatively by the Constitution, and many times by non-Constitution press as well. To President-elect DuBois, the ensuing violence exhibited was only further proof that America needed to begin an active campaign to embrace true soqualism (social equality) for all in the country. To his opponents, DuBois was no doubt about to unleash the next, and perhaps worst, wave of government domination over the states and the people of America. Protests over DuBois election erupted almost immediately after the election across the country. Constitution Party activists began preparing a large march on the District of Columbia to fight for "Liberty and Freedom from Tyranny."
In the wake of this divisiveness, America had, in 1920, elected the first African-American in it's history to the Presidency. The United States would become just the third nation in the whole of the Americas, and the first outside of the island of Hispaniola, to have it's leader be a descendant of former slaves. To much of America's left, especially those that had adopted soqualist ideals for society, this was a major victory. Yet to a large portion of the country, and even many former Workers voters, this had been a major defeat and a sign that America had fallen to radicalism. Where the nation and DuBois go from here remains to be seen.
W.E.B. DuBois (W-MA)/Willis C. Hawley (W-WA) 393 EV; 39.97% PV
Edward L. Jackson (C-IN)/Thomas W. Hardwick (C-GA) 130 EV; 30.11% PV
Robert L. Parker (TL-UT)/Percival Jones (TL-PL) 4 EV; 0.83% PV
John H. Morehead (F-PT)/Hugh Guthrie (F-HU) 3 EV; 26.62% PV
Other - 2.47% PV
House of Representatives
Workers Party: 188
Constitution Party: 149
Federalist Party: 92
Soqualist Labor Party: 3
Truth & Light Party: 2
Independent: 1
Senate
Workers Party: 45
Federalist Party: 28
Constitution Party: 17
Truth & Light Party: 2
Governors
Workers Party: 22
Federalist Party: 12
Constitution Party: 10
Truth & Light Party: 1