alternatehistory.com

Because tomorrow (June 18) is Father’s Day…

Short version:
1869-1877: 18) Rev. Richard F. Cleveland (R-OH) – retired due to unpopularity
1877-1878: 19) Theodore “Thee” Roosevelt, Sr. (R-NY) – died, tumor
1878: 20) John Scott Harrison (R-OH) – died, pneumonia
1878-1881: 21) William McKinley Sr. (R-OH) – retired due to old age
1881-1885: 22) Alphonso Taft (R-OH) – retired
1885-1893: 23) James Roosevelt I (D-NY) – retired
1893-1897: 24) Rev. J. R. Wilson (D-NC, I-NC after 1896 DNC) – lost re-nomination; lost re-election as third-party candidate
1897-1900: 25) James Roosevelt I (D-NY) – died, heart failure
1900-1901: 26) Jesse Hoover (D-IA) – was outgoing VP
1901-1905: 27) Dr. George T. Harding Sr. (D-OH) – was incoming VP-Elect; retired
1905-1913: 28) John C. Coolidge Sr. (R-VT) – retired
1913-1914: 29) John A. Truman (D-MO) – assassinated, Mexican nationalist bombers
1914-1921: 30) David J. Eisenhower (D-PA) – retired
1921-1926: 31) Francis A. “Frank” Nixon (R-CA) – resigned, scandal
1926-1929: 32) Leslie L. King (R-NE) – lost nomination and retired
1929-1935: 33) Samuel E. Johnson Jr. (D-TX) – died, heart attack
1935-1945: 34) Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy Sr. (D-MA) – retired due to death threats
1945-1953: 35) Gen. Gerald R. Ford (R-MI) – term-limited
1953-1957: 36) John E. “Jack” Reagan (D-CA) – lost election
1957-1961: 37) Prescott S. Bush (R-CN) – term-limited
1961-1965: 38) James E. Carter Sr. (D-GA) – assassinated, ultra-conservative sniper
1965-1973: 39) Roger Clinton (D-AR) – term-limited
1973-1981: 40) Frederick C. “Fred” Trump (R-NY) – term-limited
1981-1987: 41) Lolo “Louie” Soetoro (D-CU) – died from sudden liver failure
1987-1989: 42) William J. “Bill” Blythe, Jr. (D-NV) – lost election
1989-1997: 43) George H. W. Bush (R-CN) – term-limited
1997-present (mid-2001): 44) Barack H. Obama, Sr. (D-NY) – Incumbent

Longer version:

1869-1877: 18) Rev. Richard Falley Cleveland (1804-1884)
On March 4, 1869, President Andrew Johnson was succeeded by President Richard Cleveland. Born in Connecticut on June 19, 1804, Cleveland started out as a Presbyterian minister before joining the US military to fight in the First Mexican-American War. He continued his military career into the American Civil War, rising in rank and becoming a Union Army General more famous than Meade, McClellan and Grant. In 1868, he was elected President, and left office eight years later at the age of 72, making him America’s oldest President at the time. He died in 1884, age 80. During his time in office, the Presidential Succession Act of 1872 was passed, making his cabinet members be next in line before the Congressional leaders, citing the recent deaths of both the House Speaker and Senate leader in two separate instances. Cleveland’s son, Stephen Grover Cleveland, became Mayor of New York City in the late 1880s, dying in office from cancer in 1894.

1877-1878: 19) Theodore “Thee” Roosevelt Sr. (1831-1878)
Roosevelt spent most of his life in business. Based in New York City, the philanthropist and son of a wealthy businessman used his wealth to co-found the NYC Children’s Aid Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Children’s Orthopedic Hospital. By 1876, he was a well-known popular figure, especially among Republicans for his donations to their causes. With certain Republicans outraged by the scandalous Cleveland administration, a political outsider was called for to be their 1876 nominee. Roosevelt accepted that call, and narrowly won in November at the young age of 45 after an autumn campaign in which the party’s nominee was much more active than in Presidential campaigns past. However, just under a year into office, Roosevelt died from a gastrointestinal tumor, age 46. His son Thee Roosevelt Jr. ended up becoming a rancher and explorer, co-discovering the ruins of Machu Picchu in 1902 before dying in a plane crash in 1909, age 50.

1878: 20) John Scott Harrison (1804-1878)
To counteract Thee Roosevelt’s political inexperience, the Republicans picked “establishment” politician John Harrison to be his running mate. The son of President William Henry Harrison, John Scott Harrison served in the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1857. After serving in the Cleveland administration from 1869 to 1873, he successfully campaigned for the Governorship of Ohio. As President, however, Harrison followed in his father’s footsteps: after entering office in February upon the death of President Roosevelt, Harrison himself died three months later, in May, age 73.

1878-1881: 21) William McKinley Sr. (1807-1892)
McKinley came from a background similar to that of Roosevelt; a pioneer in the iron industry, the businessman was an early supporter of Roosevelt’s candidacy and was awarded with the position of Secretary of State. Upon becoming President himself at the age of 70, he strived to continue on Roosevelt’s policies. He declined to run for a full term and left office at the age of 73.

1881-1885: 22) Alphonso Taft (1810-1891)
Taft was McKinley’s chosen successor, having been an exemplary member of the Cleveland, Roosevelt, Harrison and McKinley cabinets. He was elected Governor of Ohio in 1879, proving his electability. Despite entering office at the age of 70, Taft showed much energy in getting his policies passed. However, the economic decline caused by the Great Panic of 1881, coupled with rising discontent among Southerners living in the northern states and border states, ensured his failure in obtaining re-election.

1885-1893: 23) James Roosevelt I (1828-1900)
A distant nephew of Thee Roosevelt, James Roosevelt became the first Democrat elected President since 1856, 24 years earlier. He had been inspired by his uncle’s run for President to enter politics himself, becoming Governor of New York before being elected President at the age of 56. His campaign and Presidency were more liberal than past Democratic Presidents due to Roosevelt’s support among the middle class and Catholics. Despite ending Reconstruction in 1885, he pulled the nation out of its economic slump by 1888, and was easily re-elected in that year on an even larger coalition of certain minorities (mainly, ethnic whites) and dissatisfied traditionally-Republican voters. Always interested in coal and transportation (especially the railroads), he also was an expansionist, and managed to purchase Cuba from Spain in 1891 and lower unemployment.

1893-1897: 24) Rev. Joseph Ruggles Wilson Sr. (1822-1903)
James Roosevelt’s Vice-President was more than just a wee bit controversial. The elderly statesman had supported the Confederacy during the 1860s and had once owned slaves. The prominent Presbyterian theologian had moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1874, and was ultimately elected to the US House and then the US Senate from the area. Entering office at the age of 71 after losing the popular vote but not the electoral vote, Wilson was repeatedly attacked by the Republicans for being too sympathetic to the South in the name of States’ Rights.

1897-1900: 25) James Roosevelt I (1828-1900)
Roosevelt saw the country coming apart at the seams over Wilson’s negative policies, and decided to stop it. He challenged his former VP for the 1896 Democratic nomination and narrowly won it on the 30th ballot. However, Wilson opted to run as a third-party candidate in the autumn, which threatened to prevent Roosevelt from obtaining an unprecedented third term. However, enough voters in key Northern states fondly remembered the economic prosperity the country enjoyed under Roosevelt’s administration for Roosevelt to achieve victory, winning in the Electoral College by just three votes; the GOP candidate being bogged down by scandals helped too. After a slightly contentious Electoral College, the Chief Justice swore Roosevelt into office once more. However, Roosevelt was not the healthy man he once was. Recurring heart problems began to limit his mental and physical abilities in late 1899, but nevertheless he still ran for a fourth term. However, shortly after winning a fourth term in November (due to the economic prosperity at the time), Roosevelt died in office in December 1900 at the age of 72.

1900-1901: 26) Jesse Hoover (1849-1939)
Vice-President Hoover, a blacksmith-turned-US Senator from Iowa, would later regret declining to serve for a second term. The 51-year-old President Hoover, blocked from serving past March 4, 1901, presided over a hot Electoral College battle, as the President-elect had died before they had convened. After weeks of arguing whom should be sworn in on Inauguration Day 1901, the Democratic-controlled House chose the Vice-President-Elect to succeed the retiring incumbent VP-turned-President. Hoover would return to Iowa politics, becoming a US Senator once more and running for the Presidency himself in 1908 and 1912 before retiring from politics in the late 1920s.

1901-1905: 27) Dr. George Tryon Harding Sr. (1844-1928)
Harding began his career as a doctor and then a newspaper owner before being elected to the state senate, then governorship; he was the sixth US President to be from the state of Ohio (after Harrison, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley and Taft). His administration set up isolationist policies after War broke out in Europe in 1904. Historians have criticized his do-nothing attitude towards numerous issues. Harding is usually ranked as a “poor” President.

1905-1913: 28) John Calvin Coolidge Sr. (1845-1926)
Coolidge was a career politician from the liberal state of Vermont, first elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1872 before becoming Governor, then US Representative, then US Senator. He easily defeated incumbent Harding in a landslide, making him the first Republican President in 20 years, since Alphonso Taft left office in 1885. Coolidge immediately sent troops overseas, leading to a decisive victory on the Alliance side in late 1907, which ensured Coolidge’s re-election victory. As a liberal, he promoted small businesses and open trade policies. Women were also granted the right to vote in 1912. Coolidge left office with high approval ratings. His son, John C. Coolidge Jr., would try to follow in his father’s footsteps, and while he was elected a Governor and a Senator, but failed to become President despite his numerous runs.

1913-1914: 29) John Anderson Truman (1851-1912)
John Truman was born on December 5, 1851. A life-long Democrat born and raised in Missouri, he was a farmer and livestock dealer before he was elected Governor in 1908. He was elected President in an upset as a response to public concerns over how the violence of the Mexican Civil War (1905-1916) seemed to be spilling over the border into the states of Texas, California and Arizuma. The issue came to a head in late 1913, when a skirmish at the border left 18 American soldiers dead. After negotiations broke down as border clashes increased even further, Truman declared War on Mexico. The Second Mexican-American War (1913-1918) saw the US invade most of Northern Mexico. In late November 1914, when Truman was visiting soldier barracks in Texas, the nearly-63-year-old Commander-in-Chief was assassinated via a large bomb. He was the first US President to be killed since Lincoln.

1914-1921: 30) David Jacob Eisenhower (1863-1942)
Eisenhower, born in September 1863, was the first member of his family to graduate from college, despite his father Jacob’s urging to stay on the family farm. While operating a general store in eastern Pennsylvania, Eisenhower became interested in politics due to the conversations his politician customers would have in his establishment. He ultimately was elected to city council, then Mayor of Philadelphia, before being elected the US Senate, then the US Vice-Presidency at age. Entering the Presidency at the age of 51, Eisenhower was younger and more energetic than his predecessor, but heavily relied on the advice of military experts during the Second Mexican-American War. A string of battle victories in the fall and the memory of President Truman ensured Eisenhower’s re-election in 1916. In early 1918, surrounded Mexican forces finally surrendered and a peace treaty was signed, much to the relief of the US’s pacifist First Lady. From this treaty eventually came the US states of Sonora, South California, Yucatan and Roosevelt, leaving Mexico a territorially truncated state. Despite leaving Mexico in a virtually unresolved mess, Eisenhower left office with high approval ratings, retired from politics, and died in May 1942, age 78. His son was US Air Force Colonel Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1952).

1921-1926: 31) Francis Anthony “Frank” Nixon (1878-1958)
Republican Congressman from California Francis Nixon, often called Frank by friends, was known as the “Fiery Quaker” due to his famous, anger-fueled speeches on the House floor. It was these kinds of speeches that had helped propel him from being a grocery store owner to the House, and it was a persuasive oratory masterpiece reminiscent of William Jennings Bryan that convinced the Republicans to nominate him for President. President Frank Nixon was America’s youngest President, having been elected into office in November 1920 at the age of 41, turning 42 in December 1920, and being sworn into office in March 1921. Under his administration, the US military sent “peacekeeping” troops to Panama (a US territory since 1899), supported the Pedro Ospina regime in New Gran Colombia, and placed tariffs on foreign trade to “keep American jobs and American products in America.” However, in 1926, a mounting scandal connecting to apparent unlawful sabotage of political opponents in 1924 and 1925 led to Nixon resigning under the threat of impeachment, leaving office at the age of 48. “Fiery Frank” was then cautiously quiet for the next several years, finally releasing his memoirs in 1938.

1926-1929: 32) Leslie Lynch King (1884-1941)
Leslie King was a very angry man. He was angry that the only reason he won a US Senate seat was because his opponent died just days before the election. He was less angry when he became the US Attorney General at the age of 36 in 1921, then US Vice-President at the age of 40 in 1925. But he was very angry when he received criticism for pardoning Nixon in 1926. He was absolutely steamed when the economy collapsed in 1927, and he was the one blamed for it. And he was positively outraged when he lost the 1928 election in a landslide over his do-nothing form of governing. If still alive by the 1960s instead of having put himself into an early grave via the drink, he would most definitely be very, very angry at the fact that he has since then been perennially ranked as one of America’s worst Presidents, if not the worst.

1929-1938: 32) Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. (1877-1938)
Johnson had a rags-to-riches background that was positive, uplifting and inspirational to those feeling the effects of the economy. Born into a struggling farming family, he painstakingly worked his way towards a better education and becoming a teacher before being elected to the Texas State Assembly, then the Governorship, and then the US Senate, as a Populist Democrat. Having dealt with economy issues his entire life, he easily won election in 1928 at the age of 51, becoming the first ever President from Texas. Following in the footsteps of James Roosevelt, Johnson ran for a third term. However, similar to James Roosevelt, Johnson died during his third term. While travelling on a train from Texas to Washington DC, he suffered both a brain hemorrhage and a heart attack, both brought on by the stress of the office and his weakness for the bottle, and died within hours. He is remembered fondly by historians and American citizens alike for his response to the Great Recession (1927-1937/39). He was portrayed by Tom Hanks in a 2003 biopic.

1938-1945: 33) Joseph Patrick “Joe” Kennedy Sr. (1888-1971)
Despite never being elected to anything before, Johnson chose Kennedy, the US Ambassador to Great Britain from 1931 to 1933 and US Attorney General from 1933 to 1937, to be his running mate, as Kennedy was a close ally and advisor to him. However, the ascension of the 49-year-old Kennedy to the Presidency in 1938 was met with fierce opposition, especially in the South. Large protests were held in over 100 cities across the country over fears that Kennedy, a Catholic, would take orders from the Vatican. To quell fears, Kennedy never even made contact with the Pope during his time in office. He instead focused on maintaining the economy and monitoring the situation in Mexico. America’s southern neighbor had never fully recovered from the Second Mexican-American War, and a revolutionary by the name of Lazaro Cardenas (1895-1943) had taken hold of the country’s government in 1932. In late 1938, Mexico invaded the neighboring nations of Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Upon realizing that Cardenas was looking to conquer Nicaragua (and possibly the US territory of Panama) fairly soon, but not wanting to put the US through another war with Mexico, the Kennedy Administration began quietly sending weapons and supplies to Nicaragua, along with American “supervision forces” after a brief scuffle (allegedly) broke out on the Nicaragua-Panama border. In 1940, Mexico did invade Nicaragua, but were successfully repelled within a few weeks. Regardless, Cardenas’ anti-American rhetoric needed to be addressed. After Kennedy narrowly won election to a full term in November 1940, he agreed to lift certain sanctions against Mexico, stating “we’re not being weak; we’re helping our neighbors make their gardens beautiful so when we look out to them from our own we can enjoy what we see.” In 1943, Kennedy’s “Irish Mafia” men helped topple the Cardenas regime, and sanctions were lifted even further. Due to the large amount of death threats he received while in office for numerous reasons ranging from his religion to his “soft” foreign policy choices, President Kennedy declined to run for another term. His oldest son, Joe Kennedy Jr, later became Governor of Massachusetts and ran for President in 1952, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1988, before dying from colorectal cancer in 1991.

1945-1953: 34) Gen. Gerald Rudolff Ford (1890-1963)
Gerald Ford, born in December 1890, developed an interest in the military due to coming of age at the time when images of the Great European War (1904-1907) were spread across the newspapers. He joined the military in 1912, and rose in rank during the Second Mexican-American War. After serving as the head of a conservative University, General Ford became an open critic of President Kennedy’s policies, but declined to run for President. However, in 1944, key Republican leaders convinced him to give it a go. Ford ended up winning by a surprisingly large margin over the incumbent Secretary of State, and went on to serve for eight highly successful years. Two noteworthy laws passed under his administration were a 1946 Amendment prohibited him from running for a third term, and a 1952 Amendment that finally allowed foreign-born citizens to be eligible for the Presidency. Ford’s two sons, Richard and James, later went on to become US Army Generals.

1953-1957: 36) John Edward “Jack” Reagan (1883-1981)
America’s first “celebrity” President came in the form of Jack Reagan, a major star of radio dramas and early silent picture dramas. After serving as Governor of California (1939-1947), he ran for the Democratic nomination in 1948, lost, ran for it again in 1952, won it, and then won the Presidency at age 69. His administration focused on improving African-American conditions, which was unusual for a Democratic President. Unfortunately, Reagan responded poorly to a foreign policy crisis in 1956, and he lost re-election to Senator Prescott Bush later in the year.

1957-1961: 37) Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895-1982)
Businessmen have always supported and voted for the GOP. Prescott Bush was no exception. Born to considerably wealthy parents, Bush made even more money as a weapons manufacturer during the 1920s and 1930s before becoming a US Senator in the 1940s. He was a darling in the eyes of the GOP establishment, and he managed to outspend and out-trick the incumbent Democratic President in the states where it mattered most. American astromen landing on the Moon (as part of the First Space Race (1945-1977)) in late 1957 was the high point of his administration, however, as his approach to economic issues and foreign policy with a total disregard for social needs lead to him losing support among his own party by early 1960. Despite initial reservations, he ran for a second term, but lost by a very comfortable margin. Bush subsequently returned to his millions, indulging himself with his wealth until death ended his fun when he was 87 years old, in October 1982.

1961-1965: 39) J. Earl Carter (1894-1965)
The “old southern Gentleman” was Vice-President under Reagan, and before that had served as Governor of Georgia, a state senator, and a peanut farmer. Defying expectations, he was elected President at the age of 66, and supported equal rights for non-whites and females even more so than Reagan. He could have done more great things for the United States had it not been for an assassin from his own home state with exceptionally good aim in April 1965. He was killed at the age of 71.

1965-1973: 38) Roger Clinton (1908-1974)
The “handsome hell-raiser from Hot Springs, Arkansas” became interested in politics at an early age, and following that passion soon led him to the US Senate shortly after entering his 30s. He famously questioned a corrupt senator during hearings in the late 1940s. He got along well with President Carter despite being on opposite ends of the Democratic Party. Under his administration, the economy began to suffer but he won the 1968 election due to his challenger’s numerous scandals. Starting off as a violently temperamental Senate leader, he mellowed considerably after a cancer scare led to him also staying off the 1964 ticket. Luckily for him, the cancer stayed in remission until 1972; during his time in office he increased funding for cancer research to unprecedented levels. Clinton died from cancer shortly after leaving office. Clinton’s Presidency has since maintained an “average” rating.

1973-1981: 40) Frederick Christ “Fred” Trump (1905-1989)
Fred Trump modeled himself after Thee Roosevelt, and, at the urging of his son Donald Trump, became a successful businessman in Manhattan before being elected the city’s mayor in 1965 and again in 1969. He narrowly won in 1972 over 49-year-old incumbent Vice-President George Jefferson “Jeff” Dwire of Illinois. Trump’s Presidency would prove to be a poisoned chalice; he would oversee the completion of America’s first moon base in early 1976, but he also was shaken to his core over the deaths of his sons Donald and Fred Jr. in a 1979 hostage situation connected to the Norwegian Conflict (1971-1983). After eight years of repairing America’s economy, infrastructure, and military standing both across the globe and in outer space, Trump left the White House an emotionally broken man. He died at the age of 84, during his daughter Elizabeth’s third term in the US Senate.

1981-1987: 41) Lolo “Louie” Soetoro (1935-1987)
Soetoro fled to the United States in 1945 at the age of 10 with his mother and surviving siblings to escape the bloody atrocities of the Indonesian Civil War (1941-1956). They settled in California, where Soetoro strived to learn English despite initial difficulty. He became interested in politics during California Governor Howard Hughes’s 1954 re-election bid. He converted to Christianity in 1960. After receiving formal education at Harvard he went right to work as a lawyer in Havana, Cuba (by 1980, a state rich in electoral votes), working his way up to Congressman, then Senator. However, many were surprised when he announced his bid for the Presidency in 1979, believing he did not stand a chance. However, his grassroots campaign proved very effective in the early primary states of South Dakota and Maine, and secured the nomination just before the DNC, becoming both the first non-white and the foreign-born citizen to be nominated by a major party for the Presidency. The epitome of the American Dream to his supporters, Soetoro's “shocking” upset win over the incumbent Vice-President was seen as a realignment election. President Soetoro oversaw massive reform, and narrowly won re-election in 1984. Unfortunately, his second term was cut short by a sudden case of liver failure, and he died in office at the age of 52. Democrats still remember him in a very positive light.

1987-1989: 42) William Jefferson “Bill” Blythe, Jr. (b. 1918)
Nobody believed that Slick Billy Blythe would ever become President. After seven short marriages (two of which were briefly bigamist in nature) and numerous offspring born both in and out of wedlock to both wives and mistresses, the Texas-born struggling appliance salesman finally decided to put his life in order after winning a lawsuit against the state of Arkansas for unsafe road safety conditions in 1953. Blythe relocated and settled down in Nevada, where he opened up his own business. He decided to try his hand at politics in 1962, running for Governor and losing. He tried again in 1966 and won, but lost re-election in 1970. He tried again for a second term in 1974, won, and won re-election in 1978. In 1985, the incumbent US VP died from natural causes; the announcement that Soetoro had chosen Blythe to be his new VP was seen as shocking. After months of Senate reviews, panels, discussions, hearings, and more reviews, Blythe was confirmed by the Senate 57-55. He became President seven months later. He just barely won the 1988 nomination, and lost in November by a more than comfortable margin.

1989-1997: 43) George Herbert Walker Bush (b. 1924)
The son of President Prescott Bush made millions in the oil business before entering politics himself in 1962, losing election for an open congressional seat in Connecticut despite outspending his opponent 5-to-1. He tried again in 1966 and won, serving in the house from 1967 to 1971. He retired from the House in order to unsuccessfully run for a US Senate seat in 1970. Bush then became a diplomat, working as an ambassador and later other positions in the Trump administration from 1973 to 1981. In 1982, he was barely elected to the US Senate, and forewent a re-election bid to run for President. His administration focused more on foreign policy than domestic issues, privately celebrating the fall of Le Pen and the Fourth French Empire in early 1992. However, Bush received backlash in his second term for poorly handling the Great Recession (1993-1999, though some experts believe the US is still in it). Regardless, Bush would later state that his proudest moment as President was when Thee Roosevelt Medical University announced they had discovered a cure for torso-based cancers in late 1991 (after discovering a commonality between them in early 1989). The effects of his administration have yet to be determined.

1997-present (mid-2001): 44) Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (b. 1936)
Similar to Seotoro, Obama immigrated to the United States in 1953, age 17, to avoid the carnage of the bloody Kenya-Tanganyika War (1952-1967). After receiving formal education in New York City, he was inspired by President Carter and his social/racial policies to enter politics himself. He was elected to the US Senate from New York in 1976, and then served in the Seotoro and Blythe administrations from 1981 to 1989 before being elected Governor of New York in 1990. As President, he has so far kept American soldiers out of the growing Congo Civil Conflict. Domestically, the Supreme Court federally legalized gay marriage in an early 1999 ruling, and the solar-powered hovercar is expected to become cheap enough for the average American to afford within a few years. Furthermore, with plans for a landing on Mars by the end of the 2010s being announced recently, a Second Space Race, now against the UNPC (United Neitchsist Provinces of China) has effectively begun.

Gallery:


Note: I would have gone back further with the list but there is practically zero information about Chester A. Arthur’s father (not even a “circa” date for when he may have been born), whom was not even born in the US to begin with.

Happy Father's Day!