A Century of Female Presidents

[Expat]

I did a century of bearded presidents a few months ago and saw some other threads started on the same lines. I went back and realized that no one tried to do 100 years of female presidents. For shame, oh-so liberal AH Discussion Board! For shame!

Even so, let's move this a bit into the future, just to make it more viable (and to give folks the fun of naming future presidents.) How about 1932 to 2032?

Some of the same rules from the beard thread apply, namely:

1) Edit: Rule 1 has been challenged and removed!

2) Republicans and Democrats only.

3) Keep things reasonably politically balanced. There are 26 elections to cover. Keep the number of victories for each party pretty close, say no more unbalanced than 11/15 either way.

4) No more than two terms for a single person.

And one new guideline: extra points if your future presidents aren't just the children/grandchildren of current dynasties. LAZY.

Good luck, everyone.

 

[CthulhuFhtagn]

1) These are public figures who could have reasonably been president. Reasonably, that is, within the limits of the challenge.

Since it's not reasonable to assume that there could be 100 straight years of only female presidents, doesn't rule #1 kind of ruin your own challenge?

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

I have to disagree with #4 - Eleanor Roosevelt could very easily have been elected to 3-4 terms like her husband. Though I'll admit that it might be hard for the first one also to break the "no third term" rule, so let's see...

Alice Roosevelt ? - 1933-1941: Instead of a shaky marriage to Rep. Longworth, she marries someone who helps her much more in her political career. She takes over when Quentin is killed in WW I as the one to follow in Dad's footsteps, and ends up winning the Democratic nomination when FDR dies in 1932. Still, she's a bit of both parties, and her New Deal is much like his. Question is just who does she marry.

Eleanor Roosevelt - 1941-1949: the widow took over for her husband and ended up as Governor of New York herself before rising to power.

Amelia Earhardt: The flying ace ends up following Eleanor's footsteps after triumphantly returning after being lost for a few months after her plane gets shot down, but Republicans are starting to dominate more and more as people get tired of 20 years of Democratic rule (12 if one considers Alice a fusion party candidate and simply "Progressive")

Margaret Chase Smith (1953-1961): A more conservative candidate as a republican, but still works on Civil Rights and such; it's up to the next Presdent to push it through after her VP is defeated in 1960.

Lady Bird Johnson - 1961-1969: After her husband's heart attack in the 1950s she is chosen as a stopgap till fill the seat, but winds up winning the next election and surprsing a lot of people. Democrats figure she'll help them keep the South, but she does much better, pushign through civil Rights and getting a man ont he moon by 1969.

Not sure who else would be bet or if Lady Bird is even possible. Thoughts? Someone else will have to go further or change stuff.

 

[Expat]

Since it's not reasonable to assume that there could be 100 straight years of only female presidents, doesn't rule #1 kind of ruin your own challenge?

I suppose my purpose was to keep fringe folks out, but I guess that's accomplished with rule #2. So I will remove this!

 

[DrakonFin]

This is very, very hard to achieve, if only because even three or four consecutive female presidents would most likely cause a movement of sort to "finally" get a male president - more surely closer it is to the early 20th century. Here in my Nordic Equality Utopia a woman president getting whole two consequtive terms invited a bit of a backlash of that nature, and in the next elections all the major parties ran male candidates.

I mean think about it - one hundred years of female presidents means at least one major party will have to nominate a woman every time, and every single time that woman would then have to win. Very hard, the conservative/establishment/male chauvinist backlash is almost inevitable to follow at some point.

 

[CthulhuFhtagn]

I suppose my purpose was to keep fringe folks out, but I guess that's accomplished with rule #2. So I will remove this!

Sorry if I came across as rude. I know it can be annoying to have people shut down interesting ideas by shouting "ASB".

So, if the time period is between 1932-2032, how about Geraldine Ferraro, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sarah Palin, or Hillary Clinton?

 

[Expat]

Sorry if I came across as rude. I know it can be annoying to have people shut down interesting ideas by shouting "ASB".

Not at all! You made a valid point.

And yes, it is just a thought experiment. I hope that's a permissible way to avoid talking about ASBs. Those are for real TLs, IMO.

 

[Expat]

Clare Booth Luce is another good choice for a Republican in the 1950s or maybe 1960s.

 

[Miranda Brawner]

Shirley Chisolm is a must-have.

Also, I know this is ASB, but it might be fun to think about what is happening to the rest of the world during this timeline.

 

[Historyman 14]

I have to disagree with #4 - Eleanor Roosevelt could very easily have been elected to 3-4 terms like her husband. Though I'll admit that it might be hard for the first one also to break the "no third term" rule, so let's see...

Alice Roosevelt ? - 1933-1941: Instead of a shaky marriage to Rep. Longworth, she marries someone who helps her much more in her political career. She takes over when Quentin is killed in WW I as the one to follow in Dad's footsteps, and ends up winning the Democratic nomination when FDR dies in 1932. Still, she's a bit of both parties, and her New Deal is much like his. Question is just who does she marry.

Eleanor Roosevelt - 1941-1949: the widow took over for her husband and ended up as Governor of New York herself before rising to power.

Amelia Earhardt: The flying ace ends up following Eleanor's footsteps after triumphantly returning after being lost for a few months after her plane gets shot down, but Republicans are starting to dominate more and more as people get tired of 20 years of Democratic rule (12 if one considers Alice a fusion party candidate and simply "Progressive")

Margaret Chase Smith (1953-1961): A more conservative candidate as a republican, but still works on Civil Rights and such; it's up to the next Presdent to push it through after her VP is defeated in 1960.

Lady Bird Johnson - 1961-1969: After her husband's heart attack in the 1950s she is chosen as a stopgap till fill the seat, but winds up winning the next election and surprsing a lot of people. Democrats figure she'll help them keep the South, but she does much better, pushign through civil Rights and getting a man ont he moon by 1969.

Not sure who else would be bet or if Lady Bird is even possible. Thoughts? Someone else will have to go further or change stuff.

This looks good. Now, what will happen in they time as President, and how they respond to it.

 

[wilcoxchar]

A Democrat is elected in 1928. It's an ASB list but it satisfies the conditions.

EDIT: Forgot to extend it to 2032.

Jeannette Rankin (MT) 1933-1941
Hattie Caraway (AR) 1941-1945
Minnie Foster Cunningham (TX) 1945-1953
Gladys Pyle (ND) 1953-1961
Margaret Chase Smith (ME) 1961-1969
Lurleen Wallace (AL) 1969 [1]
Maurene Neuburger (OR) 1969-1977
Marjorie Holt (MD) 1977-1985
Shirley Chisholm (NY) 1985-1989
Nancy Landon Kessenbaum (KS) 1989-1997
Patricia Schroeder (CO) 1997-2001
Elizabeth Dole (NC) 2001-2009
Dianne Feinstein (CA) 2009-2017
Kathleen Sebelius (KS) 2017-2025
Kelly Ayotte (NH) 2025-2029
Kristi Noem (SD) 2029-2037

[1] Died in office.

 

[Miranda Brawner]

A Democrat is elected in 1928. It's an ASB list but it satisfies the conditions.

Well done.

 

[Expat]

Yeah, solid list!

 

[Brundlefly]

1924 Crystal Eastman (Democrat)
1928 Cora Wilson Stewart (Democrat) (acting)
1928 Frances Perkins (Democrat)
1932 Frances Perkins (Democrat)
1936 Alice Paul (Democrat)
1940 Eleanor Roosevelt (Democrat)
1944 Eleanor Roosevelt (Democrat)
1948 Alice Roosevelt (Republican)
1952 Alice Roosevelt (Republican)
1956 Oveta Culp Hobby (Republican)
1960 Margaret Chase Smith (Republican)
1964 Margaret Chase Smith (Republican)
1968 Vera Bushfield (Republican)
1972 Tonie Nathan (Democrat)
1976 Tonie Nathan (Democrat)
1980 Phyllis Schlafly (Republican)
1984 Phyllis Schlafly (Republican)
1988 Jeane Kirkpatrick (Republican)
1992 Fran Youngstein (Democrat)
1996 Laura Tyson (Democrat)
2000 Elizabeth Dole (Republican)
2004 Dianne Feinstein (Democrat)
2008 Hillary Clinton (Democrat)
2012 Hillary Clinton (Democrat)
2016 Meg Whitman (Republican)
2020 Nikki Haley (Republican)
2024 Marissa Mayer (Democrat)

 

[NickCT]

32. Miriam A. Ferguson (D-TX) (1933-1941)
33. Eleanor Roosevelt (D-NY) (1941-1949)
34. Jeanette Rankin (R-MT) (1949-1953)
35. Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) (1953-1961)
36. Kathryn E. Granahan (D-PA) (1961-1965)
37. Florence Dwyer (R-NJ) (1965-1973)
38. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) (1973-1981)
39. Millicent Fenwick (R-NJ) (1981-1989)
40. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) (1989-1997)
41. Ann Richards (D-TX) (1997-2001)
42. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) (2001-2009)
43. Hillary Clinton (D-AR) (2009-2017)
44. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (2017-2021)
45. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) (2021-2029)
46. Kristi Noem (R-SD) (2029-2033)

32. Jeanette Rankin (R-MT) (1933-1937)
33. Eleanor Roosevelt (D-NY) (1937-1945)
34. Frances Perkins (D-MA) (1945-1949)
35. Katharine St. George (R-NY) (1949-1957)
36. Edna Kelly (D-NY) (1957-1961)
37. Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) (1961-1969)
38. Maurine Brown Neuberger (D-OR) (1969-1973)
39. Charlotte Thompson Reid (R-IL) (1973-1977)
40. Ella T. Grasso (D-CT) (1977-1980) *
41. Barbara Jordan (D-TX) (1980-1985)
42. Jeane Kirkpatrick (R-OK) (1985-1989)
43. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) (1989-1997)
44. Carla Anderson Hills (R-CA) (1997-2005)
45. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) (2005-2013)
46. Susan Collins (R-ME) (2013-2021)
47. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) (2021-2025)
48. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) (2025-2033)

*died in office

 

[TPL99]

1921-1923: Alice Mary Robertson (Republican)
1923-1929: Edith Nourse Rogers (Republican)
1929-1933: Ruth Baker Pratt (Republican)
1933-1945: Hattie Caraway (Democratic)
1945-1953: Chase G. Woodhouse (Democratic)
1953-1961: Vera Bushfield (Republican)
1961-1963: Edna F. Kelly (Democratic)
1963-1969: Edith Green (Democratic)
1969-1974: Margaret C. Smith (Republican)
1974-1977: Margaret Heckler (Republican)
1977-1981: Patsy Mink (Democratic)
1981-1989: Jeane Kirkpatrick (Republican)
1989-1993: Paula Hawkins (Republican)
1993-2001: Barbara Mikulski (Democratic)
2001-2009: Kelly Ann Hawkins (Republican)
2009-2017: Carol Moseley Braun (Democratic)
2017-2021: Hillary Clinton (Democratic)