A Presidential James Roosevelt?

In OTL James Roosevelt was elected to Congress and served from 1955 to 1965. WI someone had tapped him for the Democratic nomination for President, and he had agreed? I don't know too much about James myself, but I'm tempted to think that the combination of James being a veteran and FDR's son would have been a heady one.

What election year would James Roosevelt have run in? Would he ever have a chance of winning? If he had won, what would his politics look like and would it affect anything in the future?
 
Unless he has some major flaw he should be able to win. But it would seem to many Americans as somesort of a Roosevelt dynasty.
 
Unless he has some major flaw he should be able to win. But it would seem to many Americans as somesort of a Roosevelt dynasty.

As opposed to the current (and hopefully not, though certainly possible future) Bush-Clinton dynasty?

That said you may well be right, I think the American people would be more sensitive in the 60s to a dynasty argument.

What do we know about the guy? Assuming he's done something, or at least can look good on the stump, I figure he's probably got a decent shot.
 
Well, he married Betsey Cushing who divorced him 1942. She'd have been an interesting presidential wife.

He has some electability problems. He didn't win California in 1950 when running for governor. Nor mayor of Los Angeles later.

He divorced 3 times.

Here's what we need. Pod is no divorce, maybe he can avoid a crush in California or win.
If he has been governor of California for a few years, married to a charismatic wife, son of Franklin Roosevelt, war-veteran, what can stop this man from becoming president?

Maybe he could be the nominee instead of Kennedy in 1960, I mean Kennedy cannot pull of a dynasty argument... Convincingly. Although I'd believe them to fight dirty.
 
Well, Argentina has had dynastic politics before (the Peróns and the Kirchners, anyone?), so I think something like that could be pulled off in America. Remember that FDR was TR's cousin - or even John Quincy Adams, John Adams's son.
 
Well, Argentina has had dynastic politics before (the Peróns and the Kirchners, anyone?), so I think something like that could be pulled off in America. Remember that FDR was TR's cousin - or even John Quincy Adams, John Adams's son.

That's why I said dynasty though;)

Theodore 2 terms

Franklin 4 terms

James... It's an awful lot of terms already...
 
James? no Eleanor

His first election to Congress was 1955, so he couldn't have run in 1956, when Ike swept to a second term anyway. Don't think he could have beaten Kennedy in 1960 either. He had a formidable machine behind him. James would have had his mother, who wasn't much for the Kennedy boys, but adored Adlai Stevenson. James had been highly decorated in the war, a President's son who was truly in harm's way as part of guerilla actions, but no great accomplishments in Congress. His mother was the better candidate, but for that gender thing...see my book, "Eleanor vs. Ike."
 
His first election to Congress was 1955, so he couldn't have run in 1956, when Ike swept to a second term anyway. Don't think he could have beaten Kennedy in 1960 either. He had a formidable machine behind him. James would have had his mother, who wasn't much for the Kennedy boys, but adored Adlai Stevenson. James had been highly decorated in the war, a President's son who was truly in harm's way as part of guerilla actions, but no great accomplishments in Congress. His mother was the better candidate, but for that gender thing...see my book, "Eleanor vs. Ike."

Well he lost in 1950 in his bid to become governor of California. That's not strange, Earl Warren was very popular.

So let's assume he does something else with his time. Congressman for a while, and then maybe senator for a while. Maybe if JFK would pick him as VP? But they're maybe to much the same, both pretty young, part of a political family...
There are many paths that can lead to presidency though. We could assume in this TL that Nixon wins JFK narrowly and then gets messed up in Vietnam.

Then after 3 terms of republicans having presidency the Dems start despairing and James Roosevelt becomes a nostalgic unifying symbol.

But as for this guy... He doesn't seem to have any fun radical opinions on anything. More in politics just because... Why not?
It doesn't seem that he'd be a very interesting president.
 
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