AHC: A Democrat Elected President in 1920

If Wilson dies of a stroke in 1919, and VP Thomas Marshall becomes President, he'll likely be the nominee in 1920. What would be his chances? I still think he'd lose, but not as much as Cox did.
 
If Wilson dies of a stroke in 1919, and VP Thomas Marshall becomes President, he'll likely be the nominee in 1920. What would be his chances? I still think he'd lose, but not as much as Cox did.
Unless he went isolationist and distanced himself from his predecessor, I'd imagine he would lose big. The fact is that Cox was a pretty popular governor yet he didn't even win his own state. People just hated the Democrats at that time.
 
The only way the US stays out of the war is by acquiescence in German unlimited submarine warfare, which is very definitely going to have a negative impact on the US economy by drastically cutting into US foreign trade.

Is it as "all or nothing" as that?

Would it be possible for US merchantmen to sail (perhaps escorted) to Spain or Norway, whence the Entente would have to transport them the rest of the way? Wilson wouldn't have liked it, seeing it as an abridgement of America's maritime rights, but some other POTUSes might have been less fussy. TR and co would no doubt scream blue murder, but then they go without saying.

Of course, absent unsecured loans, Allied imports are liable to decline anyway, but any resulting recession might well be over by 1919.
 
Unless he went isolationist and distanced himself from his predecessor, I'd imagine he would lose big. The fact is that Cox was a pretty popular governor yet he didn't even win his own state. People just hated the Democrats at that time.

If Wilson dies of a stroke in 1919, and VP Thomas Marshall becomes President, he'll likely be the nominee in 1920. What would be his chances? I still think he'd lose, but not as much as Cox did.

I have to agree. It's sad, as I rather like Marshall, but for my money 1920 is a no-hoper.
 
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