AHC: alternate Teddy Roosevelt(s)

[rcduggan]

Something I thought of while reading the British Roosevelt thread over in After 1900.

Though Roosevelt is now accorded semi-legendary status on this site and in the US and has taken on a larger-than-life status, when he was made McKinley's VP in 1900, it was more an attempt by New York state politicians to kick him upstairs and, by putting him in a powerless office, prevent him from reforming NY politics. Of course, one assassination later and Teddy R is in the White House.

So here's a challenge: who are other possible politicians, possibly (though not necessarily) less well-known in OTL, who could have become president and change the course of US politics and gain legendary status? For purposes of this challenge, they can be Democratic or Republican, and can be elected Prez straight out, or ascend in a Teddyesque manner.

Go go go AH.com!

 

[FDW]

John Glenn maybe?

 

[Mr.J]

Lincoln, if he lived to a ripe old age?

President Nelson Rockefeller?

Hoover if somehow the Depression didn't happen?

 

[The Kiat]

John Glenn maybe?

Why not John Wayne? He was to my old man's generation what Chuck Norris is to mine, and I guess what TR is his own generation.

Although, President James Dean has a nice ring to it. A Commander-in-Chief with an attitude.

 

[Noravea]

President Buzz Aldrin. He freakin walked on the Moon!

As for today, Chris Christie or Brian Schweitzer would fit the bill (And a 2016 Presidential election between the two would be EPIC).

 

[FDW]

Lincoln, if he lived to a ripe old age?

Lincoln might've died in office had he not been assassinated because of a genetic condition he had. If he survived he second term, he certainly wouldn't've made it to 70

Why not John Wayne? He was to my old man's generation what Chuck Norris is to mine, and I guess what TR is his own generation.

Although, President James Dean has a nice ring to it. A Commander-in-Chief with an attitude.

Depending on the POD used, John Wayne might've ended suffering from some nasty health problems while in office.

President Buzz Aldrin. He freakin walked on the Moon!

I said John Glenn because he was actually a Senator IOTL, and would have a simpler route to the White House.

As for today, Chris Christie or Brian Schweitzer would fit the bill (And a 2016 Presidential election between the two would be EPIC).

I think not. They may be bombastic (And barrel-chested), but I don't really think they're a good Modern TR's.

 

[jycee]

I think close to OTL, Grant - in the absence of Johnson before him - would have been quite legendary. After all despite his mediocre term as President he had quite a bad ass career.



Wilcox's Union and Liberty has a pretty bad ass John C Fremont, who first fought in the Mexican-American War (happens earlier in TTL) the fought in the Oregon War against Britain, and afterwards became POTUS half way through the southern rebellion which he quelled and still managed to finish both his terms and oversee reconstruction. (Somehow the TL also ended up with an ever more bad ass TR who won a bronze Olympic medal while President).

James Dean POTUS sounds fun!

I think if we expand the alt careers enough, almost any skilled leader - regardless of their profession in OTL - could become a legendary POTUS if elected and the right time.

 

[David S Poepoe]

For pre-1900 John C. Fremont has been mentioned, which is a good choice. My thoughts also go to Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, Leonard Wood and, unfortunately he's not American by birth, Henry Morton Stanley. Perhaps filibuster Frederick Ward returns to the US after adventures in China?

Ideally, one may want to consider some young retired Union Army officer that eventually helps building the transcontinental railroad, but I can't think of anyone offhand. That would at least gain one a military record and some possibility of gaining a name in the 'closing of the Frontier'.

 

[FDW]

William Walker could also be a possibility, if you change his pro-slavery stance.

 

[TheKnightIrish]

Philp Kearny jr. if he survives the Civil War.

 

[tallthinkev]

How about Gen G. A. Custer? If he wasn't an all round prat.

 

[Deleted member 16736]

Are we talking about someone who would be enough of a badass to gain legendary status as such well after their time while still having been president?

My money's on David Crockett. Think about it, he's bigger than life already. Imagine he hadn't been at the Alamo when it was overrun, and had gone on to win some important battle and then (as if that weren't enough) get the United States to admit Texas to the union earlier than OTL. He'd be a hero. I can imagine him going back to Congress as the state's first senator, raising all kinds of hell once there, and eventually the Whig's put him on the bottom of a ticket with Zach Taylor in 1848 just to put him where he can't make any more trouble. When Taylor dies, presuming he still does, then you've got President Crockett who goes on to win his own term in 1852.

Now, depending on how he navigates those waters, he's got the makings of being "King of the Wild Frontier," turned "Congressman," turned "Hero of Texas," turned "Senator," turned "President," turned "The Man who Held our Country Together." Teddy Roosevelt, eat your heart out.

 

[Whanztastic]

Are we talking about someone who would be enough of a badass to gain legendary status as such well after their time while still having been president?

My money's on David Crockett. Think about it, he's bigger than life already. Imagine he hadn't been at the Alamo when it was overrun, and had gone on to win some important battle and then (as if that weren't enough) get the United States to admit Texas to the union earlier than OTL. He'd be a hero. I can imagine him going back to Congress as the state's first senator, raising all kinds of hell once there, and eventually the Whig's put him on the bottom of a ticket with Zach Taylor in 1848 just to put him where he can't make any more trouble. When Taylor dies, presuming he still does, then you've got President Crockett who goes on to win his own term in 1852.

Now, depending on how he navigates those waters, he's got the makings of being "King of the Wild Frontier," turned "Congressman," turned "Hero of Texas," turned "Senator," turned "President," turned "The Man who Held our Country Together." Teddy Roosevelt, eat your heart out.

Sounds like a winner.

 

[Deleted member 16736]

Sounds like a winner.

Thanks, but I do have to admit I kind of cheated. President Crockett features in a timeline I've been working on. What I gave you was the 'roided up version that I scrapped.

 

[SPJ]

How about Gen G. A. Custer? If he wasn't an all round prat.

I don't think so. If I recall correctly Custer had been asked if he had presidential ambitions and he said he did not.

 

[Corder]

I don't think so. If I recall correctly Custer had been asked if he had presidential ambitions and he said he did not.

Isn't that the standard answer you give until you annouce your candidacy?

 

[Deleted member 16736]

I don't think so. If I recall correctly Custer had been asked if he had presidential ambitions and he said he did not.

Custer's ambitions were always what was best for Custer. If he thought he could win the presidency, he would run for it. Once in office, he would act in ways that would benefit him presently and not necessarily his legacy. My opinion on a Custer Presidency is that if you thought Grant's administration suffered corruption and ineptitude, wait til you see what Goldilocks can do. He really would be a tool of the party bosses because he had no stake in being anything else.

Custer might have been a badass prior to the presidency, but I doubt that he would have been considered such afterward. Part of what made Teddy so great was that he was successful and badass before he became president as well as during his presidency. Custer wouldn't be either after 4 to eight years in office. In light of that, I doubt he would become an alternate TR.

 

[EdT]

A mid to late 2000s Boris Johnson presidency has to be a candidate for this, surely?

Popular Mayor of New York, gets stuck as VP on a Democratic ticket in 2004, then takes over when President Wesley Clark gets killed in the dreadful suicide bombings on Washington the foloowing year...

 

[TheKnightIrish]

Just had a great thought - get Smedley Butler to the Presidency! As Director of Public Safety in Philly he often swore in his radio addresses.

 

[Shawn Endresen]

I've always had a soft spot for TR's mirror image, Adlai Stevenson the Elder. WJB/Stevenson beats McKinley/TR in 1900, Czogolz shoots President Bryan, voila. He's a complicated and odd man, but the defining moment of his Presidency would be the Pullman Strike - where he sends the US Army to drag George Pullman out of his office at gunpoint, tries him for treason (probably a bit of kangaroo court, alas) and lets him die in a cell in Leavenworth. TR and Taft's approach to 'trust-busting' may have been more reasonable, but Stevenson's would have been a lot more dramatic; he would have made damned sure men like Rockefeller sr and J.P. Morgan were personally, mortally terrified of him.