Here's something I'd written along those lines a while back. Bear in mind, it's not very good, but...
A WAAAAY EARLY PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
by vultan
Late 1937, in rural northwest Illinois
Ronald Reagan was angry. Very, very angry. For one thing, he’d been out of a job- a long bout with the cold last year had ruined his radio career in Iowa, causing him to return meekly to his home town of Dixon, where he’d been reduced to working odd jobs. And when the jobs weren’t forthcoming there, he headed south for Macomb, thinking that maybe the farmers would be a’hiring. But that wasn’t the only reason his blood was boiling, oooooh no.
And to think he’d once been an admirer of Franklin Delano Roosevelt! Well, no longer. One of the jobs he’d fallen into was with one Anton J. Johnson, a dairy farmer. Mr. Johnson had taken a liking to “Dutch” (as Ronald still went by), and when the young man was out milking cows, Johnson would come out to talk. But inevitably, the conversation (if you could call it that- Ron was too busy with the work to get in more than a word or two at a time) would drift to politics, where Mr. Johnson would rant on and on about how President Roosevelt was trying to turn the country into a communist state, how his “court-packing” plan was merely an excuse to turn the United States into a dictatorship. And the more Ron listened…
Early 1938
He’d been attending McDonough County Republican Party meetings regularly now, and to his own surprise he found himself volunteering. Then one day Mr. Johnson prodded him into going up to speak (“Tell ‘em ‘bout why you decided to join the G-O-P, Dutch”). While he started off a bit nervous, Ron dove right in, and they couldn’t have asked for a better speaker. I guess all that radio work paid off, Ron thought to himself as he articulated another point. As the audience sat there, enraptured, the young man eventually transcended politics in his speech, ending it on a simple enough note. “See, I suppose what I’m saying is I’ve come to see that the Republicans are the very best party to represent the common men in American. And as for myself, personally, I’ve come to see that it’s the party that agrees with my basic beliefs, which is that I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life. Thank you for letting me speak”.
The Chairman asked if he wanted to get paid to speak like that. They both chuckled…
Mid 1938
Horrible news: Mr. Anton J. Johnson had been killed when the roof of his barn collapsed in on him. He was sixty years old. But more importantly, he had been the presumptive nominee of the Republicans to challenge Chester C. Thompson for control of Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. The local party officials had been convened in the City Building in downtown Macomb, and Ron had showed up to help organize. At nearly 12 o’clock at night, Ron was abruptly awoken from his slumber in a chair in the lobby in the building by the McDonough County Republican Party Chairman. He must have been asleep for hours as the party heads were discussing what to do. “Hey kid-KID- you twenty-five?” A still-tired Ron wondered what was going on. “Yessir, I turned twenty-five years old a couple-“
“Great”, interrupted Mr. Chairman. “Now what I need you to do is go in that room and talk. Just talk like you did at that one meeting we had a couple months ago. Give a good speech.” The young Reagan agreed, still confused as to what was happening…
Late 1938
Illinois House of Representatives election, District 14:
Chester C. Thompson (D)(inc)- 49.6%
Ronald "Dutch" Reagan (R)- 50.4%
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Early 1944
Former Congressman Ronald Reagan got off the bus at his hometown of Dixon. While his career in Washington was looking good for a while- his great oratory skills had one him reelection by a wide margin in 1940, and his passionately conservative beliefs had one him national attention- he couldn't stay home while America's boys were going of to war, so off he went as well.
Of course, due to his eyesight, they wouldn't let him go overseas, so they just stuck him in "public relations", which essentially amounted to him going around to various army posts, giving speeches (his status as a former politician also made it unlikely that he would be put into anything TOO dangerous).
But suddenly, just a couple months ago, he had been honorably discharged. But the funny thing was, they didn't give him a reason. They just said that he would be of no further use to the country in this fashion at the time. Now, Ron was just a regular guy, but he knew they couldn't just do that, right? Even after he repeatedly tried to reenlist? Well, they told him to go back home, so here he was...
While staying at his mother's house, he got a very special phone call: it was Dwight Green, Governor of Illinois! Turns out, the good Governor may or may not have pulled some strings to get him out of the military, which for the smallest fraction of a moment absolutely disgusted Reagan- this man was the one who made his career fighting the Chicago machine- but Green waved aside these concerns, saying that "Dutch" could better serve his country back in Washington. But instead of running for his old seat...
Late 1944
Illinois Senate election, 1944:
Scott W. Lucas (D)(inc)- 48.2%
Ronald "Dutch" Reagan (R)- 51.4%
...
Nearly four years later...
Senator Ronald Wilson Reagan of Illinois (known as "Dutch" by now to his constituents and supporters), was about to give the keynote address to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a warm June night, the first of the convention, and there was a bitter divide between the conservative, pro-Taft delegates and the liberal, pro-Dewey delegates (Stassen was a much weaker force by now). There was a dangerous possibility that there wouldn't be a nominee on the first ballot...
Well, Dutch thought to himself, it's my job to not let that happen. He'd become renowned across the country for the strength of his speeches, and he was going to make sure that this would be the best of his career by a mile.
Across the convention hall, Senator Robert Taft waited contently. Ronald Reagan was one of the most conservative members of the Senate. Hell, if you took race out of the mix, he was farther right than many of the Dixiecrats Thurmond was whipping into a frenzy down South. At the very least, Reagan could win over enough delegates to make it a long, drawn out fight. At best, we could be seeing President Taft come...
Wait, what? What? "THAT BASTARD!" Taft screamed, standing up, which surprised many in the hall, even among Taft's staff; the Senator was known for being an austere figure. But how could he stay calm now when that two-faced son-of-a-bitch Reagan was endorsing Dewey?
In the end, though, Reagan did what he thought was right. He was in agreement with the Taft faction on domestic policy, but he couldn't abide by their isolationism. A nice long conversation with diplomat George F. Kennan had convinced him of the danger that the Soviet Union posed, and how could he support a candidate who wouldn't fight that?
It worked; Dewey narrowly won on the first ballot. However, he noted the popularity of Reagan among the delegates at the convention. In a way, he really was something of a unifying candidate: he shared the domestic beliefs of the Taft faction, but the internationalist beliefs of the Dewey faction. Even with the semi-public falling out Taft and Reagan had, putting Reagan on the ticket would be a good way to unite the badly divided party. Dewey badly, BADLY wanted California Governor Earl Warren on the ticket... but in the end, the man wasn't much of a campaigner, and Dewey's advisers told him not to risk the election by making a gaffe on the campaign trail. Reagan could be the speech-giver; the attack dog, if you will.
And in the end, Reagan was an average American from an average background. That had a way of resonating with voters.
On July 25th, the last day of the convention, Dewey nominated Reagan to be the Vice Presidential nominee of the Republican Party in 1948...
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Yeah, the way I put it in sort of presupposed having Reagan essentially be something of an earlier Goldwater, rather than the more left-wing Democrat Reagan probably would be if he'd pursued politics in early life. Wanted Dutch to be recognizable by OTL standards.
Thoughts?