AHC: Wank Theodore Roosevelt

With a POD of his ascension to the presidency in 1901, how do we get a Theodore Roosevelt wank scenario? You are allowed to extend his life past 1919.
 
If he doesn't do the Amazon trip and Quentin doesn't die he most likely gets the RNC nomination in 1920 and wins the election then. With TR as president at the start of the roaring 20s we may get some regulations that while most likely not preventing it may at least lessen the Great Depression.
 
Have him run in 1908. Or win in 1912. Hell, don't kill Quinton, and he may be hearty enough to run in 1920.

As far as his Presidencies, let the man go all jingo a go go baby. That flag needs more stars, bully!
 
TR doesn't make a "no third term" pledge in 1904, and he runs and wins in 1908. He appoints progressives to the Supreme Court, and makes Taft Chief Justice. In 1912, Secretary of State Elihu Root is nominated for President by the GOP, but he narrowly loses to Wilson. With Republicans in control of the Senate and Democrats barely in control of the House by a narrow margin, Wilson's domstic agenda is constrained somewhat. Hughes wins in 1916 despite losing the popular vote.

26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1913), R-NY
27. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1916), D-NJ
28. Charles Evans Hughes (1916-1920), R-NY
29. Woodrow Wilson (1920-1924), D-NJ
30. Calvin Coolidge (1924-1932), R-MA
 

SsgtC

Banned
TR doesn't make a "no third term" pledge in 1904, and he runs and wins in 1908. He appoints progressives to the Supreme Court, and makes Taft Chief Justice. In 1912, Secretary of State Elihu Root is nominated for President by the GOP, but he narrowly loses to Wilson. With Republicans in control of the Senate and Democrats barely in control of the House by a narrow margin, Wilson's domstic agenda is constrained somewhat. Hughes wins in 1916 despite losing the popular vote.

26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1913), R-NY
27. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1916), D-NJ
28. Charles Evans Hughes (1916-1920), R-NY
29. Woodrow Wilson (1920-1924), D-NJ
30. Calvin Coolidge (1924-1932), R-MA
With no GOP split in 1912, Wilson would get slaughtered in the General. Plus, keeping TR for a third term would likely cement the GOP as the party of Progressives. The Democrats are more likely to nominate someone like Champ Clark than Wilson.
 
With no GOP split in 1912, Wilson would get slaughtered in the General. Plus, keeping TR for a third term would likely cement the GOP as the party of Progressives. The Democrats are more likely to nominate someone like Champ Clark than Wilson.

I know the Wilson hate is strong on this site (and not for bad reasons), but Root wouldn't be a good general election canddiate. He was a conservative corporate lawyer who was suspected of having dodged service in the Civil War. However he was Roosevelt's preferred successor, if Taft is out of the way he'd try to pursuade Root to run. In a two way match up Wilson might be able to narrowly beat him. If not Root, then it would either be Hughes or even Chief Justice Taft (but I doubt he would leave his dream job after only two years). If it's Hughes, he beats Wilson.

Clark would be out of the picture entirely since I doubt the Democrats would win back control of Congress in 1910 without the split in the GOP caused by Taft's incompetent leadership.

In the event that the GOP wins in 1912, I don't think they could win again in 1916. The economy wasn't good from 1913-14, and anxities over the Great War would encourage many Americans to vote Democratic after twenty years of Republican rule. So maybe Clark would be nominated in 1916 if the Dems take Congress in 1914, or on the other hand Bryan might turn against him as he did in 1912 and a dark horse is produced by the Democratic convention. In any event, a Democratic victory in 1916 means the GOP wins in 1920.
 
Try this:

  • Roosevelt persuades Taft that while he had a strong duty as governor-general of the Philippines, he had a greater duty to serve on the Supreme Court--and takes his place on the bench in 1903.
  • Elihu Root becomes the GOP nominee in 1908. He is opposed by William Jennings Bryan and Eugene Debs. Both make much of Root's Wall Street connections, yielding a tissue-paper-thin Bryan victory.
  • Bryan's tenure as president shows clearly that while an excellent orator and evangelist, his capabilities as executive were nil. His attempts to influence monetary policy yield the Panic of 1910, which in turn yields a solidly GOP congress in the mid-term elections.
  • The GOP obviously wants Bryan out. Root would not be a candidate again. Former president Theodore Roosevelt is a known quantity, although a bit difficult for the conservative wing of the party to swallow. Still, the party as a whole knows that if anyone can beat Bryan, TR can. As such, TR gets the 1912 GOP nomination.
  • The election of 1912 is a clear referendum on Bryan and his accomplishments and policies, the verdict of which is a monumental "FAIL". TR is inaugurated on 4 March 1913.
  • The early years of the second TR administration see a push for direct election of senators and a central banking system (the latter being a project sponsored by SecTreas George Cortelyou).
  • When Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in June 1914, SecState Charles Evans Hughes and TR confer and agree that the situation bears very close monitoring. Early in July, an offer is extended to Austria-Hungary and Serbia for mediation of the crisis. Copies of this offer go to the other capitals of Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm II, trading on his personal acquaintance with TR, urges Vienna in the strongest possible terms to accept. At the same time Tsar Nicholas II, based on the experience with the end of the Russo-Japanese War brought about by TR, urges Serbia to do likewise.
  • In September 1914, heads of the nations of Europe gather in Philadelphia (the Navy Yard has never seen quite a similar display of foreign vessels and uniforms) for the negotiations. Running from late September to mid-November, Serbia accedes to virtually all the Austrian points, and war is averted. TR gains another Nobel Peace Prize--this one, in 1915.
  • Riding high on securing peace in Europe and a booming economy, TR is re-elected by a huge margin in 1916 as--incredibly--his opponent is again William Jennings Bryan. No other Democrat wanted to challenge TR at the time: Indiana governor Thomas Marshall, House minority leader Champ Clark, and former NJ governor / now president of Johns Hopkins Woodrow Wilson all declined. Bryan chooses Carter Glass as his running mate, over Glass' objections. Glass spends no time campaigning, choosing instead to focus on re-election to the House. Unsurprisingly, TR trounced Bryan--and in the bargain, the GOP got an unbreakable grip on the Senate, securing 67 of the 96 seats.
  • The filibuster-proof Senate is the key to several key TR initiatives:
    • The federal income tax
    • An anti-lynching bill
    • Defeat of the prohibition movement (TR decried it as noble in spirit but utterly impractical and unenforceable--as well as prohibitively expensive).
  • TR is succeeded by SecState Charles Evans Hughes in 1921. He lived on until 1935, when he passed away at Sagamore Hill.
That ought to be good for a start.

EDIT: the corresponding presidential succession:

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) / Charles Fairbanks (1905-1909) {R}
William Jennings Bryan (1909-1913) / John W. Kern (1909-1913) {D}
Theodore Roosevelt (1913-1921) / Herbert Hadley (1913-1921) {R}
Charles Evans Hughes (1921-1929) / William Sproul (1921-1928) {R}
Charles Dawes (1929-1937) / Charles Curtis (1929-1936) {R}

Albert Ritchie (1937-1943) / Harry Truman (1937-1943) {D}
Harry Truman (1943-1949) / William O. Douglas (1945-1949) {D}

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1949-1957) / Margaret Chase Smith (1949-1957) {R}
Adlai Stevenson (1957-1965) / John F. Kennedy (1957-1965) {D}
William Scranton (1965-1973) / Gerald Ford (1965-1973) {R}
Gerald Ford (1973-1981) / Liddy Dole (1973-1981) {R}

John Glenn (1981-1989) / Michael Dukakis (1981-1989) {D}
Jack Kemp (1989-1997) / Christine Todd Whitman (1989-1997) {R}
Christine Todd Whitman (1997-2005) / George W. Bush (1997-2005) {R}

Joseph Lieberman (2005-2013) / Albert Gore (2005-2013) {D}
Larry Hogan (2013- ) / Nikki Hayley (2013- ) {R}
 
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William Taft dies of his trolley accident in 1910. The Republican accept T.R for the 1912 election and he wins. WW1 breaks out, T.R ends up leading America in war and its still going on in the 1916 election. Presidents usually win re-election when a war is going on. Butterfly effect saves Quentin. Retires after 1920

25: William McKinley**(1897-1901)/Garret Hobart*(1897-1899), Theodore Roosevelt(1901)
26: Theodore Roosevelt(1901-1909)/Charles W Fairbanks(1905-1909)
27: William H Taft*/James S Sherman(1909-1910)
28: James S Sherman*(1910-1912), Philander C Knox(1912-1913, acting)
29: Theodore Roosevelt/Philander C Knox(1913-1921)

30: Oscar Underwood/John W Davis(1921-1929)
 
William Taft dies of his trolley accident in 1910. The Republican accept T.R for the 1912 election and he wins. WW1 breaks out, T.R ends up leading America in war and its still going on in the 1916 election. Presidents usually win re-election when a war is going on. Butterfly effect saves Quentin. Retires after 1920

25: William McKinley**(1897-1901)/Garret Hobart*(1897-1899), Theodore Roosevelt(1901)
26: Theodore Roosevelt(1901-1909)/Charles W Fairbanks(1905-1909)
27: William H Taft*/James S Sherman(1909-1910)
28: James S Sherman*(1910-1912), Philander C Knox(1912-1913, acting)
29: Theodore Roosevelt/Philander C Knox(1913-1921)

30: Oscar Underwood/John W Davis(1921-1929)

Zero chance a southerner like Underwood could get elected in 1920. IOTL, the best he could do was to be among those contending for the nomination. Mind you, I'm not saying he would have been an undesirable president: simply that there was no chance a southerner would have been elected with the Civil War still within living memory. Had he been from, say, Indiana, Missouri, or stayed in his birth state of Kentucky, he might have had a shot--but not from Alabama.
 
The Rough Riders encircle and destroy the entire Spanish force in Cuba and sink all Spanish ships while on land. Roosevelt personally kills half of the Spanish force.

Seriously, though, something like the above suggestions would work best.
 
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