Alternate Pathways To The Presidency For OTL Presidents

Some Presidents had more than their fair share of luck in getting to the nations highest office, were as others could have gotten to the White House in any number of ways. This thread is to talk about different ways in which OTL Presidents could have gotten to the White House. Some of the obvious examples would be Nixon being elected in '60 or Reagan winning the GOP nomination in '76 and then beating Carter, but feel free to get at creative as possible. Do try to be realistic though.

Also, I know this is in post-1900, but feel free to talk about pre-1900 Presidents, just to save us the trouble of having to make two seprate threads talking about the same thing.
 
Last edited:
William McKinley is re-elected in 1890 and thus doesn't run for the Governorship of Ohio in 1891. He instead becomes Speaker of the House in 1895, and is nominated for the Presidency as House Speaker in 1896, rather than as Governor of Ohio. He becomes the first sitting Speaker of the House to be elected President.

Theodore Roosevelt becomes Vice President in 1901, but McKinley is never assassinated, so he doesn't become President IATL. He decides against running for President in 1904 and in 1908, but does run for the Republican nomination in 1912 and is elected President on the Republican ticket that year.

William Howard Taft is appointed to the Supreme Court in 1902. He serves on the Court for six years before becoming the heir apparent of President Roosevelt in 1908, becoming the first Supreme Court Justice elected President.

I'll post some more later.
 
Woodrow Wilson is elected to the Senate from New Jersey or perhaps he returns to his native Georgia and gets elected there.

FDR: what anon said.

Coolidge: two terms as governor, runs in 1924?

Hoover: governor of California, given his obvious administrative and executive capabilities demonstrated a decade before he became POTUS. Maybe Secretary of State given his vast experience in Asia and the fact that he was fluent in Mandarin, having spent many years in China.

Truman: stays a senator from Missouri.

Eisenhower: no idea.

JFK: I don't see an ATL career path except maybe becoming VP at some point (not with Stevenson leading the ticket or the invincible Ike in the WH obviously) and acceeding. MA is too small a state for the governorship to be used as a launching pad for the presidency.

Nixon: staying in the Senate.

Ford: would never be elected without becoming VP.

Carter: Senate.

Reagan: VP. Senate was not really his style.

Bush: Senate.

Clinton: no idea.

Bush II: no idea.
 
Here's a list of Presidents and legal (35 yrs and up, not after 2 terms for the later ones) election years for them. Italics are unlikely or no possible way, regular text is maybe/I don't know, and Bold is conceivable or likely, and Bold!! is OTL winners:
  1. Washington - 1788!!, 1792!!, 1796
  2. John Adams - 1788, 1792, 1796!!, 1800, 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824
  3. Jefferson - 1788, 1792, 1796, 1800!!, 1804!!, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824
  4. Madison - 1788, 1792, 1796, 1800, 1804, 1808!!, 1812!!, 1816, 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836 (died during the election season)
  5. Monroe - 1796, 1800, 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816!!, 1820!!, 1824, 1828
  6. John Quincy Adams - 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824!!, 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848 (died early in election year)
  7. Jackson - 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824, 1828!!, 1832!!, 1836, 1840, 1844
  8. Van Buren - 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836!!, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860
  9. William Henry Harrison - 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840!! (note: he probably wouldn't have died in 1841 if he wasn't President)
  10. Tyler - 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860
  11. Polk - 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844!!, 1848
  12. Taylor - 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848!!
  13. Fillmore - 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872
  14. Pierce - 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852!!, 1856, 1860, 1864, 1868
  15. Buchanan - 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856!!, 1860, 1864, 1868 (note: Buchanan died during the election season)
  16. Lincoln - 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860!!, 1864!! (note: Lincoln probably wouldn't have died in 1865 if he wasn't President)
  17. Andrew Johnson - 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872
  18. Grant - 1860, 1864, 1868!!, 1872!!, 1876, 1880, 1884
  19. Hayes - 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876!!, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892 (note: Hayes died after the election but before the inauguration)
  20. Garfield - 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880!! (note: Garfield probably wouldn't have died in 1881 if he hadn't been President)
  21. Arthur - 1856, 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884
  22. Cleveland - 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884!!, 1888, 1892!!, 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908 (note: Cleveland died during election season)
  23. Benjamin Harrison - 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888!!, 1892, 1896, 1900
  24. Cleveland - (see #22)
  25. McKinley - 1880, 1884, 1888, 1890, 1892, 1896!!, 1900!! (note: McKinley probably wouldn't have died in 1901 if he hadn't been President)
  26. Theodore Roosevelt - 1896, 1900, 1904!!, 1908, 1912, 1916
  27. Taft - 1892, 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908!!, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928
  28. Wilson - 1892, 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912!!, 1916!!, 1920, 1924 (note: Wilson died early during election season)
  29. Harding - 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920!!
  30. Coolidge - 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924!!, 1928, 1932 (note: Coolidge died after the election but before the inauguration)
  31. Hoover - 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928!!, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 (note: Hoover died during election season)
  32. Franklin D. Roosevelt - 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932!!, 1936!!, 1940!!, 1944!!
  33. Truman - 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948!!, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 (note: he died after election but before inauguration)
  34. Eisenhower - 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952!!, 1956!!
  35. Kennedy - 1952, 1956, 1960!! (note: Kennedy probably wouldn't have died in 1963 if he wasn't President)
  36. Lyndon B. Johnson - 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964!!, 1968, 1972
  37. Nixon - 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968!!, 1972!!
  38. Ford - 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
  39. Carter - 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976!!, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012
  40. Reagan - 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980!!, 1984!!
  41. George H. W. Bush - 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988!!, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012
  42. Clinton - 1984, 1988, 1992!!, 1996!!
  43. George W. Bush - 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000!!, 2004!!
  44. Obama - 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008!!, 2012?
 
Bush II: no idea.
What follows is a bit unlikely, and a bit convergent, but it's all I could think of.

President George Walker Bush was the first Speaker of House to successfully win the Presidency of the United States. In an upset victory Bush was elected to Congress in 1978. During nearly the entirety of his first decade in congress he was known as one of the heavier drinkers in the House of Representatives, frequently being seen with fellow Texan congressman Charles Wilson. As such, he was sometimes an embarrassment to his father, who was elected Vice President in 1980. By the late eighties Then-Congressman Bush had embraced religion and abandoned drinking. Bush campaigned heavily for his father during the 1988 and 1992 campaigns. In 1999, after twenty years in the House, the personable and popular Bush was chosen to replace the unpopular Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House. Bush served as House Speaker between 1999-2005. Bush was elected President of the United States in 2004.

And now butterflies want to kill me.
 
Could Ford (or perhaps LBJ, who would've probably had better health if he weren't president) have been Speaker of the House around the time of Watergate? Agnew resigns as OTL, but Nixon doesn't name a VP (or there's no provision in TTL's 22nd Amendment to name one), so when he resigns, the Speaker of the House takes over.
 
Could Ford (or perhaps LBJ, who would've probably had better health if he weren't president) have been Speaker of the House around the time of Watergate? Agnew resigns as OTL, but Nixon doesn't name a VP (or there's no provision in TTL's 22nd Amendment to name one), so when he resigns, the Speaker of the House takes over.

This provokes an intriguing set of politics.

Assume Ford becomes speaker in 1973 (the GOP works harder, does better in South, takes over House.. possibly due to delayed 18 yr old vote amendment).

Agnew quits and for whatever reason no new VP (no 22nd, faster Watergate or slower Agnew resignation, etc)

So now the Dems are looking at the 1974 elections where they will retake the House.

Do they try to drag out things to prevent Ford as President ?
 
I'm not sure how much they could drag things out, if at all - after all, it's the President's choice whether or not to resign.

Incidentally, could Clinton have conceivably been picked as a VP candidate in '88? Or perhaps in '92, had he not run himself (or simply lost)? Perhaps Brown/Clinton or Tsongas/Clinton (or even Dukakis/Clinton) manages to beat G.H.W. Bush in '88 or '92; Clinton ends up running for (and winning) the presidency in '96 (if VP from '88) or 2000 (if VP from '92).
 
I'm not sure how much they could drag things out, if at all - after all, it's the President's choice whether or not to resign.

Incidentally, could Clinton have conceivably been picked as a VP candidate in '88? Or perhaps in '92, had he not run himself (or simply lost)? Perhaps Brown/Clinton or Tsongas/Clinton (or even Dukakis/Clinton) manages to beat G.H.W. Bush in '88 or '92; Clinton ends up running for (and winning) the presidency in '96 (if VP from '88) or 2000 (if VP from '92).

Clinton could be an obvious choice for VP in '92, and kind of a Dark Horse but plausible choice in '88. He'd be a ticket-balancing measure for any of those three candidates. If you get a Tsongas/Clinton ticket in '92, and Tsongas wins, and then gets cancer again at the same time in TTL, then you have a '97 Clinton Presidency through tragedy (possibly earlier if Tsongas has the 25th invoked during his medical issues).

Tsongas passed away on January 18th, 1997 in OTL, which means if he's re-elected in 1996, then ... it'd be interesting (Clinton'd become President, but it's an unprecedented situation).
 
1947-8 Eisenhower announces he is appalled at the depth of division in America. He seeks and obtains the nomination of both parties

The electiion is effectively for VP (with maybe more votes for Dixie crats and progs than in otl
 
Eisenhower: no idea.
Maybe he decides not to become NATO Commander, then when Mac gets the boot in the Korean War to raise morale Truman brings Eisenhower back (and he accepts) to command Korea. Then he runs for presidency in 1956 as a Democrat or 1960 as a Republican (although by 1960 the health issues would probably be a huge problem).
 
Top