Alternate President Speculation

In 1940, with World War 2 butterflied away by Hitler's death on the battlefield in World War 1, FDR chooses not to run for a third term in 1940. With the position open, Vice President John Nance Garner wins the nomination and defeats the Republican candidate in the general election. My question is, what sort of President would Garner have been? Would he have continued Roosevelt's New Deal policies, or would he have taken a different path?
 
What makes you so sure Garner would get the nomination TTL? Remember, he was against the biggest achievements of the Roosevelt administration, so the Dems would have to be in a weird place to pick him...
 
I could well see Secretary of Commerce Harry L. Hopkins. He died in 1946, but he was a very distinguished member of the Brain Trust and had a lot of connections in politics.
 
I could well see Secretary of Commerce Harry L. Hopkins. He died in 1946, but he was a very distinguished member of the Brain Trust and had a lot of connections in politics.

You could have a few people from the Brain Trust go for the Presidency.

But, as said previous, Garner will never be President. The Southerners were only there to balance out tickets.
 
What makes you so sure Garner would get the nomination TTL? Remember, he was against the biggest achievements of the Roosevelt administration, so the Dems would have to be in a weird place to pick him...

I think polling at the time showed Garner to be the favorite among the Democratic Party given FDR's decision not to seek a third term. Granted, Garner would not exactly generate enthusiasm among Roosevelt's supporters. Depending on the Republican candidate, I can see Garner losing because of the fact that he isn't going to draw out the vote in the same way Roosevelt did. Indeed, if Wendell Wilkie somehow gets the nomination, I'd imagine FDR would actually hope for a Republican victory.

I can see a Garner nomination, but I'm having a harder time seeing him win the election. Not sure who the Republicans nominate.

Of course, if they nominate Robert Taft, then all bets are off. I'm not sure how Roosevelt supporters react to a circumstance in which both the major nominees are absolutely abhorrent.
 
FDR is more than likely drafted anyway to run again given the feelings of many of the political bosses at the time regarding Willkie and Dewey.

Other than that most likely whomever Roosevelt endorses as his successor, either Cordell Hull or James Farley.​
 

wormyguy

Banned
A Garner nomination is hardly impossible - remember that the nomination was decided by convention, not primaries, and there's no reason he couldn't get the nomination backed by the southern delegates and several northern big-city machines. The bigger problem with this idea is that it was the conventional wisdom at the time that any Democrat besides FDR would lose.
 
Harry Hopkins, Cordell Hull, and Burton Wheeler could all be promising nominees. Henry Wallace would be an impossibility given the difficulty FDR had even getting the Party on board with his VP nod.

Garner I suspect won't run. This is a tim in history when the Vice Presidency is still very much a retirement gift.
 
I like to see Huey P. Long of Louisiana as President in 1936 or 1940 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long#Presidential_ambitions
200px-Huey-long-memorial-picture.jpg
if he had lived that long.

"My First Days in the White House was a book written by Huey Long. Called his "second autobiography" and published posthumously in 1935, it emphatically laid out his presidential ambitions for the election of 1936

Summary Approaching the 1936 presidential elections, Louisiana Governor Huey Long details a political fantasy in which he is president of the United States. Through imaginary conversations with men of power, his aspirations including the "Share the Wealth" plan are presented. Long fantasizes his inauguration as President of the United States detailing that he would swear in on the bible his father had read to him and his brothers and sisters. He also detailed his nomination picks for his executive cabinet...
Secretary of State: William Edgar Borah
Secretary of the Treasury: James J. Couzens
Secretary of War: Smedley Butler
Secretary of the Navy: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Attorney General: Frank Murphy
Secretary of the Interior: Lytle Brown
Secretary of Commerce: Herbert Hoover
Secretary of Labor: Edward Keating"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_First_Days_in_the_White_House

Excerpts From Huey Long's
"Second Autobiography"

http://www.ssa.gov/history/hueywhouse.html

Huey long was an isolationist so there would not be a lead lease program or us entry in to world war 2.
 
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I like to see Huey Long as President in 1936 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long#Presidential_ambitions
200px-Huey-long-memorial-picture.jpg
if he had lived that long.

"My First Days in the White House was a book written by Huey Long. Called his "second autobiography" and published posthumously in 1935, it emphatically laid out his presidential ambitions for the election of 1936

Summary Approaching the 1936 presidential elections, Louisiana Governor Huey Long details a political fantasy in which he is president of the United States. Through imaginary conversations with men of power, his aspirations including the "Share the Wealth" plan are presented. Long fantasizes his inauguration as President of the United States detailing that he would swear in on the bible his father had read to him and his brothers and sisters. He also detailed his nomination picks for his executive cabinet...
Secretary of State: William Edgar Borah
Secretary of the Treasury: James J. Couzens
Secretary of War: Smedley Butler
Secretary of the Navy: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Attorney General: Frank Murphy
Secretary of the Interior: Lytle Brown
Secretary of Commerce: Herbert Hoover
Secretary of Labor: Edward Keating"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_First_Days_in_the_White_House

Excerpts From Huey Long's
"Second Autobiography"
http://www.ssa.gov/history/hueywhouse.html

Herbert Hoover for Secretary of Commerce?

Oh sure, pick the guy everyone blames for the depression and stick him in a high level cabinet position. That's sure to end well in the public opinion polls. :rolleyes:
 
Herbert Hoover for Secretary of Commerce?

Oh sure, pick the guy everyone blames for the depression and stick him in a high level cabinet position. That's sure to end well in the public opinion polls. :rolleyes:

I see neither Hoover nor FDR participating in that cabinet.
 
Herbert Hoover for Secretary of Commerce?

Oh sure, pick the guy everyone blames for the depression and stick him in a high level cabinet position. That's sure to end well in the public opinion polls. :rolleyes:

I did not pick the list , Huey long did in his book.
not sure why he wanted 2 former presidents in there.
 
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