Brandeis and Roosevelt

I am writing an alternate history book where Roosevelt gets elected to a third term as a Republican in 1912. I would like to know if Louis Brandeis would ever join his cabinet. If he does join would be secretary of Labour of Attorney General? Thanks in advance.
 
Yes. But I figure that a Progressive is a Progressive no matter the party and I was plannig on having FDR as Secretary of the Navy as well.
 
Indeed, Brandeis was a Democrat. In fact, he was one of Wilson's advisers on legal issues. More importantly, Brandeis and TR differed fundamentally on how to deal with the problems created by the rise of large corporations and trusts.
To simplify a very sophisticalted intellectual argument, I would argue that TR believed that large corporations and trusts were a fact of economic life and that their behavior (if it was "bad") should be controlled by an equally powerful government. Brandeis and Wilson believed (at least in 1912) that large corporations and trusts were by their very nature bad and should be broken up by government action such as anti-trust laws so that more small corporations could take their place and produce a true competitive economy.
Wilson moved towards TR's position during his Presidency but Brandeis retained his faith in anti-trust law and small corporations and an aversion to big government during his service on the SC.
I therefore think that it is unlikely that TR would appoint Brandeis as AG or to the SC, but it is possible that if TR was trying to broaden his new government in 1913 he might aqppoint a Democrat such as Brandeis Secretary of Labor.

Your obedient servant
 
Abbie Hoffman and Angela Davis (and others, of course) went to Brandeis University.

If Brandeis isn't say on the supreme court, it is possible that Brandeis University --founded in 1948-- will exist with a different name or it might not exist at all, give or take butterflies.

edit: columnist Thomas L. Friedman, a person who has been "sounded out" by Obama on Middle East policies, also went to Brandeis.
 
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Thank you all. I will take this into advisement.
Here is the cabinet so far:
Vice President-Charles Evans Hughes.
Secretary of State-Henry Cabot Lodge Sr.
Secretary of the Treasury-?
Secretary of War-?
Attorney General-?
Postmaster General-?
Secretary of the Navy-Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Secretary of the Interior-?
Secretary of Agriculture-?
Secretary of Labour-Louis Brandeis.
Secretary of Commerce-Henry Ford? Maybe?(won't that be interesting?)
 
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Indeed, Brandeis was a Democrat. In fact, he was one of Wilson's advisers on legal issues. More importantly, Brandeis and TR differed fundamentally on how to deal with the problems created by the rise of large corporations and trusts.
To simplify a very sophisticalted intellectual argument, I would argue that TR believed that large corporations and trusts were a fact of economic life and that their behavior (if it was "bad") should be controlled by an equally powerful government. Brandeis and Wilson believed (at least in 1912) that large corporations and trusts were by their very nature bad and should be broken up by government action such as anti-trust laws so that more small corporations could take their place and produce a true competitive economy.
Wilson moved towards TR's position during his Presidency but Brandeis retained his faith in anti-trust law and small corporations and an aversion to big government during his service on the SC.
I therefore think that it is unlikely that TR would appoint Brandeis as AG or to the SC, but it is possible that if TR was trying to broaden his new government in 1913 he might aqppoint a Democrat such as Brandeis Secretary of Labor.

Your obedient servant

Although this is very true, its important to realize that in OTL, Wilson came around to TR's point of view. The Federal Reserve, as it existed under Wilson, was almost totally a Roosevelt ideal which Wilson took after getting elected.
the point is, is that if the shoe is on the other foot, and TR gets elected, he will do so with a pluraility of the lectoral college but, likely without a plurality of the popular vote. Being a good politician, he is going to know that he needs to bring people together and, as a staunch Progressive democrat, Brandeis would be a very good choice for some position in the cabinet.
 
Mr, Rick,

Since your POD is TR getting the GOP nomination in 1912 I believe that it might have the following consequences:
1. In OTL TR's VP running mate was Senator Hiram Johnson of California. This made sense both politically (Johnson was a leading Progressive Republican and he was willing to make the jump to the new party) and geographically, balancing TR's home state of NY. I do not think Johnson would have been a good ticket balancer in your TL.
2. Assuming that TR has won a hard fought battle with Taft for the nomination or that Taft withdrew from consideration because of some sort of health problem, I think that TR would need to choose a running mate either from the conservative wing of the party or at least not actively toxic to that wing. That rules out Johnson.
3. Charles Evans Hughes is also out because as a fellow New Yorker, under the 12th Amendment, a TR/Hughes ticket would forfeit tht electoral votes of NY. A reliably conservative midwesterner would seem to be a lolgical choice but I do not have an individual in mind.
4. I agree that Lodge wouold be a good choice for Secretary of State. However, if he wished to stay in the Senate, perhaps TR could convince his friend Elihu Root to return to the job. If TR is the GOP nominee, perhpas the bad blood between TR and Root that developed in OTL because of Root's efforts for Taft at the convention can be butterflied away. For Attorney General perhaps the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY who was serving as Taft's Secretary of War, Henry Stimson. For Secretary of War, TR's old friend Leonard Wood. For Secretary of the Treasury, TR's friend and campagin finance chairman, George Perkins. For the Secretary of the Interior, TR's friend Gifford Pinchot (if the Taft wing can swallow someone that Taft had fired for insubordination as Chief of the Forestry Service).
5. As stated above, Brandeis would be a good, coaltion building choice for Secretary of Labor if he could be convinced to serve in a GOP administration. Brandeis was really the first of the "superlawyers"; a lawyer who was known throughout the country and who had a national practice.
6. I have my doubts about FDR for Secretary of the Navy. In 1913 FDR was a young, partisan Democrat who had only served a few years in the NY State Senate. Aside from issues of nepotism that such an appointment would raise, TR did not have an overwhelmingly high opinion of his distant relative who had married his favorite niece. Like many in the Oyster Bay Roosevelt family (and in politics in general) FDR was considered something of a lightweight. Charming, but not very smart.

Your obedient servant
 
Thanks for the advice. How about Joe Cannon as VP? How would Charles Evans Hughes fit into a TR administration? And a little off topic how did Alice Roosevelt Longford(?) refer to her stepmother? Stepmother, mother or Edith?
 
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Mr. Rick,

I will have to think a bit more about VP.
Charles Evans Hughes was on the SC in 1912 and I don't know if he would leave the Court to accept a cabinet position. Interestingly enough, Edmund Morris in his latest TR book "Colonel Roosevelt" states that there was no love lost between TR and CEH. Although their politics were relatively close, their personalities clashed.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth had, to the best of my knowledge, a minimum high regard for her stepmother. Of course, you have to remember that Princess Alice was famous for her acerbic personality and is considered the source of the famous quote "If you don't have anything good to say about anybody, come sit beside me."

Your obedient servant
 
Does anyone know any good free newspaper archieves going back to 1912 for England, Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Canada, Ottoman Empire, U.S.? And are there any places where I can find first hand accounts online?
 
Anyone have any ideas for Secretary of Agriculture?or Commerce? Or Postmaster General?
 
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