The Dark Twenties and Depressing Thirties:
1917-1940
Marshall’s plan of a German American alliance fell apart after the Kaiser rejected his proposal, allowing the Whigs to recapture the White House in the 1920 election. William Hale Thompson was elected the 28th president of the United States. Thompson appointed Alphonse "Al" Capone as his Attorney General. During this dark time in American history, Thompson employed the Mafia to attack political rivals and disrupt voting. Thompson claimed to adress telegraph prices and their service quality, but due to most being foreign owned, he could do little about the issue. During Thompson’s two terms, corruption helped erode what power the president still possessed. Most of the power drifted to the House of Representatives, leading to the creation of a new position known as the Majority House Speaker. This office was roughly an equivalent combination of the Speaker of the House and a Prime Minister. This office possessed the true power in the US, with the president merely having the power to sign bills into law, and if they had the forceful personality, veto it. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge (Whig) was elected as the first Majority House Speaker. Speaker Coolidge used his new powers to keep Thompson in check. During this time, the only American telegraph company was bought out by the Haitian company Bri Bwi in 1927. Facing threats from Europe and Asia, the United States were forced to cede sections of the country as enclaves to the United Kingdom (Bar Harbor, Maine), the Confederacy (Long Island, New York), Spain (Atlantic City, New Jersey), the German Union (Cape Cod, Massachusetts), and Japan (St. Helens, Oregon).
As the 1920s passed, the Populists regained the House with Franklin Roosevelt becoming the next Speaker in 1928, ending in 1935. President Norman Thomas worked with Speaker Alf Landon to implement the Autonomy Act of 1936, which allowed the states greater power to deal with their issues. “Power to the people,” President Thomas told the American public during a press conference. While it seemed a great move politically, in reality, the states out west had already taken more power upon themselves. It was simply a move to save face. Out west, Deseret was the only state that truly prospered, most of this wealth in the hands of the mormon population. The only states that the national government still held true power over was West Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. But even in these states, the US was forced to cave for foreign demands. Anytime that citizens attacked foreigners, their governments would simply deploy their army to strike back.
With enclaves on their soil, many in the US feared that America would be the battleground between the German Union and its enemies. Confederates down south, however, more concerned with the Spanish in Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Populist government attempted to stay clear of foreign entanglements. In the 1940 presidential election, the strong willed governor of New York Thomas E Dewey defeated his populist opponent Jennings Lewis. Dewey, though a Whig, was soon to be proven an entirely different breed of the party of Butler.