While reading Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt by H.W. Brands, I noticed a passage detailing the 1922 race for the Governorship in New York. F.D.R. at first offered the Governorship, and Al Smith was to be nominated for Senator by the state Democrats, but Roosevelt, feigning weakness thanks to his rather recent bout with infantile paralysis/polio.
In response, Smith was more or less forced to take up the Gubernatorial bid because of a potential challenge from Newspaper baron and former U.S. Representative William Randolph Hearst for the Governorship, which Tammany feared because of his potential power to sway voters through his papers and personal populist rhetoric. Smith would eventually take the nomination over Hearst, and the rest is history.
But what if Smith had declined, and Hearst had gotten the Gubernatorial nomination? And, supposing he won the race, where would this lead Mr. Hearst in the future? He had presidential ambitions in the early 1900s, which gives me the impression that he might just play on those again, in say, 1932. That, combined with his reactionary views in later years might make for a potent combination in Depression-era America...
In response, Smith was more or less forced to take up the Gubernatorial bid because of a potential challenge from Newspaper baron and former U.S. Representative William Randolph Hearst for the Governorship, which Tammany feared because of his potential power to sway voters through his papers and personal populist rhetoric. Smith would eventually take the nomination over Hearst, and the rest is history.
But what if Smith had declined, and Hearst had gotten the Gubernatorial nomination? And, supposing he won the race, where would this lead Mr. Hearst in the future? He had presidential ambitions in the early 1900s, which gives me the impression that he might just play on those again, in say, 1932. That, combined with his reactionary views in later years might make for a potent combination in Depression-era America...