DBWI: An earlier Theodore Roosevelt Presidency?

Today, September 11 is the 70th anniversary of the death of Theodore Roosevelt who served as President of the United States from 1921 to 1929. Prior to his 1920 election to the White House, Roosevelt was one of the greatest military leaders of the 20th century.

After leading his Rough Riders militia in the victorious Spanish-American War of 1898, Roosevelt decided to stay in the military despite please from his supporters in New York to run for Governor that year. Rising through the ranks of the Army, Roosevelt would be the first to advocate the creation of an Air Corps. When the USA entered the Great War, Roosevelt was promoted to General and his innovative air combat strategies contributed to the Allied victory in 1918 and cemented him as a national American hero. By the time the Republican party convention met in 1920, Roosevelt was near unanimously nominated for the Presidency with Calvin Coolidge as his running mate. Roosevelt was elected in a landslide by winning every state outside the South and taking 61 percent of the popular vote.

The highlights of Roosevelt's Presidency include a peace treaty with Germany and a five year abolition of tariffs against German products, financial reforms that cleaned up Wall Street and weakened the power of business trusts, statehood for Hawaii and the 1926 Voting Rights Act. In 1928, Vice President Coolidge chose to retire and President Roosevelt named Treasury Secretary Herbert Hoover as his successor. Roosevelt's popularity enabled Hoover to defeat Al Smith.

What if Roosevelt decided to return to civilian life in 1898 and run for Governor. Would he have run for President in 1904? And would he have been as successful if he was President earlier? Would he have been able to convince Congress to fund the construction of the Nicaragua Canal for instance?

And who might have won the Republican nomination in 1920 other than TR?
 
Today, September 11 is the 70th anniversary of the death of Theodore Roosevelt who served as President of the United States from 1921 to 1929. Prior to his 1920 election to the White House, Roosevelt was one of the greatest military leaders of the 20th century.

After leading his Rough Riders militia in the victorious Spanish-American War of 1898, Roosevelt decided to stay in the military despite please from his supporters in New York to run for Governor that year. Rising through the ranks of the Army, Roosevelt would be the first to advocate the creation of an Air Corps. When the USA entered the Great War, Roosevelt was promoted to General and his innovative air combat strategies contributed to the Allied victory in 1918 and cemented him as a national American hero. By the time the Republican party convention met in 1920, Roosevelt was near unanimously nominated for the Presidency with Calvin Coolidge as his running mate. Roosevelt was elected in a landslide by winning every state outside the South and taking 61 percent of the popular vote.

The highlights of Roosevelt's Presidency include a peace treaty with Germany and a five year abolition of tariffs against German products, financial reforms that cleaned up Wall Street and weakened the power of business trusts, statehood for Hawaii and the 1926 Voting Rights Act. In 1928, Vice President Coolidge chose to retire and President Roosevelt named Treasury Secretary Herbert Hoover as his successor. Roosevelt's popularity enabled Hoover to defeat Al Smith.

What if Roosevelt decided to return to civilian life in 1898 and run for Governor. Would he have run for President in 1904? And would he have been as successful if he was President earlier? Would he have been able to convince Congress to fund the construction of the Nicaragua Canal for instance?

And who might have won the Republican nomination in 1920 other than TR?

So, when would you like to see him President? If he were to run for Governor, I could see TR maybe, MAYBE, getting the nod to be McKinley's Vice-Presidential candidate that year; although I find it a bit difficult to see, since TR would only have been Governor for one term, and I can't see him being popular with the New York Republican machine.

In any case, if you have McKinley die in Buffalo, like he almost did, then you could have a President Roosevelt in 1901; he'd only be in his 40s, which would make him one of the youngest Presidents in history, at that point.

Of course, that problem with that, is then we butterly away the LaFollette Presidency which, as a native Wisconsinite (and proud Republican), I'm horrified to think of, no matter how much I respect TR. Would Roosevelt have been able to enact his version of the "American Idea", as well as LaFollette, or strengthen the Progressive branch of the Republican Party? I'm not sure about this; Roosevelt proved to be a talented politician, but in his OTL Presidency, he didn't seem to have the same sense of building up a faction within a party. I mean, he ran as a LaFollette Republican, and no matter his popularity, he ended up bending to the Stalwarts quite a bit in OTL, and the Stalwarts returned to the Presidency right after TR left office.

An interesting thought, all in all, though, I must say!
 
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