alternatehistory.com

We know that Calvin Coolidge emerged as a solid President in the early 20th Century. After Harding died in 1923, he served out Harding's term, then won election in his own right in 1924, and re-election in 1928, dying in office on January 5, 1933 as he was helping FDR transition.

His cool leadership after the Panic of 1929, when the stock market crashed, is seen by many as a model for handling an economic crisis. While unemployment briefly spiked in 1929 and 1930, Coolidge pushed a tax cut taking the top rate down to 18% (the only other tax rates were 3%, 8%, and 12%), and arguably deserved credit for the economic expansion. By 1932, unemployment was back down to pre-crash levels

While FDR did win the 1932 election in a close race against Herbert Hoover, his 1933 tax increases (he nearly tripled the top tax rate), and his pursuit of former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in a politically-motivated agenda soured much of the American public on him when the economy stalled, and he ended up losing to Alf Landon in the 1936 election, garnering only 47% of the vote as Landon promised to return to Coolidge's policies.

So, suppose Coolidge didn't run in 1928? Who might the GOP have nominated, and would they have handled the Panic of 1929 as well as Coolidge did, or would they have made a mess of things? Would Alf Landon still have become President, and still emerge as the great wartime leader he was from 1938-1945, when he stepped down and turned things over to Robert A. Taft, who served two terms himself before Harry Truman won the 1952 election?
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