DBWI: Senator Harding not murdered in 1917

You still see a lot of sensationalist stuff about the murder of Senator Warren G. Harding by his jealous wife in 1917. What I think should be mentioned more is that at the time of his death he was already being spoken of as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 1920 by people who compared him to McKinley--a small-city Ohio conservative with broad popular appeal. I could easily see him as a compromise nominee. And had he been nominated and elected, I'm pretty sure that America would have joined the League. As he said in 1916, endorsing President Wilson's League to Enforce Peace speech, "I will always welcome such an alliance as proposed by President Wilson. Peace is an aim commendable enough to justify almost any kind of arrangement with other Powers." https://books.google.com/books?id=iyfEIkl3hXcC&pg=PA374

And I wonder if Governor Cox would have done so badly in 1920 if not for his pardon of Florence Harding. A lot of people thought it was motivated by politics, not mercy.
 
You still see a lot of sensationalist stuff about the murder of Senator Warren G. Harding by his jealous wife in 1917. What I think should be mentioned more is that at the time of his death he was already being spoken of as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 1920 by people who compared him to McKinley--a small-city Ohio conservative with broad popular appeal. I could easily see him as a compromise nominee. And had he been nominated and elected, I'm pretty sure that America would have joined the League. As he said in 1916, endorsing President Wilson's League to Enforce Peace speech, "I will always welcome such an alliance as proposed by President Wilson. Peace is an aim commendable enough to justify almost any kind of arrangement with other Powers." https://books.google.com/books?id=iyfEIkl3hXcC&pg=PA374

And I wonder if Governor Cox would have done so badly in 1920 if not for his pardon of Florence Harding. A lot of people thought it was motivated by politics, not mercy.

Coolidge was pretty popular after the Boston police strike, so I think he's still nominated for President in 1920. But Harding could easily have been his VP, and possibly President himself in 1929.
 
Harding was associating and some unscrupulous individuals. I do see the potential for a corruption scandal in a Harding Administration.
 
Harding was associating and some unscrupulous individuals. I do see the potential for a corruption scandal in a Harding Administration.

Even in his own right Harding was very morally compromised: if his infidelity got to the point where his own wife resorted to murder, what would prevent a sex scandal from costing Harding the election?

Nominating Harding in 1920 might be the only way the Republicans can lose that election. Earlier I did mention that Harding could've been elected. But let's be honest with ourselves: could a man with so many skeletons in his closet actually win the Presidency?
 
Major General Wood slaughtered Cox in 1920. The Republicans won traditionally Democratic states like Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.

Coolidge was pretty much agreed upon by all sides as the go-to VP choice in 1920. Harding was younger and healthier than Wood, so I imagine Coolidge wouldn't become President if Harding were nominee.

Would Harding let Hoover build his interstate road system the way Wood had? Wood was convinced by the military mobilization aspect, but I'm not sure that Harding would have been as easily persuaded. I'm not sure the Hoover-Wood Dam would have been built in Nevada either.

Mellon would probably be Treasury Secretary in a Harding Administration just as he had been in the Wood administration.

I can't see why Harding wouldn't take Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace's advice to support farmers hurt by the agriculture price fluctuations after WWI. Maybe Harding wouldn't have been as deferential in the same way Wood had been.

We wouldn't see the military buildup in the Philippines that occurred under Wood. Harding probably would have drastically cut back on the military, whereas Wood maintained a good chunk of it.


The Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act and the modest steps towards public assistance in the realm of health provision (Wood being a doctor cared quite a bit about that stuff) probably don't pass under Harding.

Harding might pass an anti-lynching bill sooner. OTL it took until Coolidge for one to pass.
Harding might let Debs out of prison. Wood was an intense anti-communist and was content to let him rot.


I think if not for the sympathy factor that Coolidge got from succeeding Wood in 1926, Hoover would have bumped him out for nominee I think. The country saw him as a great man of action. This probably would be a net-minus. Hoover OTL called on companies not to reduce wages in the face of depression, but Coolidge was content to sit on his hands (or at least appear as such - nobody talks about the couple of welfare/relief bills he signed, least of all Silent Cal). Without the cushion of wage cuts, more people would have been put out of work.

OOC: I already established that Coolidge was the Republican Presidential nominee in 1920:

Coolidge was pretty popular after the Boston police strike, so I think he's still nominated for President in 1920. But Harding could easily have been his VP, and possibly President himself in 1929.
 
You still see a lot of sensationalist stuff about the murder of Senator Warren G. Harding by his jealous wife in 1917. What I think should be mentioned more is that at the time of his death he was already being spoken of as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 1920 by people who compared him to McKinley--a small-city Ohio conservative with broad popular appeal. I could easily see him as a compromise nominee. And had he been nominated and elected, I'm pretty sure that America would have joined the League. As he said in 1916, endorsing President Wilson's League to Enforce Peace speech, "I will always welcome such an alliance as proposed by President Wilson. Peace is an aim commendable enough to justify almost any kind of arrangement with other Powers." https://books.google.com/books?id=iyfEIkl3hXcC&pg=PA374

And I wonder if Governor Cox would have done so badly in 1920 if not for his pardon of Florence Harding. A lot of people thought it was motivated by politics, not mercy.

Cox was going to lose that election no matter what: Wilson and the Democrats were just so unpopular that 1920 was an easy Republican year. But if he hadn't pardoned Mrs. Harding, Cox could've kept it closer: Coolidge had no charisma and the tension between him and his running mate Irvine Lenroot was obvious to everyone.
 
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