In preparation for an upcoming timeline I'm going to be starting soon, I wanted to get the general opinion(s) of the Post-1900 forum on the possible effects of a (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt cabinet reshuffle from the get-go.
The two biggest changes I am proposing are going to happen relatively early on. Thomas Walsh, who was Attorney General-designate right up until the inauguration (before his death on the way to the capitol), is a bit healthier and survives long enough to take up the job of Attorney General. IOTL, the job eventually went to Homer Stille Cummings, a Democratic National Committeeman and former trial lawyer who helped prop up the early New Deal with vague, if sympathetic rulings on the constitutionality of major reforms that were enacted. Cummings is also the man partly responsible for pushing Roosevelt on down the road toward the 'Court Packing' debacle, so removing him is going to have some serious effects on the course of the administration.
On the introduction of Walsh specifically into the mix, what can we expect? I haven't been able to scrounge much up on Walsh (aside from the fact that he was Senator from Montana and a key figure in the breaking of the Tea Pot Dome scandal), and even with a POD keeping him alive until inauguration day, I'm not sure he'll last that long into the Roosevelt administration (He was 73 when he died in 1933, after all). The first major ruling Cummings gave FDR was telling him that the banks could be closed under the 1917 Trading with the Enemies Act, and that was pretty vague at best. Would Walsh agree/disagree? I'm inclined to think that he'd ascent to the move itself, with the circumstances surrounding the inaugural itself and the ever increasing runs on the bank.
If I keep Walsh on until 1937 (which I plan to, at this point), I want to try and avoid the Court Packing debacle that ruined much of Roosevelt's political capital in his second term and gave the conservatives a second wind in 1938-1939. To do this, I was thinking of having Roosevelt propose a constitutional amendment allowing for the Federal government to explicitly intervene in the economy, though I don't know exactly how I would word that. Either that, or have the SCOTUS not take up cases like Scheter Poultry Corp., etc.
The second big change I'm going to try and work in is the avoidance of the New Deal's arch-fiscal conservative, Henry Morgenthau, from becoming Secretary of the Treasury. Treasury Secretary William Woodin will resign as per OTL in 1934, though I want to replace him with someone more...malleable. I was thinking about putting Joe Kennedy in at Treasury and putting Morgenthau at the SEC, but I'm not exactly sure about how Kennedy would handle the job at the Treasury Department (this of course is probably where RogueBeaver comes in
).
At any rate, my key goal in this proposed cabinet shuffle is to (a) provide for a swifter economic recovery and (b) keep the Court-packing plan from happening, and thus, dirtying up the Roosevelt administration's reputation.
The two biggest changes I am proposing are going to happen relatively early on. Thomas Walsh, who was Attorney General-designate right up until the inauguration (before his death on the way to the capitol), is a bit healthier and survives long enough to take up the job of Attorney General. IOTL, the job eventually went to Homer Stille Cummings, a Democratic National Committeeman and former trial lawyer who helped prop up the early New Deal with vague, if sympathetic rulings on the constitutionality of major reforms that were enacted. Cummings is also the man partly responsible for pushing Roosevelt on down the road toward the 'Court Packing' debacle, so removing him is going to have some serious effects on the course of the administration.
On the introduction of Walsh specifically into the mix, what can we expect? I haven't been able to scrounge much up on Walsh (aside from the fact that he was Senator from Montana and a key figure in the breaking of the Tea Pot Dome scandal), and even with a POD keeping him alive until inauguration day, I'm not sure he'll last that long into the Roosevelt administration (He was 73 when he died in 1933, after all). The first major ruling Cummings gave FDR was telling him that the banks could be closed under the 1917 Trading with the Enemies Act, and that was pretty vague at best. Would Walsh agree/disagree? I'm inclined to think that he'd ascent to the move itself, with the circumstances surrounding the inaugural itself and the ever increasing runs on the bank.
If I keep Walsh on until 1937 (which I plan to, at this point), I want to try and avoid the Court Packing debacle that ruined much of Roosevelt's political capital in his second term and gave the conservatives a second wind in 1938-1939. To do this, I was thinking of having Roosevelt propose a constitutional amendment allowing for the Federal government to explicitly intervene in the economy, though I don't know exactly how I would word that. Either that, or have the SCOTUS not take up cases like Scheter Poultry Corp., etc.
The second big change I'm going to try and work in is the avoidance of the New Deal's arch-fiscal conservative, Henry Morgenthau, from becoming Secretary of the Treasury. Treasury Secretary William Woodin will resign as per OTL in 1934, though I want to replace him with someone more...malleable. I was thinking about putting Joe Kennedy in at Treasury and putting Morgenthau at the SEC, but I'm not exactly sure about how Kennedy would handle the job at the Treasury Department (this of course is probably where RogueBeaver comes in
At any rate, my key goal in this proposed cabinet shuffle is to (a) provide for a swifter economic recovery and (b) keep the Court-packing plan from happening, and thus, dirtying up the Roosevelt administration's reputation.