Fascist USA after Great Depression, what would it take?

I once wrote that if the New Deal had failed politically, the most likely alternative for America would not be revolution or civil war, fascism or communism, or even Huey Long or Upton Sinclair. It would probably be Arthur Vandenberg or Alf Landon. I joked that this was the most boring fact in alternate history...

(The point is not that America is unique, and that therefore it "can't happen here." Rather, the point is that *most* well-established democracies--democracy in Germany and Italy and Spain was hardly "well-established"--did in fact muddle through in the 1930's, often under center-right governments like the UK under the National Government, Australia under Lyons, etc. Even France was governed by centrist or conservative governments for most of the 1930's, the Popular Front being a relatively brief interlude.)

And how well-established was the Taisho democracy, by your reckoning? Seeing how they didn't muddle through either.
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
Didn't Long hate big business? If anything I'd see Long has an enlightened despot.


George Van Horn Moseley or William H Murray would be better candidates for a fascist America IMHO?

Strange how often Huey Long's name comes up in American fascist discussions. I, for one, think the complete lack of racism in Long's rhetoric and anti-big business focus probably discounts him from that ideology.

I love the outline of @Emperor Julian 's timline though...

Long wouldn't be a fascist in the European sense with their racialist ideologies, but he is a radical populist with an authoritarian side and was willing to bend or break the law to get what he wanted, as well as make deals with unsavory characters. If he became president, I doubt he would have much respect for checks and balances. He would also try to expand the power of the state and ensure that civil servants owed loyalty to him. Given enough time he might even form a cult of personality.
 
an authoritarian side and was willing to bend or break the law to get what he wanted, as well as make deals with unsavory characters.

So, like essentially every succesful politician in the world, democratic system or not. Every celebrated president, american or not, bent the laws in a degree to serve his will. The only real difference is that Long's way to do it broke with the traditional system that was implemented in his state back in the day.
 

Deleted member 94680

Long wouldn't be a fascist in the European sense with their racialist ideologies, but he is a radical populist with an authoritarian side and was willing to bend or break the law to get what he wanted, as well as make deals with unsavory characters. If he became president, I doubt he would have much respect for checks and balances. He would also try to expand the power of the state and ensure that civil servants owed loyalty to him. Given enough time he might even form a cult of personality.

Exactly, there's more chance of Long being some form of "Dixie Mao" than a "Southern Hitler". I'm not so sure about "expand the power of the state" unless you mean Louisiana rather than Washington D.C.

When I criticised Long being held up as a fascist President, I was more thinking about the TLs I've seen (even possibly a book, IIRC) where he has a Gestapo-esque police force and some form of Blackshirt-style paramilitary crushing dissent.
 
Also, do you people think japan would be an ally of the US in this timeline? Or at least neutral to it? Even though the sanctions levied against japan would probably never be applied ITTL, their mutual spheres of influence would eventually clash (philippines seems like the obvious place). Perhaps a japan that is not defeated in Khalkin Gol, and thus continues to pursue a foreign policy focused on the russian far east.
 
Also, do you people think japan would be an ally of the US in this timeline? Or at least neutral to it? Even though the sanctions levied against japan would probably never be applied ITTL, their mutual spheres of influence would eventually clash (philippines seems like the obvious place). Perhaps a japan that is not defeated in Khalkin Gol, and thus continues to pursue a foreign policy focused on the russian far east.

Japan was really unlikely to win Khalkin Gol, and their interests were already at odds in China. I think they still clash. Japan didn't consciously choose Mussolini as a role model like Hitler did, so they wouldn't inherently see themselves as ideological allies.
 
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