FDR dies on the eve of D-Day

[Lost the game]

Just like it says on the tin. FDR dies of a heart attack the morning of June 5th, 1944. From now on every movie about D-Day will include a scene where news of his death spreads among the men, followed by someone, probably Eisenhower, reading a message from newly-inaugurated President Henry Wallace.

How does Wallace prosecute the war? Does he attend the Moscow Conference in October 1944, or is he too busy trying to win reelection? Does he win, or does he lose to Dewey? Who does he pick as a running mate?

More to the point, supposing he loses to Dewey, how does Dewey handle the Yalta and Potsdam conferences? How does Stalin react to going from the Russophile Wallace to the anti-communist Dewey? Do either Wallace or Dewey drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

 

[Anarch King of Dipsodes]

First, it is not certain that Wallace would be the nominee. There was a lot of pressure on FDR from senior Democrats to replace Wallace on the ticket, which he yielded to. (Though in his usual tricky way, he never told Wallace.) True, Wallace had become the rank-and-file favorite for VP by 1944 (which is ironic, because FDR had to bully the convention to accept Wallace in 1940). But those top insiders were really against him. I'd say it would be a toss-up.

Second, if Wallace is the nominee, the Republicans can torpedo him with the "Dear Guru" letters. Back in the 1930s, Wallace had been a follower of the eccentric Russian mystic and agronomist Nicholas Roerich. In the letters, Wallace addressed Roerich as "Dear Guru", with with bizarre rhetoric about "the sign of the three stars" and "the coming of the stone". (He later broke with Roerich and even got the IRS to audit him.) Republicans got hold of the letters, but were stopped from using them in 1940 when Democrats threatened to reveal Willkie's adultery with Irita Van Doren.

In 1944, that threat wouldn't hold; the letters were one reason Democrat insiders wanted to dump Wallace. So IMO, Dewey could and probably would beat Wallace. I would add that Wallace was not really a politician; he never ran for office until 1940, and then only as a "running mate", not on his own.

It's even possible that Democrats use the letters to knock out Wallace. Who else would be the nominee? It might be "Assistant President" James Byrnes, former US Senator and Supreme Court Justice, and since 1941, FDR's "war economy czar". After him, Idunno. Not Truman, IMO; he was surprised when FDR tapped him for VP.