In 1918, Franklin D. Roosevelt finally persuaded Secretary of the Navy Daniels to let him make an inspection tour in Europe. This tour almost cost FDR his life, not because of anything happening to him on the battlefields, but because of illness on the way back home:
"As the ship made its way across the Atlantic, Franklin fell ill, suffering from a debilitating combination of Spanish influenza and double pneumonia. Like Teddy, he sweat his way through a fever that would almost end his life. The flu cut a deadly path through the crew and passengers, resulting in a series of funerals at sea, but Franklin managed to survive. He arrived in New York so frail that he needed help getting off the ship and up the stairs to his mother’s townhouse..." https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014...ar-brought-teddy-roosevelt-and-franklin-delan
So suppose FDR actually dies a few months before Theodore (FDR having famously described their relationship as "fifth cousin by blood and nephew by law")? Of course in some respects this question is similar to one we have discussed in the past--"What if FDR had lost the close New York gubernatorial race in 1928"? In each case, there is the question of who the Democrats would nominate for president in 1932--Smith? (unlikely IMO after 1928--delegates from outside the Northeast would prefer almost anyone else) Garner? Baker? McAdoo? Etc.
However, while we can go into that, I am also interested in a relatively short-run consequence--who do the Democrats nominate as Cox's running mate (I assume they still nominate Cox for president) in 1920? You may say that this is unimportant because the ticket is doomed to go down to a landslide defeat, anyway. Agreed, but simply getting the vice-presidential nomination could bring someone to national attention (as it did to FDR in OTL) and enable him to have a better chance at a future presidential nomination. (As with FDR, few people will blame the vice-presidential nominee for the ticket's defeat.)
"As the ship made its way across the Atlantic, Franklin fell ill, suffering from a debilitating combination of Spanish influenza and double pneumonia. Like Teddy, he sweat his way through a fever that would almost end his life. The flu cut a deadly path through the crew and passengers, resulting in a series of funerals at sea, but Franklin managed to survive. He arrived in New York so frail that he needed help getting off the ship and up the stairs to his mother’s townhouse..." https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014...ar-brought-teddy-roosevelt-and-franklin-delan
So suppose FDR actually dies a few months before Theodore (FDR having famously described their relationship as "fifth cousin by blood and nephew by law")? Of course in some respects this question is similar to one we have discussed in the past--"What if FDR had lost the close New York gubernatorial race in 1928"? In each case, there is the question of who the Democrats would nominate for president in 1932--Smith? (unlikely IMO after 1928--delegates from outside the Northeast would prefer almost anyone else) Garner? Baker? McAdoo? Etc.
However, while we can go into that, I am also interested in a relatively short-run consequence--who do the Democrats nominate as Cox's running mate (I assume they still nominate Cox for president) in 1920? You may say that this is unimportant because the ticket is doomed to go down to a landslide defeat, anyway. Agreed, but simply getting the vice-presidential nomination could bring someone to national attention (as it did to FDR in OTL) and enable him to have a better chance at a future presidential nomination. (As with FDR, few people will blame the vice-presidential nominee for the ticket's defeat.)
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