A simple enough 'what-if'. What happens through the course of Roosevelt's fourth term, a term in which he never has the brain hemorrhage that killed him in 1945, as in OTL.
- Roosevelt is undoubtedly going to use the Atomic Bomb on Japan. I really can't foresee a reason why he wouldn't, but where are his targets? Does he still have Hiroshima and Nagasaki burnt to dust, or does he set his sights on Tokyo?
- Following the war itself, how does the post-war peace turn out? Does Roosevelt follow the same path as Truman, or is he more relaxed to the actions of the Soviets, or even more aggressive, in that mold?
- On the domestic front, I think it's rather unlikely that the Republicans will come out in full force and regain the Congress in 1946, meaning a very different 80th Congress, since their initial gain of Congress was because of Truman's perceived ineptness when it came to actually leading the country. Does Roosevelt use a Democratic Congress to pursue another New Deal (or a Fair Deal, a la Truman) in creating universal health care? Would Roosevelt desegregate the armed forces? (I'm really thinking 'no', because Roosevelt was quite the shrewd politician, and he knew he needed southern Democratic votes to get much of anything done of his own policy), and Taft-Hartley would never, ever come into being under the watch of the labor-friendly Roosevelt (nor would it get out of the House with the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress).
- Going into the 1948 Presidential Election, what in the world does Roosevelt do? I'm sure there will be partisans trying to draft the President for a fifth term, but he's a lot weaker than he was ten years prior, when he was preparing to seek a third term, so I assume he's sitting this one out. The Democratic Convention will be a madhouse, with candidates from all sides of the party vying for the nomination. From the New Deal wing of the party, I can see Alben Barkley, Henry Wallace, or some strong Democratic governors who support the New Deal getting the nod (Wallace, of course, would only get the nomination with Roosevelt's support, and I highly doubt he'd have a chance in Hell); While on the conservative side, I see Strom Thurmond as a contender (though Roosevelt, who is most likely playing kingmaker in this contest, will prefer a New Dealer at the top of the ticket; one of the reasons he ran again in 1940 was a lack of a good New Deal Democrat to lead the ticket, as his choices (Harry Hopkins, Robert Jackson) seemed rather disinterested). I can see Roosevelt himself preferring or even courting Eisenhower for the job, but I'm not sure if Roosevelt can convince him to do it if he doesn't want it; George Marshall might be a different story, though...
Thoughts?