Herbert Hoover President 1921 - 1929

What if Herbert Hoover had won the Republican nominaton in 1920. He would have easily won the election and reelectionin 1924 While he was not as laissez faire as Coolidge, I don"t think their policies would have been all that different I still think we have a depression but the homeless would be living in whomever won the Republican nomination in 1928villes. Anybody see any other changes?
 
If I'm not mistaken, Hoover became more conservative as the 1920s progressed. As a businessman/engineer, one suspects he'd have been alarmed at the freewheeling practices on Wall Street in the earlier years of the decade, and would have decided to apply some sort of solution as a result (perhaps an indirect one) of the Panic of 1923, assuming it happens as in OTL. Perhaps he'd have fought for some sort of regulatory agency; i.e., a proto-SEC. I could see Charles Dawes (perhaps in his role as Secretary of the Treasury?) as the guiding light for this sort of move. It wouldn't prevent the crash of 1929 entirely, but I suspect it would go a long way toward mitigating it: perhaps now we'd speak of "the recession/panic of 1929" instead of "the crash".

It wouldn't surprise me if Coolidge were Hoover's running mate (ye gods, what a dull, colorless ticket!) given his popularity after the Boston police strike. I don't see Coolidge as the 1928 nominee, though; that wasn't in vogue then for sitting vice-presidents to get much consideration for the top job unless they fell into it through a presidential death. Guessing Lowden or Sproul would be the '28 GOP nominee.

The one thing I'm unsure of is what Hoover would do about the Klan and its bald grabs at vigilante power, especially in cities like Dallas and entire states like Indiana. He wouldn't have any time for the Klan, but would he push for legislation to rein it in once and for all? That may be worth a thread in its own right.

I mentioned Dawes as Hoover's SecTreas. Chances are Charles Evans Hughes would get State, Philander Knox would get Justice, and maybe Hiram Johnson would get the War Department. To be sure, there would be nothing approaching Teapot Dome: Hoover was dull as beige paint but rigorously honest, including his choices of associates. Side note: expect former president Taft to get appointed to the Supreme Court as in OTL.

Who opposes Hoover in 1924? Guessing you may get a ticket with McAdoo at the top and maybe Oscar Underwood as his running mate (sort of recognition of one of the few progressive thinkers in the south at that point). The election would be closer than in OTL but you'd still have a Hoover win.

In 1928 I see no reason why Smith wouldn't be the Democrats' nominee. His opposition, either Lowden or Sproul as noted above, would likely win, and perhaps carry a few border south states where the Bible Belt voted its prejudices.

Someone else take it from here.
 
Would Hoover run for a third term? Peace, prosperity and the Prohibition wars (a thin cover for progressives v. Gold Bugs) amongst the Dems guarantee a landslide. Especially against Smith- who is guaranteed to lose unless he runs in 1932 under similar conditions to OTL.
 
Would Hoover run for a third term? Peace, prosperity and the Prohibition wars (a thin cover for progressives v. Gold Bugs) amongst the Dems guarantee a landslide. Especially against Smith- who is guaranteed to lose unless he runs in 1932 under similar conditions to OTL.

I would think the third term tradition is too strong. Roosevelt only got around it due to an international crisis.
 
Interesting LaSalle. How does Hoover in the White House effect the 1924 Democratic convention?

Haven't given it much thought, and I'm not sure it does to any significant extent. The Democrats were in significant disarray over Prohibition and the Klan for starters, and I can't see that the incumbent in the White House would have had much of an effect.

John Davis was a really weak compromise candidate whose chief qualification is that he wasn't any of the major contenders. I'm too lazy to go look it up, but I believe his running mate was an octogenarian, Charles Bryan (Willam Jennings' brother, I think). In short, the Dems pretty much threw in the towel in OTL.

Maybe the existence of a less laissez-faire incumbent in the White House might have galvanized just enough of a surge to support McAdoo (assuming the anti-Wilson negative aura had worn off). There would be considerable pressure to balance the ticket; I'm guessing Underwood could have been talked in to being the VP candidate on the basis of geographic balance rather than ideological basis--and as kind of valedictory present.

The ticket would have been better had it been inverted, but there was absolutely no way that a southerner could have topped a national ticket in those days.
 
We would probably get Coolidge, Sproul or Dawes in '28. Dems are pretty much screwed for the decade unless a major upheaval that is not IOTL happens. I would think Wood for SecWar over Johnson.

Hoover was in his prime at this time as SecCommerce. With 'Hoovervilles' being replaced with 'Coolidge Cities', the Efficiency Movement probably wouldn't die with his administration. Perhaps a technocratic America, or at least some what more so than OTL, will come from this?
 
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