James Clark, Democratic Presidential Nominee 1912

Maybe Teddy has a easier time and wins the elections due to the Republicans sticking together.


The Republican Convention had already met (and split) before the Democratic nominee was chosen.

In any case, the Republican split was too deep and too bitter for it to make the slightest difference whom the Dems nominated. Any Democrat would have won by about the same margin as Wilson did.
 
He was House Speaker, IIRC, throughout Wilsons' Presidency so we can probably tell his policies pretty well. My guess is close to the same as Wilsons'.

The pressures probably cause him to die in office; my guess is he serves 2 terms, and he died OTL March 2, 1921. Probably mid-1920 OTL with a President for a few months. (Maybe Marshall like under Wilson)
 
He was House Speaker, IIRC, throughout Wilsons' Presidency so we can probably tell his policies pretty well. My guess is close to the same as Wilsons'.

The pressures probably cause him to die in office; my guess is he serves 2 terms, and he died OTL March 2, 1921. Probably mid-1920 OTL with a President for a few months. (Maybe Marshall like under Wilson)


May not arise.

In Feb 1913 the Senate passed a Constitutional amendment restricting the POTUS to a single 6-year term. It would certainly have passed the HoR (and most likely gone on to be ratified) had Pres-Elect Wilson not intervened to stop it coming to a vote.

Clark was on record in favour of such a reform (and a number of others) so it very likely passes. Should it do so, then he will serve until March 1919.

His domestic policy will differ little from Wilson's, but he was more isolationist and may refuse to go to war in 1917.
 
We wont see a TR presidency unless butterflies give him the Republican nomination, also in response to the above post I think the incumbent would be excluded from the amendment ala Truman and the term restrictions.
 
I didn't realize it was that close to passing. Did the amendment say anything about Presidents who become president upon the death of the sitting President? Was there a limit like with OTL's where you can serve 2 terms plus 2 years of a predecessor's term?
 
Kovalenko: We wont see a TR presidency unless butterflies give him the Republican nomination, also in response to the above post I think the incumbent would be excluded from the amendment ala Truman and the term restrictions

The 22nd Amendment excepted only the POTUS serving at the time of its passage by Congress, not at the time of its ratification. So, had it taken longer to attain the necessary three fourths, and come into effect under Eisenhower, it would still have applied to him unless he was already serving a third term when it took effect, in which case he would be entitled to complete that term, but to no more.

If the same principle were applied in 1913, the exception would have applied to Taft, who was still POTUS when it went through Congress, and not to Clark unless the ratification process dragged out beyond 1916.





I didn't realize it was that close to passing. Did the amendment say anything about Presidents who become president upon the death of the sitting President? Was there a limit like with OTL's where you can serve 2 terms plus 2 years of a predecessor's term?

Afaik, as passed by the Senate it did not include such a clause. Of course, there is always the possibility of such a provision being added in the HoR. However, given the narrowness of its passage in the Senate (47-23) there might be concern that it might not get two-thirds the second time round, so they might play safe by passing it as it stood and leaving such corrections for a later Amendment. Shortage of time might have inclined them the same way.

This might lead to a convention by which any VP, nominated to succeed the POTUS, immediately resigns the Vice-Presidency, to guard against being disqualified by succeeding to the Presidency between the nominating convention and the inauguration. However, since no VP was nominated between 1860 and 1960, such a precaution might have been thought unnecessary.
 
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