"Senator Baxter of Minnesota today asked for improved efficiency in granting permits for power plants. 'We are having an increasing trade debt with the CSA due to rising oil and natural gas prices. with more power plants we can increase our use of hydrogen powered cars by increasing hydrogen production from water. The US has fairly limited supplies of coal but fairly plentiful supplies of uranium and thorium. "
WATR News Chicago July 23, 1982 TV broadcast
The 1912 election alarmed Republicans as it was the first time since Lincoln's election that a non-Republican was elected two presidencies in a row.This, of course, caused jubilation in the Farm and Labor Party. Farm and Labor even won a seat in the House of Representatives in Arizona for the first time. However, Albert Laurence became the first president following Lincoln that wasn't re-elected.
His problems started right away. Millions of US returned home and had difficulty finding jobs when they mustered out. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of war orders were canceled, resulting in the firing of hundreds of thousands of men. US church charities were stretched to the limit because of the need to help so many families. Some US railroads went under with all the underutilized track. Railroad engine manufacturers soon followed suit. Farmland prices fell through the floor declining 25% during his term. Farm machinery and fertilizer companies went under as well.
On the bright side the reparations from France and Spain provided a nice trade surplus for the US. However certain industries like steel and chemicals were badly hurt as "free" steel and chemicals came from France as reparations. It also caused the CSA steel industry to start to decline as there was no longer a need for it. The new slaves from Texas kept it competitive for a while as slaves kept decreasing in price. The abolition of slavery in Texas, Davis, and Jefferson caused a lot of the reparation money to be invested their as US business started buying up banks, oil wells, ranches and plantations as they would no longer break US law doing so.
However the US airplane and automobile industries started taking off. The US Army continued developing trucks gradually becoming the most mobile army in the World. The US Army also experimented in developing reconnaissance and fighter aircraft at this time. It also started selling most of its pre-war navy to Italy and Russia as it laid down enough ships during the war that it had a fair sized navy with just wartime production after finishing those on the slips. The desire to finish the ships kept these men employed for some time which helped mitigate the downturn.
The aircraft industry was not hurt much by the depression. Even in a downturn the US was wealthy enough to have many rich, young men who wanted the newest toys. Range and speed were greatly increased at this time but still remained nothing but a glamor item for rich men at this period.
Automobiles started to make their way to the lower upper class and the upper middle class at this time. Lincoln Autos was one of the few businesses that increased production throughout the depression. Cars kept getting larger, cheaper, faster and more rugged during this period. It really started to boom after the depression and may have been one of the reasons it ended.
None of this however helped President Laurence as the economy was still in the doldrums at the end of his term. There are many people who argue if the economy picked up six months before it did he would have been re-elected.
The Laurence Presidency and the Depression of 1913 AK Peterson Alan Books St. Louis 1944.