PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
What if the 1876 election - one of the most contentious in American history - resulted in a Democratic victory?
1876: Samuel J. Tilden / Thomas A. Hendricks (Democratic) [1]
1876: def. Rutherford B. Hayes / William A. Wheeler (Republican)
1880: James Garfield / James G. Blaine (Republican) [2]
1880: def. Samuel J. Tilden / Thomas A. Hendricks (Democratic)
1881: James G. Blaine* (Republican)
1884: Thomas Bayard / William Rosecrans (Democratic) [3]
1884: def. James G. Blaine / William H. West (Republican)
1888: def. John Sherman / William Walter Phelps (Republican)
1892: Benjamin F. Shively / Daniel Lindsay Russell (Greenback) [4]
1892: def. William Rosecrans / Horace Boies (Democratic), Matthew Quay / Mark Hanna (Republican)
1896: def. David B. Hill / Joseph C. Sibley (Democratic), Mark Hanna / Cushman Kellogg Davis (Republican)
1900: Sylvester Pennoyer / George Washington Jones (Greenback) [5]
1900: def. James B. Weaver / John Peter Altgeld (Democratic), Joseph Gurney Cannon / Charles Emory Smith (Republican)
1902: George Washington Jones* (Greenback)
1903: James D. Phelan** (Greenback)
1904: William Randolph Hearst / Thomas L. Hisgen (Independence) [6]
1904: def. James D. Phelan / William Jennings Bryan (Greenback), Donelson Caffery / Francis Cockrell (Democratic), Samuel Pennypacker / Charles Francis Adams Jr. (Republican)
1908: def. Eugene V. Debs / Seymour Steadman (Socialist), William Jennings Bryan / Adlai Stevenson (Greenback), Woodrow Wilson / Daniel C. Roper (Democratic), William Howard Taft / Constantine C. Esty (Republican)
1909: Thomas L. Hisgen* (Independence)
1912: William Jennings Bryan** (Greenback)
1912: Eugene V. Debs / Samuel Gompers (Socialist) [7]
1912: def. William Jennings Bryan / George F. Edmunds (Greenback), Daniel C. Roper / Leon Rutherford Taylor (Democratic), William McKinley / John J. Gardner (Independence-Republican)
1914: Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)
1916: Benjamin F. Shively* (Greenback-Social Union)
1916: Benjamin F. Shively / Algie Martin Simons (Social Union) [8]
1916: def. Warren G. Harding / John Wanamaker (Independence-Republican), Eugene Debs / Henry Slobodin (Socialist), Various (Independent Greenback, Independent Democratic)
1920: Smedley Butler / James Graham Phelps Stokes (Neo-Whig) [9]
1920: def. Daniel Webster Hoan / Victor Murdock (Social Union), Leon Czolgosz / Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (Socialist)
1924: def. Daniel Webster Hoan / Morris Hillquit (Social Union)
1928: Wiles Robert Hunter / Jack London (Social Union) [10]
1928: def. Philip S. Van Cise / John D. Rockefeller Jr. (Neo-Whig)
1932: def. Oswald West / Daniel Voorhees Stephens (Neo-Whig)
[1] The 1876 election resulted in a narrow and controversial victory for Samuel Tilden, who became the first Democratic President since the end of the Civil War. Campaigning to end the corruption of the Grant presidency, Tilden nevertheless continued the inevitable end of Reconstruction and consolidated the Democratic Party as a major political force once more. His term was far from straightforward, however, and marked by periods of Southern civil disorder and Northern industrial protest. As controversies continued to rage regarding the future of the nation Hendricks struggled to make headway, and the 1878 House and Senate elections saw major Republican advances. Most notably, though, allegations of Democratic corruption and bribery in the general election continued to haunt Tilden, and with his clean image jeopardized he was challenged for the Democratic nomination by Thomas Bayard in anticipation for the 1880 contest.
[2] Although he was nominated for re-election, Tilden was still haunted by his past - ultimately leading to the election of Garfield the next US President. The short-lived Garfield presidency would deal with the continued disorder in the South and would calm the protests in the North. However on July 2 1881 Garfield would be shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. Luckily he survived, but would have to walk on crutches for the rest of his life and he resigned as President. James G. Blaine took the helm of the nation.
[3] Despite the infamous corruption of the Tilden administration, the Republicans were no better throughout the presidencies of Garfield and Blaine. Although there was much sympathy for the former following his failed assassination, Blaine quickly garnered a reputation of his own for unscrupulousness - especially within the growing political influence of leading American industries. Within the Republican Party itself there was considerable resistance to his presidency, and although the President utilized the powerful party machinery to narrowly secure his re-nomination in 1884 the abandonment of the party by reform-minded figures secured the victory of the Democrats under Thomas Bayard. Bayard, a veteran of the ideological conflict within the Democratic Party and the leading doomsayer who denied Tilden re-election in 1880, was nevertheless an economic conservative and wary of foreign entanglements. Despite domestic difficulties over his support for the Gold Standard, his role in the Seigniorage Crisis and troubled industrial relations, Bayard was nevertheless had notable successes overseas. Numerous treaties with Britain moderated economic tensions with Britain (most notably regarding fishing and seal-hunting rights), and partly negotiated a resolution to the Samoan civil war in 1886. Anglo-American relations reached a new high under the Bayard administration, leading to bipartisan negotiating efforts in Venezuela and a controversial pro-British ruling following the overthrow of King William Henry Clarence of the Miskito in 1887.
[4] The Greenback party had been on the rise since the 1880 presidential election with the allegations of Democratic corruption and with the failure of the Garfield and Blane administrations, in 1888 the Greenback party won seats in the 51st Congress and many of general elections around the time of their presidential victory. While being the VP under the Bayard administration, Rosecrans wasn't appealing to many voters and with the Republicans luck at that time it was only natural for the Greenbacks to win the 1888 election. The Shively administration would see many corrupt officials being brought to justice and would see political cartoonist Thomas Nast be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for his work and help leading to the arrest of corrupt official Boss Tweed in 1896.
[5] The Shively administration was, in many ways, a great period of soul-searching in America; barely eligible for the post due to his young age of 35, Shively swept to office following the disintegration of public trust in the established Two Party system. Comfortably re-elected in 1896, the Greenback movement swelled considerably to encompass a broad church of 'traditional' progressives, labor activists and an increasing swathe of defectors from both the Democrats and Republicans. Although Shively disappointed some by agreeing to stand down instead of a third term (citing his commitment to political democracy rather than cronyism), the 1900 Greenback Convention was controversial as it was dominated by the arrival of establishment entryists disaffected with their own parties. In a tightly-contested and widely-publicized vote, the ex-Democrat Sylvester Pennoyer - a well-known populist - narrowly secured the top spot (but was reinforced by a conventional Greenback, George Washington Jones). Although the conservative Republican ticket rallied in the subsequent election, Pennoyer entered the White House. In many ways an effective eccentric, Pennoyer and his government faced difficulty in maintaining the political coalition of the Greenback 'coalition' (with the Shivelyite wing facing off against the entryists). Disagreements on trade disputes, Chinese immigration, foreign policy (especially in the Pacific) and even more radical plans (such as female suffrage) weakened the government, and the Democrats and Republicans continued their respective fights to become the clearest opposition. However, it was clear that the Greenback Party would continue to make headway - especially in the loyal west - and many remained optimistic at the chance of a historic fourth consecutive term in 1904.
[6] It wasn't long before this optimism was dashed by a string of unfortunate deaths. In 1902 Sylvester Pennoyer succumbed to heart diseases and a year later George Washington Jones would die of old age. This left the presidency to Pennoyer's secretary of state, James D. Phelan. Phelan had been San Francisco's mayor prior to his cabinet position, and was chosen for his virulent opposition to Asian immigration. As president, he continued this course, culminating in the passage of a nation wide ban on Asian immigration that had been the late Pennoyer's final piece of legislation. While this focus on opposing Asian immigration bolstered Greenbacks in the west, eastern Greenbacks were aggravated by a lack of focus on more important issues like labor reform and trust busting. The final nail in the coffin for Phelan's administration would be their inaction during the Japanese-Hawaiian war. Hawaii for the past decade had existed in a type of limbo, continually applying for admission into the Union and being denied by the largely anti-imperialist Greenbacks. Phelan additionally opposed Hawaiian admission to the Union due to the large Asian population on the islands, and fears that it would serve as a means of funneling more illegal Asian immigration to the mainland. That is why when the white-ruled republic of Hawaii was invaded by Japan in 1903 against the backdrop of a chaos in Washington over succession and under the justification of restoring the rightful Hawaiian monarchy, Phelan turned a blind eye. This inaction though was exploited by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, whose yellow papers continually published stories of the 'atrocities' committed by the invading Japanese against the white civilians of Hawaii. He got exclusive interviews with Sanford Dole which painted the man in a sympathetic light and Hawaii as the 'last bastion of white civilization against the Asiatic hordes'. Hearst decried Phelan for not admitting Hawaii to the Union, tossing the Japanese into the sea, and then continuing on to raze down the home islands. He created the Independence League as a vehicle for his own third party run, and with money and publicity, easily defeated his opponents. Then as soon as he entered office, he bullied congress into declaring war on Japan, starting the long and bloody Japanese - American War.
[7] The Japanese-American War dragged on for the entirety of Hearst's presidency, which received an unexpected second term, narrowly defeating William Jennings Bryan on the Greenback ticket, but not in the popular vote. During the first term, Hawaii was added to the Union as the 44th State after East Cascadia (OTL Idaho) in 1890. Several months into his second term, however, it was revealed that Hearst hadn't entirely divested himself of his newspaper business and had been intentionally dragging out the war to sell more papers and line his pockets. In short order, Hearst was impeached and removed from office with a ban on him ever holding political office again. The government also seized all the money he had made off the war. This was shortly followed two years later when Hearst's vice president and successor, Hisgen, dropped dead of a sudden embolism on New Year's Eve 1911. Bryan, as Speaker of the House, assumed the presidency on New Year's Day, 1912. While well-liked by the people on a personal level - insomuch as that's possible in a position like the presidency - he approached the war the wrong way. Strongly anti-imperialist, Bryan did not approve of the admission of Hawaii into the fold. He attempted to appease the Japanese by allowing them to take Hawaii, but a whistle-blower stopped him before he could. One of the strongest critics of the US's political and social trajectory was, of course, Eugene V. Debs. While Debs had been forced into prison on trumped up charges in 1907, he had gotten notoriety for running in the 1908 election from said prison. His words of solidarity with one's fellow man struck a chord with many people, but not quite enough to secure him the election - only 3% of the vote. Debs was released from prison in 1910 and continued to speak out against the corruption in the political system. With Hearst's ousting, many began to pay Debs more heed. He agreed that Hawaii should not have been added to the Union, being a sovereign kingdom until an American-backed coup in 1891. This fight over the archipelago was unjust and needless from the bottom up, over the roof, and down the other side. After two more years, the well-spoken old socialist with an ever-present twinkle in his eye and a fire in his heart charmed his way into the good graces of the public and then into the White House. Bryan, again losing narrowly, was very frustrated. Debs, as a show of good faith, offered him the position of Secretary of State, which Bryan accepted. Debs immediately managed to bring the Japanese to the table, and negotiations for the end of the long war began. Once that was over, Hawaii's independence could finally be discussed.
[8] The quarter-decade from the breakthrough of the Greenback Party in 1892 to the formation of the 1916 Government of Social Union marked the greatest period of American political upheaval since the conclusion of the Civil War. The tumult of the Hearst wartime government, which led directly to the unprecedented election of Eugene Debs to the President in 1912, did much to permanently shift American discourse to the left. However, the sudden rise of both the Independence Party and the Socialists had destabilized national politics, and as such, Debs quickly fell into difficulty. Lacking much of the financial backing and electoral stability of some his rivals (particularly the Greenbacks, who remained largely unchallenged in the West), his administration was vulnerable. When it emerged that the Vice President, Samuel Gompers, was born in London questions of his eligibility circled until he was narrowly impeached in 1914 - partly as a partisan move by annexationists following the negotiated independence of Hawaii the year before. The regrowing strength of American conservatism, evident from the Independence-Republican dual-party 'coupon' of McKinley in 1912, necessitated further co-operation between the forces of democratic socialism and progressivism. Ambitious plans were afoot, leading to extensive negotiations between the Greenback forces of Bryan and co-operative Socialist figures in forming an electoral partnership of their own. The 'Social Union' was in fact an alliance of a number of parties (of which the Greenbacks were the largest but by no means the most dominant), and by the beginning of 1916 there were great hopes for a reconciliation between all the forces of the left. Debs remained the weakest link and was hesitant to embrace the new Union, as he did not regard many of the traditionalists within the Greenbacks as legitimate socialist allies. This triggered a second impeachment attempt, this time against the President, and with the support of former President (and now Speaker) Shively Debs was removed from office. 1916 was a bloodbath, as the Social Union and remnant socialists fought it out, but ultimately it began the realignment of American politics back into a tentative two-party system. Although a third Shively term was controversial, and the Speaker had gone back on his word upon leaving the White House in 1900, he remained a popular figure and the Social Union secured a dominant victory. Harding outmaneuvered the Socialists to seize second place, with Debs indignantly restricted to the industrial heartlands of his 1912 election. Shively served a full term before standing down in time for the 1920 Social Union Convention, shortly before his death - having abolished the Electoral College (with bipartisan support), the United States entered into the Fifth Party System.
[9] The return to the two party system saw an end to the various Republican and Democratic parties that had existed in some form or another since the Greenbacks under Benjamin Shively took congress and the presidency against a backdrop of years of Democratic and Republican corruption and instability. With the Greenbacks capturing the left-wing vote in swathes, the Republicans and Democrats were consistently held back by vote splitting, each representing the conservative-wing in different regions (save for in 1900 where left-wing insurgents in the Democratic party were able to capture the nomination, but still lost to former Democrat Sylvester Pennoyer). In 1904, both Republicans and Democrats believed it was their year to finally recapture the White House, only for their hopes to be dashed by the emergence of the Independence League, which exploited a latent manifest destiny and united the conservative wing as well as a large subset of populists, something which neither the Republicans or Democrats had been able to do. Of course, this would also lead to the greatest scandal in American history wherein Hearst had brutally sacrificed American lives and lied to line his pockets, leading to a series of impeachments, the dramatic rise of a socialist current as a backlash to established politics only to fall just as quickly to a newly united left-wing, and a stabilization of American politics under Benjamin Shively, who came out of retirement and some say mustered a few more years of his life just to set America on the right path again. By 1920, it can be said that America was stable, the Treaty of San Francisco had been signed recognizing Hawaiian independence, the American economy was recovering from the sharp recession following the shift in war-time production under Hearst to demobilization under Bryan and Debs, and Americans were hopeful for the future, and a sense of normalcy had returned to the nation with the emergence of two clear national parties, the aforementioned Social Unionists and the newly-minted Neo-Whigs. The Neo-Whigs were named so for they represented like the old whigs a broad-tent coalition of politicians opposed to the Social Union. They were not harshly conservative, due to the American consciousness being thrust into the left wing by the Hearst scandals and subsequent administrations, but took a vague pro-business stance on most issues. The remnants of the Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Greenbacks assembled in 1920, officially uniting, and just like the whigs of old, they were fans of fielding former generals, which is why they nominated General Smedley Butler, a friend of business interests and a hero of the Japanese-American War who nonetheless after the war published a wildly popular book denouncing war and upholding pacifists and veterans. For his vice president, James Graham Phelps Stokes was selected, a millionaire socialist from New York who had been a major contributor to the original Independence party and an ally of Hearst and who had continued to support the war after his impeachment. Butler pro-business pacifism and Stokes socialistic-militarism balanced the ticket nicely if awkwardly. The Social Union nominated Daniel Hoan, Governor of Wisconsin and former Socialist before joining the Social Union, as an olive branch to Socialists, with Bryanite Victor Murdock as VP. The Socialists, now left with only the most radical elements of the party, nominated Leon Czolgosz and, following their trend of nominating folks who weren't actually eligible for the vice presidency, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. However, it was found out in the campaign that Leon Czolgosz had tried to assassinate not one, not two, but three sitting presidents, with his personal diary having been revealed to the public revealing botched attempts at assassination of Hearst in 1905, Pennoyer in 1901 and most damning of all Shively in 1899, who at this point had come to be regarded as a hero of the nation in the vein of Lincoln or Washington. Czolgosz was promptly arrested and imprisoned, and with Flynn ineligible to run anyway, the party essentially dissolved, with members like Flynn joining the newly established Communist party. On election day, the vote was close, with Butler narrowly edging out Hoan, with other parties combined receiving less than 1% of the vote, further cementing the new two party system. During his presidency, Butler relaxed some laws regarding industry to make it more friendly to business, but midway through his term, disaster struck as the powderkeg that was Europe exploded into war. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire into various warring states prompted invasion by a Russo-Italian alliance to cannibalize the nation, causing Germany, Austria-Hungary and France to wage a war of containment and install a puppet Turkish republic across former Ottoman lands. Britain was called into the war on the side of the Russian-Italian Alliance by Turkish attacks on their holdings in Cyprus and Egypt, and motivated by the desire to carve land out of the Levant. While some in America called for war against Britain-Russia-Italy, due to longstanding enmity over Britain's support of Japan in the Japanese-American War and anger over the British blockade of mainland Europe, for the time President Butler remained strongly committed to pacifism.
[10] With the struggles of the last decade behind them the Neo-Whigs and the Social Union settled into their positions as the new dominant parties of the United States. Butler led the country for two terms, defeating Hoan for a second time in 1924 (the last time that a presidential candidate would contest two consecutive elections). Both parties, however, rallied behind the cause of isolationism. Although Europe tore itself apart through the early-1920s America remained sympathetic but uninvolved. The pro-business Whigs ensured that the country was well-placed to benefit from increasing industrial productivity, while simultaneously securing the de-facto protection of merchant shipping in the Atlantic from the Royal Navy (although direct trade to Europe remained closed). By the end of the war in 1926, the United States were increasingly wealthy. In 1928, the Social Union took control of the presidency under Wiles Robert Hunter. (Jack London, his Vice President, was an internationally-acclaimed author, with his seminal work 'White Fang' a dark political allegory of the Hearst years set among the wolf packs of the Yukon). The abolition of the Electoral College remained popular, with a Second Era of Good Feelings seeking consensus around further social reform. Hunter moved to break up the largest remaining monopolies (although mainly had not survived the Greenback or Populist administrations), secured true female suffrage in 1930 and began the first mass government-led road building schemes. The moderate Social Union ticket won comfortably in 1932, despite protests from the party wings, and did much to fund the reconstruction of Europe throughout the 'Thrashing Thirties'.