Presidency of Samuel Prescott Bush

Presidency of Samuel Prescott Bush


In March of 1912, Rep. Edward L. Taylor, Jr. dies in a horseless buggy accident in Columbus, OH, ironically known as the 'Buggy Capital of the World'. Samuel Bush, President of Buckeye Steel Castings Company, announces his candidacy for Representative of Ohio's Twelfth District. With a budget Clement Brumbaugh cannot shake a stick at, and with the support of magnate John D. Rockefeller, Bush wins a minor victory in November. He resigns as President of Buckeye but is still a trustee, the power behind the throne if you will, and he already proved himself an effective and forward thinking businessman. His record in Congress is unoffensive, and since Columbus remains prosperous, he is reelected four more times


Bush was appointed to the Secretary of Commerce by President-Elect, and fellow Buckeye, Warren Harding, and resigns as Representative.


President: Warren Harding
Vice President: Calvin Coolidge


Sec of State: Charles Evan Hughes
Sec of Tres: Andrew Mellon
Sec of War: John Weeks
Att Gen: Harry Daugherty
Post Gen: Will Hays
Sec of Navy: Edwin Denby
Sec of Int: Albert Fall
Sec of Agri: Henry Wallace
Sec of Commerce: Samuel Bush
Sec of Labor: James Davis




The Harding and Coolidge administrations go roughly as OTL, Bush being as innovative and forward thinking as Hoover would have been but does not develop a cult of personality like Hoover's IOTL. Bush is seen as a member of the 'Ohio Gang' but is never tied to anything directly. Bush is a fairly popular person but not as well known as Hoover IOTL. He gets the nickname “America's CEO”, because he 'runs things like a business.' His connections with Rockefeller helps him secure Rockefeller Foundation support for the Great Mississippi Flood emergency, which garners him national attention.


During the 1928 Republican National Convention, Bush placed third on the first ballot behind former Governor Frank Lowden and Sen. Charles Curtis. On the second ballot, the delegates that supported the minor candidates began to shift to Bush, including those who still wanted to draft Coolidge, seeing a Bush presidency as the closest equivalent of a Coolidge presidency. He was finally agreed upon as a compromise candidate to break the deadlock almost a week later when Charles Curtis decided to pledge his delegates to Bush in exchange for the Vice Presidency.


The Democrats sensed weakness amongst the Republicans. McAdoo did not sit out of this election. Bush was panned as a corrupt member of the Ohio Gang. Although less people recalled it than in previous elections, it still decisively hurt Bush. Bush refused to campaign openly or dirty, when it would have been just as easy to tie McAdoo to the scandal. Bush also refused to drop the idea of civil rights and failed to break the Southern Democratic bulwark, and the KKK once again endorsed McAdoo delivering Indiana and others. The Dry-Wet question was of little consequence.


genusmap.php





McAdoo/Robinson won over Bush/Curtis 268 to 263, hardly a landslide. In fact, the Democrats lost the popular vote, (winning big in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York), making electoral reform an important issue of Republican's in years to come.


McAdoo takes office March 4, 1929. “The fundamentals of the economy are strong,” he says. Soon, his presidency will take a blow from which it cannot recover...
 
Interesting. Just a nitpick: You left Herbert Hoover out of the cabinet. Hoover was famous for his humanitarian work during World War One. He was so popular that it was a near guarantee that Harding would put him somewhere in his cabinet. In OTL, Hoover was offered either Interior or Commerce. He chose Commerce and then proceeded to greatly enhance the stature of that office and build the "cult of personality" that you mentioned. Unless you butterfly away his humanitarian work and his popularity, Hoover will still get a cabinet position. Maybe have Harding appoint Hoover to Interior without giving him a choice. It would be a lot harder to build his popularity from the Interior department, so his political career might never develop further. That is a distinct possibility if Harding saw Hoover's popularity more as a threat than as an asset. Anyway, I know it is peripheral to the TL, but I just thought I'd mention it. Hoover should definitely still have a cabinet post.
 
Interesting. Just a nitpick: You left Herbert Hoover out of the cabinet. Hoover was famous for his humanitarian work during World War One. He was so popular that it was a near guarantee that Harding would put him somewhere in his cabinet. In OTL, Hoover was offered either Interior or Commerce. He chose Commerce and then proceeded to greatly enhance the stature of that office and build the "cult of personality" that you mentioned. Unless you butterfly away his humanitarian work and his popularity, Hoover will still get a cabinet position. Maybe have Harding appoint Hoover to Interior without giving him a choice. It would be a lot harder to build his popularity from the Interior department, so his political career might never develop further. That is a distinct possibility if Harding saw Hoover's popularity more as a threat than as an asset. Anyway, I know it is peripheral to the TL, but I just thought I'd mention it. Hoover should definitely still have a cabinet post.

That was definitely something I was playing around with and had a hard time deciding on. This is in no way a standardized TL, just an interesting thought. I was thinking on Hoover as Interior or Labor but then just decided to leave him out simply to not have to deal with the question of Hoover in 1928. The narrative goes something like, "Hoover decided to hedge his bets during the 1920 elections, running for Senator, although he had national appeal, deciding to establish a firmer political record before turning towards the White House."

Of course this doesn't get rid of Hoover. Hell, he could be considered part of the Republican race in 1928 and Bush could still be a compromise candidate.
 

Thande

Donor
Interesting TL idea. Just one nitpick, Bush being nicknamed "America's CEO" - was the acronym "CEO" even around in the Twenties, much less in common use?
 
Interesting TL idea. Just one nitpick, Bush being nicknamed "America's CEO" - was the acronym "CEO" even around in the Twenties, much less in common use?

Thanks! Really I have no idea and can't find anything about its use. I questioned that myself when I wrote it.

If I were to rewrite it and start a formal TL I would change it to "Historians refer to him as America's CEO" that would fit better and I still get to make the commentary on wanting government ran like a business... :rolleyes:

Edit: Guess I should mention that this thread was inspired by the Prescott Bush as President TL idea when I saw it got bumped to the front page. This is a little less plausible but with bought 8 years in the House, a semi-crony appointment, and a machine pick, it seems more probable for this era than our time.
 
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