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.
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...