President George Cortelyou

Have we ever discussed the possibility of President George Cortelyou? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_B._Cortelyou POD: If Chief Justice Fuller had died a few years earlier than in OTL, Taft might have accepted an appointment to be Chief Justice, thus taking himself out of the 1908 presidential race. (Taft had declined a couple of opportunities to be *Associate* Justice, but Chief Justice might be another matter.) Say, TR is impressed by, among other things, Cortelyou's response to the Panic of 1907. (As the Wikipedia article notes, "He eased the crisis by depositing large amounts of government funds in national banks and buying government bonds. To prevent further crises, Cortelyou advocated a more elastic currency and recommended the creation of a central banking system.") Sure, TR might prefer his friend Root, but he worries that as a "Wall Street lawyer" Root might be vulnerable against Bryan...

Cortelyou had also served as an efficient chairman of the Republican National Committee--certainly TR could have no complaints about the 1904 election results!--as Postmaster General, and as Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Earlier he had helped TR reorganize the White House after McKinley's death, turning it into a more professional organization.

If TR decides in favor of Cortelyou, I don't see the Republican National Convention defying TR's will--nor is it likely Bryan will beat him in November.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
If Cortelyou wins in 1908, this means that there probably won't be a Democratic landslide in the 1910 midterms as well as a Democratic victory in the 1912 election, correct?
 
If Cortelyou wins in 1908, this means that there probably won't be a Democratic landslide in the 1910 midterms as well as a Democratic victory in the 1912 election, correct?

I'm not so sure about that. Cortelyou looks more likely to get along with TR, but remember that in 1908 people joked that TAFT stood for "takes advice from Teddy"...
 

CaliGuy

Banned
I'm not so sure about that. Cortelyou looks more likely to get along with TR, but remember that in 1908 people joked that TAFT stood for "takes advice from Teddy"...
So, you're saying that it's possible--indeed, perhaps even likely--that Cortelyou would also be his own man once he is in the White House?
 
The perception that Taft was influenced by TR didn't hurt him at all in getting elected. The perception that TR felt him an unworthy successor did, and he got less votes than TR in the 1912 election. Remember TR was a very popular President.
Now I don't think TR would ever feel that anyone else could do as good a job as him, but even a Cortelyou who was his own man would have been somewhat less conservative and more progressive than Taft so less for Teddy to overtly quarrel with or take exception to. And I don't think Cortelyou was terribly interested in military and naval matters so he possibly would have "taken advice from Teddy". Don't think they had National Security Advisers back then but I suspect Cortelyou might have informally used Teddy in that sort of role and kept him in the loop at least on Foreign Policy and Defence issues.Which would have stroked that enormous ego enough that TR would have been out campaigning for George's re-election in 1912.
Or maybe even offered him War, Navy or State? Which would have been unusual but isn't unconstitutional as far as I know.
 
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