President Robert Todd Lincoln

Which side of the battle was he on in the Republican split of 1880? Anyone know? The convention was deadlocked for long enough he could end up a dark hors nominee. Of course, he was pretty young then.

Perhaps if Cleveland wins the electoral vote in 1888? If the POD is further back, he might have been in politics long enough to cause that, and then he could win in 1892, as I doubt Benjamin Harrison would run again, since Blaine didn't, though I could be wrong.
 
Which side of the battle was he on in the Republican split of 1880? Anyone know? The convention was deadlocked for long enough he could end up a dark hors nominee. Of course, he was pretty young then.

Perhaps if Cleveland wins the electoral vote in 1888? If the POD is further back, he might have been in politics long enough to cause that, and then he could win in 1892, as I doubt Benjamin Harrison would run again, since Blaine didn't, though I could be wrong.

he wasn't on any ones side in 1880 as far as i know. he was old enough to be made Secretary of War after that election, in 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes offered to make him Assistant Secretary of State, he turned it down.
 
I would bet that he believed that if he ran for president, he would be shot just like his father. All his brothers had died, and his father had been killed, and he was by the time he was a presidential contender, the last Lincoln.
 
So, have Lincoln survive and have Reconstruction go well. Admittedly, the North only viewed him as a hero after his assassination (before that, as I recall, he was more often compared to the Devil). Hmm...have the assassination attempt fail, perhaps? Lincoln decided not to bring along the bodyguards that night (correct me if I have the story wrong), so have them come along and have one of them knock Booth's arm up. The shot goes over Lincoln's head, killing another member of the audience, and Lincoln survives. This may bring him back up from the Antichrist in Nothern sentiments.

For the South, have him go about with his original plan of being the benevolant conqueror. The Southerners, greatful for his seeming support of them, change their tune from Lincoln as the man out to destroy the South to Lincoln as a friend of the South. Lincoln plays out his terms, leaving as one of the more popular presidents to occupy the office.

And, years later, riding on the coattails of his popular father, is President Robert Lincoln. Not going to be a very popular president (after all, how do you fill Lincoln's shoes?), but he could be president...how much did I get wrong here?
 
So, have Lincoln survive and have Reconstruction go well. Admittedly, the North only viewed him as a hero after his assassination (before that, as I recall, he was more often compared to the Devil). Hmm...have the assassination attempt fail, perhaps? Lincoln decided not to bring along the bodyguards that night (correct me if I have the story wrong), so have them come along and have one of them knock Booth's arm up. The shot goes over Lincoln's head, killing another member of the audience, and Lincoln survives. This may bring him back up from the Antichrist in Nothern sentiments.

For the South, have him go about with his original plan of being the benevolant conqueror. The Southerners, greatful for his seeming support of them, change their tune from Lincoln as the man out to destroy the South to Lincoln as a friend of the South. Lincoln plays out his terms, leaving as one of the more popular presidents to occupy the office.

And, years later, riding on the coattails of his popular father, is President Robert Lincoln. Not going to be a very popular president (after all, how do you fill Lincoln's shoes?), but he could be president...how much did I get wrong here?
Very little, actually. The only thing I could find is that I don't think Todd ever actually wanted to be President.
 
Very little, actually. The only thing I could find is that I don't think Todd ever actually wanted to be President.

Wow. Thanks, George. Good to see you again, after that Hippie Thread debacle. Also, if I may paraphrase a president (can't remember who), "No sane man ever wants this job."

With a father like Lincoln, Todd'll have his feet in politics no matter what he does. And, as has happened before, either from pressure of his friends or a sense of duty, he's accept the job.
 
So, have Lincoln survive and have Reconstruction go well. Admittedly, the North only viewed him as a hero after his assassination (before that, as I recall, he was more often compared to the Devil). Hmm...have the assassination attempt fail, perhaps? Lincoln decided not to bring along the bodyguards that night (correct me if I have the story wrong), so have them come along and have one of them knock Booth's arm up. The shot goes over Lincoln's head, killing another member of the audience, and Lincoln survives. This may bring him back up from the Antichrist in Nothern sentiments.

For the South, have him go about with his original plan of being the benevolant conqueror. The Southerners, greatful for his seeming support of them, change their tune from Lincoln as the man out to destroy the South to Lincoln as a friend of the South. Lincoln plays out his terms, leaving as one of the more popular presidents to occupy the office.

And, years later, riding on the coattails of his popular father, is President Robert Lincoln. Not going to be a very popular president (after all, how do you fill Lincoln's shoes?), but he could be president...how much did I get wrong here?

The Anti-Christ? Really? This is history, not revisionism.
 
So, have Lincoln survive and have Reconstruction go well. Admittedly, the North only viewed him as a hero after his assassination (before that, as I recall, he was more often compared to the Devil). Hmm...have the assassination attempt fail, perhaps? Lincoln decided not to bring along the bodyguards that night (correct me if I have the story wrong), so have them come along and have one of them knock Booth's arm up. The shot goes over Lincoln's head, killing another member of the audience, and Lincoln survives. This may bring him back up from the Antichrist in Nothern sentiments.

So the South tries to kill Lincoln and fails. The fact that there is an easily ferreted out conspiracy could very well end up with some people at the end of nooses. Booth and the immediate co-conspirators have to die for treason.

If Lincoln feels like it he could pursue this into the upper leadership, but he probably won't. So this could make Lincoln look all the more forgiving/

For the South, have him go about with his original plan of being the benevolant conqueror. The Southerners, greatful for his seeming support of them, change their tune from Lincoln as the man out to destroy the South to Lincoln as a friend of the South. Lincoln plays out his terms, leaving as one of the more popular presidents to occupy the office.

Oh I don't know about that. Lincoln's plan was great on paper, but the Radical Republicans and General Nathaniel Bedford Forrest are still going to be plotting about, and Lincoln has that big Army and a conspiracy to work with. Plus the endorsement of the People with his victory in '64. Doesn't it seem like Lincoln's easy terms of surrender and reunion might start to shift as the white-only regimes start stringing freedmen up (ie as iOTL)?

And, years later, riding on the coattails of his popular father, is President Robert Lincoln. Not going to be a very popular president (after all, how do you fill Lincoln's shoes?), but he could be president...how much did I get wrong here?

I think Lincoln would end up being forced into a Radical Reconstruction because the same events would take place on the ground iATL as iOTL. The former Confederates would do the same things, like kill freedmen and carpetbaggers, and the President would do the same thing, send in troops. The difference might be Lincoln realizes what is happening, he reads the tea leaves so to speak, and is able to get ahead of the Reconstruction, is able to maintain order and political support for the Reconstruction regimes. Maybe Lincoln goes for the unprecedented third term in a bid to keep the Reconstruction going?

The problem is, I don't think that there was a winning solution for Reconstruction. The bitter and defeated white population and the newly freed black population, the uneasy/hostile/murderous relationship between former masters and former slaves, the regional resentment over the "Lost Cause", the easily stoked racial fears. Added to it are federal troops, reminders of the defeat, holding regimes that many view as illegitimate up on the points of bayonets, and many of those former confederate whites trying to lynch and murder their way back into power. How do you reconcile these forces? In OTL there was no solution, the former Confederates were allowed to overthrow democratically elected governments through bloody and brutal campaigns against the Republican whites and their freedmen allies by a Northern population which simply no longer cared.
 
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