The Death of President Theodore Roosevelt 1903

A little known fact on TR the great hunter was that during his 1903 tour of Yosemite the only animal he killed was a mouse he believe not yet know to science that he disected and preserved before sending to the Smithsonian.

http://www.newscientist.com/article...ampers-were-exposed-to-lethal-hantavirus.html

What if he caught hantavirus from it, 6 weeks after the Yosemite visit on the way back to Washington DC after suffering what is thought to be a cold he dies in his sleep.

What effects will this have on the unfolding century.
 
A couple of interesting things, how much or a struggle would there be the the 1904 Republican nomination. It is not clear from the wiki article what caused his death

Had Hay seemed and and willing I am guessing he would get the nomination, just because it would look bad to have so many different Presidents.

Still it looks like he had not been an elected politician much before.

Also how likely is it that somethng like the 25th Amendment would get passed
 
I guess more Russians would end up learning Japanese.

Maybe a more involving defeat makes Russia more likely to take on reforming parts of its military and the "reform" virus spreads...?
 
On the domestic front:

John Hay, as Secretary of State, becomes the 27th president of the United States. Given his rather advanced age--approaching 70--he makes it clear that he will fill out the unexpired term and that's that. This opens the field wide, but the man most acceptable to all factions in the GOP is Elihu Root of New York. Acceptable to both the conservatives and to the progressives, and an acerbic, colorful speaker to boot, Root wins the nomination easily. He chooses Charles Fairbanks of Indiana as his running mate for both geographical and ideological balance.

[OOC: I don't see that TR's death would have much of an impact on the Democrats' plans in 1904. Seems to me that Alton Parker would have gotten the nomination anyhow.

Not a great deal of change in the electoral college: I'd guess that MD and MO, which went narrowly for TR IOTL; Root is sufficiently less charismatic that they'd go for Parker here.

TOTAL EV: 476
ROOT: 317
PARKER: 159

1904.jpg
 
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