The Gloom of the Grave

"In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of." Confucius
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Admiral Horthy, Head of a Navy whose might was only rivaled by Bolivia's

In November 1919, amongst the chaos of the collapse of the centuries old Hapsburg monarchy, Emperor Charles I of Austria-Hungary, signed a document "removing himself from public affairs", which was carefully crafted to avoid being an abdication. Soon afterwords Austria-Hungary had ceased to exist. Austria had transferred into a semi-stable, semi-democratic state. Hungary however was different.

After briefly flirting with Communism and getting dragged into a disastrous war with Romania Hungary ended up becoming a Kingdom again. However no one wanted Charles returning and so a regency was installed under the last Austro-Hungarian Admiral, Miklós Horthy in 1920. This excited Charles because a Kingdom meant he got a crown to wear and Horthy was a monarchist. In addition the (very weak) Hungarian parliament was dominated by monarchist parties, never mind that one of the major ones wanted a different dynasty. Charles thought the time was right to regain the throne of Hungary. So he showed up unannounced in Horthy's house on March 21st 1921 and demanded he be reinstated as King so that he could make Hungary great again. Horthy was torn, on one hand he did support the monarchy on the other hand stood the Little Entente. The Little Entente was a recently formed military alliance between Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania which had been formed with two purposes 1) Keep the Hapsburgs off the thrones of Europe and 2) Keep Hungary from getting too powerful. Concerns over the Little Entente forced Horthy to tell Charles that the time was not right and send the would be king on his way. But Charles was not done yet. Collecting his supporters in Switzerland he returned to Hungary, in the city of Sopron, declared himself "King of Austria and King of Bohemia" and began organizing Legitimists for a March on Budapest. Despite the Great Powers condemning him and the Little Entente threatening an invasion Charles pressed on. He marched at a snail's pace, with full royal pomp, giving Horthy some time to regroup. Still Charles was at the gates of Budapest by the 21st of October. The next[1] day the first shots of the Hungarian Civil War were fired as the Legitimists fired on Budapest and began to attack the Regentists (a term for Horthy's supporters, even if many of the defenders were Budapest Republicans). The defense was weak and soon Horthy's government was retreating beyond the Danube. Charles's march into Budapest was too much for the Little Entente and on October 23rd Czechoslovakia mobilized, followed by Romania and Yugoslavia.

At the Battle of the Galga River on October 26th Horthy's forces stopped the overstretched royalists. That turned out to be all it needed, as by early November Little Entente forces poured into Hungary. The Czechoslovak Army was eager to put down the self-proclaimed "King of Bohemia", or at least the Czech part was. For the 3rd time in then 5 years The Romanian Army entered Hungary. The Yugoslavian contingent was smaller but still applied pressure from the south. By November 10 Czechoslovakia was in Budapest and the Romanians were on the Tisza. Charles fled to Switzerland in hiding and ended up being exiled to some Atlantic speck of land.

In Hungary Horthy was thankful to the Little Entente for helping him, but soon found they had other plans. Despite weak protests from a couple great powers the Little Entente felt that leaving a throne for anyone was too big an opportunity for the Hapsburgs. Instead they had Social Democrat Károly Peyer established as head of the Republic of Hungary. So much for the Regency.

Horthy ended up forming his own political party, the Party of National Unity (NEP), which would go on to dominate national politics post-1922 with Horthy as Prime Minister and later President. However Hungary remained isolated with the ever watchful Little Entente hovering over them.

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Pershing's shmexy official portrait.

After the election Pershing met with President Wilson in the White House. While many knew by this point that Wilson was somewhat ill Pershing was still shocked by how pale and thin Wilson was, as well as how confused the President seemed. After Wilson was half carried off to bed Secretary Lansing entered the room and explained the situation to the President-Elect. After hearing about Lansing's shadow presidency Pershing wrote that "to be so close to the light so many times, yet never to touch it. I cannot imagine the feeling Mr. Lansing had." Pershing had never despised his opponent and now came to respect him greatly. In his final months in the White House Pershing would commission a portrait of Lansing and have it hung near one of Andrew Jackson.

As Pershing prepared for the inauguration he began to draft his cabinet. Pershing had no political experience and only selected a few of the positioned personally, party bosses selected the rest, a sure way to prevent poor decision making[2].

President: John Pershing
Vice President: Calvin Coolidge

Secretary of State: Charles Evans Hughes
Secretary of the Treasury: Andrew Mellon
Secretary of War: Leonard Wood
Attorney General: Thomas Sterling
Postmaster General: Will Hays
Secretary of the Navy: Edwin Denby
Secretary of the Interior: Lawrence Phipps
Secretary of Agriculture: Charles Scott
Secretary of Commerce: Ovington Wellar
Secretary of Labor: James Davis

With huge Republican landslides in both the house and the Senate his appointments sped through.

Secretary of State Hughes soon negotiated treaties with the losing powers of the Great War that did not include references to any League of Nations concept. Pershing was no isolationist, and while American diplomats in Geneva refused to actually attend meetings, the Pershing Administration kept a close eye on the League's inner workings.

Pershing, obviously a fan of the military, was quick to shit down any talk of navel disarmament, though he could not stop the slow decay of the army from its wartime glory.

The first major piece of legislation to reach Pershing's desk was the one he cared most strongly for. The Sedition Act of 1921 tasked the Attorney General with "preserving American liberty". It allowed the Postal Service to cease any sort of delivery for a publication advocating political revolution. Such publications could be banned if their advocations could be proved to be causing someone to do anything against the nation. The same went for speeches, any speech with an "easily discernible negative result" could result in imprisonment. Insulting a solider could get you fined, because those soldiers were protecting your freedom goddamn it! The United States Flag also became defended by law. Oh, and Hail Columbia was now to be played at official events.

The "War Clauses" of the Sedition Act covered the laws when the nation was at war, amazing right? Anyway they were pretty much the same except now even advocating anything anti-American was punishable. Crime punishment was hiked during the war if the crime hurt the war effort, and transferred treason charges to the War Department during the war.

The Sedition Act sped through Congress with enormous public support and was signed by President Pershing mid-July. Now what was the President to do?

Not much actually, aside from being all ceremonial and such Pershing remained a largely empty suit President. His cabinet largely drove the country on autopilot, persecuting prohibition, stopping crime. Despite Paranoia still remaining high the failure of anything to materialize left little to do. Secretary of the Treasury Mellon tried to slash taxes by huge margins, but Pershing's pet projects, which we will learn about, as well as people in congress realizing that their money came from government revenue kept them only large margins[3].

The post-war depression lingered on, the rich boomed and boomed but the poorer Americans felt the dragging economy stay put. The lack of energy or openness in the Pershing White House failed to excite people. Pershing mostly stated in Washington our toured the country doing official events, becoming the first to visit Alaska for example.

There were of course exceptions to Pershing doing nothing, such as when he invaded West Virginia.

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You Decide: Proletariat exploiting manchildren or Vitreous defenders of the American way?

Of all the major unions only the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) with their charismatic leader John L. Lewis remained relatively unscathed, one miners had received assurances from Wilson that he would assist them in negotiating a better position after the war, a promise that was never fulfilled. But this meant that unlike most other major unions UMWA still retained the trust of its members. But with Pershing in charge Lewis knew that nothing would really change unless he acted.

The impetus came in southern West Virginia, where coal workers were trying to unionize against a powerful company presence. And this is West Virginia, so that's a lot of coal miners. So as it became apparent Pershing was going to sit back, UMWA men began to swarm into West Virginia. And they found themselves in a war zone.

Company men, often private detectives like Felts, had often acted to evict miner's families and arrest troublemakers. But when they came to the tiny town of Matewan they found the local government was quite sympathetic to the miners and got into a shootout with would-be union members who had been deputized, the Felts men were killed and the town Mayor was severely wounded. Police Chief Sid Hatfield, who was the real McCoy when it came to supporting unionization, emerged as a hero to the West Virginia. The "Matewan Massacre" became a rallying point for unions, while miners across the border areas near Kentucky began to arm themselves. As UWMA began to take an interest in southern West Virginia open violence began to spread. With charismatic leaders like Sid Hatfield the miners began what amounted to guerrilla warfare in the mountains when martial law was declared, heavily favoring the extremely violent "defenders of law and order". In early 1921 Hatfield was acquitted of the murder of the detectives, boosting his popularity even further. By now the "Coal War" has spread northwards and violence was rapidly increasing. In early August 1921 Hatfeild barely escaped an attempt on his life[4] and the miners came pouring out of the mountains to defend him and the cause. A last ditch visit to Charleston failed to do anything and soon angry miners were organizing in Kanawha County, eager to go south into the chaotic Logan and Mingo counties and unionize the mines, no matter what the owners or workers there thought. Time was running short, many workers began to feel the pressures of not really having a job and were signing back on.

Sid Hatfeild and another union leader, Bill Blizzard, organized the miners, commandeered a rail car, and began to head south. Meanwhile the anti-union forces in Logan County organized and set up a defense at Blair Mountain. The stage was set for the final battle.

The first skirmish occurred on August 15, and by the 20th the full force of the miners had attacked Blair Mountain. The defenders, composed of county police, deputized citizens and West Virginia State Guardsmen, had less men but also held the higher ground and better weapons. They decided to flaunt their technological superiority by hireling private planes to drop homemade bombs on the attacking miners. The attack ground on for nearly a week deadlocked. By this point Pershing was organizing the United States Army for action to quell the violence. The timetable became rushed when on August 30th the miners broke the defensive lines on Blair Mountain and began pouring into Logan and Mingo counties. Over 60 miners were killed along with 23 of the anti-union activists.

Apparently believing that causing another outburst of anti-labor hysteria=victory, UMW President John L. Lewis issued a statement that "regretted" to violence caused by "reactionary elements in West Virginia." He nonetheless recognized the hastily set up unions in Mingo and Logan counties and said that any action to break them would likely provoke a nationwide coal strike. This announcement only served to rule up further fears and bring up the Red Scare again.

Pershing took personal command of the army for the "West Virginia Pacification", the first sitting President to lead troops since James Madison, though his command was actually mostly to scratch his itchy feet, most of the actual commanding was done by lower level army men. Indeed Pershing was (quietly) criticized by some for mostly puttering around Charleston.

When the Army arrived in Logan and Mingo counties on September 11 they didn't find much organized resistance. Only a small last stand in Logan proper occurred. Mostly it was reduced to potshots and petty attacks. It turned out that Bill Blizzard had decided to cut his losses and ordered the "army" to disband. There were retributions of course, many miners hid their weapons just in case, but the peace fell rather quickly. Even the trials went quickly, not every Union sympathizer was in the Army and some found their ways onto juries, weird huh? Lewis's promised national coal strike occurred, but once again public opinion turned against the strike, and with no fight in West Virginia to rally around it collapsed by mid-November. The "Coal Insurrection" as it came to be called, legitimized the need for harsh laws in the eyes of most Americans and helped Pershing's popularity.

What happened to Sid Hatfield? No one really knows. Some say he fled into the hills, some day he died in a last stand near a creek in Mingo County. Some idiots say he ascended to heaven in a hail of bullets, the even more moronic say he moved to Russia and started a Cult around Lenin.

There was a arthurian-esque legend about his rifle. Legend says that he his his rifle so that only a true blue collared West Virginian can find it, and that they would lead the miners to justice.

This legend came to a screeching halt in 1974 when a honeymooning couple from France found it in a stream.

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Help Wanted: Better Maps

During the Great War the United States military had realized that it was woefully behind but the industrial capacity of the nation had enabled it to quickly advance. So that was that.

However it quickly also realized that trains were not enough to mobilize the American military and industry. The age of the automobile was rising, but American roads were sub par. While convoys could cross the nation it was bumpy and painstaking work. A new Bureau of Public Roads was formed to address the issue. Oddly the BPR was placed under the Department of Agriculture, maybe because Agriculture had something to do with animals, which made paths which were kind of roads? I have no idea. Any way the BPR asked the army to show routes "of principle importance to national security" to them, which the army did. The BPR then refined the proposal and produced a map of the proposed "National Security Highway System", which they submitted to the Department of War. Always one to be heavily interested in military matters Pershing quickly became fond of the proposal[5], and became a major advocate for its construction. His experiences in Mexico showed him the importance of logistics in military action. They also showed him how easy it was to attack a civil war stricken country, but pick the lessons that apply the most I guess.

Congress was less exited about the enterprise, such a move cost Uncle Sam money and they were in the middle of slashing taxes across the board. But Pershing through his weight behind it, and fears of an uprising made them eager to have maneuverability. Still they cut off most of the plan down to bare lines on each coast, interconnected industrial roads in the east. Connecting the east to the west was a long line near the Mexican border, carefully chosen incase Mexico got a death wish.

Construction was of course tied up in Bureaucracy, and by the end of 1924 very little had been completed. Still the Highway Proposal would be quite influential in the years to come.

It's one of those things that only happens in 1 universe out of the infinite possibilities of the multiverse. I mean an American general from a global war is a major proponent of an interstate system of large roads? How unlikely is that?

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Jazz became popular during the 20's, giving its artists the right to vote was not

To the average American the 20's saw a widening gap between them and the rich. The rich got richer while they had to slowly claw their way out of the post-war depression. The constant warnings of communists continued after the Coal Insurrection and the Red victory in the Russian civil war remained, but for the average American the idea wore thin. They were struggling to advance, new technology was becoming available but to get it and "be prosperous" they had to go deep into debt[6]. The promised purity that was to emerge from Prohibition turned out to be pure greed by bootleggers.

This dissatisfaction showed in the midterms when the democrats gained several seats in both houses, however their defeat in 1920 was do great and the gerrymandering by the GOP was so great, that they still were far behind in overall seat count.

Not much else happened for the rest of Pershing's term, the overall economy slow staggered upwards, while the stock market spiraled upwards. Several times Pershing spoke in favor of action in favor of African Americans, several times it came to nothing more then a few extra lynchings by the increasingly powerful KKK. A sense of lethargy seemed to sweep Washington. There was a feeling across the nation that America should be doing something, but that it wasn't.

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1: IOTL it collapsed here.
2: An odd combo of OTL, Pershing's ideals for AG and SecWar and republicans with "experience in the field"
3: Slightly smaller then OTL.
4: Unlike IOTL.
5: IOTL he presented the proposal, nicknamed the "Pershing Map" to Congress.
6: Similar to OTL, but we had a more optimistic view, calling it "credit".
 
Much praise has been given for the snarky style, an idea I must thank Vault boy and his sadly deceased TL ¡Mexicanos! ¡Valientes Seguid! for giving me inadvertently.
 
The changes are not big enough get to effect Europe. But they will come.


In that i must respectefuly disagree, the period of increased american internal troubles was very critical for the italian and yugoslavian negotiation and frankly Wilson stubborness caused the entire situation to deteriorate enough for the Italian delegation to leave Versailles.
A Wilson much more distracted by the 'socialist menace' at home and more in trouble for making the USA a member of the League of the Nation and ratify Versailles mean that he will be 'forced' to accept a compromise for the Adriatic question aka close the negotiation to concentrate on more important question.

Sure Italy will never receive what promised by the Treaty of London but the Tardieu Plan it's acceptable for Rome (and Belgrade without Wilson will accept the proposal); this mean that the italian delegation will remaining in Paris and will spared the humiliation of OTL and the takeover of Fiume by D'Annunzio will be butterflyed away; this series of event will make the liberal goverment more strong and weaken the position of the communist and fascist.

One must also consider the american expeditionary forces in Siberia and the general support at the white army in a TL where the socialist scare more the american pubblic; this can mean a stronger support for a more aggressive politics.
While the final outcome of the Russian civil war can be the same; the URSS can be more weakened than OTL (or even with a US puppet in Siberia).

In general ITTL US seem on the way for a socialist/conservative-fascist conflict when the Depression will start and things can be worsen faster depending on how the Rhurh occupation by the French-Belgian contingent is resolved here
 
Execpt Wilson isn't distracted by events at home, he's focused in Europe to a fault.

Difficult between Seattle and the Day of Action, the accusation of being soft on socialists:rolleyes: and many journalist and political adversaries pointing out that he is focusing too much towards Europe is internal political stance will be much weaker and so the prospective of rafity Versailles and the League of Nation memberships much harder.
This mean that to get the most important result he will be forced to let it go minor point (relatevily speaking naturally) as Italy and the Adriatic question or/and France demand towards Germany (much increased possibility to Paris to snatch saarland); basically to get the same result of OTL he will be forced to work harder.
I said that due to having to do research for my timeline and to answer at other question/following other tl about Versailles (like the very well researched one of King Zoug) and frankly the negotiations were extremely hard and complicated, full of critical point that can easily change the outcome of many parts...expecially for the periphery like Italy and the Balkans.

I spoke of the tardieu plan because was proposed at the end of May, so just after the Giorni di Lotta (plus all other fights) and with the american goverment caught in full by the aftermath of the event; the proposal was good for all the delegations except Wilson that made a counterproposal too much against Italian interest to be acceptable. If his beloved League of Nations (with american memberships) and the ratification of the Treaty looked more problematic due to the american internal sitaution, he can be more prone to be more elastic, close the dragging negotiation and concentrate over the biggest political battle.
 
"I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating." - Boss Tweed
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"Fighting Bob" La Follette, Progressiveism's answer to Frankenstein

For the first time Primaries occurred that very slightly kind of mattered for momentum in the Republican Party. And while most expected Pershing to get nominated some were worried about his failure to settle in with the conservatives or the progressives as well as the perception of a lagging economy. Corruption in some minor cabinet departments, like the United Stated Navy, also hurt him. Both Conservatives and Progressives plotted against him. The Conservatives failed to find someone to rally around however and they failed to gain momentum as Pershing supporters beat possible conservative candidates into line with vague patronage threats. However the Progressives were a different story. Friends of the powerful Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette began to plan his own run. Inside the party maverick California Senator Hiram Johnson began a campaign centered on ousting Pershing despite the fact that no one in their right mind would let Johnson be President. He attacked Pershing on Prohibition, he attacked Pershing for engaging in "creeping internationalism" by not ignoring the League of Nations zealously. He called for more progressive stuff like higher taxes on the wealthy, less involvement in Latin America and a complete ban on Chinese Immigration. Pershing failed to stop the influential progressive William Borah from joining Johnson's camp, giving Johnson momentum.

In the first primary, North Dakota, Johnson and La Follette split the votes, but Johnson managed to only be narrowly behind the President. Johnson continued to doggedly trail the President up to convention day, attacking him at every turn. But the primaries gave out virtually no delegates and Pershing had the great strength of incumbency behind him. Despite Johnson's strong support from the progressive wing[1] Pershing was easily nominated on the first ballot and his supported were so overjoyed that they repeatedly insulted Johnson. Johnson's mind was made up and he endorsed Robert La Follette's "Progressive Party", of no relation to Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 run. Indeed La Follette despised the deceased ex-president and would give you a really scary look if you called his party a Bull Moose one.

Anyway Pershing easily won on the first ballot of the convention. However there was much debate over weather to dump Vice President Calvin Coolidge, who'd basically sat around like a lump for 4 years and was a tad too conservative for many, despite a relatively liberal record as the Governator of the Massholes. Some wanted a progressive to fight the influence of La Follette, they found an unexpected ally in President Pershing. Pershing was, to put it bluntly, bored with Coolidge. He'd expected a man of action from Coolidge's handling of the Boston Police strike but instead gotten a man who preferred silence, which is sometimes worse then murder in Washington. With Pershing on board to dump Coolidge the movement only needed an alternative. They found one in Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot had headed the Forestry Service at a Federal Level, was a noted progressive with a strong record of Prohibition and had acquitted himself well during the Coal Strike of 1921. His eccentricity on some areas, like public spending on roads, appealed to Pershing but made the party bosses nervous. This nervousness worked to his advantage as they decided to kick him upstairs to Vice President.

The conspirators struck quickly on the first ballot but were unable to get a majority, however on the second ballot many jumped ship and Pinochet was nominated. Upon hearing that he was no longer to be Vice President Coolidge reportedly said "Damn, I suppose I'll need to find a place in Boston." Which was akin to some massive dramatic moment for him.

Now let's see what the democrats were up to…

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Ooooookaaaaayyy then……moving right along

The divide that would dominate the Democratic Party in 1924 was apparent from the beginning, when they couldn't decide where to hold the convention. After success there in the 1922 midterms many Democrats wanted to capitalize on their strengths and hold the convention in New York City. This course was supported by the progressive-ish wing of the Democratic Party. They were wet, large numbers were catholic, they were urban and some of them had some kind of sort of liberal racial views. Clearly this meant they could totally live in harmony with the other major faction in the Democratic Party: The Klu Klux Klan. Since its revival in 1915 after the terribly racist yet amazingly well produced movie The Birth of a Nation the Klan had been growing in power. They did things like lynchings, cross burnings and political rallies to build brotherhood. They were in favor of a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant nation where alcohol was a no no. They'd built up a powerful base in the south and in places like Indiana and……Oregon? Anyway they had built up a strong political organization nationwide.

So when they heard that the convention might be held in New York, a city so vile and drunken it was simultaneously the most papist and most Jewish place on earth, they got angry. They sent angry letters, marched in those hood thingies and burned crosses. Their favored candidate was William Gibbs McAdoo. McAdoo's adopted home state was California, but his support base was rural and racist. California had hosted the convention in 1920, so that was out, but McAdoo perceived weakness in Pershing and wanted to leave nothing to chance[3]. Instead he proposed the great city of Indianapolis, Indiana play host. This was a clever move, Indiana wasn't southern but it still had Klan focus to attend the convention and "show popular support". The not-KKKers, who largely supported New York governor Al Smith, were appalled, but ended up losing the fight. Indianapolis would host the convention.

The primaries were mostly won by McAdoo, however Smith did better then expected. Many were beginning to see McAdoo as an old relic tied up in Washington politics, not a bad guess. He was popular with the Wilsonites, but the Wilsonites weren't exactly popular with anyone else. And since he was about the only candidate acceptable to the Klu Klux Klan the anti-Klan delegates fought him. But the former Treasury Secretary remained the front runner.

As the convention began both sides entrenched themselves. They squabbled over condemning the KKK for being violent racists, they squabbled over being wet or dry. I have no evidence that they squabbled over who sat where, but I'd take a bet that they did.

The first ballot made clear that the race was between Smith and McAdoo, however the number of favorite sons exceeded expectations and Smith was also stronger then anticipated. With 2/3rds required to win the nomination both sides settled in for a long fight. The ballots wore on for the day and by the 15th ballot nothing had really changed, a few favorite sins had dropped out, but nothing huge. The process continued dragging on, various dark horses were raised up then brought down, never surpassing McAdoo or Smith. Klan members gathered outside and burnt crosses and declared that they probably wouldn't vote anyone but McAdoo and definitely wouldn't vote for the catholic Smith. The vote dragged on…and……on………and……………on. The two sides were effectively employing scorched earth on each other. And so it continued, to 35 ballots, to 61. McAdoo and Smitth remained deadlocked, with McAdoo consistently ahead, but unable to gain. Eyes turned towards dark horses then floated away. States switched their support around to minor candidates purely out of curtesy. On the 62nd Ballot, the first of the 3rd day Arkansas Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson dropped out and his support went the McAdoo. Cheers rang throughout the hall and McAdoo supporters paraded about proclaiming him "the savior of democracy". From there McAdoo unleashed his full force and began to grind his way to the nomination. Smith tried to strategically plant delegates then remove them to make it seem line McAdoo was waning. But the former President's Son-In-Law pressed on. The wet candidates dragged their heels but could not stop it, only prolong the pain. On the record 73rd Ballot William Gibbs McAdoo received the Democratic nomination for President.

With the crazy convention already hurting the party McAdoo quickly selected Woodbridge Ferris, the unobtrusive Michigan senator, to complete the ticket. Embarrassingly it took until the 4th ballot to get him nominated due to wet delegates dragging it out.

The nomination of a conservative sent many Democrats to La Follette's campaign, including the Wisconsin Senetor's running mate, Montana Moder…Senator Burton K. Wheeler.

The race was on.

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McAdoo: Not a Vampire, No Siree Bob

Both McAdoo and Pershing ran on platforms that were largely conservative. Pershing promised that with "the new sense of security" he provided Americans were able to pick themselves up and prosper. Republicans decried McAdoo as being caught up in "old politics" and corruption. For his part McAdoo didn't launch an all out assault on Pershing. He opposed some things like his National Highway idea, but for the most part he promised "sound governance" as an alternative to the "erratic, inexperienced nature of the Pershing administration". Under a McAdoo presidency, he said, prohibition would be enforced, the Sedition Laws would remain in place but they wouldn't need to be used because the "experienced hands" of McAdoo would calm the nation with the backing of the KKK, though he never really talked about them.

As far as actual campaigning went neither candidate did much. Pershing maintained his strategy of criss crossing the country to hold official events, heightening his perception as a leader who could look spiffy. McAdoo also travelled the country, but his speeches were limited to higher class events. He spoke with party bosses to gain their unwavering support, no easy task in states dominated by Smith fans. In turn party bosses would turn around and grind out votes for McAdoo.

In contrast La Follette and Wheeler ran an energetic campaign designed to storm the country. With the support of Hiram Johnson and William Borah they crisscrossed the west. Compared to the quite similar platforms of McAdoo and Pershing the Progressives offered massive proposals for government spending, progressive tax schemes and welfare. Their platform was more agrarian then the Progressive Party of 1912 but retained ideas like healthcare and other stuff

As Election Day drew nearer and nearer it was unclear who would win, some even speculated a hung electoral college. However as the campaign entered its final stretch McAdoo began to fade, perhaps due to a sense of corruption settling around him, and Pershing began to pull ahead.

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John Pershing/Gifford Pinchot - 317
William McAdoo/Woodbridge Ferris - 188
Robert La Follette/Burton Wheeler - 26​

The Klan's strong support in Indiana threw the state to McAdoo and Johnson's favoritism to the progressives split the Republican vote in California. Delaware also went to McAdoo, clearly an indicator of glory. In the west some dissatisfied Republicans voted Progressive, throwing a few states green. However McAdoo's conservative rhetoric and the backing from the Klu Klux Klan hurt him in other areas. Democratic machines in New York City and Chicago once again did not bring their full might down onto the side of the Democratic nominee. While McAdoo still won the cities by wide margins there were not enough votes to drag the states into his column.

While the contest was closer then it appeared on a map John Pershing was reelected President of the United States.

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1: Stronger then IOTL since Coolidge was more active against him.
2: IOTL many speculated on dumping Coolidge from the ticket before he ascended.
3: McAdoo saw no harm in letting it be in New York IOTL, which he regretted. Here he's more cautious.
 
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