The Presidency of Eugene Debs?

Hello,

I am curious if somehow Eugen Debs won in say the 1912 Election, what he would do as president. What policies and things would he try to enact? What would be his foreign policy be especially towards Latin America? In general what would his preisdency look like?

~Herkles~
 
I really do not see any plausible way for Debs and the Socialists to win in 1912. Even assuming (unrealistically) a race between Taft and a rather conservative Democrat (say, Judson Harmon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judson_Harmon or Oscar Underwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Underwood) with no Progressive Party, the most I see Debs getting is about 12 percent; if he got the 17% La Follette got in OTL in 1924 (as Progressive candidate runnng with Socialst support) I would be greatly surprised.

However, I do see one time Debs had a real if small chance of being elected president. Let's say that the Democrats nominate a conservative instead of Bryan in 1896. (Unlikely, I know.) In November, Eugene Debs (Populist) wins a three way race against the conservative Democratic and Republican candidates--probably he only has a chance in November if the Republicans nominate a weaker candidate than McKinley. (In OTL, Debs was seriously considered by the Populists for their nomination, but took his name out of contention and supported Bryan.)

The Populist Party was not a socialist party, but it is conceivable that if nominated Debs could have led it in a socialist direction. IMO there was a definite socialist potential in the party. I once cited a letter of Colorado's Populist Governor Davis H. Waite to the American Federation of Labor national convention in Denver in 1894, where he quoted Karl Marx's son-in-law Paul Lafargue... https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/ahc-socialist-america-by-1900.389566/#post-12463178 And indeed in OTL the so-called middle-of-the-road faction of the Populists (those opposed to fusion with the Democrats) consisted largely of future Socialist Party leaders like Victor Berger (who had formerly been part of Daniel De Leon's Socialist Labor Party). Jack Ross writes in his The Socialist Party of America: A Complete History that "At least one newspaper account of internal populist politics declared that 'most of the middle-of-the-roaders of the Populist Party are socialists.' It would not, therefore be an exaggeration to say that the nucleus of the future Socialist Party existed in the Populist Party as early as 1895." https://books.google.com/books?id=fud1BwAAQBAJ&pg=PP64
 
Last edited:
I really do not see any plausible way for Debs and the Socialists to win in 1912. Even assuming (unrealistically) a race between Taft and a rather conservative Democrat (say, Judson Harmon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judson_Harmon or Oscar Underwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Underwood) with no Progressive Party, the most I see Debs getting is about 12 percent; if he got the 17% La Follette got in OTL in 1924 (as Progressive candidate runnng with Socialst support) I would be greatly surprised.

However, I do see one time Debs had a real if small chance of being elected president. Let's say that the Democrats nominate a conservative instead of Bryan in 1896. (Unlikely, I know.) In November, Eugene Debs (Populist) wins a three way race against the conservative Democratic and Republican candidates--probably he only has a chance in November if the Republicans nominate a weaker candidate than McKinley. (In OTL, Debs was seriously considered by the Populists for their nomination, but took his name out of contention and supported Bryan.)

The Populist Party was not a socialist party, but it is conceivable that if nominated Debs could have led it in a socialist direction. IMO there was a definite socialist potential in the party. I once cited a letter of Colorado's Populist Governor Davis H. Waite to the American Federation of Labor national convention in Denver in 1894, where he quoted Karl Marx's son-in-law Paul Lafargue... https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/ahc-socialist-america-by-1900.389566/#post-12463178 And indeed in OTL the so-called middle-of-the-road faction of the Populists (those opposed to fusion with the Democrats) consisted largely of future Socialist Party leaders like Victor Berger (who had formerly been part of Daniel De Leon's Socialist Labor Party). Jack Ross writes in his The Socialist Party of America: A Complete History that "At least one newspaper account of internal populist politics declared that 'most of the middle-of-the-roaders of the Populist Party are socialists.' It would not, therefore be an exaggeration to say that the nucleus of the future Socialist Party existed in the Populist Party as early as 1895." https://books.google.com/books?id=fud1BwAAQBAJ&pg=PP64

Hmm, I did not consider the 1896 route. That seems interesting. I am wondering how things would develop with him in charge as this is before the Spanish-American War and the annexation of Hawaii. :)
 
Top