Theodore Roosevelt Serves 5 Terms, 1901-1921

What if good ol' Teddy Roosevelt, one of my personal favorite presidents, had decided not only to run in 1908, but in 1912 and 1916 as well? I know this probably isn't avery likely scenario, but let's assume for the sake of discussion that Teddy is President for 20 terms?:eek:
What does he do? I have some guesses...
1. I read somewhere that he was a supporter of Universal Healthcare, what if he passes that in his 3rd or 4th term? What are some other progressivist policies he could enact?
2. What if he outright annexes, say, Hait, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic? What effects would that have?
3. I also read that he criticized Woodrow Wilson for not declaring war on the Central Powers. What if America joins WW1 right away, barring butterflies?
Discuss.
 
Dear god TR for 5 terms :eek: I dont know if the world could take that he is to much of a Badass

The Major Butterfly is going to be that the American Presidental System is going to need to be altered because being President for 20 years is going to lead eventually to Dictators, this precedent should get interesting in 30's

PS TR is also one of my favorite presidents :D
 
A much more militarily powerful US that isn't afraid to kick in someones door to get its way.

Also early direct American intervention on the behalf of the British and French during WWI, Roosevelt didn't like the Germans.
 
Little Known Fact (About TR):

Old Teddy was actually quiet friendly with Franz Joseph I of Austria (I believe I read that in The Habsburgs: Embodying Empire just for reference). So while he didn't like the Germans, he might not outright jump for war if he viewed Franz Joseph's motives as valid.

Of course having TR held office for 3 1/2 terms by the start of WWI may very well alter it or butterfly it away.
 

Deleted member 1487

A much more militarily powerful US that isn't afraid to kick in someones door to get its way.

Also early direct American intervention on the behalf of the British and French during WWI, Roosevelt didn't like the Germans.


Roosevelt was a statesmen first and would try to resolve the conflict. If and when the Kaiser rebuffs him, Roosevelt would take his case to the American people and ask Congress for a declaration of war. But he may very be denied, as the vast majority of Americans did not want to get involved in a European war, not to mention roughly half of the population had roots in the Central Powers or just plain did not like the British. This could actually cause his downfall politically and result in the only DoW that was refused by Congress. Very interesting scenario. Though I would be VERY interested to see how Roosevelt would react to the denial and the subsequent British blockade of the Central Powers.
 
Steampunk Watchmen:

Khan the Great Industrialist, once billed as the smartest man in the world is currently being tried for crimes against humanity after New York was vaporized by the first ever atomic bomb in 1938, tricking the world that we've been attacked in a raid by aliens from Mars. The famous War of the Worlds hoax will live forever in infamy.
 
Little Known Fact (About TR):

Old Teddy was actually quiet friendly with Franz Joseph I of Austria (I believe I read that in The Habsburgs: Embodying Empire just for reference). So while he didn't like the Germans, he might not outright jump for war if he viewed Franz Joseph's motives as valid.

Of course having TR held office for 3 1/2 terms by the start of WWI may very well alter it or butterfly it away.

True I don't think Roosevelt would jump right into the conflict but he would be prepared for it much more sooner and would likely side with Britain and France. But I would expect a much milder peace on Germany and Austria after the war.
 
True I don't think Roosevelt would jump right into the conflict but he would be prepared for it much more sooner and would likely side with Britain and France. But I would expect a much milder peace on Germany and Austria after the war.

You should take a look at David Fromkin's The King and the Cowboy, a nice short book that talks about the efforts of Edward VII and Roosevelt to deal with the Kaiser and Germany.
 
That would be a horrible twenty years. Yes he was cool and a badass, I don't argue with that. But he was, in my opinion, one of the worst presidents we have ever had. It is not what he did that makes him the worst, it is what he set the precedent for. I look at all the posts here and everyone seems to be in love with the Progressives. "They wanted Universal Healthcare", "They would make a stronger Military", "They would begin the civil rights movement earlier" and so much of that crap. Don't people realize that the Progressives are just the American version of Fascists. They want to do what is best for you by any means neccesary, even if that means going around the system and breaking all of our liberties. The progressives were in love with people like Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mussolini, Franco, and even Hitler untill about 1941. The Progresives allowed FDR to do all the crap that kept us in the Depression not 7 years, like the rest of the world, but instead till the early 40's.

Now this is not all Theodore's fault DIRECTLY, however, he is responsible indirectly. His policies created a precendent that almost every president has followed since. This precedent has sent us down the path so very far, only the people can change it now.

sorry if that rant got a little political. I'm just tired of everyone worshiping this man and the movement he represented.
 
IBDK, I belately agree with you on that point - but that's in the realm of current American politics, right up there with Religion on the "really bad idea to debate on". That said, I'm pretty sure that after time-travelling Neo-Nazis fail to kill the indestructable Teddy Roosevelt for the fifth time in 1911, he would channel the Phoenix (yes, the X-Men one), suck up the Lifestream, and fly off of our puny planet to hunt the biggest game of all: the elusive super-cyber-ninja Black Holes.
Good Lord, that didn't make any sense.
 
He would be unlikely to win that many times. Declaring war on the Central Powers would require authorisation by congress so he would have had the same problems as his nephew in 1939. When WW1 broke out he had the luxury of being on the sidelines. He would have had problems with relection in 1916 if he was pro intervention and Wilson would have won.


However would he have attempted to provoke the U boats into an incident or would the Germans have been more circumspect if Roosevelt was known to favour intervention. Some basic form of health care may have come in before it could be labelled as socialism. One interesting scenario would have been his attitude to labour. Would he have intervened in the Colorado mining dispute forcing a solution before the Ludlow massacre or have intervened more strongly afertwards?
 
That would be a horrible twenty years. Yes he was cool and a badass, I don't argue with that. But he was, in my opinion, one of the worst presidents we have ever had. It is not what he did that makes him the worst, it is what he set the precedent for. I look at all the posts here and everyone seems to be in love with the Progressives. "They wanted Universal Healthcare", "They would make a stronger Military", "They would begin the civil rights movement earlier" and so much of that crap. Don't people realize that the Progressives are just the American version of Fascists. They want to do what is best for you by any means neccesary, even if that means going around the system and breaking all of our liberties. The progressives were in love with people like Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mussolini, Franco, and even Hitler untill about 1941. The Progresives allowed FDR to do all the crap that kept us in the Depression not 7 years, like the rest of the world, but instead till the early 40's.

Now this is not all Theodore's fault DIRECTLY, however, he is responsible indirectly. His policies created a precendent that almost every president has followed since. This precedent has sent us down the path so very far, only the people can change it now.

sorry if that rant got a little political. I'm just tired of everyone worshiping this man and the movement he represented.

Been reading Jonah Goldberg, have we?
 
That would be a horrible twenty years. Yes he was cool and a badass, I don't argue with that. But he was, in my opinion, one of the worst presidents we have ever had. It is not what he did that makes him the worst, it is what he set the precedent for. I look at all the posts here and everyone seems to be in love with the Progressives. "They wanted Universal Healthcare", "They would make a stronger Military", "They would begin the civil rights movement earlier" and so much of that crap. Don't people realize that the Progressives are just the American version of Fascists. They want to do what is best for you by any means neccesary, even if that means going around the system and breaking all of our liberties. The progressives were in love with people like Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mussolini, Franco, and even Hitler untill about 1941. The Progresives allowed FDR to do all the crap that kept us in the Depression not 7 years, like the rest of the world, but instead till the early 40's.

Now this is not all Theodore's fault DIRECTLY, however, he is responsible indirectly. His policies created a precendent that almost every president has followed since. This precedent has sent us down the path so very far, only the people can change it now.

sorry if that rant got a little political. I'm just tired of everyone worshiping this man and the movement he represented.

*Facepalm*
 
That would be a horrible twenty years. Yes he was cool and a badass, I don't argue with that.
You left out the more important qualities of being prudent and honorable.
But he was, in my opinion, one of the worst presidents we have ever had. It is not what he did that makes him the worst, it is what he set the precedent for.
What policies do you refer to? You could also try and lay the blame on several well regarded Presidents for what their successors did but are they really responsible?
I look at all the posts here and everyone seems to be in love with the Progressives. "They wanted Universal Healthcare", "They would make a stronger Military", "They would begin the civil rights movement earlier" and so much of that crap.
And? Most of his progressive idea had a practical bent to them atleast about how he went about them. And he’s been proving largely right over time on what needed to change (civil rights, corporate reform, the environment, labor reform ect. ) and on most of them we’d probably be better off today if we'd followed his lead especially if we’d avoided some of the knee jerk reactions of OTL and followed a more sensible approach to them.
Don't people realize that the Progressives are just the American version of Fascists.
:rolleyes:
They want to do what is best for you by any means neccesary, even if that means going around the system and breaking all of our liberties.
:rolleyes::rolleyes:
The progressives were in love with people like Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Mussolini, Franco, and even Hitler untill about 1941.
Ha you can find plenty of people in both the liberal and conservative wings of a great many nations and parties who idealized one or more fellows on that list. More importantly what does TR have to do with any of them?
The Progresives allowed FDR to do all the crap that kept us in the Depression not 7 years, like the rest of the world, but instead till the early 40's.
TR was more a practical kind of man for the most part while FDR was more an idealist you can’t blame the former for the latter.
Now this is not all Theodore's fault DIRECTLY, however, he is responsible indirectly. His policies created a precendent that almost every president has followed since. This precedent has sent us down the path so very far, only the people can change it now.
Again what policies and precedent? Not ignoring problems and hoping they go away?
sorry if that rant got a little political. I'm just tired of everyone worshiping this man and the movement he represented.
TR didn’t create the Progressive Movement so it’s a little unfair to hang all your dislike for it on his shoulders and while he wasn’t perfect I think it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t a better president than Taft, Wilson, or Harding
 
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