TLIAPOT: From Hollywood Boulevard to Pennsylvania Avenue

Hey everyone, this will be a TLIAPOT (Timeline in a period of time) that I'm embarking on based on an idea that came to me randomly whilst browsing around on the internet, its focus being OTL actors entering politics instead and making up the Presidents of the United States from 1941 onwards.

I hope you enjoy what I have to offer, and do feel free to leave comments/suggestions :)
 
Legacies and Chosen Sons

With the 1940 presidential election approaching, incumbent President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his eye on a third term. The Washington principle, an unofficial yet respected ideal of how a President should only serve two terms despite no formal term limits on the office, provided a political obstacle for Roosevelt as he planned to seek a third term in office. Yet, whilst his popularity was ripe for an attempt to defy the Washington principle and the ambitions of would-be successors in his party, Roosevelt's attempted bid for a third term would ultimately be felled by his health, not by politics. Afflicted with polio for most of his adult life, Roosevelt was also suffering from high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, further heart problems and finally issues with his lungs due to being a chain smoker for many years. Whilst Roosevelt had been able to cope with such a myriad during his Presidency, he picked up a nasty chest infection in the summer of 1940 which intensified his numerous health problems. Gravely ill, the President elected not to seek a third term upon medical advice and the protestations of his wife Eleanor, both arguing that the extent of his new health worries would be virtually impossible to conceal to party officials, who could use it as a means to deprive him of the nomination.

Forced into retirement with great reluctance, Roosevelt began looking for a designated successor who could carry on the legacy that he had crafted. In this endeavour, the President remained unsatisfied with the frontrunners for the nomination. Relations with the more conservative Vice President John Nance Garner had never been smooth but had deteriorated rapidly in the second term after disagreements on Supreme Court reform, labor laws, balanced budget ideals and numerous other issues. Postmaster General and DNC Chairman James Farley had once been a close ally of Roosevelt but the two men had increasingly grown distant since the autumn of 1939 when it looked as if Roosevelt would seek a third term despite the Washington principle. As such, by June 1940 when Roosevelt had decided not to run, the increasingly frosty relations with Farley meant that Roosevelt was reluctant to endorse him as his successor. The only other leading contender, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, displayed both a lack of ambition for the role and health problems of his own, leaving Roosevelt with a problem as to who he could tap to take his place rather than risk a free for all at the convention that could leave anybody as the nominee.

The President turned then to his own political roots from his past as Governor of New York and specifically his former Lieutenant Governor, the man who'd succeeded him in the Governor's office when he'd been elected President in 1932. A former Navy man who'd served in World War I, as well as a former shipper, sales executive and then businessman who'd turned from business into politics in the 1920s, New York Governor Humphrey DeForest Bogart was just the man that Franklin Roosevelt was looking for to replace him in the White House. He had served ably as his Lieutenant Governor and then as Governor himself for eight years, he agreed with much of Roosevelt's policies and politics and he was popular with the party and the media. Meetings between the two men took place in mid June 1940 in which Governor Bogart agreed to contest the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July 1940, running against Vice President Garner and Postmaster General Farley.

Roosevelt had wrestled with his decision not to stand again for a third term, especially with the escalation of the ongoing conflict in Europe in May 1940, shortly after he'd ruled himself out from running. The President was convinced that only he had the experience and leadership skill to run the nation through the threat as well as carry on the New Deal. Even as discussions with Governor Bogart were held, Roosevelt was still considering reneging on his pledge to stand aside. Yet, despite Roosevelt's misgivings about retiring, his health continued to suffer amidst chest infection and other problems which were taking a battering toll upon the President's fitness. Anguished and angered at his body failing him once again as it had when he'd contracted polio in the 1920s, the President turned his focuses onto grooming Bogart as the man to carry his legacy forward, reasoning he could strongly influence Bogart in the White House.

As the Democrats assembled in Chicago in mid July 1940 to choose their presidential ticket, the pundits were predicting a close race between Garner, Farley and Bogart. Heavy lobbying occurred from all three camps, especially from Bogart's with the outgoing President telephoning numerous Democratic party leaders to lobby them for his choice. It worked, with Governor Bogart achieving 589 votes (53.8%) on the first ballot, in front of Farley's 265 (24.2%) and Garner's 225 (20.5%). Bogart's choice for Vice President, Wisconsin Senator Fredric March, was also successfully nominated with ease and lobbying when it came to the vice presidential ballot. With the Bogart/March ticket now in place and Roosevelt's desire for a secure legacy one step further, attention was now focused on the matchup between Bogart and his Republican rival, business tycoon Wendell Willkie who had been surprisingly nominated at the Republican National Convention in June. Willkie lacked political experience but made up for it in charisma, with some Democrats fearing they could potentially lose if Bogart did not match up.

Whilst the lack of Roosevelt on the ticket had some Democrats worried, ultimately the fundamentals of the race always looked good for Bogart. The Roosevelt administration was still popular as was the New Deal, and Willkie was distrusted by many voters in working class, industrial urban areas due to views that Big Business had been a major factor in responsibility for the Great Depression. Nevertheless, Willkie proved to be a better campaigner when assessed against Bogart, fearlessly going into traditionally non Republican areas to draw up votes. However, the popularity of the Democrats, their superior organisation in populated areas and key states and his own image shortcomings as a business tycoon ultimately proved too much for Willkie to overcome. Governor Bogart had led in every poll since the conventions in June/July and this ultimately translated into a solid win come November 5th. Bogart/March carried 35 states to Willkie/McNary's 13, taking 391 electoral votes and 54.2% of the popular vote to the 140 electoral votes and 45.4% of the popular vote picked up by the Republicans. As such, Governor Humphrey DeForest Bogart of New York would be the 33rd President of the United States. The Roosevelt legacy was safe.

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Actors in the white house this sounds total ASB.

What next a television personality and bankrupt businessman ... oh wait.
 
Team for Trying Times

By the end of 1940, the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the White House as President was about to end, something which the outgoing President had not wanted but had been forced to accept by his declining health. Whilst still wielding an active, brilliant mind, the President's physical health was declining rapidly due to a spate of infections and ails during 1940. Indeed by December, Roosevelt was spending more time recuperating in bed than taking an active role in handing over to his successor, President-elect and New York Governor Humphrey Bogart. The President-elect was a man who until June 1940 had not planned on running for President, figuring future races to be too cumbersome and dominated by bigger, more ambitious personalities in the party. It was only the lobbying of Roosevelt, his old friend and mentor, that had convinced him to run as his standard bearer. Upon his election however, Bogart would face voiced doubts about if he could live up to Roosevelt's impressive legacy. To put to rest such doubts, the President-elect would need a strong Cabinet behind him.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull, widely respected as a brilliant diplomat and whom also had refused to contest the 1940 Democratic presidential nomination, was asked to stay on by the President-elect and had that offer accepted. The same offer was made to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau who similarly accepted the offer to stay on. A third man, the recently appointed Secretary of War Henry Stimson was asked to stay in too, and also accepted the offer. Stimson, a former War Secretary under Taft and Secretary of State under Hoover, had been brought in as a bipartisan appointment by Roosevelt to prepare the nation for probable assistance in the European conflict against Nazi Germany. Therefore, as the three men who certainly made up the seniority in Roosevelt's Cabinet, having great command of their briefs and departments, it made sense for them to be asked to stay on as a way of assuring doubters that the new young President would have experienced hands advising him.

With regard to other Cabinet posts, the President-elect didn't have much of a chance to reshuffle the Cabinet as he would've liked, given that the Cabinet had encountered much upheaval during 1940 and as such five out of ten Cabinet secretaries had only assumed their posts within the past year, making it difficult to get rid of such new appointees quickly without causing upheaval in their departments. As such, Postmaster General Frank Walker, Navy Secretary Frank Knox and Commerce Secretary Jesse Jones, along with Stimson were asked to stay on in post due to the recent nature of their appointments. The other recently appointed Cabinet member, Attorney General Robert Jackson, who had assumed post in January 1940, was not retained by Bogart as a means to show that he could be his own man when crafting policy in some areas and not simply a puppet of FDR as some commentators were suggesting. However, given Jackson was an old friend and ally of the outgoing President, he was promised as a severance that he would be frontrunner for the first Supreme Court vacancy to arise under the Bogart Presidency. Finally, in a move which encountered some criticism, Bogart did not retain Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, all of whom had served in post since the beginning of the Roosevelt Presidency. Whilst Bogart had respect for their service and knowledge of their areas, he also had his own ideas for reform and similar to the reasoning for removing Jackson, he wanted to make his own mark on policy by appointing his own people.

Bogart's choice for Attorney General was Wiley Rutledge, who in 1940 had been serving for 18 months as a Judge in the Court of Appeals on the DC Circuit. A former private practice lawyer and legal academic at various universities, culminating with a stint as Dean of the University of Iowa's College of Law, Rutledge held liberal positions on judicial issues and thus fitted in well with Bogart's own thinking regarding the law and justice. For Secretary of Agriculture, North Carolina Congressman Harold Cooley was chosen as a result of his service on the House Agriculture Committee and interest in the area which was deemed crucial as the experienced Henry Wallace vacated the position. To replace the equally experienced Frances Perkins as Labor Secretary, her former Deputy Secretary of Labor from 1933-37 Edward McGrady was selected. McGrady, a former AFL Vice President and titan of labor, was praised as the choice though some progressives critiqued the lack of a woman in Cabinet to replace Perkins once the final position of Secretary of the Interior was filled by Florida Congressman J. Hardin Peterson.

Despite some criticism and controversy, and jibes about Bogart simply being a Roosevelt puppet, the new nominees were confirmed swiftly by Congress in time for Bogart to assume office on January 20th 1941.

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I have a question, how many of OTL's marriages has this Bogart had? Being the 1940's I'd have to imagine that two prior divorces would have been used against him in the campaign. Also, Mayo Methot, his third wife which OTL he married in 1938, was a heavy drinker herself and apparently could be violent when she was drunk. I'm a little sad that his relationship with Lauren Bacall is almost certainly butterflied, she was good for him, even with the massive age difference between them.
 
Who will play Bogart's character in Casblanca while Bogie is in office?

How will he get the United States involved in WWII if at all?
 
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