TLIAW: Leader's Decision

Inspired by Oppo's "Running in the Digital Age"

"I have decided to end my campaign for President... I encourage all my delegates to vote for Senator Robert Taft."

-Harold Stassen, at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia (1948)

1948 was a favorable year to the Republican Party, but the contest to select a nominee for President was crowded. The 1944 candidate, New York Governor Thomas Dewey, returned for another attempt. Opposing him were Robert Taft, Senator from Ohio, the leader of the Conservative wing. And liberal Harold Stassen, the former Governor of Minnesota.

Dewey started off with a 210 delegate lead over Taft on the first ballot. Taft's delegate count increased on the second, but so did Dewey's. The leader of the "Stop Dewey" asked Stassen to drop out and endorse him. Initially hesitant, he eventually agreed on the condition that some Cabinet post would be offered to him should Taft win.

Stassen's delegates were more ideologically aligned with Dewey on issues other than Communism, but remained vindictive over his upset in the Oregon primary following a nationally-broadcasted debate between the candidates. Following the Governor's instructions, 127 of Stassen's delegates joined Taft's 274 and Senator Arthur Vandenberg's 62, giving him 42 percent of the delegate count.

Ahead of the fourth ballot, a delegate from Nebraska entered the name of Harry P Cain, charismatic Conservative Senator from Washington, into nomination. The movement to draft Cain quickly gained support, and in a press conference he announced that he would accept the Republican nomination. He won 252 votes.

Dewey and Taft met ahead of the fifth ballot. Eventually they concluded that Cain would most likely win the nomination, and that they should back him and focus on the election. The both conceding, Cain would secure the nomination.

Flying in, he decided that due to his youth and lack of experience, he needed someone older on the Vice Presidential slot. He settled on Vandenberg. In his acceptance speech, he announced that he would "conduct a review on every employee in all sectors of the federal government for Communist sympathies," leading to applause from the delegates.

As the Convention ended, the Republicans had a wide lead, but a fight was expected.
 
"The choice the American people face is between three candidates advocating militarism, but to varying degrees."

-Henry Wallace, at a campaign stop in Hutchinson, Kansas (1948)

Following the Democratic National Convention, Truman was faced with a Party split: labor unionists and progressive intellectuals backed Henry Wallace, while segregationists backed Strom Thurmond. However, with Senator Alben Barkley at his side, he wasn't about to give up.

He campaigned across the nation, attacking the "Do-Nothing Congress" and the Republican candidate as "dangerous, and nothing less." Cain went on the attack as well, using his charisma to attack the Democrats over the housing crisis, Communist expansion in Czechoslovakia, and allowing Communists to infiltrate the State Department.

Truman was able to regain support of liberal anti-Communists when Wallace accepted the nomination of the CPUS. However, he was still significantly behind Cain. The candidates campaigned in the Midwest, West, Upper South until the 2nd.

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Cain won by a landslide, carrying 329 electoral votes from 28 states and 25,283,067 votes. Truman conceded fourteen minutes after Cain's margin of victory was called. He now needed to select a Cabinet and set his priorities for his Administration
 
"...so help me God."

-Harry Cain at his swearing in at the Capitol, Washington DC (1949)

Cain put in a variety of people in his Cabinet: John Dulles, banker and Dewey's foreign policy aide, was made Secretary of the Treasury, while Howard Buffett, businessman and outgoing Congressman from Nebraska was made Secretary of Commerce. General William Smith, Eisenhower's CoS during the war and a Moscow Ambassador, as Secretary of State. Nelson Rockefeller, businessman and former Assistant Secretary of State, was appointed Secretary of Defense. Stassen was made Attorney General.

Following his inauguration, Cain signed an Executive Order expanding upon the "Loyalty Order" of 1947. It delegated the powers of, but did not abolish, the Loyalty Review Board, to J Edgar Hoover's Federal Bureau of Investigation, and set "disciplinary" measures for employees who "displayed sympathy" but not association with "for colleagues proved to be subversives, sympathetic or associated to subversives," such as cuts in pay, benefits, etc.

A poll found that 59% of Americans supported this.
 
"...so help me God."

-Harry Cain at his swearing in at the Capitol, Washington DC (1949)

Cain put in a variety of people in his Cabinet: John Dulles, banker and Dewey's foreign policy aide, was made Secretary of the Treasury, while Howard Buffett, businessman and outgoing Congressman from Nebraska was made Secretary of Commerce. General William Smith, Eisenhower's CoS during the war and a Moscow Ambassador, as Secretary of State. Nelson Rockefeller, businessman and former Assistant Secretary of State, was appointed Secretary of Defense. Stassen was made Attorney General.

Following his inauguration, Cain signed an Executive Order expanding upon the "Loyalty Order" of 1947. It delegated the powers of, but did not abolish, the Loyalty Review Board, to J Edgar Hoover's Federal Bureau of Investigation, and set "disciplinary" measures for employees who "displayed sympathy" but not association with "for colleagues proved to be subversives, sympathetic or associated to subversives," such as cuts in pay, benefits, etc.

A poll found that 59% of Americans supported this.
Hopefully Stassen has a solid career in government instead of becoming a fringe candidate with no chance.
 
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