Warren G. Harding in 1924

What is the outcome of a 1924 election?


  • Total voters
    48
No, because of P&P, or Peace & Prosperity, plus the Democratic Party being split right down the middle (literally, the Klan resolution failed by 0.5 votes) between wets and dries, on the Klan, and ideologically between Bourbons and Progressives. With continued Bourbon dominance you'll get a Progressive splinter as per OTL.
 
I agree with RB when it comes to the Democrats. I personally don't think Harding runs due to the controversy. He would probably just let Coolidge win as per OTL
 
For those who think the Dems would win, please explain your rationale. The evidence shows that a Dem victory under OTL conditions is borderline ASB.
 
I'd expect Teapot Dome would hurt his reputation and his popularity would decline. But this is a period in which the Democratic party, as Roguebeaver pointed out was in the worst possible state. The convention of 1924 was a nightmare.

Taken altogether I say Harding wins, but there's a chance his victory won't be too overwhelming.
 
I'd expect Teapot Dome would hurt his reputation and his popularity would decline. But this is a period in which the Democratic party, as Roguebeaver pointed out was in the worst possible state. The convention of 1924 was a nightmare.

Taken altogether I say Harding wins, but there's a chance his victory won't be too overwhelming.


It might be. After all, the whole situation closely parallels 1872. A lot of corruption scandals put the Democrats (apparently) in with a chance, but they proved unable to do anything with it. Given Harding's personal popularity, he might breeze home much as Grant did.
 
Plus most of the scandals did not come out until Harding died so if he has not in this, then his administration will not be seen as corrupt
 
Democrat victory in 1924 is near ASB. Democrats can't unite themselves, as proved during the 1924 convention. Another, the OTL candidate John Davis will going to be embarrassed more by Harding. If Alfred Smith gets the nomination, some parts of the Solid South will vote for Harding because of his Catholicism.
 
Is there ANY chance that the progressive could win if Dems make the mess they did in OTL and Harding's gets renomination in ways that look illegitimate?
 
OK, we're presuming tacitly that Harding does not have that fatal heart attack in San Francisco in August 1923. He himself was not involved, but his friends were. He couldn't bring himself to fire any of them, although (IIRC) he came within inches of punching Jess Daugherty's lights out over hwat he, Harding, rightfully saw as a betrayal.

I have to ask this: given the state of affairs, might Harding have not been the first president to resign? A simple "it happened on my watch, so I'm responsible" speech should do it, and considering how well-liked Harding was, that should carry the day. The presidency is then turned over to that model of New England rectitude, Calvin Coolidge; the wrongdoers are flushed out and prosecuted, and Coolidge pretty much romps home to a term in his own right in 1924.

For the Republicans to lose in 1924, it would have taken an epic scandal that would have involved bribery all the way to the top, and I mean money changing hands across the Resolute desk. The Democrats are far too badly split over prohibition and the Ku Klux Klan, and the Progressives are a special interest faction.
 
Is there ANY chance that the progressive could win if Dems make the mess they did in OTL and Harding's gets renomination in ways that look illegitimate?

Not unless something of great magnitude happens, such as a photo of Harding holding a gun to the head of, or handing a big wad of cash to whoever was challenging him for the '24 nomination gets published in late October.
 
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