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A few months ago I was looking through the USA minister files in Hearts of Iron 2, and I came upon this guy:​



Warren G. Hooper. I looked into the USA events file, and discovered that if the player (or computer, but it's massively unlikely) chooses Wendell Willkie for 1940 President, he's the Minister of Armament (as a Corrupt Kleptocrat), and if the USA has a Republican president in office in 1944, he can be elected as the Democratic candidate (as a Ruthless Powermonger). Corrupt Kleptocrat and Ruthless Powermonger are not the best traits, so my opinion of the guy was not very good. But I didn't know anything about him, and was curious as to why Paradox chose this guy.

Eventually, I googled him, and was somewhat surprised that the closest he has to a Wikipedia page is in a footnote here:

the case ended when the star witness, Sen. Warren G. Hooper was murdered.

Now I was really curious. I followed the link and found his biography, here:

During a grand jury investigation, admitted to taking bribes and was given immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony against others; however, four days before the hearing, he was shot and killed in his car, alongside highway M-99, near Springport, Jackson County, Mich., January 11, 1945 (age 40 years, 254 days).

Not the best of fates, but at least it explains his game traits.

But I still couldn't figure out why the hell Paradox chose such a minor politician. My guess is he was a joke character: he's massively unlikely to come into office without player intervention, so they chose him as filler. But they still had to come across him somehow. I guess, since the corruption investigation and his murder were (understandably) very big in the news in Michigan, maybe they just thought, let's put this guy in.

But anyway, all this intrigued me into thinking into how he could actually become the Democratic nominee for 1944, and eventually the President. The way I see it, from how the events are set up, there are two paths:
1. Alf M. Landon wins the 1936 election, then is reelected in 1940 (in the game, he runs against Henry Wallace). He then loses in 1944 to Hooper.
2. Wendell Willkie wins in 1940 against Roosevelt, and Hooper is named Secretary of the Treasury. In 1944, he is nominated (somehow - he was a Republican) as the Democratic candidate, and wins against Willkie.

And from there, what would his presidency be like? Considering his past, there'd probably be a major corruption scandal.

Anyway, I was just thinking that it would be an interesting timeline to make; but since I know so little about the 40s, and so little about Hooper, I don't think there's any way I could make it work.

Just wanted to see what anyone else thought.
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