What does it take to get a Socialist into the White House?

Make the Russian Revolution fail and you don't have Lenin asking the left-wing of the SPA, along with the IWW, to join the Comintern; which helped tear the party apart even while it still emerged from the war-time persecution with a large and growing presence in 1918.

Without the Red Scare of 1919 or the party split over Comintern entry, the Socialists will in the fullness of time, just as even in OTL Debs was pardoned by President Harding for his imprisonment on sedition charges for opposing the draft, benefit from their opposition to entry in the Great War and continue to grow from their high-water mark.
 

Dorozhand

Banned
Make the Russian Revolution fail and you don't have Lenin asking the left-wing of the SPA, along with the IWW, to join the Comintern; which helped tear the party apart even while it still emerged from the war-time persecution with a large and growing presence in 1918.

Without the Red Scare of 1919 or the party split over Comintern entry, the Socialists will in the fullness of time, just as even in OTL Debs was pardoned by President Harding for his imprisonment on sedition charges for opposing the draft, benefit from their opposition to entry in the Great War and continue to grow from their high-water mark.

Yeah. I could see a scenario where the Russians win Tannenburg and manage to hold their position in the war better, and then it drags on as a stalemate past 1917. Opposition to the war begins to boil up, but it's not unmanagable for the Russian Empire as IOTL and all rebellions are crushed. The war ends in 1921 with the defeat of the Central Powers (and the exhaustion of all powers), the American public is extremely sick of war. The Russian revolution has been foiled and there is no Comintern. The socialists begin to rise in prominence, even winning congressional seats and states in a few presidential elections. Then thre depression and the dustbowl happen. Bam, you've probably got a Socialist in the white house.
 
What changes would need to take place in history for a Socialist to be elected POTUS; either as a point of divergence in the past, or as a change of attitude in the future?

As Turquoise Blue pointed out, this would happen only if the progressive-minded politicians in democratic and Republican Parties from coming into power.

Start off by having William McKinley avoid getting assassinated in 1901, thus preventing Teddy Roosevelt from becoming president. Without Teddy, the chances of progressive legislation getting passed at the national level remain slim at best. This will lead to more and more disaffected workers finding their way into the emerging Socialist party and giving the IWW a much better shot at overtaking the AFL as the dominant nationwide union organization.

A few years before the outbreak of WWI, the president and Congress agree to a treaty of alliance between the US and Great Britain. Once Germany invades Belgium, The US government sticks to its promises with the British and begins mobilization efforts - but this invokes an immense backlash from the Socialist Party, which unlike its European counterparts, chooses to firmly oppose the war.

Once the war is over, and Russia is embroiled in it's own Revolution and Civil War, America's Socialist Party has been subdued significantly thanks to the wartime government's suppression of antiwar sentiment. Unlike OTL though, the party still holds a noticeable presence on the national stage, having avoided a split due to a more firm radicalization of even the moderate, reformist faction.

While the party's membership and support declines during the Roaring '20s economic boom, the subsequent Great Depression ultimately ends up being its ticket to the White House.

This isn't really an original scenario of mine, but more of a summary of this timeline.
 
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