alternatehistory.com

The 1912 election was a dangerous experience for more than one candidate. It is probably fairly common knowledge on this board by this point that at one point during the campaign an unemployed and mentally ill man attempted to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt while he was campaigning in the city of Milwaukee. What is probably less well known, though, is that Woodrow Wilson also almost died as well. As he was campaigning, his train car was height by a freight train, and, if the train was just a little bit closer to where he was in the car, he would have been hit. (1) So, the what if here should be a bit obvious: what if the fright train hits Wilson directly and he is killed in the crash? How will the campaign develop without a Democratic candidate, the Republican party still split, and Debs out there on the stump for the Socialists?

1: Traxel, David. "The Battle." Crusader Nation: The United States In Peace And The Great War: 1898-1920. 1st ed. New York: Vintage First Edition, 2006. 37. Print.
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