WI: Coolidge in 28

What if Calvin Coolidge ran for the nomination of the Republican party in 1928. He was quite popular at the time. If he did run in 1928, would he win? Who would the democrats run against him? How would he have handled the stockmarket crash?
 
He'd win in 1928 for the same reason Hoover did: peace and prosperity. Or if Smith is nominated: "Rum, Romanism and Tammany". Coolidge thought Hoover was too liberal for his preference IOTL, and resented him as the Cabinet star. Or as he put it: "Golden Boy". What he'd do with the GD remains anyone's guess, but if he thought Hoover was too liberal, that's not a good sign. I don't see why the Dems wouldn't nominate Smith: even IOTL the media pretended that there were no policy difference between the two. With the minor exception of Prohibition.
 
Coolidge probably wouldn't have implemented even Hoover's limited measures as a response to the Depression, and would lose in a landslide to FDR in 1932 (FDR having several orders of magnitude more personal charisma). The question is, how much more different would the Depression be, and how would that impact an FDR presidency?
 
Would Coolidge veto Smoot-Hartley as Hoover did IOTL? I think so, but in this case, the veto should be overriden. Besides the snowball effect of trade barriers, I remember reading that Smoot-Hartley alone translated to making the GD 6% worse for the economy than it otherwise would've been. Any Board economic experts care to translate that for us?
 
Coolidge probably wouldn't have implemented even Hoover's limited measures as a response to the Depression, and would lose in a landslide to FDR in 1932 (FDR having several orders of magnitude more personal charisma). The question is, how much more different would the Depression be, and how would that impact an FDR presidency?

I'm pretty sure that after two terms, in a terrible political climate, Coolidge isn't the nominee. Not sure who would be the GOP nominee in TTL 1932.
 
Would Coolidge veto Smoot-Hartley as Hoover did IOTL? I think so, but in this case, the veto should be overriden. Besides the snowball effect of trade barriers, I remember reading that Smoot-Hartley alone translated to making the GD 6% worse for the economy than it otherwise would've been. Any Board economic experts care to translate that for us?

OOC: It translates as very bad...

On a side note doesn't Coolidge die in 1929? Doesn't he predict the Depression?
 
OOC: It translates as very bad...

On a side note doesn't Coolidge die in 1929? Doesn't he predict the Depression?

Coolidge died in 1933, its possible the pressures of the Presidency kill him sooner. But if he dies as per otl, we get President Dawes (assuming the Vice President is not dropped from the ticket in 1928, which is a possibility as he and Coolidge did not get along very well.) between Jan. 5 1933 and March 4 1933. It'd be the absolute lamest of lame duck Presidencies if Roosevelt defeats whoever the Republicans nominate in a landslide as he historically did.
 
It's possible that you'd see a Herbert Hoover who was extremely critical of the Coolidge Administration's response to the Depression, and you could make the case that Hoover could run (and maybe even win) against FDR in 1936, depending on the political climate ITTL.
 
Coolidge died in 1933, its possible the pressures of the Presidency kill him sooner. But if he dies as per otl, we get President Dawes (assuming the Vice President is not dropped from the ticket in 1928, which is a possibility as he and Coolidge did not get along very well.) between Jan. 5 1933 and March 4 1933. It'd be the absolute lamest of lame duck Presidencies if Roosevelt defeats whoever the Republicans nominate in a landslide as he historically did.

True: Calvin Coolidge died just shortly after his 60th birthday in 1933. A lot went out of him when his son died (I believe it was 1924), which may have prematurely aged him.

When probed by an interviewer as to why her husband did not choose to run in 1928, Grace Coolidge was reported to have said, "Papa (Calvin Coolidge) says there's a depression coming." Difficult to say how he came by that prescience, but obviously he wanted to avoid it.

True, Coolidge didn't have a lot of time for Charles Dawes after Dawes failed to get in the Vice-presidential chair in time to break a tie in the Senate in 1925. That tie killed one of Coolidge's pet projects (I forget which one and don't feel like researching it). After that, relations were very chilly. Dawes was considered as Hoover's running mate in 1928 but Coolidge let it be known he would consider that a personal affront, so that was that. Hence, I'd bet he would have found something else for Dawes to do (say, an ambassadorship as in OTL) and would have somehow strongarmed Irvine Lenroot or Earl Sproul as a running mate instead.
 
Having done research on Coolidge and the 20's, I actually think he would handle the stockmarket crash the same way Harding did the depression of 1920/21. He would cut the budget and keep the government's hands off the economy.
 
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