WI: Herbert Hoover Re-elected

Getting him re-elected could be the tricky part.

I would imagine his handling of the Depression would have something to do with it.

The common belief about Hoover is that he did nothing about the Depression, but I have also heard that he tried to prevent wages and prices from falling, which unintentionally made things worse. I've also read about some early "Alphabet Soup" programs he tried to start that some have claimed were precursors to the New Deal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover
 
Not sure. Many have criticized FDR's New Deal saying it gave goverment too much control over the economy's recovery.

Well Hoover would have to pour billions into social and employment programs, think he would leave the banks alone. I can't imagine what would happen to Wall Street.

A very scary senario though.
 
When did the hard-core "run on the banks" start?

Perhaps Hoover loans the banks large amounts of $$ to keep them solvent and insists they be paid back when times are better?

The Wiki indicates he supported government intervention to some degree, but not too much. A big loan to keep the banks afloat seems like the sort of "public-private partnership" he might support.
 
Well Hoover would have to pour billions into social and employment programs, think he would leave the banks alone. I can't imagine what would happen to Wall Street.


I'm not so sure; Hoover, after all, was a progressive and not averse to govt. regulation per se.
 
The only way that Hoover wins re-election is if FDR doesn't make his bid for the Democratic Party's candidacy with his New Deal platform. Had both parties stuck to their ideological guns, there's a possibility that Hoover would get re-elected.

And there'd also likely be revolution in the streets in a relatively short amount of time.
 
Hoover quickly finds himself in the midst of a revolution, as veterans groups, farmers, and workers unite to overthrow the U.S. government, installing a revolutionary government in Washington. ;)
 
I think Hoover would have followed the traditional two-term limit that FDR broke. Therefore, a Democrat probably still would have been elected President in 1940, assuming Hoover is re-elected for a second term as the economy slowly recovers (which it did during FDR's second term).

Who? Well, some possibilities might be:

John Nance Gardner, FDR's VP in OTL

Cordell Hull

Note: Hoover's VP, Charles Curtis, would have died in office had Hoover been re-elected in 1936. If Hoover decided not to run for a third term, the Republican nomination in 1940 might have been wide open.
 
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