WI Marhsall did his duty?

[jack_donaghy_is_the_shado]

For about three years, we technically did not have a President. Wilson was incapacitated and often near death, Marshall and the rest of the government was kept in the dark, and Mrs. Wilson's actions were illegal and in a way lead to WWII (i.e. no US in the League, not real league threat to belligerents)

What if Vice President Marshall had performed his duties and assumed the Presidency?

Beyond a shadow of a doubt he would damned and hated, and a republican presidency is all but assured the next year, but Marshall could negotiate the League bill through Congress and get it passed. Also, he could lean on the entente with their war debt.

I believe Marshall's main reason for not forcefully seeking the presidency, was fear of a precident to remove a president due to ill health. It would very controversial, but in the long run a good thing to do.

I mean if FDR was relieved before his final months or Nixon on grounds questionable sanity...well anything goes.

 

[RogueBeaver]

FDR was in perfect mental health until the day he died, the deterioriation was entirely physical. Nixon was perfectly sane, W&B's hatchet job vis-a-vis The Final Days notwithstanding. With regards to Marshall: he did not have the personality required to do that, and the only way to remove Wilson would be to impeach him in the absence of the 25th Amendment. In many ways this is a textbook 25th scenario. Marshall was the only one who could try because any Cabinet member who tried to govern or suggest resignation was fired. Lansing tried to become an Acting President by presiding over occasional Cabinet meetings but Wilson fired him and most of the remainder when he found out. By the end, all except Marshall (who Wilson despised and marginalized) were sycophantic cronies and Edith was the real POTUS.

 

[jack_donaghy_is_the_shado]

By the end, all except Marshall (who Wilson despised and marginalized) were sycophantic cronies and Edith was the real POTUS.

Well that would explain anxiety over a female President.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

With regards to Marshall: he did not have the personality required to do that, and the only way to remove Wilson would be to impeach him in the absence of the 25th Amendment. In many ways this is a textbook 25th scenario. Marshall was the only one who could try because any Cabinet member who tried to govern or suggest resignation was fired. Lansing tried to become an Acting President by presiding over occasional Cabinet meetings but Wilson fired him and most of the remainder when he found out. By the end, all except Marshall (who Wilson despised and marginalized) were sycophantic cronies and Edith was the real POTUS.

Sounds like the only way to get Marshall into the Oval Office is the get Wilson to resign; to do that, the only thing that comes to mind is some kind of media campaign.

 

[Wolfpaw]

Nixon was perfectly sane, W&B's hatchet job vis-a-vis The Final Days notwithstanding.

Very true. Crawling into a whiskey bottle and staying there does not equate with insanity. That being said, I can't say that it at all helps

 

[RogueBeaver]

Media would only know what they wanted to know or what the White House wanted them to know in that era. Remember, a POTUS was rarely exposed to the media in the pre-radio and pre-TV era. The press release said that Wilson was ill for a period (exact details escape me right now) which required some seclusion. It most certainly did not say "paralyzed on the left side and unable to concentrate for more than 15 minutes at a time". Wilson grew a Santa-like white beard because the doctors were afraid that shaving him might cause undue stress and kill him. Of course, there was nothing that could be done for a stroke in those days. Wilson's problem was hypertension, which today is easily regulated by drugs but then was only curable by permanent retirement and rest.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Well, I guess he's staying then.

 

[marl_d]

well it was more like a little over a year, he had the stroke on Oct 2, 1919 and left office in March 1921.

probably the only way for Marshall to gain the Presidency would be for Wilson to die on Oct 2 or shortly after.

edit: actually after reading up a bit, if Congressional leaders had sent an official request to Marshall he may have been "forced" to become Acting President. As it was, many leaders on both sides asked him to do it. But I think it would have taken Congress to ask him to do it officially, how it would have been spun or the Wilson's looked at it would remain to be seen.

 

[CalBear]

Very true. Crawling into a whiskey bottle and staying there does not equate with insanity. That being said, I can't say that it at all helps

I don't know about that. Depends on your overall plan.

Drinking yourself to death is a socially acceptable form of suicide as long as you don't crash into a school bus during the effort.