Throughout 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt was notoriously cagey about whether he would run for a third term. He seemed to be split about it himself, but ultimately decided that he would try and wrangle an astroturfed draft movement to renominate himself without ever actually campaigning for the nomination. The two key figures to this were Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly (an FDR loyalist) and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley. Barkley, on Roosevelt's behalf, delivered the following message: "The President has never had, and has not today, any desire or purpose to continue in the office of President, to be a candidate for that office, or to be nominated by the convention for that office. He wishes in earnestness and sincerity to make it clear that all of the delegates in this convention are free to vote for any candidate." At that point, the convention hall was reportedly dead silent, until a voice on the speaker system started shouting "We Want Roosevelt" at the same time that FDR supporters, brought in by the party bosses, joined in on the chant. From there, the convention snowballed into a Draft Roosevelt extravaganza, with FDR easily winning renomination. As it turned out, the chant originated with Thomas D. Garry, the Chicago Superintendent of the Department of Sanitation, and supporter of both Roosevelt and Mayor Kelly. Garry had been put down in the basement with a microphone hooked up to the speaker system, so that he could begin the chant as soon as Barkley finished reading the message from Roosevelt. Garry, for the rest of his life, was known as the Voice From the Sewers.
But, let's say that the microphone wire got cut, or there was some other sort of technical difficulty, and Garry was just yelling to himself in the basement. Without that particular moment, would the convention have drifted away from Roosevelt into the John Nance Garner-James Farley grudge match that it would've been otherwise? Would the convention hall have taken up the chant anyway, leading to the same outcome as IOTL? With only two announced candidates, it would seem that Farley would be able to secure a first ballot nomination, unless a bunch of different candidates came in after Barkley's announcement (sans the Voice From the Sewers). Of course, if it does turn into a multi-candidate slugout, Roosevelt could probably get one last chance to secure the nomination by positioning himself as the compromise candidate. Any thoughts on this?
But, let's say that the microphone wire got cut, or there was some other sort of technical difficulty, and Garry was just yelling to himself in the basement. Without that particular moment, would the convention have drifted away from Roosevelt into the John Nance Garner-James Farley grudge match that it would've been otherwise? Would the convention hall have taken up the chant anyway, leading to the same outcome as IOTL? With only two announced candidates, it would seem that Farley would be able to secure a first ballot nomination, unless a bunch of different candidates came in after Barkley's announcement (sans the Voice From the Sewers). Of course, if it does turn into a multi-candidate slugout, Roosevelt could probably get one last chance to secure the nomination by positioning himself as the compromise candidate. Any thoughts on this?
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