WI: President James M Cox?

Zioneer

Banned
So what would happen if James M Cox was elected in 1920, instead of Warren G Harding? I assume that Harding would go down in one of the many scandals he had, but what would a Cox presidency look like, especially with Franklin Roosevelt as his VP? Would it be a continuation of progressive policies?
 
Trouble is, it's hard to see any scandal being big enough to change the outcome in 1920. The Democrats were humungously unpopular [1], not just losing the Presidency, but being all but annihilated in Congress outside the South.

If one blows up during the campaign, Harding can probably brazen it out and deny everything - after all, nothing to his dicredit was known as at the time of the Republican Convention. If he can't, then probably the Republicans hastily pick another candidate - probably Coolidge. Any story that explodes too near the election for that is almost certainly too late to prevent Harding's election.

For Cox to win, you need an earlier PoD. If Hughes wins in 1916, and takes America into WW1 as Wilson did, then the backlash against wartime sacrifices will fall on the Republicans instead of the Democrats. If health issues prevent ex-President Wilson making a comeback, then Cox is as likely as anyione.

[1] NYT columnist Charles Willis Thompson remarked that in 1920 the Republicans didn't really need to nominate anyone at all. The Democrats were so unpopular that the people would simply have voted for Republican electors, and let them choose whoever they wanted as President.
 
No Democrat can win in 1920. America hated Wilson. It was the ultimate 2008. Harding didn't do anything but mildly attack Wilson and he won 60 percent of the vote.
You need Hughes '16, or Taft or TR '12 to make this possible.
 

JoeMulk

Banned
or Wilson actually keeping us out of war, which knowing him is ASB. The war just has to end earlier.
 
or Wilson actually keeping us out of war, which knowing him is ASB. The war just has to end earlier.

Not necessarily ASB, but it requires a change outside the United States.

Make the Russian Revolution come a few months earlier, say October 1916. This gives Bethmann a far stronger argument against unrestricted sub warfare - "Why bring America into the war when Russia looks to be be dropping out?" So USW is postponed "one final time", and with it the Zimmermann Telegram.

The Mexican Intervention ends as OTL in Feb '17 , so the ZT won't ever happen now. Meantime, Russia goes steadily downhill through the Winter, and the Bolsheviks seize power in March. Russia leaves the war, and the decisive battle(s) will clearly be fought in Spring-Summer 1917, long before any US intervention can have an impact. USW gets a further postponement, as it's now far less necessary with the situation on land swinging in Germany's favour. Wilson is not inclined to humiliate himself by making an empty gesture, so American neutrality continues.
 
Not necessarily ASB, but it requires a change outside the United States.

Make the Russian Revolution come a few months earlier, say October 1916. This gives Bethmann a far stronger argument against unrestricted sub warfare - "Why bring America into the war when Russia looks to be be dropping out?" So USW is postponed "one final time", and with it the Zimmermann Telegram.

The Mexican Intervention ends as OTL in Feb '17 , so the ZT won't ever happen now. Meantime, Russia goes steadily downhill through the Winter, and the Bolsheviks seize power in March. Russia leaves the war, and the decisive battle(s) will clearly be fought in Spring-Summer 1917, long before any US intervention can have an impact. USW gets a further postponement, as it's now far less necessary with the situation on land swinging in Germany's favour. Wilson is not inclined to humiliate himself by making an empty gesture, so American neutrality continues.

In that situation, you may see a less isolationist GOPer run in 1920, and attack Wilson for "abandoning enlightened Europe to the barbaric Huns." (those losing the German vote lol).
 
Top