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For those who don’t know, the US experienced a major recession during 1920-1921 (in fact the initial stages of this recession completely dwarfed the initial stages of the Great Depression), but president Warren G. Harding handled the recession very well, leading to a short recovery. However, what would be the long-term effects on the world if the US economy collapsed over 10 years earlier with no roaring 20’s, no Weimar Germany, and a total global economic collapse much earlier. As a POD, let’s have Charles Evans Hughes win the election of 1916 and still get involved in an unpopular World War I. Because of this, the Democratic candidate James Cox, with a young FDR as VP, inherits the severe recession of 1920 but does not handle it well like Harding did, leading to total economic collapse over 10 years earlier. What are the effects?
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