WI Wilson out in 1916?

The 1916 presidential election in the U.S. was actually pretty close - as in, a few thousand votes in a key state, say, California, could have swung the election to Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican. It just so happens that the margin of victory for Wilson in California was about 3,000 votes. It also happens that Hiram Johnson, then governor of California, did not endorse Hughes for President.

It turns out that Johnson's snub of Hughes was based on a perceived snub - Hughes and Johnson stayed at the same hotel shortly before the the election, and Hughes never said hello to Johnson, a slight that Johnson took personally. As a result, Johnson never gave Hughes his endorsement, and Wilson won California narrowly, by a margin that suggests - wait a minute, would Johnson's endorsement have won the election for Hughes? And if it did, how would life have changed for Americans?

For one thing, kiss the eight-hour work day goodbye, or at least an attempt to eliminate it would be made - I know Henry Ford was a proponent of the eight-hour work day, and he supported it for business reasons (decreased absenteeism, increased productivity, etc.) Also, Hughes was more pro-military than Wilson, even thinking that Wilson was letting the Germans push the U.S. around - so I guess we can forget about staying out of WWI in this case. However...

...the Treaty of Versailles was partially Wilson's baby, so I don't see as much support for it, as the U.S. takes its marbles adn goes home after the war, leaving Europe to sort out its own situation.
 
Wilson was going to make his veep resign right after the election (November), then his Secretary of State, appoint Hughes Secretary of State, and then resign. So the Hughes administration would have begun in the November of 1916, rather than the March of 1917.

Just thought you should know. :)
 
Wilson was going to make his veep resign right after the election (November), then his Secretary of State, appoint Hughes Secretary of State, and then resign. So the Hughes administration would have begun in the November of 1916, rather than the March of 1917.

Just thought you should know. :)

I assume that would be the case if Hughes won...no matter; Hughes' agenda was his agenda, and four months would have just sped it up.
 
I wonder if Hughes might have tried to remove the federal (and Navy!) segregation that Wilson had introduced?

yeah, I was wondering the same thing- would a US govt without a strident segregationist like Wilson in charge, have resulted in a less racist environment in the US during WWI ?
 
President Wood

Despite having a more sword waving tone in his campaign Hughes opinion towards the war and postwar foreign policy were not that far from those of Wilson. Sometimes when a Hughes presidency is mentioned we get posts from the TRolators that Teddy would get involved in his administration and become essentially a Cheneyesque CoPresident. I think they go too far.

The biggest delta with regards to the war is who Hughes picks to lead the AEF which is almost certainly going to be Leonard Wood. Now assuming Wood does not screw up royally I would see him as being Hughes' successor in the White House.

Other domestic deltas would include desegrating civil service and a reduced likelihood of Prohibition (and if it is enacted would exempt beer).
 
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