Williams jennings brian wins the presidency

Against TR? You're going to have to have a MAJOR split in the GOP for that to happen (not out of the question considering some of the party bosses considered running Mark Hanna against him). Even then it's going to be close. But let's say for the sake of arguement that Hanna's supporters DON'T get outmaneuvered in Ohio in 1903 and continue to wage a partisan campaign against Roosevelt. Support for Hanna begins to grow as Roosevelt makes some unsavory remarks or something. With a major split developing in the Republican party, Jennings decides to give it one last shot and goes for the nomination in 1904 and wins it by a small margin. Meanwhile the GOP splinters into Progressive and Conservative wings under TR and Hanna respectively.

The election sees Jennings run an excellent campaign that's a good deal more moderate than his previous two. TR makes some campaign mistakes which Hanna capitalizes on leaving the American voters convinced that Jennings is the most likely candidate to continue the Progressive Era. The end result leaves Jennings winning the election due to the electoral college despite losing the popular vote quite handily. He's inaugerated as President in March of 1905.

As for his Presidency itself, I don't see him differing too terribly much from TR in terms of domestic policy. In the realm of foreign policy, I could see the Portsmouth treaty ending the Russo-Japanese war going differently, I could also see the entire Panama Canal situation going quite differently, perhaps Jennings pays off the Columbians resulting in no Panamanian revolution? Perhaps the US goes for the Nicarauguan Canal route? Who knows?

At any rate, with the GOP splitting in 1904, I'd say that Bryan is all but gaurunteed a second term especially with TR still vibrant and very much in seach of a 2nd term as President. The GOP probably get's it's act together by 1912 though and puts their man in the White House perhaps leading to an earlier US entry into WWI...
 
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Especially if it's TR who manages the win in 1912. :D

Teddy was a far bigger advocate of diplomacy than his hawkish persona may imply. I think he would've tried to mediate the Austro-Hungarian/Serbian Crisis the same way he did for the Russo-Japanese war. Maybe wishful thinking, but I think TR would've been an advocate for peace rather than war.
 
What would the effects of Williams Jennings Brian winning the 1904 election be.
America would suck balls for four to eight years. The crafting of intelligent children would be suppressed terribly, due to Bryan's hatred of Charles Darwin's scientific theories, and him most likely doing everything in his power to stop it from being taught.

Maybe I'm being alarmist. Then again, I freaking hate William Jennings Bryan. :D
 
Teddy was a far bigger advocate of diplomacy than his hawkish persona may imply. I think he would've tried to mediate the Austro-Hungarian/Serbian Crisis the same way he did for the Russo-Japanese war. Maybe wishful thinking, but I think TR would've been an advocate for peace rather than war.

You know, on further thought I actually quite agree. August 1, 1914, the Great White Fleet Sails into the North Sea, TR on board, to mediate the crisis!
 
For Bryan to win in 1904, the Democrats would have had to nominate him for the third consecutive time: a rather blatant admission the cupboard was bare of all other talent, which doesn't bode well going in.

There is no way under the sun that Bryan could have beaten TR in a conventional two-party race: TR would have won by a monumental landslide, taking everything except the former Confederate states (and it's not out of the question that Texas, Virginia, or Tennessee might have defected); indeed, Bryan probably wouldn't have even carried his nominal home state of Nebraska.

If, however, TR were not in the equation (I recall a near-miss carriage accident that has been mentioned around here once or twice), then the Republicans would probably have nominated Charles Fairbanks or possibly Elihu Root (Albert Beveridge would have been a reasonable successor to TR but didn't have quite the prestige). Now the GOP has someone at the top of the ticket who's more in the prototypical Republican form, but it'll still be difficult for Bryan to win, given the relative prosperity of the times.

Still, for the sake of discussion, let's say Bryan is able to deliver the mother of all campaign speeches that sways a lot of undecided voters and allows him to win a squeaker of an election. What follows is not pretty:

* America's emergence onto the world stage is brought to a grinding halt. There's no Great White Fleet, at a minimum. Likely also appropriations for the Panama Canal are curtailed or eliminated.
* Prohibition is likely enacted about sixteen years earlier than in OTL, but with all of the attendant corruption and problems nonetheless.
* The Russo-Japanese war rages to a conclusion unchecked, with the Japanese in control of Port Arthur and much of what we know in OTL as the Pacific coast of Russia. This, in turn, could easily lead to destabilization of the Romanov regime about a decade earlier, with a revolution to follow.
* Race relations in the US, which had made some progress in OTL with TR, would stagnate and perhaps even go in retrograde motion, especially if Bryan placed one or more southerners in positions of responsibility.

On the whole, Bryan would probably rank with Pierce and Buchanan as one of the most ineffectual and worst presidents in US history. And like Pierce and Buchanan, it would take a powerful GOP administration thereafter (say, Charles Evans Hughes beginning in March 1909) to undo all the damage and get things moving again.
 
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