Wilson only injured, dies later in 1912

OTL, I've read where Woodrow Wilson nearly was seriously injured in a train accident during the 1912 Presidential campaign.

let's say he dies, but only after the election. So, what do the Democrats do?

If they want to ensure they get the Presidency, my guess is that they telegram electors and suggest that they vote for House Speaker Champ Clark, who was nearly the nominee but never quite got to the 2/3 majority. The reasoning being that they might be concerned about the election going to the House if enough people went for Roosevelt or Taft to make it a lot closer.

Would they see the wounded Wilson and decided, though, that it was better to promise another candidate just in case? Maybe advertise that Marshall was to be the nominee? Or, maybe they would remove Marshall from the ticket and put Clark on there in the hopes that a more quailfied Presidential candidate would rise to the position should Wilson die early in his term?

Another odd thought, though - how would Marshall doe as President if Wilson is elected and then dies of his wounds before the inauguration?
 
If he dies after the election, it would be hard to justify ditching Marshall. After all, the party nominates a VP precisely to be the stand-in if anything happens to the POTUS, and there's no reason not to just because the vacancy arises before inauguration rather than afterwards.

As far as most domestic policy goes, probably not a lot changes. Marshall wasn't too keen on women's suffrage, but then neither was Wilson in his first term. However, there's always that "six-year-term" Amendment that Wilson blocked OTL. If it still gets through the Senate, Marshall may well let the HoR vote on it - and if he does it will surely pass.

Foreign policy is less clear. If Germany still goes for USW against American shipping, it's hard to see how Marshall could avoid war. And if the Lusitania sinking is not butterflied away, he will have to protest it - though he might let Bryan write the note, which will surely soften it. And he might accompany this with some strongly worded advice to Americans about the inadvisability of taking passage on belligerent ships - esp if they may be carrying war material.

One other point. Istr that many people argued that armed merchantmen should be treated as auxiliary warships and barred from US ports. Wilson never went that far, merely stipulating that the armament must be "defensive" only. But if Marshall, perhaps at Bryan's prompting, were to reject this distinction as unworkable, it would be harder for the Allies to arm their merchantmen - which in turn might cause them to adopt convoying earlier. Butterflies could mount up.
 
Thanks. If Marshall is automatically chosen as President, though, does this create a vacancy in the Vice Presidency? Or, could the electors just vote for Wilson out of respect and then just figure, "Okay, Marshall is President and we just won't have a VP this term?"
 
They can't vote for a man they know to be dead. That would be the same as abstaining, and leave the Senate in the position of having to choose between two Republicans - Hiram Johnson and Nicholas Murray Butler - for the Vice-Presidency. As if that weren't enough, it would be a Republican Senate choosing a VP for a Democratic POTUS. No way will the Dems agree to that.

The DNC will probably choose whoever Marshall asks them to - and that could be anyone. He may make courtesy offers to Bryan and Clark, but I doubt either would accept. Maybe Senator Martine of NJ, as a nod to Wilson's home state, but that's just a guess.
 
Perhaps an established and progressive southern congressman (not entirely an oxymoron) might be a reasonable VP choice: namely, Oscar Underwood.
 
Perhaps an established and progressive southern congressman (not entirely an oxymoron) might be a reasonable VP choice: namely, Oscar Underwood.

Could be. After all,Wilson's death means that the South has lost it's first Presidential hopeful since the War. Underwood might serve as a consolation prize.
 
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