1912: The Progressive Century

[Padric1938]

Roosevelt and his campaign managers huddle around the radio. After months of Campaigning around the country, it’s finally time for America to decide who they want for president. And after hours of casting votes the results are in....... Teddy Roosevelt beats Taft and Wilson, and becomes the first person to win the presidency as a third party candidate. The entire campaign head quarters erupts in applause and praise. Teddy Roosevelt will once again, be President of the United States.
It was a bright sunny March day in 1913, and a huge crowd surrounded the White House. Teddy Roosevelt, one of the most popular presidents of all time walked up to the podium. He cleared his throat and began to speak,” America stood at a cross roads in 1912. Either accept the back room dealings of corrupt politicians, and bribing from million dollar companies, or refuse to let corrupt politicians take control of this country and strike back. And we as a country chose the second option. Because we as Americans, will never let truants rule this country! This country was built by working class men, and like Abraham Lincoln said at that somber day in Pennsylvania,” this government of the people, for the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth” and I’ll be damned if those words will end up in vain.” The crowd erupted in applause.
After An hour of Roosevelt’s speech, and he was finally finished, the entirety of the United States looked onward in optimism of what to come.

If you guys want me to post the whole thing just tell me

 

[Gajah_Nusantara]

Post the whole damn thing

 

[EbolaMan131]

Post it

 

[CalBear]

If you guys want me to post the whole thing just tell me

Please note the "Finished Timelines and Scenarios" forum is for exactly that, FINISHED T/L, not proposed ones. The place for beginning or completed T/L is in the "main Forums" in this case post-1900.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Welcome to the forums! I would say post highlights - it looks like of like a wall of text because there is no blank line between paragraphs, though even with one an hour-long speech would be a bit much. I tend to like 3-5 pages of a Word document for my chapters, though I don't write near as many timelines as some, I like that size as far as reading, too though if it's *really* engaging and has a lot of breaaks with different headlines, peces, etc. instead of just narrative (i.e.: Kentucky Fried Politics, Blue Skies in Camelot, etc.) more can work, too. But, that's just how I view it.

The rule of thumb is that the less plausible the event, the more explanation is needed; I don't think you have to go into great detail, and certainly not in your first post (the first post in this case is your headline, your attention getter, and it does define what is going to happen very well it seems), but perhaps in the next few posts after that you can sprinkle in a few things as to how he won, as it is a little less probably than some things. (Wilson being slightly injured in an accident he just avoided being hurt in OTL but refusing to step down would help; public worry might have shifted votes to TR. African-Americans aba ndoned the GOP for the first time, and this shows reasons why which you can utilize, such aas TR apologizing for Brownsville and demonstrating a plan to avoid such problems in the future; not a huge percent age but could swing a few states. Hiram Johnson may have been too inexperienced and a better VP nominee may have worked, though that wasn't important often so may not be as helpful. And so on.)
3
Such things can easily be woven into the narrative of your next few chapters and it'll work perfectly.

 

[Blorg]

Welcome to the site please keep going!

 

[Mikestone8]

By all means go on, bit I hope you'll spare us any crack-brained nonsense about America entering WW1 in 1915. That ASB fantasy has been inflicted on us far too often already.

 

[Comte de Geneve]

How can TR and staff be huddled around a radio in 1912 when commercial broadcasting began in 1920. Is this your POD, that radio was invented earlier and commercial broadcasts were available in 1912?

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

How can TR and staff be huddled around a radio in 1912 when commercial broadcasting began in 1920. Is this your POD, that radio was invented earlier and commercial broadcasts were available in 1912?

Did you know about Charles Herrold or was that just a lucky guess? I hadn't thought of that when I posted my reply, but with Hiram Johnson from California... yeah, I wonder if you hit upon it. I mean, if Herrold goes somewhere other than San Francisco his stuff isn't destroyed by the earthquake, giving him even more time.

Also @Padric1938 a couple other things, the US entering WWI in 1915 is an overused cliche (and even more unlikely) and it's best to do new things, and also, there is the "Rule of Cool" where if it's plausible and really cool, people will look the other way a bit more even if it is a bit less plausible than other things. And, TR on the radio is cool.

 

[Comte de Geneve]

Lucky guess. But as a POD that is appealing. Giving TR access to a national or at least partially national live audience via RADIO! would scramble the traditional campaigning and given him a better chance to reach the voters as a third party candidate. And certainly TR has the charisma and star quality advantage over Mr. Tubby and the Professor.

 

[Mikestone8]

Lucky guess. But as a POD that is appealing. Giving TR access to a national or at least partially national live audience via RADIO! would scramble the traditional campaigning and given him a better chance to reach the voters as a third party candidate. And certainly TR has the charisma and star quality advantage over Mr. Tubby and the Professor.

What percentage of Americans would be likely to have a radio by 1912, assuming did appear on the market a few years earlier?

Incidentally, any thoughts about the make-up of Congress in this TL? OTL the Progressive Party came essentially nowhere, with Bull Moose never really expanding beyond a Presidential candidacy. If both houses still consist mainly of Democrats and anti-TR Republicans, he's gong to have a huge task getting anything done.

 

[Padric1938]

It’s been a month since teddy was elected and he has been working like a mad man. He and his party have rapidly passed bills and new laws into congress. But Teddy has a plan up his sleeve. Woman’s Suffrage. Teddy campaigned hard for suffrage in 1912, and he decided to up hold his promise. After weeks of pushing the new amendment to the constitution, with only one vote deciding the 16th amendment for women’s suffrage to be passed. But Teddy was not done. He wanted an even bigger bill. One that could win the progressive party a huge voting block; Social Security for the elderly. But Social Security was very expensive for the country. So teddy with the help of a few skilled law makers such as Charles Evan Hughes, made a new budget reform, cutting military spending to afford social security. The bill and the budget reform passed easily, with most senators fearing to lose their position if they vote against it. And as the new year fire works burst out in the distance 1914 looked like a bright year.

But not all was well. With tensions in Europe in a all time high, Many Congressman on all three sides of the aisle were worried. And as the 1914 midterm elections were nearing the senators were unsure what to do. But Roosevelt’s head was still high. He brushed off many worries about his foreign policy and pushed on. Even his VP Hiram’s Johnson was worried. But Teddy just ignored them. And as news of a new war started in Europe, a new sense of worry about what the President will do struck the nation.