A Pitcher of Warm Spit - John Garner's Accidental Ascendance

[Sxpphxre]

"Dashed Hopes"

Mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak (left) and President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (right)
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A crippled nation was left horrified and in a state of lamenting. The man who embodied a new hope in dire times had just been slain by an assassin's bullet. He hadn't even taken the oath of office, and yet, millions of Americans across the nation trusted his every word. In his demise left a nation in economic and political crisis, with no clear vision or path forward. As the nation reeled over this unprecedented tragedy, a new leader needed to be determined.

The line of succession made it clear the Vice President was to take over in the event of the sitting President being unable to complete the term - this had been reaffirmed in John Tyler's case almost a century ago. However, Roosevelt had not been president yet, so it became unclear who would be the one to take the oath of office in March. Immediately, the Vice-President elect, John Garner, was the immediate frontrunner, as it was believed that upon his inauguration as vice president that he would automatically assume the presidency by means of automatic succession.

However, the line of succession based on the vague 1886 law stated that in the event of both the presidency and vice presidency being vacated, the Secretary of State would become acting president, followed by various other cabinet roles, notably excluding the Speaker of the House and President pro Tempore of the Senate. The man leading the State Department was Henry Stimson, a Republican, which of course led to outrage over the fact that he had not been elected, and was representing the derided Hoover administration. Stimson, however, made things easy by relinquishing himself from the role and announcing his resignation from the Department of State upon Hoover's departure, and all other Hoover cabinet officials elected to make the same decision.

Nevertheless congress moved to an emergency session on February 18th to establish a new, firm line of succession, amending it to make the Speaker of the House the front of the line of succession upon a double vacancy. The new law also ruled that precedent would be expanded to include an absence in President and Vice-President-elects upon a double vacancy prior to taking office. Both of these amendments placed Garner in line immediately as the new President-elect.

John Nance Garner, 32nd President of the United States
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Garner was inaugurated on March 4th, 1933, where he promised to not only honor Roosevelt's wishes but build upon them in his actions as president. He immediately moved to give the banks a mandatory holiday until Congress could act accordingly, soon passing the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 within days. Also at the top of his priority list was the enactment of deposit insurance. This was actually an issue in which he pushed Roosevelt to be more receptive of, but the would-be-president refused. Roosevelt's slaying served as a hidden blessing for Garner as he was now free to push through what he hoped to be his marquee legislation into law. Rapidly pushed through by his allies in the House and Senate, the Banking Act of 1933 was passed almost unanimously in both houses, and signed on March 24th, mere weeks after Garner took office.

Also on the agenda for Congress in 1933 was a series of amendments to the Constitution. The 20th and 21st amendments, changing the presidential inauguration date to January 20th and repealing the 18th amendment - which enacted prohibition - respectively, had already been passed in Congress, with the 20th having already been ratified entirely. Garner proved quite effective in ratifying the 21st amendment, however, as he used his status as a man from the South, a notably dry region, to drive home the narrative of prohibition being more economically harmful than any moral righteousness was worth.

Another amendment, however, was proposed in the aftermath of Roosevelt's death. With Garner's ascension to the White House, the Vice Presidency was left vacant upon the start of the term. This amendment proposed that in the event of any future vice-presidential vacancies, the President could nominate an interim Vice President to serve the remainder of the term, whom would then be voted on by both houses of congress to confirm the nomination. This amendment would too pass with little issue, being officially ratified on January 19th, 1934.

Upon the 22nd amendment's passage, Garner began his search for his second-in-command. His criteria was fairly simple: someone he could work with and influence. His choice, was also pretty simple. William Gibbs McAdoo was a man with great tenure, having served as Woodrow Wilson's right hand man for much of his presidency, attempting to run for president himself in the 20s, before becoming a major party power broker. More importantly, however, was his working relationship with Garner. McAdoo had helped him secure California's delegates at the 1932 DNC, and played a pivotal role in securing his spot on the ticket in the election that got him here in the first place. No matter how much William Randolph Hearst would deplore the decision, Garner was steadfast in his call. McAdoo was experienced, loyal, and was going to be Garner's vice president.

William Gibbs McAdoo, 32nd Vice President of the United States​

 

[5istheUnderworld]

This is interesting. I look forward to the rest!

 

[Sxpphxre]

A Cracked Foundation

A labor strike outside an industrial plant, 1935
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Democrats were invigorated by their landslide victories in the 1934 midterm elections, and Democratic leaders were ready to flex their new supermajority, which included a broad coalition of progressives. Many of these progressive democrats as well as other progressive leaders, such as Bob LaFollette Jr. and Bill Borah, were demanding the administration go further, particularly on labor rights, and on a new proposal - that of pensions for senior citizens. However, this is where the cracks began to form in the Democratic foundation. The anti-labor, fiscally conservative Garner blatantly refused all courting on these matters, and actively worked towards the failure of the National Labor Relations Act proposed by senator Robert Wagner of New York, and the Social Security Act of 1935 proposed by representative Robert Doughton of North Carolina.

This caused outrage from across the left-spectrum, and even within his own party. Perhaps one of the loudest opponents from within Democratic ranks was that of Huey Long. Long was a black sheep in the party, no doubt, but he was charismatic and commanding. Long had a meteoric rise to this point, first getting elected governor of Louisiana in 1927 and having one of the greatest turnarounds of any single state, greatly improving education and industry in the state. In 1930 he was elected to the senate but chose to hold out until his term as governor concluded to take his seat, not doing so until over a year later in early 1932. However, Long was best known for his catchy phrases for his policies, such as "Every Man a King" or "Share Our Wealth". He was adamant that these did not equate to socialism, but nevertheless many on the left of the spectrum were quite impressed with him. And no doubt was Long going to be a threat to the President at that moment.

Then, on September 8, 1935, All of that came to an end. That night, 28 year old Carl Weiss shot Long in the abdomen outside of the capitol building in Baton Rouge. Weiss's motives are still unclear to this day, but many allege it was in revenge for his father-in-law, judge Benjamin Pavy's district being redrawn in a way that would eliminate his chances of re-election. Regardless of his motives, however, Long's health was in a grave state. He was rushed into surgery, but the damage had already been done. The bullet passed by his stomach, severed one kidney, and eventually struck his spinal cord. Despite ultimately surviving the incident, Long was left paralyzed from the waist down, rendering his political survival dead on arrival. After departing from a several weeks long stay in hospital, Long would withdraw himself from presidential contention, instead placing his brother Earl, then in the running for lieutenant governor of Louisiana, as a surrogate candidate in an attempt to deny President Garner a 2/3rds majority at the convention, thus causing a deadlock.

Senator Huey Long with his "cossack" guards moments before his assassination attempt
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Another point of concern was Garner's ability to attract northern delegates, loyalists to Al Smith's Tammany faction. He got a bit of relief when Smith declared that he would not seek the nomination himself for what would have been a fifth time in a row. Even despite this however, a write-in campaign on Smith's behalf resulted in an upset loss for the president in the Massachusetts primary. This, paired with a strong performance by Earl Long in pivotal Wisconsin, as well as Long victories in several several western contests, It looked like Long's surrogacy, along with a northern protest vote, was going to be enough to deadlock the convention, with Garner expected to get only 65% of delegates when all was said and done.

However, with a landslide victory in the 4 way contest in California, which not only featured Long, but also famed novelist Upton Sinclair and freshman congressman John McGroarty, these fears were averted as Garner was able to gain the support of just enough delegates to avoid a deadlock. As a result of this, Earl Long and his brother Huey (who at this point was the shadow leader behind Earl's candidacy) as well as the delegations of several mountain states and, most prominently, Louisiana, staged a walkout from the convention, with the announcement of the Share Our Wealth Party being formed as Long's new political machine.

And this offshoot bid by Long would only harm the president's case against the Republicans. But to say their own nomination process was easy would be inaccurate. The primaries saw an insurgent rise of progressive champion Borah, but these were largely a farce as governor of Kansas Alf Landon, a centrist, had the backing of the party bosses even despite a Stop Landon movement at the convention. Part of the anti-Landon movement was newspaper publisher Frank Knox - the main conservative candidate in the race - who ended up accepting the nomination for vice president.

This outcome did not sit well for Borah, who openly declared his intention to not endorse the Republican ticket. But Borah's animosity went further than this. He had secretly been in talks with Long's campaign about potentially being his running mate, though after significant personal disagreements, the two concluded that they could not sustain a working partnership well enough for Borah to be on Long's ticket. Long ultimately went with North Dakota congressman William Lemke as his running mate. However, another disturbance was brewing that had hoped to take the progressive mantle from Long and Lemke.

Philip LaFollette was just 39 years old, but he had already achieved a lot, having been elected governor of Wisconsin as a Republican in 1930, and under a revamped Progressive Party - made by him and his older brother Bob - in 1934. The LaFollette brothers had a great desire to launch their Progressive Party nationally, and they hoped that they could seize the progressive torch from Long's SOW Party. Borah, who had worked with Bob as well as his late father Bob Sr. in the Senate for years, was very receptive to this opportunity. When Philip asked for him to be his running mate in a national third party bid, Borah happily obliged. Thus, a fourth ticket was introduced into an already chaotic election cycle - the National Progressive Party was born.

Governor of Wisconsin Philip LaFollette at his desk

The Stage was set: Garner/McAdoo (D) vs. Landon/Knox (R) vs. Long/Lemke (SOW) vs. LaFollette/Borah (NP)​

 

[5istheUnderworld]

Damn, this is interesting. Though I assume the left wing vote will be split.

 

[Sxpphxre]

A National Calamity

A Republican campaign ad for the 1936 election​

Each of the candidates took distinct approaches to their campaigns in this election. Garner was not quite fond of direct campaigning, and so chose to avoid an actual campaign tour. Instead, Garner hoped that if he remained focused on fixing the economy, that he would appear to the public as the most "presidential" candidate. In terms of actually campaigning, he relied on Democratic surrogates in key states, such as Al Smith's lukewarm support in New York, or Senator Jay Lewis in Illinois, or Senator Bob Bulkley in Ohio. His campaign also prioritized newspaper ads, though with Garner having directly drawn the ire of newspaper kingpin Hearst in years prior, this objective was more difficult to achieve than anticipated. Landon chose a similar approach when it came to direct campaigning, rarely making campaign stops of his own, and relying on what few surrogates the Republicans had at their disposal. Normally this would be a very ineffective campaign strategy, but in this specific case, it didn't hurt him all that much. If anything, it actually somewhat helped the Landon camp, by giving off the appearance of being "above the fray" of the attacks the other candidates were making towards each other.

The LaFollette and Long camps were not as concerned with pulling away Landon voters as much as they were from two other camps: each other's, and John Garner's. Garner's refusal to budge on issues such as labor protections and senior pensions caused the two leftist camps to declare Garner to be of the same cloth as the Republicans. Democrats, in all of this, who had previously ignored the independent bids, made a sharp change in tone, arguing that it was LaFollette and Long that were attempting to sell the election to the Republicans. This caused a bitter back and forth which only furthered this notion of Landon's campaign being "above the fray". Not to mention, LaFollette and Long's own battles with each other in an attempt to out-left the other caused more moderate LaFollette backers to hesitate on him, which only assisted Landon's numbers due to ideological similarities. After all, Landon was actually quite supportive of the New Deal's principles and several of its policies, which was a welcome change in tone from the laissez-faire Hoover administration just four years prior. But perhaps the biggest boon of all for the Landon camp was the slow recovery from the Depression the country was still facing. No doubt did the banking regulations of 1933 greatly relieve the pressure on the banks, but Garner did little to actively stimulate the economy thereafter, instead focusing more on what limited progressive reforms he could make while also balancing the budget. Landon's arguments of greater stimulus for businesses in place of progressive national reforms was at least some progress in the eyes of many compared to the current situation. And with all of that in mind, when the voters cast their ballots, while it was a nail-biter, Landon was shown to have made the best case among a plurality of the nation.

1936 Election Results:
Alf Landon/Frank Knox (GOP) - 318 electoral votes
John Nance Garner/William Gibbs McAdoo (DEM) - 168 electoral votes
Philip LaFollette/William E. Borah (NPP) - 31 electoral votes
Earl K. Long/William F. Lemke (SOW) - 14 electoral votes

Landon had won. Four years ago, the idea of a Republican winning nationally would have been a laughable joke after the calamitous Hoover White House. But now, however chaotic the election was, it had become a reality. Garner was quoted years later from a meeting shortly after the election that he thought being a lame duck president was "not worth a pitcher of warm spit". He also found great solace in the fact that there was an early retirement waiting for him with the ratification of the 20th amendment. Yet despite this, Garner wouldn't go so quietly.

On December 30, 1936, General Motors workers at the main Flint facility - Fisher Body No. 1 - began one of the most infamous strikes in American history. The Flint Sit-Down Strike, as it was initially called, began when workers at Fisher Body 1 called for a thirty-hour work week, hourly pay, recognition of their union by General Motors, among other demands. However, it soon became quite clear GM was not going to accept these demands. Eventually, the police were told to obstruct the flow of food and water to the plant to drive the strikers out, but this only emboldened their cause. Then on the 15th of January, its unclear who took the first strike, but a bloody battle between police and strikers ensued. Initial regiments were called off shortly but casualties were heavy on both sides. In one of his last acts as President of the United States, Garner not only directed the governor of Michigan to send the national guard, but he also directed multiple reserve U.S army regiments to the site to "end the hijacking of American production". On the 19th, unknown of who fired the first shot still to this day, both the national guard and army regiments fired upon the crowd, ending in 263 casualties - nearly all strikers - in what is now known as "Bloody Tuesday".

Several strikers early on into the Flint Sit-Down Strike.​