AHC - Joseph P. Kennedy Sr, elected President 1924

[V-J]

Simple enough: elect Kennedy senior as president in the first election in which he would have been eligible, 1924. Bonus points for getting him re-elected and/or doing crazy/funny shit with his presidency.

 

[Ariosto]

I am sure it would be possible (nothing is totally impossible) but, from the prospective of OTL 1924, I don't see it happening.
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[Lord Grattan]

W/o implausible handwavium electing Joseph Kennedy as POTUS in 1924, at least with a post-1900 POD is not going to happen. He's too young. He's Catholic. He doesn't have the base necessary from which to launch this meteoric rise to the highest office in the land.

 

[Wolfpaw]

At the height of the Klan's influence both nationwide and in the Democratic Party? Hells to the no, y'all.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

As a normal possibility, no, for all aforementioned reasons. Al Smith lost in 1928 on the basis of being a Catholic, as well as competing against a popular Republican political establishment. But, in a chaos scenario, perhaps (chaos scenarios can excuse many a thing).

 

[Paul V McNutt]

He has no political experience. OTL Cooldge won 55 percent of the vote. h How does Kennedy beat him?

 

[Emperor Norton I]

He has no political experience. OTL Cooldge won 55 percent of the vote. h How does Kennedy beat him?

That is the question, isn't it?

Like I said, the best and only way I can see is a chaos scenario; the Republicans in disarray, the Democrats in disarray, everything going in JPK's favor as if God wanted him to win and JPK even deciding to run to begin with, probably -at least from what I'm thinking- factions of the Democrats and Republicans breaking off so that the Klansmen Democrats are voting for a separate candidate and the Republicans of some faction or another break off to vote for a different Republican candidate thus harming the GOP's assured presidential dominance and what not.

 

[bguy]

Ok how about this.


1916-Charles Evans Hughes doesn't offend Hiram Johnson, and thus narrowly carries California and with it the Presidency (despite Hughes losing the popular vote.)


The United States subsequently gets pulled into WW1 as OTL. As with OTL, the war is won, but the country ultimately doesn't think it was worth the cost in blood and treasure. A nasty post-war recession further damages President Hughes' popularity.


1920-Woodrow Wilson (much healthier than at this point in OTL without all the stress of being a wartime president) wins the Democrat nomination for the Presidency and selects Congressman Franklin Roosevelt (elected as part of the Democrat landslide in 1918) for his Vice President. Wilson goes on to easily defeat Hughes in November. President Wilson subsequentally selects a young businessman named Joe Kennedy as his Secretary of Commerce.


1921-Vice President Roosevelt contracts polio while vacationing and resigns the Vice Presidency to focus on his recovery.


1924-President Wilson decides to run for reelection. He is confident that he will have the support of the west due to the farm support and public power bills he's enacted, so he decides to go with an eastern for his veep and selects Secretary of Commerce Kennedy. (The booming economy has boosted Kennedy's profile over the last 3 years.)


The Republicans, after a bitter nomination fight between the former commander of the AEF, General Leonard Wood, and famous humanitarian Herbert Hoover, settle on a compromise candidate, Frank Lowden. As in OTL Robert La Follette runs as a third party candidate.


Wilson's health does not last out the campaign, and in late October 1924 he suddenly dies. With no Vice President, Secretary of State George Norris becomes a caretaker President. (Wilson appointed a Republican to that position because he wanted bi-partisan support for his disarmament and League of Nation policies). Not wanting to risk a party split with the election only two weeks away, the Democrats decide they have no choice but to run Kennedy as their presidential candidate. Senator Oscar Underwood is chosen as his veep. With the economy prosperous and the Republicans split, the Kennedy-Underwood ticket wins a comfortable if not overwhelming victory.

 

[Rich Rostrom]

1921-Vice President Roosevelt contracts polio while vacationing and resigns the Vice Presidency to focus on his recovery.

Let's say that he doesn't resign, but by 1924 his handicap forces his withdrawal from the ticket.

1924-President Wilson decides to run for reelection.

For a third term? I don't think so.

He is confident that he will have the support of the west due to the farm support and public power bills he's enacted, so he decides to go with an eastern for his veep and selects Secretary of Commerce Kennedy. (The booming economy has boosted Kennedy's profile over the last 3 years.)

Let me add a tweak here: Kennedy, a Catholic, could alienate the South... But Wilson, a Southerner and flaming racist, as the Klan et al knew quite well, is at the head of the ticket, so the effect is minimal.

Or a different tweak, assuming Wilson retires as seems likely to me:

The Democrats nominate Wilson's son-in-law William Gibbs McAdoo, despite his Klan affiliations; they put Kennedy in as VP to balance the ticket and reassure northern Catholic voters.

Wilson's health does not last out the campaign, and in late October 1924 he suddenly dies.

Another tweak: Wilson's health barely lasts out the campaign, and in November 1924 he suddenly dies - after winning the election. After some pulling and hauling, the Democrat electors vote for Kennedy for President.

Or with the second tweak, something happens to McAdoo after the voting.

Although one could say that in such a case, Kennedy is not actually elected, but de facto succeeds to the Presidency.

Direct election of Kennedy in 1924 looks like ASB territory, more or less. He is Catholic, only 36 years old, and has no political experience; nor, AFAIK, any ambitions for political office.

However, I'll make one stab at it. I'll assume that Kennedy was personally opposed to Prohibition, though he probably avoided any public statements.

Suppose however that he was active in opposition to Prohibition in 1918-1919. It goes through anyway, with the result of the bootlegger boom and massive gangsterism. A Repeal League gets formed, supported by businessmen and reformers repulsed by gangster profiteering and violence, and the hypocrisy of "prominent" men who endorse Prohibition while patronizing bootleggers.

The reapportionment of 1920 gets done, unlike OTL, shifting power toward urban areas.

Harding survives his 1923 illness. However, he is dogged by the corruption of his administration.

As in OTL, the Ku Klux Klan grows to massive national importance (though it was not especially significant in much of the South at this time, and much of its numbers elsewhere came from populist discontent).


The 1924 election is chaotic. The Democrats nominate William McAdoo, endorsed by the Klan. The Republicans renominate Harding, with reluctance. There is an insurgent ticket of "Progressives" (as in OTL); and finally, the Repeal League mounts a campaign in combination with anti-Klan Democrats, and pick Kennedy for some reason. (Though I'm not sure what good electing a 'wet' President would do toward achieving Repeal.)

Harding and the Republicans are damaged when a scandal sheet publishes an interview with the White House bootlegger. This lends the Repeal Democrats some credibility. It also pushes dry Republicans to the Progressives, who remain adamantly Prohibitionist.

In the four-way scrap, Kennedy finishes second in electoral votes as the election goes to the House. Southern Democrats, Repeal Democrats, and
'wet' Republicans in the House elect Kennedy.

 

[bguy]

Let's say that he doesn't resign, but by 1924 his handicap forces his withdrawal from the ticket..

The reason I had FDR resign is that otherwise he becomes President when Wilson dies in which case the Democrats likely just stick with him as their candidate in '24. (Its also why the Secretary of State who ascended to the Presidency had to be a Republican.)

For a third term? I don't think so.

Why not? TR has already established the principle that its ok to run for a third term, and Wilson is certainly arrogant enough to believe the country and for that matter the entire world needs him for another term. Dude had a major messiah complex. And with the Democrats increasing divided between their urban and rural wings, Wilson is the best available candidate to keep the party unified and prevent a debacle like what happened at their OTL 1924 convention. His progressive credentials are sufficient to satisfy the urban wing of the party (especially if he selects a northern Catholic for his running mate) while his racism and Southern heritage will keep the South happy.

Let me add a tweak here: Kennedy, a Catholic, could alienate the South... But Wilson, a Southerner and flaming racist, as the Klan et al knew quite well, is at the head of the ticket, so the effect is minimal..

Exactly.

Direct election of Kennedy in 1924 looks like ASB territory, more or less. He is Catholic, only 36 years old, and has no political experience; nor, AFAIK, any ambitions for political office.

Well Hoover had never held elective office either before he became President. 4 years as Secretary of Commerce will give Kennedy some political experience and might wet his ambition for higher office. William Jennings Bryan was only 36 the first time he ran for the Presidency, so there is precedent for the Democrats running a candidate that young as well. And while the Catholic thing will hurt, its not an absolute deal-breaker. The Deep South voted for Smith in '28 afterall, so they should be willing to hold their noses and vote for Kennedy in '24. Wilson is probably fairly popular in the west ITTL since he wasn't the one who led the US into the Great War, and he almost certainly enacted farm support legislation in his last term, so Kennedy should be able to draw on the sympathy factor to do well out there. And yes the Klan factor will likely cost Kennedy the Mid-West and Upper South, but he should be able to compensate for that by doing well in the northeast.

Its tough to get Kennedy elected in '24, it takes a lot of things to break just the right way, but I wouldn't say its ASB.