Earliest Black President in the United States?

[Tresckow]

I suppose this could've been put in Before 1900, but given the history of race in the US, I think it is ASB for a black president to be elected before 1900, given that very few African-Americans were elected to office after Reconstruction up to the 1920s, let alone seek the presidency in either party.

So, what would be the most realistic and earliest opportunity for the United States to elect a black president? Some names that come to mind

• Colin Powell: This is an easy one as Powell would have major advantages as a black Republican and a war hero, only issue is that he never tried to seek elected office despite flirting with presidential bids in 1996 and 2000. If he does run in either of those years, he would be a shoe-in for the presidency, his only obstacle would be as a pro-choice, pro-AA candidate in an increasingly conservative Republican primary.
• Edward Brooke: The first black Senator elected since Reconstruction, Brooke is another Republican, however lost reelection. Similarly to Powell, he was a moderate, and unlike Powell, lacked a national profile and lost reelection in 1978. His route to the presidency could rely on being a balancing running-mate to Ronald Reagan in 1980, then running in his own right in 1988.
• Martin Luther King Jr.: King is an unlikely but not impossible candidate. If he wasn't assassinated I could definitely see him making a run for the presidency if he continues his involvement in politics, however I imagine that a certain FBI director would ensure he does not go very far.

 

[dcharles]

Never have I ever seen the name of Adam Clayton Powell thrown around in these discussions.

Now, I have no idea how it could work, but ACP is one of my favorite historical figures.

While he was the Congressman from Harlem, de facto, he was the Congressman of Black America. Until MLK, he was also the highest profile black leader in the US. He was also unapologetically liberal throughout his career. Considering the racial and political climate of the US in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s (ACP's prime career years), I think that you need a big POD for something like this. Like, an unsuccessful fascist coup during the New Deal or something. I think that the chances of this are systematically underplayed among both historians and alternate historians, but it's a huge POD nonetheless.

Anyway, if you have a shakeup like that, there's no telling where the pieces will land. But Adam Clayton Powell was cool, charismatic, capable, and working in politics anyway.

He's my dark-horse, left field pick.

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Nixon appoints Brooke after Agnew resigns. Watergate happens and Nixon resigns.

 

[overoceans]

I don't know if he ever coulda become president, but I'd like to see Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard have a successful political career.

Devout Adventist(conservative religious appeal), fervently anti-Communist(advantage obvious), a pro-business ethos(see previous), BUT with political and social connections to the more militant sections of the civil-rights movement, eg. he helped raise funds for Malcolm X's widow and children.

IOW sort of a sane version of Elijah Muhammed. PLUS he openly worked as an abortion provider PRE-Roe.

Apparently, he did run for congress as a Republican in 1958(aged 50), but lost. Doesn't seem to have run for anything after that.

[And yes, almost all my info about him comes from the wiki article I found while reading their list of abortion providers. It's pretty comprehensive, though.]

 

[King Jasper]

I don't think it's ASB to have a black President before 1900. It's extremely unlikely, but not ASB.

Successful radical reconstruction ---> a large number of reasonably wealthy black yeomen and factory workers in the South ----> They become prominent Southern politicians ----> One gets elected Vice President (Blanche Bruce was a longshot for GOP VP in OTL 1880 election) ----> President dies.

Unlikely, not impossible.

 

[The Tai-Pan]

I don't think it's ASB to have a black President before 1900. It's extremely unlikely, but not ASB.

Successful radical reconstruction ---> a large number of reasonably wealthy black yeomen and factory workers in the South ----> They become prominent Southern politicians ----> One gets elected Vice President (Blanche Bruce was a longshot for GOP VP in OTL 1880 election) ----> President dies.

Unlikely, not impossible.

This bolded part is carrying a lot of history in a few words though. Like, anything could be hiding in there.

 

[Tresckow]

This bolded part is carrying a lot of history in a few words though. Like, anything could be hiding in there.

Yeah, a "successful" radical reconstruction means that southern whites will have even more resentment and revanchism towards the north, which may spell race wars and ultimately a second civil war or at least perpetual insurgencies.

What could be helpful for a possible pre-1900 black presidency is a Lincolnite Reconstruction/Lincoln isn't assassinated. That's the sad irony of the neo-Confederate mantra of "Lincoln the Tyrant" as he was arguably much more moderate than the rest of his party when it came to Reconstruction, and that his assassination plus Johnson's incompetence meant the radicals could get their way.

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

Grant picks up Fredrick Douglas in 1872 as his VP pick after dropping Colfax?

Given how bad the Dems did with Horace Greely that year, it could be a risk worth taking?

 

[jlckansas]

You might have a chance to have someone who is passing for white before 1900 if the circumstances are right. It would depend on how they came about being who they are. Have someone like Jefferson or the other Southern hight placed people adopt a "Poor orphan boy" after his parent dies and you might be able to pass him off. I do think you might be able to have an Indian from the 5 Civilized tribes or Iroquois confederation be President before a Black man in the pre 1900's

 

[King Jasper]

This bolded part is carrying a lot of history in a few words though. Like, anything could be hiding in there.

That's true. I generally mean redistribution of planter land to freedmen and black voting rights throughout the South.

Yeah, a "successful" radical reconstruction means that southern whites will have even more resentment and revanchism towards the north, which may spell race wars and ultimately a second civil war or at least perpetual insurgencies.

What could be helpful for a possible pre-1900 black presidency is a Lincolnite Reconstruction/Lincoln isn't assassinated. That's the sad irony of the neo-Confederate mantra of "Lincoln the Tyrant" as he was arguably much more moderate than the rest of his party when it came to Reconstruction, and that his assassination plus Johnson's incompetence meant the radicals could get their way.

True. Hopefully eventually federal crackdowns would eliminate white supremacist terror groups like the KKK and eventually the South acclimates to reconstruction. Also perhaps the more extreme Southerners flee to other countries like Cuba or Brazil.

You might have a chance to have someone who is passing for white before 1900 if the circumstances are right. It would depend on how they came about being who they are. Have someone like Jefferson or the other Southern hight placed people adopt a "Poor orphan boy" after his parent dies and you might be able to pass him off. I do think you might be able to have an Indian from the 5 Civilized tribes or Iroquois confederation be President before a Black man in the pre 1900's

I agree getting an indigenous President would be way easier than a Black president. Hell, Charles Curtis (Hoover's VP) was 3/8ths Native American and it wasn't even a big campaign issue. There just isn't the same degree of racial animus against Native Americans in the US as there is for black people, especially if the natives are assimilated. Just have some assimilated half-native become a big political player earlier and get them elected VP. However, the challenge here was black President, not native President.

 

[The Tai-Pan]

Yeah, a "successful" radical reconstruction means that southern whites will have even more resentment and revanchism towards the north, which may spell race wars and ultimately a second civil war or at least perpetual insurgencies.

What could be helpful for a possible pre-1900 black presidency is a Lincolnite Reconstruction/Lincoln isn't assassinated. That's the sad irony of the neo-Confederate mantra of "Lincoln the Tyrant" as he was arguably much more moderate than the rest of his party when it came to Reconstruction, and that his assassination plus Johnson's incompetence meant the radicals could get their way.

Perhaps, but there are probably TL's out there where Republicans win the war AND the Peace. Through use of force and a proper support of Republican forces in the South (freedmen, scalywags and carpetbaggers...the latter two will get better names in that TL), able to create and produce a stable alternate power system that forces the Southern elites to change. Not easy, not likely but possible.

But that it a pretty radical (pun intended) change from OTL, so radical you can pick and choose whoever you want to be President. It'll basically be fiction.

 

[Dancing Fool]

Yeah, a "successful" radical reconstruction means that southern whites will have even more resentment

That makes a lot of sense. More crackdown means more resentment.

But—

Southern [rich] whites promoted a lot of fantasies of northern schemes, almost like end-time religious fantasies. Which may have had all the more liveliness and center of gravity because they didn’t come to pass. It might actually be better if the shoe dropped, and the average white citizen learned that it wasn’t so bad.

Because they talked like they were going to be under the heel of blacks anyway [and plenty of poor whites bought into the fantasies].

For example, if the planter class had been stripped of both political power and almost all their land, and maybe relocated as well, and the land redistributed to black and white families in a 1-to-1 fashion. This is not entirely fair to white families since there are more of them, but they were expecting so much worse!

 

[jpj1421]

One could see a situation where a majority black state or two keeps the black population in power and there are a handful of black politicians that could be included in cabinets and what not Robert Smalls becoming a Senator and eventually PPT isn't impossible, though would turn of the century Republicans support him regardless of seniority, and then all it takes is a few deaths in office.

The first time, historically, that a black person became a member of the line of succession was during the Johnson administration.

Those are rather grim methods for managing it though.

 

[brunohusker]

Realistically, Edward Brooke is always a popular choice. Jesse Jackson got close but I don’t think he could. I can’t think of anyone else. Maybe if JC Watts became more known outside of Oklahoma or ran for Senate, he might be worth looking at. Maybe if Bush dies, Cheney tries in vain to seem not racist or distract from how bad he is.


Edit- I didn’t finish my thought. Maybe JC Watts becomes VP under Cheney.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Interesting to see when @Red_Galiray envisions it in his TL.

I always like to use Douglas Wilder - even with a 1991 POD combo of a more diplomatic comment about Clarence Thomas, entering the race early, and an early Clinton scandal to where he becomes the sure nominee before Democrats realize they have a chance.

But, could someone really famous like Jackie Robinson, if he doesn't develop big health problems, do it? If a very well respected black man is a moderate Republican, if Nixon doesn't choose him 8n 1973 after Agnew, Reagan could in 1980 to balance the ticket. (I don't know what party he was, though. )

I think Nixon thought Brooke too l8beral - but any moderate would be a Nixonian ploy as if to say "try and impeach me now!" (I did a fan fiction with such a character, Kinch fromHogan's Heroes, 8n that role)

 

[Dancing Fool]

Southern [rich] whites promoted a lot of fantasies of northern schemes, almost like end-time religious fantasies. Which may have had all the more liveliness and center of gravity because they didn’t come to pass.

And expanding on this idea of mine, this paranoid style has cascaded all through American politics. For example in the 1950s, the John Birchers thought Eisenhower was a “communist dupe.” Yes, the former general and president. And they thought water fluoridation was a communist plot.

And this is not being “strong” against the Soviet Union, but rather being stupid and ineffectual.

And a ton of examples from different time periods in American history.

 

[Derek Jackson]

What if there was no USSR. Might Paul Robeson have been a major figure

 

[peeter]

Tom Bradley becoming president somewhere in the 90s in a democratic 80s scenario is the easiest/realistic one. That’s the most likely non-ASB way to get a black president pre-2000s without either going into a wacky-implausible route or completely changing the history of the United States from it’s roots

 

[Wendell]

Have T R M Howard or James Meredith succeed in their nascent political careers.

 

[Tresckow]

What if there was no USSR. Might Paul Robeson have been a major figure

If there is no USSR then the last hundred years would've been radically different globally, and there was always a fear of socialism/communism before the USSR in the capitalist west. The RCW and the subsequent USSR only exacerbated those fears, and if there is no RCW then the world is even more radically different.