George B. McClellan, Jr. was the son of Civil War general and 1864 Democratic Presidential candidate George B. McClellan and an accomplished politician in his own right, being a Congressman and later Mayor of New York City. He ran for President immediately after being elected mayor in 1904, but dropped out after receiving three votes at the convention.
"Hipster" PMs and Presidents Thread
- Thread starter Comisario
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I'll take your McClellan and raise you another!
John Little McClellan Arkansas Senator for over thirty years, in congress for over forty. On the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led the Democratic walkout during the Army-McCarthy hearings.
If you want candidates for a better-off American Independent Party, there's always George P. Mahoney. An Irish-American segregationist who lost to Spiro Agnew (PBUH) in the race for Maryland Governor in 1966. If he won, he could've ended up on Wallace's VP shortlist in 1968 or perhaps a rival to John Schmitz in 1972.
Probably, yeah. He pops up a lot in Art of the Deal. (Did they use him in the FOD movie? Probably not, but they did use Roy Cohn, so maybe...)
I haven't seen it (yet), but it appears they did use Cohn. Hirschfeld is one of those figures who is so bizarre he has to exist and run for office. I'm sure he'll pop up somewhere in NSS in the future. (I know as I've already written up an idea of what to do with him.)
Always thought that with a Trump vs. Sanders race, Bloomberg might have a good shot as an independent candidate (possibly with someone like Jon Huntsman or David Petraeus as VeePee), but I've learned that this is more of a European perspective and that Bloomberg probably wouldn't have a real chance of winning a state outside New York.
Houston's had more than a few interesting mayors who could have gone on to higher office.
-Oscar F. Holcombe was mayor for over two cumulative decades and in five separate non-consecutive administrations, from the Twenties to the Fifties. Millionaire land investor, opponent of integration, but stood up to the Klan in the '20s.
-Roy Hofheinz was preceded and succeeded by Holcombe from 1953 to 1956. Responsible for the creation of the Colt .45s baseball team (look, this is Texas, okay?) and the Astrodome (where he lived for several years, by the way), campaign manager for Lyndon Johnson, and oversaw much desegregation, as in this anecdote:
-Lewis Cutrer, who succeeded Holcombe's last term. Created Lake Livingston and Houston Intercontinental, as well as continuing desegregation. He was defeated in 1963 by:
-Louie Welch, mayor for a decade. Known for quick quips, perhaps most notably floating "shoot the queers" as a solution to the AIDS crisis. While mayor in the Sixties, presided over a violent standoff with mostly-black TSU students. George H.W. Bush met with him in 1965 to see if he was running for the House seat that Bush eventually won, saying “Before I run, I want to know if you have any ambitions. Because if you do, I can’t beat you.” Possibly associated with organized crime, definitely sketchily funded in his second mayoral bid. Came out of retirement in the Eighties to run against Kathy Whitmire due to her support of job protection for gay city employees, a race in which he made the aforementioned quip, and lost.
-Kathy Whitmire, mayor from 1982 to 1992. Fought corruption and discrimination, making significant reforms in garbage collection and public transportation, an issue on which she was defeated. Fought to break the power of the "good ol' boys". First mayor to appoint African-American police chief.
-Bob Lanier. Defeated Whitmire in 1991, largely due to his opposition to Whitmire's proposed monorail. Noted builder, oversaw affirmative action and a sizable drop in crime. Term limits established to keep him from running again in 1997, when Lee Brown was elected.
-Lee P. Brown. First black mayor of Houston, police chief under Whitmire. Oversaw light rail, revitalized downtown, advanced affirmative action and e-government. Reconstruction of downtown led to challenge by city councilman Orlando Sanchez, who lost despite endorsements from President Bush and the police officers' union. Also: Bill Clinton's drug czar. Also headed Atlanta and New York City police departments. Succeeded by:
-Bill White. Worked to host refugees from Hurricane Katrina, fought pollution. Also responsible for debatably-helpful possibly-deadly anti-traffic program SafeClear, and installed many red-light cameras. Tried to close The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation due to issue regarding illegal lease. Ran for Governor in 2010.
-Annise Parker. One of the first openly gay mayors of a major American city. Fought for Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, unfortunately defeated in 2015, largely due to transphobia. That same year, our current mayor was elected:
-Sylvester Turner. Staunch supporter of HERO, after opposing some previous pro-LGBT laws in his Texas Senate career (I think he's genuinely changed his opinion in the last decade, but it's hard to say what's really going on there). Pro-choice and fought for grand jury reform. First ran for mayor against Lanier in 1991.
-Oscar F. Holcombe was mayor for over two cumulative decades and in five separate non-consecutive administrations, from the Twenties to the Fifties. Millionaire land investor, opponent of integration, but stood up to the Klan in the '20s.
-Roy Hofheinz was preceded and succeeded by Holcombe from 1953 to 1956. Responsible for the creation of the Colt .45s baseball team (look, this is Texas, okay?) and the Astrodome (where he lived for several years, by the way), campaign manager for Lyndon Johnson, and oversaw much desegregation, as in this anecdote:
Also once arrested two City Council members for boycotting a meeting, then got involved in a long fight with the Council which culminated in his calling for election a year early to try to get his City Council out, an act which backfired when Holcombe came out of retirement.
-Lewis Cutrer, who succeeded Holcombe's last term. Created Lake Livingston and Houston Intercontinental, as well as continuing desegregation. He was defeated in 1963 by:
-Louie Welch, mayor for a decade. Known for quick quips, perhaps most notably floating "shoot the queers" as a solution to the AIDS crisis. While mayor in the Sixties, presided over a violent standoff with mostly-black TSU students. George H.W. Bush met with him in 1965 to see if he was running for the House seat that Bush eventually won, saying “Before I run, I want to know if you have any ambitions. Because if you do, I can’t beat you.” Possibly associated with organized crime, definitely sketchily funded in his second mayoral bid. Came out of retirement in the Eighties to run against Kathy Whitmire due to her support of job protection for gay city employees, a race in which he made the aforementioned quip, and lost.
-Kathy Whitmire, mayor from 1982 to 1992. Fought corruption and discrimination, making significant reforms in garbage collection and public transportation, an issue on which she was defeated. Fought to break the power of the "good ol' boys". First mayor to appoint African-American police chief.
-Bob Lanier. Defeated Whitmire in 1991, largely due to his opposition to Whitmire's proposed monorail. Noted builder, oversaw affirmative action and a sizable drop in crime. Term limits established to keep him from running again in 1997, when Lee Brown was elected.
-Lee P. Brown. First black mayor of Houston, police chief under Whitmire. Oversaw light rail, revitalized downtown, advanced affirmative action and e-government. Reconstruction of downtown led to challenge by city councilman Orlando Sanchez, who lost despite endorsements from President Bush and the police officers' union. Also: Bill Clinton's drug czar. Also headed Atlanta and New York City police departments. Succeeded by:
-Bill White. Worked to host refugees from Hurricane Katrina, fought pollution. Also responsible for debatably-helpful possibly-deadly anti-traffic program SafeClear, and installed many red-light cameras. Tried to close The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation due to issue regarding illegal lease. Ran for Governor in 2010.
-Annise Parker. One of the first openly gay mayors of a major American city. Fought for Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, unfortunately defeated in 2015, largely due to transphobia. That same year, our current mayor was elected:
-Sylvester Turner. Staunch supporter of HERO, after opposing some previous pro-LGBT laws in his Texas Senate career (I think he's genuinely changed his opinion in the last decade, but it's hard to say what's really going on there). Pro-choice and fought for grand jury reform. First ran for mayor against Lanier in 1991.
He was a friend of William Jennings Bryan and may have been appointed to his cabinet if Bryan was elected POTUS.
That's interesting since Junior was very conservative, practically Bourbon.
The earliest actor cum politician I can name is John Davis Lodge. Brother to Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (Nixon's running mate in 1960, of course) Lodge was in the film biz until WWII, and he was elected Representative and then Governor. He narrowly lost to Abraham Ribicoff in 1954, allegedly due to
If they're happier, then maybe he could be Nixon's VP in 1956 (he toyed with replacing Nixon) or Nixon's VP in 1960. Both are good paths to the Presidency.
I might as well throw this out there since my timeline with Randolph Crossley is never going to happen let's be real - I was originally going to have Nixon / Crossley face John Lindsay / Joseph Montoya in 1972 - and have the ticket do even worse than McGovern IOTL (take that, 1970s cliches)
Lindsay's a former Republican, so yeah, I can see that. Any Watergatery?
Less so (see with a VP with more morals than a turnip, Nixon is at least a marginally less corrupt president) - it's more that John Vliet Lindsay is also too liberal and has the political instincts of a limp noodle - unlike McGovern who I respect all in all, Lindsay governed NYC like a dumpster fire. And while a western populist VP is a good pick, a Hispanic VP in 1972 would be too much too fast - Lindsay/Montoya only win Rhode Island and D.C.
EDIT:
With regards to Helter Skelter there are of course a few other possible original routes you could go.
Jack Dormand - a Labour MP from 1970 to 1987, Dormand was a strange mixture of Labour's left and right. He described himself as a 'centre-right socialist', being a strong proponent of nationalisation and the complete abolition of private schools whilst also espousing a mixture of pro-American/anti-European/pro-NATO foreign policy beliefs. He was also a staunch republican and atheist, just to add to the uniqueness of the man.