"Hipster" PMs and Presidents Thread

[Octosteel]

Nicholas Murray Butler, the President of Columbia University from 1902 to 1945, is totally forgotten nowadays but was a big deal in the early 1900s. A friend of Elihu Root, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft, Butler tried to use his universal respect to get into politics. He replaced James Sherman in Taft's losing ticket in 1912, but also sought the nomination in 1920 and 1928 to no success. Yet he was still active, eventually winning the Nobel Prize for advocating for the Kellogg-Briand Pact. A total blowhard and self-promoter, his successes were really unimpressive but smart marketing meant he received disproportionate amounts of respect at the time.

It's not impossible to see his forays into presidential politics be more successful. He actually walked into the 1920 RNC with more delegates than Warren G. Harding. As a universally respected man, perhaps a deadlocked 1920 with Harding having dropped out (something he supposedly nearly did many times), perhaps the bosses turn their heads to Mr. Butler?

It's hard to know what he would have been like as President. Probably chasing after some non-lasting victory that he can wave around to people in a desperate attempt to establish legacy. But it would be interesting to have yet another arrogant university president as the nation's leader.

 

[Rarename91]

Probably more "hipster" than plausible I present you Prime Minister Lawrence "Larry" Sanders:

"Lawrence "Larry" Sanders (born April 25, 1934) is an American-British academic, social worker, and Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales. Sanders is the elder brother of United States Senator and former 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.Sanders attended Brooklyn College, received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and obtained a master's degree in social work from the University of Oxford. Sanders migrated to Britain in 1968 or 1969. He became a university lecturer at the University of West London, then at Oxford in the department of social administration. He was an employee and trustee of the Oxfordshire Carers' Forum and Oxfordshire Community Care Rights from 1996.Sanders was active in the Labour Party in Oxford in the 1980s. He left Labour in 2001 because he felt that it had moved too far to the right under Tony Blair, and joined the Green Party."
(wikipedia)

Could he even become prime minister? he wasn't even born in the uk and is also a part of a US political party.

 

[Rarename91]

Garry Johnson who stay with the republicans (lets say he runs and get elected senator) I see him as being a hipster president a republican verison of Obama in the way of being one of those "cool presidents".

 

[shiftygiant]

Could he even become prime minister? he wasn't even born in the uk and is also a part of a US political party.

Being born in the UK isn't a requirement for becoming Prime Minister. The question is if he can win a seat and become Leader of a Party like Labour.

And given the bolded... no, he's not, he's a member of and stood as a candidate for the GPEW.

 

[Gonzo]

Being born in the UK isn't a requirement for becoming Prime Minister. The question is if he can win a seat and become Leader of a Party.

If he stays with the Greens it is highly unlikely that he'd become an MP, let alone Prime Minister. Even if he were a Labour MP, I doubt some quarters would be content at the thought of an American immigrant on the left of the Labour Party, becoming Labour leader.

 

[Oppo]

Garry Johnson who stay with the republicans (lets say he runs and get elected senator) I see him as being a hipster president a republican verison of Obama in the way of being one of those "cool presidents".

Hipster in this case means unused in AH.

 

[cpip]

Hipster in this case means unused in AH.

I am, though, amused by a mental image of Gary Johnson with vintage glasses, a beard, plaid shirts and too-tight slacks...

"I was reading the Constitution before it was cool, man. It's gotten too mainstream. Articles of Confederation are where it's at."

 

[Aolbain]

Charles W. Whittlesey: A Harvard-educated Wall Street lawyer, he served as an officer during WW1 and earned the Medal of Honor and national fame for successfully leading his multi-ethnic battalion through a one-week siege beyond enemy lines during the battle of the Argonne Forrest. He had previously been a member of the Socialist Party before leaving due to what he perceived as increasing radicalization, and had he not killed himself after the war he could conceivably be a leading left-wing Republican or a candidate for a surviving Roosveltian Progressive Party.

 

[Indicus]

In terms of Indian history, Vallabhai Patel. He really shouldn't be obscure in AH, considering he played a major role in the Indian independence movement. He was a much more gung-ho independence figure than the intellectual Nehru and threatened the princely states with force to accede to India, something that was actually quite successful. He was also one of the few capitalist figures in Indian National Congress, which may very well mean no License Raj exists if he's able to become PM for a substantial amount of time. That should help the economy substantially.

However, he died in 1950, so even if he did become PM right after independence, three years are too little to have a major impact on Indian history. If he lived longer, or India got independence earlier, then he could very well have a decade to set policy and precedent for early independent India.

 

[Heat]

If he stays with the Greens it is highly unlikely that he'd become an MP, let alone Prime Minister. Even if he were a Labour MP, I doubt some quarters would be content at the thought of an American immigrant on the left of the Labour Party, becoming Labour leader.

Health Secretary or something like that at absolute best, maybe?

 

[Aolbain]

I'm not sure how hipster it is, but Zell Miller as an alt-Bill Clinton (instead of the DINO/ultra-hawk I usually see him as) could be interesting.

 

[Heat]

I'm not sure how hipster it is, but Zell Miller as an alt-Bill Clinton (instead of the DINO/ultra-hawk I usually see him as) could be interesting.

I had him as VP in a TL once.

Problem is he only got elected Governor in 1990, so he wouldn't really be a plausible candidate by 1992. But in a 'Bush wins '92' scenario, he could maybe be a contender in 1996, especially as he only tacked so hard right in the first place because he barely survived the 1994 GOP wave and recognised which way the wind was blowing.

 

[Gordian]

I had him as VP in a TL once.

Problem is he only got elected Governor in 1990, so he wouldn't really be a plausible candidate by 1992. But in a 'Bush wins '92' scenario, he could maybe be a contender in 1996, especially as he wouldn't feel the need to tack so hard-right without having to survive the 1994 GOP wave.

If Miller succeeds in his 1980 primary attempt of Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge he could always be a top pick for a Democratic Party looking to reinvent itself in 1988.

 

[Oppo]

If Miller succeeds in his 1980 primary attempt of Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge he could always be a top pick for a Democratic Party looking to reinvent itself in 1988.

Or even 1984. He could take the role of Hart.

 

[Heat]

If Miller succeeds in his 1980 primary attempt of Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge he could always be a top pick for a Democratic Party looking to reinvent itself in 1988.

Ooh, that's quite good, I forgot about that. And if he doesn't get elected Governor, he doesn't attempt to change the state flag, the spectacular failure of which was the other thing that led him to tack to the right from 1994 onwards.

 

[Heat]

Ellen Sauerbrey, former minority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates who went on to become George W. Bush's Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, ran for Governor of Maryland in 1994 and lost by only 6,000 votes. Appears to be quite the social conservative. If she won, I could see her as the 2000 Republican nominee in a 'Bush stays in baseball'-type scenario.

 

[Octosteel]

Ellen Sauerbrey, former minority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates who went on to become George W. Bush's Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, ran for Governor of Maryland in 1994 and lost by only 6,000 votes. Appears to be quite the social conservative. If she won, I could see her as the 2000 Republican nominee in a 'Bush stays in baseball'-type scenario.

It's kind of crazy the kind of swings that 1994 produced.

 

[Octosteel]

Charles W. Whittlesey: A Harvard-educated Wall Street lawyer, he served as an officer during WW1 and earned the Medal of Honor and national fame for successfully leading his multi-ethnic battalion through a one-week siege beyond enemy lines during the battle of the Argonne Forrest. He had previously been a member of the Socialist Party before leaving due to what he perceived as increasing radicalization, and had he not killed himself after the war he could conceivably be a leading left-wing Republican or a candidate for a surviving Roosveltian Progressive Party.

While it seems pretty difficult to imagine a path to the Presidency, I wonder if he could have been a figure fighting against the Red Scare Palmer raids or scaremongering by Leonard Wood. Perhaps could have lessened the worst of the postwar Scare.

 

[V-J]

If Miller succeeds in his 1980 primary attempt of Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge he could always be a top pick for a Democratic Party looking to reinvent itself in 1988.

Putting him in the Senate earlier would produce a lot of problems for him nationally which being state gubnor would not. See Sam Nunn's status of Southron Democrat-in-chief simultaneous to his total lack of national viability. No reason why he couldn't still pass muster as a running mate, of course, at least before the nineties and issue litmus tests. Bentsen, still bizzarely a post-1900 fave, was pretty damn conservative after all. Essentially Republican standard voting record. I can certainly see him being on Mike the Duke's shortlist in 1988, provided he doesn't go full on DINO like he did when exposed to national politics IOTL.

The best way to get Z-Mill potentially viable presidentially would be just to put him in the governor's mansion a lot earlier as a New South gubnor. He was Lieutenant Governor for an age, after all. Could have easily become gubnor a lot earlier than he did. Not that I think that makes him anything approaching a shoo-in of course in an alternate early nineties or late eighties cycle, but Mr 'An aristocrat, an autocrat, and a Democrat' had more political skillz than some of the people who ran in those contests IOTL.

 

[V-J]

Putting him in the Senate earlier would produce a lot of problems for him nationally which being state gubnor would not. See Sam Nunn's status of Southron Democrat-in-chief simultaneous to his total lack of national viability.

I guess this depends on Miller's own inclinations though. Was still possible in the eighties to have relatively moderate-to-liberal Democrats elected in the South, see Dale Bumpers or Georgia's own Wyche Fowler. (Senator Gore deserves to be treated as a very much separate case) But fundamentally I have a hard time not seeing Senator Miller being swept up in the Reagan phenomenon given his later OTL career, particularly if his 1980 election is anywhere near as close as the IOTL ultra-close contest - and there's no reason it should not be after both a successful primary challenge to a sitting Senator, and then the 1980 wave.

Best to put him in the governor's mansion I fancy.