How Many Terms Could Theodore Roosevelt Get?

Stolengood

Stolengood

Banned
If Roosevelt had not made his infamous announcement on Election Night 1904, he almost certainly would have run again in 1908 -- and, of course, as we know, he DID run again in 1912.

But how many times could he have run, nd how many times could he have won? And how, and why? All these questions -- including the poll answers -- I'd like you to ask them. :)
 

Kaiser K

He would have certainly won a second/third term in 1908 had he ran I believe, maybe even 1912, on the flip side, he might have been able to win terms in 1912 or 1920 (particularly the former if he had been the Republican nominee).
 

Blair

Kaiser K said:
he might have been able to win terms in 1912 or 1920
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If it's Republican Teddy v Wilson in 1912 he's got a good chance. In 1920 any Republican nominee, including TR if he lives long enough to be nominated ITTL, would have mopped the floor with the Democratic ticket. Had he decided to run in 1908, I could see him stepping down in 1912 for someone else, maybe even Taft.
 
mr.bernham

mr.bernham

I could certainly see him winning in 1908 and wouldn't be surprised if he won in 1912 and 1916. Unfortunately for Teddy, like his nephew I think it is very likely he would've died in his last term, in Teddy's case the second to last year of his fifth term. Still would've been the longest lasting President even if FDR still served for four terms.

Oh the Roosevelts; the first modern American Political Dynasty.
 

Mackus

All of them. All the terms, forever.
After his death Teddy is declared Eternal President, and all subsequent defacto American heads of state are vice presidents, acting as leaders in his absence, until one day he might return, preferably just before Rapture to judge who is worthy. Then it turns out he was Jesus all along.
 

Paul V McNutt

Banned
If Taft has a health problem and does not run in 1912, then TR leads a United party to victory. He is too pro Entente to be reelected in 1916. Since he is president in 1913, he does not go to Brazil. His health is better. He will run and win in 1920.
 
Asami

Asami

Banned
Mackus said:
All of them. All the terms, forever.
After his death Teddy is declared Eternal President, and all subsequent defacto American heads of state are vice presidents, acting as leaders in his absence, until one day he might return, preferably just before Rapture to judge who is worthy. Then it turns out he was Jesus all along.
Click to expand...

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The Eternal President approves of your candor.
 

Dayton Kitchens

Banned
He would certainly have won in 1908 and could argue that he still had not violated the "no third term" tradition as his "first term" was actually the last three quarters of McKinley's second term.

While he probably would've liked then to be reelected in 1912 lots of factors would work against it.

1) the No Third Term tradition

2) Lots of the king makers in the Republican Party were leery of him already and would be even more so at the prospect of yet another term.

3) The GOP had good candidates already such as Root and Hughes that were considered quite capable.
 
SlyDessertFox

SlyDessertFox

Paul V McNutt said:
If Taft has a health problem and does not run in 1912, then TR leads a United party to victory. He is too pro Entente to be reelected in 1916. Since he is president in 1913, he does not go to Brazil. His health is better. He will run and win in 1920.
Click to expand...

Probably he'd find a way to get us into the war somehow before 1916. Perhaps a USA led by a more openly belligerent administration leads to an earlier Zimmerman telegran? That would have interesting implications.
 

1940LaSalle

I'm inclined to believe that even without his election night pronouncement in 1904, he would have stepped aside, however briefly, in 1908, out of respect for the tradition even if he didn't have two elected terms under his belt by then. In effect, he had, since he served all but six months of the term from March 1901-March 1905, but I said that to keep things straight.

Anyhow: if he had persuaded Taft to accept a Supreme Court appointment, my sense is that Elihu Root would have gotten the 1908 nod. True, as a consummate Wall Street lawyer, Root would have been a tougher sell than Taft, but with Bryan peddling his shopworn, tired message for a third time in 1908, and having TR stumping on his behalf, Root would have won.

I don't think Root would have had the same controversies that Taft encountered, leading to a falling out. On the other hand, since, in OTL, Root begged off entirely on the grounds of health, I could see Root quietly and behind the scenes stipulating he'd serve one and only one term. That sets the stage neatly for a TR return in 1912.

Come 1912, a united GOP (say, TR and MO governor Herbert Hadley) take care of Wilson/Marshall fairly neatly. TR goes on to serve two full terms (no Amazon basin trip in 1916 means no debilitating illnesses that led indirectly to his death in 1919) and retires in March 1921, quite possibly in favor of Charles Evans Hughes, who would have been his Secretary of State (and that presumes that Hughes' daughter would not have passed away from tuberculosis: perhaps better medical care or some similar departure).

Yes, I think 1920 would still have been a GOP year: you don't go against a singularly popular president who won his second Nobel peace prize in 1915 for getting Austria-Hungary and Serbia along with the major powers of Europe to the conference table to settle the Austro-Serbian crisis of 1914 without it going hot. And TR had enough prestige in the chancelleries of Europe to pull that off, whereas Wilson was essentially unknown to them.
 
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