Taft joins the Supreme Court in 1903

QuoProQuid

In 1903, President Roosevelt offered Taft a position on the Supreme Court to which he had spent his career aspiring toward. However, he refused the position because it would involve resigning as Governor-General of the Philippines and he believed the Filipinos were not yet capable of governing themselves.

What if he had accepted the position?
 

1940LaSalle

A number of thoughts, since this is one of my favorite PoDs:
  • TR's endorsement in 1908 goes to Elihu Root. Though a lawyer with connections to Wall Street, the endorsement is enough to put Root over the top.
  • IOTL, Root was considered as a successor but begged off. The above assumes successful persuasive powers on the part of TR--which, given human nature, are successful to a point. Being the consummate lawyer that he is, Root wants a quid pro quo: namely, a tacit agreement that if elected he serve one term and one term only.
  • Late in 1911/early in 1912, TR visits the White House. The two are long-time friends anyhow but the sub rosa agenda is Root's announcement that he won't seek a second term (ostensibly due to health reasons) and that he endorses TR as his successor.
  • With Root bowing out officially and no other candidates of his stature, TR easily wins the 1912 GOP nomination. He selects MO governor Herbert Hadley as his running mate.
  • The Dems, meeting in Baltimore, finally nominate NJ governor Woodrow Wilson for president with Thomas Marshall as his running mate.
  • Though Wilson possess a fine turn of a phrase, he can't touch TR for connecting with a crowd. It isn't a landslide, but still a comfortable win for TR.
  • On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie Chotek are assassinated in Sarajevo. It appears war is brewing, at least between Serbia and the Habsburg Empire.
  • TR offers to mediate/arbitrate what is called the Austro-Serbian crisis. With (1) his credentials from settling the Russo-Japanese War in 1905-6 and (2) his prestige in the chancelleries of Europe, considerable pressure is brought to bear from all sides onto Belgrade and Vienna to accept the offer.
  • The parties plus numerous observers (from Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy and others) gather in Newport, RI for the meetings. Without going into details, the Austrian ultimatum winds up being accepted with some relatively small reservations--although it takes considerable persuasion upon TR's part to keep some of the more obdurate Austrian delegates from rejecting the response in an all-or-nothing ploy. The Treaty of Newport, signed on 28 February 1915 averts war.
  • It's another Nobel peace prize for TR in the same year.
  • Given the booming economy and the prestige of the incumbent, few if any front-line Democrats are willing to run in 1916 in a can't-win situation. Woodrow Wilson, defeated in 1912, left the governor's chair in NJ in 1913 (he was not nominated for another term) to take the position of president of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He rules out a run in 1916 unless drafted. Other candidates (Marshall; Clark) elicit lukewarm support at best. It's another marathon for the Democrats, meeting in Buffalo in an attempt to escape summer heat as best as possible. After 61 ballots, with some not-quite-surges by Wilson, Clark, and Marshall, it's clear nobody will get the 2/3 majority for nomination, especially given the reluctance of the candidates themselves. Sensing the vacuum, William Jennings Bryan offers himself as a compromise candidate. The bosses, figuring they have no real chance anyhow, decide to play on Bryan's ego and let him have it. NY congressman August Belmont is drafted as Bryan's running mate. During the campaign, Belmont makes no effort at all on behalf of the national ticket.
  • The 1916 election is as one-sided as you might think. Bryan carries the former Confederate states plus split votes (one each) from KY and MD. The rest belong to TR. Further, of the 96 Senate seats, 66 are now firmly in GOP hands, meaning any Democrat filibuster attempt can be stopped.
  • That's all he needs: TR has an anti-lynching bill introduced in both houses. It passes the House easily; in the Senate, "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman of South Carolina starts to expound against the bill. After perhaps half an hour of ranting, PA senator Boies Penrose, on a point of order, moves debate end and the question called. Southern Democrats are livid but realize they're powerless to stop it. The anti-lynching bill becomes law.
More to follow when the spirit moves me.
 

Emperor Julian

1940LaSalle said:
A number of thoughts, since this is one of my favorite PoDs:
  • TR's endorsement in 1908 goes to Elihu Root. Though a lawyer with connections to Wall Street, the endorsement is enough to put Root over the top.
  • IOTL, Root was considered as a successor but begged off. The above assumes successful persuasive powers on the part of TR--which, given human nature, are successful to a point. Being the consummate lawyer that he is, Root wants a quid pro quo: namely, a tacit agreement that if elected he serve one term and one term only.
  • Late in 1911/early in 1912, TR visits the White House. The two are long-time friends anyhow but the sub rosa agenda is Root's announcement that he won't seek a second term (ostensibly due to health reasons) and that he endorses TR as his successor.
  • With Root bowing out officially and no other candidates of his stature, TR easily wins the 1912 GOP nomination. He selects MO governor Herbert Hadley as his running mate.
  • The Dems, meeting in Baltimore, finally nominate NJ governor Woodrow Wilson for president with Thomas Marshall as his running mate.
  • Though Wilson possess a fine turn of a phrase, he can't touch TR for connecting with a crowd. It isn't a landslide, but still a comfortable win for TR.
  • On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie Chotek are assassinated in Sarajevo. It appears war is brewing, at least between Serbia and the Habsburg Empire.
  • TR offers to mediate/arbitrate what is called the Austro-Serbian crisis. With (1) his credentials from settling the Russo-Japanese War in 1905-6 and (2) his prestige in the chancelleries of Europe, considerable pressure is brought to bear from all sides onto Belgrade and Vienna to accept the offer.
  • The parties plus numerous observers (from Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy and others) gather in Newport, RI for the meetings. Without going into details, the Austrian ultimatum winds up being accepted with some relatively small reservations--although it takes considerable persuasion upon TR's part to keep some of the more obdurate Austrian delegates from rejecting the response in an all-or-nothing ploy. The Treaty of Newport, signed on 28 February 1915 averts war.
  • It's another Nobel peace prize for TR in the same year.
  • Given the booming economy and the prestige of the incumbent, few if any front-line Democrats are willing to run in 1916 in a can't-win situation. Woodrow Wilson, defeated in 1912, left the governor's chair in NJ in 1913 (he was not nominated for another term) to take the position of president of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He rules out a run in 1916 unless drafted. Other candidates (Marshall; Clark) elicit lukewarm support at best. It's another marathon for the Democrats, meeting in Buffalo in an attempt to escape summer heat as best as possible. After 61 ballots, with some not-quite-surges by Wilson, Clark, and Marshall, it's clear nobody will get the 2/3 majority for nomination, especially given the reluctance of the candidates themselves. Sensing the vacuum, William Jennings Bryan offers himself as a compromise candidate. The bosses, figuring they have no real chance anyhow, decide to play on Bryan's ego and let him have it. NY congressman August Belmont is drafted as Bryan's running mate. During the campaign, Belmont makes no effort at all on behalf of the national ticket.
  • The 1916 election is as one-sided as you might think. Bryan carries the former Confederate states plus split votes (one each) from KY and MD. The rest belong to TR. Further, of the 96 Senate seats, 66 are now firmly in GOP hands, meaning any Democrat filibuster attempt can be stopped.
  • That's all he needs: TR has an anti-lynching bill introduced in both houses. It passes the House easily; in the Senate, "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman of South Carolina starts to expound against the bill. After perhaps half an hour of ranting, PA senator Boies Penrose, on a point of order, moves debate end and the question called. Southern Democrats are livid but realize they're powerless to stop it. The anti-lynching bill becomes law.
More to follow when the spirit moves me.
Click to expand...
He should ram a voting rights act through Congress. With the Great Migration not having occurred yet, if all the black voters in the South can all vote GOP, the Democrats will be screwed.
 

Rich Rostrom

Emperor Julian said:
He should ram a voting rights act through Congress. With the Great Migration not having occurred yet, if all the black voters in the South can all vote GOP, the Democrats will be screwed.
Click to expand...

Not going to happen.

Roosevelt is on record (in a private letter circa 1914) as stating that actual full democracy couldn't work in the South because of the large number (majority in many areas and two states) of blacks - whom he considered incapable of responsible citizenship.

It was one thing for modest numbers of blacks to vote in areas where they were small minorities and couldn't cause too much damage. But he agreed privately with the contention of white-supremacist Southerners that blacks in power would be shamelessly corrupt and also incompetent.

The vestigial Republican Party organizations in the Deep South had gone entirely "Lily White" by this time, and when Roosevelt wanted their votes at the national convention, he assisted in their exclusion of blacks. (Ironically, there were fairly strong Republican parties in the Upper South at this time. Tennessee elected a Republican governor in 1910, 1912, and 1920.)

By that time, most northern Republicans agreed - again privately. That is why nothing was done under Roosevelt or in the 1920s to stop lynching, or enfranchise southern blacks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top