| April 11 |  |
Editor says, what if Woodrow Wilson had lost California in the 1916 Presidential Election? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the May 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1862, on this day the twenty-ninth President of the United States Charles Evans Hughes was born in Glens Falls, New York.
Mr Hughes Goes to War: PrequelAfter graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University he studied at Columbia Law School. He then became a partner in private practice before lecturing at Cornell University Law School and New York University Law School where he first met his future political opponent Woodrow Wilson.
In 1905, he was appointed as counsel to the New York state legislative "Stevens Gas Commission", a committee investigating utility rates. His uncovering of corruption led to lower gas rates in New York City. In 1906, he was appointed to the "Armstrong Insurance Commission" to investigate the insurance industry in New York as a special assistant to U.S. attorney general.
Hughes served as the Governor of New York from 1907 to 1910. He defeated William Randolph Hearst in the 1906 election to gain the position, and he was the only Republican statewide candidate to win office. In 1908, he was offered the vice-presidential nomination by William Howard Taft, but he declined it to run again for Governor. Theodore Roosevelt became an important supporter of Hughes.
He resigned from his position on the Supreme Court to become the Republican candidate for President in 1916. He was also endorsed by the Progressive Party, thanks to the support given to him former President Theodore Roosevelt. In a close fought battle, the narrow loss of California cost Wilson his re-election, fought on the campaign slogan "He kept us out of war". Instead the new administration immediately turned their thoughts to entering the War as soon as possible.
This thread continues in Mr Hughes Goes To War: Part 1.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Mr Hughes Goes to War Source: Wikipedia Labels: Charles Evan Hughes, Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt, World War One, World War 1. Editor says, in this article we explore a point of divergence proposed by articles on the bulletin boards 1 and 2. We also repurpose content from Wikipedia.
~ Why are we presuming Hughes had an agenda to enter the war?
~ Yes, the re-election of Wilson turned on 2,000 German-American votes in California as the key swing State - they though Wilson was being honest and took him at his word.
Hughrs was of BRITISH or rather Welsh descent, his parents being immigrants.
It is thus an issue of debate what Hughes would have done.
Wilson immediately turned his administration's thoughts to entering the War as soon as possible.
So would we have had the same policies but without Wilson's self-righteousness and hypocrisy.
But if he is not there as the leading "peace Diplomat" will public opinion in Europe go along with Hughes?
This can be explored.
The answer may be quite shocking.
~ What, if anything, happens with the League of Nations? With Wilson out of the picture, there are no "Fourteen Points" after the war--but a Republican president (and one who wouldn't be sidelined by illness as Wilson was late in his second tem)--might have been able to get Republicans like Lodge to endorse U.S. entry into the League, if he were willing. But would he have been?
~ Entering WWI to end it or to win? If win, we might see disastrous American offenses where thousands are gunned down pointlessly, as much of the war had been. That would be a quick return to isolationism in the national mood.
~ No Comment
~ Of course, in these circumstances the "backlash" would be against the Republicans instead of the Democrats. So we get a very different 1920s. President James M Cox?
Incidentally, it isn't a given that Hughes would be eager for war. Iirc he wsn't especially pro-British as Secretary of State, and would have owed his election to states like Wisconsin and Minnesota with heavy German votes. However, Nov 1916 was getting late in the day to avoid it.
~ Would he have concluded that the White House "wasn't worth a pitcher of warm piss?" *grin* ISTR that was what he said about the Vice Presidency.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
