| May 31 |  |
Editor says, what if FDR's 1940 re-election bid was fatally undermined by defeat at Dunkirk? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1940, a week after Hans Guderian's Panzers were ordered to advance across the Aa Canal, Winston Churchill had resigned, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's bid for re-election was destroyed; in short, the outcome of the Siege of Calais meant that the defeat of those men became final. With the Allied Forces slipping into captivity, reconsideration of continued defiance was assured.
Clearing the Decks Part 2 by Raymond SpeerBitter recriminations had followed with Viscount Halifax, the head of the new Peace Government. In retrospect, the Halifax-Roosevelt gambit was the end of the American president's attempt for a third term. Roosevelt's polls crashed and his insults to Halifax after the latter's proclamation of a peace government were an intemperate and futile exercise of anger.
Goebbels was pleased by the cinema footage of Hitler's parade down main streets of London with Halifax and King George seated on either side of Hitler in the limousine. Inside of a month, Winston Churchill was in exile at the University of Missouri where he would teach history to his death in 1965.
"I've been at the top and at the bottom," said Roosevelt, "and I can tell the difference". The president had conferences with Charles Lindbergh in very short order and by July 17, 1940, the Democratic Convention announced in a speech by Roosevelt, that Charles Lindbergh would be the 1940 Democratic presidential nominee.
The Democratic thesis of that year was that the USA ought to arm itself in every category so that it would assuredly repulse any Nazi attack, anytime and everything. Lindbergh was the loudest advocate of such a doctrine and FDR realized that and backed Lindbergh.
Herbert Hoover, renominated for a second term as president by the Republicans, with Arthur Vandenberg as Vice President, ably contested the election with a platform practically identical with the Democrats. Lindbergh and Cordell Hull, his VP candidate, defeated them 453 electorial votes to 68 electorial votes.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Raymond SpeerStory Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Cordell Hull, Lindbergh, Roosevelt, Halifax, Churchill.
~ At least you haven't succumbed to the idiotic thesis that because Lindbergh knew we were nowhere near ready to fight, that meant that he was pro-Hitler. I don't see Hoover being renominated, though...the Democrats were still running against him as late as the 60s. The Depression wasn't his fault, but he ended up taking the vast majority of the blame for it.
~ Near absurd.
1. There would have been no German occupation of London. The outline of peace terms had already been floated. Malta, Gibraltar, the old German colonies [or reasonable substitutes], limits on the numbers of heavy bombers the Empire kept in Britain, a nonagression pact and a loan on the City of London for German trade [oil, rubber, trucks mainly]. Some restrictions on RN strength in home waters. Gibraltar was probably negotiable.
2. None of this would hurt FDR's reelection chances. Quite the reverse. The two big drags on FDR were the third term phobia and the fear [correct as it happens] that like Wilson he would drag us into a European war.
~ Whether there would have been an occupation of London depends on the details, both military and political, of the British defeat. It's likely, however, that had peace been negotiated shortly after Dunkirk, there would have been no occupation. Terms would have been harsher had Britain tried to fight on and Operation Sea Lion had gone forward.
I agree that Lindbergh wasn't necessarily pro-Nazi, though as I recall his wife did refer to fascism as the "wave of the future" with no demurral from him. A President Lindbergh would probably have tried to build a Fortress America immune from attack rather than getting involved in the war. How successful he'd have been is of course another matter, especially if America's noninvolvement bought the Nazis time and maneuvering room to beat the Russians and develop the A-bomb.
As for Hoover, no way. That would have been like the Democrats renominating George McGovern in 1980. (In the wildly unlikely event that Hoover did get the nod, though, and somehow won, he'd be only the second person--Grover Cleveland was the first--to serve nonconsecutive terms.)
~ First, I doubt Herbert Hoover would get renomination from his party. His economic policies of governemnt interference with the economy trying to force wages up helped bring about the Great Depression. Certainly with threat of war diminished Economic issues would certainly kick in. If Republicans were to be foolish as to try and keep the New Deal and they would undoubtedly fall in part by alienating their own base.
I also doubt Britain would immediatly give up with the loss of its expeditionary force, they had too much faith in the Pond between them and the continent. They also had their empire. They had India. THey had South Africa, They had Canada, Australia and New Zealand to call upon. They also distrusted Hitler after the Munich business. Germany would have to demonstrate its ability to invade and there would have to be a major political crisis at home. Perhaps Soviet encouraged labor strikes and Peace rallies and other left wing activities.
Germany might send its panzers to North Africa to take out the Suez canal
As for Germany occupying London, well they would have to invade Britain for that to happen and Hitler had other plans for his troops by then.
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