A New America Series - 1940 Presidential General Election

[Maxwell]

1940 General Election

The Democratic Nomination process went haywire - Liberal delegates, in a surprising move, rejected both President Garner AND Compromise candidate Barkley by voting for Wallace. Wallace led the voting in many counts, but rarely reached the 2/3rds needed for the nomination. Eventually, conservative delegates walked out, allowing Wallace to win the remaining delegates. When Republicans voted by a surprising margin to allow Senator Robert Taft to be their nominee, this allowed an opening for a candidate in between the left and right of Wallace and Taft, and Conservative Democratic delegates voted to allow President Garner to be the nominee of the new Conservative Party, with Governor Paul V. McNutt, a noted foe of FDR, volunteering to be Garner's VP.

American's largely disapprove of intervention in WW2, and all candidates have pledeged, to varying degrees, to not intervene. Some have a better record of doing so than others - Taft has voted and pledged to not even get government aid involved in WW2, while Wallace pledges to aid the Europeans with resources. Garner's slight reversal marks a move to win re-election, as Garner has largely made moves to prepare to enter WW2 at a moments notice (as soon as one of Germany, Italy, or Japan make a a move against America). Garner and Taft, with the exception of tariffs, largely agree on domestic issues as both are in favor of repealing large chunks of the New Deal, while Wallace wants to massively expand the New Deal.

This poll will last for 48 Hours.

[Maxwell]

This is a tough one for me, but I'd prefer to vote for a hard left-winger than hard right-wingers, and so Wallace is the choice.

[tpfkaw]

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19440710&id=CXQbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3569,950995&hl=en

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19480321&id=LSsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1611,2165508&hl=en

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1978&dat=19480324&id=WxkvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KKsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6380,2549983&hl=en

[Intell]

Wallace.

[Cranberry]

Wallace, obviously

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

[Mr. Smith]

Wallace!

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Wallace!

[Goldwater]

At this point in history all I really care about is entering WWII, and despite his recent reversal Garner seems like the most likely to do that.

[TDAS04]

Wallace!

[Maxwell]

IF results continue as they're going, I gotta come up with an excuse as for why Cactus Jack is fumbling so badly.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Wallace is the best of a bad bunch. Hopefully a decent primary challenger will emerge in '44 if he wins this - I don't relish the thought of him representing the US at Potsdam.

[PPT Spiral]

IF results continue as they're going, I gotta come up with an excuse as for why Cactus Jack is fumbling so badly.

Maybe he has a health crisis and drops out at the last minute?

[Bigby]

IF results continue as they're going, I gotta come up with an excuse as for why Cactus Jack is fumbling so badly.

Maybe he has a health crisis and drops out at the last minute?

He fell over a bucket of warm piss.

[Mr. Smith]

IF results continue as they're going, I gotta come up with an excuse as for why Cactus Jack is fumbling so badly.

Isolationism, what else?

[Maxwell]

Results will be up by nightfall.

[Maxwell]

1940 Presidential Election

President Garner's reversal on the war effort proved toxic to his bid for re-election, as his former base of those who wanted to enter the war were pissed off, while the people who were against war still opposed Garner. Combined with his low approvals, most public opinion polls placed the President in a very distant third place to Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace and Senator Robert Taft. Thanks to Garner pulling conservative voters away from Taft, Wallace generally led in most opinion polls by a substantial margin. Still, the public's favored isolationism favored Taft, who held the strongest position against U.S. intervention into World War II, while Wallace, forced by widow of President Roosevelt Eleanor, took a third way position on the issue, hoping his election would seal the issue.

And with the headwinds behind Taft, he received a bit of good luck when, in October, President Garner withdrew from the Presidential contests, and quietly sent his resources Taft's way. Garner met with Taft and agreed on domestic issues, while Taft agreed to give some patronage to Garner's people. This resulted in a surprisingly close race in Texas, and Taft exceeding the margin in the South for many generations.

When results swept in, however, it seemed as if he didn't really need Garner's endorsement - Taft swept a large majority of Northern states with strong margins, while Wallace only barely held on in New York, Massachussets, Maryland, and West Virginia, four of the strongest states for the Democratic Party. Wallace was saved by Democratic organization in the South, but in terms of expectations, Taft scored a major upset.

(President Garner's name remained on the ballot, explaining why Wallace only received 40% in Texas and 37% and 35% in each of Alabama and Mississippi)

Senator Robert Taft (R-OH)/Minority Leader Joseph Martin (R-MA) - 49.0%, 287 EV's
Former Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace (D-NY)/Former Interior Secretary Harold Ickes (D-PA) - 46.9%, 244 EV's
President John Nance Garner (C-TX)/Governor Paul V. McNutt (C-IN) - 4.1%, 0 EV's