What If.....Warren Harding Lives

[Robespierre's Jaw]

What If President Warren Gamaliel Harding never goes on his "Voyage of Understanding" tour in June 1923, thus never developing a severe case of food poisoning after eating lobster (I believe) on his way through British Columbia on his return to the United States?

Despite rumours of corruption in the Harding Administration circulating during mid 1923, I believe that President Warren Harding would have been renominated, along with Vice President Calvin Coolidge for a second term at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The Harding/Coolidge ticket would have defeated Smith/Bryan at the 1924 Election, though the Progressive Party's candidacy led by Senator Robert La Follette probably would have performed better than in RL. Though that is open to debate.

As for Harding's second term as President, I can imagine it playing out like the RL Presidency of Calvin Coolidge, with Harding keeping the United States isolated from World affairs, unless it concerned the United States' sphere of influence, alas the Monroe Doctrine and Harding supporting Laissez-faire economics as did President Coolidge in RL.

As for the 1928 Presidential Election, I could imagine Vice President Coolidge winning the Republican Nomination probably defeating Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, though I doubt he would have ran in 1928 against the President's choice to succeed President Harding in the White House. Vice President Coolidge would defeat the Democrat's nominee, most likely Governor Al Smith of New York by a landslide and thus be faced with the Great Depression. The rest is history.

That's my opinion of what would happen if President Harding never went on his "Voyage of Understanding". What's yours?

[PBrunsel]

I had missed this topic, which is disapointing to me. After all, I see Warren Harding as one of our best presidents on policy.

I see the Tea Pot Dome as a scandal which would never have taken wing had Harding survived. While it would have came out, Harding would have been perceived as Reagan was durring Iran-Contra: A man who was somehwat out of touch with his Congress, but not personally dishonest. The scandal was really Albert Fall’s scandal, and there is no way the GOP dominated Congress would impeach a President who was so popular in 1923-1924.

A better Harding Administration crisis would be the publication of Nan Briton’s book The Presidents Daughter (though it was published  in 1928, she may have written it earlier had Wobbly Warren survived. After all, she was never paid off by the GOP in 1920, she was simply given a vacation to Hawaii Teritory unitl 1921). Say she publishes it soon before the 1924 GOP Convention. Harding could face a difficult fight against Secretary of Commerce Herbert Clark Hoover or Senator Hiram Johnson. Even if he survives this fight, could he defeat the Democrat? The Democrats would most likely nominate a “paragon of virtue” for President to oppose Harding. This rules out several candidates (Carter Glass, Franklin Roosevelt, Al Smith, and John Davis) for various reasons (besides FDR had just contracted polio), so the Democrats may very well nominated former Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo, a Klansman who ran in support of prohibition, Catholic-baiting, and opposing immigration from “detestable cultures.” Now Harding must face off against a man with good family ties (McAdoo’s wife was Eleanor Wilson, President Wilson’s eldest daughter) with backing from one of the largest organizations in the U.S., and he also has to deal with a wily mistress.

How can the President deal with this new threat? He might try to pay off Nan, have her tell the press she made it all up, and Harding can win another term in office. Perhaps Warren can resign from office and the quiet, shy, but truthful to tears J. Calvin Coolidge can lead the GOP to victory in ‘24. Perhaps the President can come clean, apologize, and hope for the best. Then again the press may want to find out more about the President’s personal life. In doing this they discover that he drinks (though the Volstead Act outlaws it), plays cards on Sunday, smokes regularly the most detestable of cigarettes, secretly attends the cabaret and watches dancing ladies, and even sometimes goes for  automobile rides past churches on the Sabbath! Well this is enough to cost the President Middle America, and the election.

What would President McAdoo do in office? Will he really deport all non-protestant Christians? Will he stop all immigration? One can not be sure, but if he is anything like his father-in-law, American minorities could be set back even farther.

[Bo]

The Teapot Dome scandal still comes out, and Harding's popularity is reduced somewhat for a time. Harding proceeds to fire all those implicated in the scandal, and his popualrity recovers. He is reelected in 1924 by placing a strong emphasis on the economic recovery that occured under his watch. Coolidge might be replaced as VP in 1924. A Republican (Hoover or someone else) is elected in 1928 after Harding, and that Republican fails to effectively tackle the Great Depression, thus causing a Democrat to be elected in 1932 and to implement many social welfare programs (in an attempt to combat the Depression).

[cpeeks]

There wouldnt have been a second term, he gets hammered in 1924.

[Bo]

There wouldnt have been a second term, he gets hammered in 1924.

Why?