I Feel as Strong as a Bull Moose!

[The Govanah Jake]

I've decided, for now, to ditch those newspaper themed updates. I'm reverting back to the old way of story telling which will mean there will be more detail in each of the updates, though not as long as they originally were. Here are the themes for each update until i get to the beginning of Carter Glasses second term.
For the Coming Days:

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Communist Experiment (USSR in 1924)

Land of Bread and Steel (Italy in 1924)

Seichō (Japan in 1924)

The Balance of Senatorial Power in 1924 (Senate 1924 Elections)

The House of Democrats (1924 House Elections)

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Am I late to the punch? I'd like to see North Carolina.

[The Govanah Jake]

Am I late to the punch? I'd like to see North Carolina.

Nope

[The Govanah Jake]

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Communist Experiment

Vladimir Lenin (Left) and Joseph Stalin (Right)

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov "Vladimir Lenin" had died. The once proud revolutionary and known throughout Russia as the Russian Imperialists died in his bed on January 21th, 1924. He was found in his bed that morning and doctors rushed from all over the Capital City of Moscow to try to save him. Alas, it was too late. Vladimir Lenin was now to be judged by history as his time of rule over the new and fledgling Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the worlds first communist state, was over. 

Later doctors would find that his official cause of death was recorded as an incurable disease of the blood vessels. But this was obvious: This was seen from a mile away. The now aging revolutionary had held 4 separate strokes from Late 1922 throughout 1923 and in May 1923 was in fact partially paralyzed on his right side and began exhibiting sensory aphasia. He recovered from that specific occurrence but his lack of time in public was clear that time had got up to the 50+ year old. He made no more rousing speeches and made his last visit to the Kremlin, the center of governance over the USSR, in which he meet and greet his comrades and past revolutionary pals.

His appearance at the Politburo in which nearly all of his members stormed to Lenin to meet and greet him. On that cold October day he also made his last speech in the Moscow square to onlookers which displayed passion and optimism for the future of communism throughout the world. "You may disagree with his content and what he believes in but if there is one thing that can unite all of us: it is the fact that Lenin's passion for his own country and his beliefs are respectable" a London Times reporter would later note. In the contents of his last major speech he talked about the USSR's accomplishments saying to a crowd of at least 1800 people by the 1 hour of the speech "The communist cause has endured for almost a decade by now in Russia and the communist cause looks bright for the following decades for the world" expressing his continued desire for a world communist revolution and for the "Workers of the World" to unite.

The speech was clocking in at more then 2 hours long and he left the Moscow Square, the same square were he had performed more then a dozen speeches, for the final time unknowingly. He would lay bedridden for the next few months only being visited for his final months by his closest comrades. Grigory Zinoviev was one of them. A member of the Politburo and a close friend of Lenin, the contents of there talk is lost to history but reports ranged from wishes of good health to plotting the future of the Russian Communist Party.

Lenin wasn't part of this future but the party's future did look troublesome without the stabilizing figure which was Lenin. The Party had never ruled a country without Lenin at its head guiding that party and nation and the party would soon face a harsh reality when on that cold snowy January day Lenin was incapable of leading that party anymore. News of Lenin's dead was not a surprise to many but it was a surprise of how sudden it was. Doctors reports found that he could live at least another 5 years which lead many sighs of relief but when he died so suddenly from a mysterious illness; it did caught people off guard. The following domestic and international reaction was all but one of sadness for the fallen leader. The New York Times wrote "Lenin was a titan among men and a man among the titans of the old Tsarist overlords for which he conquered" , The Times in London wrote "Lenin has died.

The Times would like to condole with the Lenin family and hope for good wishes most important of all", and Pravda the official communist party newspaper wrote "Vladimir Lenin has died but his passion and struggle for the proletariat must continue that and his legacy, the communist party will ensure that the underclasses will forever more not feel the pain of imperialist landlords and Tsars and Kings." His following funeral was the biggest to rock Moscow in its history. Up to 200,000 people rocked the capital of Moscow to view the passing of Lenin into the next life. Arrangement's were planned by his close revolutionary comrade Joseph Stalin who made quiet a mixed name for himself. The Funeral lasted for most of the sunlight areas from 5 AM to 8 PM and gifts by the thousands including grains, pictures, and money were left near his grave.

He was buried near the same Moscow Square where he gave his rousing speeches in a mighty coffin with a mighty portrait of him on top of it to show the people that the person in the coffin was indeed the great man himself. And with the final nails being hit on the coffin to be shoved in the ground, the last bits of the essence of Lenin's influence over the country was now over and a new period would now strike the new country: The Post-Lenin Period. With no more Vladimir Lenin, the country now needed a new leader to guide it into the future. This being the first time in the nations history that they had too pick a new leader, the initial process was messy. With the abolishment of elections to them being little more then "Bourgeoisie setups".

The Politburo would decide the fate of the new leader. The natural successor to him was Joseph Stalin who he had known since 1905 and was already seen as de-facto leader since May of 1922 when Lenin was not able to govern due to his strokes. He and Lenin were long time friends and were both Old Bolshevik with Stalin being one of the first of the current politicians to take to Vladimir Lenin's cause of Communism. Stalin or "Man of Steel" was really Ioseb Jughashvili and born to a poor, religious and Georgian family in the old Russian Empire.

He held a abusive fathers who beat him and his wife and was sent to a Church school at age 10. He soon became involved in left wing activity's in defiance of the ruling Romanov family's and meet Lenin in the Revolution of 1905 which ended horribly. He was a friend of Lenin but they did have there disputes. Not much in policy but one of attitudes. In Lenin's testament he wrote in 1923, in a call for reform of the Soviet governing system, rather discouraging things on Stalin:

"Stalin is too crude, and this defect which is entirely acceptable in our milieu and in relationships among us as communists, becomes unacceptable in the position of General Secretary. I therefore propose to comrades that they should devise a means of removing him from this job and should appoint to this job someone else who is distinguished from comrade Stalin in all other respects only by the single superior aspect that he should be more tolerant, more polite and more attentive towards comrades, less capricious, etc."
 - Vladimir Lenin, 4 January 1923

He also suggested that Stalin should be removed from his role as General Secretary. Not body got the message and with Lenin's death in Early 1924 it was already too late as Joseph Stalin was now tail in to get the high spot officially without Lenin in the way.

But it was made to become much more difficult then it seemed. Without Lenin, the many factions of the Politburo finally broke out against each other. The Left Opposition paved its way to be the major opposition to Stalin. Led by Leon Trotsky, a key Old Bolshevik, they said Stalin was right wing. Leon Trotsky's Permanent revolution against the Bourgeoisie worldwide was in direct conflict with Stalin's Socialist in one country calling for, if all else fails, to build socialism in Russia only.

They came to be known as Trotskyists after the man himself and believed that Stalin was and is giving too many concessions to capitalism. They called his egomaniac and tyrannical personally the makings of a dictatorship and the direct opposite of where communism was suppose to go. Stalin himself called the claims preposterous and unfounded in evidence. Stalin himself as a moderate in the party and no extreme right winger or left winger calling for a moderate or troika, in his own party, approach to international communism and a Leninist approach to internal affairs.

This idea held the beliefs of many of the Politburo and Stalin himself found his greatest supporters were the people who loved him as the "Man of Steel" and a new cult of personality was growing around him. The Politburo came the election of a new grand secretary to order and Stalin won in a decisive defeat over his Left Socialist rivals with more then 600 members supporters.

Stalin was now the Grand Secretary of the Soviet Union officially. He was unofficial for 2 years but now he was clearly the Grand Secretary. Originally the office was meant not for the most highest powers, but for administrative work. But under Stalin the last 2 years the body of government found itself in control of most the policy's coming out of the Politburo. The first act that Stalin did was to purge non-supporters from his cabinet.

He pushed out the opposition from both the left and right and made sure his cabinet of officials was loyal only to the man and in exchange he would be loyal back. Key Left Opposition figures called this overreach of what the Grand Secretary was suppose to do a outreach and un-socialist. They however were powerless as Stalin's forces in the Politburo were a clear majority and he had a majority of popular opinion from the people. He soon got to work continuing the domestic reforms of Lenin advancing the cause of national communism. He had his own plans in mine to turn the agrarian trans-continental state into a mighty industrial western super power on level with the United States but that would seem too drastic after the death of the first leader of that agrarian country so he held that back, for now.   

[The Govanah Jake]

It was however under him in 1924 did he finish up the full transformation from capitalism to communism with the last of the noble's private lands from the Tsarist days being taken by the state and being distributed to the farmers who then worked on the land owned by the Politburo and operated by his Minister of Agriculture in his cabinet.

He also made clear to the communist revolutionaries throughout the world that they couldn't expect as reliable a source of support from the Soviet Union under him then under his predecessor focusing more and more on state socialism. He also centralized the state more around the Russian Soviet Republics as the main part of the state as a whole. 1924 Soviet Constitution was issued and passed by the Politburo legitimized the union of the socialist republics as a centralized
state as per the 1922 treaty which created the Union in the first place. Stalin was accused of being Russo-centric by some and a bender to different nationalist groups by others but it was clear that his intention was to centralize the Union around Russia and Russia only.

"The USSR would be nothing without Russia and this should be obvious" he declared to the politburo in his first state speech to them in July. This caused even more ethnic tensions in the country and in his first war under the new job, he faced a new threat in Georgian nationalists rising up against the government wanting to create the old Georgian Republic of the 1917-1920 period. Under the leadership of Georgian Nationalists on August 1st, 1924, 1300 Georgian rebels declared the Republic of Georgia and led by the "Committee for the Independence of Georgia" took the mining town of Chiatura in central Georgia and advanced to take most of South Imereti and advanced to the central provinces threatening Tbillsi. Upon hearing news of this outbreak, Stalin was furious and ordered a quick and at all costs counter attack saying "We must crush them as soon as possible and kill as many as possible to send a message".

This tactic worked and they were able to avoid guerrilla warfare as the Committee surrounded and without support surrounded to the the massive force of Georgian SSR and Soviet Military officers and soldiers. The new tactic of warfare would be a favorite of Stalin and at least in Georgia would prove to be a success. Stalin's new grip over the USSR was just a few months all but if we haven't learned anything yet, just know that Stalin would prove to govern vastly different from his predecessor, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

[The Govanah Jake]

Questions, Comments, Concerns, as I move on?

[Bidenworth2020]

Questions, Comments, Concerns, as I move on?

are you doing the 1926 midterms? pls do

[The Govanah Jake]

Questions, Comments, Concerns, as I move on?

are you doing the 1926 midterms? pls do

Of course i will. Im not up to that yet

[The Govanah Jake]

Seichō

Father and Son embracing new Western designs and inventions

Seichō. The art of growth. Seichō was one of the main guiding philosophy of the Japanese cultures of the Japanese Isles. It meant for personal growth into a better and improved person and for the maturation of that person in a sophisticated and knowledgeable person. Seichō was not given but earned over a long period of time and was mainly used for the youth of the Japanese nation to make them into good adult citizens of Japan for the world to see. This was mostly designed for that but it was used in adults too and too grow and mature from a unknowingly and immature adult into a proper physically and mentally balanced person. In the dōjō's of the city and countryside and in the temples of worship of the Shinto-Buddhist religion it was taught that for one too be happy with oneself, they must first be one with the universe and the spirits that inhabit it.

It was taught through Seichō that over a period of time, this could indeed be possible and this peace was desired by everyone, from the Peasant Farmers of the North to the Samurai protecting the people to the Emperors themselves. War's were fought over this and kingdoms fell over this. This way of thinking was considered sacred to the very foundation of the Japanese people and there culture and would rule Japan and its foreign and internal policy for decades, no century's. From the first mythical kings of a ancient time to the rise of industry this old idea was what was most important element to the Japanese philosophy and was to many the guiding idea of the rural, agrarian country going into the industrial age.

This philosophy did receive some criticism from many high ranking Japanese Industrialists saying if Japan continued on its Shinto Agrarian dominated path, it would soon be outpaced by the littles of the European Powers and the Chinese empire which too held a harsh internal battle between traditionalists and Industrialists favoring European Style rapid modernization in the country. This struggle was the same in Japan, mega industrialists and western interests backed by giant corporations trying to make a profit out of the opening of the country began to approach Japan from the outside and in for the first time in its history. Japan had held stringent isolationism from foreigners by the traditionalist Tokugawa shogunate.

They, at all cost, resisted Japan from the changing and rapidly industrializing world. They declared foreign trade, except for a select though city's and a select few country's including the Dutch, to be illegal and against the law. They put harsh punishments on the poor Japanese merchants that did and at times even captured western sailors who brought the law. Meanwhile inside Japan, this type of governance was widespread. 

They went out of there way to control the peasants of Japan and imposed Harsh penalties, including crucifixion, beheading, and death by boiling to those who dared to speak up against the Emperor and his court. The only exception to this was from the higher classes who were given the option of  seppuku instead which involved self suicide of the victim to keep his honor in the after life. They also went out of there way to keep the state mandated Shinto Buddhism the official, and universal, law of the law. Following the catholic led Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, the Shogunate banned Christianity and other western ideas and ideals and Sakoku ensured that they wouldn't enter the country.

This period however also received a blossoming of traditional Japanese art and literature and literacy and numeracy was raised to thirty percent, the highest in the kingdom since its founding and due to renewed agricultural methods the nations population doubled to thirty million. But in the end the western world got to the Land of the Rising Sun. In 1853 American Officer Matthew C. Perry and his American fleet forced Japan to end its Isolationism and open itself to western nation and with the Convention of Kanagawa it was secured. Japan was now open to International merchants and the big Western Mega-Companys and they wouldn't make this peasant Kingdom a missed opportunity.

Soon the Tokugawa dynasty fell to rebellion and Emperor Meiji in a event known as the Meiji Restoration restored order to Japan. He promoted industrialization and under him Japan would be turned into a modern Capitalist state. In 1870 a Ministry of Industry to promote  overall economic policy and operate certain industries which would be nationalized by the government. Model Factory's were created across Japan to give the average Japanese worker experience in industrial working and new educational programs were established. New Private enterprises were established with a free and open Japan and helped with continued modernization in areas such as Textiles.

These new business owners came from all social ranks and many came from the Peasantry. In was also in this time in 1871 when the Emperor abolished the Han System in Japan and Prefectures were created instead for local governance ending the Feudal System in Japan. By the 1890s, tremoudous industrial combines or zaibatsu had been formed and by the dawn of the 20th century, Japan was fully integrating into the modern nation state. Its success in managing foreign influences was a major accomplishment, but Japan before World War I was still behind the West. It depended on Western imports—of equipment and coal –and on world economic conditions.

Successful exports required inexpensive labor and poorly paid women. Labor organization efforts were repressed too which led to increased social unrest. World War I ended in a massive victory for Japan. Not only did they win massive amounts of Territory's in the Pacific and China, but they were finally recognized by the West as a nation on par with them. However unlike the Western powers, they still held a ancient absolute monarchy and hadn't abandoned that for Western Liberalism. Partly due to culture and partly due to other things like the Emperor Meiji's popularity with the people never caused any significant unrest from the people. But he died in 1912.

His successor was Emperor Taishō. A brutally young age, he started his rule over Japan and was forever more known as a sickly man. So sickly that his unsuccessful governance over Japan led to the national policy of Japan, moving from him and his court to the National Diet of Japan first created in 1890. This new National Diet helped establish he first traces of Liberal Democracy in the country. In this time the Post War depression struck Japan like it did the rest of the world.

For the first time social unrest swept Japan demanding progress in the civil rights of the citizens and the end to the corruption of the government. Students backed by Labour activists and Communist, Socialist, and other western back political theory's of thought called for universal male suffrage and the growing debt Japan had faced post-war. The Rikken Seiyūkai Party was the party in power at the time. Established in 1900, it was originally a reformist party backing Big Governmental Social Spending, however soon devolved into a center-right traditionalist party.

They supported the establishment of the Emperor and were against the social reforms the newer generations supported. They controlled virtually all of the Government and held the Prime Minister position almost non-stop from 1900 to the 1920s. And during this reign of unrest there Prime Minister Hara Takashi was in control. The first christian to hold the office, the "commoner prime minister" due to him being the first commoner to control the White House was largely a mediocre leader. His strongest suit was foreign policy and reaffirmed Japanese control over Korea and led Japan through the Treaty of Versailles. A attempted assassination on his life by right-wing railroad switchman, Nakaoka Kon'ichi on November 4th, 1921 failed after Kon'ichi was shot immediately on spot. Takashi would continue on his own path.

A Reformist in his own traditionalist party, he soon found himself to grow more and more popular with the same commoner's he once was. He soon made enemy's with the Oligarchy in Tokyo who had controlled Japan informally and on December 4th, 1922 was again assassinated which failed again which continued to raise his support from the people. With support from the National Diet he passed massive reforms to the way government worked in Japan and led to the arrests of top oligarchic officials or the Genrō including former prime minister Katsura Tarō who was faced with corruption scandals. Perhaps the most important accomplishment in his Post-War governance was his successful passing of Universal Male Sufferage allowing all males to vote in elections ending giving more power to the Japanese citizen.

Called the General Election Law, it would give the right to vote for all males 28 years and older and was seen as out of step with his anti-universal suffrage party. Takashi himself was soon kicked out of the party due to rebellious factions within it, and instead joined the new centrist and reformist like Kenseikai Party in time for the 1924 General Elections which were called by him to increase his margins within his new party.

The Prime Minister won in a divisive landslide and turned the once ruling Rikken Seiyūkai party to near electoral oblivion. This was the highest voted in election up to that point due to the addition of many new voters due to the new election law. Takashi's reformist message allowed for him to have a near supermajority in the National Diet/House of Representatives. He spent the rest of the year away in foreign negotiations trying to cement Japan as a world leader however his impacts on the land of the rising sun so far was nothing to mock at.

[The Govanah Jake]

Land of Bread and Steel

Anthony Grimsci, Leader of the Italian school of Neo-Marxism

Antonio Gramsci and his new Peoples Republic had now been in power for more then 4 years. A isolated Western European country was surrounded by imperialist and capitalist neighbors. To the West stood Alexandre's government of Centrist Liberalism.

To the north stood the Alpine country's of the Swiss and Austria, historically neutral and the epicenter of direct democracy and European royalty of the century's long Hapsburg's which fell with the end of the Great War. To the south stood the great seas of the Mediterranean which once stood as the lifeblood of democracy and western thought. These seas were ruled not by Antonio Gramsci and his Italy, but by the allied nations of France and the United Kingdom patrolling the water ways and protecting the waters neutrality as per the 1919 Union of Nations. Meanwhile at the center of this was Italy.

Once the center of the once mighty Roman Empire which united all of Europe for century's under civilised ways, was long since a distant memory to the now modern day peoples of Italy who bared no ethnically or cultural resemblance to there Roman ancestors. It is true that Italy was no longer the center of West civilization and instead a poorer outcast of there British, American, and French rivals. The Italy of 1920 was much different from even the Italy of before the Pre War. The Recession of 1919-1921 which struck the world with downturn and post war trauma hit this poor southern agrarian dominated country especially hard. The already low economic standards for the country compared to the more advanced Germans and French were brought down even further to a breaking point. Economic anxiety in both the city's and the rural countryside were gaining stem and the Monarchy of the Victor Emmanuel III of Italy who ruled the country absolutely since 1900 during the Gilded age.

He portrayed himself as a workings man president visiting the strike prone areas during the recession. He was most popular in the more royal south of the country but still overall was viewed negatively. Despite his best intentions, he was cast as a bourgeoisie insider who did not represent the working class and instead was working for the richer classes. At first there were calls for his removal in favor of a Republic but soon things turned more radical. Instead of Republic, a growing group of influential socialists called for a communist revolution in favor a peoples state. Meanwhile on the right, a new movement of Fascism began to pick up steam under the young and energetic leader of Benito Mussolini.

Ultimately Victor got the bitter end of the stick in terms of outcomes, and a communist revolution swept the country and within a year, a Peoples Republic was declared. The Fascists were imprisoned or executed and the Royal family was exiled and the Victor Emmaual imprisoned for "crimes against the working classes". After a leadership election Antonio Gramsci was selected as the leader of the new Peoples Republic. This new country was soon quick to make many enemy's and friends. The western liberal democracy's of the world mainly under France, The United Kingdom, and the United States commended the new peoples republic and had supported the Monarchy in the war. They tried there best to prop up Benito Mussolini too after the Monarchy fell but he too was a lost cause. Italy, like the new Peoples Republic of Germany, was isolated and began a extreme phase of isolation.

The only exception to this was with the already existing socialist nations. They formed a trade and economic pact with Germany and the Soviet Union and later formed a military pact against the war known as the Russo-German-Italian Military Alliance Act of 1923. To make sure this isolation was valid and there criticism of imperialism was valid, in early 1924, they ceded there only colony left existing Senussi people with the exception that they must adapt a more of workers socialism. In 1926 the Libyan Socialist Republic was established a strong ally of Italy though independent in affairs.

Meanwhile domestically, the new state wasted no time in nationalizing key industry's deemed important and began a slow and steady process from Capitalism to Socialism. This guideline for economic socialism was directed under a new philosophy supported by Gramsci under Neo-Marxism. The new argument was developed in a changing and new developing capitalist world and developed to fit in future affairs wither new new technology's and sought to address this where Marxism did not.

This main economic Neo-Marxism revolved around the dependency theory or the idea that resources flow from a slew of poor and underdeveloped country's to a select flew, mostly western, highly developed and economically secure Liberal Democracy's and Monarchy which forms a system where the poorer states stay permanently poor and the richer ones stay permanently secure in a capitalist system. This to the Neo-Marxists was external exploitation while classical Marxism defined it at internal. The Neo-Marxists, unlike the Classical ones, stressed the greater importance of the monopolistic characteristics in capitalism compared to the standard Marxist stress on competitive aspects of Capitalism and thus called for not a total elimination of competition.

This practice was for the first time implemented and Italy was governed internally under the Italian School of Neo-Marxism under Gramsci. Private property was taken away from the nobles and wealthier classes and the poor southern Italian farmers of the south were allowed to keep there land though under more improved regulation to avoid exploitation. Meanwhile the Papacy was under a tricky spot.

The now officially atheist Socialist state despised everything the church stood for. They believed they were just wealthy poors trying to trick the masses for the rich and with them surrounding the Vatican City on all sides, the Pope was in a difficult situation. Pope Pius XI was the Pope and was worried he could be there last. He pleated with the West for support in case of invasion and he got it. Carter Glass leading a largely WASP country and Anti-Catholicism high in the country however was forced to refuse and him being accused of working for the Pope was too many political suicide.

The United Kingdom was not as worried and so warned Italy and France being a Catholic country sent troops to the Italian border to ward off invasion and sent a fleet to guard Rome. The Union of Nations condemmed Italy too for aggression against the Papacy while the communist alliance of the Soviet Union and Germany backed Italy.

This was the first real showdown between the West and Communism and could end up in a disaster. Luckily it didn't. With the communist nations still wanting to rebuild from the war and all agreeing that a war would not go well at the time, agreed to let the Vatican Go.

The Vatican and Papacy was allowed to live another day but in no ways would tensions go back to normal. Italy denounced whatever they liked about the western powers revoking any existing treaty with everyone of them. In Rome, the Italian Workers Army heavily patrolled the Vatican guarding against "mysterious activity's" and would regulate what came in and of the Vatican. As per treaty, the a fleet of 12 French and British ships would guard the Vatican off the cost in case of a breaking of the treaty on and off for the next 2 years. The Ruling Socialist party meanwhile cemented itself over Italian politics. Since the abolishment of political party's, the ruling Socialist Party of Italy was not unopposed in the Parliament and the only other seats taken were from affiliates to the party. This drastic control over politics brought many enemy's that once supported the cause. Many northern industrialists and and on the left of center join the revolution in hopes of a modest Social Democracy and many still supported the maintaining of political party's.

This lead to some disturbances in Northern Italy and a small scale democratic insurgency occupied the northern mountains on and off in guerrilla tactics. This small war would finally end more then a decade later. Going into the later half of the decade, the new Italy would soon face new struggles both internally and out.

[The Govanah Jake]

The Balance of Senatorial Power in 1924 (Senate 1924 Elections)

As the Hughes and Glass campaigns battled it out for the fate of the United States Presidency, there was a much more important battle going on. It did not involve the highest office in the land, the presidency, and would be the decider of policy in America. As per the laws of Federalism and separation of powers, the real power rested in the congress and legislatures of the nation who would vote on bills either proposed by the president or not. And in 1924 many senators were up for re-election. In the Senate, the Republicans held a slight plurality of to the Democrats 44 seats. Republican Senate Majority leader Frank B. Brandegee tried his best to keep his party together as a voting block against the Democratic President Carter Glass. He was effective in getting out the votes for the republicans and there alliance with the Socialists were able to provide a thorn in the Democratic Agenda. However there was always the 2-5 Conservative Republicans who refused to sign up against a conservative democrat in the white house. The informal "Glass Coalition" in the Senate was able to muster up a little over a majority of 49 seats of many occasions and thus governance was able to work for Carter Glass. Republicans knew that this could not go on forever and so put all of there money on the 1924 Senate Elections. They targeted key soft Democratic targets that could easily flip. As a party, they ran the first national congressional campaign putting forth a list of policy's in which all of the senatorial republican candidates have to abide by.

First in a national push to rid the Republican party of Segregation declared in there manifesto to make lynching a Federal crime and put forth a series of planks limiting at a national level the Jim Crow laws. The African American vote, though small, was crucial to many republican efforts in many Southern and Mid Atlantic states. The rapidly expanding black community's in the Urban North in the swing states of Illinois and New York were seen as a hold for Republicans. There wasn't really any competition in this area anyway, The Democrats were the party of Segregation and the remnants of Slavery, Republicans would have a hold on the Black vote no matter what unless the Democrats changed there ways. And even if the Republican Party got over 80% of there vote in elections national and statewide, they needed to make sure they could hold it. And the increasing presence of the Republican Economic Left would only increase Republican support in poor Black areas.

Second, a national plank supporting increasing the Tariff rate to McKinley levels and go against the lowering of the Tariff rates under Glass. This was supported universally by the Republican party since the Days of Lincoln and the position was seen as intertwined with that of the Republican agenda. The Progressive and Business wings of the party both agreed to this, though for different reasons. Third, a call for national interventionism. This one was much more controversial. The moderately sized Internationalist wing of the Party under Hughes rejected this saying America had a place in international affairs. Though the third one was vague enough to allow for different positions on it. The Internationalist wing itself was split on this with many sighting that the plank only called for non-interventionism not isolationism. This split allowed for the policy to make it into the national republican agenda. Fourth, and finally, a protection of Roosevelt and Johnson era regulations and programs and a maintenance of a progressive taxation rate. This was the most controversial and this clearly came from one side in the party, the Progressives.

Championed by Robert La Follette and other high ranking progressives, this was just about to pass the policy's hearings in the 1924 RNC for which these planks were held. Heavily objected by the conservative republicans in the party, they called it outrageous to protect bigger government in the official republican message. "This is clearly a partisan push against a Party which is suppose to be neutral and fair", said Senator from Kansas Charles Curtis. Though the official party establishment, which was growing more and more in the Progressives favor, wouldn't budge and pushed it through after long hours of continued debate from said republicans. Those Republicans who objected, either joined the American Conservative Party (Rare), gave in, or failed to support the Republican party in that form. And most of them did the latter.

With the Party taking a decisively leftward shift on rhetoric in hopes of increased gains in the Senate and House Elections, there necks were held on the line as the votes came in to see if this strategy really worked or was just another failed Republican Scheme.

Kentucky

In Kentucky the incumbent Senator was a Democrat Augustus Owsley Stanley. First entering into politics with his victory in 1902 in Kentucky's second district. He soon found himself rising up the Kentucky political spectrum until 1915 when he defeated Harry V. McChesney, a Prohibitionist Democrat and rose to become Kentucky governor. He used this as a leap pad to become the Kentucky senator in 1919 defeating Dr. Ben L. Bruner, a unknown moderate Republican, in a absolute landslide.

In the senate he represented a state that was divided by two main factions: The Conservative Democrat and the Klu Klux Klan establishment and the Progressive reformers from both party's. Kentucky, like the other Southern and border states, at the state level were still very much part of the solid democrat south. In many elections, the democrat candidate came in both first and second and possible third with the Republican party way behind. They however were not as solid and still elected Republican Senators and Governors due to the strong Republican vote in the suburbs around Louisville and the strong Pro-Union central and parts of Southern Appalachia which had voted strongly republican in overwhelming margins since Union forces first liberated there lands in the civil war. These were able to give the Republicans a unnatural advantage to even upper south states especially compared to its twins of West Virginia and Tennessee whose still large unionist presence is still lacking compared to Kentucky.

In Kentucky this republican advantage however was evened out and in many cases outvoted by the huge margins most democrats received in the Industrial towns of the East and West and the lopsided margins the white Kentuckian vote gave to Democrats. Jefferson county itself, home to Louisville, was a battleground itself and often decided the elections. Due to its higher then state average black population, which voted 80-95% Republican, Republicans held a higher floor and thus were able to get 40% in a clear lose even if they lost the state by much more. However the city itself and its surrounding rural lands were heavily Democrat voting like they would in Mississippi and very much on racial ground. And this was able to make the state very Democratic leaning on the state level. And if this ever got out of line, the white Democratic establishment with there Klu Klux Klan acquaintances would ensure this through sometimes fraudulent ways.

Up until the reformers of the Progressive era, the case in Kentucky was that corruption ruled the day and this along with methods including invalid ballots, terror of black community's to drop Republican turnout among them, and simply throwing away of opposition votes of any party's were common practice. This ensured that from the end of the Age of Lincoln and Grant up until these problems were cast a light decades later, conservative democrats would rule all state branches of government. Along with this corruption stood the Klu Klux Klan. The K.K.K in Kentucky during the gilded age like the rest of the south were simply a branch of the state democratic party. There main job was to terrorize peoples deemed undesirable. The undesirables were part of a whole range of ethnicity's and many whites who did not fit the Democrat White Anglo-Saxon push by these state party's, who were say of the wrong religion or ideology, were terrorized by the KKK into either death or away. They were dominant in the rural areas were the KKK bought and sold the local county executives and sheriffs to make sure change never came.

Louisville itself was corrupted by Klan influences and many mayoral elections were simply between two members who were both corrupted by them. In fact, many state officials were open Klan members themselves. To the blacks in the state, on top of the fact that Jim Crow and Poll taxes made it impossible for them to vote unless it was a democrat, they were also threatened and in Louisville simply killed on the street. After one of these incidents occurred in 1910 a race riot ensued and 51 Blacks were killed and 190 more arrested.

By the late 1890s to early 1900s, the beginning of the progressive era finally brought to light many of these practices throughout the south. While most of the time nothing came of this, in some states there was a push for change. Kentucky was one of these states. People began to rise up and demand change to the system. In the 1894 elections, pro civil rights Republican William O'Connell Bradley became the first Republican in the states history to become the state governor and won of the backs of the disaffected and the rural poor who failed to see how the democratic establishment in the state helped them.

Granted he failed to get any civil rights passed with a Democratic legislature. Bradley did not run again but in 1899 his successor William S. Taylor was able to beat a highly contentious governor's race between William Goebel who failed to win off the backs of ex-confederates alone and lost 47-41%. He would be succeeded by a few more republicans throughout the 1900s and 1910s. On the national level itself Republicans were able to continue to make up ground in the state and won it in 1896, 1916, and 1920 under the new McKinley-Roosevelt Republican party. Johnson's win in 1920 was able to secure the fact that a Republican could win and have won the state and many questioned its days as a solid south state any longer especially after it went to Johnson over Southerner Glass.

[The Govanah Jake]

Change also occurred in the Kentucky state Democratic party. As the Republicans were able to bring to light of corruption in the state to there advantage, a state party civil war occurred between the conservative establishment and the Progressive reformers in the Democratic Party. Seeing the old establishment as corrupt, a new wave of politicians swept the Kentucky seen as the 20th century came along. The first of these was J. C. W. Beckham who became Governor in 1900 and was the chosen successor of the legendary political boss William Goebel after he failed to win another term and died from assassination.  He was first chosen at 30, the minimum age required to run. He was mostly a passive leader and never offered any serious change to the status quo and stressed non-controversial issues.

He called for reforms for the Goebel Election Law which all but name favored the Democrats. His mostly passive term compared to his predecessors was one marked by compromise and moderate changes. Along with his calls for reform from the Goebel Election law, he also set forth a law to set uniform school textbook prices, a half a million state revenues increase, and most importantly a law to make it illegal to allow children under 14 to work without there parents consent. He won re-election easily against Republican Morris B. Belknap in 1903. In 1904 he passed the Day Law while enforced racial segregation of all schools in Kentucky which went to the supreme court. In Berea College v. Kentucky, the State of Kentucky was legally allowed to segregate thus ending any really chance for de-segregation of the schooling system until the 1950s.

Meanwhile in the rural coal fields of the east the Black Patch Tobacco Wars continued and his term as governor finally ended in 1907 when he decided to run for the senate which he did and won. He was followed by Augustus E. Willson who was a Republican. A largely inefficient person was cast aside by the Democratic legislature and was only able to get minor reforms in including the eight-hour work day and establishing high schools in every county of the state. He was ousted by James B. McCreary, a confederate war hero, in 1911.

Campaigning on progressive reforms, he was the first real reformist to enter the governor's mansion. In his tenure he made women eligible to vote in school board elections, established direct primary elections, and a state public utilities commission. He also established a basic workers' compensation program. Nearly 80 however, he did not run again.

Then we get to Augustus Owsley Stanley. His tenure as Governor and Senator was said to be, by historians, as the height of the progressive movement in the state. Elected in a close race in 1915 to the Governor's mansion by only 417 votes, he created a state antitrust law and build on the social reforms on his predecessors. He held crossover appeal and many progressive republicans endorsed him. President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed him in his 1915 race even if they were from different party's and there was calls for Stanley to join the Republicans against the increasingly conservative Democrats. He refused though.

Finally in 1919, he became the state's senator after defeating his republican opponent by 5,000 votes. In the senate he remained a vigorous progressive voice and was known as the "Ban of Big Tobacco" after his successful lobbying after them. In 1924 he would face re-election. With a popular Democratic president, he held a high chance for re-election. The Republicans nominated Frederic M. Sackett; a popular civil war veteran from Rhode Island. However soon things started to turn against him. His opposition to Prohibition costed him among the  Beckham wing of the party led by the former senator who supported prohibition and many backed the Republicans who did support it.

Him also being opposed by the powerful KKK for his anti-bigotry and populism did not help. A close campaign soon followed. A close campaign would soon follow in one of the most intense in Kentucky history. He however led most opinion polls slightly. Around October, the president finally got around to supporting him with some struggles which pushed him over the edge. On election night, he received overwhelming support from the coal fields and rural areas which gave him a 5500 vote lead by the next day when he was declared the winner. He received a record 35% of the black vote do his opposition to the KKK and support for some civil rights.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall the night for the senate turned out to be largely uneventful. High Republican hopes for a large victory in the senate in 1924 were dashed when they toke a net lose of 1 senators to the democrats. With now 44 senators, they were officially out of their plurality and the democrats became the majority party with 45 senators though short of a clear majority. The key races of Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Mexico were in the end all won by the democrats even though the Republicans heavily contested all three.

The Republicans were however able to pick up seats in Massachusetts and Colorado from weaker democrats. The night for the socialists was about what they were hoping for: keep what they have and don't take further losses. Going into Glasses second term he would now have a Democratic Senate though from the looks of it he would need to work to get a majority coalition in order.

[Don Vito Corleone]

I think you have the wrong picture for Frank B. Brandegee; That's a picture of Upton Sinclair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair).

[The Govanah Jake]

I think you have the wrong picture for Frank B. Brandegee; That's a picture of Upton Sinclair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair).

Yep your right. That was a mistake.

[SamTilden2020]

I think you have the wrong picture for Frank B. Brandegee; That's a picture of Upton Sinclair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair).

And there are two Frank Brandegees. (One in CT, one in CA)

[The Govanah Jake]

I think you have the wrong picture for Frank B. Brandegee; That's a picture of Upton Sinclair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair).

And there are two Frank Brandegees. (One in CT, one in CA)

That picture, and the current minority leader of the senate is the one from Connecticut for which he is there senator.

[The Govanah Jake]

The House of Democrats (1924 House Elections)

The House of Representatives compared to other branches of government was a anomaly. Even though it had the same legislative power in the crafting of bills as say there twin Senate held, it was distinctively less sought after during the first two century's of its existence. This was because the Democrats held a overwhelming advantage in regards to the House compared to the Senate. Unlike the Senate, where whole states vote for a elected official, in the House representatives were selected from a smaller, more localized area holding a select population.

This gave the rural area's a distinctive advantage as they were able to hold more representational power from more closer distances, and thus the party who held the rural areas held this advantage of the rural districts. The party of the old Jacksonian populist's who in the beginning started off as the farmer's party was able to easily hold these districts down for decades on end for them. So a coalition of the old southern districts which went to the Democrats no matter what (though this was mostly equalized by the Northern Yankee Republican Districts) and western populist/traditionalist districts were formed under the Democratic Party known as the Grand Coalition in the House. Thus the House was able to stay democratic for long stretches of time even if the senate and presidency was overwhelmingly republican.

The Republicans however made a comeback during the McKinley era as the Republicans were able to advance somewhat into the west in places like the Mountain West and plains states. Under the steady leadership of Joseph Cannon, the Republicans were able to hold there House majority for longer then expected to many's surprise up until 1910 when Champ Clark was able to use a divided Republican party to his advantage and blow the Republicans out of the water with a 58 seat gain and becoming the House Speaker.

The House, even under the popular republican Roosevelt-Johnson administrations was able to hold. The House was thus coined as the House of Democrats by Teddy Roosevelt in 1914 after he failed to win the house under a popular beginning start to his third term. In 1918, the Republicans were finally able to get past the democrats with a 34 seat gain, gaining a slight majority under Frederick H. Gillett who became the House speaker. The House under the Republicans would remain chaotic as always as the Democrats tried there best to block the Republican agenda.

In the end the Democrats won out again and with just a slight trend in there favor in 1920, they were able to retake the House yet again gaining 57 seats and a slight majority like the Republicans. Champ Clark would re become the speaker and was able to unite at least the House and Executive branches under Democratic control with republicans holding there ground in the senate with a one seat plurality. 2 years later Clark die's at 71 in March of 1922 and close friend to the president Andrew Jackson Montague of Virginia becomes the new speaker.

A progressive in his own state, he was able to have appeal to most of the factions of the party. His links to the Byrd Organization was able to appeal to the Southern Democrats and Conservatives and thus he was easily nominated by the party into leadership. Under him, the agenda in the House would remain much the same going from one southern democrat to another. Montague like Clark before him also held much of the same governing style ruling the House by a iron grip and forcing, if have to, many Glass bills though. Going into the 1924 Elections the Democrats main objective was too hold what they had and expand on this.

They justified this based off a good economy and a popular president and in many races simply linked the Democratic candidate to the President. himself. Glass would support these moves and he would campaign for the democrats in many crucial republican swing district's seeing opportunity's for flipping. There main strategy was to go on the offensive. And as mentioned went to the Republican occupied swing districts. These districts were very much conservative and held by conservative republican holders.

The party's growing conservatism under Glass and the Republican's growing turn to Progressivism was able to persuade many voters to ditch the Republicans in favor of Democrats. There Slogan, "More Job, Good Economy, and Better Future". Meanwhile on the Republican side in regards to the House they were more somber. Knowing the House was all but a lost cause, they put there money into the Senate Races. What republican efforts did come was from the RNC sending contributions to the district holders that were under attack from Democrat onslaught from the South and West. In the end the Democrats won then night in the House taking 35 seats and the Republican's losing 40.

These new gain's mostly come from new Northeastern Seats the Democrats were able to pick up from there strategy. The Republicans would now be forced in a distant second place as the minority party in the house, now more then 100 seats behind the Democrats who held the House with a decisive grip. Meanwhile the Socialists lost 26% of there seats in a bad night losing 4 seats in the West and Midwest to the Democrats and to 1 A.C.P. member respectively. The Prohibition held there seat and spot on the map with Charles H. Randall of California while the ACP had a good night with there leader Charles A. Kennedy taking 9 more seats under his belt and replacing the Socialist's in the House for third place.

There gain's mostly came from lost Republican seats which contributed to the Republican's defeat. Overall the night was a Democratic victory and along with the Senate would prove that the Democrats now held all three branches of government for the first time in decades.

[Bidenworth2020]

I hope you realize this, but your effort for this TL is astounding. Keep up the amazing work!

P.S-can you do MT sen county map? curious how well the socialist candidate did.

[The Govanah Jake]

I hope you realize this, but your effort for this TL is astounding. Keep up the amazing work!

P.S-can you do MT sen county map? curious how well the socialist candidate did.

Thank You!



Democrat is Red, Republican is Blue

[The Govanah Jake]

The Next Chapter: We've never had it so good!

A Democratic Republic (First two years of Glasses administration)

The British Commonwealth of Nations (A run down of the major UK commonwealth country's history from the POD in 1912 up until around and past 1928)

A Continent Enslaved (Run down of Major African country's from POD in the 1910's to the early 1930's)

The 1926 Midterms (US midterms)

The Second Era of Good Feelings? (Last 2 years of the Glass administration)

[Bidenworth2020]

I hope you realize this, but your effort for this TL is astounding. Keep up the amazing work!

P.S-can you do MT sen county map? curious how well the socialist candidate did.

Thank You!



Democrat is Red, Republican is Blue

beautiful! once last stand, a county map of MN sen. I have no other requests then you continuing this!

[The Govanah Jake]

beautiful! once last stand, a county map of MN sen. I have no other requests then you continuing this!

No Wikibox but: (Remember in Minnesota the Democrats are a dead party)

Anna Dickie Olesen (Socialist): 38.52%, 160,245

Ernest Lundeen (Republican): 33.19%, 143,274

Henrik Shipstead (Farmer-Labor): 22.46%, 99,013

Alfred Jacques (Democratic): 5.86%, 33,573

[The Govanah Jake]

I'll just be closing the polling now since I've decided to continue to the end of the timeline with the writing style featured on this page.

[The Govanah Jake]

A Democratic Republic

The average American farming family found desolate after the recession

We've never had it so good. That is not an opinion, it is indeed a fact. The economy was roaring, industry was at a peak, new technologies revolutionized the way Americans lived, and popular opinion was very positive with a wide optimism for the future. The GDP was the highest it had ever been (this is mostly due to a much large population) and the economy grew at a solid 8.5%. The Stock Market was at a all time high and the past recessions and depressions of prior seemed like a distant memory to them. High valuations for stocks and high optimism on the future of the stock market brought hundreds of new millionaire to the United States and cities like New York City and Boston grew not just to be national hubs but international hubs revered around the world. A new international system began to emerge from the ashes of the Great War and into this time of great prosperity.

Alliances between the major western Liberal Democracies were solidified and international alliances including the Union of Nations were able to structure this system with these western liberal democracy's at their heed with the third world lacking behind greatly in enslavement, colonization, or just poor economic conditions. Though it wasn't all bad for them. There was some that started off as Third World Nations but ended up as a major leader of the new international order. Nations like Poland and Spain had emerged from the Great War as prosperous and new National Conservative governments in both stabilized and led to intense economic growth in both countries. By the time of the mid 1920s, it could fully be said that these two nations were fully part of this elite class of nations. Nations like Russia and Japan tried to join this elite class but failed due to internal strife and coups. Instead Russia, or the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics decided to further distance themselves from the West and the new socialist government which was formed established a rival alliance between their fellow socialist nations of Italy (and with it the People's Republic of Libya) and Germany.

They, like the west, thus soon began attempts at furthering their cause. The Italian puppet state of Libya was the first cause of this was Italy abandoned their imperial ways for a new pseudo-imperialism in which they wouldn't colonize their former imperial colony's but would force them to follow their strain of Neo-Marxism. The Soviet Union would follow suit retaking the former colony's of the Russian Tsar's including the states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the other states not a part of the Russian SSR and make them Soviet Republics and establish integral socialist rule in each. Germany was the odd one out in this regard and they took to their extreme isolationism but the whole blocks intentions was clear. Vladimir Lenin's call for International Solidarity between Workers was their creed and for a national revolution to occur. These two blocks of the word battled between each other and the Third World was there battleground. The time of prosperity the 1920's brought also, unintentionally, its downfall.

Politically, this time in the United States was dubbed the Second Era of Good Feelings, after the First Era of Good Feelings between the end of the War of 1812 to the rise of the Jacksonian Democrats. A sense of politically optimism was on the horizon. The bruising campaign of 1924 was over and with it a new mandate for the status quo allowed for this era to occur. The People wanted a second term of Carter and that is what they got. The people also demanded for the continuation of the status quo and so the Democrats were able to increase their majority in the house to nearly 65% control, win back the Senate, and now commanded a full government of all three branches and they would be quick to act on this newly given power. The Republicans were reduced to a minority party in all branches of government for the first time ever and the party would continue to devolve into civil disorder between the many factions.

The Democrats however were in a much more united place then in their last competitive primary in 1920. The decreasingly powerful Bryanite and Roosevelt wing of the party led by William Jennings Bryan and Franklin Roosevelt which fought for progressive and populist causes within the party had hit a peak during the previous election cycles but the 1920s have gotten this faction on a downward spiral. By 1924, what was left of this faction could only muster pseudo progressives and the city machines to run for them in the form of William McAdoo and Al Smith and still got handily destroyed in most states. Going into this period of United Government for the Democrats, this wing was very much more on the sidelines as it used to be. The Glass Coalitions in the House and Senate made sure that Carter Glasses path through successful legislation didn't need rely heavily on these progressives. The Democrats in the House were already able to muster just barely enough to pass a bill now just from moderate to conservative democrats and this along with the conservative republicans who came on board with some bills were able to make the party effective in the House.

The ironclad rule of the Virginian Speaker of the House made sure of this. The Senate was more difficult as they held a slim 1 seat plurality but the 1924 senate elections brought a increased number of Glass Democrats to the Senate. Thus the Glass Coalition in the Senate was just barely beneath the required number of votes which could easily be taken from the Republicans. Thus they had a working government there. Democrats would look to the next 2 years and see if this good government for them would preserve itself and prove popular and effective for the governance of America

Carter Glass received news of his victory early in the morning the next day when he woke up to see his top campaign officials give him the news. "Carter Glass Wins Decisively" read the New York Times when he first looked upon their paper. It Read "Carter Glass yesterday won the United States Presidential Election with upwards of 300 Electoral votes and by 10% as of our last count. He will, we can project, win a second term as president". He was satisfied with this. Shortly thereafter in the Hughes campaign headquarters in his New York Home, Charles Hughes was woken up to tell him he had lost. Hughes read the same New York Times Newspaper and knew that he could neither contest it nor deny that the people did not prefer him.

Knowing this, Hughes now 62 knew he would probably never become president at such a old age (even if Glass was 4 years older than him). He found his Western Electric Telephone and called Glass to congratulate him. "Charles, i thank you for such a hard fought campaign. I wish luck in future endeavors" was Glasses reply to Hughes opening call "Hello Carter, I realize i have not won and concede you the presidency. I hope the best for your second term". Hughes ended the call first and would not be seen in public for days on end. His time as a presidential hopeful was over but that didn't mean he would disappear into the light.

Carter hitched on the train from Richmond to Washington D.C. and would arrive in the capital to a large crowd of applauding supporters whom he meet, thanked, and greeted. He took his seat as the president waiting in limbo until his next inauguration in March. He like the last time this happened in the Late 1920 period up until March of 1921 spent his time organizing the democratic coalition for victory in both houses. Though with everyone already laid out, the government was awfully quiet. The only real struggle to occur in the November 1924-March, 1925 Period was not from the Democrats at all but from the Republicans. With the election a total defeat for the Republicans, there was calls for a total shakeup of leadership as the old leadership had failed. The moderates failure to win infuriated both the progressives and conservatives in the party saying that the party would of won if they stuck to each ones main guidelines. The first to go was in the senate.

The now minority leader Frank B. Brandegee was considered a strong one in a senate formerly only held by the republicans held by one. His fierce holding together of the different republican factions even if he was a moderate conservative was considered a strong trait. Even when he became the minority leader, he was still popular within the party itself and was well regarded as a part of the republican coalition meant to stay. However his personal life had gotten to him. The stress of the polarizing time combined with bad past investments coming to haunt him took a tole on him. Now nearing 60, he didn't want this task any longer of holding the party together and shortly after the election resigned from his leadership of the Republican Party in the US Senate. He would go on to never serve public office again and at age 63 would commit suicide in his Connecticut home by hanging in 1927.

His resignation was unexpected and the party still reeling from a loose was in full infighting again on who to choose as his successor as know the minority leader. The next month brought near civil war in the party but by the new year two candidates were established. Charles Curtis was declared the de-facto nominee for the moderate faction and many conservatives. A moderate himself, the Senator from Kansas was humbled at such offering and accepted as being in the running as perhaps the first partial native american to become any sort of powerful leader in the party. The Progressives meanwhile backed Irvine Lenroot for the same position, the senator from Wisconsin whose ideology does not need to be told. The Party voted for their leader and on January 5th, 1925 in a 57-41% fashion, the party's senators voted for Curtis defeating Lenroot decisively. Another defeat for the progressives, Charles Curtis soon made it his goal for the republican party to unite and called for the party to be as unified as ever in troubling times for the party itself.

[The Govanah Jake]

March came and the Inauguration went. Glass was officially the new president for the next 4 years. His inauguration was not as impactful as 4 years ago and about half showed up but there still was a decent size. In his speech Glass called for national unity and healing from a vicious campaign. He talked little of his policies and more on broad platitudes including "It is time for the United States to start to Heal" and "The Time to wait idly is beyond us. Our future looks bright and we must act on it". He also called for more bipartisanship and called for the Republicans and Democrats to unite behind commonplace idea's he puts up.

The few statements on the agenda for the next 4 years were far and few but he did talk about the need for a new flat tax, which attempt to implement failed in his first term, and also for the isolationism of the US to continue and to "Not get the rest of the world entangled into the life of Americans". Behind him sat the former president of Hiram Johnson, his cabinet officials, top government officials, and his family. Associate Justice Pierce Butler sweared him in. Now that it was official he would now get to work guiding the country through the "Second Era of Good Feelings".

Like with previous presidents after winning re-election, he would decide whether or not to shake up his cabinet. First he decided to remove the rebellious William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith for there disloyal ways against him in the 1924 Democratic Primaries. For the Secretary of the Treasury now open he choose conservative democrat and president of 2 major Texan university and the University from St. Louis from Texas named David F. Houston. He would come at the dismay of people like Franklin Roosevelt who said the president should nominate a liberal to unite the party. It looks like the congressional democratic party didn't get his message and the Senate Democrats were all but 12 (all from Roosevelt's wing) and a multitude of many conservative republicans voted for Houston with Curtis even supporting him. Houston passed the House 67-20 with 8 abstaining. For Al Smith he choose small level vice president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen from Virginia William N. Doak. A Republican, he was still a moderate and supported Charles Hughes for president in 1924 and was a attempt by the president to increase bipartisanship.

The president faced criticism within his own party for nominating a republican with many saying that they have the votes to nominate a democrat. Glass dismissed these concerns repeating his call for bipartisanship. Doak would have the full backing of the Republican party leader Charles Curtis and with it most of the opposition supported it with just the stringent of democrats, republicans, and all socialists opposing it. He passed 81-9 with 6 abstaining and he passed the Senate and became the new secretary of Labor. The final shake up was with Roosevelt. Always the most rebellious, he had grown more and more disdain for him since there 1920 primary battle. He thought he clearly lied on his promises to keep the basic welfare state and in fact did the opposite.

He resigned on April 1st, 1925 as Secretary of the Navy and began his own plot to retake the New York Governor's mansion in 1926. With his absence, for now the progressive voice in Glasses cabinet was nearing zero. The Progressives were demanding Glass to replace Roosevelt with another Progressive. Some threatened to join the republicans if they didn't get there way. Glass, already holding contempt for Roosevelt decided to replace him with a lackey of him in the form of Claude A. Swanson, a strong supporter of him and senator from Virginia. A same member of the political machines of Virginia as Glass, he was more of a economic populist which was able to return some democrats from joining the republicans. The Senate voted and this time Curtis was clearly against it but the party was split over it. The vote came and he was elected to the Secretary of the Navy post by a 65-30-1 yea-nay-abstain vote. With this, his new cabinet for now stood:

Carter Glasses Cabinet

Secretary of State - John W. Davis
Secretary of the Treasury - David F. Houston
Secretary of War - James W. Gerard
Attorney General - Alexander Mitchell Palmer
Postmaster General - Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb
Secretary of the Navy - Claude A. Swanson
Secretary of the Interior - Robert Latham Owen Jr.
Secretary of Agriculture - Edwin T. Meredith
Secretary of Labor - William N. Doak
Secretary of Commerce - Oscar Underwood

With the cabinet, settled now he could enact real policy's with a hugely friendly government in front of him. But this was interrupted with the passing of William Jennings Bryan, the great commoner, died at the age of 65 in Dayton, Tennessee in his sleep just 5 days after he had won the Scopes Trial. One of the leaders of the Democratic Party. he had often been at odds with Carter and threatened to run against him in 1924 to no avail. Nevertheless, party rivalry subsided for just a minute to commemorate him and his funeral the following week in his funeral at the Arlington National Cemetery where thousands attended including the president. "We may of had our differences but he was a good man" said the president about the death of William Jennings Bryan. A leader of the progressive movement, his passing to many represented a passing of old times from the early 1900s as many saw the country going into a bigger brighter future

His first order of business, he declared was the Flat Tax. Still reeling from his many attempts in his first term, he thought now with a united government he could pass a flat tax and get rid of the mostly progressive taxation the US had in order at that moment. He did as before and with a team of policy advisers and many meetings with senators from both party's, he finally found a plan which he thought would be able to pass the Senate and the House and be signed into law.

A fierce fiscal conservative he thought this could help loosen whatever regulations held back both big and small businesses and made that the main reason for the bill. When it entered the House, it faced much more friendlier congresspeople. The Democrats in the house were mostly of the Glass kind and the House held many Glass-friendly Republicans. The Speaker from Virginia would make sure that he could get the votes and it was confirmed on the 10th of August that he had the votes to pass the bill. The bill was put into voting on August 12th and it came to the conclusion 337 yea to 58 nay with 40 abstaining. Then it went onto the Senate where the slim Democratic plurality would need Republican votes which would much easier to come by. Charles Curtis called the bill a disgrace to the American family and "Not what smaller government means". He said any self respecting republican should not vote for it.

The voting came up on a delay after a short filibuster which failed by a combination of some republicans and socialists. The vote was 61 yea to 33 nay with 2 abstaining. It was decided, the bill was passed and soon signed by the president and put into law

Progressives were outraged at him for doing such a thing. Former president called this "A Handout to Big Business" and many prominent socialists went even further saying by Morris Hillquitt "A disgusting rejection of the american people for corrupt oligarchs on wall street". This few voices were not in the majority however and Glass tried his best to cast them as extremists, even if they weren't.

Public opinion still was on the president's side and still not even close. A aggregate of polling showed that 67% of those responding approved of the bill while 66% said they support a flat tax over a progressive tax. This was a starch contrast from just a few years ago, but the moderate majority as it was called was still as strong as ever.

Next on the president's agenda was to to finish up his tax plans with the all the Revenue Act of 1925. Like his other revenue act's, it would cut taxes but this time reduce it on the estate tax which had mostly been untouched since its establishment under Roosevelt and thought as a bipartisan effort and thus untouched. In this new act he would lower the estate tax rates to its lowest rates ever and with it to 52% for the highest estates and 43% for smaller estates. The bill also included a reduction of the already much smaller federal tariffs from 42% to now 34%, the smallest since before the founding of the Republican party. It entered the House to much less controversy than its successor due to a much more allied congress. It passed the house 391 yea to 41 nay and 3 abstaining. In the Senate however it was more troublesome. The reduction of Tariffs meant a key republican opposition who supported high tariffs for business.

Curtis was successful this time in gathering most republicans against the bill. However some internationalists, free traders, and starch fiscal conservatives were somewhat convinced by the bill and after another filibuster failed, the senate vote on it. In a 50 yea to 43 nay with 3 abstaining vote, the bill was passed with one more than a majority. It was signed into law by the President on November 27th, 1925 and became effective February 13th, 1926. This in the public perception was far less controversial than its successor, due to its much smaller scale, but was still rejected by many progressives which was expected by now, but they didn't have much real power anyway. Just a annoying voice.