http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1940
With Hitler’s army marching through Europe and the work of the New Deal yet incomplete, FDR is the only choice.
This would have been a problematic election for me. I wouldn’t have liked the third term precedent. I wouldn’t have liked Wallace in the Vice Presidential slot. And Willkie was actually running on a platform that was pretty close to Roosevelt’s.
I honestly can’t say who I would have voted for in 1940.
Seriously, it’s 1940, can there possibly be any question?! I didn’t even vote for Thomas!
The biggest no-brainer since George Washington. Of COURSE you vote for FDR.
What’s interesting, had Wilkie and McNary won, they both died in 1944, Wilkie of a heart attack, McNary of complications after brain surgery. It’s impossible to know who would have become President at that point, because until the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the Secretary of State was next in line, and there’s obviously know way to know who Wilkie would have picked.
True but I think this was a non-factor in 1940. Nobody apparently knew Willkie was in poor health (including Willkie). If the idea of the candidate not completed his term had been a factor, it’s more likely people would have guessed Roosevelt would die within four years.
As for Willkie’s potential Secretary of State (and successor if it had come to that) I think Henry Stimson is a good guess. He had experience, having been Secretary of War under Taft and Secretary of State under Hoover. He was a Republican. And he was still prominent enough that Roosevelt named him Secretary of War despite being from the other party.
No, it’s not a factor. It’s just an interesting trivia thing.
Interesting if Willkie had won anyway – he was so internationalist that he favored the idea of a world government.
That’s not actually what the book advocates. It says that America needs to recognize that human rights and freedom are universal values worth fighting for, end discrimination, push for an end of colonization, and take the lead in setting up an international organization made up of free and equal nations that promotes peace and human rights.
Like, a UN with teeth?
A campaign button at the time:
Washington wouldn’t
Grant couldn’t
Roosevelt shouldn’t
NO THIRD TERM
Just not crazy about a third term for FDR (or anyone). But with the world in crisis, and given my natural Democratic leanings, I think we need another four years of his steady leadership in the White House.
Bumped.
For an alternative-history election of 1940, see here: https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=891849