# SDMB Retrospective US Presidential Elections 1940 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 12, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926 "2014-04-12T07:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/1 "2014-04-12T07:22:42Z")
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_States\_presidential\_election,\_1940](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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/2 "2014-04-12T14:02:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/3 "2014-04-12T15:18:00Z")
Seriously, it’s 1940, can there possibly be any question?! I didn’t even vote for Thomas! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/4 "2014-04-12T15:21:51Z")
The biggest no-brainer since George Washington. Of COURSE you vote for FDR. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/5 "2014-04-13T21:57:42Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/6 "2014-04-13T23:13:27Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/7 "2014-04-13T23:17:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/8 "2014-04-13T23:22:34Z")
No, it’s not a factor. It’s just an interesting trivia thing. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/9 "2014-04-22T01:12:54Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > 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. Interesting if Willkie had won anyway – [he was so internationalist that he favored the idea of a world government](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_(book)). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/10 "2014-04-22T05:05:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Interesting if Willkie had won anyway – [he was so internationalist that he favored the idea of a world government](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_(book)). 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. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/11 "2014-04-22T14:29:04Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/12 "2014-04-22T15:00:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1940/685926/13 "2020-03-17T18:19:46Z")
Bumped. For an alternative-history election of 1940, see here: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=891849](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=891849)