President William Jennings Bryan POD

[LDoc]

Bryan just doesn't have the support of the urban population. He runs on a populist platform that is, naturaly, aimed at rural america. You would have to drasticly change is outlook, such as his stance on silver, for him to gain any traction in the cities.

 

[Othniel]

North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan could have all fallen to Bryant. Let's add Kentucky, and Indianna is also highly rural.. It wouldn't be wrong to see him win in those states would it?

 

[reformer]

It seems highly unlikely that so many states would have switched. Bryan didn't do that well in either the popular or electoral vote. Are there any PODs that wouldn give a logical reason for these states to go Bryan?

 

[Grey Wolf]

I can't remember all the details right now, but there was a financial crisis during Cleveland's administration where the state almost went bankrupt and defaulted on international loans. This was not an economic problem, as the economy was doing OK, but was more due to the rules on raising finance. Cleveland was able to get round the looming disaster with the help of J P Morgan and a law the AG dusted down from Civil War times and used in a twisted fashion. This enabled the USA to raise the funds to stave off bankruptcy, and get back on track.

Now, if J P Morgan had been ill, or the AG less hard-working, or Cleveland less willing to take a risk, the effect of a financial meltdown would have been to give the urban vote to candidates promising a different approach to finance.

Grey Wolf

 

[Hierophant]

You would have to somehow cause a depression 2-4 years before the election. This would discredit the Republicans most likely. Lets have Bryan win in 1896 just for the sake of a 36 year old as president.

During the Harrison presidency, Harrison fails to stop congress from continuing the tariff expansion to any degree. As a side effect the depression of the last half of Harrison's presidency is pushed further into the future. The election of 1892 is a close call, but Harrison is re-elected. Then the depression hits. In 1894 the Democrats gain a majority in both houses. In 1896 the Democrats go to there convention divided. Many expect for Cleveland to take it. However, after a rousing speech by the young orator William Jennings Bryan, he is selected on the 12th ballot.

The Republicans are generally blamed for the depression, and Bryan is elected with confortable margins.

Now what? I imagine after the free silver legistlation goes through we have a few good years before the inflation destroys the economy.