FDR survives
- Thread starter Solarius
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He couldn't serve out his fourth term, his health was collapsing daily. FDR smoked and drank all his life, had a history of bad cardiology from his paternal line, etc. That is why he planned to resign when the war was over and hand over to Truman. Like his old friend Mackenzie King up here, he'll be dead within 2 years of leaving office, guaranteed.
Going with RogueBeaver's comments, arguably what follows is that Truman likely has a slightly easier time than IOTL. It looks a whole lot better to have someone hand the baton to you rather than to inherit it because he died. So, I'd expect a bit smoother of a transition period.
Truman would likely be better received by history because he wouldn't have needed to make tough decisions like the nuclear bombing of Japan. And if FDR makes the same choice, it might mar his historical reputation a bit.
I don't know what that translates to in the 48 Presidential election. Truman was a pretty strong exponent of the New Deal consensus, and in many ways adopted stances more progressive than his predecessor, so I don't think it will butterfly away the Progressive run of Henry Wallace, or the Dixiecrats.
Truman would likely be better received by history because he wouldn't have needed to make tough decisions like the nuclear bombing of Japan. And if FDR makes the same choice, it might mar his historical reputation a bit.
I don't know what that translates to in the 48 Presidential election. Truman was a pretty strong exponent of the New Deal consensus, and in many ways adopted stances more progressive than his predecessor, so I don't think it will butterfly away the Progressive run of Henry Wallace, or the Dixiecrats.
Perhaps an earlier start to the Cold War. Having bargained with "Uncle Joe" personally, I imagine that he would have been quite indignant once Stalin started violating the Yalta Accord. Other than that, I don't see him doing things much differently than Truman, Roosevelt was always much more focused on domestic politics that grand strategy.
Domestically, if FDR survives and serves till 1948, I can see the Republicans definitely taking over the White House after 16 years of one party/one man rule. Any Democrat would be running under FDR's shadow, and would not have had time to create a national following like Truman did between 1945-48.
Domestically, if FDR survives and serves till 1948, I can see the Republicans definitely taking over the White House after 16 years of one party/one man rule. Any Democrat would be running under FDR's shadow, and would not have had time to create a national following like Truman did between 1945-48.
I don't think so. Truman was a more moderate New Dealer, that's why he was put on the ticket in '44 IOTL. Someone who both Big Labor and business can be relatively comfortable with. Certainly more hawkish than FDR when it came to the East Bloc, and no, I don't believe Yalta Myth BS for a nanosecond. As for '48, same as OTL. He's still running against the Republican Gore (arrogance, alienating native region) who still is running a bumper-sticker factory, not a campaign.
FDR living beyond 1946 or early 1947 at the most is borderline ASB. Using an ASB that gives him his OTL '30s health, FDR had begun to take a tougher line a few weeks before his death, but how far that would've gone is debatable. But yes, in 1948 the Republican Gore wins. Dewey '48 TLs are a dime a dozen around here using a 30-second Search.
If FDR lives for another year, or long enough to live a little beyond the surrender of Japan in August, I wonder what exactly the President does in retirement. Also, how might a resignation affect Roosevelt's reputation? How would Roosevelt justify a resignation for health purposes given the fact that when he ran in 1944 he kind of laughed off concerns that the state of his health was dangerous.
What "Yalta Myth" are you referring to here? I concede that Stalin was true to his word when it came to declaring war on Japan, but what about Eastern Europe? At the Yalta conference Stalin agreed to hold elections in Poland, and to respect the established governments in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. This did not occur. There was no democratization of Poland, and the Czech and Hungarian governments were overthrown with varying degrees of subtlety.
Are you saying that FDR either a) Understood that Stalin never intended to keep his word or b) Did not care if he did?
Typo
Banned
Churchill and FDR both knew he was just bullshiting and couldn't really do anything about it
Also note that the Czech coup happened in 1948 after lots of other stuff. The Communists broadly won what seem to have been relatively straight elections there immediately post war.
He probably wouldn't mention his health in his resignation statement, given the fact that used World War II as his reason for violating the Presidency's unofficial term limits, I think he wouldn't have a hard time explaining why he's retiring once the war is over.
This, to me, suggests Roosevelt already had other ideas.
From ‘Warlords, the heart of conflict 1939 – 1945’ by Simon Berthon and Joanna Potts.
Page 131
But as the war ground on, Churchill began to see a new threat to Europe – the man who had become the third ally in the fight against Hitler, Joseph Stalin. In late 1942 he told Anthony Eden: ‘It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarianism overlaid the ancient state of Europe.’
Roosevelt thought otherwise. As far as he was concerned, the cause of war in the first place was the in fighting between Europe’s ancient, imperialist nations and he began to see in Stalin someone who would help him in his great cause of freeing the world of that Imperialism. Also in 1942, in a conversation with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, he remarked: ‘The European people will simply have to endure Russian domination in the hope that – in ten or 20 years – the European influence will bring the Russians to become less barbarous.’
This is taken from ‘The Roosevelt Letters: Being the Personnel Correspondence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Vol.3: 1928 – 1945.