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William Jennings Bryan
Topic Started: Aug 4 2013, 11:47 AM (198 Views)
Basil Fawlty
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Post Tenebras Lux
1. What would it take to see a President Bryan in office after 1900? This assumes a victory in any of his three campaigns (1896, 1900, 1908) or some combination thereof. I'm not sure if Cleveland's nonconsecutive terms could be repeated, but I've been toying with the idea of a Bryan presidency either sometime after the Spanish war but before Teddy Roosevelt, or after Roosevelt. I am skeptical about his ability to defeat Taft in 1908, however.

2. To build on the last scenario, what would a Bryan presidency in 1908-16 or 1912-20 mean for the Great War? Obviously, there would be a good deal more pacifism coming out of Washington, but how far would this go? Would Bryan take a tougher line against Britain and France and not extend them the same lines of war credit?

3. In either case, how would Bryan's anti-imperialism cause the Philippines to evolve differently?


Bonus points awarded if generous German donations are one cause for the success of #1 or #2. ;)
Edited by Basil Fawlty, Aug 4 2013, 12:05 PM.
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Basil Fawlty
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Post Tenebras Lux
I've been revisiting this topic again as a possible PoD for 1900-1912. The most logical time to see Bryan elected would be in 1912, which would set things up for a very different Great War.

Bryan would probably obstruct some of the credit to the Allies, take a more neutral stance and generally let the Germans walk over America. That in turn would address some of the "balance" issues we always talk about, while at the same time virtually guaranteeing a Roosevelt victory in 1916 from backlash. I'm not crazy about the Bryanites' monetary policy though. The Philippines could also come out worse for the wear.

An interesting question is whether lack of credit would force a selloff of British assets in Latin America as we saw in the Second World War.
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Jacapo
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One of the big things you might see happen would be the lack of sale of silver to Great Britain. I believe it was some 350 million US silver dollars were melted for sale to UK in order for them to mint hard currency for India and quell rebel sentiment there. That alone could potentially cause the British to have to at the very least divert troop resources to india.
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John
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I don't know if WJB really spices things up at all.

EDIT: That is if you give him only one term.
Edited by John, Jul 22 2014, 11:02 AM.
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Simon Darkshade
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Nefarious Swashbuckler
The sell off in South America occured as part of the terms of Lend Lease, so it is unlikely to occur in the Great War.
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