The Problem With Populism
1913-1921: Woodrow Wilson / Thomas Marshall (Democratic)
1912: Theodore Roosevelt / Hiram Johnson (Progressive), William Taft / Nicholas Butler (Republican)
1916: Charles Hughes / Charles Fairbanks (Republican)
1921-1929: Theodore Roosevelt / Charles Curtis (Republican) [1]
1920: James Cox / Franklin Roosevelt (Democratic), James "Pa" Ferguson / William Hough (American)
1924: William McAdoo / Charles Bryan (Democratic), James "Pa" Ferguson / scattered ("Wet" Democratic) [2]
1929-1933: Hiram Johnson / Hiram Bingham (Republican) [3]
1928: Thomas Walsh / James Reed (Democratic) [4]
1933-1935: Huey Long / Miriam "Ma" Ferguson (Democratic) [5]
1932: Theodore Roosevelt Jr. / James Rolph (Republican), Henry Breckenridge / John Davis ("Bryanite" Democratic), Hiram Johnson / Smedley Butler (Progressive)
1935-1937: Miriam "Ma" Ferguson / VACANT (Democratic) [6]
1937-1941: Miriam "Ma" Ferguson / Paul McNutt (Democratic) [7]
1936: William Borah / Hamilton Fish III (Republican), William "Alfalfa Bill" Murray / Coleman Blease ("Mad as Hell" Democratic)
1941-XXXX: Quentin Roosevelt / Herbert Hoover (Republican) [8]
1940: James Byrnes / James Farley ("Clean" Democratic), James "Pa" Ferguson / Simon Buckner Jr (Democratic)
[1] The old Bull Moose himself is nominated easily as the Republican nominee from President. He had spent the last decade out of power stirring up support for the war (and then condemning Wilson for a bad deal) but decided against a safari trip overseas, deciding he needed a little more time to recover from the bullet wound from campaigning in 1912. With his sons Ted, Archie, Kermit, and Quentin all having returned safely from the war, TR was ready for his last political rodeo. While he may have had to dial back some of his 1912 promises, he easily crushed Cox in the national wave and immediately began governing as a moderate progressive but with his characteristic energy that would frequently irritate the Old Guard Republicans. Even when his Secretary of Interior and former Rough Rider, Albert Fall, and the ensuing scandal did little to hurt his popularity once the people realized it was merely Fall who was corrupt as opposed to Attorney General Beveridge. Recognizing that much of the progressive gains he made may be in danger in an open nomination (and also remembering his great mistake of leaving it to his successors) while the party realized LaFollette was just itching to run a splinter ticket, the old man would surprise the party by announcing another run for the Presidency which, despite some handwringing about norms by party bosses and newspaper editors, he would easily win.
[2] The Democrats, reeling from a 1920 landslide and a 1922 midterm that was not nearly as good as it should have been, were in a state of panic. Wilson's son-in-law and the former Treasury Secretary, William McAdoo, was the clear choice for the party. Despite a sizable uproar among northeastern bosses of the immigrant communities over McAdoo's unwillingness to condemn the Klan, the bosses found a lack of alternative options with their main base in New York still suffering under Governor Miller. While Senator Underwood made a spirited attempt, McAdoo would inevitably take the nomination.
The events of 1924 certainly weren't set in stone, despite popular belief. Former Governor James Ferguson had ran the previous election to little fanfare or popularity. He had managed to improve his reputation out of power, so that a significant percentage of the people believed he was innocent and a victim of party politics as opposed to his own corruption and incompetence. Ferguson saw the discontent in the party not only with a Klan-backed candidate but also with a Prohibition supporter, the two pillars that he had fought the most as Governor. He decided the time was ripe (1920 had taught him the importance of timing) and now was ripe. He announced another run for President, not as the candidate of the vaguely named American Party, but directly as the "wet" and anti-Klan candidate. Voters who knew little of his history flocked to him as a populist boss who would keep the taps flowing and their communities unmolested.
[3] The Second TR term was uneventful as age battered down the Bull Moose. The larger fight was over his successor, one which TR shocked the party by backing his old running mate, Hiram Johnson. Johnson, a prominent Senator who was the face of the party's progressive faction, fought hard against the party bosses who opposed him and managed to win the nomination. TR passed away shortly after Johnson's ascendancy which was probably for the best as Johnson would prove to be a more inept President than anyone could have imagined. He took any disagreement as a personal attack. He spent massive amounts of time fighting over the most minor differences in policy. By the time the Depression hit, the party and the country was already exhausted. Little would they know...
[4] The incredibly unimpressive performance of the Walsh ticket and the ticket split of 1924 made it clear to the Democratic Party that they couldn't muddle through another election. This was the direct result of the primary voting system for nomination, a system designed to make the party of Jackson and Bryan truly the party of the masses by putting the voting power into their hands. Little would they know...
[5] As the Johnson administration imploded in on itself culminating in the man losing renomination and his announcement of reviving the Progressive Party banner (not even the diehard progressives were convinced by this), the Democratic Party would have liked to have a nice peaceful nomination process, putting forth an inoffensive popular nominee. Instead, the newly established primary process meant that perfectly acceptable candidates like Albert Ritchie or Speaker Garner was completely over mad populists like the newly elected Senator James Ferguson (thanks to his wife, Governor "Ma" Ferguson, having completely stacked the state political system in the family's image) and the yeoman Governor "Alfalfa" Bill Murray who promised bread, butter, bacons, and beans as well as blaming minorities. The nature of the delegate system being new to everyone meant that the other candidates were cornered out as Ferguson and Murray fought to a standstill, leading to neither having enough delegates. A negotiation was required for the two candidates, and ultimately, they would settle on Murray's pick, Governor Huey Long, paired with "Ma" Ferguson ("Pa" being deemed too controversial to risk). Despite an astroturfed alternative Democratic ticket claiming to represent the true values of the party and not this rabble, Long would easily win the election.
[6] The assassination of Long by a mad anarchist who didn't realize it wasn't 19th century anymore would fundamentally change the direction of the nation, so much so that Long is to this day remembered in hagiographic terms in relation to his successor. Ferguson as President would prove to be monstrously corrupt, stacking the halls of Washington DC with Ferguson cronies. The massive Long-era infrastructure project money would disappear into Ferguson-affiliated companies which did little to stimulate the economy. And "Pa" Ferguson himself would find himself in the White House as the new Secretary of State where he wined and dined across the world with Chamberlain, Mussolini, and Schleicher. The Ferugsons' promising to continue to keep the poor farmers and working class afloat kept enough voters loyal to the Fergusons that few party leaders dared to oppose them beyond begging Ma to not step down for Pa. Ma herself was more ambitious and savvy than given credit for, recognizing that stepping aside for her husband may lead to their very demise. She simply picked a popular governor and won her reelection despite an energetic splinter campaign by Alfalfa Bill.
[7] To say that the Fergusons' control over the party collapsed when Pa made his move to take the nomination for himself is inaccurate. Already, the grounds for their fall were set with the revival of the Republican Party in the midterms that saw the rise of Speaker Snell as the memory the Johnsonvilles faded. Oversight committees under Snell's gavel started figuring out just how much money was embezzled, just how much corruption was present started tearing down the Ferguson Legend. By the time Pa ran for the nomination, the bosses and officials had realized both that it would be electoral suicide as well as the people were starting to get sick of the First Family. With the shocking results of the Kentucky primary, the Fergusons went into emergency mode, calling in every favor they had, and ultimately, in their desperation, increasing the power of delegates. The nomination was theirs, but the damage was done. More and more, their empire collapsed as, for the first time since Ferguson's 1924 run, the Democratic Party faced a competent splinter ticket under the conservative but inoffensive southerner Governor Byrnes allied with the Boston machine boss Senator Farley.
[8] In the end, it was enough. The strength of the splinter ticket and the Republican nomination of the son of the man many regarded as the greatest Republican President since Lincoln, a man who had proven himself in the fields of France where his bravery saved dozens of comrades and won him a Medal of Honor, a Governor who fought Tammany Hall to a standstill. If any man looks like he can lead America to an era of normality as well as navigate the hazardous waters of a Eurasia in flames, it must be Quentin Roosevelt, President-Elect of the United States.