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AHC: Alternate Longest Ruling Leaders

Oppo

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Currently, the record for longest non-royal leader is held by Fidel Castro at 52 years. From 1959 to 2011, he held some position of power in Cuba; spanning the rule of eleven American presidents and ten British prime ministers. But who could exceed this record?

Molotov was considered as a possible candidate to succeed Lenin if neither Trotsky or Stalin made it. Assuming he ruled until his OTL death in 1986, that would put him at 62 years in office.

Similarly, had Kaganovich taken over the Union before 1939, he could have beaten Castro’s record.

If Chiang Kai-shek refused to form a united front with the Communist Party and Zhang Xueliang took over China for life, he would rule the nation for 65 years.

Kim Il-sung’s younger brother Kim Yong-ju had been the Supreme Leader’s next in line before being passed over for Kim Jong-il. He is still alive today. If Kim the Elder died before 1967, Kim Yong-ju would beat Castro’s record. If we take the year Kim Yong-ju was first appointed to major office as his start date (1954), it is possible that he could be in power for 65 years and counting.

While not a non-royal leader, if Puyi lived as long as his younger brother Puren, he could have ruled China for 94 years. While IOTL, the Xuantong Emperor died in 1967, this was due to doctors in the PRC being hesitant to treat him during the Cultural Revolution.

Ramón Serrano Súñer was a Spanish politician in the early days of Francoist Spain. Had he taken power in 1938 (say Franco was killed in action), he could have ruled for 62 years.

Can you guys think of any other possibilities?
 
Molotov was considered as a possible candidate to succeed Lenin if neither Trotsky or Stalin made it. Assuming he ruled until his OTL death in 1986, that would put him at 62 years in office.
As I did in this list, itself inspired by Meadow and Roem doing it with Harold Macmillan (and considered continuing with Lord Carrington) who also had suitably lengthy lives to allow for long periods in office.
 
Huey Long becomes President, builds a powerful Southern oriented Share The Wealth machine - Jimmy Carter becomes President in the 60s and is still President to this day.
If we can do OTL long-lived US presidents or candidates without term limits, Herbert Hoover springs to mind - along with Charles Evans Hughes, William Jennings Bryan, etc. And then there's Harold Stassen...
 
If we can do OTL long-lived US presidents or candidates without term limits, Herbert Hoover springs to mind - along with Charles Evans Hughes, William Jennings Bryan, etc. And then there's Harold Stassen...

isnt there some old political cartoon where it says 'presidential election of 2020' and an impossibly wizened WJB is glaring from a poster
 
Ismet Inonu, the second President of Turkey was leader of the CHP from 1938 to the year before his death in 1972. If he wins the 1950 elections (and holds together the various factions better) you could have a world where he's Turkish leader for 24 years, and the CHP becomes a properly dynastic party (one and half party state etc.)
 
I once had Edward Porter Alexander at the head of a Dixie Porfiriato from 1875 to 1910, then there's Diaz himself setting up shop immediately after ousting Emperor Max and lasting a bit longer.

Theoretically de Valera could be Irish head of government from the 1920s to the 1970s.
 
If we can do OTL long-lived US presidents or candidates without term limits, Herbert Hoover springs to mind - along with Charles Evans Hughes, William Jennings Bryan, etc. And then there's Harold Stassen...

Theodore Roosevelt decides to run again in 1908, not handing over to Taft. By the time 1912 runs around, foreign policy tensions are high, and Roosevelt decides to run for another term, anticipating World War I. In 1916, he has brought America into the fight and is re-elected. Having won the war, he is re-elected once more in 1920, then in '24, and '28. Finally, the Depression hits, and in 1932 Roosevelt agrees not to seek another term.

...and the Democrats, under Franklin D. Roosevelt win in a landslide...
 
Maybe if Mahathir Mohamad rises to power faster and just sort of stays there?

I also wonder if we could approach this from the other end. Maybe with fewer dictatorships, or with more of a norm that authoritarian rulers need to leave power after a decade or so to retain the appearance of democracy, we might could have a significantly shorter record to beat.

Another possibility: There are no term limits for Governor of Texas. In many ways, it's almost a figurehead position. Hilmar Moore's grandfather served as a statewide official, but he himself took a different tack, serving as mayor of Richmond, Texas from 1949 until his 2012 death. What if Moore was elected in, say, 1954 (as an outsider candidate, promising to clean up the corruption of the Shivers administration) and never left?
 
Two possibilities from Japan: Prince Naruhiko and Nakasone. Both Prime Ministers in OTL, both with a lot of potential to have ended up way longer in office all the way through becoming centenarians. For the former, a Japan that restrains itself from war with the Allies as a result of Konoe containing the militarists could put Naruhiko in power for over half a decade, which could well be guaranteed for as long as the one-party state remains in force and opening up the way for up to 50 years of rule by a single Japanese Prime Minister. For the latter, have a few scandals and Cabinet reshuffles go a little differently and he could feasibly get into power in the 70s, and under the right circumstances, especially regarding the economy and developments in East Asia and the United States, keep him in office through the one-and-a-half-party state.
 
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