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The Presidents: 1836-1936 - An Interactive US AAR

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((You have a point about the FBI and growing anarchists and socialists, but it specifically states in Jamous' first term that the average income for every American increased greatly, and nowhere was anything really mentioned for monopolies growing/developing. Aside from what anti-Jamous politicians said, there was no proof any monopolies existed, and if we go by their word they we must go by Jamous and his supporter's word as well, which really just puts us back at where we started. From my (constant as of late) rereading of both his terms, it really sounds like the average worker had it best under Jamous.

Despite the attempted revolution of 1871, now known as the “Little Anarchy”, Jamous’ second term delivered the prosperity promised in his campaign. The average earnings of an American farmer almost doubled, while the American factory worker’s salary had almost tripled by 1873.
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And about the whole aiding Prussia thing...))

The President thus headed into the National Conventions of 1868 as the man who had been stuck with the Cuban problem, and had made the United States a European friend who was not Britain. It was luck alone that the British too supported the Prussians, having kept their views on Germany to themselves before the outbreak of the war. Jamous could take comfort in the fact that he had managed to keep the United States out of a war with Spain. To many voters, who did not mind a dollar or two going to Prussia in a time of such prosperity at home, this would undoubtedly be enough.
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Vinogradist Tribune
Callahan addresses his supporters in New York City
Stunning accusations of electoral misconduct!

In a surprise to many of his financial backers and colleagues in high office, Presidential runner up and consummate moderate Eamon Callahan declared that he would be disputing the fair conduct of the Presidential election, citing evidence of widespread ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and FBI harassment of campaign staff in many western states. The announcement was made to an furious audience at campaign headquarters in Brooklyn last night.

To the further consternation of authorities in the state capital, who were fearing riots at the prospect of a drawn out lawsuit, this morning the Democratic leader announced he was reconsidering his dedication to legislative campaigning and that he was urging all affiliated unions to begin a general strike until Vallejo steps down as President elect. He was further quoted as declaring "This insult to democracy is the beginning of the end of union cooperation with the federal system."

A few doubters were heard in the aftermath of the latest press release, some speculating that Callahan was too far removed from the union movement outside of the eastern states. However others in the crowd were enthusiastically praising a stand against the westerner dominated Federalist party. Needless to say we will be covering the events as they unfold.

- Clyde Mansfeld
 
I would have to say that Jeremiah Williams was the greatest President ever. He saved the union, won the civil war, issued the emancipation proclamation after a long congressional career as an abolitionist and added Hawaii and Alaska to the union.
 
Gloa said:
Williams: 7, 8, 5, C
- Williams' economy was impacted by the Civil War, but his policies continued to support it as previous presidents had. In foreign affairs he annexed Hawaii and won the Civil War (here included in foreign affairs as a feat of foreign diplomacy and large scale military actions against a developed rebel political entity). In domestic affairs, his policies of slowing slavery and other reforms cast him and his party as reactionaries against numerous breakaways that developed. The reconstruction also turned out much more poorly than he had hoped. (Political Skill: The aforementioned division of parties was a downer, but he did hold the nation together during the Civil War and managed a competent reelection).
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You have to remember that Jamous was the Secretary of Reconstruction due to the close post-civil war election between them.
 
As the Vice Presidential Candidate on Callahan's ticket I drop out from the race and do not endorse Callahan's views. Instead I'd like to congratulate president elect Vallejo for his victory.

Jimmy Nightmore
 
((Interesting to see how everyone's greatest president just so happens to be the one they played. :p))

atomicsoda said:
You have to remember that Jamous was the Secretary of Reconstruction due to the close post-civil war election between them.
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((Yeah, but its the presidents get the blame usually.

Everyone else should make their own scoresheets, so BBB can try to average them together or something to figure out the overall views, which will hopefully balance out any biases I or you others have.))
 
Gloa said:
((Everyone else should make their own scoresheets, so BBB can try to average them together or something to figure out the overall views, which will hopefully balance out any biases I or you others have.))
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Exactly what I was thinking. Just plug in the names on a 1-10 list, and I'll post the aggregate scores.
 
((On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being aweful and 10 great:
King: 3
Cameron: 9
Walsh: 4
Brass: 7
Williams: 4
Jamous: 10
Mandrake: 3
Callahan: 4
Bridgeworthy: 5 ))
 
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((Oops, fingers slipping across the key board xD
Changed, but either way it is low due to his allowing Mandrake and Young to harshly treat the south in the war, as well as not stomping out the development of the Republican's use of mud slinging in future elections during his term.
And the fact that I'm overly biased, Mandrake's score was low as well.))
 
((because he campaigned against him? :p))

BigBadBob said:
Exactly what I was thinking. Just plug in the names on a 1-10 list, and I'll post the aggregate scores.
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((I've added in an average score (actually there were some quite unexpected results) and a "stretched" score now (because the average score was very close... and the stretched scores still are pretty close now. Andrew Jackson is really skewing my results.). The stretched score could be used to aggregate, or perhaps you'll figure out a better way (maybe just using King's score as the baseline score and thus making the contrasts between scores even more apparent.) ))
 
((well I would rate all the presidents, but unfortunately I missed the first half of the game. The presidents that I did see I can't really remember much about now...))
 
Spitfire5793 said:
((well I would rate all the presidents, but unfortunately I missed the first half of the game. The presidents that I did see I can't really remember much about now...))
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Just skim through the updates then, to refresh your memory. And if not being there was a proper reason to refrain from passing judgment on historical figures, then where would historians be? :D
 
((This is not at all gonna be biased. ;)

Arthur King (1837-41): 2
John F. Cameron (1841-49): 10
Eldud Walsh (1849-53): 3
Jeremiah Brass (1853-57): 3
John F. Cameron (1857-58): 8
Jeremiah Williams (1858-1865): 7
Michael Jamous (1865-73): 4
Maximilian Mandrake (1873-77): 7
Eamon Callahan (1877-81):8
Josaiah Bridgeworthy (1881-85): 9

))
 
Vallejo: The Giant Heads For Bed​

The election of 1885 ended in the most spectacular landslide in American history. The Federal Party took full advantage of the collapse of the Republican Party, moving immediately to catch the voters and politicians who were now left without a party. The strategy paid extraordinary dividends, bringing the Federal Party victory in all states outside the South.
The landslide set off a ripple effect in the American political landscape. The South, feeling threatened by the isolation it experienced as the only Democratic region in the election, soon became the rallying point for the conservatives. In February 1885, a convention of conservative minded politicians convened in Louisville, and voted almost unanimously to form the American Conservative Party [1]. For the Democratic Party, Callahan’s “Great Strike” proved to be the defining post-1885 moment.

election1885.jpg

1. Results for the Presidential election of 1885.​

Callahan, disgusted and unwilling to believe that such a landslide was possible, set to accusing the Federal Party of fraud. To support his cause, and cause trouble for the “wrongful government”, Callahan used his numerous union connections through the NLU to organize massive strikes [2]. In New England and the Midwest, more than 25% of the states’ industrial workforce went on strike [3].
Vallejo handled the strikes and accusations by ordering an investigation into the election, which in July 1885 published a report confirming the legitimacy of Vallejo’s presidency. Callahan’s stunt cost his party numerous governorships in the affected states, and essentially bound them in debt to the NLU for the foreseeable future, making the Democratic Party the socialist faction in American politics, and cost Callahan his life. The former president was assassinated by a lone gunman on July 12th 1885 [4].
The strikes were effectively ended by the publishing of the report. The effect of the strikes though was electric, setting forward a series of political shifts nationwide. In the South, the ACP swept into most state legislatures. In the Midwest, the Democratic Party gained a majority of state legislatures through the votes of workers that had either gone on strike with the NLU or supported the strikes. The Federal Party fought hard in the West to keep its dominant position, but was eventually forced to yield all but the coast to the Democrats and ACP.
The Federals however, swept into absolute control of Pennsylvania and New York through the tireless campaigning in both states of New York’s new Governor, Pennsylvania native James Harrison. While President Vallejo’s attention was divided by the political battle for the West and Mid-West, Harrison endorsed candidate after candidate and held an estimated 420 speeches. He effectively secured the two largest states of the Union as not only a Federal stronghold, but a formidable base on which to stand should he ever choose to run for the presidency [5].

jamesharrison1889.jpg

2. James Harrison, c. 1885.​

After the “Reshuffle” of 1885, Vallejo set to work providing what he had promised. His first target was the “cooperation of labor and capital”. Supported unwittingly by a Democratic Party eager to repay its debts to the NLU, Vallejo passed numerous laws protecting the rights of both labor unions and employers. The ACP opposed all the measures for labor union protection, but brought their weight to bear for employers, sending these measures through with some of the highest margins of victory in US history.
The economy entered full-on boom in the late 1880s. Many economists in both Europe and America assumed that growth had reached critical mass in Bridgeworthy’s term, and expected it to plateau at any moment. This was well-founded in the example of Europe’s growth. However, the United States economy continued to grow at even more ridiculous speeds. The massive expansion of wealth and per capita income served to mask the even more rapid growth of Howard Industries and John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil into monopolies.
The vast influence and wealth of the Rockefellers, Howards and Vanderbilts of the nation would cause major legal and political battles in the late 1890s and early 1900s, but for now, people concentrated on the vast wealth of America as a whole. The US economy grew by a staggering 38% between 1885 and 1889. Europe watched stunned and increasingly wary of the monster across the Atlantic that now surpassed the combined GDP of Great Britain and France.

johndrockefeller.jpg

3. John D. Rockefeller, c. 1891, owner of Standard Oil and the world’s first billionaire [6].​

In foreign policy, Vallejo’s military expansion program couldn’t have come at a better time. The United States’ military prowess had been proven in 1880, and since then the rest of the European powers had recognized the United States as hegemon of the Western Hemisphere. A challenger could only be created within the Americas. The UPCA stepped up to the podium.
In 1887, the long-standing American dominance of Mexico was broken with the treaty of Morelia. Emperor Pedro III had long held a thinly veiled resentment toward the United States for taking the Rio Grande, a territory Pedro considered to be rightfully his despite his father’s renunciation of Mexican claims in 1873. The UPCA, bolstered in its ambitions by a growing military and the third largest economy in the Americas after the US and British Canada, offered Pedro an alliance in July 1886. As secret clauses, Pedro would also put the UPCA at first priority in diplomacy and trade, clauses which Pedro’s “Yankophobia” happily accepted.
The UPCA probably would have headed for removing Colombia from the US sphere of influence next, had Vallejo not warned President Romano of the ill-advisedness of such action. With the US Army due to expand by almost 200 vessels in the next 15 years, Romano was inclined to let ambassador Ortega cut off negotiations for a “Second Treaty of Morelia” with the Colombian government. The UPCA may have been a great power by European standards, but placed next to the overbearing, and many South-Central American historians say “suffocating” might of the United States, the UPCA was a small player.

upcaromano.jpg

4. Alberto Romano, 22nd President of the UPCA.​

The loss of Mexico may have bothered some Americans, but the economic and scientific dominance America now enjoyed more than made up for foreign frustrations. In August 1886, Thomas Edison finally perfected his design for an electric light bulb. Edison’s invention inspired Nicola Tesla, and in the following decade, their “war of electricity” brought the light bulb to every city and train in America.
In 1888, a young man named Henry Ford saw the result of a small donation he had given to two German inventors who had come to America searching for money to create “the internal combustion engine”. The Benz-Daimler Automobile became the first car, and Ford became fascinated with the idea of someday creating one himself. The tale of Daimler and Benz prompted French president Georges Clemenceau to say that “all of Europe’s best seem to be going west”.

[1] – The ACP’s first convention was held in Louisville instead of the originally proposed location of Richmond due to Northern and Western conservatives’ fears that a gathering in Richmond would alienate the conservatives from the rest of the nation, by bringing back memories of the Confederacy.

[2] – The National Labor Union was created in 1872 to act as a pro-labor union lobby in Washington, and a “labor union for labor unions”. Callahan had been its first chairman.

[3] – Of the Eastern states, New York proved most resilient to “The Great Strike”, with only 4% of workers going on strike. New York’s resilience is most often attributed to the state’s lack of an NLU power base, caused by a wave of anti-unionism that gripped New York in the early 1880s, and persisted well into the next decade. Nevertheless, even in New York the strikes proved enough of a blemish on Democratic Governor Andrew Wilkinson’s record for the Federal Candidate, James Harrison, to defeat him in the July election.

[4] – The motive behind the assassination remains a mystery to this day, as does the identity of the gunman. Callahan’s murder has thus become one of the most famous murder cases in American history, which most investigators delve into at least once during their career.

[5] – For Vallejo, Harrison would be no concern, as the Governor had long ago promised that “if I [Harrison] were to sit at your [Vallejo’s] desk, then it would be when fireworks commemorate the end of my century”. Thus the Harrison was out of the race for 1889 and 1893.

[6] – Rockefeller’s bank account first surpassed one billion dollars in 1911. He was the richest man in the world until 1930, when he fell to second place behind Scrooge McDuich.

------------------------

Exceptional Situation(s):

Alright. Somebody tell me if I should tone Harrison down. I won’t be able to stop myself.

It’s primary time! Parties are: American Conservative, Federal and Democratic.

The Skinny:

American Conservative: Conservatives. Duh. Ask Projekt for clarification on what he means with that.

Federal: You’re in the middle now. Desire for reforms is like a more moderate version of the democratic one. “The Big Stick’s” what foreign policy’s all about. Delegation of responsibilities to the states, but not of sovereignty. FBI is still there. They’re all about government agencies that oversee the states’ ability to take over responsibilities the federal government hands to itself, and then to them.

Democratic: Let’s get Socialistic. The Libertarians are back.

Note: Take a good look at the monopolies paragraph. Right now, NO ONE is noticing how big Howard Industries and Standard Oil are getting.

Note: Federals are still up for revision so that they don’t become a massive tent like they did pre-1885.
 
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BigBadBob said:
Note: Take a good look at the monopolies paragraph. Right now, NO ONE is noticing how big Howard Industries and Standard Oil are getting.
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((Does this mean we're not allowed to notice?))
 
WelshDude said:
((Does this mean we're not allowed to notice?))
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For now, it means you can voice some concerns, but proposing counter-measures is premature. Everybody's going: "Sure, they're big. That just means they employ more people right? What could possibly go wrong?".
 
I will be running for the nomination of the Federal Party for reelection. I promise to stand by the same sound policies as before to bring us another four more years of prosperity, peace, and good governance. I will ensure the close ties we have with our fellow republics in the Americas.

((Edit: I've updated the history summary and split off 1884 onward as a new "era" of party politics now that the Conservatives have formed, the Democrats have leaned left, and the Federals have taken their new position in politics. Currently it's called the rather boring name "Industrial Era", but maybe it will get a better name later on.))
 
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