American Elections Mod

[skbrewer]

No name just yet! I'm working on a major overhaul of US election events. For a taste, here's the event chain (not the actual events, just the logic) for the 1936 and 1940 elections.

There will be three styles of elections.

1) Darkest Hour -- Sleep all of my events and use the Darkest Hour elections.
2) Historical -- The proper historical election events always fire.
3) Total Control -- You control the nominating conventions and the elections.

#############################################################################
### EVENT CHAIN                                                EVENT NUMBER
#############################################################################
# Activate the revised elections and sleep old events             17760001
# Additionally, choose which type of elections the player wants.     ""
# Was Huey Long assassinated in 1935?                             17760500

#############################################################################
##### 1936 Republican National Convention (June 9-12)
# The Republicans Nominate the Landon/Knox ticket                 17760010
#
##### 1936 Democratic National Convention (June 23-27)
# The Democrats Nominate FDR and John Nance Garner for Term 2     17760011
#
##### 1936 Presidential Election
# Historical -- FDR Elected to Second Term                        17760012
# Choose FDR (Dem), Landon (Rep), or Gerald Smith (SOW)           17760013
#############################################################################


#############################################################################
##### 1940 Republican National Convention (June 24-28) - Philadelphia
# Historical -- Republicans Nominate the Wilkie/McNary Ticket     17760014
### FDR or Gerald L.K. Smith won in 1936
# Choose -- Wilkie/McNary, Taft/Bricker, or Dewey/Bricker         17760015
### Landon won in 1936
# Republicans nominate Landon/Knox for a second term              17760016
#
##### 1940 Democratic National Convention (July 15-18) - Chicago
# Historical -- Democrats Nominate FDR/Wallace for a 3rd term     17760017
### FDR Won in 1936, he seeks a third term and is opposed
# Choose FDR/Wallace, Farley/Bankhead, or Garner/McNutt           17760018
### Alf Landon or Gerald Smith Won in 1936
# Choose Wallace/Bankhead or Farley/Barkley                       17760019
#
##### 1940 Presidential Election
# Historical -- FDR Elected to Unprecedented Third Term           17760020
#### Huey Long Lived
### Republicans nominate Wilkie
# FDR36 -- FDR 3 (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindbergh (AFP), Long (SOW) 17760021
## Smith won in 36
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW) 17760022
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW) 17760023
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW)17760024
## Smith lost, Long lived in 1935
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)    17760025
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)    17760026
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)   17760027
## Smith lost, Long died in 1935
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                17760028
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                17760029
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Wilkie (Rep), Lindy (AFP)               17760030
### Republicans nominate Taft
# FDR36 -- FDR 3 (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)       17760031
## Smith won in 36
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW)   17760032
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW)   17760033
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW)  17760034
## Smith lost, Long lived in 1935
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)      17760035
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)      17760036
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)     17760037
## Smith lost, Long died in 1935
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                  17760038
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                  17760039
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Taft (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                 17760040
### Republicans nominate Dewey
# FDR36 -- FDR 3 (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)      17760041
## Smith won in 36
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW)  17760042
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW)  17760043
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Smith 2 (SOW) 17760044
## Smith lost, Long lived in 1935
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)     17760045
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)     17760046
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)    17760047
## Smith lost, Long died in 1935
# DEM-F -- Farley (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                 17760048
# DEM-G -- Garner (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                 17760049
# DEM-W -- Wallace (Dem), Dewey (Rep), Lindy (AFP)                17760050
### Alf Landon won in 1936
## Long lived in 1935
# DEM-F -- Landon 2 (Rep), Farley (Dem), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)  17760051
# DEM-G -- Landon 2 (Rep), Garner (Dem), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW)  17760052
# DEM-W -- Landon 2 (Rep), Wallace (Dem), Lindy (AFP), Long (SOW) 17760053
## Long died in 1935
# DEM-F -- Landon 2 (Rep), Farley (Dem), Lindy (AFP)              17760054
# DEM-G -- Landon 2 (Rep), Garner (Dem), Lindy (AFP)              17760055
# DEM-W -- Landon 2 (Rep), Wallace (Dem), Lindy (AFP)             17760056
#############################################################################

I have all the election events done through 1948 so far, and I'm obviously planning all the way through 1965. I'm willing to go further forward and back if mod makers want to incorporate this into 1914-1965 or 1936-Whenever mods. The largest elections in number of events are 40 and 44, because the third parties balloon the decision tree out, but I think it's going to be manageable.

Presidential elections will have full slates of diplomatic slider and minister changes. I'll also be adding in the Congressional elections as a very simple Dem or Rep choice that will push the Left/Right slider. There's also at least one event where the party in control of Congress affects presidential election events. Charles McNary and Wendell Wilkie die in the same year. If the Wilkie/McNary ticket is elected, then when McNary dies there's a check to see if Congress is controlled by the Republicans. If it is then Wilkie pushes through Thomas Dewey as his replacement VP. If it's not, then he chooses to wait until the nominating convention and soldier on to the election with no VP. After all, he's only 52...

I'm also adding flavor events in each year to make playing as the US more interesting. The Literary Digest and Gallup Polls in 1936, the 1936 Heat Wave (an idea I'm shamelessly cribbing from Kaiserreich), a Supreme Court challenge to the New Deal (National Labor Relations Board v Jones & Laughlin Steel), the Court-Packing Plan... I'm going to pare it down to keep it from feeling spammy, but as the war period approaches the pace will pick up in an effort to simulate the uncertainty of the time. I have the USS Kearny torpedoed, USS Reuben James, USS Greer, SS Robin Moor... Also events with the US Ambassador to Japan...

I also want to offer a few event chains that can lead the US to either Socialism or Fascism if people want to play an off-the-wall ahistorical campaign. A Lindbergh presidency would stick close to the Neutrality Act and sign a non-aggression pact with Hitler, leading toward Fascism. If Gerald L.K. Smith wins and is succeeded by Huey Long (who the player has the choice of sparing from assassination), then he is assassinated in office, and I'd like to have an even more leftist replacement who leads the country toward Left-Wing Radical territory, and potentially into Leninism.

Other zaniness is planned. Convention floor fights, a potential Strom Thurmond presidency, and president Henry Wallace accused of being a communist spy. That's not even to mention Joseph McCarthy or the potential MacArthur presidency.

You don't need complicated OOB and AI changes with new nations to get a mod that will never play the same way twice! Also note that I don't plan on having event chains force you into corners, and every few elections there's an option that'll bring you back toward realism if you want a change. After all, even a fascist USA might turn inward to forge an impenetrable nationalist isolationist state rather than ally with Hitler and invade Britain. No Foreign Entanglements!

If you have questions or suggestions for possible event chains or ahistorical cabinet secretaries, post 'em!

 

[skbrewer]

#Reserved#

 

[Timmie0307]

That looks amazing and would add a lot more to playing the US!

Tim

 

[Doc Grant]

I will definitely be downloading this. Politics is one of my favorite parts of HOI, even if it's somewhat overlooked when war comes about. This mod will give the game extra flavor and make roleplaying easier. Can't wait.

For one scenario, maybe FDR chooses a different vp then Truman? He barely won both the primary and general in his last senate race before being chosen, so there's lots of potential for someone else.

 

[skbrewer]

In 1944 the party was worried about FDR's health. They were close to renominating Wallace as VP, but there were worries about his personal life (he followed Eastern spiritualism, and he had questionable loyalties to a Russian guru named Nicholas Roerich) and that he was too left wing to be president. FDR liked Wallace, but he agreed to take Truman to preserve party unity. A lot of delegates were still loyal to Wallace, and he led on the first nomination ballot, but didn't get enough votes to secure the nomination. Rather than digging in for a lengthy floor fight, the delegates nominated Truman as Vice President on the second ballot. Truman did nearly lose his Senate primary, but that was moreso because of the Kansas City political machine than any earnest challenger, and he'd also gained national recognition since then as the Chairman of the PSI/Truman Committee.

So, long story short, if FDR is still president at the 1944 election, the player has two choices at the Democratic National Convention-- nominate FDR/Truman or FDR/Wallace. A Wallace takeover of the presidency upon FDR's death will have its own little event chain, which will probably (I'm focusing on elections first and then doing most of the flavor events after) include an option where Wallace is accused of being a communist spy. There were already historical allegations that he leaked state secrets to Russia in his letters to Roerich, and he was famously fired as Commerce Secretary by Truman over disagreements in policy toward the Soviet Union.

I'm glad people like the sound of it though, and that they recognize the RP potential. I'm definitely a roleplayer when I play HoI, and I think it'll be fun to have a mod that encourages some "historical alternate history" where there's the potential to move to Socialism or Fascism for those who want to play it, but there's mostly middle territory (presidents Wilkie, Taft, Dewey, Landon, Farley, Garner, Wallace, Byrd, Russell, Bankhead...) where things would have been mostly the same, but different in surprising ways.

 

[Jedrek]

I just hope that after US we will have other political systems expanded as well. Non-Churchill UK for example...

 

[skbrewer]

That'd definitely be fun if people want to do it. I'm picking the US because I'm American (I live in Canada now, so I rep the old Dominion flag ), and when I majored in history a lot of my focus was on World War II and the Cold War, so it's what I know. I'll be back to work on the mod during the week, so nothing new to report. I'm one of those people with wonky schedules who doesn't get anything fun done on weekends.

 

[Jedrek]

My knowledge of interwar political systems is limited to Poland, so I don't know if there would be any point in doing much improvements - all in all, in 99% of games this country gets wiped out by the Jerries anyway. Plus it was not quite a democratic system, so there wouldn't be much fun for the player I guess...

 

[skbrewer]

This is still bumbling along, but I had to rework a lot of the logic. There were too many cases where the same person was running for a party's nomination in several different years, and it lead to having to track four or five different decision trees just for one guy (Dewey and Wallace were the two big offenders), so I've reworked the electoral lists somewhat.

The basic starting point now is:

1936: Dems renominate FDR/Garner, Reps nominate Landon/Knox, and if Huey Long wasn't assassinated then the Share Our Wealth Party nominates Gerald L.K. Smith and some other mook as VP.

1940: If the Republicans didn't win in 1936 they nominate Wilkie/McNary (historical) or Senator Robert Taft/Governor John Bricker. If Landon won he's renominated. If FDR won in 1936 then he seeks a third term with Wallace as VP, but he's opposed in his own primary by James Farley/John H. Bankhead II (not to be confused with his brother, Speaker William B. Bankhead) and John Nance Garner/Paul McNutt. If Smith won, then he decides not to run again citing "health concerns" (of the .45 caliber variety) and the SOW Party nominates the Huey Long/Upton Sinclair ticket. By itself this would lead to a left-leaning Paternal Autocrat government. If the SOW Party also makes gains in the 1940 congressional elections, it'll give enough of a Political Left slider push to move the US into Left-Wing Radical territory. Meanwhile the America First Committee announces the Henry Ford/Charles Lindbergh ticket. This will get you a right-leaning Paternal Autocracy, and AFC gains in the congressional election will push you to Fascism. I'll probably add assasination events circa 1942 to give the player one last chance to decide it was all a horrible mistake, but that'll be a later version of the mod once the election tree is worked out.

1944: Democrats renominate FDR (choose VP Truman or Wallace), or Farley, or Garner. If none of those won, the Dems nominate Wallace/Bankhead or Harry Byrd/Wallace. Republicans renominate Wilkie or Taft if they won. If Wilkie won there's a side-chain described above, and Dewey ends up with the nomination. If a Republican didn't win in 1940 you get to choose Dewey/John Bricker or MacArthur/Dewey.

1948: Dems renominate Truman (or Wallace or Byrd). If Truman seeks a second term, he's opposed by Senator Russell/Bankhead. If a Democrat didn't win in 1944 they nominate Alben Barkley/Harry S. Truman (in an amusing rehash of the decision making in the historical 1944 election-- Democratic Party is worried about FDR's age, so they stick him with a moderate in case of the worst). If we've had two terms of Farley or Garner, then you nominate Bankhead/Truman. The Republicans renominate MacArthur if he won, or Dewey (if he took over for Wilkie) or Dewey (if he won in his own right in 1944). If no Republican won in 1944 then you nominate Dewey/Earl Warren. There's an event for the raucous Democratic National Convention of 1948, and the southern delegation stages a walkout. Strom Thurmond runs on the States' Rights Democrat (Dixiecrat) ticket. If Henry Wallace has never been elected president, then he runs on behalf of the Progressive Party. This is a stub for another path to either Fascism or Leninism by event chain.

That had become a bit of a quagmire for me going forward, because I had Dewey and Wallace both running in 1940 as well, and it led to exponentially more choices. With this done I'm ready to redo 1952 and beyond without needing a box of 3x5 index cards to track the decision tree.

 

[Timmie0307]

MacArthur already in 1944? That would be very soon, even if the war is already won in '44. I can imagine it takes a while before he leaves Asia (assuming historical way of WWII). I do not know if you could represent this in your events...

Anyway I like the idea of choosing between 4-5 candidates (or more) every election. This can lead to a lot of ahistorical choices. But would a Long ticket be really going that quick into Leninism/Fascism? I do not know all of his policies that well.

What about a Long/Lindbergh ticket...(thinking a bit Kaiserreich here )

Tim

 

[skbrewer]

MacArthur was actually a party favorite for the nomination in 1944, but the fact that he was a little tied up in the Pacific Theater kind of dashed his chances in OTL. The war certainly wasn't over, but he was still considered a war hero, especially with the liberation of the Philippines just taking place. Dewey won the nomination by a landslide, but he seemed like an interesting choice for a quirky underdog candidate, especially since he'd be president during the first part of the McCarthy years, which could lead to some fun anti-Communist event chains.

There's a lot of... misinformation?... misunderstanding? about Huey Long floating around out there, probably because a lot of his legacy is conflated with Sinclair Lewis's "It Can't Happen Here" or Willie Stark from All The King's Men. Huey Long was an autocrat, but he was never a FASCIST autocrat. He was blatantly anti-corporation, and the main political idea of his Share Our Wealth platform was redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. I don't think he was a Leninist, because I think his main aim behind the policies was populist demagoguery, but I definitely think he'd fit well as a leftist Paternal Autocrat, and with like-minded supporters in Congress the agenda could quickly get hijacked into Left-Wing Radical territory. Assuming the player moves the sliders from there, it's a short jaunt into Leninism.

Long doesn't lead quickly to a socialist US. If the player chooses that Long was assassinated in 1935 then Long is slept and Smith never even runs. In order to have a Long presidency, Gerald L.K. Smith has to win first. The assumption is that Long ran Smith as a "test balloon" in order to split the vote against FDR and get his message out there. The plan was for Smith to lose, and that Long would run on his platform in 1940 after a media campaign to get himself a larger national name (remember that he'd already been Governor and US Senator from Louisiana, so it's not like he was unelectable). So the event chain if Smith gets elected is that Long is basically calling the shots in the background, and he bullies Smith not to run again. It's at least a four year process. If Smith doesn't win in 1936 then the escalation of hostilities in Europe quickly overshadows issues, and Long doesn't run in 1940. In OTL, after the assassination of Long, Gerald L.K. Smith ran SOW into the ground, and then jumped on the isolationist bandwagon and founded the America First Party in 1944. He was just a guy demagoguing his way around trying to stumble into some power.

Your shot at Fascism is going to be the Henry Ford/Charles Lindbergh ticket in 1936. Lindbergh was a popular speaker at isolationist pep rallies and America First Committee events. He wasn't an out-and-out fascist, but more an isolationist, and a guy who wanted neutrality. However, he'd have been a good figurehead for a fascist-leaning ticket, especially if it were someone running on the promise of neutrality with Germany, no entanglements with the British (who were agitating heavily in US political circles), and focusing on the American economy. I figure Henry Ford probably fits the mold quite a bit better for an effective fascist leader in the event someone wants to play a fascist USA. The ticket would actually take power as a right leaning Paternal Autocrat, but a Political Right push from choosing Republicans or AFC candidates in the 1940 Congressional elections could push you into the Fascist end of things. I briefly considered Joe Kennedy, Sr., but he might make a surprise appearance still in the cabinet. I never liked that your only choice for a fascist leader in HoI2 was Fritz Kuhn, for a variety of reasons.

The main goal was to give players a path to a right-wing or left-wing extremist USA in time for the war if that's what they want to play, and those were the two ideas I came up with that were at least vaguely plausible (I'm no great fan of realism, but I have standards!). There will be later events to take that turn as well. A Thurmond presidency in 1948 could lead to fascism, probably via an assassination event chain. My vague theory right now is that such a blatantly racist candidate (the guy filibustered 24 straight hours against the Civil Rights Act) would have inspired the Civil Rights Movement to kick into action quite a bit earlier, and that a more militant member not so impressed with civil disobedience and We Shall Overcome assassinates him. Your later shot at socialism would be through Wallace getting elected on a thoroughly-infiltrated Progressive Party ticket. If the Progressive also win in Congress you're off to the Leninist races. If the Democrats win it'd put you at the ragged edge of Social Democrat where one slider move would push you to Left-Wing Radical, and if the Republicans win there's an event chain in 1950 where Senator McCarthy accuses President Wallace of being a Communist sympathizer and spearheads impeachment proceedings.

So I have a lot of things planned that make this more of a full-scale mod for the US, but the most important focus is the fact that if players want they can just ignore all of it and play it as a simple election mod. There's not much difference between President Roosevelt in 1940 versus President Farley or Taft unless the player chooses to ignore the Pittman Act, Destroyers For Bases, Lend-Lease, embargoing Japan, etc., and this is already something the player can do. It's entirely possible to RP your way through a game with full elections, but still always pick historical options. I'm all about choices.

 

[DarkArk]

This mod and your descriptions so far are awesome. I'm eagerly looking forward to it.

 

[Timmie0307]

Okay, that is a long but interesting explanation. As I already mentioned I was thinking more of the way Kaiserreich used to portray Huey Long. Furthermore I am no expert on US Presidential politics etc. but your description is really helping me out in understanding it. Can't wait for the events

Tim

 

[FalloutNova]

This mod seems interesting. Though this thread is old, How goes the mod?

 

[amkirkla]

I was so excited for this until I saw the date

 

[Khor]

This election system looks great. I will check out how you wrote it, to get some inspiration. It would be good to have similar events to other nations.