Chapter XXVI: The Shot Ignored Around The World.
It is a mark of how far the United States had fallen that news of the assassination of President Alfred Smith was first read by many foreign ministers in the their morning papers, their staff not considering it important enough to wake them. Given the absence of mass sackings in the ministries and chancelleries of Europe in the following days those judgements cannot have been too wrong. In the broadest terms Presidents Smith's assassination by disaffected doctor Charles Black did not bring about any immediate changes that warranted the immediate attention of any government. That is not to say the event was ignored, just that the new President was not expected to make changes to American foreign policy his top priority and as such a considered response rather than a rushed one was more appropriate. There were, of course, exceptions to this laissez faire attitude, the various governments of the Americas, north, south and central were all deeply concerned as was the Empire of Japan, dependent on American oil imports any political change in the US was a matter for close Japanese attention.
In the shocked United States the first act of the former vice president, John Nance Garner, after taking the presidential oath of office was to declare a state of emergency, fearful that the shooting was the prelude to a organised coup attempt. In reality there was no grand plan, although that didn't stop several deluded groups from acting as if there was, only to be rounded up by the police in short order. The plot was the sole work of Charles Black, a Louisiana doctor with ambitions in politics who in the evening of the 21st of March charged the Presidential group and attempted to empty his revolver into Al Smith at point blank range. While Black was gunned down by the President's bodyguards after the first shot that single shot had been enough and Alfred Smith, the 31st President of the United States, was declared dead on arrival at hospital. While Dr Black's exact motives will probably never be known it is highly likely that Smith's failure to alleviate the effects of the depression and the increasing corruption of politics as the reach of Tammany Hall spread from New York on the back of Smith's presidency were at least partial factors. These were concerns shared by many throughout the country, Garner's declaration of a state of emergency was a recognition of how unpopular the government was and the many small rebellions, no matter how small and clearly doomed, did little to calm nerves. In the weeks after the shooting however, with the assassin identified and the official investigation slowly moving along calm did return and attention re-focused on the upcoming national conventions and the November presidential elections.
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Frank Knox, one of Theodore Roosevelt's 'Progressives' in 1912 had been reluctantly embraced by Republican orthodox fold by 1936 and joined Alf Landon on the Republican election ticket.
Neither convention had been expected to produce a shock, for the Republicans the Landon/Knox ticket was considered all but a certainty for the nomination while the Democrats had been expected to rubber stamp Smiths re-election, the only question mark being if he would retain Garner as running mate. As the various candidates began the shift from respectful silence to opportunistic campaigning the changes the assassination had wrought became clear. The Republicans, while still lacking a credible rival candidate, would seek to push their candidates credentials on social issues, Landon and Knox promoting the ideas they had supported whilst in Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party. These policies, particularly greater social welfare provisions and the wholesale revision of income and inheritance taxes did not sit well with many 'Taftian' Republicans but were recognised as sure fire vote winners and considered a necessary price to pay to regain the Presidency.
For the Democrats a simple rubber stamp had transformed into a vast multi sided power struggle as the factions jostled for position. This situation was only complicated by the breakaway States' Rights Democratic Party which, although few in declared number, was a powerful influence by its mere existence, forcing the party hierarchy to bow to many of its demands to prevent massed defections. President Garner, having assumed his confirmation as candidate was a given was shocked when the elders of the party's souther machinery informed him they would not be backing his nomination. Instead the charismatic Louisiana senator Huey Long and his Share Our Wealth campaign had the momentum and was rapidly establishing himself as favourite for the nomination on the back of his massive personal popularity. Garner on the other hand was seen as too badly tarnished by Smith's presidency and was faced with the prospect of losing the support of not only the traditional Democrat southern power base but even his home state of Texas.
Garner's dejection did not last long however, for he had forgotten the other group that had lost most after Smith's death; Tammany Hall. Deprived of 'their' man in the White House, shunned by Long and without a serious candidate of their own the political machine faced the prospect of being ejected from the seat of power at the next election, a prospect that did not appeal to the group's leader Christopher Sullivan. Showing the same streak of cunning intrigue that had kept Tammany Hall a political force for generations Sullivan cornered Garner and suggested a radical solution; Garner joining the States' Rights Democratic Party. As sitting President and the first 'big name' to join he would be all but guaranteed the nomination and with Tammany Hall's supporting him the political machine in the north would fall in line as well. Garner, after recovering from the shock, was far from convinced, worrying that all they would accomplish was a split in the Democrat vote handing the presidency to the Republicans. It was then that Sullivan unveiled the true cunning of his idea, make the State's Rights party more than just a southern party by selecting a running mate from the west coast, ideally a Californian. Sullivan argued that victory in November would require 266 votes in the electoral college, Texas and California alone were worth 45 putting Garner over 15% of the way to victory before he even started campaigning. Whether Garner was genuinely convinced or just realised he had no other option will never be known, what is known is that he agreed to Sullivan's plan. In the days that followed Sullivan and Garner made their approach to the States' Rights Democratic Party to sell them their idea and get Garner the party's nomination.
Up Next: A return to Africa.
