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Map of the United States, c. 1935
A summary of the Second Term of President Herbert Hoover

President	Herbert Hoover (1929-1937)
Vice President	Calvin Coolidge (1929-1933), Quentin Roosevelt (1933-1937)
Secretary of State	Grace Anderson (1929-1937)
Secretary of the Treasury	Henry Ford (1929-1933), Alf Landon (1933-1937)
Secretary of Commerce	Jay S. Crawford (1929-1937)
Undersecretary ofCommerce for Labour	Al Smith (1929-1930), John L. Lewis (1930-1937)
Secretary of Defense	Omar Bradley (1929-1931), Patrick Hurley (1931-1932), Leonard B. Trumbull (1932-1937)
Undersecretary of Defense for Army Affairs	Patrick Hurley (1929-1931), Dwight F. Davis (1931-1937)
Undersecretary of Defense for Naval Affairs	Charles F. Adams III (1929-1937)
Undersecretary of Defense for Aerial Affairs	Mason Patrick (1929-1937)
Undersecretary of Defense for the Marine Corps	George Barnett (1929-1937)
Attorney General	William D. Mitchell (1929-1937)
Postmaster General	Frank B. Kellogg (1929-1937)
Secretary of the Interior	Robert Henderson (1914-1923, 1925-1937)
Bureau of Agriculture	William N. Doak (1929-1937)
Secretary of Health	Henry Goddard (1929-1937)
Secretary of Transportation	Ray L. Wilbur (1929-1937)
Secretary of Education	Carl C. Brigham (1929-1937)
Federal Bureau of Investigations	J. Edgar Hoover (1929-1937)
National Health Service	Guy D. Goff (1929-1937)
United States Mint	Odgen L. Mills (1929-1937)

The 1932 Election & 1936 Democratic-Labour Primary & 1936 Liberal Primary
“And we can now call the state of Michigan for Herbert Hoover, the President of the United States. The new total stands at 574 for the President, none for the Senator”, were the aghast words that rang out from the mouth of New York Times Reporter Hugh Richard, into the homes of every American in the country. Former President Eugene Debs sat in silence, his trembling hands covering his mouth from screaming at Senator Thomas Pope, the party’s nominee for President, sitting adjacent to him. Al Smith sat next to him, comforting the Senator as he looked down with his hands in his head. Former President Upton Sinclair had already downed a full bottle of Jack Daniel’s, passing out on the sofa next to the campaign staff. Speaker of the House William Green had to refrain himself from strangling every man in the room, while Andrew Lattimore sat quietly in the corner of the room, laughing to himself. For, President Herbert Hoover had not only won, he had won 54 of the country’s 55 states, the largest landslide in American History. The Liberals had taken back the House and Senate with sizable majorities in both chambers, state governorships, and had flipped states thought unflippable.
“I swear to god, Tom, if you lose Sauk, you are banned from this goddamned party” Debs warned the now terrified Senator. Richard’s voice returned on air, the words he stated only horrifying the men in the room even more. The state of Sauk, the most Democratic-Labour state in the Union, where over 76% of the public identified with the party, was to go to a recount, as only 82 votes separated President Hoover and Senator Pope. The men retired to their rooms --except for Sinclair, passed out on the couch-- awaiting the news of the recount in the morning, although none actually slept. Luckily for the party, the recount proved to be in their favour. It was announced in the morning that Senator Pope did indeed receive the electoral votes from the state, winning by a margin of just 100 votes, the final tally standing at 574 to 12, the single largest landslide in American history, the President receiving 57.75% of the popular vote. Pope received just 28.34%.
When, in December, a reporter asked the President for his Christmas time wish, Hoover responded “In my opinion, Sauk would have been nice”
In the shadow of two back-to-back landslide losses, one of which being the largest in history, the 1936 Democratic-Labour Convention was bleak. Al Smith, a rising star in the party who had served as the Mayor of New York from 1925 to 1929, was the party’s nominee for Vice President in 1928 before abandoning the ticket. He had been the presumptive nominee since the moment Pope’s embarrassing defeat was announced nationwide. While still a part of the mainstream left wing wing of the party, Smith was by no means a radical. With all three moderates the party had nominated all losing in landslides in 1920, 1928, and now 1932, members of the more radical Sinclairite wing, who had carried the radical former President to his narrow victory with 36% of the popular vote in 1924, pushed for a less mainstream candidate. They found their man in Earl Browder, the Governor of Illinois and figurehead of the radical wing.
Charged by the events of 1932, Browder and Smith remained incredibly close in the polls leading up to the primary, Browder behind by around 5 points. Marion Butler and Harry Baals, members of the southern and moderate wings respectively, trailed the two candidates. Smith, however, backed by the majority of party members, pulled ahead, receiving 99 delegates and 36.4% of the popular vote. Browder came second, with 86 delegates and 30.9% of the vote.
The gloomy convention served as an affirmation of the unifying support for Smith, now the Governor of New York, having been elected in 1934. However, with the party nominee now given the authority to choose the candidate for Vice President, the question remained of who would occupy the second half of the ticket. In the end, despite passionate speeches from Representative Francis E. Woodman in favour of Marion Butler, Smith ultimately chose primary opponent Harry W. Baals as his running mate.
Over at the Liberal Party, there were ultimately no doubts over who would be the nominee. President Hoover, still widely popular among the party and still marginally popular among the public, was easily renominated over primary opponent and personal adversary Bryan L. Whitman. The question of the Vice President, however, remained open. Quentin Roosevelt, the incumbent, still suffered the effects of the 1932 Vice Presidential Controversy, and with the merger with the Federalist-Republicans, the anti-Roosevelt base grew within the party. Nevertheless, President Hoover still supported the Vice President, and chose him as his running mate for confirmation. As per Liberal Party procedure, the delegates would have to vote on the nominee for Vice President and confirm him or her with a majority vote.
During the vote, the anti-Roosevelt coalition consolidated, successfully getting a majority of the party’s delegates to vote nay on the confirmation of the Vice President. Panic arose, especially among Hoover and the rest of the establishment. Fearing a split in the party, leading figures such as Senator Ulysses S. Grant III and Senator Nathaniel Richardson reached an acceptable deal, in where Roosevelt would receive endorsements for President in the open year of 1940. Hoover would choose Secretary of the Treasury Alf Landon as his running mate, and the party confirmed him for the position.
The 1936 Democratic-Labour Primary, Smith in red, Browder in purple, Butler in blue, and Baals in yellow
The war in Madagascar
Throughout the Roosevelt administration, anti-semetic remarks and attacks continued to rise, ever since William Jefferson’s 1884 bid for President, where he received 16.7% of the vote and 37 electors, and Herbert Hood’s 1872 burning of several synagogues. This fact led to the passage of the New Zion Act, a program to build a jewish settlement on northern land on the U.S. colony of Madagascar, which it had been granted during the Berlin Conference of 1890.
Fast forward over three decades. The Jewish population of the island had grown to a whopping 250,000 thousand, with many coming from Europe in tandem with Americans, and although not as high as the native Malagasy population, the so-called “Allenites”, named for jewish President Bartholomew Allen, held significant power among the legislative proceedings of the island. The Allenites, led by Mayor Chaim Weizmann of New Zion, a devout zionist, differed on their opinions on the status of the city. Some called for separation into a new territory, some called for independence from America, however, all united around the common enemy of the native Malagasy. Led by Radama III, the claimant to the Merina throne, the Malagasy had united behind the claimant to resist their common enemy, the United States. Unlike other colonial powers, the United States made no attempt to subjugate or oppress their colonial citizens, treating them under the same law as the mainland. As such, ideas supporting independence, freedoms, and revolution spread across the island state. Hatred for the new northern neighbours, who had taken the city of Antsiranana and made it their own, was chief among the ideas to spread.
Tensions between the Malagasy and the Allenities grew throughout the decades. After President Hoover proposed an act to separate the two regions into two new territories, the Senate struck it down, demanding different goals. With an apparent deadlock between the Executive and Legislative branch, many presumed the resolution of the Madagascar conflict would come from violence.
Soon after, a bill proposed by Thomas Pope, that would have made Radama III a monarch from within the United States as a compromise, was vetoed by the President, to the significant dismay of the claimant of the throne. In order to consolidate power for future independence movements, Radama III began the deployment of private militia officials across the south of Madagascar with the intention of providing protection to the local tribes and deporting Allenites to the New Zion settlement.
In retaliation, Mayor Weizmann announced his intention to increase the size of the New Zion settlement, into neighbouring territory controlled by the Malagasy, citing the rapid population expansion of the city due to mass immigration from European Jewish settlers as reason for the move. Fearing increased Allenite influence over the island, Radama III sent 5 militia regiments to the border of New Zion, Weizmann responded by placing the entire New Zion Defence Force on the border to “protect Allenites on the outskirts of the city”.
It is not entirely known who fired the first shot, both sides claiming it was the other, but conflict between the groups soon arose. In the end, the NZDF, in home territory, emerged victorious, claiming the lives of 63 Malagasy militia while losing 39. The Malagasy forces retreated to a nearby village.
After news of the Malagasy defeat reached Radama, stationed in the south, the furious would-be King reportedly stated to his advisors “They have left me one option”. Radama immediately called for the drafting of a new constitution and proclaimed the formation of a new, independent republic. Activating his reserves across the island, Radama subdued the dissident from the local tribes, reluctant to support the claimant due to fearing American retaliation. Mayor Weizmann responded by stationing the entire NZDF on the border, and openly advancing into Malagasy territory.
Both of the men’s actions violated the Madagascar Oversight Act, which required committee approval from Congress for any action either territory could take. The Government immediately declared a state of emergency on the island. However, wishing to avoid further conflict between Madagascar and the United States, the Government authorised negotiations for peaceful secession of the Malagasy State from America.
In the eventual treaty signed by both parties, the to-be-established Malagasy State would become a puppet state of the United States, with Congress having control over foreign policy and economic decisions. The Malagasy State would also recognize the hard border President Hoover had advocated for, and support the existence of New Zion. Many in Madagascar, especially those who had been removed from their homes by the Allenites, condemned this treaty, however, with support from both President Hoover and the soon-to-be King Radama III, the treaty passed the House.
However, the proposal would not be in place for long. In 1933, documents pertaining to the finances of Radama III were leaked to the public. In these documents, it was revealed Radama III had been stealing millions of dollars in public aid money to Madagascar to fund his militias, his bid for control over the island, and his personal lavious lifestyle. The treaty was immediately voted down by the Senate and condemned by President Hoover, stating it would “give a claimant the keys to the Kingdom”. An investigation into the documents was conducted, proving their legitimacy, and Radama III was arrested, being taken to the mainland to stand trial.
As of 1936, the future status of Madagascar is still unknown. With the cancellation of the treaty, and the arrest of Radama III, the local tribes of leaders have usurped control, using the remnants of Radama’s once centralised militia to defend their territory. Conflicts wage across the border with New Zion, as America works to draft an alternative solution.
Madagascar Crisis, 1932
End of the Haitian Civil War
In 1865, the government of the state of Haiti was overthrown by a US-backed militia led by James F. Reed. After bringing in 10,000 white civilians to the island, Reed instituted programmes of slavery and segregation, becoming rich on the backs of exploitation of the people of the island, an estimated 800,000 dying from starvation and disease by 1875, over half of the island’s population.
In 1878, President Rockefeller negotiated for the Haitian island to join the union as a territory, however, Reed would remain on as dictator of the island and illegal slavery continued. Giving himself a 12 year long term, Reed would lose re-election in 1890 to J. C. Foley. Foley would end the practice of slavery, end segregation, reduce the term length, and begin working to integrate Haiti as a state, a dream that would be accomplished in 1892 upon Haiti’s entrance into the Union. However, in 1894, James Reed rigged the election to regain power, starting the First Haitian War that saw the short lived independence of Haiti before Theodore Roosevelt worked to reconquer the territory, which resulted in the 9 year long Second Haitian War finally ending with integration back into America in 1917.
Unlike Cuba, or Culiacan, or Ontario, Haiti never integrated into the United States. The thousands dead under the thumb of an American ruler and American compliance in the near 30 years of genocide, and the two invasions, kept the idea of fully joining the United States from popularity. For the past few decades, support for independence has averaged 68% popularity in the territory. One radical group, seeking immediate action, turned to political violence. Under the command of Darrel François, the 37-year-old son of a plantation worker and Second Haitian War veteran, the Haitian Liberation Organization spread their message of radical, immediate secession across the island territory. However, the mainland refused to consider the island as a threat, relying on the fear of further panic and chaos to keep the land in check.
François was not deterred by the threat of American invasion. The weak and disorganised Haitian army managed to keep the American’s at bay for 9 years, and with proper organisation he thought, actual independence was achievable. However, François’ biggest advisory would not be the United States, but his own people. The Haitian populace, fearing ramifications for revolt, supported efforts of peaceful secession from the Union, like that of the Philippines in 1898. François’ no-compromise immediate revolution was not popular, especially due to his heavy socialist leanings, an ideology in decline on the island after the United States assisted private organisations in creating hundreds of jobs in the territory.
The young revolutionary, however, recognized that his initial base of support was enough for some action. In late 1932, while in the south of Haiti, François proclaimed the formation of the Haitian Free State and independence from the mainland. President Hoover immediately condemned the actions of François, replacing the incumbent Territorial Governor, Lawrence M. Judd, with Louis Borno, a native Haitian. Borno worked closely with President Hoover to oversee the deployment of military forces on the island, under the command of General Leonard B. Trumbull. By October, 1933, the war was over for François. Trumbull and Borno had forced the now 38-year-old into hiding, many suspecting the revolutionary fleeing to Colombia after a Haitian vessel was found in a Cartagena port.
The Dust Bowl
With prolonged drought conditions starting in 1932 and the recent collapse of Bison populations in the Great Plains, it was only a matter of time until the region would face a catastrophic environmental crisis. The combination of poor farming practices, prolonged drought, and severe windstorms had left hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland barren and vulnerable to erosion. This, in turn, led to massive dust storms that ravaged the Great Plains region, suffocating livestock, crops, and people alike. A second wave in 1936 only worsened the situation.
With so much farmland ruined and crops destroyed, farmers were forced to abandon their livelihoods and migrate elsewhere in search of work. Many headed west to California, and Culican where they hoped to find employment in the vast agricultural sectors there. Others simply gave up and joined the ranks of the unemployed surfing their dust choked homes waiting for a chance to regain their livelihoods. In response, President Hoover petitioned Secretary of the Interior Robert Henderson, who had been given the power to allocate a yearly sum of $350 Million USD to construction projects under the “Henderson-Hoover Fund”, to use his budget for the year of 1934 to assist in alleviating the effects of the dust bowl. Henderson followed suit, investing millions into sustainable irrigation projects and shelterbelt projects. Hoover, having chaired the Commission for Relief in Bavaria during the Great War, focused on food production, bolstering production in the Mexican breadbasket and importing Eastern grain to keep America’s shelves stocked in the meanwhile. Democratic-Labourites in the Senate, like Senate Minority Leader Harry Baals and Liberal Majority Leader Nathaniel Richardson passed aid and subsidies bills.
The Dust Bowl proved to be one of America’s most unifying moments during the otherwise polarised and divisive past decades, with politicians from all sides of the aisle coming together to assist the American family in ensuring food was brought to the table. However, turmoil abroad would put strain on the feelings of unity.
A photo of a dust storm in Spearville, Gerry. 1933
The Great Crash and the Long Halloween
Following the end of the Great War, the German Empire and his allies enjoyed a period of wealth and excess, with the British Republic also becoming a prosperous European nation. However, out-of-control spending from the German government to maintain his spheres of influence, combined with the decline of the money supply had severely endangered output. Despite the inherent risks of speculation, it was widely believed the market and economy would grow forever, with a sense of invincibility washing over the investors of Germany and Britain. Despite warnings from the German Government about speculation, a small crash in March caused a rapid sale of stocks at an alarming rate. An infusion of $25 million from the Government stopped the crash, but the warning signs did not go away. Production declined, construction lagged, sales began to go down, and debts were accrued with no care as credit was so easy to come by.
Steel Production, construction, retail turnover, automobile registration, and railway receipts hit record highs month after month. In the first 6 months of 1931 alone, the leading 500 Anglo-German companies saw a profit increase of 36.6%, led by iron and steel. A bubble of speculation was created, and because of margin buying, investors stood to lose large sums of money if the market turned downward. Hundreds of thousands of Americans became heavily invested in the stock market, many borrowing money to buy more stocks. By 1931, $8.6 billion was out on loan, more than the entire amount of currency circulating in Germany at the time. However, by late May, the market returned on its unstoppable climb upward, and celebrated a ten-fold increase over the past decade, with the industrial average peaking at 381.17.
The period of events that would spell trouble for the world began with the arrest of Heinz Thyssen, a dual British-German citizen and major investor, who was jailed in late August along with a number of associates for forgery and fraud, leading to a suspension of his companies, weakening confidence in the market and began a chain reaction of instability. As October came around, selling intensified, until Black Thursday, when market values plummeted by 11% within minutes of the opening bell. Leading Anglo-German investors and bankers met to attempt to stabilise the market by placing bids on blue chip stocks well above the current market, the German finance minister assuring the public that “This financial crisis shall be, with no doubt in my mind, resolved by Halloween”. Such strategies had worked in the past, and the slide indeed halted for a while, even recovering slightly. But as the market opened the following Monday, more record losses were felt, and over the course of just 2 days the Average dropped nearly 70 points, 23%. The Anglo-German Financial giants stepped in buying massive quantities of stocks to demonstrate confidence in the market, however this strategy no longer seemed to work. The Industrial Average began a 2 year slide which would culminate in an 89.2% loss in less than 3 years.
By the Monday after Black Thursday the crisis went global. Anglo-German banks suffered runs and ran out of cash, businesses shuttered their doors and suddenly millions were without jobs. And so began the Long Halloween.
The United States, which had been isolated from the Anglo-German market following its commitment to neutrality and refusal to help, which, in the past, had contributed to unemployment averaging 10-13% and GDP growth under 1% throughout the entire Slouching 20s, was left mostly unaffected by the massive crash, having only taken steps to reconnect during the Hoover administration. Instead of a 30% contraction in industrial production, the United States saw a 10% contraction. By no means good, but the United States was left better off than most powers.
The United States banking system also did not immediately collapse, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve Banking Board saving thousands of small community banks from collapse, preventing a major bank run. In order to prevent a bank run among the nearly 2,000 banks across the United States not insured by the FDIC, President Hoover used the Treasury’s $3.5 Billion USD reserve, which had been building since the United States payed off its debts in 1930, and was planned to be used to invest in the economy and deliver tax cuts, to immediately bail out the banks, buying toxic assets from all of them across the nation.
With the beginning of the Dust Bowl, and the economic meltdown of the Long Halloween, many long standing economic issues in the United States came due. Every state was forced to tighten its fiscal belt or raise taxes. Despite the grants and loans from the Government directly to states and the myriad of programs designed to alleviate the worst of the crises, the damage could not be avoided, only mitigated.
West Virginia and the Haiti Territory both declared default in January, and the Treasurer of Alabama reported the same would be occurring very soon, with the Arbiter System collapsing and revenue drying up almost completely. Workers in Textile Mills, already subject to horrific conditions, saw a massive decline in wages and food. Strikes seemed imminent.
As of 1936, the United States is still suffering the effects of the Long Halloween. However, the Hoover Administration and Senator Nathaniel Richardson have gotten the American markets to stabilise, and unemployment has declined by 2% since its peak. The economy and GDP is back to a period of slow, small growth.
New York City in particular has seen several massive waves of crime since the Long Halloween began. Many “Professional Criminals” began and ended their careers in this period such as John O. White, Oscar Dorrance, and William Summerhouse, the latter being involved in a mass shooting earlier this month which led to the deaths of a dozen officers and Summerhouse himself. The crime spree also gave rise to the career of Benjamin Wayne, a New York City detective who successfully arrested several notable criminals and mobsters. Wayne eventually mounted an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of the city on a Law and Order platform, narrowly losing to New York State Attorney Harry Dental.
A line outside a soup kitchen in Chicago, 1935
Annexation of Australia
In 1927, the United States and Britain reached an agreement to have the United States annex the island of Australia and Tasmania in exchange for relieving 70% of the debts owed by the British to America. The United States even managed to convince several Australian politicians to support the measure, promising massive investments in irrigation and harvesting of resources while allowing self governance and the right to opt out of conscription programs. However, Britain, confident in its ability to pay off the debt, denied the treaty.
When the Long Halloween struck Britain, the United States demanded back its outlying debts, totaling approximately $1.2 Billion USD. However, the United States also presented an alternative solution. In exchange for the enactment of a 5% reduction of tariffs and a mutual alliance, the 1927 Treaty would be enacted by Britain. Reluctantly, the Herbert Morrison labour government accepted, and on January 1st, 1936, the islands of Australia and Tasmania became official American land, President Hoover dividing the land up into appropriate territories. Morrison’s acceptance of the treaty helped contribute to his landslide defeat in the 1936 General Election, which saw a Conservative-National Labour Coalition headed by Stanley Baldwin come into power.
Collapse of Arbiterism
The history of slavery in the United States has always been complex. Although the Civil War ended in 1841, and President John C. Calhoun had issued an emancipation proclamation after pressure from foreign powers, the President and the Democratic-Agrarian Party actively obstructed any attempts to extend any sorts of rights. Slavery, as a matter of fact, remained completely legal until the passage of the 10th Amendment in 1848. By that time, over 98% of freedmen from the proclamation found themselves back into slavery.
Even after the 10th Amendment, Slavery as we know it did not end. Southerner’s adopted the policies of “Arbiterism”, a practice where individuals were made to work to pay off a debt owed to a factory or plantation owner, inherited from birth that included all the costs of childhood. Named after Donald Arbiter, the authoritarian Governor of Alabama who used corruption and intimidation, along with electoral fraud, to secure the mansion as a dictator, the workers were often given no wages, and the debt they owed was far greater than what they made in profit. Arbiterism would remain widespread across the South until 1868, when President William F. Sarge and Senator Steve Marshall passed a series of civil rights legislation and regulation that made Arbiterism simply unprofitable. By 1870, all states but one had abolished the practice, the last being Alabama.
Doubling down on his system, the now 77-year-old Donald Arbiter extended the programs of Arbiterism to all citizens of Alabama, the white population included. The punishment for failing to work to pay off your debts was death.
Despite numerous efforts by national politicians to protect the citizens of Alabama, almost all efforts made proved unsuccessful. When Donald Arbiter eventually died, his son, Donald Arbiter Jr, took power, ruling until his own death in 1930. Donald Arbiter III, only the third Governor of the state in 90 years, took power the same year.
It would not be the federal government to bring an end to Arbiterism, however. In 1936, after decades of oppression and violence, the workers under Arbiterism finally rose up, emboldened by the struggling police forces due to the Long Halloween. In what came to be known as the Montgomery Massacre, 97 workers were slaughtered by police forces with weaponry as protests for better food and the abolition of the debt system turned violent. Using the opportunity, President Hoover declared a state of emergency in Alabama and deployed the national guard. As soon as forces arrived in Alabama, the Department of Justice announced that they would be charging Governor Donald Arbiter III for electoral fraud in the 1932 Gubernatorial Election, after a supposed heavy investigation. Other members of the Arbiter family were also charged.
Kicking down the door of Arbiterism, the political machine of bribery and intimidation that had kept the family in power for 92 years had collapsed, and in 1936, the Arbiter family could no longer hold the floodgates of democracy back. Thousands of workers came out in droves to vote, with a new political party, the Workers Party of Alabama, taking the mansion with newly elected Governor Orville Hawking. The state legislature was also taken by the WPA.
While awaiting trial in a DC prison, Donald Arbiter III was executed by a group of prisoners and guards alike, with no prisoner or staff testifying as to who the men were. The Arbiter Family mansion became the subject of many attacks and bombings, several being thrown over the gates of the plantation. Two other members of the family, implicated in the electoral fraud case, were found dead, and Governor Orville Hawking finally ended Arbiterism shortly after the Justice Department found 5 members of the family guilty.
The approval ratings of both parties, now at all time lows due to failure to act the past century, has caused the Workers Party of Alabama to become, by far, the largest and most influential of the Alabama political parties. William Miller, a State Senator, is the party’s nominee for President in 1936, however, is only on the ballot in Alabama
Clash between protesters and Alabama State Police, 1936
Situation in Mexico
Ever since the beginning of the Mexican Civil War back in the Debs Administration, Mexico had faced political turmoil and instability which continues to today. During Fitzgerald's administration, the Mexican Civil War largely ended with the successful intervention of the Golden Circle Company, which installed the Cristeros as a puppet monarchy in the newly established Fourth Mexican Empire. The Empire was an aristocratic, traditionalist absolute monarchy that largely served as a mercantile colony of the GCC. Yet, a socialistic, fascist group known as the Nacionalistas survived all attempts of conquest by the Empire, forcing a ceasefire and treaty that granted it independence as the "Chilpancingo Social Republic".
By 1936, the Mexican Empire was in a weak position. The Long Halloween cut trade and starved Mexico of resources and wealth, while the death of GCC chief Aurelian Shaft sent the company into a succession dispute, preventing it from giving support to the Empire.
Taking advantage of this, the Social Republic launched a surprise invasion of the Mexican Empire, declaring it a "national revolution"; the circumstances have allowed the Social Republic to gain major success, reaching the outskirts of Mexico City. The war is ongoing, and in the Social Republic's favour, by election day. Worries grow as a vividly anti-capitalist, anti-American state may emerge directly south of the United States.
Situation in Mexico, 1936
The Candidates
Herbert Hoover is the 62-year-old incumbent President of the United States, and Liberal nominee for President. Although re-elected in the largest landslide in history in 1932, Hoover’s odds in these elections have been narrowed by heavy campaigning from Al Smith and the Long Halloween. He runs on the “National Recovery Plan”, the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund to invest in businesses and resources, decreasing taxes, opening the economy to “facilitate a global market”, building shelterbelts, continuing massive public works projects, and . With Majority Leader Nathaniel Richardson steering the Senate and championing economic legislation, the party has begun to enact some of its policies, which have seen some successes, unemployment falling by 2% and the markets stabilising back to growth. However, the President has been criticised by members of the Democratic-Labour party for his opposition to social security. His running mate is Alf Landon, the Secretary of the Treasury, replacing Vice President Quentin Roosevelt. Landon is the head of the Federalist-Republican wing of the party.
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Al Smith is the 63-year-old incumbent Governor of New York, and Democratic-Labour nominee for President. A champion of civil rights and author of many pieces of workers legislation, Smith runs on a platform of a farm subsidies bill, further nationalisation of key industries such as the railroads, unemployment insurance, social security, utilising the Henderson-Hoover fund for national infrastructure development, and nationalisation of the GCC. Having the support from the party, he has the backing of former Presidents Debs and Sinclair. He is the incumbent chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Minorities, an activist group advocating for the end of segregation and advancement of rights for minority populations, and incumbent chairman of the National Federation of Workingmen, a moderate labour activist group. However, he has been criticised for his stances on foreign policy, especially his hawkish attitude towards Japan, and for some financial troubles encountered by the NFW during his tenure. His running mate is Harry William Baals, a U.S. Senator for Tippecanoe, President Pro Tempore, and de-facto head of the moderate wing of the party.
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Other Candidates
Ettore Boiardi is the 39-year-old New York pasta chef, better known as Hector Boyardee. Making his third bid for the Presidency, Boiardi runs with Andrew Lattimore, the former Senator for Louisiana and Democratic-Labour Party nominee for President in 1928.
Written by u/Dr_Occisor, u/u01aua1,
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