President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The role of the Executive Branch, of which the President is the head, is to enforce the national laws as stated in the Constitution or made by Congress. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788 and the first president took office in 1789.

The president serves as the chief executive and leader of the executive branch of the federal government. Article Two of the Constitution establishes the president as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and enumerates powers specifically granted to the president, including the power to sign into law bills passed by both houses of Congress, to create a Cabinet of advisors, to grant pardons or reprieves, and, with the "advice and consent" of the Senate, to make treaties and appoint federal officers, ambassadors, and federal judges (including Justices of the Supreme Court). Article Two also defines a presidential term at four years.

OTL
In OTL, since 1951, presidents have been limited to two terms by the Twenty-second Amendment. There have been forty-four presidents, but only forty-three individuals have held the office; Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms.

This article lists the known presidents found in the works of Harry Turtledove after the Point of Divergence. Many presidents who served before the POD of a given alternate history are mentioned in passing. Also stories set in OTL may reference past presidents, or even the sitting president.

All OTL US Presidents are listed here. Those presidents who either appeared as characters, or who were prominently mentioned, in one or more Turtledove works are blue linked.

The Guns of the South
With the Second American Revolution ending in 1864 with a Confederate victory, incumbent U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was defeated by Horatio Seymour.

"Joe Steele"
In 1932, California Congressman Joe Steele won the Presidency, and proceeded to establish a dictatorship as he was served an unprecedented five terms. He died shortly entering his sixth term. A power struggle saw his Vice President John Nance Garner's assassination, and the ascendency of J. Edgar Hoover.

"Must and Shall"
President Abraham Lincoln was killed by sniper-fire at Fort Stevens. His Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin ascended to the Presidency, and began a policy of retribution against the rebelling Southern states.

Southern Victory
For most the history of the United States after the War of Secession, the presidency was held by a member of the Democratic Part. This came in response to Abraham Lincoln's status as a Republican. Aside from Republican James G. Blaine, who served from 1881-1885, every president from 1865-1921 was a Democrat. After U.S. victory in the Great War, Upton Sinclair became the first Socialist Party president. From there on, the Democrats did not monopolize the office the way they did in the 19th century, but neither did the Socialists, as each party was able to capitalize on the failures of the other.

It had been the custom since George Washington that the a president was only elected to two consecutive terms. Theodore Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented third term in 1920, but was defeated.

Calvin Coolidge holds the distinction of being the only person elected to the office never to serve. After winning the 1932 election, Coolidge died of a heart attack the following January, before he took the oath of office.

Al Smith was killed by a Confederate bombing raid in 1942, the first and only time a president was killed during war time.

Literary Comment
In The Center Cannot Hold, Harry Turtledove specified Hosea Blackford as the 30th president. Mathematically, this implies that two presidents did not complete their first terms at some point between the presidencies of Lincoln and Roosevelt for this to be possible.

Turtledove has not identified all presidents between Lincoln and Roosevelt. Only Tilden, Blaine, Mahan, and Reed have been specifically identified as presidents in that time period (1865-1913). The exact terms of Mahan and Reed have not been revealed; consensus among Turtledove fans has Mahan serving from 1889-1897, and Reed serving from 1897-1902, which would make him one of the two presidents to die in office.


 * Presidents marked with one asterisk are not identified as such in the series canon and are educated guesses among readers.
 * Presidents marked with two asterisks are identified as such in the series canon, but their terms are not given.

Worldwar
In the aftermath of the Race Invasion, the Presidency saw two critical interruptions. The first came in 1944 with the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. His Vice President Henry Wallace had been killed some time before, when the Race destroyed Seattle while Wallace was visting. Then-Secretary of State Cordell Hull succeeded Roosevelt per the Presidential Succession Act of 1886. The second came in 1966 when President Earl Warren committed suicide after agreeing to allow the Race to destroy Indianapolis. This act was in response to Warren's secret attack on the Race's Colonization Fleet in 1962.

Other Presidents
Franklin D. Roosevelt is president in the Days of Infamy series and in "News From the Front". The former ends before 1944, so it is unknown as to whether he would be re-elected in 1944 as in OTL, and nothing in the story points in either direction. In the latter, the story ends with Congress preparing to impeach the president in 1942. He would have been succeeded by Vice President Henry Wallace.

Harry Truman is president in The Man With the Iron Heart. Given the course of the novel, it is likely he would not be re-elected in 1948.

John F. Kennedy is president in "A Massachusetts Yankee in King Arthur's Court", although that is not a strong Alternate history story. He also probably served at least one term in The Gladiator, although he is not explicitly named.

There is an unnamed president in the story "Elder Skelter".