Confederate President Lee

In the novel The Center Cannot Hold, Jake Featherston lists three past presidents of the Confederate States whom he conceded were "great". Among those is a President Lee, named between Jefferson Davis and James Longstreet.

While a logical conclusion is that "President Lee" was Robert E. Lee, there are countless references to Robert E. Lee before this moment, and not one suggests he served as president. Likewise, there are no references to Lee as president subsequent.

Thus, there is room for debate as to whether Harry Turtledove meant for Robert E. Lee to have been president in the Southern Victory timeline. Lee certainly was president in The Guns of the South. However, Turtledove made strong efforts to demonstrate how the apolitical Lee could pursue the office.

Moreover, one of Lee's sons and his nephew entered politics in OTL after the American Civil War. Nepotism was also an part of the C.S. political process for much of its early history in the Southern Victory timeline.

Until Turtledove states explicitly that he was referring to Robert E. Lee, the administrators of this wiki have decided that there is too much ambiguity to accept completely that Robert E. Lee was President in the Southern Victory timeline.