United States Presidential Election, 1940 (Southern Victory)

The U.S. presidential election of 1940 proved in hindsight to be one of the most critical elections in U.S./C.S. relations. The election became a referendum on the Richmond Agreement, and was a critical moment in the lead-up to the Second Great War.

The Candidates
President Al Smith sought to retain his office, facing a challenge from Democrat Robert Taft. Republican candidate Wendell Willkie also ran, but the Republican Party's continuing irrelevance insured his defeat.

The Campaign
Smith arrived in office in 1937 with a series of issues, domestic and foreign, that had mounted since the end of the Great War, and that none of his predecessors had successfully resolved. These included Mormon unrest, the ongoing economic depression, and tensions with the newly militant Confederacy under President Jake Featherston. Territories taken from the C.S. at the end of the Great War had grown increasingly restive as Featherston and the Freedom Party took hold in the C.S.

With the substantial costs of continued occupation, Smith reintegrated Utah. In 1939, Smith met with Featherston and hammared out the Richmond Agreement, which called for plebiscites in Kentucky, Houston, and Sequoyah. The agreement in place, although dependent upon Smith's victory the following year, Smith launched a campaign based on the premise that he'd kept the country out of war.

Democrat Robert Taft campaigned against the plebiscites, arguing that the U.S. had paid for the territories with a great deal of blood and treasure. Taft also promised a much harder line on Featherston and the C.S.

The Election
Smith won re-election in a close race. Months after Smith was sworn in a second time, the C.S. began demanding more territory. Smith refused, and the Second Great War began.