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United States presidential election, 1928
United States
1924 ←
November 6, 1928
→ 1932

  Nophoto Coolidge
Nominee Hosea Blackford Calvin Coolidge
Party Socialist Democratic
Home state Dakota Massachusetts
Running mate Hiram Johnson Unknown

President before election

Upton Sinclair
Socialist

Elected President

Hosea Blackford
Socialist

The United States presidential election of 1928 was the 36th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1928. It was the third straight Socialist presidential victory over the Democrats. Vice President Hosea Blackford defeated Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge, but was made a lame-duck almost immediately after taking the oath of office when the stock market crashed in June 1929.

The Election[]

The Fall Campaign[]

Coolidge's supporters ran on a platform of building up the US military as well as having a strong foreign policy. The Socialists campaigned on the back of President Upton Sinclair's domestic policy successes, such as creating an environment conducive for the unprecedented prosperity enjoyed by Americans since 1924. Blackford promised to ensure continued prosperity even if it meant using more diplomacy and less force against neighbors such as the Confederacy. As it had in 1924, the dilemma of having to choose between the two parties' platforms weighed down on thousands of voters, though ultimately the memory of the Great War, over a decade old, as well as the undeniable fact of a booming economy convinced the majority of them to vote for Hosea Blackford.

Results[]

Blackford defeated Coolidge in November after finally taking Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Socialists also carried New York, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, and California. The Democrats were able to capture all six of the New England states (including Coolidge's home and birth states of Massachusetts and Vermont), Kentucky, Houston, Kansas, Montana, Idaho, and Nevada. It was a closer race than the 1924 election had been, but Coolidge ultimately conceded to Blackford over the telephone. The two would meet for a rematch in the following election.

See also Inconsistencies (Southern Victory)

OTL Election[]

The 1928 election featured the end of Calvin Coolidge's Presidency, as he declined to run for a second full term despite high popularity polls. The Republican Party ran former Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover with Charles Curtis of Kansas as his running mate. The Democrats nominated Governor of New York Al Smith with Arkansas Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson as his running mate. The Hoover-Curtis ticket won in a landslide.

The election was notable because Smith, a Catholic, became the first non-Protestant to win a major party's presidential nomination. Unfortunately, the result was a showcase of religious bigotry.

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