The Square Deal Coalition: And Now For Something Completely Different
The 1930 Kansas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1930. Part of the 1930 midterms held in the middle of President Theodore Roosevelt Jr.'s first term, it saw independent write-in candidate John R. Brinkley, a radio personality and quack former doctor (who obtained his degree from a diploma mill) known for transplanting goat testicles onto his patients [1], narrowly defeat Republican Benjamin S. Paulen, a former two-term Lieutenant Governor from 1923 to 1927 running with the endorsement of the Democratic Party and support of the KKK; Progressive Charles L. Davidson, a former one-term governor from 1921 to 1923, came in third about 10% behind Paulen and Brinkley, while George McGill of the Catholic-interest Liberty Party [2] managed to carry Catholic-majority Ellis County but otherwise received little support in the state, and won just 5% of the vote, and Socialist J. B. Shields won Crawford County, but only managed to win 4% of the statewide vote, despite an overall banner year for his party nationwide.
The election result, which was controversial given Brinkley's general deal and reason for running (he was effectively running to regain his medical license, which had been stripped from him by the state's medical board, which was appointed by the governor), as well as an attempt to throw out some votes for him [3], was juxtaposed in what were some decidedly mixed results for the Progressive Party nationally. While at the federal level the party unexpectedly succeeded in maintaining their majorities in both Houses of Congress - the most serious challenge to these the party would face between until 1970 - at the state level the party suffered several defeats. The Kansas result, in particular, was shocking, given Brinkley's profile.
William Allen White, the incumbent two-term Progressive governor, was retiring in the election, likely in anticipation of his 1932 Senate run in for the seat of Senator Joseph Bristow, who would retire in the election. In his place, Charles Davidson, who had served a term each as US Representative and Governor, was nominated by the party in his stead. George McGill ran for the still-new Liberty Party, while Benjamin Paulen was the Republican candidate. The Democratic Party, which at this point was rapidly collapsing outside the South, chose not to put up its own candidate but instead endorsed Paulen, likely at the behest of the KKK, which, despite the efforts of President Roosevelt's and Governor White's independent anti-KKK policies designed to combat the organization's domestic terrorism, remained influential in the state and was still attempting to negotiate anti-Progressive alliances between state-level Democratic and Republican parties to advance its bigoted goals, though outside of Indiana and Kansas it had limited success. This move served to unite the two more conservative parties behind Paulen.
This had opened up into a close race between Paulen and Davidson. Davidson was aided by the progressive movement's strength in Kansas - his party had carried the state in 3 of the 4 preceding presidential elections - but had difficulty in dealing with a perception that his party, at the federal level, was neglecting the farm vote, which was suffering acutely since before even the onset of the Great Depression. Paulen, meanwhile, had the united party apparatuses of two parties (though the rapidly weakening Kansas Democratic Party, which would cease competing in the state within the decade, was of less help than it could have been) but struggled to deal with the controversial support the KKK was providing for his campaign. All of this was upended when Brinkley suddenly announced a campaign in September - a date whose lateness which forced him to be a write-in candidate - following the loss of his medical license. Likely running with the intention of appointing members to the Kansas Medical Board in order to regain his license, Brinkley ran one of the most purely demagogic campaigns, offering vague populist promises that appealed to both progressives and conservatives. Thus he is believed to have siphoned votes from both Paulen and Davidson, as well as bringing his own supporters to the polls.
On Election Day, the count was extremely close. Davidson quickly fell behind, and it was soon clear either Paulen or Brinkley would win. There was controversy in the move by state Attorney General Roland Boynton to count only those votes written as "J. R. Brinkley" for Brinkley and to dismiss all other variations of his name. Had this gone unchallenged it would have likely ended in Paulen's victory, but it was and Boynton was forced to allow the counting of all variations of Brinkley's name. It is believed this salvaged the votes of as many as 40,000 Brinkley voters - far more than his 1,171-vote margin.
Governor Brinkley's tenure would as controversial as it was brief, quite frankly exactly what could be expected of a quack doctor elected to high office. He utterly failed to implement any of the policies he had promised to enact, frequently feuded with the legislature, and was impeached, convicted, and removed from office after nine chaotic months over alleged quid pro quos, conflicts of interest, and abuse of power claims regarding what else but his appointments to the state medical board, specifically being accused of making restoration of his medical license a prerequisite to consideration of prospective candidates. Clyde M. Reed, the Progressive candidate for Lieutenant Governor elected alongside Brinkley, succeeded to the office of governor following Brinkley's removal. Disgraced and barred from holding office in the state, Brinkley left for the US-Mexico border, where he ran a radio station until his death several years later.
[1] You can't make this stuff up.
[2] Yeah, I don't love this name (it's derived from the anti-New Deal "American Liberty League," of which Al Smith, the main founding figure of this alt-party, was a member), so I'm taking name suggestions for this party, which is a basically a Catholic/urban interest party that emerges from the north's Democratic Parties as the actual Democratic Party gets a little too close to the KKK, which causes a lot of the north's core Democratic demographics to leave the party and in turn leads to the actual Democratic Party becoming a bit of Southern-interest party, while this is basically the OTL northern Democratic Parties of the 1920's, though somewhat stripped of their most progressive elements.
[3] IOTL Brinkley's name had to be written in a very specific way to be counted for him, and it is possible that the number of votes for him that were thrown out on this technicality may have been enough to give him the win - although likely not by much. According to Wikipedia (because this is a small part of a silly alt-hist project and not a dissertation paper, I think this is a good enough, if of course unreliable, source for the situation), it's estimated somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 Brinkley votes were thrown out this way. I would have preferred to err on the low side, but that wouldn't have been enough to give Brinkley the win - so I split the baby instead, and gave him the middle place estimate of 40,000 votes.
The 1930 Kansas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1930. Part of the 1930 midterms held in the middle of President Theodore Roosevelt Jr.'s first term, it saw independent write-in candidate John R. Brinkley, a radio personality and quack former doctor (who obtained his degree from a diploma mill) known for transplanting goat testicles onto his patients [1], narrowly defeat Republican Benjamin S. Paulen, a former two-term Lieutenant Governor from 1923 to 1927 running with the endorsement of the Democratic Party and support of the KKK; Progressive Charles L. Davidson, a former one-term governor from 1921 to 1923, came in third about 10% behind Paulen and Brinkley, while George McGill of the Catholic-interest Liberty Party [2] managed to carry Catholic-majority Ellis County but otherwise received little support in the state, and won just 5% of the vote, and Socialist J. B. Shields won Crawford County, but only managed to win 4% of the statewide vote, despite an overall banner year for his party nationwide.
The election result, which was controversial given Brinkley's general deal and reason for running (he was effectively running to regain his medical license, which had been stripped from him by the state's medical board, which was appointed by the governor), as well as an attempt to throw out some votes for him [3], was juxtaposed in what were some decidedly mixed results for the Progressive Party nationally. While at the federal level the party unexpectedly succeeded in maintaining their majorities in both Houses of Congress - the most serious challenge to these the party would face between until 1970 - at the state level the party suffered several defeats. The Kansas result, in particular, was shocking, given Brinkley's profile.
William Allen White, the incumbent two-term Progressive governor, was retiring in the election, likely in anticipation of his 1932 Senate run in for the seat of Senator Joseph Bristow, who would retire in the election. In his place, Charles Davidson, who had served a term each as US Representative and Governor, was nominated by the party in his stead. George McGill ran for the still-new Liberty Party, while Benjamin Paulen was the Republican candidate. The Democratic Party, which at this point was rapidly collapsing outside the South, chose not to put up its own candidate but instead endorsed Paulen, likely at the behest of the KKK, which, despite the efforts of President Roosevelt's and Governor White's independent anti-KKK policies designed to combat the organization's domestic terrorism, remained influential in the state and was still attempting to negotiate anti-Progressive alliances between state-level Democratic and Republican parties to advance its bigoted goals, though outside of Indiana and Kansas it had limited success. This move served to unite the two more conservative parties behind Paulen.
This had opened up into a close race between Paulen and Davidson. Davidson was aided by the progressive movement's strength in Kansas - his party had carried the state in 3 of the 4 preceding presidential elections - but had difficulty in dealing with a perception that his party, at the federal level, was neglecting the farm vote, which was suffering acutely since before even the onset of the Great Depression. Paulen, meanwhile, had the united party apparatuses of two parties (though the rapidly weakening Kansas Democratic Party, which would cease competing in the state within the decade, was of less help than it could have been) but struggled to deal with the controversial support the KKK was providing for his campaign. All of this was upended when Brinkley suddenly announced a campaign in September - a date whose lateness which forced him to be a write-in candidate - following the loss of his medical license. Likely running with the intention of appointing members to the Kansas Medical Board in order to regain his license, Brinkley ran one of the most purely demagogic campaigns, offering vague populist promises that appealed to both progressives and conservatives. Thus he is believed to have siphoned votes from both Paulen and Davidson, as well as bringing his own supporters to the polls.
On Election Day, the count was extremely close. Davidson quickly fell behind, and it was soon clear either Paulen or Brinkley would win. There was controversy in the move by state Attorney General Roland Boynton to count only those votes written as "J. R. Brinkley" for Brinkley and to dismiss all other variations of his name. Had this gone unchallenged it would have likely ended in Paulen's victory, but it was and Boynton was forced to allow the counting of all variations of Brinkley's name. It is believed this salvaged the votes of as many as 40,000 Brinkley voters - far more than his 1,171-vote margin.
Governor Brinkley's tenure would as controversial as it was brief, quite frankly exactly what could be expected of a quack doctor elected to high office. He utterly failed to implement any of the policies he had promised to enact, frequently feuded with the legislature, and was impeached, convicted, and removed from office after nine chaotic months over alleged quid pro quos, conflicts of interest, and abuse of power claims regarding what else but his appointments to the state medical board, specifically being accused of making restoration of his medical license a prerequisite to consideration of prospective candidates. Clyde M. Reed, the Progressive candidate for Lieutenant Governor elected alongside Brinkley, succeeded to the office of governor following Brinkley's removal. Disgraced and barred from holding office in the state, Brinkley left for the US-Mexico border, where he ran a radio station until his death several years later.
[1] You can't make this stuff up.
[2] Yeah, I don't love this name (it's derived from the anti-New Deal "American Liberty League," of which Al Smith, the main founding figure of this alt-party, was a member), so I'm taking name suggestions for this party, which is a basically a Catholic/urban interest party that emerges from the north's Democratic Parties as the actual Democratic Party gets a little too close to the KKK, which causes a lot of the north's core Democratic demographics to leave the party and in turn leads to the actual Democratic Party becoming a bit of Southern-interest party, while this is basically the OTL northern Democratic Parties of the 1920's, though somewhat stripped of their most progressive elements.
[3] IOTL Brinkley's name had to be written in a very specific way to be counted for him, and it is possible that the number of votes for him that were thrown out on this technicality may have been enough to give him the win - although likely not by much. According to Wikipedia (because this is a small part of a silly alt-hist project and not a dissertation paper, I think this is a good enough, if of course unreliable, source for the situation), it's estimated somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 Brinkley votes were thrown out this way. I would have preferred to err on the low side, but that wouldn't have been enough to give Brinkley the win - so I split the baby instead, and gave him the middle place estimate of 40,000 votes.
