Back To The Past: The Alternate History Podcast

Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Leader, and was a leader of the conservative coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats who prevented expansion of the New Deal. Often referred to as "Mr. Republican", he cosponsored the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947, which banned closed shops, created the concept of right-to-work states, and regulated other labor practices.

He also emerged as a prominent non-interventionist and opposed U.S. involvement into World War II prior to the 1941 Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. Taft's non-interventionist stances damaged his 1940 candidacy, and the 1940 Republican National Convention nominated Wendell Willkie. Taft sought the presidency again in 1948, but he lost to Dewey at the 1948 Republican National Convention. He opposed the creation of NATO and criticized President Harry Truman's handling of the Korean War.

He would later die in 1953 as a result of cancer.

However, let's say that in this scenario, the Republican Party nominates Taft for the 1952 election and Taft is able to win. In addition, he does not develop cancer. With Taft's radically different perspective and policies, how would the United States develop during the 1950s, the onset of the Cold War? Would Taft lead the United States into a new era of isolationism, or would Congress force Taft to intervene? Would the US look at war and military action the same way?

Robert Taft, and his impacts on the political landscape were drastic. If he were president, even more so. The world would be different, and potentially even for the better.

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The Second Bill of Rights was proposed by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, January 11, 1944. In his address, Roosevelt suggested that the nation had come to recognize and should now implement, a second "bill of rights". Roosevelt argued that the "political rights" guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness". His remedy was to declare an "economic bill of rights" to guarantee these specific rights: • Employment, food, clothing and leisure with enough income to support them • Farmers' rights to a fair income • Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies • Housing • Medical care • Social security • Education. These rights have come to be known as basic economic rights, although not to be enshrined within the constitution, the hope of advocating the policy was that it would be 'encoded and guaranteed by federal law'.

Although some aspects have the law have been considered and implemented, FDR's idea would have guaranteed employment, farmer's right to a fair income, freedom from unfair competition and monopolies, housing, medical care, social security, and education. It was also called the Economic Bill of Rights and would have been one of the largest spending bills in American history.
Today, we discuss what would happen if that bill was passed. How would American society react? How would politicians respond? And how would it impact future foreign and domestic policy? Have a listen and find out!
Shout out to Podchaser! They just released a chart with some of the best podcasts to listen to in November, and Back to the Past is featured!
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/back-to-the-past-the-alternate-1415649
https://www.podchaser.com/lists/the-60-best-podcasts-to-discover-for-november-pc!5OvkkR9IR4GmAv65
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Want to discuss this further, or just want to contact us? Reach us on our socials, or join the community on Kloka!

Twitter: @BackToThePastP1 https://bit.ly/39ts3CG

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Check out our website! https://kloka.org/backtothepast

Email us if you have any questions or comments! [email protected]

Or if you have any ideas for Kloka, including potential future podcasts, coverage, or even a book review, email [email protected]

And if you're interested in guesting with us, email the back to the past email, or [email protected]!

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Podcast Transcript: https://kloka.org/go/althistranscripts

Born in Illinois, William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) became a Nebraska congressman in 1890. He starred at the 1896 Democratic convention with his Cross of Gold speech that favored free silver, but was defeated in his bid to become U.S. president by William McKinley. Bryan lost his subsequent bids for the presidency in 1900 and 1908, using the years between to run a newspaper and tour as a public speaker. After helping Woodrow Wilson secure the Democratic presidential nomination for 1912, he served as Wilson’s secretary of state until 1914. In his later years, Bryan campaigned for peace, prohibition and suffrage, and increasingly criticized the teaching of evolution.

The Free Silver movement was one of the most important decision made in US history. It would impact the economy for decades and influence future economic decisions that would be made in the future. In our original timeline, the Free Silver movement never passed.
However, what would happen if William Jennings Bryan won the presidency in 1896? What would happen with the Free Silver movement now being passed? What would be the economic impacts? Or the cultural and societal impacts? Have a listen and find out!
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Want to discuss this further, or just want to contact us? Reach us on our socials, or join the community on Kloka!

Twitter: @BackToThePastP1 https://bit.ly/39ts3CG

Instagram: @backtothepastp1 https://bit.ly/34lcwBD

Rate this podcast! https://ratethispodcast.com/althistory

Check out our website! https://kloka.org/backtothepast

Email us if you have any questions or comments! [email protected]

Or if you have any ideas for Kloka, including potential future podcasts, coverage, or even a book review, email [email protected]

And if you're interested in guesting with us, email the back to the past email, or [email protected]!

Check out Kloka, an organization dedicated to providing quality podcasts and other media to you! Come and take a look, and make an account to engage with us and the community! https://kloka.org

Podcast Transcript: https://kloka.org/go/althistranscripts

The following is a sample of the transcript:
The reason why McKinney was very successful in convincing factory workers was mainly because he used free silver, actually against William Jennings Bryan, stating that this currency, this new standard, in a sense bimetallism, would actually be based their wages, which I guarantee that ingestion workers weren't happy. And Besides that, the factory workers were also threatening to lay off people and shut down factories, actually, if they went out and voted Brian as well. So I think that definitely changed. That definitely a flip state, such as Indiana in favor of McKinley. And also Kentucky is both because Kentucky is kind of locked rust belt state, not rustling. It's kind of located industrial state more so towards the north, like Louisville. But otherwise I'm going to also touch on, for example, you're talking about the Northeast, and that's also the reason why he didn't want California because California is kind of like the home of the Western bankers, in a sense, because the bankers were anti Brian like crazy. And there's also media that was also against William Jennings Brian a sense. And otherwise let's get back on to what States in this area. I think he would honestly do in California and Oregon; which are two Western States.

This episode is going to be a little different. Instead of a standard alternate history scenario, today Nick and Rohan talk about their top 5 senators of all time and why they were on the top 5. In addition, they also go into who they would have liked to see become an American president throughout the history of the United States. We hope you enjoyed this different type of episode and please let us know what you think about it by leaving a review, or a comment on our socials!
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Want to discuss this further, or just want to contact us? Reach us on our socials, or join the community on Kloka!

Twitter: @BackToThePastP1 https://bit.ly/39ts3CG

Instagram: @backtothepastp1 https://bit.ly/34lcwBD

Rate this podcast! https://ratethispodcast.com/althistory

Check out our website! https://kloka.org/backtothepast

Email us if you have any questions or comments! [email protected]

Or if you have any ideas for Kloka, including potential future podcasts, coverage, or even a book review, email [email protected]

And if you're interested in guesting with us, email the back to the past email, or [email protected]!

Check out Kloka, an organization dedicated to providing quality podcasts and other media to you! Come and take a look, and make an account to engage with us and the community! https://kloka.org

Podcast Transcript: https://kloka.org/go/althistranscripts

Russia had established a presence in North America during the first half of the 18th century, but few Russians ever settled in Alaska. In the aftermath of the Crimean War, Russian Tsar Alexander II began exploring the possibility of selling Alaska, which would be difficult to defend in any future war from being conquered by Russia's archrival, the United Kingdom. Following the end of the American Civil War, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward entered into negotiations with Russian minister Eduard de Stoeckl for the purchase of Alaska. Seward and Stoeckl agreed to a treaty on March 30, 1867, and the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate by a wide margin. Despite not having a large population, Alaska has had an enormous impact on the United States. Alaska contains plentiful natural resources, and is also near Russia (important during the cold war).

What if Russia had decided to keep Alaska, however? In this episode, we will discuss the effects, from relations with Britain and the US, to what would happen during the Bolshevik Revolution.

Want to discuss this further, or just want to contact us? Reach us on our socials, or join the community on Kloka!

Twitter: @BackToThePastP1 https://bit.ly/39ts3CG
Instagram: @backtothepastp1 https://bit.ly/34lcwBD
Rate this podcast! https://ratethispodcast.com/althistory
Check out our website! https://kloka.org/backtothepast
Email us if you have any questions or comments! [email protected]

Check out Kloka, an organization dedicated to providing quality podcasts and other media to you! Come and take a look, and make an account to engage with us and the community! https://kloka.org

Podcast Transcript:
(Read the full transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FFqPuEGyId0MSVyOqEKQeSL8X4pfQRIc/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114090551523042044290&rtpof=true&sd=true)

Hey guys and welcome back to Back To the Past. The alternative podcast I'm Nick and my other co host is Ron. After two month long hiatus were finally practicing, the more what if of history. But before we get into our newest episode, I must first apologize on behalf of the Back to the Past crew for the untimely ending of season three. And this was due to our chaotic schedules at the time and we just couldn't get together to put out another episode. Nonetheless, today's episode is what if Russia never sold Alaska? So here's some background. Alright, so around the 1730s Russian Hunter started arriving in Alaska to Hunt for fur like for example, sea orders, because during the time they are plentiful through Alaska, no colony was necessarily established, but missionaries were sent. And overall at the end of the day around 700 Russians enforced sovereignty new territory that was twice the size of Texas.