1940 United States presidential election (Plot Against America)

The 1940 United States presidential election was the 39th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1940. The election was contested in the shadow of World War II in Europe, as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. Republican Nominee, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, defeated incumbent President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in an unexpected landslide victory.

Lindbergh originally did not plan on running for President, however, after Roosevelt sold U.S. warships to the United Kingdom he felt a new candidate was necessary. Roosevelt had violated the Neutrality Act, causing his popularity to wain. Lindbergh called for the removal of United States aid to the United Kingdom and promised to keep America out of another World War. Charles Lindbergh would fly across the United States in the Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh would get his way into the Presidency as he used the "41 Speech". A 41-word speech telling the nation the vote was between Lindberg or war.

Roosevelt did not want to campaign for a third term initially but was driven by worsening conditions in Europe. He and his allies sought to defuse challenges from other party leaders such as James Farley and Vice President John Nance Garner. The 1940 Democratic National Convention re-nominated Roosevelt on the first ballot, while Garner was replaced on the ticket by Colonel Charles Lindbergh, a dark horse candidate, defeated conservative Senator Robert A. Taft and prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey on the sixth presidential ballot of the 1940 Republican National Convention.