Hosea Blackford

Hosea Blackford is a character in Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191 series, including How Few Remain, The Great War, and American Empire. He is first introduced in a train ride across the northern Great Plains while talking with former President Abraham Lincoln in 1881.

Blackford re-enters the series in Great War: Walk in Hell where he is a Congressmen in the House of Representatives for the Socialist Party in Dakota. He is considered a more moderate socialist than his counterparts.

In 1920, he is asked by Upton Sinclair to be the Socialist party nominee to be the Vice President. The Socialists win the 1920 election defeating Teddy Roosevelt. Upton Sinclair and Hosea Blackford are re-elected in 1924.

In 1928 Blackford becomes the Socialist Party nominee for President and defeats Calvin Coolidge by a small margin. However, the economic panic and subsequent crash in mid-1929 is largely blamed on Blackford. Shantytowns of unemployed people in the United States become known as Blackfordburghs (see: Hooverville), in honour of the failure of the Blackford Presidency. In response he passes make-work legislation, but nothing helps.

Things are made even worse for Blackford in 1932 when the USS Remembrance catches a disguised Japanese ship supplying weapons to Canada's resistince. The Japenese attack the Rememberance, and the Pacific War begins. The war destroys Blackford's hopes of reelection, especially during a rally for Blackford in Los Angeles when the Japenese carry out a successful raid on the city.

Blackford is easily defeated by Calvin Coolidge for the Presidential spot. He retired to Dakota, and then returns to New York and Philadelphia with his wife, Flora, who is a Congresswoman. He dies in 1937. He and Flora had one son, Joshua.