Ross Mahoney

Ross Floyd Mahoney (April 14 1865 - March 9 1924) was an American politician and convicted traitor who served as the 25th President of the United States from 1921 until he and his entire cabinet were forcibly removed from office in 1922.

Elected in 1920, Mahoney was the first (and only) third party candidate to win an election. Mahoney and his Christian Democrats won the presidency, but failed miserably in local elections, and all legislation Mahoney proposed was shot down by the Republican-controlled Senate and Democrat-controlled House.

Mahoney, furious, began using executive orders to pass his legislation, which Congress called unconstitutional.

Congress attempted to block Mahoney from passing executive orders, however, this did not stop him. On September 6, 1921, Congress secretly launched an investigation into Mahoney as rumors began to arise that he had ties to the emerging Soviet Union. Communism was already regarded as a threat by this point.

On October 13, Congress presented a bill to impeach Mahoney after a document had been found that showed Mahoney leaking classified information to the Swedish in World War I. With this, both the House Democrats and Republicans were in agreement for once. Mahoney needed to go.

On October 29 Speaker of the House Victor Aaronson presented to the House the impeachment bill. Mahoney, furious, began attempting to place gag orders on Aaronson and block voting. This further gave momentum to the movement, and the vote was passed in the House on November 4.

In late December Mahoney began attempting to stop the Senate from convening, but on December 22 Chief Justice Warren Jackson officially placed what he called a sanction on Mahoney, forcing him to stop attempting to interfere.

On January 6, 1922, the Senate voted unanimously to impeach Mahoney. He and his entire cabinet were removed from office on June 2, and Victor Aaronson, third in line for the presidency, became president.

Mahoney was imprisoned for treason, and was executed on March 9 1924.