If not Nixon, who could run against Kennedy in '60?

I remember hearing that one of the main reasons why Kennedy won the 1960 election was because he was more photogenic than Nixon was. (first televised presidential debate, yes?)

Did Nixon's Party have any canidates who the public might have considered more photogenic than Kennedy?
(did any other Parties have such canidates?)

Nelson Rockefeller was considerd a possible challenger to Nixon, but he was seen as too liberal.

Well that and he'd only been Governor for about a year at that point. I'm not sure his liberalism was as big an issue then as it would be later. In 1959 Wasn't he drawing out crowds that dwarfed Kennedy's?

To be honest, Nixon probably wins if he simply shaves and lets the make-up people do him up.

Glass Onion said:

Well that and he'd only been Governor for about a year at that point. I'm not sure his liberalism was as big an issue then as it would be later. In 1959 Wasn't he drawing out crowds that dwarfed Kennedy's?

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But he had a mile long resume of political experience before he became governor.

Rockefeller was the only other major potential candidate and even he backed out after seeing just how well Nixon controlled the Republican Party of the time.

Although if you just want Republicans to win, Nixon beating JFK is reasonable.

Electric Monk said:

Rockefeller was the only other major potential candidate and even he backed out after seeing just how well Nixon controlled the Republican Party of the time.

Although if you just want Republicans to win, Nixon beating JFK is reasonable.

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True but we always talk about the same three candidates for the GOP in 1960...Goldwater for the Conservative Wing, Rocky for the Moderate wing and Nixon as the in between. But what about some other potential candidates that could run for Ike's third term.

1. Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell of New Jersey: Largely hailed as the "Conscience" of the Republican Party, He was one of the Eisenhower 10, former Democrat and a fighter for Civil Rights in the Work place. With his close relationship with Eisenhower, Mitchell wouldn't have a problem sowing up the Eastern GOP Establishment but he might have a few issues with the growing wing of Western Conservatives.

2. Governor George D. Clyde of Utah: A popular Western Governor, with strong fiscally conservative credentials during his tenure. However, he does come from a traditional GOP Stronghold, that really wouldn't add anything to the Electoral Math. He might make a good Vice Presidential pick though.

3. Senator John S. Cooper of Kentucky: Classic Moderate-to-Liberal Republican yet from the Upper South, which may allow for him to pick crucial border states like Missouri, Tennesse, and Virginia. He also fastly approached the 14 years mark, being in the senate since 1946. Cooper's Anti-McCarthyisim, Pro-Civil Rights, Anti-Vietnam, and history of Dipolomatic expierence would make for an interesting 1960's.

4. Governor Cecil H. Underwood of West Virgina: Probably the only candidate whose appeal to the youth would rival Kennedy's. Governor of a crucial swing state(Especially one that was a make or break state for Jack in the Primaries), the 38 year old GOP Boy Wonder's record of Civil Service reform, push for Retirment Pension's, Evangelical background, and Pro-Civil Rights stance would make him a fine nominee. However it does seem that he had trouble winning elections, being defeated twice in the '60's.

A fine list of alternatives IF Nixon bows out or chooses not to run. W/Nixon in the race none of them has the stature or party standing to capture the nomination.

Eisenhower actually tried to get Nixon to accept the post of Secretary of Defense before the 1956 Presidential Election in order to get him out of his (admittedly thinning) hair to make way for a less controversial and partisan running mate (IIRC, Governor Christian Herter of Massachusetts).

So, supposing Nixon accepts the Secretary of Defense position and Eisenhower-Herter crushes Stevenson-Kefauver as OTL, Herter is in a prime position to take the Presidency himself in 1960. Herter is more liberal than Nixon (which really isn't saying much; Nixon was quite the moderate to liberal Republican himself), which probably swings the party's eastern establishment behind him in the event that Nixon mounts a challenge to Herter in the 1960 Presidential Race.

If Herter beats Kennedy, the Sixties are probably going to be similar to OTL, if a bit more restrained on Herter's part. Without JFK's untimely assassination, though, Civil Rights is probably harder for Herter to accomplish, which might lead to a Democrat taking back the White House in 1964. If Herter wins a second term, barring butterflies, he'll die in 1966, leaving the White House open for whoever he chooses as his own Vice Presidential running mate (Nixon, perhaps?).

Difficult to say...

Then Vice-President Nixon so effectively pre-empted his potential Republican rivals by 1959-60 that it is difficult to say. Due to the extremely bad Republican performance in the 1958 mid-term elections, based in part on the brief economic recession of 1957-58, only the newly elected NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller and the re-elected Senator Barry Goldwater clearly emerged as potential Republican rivals to Nixon for the 1960 nomination.

Barring his untimely death or a serious health problem, the only way that Nixon does not win the 1960 Republican nomination is if Ike had dumped him from the Republican ticket in 1956.

I am still curious about why Nixon was seen as such an obvious candidate. If I recall correctly before 1960 the only VPs who had run for President since 1836 had been those who took office following the death of their predessors (and in the 19th century even those did not usually run on major party ticket.

I think Truman's VP was a guy called Barclay and the nobody suggested him as a candidate, ditto Coolridge's, and Wilson's and TR's.


Was it something about politics or was it something about Nixon

He transformed the Veepship into a national base, made many foreign trips, and was the strongman of the administration besides Dulles. Nixon was also Ike's political guru, the man who handled the dirty work, McCarthy, planning midterm strategies, electoral strategy, the works. These duties were in effect a mixture of RFK and Rove. More the latter, except on the NSC...

wolfpaw122 said:

Actually, Barry Goldwater was considered a big contender for the nomination since he had so much backing from the conservative wing. So either Goldwater or Rockefeller. Though maybe somebody like Bill Knowland may give it a go, maybe as a compromise candidate. I believe he was actually going to try for the spot in '56 in the event of Eisenhower bowing out due to ill health.

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Knowland was a no-go once the Big Switch failed in '58.

Electric Monk said:

Knowland was a no-go once the Big Switch failed in '58.

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"Big Switch"? sadly, I've never heard of this.

Keenir said:

"Big Switch"? sadly, I've never heard of this.

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I will quote from the very first post in my Democratic President Reagan timeline (plug!):

Electric Monk said:

In 1958 Senator Knowland of California is giving up his Senate seat to run for Governor in order to control the delegation in 1960, deny the Presidency to Nixon, and bid for the nomination himself. The sitting Republican Governor, Goodwin J. Knight, is "persuaded" by the party heavies to run for Knowland's Senate seat and not contest the nomination for Governor. Knight then wins that nomination. All three of Nixon, Knowland, and Knight have been fighting for control of the California Republicans—Knight's the moderate, Knowland the conservative, and Nixon (as, amusingly, in 1968) in-between.

The Big Switch, as this move is forever known in political circles, fails. Knowland loses to Pat Brown for Governor, Knight loses to Clair Engle for the Senate seat.

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1958 Midterms Cleared the Field for Nixon

The 1958 mid-term elections were a disaster for the GOP. Although Congressional Republicans were back in the minority in both the U.S. Senate and House after the 1954 midterm elections, the Democrats held very slim majorities in both houses. A change of very few seats in either house and the Republicans would be back in control.

A recession in 1957-58, and Ike not being on the ballot, helped the Democrats score big gains in both houses of Congress in November 1958. As noted above, incumbent Republicans Sen. Bill Knowland and Gov. Goodwin Knight both lost in California in their attempt to switch positions. The only silver linings for the GOP in that terrible mid-term election year were the election of Nelson Rockfeller to his first term as NY governor and the re-election of Senator Barry Goldwater (whom Democrats had targeted for defeat) to a second term from Arizona.

Though partisan behind the scenes, President Eisenhower essentially governed as a centrsit and independent. Plus, Ike's health wasn't good from 1956 onward. So, for most of his eight years as Vice-President, Nixon assumed the role of partisan Republican point-man for the administration--sort of a Secretary of Politics for Ike. It was Nixon who went out to campaign and help raise money for Republican candidates across the country.

By late 1959, no potential Republican candidate for the 1960 nomination could match Nixon's visibility, name-recognition, and partisan IOUs across the country. The 1958 elections had eliminated potential GOP rivals like Knowland. As a result, the 1960 Republican primaries were not actively contested by anyone (except Nixon) and he strolled leisurely through the 1960 nomination process.

Rocky's the One....

Nelson Rockefeller, who was in his first term as Governor of New York, was the only real alternative to Nixon as the Republican nominee in 1960, given the heavy losses suffered by Republicans in the 1958 mid-term elections.

Rocky would have had to enter and defeat Nixon in several primaries, though, to wrest nomination away from VP Nixon. Rocky's prospects of winning the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary seemed good. However, after exploring the possibilty of running and learning that it would take a major effort to beat outNixon, Rocky announced at the end of 1959 that he would not be a presidential candidate in 1960.

Derek Jackson said:

I am still curious about why Nixon was seen as such an obvious candidate. If I recall correctly before 1960 the only VPs who had run for President since 1836 had been those who took office following the death of their predessors (and in the 19th century even those did not usually run on major party ticket.

I think Truman's VP was a guy called Barclay and the nobody suggested him as a candidate, ditto Coolridge's, and Wilson's and TR's.


Was it something about politics or was it something about Nixon

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After WW2, the U.S. was a military and economic superpower that led the West through the 4+ decades of the Cold War. Foreign policy and the foreign policy experience of potential presidential candidates was far more important after 1945 than before, when big state governors (especially NY and OH) were the most likely major-party presidential nominees and contenders. Plus, the Big-3 Television Networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) were all based on the East Coast in NYC, close to the new UN headquarters, and their Washington D.C. television studios offered the network news divisions much easier access to Administration officials and members of Congress than to governors in distance state capitals.

All of this gave Vice-Presidents and U.S. Senators an advantage they previously lacked over big-state governors, who had no significant foreign policy responsibilities to handle in their state capitals.

After FDR kept Truman largely in the dark (about the atomic bomb, post-war plans, etc) before he become President in 1945, Ike was determined to keep Nixon in the loop on foreign policy and defense matters by having him regularly attend NSC meetings. Nixon was also sent on lengthy multi-country foreign trips to Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe to represent to USA.

Nixon was 47 years-old in 1960 and had no rivals willing to seriously challenge him for the Republican nomination that year. Vice-President Barkley (age 74) actually sought the Democratic nomination in 1952 after President Truman decided not to run, but Democratic Party bosses believed Barkley was too old and nominated 52-year-old IL Gov. Adlai Steveson with Truman's support instead.

Nixon restarted the pattern of Vice-Presidents being major contenders for and winning their party's presidential nominations, which faded in the 19th Century after VP Martin Van Buren won the Democratic nomination and then the White House in 1836. Nixon, Humphrey, Mondale, George H.W. Bush, and Gore all won their party's nominations