Gerald Ford assassinated in 1975. What comes after?

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NedStark

Chapman said:
Assuming President Rocky dies "on schedule" on January 26, 1979, then VP Reagan I believe would still be eligible to run for two full terms. The 26th would be six days past the two year anniversary of Rocky's inauguration, marking the halfway point. Therefore since President Reagan served just less than half of the original term, he could run again in 1980 and 1984.
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Then he would have lost.
 
Chapman

Chapman

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NedStark said:
Then he would have lost.
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Yeah most likely. I also think it's questionable whether or not he would have gone for it again in 1984. I could see him wanting to but I could also see him deciding to bow out gracefully while the choice was still his. Either way I do believe he'd still be eligible to run.
 
Taunay

Taunay

Chapman said:
Yeah most likely. I also think it's questionable whether or not he would have gone for it again in 1984. I could see him wanting to but I could also see him deciding to bow out gracefully while the choice was still his. Either way I do believe he'd still be eligible to run.
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Who would be Reagan's running mate on that case?
 
colonel

colonel

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I would bet Dole, but you could get Bush or Baker too. A real long shot to mollify his left wing would be Lowell Weicker.
 
Chapman

Chapman

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unnaturalmilk said:
Who would be Reagan's running mate on that case?
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Honestly it could still be Bush. He might've been in the Rocky/Reagan cabinet already so it wouldn't be unrealistic. If not him, maybe Bob Dole or Howard Baker. Or a non-Bush Texan like John Tower. A somewhat less realistic choice might be James L. Buckley, though unless butterflies mean he keeps his Senate seat (unlikely IMO but not impossible) that probably wouldn't happen.
 
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Taunay

Taunay

Chapman said:
Honestly it could still be Bush. He might've been in the Rocky/Reagan cabinet already so it wouldn't be unrealistic. If not him, maybe Bob Dole or Howard Baker. Or a non-bush Texan like John Tower. A somewhat less realistic choice might be James L. Buckley, though unless butterflies mean he keeps his Senate seat (unlikely IMO but not impossible) that probably wouldn't happen.
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Got it, thanks for the explanation
 
colonel

colonel

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Chapman said:
Honestly it could still be Bush. He might've been in the Rocky/Reagan cabinet already so it wouldn't be unrealistic. If not him, maybe Bob Dole or Howard Baker. Or a non-Bush Texan like John Tower. A somewhat less realistic choice might be James L. Buckley, though unless butterflies mean he keeps his Senate seat (unlikely IMO but not impossible) that probably wouldn't happen.
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If it was Bush he would not have called Reagan’s economic plan “voo doo” economics. Then again Reagan succeeding Rockefeller could have a significantly different plan.
 
colonel

colonel

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unnaturalmilk said:
Does that mean that Reagan is more moderate?
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Likely at least to start as he would try to show continuity with Rockefeller's policies. Then again he might just pick a Lowell Weicker for VP thus balancing the ticket & then implement what he actually believes as far as policy.
 
Taunay

Taunay

colonel said:
Likely at least to start as he would try to show continuity with Rockefeller's policies. Then again he might just pick a Lowell Weicker for VP thus balancing the ticket & then implement what he actually believes as far as policy.
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Thanks, that makes sense.
Taking this as what would happen I guess the elections up to 2000 would go like this:
1981 - 1989: Ronald Reagan (R)
1989 - 1997: Lowell Weicker (R)
1997 - 2001 (?2005?): Al Gore/Jerry Brown/Bob Kerrey (D)
 
colonel

colonel

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unnaturalmilk said:
Thanks, that makes sense.
Taking this as what would happen I guess the elections up to 2000 would go like this:
1981 - 1989: Ronald Reagan (R)
1989 - 1997: Lowell Weicker (R)
1997 - 2001 (?2005?): Al Gore/Jerry Brown/Bob Kerrey (D)
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Well Reagan likely runs against Ted Kennedy in 1980. Assuming Reagan wins and the TL otherwise progresses as in OTL Reagan is likely to resoundingly beat any Democrat in 1984. Beyond that is hard to figure. Even as a sitting VP Weicker wouldn’t be a shoe in for the nomination or the General election. The conservative wing won’t trust him, and even if Weicker gets the nod that would be the 5th GOP win in a row.
 
Taunay

Taunay

colonel said:
Well Reagan likely runs against Ted Kennedy in 1980. Assuming Reagan wins and the TL otherwise progresses as in OTL Reagan is likely to resoundingly beat any Democrat in 1984. Beyond that is hard to figure. Even as a sitting VP Weicker wouldn’t be a shoe in for the nomination or the General election. The conservative wing won’t trust him, and even if Weicker gets the nod that would be the 5th GOP win in a row.
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Wow good point, I didn't think about that
 

Nelson Mikeson

LivingSteam said:
President Rockefeller and Governor Reagan compete in a disastrous nominating contest on the GOP. Who ever comes out on top, goes down in flames against who ever is nominated by the Democrats. I'm thinking Reagan is the nominee and loses badly to Carter. Carter has a much larger margin in the Electoral and Popular Vote, is it enough to alter his Presidency? I'm not sure. If Rockefeller wins the nomination, he loses to Carter, only for Reagan to come back in 1980.

But an assassination of Ford would be very traumatizing for an already traumatized America. Ditto for Reagan in 1981. I'm not sure if America's psyche could have recovered from either of those. Could you imagine, though, if Rockefeller wins the nomination and Presidency in 1976 and dies the same way he did in real life? Now that's three dead Presidents in twenty years (Kennedy, Ford, Rockefeller) and two driven from the White House due to decisions they made.
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Add to that reversing Nixon's and Agnew's resignations. Nixon resigns in December 1973, Agnew succedes and takes Ford as VP, Agnew resigns in August 1974. Ford is assassinated, Rocky takes over and dies in 1979, Reagan takes over and is defeated in 1980 by Ted Kennedy. 1961-1981 - 8 Presidents - 2 assassinated, 2 resigned, 1 died of natural causes, only 2 finished a single 4-year term.
 
Taunay

Taunay

Nelson Mikeson said:
Add to that reversing Nixon's and Agnew's resignations. Nixon resigns in December 1973, Agnew succedes and takes Ford as VP, Agnew resigns in August 1974. Ford is assassinated, Rocky takes over and dies in 1979, Reagan takes over and is defeated in 1980 by Ted Kennedy. 1961-1981 - 8 Presidents - 2 assassinated, 2 resigned, 1 died of natural causes, only 2 finished a single 4-year term.
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That would be traumatic for any country
 
Taunay

Taunay

colonel said:
You can extend it. March of 1981 Hinckley shoots Ted Kennedy instead of Reagan, but Kennedy doesn’t survive. That would make Kennedy ‘s VP the 9th President in less than 18 years.
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Now this is just pure chaos, the country would fall into complete anarchy, the entire Baby Boomer and Gen X generations would be so traumatized that at this point it would be impossible to tell how American politics would develop in the future
 

Nelson Mikeson

unnaturalmilk said:
Now this is just pure chaos, the country would fall into complete anarchy, the entire Baby Boomer and Gen X generations would be so traumatized that at this point it would be impossible to tell how American politics would develop in the future
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Actually, this would make for an interesting TL.
 
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