1963 a terrible year for presidents.

After JFK's death in Nov. Let's say LBJ has a fatal heart attack a few days after christmas of the same year.

John William McCormack becomes POTUS. What does McCormack's presidency look like? Does he seek his own term? If so, whom does he choose as VP? Does he step aside for someone else in '64? RFK maybe? Who wins in '64?
 
McCormack's presidency would probably see a version of the Great Society enacted, however I doubt he would run for his own term. As for RFK and 1964, I'll leave that to the forums "Kexperts":)
 
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I say any Democrat that wins does so big time, that being said I'm unsure if RFK will run, to this point he's never been elected anything before and would still be AG, a year isn't enough time to get a base together, my guess is the Dems run Hubert Humphrey.
 
I always thought that 1964 would be too soon for a RFK to run and that in this scenario,Humphrey would win the nomination and the election.
 
McCormack's presidency would probably see a version of the Great Society enacted, however I doubt he would run for his own term. As for RFK and 1964, I'll leave that to the forums "Kexperts":)

It would be an interesting situation. The only other person to have become President without ever holding elected office was Herbert Hoover.

But, it may be too early. There's just not enough political fat on the bones to make me think it would be the right time. Then again, this would be a time of extraordinary circumstances.
 
Humphrey/Kennedy 1964

McCormack would be 73 in 1964, so it's unlikely that he'd run for his own term. Hubert Humphrey would likely become the Democratic nominee in 1964, but that still leaves the question of his VP.

While most of us agree that RFK would have been too inexperienced to run for president in 1964, could RFK still have become Humphrey's running mate? Given that he made a name for himself as Attorney General and his friendly relationship with Humphrey, I'd say it's very plausible that RFK would at least have been offered the VP slot.
 
McCormack would be 73 in 1964, so it's unlikely that he'd run for his own term. Hubert Humphrey would likely become the Democratic nominee in 1964, but that still leaves the question of his VP.

While most of us agree that RFK would have been too inexperienced to run for president in 1964, could RFK still have become Humphrey's running mate? Given that he made a name for himself as Attorney General and his friendly relationship with Humphrey, I'd say it's very plausible that RFK would at least have been offered the VP slot.

unlikely, they're both Northerners, and both liberals, Humphrey needs to pick a Southern boy, maybe he can bring Wallace to the table...
 
Southern, likely; Wallace, no. "Segregation fo-ev-aah" will not sell.
Indeed. Al Gore Sr., perhaps. I think he'd be willing to mute his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 if he was offered the #2 spot, and he did after all support the Voting Rights Act (and didn't sign the Southern Manifesto).
 
Wallace on the ticket, especially under Humphrey would be ASB. Particularly assuming that the '64 Civil Rights act is passed as OTL. It would be a complete 180 on the Kennedy legacy on civil rights and something that a strong civil rights advocate like Humphrey could never stomach.

Gore would be more likely, if the Southern vote is absolutely needed, but only marginally more so. He was a key member of the filibuster of Humphrey's '64 bill IOTL. If the GOP goes with Goldwater as OTL, then such strategy would not be necessary, and Humphrey immediately dismisses consideration of anybody that doesn't excite him. (Similar to OTL when Johnson realized that he could dismiss RFK from his VP choices.)

Arthur Schlessinger wanted a RFK/Humphrey or Humphrey/RFK ticket as early as Nov. 23, 1963 OTL. As for the likelihood in a scenario where Humphrey is free to choose among the field, I'm inclined to say that RFK still ends up running for Senate and looking at '68 or '72. That plan was largely in place before JFK's assassination.

There was a little bit of bad blood and religious unpleasantness from '60 between Humphrey and the Kennedy family, though RB would better assess the personal relationship between Humphrey and RFK as of '64. They were indeed like minded on a fair share of the issues, though, at least at this point.

If Humphrey is looking for youth as an RFK-alternative, there were some others from the WWII generation just coming into play that year. Reynolds of WI, or Brewster in MD were young favorites who OTL were establishment loyalists who helped Johnson cement a '64 primary victory over Wallace.
 
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I not McCormick's age but still I think he might have been a good President.

Plus with the instability I think people might want to keep the incumbent.
 
McCormack would not run for a full term, so the choice is down to Hubert or Bobby. There will be a draft-RFK movement that springs up almost immediately as occurred IOTL. Most likely he stands aside and Humphrey takes the presidency, and RFK would run for the Senate. Throughout 1964 he was in a deep, undiagnosed depression (like Nixon, he had a pathological fear of shrinks or talking about his innermost feelings to anyone outside his family and would rather die than see one) and was barely functioning. In 1964 the RFK-HHH relationship was at best lukewarm, but HHH always liked RFK much more than RFK did HHH. For one thing he and Nixon shared the view of Humphrey as a soft weakling who had no independent power base and was of an obsolete political era, though personally they got on OK. Not until '68 would the sharp ideological contrast and political attacks emerge, though at this point the ideological differences were narrower.

Which brings me to another point: at this point Bobby was a pragmatist wihtout many strong ideological convictions on domestic policy. It was only in opposition in the Senate where he would develop the New Democratic platform and policies that would form the basis of his '68 run. Perhaps those things come to him at some point if elected POTUS but not immediately. Under no circumstances would he serve as VP, since he'd been Deputy POTUS for his brother and was a political loner (again like Nixon) by nature.

HHH picks Sanford, who was not reviled as a traitor at this point, as his running mate and they trounce either Rocky or Goldwater on Nov. 3.
 
There was an item in the news a few months that confirms that 1963 almost truly WAS a terrible year for U.S. presidents.
 
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