AHC: Italian American President of VP

The problem is that La Guardia didn't achieve necessary prominence until the 1930s, which more or less coincided with the entire New Deal era. So unless FDR dies before he can run 1940 it's hard to see La Guardia as part of a winning ticket. He died in 1947 of pancreatic cancer so there's no real way to extend his political viability.
Maybe if you have FDR die in his second term or something so La Guardia can run on the legacy of FDR against the Democrats under President Garner.
 
It is something that has never happened, but could have happened and might happen in the future. What can be done to get one at any time??? Bonus points if before Kennedy.
Al Smith, the Democrat candidate in 1928, was Italian-American. His father anglicized his name from Ferraro to Smith.

Now how to get Smith to win... Have him not run in 1928. He decides to serve another term as governor of New York, and runs in 1932, winning in a landslide. (FDR didn't want to run for governnor in 1928, preferring to wait till 1932, so he wouldn't challenge Smith.)
 
Needs to be post 1945. Anti Catholicism was a bit to strong to make a Italian ancestored candidate a good pick. There were still Catholic hating diatribes common in 1960 concerning Kennedys candidacy.
 
Needs to be post 1945. Anti Catholicism was a bit to strong to make a Italian ancestored candidate a good pick. There were still Catholic hating diatribes common in 1960 concerning Kennedys candidacy.

La Guardia was an Episcopalian. (Weird that there have been two half-Jewish Episcopalians from Arizona backgrounds who could potentially have become president...)
 
La Guardia would also have been wonderful. His acension to a presidential canadate is the best part of Philip Roth’s the plot aganist America.
 
La Guardia was an Episcopalian. (Weird that there have been two half-Jewish Episcopalians from Arizona backgrounds who could potentially have become president...)

When I was a child I was accused of being Catholic because: "Everybody knows all your people in Benton County are Catholics." Its not clear if that adult was referring to my German or Irish ancestors by "all your people". The county he referred to had a lot of Catholics with German, Irsh and French ancestry. I was raised as German Lutheran & my mothers 'Irish' family a mix of Protestant denominations.
 
There was talk of having Peter Rodino as Carter's running mate in 1976:

"In 1976, Jimmy Carter considered Mr. Rodino as a running mate. ''Tippy called me all excited, saying I was at the top of the list,'' Mr. Rodino said. ''I said, 'No, I'm not. I like what I'm doing and you need me where I am, as chairman of Judiciary.' Tippy was surprised. So was Carter.'"

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/27/nyregion/after-40-years-making-the-law-rodino-now-teaches-it.html

(It might have been enough to enable Carter to carry NJ, which Ford narrowly won in OTL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_New_Jersey,_1976)
 
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There was talk of having Peter Rodino as Carter's running mate in 1976:

"In 1976, Jimmy Carter considered Mr. Rodino as a running mate. ''Tippy called me all excited, saying I was at the top of the list,'' Mr. Rodino said. ''I said, 'No, I'm not. I like what I'm doing and you need me where I am, as chairman of Judiciary.' Tippy was surprised. So was Carter.'"

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/27/nyregion/after-40-years-making-the-law-rodino-now-teaches-it.html

(It might have been enough to enable Carter to carry NJ, which Ford narrowly won in OTL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_New_Jersey,_1976)
Would picking Rodino hurt Carter in the Midwest?
 
I doubt it. After all, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio have large Italian-American communities.

No doubt choosing Mondale helped Carter in MN. But Carter's margin there was so large that he could easily have won the state without Mondale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Minnesota,_1976
fair point.
MN's political culture must have been very receptive to his message, hence the big winning margin. @lord caedus does this make sense?
Anyway, what political dimensions would there had been to a Rodino selection, besides the "white ethnic" angle?
 
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