AHC: Nixon/Kennedy ticket

With a domestic POD of 1931, have Nixon and a Kennedy brother share a ticket. Both must be either Republicans or Democrats, double bonus if both are Democrats. Triple bonus if they win in 1960, and if you can have a Bush in the administration (Prescott at Treasury, George H.W. at State) then you get a virtual box of Timbits and recognition as a Nixonian.

Conditions: no assassinations or premature deaths allowed.
 
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Richard Nixon was approached about running for Jerry Voorhis' seat (who had been appointed to the Senate to replace Hiram Johnson by Democratic Gov. Warren) by Democrats, and won quite easily. His friendship with Joe Kennedy Jr. from WWII earned him the support of the Kennedy's, which didn't hurt his political career at all. Nixon would go on to unseat Senator Houser (who narrowly defeated Conservative Democratic Sheridan Downey in 1944) in 1950. Nixon was a strong supporter of the Korean War, which paid off after Communist Korea was destroyed before Christmas 1950. When Gen. Omar Bradley ran against Harold Stassen in 1956, Nixon was selected as replacement VP (Bradley's original running mate, Joe Kennedy Jr., had died in a plane crash during the election). The Democratic ticket won by a narrow margin, which was attributed to Gen. Bradley's fame as leader of D-Day, former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and winner of the Korean War (he had replaced beloved war hero Macarthur, who had died valiantly in battle). Due to health concerns, Bradley did not seek a second term in 1960. Nixon would take John F. Kennedy as his running mate. With the economy good, Nixon supported by Presidents Truman and Bradley, and JFK charging Joe Kennedy Jr.'s martyhood as well as youth and energy, the pair would defeat Barry Goldwater and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Nixon would get flak from partisan Democrats for appointing Republican Senator Prescott Bush to the Treasury, and even more for appointing Bush's son George (a friend of JFK's since WWII) to Secretary of State. With his success in running circles around Khrushchev ("Only Nixon could go to Vietnam" is still a popular phrase today), areas of civil rights, universal healthcare, environmental legislation (as a reaction to oil spill in 1962), as well as a popularity boost after an unsuccessful assassination, Nixon would go on to be reelected President in 1964 against fellow Californian Pat Brown. John F. Kennedy would lose the election of 1968 to Nelson Rockefeller, though this was hardly surprising in hindsight, as the Democrats had extraordinarily controlled the White House for 36 years.
 
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Hahaha I live a three minutes away from a Tim Hortons and I don't really like Nixon. But I'll accept your challenge anyways.

During World War 2, Nixon is assigned to the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 under the Command of John F. Kennedy. It is still torpedoed and sinks. Kennedy rescues Nixon and the rest of his crew, Nixon owes his life to Kennedy and begins a life long friendship with him. After the war the two decide to go into politics and are both elected to Senate as Democrats. in 1960 Eisenhower's vice president, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. wins the Republican nomination. Nixon wins the Democratic nomination and picks his friend Kennedy as his running mate.

Richard Nixon/John F. Kennedy defeats Henry Cabot Lodge Jr./Theodore McKeldin in 1960. Nixon appoints another man he met during World War 2, George H.W. Bush, to the position of Secretary of State, even though he is Republican (the election was close and he had to appease the other side).

Political analysts note that war is a pretty good place to meet future cabinet picks. :p
 
Upon further investigation, the POD is a bit earlier than 1888 but...

This doesn't really qualify as your Challenge answered but I had been working on something in my head for a while and well... I'll need some suggestions/help with it.

Mine basically has P. J. Kennedy becoming a successful businessman earlier therefore being accepted by the Boston Brahmin. His position as perhaps the only Irish Catholic to enter the ranks of the wealthy Republicans while also being relatively populist makes him a powerful (albeit centrist) Republican leader. Joe Kennedy Sr. would go on to acquire great wealth and political influence and would become the Ambassador to Great Britain during WW2.

(While the Kennedy family's political party was the GOP, their politics were only a little less liberal than IOTL. The term "Kennedy Republican" replaces and predates "Rockefeller Republican" ITTL.)

When Secretary of Defense Richard M. Nixon, having become quite a popular statesman during the fifties, announced his desire to be considered at the convention, he allied himself with the McCarthy and Kennedy camp. However, it soon became clear that the Kennedy machine (having been campaigning long before the primaries) was going to dominate when at the Republican National Convention the moderate-left John F. Kennedy received a tight majority. Goldwater backed out and Rockefeller immediately threw his support behind Kennedy while Nixon, (who ran a close second) was asked to become Vice President, which he somewhat begrudgingly yet gratefully accepted. The pair got along well, however, and their policies and plans for the White House were something of a partnership even down to the last detail.


From the beginning the Johnson/Humphrey ticket was trailing. Although they promised maturity and more-of-the-same Democratic policies popular in the South, by comparison they campaigned much less and appeared old. Johnson assumed his home state was safe, but thanks to Nixon's campaigns there it went to Kennedy by a narrow margin. The whirlwind campaign tour organized by Robert Kennedy was a spectacle. When not touring together, Nixon was making good on his promise to visit all 50 States during the Kennedy/Nixon tour (focusing on winning the South) while Kennedy was exciting Republicans and converting all manner of progressive and center-right Democrats (dubbed Kennedycrats by the press) with his enthusiastic and mature campaign promises and his charismatic and youthful presentation in larger states in the North.

The culmination of the campaign was a series of Presidential and Vice Presidential debates between the candidates. Kennedy absolutely nailed Johnson and in a similar debate between the VP candidates, Nixon (agreeing to prepare extensively and wear make-up at the behest of Robert Kennedy) made a more narrow but no less respectable victory over Humphrey.

In response to Kennedy's support of Martin Luther King Jr. the African American vote went almost entirely to their ticket, and both Kennedy and Nixon made a point to address the good economy and immense popularity of Eisenhower who actively campaigned for Kennedy in the final 10 days of the campaign.

The election was a landslide, wide margin win for Kennedy/Nixon.

(Long story short, Kennedy is still assassinated and Nixon replaces Johnson ITTL. Nixon wins in 1964 and 1968 largely because he agrees to allow Bobby Kennedy to be his running mate. Robert Kennedy, is still shot at in California while campaigning with Nixon though many believe Nixon was the actual target. The shooter, Sirhan Sirhan dies of wounds received during the mayhem but Robert Kennedy survives and successfully runs with Rockefeller as running mate in 1972. None of it is really fleshed out yet but a Republican Kennedy family with similar OTL politics would be an interesting thing to work on.

I'm having a hard time combining this new Nixon and this new Kennedy's policies in a backdrop of a sixties initially similar to OTL's version. What do you think would happen here? And I'm still intent on having JFK shot to death in Dallas but RFK surviving.)

Oh yeah and Maria Shriver Bush... :D

Prescott is on Kennedy/Nixon staff, The Bush's the Kennedy's and the Nixon's all become relatively good friends.

George W. Bush (who is much more liberal and better spoken ITTL) is re-introduced to family friend Maria Shriver in 1977 and the two strike up a relationship resulting eventually in marriage. Bush becomes governor of California before eventually running for President.

EDIT: All of this is assuming Honey Fitz still allies with a decidedly still relatively liberal P. J. Kennedy and gives their children's marriage his blessing.
 
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