As the title says, your challenge for the evening is to make Edward Brooke, senator from Massachusetts, to be elected president.
AHC: President Brooke
- Thread starter The Karavoka Man
- Start date
There was speculation that Nixon would kick Agnew and replace him with Brooke in 1972. In 1968, Reagan also considered picking Brooke to pick up the African-American vote. However, you need Thurmond to not support Nixon to give Reagan the nomination, and he would not find Brooke as an acceptable running mate.
Have him win his re-election for senate in 78. Maybe he gives some political answers on abortion that keeps the catholics happy. Also butterfly his divorce, which keeps the questions about his finances away. Have him run with Reagan in '80 and become veep. Hinckley is successful in his attempt. Brooke becomes POTUS. Is elected in his own right in '84.
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
Or, he straight out beats Reagan in the 1980 Republican primary! 
(remember, Reagan lost the Iowa Caucus to Bush in OTL)
(remember, Reagan lost the Iowa Caucus to Bush in OTL)
Ford chooses him as VP, then some woman shoots him. Brooke lasts as president until 1976, when he hands over to Reagan (a liberal black man doesn't have a hope in hell of winning a Republican primary, unless all his opponents are nonentities).
Nixon loses 68, his undermining of Peace talks and Agnew's corruption revealed late October. Humphrey beats Reagan by LOTS in 72. Republicans look for moderates...
He becomes Ronald Reagan's running mate in 1968, leaving him (if the ticket wins) one bullet or one helicopter crash away from the presidency:
"[*National Review* publisher William] Rusher and his...comrade Clif White aimed to secure the presidency for Reagan at the GOP convention by forging a tacit alliance with Rockefeller's supporters to stop Nixon on the first and second ballots. 'At the third ballot,' according to the notes of one Ripon member at the meeting with Rusher, 'Rockefeller and Nixon forces part company. Reagan, with Clif White as broker, 'aims at Reagan-Percy ticket with Nixon as Secretary of State and Rockefeller (with a sneer from Rusher) as 'the man who put it all together.' If Percy wouldn't take the vice-presidency, they would look for another moderate. *'If I could be convinced that Ed Brooke could deliver a portion of the Negro vote, we would take him.'* [my emphasis--DT] Rusher felt that the California governor would have no chance if he were perceived as the 1968 version of Goldwater, so at Miami he would 'do everything possible to appear moderate, humane, and compassionate...He must start appearing progressive, responsible, and ecumenical in a hurry.'" Geoffrey Kabaservice, *Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party,* p. 241
https://books.google.com/books?id=GJ9baqZLVIYC&pg=PT272
"[*National Review* publisher William] Rusher and his...comrade Clif White aimed to secure the presidency for Reagan at the GOP convention by forging a tacit alliance with Rockefeller's supporters to stop Nixon on the first and second ballots. 'At the third ballot,' according to the notes of one Ripon member at the meeting with Rusher, 'Rockefeller and Nixon forces part company. Reagan, with Clif White as broker, 'aims at Reagan-Percy ticket with Nixon as Secretary of State and Rockefeller (with a sneer from Rusher) as 'the man who put it all together.' If Percy wouldn't take the vice-presidency, they would look for another moderate. *'If I could be convinced that Ed Brooke could deliver a portion of the Negro vote, we would take him.'* [my emphasis--DT] Rusher felt that the California governor would have no chance if he were perceived as the 1968 version of Goldwater, so at Miami he would 'do everything possible to appear moderate, humane, and compassionate...He must start appearing progressive, responsible, and ecumenical in a hurry.'" Geoffrey Kabaservice, *Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party,* p. 241
https://books.google.com/books?id=GJ9baqZLVIYC&pg=PT272
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
And I still like the scenario in which Ed straight up wins in the 1980 Republican Primary, maybe by being both more inspiring and more specific about economic growth and middle-class jobs. Maybe Ed's the one to win the "Reagan Democrats."
In the above picture, George H.W. Bush won the 1980 Iowa Caucus. But if Ed had entered early or just on time . . .
Leaving aside all the obvious other reasons (race, liberalism, etc.) Brooke would not win the Republican nomination for president in 1980:
"Brooke went through a divorce late in his second term. His finances were investigated by the Senate, and John Kerry, then a prosecutor in Middlesex County, announced an investigation into statements Brooke made in the divorce case. Prosecutors eventually determined that Brooke had made false statements about his finances during the divorce, and that they were pertinent, but not material enough to have affected the outcome. Brooke was not charged with a crime, but the negative publicity cost him some support in his reelection campaign, and he lost to Paul Tsongas.[7][21][22]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Brooke
Nixon announces Brooke as his VP pick after Agnew resigns to try to scare congress. "Impeach me and you get the n*****". This plot fails and Nixon is forced to resign like OTL.
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
Bonus points if Brooke's opponent in a Presidential election is Douglas Wilder.
Brooke becomes Nixon's running mate in 1972, while Wilder is elected Governor of Virginia in 1973 (he was in the State Senate for four years). Watergate happens as IOTL. Wilder and Brooke both win their respective nominations.
One of the best ways I've seen this done was in the Reagan wins in 68 TL here, with Brooke as his VP as a compromise to the liberal wing of the party, winning a term of his own in 76. One of my favorite moments of the TL was the Bicentennial of that TL, with a still popular Reagan taking to the event like a duck to water, and the year closing out with the election of the first black President.
He loses to Ted Kennedy in 1980, largely due to events outside his control - the economy, Iran - but he is still the first black President, and is fondly remembered on par with George HW Bush in OTL - as a good and decent man who, with the benefit of hindsight, probably deserved a second term. Brooke, in combination with 68 Reagan being much more moderate than 80 Reagan, ensures the GOP ITTL is more moderate than OTL, more liberal in some ways, more archconservative/libertarian in others.
As for other details... keep his home life more stable, his finances in the green, and get him re-elected in 1978. Given he lived until 2015 in OTL, he had the potential to be a power player in the GOP for a long time to come - even if he doesn't get the White House, I'd love to see him become a major GOP figure in the Senate, perhaps seeing other black Republicans come to power farther or sooner than OTL, like JC Watts, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Tim Scott and Alveda King. Doug Wilder, who was always in the middle of the road on most issues, could well run as a Republican and win in Virginia.
In that scenario, it would be fun - with three decades of experience in the Senate, and having nurtured a generation of black Republicans, he runs for the GOP nomination in 1996, and with Colin Powell as his VP, defeats President Clinton to become the first black President.
He loses to Ted Kennedy in 1980, largely due to events outside his control - the economy, Iran - but he is still the first black President, and is fondly remembered on par with George HW Bush in OTL - as a good and decent man who, with the benefit of hindsight, probably deserved a second term. Brooke, in combination with 68 Reagan being much more moderate than 80 Reagan, ensures the GOP ITTL is more moderate than OTL, more liberal in some ways, more archconservative/libertarian in others.
As for other details... keep his home life more stable, his finances in the green, and get him re-elected in 1978. Given he lived until 2015 in OTL, he had the potential to be a power player in the GOP for a long time to come - even if he doesn't get the White House, I'd love to see him become a major GOP figure in the Senate, perhaps seeing other black Republicans come to power farther or sooner than OTL, like JC Watts, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Tim Scott and Alveda King. Doug Wilder, who was always in the middle of the road on most issues, could well run as a Republican and win in Virginia.
In that scenario, it would be fun - with three decades of experience in the Senate, and having nurtured a generation of black Republicans, he runs for the GOP nomination in 1996, and with Colin Powell as his VP, defeats President Clinton to become the first black President.