Best Chance for a Goldwater Presidency

How could Barry M. Goldwater be elected President?

Perhaps a better campaign in 1964 where he somehow manages to gain the support and endorsement of the the mainstream GOP and its leaders, beyond just the conservative wing. After securing the nomination, he could take the effort to heal the wounds in his party, pushing for a united Republican Party before facing the Democrats, and begin to offer reconciliation with the moderate and liberal factions, perhaps picking a compromise VP candidate who would be agreeable to both conservatives and liberal-moderates (Jim Rhodes? Prescott Bush?) and promising cabinet positions to his liberal and moderate former rivals.

He could focus then on toning down his image from "radical extremist" to "mainstream conservative". His many verbal gaffs like the one about "lobbing a nuclear bomb into the Kremlin men's room" and "sawing off the Eastern seaboard" could be dealt with/covered up with good PR (I don't know how exactly though?) or at least kept from the ears of the Democratic campaign, or Barry could just learn to be less blunt and more restrained and diplomatic in making public statements. There could be fiercer attacks against the Johnson Administration (although the President was popular at that time) particularly in the South, where he could carry more states than he did IOTL.

All of these suggestions for a better, more effective campaign makes me think about this possibility, although he intensely disliked the man maybe he could make good use of Nixon as a campaign adviser and learn a few of old Dick's tricks?

Or if OTL's 1964 was just really not a good time for Barry Goldwater, what are the other possibilities? A Kennedy vs. Goldwater scenario? How would that play out?

A scenario where someone else is nominated and defeated in '64 (Rockefeller? Nixon? Cabot Lodge?) This could make way for Barry in '68 but his aggressive stance on Vietnam wouldn't do any good for him at a time when people were yearning for an end to the war.

He is picked as VP and takes Gerald Ford's place in 1974? An idea which I got from this thread. What would his chances be in 1976?
 
LBJ had some corruption issues--he was a major adulterer, for example.

If Goldwater was able to dig that up and tar him with it, it would hurt him.

Also, if whoever it was who came up with the "Daisy" ad didn't, that would help Goldwater.
 
Well I tend to think if Rocky were to have one the California Primary in '64, he would have won the nomination...which pretell would play a whole different ball game against the Populist Southern Democratic vs. the Moderate Northern Republic would be one hell of a show to see. Despite Conservatives, can't standing Rockefeller...He still manages to win more electoral votes against LBJ. I also think that '68 was tailor made for Goldwater...as the White Backlash against Johnson's push for Civil Rights(After years of Urban Riots) finally happened in that year. Not only that the majority of Americans who voted for Nixon IOTL felt like the war should continue and Tricky Dick himself was very vauge on the topic(What the hell does Peace with Honor mean). He'd be the pro hippie-beating, Social Conservative, Anti-Communist that Silent Majority wanted to see in their President. Id actually love to see somebody do a Rocky in '64 then Barry in '68 TL.
 
LBJ had some corruption issues--he was a major adulterer, for example.

If Goldwater was able to dig that up and tar him with it, it would hurt him.

Also, if whoever it was who came up with the "Daisy" ad didn't, that would help Goldwater.

I read an novel "Victory in Vietnam" that used that as it's POD. President Johnson's history of corruption becomes public in a big way in the 1964 election. It is just enough for Goldwater to win a squeaker over Johnson in the 1964 election.

http://www.amazon.com/Victory-Vietnam-William-Fox-Eckbert/dp/0963998900
 
Goldwater as a walking gaffe machine!!!
Yes if someone could have leaked details about Johnson's affairs, that might have worked, but he was onto a heavy defeat from the start.
Goldwater himself said that he thought the country didn't want a third President in just over a year.
Goldwater against Kennedy is won of the great what-ifs. Some points to mention Goldwater and Kennedy liked each other, and got on well, and they planned to ahve a series of debates across the country, (it had already been discussed by the two men prior to Kennedys death), also there are the rumours that Kennedy planned to dump Johnson as VP and appoint Symington or Sandford instead.
If running against Kennedy, Goldwater would have picked a different running-mate because he said he only picked Congressman William Miller because "he drives Johnson nuts"!!!. A more moderate pick would have been better someone like Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes would have been a decent choice.
I think the race between Kennedy and Goldwater is closer than OTL, but is still an easy Kennedy win.
This I think is the best result for Goldwater.
genusmap.php

Kennedy 425
Goldwater 113
 
Well, if we want to get all Rovian about it, Goldwater had two nervous breakdowns of his own and praised Walter Jenkins, being Jenkins' CO in the Air Force Reserve. Jenkins was fired as LBJ's Chief of Staff because he did a Larry Craig in a local YMCA, and it made the papers. If you want to kill Johnson in the South, make Bobby Kennedy his running mate. 33% of SoDems would immediately vote for Goldwater, according to Harris at the time.
 
Remember in 1974 there were only two finalists for Veep: Rocky and Bush Senior. GHWB was also on the '73 shortlist. Goldwater had told Nixon he didn't have 34 votes, so would be unacceptable to the Nixonians, including Rumsfeld, who worked for Nixon.
 
Not sure how you couldve gotten reporters not to look the other way at LBJ's adultery the same as they routinely did for virtually every other politician at the the time. Perhaps make an issue of the extremely corrupt way LBJ got his house seat, the dead on voting rolls, drunks being led to the polls, etc.

A common Texas joke at the time:

A man sees a little boy crying in the street and walks up and asks what's wrong.
The boy says, "My daddy came back from heaven last night to vote for Mr. Johnson. And he didn't even come by to see me!"
 
I agree with AIHA: Not revealed at the time, because that was the Democratic Party's modus operandi. Kennedy won in '60 because of Richard J. Daley and Lyndon B. Johnson, "thank goodness for a few honest crooks" particularly Hizzonor. The press coveted their access to the White House, especially the personal friendships many of the WH reporters had with JFK. LBJ didn't have that, but he did have Hoover, which was enough to make anyone have second thoughts.
 
Well,i see only two chances for Goldwater:

1-JFK is not shot in Dallas.
In 1964 the Rometsch affair http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKrometsch.htm come out and destroy the Kennedy reputation.

2-Goldwater don't run in 1964.
In 1968 the things for United States go worse (more race riots,terrorism,a worse Tet for the Americans).
Goldwater have the nomination and win.

But i think that an Goldwater Presidency would seem the OTL Nixon years an golden age of quiet.
 
lounge60: Goldwater never really wanted to be President, it was more the enthusiasm of his supporters. In 1965, he formally transferred his allegiance to Nixon "if ever I can help you for selfish reasons...", and that was the end of it. Nixon had the entire '64 crowd working for him.

Re Romestch: your source is somewhat iffy (the ads for conspiracy books mainly), because though the Romestch ring has been confirmed, linking her to JFK is much more difficult, if not outright untrue. You would have a very interesting trio to quash that. Lyndon Johnson would lean on Richard Russell, as a ranking member of Ethics, to quash the Senate investigation. J. Edgar Hoover would fix the files, and Robert Kennedy would do that as well as *fixing* any journalist who dared. That's an unbreakable Iron Triangle.
 
I don't see Goldwater being elected. I did, however,write. a TL on Different Wotlds that brought him to the White House. I read that Richard Nixon testified before the Senate committee drafting the 25th amendment and advised them to have a reconvened Electoral College choose the new Vice President.So if they had taken his advice, then there would have been enough of the 521 Republican to approve Goldwater as Spiro Agnew"a replacement. I know that Richard Nixon would not pick Goldwater but I thought it would be intersting to have him preside t from 1974 - 1977. For one thing Goldwater said that if he were iin office in 1975, he would have sent Air Force made a swamp out of North Vietnam to stop the conquest of South Vietnam. I also read that when Ford gave him a courtsey call before the Nixon pardon. Goldwater's reaction was anger, so no pardon
 
He'd be the pro hippie-beating, Social Conservative, Anti-Communist that Silent Majority wanted to see in their President. Id actually love to see somebody do a Rocky in '64 then Barry in '68 TL.

So Rockefeller wins in '64 and is replaced by his copartisan in '68? How does that happen?

You are right though in describing what kind of President the "Silent Majority" wanted in 1968 especially in the context of the chaotic domestic scene, but how would Barry's uncompromising hawk stance on Vietnam play out with not only the anti-war movement but also the growing dissatisfaction with the war in mainstream popular opinion?

Sure the change in leadership and the promise of a new policy in Vietnam would reassure those who thought that Johnson was simply "doing it wrong", but there are still those who believed that involvement in Vietnam was fundamentally wrong from the start. And I'm sure that as the conflict is escalated even more (possibly spreading into the rest of Indochina, even more so than it did under Nixon) more people will start to go for the latter opinion.
 
I'm also quite certain that Rocky couldn't win in '64 with a Dallas POD. This would butterfly a Nixon Presidency. Also, the GOP doesn't do coups (since WWI), that's a Dem thing.
 
Barring ASB's neither Goldwater nor Rockefeller has a chance to win against LBJ in 1964. Goldwater's only real chance in 1964 is if JFK had survived and even that is remote. Rockefeller narrowly winning the California primary and the nomination then losing the election might set up a remote chance of a Goldwater victory in 1968.
 
So Rockefeller wins in '64 and is replaced by his copartisan in '68? How does that happen?

You are right though in describing what kind of President the "Silent Majority" wanted in 1968 especially in the context of the chaotic domestic scene, but how would Barry's uncompromising hawk stance on Vietnam play out with not only the anti-war movement but also the growing dissatisfaction with the war in mainstream popular opinion?

Sure the change in leadership and the promise of a new policy in Vietnam would reassure those who thought that Johnson was simply "doing it wrong", but there are still those who believed that involvement in Vietnam was fundamentally wrong from the start. And I'm sure that as the conflict is escalated even more (possibly spreading into the rest of Indochina, even more so than it did under Nixon) more people will start to go for the latter opinion.

Goldwater was no-nonsense kind of guy but he would have taken a conventional war up to North Vietnam or pulled out.
 
How about be is Nellson Rockeefeller's Vice President (elected in 1968 and reelcted in 1972) and Due to the stress of the presidency,Rockefelller fatal heart attack comes three years early. Ok, I know iit is possible not plausible.
 
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