I understand that Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was a candidate with no chance but, who would have been a better running mate he could selected instead of the controversial Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri? Is there any Vice Presidential nominee that could save him from the forty-nine state thumping Nixon gave him or is there really no hope?Eagleton's controversy was part of what dragged down the Democratic National Ticket in 1968. Would he have simply nominated Sargent Shriver the first time if he hadn't chosen Eagleton?
 

Driftless

Donor
McGovern was the 1972 election. 1968 was HHH.

Still, there were some wildcards in that 1972 run. It was the first time that 18-21 years old citizens could vote; which theoretically should have aided McGovern. The Eagleton foofaraw did not help McGovern's cause - it made his campaign simultaneously appear unprepared and callous. Still, as I remember, there was a prevailing sense from very early on (at least in my part of the Midwest) that Nixon was going to smoke McGovern no matter who else was on the ticket.

That also fuels the bewilderment of why the Nixon team felt compelled to do the Watergate break-in. It was utterly purposeless - very high risk for no reward.

In 20/20 hindsight, Scoop Jackson might have given the best balance to the ticket for the Dems. He had the Cold War anti-communist chops that may have pulled in more independents and those frustrated with the counter-culture vibe.
 
McGovern's team realised he needed a social conservative old left-ist to be on the ticket in order to hopefully prevent a mass defection of the blue collar and catholic vote (both of which were solidly Democratic until 1972) - so he'd need someone (like Eagleton ) from that camp.
 
McGovern's team realised he needed a social conservative old left-ist to be on the ticket in order to hopefully prevent a mass defection of the blue collar and catholic vote (both of which were solidly Democratic until 1972) - so he'd need someone (like Eagleton ) from that camp.
Walter Reuther if he hadn't died would work.
 
A bit of an off-the-wall choice, but how about Mayor Moon Landrieu of New Orleans? Southern, urban, populist, but also with a quite good proven track record on racial issues.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
McGovern couldn't have won more than 5 states if he had the shade of FDR running as his VP.
 
If RFK had been alive in 1972, he might or might not have run for president. But if he did, McGovern would not run (McGovern only ran in 1968 because RFK had been killed; he was the candidate of anti-war RFK supporters who didn't like McCarthy) and if RFK didn't run for president I doubt very much he would accept the vice-presidential nomination. Likewise, if a Chappaquiddick-free Teddy Kennedy runs for president in 1972, he is very likely to get the nomination and McGovern is unlikely to run. (In 1968 McGovern ran only after he was sure Teddy wasn't interested.) And if Teddy doesn't run for president, he is unlikely to be interested in getting the vice-presidential nomination.

In short, Shriver is the closest thing to a Kennedy McGovern is likely to get...
 
as far as a different POD . . .

McGovern takes the tact, Depression is a source of ballast. Now, it's not the only source, but it's a pretty good one. It might be a condition of lack of hope for yourself, but not the country.

That is, with matter-of-fact confidence and in a low-key manner, George McGovern tries to be an educator regarding depression.

Combined with, he talks with people he knows and respects to make sure he really is confident that Tom Eagleton is highly qualified to be president.

=======

I'm not always in favor of a politician doubling down. Usually, I'm more in favor of a politician staying fluid and adapting to changing information. But in this case, especially after George said he stood behind Tom Eagleton one thousand percent, doubling down may have been the best move.
 

Driftless

Donor
as far as a different POD . . .

McGovern takes the tact, Depression is a source of ballast. Now, it's not the only source, but it's a pretty good one. It might be a condition of lack of hope for yourself, but not the country.

That is, with matter-of-fact confidence and in a low-key manner, George McGovern tries to be an educator regarding depression.

Combined with, he talks with people he knows and respects to make sure he really is confident that Tom Eagleton is highly qualified to be president.

=======

I'm not always in favor of a politician doubling down. Usually, I'm more in favor of a politician staying fluid and adapting to changing information. But in this case, especially after George said he stood behind Tom Eagleton one thousand percent, doubling down may have been the best move.

I don't know if your suggestion would have worked, but the OTL handling came off as a major flop. For those frightened by Eagleton's depression and the political talking heads looking for an efficient machine at work: McGovern's staff-work looked inept - Poor vetting, poor PR. For those folks who valued compassion, loyalty, and and recognition that we are all flawed: dumping Eagleton looked like a chickenshit panic move. For either group, the whole thing looked bad.
 
The problem is in part that not many people would have agreed to run with McGovern, he simply wasn't well liked by party insiders (despite doing more for the Kennedy administration than anyone gave him credit for). In the end I don't think there was a way he could have done very well, Nixon was always going to paint him with that "Amnesty, Acid, Abortion" bullshit despite McGovern not actually being that radical.

One thing to keep in mind is that after Ted Kennedy turned McGovern down, and after all of Kennedy's suggestions turned him down, and after the Kennedy's refused to let him pick Mayor White McGovern basically picked Eagleton out of desperation and was clearly not excited. The Delegates nominated anyone and everyone under the sun for the position. The only two serious names being talked about besides Eagleton were Mike Gravel (of 2008 fame) and Endicott Peabody. Out of these two Gravel is probably a bad choice as he was even more radical than McGovern. Peabody might have been better than Eagleton but only marginally, he would be fairly unexciting.

So... Want McGovern to do well? Come up with a POD where Teddyboy recognizes that his family actually owes McGovern a big one and accepts his offer.
 
It is a fair argument I have seen that anyone put up in 1972 would have lost as badly. McGovern's loss therefore gave the wrong lesson to the party that it was too far left and had to move away from that. Granted there are changes leading up to 1972 that could have made it an election that was competitive but that would have given McGovern a chance to win as anyone else.

Also, the Eagle issue was not actually considered a problem by the public. McGovern just got scared and it may have actually hurt the ticket to change the running mate after the fact.
 
I don't know if your suggestion would have worked, but the OTL handling came off as a major flop. For those frightened by Eagleton's depression and the political talking heads looking for an efficient machine at work: McGovern's staff-work looked inept - Poor vetting, poor PR. For those folks who valued compassion, loyalty, and and recognition that we are all flawed: dumping Eagleton looked like a chickenshit panic move. For either group, the whole thing looked bad.
I agree that George was basically in a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I think things might have been somewhat better politically if he had stayed with Eagleton.

The main question is, as it should be and ocassionally is, was McGovern fairly confident that Senator Tom Eagleton was highly qualified to be president?
 
The first choice was Ted Kennedy. The specter of Chappaquiddick and the political toxicity of McGovern put Kennedy off the idea. Shove Kennedy on the ticket and McGovern might have a chance, McGovern/Kennedy was the only ticket that was ever above Nixon/Agnew in the polling. That being said, a perfect VP probably only turns McGovern's OTL crushing defeat into a respectable loss.
 
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