Bremer assassinates Nixon in '72 - who wins Presidency?

Who wins in '72 if Nixon assassinated?

  • Spiro Agnew

    Votes: 8 42.1%
  • John Connally, as a Republican

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Some other Republican

    Votes: 7 36.8%
  • Hubert Humphrey, making a late comeback

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • John Connally, as a Democrat

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • George McGovern might actually win this one

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • Some other Democrat

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    19
Mention of Bremer's consideration of Nixon as a target for assassination earlier, before his attempt on Wallace, ledme to search the archives, but I found no threads, surprisingly, about this possibility.

It's really a wide-open one. Suddenly, Democrats might jump in to oppose McGovern, who seemed pretty unelectable. Does Humphrey try to pull for some support at the convention?

On the Republican side, Nixon wsa grooming John Connally, but the man was a Democrat still - in fact, might Connally even be the Democratic nominee, in an effort to "bring the nation together after 9 years of horrible assassinations." (JFK, King, RJK, now Nixon.)

Or, would Republicans consider him anyway, deciding Agnew can't cut it as President? With a conference presumably already scheduled witht he Soviets for May of 1972, Agnew's performance there might be what makes or breaks his possible candidacy. Or, maybe news of his tax evasion comes out earlier, in an attempt to discredit him and get someone else to run. (Perhaps he is even told, "Look, don't try to run again, and we'll keep this hushed up. But if you do run...")

Or, might someone other than Agnew or Connally get the Republican nod?

If Agnew gets it and wins, who is his VP? The man will likely be President very soon after, as it'll be hard to keep Agnew's scandal under wraps.

Personally, I think McGovern's campaign had too many problems. He was too far left. but, I think the Democrats would know this, and someone - like Humphre - could emerge. Maybe even Scoopy Jackson? April is a little late, and I don't know how big of a lead McGovern had by this point.

On the other hand, I think Agnew *could* win; the meeting with the Soviets would be a key. I don't know how he'd handle it. I think he'd have some hurdles to climb, and he'd need some help. Picking Connally as VP would rock the boat too much, I don't know who he'd choose. But, that threat of the charges coming out would really cause problems, and it's possible he could choose to stand aside 'for the good of the Party." I'm just not sure if it would come out that soon.I think an Agnew win is plausible; but, a lot of things are at this point.
 
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Agnew will win. McGovern is still going to win the nomination, thanks to his control of the party's apparatus, and the sympathy vote (for Nixon, of all people!) and McGovern's perceived radicalism will lead to a slightly closer, 54-45-ish popular vote victory for Agnew.

EDIT: Just add Oregon, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island to Agnew's column.
 
Regan was only in his second year as governor of California in '68 and had supporters at the '68 GOP National Convention.

In '72, he's just been re-elected to a second term and enjoying some popularity there and with the party base.

I think Reagan gets the nom when people look at the choices:

Reagan or Agnew.

The Gipper on the first ballot, tabs someone from the liberal wing for the VP slot on the ticket to balance it out. (Rocky? Ford? Romney?)

As much as I think he would have been a good PoTUS, Scoop was screwed by the climate of the Democratic Party in the 1970s. He was the best choice in 1972 (of either party) and better than the two clowns who got their party's noms in 1976 and got snubbed both times.

I always viewed Scoop as the Henry Clay of the 20th Century: Would have been better than the men of his time who DID hold the office, but, sadly, it wasn't in the cards.

I think Reagan wins in 1972 under these circumstances in a close race, unless the Dems nominate McGovern in which case he hands McGovern the type of beating he laid on Mondale in OTL '84. (Or at least the beating Nixon laid on McGovern in OTL '72.)

Reagan vs. Scoop in '72 would be the tightest race that could come out of this scenario, I think, with charisma giving Reagan the edge to win a close one that's called in the wee hours of the morning (maybe even later) the day after the election.

The caveat: Reagan better perform well in that first term or Scoop comes back in '76 and wins the rematch.
 
Is the nominee Agnew? Say hello to President McGovern. Anyone could beat Agnew, and who knows what kind of dirty tricks come out in the press if Nixon is killed, anyway?
 
The Duke wins, obviously...:p




Well, I heard Agnew was somewhat popular in 1971 or so...though that was Wikipedia...besides, do not underestimate the Symphaty vote or democratic incompetence in 1972...

Yeah, that's why reading about 1972 always weirds me out a bit, because any discussion will inevitably include the word 'popular' in relation to Richard Nixon. :p
 
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