Challenge: Nixon remains on good terms with the Kennedys

In the steps of the LBJ-RFK thread. Anyone who read Chris Matthews' Kennedy and Nixon knows of what I speak. POD July 10, 1960- the day after the DNC concludes. Bonus for both brothers, double bonus if it remains after one of them defeats the other for the presidency- a la GHWB/Clinton.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
I don't think it'd be too hard. Like you said, Nixon enjoyed cordial relations with the Kennedys prior to 1960, so I think that a lot of the animosity could be avoided if they simply don't run against each other.

So let's have Nixon not get the GOP nomination in '60. Perhaps he comes down with a very bad case of pneumonia or something that knocks him out of commission. With Nixon out, maybe Goldwater grabs the nomination (IIRC, he was Nixon's main competitor, albeit not a serious threat).

Anyways, Nixon waits until '68 to run against whoever Kennedy anoints. In the meantime, he becomes one of the Kennedys' better friends in the Senate, especially with regards to foreign affairs.

If Nixon wins in '68, I doubt if RFK will run against him in '72; that'll probably go to a sacrificial lamb. I honestly think that without all the nastiness stemming from the rodeo ratfuck that was the 1960 election, Nixon and the Kennedy boys can remain on good terms. I could even see Dick and Bobby throwing a joint Superbowl party every year, what with their love of football :D
 
Kudos to Wolfpaw. ;) Nixon thought both JFK and Ted were LMF, to use the military term. RFK was the exact opposite of course. Here are the quotes you all wanted...

Nixon on JFK: "he's intelligent but lazy, and has satyrisis if he doesn't fulfill his rutting panther tendencies."

Nixon on Ted: "... a deadbeat who'd be on skid row if it weren't for his father's money and brothers' success."

Nixon on RFK: "Bobby's the smartest of the bunch, but like Jack he's incredibly rude to subordinates + staff..."

The best comparison of RFK and Nixon's personalities is this. Nixon would do anything to avoid silence, Bobby would do anything to avoid making small talk. Both are political loners, and both are not averse to electronic eavesdropping. For Nixonland readers: both are Orthogonians. RFK set the pre-PATRIOT records for electronic surveillance while AG. RFK cited executive privilege when asked about the MLK wiretapping: "National security, and that's all the answer you're gonna get!"
 
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Kudos to Wolfpaw. ;) Nixon thought both JFK and Ted were LMF, to use the military term. RFK was the exact opposite of course. Here are the quotes you all wanted...

Nixon on JFK: "he's intelligent but lazy, and has satyrisis if he doesn't fulfill his rutting panther tendencies."

Nixon on Ted: "... a deadbeat who'd be on skid row if it weren't for his father's money and brothers' success."

Nixon on RFK: "Bobby's the smartest of the bunch, but like Jack he's incredibly rude to subordinates + staff..."

The best comparison of RFK and Nixon's personalities is this. Nixon would do anything to avoid silence, Bobby would do anything to avoid making small talk. Both are political loners, and both are not averse to electronic eavesdropping. For Nixonland readers: both are Orthogonians. RFK set the pre-PATRIOT records for electronic surveillance while AG. RFK cited executive privilege when asked about the MLK wiretapping: "National security, and that's all the answer you're gonna get!"

Actually RB, from the Research im gathering for my next project;), it's seems to me that Dick would have gravitated the most to Joe Jr had he lived. They both seem to be not the brightest of the bunch, but definatley driven/tenacious during their respective academic careers. Joe Jr also had an off putting, Bully-prone, and Sarcastic type of humor which seems to remarkably like accounts of Dick when he was younger. For instance during his European tour with Laski in the late 30's, Joe grew entensly Jealous at his more Intelligent, poorer, Jewish colleauges and salivated for the one day when he could give them a "one-up". That sense of deep-seated grudges seems to play more with the Orthogonian Nixon instead of his more WASPy Harvard friends...
 
Uh- Richard was the smartest of the 4 Nixon brothers. Harold was a sterotypical Franklin playboy, Arthur died at a young age, and Edward was 17 years younger. With regards to the Kennedys: RFK was the Orthogonian- that is a major secret in how he appealed to Wallace voters. The "little guy sticking it to the establishment". The Harvard swimming coach neatly summarized the difference in Jack and Bobby's personalities, but inadvertently. "Jack would float effortlessly, but Bobby wasn't buoyant- he'd sink in the water."
 
I'm not sure if this is possible, but what if Nixon were to a cabinet position from JFK? maybe that could salvage their relationship, but the only position I could think of him getting would be SEC-DEF.
 
ASB for more than a few reasons. One of the major ones: you really wouldn't* want to be caught in the middle of bureaucratic turf wars between Nixon, RFK and LBJ. It was bad enough with LBJ v. RFK. It's like Chinese water torture, or waterboarding.

*Closest AH.com equivalent would be espousing Fred Phelps' social views, giving a version of East Anatolian events c. 1915 that would displease Abdul, and being a diehard Likudnik, all in the same thread.
 
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