DBAHC: Swapping Nixon and Kennedy

It honestly depends on how he wants to play it is my understanding of his character. He was somewhat more like Nixon back then, more moderate than he was by '68 if only because he didn't have extreme amounts of conviction either way. He might have decided to go with the left wing of his party back then, which means a tacit but delayed approval of at least one variation of the Civil Rights Acts we had. It'd be kind of hilarious if say he won the primaries in '60 and unwitting rehabilitated the Dem's history with African-Americans; implausible but hilarious.

I'm just curious on how the other demographics we have would change with a different party dynamic than we have nowadays. For example, if the Latino/Hispanic populations were less split between the parties and other things like split ticketing and so on.
 
Kennedy could plausibly have backed something like the Civil Rights Act - he would have had V-P Symington talking it up - but it would've been herculean indeed to get his own party to pass it. It'd be like Kenneth Clarke and same-sex marriage here, relying on the opposition to win, only more nuts. Would Kennedy have been willing to schmooze the Republicans that way?

Hispanics are a good question. I think if American Way hadn't existed, the Democrats would struggle to bring in the Hispanic vote. It was the AWP that allowed Kennedy to tell the Dixiecrats to "shut up or leave" (as the Kennedy tapes have it), and we know most didn't want to leave in case it didn't work out.
 
I think it also helped that the Dems gelled well for with them due to their more conservative viewpoint combined with their support of programs. The Dems did keep up a decent chunk of the old "New Deal" coalition, which does favor the blue collar worker.

As for Kennedy passing the law this way, I would definitely see it being a very bipartisan bill, moreso than OTL's at least. Mainly because unlike OTL, Kennedy would have been a bit more able to get some of his party to stick with the line, but less able to get the GOP to play, since more of Goldwater's faction would likely have voted against, if only due to wanting to limit federal power.
 
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