DBWI: Bobby Kennedy
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Well, if Kennedy had been killed, then there's a heavy chance we could've had Nixon beating out whatever other Democratic nominee would've taken Kennedy's place in the '68 election. And after all those corruption scandals came out in the early 70s inditing Nixon and getting him sent to prison for a couple years, I think we dodged a major bullet with no Nixon presidency.
The thing is Nixon was a smart guy. If he became president, who knows if we'd have even heard of that stuff.
I'm pretty confident that even if he did become president, it would've probably come up sooner or later.
Deleted member 145219
I don't think that Vice President Humphrey would be able to defeat Nixon. RFK was able to do several things that would have been near impossible for any other Democrat.
1. RFK created a strong coalitions of Working Class Whites, Catholics, Latinos, Blacks, and Young People.
2. RFK called for Law and Order, while connecting it to combatting Poverty. See his Urban Marshall Plan.
3. He ran on a Peace Platform, but restrained from calling for a unilateral withdrawal from South Vietnam.
4. He successfully distinguished himself from the Johnson Presidency and the New Left.
I also don't think that a President Humphrey would be able to win reelection in 1972. RFK won reelection with 48 states over Rockefeller.
Controversial opinion, would RFK have won the nomination without the attempt on his life? Not only did that give him a tremendous sympathy boost,
it knocked out McCarthy, and convinced Daley to openly support RFK.
1. RFK created a strong coalitions of Working Class Whites, Catholics, Latinos, Blacks, and Young People.
2. RFK called for Law and Order, while connecting it to combatting Poverty. See his Urban Marshall Plan.
3. He ran on a Peace Platform, but restrained from calling for a unilateral withdrawal from South Vietnam.
4. He successfully distinguished himself from the Johnson Presidency and the New Left.
I also don't think that a President Humphrey would be able to win reelection in 1972. RFK won reelection with 48 states over Rockefeller.
Controversial opinion, would RFK have won the nomination without the attempt on his life? Not only did that give him a tremendous sympathy boost,
it knocked out McCarthy, and convinced Daley to openly support RFK.
Well, I do know that RFK was already at the near top of the list of the Democratic candidates when the attempted assassination took place. I don’t know if he won any actual primaries though.
I feel like he could have, but it certainly would have been more of an uphill battle.
I'm thinking he could have, though I think it might have cause some things to change. For example, I know Kennedy was already calling for gun control, but that attempt made it one of his key policies.
I also find it ironic that while the assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was motivated by Kennedy's support for Israel, Kennedy ended being on of the first Presidents to really criticize Israeli expansion into Palestine.
Deleted member 145219
I wonder if an alternative President, say Nixon, would have kept the post World War II economic boom going the way RFK did? The post World War II boom is considered to have lasted until 1991. RFK handled the 1970 Recession and the rise of Foreign Competition pretty well. Ending the Vietnam War in 1969 pulled the plug on a lot of the Inflationary Pressures that we were facing. Energy Independence and Health Care Reform helped as well. In there own ways.
Nixon did his part as well as Chairman of General Motors, he saw a modernization of GM which forced the other Automakers to do so. And he cultivated a new corporate culture in GM, based on a the Japanese model of management. Even though he bugged the offices of the rival auto executives, some things never change.
Nixon did his part as well as Chairman of General Motors, he saw a modernization of GM which forced the other Automakers to do so. And he cultivated a new corporate culture in GM, based on a the Japanese model of management. Even though he bugged the offices of the rival auto executives, some things never change.
Nixon I imagine would have been a stupendously corrupt President. Perhaps he, instead of John Edwards, would have become the first President to resign from office.
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How in the world did he become Secretary of State when, you know, he was IN JAIL during the first half of the ‘70s? (I’m talking about this post here)
Deleted member 145219
It didn't change the outcome too much. RFK still won in 1968 with 47% of the Popular Vote and 315 Electoral Votes. Maybe RFK could have won Texas without the Humphrey machine dragging their feet, which was really the Johnson people. Besides Vice President Humphrey gave a great convention speech in support of RFK.