DBWI: Ike runs for a Second Term in '56?

While President Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack he suffered in 1955, he decided not to seek another term in 1956. His 43 year old Vice President Richard Nixon won the Republican nomination and narrowly defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson to become the 35th President of the United States and then went on to defeat Democratic Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson in the 1960 Presidential election. Hubert Humphrey, Democratic Senator from Minnesota, was elected over Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1964 to succeed Nixon as President.

My question is what if Eisenhower does in fact decide to run for another term in 1956? Knowing that he had a heart attack, does he survive a full second term? Do the rest of the 1950s fare any differently? Who wins in 1960 with Ike being term limited?
 
If Nixon decides to try to succeed Eisenhower, he would likely have to face off against either Johnson (like OTL) or perhaps against Kennedy. It's truely unfortunate that the later got shot while running for the Democratic nomination in 1968. He could have easily unseated Humphrey in the Dem. primaries.

Odds are, we would have still gone into Vietnam. Both parties supported Nixon's decision to deploy ground troops to Laos and S. Vietnam in 1961 after the communists North Vietnamese invaded those countries. I wonder how Kennedy/Johnson/Humphrey would have handled those crisises had they won in 1960.

I doubt that Eisenhower would have been as aggressive when dealing with Cuba as Nixon was. Nixon possessed an obsession with getting rid of Castro. Fortunately for the Cuban people, Nixon succeeded in his 1961 invasion of Cuba.

On Civil Rights, we likely would have seen slower movement. As we all know, Nixon successfully integrated the South via the enforcement of Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and 1963. If this happens under a Democrat it's likely that the South fully leaves the Democratic party with blacks becoming a Democratic voting bloc instead of a Republican one.

I wonder how Eisenhower would have dealt with the Hungary Crisis and the Suez Canal crisis. I doubt he would do more than Nixon's diplomatic threats.
 
If Nixon decides to try to succeed Eisenhower, he would likely have to face off against either Johnson (like OTL) or perhaps against Kennedy. It's truely unfortunate that the later got shot while running for the Democratic nomination in 1968. He could have easily unseated Humphrey in the Dem. primaries.

Odds are, we would have still gone into Vietnam. Both parties supported Nixon's decision to deploy ground troops to Laos and S. Vietnam in 1961 after the communists North Vietnamese invaded those countries. I wonder how Kennedy/Johnson/Humphrey would have handled those crisises had they won in 1960.

I doubt that Eisenhower would have been as aggressive when dealing with Cuba as Nixon was. Nixon possessed an obsession with getting rid of Castro. Fortunately for the Cuban people, Nixon succeeded in his 1961 invasion of Cuba.

On Civil Rights, we likely would have seen slower movement. As we all know, Nixon successfully integrated the South via the enforcement of Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and 1963. If this happens under a Democrat it's likely that the South fully leaves the Democratic party with blacks becoming a Democratic voting bloc instead of a Republican one.

I wonder how Eisenhower would have dealt with the Hungary Crisis and the Suez Canal crisis. I doubt he would do more than Nixon's diplomatic threats.

Whether Kennedy would've been a better President or not, I'm still glad Humphrey defeated Goldwater in 1968. Goldwater was far too radical. I do agree that Vietnam was unavoidable and you bring up interesting points about Cuba and Hungary and the Suez Canal crisis.
 
This may not change much. Ike would have won in 1956. If he does wind up having a fatal heart attack in the next four years, Nixon becomes President anyway and things wind up as IOTL. He would still win re-election in 1960 and either not be eligible to run in 1964, if the heart attack happens early, and probably wouldn't run even if it happens late and he was eligible under the 22nd amendment. That would still be a Democratic year anyway.

Things change a little if Eisenhower successfully completes a second term. Nixon is probably the Republican nominee anyway in at least 1960, but without being the incumbent, there is more of a chance of him losing. And if he wins, he has a decent chance of winning in 1964 even though IOTL that was a very Democratic year. Goldwater could also challenge and beat him in the primaries in either 1960 or 1964. I suspect we would have gotten Nixon in 1960 and a Democrat, though from the liberal wing of the party, in 1964 just as what actually happened.

Lyndon Johnson as President is an interesting but unlikely possibility. He was a southern politician, with all the baggage that entails. Really there is no chance of a southern politician getting elected President until well after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, as it turns out Johnson was unexpectedly instrumental in getting that passed. And the country still hasn't elected a Catholic as President, so a President Kennedy is even more unlikely!
 
And the country still hasn't elected a Catholic as President, so a President Kennedy is even more unlikely!

For the most part no. It is likely that he could elected President. The country generally didn't care at this point about Catholicism, except in the Deep South. In fact I think it might even help with white ethnics like Italians and Poles.
 
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