After losing the 1960 Presidential election, Nixon made a political comeback upon his close election as Governor of California in 1962. Nixon won the state by only .7%, and he very easily could have lost. What if Brown had defeated Nixon? Would Nixon still be able to run for President again? Or would the defeat end his political career?
DBWI: Nixon Loses to Pat Brown in 1962
- Thread starter Amadeus
- Start date
Deleted member 109224
If he runs for President again, it'd be in 1968 at the earliest. OTL he basically got drafted following his Gubernatorial win as the only man on the moderate side who could block the conservatives at convention, so maybe Goldwater gets the nod here in 64 instead of having to wait until 72 as per OTL.
But at that point his political career is over. Here is a guy who has lost the presidency and the Governorship of his own home state. It's unlikely that the GOP takes him up as their standard bearer in either 1968 or any other year. And if they did, they would be foolish to do so.
OOC: If Goldwater is the 1972 Republican nominee, then I assume that Humphrey wins in 1968?
OOC: Just a random fact, in the "Destroy All Humans" universe, Nixon did become governor of California.
Deleted member 109224
Weirder things have happened.
Margaret Chase Smith became our first woman president by accident when Nixon was shot and went into a coma.
Humphrey pulled a Nixon after losing in 72, ran for Governor, and then got reelected in 1980.
Nixon woke up a decade later, became RNC Chair, and then won reelection in 1984. And then convinced his successor, Pat Brown's son, to appoint him UN Ambassador.
Is it really that weird if Nixon somehow emerges as a compromise candidate between the conservatives and moderates in 1968 despite losing in 1962? If his RNC and 1984 bid prove anything, it's that he knows how to go to the grassroots and win people over.
OOC: I left 1968 deliberately vague, but if you want Humphrey 1968 I'll roll with it.
Damn, I think most Americans try to block out that wacky time that was '64 to '84.
I mean first, you had LBJ die less than 24 hours after JFK, to his own Secret Service agent no less, handing the presidency to almost-senile 72 yr old McCormack. No wonder you saw people turn to Nixon for stability.
Then he goes and gets himself shot during the next election. Those couple weeks where we were in limbo cause we weren't sure if he was gonna wake up or not basically killed the Republicans.
Even more surprising was Humphrey losing in 1964 as the candidate representing the chaos of Kennedy-Johnson-McCormack, but then being renominated in 1968 as the new stability candidate.
With Nixon politically dead after a loss in 62', you basically get rid of the most important name of the 60s, 70s and 80s. I see the 60s and 70s being Humphrey's years. Humphrey probably wins '64 (it was still close even with all the chaos) and '68. After that, I'm stuck.
LBJ died in 1963
Maybe you're thinking about his daughter Lynda Bird Johnson who was elected in 1996?
OOC:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wo...-shot-dead-hours-after-JFK-assassination.html
Something just came to me, without Nixon in '64, women in politics is pushed back way farther.
Think about it, even though Smith was a lame duck for her presidency, she opened the door for so many other women. For example, we got our first female vice president followed directly by another, Humphrey's VP Maurine Neuberger. Though she was well-respected, it was widely known that Humphrey chose Neuberger so he wouldn't lose the woman vote. But she had an even greater impact in inspiring other women to run for office.
With a Humphrey win in 1964, he no doubt keeps his '64 VP pick Pat Brown in 1968 (or he gets shot like Nixon and Brown becomes president). Not only does this result in no women on the national stage for probably a long time, we probably never even see a president Jerry Brown (cause he reportedly was determined to make up for the loss of his father in '64) or Lynda Bird Johnson (she was greatly inspired by Neuberger to get into politics).