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So I just finished reading Carl Bernstein's biography of the career of Richard Nixon. What intrigued me was that in 1956, President Eisenhower was this close to keep the 43 year old Vice President on the ticket. Instead, Nixon agreed to serve as Secretary of Defense during Ike's second term.

When Nelson Rockefeller was elected President in 1960, he picked Nixon as Secretary of State. In his eight years on the job, Nixon was able to negotiate the removal of Soviet missiles with his Russian counterpart Andrei Gromyko (in exchange for removing missiles from Turkey), convinced President Rockefeller to approve air cover for the Bay of Pigs invasion, lobbied European leaders to impose trade sanctions on Rhodesia and paved the way for Rockefeller to make his historic visit to China in 1968.

Many Republicans wanted Nixon to run for President in 1968. Sensing that the country was ready for a change after 16 years of Republicans in the White House, he declined.

The Democrats were ready to take back the White House and Senator John F. Kennedy was the favorite to win the nomination going into the convention in Chicago. But after suffering a heart attack following his victory in the California primaries, there was no way JFK could run. With the help of Richard Daley, Kennedy's delegates went to his brother New York Governor Robert F. Kennedy.

With his running mate, Senator A. Willis Robertson of Virginia, RFK would win a landslide victory over the Romney/Bush and Wallace/Chandler tickets and serve from 1969-1977.

Nixon would win the 1968 Nobel Peace Prize.

Suppose Nixon stayed as Vice President in Ike's second term. If he had been the 1960 GOP nominee, would he have been elected POTUS over JFK? And would he have been as successful as Rockefeller had he been elected President? Or if he did run for President in 1968, would he have won as well?
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