DBWI: Vice President Nixon

What if Dwight Eisenhower chose Richard Nixon, then Senator from California, aas his running mate in 1952?
 
Wow. He sounds inspiring. A working-class man who was able to become a Senator. He'd be many steps above Bush and his patrician background for sure, and unlike Bush, Nixon would be able to beat whoever the Democrats put up in 1960.
 
Wow. He sounds inspiring. A working-class man who was able to become a Senator. He'd be many steps above Bush and his patrician background for sure, and unlike Bush, Nixon would be able to beat whoever the Democrats put up in 1960.

There was this one timeline, real dystopia, where Eisenhower picks Nixon as his running mate. He does become President eventually, but he is a power-hungry maniac who sabotages international negotiations to get elected, covers up a break-in to the D.N.C. headquarters.

Unrealistic, but enjoyable.
 
Well, Nixon was open to establishing relations with China in the 60s, but President Agnew wouldnt even consider it. Perhaps if Nixon became VP and later President, he could have prevented China from falling into civil war.
 
Well, Nixon was open to establishing relations with China in the 60s, but President Agnew wouldnt even consider it. Perhaps if Nixon became VP and later President, he could have prevented China from falling into civil war.

Doubt it. Lady Mao coming to power is inevitable.
 
Doubt it. Lady Mao coming to power is inevitable.
Is it really inevitable? The hardliners in the Chinese Communist Party werent as powerful in the 70s as they are now, perhaps Nixon going to China could have given some of the moderates more power, enough to prevent civil war.
 
I always thought Richard Nixon would have made a first-rate SecState. International relations were always his primary focus, and he knew when to get tough and when to back off.

There are times when I still shake my head over the election of Spiro Agnew. It took a split Dem party in MD to get him to the governor's chair in the first place. And then it took the last brokered convention of the GOP to get him as a "well, OK, if you insist..." compromise candidate, and the Dems to splinter badly among Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, and George McGovern (what did he get: maybe 37% of the popular vote and about 280 electoral votes?). He was to the GOP what Lyndon Johnson was to the Dems: a wheeler-dealer, just barely not on the shady side of the law.
 
Nixon was
Wow. He sounds inspiring. A working-class man who was able to become a Senator. He'd be many steps above Bush and his patrician background for sure, and unlike Bush, Nixon would be able to beat whoever the Democrats put up in 1960.

I can't believe you've never heard of Nixon. He was Senator Majority Leader from 1979 to 1985. After which he retired and became a well known figure for CNN. Though I suppose no one's really heard of Mike Mansfield or William F. Knowland either.

Anyway, historically Vice Presidents do not run for President (with some exceptions of course.) Nixon might decline to run, as he was never ever did a thing for domestic issues and never wanted to at least publicly. Maybe Ike convinces him though. Nixon will certainly be stronger on Communism, especially Cuba. He wouldn't touch civil rights, though he'd definetly sign legislation. We wouldn't see a public distrust in government like we did when JFK's mafia connections were revealed. I won't say Nixon was a clean fellow, but when he did do anything remotely corrupt, it was never for his own personal gain.

I do think that if Nixon were to become VP, he would've ran for and been President for at least 1961-1965. It'd be a great image to see a common man in the White House than the country club Bushes, millionaire frat-boy JFK.
 
He'd at least be tougher on Communism than Kennedy and Agnew (for all of Agnew's tough talk, he sure let the Soviet hardliners run roughshod over Central Asia) given than Nixon originally campaigned as a Red-fighter.
 
He'd at least be tougher on Communism than Kennedy and Agnew (for all of Agnew's tough talk, he sure let the Soviet hardliners run roughshod over Central Asia) given than Nixon originally campaigned as a Red-fighter.

But wasn't Agnew's and Kennedy's weakness because of the fall of Iran to the Tudeh and the subsequent oil crisis, and because people didn't want money spent on the military instead of at home?

I'm not sure if Nixon would be able to stop that.
 
I'm not sure if Nixon would be able to stop that.

His power doesn't have to come from the army (though it would help!). I can't think of any world leader who respected Agnew during his term. Nixon was a master diplomat and very sharp on foreign policy.

A less belligerent POTUS in charge during that time might have been able to guarantee A supply ofArab oil and get sanctions against the Soviets off the ground.
 
Nixon was a master diplomat and very sharp on foreign policy.

Indeed, he was according to my research, but was he a master diplomat in 1960? He'd only have ten years of foreign policy experience, eight of which would have been doing the useless job of Vice President. That doesn't lend itself well to an effective foreign policy president. And it would have taken a truly masterful POTUS to avert the Iranian Revolution and the oil crisis that followed.
 
How would Nixon handle that crisis in Vietnam? Would it devolve like in the Congo, or would it remain stble?
 
Top