Hey guys I was just looking at the 1980 Election and I was surprised that Mississippi Governor Elvis Presley had a little bit of trouble in the 1980 Democratic Primaries, his main challenger for the nomination was South Dakota Senator George McGovern who he would later pick for Vice President. So what if Senator McGovern had defeated Governor Presley in the Primaries? Would he defeat President Nelson Rockefeller in the general(I think he would I mean Presley defeated him 491 - 47 so no reason to think McGovern wouldn't win) or would he loose? Who would his running mate be? What would his time in office be like?
DBWI: What If George McGovern defeated Elvis Presley in the Primaries
- Thread starter Joseph Weaver
- Start date
Good Lord, have you ever seen McGovern? Nice guy, but boring as a slab of concrete.
Presley, it is often forgotten, had pursued a career in music earlier in life. Obviously not successful, but he still had enough showbiz saavy to appeal to the youth vote on a national level. McGovern? Forget it.
But we can still wonder about policy, I suppose. About the only liberal thing Presley did was start the federal subsidy program for prescription drugs. McGovern was to the left of Presley, so probably would have done something like that, plus a bit more.
Presley, it is often forgotten, had pursued a career in music earlier in life. Obviously not successful, but he still had enough showbiz saavy to appeal to the youth vote on a national level. McGovern? Forget it.
But we can still wonder about policy, I suppose. About the only liberal thing Presley did was start the federal subsidy program for prescription drugs. McGovern was to the left of Presley, so probably would have done something like that, plus a bit more.
I believe there were some other liberal things that Elvis did but I can't thing of anything right now. Also McGovern and Presley were very good friends which not many people know.
Well, there was also that national fitness campaign he launched, focused on weight loss. That fit in with the whole healthy-living trend of the era.
Oh, and he also pardoned that Dutch music promoter van Kujik, the guy who revolutionized American music in the 50s and 60s by bringing in all those European acts, but then got busted for some sorta gangster shenanigans. That helped Presley a bit with the counterculture vote AND with the southern Democrats, who always liked van Kujik for helping to thwart the rise of Black popular music in America.
Elvis did some good work as a musician. Probably came off as too rebellious for the 1950s but he might be remembered as a singer if he tried the same thing 20 years later.
Well the appeal to the lower class is also great, without his showbiz career he woudve lost
Lost in the primaries or the general? Because Presley defeated Rockefeller 491 - 47.
lost his whole political carreer if he didnt have a showbiz and music carreer
Without President Elvis Presley, the meeting of the US President in 1982 with British Prime Minister Elvis Costello could not have been described at the meeting of the 2 Elves.
This issue was debated at the time of the meeting but experts advised that Elvis is a Latin noun of the 3rd declension and would pluralise like testis->testes or crisis->crises.
IIRC didn't his military service pushed him into politics? there a reason why he is called maybe one of the shining example that the GI BILL worked