They were also personal friends who wanted to organize some townhall-style debates were Goldwater nominated.
I remember that. Didn't they want to go around the nation, on the same plane, and essentially campaign with each other, together?
They were also personal friends who wanted to organize some townhall-style debates were Goldwater nominated.
I'm not sure of the likelihood, as I haven't read up on the 60s elections and all, but assuming Goldwater were to win, you get:
-no EPA.
-no escalation of Vietnam, perhaps a drawdown earlier or some early 60's version of 'shock and awe' to draw the communist Vietnamese to a negotiation table.
Without these it is very likely that overall, the federal budget would be much smaller today than OTL, the national debt would be smaller, and according to some, certain societal problems would be either nonexistant or much less severe.
The question is, what would Goldwater do with the civil rights movement? He voted against it OTL, but if he were to be politically astute about it, he'd sponsor such legislation as a candidate and President, and make it some fulfillment of the Civil War Republicans' promises or something to that effect, and prevent the relatively monolithic voting blocs of OTL. This would be interesting to see the effect on the Democrat party of TTL and how they treat their constituents and seek their votes..
If you were to keep Goldwater, it's possible that TTL's Republicans go more along the libertarian road, and actually dismantle or reduce government rather than just slow its growth, and remove Marshall and Fortas as Supreme Court justices. Whom would Goldwater appoint? This might remove Roe vs. Wade from the national debate of both parties.
That would have been a terrifying Presidential pair to most Americans. LeMay's nuke-o-philia actually helped drag George Wallace down in the polls in 1968, even among Wallace's conservative supporters. Goldwater/LeMay would be seen as the "Dr. Strangelove ticket".
That would seem a terrifying pair in which the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis is similar to OTL and one of the results is increased fear of Nuclear War.
But I'm suggesting that if the outcome was the opposite, so that what was increased was fear of the Soviets conquering us, then a figure like LeMay, speaking on behalf of insiders resigning from the Kennedy administration due to its kowtowing to the Soviets, might be a lightening rod.
I recalled seeing an old NY Times article from 1964 mentioning that in the event Goldwater won, he planned to meet with former President Eisenhower on how to proceed with Vietnam. Imagine his reaction when Ike tells him to stay out of Nam!
If he was worried about the south generally and Texas specifically, I really doubt he'd drop LBJ. That is one POD for a "JFK loses 1964" scenario, though.Jack wasn't a lock to win the '64 election, which is part of the reason he was in Dallas in November of 1963.
This is more hearsay than fact, but, there was also a good chance that LBJ wouldn't be on the ticket in '64 and this would weaken Jack's value in the South at a crucial time in history. (I have read different things that both credit and discredit the LBJ thing. There is more stuff to discredit this, but from my assessment of what I've read, Jack was considering this.)
If he was worried about the south generally and Texas specifically, I really doubt he'd drop LBJ. That is one POD for a "JFK loses 1964" scenario, though.