Humphrey wins 1972??

WI HHH got the Dem nomination in 72, say Shirley Chisolm does well enough split the radical vote and denies it to McGovern/

Suppose the 3 scandals came out in September, the role of certain folk around Nixon in undermining Vietnamese peace efforts prior to 1968, Watergate and the criminality of Agnew.

Could Humphrey win?
 
Maybe add in George Wallace living and running third party, splitting the vote with Nixon as well?

But yeah, Nixon was vulnerable in 1972. There's a reason he worked so hard to make sure that he had the weakest opponent possible, and still sent in guys to break into Watergate. He was worried. Now, it would be tough, but I think Humphrey could have narrowly pulled it off.
 
A lot of people argue that Nixon was vulnerable in 1972. But the problem is that their evidence is usually from statistics showing he was vulnerable *in 1971.* See my post at https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=9808546&postcount=31

That being said, Nixon could be vulnerable in a race against Humphrey *if* Wallace had run as a third-party candidate--but he seems to have been pretty firm in deciding against that. (Which may have had something to do with the dropping of a federal income tax investigation of his brother...) But in a two-way race, while I don't think Humphrey would lose nearly as badly as McGovern, I think he would still lose.
 
Needs Earlier POD

If HHH is the nominee in '68, it would be very unlikely he would get it in '72. The ghost of Stevenson's two losses would yet be haunting the Democratic kingmakers. About the only way HHH would not get the nod in '68 is for a) LBJ to run or b) HHH not being VP. Also, McGovern is generally recognized as the fellow who made the new rules and then exploited them to get the nomination. (Maybe HHH makes the rules if not VP?)

Enough butterflies in that scenario to affect Nixon's political paranoia rather adversely. (Perhaps his henchmen are widely exposed in his first term?)

With HHH as POTUS in '72, what of his health? What policies does he attempt? What are the chances of a ramped-up Movement Conservatism(Reagan -- "the Spirit of '76")?
 
If HHH is the nominee in '68, it would be very unlikely he would get it in '72. The ghost of Stevenson's two losses would yet be haunting the Democratic kingmakers. About the only way HHH would not get the nod in '68 is for a) LBJ to run or b) HHH not being VP. Also, McGovern is generally recognized as the fellow who made the new rules and then exploited them to get the nomination. (Maybe HHH makes the rules if not VP?)

Humphrey narrowly lost the primaries. In fact, he won a plurality of primary votes. In addition, Humphrey turned what really should have been a historic Republican landslide (1968) into a very close election, making it apparent that he was excellent at campaigning. In my opinion, he could have won in 1972 because of these campaigning skills, if nothing else.
 
Humphrey narrowly lost the primaries. In fact, he won a plurality of primary votes. In addition, Humphrey turned what really should have been a historic Republican landslide (1968) into a very close election, making it apparent that he was excellent at campaigning. In my opinion, he could have won in 1972 because of these campaigning skills, if nothing else.

Elected maybe but getting nominated would be a tough call. He had become closely identified with LBJ, who was distinctly persona non grata in the Democratic Party of 1972.
 
Elected maybe but getting nominated would be a tough call. He had become closely identified with LBJ, who was distinctly persona non grata in the Democratic Party of 1972.

But the experience of Nixon may have produced some regret from Democrats who hadn't voted for Humphrey in 1968. Moreover, LBJ was dead, and Humphrey had quite vigorously come out for an end to the war. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hubert-humphrey-criticizes-president-nixon In any event, the fact that Humphrey, Wallace, and Jackson combined got over 52% of the primary vote suggests that the Democrats were not all that far to the left in 1972. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_1972 And actually Humphrey was at least as dovish as Muskie, who got another 11%...
 
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