Johnson McCarthy 64

There was speculation in 1964,that LBJ was considering Eugene McCarthy as a running mate. What If this turned out to be true. How Would this effect 1968? Who would have been the first anti war candidate? While Senator Humphrey could have been open about his opposition to the war, I think he would have been too loyal to LBJ to run against him. I think he would have rum after Kennedy was killed and gotten enough party and organized labor support to win. Since he Is not connected to Johnson and the war he wins the election.
 
Well remember, Humphrey got the nod as VP in 64, mainly because of his work as Senate Majority Whip and getting Civil Rights passed. But deep down, I don't think anyone in the Democratic Party short of Robert Kennedy would of won the election in 1968. A lot of things had changed over those 4 years, From Viet Nam, to the race riots in the Northern Cities, to the protest marches against the war, a lot of Americans, What Nixon Called, "The Silent Majority" where kind of fed up with all the crap and wanted some Semblance of Normalcy.

The only reason, in my honest opinion; why the election is close in 1968 between Humphrey and Nixon is because of George Wallace deep down hurts Nixon more in the polls then he does Humphrey.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
IIRC, Johnson wasn't seriously vetting McCarthy for veep--he was doing it as a sop to the liberals. Humphrey was always Johnson's golden boy. There were some murmurings about Gene at State, but those were dismissed pretty quickly.
 
IIRC, Johnson wasn't seriously vetting McCarthy for veep--he was doing it as a sop to the liberals. Humphrey was always Johnson's golden boy. There were some murmurings about Gene at State, but those were dismissed pretty quickly.

Yep. Northeastern Catholic broadly acceptable throughout the party (and their name can't be RFK) was the initial criteria, but LBJ always intended to pick Humphrey. Though admittedly it would be fun to imagine Gene as LBJ's VP. :D
 
McCarthy would still have opposed the Vietnam War. He would not have had anywhere near the loyalty that Humphrey did. So I can see Vice President McCarthy becoming the anti war candidate. t Therefore we have the same Democratic primaries as we did OTL.
 
If we go with the cliche "Humphrey has heart attack" - then Gene becomes Johnson's VP
 
If we go with the cliche "Humphrey has heart attack" - then Gene becomes Johnson's VP

The heart attack has to come in 1967 after the ratification of the 25th amendment. I think McCarthy is already an outspoken opponent of the war by then. I assume LBJ wants a loyal Northern liberal as veep.
 
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