Kennedy For President In '68 (Teddy, Not RFK)

Here's one I think we've overlooked so far.

Teddy Kennedy was basically offered the 1968 Democratic nomination for President. The delegate counters figured he'd stop Humphrey on the first ballot, and win on the second.

California, Illinois, and New York were all for him. Mayor Daley didn't like McCarthy, Jesse Unruh (leader of the California delegation) didn't like Johnson and neither wanted Humphrey.

Half of Pennsylvania's delegation, and a varying number of other delegates from other states (including a dozen Southern delegates) would be shaken loose by Teddy Kennedy throwing his hat into the ring.

In the general election Teddy Kennedy was five million votes ahead of Humphrey—more than enough to beat Nixon.

So.

President Edward M. Kennedy in 1968? What happens?
 
Here's one I think we've overlooked so far.

Teddy Kennedy was basically offered the 1968 Democratic nomination for President. The delegate counters figured he'd stop Humphrey on the first ballot, and win on the second.

California, Illinois, and New York were all for him. Mayor Daley didn't like McCarthy, Jesse Unruh (leader of the California delegation) didn't like Johnson and neither wanted Humphrey.

Half of Pennsylvania's delegation, and a varying number of other delegates from other states (including a dozen Southern delegates) would be shaken loose by Teddy Kennedy throwing his hat into the ring.

In the general election Teddy Kennedy was five million votes ahead of Humphrey—more than enough to beat Nixon.

So.

President Edward M. Kennedy in 1968? What happens?

Hmm, I was just going to make a new thread based on this Scenario but appears, Electric you beat me to the punch over a year ago...Im suprised no one did have any input on this...

I think it would have been a very interesting Scenario, if Teddy had decided at the Convention to "steal" the nomination away from Humphrey...and Nixon probably woundn't have been able to beat a Kennedy in '68 would have lost Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois which would have gotten Teddy the magic number of necessary electoral votes, and may have gotten so more.

However, with such a deadlocked convention, who might Teddy take for his running mate McCarthy, Muskie, Mcgovern or even Phillips? Or might he go with a Southern Governor to shore up the votes that might have been left to Wallace?

Also at age 36, upon inaugraution day, Teddy would become the youngest president ever sworn in to office and the first Silent Generation President as well. Would Teddy have favored a form of "Vietnamization" and gone through with the Cambodian invasion? Might he have given NASA a bigger budget to allow them to complete their goal of reaching Mars by '81? How would he have handled the impending finacial crisis in his first term? Relations with China and the Soviet Union? Also who would be his Supreme Court Appointments?

More importantly, would the GOP after loosing yet another Campaign in '68 finally be ready to push Reagan as the Party's nominee in '72...Who wins that epic contest(Kennedy vs. Reagan)
 
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