LBJ Assassinationed in 1968

Bomster

Banned
Let’s imagine that some violent individual angry at Lyndon B Johnson decides to attempt to assassinate him in early 1968, and succeeds, or Johnson suffers a heart attack in ‘68 and dies. How would this affect the 1968 election? Could Robert Kennedy have a better chance at the Democratic nomination if he lives? What would Hubert Humphrey do for his short stint as president? How would the Republicans and Democrats react?
 
President Humphrey would be the "default" candidate. With the 25th Amendment in place, HHH would pick a VP and the ticket would be settled. Would it be RFK? Muskie? Hard to say, but if they pursue peace talks, they would have a better chance of defeating Nixon. As for the Republicans, little would change, unless Nixon picked a different VP (possible if his improprieties surfaced).
 
I could see Humphrey picking RFK as VP as a move(& it would have been a good one) to
unify the Democratic Party(furthermore, un-
like Johnson, Humphrey had no personal
animosity towards RFK).

Plus, with RFK on the ticket & LBJ's most
formidable presence gone, I could easily
see Humphrey adopting a rather strong
peace position, thus showing the voters he's
no longer an LBJ stooge. Thus fortified, I
think he would have defeated Nixon(or who-
ever else the G.O.P. would have put up)in
the general election(remember IOTL in 1968
when HHH adopted a moderately dovish
position in September, he charged back from a huge deficit in the polls & almost won)
 
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Another issue, with the Democratic Convention becoming a "rubber stamp" event, perhaps the violent demonstrations will not show up in Chicago, or will be much smaller. Perhaps the Weathermen do not take over the SDS the following year if the war is already winding to a close.
 
Two Presidents getting whacked in a row will look very, very bad for the Secret Service.

What will happen regarding the Vietnam War?
 
Humphrey would likely win due to a lingering sympathy vote, incumbency, and the likelihood of the chaos at the convention being butterflied away. Depending when this happens, Kennedy might withdraw and be spared his OTL fate.
 
I made a couple of wikiboxes based off this.
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(What do you guys think about them?)
 
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