McGovern? Sounds like a Presidential Hamburger....

HueyLong

Banned
Yeah, I know. Lame. But if he was in today's race, there would be a youtube video on that name.

Anyways, you challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to get Senator George McGovern elected President in 1972.

Perhaps a more amenable McGovern-Fraser Commission, or maybe Nixon gets hit with a bigger Watergate-esque scandal. No "amnesty, abortion and acid" or maybe no Eagleton. Just some ideas to get you started
 
Somehow or other McGovern is elected for the other South Dakota Senate seat. He runs in 1968, with the support of RFK and of Gene McCarthy as the Peace candidate.

He wins the nomination.

The pro war vote is split between Nixon and Wallace.

He manages the retreat from Saigon less embarassingly than Ford did in OTL.

Reagan is the Republican in 72. He pulls the same stupid stunt in Philadelphis MIss as he did in 1980 but the memories of the murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner are that much fresher in people's minds.

(Interesting thought- in this scenario might HHH serve 4 terms as VP)
 

HueyLong

Banned
I actually hadn't thought of getting his '68 nomination to work.... but how likely are McCarthy and RFK to bow out for McGovern?
 
I actually hadn't thought of getting his '68 nomination to work.... but how likely are McCarthy and RFK to bow out for McGovern?

Very unlikely. RFK could die earlier, Humphrey gets diagnosed w/cancer and McCarthy become embroiled in a scandle which forces him to drop out I suppose.
 
I actually hadn't thought of getting his '68 nomination to work.... but how likely are McCarthy and RFK to bow out for McGovern?

McGovern was approached by the anti-war forces before McCarthy so McCarthy isn't a factor. RFK on the other hand…. At the least he respects McGovern where he doesn't McCarthy[1] and I'm certain McGovern and RFK wouldn't dislike each other as much as McCarthy and RFK did.

But hey, we can still kill RFK. Although McGovern isn't as acceptable to Mayor Daley as RFK (or EMK) was he will have the unified McCarthy-RFK support of OTL, and it's possible he can win at the convention.



[1] Actually by the end of the primary season after putting up with McCarthy for all those months, most of his own staff didn't respect him.
 
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