President Nixon

I wonder what for armament programs would be realized under Nixon and his Secretary of defense ?
and there were allot and very insane proposal and program that never past JFK and Robert McNamara.

X-20 Dyna-Soar a USAF spaceplane for reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintenance, and sabotage of enemy satellites.
Lockheed YF-12 a mach 3 interceptor based on SR-71
Convair B-58B and C versions of Mach 2 Bomber
The Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142 VTOL transporter for US forces.

and the insane concepts for deterrence.
SLAM a USAF program for nuclear powers supersonic low altitude missile, they made engine test in Nevada and wanted to first prototype test flights as McNamara stopped the program.
USAF Orion Battleships, huge spacecraft that using atomic bombs to propel it self true space.
Nuclear Powered ICBM and yes the soviet work on that to

Those seem insane only because they never were constructed. Had the Saturn V never existed, it would be in that camp as well. Nuclear powered space craft are perfectly realistic, and grand as Orion was (and is, since they're looking into it again), it also is realistic.

Not to say they would get built or were likely to be.
 
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Again, since the influence of the United States on global affairs is enormous during this period, and since the President has an enormous influence on U.S. foreign policy in this period also, I really don't see why the above sequence of events would occur. At best, it's really an indicator as to what areas of foreign affairs might affect a *Nixon presidency.

There are a few events that would probably occur in roughly a recognisable way, i.e. the Berlin Wall and the Bay of Pigs invasion, because they had their roots into the 1950s. The rest though aren't as likely. The Cuban Missile Crisis was caused not just because of the failure of the aforesaid invasion, but also because of a complex series of realisations regarding what Kennedy might do if missiles were installed, by Khrushchev. Do we have that same realisation that Nixon might be too weak to do anything about them, especially since that Moscow meeting a few years back? And, as I said before, involvement in Vietnam was also IOTL keenly shaped by presidential input, i.e. Kennedy's cautiousness and tendency toward relying on incremental involvement. That places the date in question - 1964 - in doubt, because we'd have to assess Nixon's own approach to South Vietnam's defence. Then we have the Six Day War, which, aside from having its own list of prior provocations that could have gone any way, might well be butterflied away or altered irrevocably by Nixon's personal attitude toward Israel. The roots of American involvement in supporting Israel with military arms lay in President Kennedy's decision to supply surface-to-air HAWK missiles to the country. Would Nixon have done the same?

So far i know was the Invasion program of Cuba a idea of Nixon and would have goes well after plans if nixon became president, what eliminate the Cuba Missile crisis.
even if that Crisis happens, there many PODs to consider like Nixon oder the Bombardment of Missile site in Cuba, on a site were soviet base commander has the authorization to launch a Nuclear attact in case of US bombardment or invasion.
See the Cuba Missile War TL for more details on Nixon option in this crisis

will anti communist Nixon not fall in same trap Johnson got in with Vietnam ? or even win this war because of different SecDef, instead of McNamara? that a interesting speculation.

Although the impression I have is that McNamara brought a new sense of vitality to the Pentagon as Kennedy's SecDef, I also wonder whether all the factors that inhibited development of the above projects - cost, potential uses, plain lunacy - might also have inhibited their development under Nixon's nominee for Secretary.

This is complex matter because those program were also part a "chess game" of US or USSR, in they each other push in expensive R&D programs like the Nuclear powered ICBM or space race or Psy research.
others like YF-12 and B-58B/C or XB-70 were consider vital program for defense of USA, as fast long-range Interceptor. the others as replacement for B-52
SLAM was consider as ultimata deterrence weapon as the four leg of SAC (the other 3 are ICBM, Bomber and SLBM).

But i think that Nixon SecDef, would make much different decision as McNamara.
 
I've read that timeline, and accomplished as it is, as a counterfactual concerning (but not exclusively) Kennedy's handling of a Cuban Missile Crisis gone wrong, and frankly it's irrelevant to the point (I think) you're making. My argument was that Nixon's conduct in 1961 in and around a Bay of Pigs invasion would preclude a Cuban Missile Crisis.

that also my point of view, address in a clumsy english. (i'm German)

It is a complex matter, but simply because a program wasn't completed for the Pentagon IOTL doesn't necessarily mean it will be passed under Nixon.

certainly with XB-70 program and nuclear power Bomber, would be stopped by Nixon SecDef or McNamara.
on the supersonic B-58B/C version they had to replace B-47 and the interim bomber B-52, yep the longest in service bomber of all time had original to be in service for 10 years !

X-20 was important for USAF as Manned access to space, but the program went to slow until McNamara start to mess with the program.
McNamara, a car production manager question the X-20 and proposed the NASA Gemini as replacement for X-20, in USAF-NASA join Venture to save money.
USAF and NASA administration was not very happy, USAF because effort put in X-20 were for nothing, NASA because Military meddling with the Gemini program.
that Gemini capsule was not ideal for reconnaissance mission, they have to replace co-pilot seat and install camera system
in the end X-20 program and the USAF-NASA join Venture proposal was death and USAF got the Manned Orbital Program in december 1963
but MOL got victim it self in 1969, for budget reason in Vietnam war and Obsolete hardware, against new generation electronic.

another good example of McNamara "management" of DoD was the F-111, forerunner of Joint strike fighter. a aircraft no one in US forces wanted...
 

katchen

Banned
Oh yes, and let's not forget that we almost certainly would not be talking about the Vietnam War starting in 1963 or 1964. We'd be talking about the Indochina War that would have started in Laos in 1961. I said on another thread that I think Humphrey would have gone into Laos. I'm even more certain that Nixon would have gone into Laos. And Southern North Vietnam up to Vinh or Thanh Hoa. No further. No US President would want to crowd the Chinese and risk a repeat of the Chinese mass invasion during the Korean War.But far enough into North Vietnam to establish a defensible line across Indochina that the North Vietnamese would be unable to cross and would not attempt to cross by going into Thailand.
 
Oh yes, and let's not forget that we almost certainly would not be talking about the Vietnam War starting in 1963 or 1964. We'd be talking about the Indochina War that would have started in Laos in 1961. I said on another thread that I think Humphrey would have gone into Laos. I'm even more certain that Nixon would have gone into Laos. And Southern North Vietnam up to Vinh or Thanh Hoa. No further. No US President would want to crowd the Chinese and risk a repeat of the Chinese mass invasion during the Korean War.But far enough into North Vietnam to establish a defensible line across Indochina that the North Vietnamese would be unable to cross and would not attempt to cross by going into Thailand.

But the problem is Laos is inside Indochina, means you have to cross South Vietnam or Cambodia to enter Laos with heavy equipment.
From that point of view would a "Indochina war" also become disastrous as OTL Vietnam war.

here is more interesting question: how would Nixon deal with Indochina ?
 
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