Prospects for President Rockefeller in 1975?

PresidentZinn

In September 1975 Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts. During a September 5th visit to Sacaremento, Squeaky Fromme (a Manson family member) attempted to fire a gun at Ford, but thankfully no bullet was in the chamber. Likewise, during a September 22nd visit to San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore fired two shots at the President, both of which narrowly missed.

In the event that either attempt succeeded, VP Nelson Rockefeller would have ascended to the presidency. Rockefeller, an icon of the moderate, eastern establishment wing of the party was loathed by the conservatives, but would also have the benefit of enormous sympathy in the aftermath of his predecessor's death. My question is, how do you think Rockefeller's presidency would have played out? Would he be able to win the Republican nomination in 1976 against Ronald Reagan (assuming the latter still runs)? Could he win the general (the POD here could seriously shake up the Democratic primary as well)?

I assume much of this would depend on Rocky's choice of VP, who would likely be a conservative (Reagan?, Dole?, Brock?, Tower? Connally? Evans? Taft? Laxalt?). How would Rockefeller handle the challenges of the mid 1970s differently from OTL?

I would also like to give a shout out to the TL Passkey Down by @Vidal , which explored this scenario.
 

Sabin

I'll defer to others on how he would perform in office.

It seems inconceivable that the country would want a third changing of the guard in four years after a resignation and an assassination, but Nelson Rockefeller was uniquely ill-equipped to maintain his party's nomination in 1976. If Gerald Ford could barely hang onto the nomination against Reagan and felt that dropping Rockefeller was one of the only ways to do so, it's hard to see how Rockefeller at the top of the ticket does so. He also knows he'll be 66 when running which puts him on the older end for a candidate. If I had to guess, I'd say he doesn't run for reelection but chooses someone he'd want to beat Reagan. Maybe Howard Baker, Elliot Richardson, or William Ruckelshaus. It's probably all for naught but it would be a fitting coda to his Presidential life after getting booed at his 1964 speech.

It's also interesting to think how Ford's assassination changes things on the Democratic side. The perception of scandal and corruption boosted Jimmy Carter barely to the nomination. Ford's assassination will change the mood of the country towards a desire for stability and a need for order. At the very least, there's less acrimony and a desire for someone to tell voters that everything is going to be okay. I'm not sure if more or less Democrats jump into the ring, but if Hubert Humphrey didn't have cancer he'd win it in a second.

If he does, we're going through the numbers pretty quick in this TL:
35: John F. Kennedy [D] (1961-63)
36: Lyndon B. Johnson [D] (1963-69)
37: Richard M. Nixon [R] (1969-74)
38: Gerald R. Ford [R] (1974-75)
39: Nelson A. Rockefeller [R] (1975-77)
40: Hubert H. Humphrey [D] (1977-78)
41: Humphrey's VP [D] (1978 - ?)
 

dw93

I think Rockefeller would've picked a Conservative (possibly Reagan himself) to be VP to fend off any primary challenge from the right, and given the fact that Ford almost beat Carter in OTL, I think Rocky would be favored to win against Carter.
 
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