Realistic Presidents for a space TL?

Hey, kinda new here. I'm working on a TL and need some guidance from the all-knowing board. The POD is RFK wins in 1968, and Vietnam's over by 1970, opening up more funds for NASA. Kennedy gives the green light to AAP and NERVA, and the Apollo missions go up through 22. There is an Apollo-style chemical Mars flight, a la Voyage, in 1981-2, and a NERVA landing in 1985-86. Kind of a space-wank, but that's the idea!:)

BUT, I need a realistic list of presidents to follow RFK. I was thinking he would win again in '72, then Reagan in '76, but I really have no idea. Anybody have any suggestions? Vice-presidents are not necessary, but appreciated.
 
I'd give Reagan one term from '76 to '80 if you indeed have him serve. The same economic issues that Carter got blamed for are going to go onto Reagan if he's in in the late 1970's, and he's not gonna have a Paul Volcker to fix them.

Following that, I don't know. Perhaps Ted Kennedy, but the nation may have Kennedy exhaustion and the Conservatives will likely cry "royal dynasty".

Or you could always work in the RFK/MLK fantasy ticket and have MLK serve in the 80's.
 
Jerry Brown's always been an ardent proponent of space exploration, if you want to add him in at some stage.
 
Hmm. RFK winning is fine, and since we've discussed this a million times let's skip over the fussy part.

Depending on the situation in '76 you might see RFK's VP (probably Ralph Yarborough) win against whoever. I have no idea what his position was on space, but in general combine populism with progressivism to get his overall stance on things.

Reagan running/winning in 1976 is also reasonable but so is losing to Yarborough (in which case, given broader economic trends, he probably comes back/wins in 1980). His VP back then would almost certainly be a fairly moderate pick—somewhere right of Rockefeller, but not that far right.

Jerry Brown is interesting, as mentioned, as he was seen as only a little bit of a kook in the '70s. There's also John Glenn, obviously, assuming he can mount a better campaign it's not unreasonable to see him assume the Presidency or be Brown's VP or something like that.


After that we're deep into butterfly territory. Any reasonable Governor/Senator with aspirations can be picked up as a fair choice. (Ted Kennedy is out, Ford is out, Carter is out, Clinton might be out, George Bush still has a chance, Mondale is out, Cuomo is a maybe, etc….)
 
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