Even before he became Eisenhower's VP, Richard Nixon was an extremely powerful and influential politician. As a Congressman he prosecuted Alger Hiss and proposed the notorious Mundt-Nixon Bill. Thomas Dewey's opposition to the bill helped him win the Republican primaries in 1948, but he unexpectedly lost to Truman in the general election. Four years later Nixon was chosen to serve as Eisenhower's VP and the rest is history. But my question to this forum is this: had Dewey won in 1948, therefore butterflying away Nixon's Vice-Presidency under Ike, how would Nixon's political career have unfolded? Would he still win election to the Senate in 1950? Would he still be a formidable contender for the Presidency in the 1960s?
 
Nixon in OTL won the 1950 Senate election by 18 points in a midterm that favored Republicans due to Truman's unpopularity. With the Republican Dewey in the White House, the midterm would probably favor the Democrats. But given Nixon's large victory in OTL, I think he would still be elected under a President Dewey, albeit by a smaller margin. If Dewey is reelected in 1952, then Nixon would have to wait until 1956 if he wanted to run for President.

Maybe Nixon in TTL decides he enjoys the Senate and chooses to remain in that body. He could plausibly become the Republican Senate leader by the 1960s, and he might remain a Senator until the 1980s.
 
Maybe Nixon in TTL decides he enjoys the Senate and chooses to remain in that body. He could plausibly become the Republican Senate leader by the 1960s, and he might remain a Senator until the 1980s.

I agree. However, Nixon had Presidential ambitions as early as 1950. I think he becomes Senate Minority Leader by 1967 at the latest and uses that as a platform to run for President in 1968. I think butterflies from the 1948 POD result in Rockefeller winning the GOP nomination in 1964, butterflying away the Republican Southern Strategy. Four years later Nixon runs on the socially liberal platform he originally supported in OTL 1960. Which certainly has implications for his choice of VP (most likely not Agnew) as well as Nixon's policies vis a vis the War on Drugs and integration.
 
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