Shirley Chisholm wins 1972 election

Dont think this has been done before...

What if Shirley Chisholm won the 1972 Presidential Election? Effects? Reelection? You know the drill.:D
 
Intrigued...Eventhough some might see this as a ASB, I am trying to come up with some plausible ideas...any takers
 
My question is the same as always. What PoD is required to give Chrisholm a real shot at an election victory?
 
My question is this: Who the Hell is Shirley Chisholm?

Shirely Chislom was the "unbossed and unbought" NY Congresswoman who tried for the Democrat Presidential nomination in 1972. She was black.

I actually think that had she postponed her ambitions until 1976 her cleaner than clean image might have given her a chance without ASBs
 
Or What If...instead of postoponing to 76 till run she uses her 1972 failed campaign as her launchpad...She did come in third/fourth in the delegate count...If she could inthose four years become something to stand against the Nixon/Ford Administration maybe even be for one of the war hawks who pushed for Nixon's Impeachment and firmly against Ford's pardon of Nixon. If she ran on the idea of a return to "Trust" in the Federal Government, so really its molding her to make her more like Carter...

So how plausible with Chislom to win the nomination in 76 if she becomes more Carter like and a wider more established realm of support. What states and regions would she likely win? please discuss further
 
OK. This is intriguing.

First up, we need to stop McGovern from getting the nomination, both now and in 1976. Any other liberal candidate would be anathema after McGovern, especially just four years later. And we need a big portion of his support to flow to Chisholm in 1972.

Second: she needs a higher national profile. This is easier in 1976, especially if she wins a large share of the vote in '72, but it could probably be done in 1972. But a '76 win is easier.

So, here's how she could win in 1976:

Sunshine in America: Chisholm '76

-Shirley Chisholm declares for the nomination early in 1971, as opposed to her late entry in OTL, and campaigns energetically in early states, especially Florida.
-Due to butterflies, Peter Sheridan, a heckler, does not confront Muskie on the 'Sunshine Express' in his doomed campaign in Florida. Press coverage of this would have distorted the whole campaign. This allows Muskie to remain more viable in Florida than in OTL.
-Wallace wins Florida with 29% of the vote, with Muskie placing second and, in a shock finish, Chisholm narrowly edging Humphrey, who did not openly campaign, based upon high black voter turnout (as a result of her extensive campaign in the state). This result knocks McGovern, Lindsay and Jackson out of the race, and weakens the Wallace campaign. Muskie becomes the frontrunner.
-In the next major primary, Wisconsin, Chisholm finishes third with 18%; Muskie wins. Wallace matches this with a victory in Pennsylvania based upon support from working-class whites; the two trade primary victories for the rest of the process. Chisholm wins Massachusetts.
-Chisholm wins Maryland in May. Wallace, seeing little prospect for victory in the state, does not campaign there, and hence is not shot. She wins overwhelming support from middle-class liberals and from black voters, and wins caucuses in the South.
-At the convention, 1507 delegates are needed for victory. Wallace has 1100, Muskie has 800, and Chisholm has 450, with the rest scattering. The other candidates pledge to support Muskie in a 'stop Wallace' movement; however, Chisholm extracts a bargain of pledged support in 1976 or 1980 from the party machine.
-Muskie's chosen running mate, Thomas Eagleton, is revealed to have suffered from psychiatric problems. He loses heavily, 55-45%, to Nixon. A Texas congresswoman, Barbara Jordan, loses re-election.

And the rest can be more or less figured out from there for 1976...Chisholm, assigned a seat on Judiciary, plays the Barbara Jordan role, runs as a liberal outsider, establishes party support, and, importantly, establishes as the lead figure in a renewed 'stop Wallace' movement in 1976, allowing her to clinch the nomination. And so forth.

The rest can be left to someone else.
 
Now, If she clinches the nomination who would she most likely choose as her running mate? and does she really stand a chance agaisnt Ford in the election?
 
Wow.. This is going to take some doing to get Chisholm in the Whitehouse in 1972..

Very Very difficult.. Even so in 1992.

If Mcgovern could not do this in 1972... I think this is highly unlikely for Shirley Chisholm.
 
On a slightly odder note-might Shirley Chisholm have tried to bring in a British 11-plus style education system? She appears to have spoken highly of it.
 
In 1972 she loses by a landslide. In 1976 she loses by a narrow margin and Democrats ask themselves afterwards why they nominated the one person who could lose to Ford post Watergate.
 
OK. This is intriguing.

First up, we need to stop McGovern from getting the nomination, both now and in 1976. Any other liberal candidate would be anathema after McGovern, especially just four years later. And we need a big portion of his support to flow to Chisholm in 1972.

Second: she needs a higher national profile. This is easier in 1976, especially if she wins a large share of the vote in '72, but it could probably be done in 1972. But a '76 win is easier.

So, here's how she could win in 1976:

Sunshine in America: Chisholm '76

-Shirley Chisholm declares for the nomination early in 1971, as opposed to her late entry in OTL, and campaigns energetically in early states, especially Florida.
-Due to butterflies, Peter Sheridan, a heckler, does not confront Muskie on the 'Sunshine Express' in his doomed campaign in Florida. Press coverage of this would have distorted the whole campaign. This allows Muskie to remain more viable in Florida than in OTL.
-Wallace wins Florida with 29% of the vote, with Muskie placing second and, in a shock finish, Chisholm narrowly edging Humphrey, who did not openly campaign, based upon high black voter turnout (as a result of her extensive campaign in the state). This result knocks McGovern, Lindsay and Jackson out of the race, and weakens the Wallace campaign. Muskie becomes the frontrunner.
-In the next major primary, Wisconsin, Chisholm finishes third with 18%; Muskie wins. Wallace matches this with a victory in Pennsylvania based upon support from working-class whites; the two trade primary victories for the rest of the process. Chisholm wins Massachusetts.
-Chisholm wins Maryland in May. Wallace, seeing little prospect for victory in the state, does not campaign there, and hence is not shot. She wins overwhelming support from middle-class liberals and from black voters, and wins caucuses in the South.
-At the convention, 1507 delegates are needed for victory. Wallace has 1100, Muskie has 800, and Chisholm has 450, with the rest scattering. The other candidates pledge to support Muskie in a 'stop Wallace' movement; however, Chisholm extracts a bargain of pledged support in 1976 or 1980 from the party machine.
-Muskie's chosen running mate, Thomas Eagleton, is revealed to have suffered from psychiatric problems. He loses heavily, 55-45%, to Nixon. A Texas congresswoman, Barbara Jordan, loses re-election.

And the rest can be more or less figured out from there for 1976...Chisholm, assigned a seat on Judiciary, plays the Barbara Jordan role, runs as a liberal outsider, establishes party support, and, importantly, establishes as the lead figure in a renewed 'stop Wallace' movement in 1976, allowing her to clinch the nomination. And so forth.

The rest can be left to someone else.


Great beggining for what could be an heck of a TL, if u choose to continue...But anywho, with Shirley Chislom serving on the House Judiciary Commite would give her a lot of strenght to help have more of an successful run at 76. We could easily have her deliever an highly televised speech pressing for the Impeachment of Nixon simmilar to OTL Barbara...I think would really help propel her back to the national spotlight.

But...How would the primary season for '76, with a stronger, more well-known Shirley Chislom in the race, who decides to jump in and who decides to stay out?
 
What about Chisholm vs. Rockefeller? I'd say that if she played her cards right she could get in on a VERY narrow margin.

Sorry, to ressurect this old Thread but after going back through this and if were following Blackmage's POD...I think with the Butterflies of Wallace not campaiging in Maryland in 1972...Could affect Arthur Bremer to refocus his energies on trying to assasinate Nixon...He Might actually be successfull in during the summer months of the Campaign

And that would leave us with a President Agnew...How might this affect the 1972 Election? and Who might Agnew pick as his Running Mate/VP to help him against a stronger Muskie?
 
-Muskie's chosen running mate, Thomas Eagleton, is revealed to have suffered from psychiatric problems. He loses heavily, 55-45%, to Nixon. A Texas congresswoman, Barbara Jordan, loses re-election.

And the rest can be more or less figured out from there for 1976...Chisholm, assigned a seat on Judiciary, plays the Barbara Jordan role, runs as a liberal outsider, establishes party support, and, importantly, establishes as the lead figure in a renewed 'stop Wallace' movement in 1976, allowing her to clinch the nomination. And so forth.

The rest can be left to someone else.

Sorry to correct you. But IOTL, Barbara Jordan was elected to her first term in Congress in 1972 in a majority-black district.
 
Dont think this has been done before...

What if Shirley Chisholm won the 1972 Presidential Election? Effects? Reelection? You know the drill.:D
It's a non-starter, the fact is no black woman could possibly be elected president in 1972 or 1976 for that matter. There would have to be a major POD to occur going back to perhaps the mid-19th century. Only now in 2008 it is even possible for a black male to be elected president.
 
Shirley Chisholm does not need to be elected to become president; she can make it Gerald Ford style.

Agnew resigns over charges of corruption and tax evasion as in OTL. POD: President Nixon suffers an unexpected heart attack and dies before naming a VP. President Carl Albert appoints Shirley Chisholm as VP and keeps his promise to resign as soon as she is confirmed by the senate.

(In OTL, Speaker Carl Albert made it very clear that he did not want to be president, and was inconvenienced by the presence of secret service men during the weeks he was next in line for the job.)

Chisholm becomes the clean-up hero and wins in 1976.
 
Shirley Chisholm does not need to be elected to become president; she can make it Gerald Ford style.

Agnew resigns over charges of corruption and tax evasion as in OTL. POD: President Nixon suffers an unexpected heart attack and dies before naming a VP. President Carl Albert appoints Shirley Chisholm as VP and keeps his promise to resign as soon as she is confirmed by the senate.

(In OTL, Speaker Carl Albert made it very clear that he did not want to be president, and was inconvenienced by the presence of secret service men during the weeks he was next in line for the job.)

Chisholm becomes the clean-up hero and wins in 1976.
LOL! :rolleyes:
 
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