The Promised Land: An African American President Before Obama

So who could have been the first African American president before Obama? (It can't be King as he still gets assassinated, or a controversial figure like Jesse Jackson).

My money's on Thurgood Marshall (in 1976 perhaps). Any others?
 
Colin Powell. He's a moderate and extremely popular. If he had run for President he'd certainly have been elected.

i think he was the only one in recent past with a pretty decent shot. He was conservative enough to get the republican nomination but moderate enough to sway democrats to his side. He served in the military along with being the National Security Advisor to Reagan. He then went on to be Chair of the Joint Chiefs to Bush1. Had he run in say 96 or 2000 he would have had a very good shot at the white house
 
I have to agree. The African-American who had the best chance at it before Barack Obama was Colin Powell, and had he run I think his chances would have been very very good, and I think Colin Powell would have made an excellent president. Powell is a moderate, I think a fiscal conservative, strong on defense, and he is viewed as having experience.

I think if Colin Powell had run for president he would have been viewed not so much as an African-American running for president but instead as a presidential candidate who just happens to be African-American. I think with Powell there would have been less made of race than there was with Obama.
 
I have to agree. The African-American who had the best chance at it before Barack Obama was Colin Powell, and had he run I think his chances would have been very very good, and I think Colin Powell would have made an excellent president. Powell is a moderate, I think a fiscal conservative, strong on defense, and he is viewed as having experience.

I think if Colin Powell had run for president he would have been viewed not so much as an African-American running for president but instead as a presidential candidate who just happens to be African-American. I think with Powell there would have been less made of race than there was with Obama.

Powell would have had a better chance because he doesn't have the whole Muslim BS thing to deal with, as well as his crazy pastor.
 
I was thinking of Powell, but I wanted to go back a little further, and 1976 onward seemed to be the most likely possibility.

What about Tom Bradley? In 1982 he ran in and very narrowly lost the California governor's race. His loss gave us the term "The Bradley effect" to describe when voters told pollsters they'd vote for a black candidate but voted for the white one instead. If he'd won, he might have had a shot at running for and winning the Democratic nomination in 1988, and perhaps a better chance at defeating Bush I.
 
Powell is the obvious option. He could get heaps of bipartisan support. All that has to happen is that Powell has to grow a pair and decide he wants to lead instead of always following & going where the political winds are blowing. Plus, of course, he has to win the primary elections, which could be tricky...
 
Powell by far is the easisest POD, in my opinion but you could possibly have had Shirley Chisholm, after her strong run in '72, decide to run again in '76 taking her "Unbought and Unbossed" message across the post-watergate America. I think the nomination is hers if she wanted it getting her to win the General is another story.

Also, you could have Sen. Edward Brooke be chosen to replace Agnew by Nixon, and after his resignation becomes President in '74. Also Jesse Jackson without making those stupid "Hymietown" remarks, could have possibly won the Democratic Nomination in '88, but there is a slim chance that he could beat the Attwater machine in the general. So you see there are alot of potential candidates with various POD's but hardest thing is to create a climate where people are ok with electing a Black Pres earlier than in otl.
 
What about those Presidents who could already have had an African Heritage - Harding?, Lincoln? They were POTUS before Obama. Harding even acknowledged his African heritage.:)
 
Top