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In OTL Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only defeated vice-presidential nominee ever to become POTUS. (Unless you count John Tyler, who got some electoral votes for VP in 1836. But of course there was no single Whig "nominee" for VP in 1836 any more than there was for president. And it would *really* be stretching things to bring up Thomas Jefferson's four electoral votes in 1792, which were simply the preferences of some Kentucky electors, not a party nomination. Likewise, I don't count James K. Polk's single electoral vote for VP in 1840.) Who are the most plausible others?

(1) Bob Dole--certainly an underdog in 1996, but not inconceivable. (And of course there is the possibility he could have gotten the GOP presidential nomination in 1988 or even 1980.)

(2) Walter Mondale--though I doubt he ever realy had a chance in 1984. But I once had a scenario where he returns to the Senate, passes up 1984 and 1988, and wins the Democratic presidential nomination--and the election--in 1992. https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-mondale-waits-until-1988.342698/#post-10263930

(3) Edmund Muskie--though I think that if nominated for president in 1972 he would lose to Nixon, though not nearly as heavily as McGovern.

(4) Thomas Hendricks (unsuccessful VP nominee in 1876, successful in 1884)--if Cleveland had died in office.

(5) George Clinton (though probably only if Jefferson had died in office).

(6) I don't think C. C. Pinckney had much of a chance in 1808 (and certainly none in 1804). (Whether he could have been elected *president* in 1800 is another matter; see https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...sworth-pinckney-elected-potus-in-1800.420479/)

(7) As usual, there's Aaron Burr (unsuccessful VP candidate in 1796 who just might have been chosen president by the House in 1801).

I don't want to get into *too* recent politics, so I'll skip Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan. I also doubt that Lieberman after Gore-Lieberman's defeat in 2000 ever had that good a chance to get the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 (or a GOP vice-presidential nomination in 2008--not that the ticket had much of chance of prevailing in that year, anyway). Earl Warren's chances of getting a GOP presidential nomination (or a vice-presidential nomination that could have led to an eventual presidency) in 1952 were slight. Some people did urge Kefauver to run for president in 1960, but he would have been a very long shot. Henry Cabot Lodge was probably too liberal for the GOP in 1964. On Dan Quayle in 1996, see my post at https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-dan-quayle-in-1996.368966/#post-11399003

A *really* long shot: Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox (who had been Landon's running mate in 1936) as "designated survivor" with everyone ahead of him in the line of succession being killed in a German- or Japanese-inspired bombing.

(I want to stick here to people who actually were nominated for VP by a major party, not to people who in an ATL *might* have been.)
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