Walter Cronkite for VP!

Years ago I read that in the run-up to the Democratic convention in 1972, someone on George McGovern's staff seriously suggested that Walter Cronkite throw his hat in the ring for the vice-presidential nomination. Assuming that Cronkite was nominated, and given that McGovern's campaign was irretrievably damaged by the Eagleton fiasco, was a McGovern-Cronkite ticket electable in 1972? And if Richard Nixon was sent back to Yorba Linda, how would a McG-WC administration have played out?
 
Years ago I read that in the run-up to the Democratic convention in 1972, someone on George McGovern's staff seriously suggested that Walter Cronkite throw his hat in the ring for the vice-presidential nomination. Assuming that Cronkite was nominated, and given that McGovern's campaign was irretrievably damaged by the Eagleton fiasco, was a McGovern-Cronkite ticket electable in 1972? And if Richard Nixon was sent back to Yorba Linda, how would a McG-WC administration have played out?

I think your POD would have to be that Cronkite gets the VP nomination before the Eagleton fiasco. Afterwards, pretty much everyone knew the McGovern campaign was a sinking ship; we know of at least five Democrats who turned down the chance to be on the ticket (and I've read that there were at least nine in total before Sargent Shriver said yes).
 
I think a Cronkhite candidacy was bruited about before the McGovernites settled on Eagleton. I was thinking that if an offer was made and accepted then Eagleton wouldn't have been in play and McGovern would have avoided a credibility-destroying climb-down once Eagleton's mental h
health history came to light. Most likely the Democrats would have lost the '72 election anyway but might have avoided political humiliation.
 
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