Watergate breakin not discovered?

What if the Watergate breakin hadn't been discovered and Nixon still wins his second term? What would he have done if he could have finished his second term?
 
Didn't Nixon plan to introduce healthcare ?

Also, wouldn't he have been able to be stronger on Vietnam, and prevent the collapse ?

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
I don't think the situation in Vietnam would have been any different. ARVN was simply too weak and cowardly to keep the NVA at bay forever.
 
Nixon may well have gone on to introduce a health care system and would have been regarded as one of America's better Presidents having extracated America from Vietnam and brought in China from the cold and strated SALT. I doubt that he would have intervented in Vietnam in 1975 but he may have indulged in enough sabre rattling to restrain the North Vietnamese. Without Watergate America may have been more prepared to intervene in other areas and the drift back to cold war may have been averted

Agnew may well have gone owing to the extent of corruption and the Republicans may have lost in 1976
 
Republicans keep power in 76 and are anihilated in 80
I agree with this.

Ford probably wouldn't be vp, Connaly probably would. I say that Connally wins in 1976, but the Democrats destroy him in 1980, and this happens IMO.

We'd probably have some sort of National Health Insurance. South Vietnam probably would have a good more decade of life, as there would be no Church amendment ITTL. There would be a LOT more trust in the Washington 'Establishment' today than IOTL.
 
Kissinger was pressing Nixon to get a constitutional amendment to overturn the requirement that a US presidential candidate be a natural-born US citizen. Re-elected and strong, maybe Nixon feels strong enough to push this through ? After all, the requirement is an anachronism dating back to when people were worried that anyone born in Britain or France might turn traitor and hand the country over to them.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
No way would Nixon be able to push through a Constitutional amendment. While he won in a landslide in 1972 the Democrats hated him and there was no support in the country for such an amendment.
 
No way would Nixon be able to push through a Constitutional amendment. While he won in a landslide in 1972 the Democrats hated him and there was no support in the country for such an amendment.

No ? I would have thought the 1970s was the ideal time, for hated of Teh Evol Muslim meant that they would never trust to the possibility of someone coming from a background where they might be a Muslim stooge.

You have non-US born Secretaries of State, Governors and, one assumes, members of Congress. Just seems very odd that the presidency alone should have this stipulation in a modern society

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
All of this assumes there's no other scandals. Recall that Watergate was just the tip of the iceberg and that election irregularities and other illegal activities were being investigated during the 72 election, but were just being ignored as "just politics."

Nixon being Nixon, probably does some other paranoid illegal action on he stonewalls an investigation. Perhaps on the Ellsberg case, perhaps his Enemies List, his $15 million slush fund from bribes from the dairy farmers, his surveillance of the antiwar movement, Liddy's plan to firebomb the Brookings Institute, etc.

It may have just been a later scandal at best. Or Dems may have been content to let him leave office under a cloud of scandal, as Reagan did. No doubt some would rewrite history to present him as a great president, the way they've done with Reagan, leaving Nixon as the icon for conservatism instead.

Curiously, that means a conservative idol would be remembered for trying to end the Cold War through peaceful co existence, not confrontation. And for socially progressive things like the EPA and Affirmative Action.
 
All of this assumes there's no other scandals. Recall that Watergate was just the tip of the iceberg and that election irregularities and other illegal activities were being investigated during the 72 election, but were just being ignored as "just politics."

Nixon being Nixon, probably does some other paranoid illegal action on he stonewalls an investigation. Perhaps on the Ellsberg case, perhaps his Enemies List, his $15 million slush fund from bribes from the dairy farmers, his surveillance of the antiwar movement, Liddy's plan to firebomb the Brookings Institute, etc.

It may have just been a later scandal at best. Or Dems may have been content to let him leave office under a cloud of scandal, as Reagan did. No doubt some would rewrite history to present him as a great president, the way they've done with Reagan, leaving Nixon as the icon for conservatism instead.

Curiously, that means a conservative idol would be remembered for trying to end the Cold War through peaceful co existence, not confrontation. And for socially progressive things like the EPA and Affirmative Action.

Fun Fact: Nixon actually opposed AA, but did it to get back at the White College Kids who were constantly opposed to him.
 
Without a Watergate scandal, Nixon finishes his second term without much trouble. But Agnew's misdeeds will not go undiscovered. We must assume he will resign in disgrace as in OTL.

Now, Nixon has the chance to name a GOP front runner for 1976. Is there any good reason it can not be Gerald Ford again? Somebody mentioned Connolly. What about Ronald Reagan? Nothing in the 25th Amendment disqualifies him. The constitution prohibits the electors from voting for president and VP from the same state, but at this time, the electors are not voting.
 
No Watergate means that Nixon has the political capital to try and take on the Democrats over the health care issue. IIRC, what he wanted was something similar to the public option plan being discussed today, but the AFL-CIO and Ted Kennedy shot him down because they were hoping for a better deal under a Democratic administration.

With Nixon's approval still relatively high and 1976 looking like a loss, I'm inclined to think that Kennedy and the AFL-CIO might accept the measure in the short term. Let's say a public option is passed, much to the chagrin of the Republicans, and Nixon gets even more popular. The 1976 Presidential Election is probably going to be fought on the legacy of Nixon, but on a more positive note than OTL.

With the Republicans, Nixon favored Connally as his successor, but that doesn't mean others aren't going to jump into the race. Vice President Ford probably enters, as well as Governor Ronald Reagan, and maybe a liberal Republican like Pete McCloskey or Nelson Rockefeller. With help from Nixon, I think Connally pulls off a victory running as a bit more conservative version of the otherwise progressive incumbent. Connally probably picks a more liberal running mate, however, like McCloskey or Rockefeller.

The Democrats aren't going to nominate Carter, IMO, simply because he won't have the same appeal to the nation that OTL's Carter did running on his clean image. Kennedy is smart enough to see that with Nixon's popularity, '76 isn't going to be winnable, so I think he'd sit this one out, as well. That leaves Henry Jackson, Jerry Brown, etc. The Democrats probably try and overcompensate for their 'mistaken' choice of McGovern in 1972 and nominate Jackson. Jackson probably goes for Carter as his VP choice.

Jackson and Connally is probably going to be a close race, but in the end, Connally should pull through because of Nixon's popularity. His cabinet is going to look a lot like Nixon's, but his presidency is going to be a lot like a mix of the Ford/Carter years. He begins to deregulate industry, but is unable to deal with the staggering inflation, etc. In 1979, Ronald Reagan announces his intent to challenge Connally from the right.

On the Democratic side, Kennedy hedges his bets and enters the race, as does Carter, John Glenn, and some others. Kennedy, however, will be the favorite in any match-up, primary, general election, or otherwise.
 
Without a Watergate scandal, Nixon finishes his second term without much trouble. But Agnew's misdeeds will not go undiscovered. We must assume he will resign in disgrace as in OTL.

Now, Nixon has the chance to name a GOP front runner for 1976. Is there any good reason it can not be Gerald Ford again? Somebody mentioned Connolly.What about Ronald Reagan? Nothing in the 25th Amendment disqualifies him. The constitution prohibits the electors from voting for president and VP from the same state, but at this time, the electors are not voting.

1. Ford didn't really want to be President, he wanted to be Speaker, and Nixon's first choice was Connally, without Watergate to destroy his credibility, Connally might be confirmed.
2.Yeah that was Me. :D
3. If a Conservative like Connally was running, Reagan may not feel the need to run.
 
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