Q: What if Napoleon Won at Waterloo?
A: He would lose somewhere else.
The Nixon administration played fast and loose with scandal. Watergate was not the only nor least of them, and was a symptom of a systemic behavior. Without that scandal, the Nixon administration will continue to pursue that behavior opening up the danger and likelihood of something leaking out at some point.
Also, Nixon was not a Rockefeller Republican, despite what has been labelled "Liberal" in retrospect. I dislike that side of this discussion because it seems very codependent. What he is may be difficult to define. Perhaps the best definition is Moderate Conservative or Conservative Moderate, against the backdrop of a Liberal Consensus.
Eisenhower for one. Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive, and Ford was probably ideologically equal to Nixon.Name a Republican President who was more liberal than Nixon then.
Eisenhower for one. Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive, and Ford was probably ideologically equal to Nixon.
Any Rockefeller Republican is more Liberal than Nixon. Nixon wasn't a Rockefeller Republican, nor was exactly a Goldwater Republican, although he seemed to find common ground in their fears and phobias. Nixon only supported those heralded things because they were convenient or populist. Many of the policies and programs pointed to as the good Liberal Nixon were the work of good government Republicans in the administration and not the President, of which Nixon stated in his tapes he was embarrassed of and would repeal if he got the chance. Such is the paradox of Nixon. His administration founded the EPA, and yet he wanted to get rid of it as one of those embarrassing programs. He publicly supported civil rights, had support from the Black community, etc, and yet his private thoughts are horribly racist against Blacks and Hispanics and Jews and all but say he did not believe in equality.
I never called Nixon good merely liberal.
I submit he was neither.
I think Nixon might be wounded by scandal but survive. He's the only US President to resign, it's very hard for a scandal to gain such traction. There was a lot of murky behavior at the time. Nixon could have survived for a full term, and TTL he does.
Howard Baker could win. For the Democrats, I don't think Jackson will win, he ran a poor campaign IOTL(ignoring Iowa and New Hampshire) that's unlikely to be butterflied, and he needed a good campaign to win against formidable obstacles (lukewarm labor support, disliked as too hawkish and conservative). While he won in my TL, that has different PoDs this TL is unlikely to effect. Udall or Bayh may break out early, a wildcard could be Fred Harris, maybe he gets more support due to butterflies. Baker wins narrowly, though the Democrat may pull it off.
Nixon was liberal or moderate by modern standards, he was center-right by standards of the time.
'77 thru '80 goes more or less as it did OTL. Sure Baker may respond better than Carter did and may get more legislation through congress (even if it is Democratic) than Carter, but I still think Iran will blow up as it did OTL and all the reprocutions that came with it will still come with it TTL, inflation will mostlikely be an issue as well, as again, despite popular right wing belief, Carter had very little if anything to do with those. So with all that and 12 years of Republican rule, the Democrats win 1980 and win big.Tell me what you feel would happen with Howard Baker winning in 1976.
Tell me what you feel would happen with Howard Baker winning in 1976.
Nope. Chappaquiddick and his drinking would do him in. My guess would be Jerry Brown, Lloyd Bentsen, or maybe Rubin Askew.Could Ted Kennedy perhaps be the nominee in 1980? I believe he was fairly centrist.
I'll go with Brown. I'm assuming Brown defeats Baker by a relatively large margin?