WI Aldai Wasn't the Nominee in 1956?

How would the election of 1956 played out differently if a Democrat other than Aldai Stevenson was nominated to run against Eisenhower? How would American politics be affected? For example -- might the narrative of the Democrats as the "egghead" party been blunted? Would Kennedy have had a harder time of it four years later?
 
I think that whoever it is will still lose in a simelar fassion to Eisenhower, unless you have other pods (and even then it'll be a stretch).

I'm not overly sure who all the alternatives to Adligh are though, but it'd be interesting if they take either JFK or LBJ to be their running mate. If I understand it correctly, both Kennedy and Jonson were in the running for the second spot in 1956, a different nominee could easily result in either of them ending up as the running mate on the Dem Ticket. That could either boost their respective reputations for 1960 or harm them, depending on how they come across in 1956. If LBJ is nominated for Veep in 1956, I can't see him excepting the Vice Presidencial nod in 1960 as well, so even if JFK is still the 1960 nominee, he probably runs with someone else.

I've heard it said before that LBJ was pretty crucial to Kennedy's election and a different running mate would have resulted in president Nixon come January 20th 1961. Asuming JFK and his alternate VP still win, the US (and the world) could be in for an even more interesting 1960's.
 
I'm not overly sure who all the alternatives to Adligh are though, but it'd be interesting if they take either JFK or LBJ to be their running mate. If I understand it correctly, both Kennedy and Jonson were in the running for the second spot in 1956, a different nominee could easily result in either of them ending up as the running mate on the Dem Ticket. That could either boost their respective reputations for 1960 or harm them, depending on how they come across in 1956. If LBJ is nominated for Veep in 1956, I can't see him excepting the Vice Presidencial nod in 1960 as well, so even if JFK is still the 1960 nominee, he probably runs with someone else.
LBJ was running for the Presidency. Kennedy was running for the VP slot.

Harriman would get it, unless he died or something. LBJ could maybe get it if the nomination deadlocks like the Republicans in 1940, but Harriman and Stevenson both have to be dead, and even then it's iffy.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
LBJ isn't going to want to run in a race he's gonna lose. He'll let Harriman take it. If not Harriman, probably Symington.
 
LBJ was running for the Presidency. Kennedy was running for the VP slot.

Harriman would get it, unless he died or something. LBJ could maybe get it if the nomination deadlocks like the Republicans in 1940, but Harriman and Stevenson both have to be dead, and even then it's iffy.
Interesting-I think I heard somewhere that Truman was a big Harriman backer in 1956, not that it made much difference.
 
LBJ isn't going to want to run in a race he's gonna lose. He'll let Harriman take it. If not Harriman, probably Symington.
At the time LBJ thought Eisenhower would not run again. After it became more clear he would not, LBJ had gotten eyes too big for his stomach and was still trying for it.

The chance of LBJ actually being the nominee I would place at less than 10% though.

Interesting-I think I heard somewhere that Truman was a big Harriman backer in 1956, not that it made much difference.

He was, but he didn't have enough influence by then to matter unless it got close.
 
Maybe if a nominee other than Adlai lost in 56, Stevenson would have been a strong favorite in 1960. He wouldn't have been a two time loser by then.

I've wondered what would have happened if Ike had decided not to run as he was inclined not to. Would Nixon have faced Adlai? Who would have won?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Maybe if a nominee other than Adlai lost in 56, Stevenson would have been a strong favorite in 1960. He wouldn't have been a two time loser by then.
No, but losers still don't smell good. And Kennedy will trounce him.

If Harriman-Smathers doesn't take it in '56, a Kefauver-Symington ticket may emerge.
I've wondered what would have happened if Ike had decided not to run as he was inclined not to. Would Nixon have faced Adlai? Who would have won?
An endorsement from Ike will do wonders for Nixon, but I think he'd still win against the Democrats. There were two major crises going on at the time of the election, and nobody wanted to switch horses midstream.
 
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In the grand scheme of things, it's highly unlikely that someone other than Adlai Stevenson would have improved the Democrats' lot in '56 running against a highly popular incumbent like Ike. Had Averill Harriman been the standard-bearer, chances are he'd have taken a southerner like Smathers in an endeavor to balance the ticket.

Kefauver might have been able to swing the nomination based on his Senate committee hearings on crime, even though he was from the upper/border south. Had Kefauver won, chances are that translates into Kennedy getting the VP nod--again, in the name of balance. Losing as the VP candidate in '56 might have given Kennedy pause as far as running in '60 was concerned: he'd have had the negative light of a losing running mate to deal with.

That in turn might have made 1960 a battle between Nixon and Lyndon Johnson (now there's a scenario for an epic down-and-dirty dogfight between two stop-at-very-little characters). Should that play out, I can't see Daley's Chicago machine gearing up for Johnson like it did for Kennedy--meaning Nixon wins in '60 even saddled with Lodge as a running mate. (Lodge, I suspect, will get dumped for '64.)
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
That in turn might have made 1960 a battle between Nixon and Lyndon Johnson (now there's a scenario for an epic down-and-dirty dogfight between two stop-at-very-little characters). Should that play out, I can't see Daley's Chicago machine gearing up for Johnson like it did for Kennedy--meaning Nixon wins in '60 even saddled with Lodge as a running mate. (Lodge, I suspect, will get dumped for '64.)
Johnson still wins. Illinois going to Nixon doesn't swing the election--LBJ still has Texas, which keeps him 7 electoral votes over the required 269.
 
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