WI Felt appointed FBI Director?

Spinning off the Watergate thread, let's say Nixon appoints Felt Director of the FBI upon Hoover's death. This way Felt doesn't feel slighted, and Watergate is probably never uncovered. Aside from Nixon serving the rest of his term, here are some ideas. Feel free to comment.

Pre-Watergate media RoE remain: In other words, the press will be an ally rather than an implacable enemy, depending on the President. If the President has moral lapses, there will be no obligation to disclose the info. Butterflies from their retention are nearly infinite.

Nixon dumps Agnew: If Wallace is still shot, then Nixon doesn't need Agnew to shore up the South, especially not against McGovern. Perhaps Connally, or even Reagan to shore up his conservative support, which had flagged due to China in February.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Nixon dumps Agnew: If Wallace is still shot, then Nixon doesn't need Agnew to shore up the South, especially not against McGovern. Perhaps Connally, or even Reagan to shore up his conservative support, which had flagged due to China in February.

Eh, I'm always wary about this. Dumping your VP during your second run is waaaay easier said than done. Unless they get caught up in a scandal, are offered a juicy post in exchange (which they publically and happy-ish-ly accept), or are out and out killed, the VP you get in round one will be stuck to you for round two.

That being said, Nixon was already grooming Connally to succeed him and Agnew was never taken seriously. Without Watergate and with a full Nixon presidency, you'll probably see a Connally-Reagan ticket in '76.
 
That would be interesting: that means that Scoop Jackson might be the Dem nominee in '76, and Connally would probably win. Something tells me Connally would be caught up in a financial scandal (perhaps resignation/impeachment?), and the Dem voters would return a Democratic Congress to spite Connally.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Just a thought; what if Scoop chooses Jimmy Carter to provide southern balance to his ticket? :D:eek::p:D:eek::p

Anyways, if Connally is forced to resign/impeached, how will Reagan fare? I mean, I know he was the darling of the party, but the electorate might not warm to a guy who got the top spot because of scandal.
 

Bearcat

Banned
That would be interesting: that means that Scoop Jackson might be the Dem nominee in '76, and Connally would probably win. Something tells me Connally would be caught up in a financial scandal (perhaps resignation/impeachment?), and the Dem voters would return a Democratic Congress to spite Connally.

'76 is a bad year to get elected. The ongoing economic issues, the second oil embargo is on the horizon, Iran is slipping into the crapper. Hard for any POTUS elected in '76 to get a second term, I think. Carter just went down all the harder, having a rather inept administration.

If its Connaly in '76, you might see Carter or Teddy or some other Dem back in the Oval Office in '80.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
'76 is a bad year to get elected. The ongoing economic issues, the second oil embargo is on the horizon, Iran is slipping into the crapper. Hard for any POTUS elected in '76 to get a second term, I think. Carter just went down all the harder, having a rather inept administration.

If its Connaly in '76, you might see Carter or Teddy or some other Dem back in the Oval Office in '80.

Carter is probably never going to be POTUS in this timeline. He was largely elected because of his status as a Washington outsider and his folksy honesty that was lightyears away from Nixon's style.

With no Watergate, there's no taint of being a Washington insider in '76. I do agree that Teddy might go for it in 1980.
 
Carter is probably never going to be POTUS in this timeline. He was largely elected because of his status as a Washington outsider and his folksy honesty that was lightyears away from Nixon's style.

With no Watergate, there's no taint of being a Washington insider in '76. I do agree that Teddy might go for it in 1980.
There's an interesting story which gives you a sign of how much a Dark horse he was: When Carter's mother heard he was running for President, she asked "President of what?", and I believe when told 'of the United States' she nearly fainted.

Pre-Watergate media RoE remain: In other words, the press will be an ally rather than an implacable enemy, depending on the President. If the President has moral lapses, there will be no obligation to disclose the info. Butterflies from their retention are nearly infinite.
There's two issues that led to an adversarial press. There is of course Watergate, which led to disillusion in both public and press, and a view that any politician could be lying and it should be rooted out. But, and this is still in topic one, it also made the press feel "big in their britches". The newspapers crusaded against the government for the greater good and won a victorious and glorious victory; nevermind that the official investigations brought Nixon down and the papers really only came heavily onto the picture after those had begun. So I think there's a bit of a self-righteous crusader feeling that came into being.

But there's another issue. That being greater competition in journalism due to more news outlets with the multiple channels of cable, the internet, the demise of the old newspapers, etc. I don't know if in a non-Watergate world, that competition will evolve in a way which will mean that journalists will still root out the dirty little details that lead us to disillusion, but it could.

Nixon dumps Agnew: If Wallace is still shot, then Nixon doesn't need Agnew to shore up the South, especially not against McGovern. Perhaps Connally, or even Reagan to shore up his conservative support, which had flagged due to China in February.
Agnew's scandals were independent of Watergate, so I'd dare say that goes all the same and Gerald Ford continues to fall down stairs.
 
Teddy v. Connally, and the economy will determine the winner (I'm betting on Teddy), as it usually does in 1980 TTLs.
 
Spinning off the Watergate thread, let's say Nixon appoints Felt Director of the FBI upon Hoover's death. This way Felt doesn't feel slighted, and Watergate is probably never uncovered. Aside from Nixon serving the rest of his term, here are some ideas. Feel free to comment.


RB,

Wouldn't miss it!

Pre-Watergate media RoE remain:

The press was already moving towards an adversarial relationship, it was a reflection of the times.

All Watergate did was "prove" to the press that their new "attitude" was right and the long time myth of "crusading journalists" got a big boost. Of course we all know now that the press didn't actually do anything. They were simply being used by Felt. The lie Woodward, Bernstein, and Bradlee repeated for 30 years about Watergate then became the lie every j-school grad for a generation grew up believing.

Without the immediate and huge affirmation of Watergate, the press will still become more adversarial. However, because the pendulum won't swing so far and so fast, the press' ultimate corporate masters won't also find it necessary to muzzle the press as much as they did.

We also might not see the open political bias in coverage we've seen ever since. Bias will still exist, it just won't be as blatant. (Before anyone bitches, I'm talking about bias towards the right and left.)

Nixon dumps Agnew:

This one is tough for a couple of reasons.

First, FDR may have shuffled veeps regularly, but modern presidents don't dump veeps because of the alleged link between choosing a veep and the president's competence. This presidents are married to their veeps with little chance of divorce.

Second, Agnew's tax evasion occurred before '68 and only resulted in a fine and suspended sentence. An undamaged Nixon White House could very well handle the issue and a less rabid press would certainly not push as hard. So, I don't think Agnew is trouble if Watergate doesn't metastasize.

On a further note, Wolfpaw's comments about Carter are dead on. He won't even get out of the primaries if he even enters at all.


Bill
 
The newspapers crusaded against the government for the greater good and won a victorious and glorious victory; nevermind that the official investigations brought Nixon down and the papers really only came heavily onto the picture after those had begun.


EN1,

As I wrote in the earlier thread: "The fact that the OTL investigations only got anywhere against the stonewalling Nixon's White House put up was thanks to Felt telling them via the Post exactly where to look and what to ask."

Yes, it's true the official investigations brought down Nixon. The press are not prosecutors no matter how they may act. The missing part of the Watergate story, the part Woodward, Bernstein, and Bradlee lied about for 30 years, is that highly specific information developed during an illegal domestic surveillance operation was leaked by the associate director of the FBI to the Washington Post is order to guide and direct those official investigations.

The official investigations would have gained no traction, indeed many of the official investigations may have never been begun, if not for the information provided by Felt via the Post.


Bill
 
So to summarize: less media bias, Nixon serves out his term, and Connally/Reagan beat Jackson/Church in '76. Now would Nixon plan any major domestic initiatives in his second term? I know one proposal from 1973 was to convert the presidential term into one six-year, non-renewable one. Perhaps a second push on CHIP or something similar?
 
RB,

Off the top of my pointy head...

Negative Income Tax - There was serious policy suggestion from the Nixon White House to replace all of the various welfare programs from LBJ's Great Society with a negative income tax. Even Milton Friedman initially signed on.

The attempt fell apart thanks to Watergate, the massive changes it required to federal, state, and local taxes, and the changes that would still leave have left some other welfare programs intact. The last is why even Friedman came out against the proposal.

NASA - The space program is screwed unless Nixon sees some foreign policy advantage accruing from it. Among many other things, it's a legacy of JFK.


Bill
 
Perhaps healthcare reform? I recall that he proposed something similar to today's plan (+ a public option), but couldn't do it due to Watergate.
 
Help! I'm Freezing!

'76 is a bad year to get elected. The ongoing economic issues, the second oil embargo is on the horizon, Iran is slipping into the crapper. Hard for any POTUS elected in '76 to get a second term, I think. Carter just went down all the harder, having a rather inept administration.

If its Connaly in '76, you might see Carter or Teddy or some other Dem back in the Oval Office in '80.
Remember the Chappaquidick Affair? Outside of MA Teddy couldn't get elected dogcatcher...:p
 
How does an event in 1972 change Chap, which occurred in July 1969? ;) IIRC CHIP was a modified version of the OTL system, but with a public option as optional. Since Nixon refused to include a public option, Ted Kennedy killed it in the Senate, some 40 years ago this year. So, yes, Ted Kennedy killed UHC. So whenever I hear about it being his lifetime cause, I'm somewhat amused.
 
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How does an event in 1972 change Chap, which occurred in July 1969? ;) IIRC CHIP was a modified version of the OTL system, but with a public option as optional. Since Nixon refused to include a public option, Ted Kennedy killed it in the Senate, some 40 years ago this year. So, yes, Ted Kennedy killed UHC. So whenever I hear about it being his lifetime cause, I'm somewhat amused.

Well, I didn't remember when Chappaquidick happened...*shame*shame*shame*

And, eh, you can be for UHC but still want a better system. I *bet* he thought a better proposal would be around soon...
 
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