The 1960 US Presidential Elections was one of the closest in history. Now imagine that Nixon narrowly wins, and like Nixon IOTL, JFK wants and does makes a comeback in 1968. What do you think would happen, in six spheres?

1. Social?

My opinion:

Nixon would most likely pass the CRA and VRA. Nixon was pro-Civil Rights in 1960, and I believe there would be no Southern Strategy by 1968, killing the Republicans in the South.

I think JFK would have carried out a mandatory rehabilitation regime to suppress drugs.

How about Busing? If Nixon's the POTUS signing the CRA and VRA, the Democrats wouldn't back busing by 1968, as they keep the Solid South and would appeal to social conservatives ITTL.

2. Economic?

My two cents:

I don't know how Medicare and Medicaid will progress here, as well as Universal Healthcare.

Poverty will go down, but slower without Johnson's War on Poverty.

3. Military/Foreign?

My take:

I'm under the impression that Nixon would have successfully led the Bay of Pigs Invasion, as he's going to be more willing to provide air support for the Bay forces.

In Vietnam, Nixon will experience the same problem, and will be the incumbent as riots intensify in the late 1960s.

How about China? Will Kennedy initiate OTL Nixon's rapproachement policy? Some say the reason why Nixon was able to do so was because of the "Kill the Communists!" rhetoric of Nixon. Perhaps if Kennedy instead does that, I don't know.

4. Supreme Court?

A few thoughts?

Nixon had three appointments, and Kennedy's picks would be much different than IOTL. There were some rulings that were pivotal at the time, namely 1) Furman vs. Georgia, 2) San Antonio ISD vs. Rodriguez, 3) Milliken vs. Bradley, and 4) Roe vs. Wade.

On Roe vs. Wade, some say that if all anti-abortion laws were banned in all 50 states via the 13th Amendment, the abortion would have been destroyed in the long run. What are your thoughts about it?


5. Party Alignments?

In my opinion:

Dixiecrats will remain the Democratic Party, and Blacks would be Republican. The GOP would still be to the right in both social and economic spheres, although they will not become reactionary like IOTL. I think they would be center-right party, not hard conservative, in such a scenario. They would be strong in the Northeast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and the Pacific Coast sans California.

Meanwhile, the Democrats would be the home of socially-conservative (like OTL Republicans, but will want national enforcement of morality instead of "States' Rights!" ITTL), fiscally progressive figures. They appeal to the working class, whites, Jews, and later on, Latinos. With Latinos on board, the Democrats won't be reactionary ITTL. They would be strong in the South, the Mountain West, and present-day California.


I think the scenario above would shift the US to the left economically, and much more to the right socially.


-----------------------------

What do you think? I'm interested in your ideas, especially since I may not have listed all the things that could be possibly changed with a JFK '68.

P.S. for JFK's successor and POTUS, I left it blank for your ideas.
 
Nixon '60 would probably say screw Vietnam (and the [expletive unprintable] French...) and focus entirely on restoring a pro-US regime in Cuba.

No Moon program (intel shows the Soviets don't have the money either, and their rockets keep exploding on the launch pad). Unmanned probes and a small space station.
 
I believe though that the US would go to the Moon. They had been alarmed with Sputnik, Laika and Gagarin's successful mission. Notwithstanding Republican skepticism at the costs of a Moon Program, they would have gone for it.

Also, several timelines have tackled that the Soviets could have gone to space. This wasn't 1980s USSR, when breadlines were common. In the 1960s, they haven't degraded that far yet, even when Khrushchev was ousted. To add to things, take note that Premier Alexei Kosygin executed the 1965 and 1970 economic reforms, which, while they did not save the Union, did buy them a few years.

I think the OTL skepticism of Nixon towards the Space Program was due to the fact that the US had already went to space, so there's no reason anymore to compete with the Soviets.

Hmmm... If the Soviets do go to the Moon first because Nixon's less supportive, well, the US would certainly want to go to Mars to save face.


----------------------------------

About the Cold War, in 1965, Indonesia nearly went Communist with the September 30 Movement, had that happened, it would have scared Americans.
 
I've heard it said Kennedy would be dead by the end of any potential second term ,so even if he had less stressful decade he might not live long enough to win the 68 election
 

Wallet

Banned
JFK was a very sick man. He be lucky to stand up in 1968. Of course he could recover and maybe run in 1976. Bobby might run, but without the winning appeal of the Kennedy name.

Nixon pushes civil rights and a moon landing. He takes out Castro, he was much more experience in military matters. The Soviets wouldn't think he be easy so no support for Castro. More involvement in Vietnam.
 
I believe that US involvement in Indochina would be much less than in OTL. With Nixon in the White House and the victory at the Bay of Pigs there would be no Cuban Missile Crisis and thus no need to prove that the US could match the Soviets. The USSR and the PRC would probably be unlikely to provide the military aid to North Vietnam to allow the was in Indochina to escalate. Thus there would continue to be an insurgency problem but that is all. Former President Eisenhower would be alive during this Nixon administration giving advice.
As for JFK he would remain in the Senate but might have had a tougher time winning re-election. Would he have tried to run in 1968 its a big unknown and he did have a number of health problems which were kept from the public. Without JFK in the White House I am not that sure that his brother Bobby would have made the same progress and Teddy would have been a flop
 
If the USSR isn't having to back the Vietcong and gives up on Cuba, they'll have more resources to use on spreading the revolution elsewhere. Perhaps French student riots in 1964 not 68, and the socialists take a majority in Parliament?
 
Top