WI:Johnson the Oilman

Max Rakus

Banned
What if Lyndon Johnson's family had been lucky and found a giant source of oil on their property and made it rich?

Lyndon Johnson doesn't do politics but takes control of this "new" buisness.

Who would be Vice President in Kennedy's administration and later president? and that president's vice president?

how would the 1968 Election, How about the 72 Election?

and other presidents?

would Kennedy even win without LBJ?

possibility of Adali Stevenson as Kennedy's Vice President?

what would happen to the Cold War?, No Vietnam War?, Modern Outcome?

without LBJ as President,Vice President the USA would be hugely different!
 
Johnson becomes a Republican then and runs with Prescott Bush :p

I don't know who Kennedy would've picked instead, but what I do know is without Johnson, Kennedy probably wouldn't have been able to win Texas (which I recall being one of the states he won by a questionable margin) thus handing the election to Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
 

Max Rakus

Banned
Oh thank you for reminding me. I do not know that much about Johnson during the new deal so could you just start from what would most likely happen starting in 1933 or so.
 
Without Johnson the Republicans take the House in 1940, and the Senate Democrats fracture and civil rights could well turn out to be the American Troubles. And you can forget about a President Kennedy.
 
Lyndon Johnson's impact on American politics began to be felt as early as 1930, so therefore most of the developments you list above may well not come about thanks to butterflies. The answer to your question would have to begin at around the New Deal then, not the 1960 Presidential Election.

Actually, it depends on how far back the discovery was. If his father Sam Johnson discovered it sometime during the presidency of McKinley, Roosevelt, or Taft, we might see butterflies enough to prevent the events of the later 20s and the early 30s. Roosevelt might not break the Republican ticket in 1912, and win the presidential nomination in 1916, causing the Republican party to become more progressive. The Republican Party might become the party of environmentalism and the Democratic Party might be anti-environmentalism. Lyndon Johnson might have a totally different pathway, becoming an oil magnate, an oil refinary mechanic nobody, or a quantum physicist.

In that case, you can forget the New Deal and the Great Depression.
 
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Here's a POD - the Johnson family finds it well after LBJ's already a Senator. Boom, tons of extra money. Enough to boost any presidential campaigns he launches ;)
 
Actually, it depends on how far back the discovery was. If his father Sam Johnson Jr. discovered it sometime during the presidency of McKinley, Roosevelt, or Taft, we might see butterflies enough to prevent the events of the later 20s and the early 30s. Roosevelt might not break the Republican ticket in 1912, and win the presidential nomination in 1916, causing the Republican party to become more progressive. The Republican Party might become the party of environmentalism and the Democratic Party might be anti-environmentalism. Lyndon Johnson might have a totally different pathway, becoming an oil magnate, an oil refinary mechanic nobody, or a quantum physicist.

In that case, you can forget the New Deal and the Great Depression.

If his father Sam Johnson Sr. somehow discovered oil in his backyard, all bets are off. (Sam Johnson Sr. was a Confederate soldier.) With a POD early enough, we might see Sam Johnson Sr. being the first one to strike oil in the US instead of Edwin Drake. But then this would be in Before 1900 instead of After 1900.

Still, Lyndon Johnson will not even exist, let alone have a political career with the New Deal, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, etc...
 
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