WI: Nixon Chooses Hiram Fong as Running Mate Instead of Agnew?

Bulldoggus

Banned
What if Nixon chose Chinese-American Sen. Hiram Fong (who ran a favorite-son campaign for President in Hawaii in '68, making him the first Asian-American to win delegates for President at a major party convention) as his running mate in 1968? Would this have impacted the southern strategy (given most southerners likely weren't terribly concerned with Asian-Americans one way or the other)? Does Nixon still win the election? Does the GOP lock up the Asian-American vote for decades to come?
 

Wallet

Banned
He wins Hawaii, and California isn't as close. Maybe he might pull in Washington State.

But he risks losing the upper south. They will vote for Wallace. He can still win but at the same time he can't lose the Midwest
 

Bulldoggus

Banned
He wins Hawaii, and California isn't as close. Maybe he might pull in Washington State.

But he risks losing the upper south. They will vote for Wallace. He can still win but at the same time he can't lose the Midwest
But are southern voters that concerned by an Asian Veep?
 

Wallet

Banned
But are southern voters that concerned by an Asian Veep?
Nixon ran on "law and order" which was a quite appeal to racist southern aka "the blacks will be controlled "

Now, Nixon also ran ads in black magazines and newspapers along with TV and radio ads dedicated to blacks in cities
 

Thothian

Banned
Even though Asian-Americans weren't a great concern for the South, it would undercut Nixon's support from the farther right elements that the Southern Strategy gained him in the OTL.

He might however, be able to build a broader national coalition, and wouldn't be as beholden to the racist elements in the South as in the OTL ( not to mention the Religious Right later on).

And one must of course think of the reaction across Asia that a man clearly of Chinese ancestry is now the second most powerful man in the USA. Nixon might choose to send VP Fong on an Asian "Grand Diplomatic Tour", maybe bringing about the opening to China in his first term. This would of course make it possible to end the Vietnam War quite early if a Chinese government favorable to the USA put pressure on the N Vietnamese to come to a settlement.
 
Nixon is not winning Hawaii or California, and without the Southern Strategy, he likely loses all of the South along with a number of other states thanks to Wallace taking them, dooming any hopes of victory. The US just wasn't ready for an Asian VP.

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Or here's an idea for an alternative (this is from the soc.history.what-if board): After the Saturday Night Massacre and Agnew's resignation, Nixon decides to appoint Fong to try to hold off a possible impeachment.

Needless to say, it doesn't work and, so, Fong becomes president after Nixon resigns slightly later than OTL in August of 1974.

Effects, anyone?
 

Bulldoggus

Banned
Or here's an idea for an alternative (this is from the soc.history.what-if board): After the Saturday Night Massacre and Agnew's resignation, Nixon decides to appoint Fong to try to hold off a possible impeachment.

Needless to say, it doesn't work and, so, Fong becomes president after Nixon resigns slightly later than OTL in August of 1974.

Effects, anyone?
If he wants to scare racists off from impeaching him, Brooke would be a better choice, don'tcha think?
Nixon is not winning Hawaii or California, and without the Southern Strategy, he likely loses all of the South along with a number of other states thanks to Wallace taking them, dooming any hopes of victory. The US just wasn't ready for an Asian VP.

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Wait, so Hawaii would reject a ticket with it's senator on it? Seems odd. Also, Nixon was a Californian. And if he can get Strom working for him (as Strom probably still would), the impacts on the South should be light.
 
The GOP annexed Hawaii and supported the plantation elite that oppressed the Hawaiians for decades. They had an actual revolution against their rule.

That's not why Nixon lost as badly as he did in 1968. He came very close to winning Hawaii in 1960, after all.
 
That's not why Nixon lost as badly as he did in 1968. He came very close to winning Hawaii IOTL, after all.
Yes but this is a little more than 10 years after this

Nixon could come close, but to be honest, the HDP will hang this like an albatross around Nixon's neck and anti asian american sentiment would hurt him in many places.
 
Yes but this is a little more than 10 years after this

Nixon could come close, but to be honest, the HDP will hang this like an albatross around Nixon's neck and anti asian american sentiment would hurt him in many places.

Nixon very nearly won Hawaii in 1960. The 1954 revolution was not why he lost in Hawaii in 1968. It was because he was just too right-wing for Hawaii in '68.
 
Nixon very nearly won Hawaii in 1960. The 1954 revolution was not why he lost in Hawaii in 1968. It was because he was just too right-wing for Hawaii in '68.
It was a contributing factor, and I am arguing that it would not swing the vote there in a "big way" there is also a huge gulf between 1960 Nixon and 1968 Nixon.
 
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