WI: Nixon picked HW Bush as his running mate in 1968?

He had only been a US representative for 2 years with nothing, other than a nice story of military service and being a millionaire. He hadn't accomplished much or served in any other kind of office.
 
The oil bidness is a good way to make tons of money.
Maybe he'd be a good pick for Interior Secretary or some kind of ambassadorship, but in 1968 John Tower could do anything for the ticket better than Bush could.
In 1971 Bush was picked as ambassador to the UN, so that would basically make it OTL.
 
In 1971 Bush was picked as ambassador to the UN, so that would basically make it OTL.
Exactly.
Even that was only because he lost the Senate seat in '70, and John Connally talked Nixon into doing him a favor. He didn't have any foreign policy experience of any kind at the time.
 

Wallet

Banned
A interesting timeline would be if Nixon picked Bush for VP in 1974. Nixon regretted picking Agnew in 1968 over Bush. He was seriously considered. Even more so when Nixon resigned. Ford really wanted Bush, but Donald Rumsfeld advised Ford to pick Rockefeller.

George H.W Bush as President in 1974 would be a very interesting timeline. I think he would probably win in 1976. He is a foreign policy genius and it would be interesting to see him react to the fall of South Vietnam and the Iran crisis. But he wouldn't have been Ambassador to China or Director of the CIA.
 
A interesting timeline would be if Nixon picked Bush for VP in 1974. Nixon regretted picking Agnew in 1968 over Bush. He was seriously considered. Even more so when Nixon resigned. Ford really wanted Bush, but Donald Rumsfeld advised Ford to pick Rockefeller.

George H.W Bush as President in 1974 would be a very interesting timeline. I think he would probably win in 1976. He is a foreign policy genius and it would be interesting to see him react to the fall of South Vietnam and the Iran crisis. But he wouldn't have been Ambassador to China or Director of the CIA.
Your last sentence exactly butterflies your "he is a foreign policy genius" (something I and other non-conservative historians would disagree with you on). Please show sources that he was seriously considered and Nixon regretted picking Agnew specifically over Bush (I agree Nixon regretted picking Agnew, the whole nation regretted it, that often happens when someone has to resign, but I doubt he ever thought "I should have picked Bush") As pointed out Bush was a freshman Congressman with no other resume or notariety for any accomplishments, memoirs, or anything.
 
Few other things that Nixon would have had to weigh; Bush's dad was a Senator, so maybe Nixon could be trying access traditional northeast WASP-y support that he generally resented. Even if Nixon resented some of that upbringing, Bush did yeoman's work in the Texas GOP in the early 60s when the party was an afterthought in Texas. That probably isn't enough to get on the ticket, but could get Bush a courtesy VP vetting to raise his name recognition.
 

Wallet

Banned
Your last sentence exactly butterflies your "he is a foreign policy genius" (something I and other non-conservative historians would disagree with you on). Please show sources that he was seriously considered and Nixon regretted picking Agnew specifically over Bush (I agree Nixon regretted picking Agnew, the whole nation regretted it, that often happens when someone has to resign, but I doubt he ever thought "I should have picked Bush") As pointed out Bush was a freshman Congressman with no other resume or notariety for any accomplishments, memoirs, or anything.
https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/08/10/nixon-nearly-picked-bush-as-vp
 
What if Nixon picked HW Bush as his running mate in 1968?

A most fascinating what-if darklordoftech!
If H.W. had got the nod, with all the turmoil
America was going through in 1968 IOTL
he & Nixon would have won(after all IOTL
Nixon won with the not-very-inspiring Agnew
as his running mate; with H.W. instead the
G..O.P. could hardly have done worse &
maybe would have done better). Unlike Agnew H.W. is not personally corrupt so the
bribery scandal that IOTL forced Agnew from
office in 1973 would not have happpened.
If in this ATL Watergate still happens(a
safe assumption since we're still dealing
here with Nixon)AND if H.W. manages to
steer clear of it, then H.W., not Ford, is
Veep & becomes President when Nixon re-
signs or is impeached(& earlier than IOTL,
where he didn't get elected until 1988).

But it was most unlikely that Nixon would
ever, IOTL, have picked H.W. in the 1st
place. First, as Napoleonrules pointed out
above, in 1968 H.W. hadn't been in office
very long(& was thus little-known). Second,
IOTL he wasn't very high on Nixon's Veep
list; apparently he had his eye on other
figures. One authority states Nixon wanted
then California Lieutenant Governor Robert
Finch, who turned the offer down(SEE Theo-
sore H. White, The Making Of The President
1968, 1969). Another authority says that
Nixon wanted Agnew all along(SEE Lewis
Chester, Godfrey Hodgkin, & Bruce Page, An
American Melodrama, 1969). But whichever
way you slice it, H.W. had no chance.
 
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If you look at John Mecham’s book on Bush, his chances were taken very seriously. Given that the Democrats couldn’t win without Texas and that Bush was a relative moderate but still approved by Strom Thurmond (who gave Nixon that first ballot win), it’s not unlikely that he’s picked.
 
If you look at John Mecham’s book on Bush, his chances were taken very seriously. Given that the Democrats couldn’t win without Texas and that Bush was a relative moderate but still approved by Strom Thurmond (who gave Nixon that first ballot win), it’s not unlikely that he’s picked.

Very interesting. Thank you Oppo, I'll take a
look @ Mecham's book(maybe he's un-
earthed some new information which I was
unaware of).
 
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He had only been a US representative for 2 years with nothing, other than a nice story of military service and being a millionaire. He hadn't accomplished much or served in any other kind of office.

In brief, that does not matter. The entire reason that Agnew was chosen and others were seriously considered, among them Bush, had nothing to do with the vice presidential candidate themselves. Polling showed that Nixon running alone was more popular than him when hypothetically running with any of the running mates that were considered by the public (Reagan, Rockefeller, etc). The reason Agnew was chosen was because he was a national nobody. That is what Nixon's campaign wanted. That is why George Bush was considered as well. He offends no one, and no one has chosen a side against him.

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/08/10/nixon-nearly-picked-bush-as-vp
 
What about Donald Rumsfeld?

At the time, Rumsfeld was a three-term Congressman from a large, pivotal state who had a record of supporting civil rights legislation while opposing the Great Society and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
 
What about Donald Rumsfeld?

At the time, Rumsfeld was a three-term Congressman from a large, pivotal state who had a record of supporting civil rights legislation while opposing the Great Society and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
Rummy was considered in 1973/1974/1976/1980, but not in 1968 AFAIK.
 
The oil bidness is a good way to make tons of money.
Maybe he'd be a good pick for Interior Secretary or some kind of ambassadorship, but in 1968 John Tower could do anything for the ticket better than Bush could.

In 1971 Bush was picked as ambassador to the UN, so that would basically make it OTL.

Yeah, he was also the “Chief of the U.S. Liason Office to the People’s Republic of China”, basically the ambassador to China in all but name back when we didn’t have official relations.
 
Bush did in fact, run for the senate seat against Senator Ralph Yarburough during 1964 and ended up losing the vote by about 6%. Perhaps if Yarburough gets involved in a much earlier Sharpstown Scandal, then Texas could have two Republican senators at once. Nixon, looking for a running mate for 1968 picks junior Texas Senator, George H.W Bush with his strong political ties and ambitious personality reminding him of himself during 1952.
 
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