WI Nixon runs for Mayor of New York

Yes, this is yet another Nixon related what if?

After running for Governor of California and losing in 1962, Nixon moved to New York and took a job in a law firm.

What would have happened if Nixon had skipped running for Governor of California and moved to New York in 1961? And then he ran for Mayor in 1965?

Presumably anyone the Republicans nominated for Governor of California in 1962 would have lost to the elder Brown, though I could be wrong on this.

The Republican candidate for Mayor of New York in 1965 did win IOTL. The only President so far to run for that office, Theodore Roosevelt, as a Republican, came in third.
 

Towelie

Banned
This has carpet bagger written all over it. I don't think Nixon would do all that well.

The only way to get the carpet bagger label off of Nixon would be if Nixon was to run in the 70s after somehow not being President because law and order would have worked and worked really well after the "Red Mayor" and the filth that started popping up all over the city (Pimps, Hos, and Drug Dealers in Times Square was NOT a popular concept).
 
The vice-presidency famously is the subject of a lot of jokes about its irrelevance, but at the end of the day, it's still a pretty prestigious job. Is there a lot of precedent for someone going from the kind of position to mayor of a city?

I know that after leaving the governorship of California, Jerry Brown took a number of less-exalted jobs, most notably mayor of Oakland, before returning to the Governor's Mansion in 2011. But he was always kind of an eccentric(I'd say in a good way).

Walter Mondale, I remember, ran to replace the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Paul Wellstone(?), but failed. And anyway, Sentaor is a little more presitigious job than mayor(even of NYC).
 
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Hard to see how this would help Nixon's future Presidential chances. If he loses again, he has zero chance for a future political career. If he wins, being mayor of liberal New York City in the late sixties is not going to help him either. There are huge problems coming up, and Nixon does not have any natural constituency in the city. Furthermore, his passion is not in domestic politics.

John Lindsay, who won the '65 mayoralty, was not a typical Republican. He was very liberal and eventually became a Democrat. Lindsay's victory in '65 is not an indication that any Republican could have won.
 
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