WI: President William Westmoreland

William Westmoreland was the General who commanded American forces from 1964 to 1968. He was a decorated veteran of 3 wars (WW2, Korea, and Vietnam), and commanded US forces during the height of the Vietnam conflict.

In 1968, Time Magazine mentioned General Westmoreland as a possible Republican nominee for the Presidential election. And Westmoreland ventured into politics with an unsuccessful run for Governor of South Carolina in 1974, which makes me think he has something in him to legitimize the idea of him entering the political world.

So how could Westmoreland become President and what would be the result of such an administration?
 
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Well Vietnam would have to go well and end quickly for that to happen me thinks.

That's one way. The other is the opposite -- Humphrey beats Nixon in '68 and screws up Vietnam enough that it drags on, perhaps by trying to draw down forces but not withdrawing altogether. He has just enough success on the ground that it begins to be perceived that a big escalation and push might finish the job once and for all as the HHH policy -- no escalation, no expansion into Laos and Cambodia, no Rolling Thunder bombing of the North -- hasn't disproved the thesis. Westmoreland comes in and promises to finish the job, winning the GOP nomination and facing a badly divided Democratic party, a good chunk of which either bolts for a third party candidate or stays home.
 
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