WI: Richard Nixon wins the 1962 CA Governors Race?

What if Richard Nixon in 1962 was elected Governor of California?


  • Would he have ran for president again in 1964 (would he have been the front-runner) or would he wait until 1968?
  • Could he have been re-elected in 1966?
  • What happens to Ronald Reagan's political career with Nixon as California's governor and running for re-election in 1966?
  • How does Nixon deal with the growing counter culture in places like Berkley? Any different from Brown and Reagan in OTL?
  • Would he have liked being a governor considering he would have had to deal with domestic policies much more than foreign affairs (which is what he paid more attention to during his career)?
 
Nixon said in his memoir that if he won, he thinks the GOP would have pushed him to be the nominee in 1964 where Johnson, riding off of sympathy for Kennedy's death, would win and spend him as a political force after two losses in a row. He also said he would have hated being Governor since that just wasn't something he was interested in. After all, foreign policy was his big love.
 
Nixon said in his memoir that if he won, he thinks the GOP would have pushed him to be the nominee in 1964 where Johnson, riding off of sympathy for Kennedy's death, would win and spend him as a political force after two losses in a row. He also said he would have hated being Governor since that just wasn't something he was interested in. After all, foreign policy was his big love.

Could have have become Secretary of State under a GOP President in '68 or '72? Had the VP been not very impressive, he *might* have had a chance at the Presidency again.
 
Can't Nixon just find a way to sidestep the '64 Presidential election? For example, he might say, 'As a first-term governor, my commitment must remain with the people of California . . .'
 
Can't Nixon just find a way to sidestep the '64 Presidential election? For example, he might say, 'As a first-term governor, my commitment must remain with the people of California . . .'

Probably. I'm just saying what he said in his memoir. Maybe considering how uninteresting he was in being Governor, he would jump at a chance to campaign for President.
 
Probably. I'm just saying what he said in his memoir. Maybe considering how uninteresting he was in being Governor, he would jump at a chance to campaign for President.

He's not stupid. He'd realize that Johnson would win by a comfortable margin, but not by the huge landslide of OTL. He'd forego the nomination and he'd run in 1968, probably with an even larger electoral victory than IOTL.
 
Nixon would skip '64 and run for re-election in '66, positioning himself well for '68. With Reagan out, no obvious conservative challenger and easier to erase his loser image with 2 comfortable gubernatorial victories. As for how Nixon would govern in Sacramento... as a law-and-order centrist, presumably.
 
Here's one possible Nixon wank:

Sometimes you do better in something you're not all that interested in. You delegate better. You learn the trick of the old mule who lays back and lets the young mules do most of the work, saving yourself for times of special effort. You delegate and you coach, and you get pretty good at both.

Nixon needed a fair amount of alone time and a fair amount of think time. So, he develops work routines which work for him. He learns how to guard the times of day most important to him.

He takes the approach with his staff, we can't be doing this tricky stuff. It's too likely to come back and bite us in the ass.

In foreign affairs, he mainly just meets with some Mexican officials such as the governors of Baja California Norte (only common border) and Sonora. A little bit he develops the view, world peace through trade, still very much the pragmatist. He reads a lot and he talks informally with a fair number of people.

In OTL, Nixon feared LBJ was cheating, and it looks like he cheated in return. On Nov. 1, '68 (recorded previous day), LBJ announced that he was halting bombing of North Vietnam because of progress in the Paris peace talks, with the election day of Nov. 5. Nixon thought LBJ was basically cheating on Humphrey's behalf. There is strong evidence, although not a slam dunk, that Nixon communicated through intermediaries to the South Vietnam government that they would get a better deal with him as president. That is, if this is true and it looks like it is, he sabotaged the talks. Now, it may not have made a difference since Thieu wanted to led the south team and not be relegated to the sidelines.

In ATL, Nixon has won in '62 and '66, and doesn't need to worry about the humiliation of losing a third election in a row. He tries to communicate with Lyndon that he wants to tell the South Vietnamese to go ahead and take the deal, that they're likely to get a less good deal with him as president. But in the rush of last week, he is able to get Lyndon on the phone but he's not able to arrange for whole business of using intermediaries to communicate with the south.

So, in ATL, Thieu still walks away from the talks. But Nixon plays a steady eddie game and is able to get a peace treaty by March of '69, which beats the hell out of 1973!
 
Here's one possible Nixon wank:

Sometimes you do better in something you're not all that interested in. You delegate better. You learn the trick of the old mule who lays back and lets the young mules do most of the work, saving yourself for times of special effort. You delegate and you coach, and you get pretty good at both.

Nixon needed a fair amount of alone time and a fair amount of think time. So, he develops work routines which work for him. He learns how to guard the times of day most important to him.

He takes the approach with his staff, we can't be doing this tricky stuff. It's too likely to come back and bite us in the ass.

In foreign affairs, he mainly just meets with some Mexican officials such as the governors of Baja California Norte (only common border) and Sonora. A little bit he develops the view, world peace through trade, still very much the pragmatist. He reads a lot and he talks informally with a fair number of people.

In OTL, Nixon feared LBJ was cheating, and it looks like he cheated in return. On Nov. 1, '68 (recorded previous day), LBJ announced that he was halting bombing of North Vietnam because of progress in the Paris peace talks, with the election day of Nov. 5. Nixon thought LBJ was basically cheating on Humphrey's behalf. There is strong evidence, although not a slam dunk, that Nixon communicated through intermediaries to the South Vietnam government that they would get a better deal with him as president. That is, if this is true and it looks like it is, he sabotaged the talks. Now, it may not have made a difference since Thieu wanted to led the south team and not be relegated to the sidelines.

In ATL, Nixon has won in '62 and '66, and doesn't need to worry about the humiliation of losing a third election in a row. He tries to communicate with Lyndon that he wants to tell the South Vietnamese to go ahead and take the deal, that they're likely to get a less good deal with him as president. But in the rush of last week, he is able to get Lyndon on the phone but he's not able to arrange for whole business of using intermediaries to communicate with the south.

So, in ATL, Thieu still walks away from the talks. But Nixon plays a steady eddie game and is able to get a peace treaty by March of '69, which beats the hell out of 1973!

So sorry for being a little slow but you're saying Governor Nixon would be less intellectually bored and emotionally scared of losing that he would be more calmer and less desperate with his dealing of the Peace Accords?
 
Nixon would skip '64 and run for re-election in '66, positioning himself well for '68. With Reagan out, no obvious conservative challenger and easier to erase his loser image with 2 comfortable gubernatorial victories. As for how Nixon would govern in Sacramento... as a law-and-order centrist, presumably.

So if Nixon is governor and wins reelection in 1968 that means Reagan doesn't become governor of California. This means no President Reagan in 1980.

I gotta build that time machine.
 
So sorry for being a little slow but you're saying Governor Nixon would be less intellectually bored and emotionally scared of losing that he would be more calmer and less desperate with his dealing of the Peace Accords?
Yes, serving as governor helps to make Dick Nixon a better man.

In addition, his team is more seasoned and experienced, and in particular understand that the long-term often comes sooner than you think!
 
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