Wi: Robert Kennedy Actually Does Become President in 1968

Poston

Banned
What if RFK actually is elected POTUS in 1968?

The first thing I can mention is immediate withdrawal from Vietnam starting in 1969 and being much faster than Nixon's. American forces are out by 1970's end. A ceasefire will be reached and South Vietnam probably collapses sooner by 1973.

I see the antiwar movement coming to an end sooner and racial tensions decreasing with minimal rioting.

No Watergate, bombing of Laos, or even reopening of China in 1971.
 
RFK wasnt as keen on an immediate withdrawal as he's often thought to be. He skirted the question a bit from one book ive read. He also didn't seem to have very great self control when his temper flared up, which as president would be much more often.

I often think that Bobby Kennedy is often looked at as this perfect missed opportunity because thats what we've made him out to be. He wasnt as universally liked as people think, he was viewed with disdain by a large amount of people we often forget about.

I dont think Bobby's Presidency would be anywhere near sunshine and rainbows territory.
 

Bomster

Banned
Kennedy was not for immediate withdrawal, instead he wanted to end the bombings and pursue peace negotiations with an emphasis with giving the NLF representation in South Vietnam. How this would of worked irl I’m not sure but I feel that Kennedy did have the ability to pull it off.
 
I concur with RFK not going for a immediate pull out, and working to get a "Korea" style truce. Never forget, RFK was an old school Cold War Liberal.
 
I dont think Bobby's Presidency would be anywhere near sunshine and rainbows territory.

This pretty much happens with every liberal President from FDR to Obama. They present a sweeping vision to change America, but they don't always succeed thanks to unforseen events and basic human error. FDR's Court Packing Bill and Obama's Libya fiasco come to mind. It would have been the same with RFK. He could very well have been a great President had he lived and won in an upset (he was still behind HHH in the primaries, but trailing Nixon by only 2% nationally), yet the 1973 Oil Crisis still happens and he will be saddled with a bad economy throughout almost the entirety of his second term.
 
I think RFK would try to get things rolling only to lose in '72 because 12 years of the same party is just too much.

Maybe Reagan (Possibly Rockefeller) win in 1972

Teddy wins in '76

Economy tanks, middle east problems

Nixon wins in 1980

The Nixon revolution wins in 1984

Nixon dies late in his second term to be replaced by George HW Bush
 
I think RFK would try to get things rolling only to lose in '72 because 12 years of the same party is just too much.

Maybe Reagan (Possibly Rockefeller) win in 1972

Teddy wins in '76

Economy tanks, middle east problems

Nixon wins in 1980

The Nixon revolution wins in 1984

Nixon dies late in his second term to be replaced by George HW Bush

Very possible, except for Ted Kennedy winning in 76.... he needs more distance from the "accident" (or whatever he does... in this timeline) and more time to build a Senate record/ case for being POTUS (maybe 80, but he never seemed to "really" want the job). Even then, he's got a lot of baggage, and no Nixon means the lowering of standards/expectations ....for politicians isn't as steep as it was real-world.
 
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RFK wasnt as keen on an immediate withdrawal as he's often thought to be. He skirted the question a bit from one book ive read. He also didn't seem to have very great self control when his temper flared up, which as president would be much more often.

I often think that Bobby Kennedy is often looked at as this perfect missed opportunity because thats what we've made him out to be. He wasnt as universally liked as people think, he was viewed with disdain by a large amount of people we often forget about.

I dont think Bobby's Presidency would be anywhere near sunshine and rainbows territory.
RFK was, for better or worse, one of the proto-New Democrat. So basically we get something like 90s neoliberalism, only a few decades earlier, and perhaps more socially conservative (depending on whether RFK actually ahreed with the rest of the attendants at the Hyannisport Summit.)
 
The problem for RFK, like it was for Johnson, and Nixon, was how to exit Vietnam with any grace. Simply pulling out on day one would be seen as a complete surrender, and by 1968 there were enough dead and maimed to cause resentment in terms of "why", just like later on. As far as some sort of negotiated exit, the reality was that the North Vietnamese government was not interested in any solution that maintained a separate south - the only way they were going to let the USA get out of the Vietnamese tar baby was either because the USA applied enough military pressure on North Vietnam combined with a willingness to let South Vietnam sink or swim on its own. For numerous reasons both political and military, as happened OTL, South Vietnam was going to sink perhaps even more so in 1968-69 than 1972-73.

Domestically I can see race relations being better under RFK than Nixon, and if Nixon loses the "southern strategy" may not be accepted as the future for the Republican Party as it happened OTL. With RFK, the "counterculture" setting the "government is always lying" meme in concrete may not happen both because of more affinity for RFK and the odds that without Nixon the government lying/mendacity won't reach stratospheric proportions. Of course no Watergate disaster.

Overall, from my personal persepctive, better than Nixon, however as had been mentioned certainly not all rainbows and unicorns. Assuming RFK in for two terms, there will be dpomestic and international "events" that are nasty that won't be butterflied away...
 
Very possible, except for Ted Kennedy winning in 76.... he needs more distance from the "accident" (or whatever he does... in this timeline)

his I was thinking in this TL no Chappaquiddick . . .but your right, doesn't mean he couldn't have screwed something else up. So it's a Teddy wins barring incident.
 
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