WI: Vice President Reagan under Nixon?

What if, in lieu of Spiro Agnew, Nixon had chosen Governor Reagan to be his Vice Presidential candidate?

If Reagan gets the Vice Presidency, he'll stick to it, meaning that the Gipper will likely succeed him following Watergate. However, depending on whether or not he pardons Nixon like Ford did, his chances of a term of his own could be poisoned by Nixon's deep unpopularity. He'd probably lose to a democrat in 1976, just like Ford. Whether that Democrat is Carter or not is up for interpretation, but that means that Bush Sr. will most likely be the GOP nominee in 1980.
 
I am confident that Watergate still happens. Agnew was not involved so why would anything change with a different vice president. Reagan as president would probably pardon. I reluctantly think it was the right thing to do and Reagan would have reached this conclusion like Ford did. The Nixon pardon, the bad economy and Reagan's unpopular views from earlier in his career like his opposition to medicare are too big of obstacles to overcome in the 1976. While Reagan would not have conceded the South as Ford did but Carter won every Southern states except Georgia, Arkansas and Tennessee without a white majority. Reagan would lose more Northern states that went for Ford OTL.
 
1972 or 1973 is far more likely than '68. Reagan was absolutely Shermanesque on the subject IOTL from all the sources I've seen and I don't see any circumstance which could induce Reagan to accept.

Even the scenario which might come closest- an RFK nomination which renders the Northern WWC vote a 3-way race- doesn't do it. Nixon hated being overshadowed, knew feeding the "Nixon can't beat a Kennedy" narrative would be incredibly damaging, and Agnew did an adequate job locking down the South- even more so ITTL with the man they most despised heading the Democratic ballot.

So, no sale in '68.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Reagan would certainly not be the icon of the conservative movement that he is today, even if his presidency was more or less successful. Coming in to the Presidency from the Vice-Presidency puts a damper on a President, since it seems to imply that they would have stuck with the old fellow if they could have. Had Reagan gone into the Oval Office after being VP, there would be a lot of people who would also look at him simply as "Nixon's guy".

(Obviously, this doesn't apply to Jefferson succeeding Adams, but that was obviously a special case).
 
I think the most likely way for this to happen is for Nelson Rockefellet to run earlier and force Nixon to make andeal with Reagan in order to win the nomination.
 
I remember reading a TL about this somewhere. JFK survives his assasination attempt in '63, runs for another term in 1964. In 1968, Johnson is elected to succeed JFK, but only serves for 1 term, due to his health. In 1972, Nixon gets the nomination and chooses Reagan as his running mate, winning. The author of this TL assumed that 2 nominees from California would be denied the state if they won. He didn't think that Nixon would use his registration in New York to overcome this! It seems a little implausible looking back!
 
I am confident that Watergate still happens. Agnew was not involved so why would anything change with a different vice president. Reagan as president would probably pardon. I reluctantly think it was the right thing to do and Reagan would have reached this conclusion like Ford did. The Nixon pardon, the bad economy and Reagan's unpopular views from earlier in his career like his opposition to medicare are too big of obstacles to overcome in the 1976. While Reagan would not have conceded the South as Ford did but Carter won every Southern states except Georgia, Arkansas and Tennessee without a white majority. Reagan would lose more Northern states that went for Ford OTL.

I disagree. People personally liked Ronald Reagan, regardless of his policies and political views. The current cult of Ronnie today arises from the fact that people personally liked him so much (which was confused for policy support by GOP myth makers in the 90s and still today). Ford has that likeability factor too, but was seen as a buffoon by many, or at least there was a perception that he was a bit of a bumbler. Reagan has the charisma and control enough to avoid such a thing.
In truth, it always boils down to the economy. Reagan won 1980 because he wasn't Carter, and the economy was very bad. If you either have a good economy, or a bad economy but one you can convince people you'll get the nation out of, you can win.
 
I disagree. People personally liked Ronald Reagan, regardless of his policies and political views. The current cult of Ronnie today arises from the fact that people personally liked him so much (which was confused for policy support by GOP myth makers in the 90s and still today). Ford has that likeability factor too, but was seen as a buffoon by many, or at least there was a perception that he was a bit of a bumbler. Reagan has the charisma and control enough to avoid such a thing.
In truth, it always boils down to the economy. Reagan won 1980 because he wasn't Carter, and the economy was very bad. If you either have a good economy, or a bad economy but one you can convince people you'll get the nation out of, you can win.

As someone else on the board put it, Reagan had the aura of making people believe he was Doing Something about the economy, with an ability similar to FDR, which helped him a lot.
 
It can be done but the '68 contest must be different from OTL.
Reagan (1974-1981) evokes feelings of malaise, extremism, and failure.
 
I am confident that Watergate still happens. Agnew was not involved so why would anything change with a different vice president. Reagan as president would probably pardon. I reluctantly think it was the right thing to do and Reagan would have reached this conclusion like Ford did. The Nixon pardon, the bad economy and Reagan's unpopular views from earlier in his career like his opposition to medicare are too big of obstacles to overcome in the 1976.

I disagree with part of this. The Nixon pardon was unpopular, at least in part because it was a blanket pardon, Nixon never had to come forward with what he actually did, if Reagan offers a pardon, for crimes Nixon will admit to it might go over far better.
 
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