johnpressman
Rookie
Posts: 159
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« on: April 06, 2009, 08:32:56 PM » |
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Another 1960 scenario, my favorite year. I just finished David Pietrusza's book, "1960".
The election of 1960 boiled down to this: The Northeast was Kennedy's, the West was Nixon's, the election wold be decided in the Midwest and South. Would Freeman bring additional strength in the Midwest to offset the lack of a Southerner (Johnson) on the ticket?
I think not. Kennedy won IL and MI by small margins. I don't see Freeman making a difference in OH, maybe WI. As for the South, that is another matter entirely.
I believe any Democratic Vice Presidential choice EXCEPT Johnson would have caused Kennedy to lose in 1960. Without LBJ on the ticket, Texas, and possibly North and South Carolina would have voted Republican, but the number of unpledged and rebellious Electoral College members would have increased, stealing those votes from Kennedy.
JFK's Catholicism was a BIG issue in 1960 as well as the Civil Rights Movement in the first Presidential Election since Little Rock. Kennedy running without LBJ would have caused a southern defection from the Democratic Party in 1960 similar to the elections of 1948 and 1968.
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