Kennedy Lives- President Forever Alternate History

[PBrunsel]

Just like TrueDemocrat and Mr. Hobbes I will be making an alternate history using President Forever.

1964:

In 1964 things looked well for President Kennedy. He had survived a blast to his back while in Dallas, Texas, that, while leaving him in a wheelchair from November 1963 to March 1964, did not kill him. Kennedy now looked forward to four more years in the White House. Then he fumbled it all. With approval ratings in the high 60’s Kennedy was feeling no pain, and informed Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson that he would not need him in 1964, and he was going to be replaced.  LBJ did not like this one bit. He hated the Vice Presidency, but knew he could use it as the stepping stool to the Presidency in 1968. The two stormed out the room angrily on January 12th, 1964, and Johnson plotted his revenge.

The Republicans saw this fall out as a blessing to them. Former Vice President and 1960 Republican Nominee Richard Nixon decided to enter the race for President due to the “Showdown in the Oval Office”. He was immediately the favorite, running ahead of long time candidates Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York. After a bitter primary fight in New Hampshire, Nixon came out on top. Rockefeller, fearing he would divide the “moderate” vote, dropped out and Nixon and Goldwater slammed away at each other. It was an off and on victory in every primary for the two men. Finally, it came down to the California Primary to decide the 1964 Republican Nominee. Conservative Actor Ronald Reagan had done major campaigning for Goldwater there, but Nixon won it in a vote of 51-49%. At the GOP Convention in San Francisco Nixon accepted the nomination and chose Senator John Tower of Texas as his running mate.

The Jersey City Democratic Convention was raucous. Lyndon Johnson came to fight for his place on the ticket, but he was denied. Kennedy had chosen Florida Senator George Smathers was made Kennedy’s running mate. LBJ decided not to live with this decision, and left the Convention brining a majority of Southern Delegates with him. Two weeks later he and these delegates convened in Mobile, Alabama, and nominated Johnson for President under the State’s Rights Democratic Party. The delegates chose newly inaugurated Governor George Wallace of Alabama to be his running mate. He bent his campaign on spoiling Kennedy’s reelection.

The Nixon-Kennedy-Johnson Race of 1964 was one of the most negative in American history. Scandals involving Kennedy’s womanizing made the headlines over Johnson and Nixon’s shady deals in Congress. Nixon ran a campaign based on Law and Order. He claimed that Kennedy had let the nation, “Be taken hostage by hoodlums, gangsters, and crooks.” Kennedy declared that he would be the only candidate who could “Keep the peace, but prepare for war.” Johnson’s campaign was called by newsmen, “A racist ego trip”, but in reality it focused on the soon to be War in Vietnam. Johnson declared that Communist victory in Vietnam would lead to the fall of all of Southeast Asia, the old “Domino Theory” of the Eisenhower years.

Even Prohibitionist Professor E. Harold Munn made a strong run. Boasting only $2,300,000 to run a campaign he saw all 50-states and pressed hard the ideas that Nixon and Kennedy were pure internationalists that would get us involved in unneeded wars and sell our security off to the United Nations. Munn took his amazing debating skills and issue knowledge to the 1964 Race, but was shut out of the debates.

Nixon’s wins in all three Presidential debates were indeed a blow to Kennedy Campaign moral. It appeared as if Nixon had learned from his mistakes four years earlier and was catching up to JFK in the polls. Johnson’s “spoiler effect” was playing strong, as he polled only 7% in the national polls; all came from would-be Kennedy supporters.

Election Day wielded strange results:



Fmr. Vice. Pres. Richard Nixon/Senator John Tower (R): 302 Electoral Votes; 48% of the Pop. Vote

President John Kennedy/Senator George Smathers (D): 236 Electoral Votes; 44% of the Pop. Vote

Vice Pres. Lyndon Johnson/Governor George Wallace (SRD): 0 Electoral Votes; 7% of the Popular Vote

E. Harold Munn/Mark Shaw (P): 0 Electoral Votes; 0% of the Popular vote (563,217) Pop. Vote

Nixon came out on top due to Johnson’s Campaign. In New York it was Nixon’s by 1% due to Johnson’s capturing of 17.2% of the vote. Nixon was to become President, but could he lead the nation through what seemed like the height of the Cold War?

[Reaganfan]

I doubt Kennedy would have survived even without the headshot. A rifle shot in the back along with already painful and serious back problems in the past. He would have not made it.

[TheWildCard]

Great story PB!

[PBrunsel]

1968:

The Nixon Administration started out with Great Success. The successful passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1966 and the assassination President Castro of Cuba on Christmas day 1967 were among his greatest achievements. But Nixon, despite his amazing political savvy, had fumbled in Southeast Asia. He declared police action in North Vietnam in 1966, in an attempt to win votes in the Congressional races. Early success in the war gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives, and Gerald Ford finally achieved his life long dream of becoming Speaker of the House. This would be the last good news for Nixon in a while.

Vietnam by 1968 was amazingly unpopular. “The Most Trusted Man in America” Walter Cronkite originally supported the War in Vietnam as a new type of containment policy, and this support was crucial to keeping the press on Nixon’s side. But Nixon’s traditional hatred for the press led even Cronkite to disprove of the President. This fact combined with the December 1967 Tet Offensive had led Nixon to approval ratings below 30% in January 1968. His reelection battle would be difficult, but Nixon had a trick up his sleeve, and the Democrats would never expect it.

The Democrats were still shocked by the 1964 Election. Although they had lost the Presidency, they had increased their numbers in the Senate, but they overlooked this and shunned the Kennedy’s from the 1968 Presidential Race. The Kennedy who now looked most likely to run for President was former Attorney General Robert Kennedy. He said he would not announce his candidacy until he saw the first poll from Gallup, to be released in December 1968. On the same day the Tet Offensive began the first polls of the Democratic Nomination of 1968 were revealed. The numbers were abysmal for RFK. He ran a distant third behind former Governor Averell Harriman of New York and Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota (Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota was under 10%). Former Vice President Lyndon Johnson decided to make a shot at the nomination, but his past spoiling of Kennedy’s promising second term banished him to less than 5% in the poll. Kennedy announced on December 22nd, 1967, that he would not seek the Presidency. He was thinking of the Senate in 1970 anyway.

On the day before the New Hampshire Primary, where Harriman and Humphrey were running neck and neck, Nixon pulled out the bombshell. He actually appeared on the hit television show [Laugh-In, the only sitting president ever to do so. While on co-host Dan Rowan asked Nixon what he wanted to tell his Democratic opponents before their big primary, Nixon replied, “Sock it to me!” Amazingly, his polls shot up the next day into the low 40’s. Still not a great approval rating, but acceptable for now. Harriman won the New Hampshire Primary. The primaries that followed were a brutal; fight between the 77-year old former Governor and the exuberant and long-winded Senator. After what seemed like a primary that lasted for years, Harriman pulled out a wide win in the Illinois Primary and won the nomination. At the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Harriman declared himself “The Peace Candidate.” “I saw a war in Asia end in a mess in 1953 and I do not want Vietnam to spread into a full land war anymore!” To complete his “Peace” Ticket he chose Senator Eugene McCarthy as his Vice President.

The Republican Convention in Miami Beach nominated Nixon for a second term by acclamation, but Vice President Tower was not expected to stay on the ticket by some pundits. Popular California Governor Ronald Reagan was seen as an excellent choice (Nixon being from New York now could choose Reagan). Reagan disavowed any interest in the being Vice President and Tower was re-nominated.

Former Vice President Lyndon Johnson originally was intending to make another run for President under the State’s Rights Democratic Party. That was until he had another heart attack on June 13th, 1968. This heart attack ruled him out of the race, and Governor Wallace took up his banner. Wallace declared that he would run for President in 1968, so any winning candidate would be denied the mandate of winning 50% of the vote.

The Campaign of 1968 began with a bang, a negative bang for Harriman. A terrible scandal (Power of 9) was found on him. It seems as Secretary of Commerce he had some shady dealings with an oil firm, and it involved bribes and government contracts (always a bad mix). Nixon was no better off himself, as the Wallace Campaign was digging up dirt on him like no tomorrow. Harriman was an amazing campaigner though. His anti-war campaign was hammered home in several television ads that focused on the War, its growth, and the Treaty of Paris. Wallace (running with retired Air Commander Curtis LeMay of Ohio) called Harriman a coward and called Nixon a corrupt liar. “There ain’t a dimes worth of difference between the two major party guys!” Wallace declared. His law-and-order and anti-Hippy appealed to blue-collar workers who would probably have voted for Harriman. Could spoiler be played once again?

Election Day, the polls were virtually tied with Nixon at 43%, Harriman at 42%, and Wallace at 10%, with the rest undecided.



President Richard Nixon/Vice President John Tower (R): 273 Electoral Votes; 43% of the Pop. Vote

Fmr. Governor Averell Harriman/Senator Eugene McCarthy (D): 232 Electoral Votes; 42% of the Pop. Vote

Governor George Wallace/Fmr. Gen. Curtis LeMay (AI): 33 Electoral Votes; 12% of the Pop. Vote

Prof. E. Harold Munn/Robert Fisk (P): 0 Electoral Votes; 0% of the Pop. Vote (538,869 votes).

Nixon was reelected, and the President could not be happier. He would face Vietnam, inflation, and an uncertain Soviet Union, but could he prevail?

[PBrunsel]

1972:

Diplomatic success had been achieved by Nixon during his second term. His historic summit on nuclear proliferation with Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev in Spring 1970 was greeted with satisfaction by leaders in both parties. Nixon assumed he would pave the victory for his Vice President, John Tower, in 1972 by simply diplomatic triumphs. Unfortunately, the economy was in a mess. Inflation had hit a new high and unemployment was the highest it had been since 1932. OPEC had begun to boost coasts of gas and long lines of cars waited for gasoline in the cities of America. Nixon was losing his “Silent Majority.”

The Democrats sensed a way to return to power. The 1970 Midterm Elections had gone poorly for Nixon, The House was retaken by the Democrats and they took 6 more seats in the Senate. “That damned war,” as Nixon called Vietnam, “Is going to ruin me.” The frontrunner for the Democrats was long time candidate and Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota. Humphrey faced steady competition from Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, Governor George Wallace of Alabama, and Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Humphrey continued to run ahead in most polls though. Iowa was the first contest, where Muskie won the upset. New Hampshire was to be the place where Muskie would fumble. Written by Nixon speech writer Patrick Buchanan, a letter was given to the Nashua Times-Journal on February 12th, 1972, two days before the primary. In this letter (“The Cannock Letter”) there was “proof” that Muskie called French-Canadians “Cannocks” and his wife was an alcoholic. Unfortunately for Muskie’s Campaign, his wife really was an alcoholic and he cried on camera about the letter and attacked the “dirty tricks” of the Nixon Administration. Humphrey won the primary and ultimately the nomination after a huge fight in the South with Governor Wallace. At the convention in Miami, the Democrats voted down a “peace plank” in Vietnam. “Because were men not jellyfish,” explained a delegate from Wisconsin. This sparked a minor riot, but it was easily subdued by police. Humphrey selected North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford as his Vice President to appeal to the South.

The Republican Primary was a long fight for Vice President Tower. He faced stiff opposition from California Governor Ronald Reagan, former Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland, and Michigan Governor George Romney. Although Agnew and Romney were easily subdued by the more powerful Tower Campaign, Reagan was a thorn in its side. After “The Gipper” won Iowa and New Hampshire it looked like it was all over for Tower’s Campaign, but making up with his loss by several victories in the Midwest and South gave Tower the edge before the GOP Convention in Phoenix. This convention proved to be a nightmare for Nixon, Tower, Reagan, and all involved. The first night was peaceful enough, with the exception of a small fistfight between a Reagan and a Tower delegate. The second night would explode. After Representative Gerald Ford of Michigan nominated Reagan for President the mix of cheers and boos exploded into a near riot, and it was only subdued after the police riot squad entered the building. That same night the Republican Platform decreed that it supported expanding the Vietnam War to lead to “final and complete victory over the Communist menace.” Representative Paul McCloskey of California made a fiery speech attacking this plank, and the convention went straight to hell. The climax of the “Great Riot of the GOP” was when Vice President Tower came to make his acceptance speech after being nominated for President on the 13th ballot. “We will not give into the forces of some well meaning but naïve “peace activists”, Tower said in his acceptance address. In a half-humorous event, however, Tower was forced to make Representative McCloskey his running mate after his original choices, Governor Reagan, Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and Governor Romney, were rejected by the delegates. It was a terrible way to start out a race for President!

A new party made a debut in this election; The Libertarian Party. A party dedicated to individual freedoms, it nominated Chairman of the California Libertarian Party Joseph Hospers for President and the first Jewish Women to run for Vice President Theodora Nathan. This party was under funded and had limited organization, but they made a strong showing the polls, polling at 2% most of the time.

Despite the negative momentum for Tower, he started out ahead by 7-points. At first it looked like a Tower sweep, but as scandals piled up on him it seemed as if he would not win the landslide that all expected. Humphrey, with a squeaky clean background, was able to make up for the bad polls. After defeating Tower in two triumphs and a scandal arose about some shady deals in Tower’s Senate Career, Humphrey was able to narrow the Tower lead. Unfortunately for Humphrey, his push was not enough, as he narrowly lost the election:



Vice President John Tower/Representative Paul McCloskey (R): 284 Electoral Votes; 49% of the Popular Vote

Senator Hubert Humphrey/Governor Terry Sanford (D): 254 Electoral Votes; 47% of the Popular Votes

Chairman Joseph Hospers/ Attorney Theodora Nathan (L): 0 Electoral Votes; 2% of the Popular Vote

The “Happy Warrior” Humphrey was crushed by his narrow defeat, and he said he would be back in 1976. Tower needed to take this threat seriously, because his term would be no bed of roses.

[PBrunsel]

1972- John Hospers was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California (not sure if he was CHAIRMAN of the department) and Tonie Nathan was a broadcast journalist from Eugene, Oregon (not aware of her being an attorney).

1964- E. Harold Munn, Sr. was a Professor at Hillsdale College in Michigan and Mark Shaw was an ordained minister (Methodist I believe) from Massachusetts.

I knew that thing about Munn, he was fairly important in the Prohibtion Party. And I knew Shaw was a minister, becuase I visit the Prohibition (anti-Dodge) Website a lot and they kindly tell us what all of their nominees did in the non-political world!

Did not know that about Hospers though. Saddly, I knew little of his experience.

[PBrunsel]

1972- John Hospers was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California (not sure if he was CHAIRMAN of the department) and Tonie Nathan was a broadcast journalist from Eugene, Oregon (not aware of her being an attorney).

1964- E. Harold Munn, Sr. was a Professor at Hillsdale College in Michigan and Mark Shaw was an ordained minister (Methodist I believe) from Massachusetts.

I knew that thing about Munn, he was fairly important in the Prohibtion Party. And I knew Shaw was a minister, becuase I visit the Prohibition (anti-Dodge) Website a lot and they kindly tell us what all of their nominees did in the non-political world!

Did not know that about Hospers though. Saddly, I knew little of his experience.

Good story, BTW!

Thank you NewFederalist.

Unfortunately I was stumped by you...

[PBrunsel]

President Tower was sick of his job by 1976. In a brief recap, Vietnam had become a stalemate that could not be won. Peace was finally made in late 1975, but the POW’s and MIA’s were not returned when they were agreed upon to be brought home. Stagflation caused by former President Nixon’s big spending War in Vietnam combined with Nixon’s “New Tomorrow” Program, a fairly large government program that widened the Welfare State. With the capturing of Saigon in December 1976, Tower looked like he was dead in the water for reelection. To top it all off, he faced competitors in the Republican Primary of 1976. Three men entered the race against him, all sure that they could solve the problem of a “national malaise”.

The first was House Minority Leader Gerald Ford. He had not originally intended to challenge President Tower, but a “Draft Ford” Movement had inspired him. He said he would run for President, and if elected serve only one term. He promised an honest government, a breath of fresh air amongst the secrets of the Nixon and Tower Administrations. It had been discovered that former President Nixon had had a group known as “The Plumbers” forcibly “quiet down” several prominent editorialists and writers who disagreed with his Vietnam Policy. Nixon was taken to court in August 1974, and was still in court when Ford declared his candidacy for President January 2nd, 1975. Ford led President Tower in several polls and was Tower’s most serious opponent.

The second opponent was Representative John Anderson of Illinois. A moderate, or perhaps liberal, Republican, Anderson was a huge opponent of American dealings with Arab Dictators for oil. He introduced in his announcement address on January 17th, 1975, that he would end the U.S. relations “pet dictators” in the Middle East. He openly attacked right-winged, anti-Communist, dictatorships in Central America. Tower declared Anderson would rather see Communist governments to his Chief of Staff, John Connelly. Anderson was not a great threat to Tower (like that of Ford’s) but still a threat.

After a long and difficult tenure as Vice President (at least in his opinion), Paul McCloskey resigned his seat on May 3rd, 1974, out of anger over Tower’s “May Day Bombings” of Cambodia and Hanoi. McCloskey now came out of the wood work to challenge his former boss for the Republican Nomination. Just like LBJ in 1964, McCloskey did not rule out an Independent race against President Tower. McCloskey was in the third place running the entire primary, but he was offered the nomination for President by several former anti-war democrats and Republicans under the banner of “The National Unity Party.”

The Democrats took advantage of the Republican’s turmoil, and had a fairly quiet primary. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington chose not to run for President, but endorsed Indiana Senator Birch Bayh. This endorsement was met with those from Senator Frank Church of Idaho, Senator Muskie of Maine, and even Senator Humphrey of Minnesota. Bayh faced the strongest challenges from Governor George Wallace of Alabama and Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. The two Southern Governors were both defeated in Iowa, and with the endorsement from former President Kennedy (coming out of political retirement for the first time in years) took the nomination. Bayh chose Carter as his running mate to appease Wallace (threatening an independent run). In the end the Democrats were united when Bayh promised Wallace the position of Secretary of Defense if he was elected.

The Republican Primaries were off the wall! Ford and Tower fought it out to a stand still in Iowa. Though Tower won by 1%, this was not a mandate for the incumbent by any means. Governor Reagan’s endorsement of Tower gave him strength in the West, but after a loss in the New Hampshire Primary, it looked like Tower would be defeated. It was not until the big name GOP Senators, Barry Goldwater, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond endorsed and campaigned for Tower did he win the bare minimum of delegates needed to win him. Ford had put up quite a fight, and had won a majority of Midwestern and New England Primaries. In the end Tower used the endorsements and the incumbency to win re-nomination. Despite popular clamor for Ford as Vice-President, Tower chose Jesse Helms and by doing that failed to rally the Republican Party’s moderates. McCloskey turned down as independent run and focused on the 1980 Republican nomination.

Tower had negative momentum going into the general election Trailing Bayh by 13-points by the end of the first week, Tower went on the attack. He ran a series of attack ads that raised questions about Bayh’s dedication to the troops in Vietnam and his own personal integrity. After splitting the debates Tower had regained a narrow lead, but Bayh still could pull out a win. The election of 1976 also gave the United States the first woman to run as the Libertarian nominee. Theodora Nathan won the Libertarian nomination for President and was given Virginia attorney and renegade 1972 elector Roger MacBride as a running-mate. Her campaign focused on the economy and the problems of inflation.



Senator Birch Bayh/ Governor Jimmy Carter (D): 51% of the Popular Vote; 291 Electoral Votes

President John Tower/ Senator Jesse Helms (R): 48% of the Popular Vote; 247 Electoral Votes

Fmr. Vice-Presidential nominee Theodora Nathan/ Elector Roger MacBride (L): 0% (861,893) of the Popular Vote; 0 Electoral Votes (but 16.5% in Delaware!)

President Tower gave a short concession address and privately blamed Ford and the rest for his defeat. Senator Bayh was going to Washington, D.C, to be the first Democratic President since 1965!

[Max Power]

This is good! Keep it up!

[Bacon King]

Good story!

12% of the Poop. Vote

hah, poop vote.

[ATFFL]

Good story!

12% of the Poop. Vote

hah, poop vote.

Never underestimate the power of the poop vote!