1964: JFK vs Rocky

[Don Vito Corleone]

What if the 1964 election came down to President John F. Kennedy and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller?

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

If JFK pushes for civil rights like LBJ did:

If he largely ignores the issue:

[MillennialModerate]

If he did confront civil rights aggressively..

Kennedy 426
Rockefeller 87
Wallace 25

——

If he didn’t aggressively confront civil rights ....

Kennedy 451
Rockefeller 87

[Edgeofnight]

I could see Rockefeller narrowly winning depending on if Kennedy's health problems come to life.

[President Johnson]

I could see Rockefeller narrowly winning depending on if Kennedy's health problems come to life.

Me too, though I may be biased due to my Rockefeller admiration. This race would be interesting without the Rockefeller remarriage. Maybe this is the most likely path for Rocky if JFKm keeps LBJ on the ticket:

✓ Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller (R-NY)/Senator Thomas Kuchel (R-CA): 277 EV. (50.32%)
President John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX): 254 EV. (47.99%)

[Mail-order President]

President John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) - 427 EV 55.3%
Governor Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY)/Senator Thomas Kuchel (R-CA) - 111 EV 43.9%
Third Parties - 0 EV 0.8%

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

All the maps save one, indicate that Kennedy would have emerged as the victor, I believe that tackling the Civil Rights issue was essential if Kennedy was to prevail with voters where the cause of Civil Rights was a necessity. I believe that by employing the moral argument as he did in his Civil Rights was a tactic similar to the one he used over his religion in 1960, bigotry vs. intolerance, by using this argument on a moral plain had the ability to neutralize and marginalise the segregationists. No one is comfortable being called a bigot. By using the issue of skin color,in a moral framework, Kennedy outmanoeuvred Wallace and all the other segregationist elements in American society.

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

President John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) - 427 EV 55.3%
Governor Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY)/Senator Thomas Kuchel (R-CA) - 111 EV 43.9%
Third Parties - 0 EV 0.8%

That's a very visually appealing map.

[MillennialModerate]

Rockefeller in being a moderate to liberal Republican and JFK being a moderate-ish Democrat means that they weren’t far off on too many issues so on issues what’s the difference? Then there’s the personalities of the candidates ... Rockefeller might be somewhat popular but a majority of the country totally fell in love with the Kennedy family (Jackie + the kids) and JFK himself was a war hero who made the Russians back down during the Cuban missile crisis ... so with all that being factored together, what was going to beat him beyond a scandal of historic proportions. It would have taken the perfect candidate and then a small miracle for JFK to be defeated in ‘64. Rockefeller was the rare candidate who could make the election FEEL close but it wouldn’t be either way.