1968: George Romney the Republican nominee

[GeorgiaModerate]

January 10, 1969.  After repeated ballots for President through the week have the same result, the House votes to amend the procedures adopted in 1825.  The original rules required the House to consider no other business until a President is chosen.  But since the current deadlock doesn't like it will be resolved soon, this could cause problems.  Speaker McCormack announces that the first order of business each day will be a ballot for President, and the House may then consider other business.

January 12, 1969.  George Wallace appears on Meet the Press.  In response to a question on what he's trying to achieve, Wallace repeats his usual talking points about states' rights and the people's choice.  Then he lays his cards on the table, stating calmly that if either Humphrey or Romney will agree to stop federal efforts to desegregate the South, he'll withdraw in their favor.

January 13, 1969.   Both Humphrey and Romney release statements firmly rejecting Wallace's proposition and reaffirming their support for civil rights.

January 17, 1969.  The House ends another week of Presidential ballots with no change in the outcome.

January 20, 1969.  Edmund Muskie is inaugurated as the 39th Vice President of the United States.  In accordance with the 20th Amendment, he will act as President until one is chosen by the House.

TO BE CONTINUED

[GeorgiaModerate]

January 21, 1969.  There's a change in the House ballot results!  Maryland shifts from a divided delegation into the Humphrey camp.  Lawrence Hogan, the newly elected Congressman from the 5th District, casts a blank ballot this time, changing the previous 4-4 result to 4-3 for Humphrey.  Hogan explains his change of heart by saying that in the interest of resolving the continuing deadlock, and in light of Humphrey's victory statewide and in his district, he would abstain and allow the state's vote to be cast for Humphrey. [20] This changes the overall result to:

Humphrey: 21
Romney: 19
Wallace: 6
Divided (no vote): 4

January 24, 1969.  Under intense pressure from national and some local party figures, four of the five Democratic Congressmen from South Carolina flip from Wallace to Humphrey, raising the latter's total to 22 states.

January 27, 1969.  The Democratic members of the Arkansas delegation follow South Carolina's lead and flip to Humphrey.  The totals are now:

Humphrey: 23
Romney: 19
Wallace: 4 (AL, GA, LA, MS)
Divided (no vote): 4 (IL, MT, OR, VA -- all won by Romney)

January 30, 1969.  George Romney was a private citizen now, but he still had plenty to keep him busy.  At the moment, he was working on the backlog of personal correspondence that had followed him from the Governor's mansion.  There was a knock on the office door.  His personal secretary, who was helping sort through it all, entered.

"Sir, you need to look at this one."  She handed him a letter and stood before the desk as Romney started to read:

Dear Governor Romney,

I live in the city of Adlerville, North Carolina. [21]  Sometimes after work I like to stop for a drink at a place called the Hilltop Inn in Aderville.  One of the regular customers there is a man named Mr. Cooper who works for the Adler County government.  Shortly after the election, I heard Mr. Cooper claim that he had won the state of North Carolina for George Wallace.  I didn't think much of it at the time because Mr. Cooper is the type who likes to tell stories after he's had a few drinks.  He's always blowing his own horn and talking about the incredible things he's done and the famous people he's known, but if he's done half of them he'd be famous himself.  So I didn't think much of it further until last night, when Mr. Cooper had quite a few drinks.  He said it again, that he won North Carolina for Wallace, and also that he had a box full of Romney ballots in a safe place as an insurance policy.  If that means what it sounds like, then I thought this is something you should know about.  If it turns out that Mr. Cooper is just blowing his horn again, I'm sorry for bothering you.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Citizen

Romney looked up at his secretary.  "This might be some kind of joke," he said.  "But I think you'd better call the FBI."

TO BE CONTINUED

[20] This is Lawrence Hogan Sr., father of the current governor.  In OTL, he was narrowly elected to his first term and Nixon (as far as I can tell) narrowly carried his district, although Humphrey carried the state despite the presence of Spiro Agnew on the ticket.  Without Agnew as his running mate, Romney underperformed Nixon and narrowly lost the 5th district.  I believe Hogan was flexible enough to do something like this.  In OTL he was the only Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to vote for all three articles of impeachment against Nixon.

[21] Adlerville and Adler County are fictional places.

[morgankingsley]

I wonder if a acting president for this long would now go in the history books as a president since it has now been 10 days instead of just mere hours

[GeorgiaModerate]

February 2, 1969.  The Minneapolis Daily Star, known for its liberal political leanings, publishes a Sunday editorial calling on the state's Congressional delegation to support Hubert Humphrey for President.  Minnesota is something of an oddity in this election.  Humphrey won his home state by a substantial margin (54-42-4), but the House delegation has a 5-3 Republican majority.  (It's the only Humphrey state with a Republican majority delegation.)  All eight Representatives are incumbents who won reelection, and four of the five Republicans won by comfortable margins.  The fifth, Odin Langen of the 7th District, only won 51-49, but he's a staunch Republican and seems unlikely to be moved by the Star's editorial board.

February 3, 1969, 4:30 P.M.  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover takes a call from the Special Agent in charge of the Raleigh office.  After a brief conversation, Hoover buzzes his secretary and tells her to arrange an appointment for him to see Vice President Muskie.  When she asks about the urgency, Hoover ponders for a moment and then responds, "It's important but not an emergency.  If he's busy tonight, anytime tomorrow is fine."  A few minutes later, his secretary informs Hoover that he has an appointment with Muskie at 2 P.M. the next day.

February 4, 1969, 11:00 A.M.  The House's presidential ballot changes again, as the Georgia delegation flips from Wallace to Humphrey.  The total is now:

Humphrey: 24
Romney: 19
Wallace: 3 (AL, LA, MS)
Divided (no vote): 4 (IL, MT, OR, VA -- all won by Romney)

2:00 P.M.  J. Edgar Hoover entered Vice President Muskie's office in the White House.  [22]  Muskie waved him to a chair and said, "Always a pleasure to see you, Director.  What's on your mind?  Your secretary gave mine very little in the way of details."

Hoover sat.  "I'm about as pleased to see you as you are me, Mr. Vice President. [23]  But I think you're going to be even less pleased in a few minutes."

"I didn't expect you'd come over here just to exchange pleasantries.  Let's have it."

"To put it in so many words, we have credible proof that the election was stolen.  Romney actually won."

Muskie was stunned speechless for a moment.  Then: "Give me the details."

"Acting on information received from Governor Romney's office -- they received an anonymous letter -- we executed a search warrant on the home of one Wendell Cooper, an employee of the board of elections in Adler County, North Carolina.  We discovered a foot locker in his garage containing 86 apparently valid absentee ballots, all for Romney.  It looks like these were removed from the elections office without being counted.  You might recall that Wallace won the state by 37 votes."

"My God.  This is incredible."

"Oh, it gets better.  We brought Mr. Cooper in for questioning, and it turns out this wasn't something he came up with on his own initiative.  He says that he was approached by a man named Jack from the Wallace campaign, who 'put the idea in his head' as he phrased it.  He claims that there was no exchange of money involved."

"Do you believe that?"

"It's probably true.  Cooper completely broke down under questioning and told our men everything.  It happens that way sometimes."

"And what about this Jack person?  Who is he?"

"We haven't yet found Jack," Hoover admitted.  "But we are looking for him.  Diligently.  There are several questions we'd like to ask him.  For starters, was Cooper the only county official he talked to?  And was Jack, whoever he is, acting on his own, or was this something even wider?"

Muskie shook his head.  "It's hard to believe something like this could happen in the United States."  A thought occurred to him.  "How sure are you that the ballots weren't counted?"

"At this point, we're 95% sure.  We are working with North Carolina to become 100% sure.  That should be complete no later than tomorrow."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing until we get the final verification on the ballots, or we find Jack.  I'll inform you when there are any new developments."

"I appreciate that.  Thank you for letting me know -- although don't take offense when I say that I'd rather you never walked in that door today."

"None taken.  Despite our past differences, I'd rather not have had to bring this to you.  This will be a terrible stain on the Republic."  Hoover stood and turned to go.

"One more question," said Muskie.  "Why in the world did Cooper keep the uncounted ballots, instead of destroying them?  That seems like it would have been the smart thing to do."

"Yes, it would have been the smart thing to do, but fortunately he didn't.  We would have had no case if those ballots were destroyed, but as it is we can ensure that Mr. Cooper has a nice long vacation at Government expense.  But to answer your question, he said that the ballots were his insurance policy.  He wasn't clear what that meant, but I suspect he had some idea of eventually blackmailing Wallace.  Definitely not smart."

"Well, we can at least be thankful that he wasn't smart."

Hoover chuckled.  "I've dealt with a great many criminals over the years, and I can assure you that in general they are all pretty goddamned dumb."

"Or perhaps," said Muskie drily, "you never catch the smart ones."

Hoover started to bristle, then laughed.  "You might be right."  He picked up his hat and left.

TO BE CONTINUED

[22] Muskie is using the White House while acting as President for security and convenience.  Until 1974, there was no official residence for the VP; he generally bought or rented a private residence in the Washington area.

[23] Hoover and Muskie were old adversaries.  There was a notable incident in the early 1960s in which Muskie publicly criticized both the FBI and Hoover personally, an action that was unheard of for a politician of that era.  Hoover, who was famous for holding grudges, never forgave him for it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

February 6, 1969, 7:30 P.M.  Director Hoover places a secure phone call to Vice President Muskie.  Hoover's side of the conversation:

"We have confirmation that the stolen ballots are valid and weren't counted."
...
"100 percent.  It will stand up in court."
...
"We have a lead on Jack, but don't have our hands on him yet.  A man named John Shay, fairly high up in Wallace's North Carolina organization."
...
"Yes, I know we can't wait too long.  Give me seventy-two hours.  That will take us through the weekend."
...
"Yes, I will.  Good night to you too, sir."

February 7, 1969, 11:00 A.M.  The latest Presidential ballot sees Louisiana flip from Wallace to Humphrey, giving him 25 states -- one short of a majority.

TO BE CONTINUED

[morgankingsley]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

Until there's a President.  I don't have the imagination or patience to do the whole term.

[Cold War Liberal]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

Until there's a President.  I don't have the imagination or patience to do the whole term.

This is fantastic btw

[GeorgiaModerate]

February 9, 1969.  In Sunday editorials, several other Minnesota newspapers call on the state's House delegation to cast its vote for Humphrey.  This would give him the necessary 26 votes, assuming no other states changed.


February 10, 1969, 10:15 A.M.  Speaker of the House John McCormack looked over the chamber and frowned.  They were already a quarter hour late in convening, but there was a conspicuous block of empty desks.  An entire state delegation was missing.

"Where is Minnesota?" he asked.

A voice came from the back ranks. "It's north of Iowa, John." 

McCormack chose not to notice.  He turned to the sergeant-at-arms and said, "Round them up." 

A few minutes later, the eight members of the Minnesota delegation filed in, their expressions ranging from sheepish to flustered to angry.  McCormack waited until they were seated and gaveled the House to order.  When the chaplain had finished the opening prayer, the Speaker addressed the chamber.

"Before conducting this morning's ballot for President, there is an unusual request.  Vice President Muskie is here in person and would like to address the House on a matter of extraordinary importance.  Is there any objection?"

There was a buzz of surprised chatter, but no one spoke up.  "There being no objection," said McCormack, "we will now welcome Vice President Muskie."  He nodded toward a side entrance, and a moment later Muskie entered, trailed unobtrusively by two Secret Service men, and made his way to the podium.

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker," he began, "and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for agreeing to see me on such short notice."  He paused.  "I am here to inform the House of a grave matter affecting the very foundation of our democracy.  What I am about to tell you is scarcely believable, but it is nevertheless true.  Briefly, the FBI has uncovered a conspiracy -- a successful conspiracy -- to alter the outcome of last November's presidential election.  They are in possession of incontrovertible physical evidence that Governor Romney was the rightful winner in North Carolina, rather than George Wallace.  North Carolina's electoral votes, if they had been cast for the rightful winners, would have been sufficient to elect Governor Romney and Senator Tower in the Electoral College."

He paused for a sip of water and went on. "The FBI is in possession of a large number of absentee ballots cast for Governor Romney that were deliberately removed from the elections office of one county without being counted, with the specific intent of altering the outcome of the election.  The FBI's investigation is continuing, and they will be holding a televised press conference in" (he glanced up at the clock) "about one hour.  There may have been additional counties involved, but I emphasize that the ballots already recovered from just the one county are more than enough to overturn Wallace's narrow margin in the state.  These ballots have been verified by the North Carolina Secretary of State to be valid votes for Romney that were not counted.  There is no question as to the accuracy of this evaluation, and I wish to commend the FBI and Director Hoover for their exemplary work in this case.

"Let me be clear that there is no possible benevolent explanation of this event.  This was not a mistake or error in judgment on the part of an elections official.  It was a deliberate attempt to alter the outcome of a presidential election.  This is an outrageous attack on the integrity of our elections, one of the fundamental institutions of our nation's government.  The result has been a gross miscarriage of justice, a result that cannot be allowed to stand.

"You, the honorable members of the United States House of Representatives, have the power to reverse this miscarriage of justice.  There is only one responsible, one ethical, one just course of action.  In the name of American democracy, I call upon you to right this wrong and elect George Romney, the righftul winner of last November's election, as President of the United States."

He paused to look at the shocked faces of the Representatives, then continued.  "I have been honored more than I can truly express to serve as Vice President, and act as President, these last few weeks.  Nevertheless, I cannot continue to serve in an office to which I was not legitimately elected.  Accordingly, after Governor Romney is inaugurated as President, I will tender my resignation as Vice President, in the hope that the new President will nominate Senator Tower as my replacement.

"I regret that I have been the bearer of such bad news.  But I have complete faith in this body that you will respond by doing the right thing to correct this injustice.  Thank you, and Godspeed."

Muskie turned to the Speaker and shook his hand.  The House sat stunned for a moment, then one by one the members came to their feet and began to clap.  The applause continued long after the Vice President had left the chamber.


2:30 P.M.  After a short recess, mostly to allow the members to watch the FBI briefing, the House returned to its chamber.  The fifty state delegations then voted unanimously to elect George Wilcken Romney as the 37th President of the United States. 


February 11, 1969, noon.  After a hurried trip to Washington the night before, George Romney was sworn in as President by Chief Justice Warren.  Later, Romney had a long private meeting with Vice President Muskie, during which Muskie tendered his letter of resignation.


Feburary 13, 1969.  President Romney nominated Senator John Tower as Vice President in accordance with the 25th Amendment.  Tower was subsequently confirmed by Congress without opposition.

AFTERMATH

John "Jack" Shay and Wendell Cooper were indicted for a number of federal and state election-related crimes.  Both were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.  The FBI determined that Shay had approached a few other county election officials in North Carolina, but no evidence was uncovered that any other fraud had occurred, and none of the other officials was arrested.  Either they didn't do anything, or they were smart enough to destroy the evidence. 

George Wallace disavowed and denounced Shay, and the investigation failed to find involvment from anyone else in the Wallace campaign.  (Privately, J. Edgar Hoover never stopped suspecting that Wallace had at least known about it.)  Nevertheless, the scandal so shocked the American people that it effectively destroyed Wallace's national political influence.  He never again ran for President, although he was elected to one further term as governor of Alabama before retiring from politics.

Edmund Muskie suddenly found himself a very popular man who was out of a job; he had had to resign from his Senate seat upon his election as Vice President.  Muskie's conduct in the affair caused his popularity to soar, and he immediately became the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 1972.  President Romney, in a gesture of unity and reconciliation, offered Muskie his choice of several Cabinet jobs.  Muskie declined on the grounds that it might look like a quid pro quo, but mostly with an eye on 1972.  In an unusual twist, the vacant Senate seat had not yet been filled, so Governor Curtis appointed Muskie to serve the remaining year-plus of his original term. 

President Romney asked Congress to create a special commission on election security, which they did.  The commission studied the problem and made several recommendations, most of which were ignored.  In other respects, Romney's tenure in office went much like Nixon's first term, but without Watergate.

THE END

[Calthrina950]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

Until there's a President.  I don't have the imagination or patience to do the whole term.

You did an excellent job with this scenario. I enjoyed reading it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

Until there's a President.  I don't have the imagination or patience to do the whole term.

You did an excellent job with this scenario. I enjoyed reading it.

Thank you.

[morgankingsley]

288: George Romney/Mark Hatfield - 44.0%
203: Hubert Humphrey/George Smathers - 40.1%
47: George Wallace/Strom Thurmond - 14.6%
Others - 1.3%

I found this thread again in a link to a newer thread in the forum. I was casually reading it, and then found this. But brah, why would Thurmond be Wallace's running mate and why would Arkansas flip to Humphrey

[connally68]

I think George Romney would have been a wonderful President; however, he was actually born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Nixon exposed this during the 68 convention.That's one of the reasons  George Romney privately voted for and supported George McGovern. The other reason being that the war was still going on in Vietnam. I read that all in his autobiography.

[morgankingsley]

I think George Romney would have been a wonderful President; however, he was actually born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Nixon exposed this during the 68 convention.That's one of the reasons he privately voted for and supported George McGovern. The other reason being that the war was still going on Vietnam. I read that all in his autobiography.

So this entire situation would literally be impossible lol

[GeorgiaModerate]

I think George Romney would have been a wonderful President; however, he was actually born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Nixon exposed this during the 68 convention.That's one of the reasons  George Romney privately voted for and supported George McGovern. The other reason being that the war was still going on in Vietnam. I read that all in his autobiography.

The citizenship issue in fact came up during the campaign.  Although never definitively resolved by the courts, it was generally believed that since Romney's parents were U.S. citizens, he became a U.S. citizen at birth even though it occurred outside the territorial boundaries of the U.S., and therefore met the Constitutional requirement of "natural-born citizen".

[538Electoral]

344-141-53

MI, PA and SC flip from the actual 1968 results.