If we are talking about women in politics in that era, it might be worth remembering that Margaret Chase Smith was mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Eisenhower in 1952. I wonder how a Vice President Chase Smith vs Senator Kennedy 1960 might have played out (although I believe that sexism >>> anti-Catholicism)
Margaret Chase Smith made nuttier comments than Goldwater about using nukes — she called for a preemptive strike directly against the USSR at one point. That would have hurt her even more than her sex I think. Although that comment may have come after Kennedy was elected. Certainly would have been a bloodbath if she won the nomination in 1964, as she actually tried to do. I think in that situation, LBJ wins every state but MS and AL, and even they probably vote for unpledged electors again or Wallace or something. (They would have no reason to vote for Smith as she was a moderate on Civil Rights.) She would have been wiped out.
Wow. I did not know about the nukes comments. I have searched for them and it seems that she said that during Kennedy's tenure.
Anyway, in 1964 I believe that every Republican would have been wiped out, even Rockefeller simply would have lost in a less embarrassing way. And also, yeah, with a pro-civil rights Republican, George Wallace would likely have done what he did in 1968 and most Goldwater votes in the South would have shifted to Wallace instead.
