1960 if Nixon intervened for MLK's liberation

[UWS]

Many other factors could have influenced the 1960 Election in a slant toward Nixon. Richard Nixon could have been more public about equal rights instead of letting John F. Kennedy receive the support from the African American vote and the majority of Americans from the Northern states. During this time, Martin Luther King, Jr. was sentenced to four months of jail time until John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy intervened, freeing King. Nixon, while a Duke law student, argued on behalf of equal rights for African Americans but chose to do nothing because he wanted to avoid the "white backlash" against him.

What if Nixon intervened in favor of MLK's liberation?

[Fuzzy Bear]

It would not have affected the 1960 election that much, except to swing Virginia and MAYBE Tennessee to the Democrats.

It would have had more of an impact on the overall direction of the GOP going forward.

[MATTROSE94]

It would not have affected the 1960 election that much, except to swing Virginia and MAYBE Tennessee to the Democrats.

It would have had more of an impact on the overall direction of the GOP going forward.

I could see this scenario resulting in a very narrow victory for Richard Nixon with Missouri, Illinois, and New Jersey flipping (perhaps by only a few hundred votes each). I also think that Richard Nixon will still narrowly hold onto Virginia by a Gerald Ford 1976 margin and Tennessee by a Ronald Reagan 1980 margin, as both states were still somewhat anti-Catholic in terms of Presidential preference in 1960.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It also has to be considered that at most Nixon could do would be to make public statements. All of the officials involved here were Democrats, which is why JFK had any ability all to actually deliver tangible results, Nixon did not have these options. Even if at odds with the national Democratic party, there were still avenues for partisan opportunities to be floated around be it appointments of allies or similar such considerations that a Democratic Administration could provide.

[GregTheGreat657]