Ok...after it seems, my President Goldwater mini tl had lost interest in readers in the board. Ive decided to give it a go at another one of my favorite POD's what if Nelson Rockefeller ran in 1960? To see what happens stay tuned...
*************
Nelson Rockefeller decision to challenge the sitting Vice President Nixon for the Presidential nomination of the Republican Party of 1960 was a very gutsy one indeed. Using his enormous financial wealth and resources, the popular New York Governor was able to peel away enough Progressive voters in the party to seep the limited primary season of 1960. The convention on the other hand was another beast in its entirety, but after several rounds of balloting he was able to best the car salesmen-like Nixon for the nomination. He would face an even tougher General Election campaign against the vibrant campaign of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy. The first televised debates between the two proved largely inconclusive, as both candidates seemed incredibly well-versed on the issues, as well as looked good on camera. However it would be questions over Jack’s playboy image, lack of significant foreign policy experience and some states his Catholicism which cost him the incredibly close victory in the 1960 election. Rocky would win the election 274 electoral votes to Jack’s 244 Electoral Votes, while a coalition of unpledged states rights electors cobbled up only 19 votes.
Nelson A. Rockefeller/Roman Hruska: 274 Electoral votesJohn F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson: 244 Electoral votesUnpledged States Right's Electors: 19 Electoral votes
Nelson Rockefeller would be sworn in on January 20th 1961 as the nation’s 35th President as a shinning beacon of optimism. His Presidency however would be less than that as for a majority of his term would be fighting Secretary Khrushchev on issues such as the Berlin Wall, A failed CIA relation assassination attempt against Fidel Castro establishment of the Alliance of Progress for Latin America, and of course the Space Race However. Yet by the second year of his Presidency, Rockefeller was determined to make a firm stand in support of Civil Rights. That decision would end up costing the 35th President his life as Rocky is assassinated when he decided to escort James Meredith, The first African American student, personally to the University of Mississippi on October 1st 1962. Although followed by both the National Guard and the U.S. Marshall, a dangerous riot occurred on the campus grounds. President Rockefeller would turn out to be one of the victims, after he is shot in the chest several times, by a Southern segregationist. He would not survive his wounds, and the former Senator from Nebraska…Roman Hruska is sworn as the nation’s 36th President.
President Hruska’s term in office started off very quickly as it was discovered that the Soviets had several nuclear missiles in Cuba. Although many American’s were deeply concerned about having such a staunch conservative with his hands on the nuclear button, cooler heads would prevail, and Hruska’s America would barely survive the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although he would be a champion of fiscal conservatism as he cut back funding for a lot of domestic programs, some of his cuts were deemed highly unpopular with the American People. Hruska would however, using the death of President Rockefeller at the hands of a Segregationist as a weapon, craft the Civil Rights Act of 1963(Essentially the same as in OTL) with the help of a coalition of liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans. Many on the Conservative wing of the GOP, felt as if Hruska had betrayed their ideals, and even suggested that Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater run against the incumbent President. Goldwater refused, and President Hruska would go on to win re-nomination, with his popular choice of a Vice Presidential Running mate, Senator Prescott S. Bush of Connecticut. However, the Hruska/Bush ticket could not overcome the winds of change, after 12 years of Republican administration; the American people would decide to go with the dynamic and young ticket of the liberal Senator from Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey and Governor Pat Brown of California, in a narrow rout. With Hruska’s betrayal on Civil rights and Humphrey’s nomination on the Democrat side, The South would go with Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus on the States Rights Ticket.
Hubert H. Humphrey/ Edmund G. “Pat” Brown: 318 Electoral votesRoman Hruska/ Prescott S. Bush: 167 Electoral votesOrval Faubus/ John C. Stennis: 53 Electoral votes 
President Humphrey would come into office setting a blazing trail of new and reformed Domestic Programs as he took full advantage of his Democratic Majority in Congress. His “Great Society” programs included aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime, and removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Yet, it would be his continued policy of escalation in the War in Vietnam, his Mitigation approach to the urban riots, as well as over-taxation for his social programs that would erode his base of support. He would seek reelection for a second term, but face a strong primary challenge from Anti-war Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin (Robert Kennedy is Humphrey’s Attorney General, Jack died of Congestive Heart failure on November 22nd 1963, in which Teddy now serves in his old seat). Humphrey openly campaigned in all of the primary contests, except for the California Primary, in which Surrogate AG Robert Kennedy was assassinated on June 4th 1968, after an extremely narrow Humphrey victory in the Golden state. In spite of a chaotic convention, Richard Daley and the Party bosses would ensure the President’s re-nomination.
Yet it would be Pyrrhic victory, as the Southern Delegates walked out of the convention and formed their own party…The American Independent Party lead by staunch segregationist Governor George C. Wallace. On the Republican side, many within the party turned toward the late President Rockefeller’s younger brother…Governor Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas. Although only within his 1st year of his governorship, a massive grassroots campaign and his moderate to conservative stances on the issues, articulated by his campaign manager Richard Nixon. He would best ultra Conservative/Hruska supported Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and former Vice Presidential nominee Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut in a most of the primaries. In hopes of unifying the party, and weakening Humphrey’s support in the industrial states, Winthrop chose Michigan Senator Robert P. Griffin as his running mate. The third party candidacy of George Wallace hurt both Rockefeller and Humphrey in the South, but he would not attain his goal of throwing the election to the house, as Governor Rockefeller would win an extremely narrow victory overt the incumbent President.
Winthrop A. Rockefeller/Robert P. Griffin: 283 Electoral votesHubert H. Humphrey/ Edmund G. “Pat” Brown: 168 Electoral votesGeorge C. Wallace/ Albert B. “Happy” Chandler: 87 Electoral votes
