Subject: 1968 Election WI: McGovern Wins the Nomination! Date: 10 Jul 2001 01:06:15 GMT From: radhobbes@aol.com (RadHobbes) Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if It's a little known fact that Senator George McGovern recieved 150 delegates at the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention. Suppose Humphrey and McCarthy (1st and 2nd place respectivly) are killed by a bomb, and McGovern is the only viable candidate except LBJ. Of course nobody WANTS LBJ, so I doubt he'd decide to run. However McGovern getting the nod in '68 through Humphrey and McCarthy's death would be worse then the "radical" 1972 convention was in OTL. So we'd have to shake up Miami Beach a little. Reagan makes a spirited bid rather then not annoucing he was avalible until late and deadlocks the convention with Nixon. Rockefeller refuses to give in to either one in hopes that he can become a compromise candidate. Ballots go by with neither one giving in, and the conservative delegates refuse to accept Rockefeller as a suitable choice (he's too liberal). Who does the convention draft as a compromise candidate to face off with McGovern. Both sides would be shattered, and disunited so who would win? Also who would be the running mates? Subject: Re: 1968 Election WI: McGovern Wins the Nomination! Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 04:16:15 GMT From: "Jim McCauley" Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 "RadHobbes" wrote in message news:20010709210615.15227.00002801@ng-cu1.aol.com... > It's a little known fact that Senator George McGovern recieved 150 delegates at > the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention. Suppose Humphrey and McCarthy (1st and > 2nd place respectivly) are killed by a bomb, Well, if your bomb goes off before teh California primary, Senator Robert Kennedy gets Secret Service protection in the aftermath and probably survives to take the nomination. Nixon vs. RFK -- what a war that would have been... > and McGovern is the only viable > candidate except LBJ. No one else made a particularly strong showing in the polls, and McGovern had no real momentum. Henry "Scoop" Jackson could easily have appeared as a dark horse. > Of course nobody WANTS LBJ, so I doubt he'd decide to run. I have to disagree. Think like Johnson: Your Vice President and presumptive heir to office has been slain, along with the man who convinced you to quit in March 1968. The country is in extraordinary turmoil from the Kennedy and King assassinations (I'm assuming that the bomb goes bang after the CA primary here). LBJ would simply step back in and start acting presidential again. LBJ vs. Nixon in '68? Hm. I dunno. Now, as for Miami Beach: Nixon had a lock on the whole thing in March. Reagan himself knew that he was not ready for prime time at the national level (source: his own autobiography). > Also > who would be the running mates? LBJ would have looked north or west, with HHH gone. He might have chosen Edmund Muskie, a fellow he figured he could keep in the shadows. But a really interesting choice would have been a fellow Southerner: Hale Boggs of Louisiana. Together, the two of them could have bent Nixon's Southern Strategy into a pretzel. Jim McCauley Subject: Re: 1968 Election WI: McGovern Wins the Nomination! Date: 10 Jul 2001 04:56:01 GMT From: che49966680@aol.com (Mister Wiggins) Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 >ut a >really interesting choice would have been a fellow Southerner: Hale Boggs of >Louisiana. Or George Wallace... ;-) Mister Wiggins. "Well Govan, If we are to die, let us die like men."- Last words of Pat Cleburne. 1864 "In a dream you are never eighty."- Anne Sexton. Subject: Re: 1968 Election WI: McGovern Wins the Nomination! Date: 10 Jul 2001 05:55:46 GMT From: radhobbes@aol.com (RadHobbes) Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 OK, I'm assuming the bomb goes off after the Cali primary. RFK's dead. Secondly, I assuming Reagan REALLY ran, (annouced in '66 or '67, worked up a good establisment, sort of like Goldwater's supporters gained votes for him from 1961-1964), so it is a deadlock. Thirdly, LBJ was VERY unpopular w/ his screwup of Vietnam, and had ALREADY said he wouldn't run. I think McGovern would have been showered by McCarthyite peace votes (well over 600 delegates), and split enough of HHH's following to bag the nod over Jackson and/or LBJ. Senator Jackson could have been McGovern's Veep, but probably not. Why? Until 1992 (Clinton/Gore) if the Prez was Northern the Veep was Southern and vice versa. So, who's the GOP nominee, eh?