# Nixon's the one! in 1960 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874 "2007-02-19T21:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/21 "2007-02-20T16:21:07Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] Ruth Buzzi, maybe. [/QUOTE] Richard Nixon and Ruth Buzzi. Thank you for that mental picture. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/22 "2007-02-20T16:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Rieux] Richard Nixon and Ruth Buzzi. Thank you for that mental picture. :eek: [/QUOTE] Who would be on top? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/23 "2007-02-20T16:37:43Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Who would be on top? [/QUOTE] Ruth. All Nixon could do is screw up. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/24 "2007-02-20T22:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=5 time champ] Nixon paranoia: not feeling cheated out of a victory in Ill & Texas, and losing to Pat Brown in '62 CA governor’s race Nixon is not quite so mistrustful of his “enemies.” The Nixon White House has no “Plumbers.” [/QUOTE] It would be a disaster. Nixon would be so distracted by that damn toilet running he’d never get any sleep, and he’d be even more iritable than normal, and so he’d nuke Russia or something. More seriously, here’s the [1960 Republican Party Platform](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showplatforms.php?platindex=R1960) The big thing that’s going to limit our fictional Nixon administration in 1960 is that both houses of Congress are in Democratic hands, which is of course something that limited the actual Nixon administration. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/25 "2007-02-21T03:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] This is the sort of alternate history I love, **5 time champ** ; postulating a small change and running with it. My 1812 thread didn’t go over as well as this, and I think much of that is because Nixon’s a lot easier to imagine differently than Monroe. [/QUOTE] Thanks **Cap’n** but I went a little off track towards the end. From **CA’s** link to the 1960 GOP platform. > [@](#): > > The countries of the free world have been benefited, reinforced and drawn closer together by the vigor of American support of the United Nations :eek: > [@](#): > > Immigration has been reduced to the point where it does not provide the stimulus to growth that it should, nor are we fulfilling our obligation as a haven for the oppressed. Republican conscience and Republican policy require that: > > The annual number of immigrants we accept be at least doubled. :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/26 "2007-02-21T03:41:18Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > Thanks Cap’n but I went a little off track towards the end. Hey, it worked for me. Precious little of what alternate history I can find is actually close enough to my own experience for me to relate to it, and this is a welcome exception. AH is not a very popular genre nowadays, as far as I can tell, Harry Turtledove notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/27 "2007-02-21T03:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Who would be on top? [/QUOTE] He’d probably go down on her. Only Nixon could go to vagina. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/28 "2007-02-21T03:48:26Z")
[QUOTE=5 time champ] Nixon paranoia: not feeling cheated out of a victory in Ill & Texas, and losing to Pat Brown in '62 CA governor’s race Nixon is not quite so mistrustful of his “enemies.” The Nixon White House has no “Plumbers.” [/QUOTE] Wrong. Nixon played hard, even dirty, in every election he ever participated in. In our alternative universe, win big or win small, Nixon would have wanted to make sure his reelection in 1964 would be huge. > [@](#): > > Viet Nam: Nixon, with the anti-comunist bona fides, does not feel pressured to get involved and Asian land war the way JFK & LBJ do. Sure he would. Republicans believed in the Domino Theory as much if not more than Democrats. And Nixon, who clearly remembered the “Who lost China?” debates of the late 1940s, would never want to be tagged with “Who lost Vietnam?” > [@](#): > > Would the Civil Rights movement been changed? No Goldwater defeat in '64, therefore no 'Reagan Revolution" in 1980? Believe it or not, Nixon was generally considered friendly to the civil rights movement, but there’s no way he would have pushed for legislation the way LBJ did. Even if he did, LBJ had arm-twisting clout with the Southern Democrats that Nixon never did. In our alternative universe, who do the Democrats run against Nixon in 1964? Kennedy has already lost. Johnson is still Senate majority leader and seen as the guy who couldn’t get the nomination in 1960. Adlai Stevenson is a footnote in history. Hubert Humphrey had already been blown out by JFK in the 1960 campaign. Robert Kennedy is still an obscure Senate counsel. Who in the Democratic Party is there to take on a sitting president? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/29 "2007-02-21T04:14:52Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] This is the sort of alternate history I love, **5 time champ** ; postulating a small change and running with it. My 1812 thread didn’t go over as well as this, and I think much of that is because Nixon’s a lot easier to imagine differently than Monroe. [/QUOTE] NO, it’s because **5 time champ** made just one small, believable change that could have believably altered the outcome. In your 1812 thread, you altered pretty much everything, all to favour a particular outcome, in a not beleivable way. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/30 "2007-02-21T04:27:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > In our alternative universe, who do the Democrats run against Nixon in 1964? Kennedy can still run; note that many Presidential losers have run again, and a couple have done so successfully (Cleveland, Jackson). Strom Thurmond might, since he ran in our history. George Wallace might, since he ran in our history. Actually, I have a hard time believing that the Democrats would run openly racist candidates during the middle of the Civil Rights era; Stuart Symington, who ran for President in 1960, and instead was reelected to the Senate, might be a viable Presidential candidate in 1964, perhaps with one of the two I mentioned before to draw the Southern Racist Democrat vote. What would this do to the Southern Strategy[sup]tm[/sup]? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/31 "2007-02-21T04:31:36Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] NO, it’s because **5 time champ** made just one small, believable change that could have believably altered the outcome. In your 1812 thread, you altered pretty much everything, all to favour a particular outcome, in a not believable way. [/QUOTE] Potato, potato. Wait, that doesn’t work in writing. You know what I mean. 😃 Seriously, that was what I meant. My lack of connection with that era prevented me from working out the likely results of my change very well, and my desire for that outcome virtually eliminated any chance for realism I had. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/32 "2007-02-21T14:02:44Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] He’d probably go down on her. Only Nixon could go to vagina. … [/QUOTE] Nightmare fuel! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/33 "2007-02-22T05:00:56Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] Who in the Democratic Party is there to take on a sitting president? [/QUOTE] Depending on how much the election results in other races change in this timeline, Gov. Pat Brown of California, former Gov. G. Mennen Williams of Michigan, former Gov. Robert Meyner of New Jersey, and quite a few other Governors and Senators are plausible candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/34 "2007-02-22T12:21:04Z")
Yeah, I was thinking Pat Brown, but thought that since Nixon won the race in '62, there wouldn’t have been anyone much there. Silly me, I forgot. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/35 "2007-02-22T15:07:26Z")
[QUOTE=Governor Quinn] Depending on how much the election results in other races change in this timeline, Gov. Pat Brown of California, former Gov. G. Mennen Williams of Michigan, former Gov. Robert Meyner of New Jersey, and quite a few other Governors and Senators are plausible candidates. [/QUOTE] The only person who had a chance was Pat Paulson. God, I feel old. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874/36 "2007-02-22T15:16:30Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] The only person who had a chance was Pat Paulson. [/QUOTE] Harold Stassen could have taken on the president in a primary challenge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nixons-the-one-in-1960/392874.md?page=1)