# What it Nixon had won the '62 CA Governor election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 2, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-it-nixon-had-won-the-62-ca-governor-election/726813 "2015-08-02T17:04:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-it-nixon-had-won-the-62-ca-governor-election/726813/1 "2015-08-02T17:04:54Z")
What impact might it have had on '64, '68? What path would Ronald Reagan’s political career have taken? ---
**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:** [August 2, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-it-nixon-had-won-the-62-ca-governor-election/726813/2 "2015-08-02T20:27:53Z")
Nixon would be governor, Goldwater would run in 1964 and still gotten wiped out, Nixon would leave after serving one term to run for President full-time, Reagan would still run in 1966 and win, and Nixon would still have the nickname “Tricky Dick” when he defeated Humphrey in 1968. In other words, no difference. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-it-nixon-had-won-the-62-ca-governor-election/726813/3 "2015-08-02T20:46:17Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Nixon would be governor, Goldwater would run in 1964 and still gotten wiped out, Nixon would leave after serving one term to run for President full-time, Reagan would still run in 1966 and win, and Nixon would still have the nickname “Tricky Dick” when he defeated Humphrey in 1968. > > In other words, no difference. Actually, I’m not sure Nixon would have stepped down as Governor in 66. Why would he? He could still run for President in 1968. Without this perhaps Reagan never runs for Governor, his political career never takes off and he’s mostly remembered as the host of that horrible anthology series. This would have hugely changed American history. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-it-nixon-had-won-the-62-ca-governor-election/726813/4 "2015-08-02T21:29:16Z")
Even if he doesn’t step down and open up the spot for Reagan he would be in just as good a position to run and win in 68 leaving the door open for Reagan anyway. For Nixon alone it probably wouldn’t make a difference, he had his eye on the presidency, he would have run in 68 whether or not he was also governor.