1960 Alternate Timeline

[King of Wessex]

Playing this wonderful election game (https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/campaign-trail/), which only focuses on policy/stratergy decisions rather than other aspects such as advertising in other election games. But one result gave me the idea for an alternate timeline. What if Nixon had run on a pro-Civil rights platform?

The POD was (game was on hard BTW):
. I supported with civil rights activists, called Mrs King and nominated Nelson Rockefeller
. I campaigned some more in New York than normal, and abandoned the whoe 50 states visiting thing. Didn't visit the Sout at all

I'm not trying to brag about a game, but this resulted in a Nixon landslide, despite the fact he won a margin of only 0.4% in the popular vote.
Unforutnately I didn't save, but the result was this:



This got me thinking; what if Nixon had run on a pro-civil rights record? Given his earlier record, it's not entirely out of the question. Would this be realistic? I did another game to make sure it was not a fluke; I think I lost one or two states but the landscape, and crucially NY and PA, remained in the Red and the SOuth firmly in the blue. Could have this happened? What would the shape of the Nixon presidency be?

 

[Charles EP M.]

Nixon doesn't seem to have any personal commitment to civil rights and was only willing to use it to keep support from those who did, so it depends on if Nixon thinks "I will definitely benefit" (or thinks Kennedy is leaning there & wants to stop black voters going to him). That part seems plausible. Whether he'd do much in office is the question.

 

[King of Wessex]

Well, that'd have Nixon there during the Cuban Missile Crisis, at the very least, which would be an intresting can of worms to open.

 

[Japhy]

Well, that'd have Nixon there during the Cuban Missile Crisis, at the very least, which would be an intresting can of worms to open.

The Soviets only felt that they could get away with Missiles in Cuba because Khrushchev felt that Kennedy was weak after their first summit. Nixon was a much more known quality whom Nikita had been willing to partake in the farce of the Kitchen debate for because of that. The idea that he'd still put nukes in Cuba is a long shot.

 

[King of Wessex]

The Soviets only felt that they could get away with Missiles in Cuba because Khrushchev felt that Kennedy was weak after their first summit. Nixon was a much more known quality whom Nikita had been willing to partake in the farce of the Kitchen debate for because of that. The idea that he'd still put nukes in Cuba is a long shot.

That’s very true. The Vienna summit was a fiasco in the OTL, I don’t think Kruschkhev would attempt that with Nixon.

Perhaps the Bay of Pigs would succeed? Nixon wouldn’t pull back the air support like Kennedy

 

[King of Wessex]

Here's some possible cold war divergence points:

Cuba: No Missile Crisis (Kruschev thought Kennedy was weak)
Fidel Castro overthrown in US invasion (air support never scaled backed). This contains the cold war and the conflicts in the Americas are not as severe as in the OTL, but the US are shown as aggressors (tide of popular opinion changes, intresting things could precipitate)
Vietnam: War starts probably c. 1964-1965 as in our timeline. Nixon carries out the war more aggressively but does not invade the North. Encroachments on Cambodia and Laos happen early. Pentagon Papers published 1968. War becomes major election issue in 1968, as in our OTL.
Earlier Rapprochment with China?

 

[Charles EP M.]

Thought: does the US get involved as much in Vietnam if the Bay of Pigs works out? Because if there's still an insurgency in 'liberated' Cuba, Nixon may send troops to help and I can see it being harder to ramp up involvement in Vietnam if he's already in a war. (Then again, as long as not too many soldiers are being killed, he could get away with it as long as he goes "USA USA" a lot)

 

[King of Wessex]

Thought: does the US get involved as much in Vietnam if the Bay of Pigs works out? Because if there's still an insurgency in 'liberated' Cuba, Nixon may send troops to help and I can see it being harder to ramp up involvement in Vietnam if he's already in a war. (Then again, as long as not too many soldiers are being killed, he could get away with it as long as he goes "USA USA" a lot)

Interesting. This seems like a feasible idea for a TL (the Cuban Revolt). Not that it would succeed like Vietnam, because there's no 'no-go' area. The North could continue to fight because the US couldn't invade, but this doesn't go for Cuba and the insurgency would be crushed. It would still inspire the youth, popular opinion etc. Think Che Guevera mugs but now they're EVERYWHERE