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Nixon leaves office feet-first, 1974

S

Steve Brinson

The possum is not OK. Neither are we.
Location
Brooklyn (originally Houston)
Pronouns
he/him
Richard Nixon's health during his Presidency was not exactly ideal. In particular, during and immediately after his impeachment trial, Nixon suffered a life-threatening attack of his recurring phlebitis, which, among other things, Ford cited as one of the reasons for his pardon. Additionally, the attack required major surgery, during which (IIRC, though I can't find the citation offhand) Nixon went into shock.

It's not hard to imagine a scenario where the stress of the trial leads to Nixon's health worsening or to him not seeking help until it's too late; additionally, it's not impossible to imagine even the Presidential doctors screwing up, either through some bad pharmaceutical reaction (perhaps due to Nixon's high alcohol consumption?) or a simple nicked vein leading to complications. Instead of Nixon leaving the Presidency in disgrace, he dies, suddenly and to great shock. His detractors will be at a loss to how to respond to the new Ford administration, his supporters will be able to paint him as a tribune of the people driven to his death by the East Coast Establishment (and, to the more conspiratorial, a victim of a quiet assassination), and RMN joins JFK, RFK, and MLK among the pantheon of political colossi struck down at the height of their powers.

What happens next? How does the Ford administration carry on without the pardon hanging over it? How do anti-Nixon forces react to their bête noire leaving the stage without them having anything to do with it? How does the backlash against the figures in Congress "who hounded a good man and the President of the United States to his death" play out?
 
When exactly does he go down? If its after some of his triumphs like managing to open China up, then I think he'd manage to leave behind a more positive legacy than he would in real life.
 
Christian said:
When exactly does he go down? If its after some of his triumphs like managing to open China up, then I think he'd manage to leave behind a more positive legacy than he would in real life.
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I was thinking sometime between June, when he suffered an attack of phlebitis OTL, and his resignation. By which point the Watergate hearings are already in full swing and some of the tape transcripts have been released, but SCOTUS may or may not have ruled on whether they are subject to executive privilege.
 
Ricardolindo said:
Not to hijack the thread, but I find this even more interesting.
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It is definitely an interesting alternative scenario - especially because for all the sympathy for Nixon, people who viewed him unfavorably seem likely to privately respond, "the Commander-in-Chief, who had full command of the nuclear arsenal, was clearly deeply unstable and we were right to try to put the Presidency in better hands". It also has implications, probably negatively, for how mental health gets treated.
 
Depending on when exactly he dies, it could be good news for the conservatives who insisted he'd done nothing wrong - Bob Dole and Ronald Reagan suddenly find themselves with a lot of intraparty power over the embarrassed moderates. VP Dole instead of Rockefeller seems likely at the very least.
 
I could imagine the AEI or Heritage Foundation lionizing Nixon in a similar way to their whitewashing of Reagan. Instead of the Watergate affair we know, it becomes an Iran Contra-esque "unhealthy president is driven to the edge by criminals within his administration" thing.

As for the Ford presidency, I suspect he'd be re-elected without having the baggage of Watergate and the pardon.
 
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