Would RFK have won 1968 election ?

mikedublin

I'm just wondering if anyone has any views on whether Bobby Kennedy would have won the Democratic Nomination, and then the 1968 election had he not been shot in the Ambassador Hotel in June 68.
It seems to be one of those moments when one event changes the whole course of history.
I wonder how history might have been changed if he had won ? He would have been President from 68 to 72, so no Watergate, would he have won again in 72 ? Or maybe the Reagan years might have been 72 to 80 ?
Anyone like to speculate on the alternative history we could have had ?

GuanYin

I'm so tempted to move this to Psychics and Mediums forum.....

I'm not sure, BUT, I do know that there is a series of "What If" historical books out there, speculating on how the world would be different if certain things had changed. The one I remember seeing (not reading, it belonged to a guy friend) was what if JFK had lived. There is also another I saw in a bookstore that covered events in a world where Germany had won WWII.

They are all based on politics of the time and speculation on known political plans.

Does anyone know the books in question? Is there one that covers the OPs topic?

Black Swan

GuanYin wrote: »

I'm so tempted to move this to Psychics and Mediums forum.....

Cool!:D Or maybe the Film forum to discuss the next "Back to the Future" sequel?

metaoblivia

I've always been told that if RFK hadn't been assassinated he would have won the election in '68. Of course, I live in Massachusetts and everyone who's said this has been a liberal, so take it as you will.
But he was wildly popular with some constituents. His handlers had to pull him out of crowds because they would start tearing at his clothes. He was very similar to Obama in that he was seen as the voice of a new generation and change, he finally came out publically against Vietnam, he was very passionate about Civil Rights, etc.. Likewise, he was very unpopular with some voters, especially those down South, where his stance on Civil Rights as Attorney General under JFK made him public enemy number 1 (when JFK was assassinated, RFK said he had always thought they would go after him first, not JFK). And had the election continued, who knows what kind of dirt his opponents would try to reveal about him. He was a Kennedy, so there was plenty available.
I think it's ashame he was assassinated and we'll never know the answers. Of all the Kennedys, RFK is my favorite, so I'd like to think he would have made a good president.

Pocono Joe

I wouldn’t be so fast to assume Robert Kennedy would have been elected POTUS. The Democratic party was pretty well split at the time with the two extremes being progressives and southern democrats. Also, Lyndon B Johnson and RFK hated each other. I remember recently seeing a History Channel documentary (The Presidents) sgement on LBJ indicating that the night John F Kennedy picked LBJ to be VP in his run for president, RFK visited LBJ in his hotel room and told him to withdraw from the ticket. LBJ instructed RFK that if JFK wanted him to drop out of the run, JFK would have to ask him personally. JFK went against RFK’s wishes and kept LBJ on the ticket, presumably to keep the Dixiecrats happy. Although LBJ decided not to run for a second term, his supporters would have been hard pressed to put their backing behind RFK. Remember RFK was shot during the primary run.

But is almost a given that if RFK would have been elected president, the Vietnam War would have ended several years earlier.

The Mad Hatter

Enough acronyms there, PJ?

Pocono Joe

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Enough acronyms there, PJ?

Nothing in the new "Politics Charter" indicates it’s against the rules to be a bit on the lazy side.

Black Swan

Found this about RFK and the 1968 Democratic primaries:

"At the time of Kennedy’s assassination he was second in delegates won with 393. Hubert Humphrey was in first place with 561 delegates. Eugene McCarthy was in 3rd place with 258 delegates. Humphrey of course ended up being the nominee and it’s likely he would have been the nominee even if Kennedy had not been shot."

Source: http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/the-truth-about-the-1968-democratic-primary/485/

B2k

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Found this about RFK and the 1968 Democratic primaries:

"At the time of Kennedy’s assassination he was second in delegates won with 393. Hubert Humphrey was in first place with 561 delegates. Eugene McCarthy was in 3rd place with 258 delegates. Humphrey of course ended up being the nominee and it’s likely he would have been the nominee even if Kennedy had not been shot."

Source: http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/the-truth-about-the-1968-democratic-primary/485/

Theres a direct quote from Nixon after the California primary that RFK won where hes asked about the race between humphrey and kennedy and he simply says "nothing can stop a kennedy campaign in full flow" He admitted after RFK was buried that he thought RFK would have gotten the nomination.

And I'm unsure which democratic politician said this (I'm too lazy to research it!) "The assasination of RFK has set American society back forty years."

Forty years later... The first Black president of the USA is elected... :L:D

Dannyboy83

I think he would have been one of the best Presidents (and consequently one of the most hated, especially in BibleLand)