Alternate history: What would America be like if RFK wasn't killed?

[mot78]

I've been thinking about this for quite awile now. The 1968 election was probably the last major realignment of voters, as it showed the transfer of Dixiecrats to Wallace and Nixon. Government programs like Great Society really, and the dominance Liberalism that pervaded this country since the Depression ended, as the GOP smear machine against the word "liberal" and what it stood for began.
If RFK hadn't been shot, and won the 1968 election, what would have happened? Would he have ended Vietnam in 1969? How would the Democrats, and Liberalism as a whole be like today? We sure as hell wouldn't have had the GOP smear machine trash the term "Liberal" since that brow-beating was fostered by Nixon.

[MikeG]

1. Humphrey still had the delegates to win in 1968.

Maybe RFK could have been Veep.

[bluestateguy]

2. Humphrey still wins the nomination

He had the delegates, and the backing of the party regulars. The rules were different prior to 1972, and direct primaries (none of which Humphrey entered) did not account for most of the delegates. Humphrey would have won the nomination, the riots outside the Convention probably still would have happened and Nixon still wins.

[mot78]

3. RFK wasn't Gene McCarthy

I think his popularity and name would have made it harder for Humphrey to pull that off, and party regulars would've moved more towards RFK.

[Rowdyboy]

4. Humphrey probably would have won the nomination

with Bobby as his VP in a unity move. Had Bobby been on, or supported the 1968 ticket, Humphrey would have won and so very much would have been different.

It was a pivotal election, much like the one we faced in 2004.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

5. I'll tell you about who was for RFK.

My dad was a RFK fan..a big fan. He was one of these young urban bluecollar ethnic types.
He was a racist and didnt like the blacks or the "spics" who wanted to move into the neighborhood...he ended up supporting Wallace in '68.

My partners mother was a RFK fan. She was a California Mexcian....she had moved up from El Paso, was a picker, did some manual labor, saw RFK during that ill fated campaign trip throuugh Calfornia.

So, RFK was a politician who was able to unite these divergent interests..the people who the GOP & the racists wanted set against each other.

Man, imagine what this country would have been like if RFK was able to build such a coalition?! And win with it?

If there ever was a tragic road not taken in recent US history that was it.

[mot78]

9. It's pretty hard to imagine something like that happening today

Groups have become more partisan, more devoted to ideological purity.

[ngGale]

12. RFK could have and the good always...

die young. No way even then this country wanted Peace. Not the government, ever. I look back and see we are the 'War Machine.'

[Racenut20]

6. Humphry had lots of delegates but

He didn't have enough to win. RFK's momentum was building and he would have pulled it off. He would have moved to quell the riots in Chicago, like the people in Indianapolis did not riot at MLK death when he was there speaking to them. The Southern strategy would have not have prevailed due to anti-war feeling in the midwest, thus Nixon would have not won.

[genius]

7. RFK would have won. That's why Humphrey needed the RFK delegates

The protests were over the division of the RFK delegates.

If RFK had been President, he would have handled the FBI and dismantled the CIA. JFK was going to dismantle the CIA and withdraw from Vietnam before he was killed. RFK would have ended the war and brought a saner tone to our government.

RFK would have appointed quality justices to the Supreme Court and we would be a lot happier with current decisions.

[mot78]

8. Another question: Wallace and modern conservatism

Would Wallace still have run? Would the South today still be a Democratic bastion? If RFK had won and not Nixon, then it could have cancelled out the coming RW movement of the '70s and '80s, possibly stopping Reagan.

[salonghorn70]

10. What An Interesting Question

I don't know if I have ever seen it asked before.

I still remember the horror of what happened. I was a Soph at UT-Austin and a strong Kennedy supporter. I had gone to bed right as his speech ended. Then I woke the next morning to find out what had happened.

Would Kennedy have gone onto the nomination? I believe so. None of Humphrey's delegates were bound to him. As the convention approached, if Kennedy appeared to be stronger than Humphrey, then the Party Honchos would have switched. Also, I think "Clean Gene" would have endorsed Kennedy at some point.

Would he have beaten Tricky? Who knows. Many voted for Tricky because they felt he had a plan to end the War whereas Humphrey was viewed as continuing LBJ's policies. My parents for example. Loyal Democrats that they were. God Bless em.

What would have happened if Kennedy had won. Not sure. I do feel that we would have gotten out of Viet Nam sooner than 1975.

[mot78]

11. I wholehardedly agree

And this thread needs a kick!