Guest Post: Reagan Elected in 1968

This post first appeared on Today in Alternate History.

January 15, 1969 - Death of JFK

Even the most patriotic Americans could accept the logic of President Kennedy's explanation that "the basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution." But the timing of the statement was to prove unfortunate for the Democrats. Inevitably, there was a political price to pay and his controversial decision to withdraw the USARV saddled his Vice President John Connally with an unfair share of the blame for "losing Vietnam."

Kennedy had run as a hawk in '60, promising to cut the non-existent "missile gap" and deal with the threat from Cuba. However, his public utterances had toned down, and, by the time he addressed the United Nations in September 1963, he was advocating test ban treaties and joint space programs with the Soviet Union. Then in National Security Action Memorandum 263, Kennedy had ordered the withdrawal of one thousand US military personnel from Vietnam by the end of the year. However, it would have been politically impossible for any Cold War President to fully withdraw from Vietnam before '67, and Kennedy was only able to do so because he did not have to face the voters again. Nevertheless, US withdrawal was a humiliating set-back, marking the end of the Domino Theory, and to a certain extent re-defining America's role in the world.

His two-term presidency occurred during a tumultuous time in American history. Narrowly elected with the help of his father and "Landslide" Johnson, Kennedy headed in a different direction from the moment that Democrat William A. Blakley replaced LBJ in the Senate. As it turned out, Kennedy didn't need Johnson's help to win Texas in '64, but, with his legislative program stalled, he surely did miss his influence on the Hill. And after 1965, the country faced multiple crises at home and abroad that proved far more difficult to resolve than Cuban missiles.

Kennedy's opponent in 1960, Richard Nixon, was a popular candidate to replace him, but there was a general feeling that America had to move on from the Truman-Eisenhower-Kennedy era. Nixon had anticipated this possibility, making a secret electoral pact with fellow Californian Ronald Reagan to ensure a conservative candidate won the Republican nomination. Because Nixon had returned to legal practice in New York, he could have chosen Reagan as running mate , but both men believed a more balanced ticket was required to win in the fall. Nixon dropped out after a poor showing in the early primaries, and Reagan stepped in to beat George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller. Nixon would be elected governor of California at his second attempt, promising to continue Reagan's campaign pledges "to clean up the mess at Berkeley" and to send "the welfare bums back to work." This latter became a Reagan mantra.

Ironically, Nixon had lost his '62 gubernatorial race because Californians saw this as only a stepping stone to the presidency; Reagan won the gubernatorial race in '66 and triumphed in the presidential election. Republican celebrations on January 20 were overshadowed, because the year 1969 began on a tragic note as Kennedy died of Addison's Disease. He had in fact been in very bad health for the previous years without the public being made aware. He died less than a week before inauguration, meaning that Connally got to be president, albeit for only five days. It was against this desperately sad backdrop that Reagan attempted to lift the public mood with a soaring inauguration address, declaring, "It's morning again in America." The incoming Administration immediately set about rolling-out the Reagan Mantra at a national level as America began to prepare for a new decade.

Author's Note

In reality, John Tower won the special election to replace Lyndon B. Johnson in the Senate. He became the first Republican to win any popular election in a former Confederate state, and the third to win any election to the Senate from the former Confederacy. After Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, the United States became involved in multiple overseas wars at the cost of trillions of dollars.

Provine's Addendum

While greatly opposed to many of Kennedy's policies, Reagan used the Moon Landing of July 20, 1969, to honor Kennedy while transitioning it to a broader patriotic platform. Many felt the US had taken a black eye in Southeast Asia, and Reagan worked to restore America's stature internationally. Rather than First World and Second World, Reagan's diplomats worked to expand the growing divisions between the USSR and China by encouraging US-Chinese relations. Despite being on different sides in both Korea and Vietnam, Chinese leaders were eager for a balance against USSR interests in western and southern Asia. Reagan even managed to guide Congress into agreeing that selling US arms to China would make for a strong ally. China, financially stunted after troubled years in the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, began to experiment with special economic zones.

At home, America was in an experiment of its own with the Kennedy-era social reforms. Reagan went to work settling the issue of "welfare bums," making many of the programs bureaucratically impossible to take advantage of even for those they were designed to aid. His budgets cut into deeply into government departments, except for Defense. Corporate taxes were cut, too, leading to rapid growth of the largest businesses such as IBM and General Electric. Reagan encouraged massive government investment in defense, especially in potential for space-based defense. Less-expensive, largely reusable "space shuttles" were hurried into production. Soon corporations were spinning off technology to consumers so that by the late 1980s, handheld televisions with wireless headsets and homes with air and water purifiers and memory-foam furniture were common.

Many economic indicators showed that the US was in good shape with Reagan's spending combating unemployment, but the populace struggled with uncertainty. Gas prices were famously tumultuous as OPEC cut production and Reagan countered by opening up more drilling options at home. Reagan kept inflation at bay with high interest rates, which, combined with spending, prompted enormous deficits. He battled with unions to keep wages from going up, which many pointed to inflation creeping up as well. Ongoing struggles with poverty exacerbated national division, especially along racial lines. This would lead into the tumultuous era of the 1980s as new movements sought equality not just in the letter of the law but in the spirit of the nation.