If you could change three presidential elections

[Sir Mohamed]

If you could change three presidential elections, which ones would it be? Choose one for one president (for example not 2008 and 2012 or 1980 and 1984).


I’d change these (in exact this order):

2000: W was a total distater.
1968: Humphrey would have prevented Watergate and ended Vietnam sooner
1852: Franklin Pierce was also an epic failure.

[Hydera]

1968: Humphrey would have prevented Watergate and ended Vietnam sooner

Not a fan of Nixon but by 1972,  96% of all troops already went home.




Which is why McGovern's attempt to use Vietnam was an issue in 1972 backfired since under Nixon the troop count rapidly decreased. Humphrey being President wouldn't of made a difference with the rapid withdrawal.

2000: W was a total distater.

True but a two term Al Gore wouldn't of been able to do much given the GOP's strength in Congressional elections since 1994. Plus the democrat would of gotten the blame for the 2008 crisis. The only goodside i imagine is that Iraq is prevented.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

1988: I hope we can get a 3fer here, no George HW Bush, no Clinton, and no George W Bush
1980: No Reagan moving the country to the right, and hopefully no Bushes.
1924: La Follete over these 2 right-wingers

[Sir Mohamed]

1968: Humphrey would have prevented Watergate and ended Vietnam sooner

Not a fan of Nixon but by 1972,  96% of all troops already went home.




Which is why McGovern's attempt to use Vietnam was an issue in 1972 backfired since under Nixon the troop count rapidly decreased. Humphrey being President wouldn't of made a difference with the rapid withdrawal.

2000: W was a total distater.

True but a two term Al Gore wouldn't of been able to do much given the GOP's strength in Congressional elections since 1994. Plus the democrat would of gotten the blame for the 2008 crisis. The only goodside i imagine is that Iraq is prevented.

I'm sure, with HHH the 1973 peace accord would have been signed by 1969 or 1970 (the Johnson Administration was close to an agreement by the fall of 1968). Over 20,000 troops were killed during Nixon's presidency, that's roughly a third of all losses.

[Classic Conservative]

1964: I want Goldwater
1972: I want Schmitz
Either 1876 or 1888: I would be fine with Tilden and Cleveland

[DavidB.]

1964: Goldwater.
1976: A capable president wouldn't have allowed Iran to become an Islamic Republic.
2008: Seems obvious...

[Clark Kent]

1928: Not the result, but more who was running. The Depression wouldn't have happened under Coolidge.

1964: Goldwater

2004: If the economy was doomed anyways, I'd rather have Kerry take the fall, thought I'd rather have President Romney or another pro-business Republican in 2008 rather than McCain.

[Bojack Horseman]

2008. If McCain had been elected, 2010 would have been just as big a landslide, just in the Democrats' favor, and McCain would have been thrown out on his ancient ass in 2012, as the unemployment rate would have been around 20%.

[OSR stands with Israel]

1916- Wilson 2nd term was horrible and it could have been avoided
1964- LBJ 2nd term was a total disaster and it could have been avoided
2000- John McCain would have been so much better then Bush

[Sumner 1868]

1912- Would like either Taft reelected or Marshall as the Democratic nominee.

1972- McGovern would have had a rough ride, but prevents Nixon's worst actions.

If Trump becomes President- Romney winning 2012.

If Trump does not become president- 1896. Bryan would not have invaded Spain.

[Mr. Smith]

1896, 1980, and 1920

[Mike Thick]

I would probably flip 1992 so we could have another term of Bush the elder, 2012 so we could have President Romney, and 1948 just for kicks.

[Crumpets]

1980 - Carter easily deserved re-election, and the US would almost definitely be better served if Reagan were a Goldwater-esque footnote of history.

1828 - Anything to keep Jackson out of power, and Quincy Adams was fairly benign as a president.

1796 - Jefferson, as much of a wild card as he might have been, would have definitely set a better tone for governance in the 19th century than Adams.

I would have said the Progressives in 1912, 1924, or 1948 or Gore or Kerry, but I can easily imagine any of the ensuing problems they would have faced being blamed on them, and creating a 1980-style backlash, which almost definitely would have left the country worse off. 1876 also deserves an honorable mention, although I just wish Hayes had won clearly, not that Tilden would have beaten him.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

1972: I want Schmitz

You do realize that the American Independent Party was a segregationist outfit, right? Schmitz himself believed that the Civil Rights protesters were Communist agents.

Anyways,

1968   In favor of Hubert H. Humphrey (DEM)
1912   In favor of Theodore Roosevelt (PRO)
1896   In favor of William J. Bryan (DEM-POP)

If we're allowed to include margins of victory, 1876 in favor of Hayes (REP) so that he wins outright (and thus is able to continue Reconstruction).

[Virginiá]

1980 - Carter easily deserved re-election, and the US would almost definitely be better served if Reagan were a Goldwater-esque footnote of history.

Yes! Reagan sure left his mark on this country and is beloved by lots, but that mark hasn't turned out very great and has been festering for years now. Carter wasn't perfect but I really like the man and all views on him as a person aside, I think he would have better for America in the long run. For sure.

As for mine:

2000 - I still think that election was not legitimate (In favor of Gore)
1980 - (As stated above, in favor of Carter)
1864 - Can I change Lincoln's vice president in his reelection? Andrew Johnson was a nuisance and really had no business being president after the Civil War.

[VPH]

1972- I feel that George McGovern would have been a fantastic president and ushered in a new era of progress that would have helped diffuse some of the tensions of the 1970's and improve the economy. At the end of the day I don't see many of his reforms passing, but the ones that do would have an impact. For example, I see a greater push to pass the ERA, Watergate allegations coming out anyway and damaging the GOP, etc.

1980- Carter could have really improved things, and we would not have experienced the same GOP-revolution we did in the status quo. The debt wouldn't be as high either, and I believe that the Dems would have held the South for a bit longer.

1912-I wish Teddy Roosevelt had won because perhaps it would set a longer term precedent for a progressive party to succeed.

[Mr. Reactionary]

1912: Taft over Wilson.
1964: Goldwater over Johnson.
1992: Perot over Clinton/Bush.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Sticking to the last 100 years:

1964- I don't love Goldwater (he's too liberal for me especially as he got older), but he was a lot better than LBJ

1992- Republican leadership was working so well- it was a shame to see it end

2012- Not 2008 because I like Romney better than McCain, and I want to preserve the 2010 midterms.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

1916
1992
2008

[Mr. Smith]

Now as for my answers:

1896: McKinley was just awful. Imperialism and gold-buggery are simply the worst. Bryan would have stopped that, and his personality was more interesting. And he would've been the youngest ever.

1920: Cox would've been the perfect liberal, and there's a very good reason historians on both sides of aisle consider him better objectively. Even if Cox ended up dead, we would've had FDR sooner, which would've meant the opposite of shoddy Mellonomics, Prohibition would've ended sooner...Even if that's not true, Harding was just a mess.

1980: To quote Crumpet: " Carter easily deserved re-election, and the US would almost definitely be better served if Reagan were a Goldwater-esque footnote of history."

[Intell]

1980- Carter deserved Reelection, and Reagan was essentially Goldwater getting elected.
1896- Obsession with the Gold Standard and Business against workers and farmers wasn't needed
1924- Coolidge was just horrible, so fighting bob for the win.

[ScottieF]

1972, 1984, 2000

[OSR stands with Israel]

Not presidential but I will do congressional elections

1964
1986
2002

[courts]

1788

[Oldiesfreak1854]

1828: Jackson was a pro-slavery racist who was responsible for countless Native American deaths and whose economic policies directly contributed to a depression.
1992: No Clinton realignment means the GOP would be much stronger today.
2008: McCain easily could have revitalized the GOP's support with moderate voters.