Dr. King is never assassinated.

[kashifsakhan]

How would US history and politics have played out had Martin Luther King Jr. never been assassinated? Would he have entered politics at some point? If yes, would he have been like Jesse Jackson, or would he have done better/worse?

[Enderman]

We'd probably see Senator King (I-GA) throughout the '70s and during the '80s he's trying to be coaxed into the Republican Party...

[Mechaman]

He'd probably be treated like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton if he lived.  And when he died he'd probably get AT BEST a Ted Kennedy response.

A part of me would like to think that Dr. King living would've made things like income inequality and military adventurism things of the past, however the realist in me is saying he'd be laughed into obscurity once Jim Crow was off of everybody's radar.
Like the man himself said "Everybody is with you when you rally for non-violent action against Jim Crow.  However, they ignore you if you rally against violent action against little brown Vietnamese children."

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Due to his status as a civil rights hero, he'd easily capture the Republican presidential nomination, choosing an acclaimed African Americans friend, California Governor Ronald Reagan, as his running mate. Then, he'd demolish the racist party candidates come November.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (R-All American)/Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA): 488 electoral votes
Vice President Cotton Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)/Senator Edmund "Bubba" Muskie (D-ME): 50 electoral votes

MLK/Reagan best states were Massachusetts (Charles Sumner's Land!) and Maine (Hannibal Hamlin's Land!)

The DemocRATs wins only the Solid South (with Mississippi as their best state), and the District of Columbia, where the people are tragically misinformed by wrong history textbooks.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

King would have died in the mid eighties from heart disease. He would be remembered as a more likeable Jesse Jackson, as already mentioned.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

He was a threat to not only corporations but to the US involvement in Vietnam. Galvanizing more black youths to vote. The turnout dropped dramatically during Reagan and Nixon. And mayor of Atlanta.

[Peter the Lefty]

Due to his status as a civil rights hero, he'd easily capture the Republican presidential nomination, choosing an acclaimed African Americans friend, California Governor Ronald Reagan, as his running mate. Then, he'd demolish the racist party candidates come November.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (R-All American)/Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA): 488 electoral votes
Vice President Cotton Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)/Senator Edmund "Bubba" Muskie (D-ME): 50 electoral votes

MLK/Reagan best states were Massachusetts (Charles Sumner's Land!) and Maine (Hannibal Hamlin's Land!)

The DemocRATs wins only the Solid South (with Mississippi as their best state), and the District of Columbia, where the people are tragically misinformed by wrong history textbooks.

Have you heard any of King's quotes regarding income distribution, social justice, poverty, etc.?  The man was clearly the last person on earth to run for President on the Republican ticket. 

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Due to his status as a civil rights hero, he'd easily capture the Republican presidential nomination, choosing an acclaimed African Americans friend, California Governor Ronald Reagan, as his running mate. Then, he'd demolish the racist party candidates come November.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (R-All American)/Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA): 488 electoral votes
Vice President Cotton Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)/Senator Edmund "Bubba" Muskie (D-ME): 50 electoral votes

MLK/Reagan best states were Massachusetts (Charles Sumner's Land!) and Maine (Hannibal Hamlin's Land!)

The DemocRATs wins only the Solid South (with Mississippi as their best state), and the District of Columbia, where the people are tragically misinformed by wrong history textbooks.

I think if he would have lived he would of got more GOTV effect to influence the teddy Kennedy primary against Carter to counter the Daley endorsement for Carter. Both Jane Byrne and King would have gotten Teddy elected prez.

[TNF]

Given the Debs treatment.

[Arturo Belano]

Due to his status as a civil rights hero, he'd easily capture the Republican presidential nomination, choosing an acclaimed African Americans friend, California Governor Ronald Reagan, as his running mate. Then, he'd demolish the racist party candidates come November.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (R-All American)/Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA): 488 electoral votes
Vice President Cotton Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)/Senator Edmund "Bubba" Muskie (D-ME): 50 electoral votes

MLK/Reagan best states were Massachusetts (Charles Sumner's Land!) and Maine (Hannibal Hamlin's Land!)

The DemocRATs wins only the Solid South (with Mississippi as their best state), and the District of Columbia, where the people are tragically misinformed by wrong history textbooks.

MLK was most likely a democratic socialist you silly wallaby.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Due to his status as a civil rights hero, he'd easily capture the Republican presidential nomination, choosing an acclaimed African Americans friend, California Governor Ronald Reagan, as his running mate. Then, he'd demolish the racist party candidates come November.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (R-All American)/Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA): 488 electoral votes
Vice President Cotton Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)/Senator Edmund "Bubba" Muskie (D-ME): 50 electoral votes

MLK/Reagan best states were Massachusetts (Charles Sumner's Land!) and Maine (Hannibal Hamlin's Land!)

The DemocRATs wins only the Solid South (with Mississippi as their best state), and the District of Columbia, where the people are tragically misinformed by wrong history textbooks.

MLK was most likely a democratic socialist you silly wallaby.

I had no idea!

[RosettaStoned]

 He probably would have become a Congressman from Georgia and perhaps, might have been Mondale's running mate in 1984.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

LOL at the idea that he'd become a Republican.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

LOL at the idea that he'd become a Republican.

You do realize he was being sarcastic, no?

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

This whole thread seems to have its sarcasm meter broken.

[Del Tachi]

I like to think that he would have generally started to remove himself from public life during the early 1970s, partially due to the fact that he would realize that the window of opportunity relating to racial issues in the United States had closed and he didn't want incriminating information about his personal life to be released.

If he took a low-route from there-on, he probably would have started some Black super-megachurch in Atlanta or something like that.  However, maybe he would have become more intellectual and become an academic or something.  If he gets engaged in academia, I'm pretty sure he'd be the highest paid college professor in the United States - just because universities would want him for the PR.  I wonder if he would have gone to one of the more well-established HBCUs (like Howard) or gone to an Ivy or to Emory or something.

He probably would have reemerged into the spotlight briefly during apartheid's final days in 1994, and the comparisons drawn between Mandela and King in the press would be innumerable.  His death would have been a big deal, probably bigger than Ted Kennedy's but not quite as big as Mandela's himself.   

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I like to think that he would have generally started to remove himself from public life during the early 1970s, partially due to the fact that he would realize that the window of opportunity relating to racial issues in the United States had closed and he didn't want incriminating information about his personal life to be released.

If he took a low-route from there-on, he probably would have started some Black super-megachurch in Atlanta or something like that.  However, maybe he would have become more intellectual and become an academic or something.  If he gets engaged in academia, I'm pretty sure he'd be the highest paid college professor in the United States - just because universities would want him for the PR.  I wonder if he would have gone to one of the more well-established HBCUs (like Howard) or gone to an Ivy or to Emory or something.

He probably would have reemerged into the spotlight briefly during apartheid's final days in 1994, and the comparisons drawn between Mandela and King in the press would be innumerable.  His death would have been a big deal, probably bigger than Ted Kennedy's but not quite as big as Mandela's himself.   

I'd imagine that it would go more or less like this, but that he would die in the early to mid 1980s. He had the heart of a sixty year old man, according to the autopsy.