What if Gerald Ford had been assassinated in 1975? (Election 1976)

[Sir Mohamed]

What if Gerald Ford has been killed in on one of the two assasination attempts in the fall of 1975?

Is Nelson Rockefeller, the would-have-been-president, able to win a term in his own right in 1976?

[Bigby]

Reagan probably would have primaried him. You might see an earlier Conservative Revolution if he can win the general.

[Mr. Smith]

Rocky probably dies of a heart attack earlier, which leaves the GOP completely open.

[Clark Kent]

Very likely Reagan gets the nomination. Rockefeller might not even run with his age and health problems.

[mianfei]

Reagan probably would have primaried him. You might see an earlier Conservative Revolution if he can win the general.

That assumed Reagan overcomes problems like the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan better than Carter. If he did not, there is room for a radically different 1980s. People focused on politics will forget that the 1980s is where today’s social liberation, especially sexual liberation, really began. A socially very liberal Democrat ruling in the 1980s would make for a very different America today.

[morgankingsley]

Rocky probably dies of a heart attack earlier, which leaves the GOP completely open.

Oh god 5 presidents in 16 years would be a nightmare

[President Johnson]

I think Nelson Rockefeller would have been elected with a sympathy vote. Maybe even with Bob Dole as his running mate. Then, he dies in office and Bob Dole might win 1980 with another sympathy vote. Think of a list of presidents from JFK-LBJ-Nixon-Ford-Rockefeller-Dole, this would have been insane.

[connally68]

I think these kinds of posts are in really bad and poor tastes period.

[morgankingsley]

Rockefeller wins in a sympathy vote, even though the country would be tired of republicans

[mianfei]

Rockefeller wins in a sympathy vote, even though the country would be tired of republicans

It begs the quesiton of whether Rockefeller would have been better than Carter at solving such issues as the energy crisis and the Iran Hostage Crisis, and if he was not my previous post about a socially liberal Democrat ruling in the 1980s – when, after all, sexual liberation was at its peak and inner cities were transformed by the radicalism of bands like AC/DC, Metallica and N.W.A. – certainly applies in full.