1960 election if eisenhower never picks Nixon as v.p.

[swky_0rn]

who would run as the  Republican candidate?

[Mr. Smith]

Possibly still Nixon, as a two-term Senator too. He probably would've beat Kennedy.

But methinks Bill Knowland would've been the nominee, and of course, LBJ would probably been the other guy, the map would've looked like '76 if close, '64 if not. Both those guys were manipulative scoundrels.

Although, if everything except the 1958 switch and pick of Nixon happened, Goodwin Knight could've also been the pick.

My money's on Bill Knowland though.

[Kingpoleon]

272: Fmr. Governor Coke Stevenson/Governor Robert Meyner - 47.0%
219: Vice President William Knowland/Senator John Bricker - 46.2%
49: Senator Strom Thurmond/Governor Ross Barnett - 6.3%
Others - 0.5%

Vice President Knowland won the nomination narrowly against Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Chief Justice Thomas Dewey staying neutral, despite Solicitor General Thomas Dewey, Jr.'s, endorsement. Attorney General Earl Warren and Governor Goodwin Knight both remained neutral, but both admit later in life they privately supported Nelson Rockefeller but didn't dare oppose the Knowland-Nixon California machine.

[Sir Mohamed]

Knowland gets the nod, but he’s too conservative to win the election in a year that was favoring the out-party.

✓ Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX): 385 EVs.; 51.1%
Senator William F. Knowland (R-CA)/Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (R-NY): 152 EVs.; 47.0%

[President Johnson]

Governor Goodwin J. Knight (R-CA)/Senator Kenneth Keating (R-NY): 270 EV. (49.72%)
Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX): 259 EV. (49.51%)
Unpledged: 8 EV.

[johnpressman]

Ike hated Sen. Knowland, once referring to him as "how dumb can you get?".  Knowland was rumored to be Robert Taft's choice for VP if he won the nomination in 1952. 

If Nixon had not been Ike's VP, and remained in the Senate, he still would have been a formidable challenger for the GOP nomination in 1960.  His main competitor would still have been Gov. Rockefeller of New York.
Either would have lost to the JFK/LBJ ticket.  The Republican Party was in bad shape in 1960 and the electorate was looking for a change.

[Mr. Smith]

Ike hated Sen. Knowland, once referring to him as "how dumb can you get?".  Knowland was rumored to be Robert Taft's choice for VP if he won the nomination in 1952. 

If Nixon had not been Ike's VP, and remained in the Senate, he still would have been a formidable challenger for the GOP nomination in 1960.  His main competitor would still have been Gov. Rockefeller of New York.
Either would have lost to the JFK/LBJ ticket.  The Republican Party was in bad shape in 1960 and the electorate was looking for a change.

But Knowland was the Minority and Majority Leader throughout the decade, a counterpoint to Landslide Lyndon. He would've kept going if he hadn't desperately and foolishly tried to leave and become Governor in '58, which never would've happened if Nixon hadn't been Veep.

[johnpressman]

You must have not read much about Sen. Knowland.  He was having an affair with the wife of MI Sen. Blair Moody and Knowland's wife was having an affair with Blair! Blair Moody died of a heart attack in 1954 and  Knowland's wife insisted that they leave Washington or she would divorce Bill. I guess if she could no longer continue her affair, he couldn't continue his.

He would up committing suicide in 1974.

[Kingpoleon]

Ike hated Sen. Knowland, once referring to him as "how dumb can you get?".  Knowland was rumored to be Robert Taft's choice for VP if he won the nomination in 1952. 

If Nixon had not been Ike's VP, and remained in the Senate, he still would have been a formidable challenger for the GOP nomination in 1960.  His main competitor would still have been Gov. Rockefeller of New York.
Either would have lost to the JFK/LBJ ticket.  The Republican Party was in bad shape in 1960 and the electorate was looking for a change.

But Knowland was the Minority and Majority Leader throughout the decade, a counterpoint to Landslide Lyndon. He would've kept going if he hadn't desperately and foolishly tried to leave and become Governor in '58, which never would've happened if Nixon hadn't been Veep.

Ike hated Knowland, but JFK hated Lyndon Johnson.

[johnpressman]

JFK didn't hate Lyndon Johnson. It was  Robert Kennedy who hated him. They say "politics make strange bedfellows", however, LBJ was the perfect VP choice for Kennedy.  Johnson was able to diminish the effect of the "Unpledged Electors" that were planning to throw the election into the House of Representatives by denying either major candidate a majority in the Electoral College.

With Johnson holding the South for the Democrats and bringing Texas, his home state into JFK's total, he virtually guaranteed a victory for the Dems in 1960.  No other VP candidate could do the same!