1960 Kennedy picks Freeman instead of Johnson for VP

[Lincoln Republican]

In 1960

Massachusetts Senator John F Kennedy picks two term Minnesota Governor Orville Freeman for Vice President instead of Texas Senator Lyndon B Johnson.

Freeman nominated Kennedy at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, and Kennedy respected and admired Freeman, and could work well with him.

Question

Would Kennedy still defeat Richard Nixon in the 1960 Presidential election with Freeman instead of with Johnson as his VP candidate?

John F Kennedy/Orville Freeman vs Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge

Please discuss using maps if you wish.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

JFK loses Texas, but wins everything else:

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

[Lincoln Republican]

Nixon/Lodge                              266
Kennedy/Freeman                     252
Unpledged Electors                     19

[Scam of God]

Nixon/Lodge                              266
Kennedy/Freeman                     252
Unpledged Electors                     19

This probably results in a backroom deal throwing those unpledged electors into the Kennedy camp, in exchange for a crackdown on the Civil Rights movement and Federal support for segregation.

[Lincoln Republican]

Nixon/Lodge                              266
Kennedy/Freeman                     252
Unpledged Electors                     19

This probably results in a backroom deal throwing those unpledged electors into the Kennedy camp, in exchange for a crackdown on the Civil Rights movement and Federal support for segregation.

But what makes you think that a basically liberal President from the northeast from a family with a strong pro civil rights and anti segregation background would ever go for a deal like this?

I believe there is no way that Kennedy would or could go for this deal.

[Scam of God]

Nixon/Lodge                              266
Kennedy/Freeman                     252
Unpledged Electors                     19

This probably results in a backroom deal throwing those unpledged electors into the Kennedy camp, in exchange for a crackdown on the Civil Rights movement and Federal support for segregation.

But what makes you think that a basically liberal President from the northeast from a family with a strong pro civil rights and anti segregation background would ever go for a deal like this?

I believe there is no way that Kennedy would or could go for this deal.

Kennedy wasn't a huge liberal (he actually cut taxes by 20% from the Eisenhower years), and he waivered badly on civil rights - he could probably have been bought out by reactionary interests in the South if it meant the Presidency.

[Lincoln Republican]

Nixon/Lodge                              266
Kennedy/Freeman                     252
Unpledged Electors                     19

This probably results in a backroom deal throwing those unpledged electors into the Kennedy camp, in exchange for a crackdown on the Civil Rights movement and Federal support for segregation.

But what makes you think that a basically liberal President from the northeast from a family with a strong pro civil rights and anti segregation background would ever go for a deal like this?

I believe there is no way that Kennedy would or could go for this deal.

Kennedy wasn't a huge liberal (he actually cut taxes by 20% from the Eisenhower years), and he waivered badly on civil rights - he could probably have been bought out by reactionary interests in the South if it meant the Presidency.

But at what cost?  Selling his soul for the Presidency?

I know that JFK was not considered to be a liberal in the sense that Teddy Kennedy is today, however, he would be turning his back on the black population, a key Democratic constituency, even in 1960.  This could mean major problems for the Democrats for a generation.

I doubt JFK would have done it, unless he uses it as a ploy to get the Presidency, then backtracks, and supports civil rights anyway.  I do not doubt that JFK, or any of the Kennedys for that matter, would have stooped to this level for power.  After all, look at how they stole Illinois in 1960, with the help of the Mafia.  After the Mafia won Illinois for JFK, he then turns around and attacks them through his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

[johnpressman]

Another 1960 scenario, my favorite year.  I just finished David Pietrusza's  book, "1960".

The election of 1960 boiled down to this:  The Northeast was Kennedy's, the West was Nixon's, the election wold be decided in the Midwest and South.  Would Freeman bring additional strength in the Midwest to offset the lack of a Southerner (Johnson) on the ticket?
I think not.  Kennedy won IL and MI by small margins.  I don't see Freeman making a difference in OH, maybe WI.  As for the South, that is another matter entirely.


I believe any Democratic Vice Presidential choice EXCEPT Johnson would have caused Kennedy to lose in 1960.  Without LBJ on the ticket, Texas, and possibly North and South Carolina would have voted Republican, but the number of unpledged and rebellious Electoral College members would have increased, stealing those votes from Kennedy.

JFK's Catholicism was a BIG issue in 1960 as well as the Civil Rights Movement in the first Presidential Election since Little Rock.  Kennedy running without LBJ would have caused a southern  defection from the Democratic Party in 1960 similar to the elections of 1948 and 1968.