1968: George Romney the Republican nominee

[GeorgiaModerate]

Are we assuming the brainwashing remark never happens, or that it happens after he gets the nomination?

[GeorgiaModerate]

This interests me greatly, as the 1968 election was the first one I followed avidly -- and that interest was triggered by an ongoing debate between my parents on whether to support Romney or Nixon.  I might try to have some fun with this.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 5, 1968, 1:45 A.M.  Governor George Romney switched off the lamp, slid into bed, and closed his eyes.  It had been a long day, he thought, in a long campaign, but at least it was the last one.  Tomorrow -- or rather, later that day -- he and millions of other Americans would cast their votes; and by late that night, he would in all probability be elected President of the United States.  Romney felt confident, although he knew that in politics it was never over until all the votes were counted.  The polls showed him with a small lead, although Humphrey had closed the gap as summer turned to fall, especially after Johnson had stopped the bombing in Vietnam.  But he had the satisfaction of knowing he'd run a good campaign and done everything he could to win.  

His running mate, John Tower, had also proved to be an asset; although Romney was initially reluctant to pick the Texas senator, it had been a necessary compromise.  Romney had finished a respectable second to Nixon in the primaries.  Along with Reagan, Rockefeller, and a host of favorite sons, they'd kept Nixon from a majority on the first ballot.  The three R's had come together in a stop-Nixon movement [1], agreeing to support Romney.  A deal to make Tower his running mate secured the Texas delegation, putting Romney over the top on the third ballot.  [2]  Tower also wasn't a bad choice to balance the ticket, Romney had to admit, for both geographic and ideological reasons.

Romney's main remaining worry was George Wallace, who was too clever by half.  Wallace had toned down the racist talk during the last few months, possibly influenced by his running mate, Happy Chandler. [3]  Wallace already had the segregationists in his pocket, so he'd been playing up a populist theme of appealing to the working class, and slamming the political establishment with his signature line that there wasn't a "dime's worth of difference" between the two major parties.  

But still, Romney thought as he drifted into sleep, Wallace probably would win a few Southern states, but the Republicans had plenty of slack -- especially if they could pick up Tower's Texas, which it looked like they just might do.

TO BE CONTINUED

[1] Reagan and Rockefeller actually did this in OTL, but didn't have enough delegates to stop Nixon.  With Romney still in the race with a significant number of delegates, they were successful.

[2] In OTL, Tower was nominated as a favorite son by the Texas delegation, and was also considered as Nixon's running mate.

[3] A. B. "Happy" Chandler of Kentucky was an interesting figure.  He served as Senator, twice as Governor (20 years apart!), and was Commissioner of Major League Baseball for several years.  He was Wallace's first choice for running mate, and the two held several meetings but were unable to come to an accord on racial issues.  Chandler was ahead of his time for a Southern Democrat; as baseball commissioner, he was a key figure in allowing the Dodgers to sign Jackie Robinson and integrate the sport.  As Governor, he promised to enforce Brown, and used National Guard troops to do so.  I'm assuming that Wallace was pragmatic enough to make some concessions to Chandler (a much better choice than General LeMay) -- or at least to make Chandler believe that he had.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 5, 1968, 8:30 P.M.  Polls were now closed in half the country, with significant results from some of the earlier closing states. [4]  Indiana, Ohio, and Vermont had been called for Romney, with West Virginia going to Humphrey.  Alabama, based on very early returns, was piling up a huge majority for its native son, Wallace.  The remaining states were either close or had only scattered returns to report. 

Romney/Tower: 42
Humphrey/Muskie: 7
Wallace/Chandler: 10

TO BE CONTINUED

[4] I couldn't find a list of poll closing times in 1968, so I'm using the times from 2016.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 5, 1968, 11:00 P.M.  With polls closing on the West Coast, the map has gradually filled in.  Wallace is sweeping the South, with AR, GA, LA, MS, and SC called for him. [5]  He also leads in TN, but it's close enough not to call yet.  Humphrey has picked up the biggest prize, New York's 43 electoral votes, and a handful of other Democratic strongholds.  Romney has claimed his home state of Michigan [6] and Virginia, among others, and leads in the important states of Florida and Illinois.  Among the remaining states, there are a number of close races.  Some of them, particularly in the Upper South stretch from Missouri to North Carolina, are really close.

Romney/Tower 160
Humphrey/Muskie 103
Wallace/Chandler 53

TO BE CONTINUED

[5] Romney, a strong supporter of civil rights, was unable to gain the level of Southern support that Nixon had.  As a result, he ran behind Nixon through most of the region.  The presence of John Tower (a vocal opponent of both the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act) helped to mitigate this -- but not by much, except in Texas.  South Carolina to Wallace is a flip from OTL; Nixon won it by 5.8%.

[6] This is a flip from OTL, where Humphrey won by 6.7%.  Romney's popularity in his home state overcame the strength of organized labor.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 6, 1968, 2:30 A.M.  Florida and Illinois have now been called for Romney, among others.  Perhaps the most surprising is Kentucky, the home of Happy Chandler, Wallace's running mate; Romney won with 35% over Humphrey's 33% and Wallace's 32%.  However, Humphrey has picked up Pennsylvania, and Wallace has taken Tennessee with 37% to Romney's 34% [7].  The remaining uncalled states are:

Alaska: Romney has an early lead, but there are too few votes counted to project.

California: Humphrey has a slight lead with 70% counted.

Washington: see California, but with 82% in.

Texas: 94% of precincts are in, and Romney leads by 2%.  This one will probably be called soon.  It looks like picking Tower as his running mate has paid off for Romney.

Missouri: With 98% counted, Romney leads by 1500 votes.  However, most of the remaining precincts are in or around St. Louis, and they're likely to go Democratic.  This one isn't over.

North Carolina: Nominally 100% have reported, but the count is not final.  It currently shows a razor-thin margin for Romney (166 votes out of 1.5 million), but there have been several reports of transcription errors changing the totals from various counties.  The state has suspended all counting until the morning; in any case, a recount looks certain.

Romney/Tower 236
Humphrey/Muskie 136
Wallace/Chandler 64

TO BE CONTINUED

[7] Tennessee is a flip from OTL, where Nixon won by almost the same margin.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 6, 1968, 3:30 A.M.  Texas is called for Romney! [ 8 ]  He now needs only one of the remaining states (other than Alaska) for the win.  But all four of those states are within 1%.

Romney/Tower 261
Humphrey/Muskie 136
Wallace/Chandler 64

TO BE CONTINUED

[ 8 ] Because of Tower, this is a flip from OTL, where Humphrey won by 1.3%.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 6, 1968, 5:45 A.M.  With 99% counted in California, Humphrey has an apparently insurmountable 40,000 vote lead, and the networks call it.  [9] The Democrat hasn't won that many states, but they include the three biggest: New York, California, and Pennsylvania.  In the remaining states, Romney leads in slow-counting Alaska, while the other three are done counting or very close to it.  Humphrey has a slim lead in Washington (7,000 votes) and a slimmer one in Missouri (900); St. Louis came through for him at the end.  And North Carolina remains with a razor-thin lead for Romney.

Romney/Tower 261
Humphrey/Muskie 176
Wallace/Chandler 64

TO BE CONTINUED

[9] This is a flip from OTL.  Nixon won California by 3%, but without the home-state effect Romney fell short.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 6, 1968, 8:30 A.M.  Washington and Alaska have been called for Humphrey and Romney respectively.  Missouri hasn't been called yet, but apparently final results give Humphrey a 978-vote lead.  A recount looms, but that margin will be hard to overcome.  And so as the day begins, all eyes turn to North Carolina.

Romney/Tower 264
Humphrey/Muskie 197 (including MO)
Wallace/Chandler 64

10:00 A.M. After a conference call with each county's supervisor of elections, the North Carolina Secretary of State announces that Romney's lead over Wallace is actually 76 votes, not 166.  A transposition error in one county had shorted Wallace by 90 votes (2673 vs 2763).  The Secretary of State has instructed each county to recanvass all precincts and check their totals, with results to be reported later this afternoon.

TO BE CONTINUED

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 6, 1968, 4:30 P.M.  The North Carolina State Board of Elections announces the results of the recanvass.  There were several minor errors and one major one: a precinct initially reported 100 too many votes for Romney due to a clerk's sloppy writing (215 were cast, but the 2 looked like a 3).  After all precincts were totaled, the new result is:

Wallace 560,219
Romney 560,196
Humphrey 464,115

Wallace leads by 23 votes.  The Board of Elections announces that it will initiate a statewide recount on its own discretion beginning the next morning.  The recount is expected to last two days.

November 7, 1968, 6:00 P.M.  The first day of the North Carolina recount ends.  Wallace has lost a net 9 votes to Romney and now leads by 14.

November 8, 1968, 3:00 P.M.  The Missouri Board of Elections certifies Hubert Humphrey as the winner by 978 votes.  The Romney campaign immediately files a recount request, which is granted.  As it is now Friday afternoon, the recount will begin Monday morning.

8:00 P.M.  Due to a large number of challenged ballots, the North Carolina recount is still ongoing.  Wallace gained a net 27 votes today and now leads by 41.  The count will continue on Saturday and is expected to be completed then.

November 9, 1968, 2:15 P.M.  The North Carolina Board of Elections announces the final recount total:

Wallace 560,229
Romney 560,192
Humphrey 464,113

Wallace has won North Carolina by 37 votes.  Unless the Missouri recount changes the result, no candidate will have an Electoral College majority, and the election will go to the House.

Romney/Tower 264
Humphrey/Muskie 197
Wallace/Chandler 77

TO BE CONTINUED

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 12, 1968, 4:00 P.M.  The Missouri recount has finished, with the final result:

Humphrey 768,944
Romney 767,932
Wallace 275,912

Humphrey wins the state by 1,012 votes.  The national popular vote totals:

Romney 31,268,362 (42.98%)
Humphrey 30,844,141 (42.40%)
Wallace 10,636,163 (14.62%)

Romney's margin is 424,221 (0.58%).  Here's the popular vote map:

The 10 closest states:

NC 0.002% Wallace over Romney
MO 0.06% Humphrey over Romney
WA 0.58% H/R
CA 0.62% H/R
PA 1.41% H/R
TX 1.98% R/H
KY 2.00% R/H (2.81% R/W)
NJ 2.15% R/H
AK 2.64% R/H
IL 2.93% R/H

TO BE CONTINUED

[Note: I have the rest of the timeline plotted out, but will be traveling this week and my presence here will be somewhat spotty.  But never fear, the whole thing will be published eventually.]

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 6, 1968, 4:30 P.M.  The North Carolina State Board of Elections announces the results of the recanvass.  There were several minor errors and one major one: a precinct initially reported 100 too many votes for Romney due to a clerk's sloppy writing (215 were cast, but the 2 looked like a 3).  After all precincts were totaled, the new result is:

Wallace 560,219
Romney 560,196
Humphrey 464,115

Wallace leads by 23 votes.  The Board of Elections announces that it will initiate a statewide recount on its own discretion beginning the next morning.  The recount is expected to last two days.

November 7, 1968, 6:00 P.M.  The first day of the North Carolina recount ends.  Wallace has lost a net 9 votes to Romney and now leads by 14.

November 8, 1968, 3:00 P.M.  The Missouri Board of Elections certifies Hubert Humphrey as the winner by 978 votes.  The Romney campaign immediately files a recount request, which is granted.  As it is now Friday afternoon, the recount will begin Monday morning.

8:00 P.M.  Due to a large number of challenged ballots, the North Carolina recount is still ongoing.  Wallace gained a net 27 votes today and now leads by 41.  The count will continue on Saturday and is expected to be completed then.

November 9, 1968, 2:15 P.M.  The North Carolina Board of Elections announces the final recount total:

Wallace 560,229
Romney 560,192
Humphrey 464,113

Wallace has won North Carolina by 37 votes.  Unless the Missouri recount changes the result, no candidate will have an Electoral College majority, and the election will go to the House.

Romney/Tower 264
Humphrey/Muskie 197
Wallace/Chandler 77

TO BE CONTINUED

So if the election goes to the House of Representatives as you say, then Humphrey wins since the House of Representatives was controlled by the Democrats at that time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_1966

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_1968

Not to get ahead of myself, but it's not quite that cut and dried...the state delegations in the new House have 19 controlled by Republicans, 5 split evenly, and 26 controlled by Democrats.  But 8 of the 26 are the Southern states won by Wallace -- some of them by overwhelming margins.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I'm traveling this week and don't have a lot of time, but here's a small teaser:

November 15, 1968, 10:00 A.M.  George Romney was in his office in the Governor's mansion, trying to focus on some paperwork, although his mind was mostly elsewhere.  He wouldn't be Governor much longer, but he owed it to the people of Michigan to give them his best until January.  He'd expected to be busy working on his Presidential transition now.  He'd come so close...

The desk intercom buzzed and Romney pushed the button to respond.  His secretary's voice came through the speaker: "Excuse me, Governor.  There's a phone call that I think you will want to take."

"Who is it?"

"It's George Wallace, sir."

Romney thought for a moment, then took a deep breath.  "Put him through."

TO BE CONTINUED

[GeorgiaModerate]

[I'm back from vacation.  This installment continues immediately after the last brief snippet.]

The light on Romney's desk phone started blinking.  He picked up the handset and said, "George Romney here."

A familiar Southern accent came through the receiver.  "Good morning, Governor, this is George Wallace.  How are you this morning?"

"I'm doing well, Governor.  How about yourself?"

"Doing fine, just fine.  I wanted to congratulate you on your excellent campaign, very clean and well run."

"Congratulations on your campaign as well, Governor.  It was a very impressive result for a third party."

"Best showing since Teddy Roosevelt, they tell me.  Just between you and me, it was maybe a little bit better then I was expecting.  And that brings me to the main reason for this call, although it's always a pleasure talking to you just for its own sake.  I believe that you and I could be of mutual benefit to one another."

"In what way, Governor?"

"Well, it's like this.  You may have heard that my electors are pledged to vote for whomever I direct them to, whether that's myself or someone else, and as a matter of fact this is the case.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you're just half a dozen electors short of a majority.  It would be an easy matter for me to deliver more than enough votes for you to be elected President."

"That would be a very desirable outcome, Governor, and I'd appreciate it very much."

"Yes, I'm sure of that.  And that appreciation is what I'd like to talk to you about.  As I said earlier, I'd like to come to an arrangement to both our benefits."

"I see."  Romney paused.  "What form of benefit are you looking for?"

"Nothing for myself personally, Governor.  Something for the common people of each of these United States.  I want them to have the right to decide who they can sell their property to, and I want them to have the right to send their children to their own neighborhood school.  I want the federal government to stay out of these issues." [10]

"What about the Negro people of those states, Governor?  Don't you think they have the right to not be discrimated against?"

"I am not against non-discrimination, sir, but I am against the government of the United States, in the name of civil rights, trying to control the property rights of people.  And I feel the so-called Civil Rights Act is not in the interest of any citizen of this country, regardless of their race. I think it is an infringement upon the property rights system.  I want to see that all people in this country, regardless of their color, do well." [11]

"People whose color isn't white cannot do well under the conditions existing in some states.  It's necessary for the federal government to take steps to end these conditions."

"I believe the governments of those states are likely to naturally overcome those conditions you speak of, to such extent as they may exist, given enough time.  That's all I'm really requesting, Governor. The states need to be left alone to accomplish changes at their own speeds.  The states need to decide, not the federal government."

"With all due respect, Governor, the record of those states in this respect doesn't bode well for their progress in the future."

"Be that as it may, I believe the United States government should not be attempting to force these so-called civil rights upon each state.  I confess it's a surprise to me that you don't feel the same, Governor.  You are known as a man of strong faith, and I admire that.  But your own church has clear opinions on the status of the white man and the Negro, and it's well known that the Church has requested you to refrain from pursuing these policies." [12]

"There may be some truth in what you say, Governor; but as a man of faith, what occurs between the Church and myself is a matter for my own conscience, not for the public arena."

"Of course, of course, and that's how it should be.  But let's return to the topic at hand.  Do we have an agreement?"

"Just to be crystal clear on this, Governor, what you're proposing is to deliver enough of your electors to give me a majority.  And in return, you want the federal government under my Administration to stop its desgregation efforts.  Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir, that would be an admirable summary."

"Well, that's quite a monumental proposition, Governor, and I don't think I can agree to something that significant on the spot.  Do you mind if I think it over for a while?"

"Of course not, of course not.  Tell you what, today is Friday.  Why don't you think about it over the weekend, and I'll call you again on Monday?"

"That would be fine, Governor. I'll expect your call then.  It's certainly been interesting talking to you."

Wallace chuckled.  "Always a pleasure talking to you too, Governor.  Good-bye now."  There was a click as the call was disconnected.

Romney hung up the phone with considerably more force than usual.

TO BE CONTINUED

[10] Wallace was a shrewd politician and knew he had no chance of being elected President.  His goal in running was to create an Electoral College deadlock and use his leverage to pick a winner and force concessions regarding federal desegregation efforts.

[11] This is pretty much an exact quote from an appearance by Wallace on Meet The Press.

[12] The Mormon Church had a history of racism until relatively recently in its history; for example, black men were not allowed into the priesthood until 1978.  The incident mentioned by Wallace actually happened.  One of the Church's leaders wrote to Romney in 1964 urging him to withdraw his support for a civil rights bill.  Romney refused.

[GeorgiaModerate]

November 18, 1968, 2:10 P.M.  Romney picked up the phone.  "George Romney here."

"Good afternoon, Governor, this is George Wallace.  How are you this fine day?"

"I'm fine, Governor, and hope you're the same."

"Yes, indeed.  I'll come right to the point, Governor.  Have you given any thought to the arrangement we were discussing last week?"

"Yes, I have reached a decision."

"And what would that be?"

"I appreciate your offer to have your electors support me, and I hope that you'll see your way clear to do so.  However, I can't agree to halt federal desegregation efforts."

There was a pause before Wallace responded.  "Well, I confess that I'm surprised to hear you say that.  May I ask why not?"

"As you know, I have strongly supported the cause of civil rights for several years.  I can't just abandon that, not even to ensure my election." [13]

"I admire your desire to stand on your principles, but if you don't agree then you'll surely ensure that you are not elected.  And that would be a real shame, because I believe that you would make a fine President."

"Well, if you think that, it would seem to be in your interest to give me your support in any case.  And you would certainly have my appreciation for that; I just can't agree to your proposal."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that.  I'll tell you what; let's not close the matter here and now.  There's still a month until the electors meet.  My offer will remain open -- unless I reach one with the other camp."

"To be blunt, Governor, I don't see why Humphrey would even consider such an arrangement.  He doesn't need your help; if the election goes to the House, the Democrats control a majority of states." [14]

Wallace chuckled. "Be that as it may, the outcome may not be as straightforward as you might think.  We both know that an election is never over until all the votes are counted."

"That's certainly true.  Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"No, that's all for now, but if you should change your mind, you know how to reach me."

"I will, Governor.  Thank you for calling."

Romney hung up the phone.  What a dreadful little man, he thought.

[13] I firmly believe that Romney would not have accepted Wallace's deal.  It's possible that Nixon, whose support for civil rights wasn't as strong as Romney's, would have agreed (although perhaps I do Nixon an injustice here).  However, one of the premises of this timeline is that Romney's stronger support for civil rights cost him enough votes in the South to allow Wallace to create the electoral deadlock.  Nixon didn't have that problem and was able to win enough Southern states to keep the election from going to the House.  So ironically, Wallace's strategy to force a deadlock works against an opponent who won't agree to his proposal, but doesn't work against an opponent who might have.

[14] I'm assuming that all Congressional elections have the same result as in OTL.  The new Congress has 26 House delegations controlled by Democrats, 19 by Republicans, and 5 split evenly.  There will be more details on this in a future post.

[GeorgiaModerate]

December 16, 1968.  The electors meet in their various states and cast their votes for President and Vice-President.  A furious effort by the Romney camp to persuade the Wallace electors falls well short, flipping only one North Carolina elector. [15]  The final electoral vote is thus:

Romney/Tower 265
Humphrey/Muskie 197
Wallace/Chandler 76

Since no candidate has a majority in the Electoral College, the election will go to Congress in accordance with the 12th and 20th Amendments.  The President will be elected by the House from the top three candidates in terms of electoral votes (in this case, the only three).  Each state will have a single vote, with a majority (26 states) being required to elect the President.  The Vice President will be elected by the Senate from the top two candidates, Tower and Muskie.  Each Senator will have a vote, with a majority (51 Senators) required for election.

The incoming Senate has 58 Democrats and 42 Republicans, while the new House delegations are organized like this: [16]

(Color coding shows the winner of each state: Romney, Humphrey, Wallace).

Democratic control (26):

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia

Republican control (19):

Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Split delegations (5):

Illinois, Maryland, Montana, Oregon, Virginia

TO BE CONTINUED

[15] This is the reverse of OTL, where one NC elector voted for Wallace instead of Nixon.

[16] I'm assuming that all Congressional elections turned out as in OTL.

[GeorgiaModerate]

January 6, 1969, 1:00 PM.  The House and Senate meet in joint session in the House Chamber for the counting of the electoral votes.  The count is usually presided over by the Vice President in his capacity as President of the Senate, but Humphrey chose to turn the gavel over to the President pro tempore, Richard Russell of Georgia. [17]  The certificates from each state and D.C. are opened and read.  An objection to the North Carolina count is accepted by Russell (the written objection is signed by a member from each House, as required), causing the Senate to retreat to its own chamber and each house to vote on it.  The objection would need to pass both chambers for the electoral votes to be rejected.  It fails by large margins on the grounds that the states have the final authority on their electoral votes, and North Carolina's were properly certified by the Governor and Secretary of State.  [18]

Eventually the count is complete, and the totals are as expected: 265 for George Romney and John Tower; 197 for Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie; 76 for George Wallace and Albert Chandler.  Senator Russell announces that there being no majority, the Senate will reconvene in its own chamber to choose the new Vice President from the top two candidates, Tower and Muskie.  After the Senate leaves the chamber, the House will begin the process of choosing the new President from the three candidates.  The Senate vote is quick and straightforward; with 58 Democrats and 42 Republicans, the result is a foregone conclusion.  Tower and Muskie both vote "present", and Muskie is elected Vice President by a party-line vote of 57-41. 

But in the House, things are less straightforward.  The 12th Amendment specifies that the House “shall choose immediately, by ballot...the President.”  Using rules drawn up for the last election to go to the House (1824), each state delegation first votes internally by secret ballot, and then each state's result is placed in a secret ballot box (there is no roll call of states). [19]  When the ballots are counted, six of the Wallace states (all but North Carolina and Tennessee) cast their votes for Wallace despite having overwhelmingly Democratic delegations.  The overall result is:

Humphrey: 20 states
Romney: 19
Wallace: 6
Divided (no vote): 5

Since a majority of 26 states is required, no President is elected.  The House adjourns for the night.

TO BE CONTINUED

[17] Humphrey actually did this in OTL, although there's no compelling reason or tradition that required it.  Plenty of other VPs have presided over counting electoral votes when they've been a candidate, either for President or reelection as VP.

[18] This also happened in OTL.  The NC vote was challenged because of the faithless Nixon elector who voted for Wallace.  Interestingly, the Senator sponsoring the objection was Muskie.

[19] For an excellent resource (and probably more than you ever wanted to know) on elections by the House and Senate, see https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40504.pdf by the Congressional Research Service.

[GeorgiaModerate]

January 10, 1969.  After repeated ballots for President through the week have the same result, the House votes to amend the procedures adopted in 1825.  The original rules required the House to consider no other business until a President is chosen.  But since the current deadlock doesn't like it will be resolved soon, this could cause problems.  Speaker McCormack announces that the first order of business each day will be a ballot for President, and the House may then consider other business.

January 12, 1969.  George Wallace appears on Meet the Press.  In response to a question on what he's trying to achieve, Wallace repeats his usual talking points about states' rights and the people's choice.  Then he lays his cards on the table, stating calmly that if either Humphrey or Romney will agree to stop federal efforts to desegregate the South, he'll withdraw in their favor.

January 13, 1969.   Both Humphrey and Romney release statements firmly rejecting Wallace's proposition and reaffirming their support for civil rights.

January 17, 1969.  The House ends another week of Presidential ballots with no change in the outcome.

January 20, 1969.  Edmund Muskie is inaugurated as the 39th Vice President of the United States.  In accordance with the 20th Amendment, he will act as President until one is chosen by the House.

TO BE CONTINUED

[GeorgiaModerate]

January 21, 1969.  There's a change in the House ballot results!  Maryland shifts from a divided delegation into the Humphrey camp.  Lawrence Hogan, the newly elected Congressman from the 5th District, casts a blank ballot this time, changing the previous 4-4 result to 4-3 for Humphrey.  Hogan explains his change of heart by saying that in the interest of resolving the continuing deadlock, and in light of Humphrey's victory statewide and in his district, he would abstain and allow the state's vote to be cast for Humphrey. [20] This changes the overall result to:

Humphrey: 21
Romney: 19
Wallace: 6
Divided (no vote): 4

January 24, 1969.  Under intense pressure from national and some local party figures, four of the five Democratic Congressmen from South Carolina flip from Wallace to Humphrey, raising the latter's total to 22 states.

January 27, 1969.  The Democratic members of the Arkansas delegation follow South Carolina's lead and flip to Humphrey.  The totals are now:

Humphrey: 23
Romney: 19
Wallace: 4 (AL, GA, LA, MS)
Divided (no vote): 4 (IL, MT, OR, VA -- all won by Romney)

January 30, 1969.  George Romney was a private citizen now, but he still had plenty to keep him busy.  At the moment, he was working on the backlog of personal correspondence that had followed him from the Governor's mansion.  There was a knock on the office door.  His personal secretary, who was helping sort through it all, entered.

"Sir, you need to look at this one."  She handed him a letter and stood before the desk as Romney started to read:

Dear Governor Romney,

I live in the city of Adlerville, North Carolina. [21]  Sometimes after work I like to stop for a drink at a place called the Hilltop Inn in Aderville.  One of the regular customers there is a man named Mr. Cooper who works for the Adler County government.  Shortly after the election, I heard Mr. Cooper claim that he had won the state of North Carolina for George Wallace.  I didn't think much of it at the time because Mr. Cooper is the type who likes to tell stories after he's had a few drinks.  He's always blowing his own horn and talking about the incredible things he's done and the famous people he's known, but if he's done half of them he'd be famous himself.  So I didn't think much of it further until last night, when Mr. Cooper had quite a few drinks.  He said it again, that he won North Carolina for Wallace, and also that he had a box full of Romney ballots in a safe place as an insurance policy.  If that means what it sounds like, then I thought this is something you should know about.  If it turns out that Mr. Cooper is just blowing his horn again, I'm sorry for bothering you.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Citizen

Romney looked up at his secretary.  "This might be some kind of joke," he said.  "But I think you'd better call the FBI."

TO BE CONTINUED

[20] This is Lawrence Hogan Sr., father of the current governor.  In OTL, he was narrowly elected to his first term and Nixon (as far as I can tell) narrowly carried his district, although Humphrey carried the state despite the presence of Spiro Agnew on the ticket.  Without Agnew as his running mate, Romney underperformed Nixon and narrowly lost the 5th district.  I believe Hogan was flexible enough to do something like this.  In OTL he was the only Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to vote for all three articles of impeachment against Nixon.

[21] Adlerville and Adler County are fictional places.

[GeorgiaModerate]

February 2, 1969.  The Minneapolis Daily Star, known for its liberal political leanings, publishes a Sunday editorial calling on the state's Congressional delegation to support Hubert Humphrey for President.  Minnesota is something of an oddity in this election.  Humphrey won his home state by a substantial margin (54-42-4), but the House delegation has a 5-3 Republican majority.  (It's the only Humphrey state with a Republican majority delegation.)  All eight Representatives are incumbents who won reelection, and four of the five Republicans won by comfortable margins.  The fifth, Odin Langen of the 7th District, only won 51-49, but he's a staunch Republican and seems unlikely to be moved by the Star's editorial board.

February 3, 1969, 4:30 P.M.  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover takes a call from the Special Agent in charge of the Raleigh office.  After a brief conversation, Hoover buzzes his secretary and tells her to arrange an appointment for him to see Vice President Muskie.  When she asks about the urgency, Hoover ponders for a moment and then responds, "It's important but not an emergency.  If he's busy tonight, anytime tomorrow is fine."  A few minutes later, his secretary informs Hoover that he has an appointment with Muskie at 2 P.M. the next day.

February 4, 1969, 11:00 A.M.  The House's presidential ballot changes again, as the Georgia delegation flips from Wallace to Humphrey.  The total is now:

Humphrey: 24
Romney: 19
Wallace: 3 (AL, LA, MS)
Divided (no vote): 4 (IL, MT, OR, VA -- all won by Romney)

2:00 P.M.  J. Edgar Hoover entered Vice President Muskie's office in the White House.  [22]  Muskie waved him to a chair and said, "Always a pleasure to see you, Director.  What's on your mind?  Your secretary gave mine very little in the way of details."

Hoover sat.  "I'm about as pleased to see you as you are me, Mr. Vice President. [23]  But I think you're going to be even less pleased in a few minutes."

"I didn't expect you'd come over here just to exchange pleasantries.  Let's have it."

"To put it in so many words, we have credible proof that the election was stolen.  Romney actually won."

Muskie was stunned speechless for a moment.  Then: "Give me the details."

"Acting on information received from Governor Romney's office -- they received an anonymous letter -- we executed a search warrant on the home of one Wendell Cooper, an employee of the board of elections in Adler County, North Carolina.  We discovered a foot locker in his garage containing 86 apparently valid absentee ballots, all for Romney.  It looks like these were removed from the elections office without being counted.  You might recall that Wallace won the state by 37 votes."

"My God.  This is incredible."

"Oh, it gets better.  We brought Mr. Cooper in for questioning, and it turns out this wasn't something he came up with on his own initiative.  He says that he was approached by a man named Jack from the Wallace campaign, who 'put the idea in his head' as he phrased it.  He claims that there was no exchange of money involved."

"Do you believe that?"

"It's probably true.  Cooper completely broke down under questioning and told our men everything.  It happens that way sometimes."

"And what about this Jack person?  Who is he?"

"We haven't yet found Jack," Hoover admitted.  "But we are looking for him.  Diligently.  There are several questions we'd like to ask him.  For starters, was Cooper the only county official he talked to?  And was Jack, whoever he is, acting on his own, or was this something even wider?"

Muskie shook his head.  "It's hard to believe something like this could happen in the United States."  A thought occurred to him.  "How sure are you that the ballots weren't counted?"

"At this point, we're 95% sure.  We are working with North Carolina to become 100% sure.  That should be complete no later than tomorrow."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing until we get the final verification on the ballots, or we find Jack.  I'll inform you when there are any new developments."

"I appreciate that.  Thank you for letting me know -- although don't take offense when I say that I'd rather you never walked in that door today."

"None taken.  Despite our past differences, I'd rather not have had to bring this to you.  This will be a terrible stain on the Republic."  Hoover stood and turned to go.

"One more question," said Muskie.  "Why in the world did Cooper keep the uncounted ballots, instead of destroying them?  That seems like it would have been the smart thing to do."

"Yes, it would have been the smart thing to do, but fortunately he didn't.  We would have had no case if those ballots were destroyed, but as it is we can ensure that Mr. Cooper has a nice long vacation at Government expense.  But to answer your question, he said that the ballots were his insurance policy.  He wasn't clear what that meant, but I suspect he had some idea of eventually blackmailing Wallace.  Definitely not smart."

"Well, we can at least be thankful that he wasn't smart."

Hoover chuckled.  "I've dealt with a great many criminals over the years, and I can assure you that in general they are all pretty goddamned dumb."

"Or perhaps," said Muskie drily, "you never catch the smart ones."

Hoover started to bristle, then laughed.  "You might be right."  He picked up his hat and left.

TO BE CONTINUED

[22] Muskie is using the White House while acting as President for security and convenience.  Until 1974, there was no official residence for the VP; he generally bought or rented a private residence in the Washington area.

[23] Hoover and Muskie were old adversaries.  There was a notable incident in the early 1960s in which Muskie publicly criticized both the FBI and Hoover personally, an action that was unheard of for a politician of that era.  Hoover, who was famous for holding grudges, never forgave him for it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

February 6, 1969, 7:30 P.M.  Director Hoover places a secure phone call to Vice President Muskie.  Hoover's side of the conversation:

"We have confirmation that the stolen ballots are valid and weren't counted."
...
"100 percent.  It will stand up in court."
...
"We have a lead on Jack, but don't have our hands on him yet.  A man named John Shay, fairly high up in Wallace's North Carolina organization."
...
"Yes, I know we can't wait too long.  Give me seventy-two hours.  That will take us through the weekend."
...
"Yes, I will.  Good night to you too, sir."

February 7, 1969, 11:00 A.M.  The latest Presidential ballot sees Louisiana flip from Wallace to Humphrey, giving him 25 states -- one short of a majority.

TO BE CONTINUED

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

Until there's a President.  I don't have the imagination or patience to do the whole term.

[GeorgiaModerate]

February 9, 1969.  In Sunday editorials, several other Minnesota newspapers call on the state's House delegation to cast its vote for Humphrey.  This would give him the necessary 26 votes, assuming no other states changed.


February 10, 1969, 10:15 A.M.  Speaker of the House John McCormack looked over the chamber and frowned.  They were already a quarter hour late in convening, but there was a conspicuous block of empty desks.  An entire state delegation was missing.

"Where is Minnesota?" he asked.

A voice came from the back ranks. "It's north of Iowa, John." 

McCormack chose not to notice.  He turned to the sergeant-at-arms and said, "Round them up." 

A few minutes later, the eight members of the Minnesota delegation filed in, their expressions ranging from sheepish to flustered to angry.  McCormack waited until they were seated and gaveled the House to order.  When the chaplain had finished the opening prayer, the Speaker addressed the chamber.

"Before conducting this morning's ballot for President, there is an unusual request.  Vice President Muskie is here in person and would like to address the House on a matter of extraordinary importance.  Is there any objection?"

There was a buzz of surprised chatter, but no one spoke up.  "There being no objection," said McCormack, "we will now welcome Vice President Muskie."  He nodded toward a side entrance, and a moment later Muskie entered, trailed unobtrusively by two Secret Service men, and made his way to the podium.

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker," he began, "and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for agreeing to see me on such short notice."  He paused.  "I am here to inform the House of a grave matter affecting the very foundation of our democracy.  What I am about to tell you is scarcely believable, but it is nevertheless true.  Briefly, the FBI has uncovered a conspiracy -- a successful conspiracy -- to alter the outcome of last November's presidential election.  They are in possession of incontrovertible physical evidence that Governor Romney was the rightful winner in North Carolina, rather than George Wallace.  North Carolina's electoral votes, if they had been cast for the rightful winners, would have been sufficient to elect Governor Romney and Senator Tower in the Electoral College."

He paused for a sip of water and went on. "The FBI is in possession of a large number of absentee ballots cast for Governor Romney that were deliberately removed from the elections office of one county without being counted, with the specific intent of altering the outcome of the election.  The FBI's investigation is continuing, and they will be holding a televised press conference in" (he glanced up at the clock) "about one hour.  There may have been additional counties involved, but I emphasize that the ballots already recovered from just the one county are more than enough to overturn Wallace's narrow margin in the state.  These ballots have been verified by the North Carolina Secretary of State to be valid votes for Romney that were not counted.  There is no question as to the accuracy of this evaluation, and I wish to commend the FBI and Director Hoover for their exemplary work in this case.

"Let me be clear that there is no possible benevolent explanation of this event.  This was not a mistake or error in judgment on the part of an elections official.  It was a deliberate attempt to alter the outcome of a presidential election.  This is an outrageous attack on the integrity of our elections, one of the fundamental institutions of our nation's government.  The result has been a gross miscarriage of justice, a result that cannot be allowed to stand.

"You, the honorable members of the United States House of Representatives, have the power to reverse this miscarriage of justice.  There is only one responsible, one ethical, one just course of action.  In the name of American democracy, I call upon you to right this wrong and elect George Romney, the righftul winner of last November's election, as President of the United States."

He paused to look at the shocked faces of the Representatives, then continued.  "I have been honored more than I can truly express to serve as Vice President, and act as President, these last few weeks.  Nevertheless, I cannot continue to serve in an office to which I was not legitimately elected.  Accordingly, after Governor Romney is inaugurated as President, I will tender my resignation as Vice President, in the hope that the new President will nominate Senator Tower as my replacement.

"I regret that I have been the bearer of such bad news.  But I have complete faith in this body that you will respond by doing the right thing to correct this injustice.  Thank you, and Godspeed."

Muskie turned to the Speaker and shook his hand.  The House sat stunned for a moment, then one by one the members came to their feet and began to clap.  The applause continued long after the Vice President had left the chamber.


2:30 P.M.  After a short recess, mostly to allow the members to watch the FBI briefing, the House returned to its chamber.  The fifty state delegations then voted unanimously to elect George Wilcken Romney as the 37th President of the United States. 


February 11, 1969, noon.  After a hurried trip to Washington the night before, George Romney was sworn in as President by Chief Justice Warren.  Later, Romney had a long private meeting with Vice President Muskie, during which Muskie tendered his letter of resignation.


Feburary 13, 1969.  President Romney nominated Senator John Tower as Vice President in accordance with the 25th Amendment.  Tower was subsequently confirmed by Congress without opposition.

AFTERMATH

John "Jack" Shay and Wendell Cooper were indicted for a number of federal and state election-related crimes.  Both were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.  The FBI determined that Shay had approached a few other county election officials in North Carolina, but no evidence was uncovered that any other fraud had occurred, and none of the other officials was arrested.  Either they didn't do anything, or they were smart enough to destroy the evidence. 

George Wallace disavowed and denounced Shay, and the investigation failed to find involvment from anyone else in the Wallace campaign.  (Privately, J. Edgar Hoover never stopped suspecting that Wallace had at least known about it.)  Nevertheless, the scandal so shocked the American people that it effectively destroyed Wallace's national political influence.  He never again ran for President, although he was elected to one further term as governor of Alabama before retiring from politics.

Edmund Muskie suddenly found himself a very popular man who was out of a job; he had had to resign from his Senate seat upon his election as Vice President.  Muskie's conduct in the affair caused his popularity to soar, and he immediately became the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 1972.  President Romney, in a gesture of unity and reconciliation, offered Muskie his choice of several Cabinet jobs.  Muskie declined on the grounds that it might look like a quid pro quo, but mostly with an eye on 1972.  In an unusual twist, the vacant Senate seat had not yet been filled, so Governor Curtis appointed Muskie to serve the remaining year-plus of his original term. 

President Romney asked Congress to create a special commission on election security, which they did.  The commission studied the problem and made several recommendations, most of which were ignored.  In other respects, Romney's tenure in office went much like Nixon's first term, but without Watergate.

THE END

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is this going until a winner is declared, or for the terms

Until there's a President.  I don't have the imagination or patience to do the whole term.

You did an excellent job with this scenario. I enjoyed reading it.

Thank you.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I think George Romney would have been a wonderful President; however, he was actually born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Nixon exposed this during the 68 convention.That's one of the reasons  George Romney privately voted for and supported George McGovern. The other reason being that the war was still going on in Vietnam. I read that all in his autobiography.

The citizenship issue in fact came up during the campaign.  Although never definitively resolved by the courts, it was generally believed that since Romney's parents were U.S. citizens, he became a U.S. citizen at birth even though it occurred outside the territorial boundaries of the U.S., and therefore met the Constitutional requirement of "natural-born citizen".