DBAHC: Hiram Fong considered one of America’s great presidents

[SeaBos]

Been seeing a lot of these recently and it got me thinking about Fong’s presidency. Now a days he’s mostly known for being America’s first nonwhite president and serving as a care taker president for Nixon. (OOC: ITL Nixon decided that someone with no hope of winning the presidency on his own would be more likely to pardon him and so made Fong his VP instead of Ford). A bad start to say the least, is there any way he could be seen as one of the greatest presidents in American history? Bonus points if he wins in 1976.

 

[Unknown]

Well, the over a million Vietnamese and three-quarters of a million Cambodians who fled to the US after the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia consider him a great president--he relaxed the laws to let them in from 1975-1977 (there's a reason that Little Saigons and Little Cambodias are present in many cities in America). Reagan won against him (in part due to votes from racists) and then he lost to Hubert Humphrey (the third time was the charm for HHH) and Daniel Inouye (who was picked in part to counter Fong). Then, after Daniel Inouye became president following Humphrey's death, Inouye's evacuating the US Embassy in Tehran after the Iranian Civil War broke out and the late 1970s recession were thought to be reasons for his loss to the Bob Dole/Jack Kemp ticket in 1980...

ObWI: WI Nixon picks Gerald Ford? According to Richard Perlstein's Nixonland, Nixon picked Fong in part because he thought the House wouldn't impeach him if it meant a nonwhite president; boy, was he wrong about that...

 

[Deleted member 109224]

Don't forget about the couple million Hoa and Hmong people who came over too.

Almost four million Vietnamese, Cambodians, Hoa, and Hmong came to the US in just a few years. Today those folks are all Fong Republicans, despite the nationalist tilt of the party. They're the main reason the GOP is still competitive in California.

 

[Unknown]

Don't forget about Wisconsin--many Hmong people also settled there, too (they're also Republican, and were a reliable bloc for Tommy Thompson for his terms as governor and Senator)...