Credit to Drew’s “Fear, Loathing, and Gumbo” for giving me this idea.
In 1972, a man named Arthur Brenner hit upon a brilliant idea: he would cement his everlasting fame by killing a major political figure. In OTL, his ultimate target was George Wallace, who he shot five times and condemned to a wheelchair. In TTL, for whatever reason, he sets his sights upon a different George: McGovern. After attending a few McGovern rallies, he takes a gun to one in mid-May, blasting the dark horse Democrats’ brains out with five shots to the head.
With McGovern’s death coming a mere half-month after the tragic collapse of Ed Muskie’s campaign, the Democratic Party suddenly finds itself without a frontrunner. Scoop Jackson is competent, but suffers from the ailment known as “Being Boring as Hell”; Hubert Humphrey is a has-been who ran in a far better year and lost; Terry Sanford, Shirley Chisolm, and Wilbur Mills are lightweights that lack any of the recognition needed to become President; and nobody on God’s green earth has the popularity and clout to start a successful campaign two months before the Convention. Slowly, the Democrats begin to realize that they have only one candidate with name recognition, grassroots support, the ability to whip up a crowd, and experience with national politics.
George Wallace, declaring that God is on his side, waits only to offer token condolences for McGovern before pressing his campaign with new vigor. Instead of spending vital weeks in a hospital, Wallace is able to go on a massive barnstorming campaign across the Midwest, the region he’s banking on to win him the candidacy and the election. His message is simple: don’t believe all the lies being told. George Wallace doesn’t stand for segregation; he stands for law and order, the average American, and the soul of a Party corrupted by radicals. The message sticks, and Wallace sweeps through t he primaries.
The liberal wing of the party searches desperately for a replacement for McGovern, but the best they can find is John Lindsay, whose plummeting popularity in his home constituency (New York) and lack of organizational skill dooms him from the start.
By the time the Party convenes in July, the result is obvious; despite last minute attempts by various liberal candidates, George Wallace is nominated on the first ballot: the first Dixiecrat to get the nomination since Wilson.
Who he chooses as his running mate I’m not sure of; I would imagine an appropriate moderate Northerner.
Moving on the general election, TTL’s 1972 couldn’t be more different then OTL’s. McGovern’s candidacy represented the final victory and defeat of the New Left; they finally got their candidate, but only during the election that saw Americans finally happy with the sitting government. ITTL the dynamic is reversed; while many New Lefters will stay home in disgust, Wallace will combine his brand of populism with a brand of social conservatism that could go tit for tat with Nixon’s. The whole Southern strategy flies out the window; there’s no use trying to beat an honest-to-God Dixiecrat for the Southern vote. Wallace will also likely do very well in the Midwest, where it’ll be 1968 with Wallace as a major-party candidate. Running the numbers, if Wallace sweeps the South (which is IMO likely) takes Illinois and New York (possible; upstate NY and downstate IL tend to be conservative, while Chicago and NYC are firmly run by Democratic machines) takes a few more Midwestern states (I’m looking at you, Pennsylvania and Ohio) and does a fair showing in New England he can win the election.
So how does this pan out? I can imagine the long-term effects of a Wallace presidency would be fascinating. Delayed flight of the Dixiecrats? Weird aftershocks on the eventual Reagen revolution? Angry blacks in the streets?
I await your comments.
In 1972, a man named Arthur Brenner hit upon a brilliant idea: he would cement his everlasting fame by killing a major political figure. In OTL, his ultimate target was George Wallace, who he shot five times and condemned to a wheelchair. In TTL, for whatever reason, he sets his sights upon a different George: McGovern. After attending a few McGovern rallies, he takes a gun to one in mid-May, blasting the dark horse Democrats’ brains out with five shots to the head.
With McGovern’s death coming a mere half-month after the tragic collapse of Ed Muskie’s campaign, the Democratic Party suddenly finds itself without a frontrunner. Scoop Jackson is competent, but suffers from the ailment known as “Being Boring as Hell”; Hubert Humphrey is a has-been who ran in a far better year and lost; Terry Sanford, Shirley Chisolm, and Wilbur Mills are lightweights that lack any of the recognition needed to become President; and nobody on God’s green earth has the popularity and clout to start a successful campaign two months before the Convention. Slowly, the Democrats begin to realize that they have only one candidate with name recognition, grassroots support, the ability to whip up a crowd, and experience with national politics.
George Wallace, declaring that God is on his side, waits only to offer token condolences for McGovern before pressing his campaign with new vigor. Instead of spending vital weeks in a hospital, Wallace is able to go on a massive barnstorming campaign across the Midwest, the region he’s banking on to win him the candidacy and the election. His message is simple: don’t believe all the lies being told. George Wallace doesn’t stand for segregation; he stands for law and order, the average American, and the soul of a Party corrupted by radicals. The message sticks, and Wallace sweeps through t he primaries.
The liberal wing of the party searches desperately for a replacement for McGovern, but the best they can find is John Lindsay, whose plummeting popularity in his home constituency (New York) and lack of organizational skill dooms him from the start.
By the time the Party convenes in July, the result is obvious; despite last minute attempts by various liberal candidates, George Wallace is nominated on the first ballot: the first Dixiecrat to get the nomination since Wilson.
Who he chooses as his running mate I’m not sure of; I would imagine an appropriate moderate Northerner.
Moving on the general election, TTL’s 1972 couldn’t be more different then OTL’s. McGovern’s candidacy represented the final victory and defeat of the New Left; they finally got their candidate, but only during the election that saw Americans finally happy with the sitting government. ITTL the dynamic is reversed; while many New Lefters will stay home in disgust, Wallace will combine his brand of populism with a brand of social conservatism that could go tit for tat with Nixon’s. The whole Southern strategy flies out the window; there’s no use trying to beat an honest-to-God Dixiecrat for the Southern vote. Wallace will also likely do very well in the Midwest, where it’ll be 1968 with Wallace as a major-party candidate. Running the numbers, if Wallace sweeps the South (which is IMO likely) takes Illinois and New York (possible; upstate NY and downstate IL tend to be conservative, while Chicago and NYC are firmly run by Democratic machines) takes a few more Midwestern states (I’m looking at you, Pennsylvania and Ohio) and does a fair showing in New England he can win the election.
So how does this pan out? I can imagine the long-term effects of a Wallace presidency would be fascinating. Delayed flight of the Dixiecrats? Weird aftershocks on the eventual Reagen revolution? Angry blacks in the streets?
I await your comments.
