WI: Richard Nixon Assassinated?

[Superman]

Arthur Bremer, the man who attempted and failed to assassinate Democrat George Wallace on the campaign trail in 1972, was also planning to assassinate Richard Nixon. On April 10, 1972, Bremer was in Ottawa, where Nixon was visiting. However, security was too tight, and Bremer did not go through with this, deciding to instead assassinate George Wallace.

Suppose that Bremer had had an opening and successfully shot and killed Nixon (he'd probably have to be out of his limo for that to work). What would be the effect to having two presidents assassinated within a decade, especially with the election coming up so soon? Does President Agnew get reelected over Humphrey/McGovern/Whoever the Democratic nominee is? And without his near-death experience, does Wallace ever reform?

 

[Superman]

Anyone? I thought that this would've been interesting, considering this forum's Nixon love.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

He signs the SALT 1 Treaty and approves the Watergate coverup. The Agnew Rockefeller ticket wins in 1972, by a lower margin than the OTL Nixon Agnew ticket. He gets wind of the investigation of his tax evasion bribery. He fires the Maryland US Attorney. Congress takes up the investigation. Articles of Impeachment are drafted in October 1973. He tries to make a deal with Rockefeller for a pardon in exchange for his resignation. Rocky refuses. He is prosecuted and sent to prison. When the smoking gun tape appears, he prosecuted once again. Reagan defeated Rockefeller for the 1976 Republican nomination. Reagan loses to Jimmy Carter.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

Richard Nixon 1969 -1972
Spiro Agnew 1972 -1973
Nelson Rockefeller 1973 -1977
Jimmy Carter 1977 -1981
George HW Bush 1981 -1989
Bob Dole 1989 -1993
Bill Clinton 1993 -2001
George W Bush 2001 - 2009
Barack Obama 2009 -

 

[kodak]

He signs the SALT 1 Treaty and approves the Watergate coverup. The Agnew Rockefeller ticket wins in 1972, by a lower margin than the OTL Nixon Agnew ticket. He gets wind of the investigation of his tax evasion bribery. He fires the Maryland US Attorney. Congress takes up the investigation. Articles of Impeachment are drafted in October 1973. He tries to make a deal with Rockefeller for a pardon in exchange for his resignation. Rocky refuses. He is prosecuted and sent to prison. When the smoking gun tape appears, he prosecuted once again. Reagan defeated Rockefeller for the 1976 Republican nomination. Reagan loses to Jimmy Carter.

Assuming the world doesn't end that month...

 

[Superman]

Richard Nixon 1969 -1972
Spiro Agnew 1972 -1973
Nelson Rockefeller 1973 -1977
Jimmy Carter 1977 -1981
George HW Bush 1981 -1989
Bob Dole 1989 -1993
Bill Clinton 1993 -2001
George W Bush 2001 - 2009
Barack Obama 2009 -

You don't think the President getting assassinated when Obama is 11 would have any effect on his political career?

 

[kodak]

You don't think the President getting assassinated when Obama is 11 would have any effect on his political career?

The Obama cliche strikes again!

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Assuming the world doesn't end that month...

This. I have serious doubts Agnew could've pulled off Operation Nickelgrass. True, he'd visited Portugal in 1971; but he's no Nixon. And he's facing impeachment. The Caetano regime would see him as weak/corrupt, and therefore demand unacceptable/impossible concessions from him (such as violating the Congressional arms embargo and giving them the surface-to-air missiles they wanted) before they let our planes land at Lajes.

He won't be able to meet their demands, the deal will fall apart, and Israel will continue losing tanks, planes, soldiers and territory, with no resupply in sight. At some point, it may well become use-it-or-lose-it for their nuclear arsenal. If they do use them, it almost certainly escalates out of control, to a full US/USSR exchange.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

He gets wind of the investigation of his tax evasion bribery. He fires the Maryland US Attorney. Congress takes up the investigation. Articles of Impeachment are drafted in October 1973. He tries to make a deal with Rockefeller for a pardon in exchange for his resignation. Rocky refuses. He is prosecuted and sent to prison.

In OTL Nixon's lawyers suggested he could simply pardon himself. Nixon of course refused, because he hadn't done anything wrong - if the President needs to do something to stop Communism, that makes it not illegal.

Agnew has no such delusions of grandeur. He writes himself a pardon for bribery and anything else he's ever done, resigns, and flips reporters the bird as he strolls across the lawn to Marine One. The Supreme Court eventually upholds his self-pardon 8 - 1, because the Constitution neglected to forbid such a stunt. Agnew later becomes a conservative talk-radio host.

 

[kodak]

This. I have serious doubts Agnew could've pulled off Operation Nickelgrass. True, he'd visited Portugal in 1971; but he's no Nixon. And he's facing impeachment. The Caetano regime would see him as weak/corrupt, and therefore demand unacceptable/impossible concessions from him (such as violating the Congressional arms embargo and giving them the surface-to-air missiles they wanted) before they let our planes land at Lajes.

He won't be able to meet their demands, the deal will fall apart, and Israel will continue losing tanks, planes, soldiers and territory, with no resupply in sight. At some point, it may well become use-it-or-lose-it for their nuclear arsenal. If they do use them, it almost certainly escalates out of control, to a full US/USSR exchange.

It's not operation nickel grasss that's worrying. Agnew could pull that off. It's the cease-fire breaking and DEFCON 3 stuff towards the end of the war that's worrying. As Kissinger was not yet SecState in 1972, he might not be so when the war rolls around, meaning the man who negotiated and deescalated the war's end won't be there, and Agnew will be dealing with his impeachment.

 

[Kome]

Agnew has no such delusions of grandeur. He writes himself a pardon for bribery and anything else he's ever done, resigns, and flips reporters the bird as he strolls across the lawn to Marine One. The Supreme Court eventually upholds his self-pardon 6 - 1, because the Constitution neglected to forbid such a stunt. Agnew later becomes a conservative talk-radio host.

Now that's an image to think about.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Now that's an image to think about.

"The Nattering Nabob of Neo-Conservatism"

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

You don't think the President getting assassinated when Obama is 11 would have any effect on his political career?

Nope. His presidency is an immutable attractor in the chaotic vortices of time. Even a full US-USSR nuclear exchange in 1983 will not prevent an Obama Presidency, though it will delay it 8 years while Harvard Law School is being rebuilt.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

Nope. His presidency is an immutable attractor in the chaotic vortices of time. Even a full US-USSR nuclear exchange in 1983 will not prevent an Obama Presidency, though it will delay it 8 years while Harvard Law School is being rebuilt.

I don't see a U.S. USSR nuclear exchange happening, if it did everyone on the planet would die.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

I forgot that Agnew could pardon himself. He would do so ITTL. It like be a sweeping pardon that would cover every un taxed bribe. He would not do prison time ITTL.

 

[Legofan4]

You don't think the President getting assassinated when Obama is 11 would have any effect on his political career?

Exactly also this is what i asked when someone asked for how many terms Clinton would get if the 22nd amendment didnt pass. Because something that happened sometime between when Clinton was 1 to when he was 5 wouldn't change his career.

 

[Hades]

You don't think the President getting assassinated when Obama is 11 would have any effect on his political career?

Obama getting elected in 2008 is a fixed point in time and space!

 

[bguy]

I forgot that Agnew could pardon himself. He would do so ITTL. It like be a sweeping pardon that would cover every un taxed bribe. He would not do prison time ITTL.

A presidential pardon only bars federal prosecution. It doesn't prevent prosecution for offenses under state law, so when was the latest date that Agnew accepted a bribe while serving as Governor of Maryland? The statute of limitations for bribery offenses under Maryland law at that time was 5 years, so if Agnew took a bribe late enough in 1968, he could still be subject to prosecution by Maryland authorities in 1973.

 

[Octosteel]

Obama getting elected in 2008 is a fixed point in time and space!

As well as Clinton becoming President for some reason.

 

[fred1451]

A presidential pardon only bars federal prosecution. It doesn't prevent prosecution for offenses under state law, so when was the latest date that Agnew accepted a bribe while serving as Governor of Maryland? The statute of limitations for bribery offenses under Maryland law at that time was 5 years, so if Agnew took a bribe late enough in 1968, he could still be subject to prosecution by Maryland authorities in 1973.

They would except his resignation and you'd never hear about the bribery again. They are not going to go after a US President for something like this.