What If RFK Had Become President?

What If RFK Had Become President?
He was reckless and cautious, passionate and also an old-school pol.

Evan Thomas
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 9:46 AM ET Jun 2, 2008
It is one of history's great "what ifs." What if Robert Kennedy had not been assassinated 40 years ago and gone on to become president of the United States? It's safe to say that his presidency would have followed a different course from that of Richard Nixon. And it may just be that American politics would not be endlessly refighting the 1960s. Kennedy was a less polarizing figure than Nixon, who exploited the divisions that have now hardened into Red States and Blue States. But Kennedy himself was a complex and mercurial figure, so all we can really do is speculate. It's an intriguing guessing game—if one does not get too dreamy about the mythology of RFK.

One reality check to start: it is far from a sure bet that RFK would have been nominated, and if nominated, elected. Kennedy was winning most of the primaries at the time of his death in June 1968, but under the old rules the bosses still controlled the Democratic Party. Hubert Humphrey, LBJ's vice president and Kennedy's real rival for the nomination (not Sen. Eugene McCarthy, the poet-politician who was fading in the stretch), was the favorite of the bosses. Kennedy was regarded as too "hot" and too radical by the big city and Big Labor chieftains. RFK was counting on Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley to turn the tide, but Daley was not a sure bet (despite some romantic and unconfirmed reporting that Daley promised his support in a phone call to Bobby just before Kennedy was killed). And RFK would have faced a formidable foe in Richard Nixon in November. The New Nixon was an expert at divide and conquer, and he was building a Silent Majority of white middle-class Americans fearful of rioting blacks and hippie college radicals.

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We will always remember Bobby!

They didn't like the idea of another Kennedy in the White House--it smacks of "dynasty", which is laughable today, considering the Bushes. I do think that it would still have been a great fight in Chicago for the nomination, but I don't think it would have erupted into violence, as Bobby would have kept his followers more under control. After all, he WAS an old time pol, and understood the rules of the game. I would have hoped that he would have gained the nomination, because I truly believe we would have been out of Viet Nam a lot sooner. And the corruption that started with Watergate and continues to this day would not have happened.

I graduated high school three days after his assassination. I remember the time as one of grief and not of joy, a time of wondering if ideals would always be shot down.

I remember some red-neck mother fuckers cheering when it happened.

Maybe you didn't have a gun at the time.
But Sarge, the gun just went off.

The Kennedy family was way ahead of it's time. I did vote for Ted in May of 1980 instead of Incumbent Carter. I believe executive action took three of the best leaders from a generation that couldn't really afford to loose them.