ANC: Nixon wins in '68 withouty interfering in Paris Peace Talks

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Could he have done so? With more pressure to abstain from involvement - even a different VP could do it - I wonder if it's possible.

Nixon won somewhat comfortably, though not horribly so, over Humphrey as it was. Wallacer had split a lot of votes off from Humphrey, and I wonder how much Nixon worked to emphasize this. Obviously it wasn't to the level of 1912's Republicans, but he definitely had an advantgage.

Also, Thieu(sp?), from what I saw on another thread, didn't feel like he was getting a good deal anyway. MIght they have walked out - or at least could the South Vietnamese delegation have delayed long enough to cost the Democrats the election to spite them?

Agnewlooks inhindsight like a really curious choice for VP - John Volpe was was another frontrunner,, and a few little changes could give him the nod. I'm working on a TLIAW rightnow that has the NIxon-VOlpe team winning, so I was wondering if it was possible that the talks could fail or drag on and only work later, like sometime later in '69. Or, at the least, Nixonnot getting involved - did he really think he had that little of a shot (or that the talks were that close to success?)

 

[1940LaSalle]

In retrospect, Agnew was not a good choice. It didn't take long for him to become something of a "who?" character and indeed a joke. (It was often said that Agnew was Nixon's blue chip insurance against assassination.) Volpe would have irritated fewer people and quite possibly set a few minds at ease when considering the remote possibilities of a presidential tragedy.

And don't forget Agnew was hardly a strong Republican figure: he became governor of MD only by virtue of a split in the Democrats in 1966. I know: I was 14 at the time, growing up in the Baltimore suburbs.

 

[bguy]

Also, Thieu(sp?), from what I saw on another thread, didn't feel like he was getting a good deal anyway. MIght they have walked out - or at least could the South Vietnamese delegation have delayed long enough to cost the Democrats the election to spite them?

This. Nixon's actions were completely unnecessary as he was encouraging Thieu to do what Thieu was almost certainly going to do anyway.

Agnewlooks inhindsight like a really curious choice for VP - John Volpe was was another frontrunner,, and a few little changes could give him the nod. I'm working on a TLIAW rightnow that has the NIxon-VOlpe team winning, so I was wondering if it was possible that the talks could fail or drag on and only work later, like sometime later in '69. Or, at the least, Nixonnot getting involved - did he really think he had that little of a shot (or that the talks were that close to success?)

Nixon wasn't worried that the talks were going to succeed. (There was absolutely no chance the talks were going to produce an agreement before the election given that the North Vietnamese starting position was that the United States needed to overthrow the South Vietnamese government.) Nixon's concern was that peace talks happening at all would give Humphrey enough of a boost to win the election.

 

[Domrémy-Scorniçesti Axis]

Could he have done so? With more pressure to abstain from involvement - even a different VP could do it - I wonder if it's possible.

Nixon won somewhat comfortably, though not horribly so, over Humphrey as it was. Wallacer had split a lot of votes off from Humphrey, and I wonder how much Nixon worked to emphasize this. Obviously it wasn't to the level of 1912's Republicans, but he definitely had an advantgage.

Also, Thieu(sp?), from what I saw on another thread, didn't feel like he was getting a good deal anyway. MIght they have walked out - or at least could the South Vietnamese delegation have delayed long enough to cost the Democrats the election to spite them?

Agnewlooks inhindsight like a really curious choice for VP - John Volpe was was another frontrunner,, and a few little changes could give him the nod. I'm working on a TLIAW rightnow that has the NIxon-VOlpe team winning, so I was wondering if it was possible that the talks could fail or drag on and only work later, like sometime later in '69. Or, at the least, Nixonnot getting involved - did he really think he had that little of a shot (or that the talks were that close to success?)

If he chooses John Volpe as his running mate, this becomes likely. Volpe would take over after Nixon resigned and lose to Carter in 1976 with a slightly different map.

 

[Sabin]

Agnew looks in hindsight like a really curious choice for VP - John Volpe was was another frontrunner,, and a few little changes could give him the nod. I'm working on a TLIAW righ tnow that has the Nixon-VOlpe team winning, so I was wondering if it was possible that the talks could fail or drag on and only work later, like sometime later in '69. Or, at the least, Nixon not getting involved - did he really think he had that little of a shot (or that the talks were that close to success?)

In 1968, Agnew was acceptable to all sides of the party. I could be wrong but my sense was he was seen as racially progressive but seen (maybe incorrectly) as just against radical groups. Would Volpe have been or was he too racially progressive? My understanding is that Agnew satisfied conservatives throughout Nixon's Presidency. Would someone like Volpe lose some of them? And did Agnew really drive anyone away from the ticket in 1968?

I'd be interested to see how Volpe would've helped Nixon throughout his Presidency. He strikes me as the rare kind of personality that Nixon wouldn't have shut out.

 

[Dancing Fool]

Agnew was hardly a strong Republican figure: he became governor of MD only by virtue of a split in the Democrats in 1966. I know: I was 14 at the time, growing up in the Baltimore suburbs.

That’s cool. If you can spare a couple of minutes— What did the Democrats split over and how and when did they come back together?

 

[Dancing Fool]

possible that the talks could fail or drag on and only work later, like sometime later in '69

given that the North Vietnamese starting position was that the United States needed to overthrow the South Vietnamese government

Key People | Vietnam War | Pritzker Military Museum & Library | Chicago

Learn about some of the individuals who determined the course of the war in Vietnam and explore the available resources at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library.

www.pritzkermilitary.org

“ . . . In 1965, Thiệu became the figurehead for the junta government, developing a system of power shared with Nguyen Cao Kỳ, the head of the South Vietnamese air force. . . ”

************

And so, instead of some election between an entrenched corrupt government and ideological zealots — with one side winning everything and the other side losing everything — do some kind of power-sharing like the above.

Some kind of coalition gov’t. The U.S. may be able to help broker such a deal or, even as the dominant partner, it may not be able to.

PS I can see how rural Vietnamese persons who are familiar with a corrupt gov’t based in the cities could decide to take a chance on a communist gov’t which seems like it has the potential to be cleaner.