Would Bobby Kennedy Have Been President?

[Shooter]

Would Bobby Kennedy have become President if he wasn't assassinated? Would he have beat McCarthy and Humphrey in the Democratic primaries? Would he have beat Nixon for all the marbles?

I think if it wasn't for his assassination, Bobby Kennedy would have absolutely been our nation's President.

He was leading in the Democratic primaries when he was mortally shot. He probably would have went on to beat McCarthy and Humphrey to win the Dem ticket.

That would have set up the Kennedy vs Nixon matchup. I think that would have been a great election and fairly close. But in the end I feel Kennedy would have defeated Nixon. Maybe not by a lot but he certainly would have won.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Who can say... It's hard to second guess history.

 

[Barb]

Would Bobby Kennedy have become President if he wasn't assassinated? Would he have beat McCarthy and Humphrey in the Democratic primaries? Would he have beat Nixon for all the marbles?

I think if it wasn't for his assassination, Bobby Kennedy would have absolutely been our nation's President.

He was leading in the Democratic primaries when he was mortally shot. He probably would have went on to beat McCarthy and Humphrey to win the Dem ticket.

That would have set up the Kennedy vs Nixon matchup. I think that would have been a great election and fairly close. But in the end I feel Kennedy would have defeated Nixon. Maybe not by a lot but he certainly would have won.

And what a world it could have been. If only.
Bobby was truly coming into his own. I know it sounds sappy, but he was a true idealist. He evolved into his idealism, his losses made him a better person for having survived them, and his perspective grew to something worthy of national leadership. He wasn't once, he was establishment and all it entailed, but before he died, he was one of the "good guys." I was five when he was killed, and saw his possibility in retrospect, but the loss of that possibility still makes me tear up.

 

[Granny]

I agree with Count.

 

[Bfgrn]

Would Bobby Kennedy have become President if he wasn't assassinated? Would he have beat McCarthy and Humphrey in the Democratic primaries? Would he have beat Nixon for all the marbles?

I think if it wasn't for his assassination, Bobby Kennedy would have absolutely been our nation's President.

He was leading in the Democratic primaries when he was mortally shot. He probably would have went on to beat McCarthy and Humphrey to win the Dem ticket.

That would have set up the Kennedy vs Nixon matchup. I think that would have been a great election and fairly close. But in the end I feel Kennedy would have defeated Nixon. Maybe not by a lot but he certainly would have won.

I think his biggest hurdle would have been securing the nomination. In 1968, the Democratic Party was still under the old rules where the party bosses controlled the party. Hubert Humphrey, LBJ's vice president was the favorite of the bosses and Bobby was LBJ's arch enemy. But Bobby had momentum heading into the convention with primary wins and Jack's "Irish mafia' that outmaneuvered LBJ, Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver for the nomination in 1960 was still at his disposal.

I believe RFK would have defeated Nixon easily in the general election and America would be a much different country...for the better.

I truly wish we could have found out.

 

[jillian]

Would Bobby Kennedy have become President if he wasn't assassinated? Would he have beat McCarthy and Humphrey in the Democratic primaries? Would he have beat Nixon for all the marbles?

I think if it wasn't for his assassination, Bobby Kennedy would have absolutely been our nation's President.

He was leading in the Democratic primaries when he was mortally shot. He probably would have went on to beat McCarthy and Humphrey to win the Dem ticket.

That would have set up the Kennedy vs Nixon matchup. I think that would have been a great election and fairly close. But in the end I feel Kennedy would have defeated Nixon. Maybe not by a lot but he certainly would have won.

I think you're right. I also think this would have been a very different country if he and MLK hadn't been assassinated. Would likely never have been a Watergate and everything that lead to....

I'm just sorry we'll never know.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Bobby was the guy who was wiretapping Martin Luther King, right?

 

[Bfgrn]

Bobby was the guy who was wiretapping Martin Luther King, right?

Interesting read...

The FBI and Martin Luther King