What if RFK Had Been Elected President in 1968?

On this night, 50 years ago, Robert F. Kennedy won the California Democratic Primary. In the early hours the following morning, he was shot and would die the following day at the age of 42.

What would have happened had RFK lived and had been elected President?

No doubt many people asked this question in 1968.

No doubt many people are asking this question in 2018.

Naturally, it is all too easy to romanticize a RFK presidency. But I think it is safe to say that if RFK had defeated Richard Nixon in the 1968 presidential election that there would have been no Watergate. If there was no Watergate perhaps there would be greater trust in our public officials. In turn if there was a greater trust in our public officials then we would not have a Trump presidency today.

This isn't to say there wouldn't have been struggles in a RFK White House. I believe the biggest challenge would have been Vietnam. I believe it would have been far more difficult for RFK to end the war than he ever let on. If he hadn't done it quickly enough, The New Left would have given him the LBJ treatment. But if Saigon had fell under his watch, the Right would have declared it his Bay of Pigs times hundred. Ronald Reagan would have very likely been a formidable opponent for RFK in 1972. Perhaps Reagan would have been elected in 1976, but been plagued by double digit inflation. Perhaps he would have been defeated by Jimmy Carter in 1980. It is very possible that other actors who lived in obscurity would have come to prominence. Of course, it is quite possible that if RFK had been elected in 1968 that he might have not lived to see the end of his first term.

Whatever would have come of a RFK presidency we would have had a President who would not have publicly undermined our institutions, uninvited visitors to the White House who disagreed with him and not sung his own virtues when remembering our fallen soldiers. Unlike our current President, RFK possessed a warm heart and a generous spirit. Warm hearts and generous spirits are in short supply among the leaders in our country. We still have much to learn from RFK. But somehow I doubt we are prepared to listen.