u/GotNoBody4

I’m writing character bios for a potential 1988 Mod involving Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson. I have a huge bias against Robertson and every time I write a character bio for him it sounds very negative and I want to try and have a more neutral tone for people who want to play as Robertson. I’m also not familiar with his economic and foreign policy stances, but am familiar with many of his social/domestic views.

So if anyone could give me help with striking a more neutral tone for Robertson, that’d be great.

I don’t have the ability to do it myself for various reasons, but I have an idea for a 1968 mod with Connally being the nominee for the Democrats and Nelson Rockefeller as the nominee for the Republicans. Also I apologize for any platforming issues I’m writing this all on my phone.

In this scenario Reagan runs for the Republican nomination from the beginning instead of jumping in late. Reagan and Nixon split the conservative vote giving Rockefeller the nomination because he won over moderates and of course had the full support of the liberal wing of the GOP.

Even though he won the nomination, he has to find a way to unite the party, which is drifting further right thanks to Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan among others, while still appealing to his moderate to liberal base that got him the nomination in the primaries.

His potential running mates

Default: Gerald Ford(R-MI)

Ford is a Republican who has been representing Michigan’s 5th district since 1949 and is currently the House Minority Leader. Ford is a moderate conservative who can help bring conservatives into the fold without alienating Rocky’s moderate base. Though he can appeal to the more moderate conservatives, it remains to be seen if he can appeal to the growing Goldwater wing of the party.

Alternatives

George Romney
Spiro Agnew
Claude Kirk
Hiram Fong

Since Rockefeller is more liberal he could try to get an endorsement from a liberal Democrat who doesn’t like Connally’s social conservatism and stance on Vietnam.

1. Eugene McCarthy
2. Thomas Dodd
3. Walter Reuther
4. Channing Phillips

McCarthy would help win over young anti-war voters and force Rockefeller to come out in opposition to the draft.

Dodd would help with pro-civil rights white voters and could also provide some help on foreign policy.

Reuther would get union votes in the Midwest to support Rockefeller, as Rockefeller had a better record with unions than Connally and if you are to choose Romney as your running mate while getting the endorsement of Reuther it would essentially guarantee victory in Michigan.

Phillips would give Rockefeller a legitimate shot at being the first Republican to win the African-American vote since Herbert Hoover since Connally’s record on race relations is a little sketchy.

John Connally(D-TX)

Okay, this is going to be a little more complicated because I don’t know a ton about Connally politically other than he was a more socially conservative Democrat and LBJ’s protégé who eventually switched to the Republican Party and was Nixon’s Secretary of Treasury.

I don’t know how he’d get the nomination, maybe he gets the nomination at the convention as a compromise candidate to prevent someone like Wallace from running a third party campaign and splitting the vote in the south.

Connally, like Rockefeller, would be going against the direction the party was heading towards in 1968.

He was pro-Vietnam at a time where the party and the country as a whole had turned against the Vietnam War. He was also considered a moderate on civil rights as he originally opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and believed race was a local issue; but followed it after it was signed into law by LBJ.

Since Connally is a more conservative Democrat he could try and get the endorsement of conservative Republicans.

1. Barry Goldwater
2. Billy Graham
3. Walter Judd
4. Strom Thurmond

Goldwater’s endorsement would mean keeping Wallace from running a third party campaign and winning back the Deep South. He would hurt a bit with African-American voters but not enough to completely lose their support. Though just to note, Goldwater’s endorsement would not mean Reagan would campaign or endorse Connally, but could make Reagan even less enthusiastic about supporting Rockefeller.

Billy Graham

Graham would get you a lot of evangelical voters who are skeptical of Rockefeller’s more socially liberal views to turnout for Connally in the Bible Belt.

Walter Judd

Judd would double down on Connally’s pro-Vietnam War stance and give him some help on the foreign policy front in terms of experience. Though his endorsement would essentially kill any chance of Connally winning over the anti-war left that was already skeptical of him.

Strom Thurmond

Thurmond would also guarantee that Wallace wouldn’t run third party, but would hurt you significantly with African-American voters in the north, possibly leading to Rockefeller winning the African-American vote.

Running Mates

Default: Ed Muskie(D-ME)

Muskie is an experienced politician who defended the Johnson administration’s policy on Vietnam while also advocating for a path to peace in Vietnam. He could allow Connally to pivot on Vietnam without totally abandoning his pro-war stance on the issue. Though he is aggressively pro-civil rights being instrumental in whipping up votes for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which would anger the south and guarantee a third party run from George Wallace.

Alternatives

Sargent Shriver
Walter Mondale
George Smathers
Stuart Symington

George Wallace(I-AL)

Running Mates

Default Curtis LeMay

Alternative
Strom Thurmond

Okay, this is important even though I’m not sure I’d make him a playable candidate.

If Connally pledges to adopt a “state’s rights” platform on civil rights, Wallace won’t endorse Connally, as that could hurt him with African-American and Union voters, but Wallace wouldn’t run a third party campaign ensuring the Solid South remains solidly Democratic and wins back the southern states that Goldwater won in 1964.

You could also prevent Wallace from running third party by getting the endorsement of either Barry Goldwater or Strom Thurmond, though Thurmond would significantly hurt Connally with African-American voters. Goldwater’s endorsement would hurt a little bit but you could fall back on Goldwater being a member of the NAACP to quell the anxiety of African-American voters.

But, if Connally chooses to pivot and come out in support of civil rights it would lead to a third party run by Wallace and essentially end any chance of Connally winning back the Deep South that voted for Goldwater in 1964.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I think this idea is interesting since in 1968 and really ever since Truman in 1948, the Democratic Party became more socially liberal and pro-civil rights while the GOP continued to drift away from its founding principles and towards conservatism; so having a conservative Democrat from the south against a liberal Republican from the northeast would be a very interesting scenario.

As I said at the beginning I don’t have the ability or time to actually make this mod nor do I have the money to pay someone to do it. I just think it’s a cool and interesting idea and would love to see someone create it since I just can’t.

1. Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 Illinois

2. Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909 New York

3. Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961 New York

4. George H.W. Bush 1989-1993 Texas

5. Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877 Ohio

6. Gerald Ford 1974-1977 Michigan

7. William Howard Taft 1909-1913 Ohio

8. Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885 New York

9. Ronald Reagan 1981-1989 California

10. Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929 Massachusetts

11. Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893 Indiana

12. Warren G. Harding 1921-1923 Ohio

13. William McKinley 1897-1901 Ohio

14. Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881 Ohio

15. Richard Nixon 1969-1974 California

16. George W. Bush 2001-2009 Texas

17. Herbert Hoover 1929-1933 California