At the end of the 1950s.....we were at an era where the Eisenhower period was going to end, and an election would really set up the entire 1960s in one direction or another. The 1960 election is rarely discussed today in any forum. The vote difference between Kennedy and Nixon (then Eisenhower's VP)? 2,000 votes nation-wide separated the two. That's it.
Based on the electoral college.....Kennedy had a more hefty number, but then you examine state-by-state numbers. If Illinois had just found another 1,000 votes....it would have gone to Nixon. Texas was only 46,000 votes away from Nixon winning there.
This all sets up a rather unique era if Nixon had won and gone on to win 1964 as well.
No JFK shooting in Dallas. The Cuba missile crisis would have been handled in a different fashion. The civil rights period would likely have gone in a different direction. Vietnam....might never have become a major conflict. The drugs introduced into the US as the war proceeded.....might not have occurred.
There are a list of things that occur because of a unique election....that was a lot closer than people tend to remember today. Bogus votes? There's no doubt that thousands of votes across the nation went into the system in some fashion of being bogus.
Nixon in 1960, instead of 1968? No Watergate. No Jimmy Carter. No Ford presidency. No Clinton era?
Yeah, things would have gone in a different direction.....if a thousand votes had appeared in Illinois. Just something to ponder upon.
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