Well, LBJ succeeded JFK, who, according to many people actually won because of fraud in the Chicago area.
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“Many people” are dead wrong. That old canard has been around for too long.
JFK would have won anyway, even if Illinois electoral votes had gone to Nixon instead of Kennedy.
There have been decent arguments over corrupted races in TX and Ill, but I would add Penn and NJ to the list that some minor corruption shifted the race to a Kennedy win.
There are many questions about the integrity of the 1960 Texas vote as well . . .
“JFK would have won anyway, even if Illinois electoral votes had gone to Nixon instead of Kennedy.”
The issue was possible fraud in both Texas, Johnson’s home state and Illinois. Texas had 24 Electoral votes and the Kennedy/Johnson ticket won by 46,000 votes. The GOP took the Texas results to federal court but the case asking for a recount was thrown out by a federal judge. Legal efforts to get a statewide recount in Illinois were also thrown out by a federal judge. Nixon, and the Nixon campaign, were not plaintiffs in the lawsuits asking for recounts. The Republican Party initiated the suits. Nixon, possibly warned by Eisenhower, did not personally challenge the election.
Hawaii was first called for Kennedy, but then went to Nixon after auditing errors were found in the count. However a judge ruled on December 28, 1960 Kennedy was the winner. California, Nixon’s home state, was first called for Kennedy but then went to Nixon after absentee ballots were counted.
If Texas and Illinois Electoral votes had gone to Nixon, he would have been president. The race was very close in both states. Both states had Democrat machines in power with reputations for vote rigging. The 450,000 vote margin in Cook County Illinois for Kennedy was greater than would be normally expected compared to results in other areas.
Certainly the 1960 election was very close, the GOP requested recounts in Texas and Illinois were denied, and the election went to Kennedy. Nixon, many Republican officials, and some historians believe the election was stolen. However definitive proof, the ballots, were long ago destroyed and if cheating determined the outcome, those involved stayed quiet. The reluctance of federal courts to force recounts in close state continues to the present day as we saw in the 2020 presidential election.
Ironically Kennedy visited Texas in November 1963 in preparation for the upcoming 1964 re-election campaign. He and his advisors were concerned about losing Texas, particularly if Kennedy decided to drop LBJ from the ticket. Kennedy wanted more personal visibility to the state’s voters and party heavyweights. He was assassinated in Texas, a state he might have won through the Democrat machine’s manipulation of the election. He was succeeded in office by his Texan VP who Kennedy would likely have removed from the ticket. Had Kennedy not been killed, LBJ would have been a footnote in the history books.
IIRC Illinois plus Texas would have given the election to Nixon. I don't know that the Democrats cheated in Texas, but since Johnson had cheated before, it's not like he wouldn't do it again if he felt he had to, and since Eisenhower had already carried Texas twice, LBJ might have felt that he had to.
I suppose Kennedy did cheat in Illinois, but would have won anyway. Two more things, though. The national popular vote count is questionable because of circumstances in Alabama (and Mississippi) where people voting Democrat may not have been voting for Kennedy electors. The vote was close enough in New Jersey (and Minnesota and Delaware) that fraud isn't entirely out of the question.
JFK would have won anyway, even if Illinois electoral votes had gone to Nixon instead of Kennedy.
Huh, you’re dead wrong. It took both TX and IL. Both had massive cheating. You you’re lying by telling half the story. This story just confirms the cheating machine in TX at the time.