Yes I agree, an earlier Nixon administration could have had a very different outcome than the one we got.
How would you have handled Civil Rights?
With respect to Civil Rights legislation, I’d have probably gone line by line to see if any of it violated the personal rights of others in an attempt to try to rectify past discrimination. You can’t remedy it by making it OK to then shift an unfair advantage to others.
Some of it went too far in that regard (why Goldwater opposed the ‘64 version). My approach would’ve been more along the lines of color-blind laws. I’ve never approved of laws that force private citizens or business to HAVE to comply with service in violation of their own beliefs, that’s involuntary servitude. Conversely, if you’re a White restaurant owner in a Black neighborhood and refuse them service, you’re pretty much deserving to go out of business. Convincing businesses via peaceful protest (as was done at the time) to change policies was the right way to go.
Alas, if the Reconstruction Laws had been kept in place or enforced, it would not have been necessary for what went on in the 1950s and ‘60s. And, of course, full and free exercise of voting rights as well.