I think it's selling Vito short to assume he didn't foresee a potential conflict between the Family business and his aspirations for Michael.
Vito felt "Senator Corleone. Governor Corleone" was possible for Michael as long as the Family's criminal enterprises staying within the boundaries Vito had set.
LW, it would have been possible, in the immediate postwar era, for Michael to have been elected to public office despite his name and his father. He could have established a residence of convenience in Vito's old Little Italy district, where the Corleone name was magic. The FBI wasn't on the Mob's case then, Vito didn't have an arrest record, and few Americans were aware of a "National Syndicate" of organized crime. TV was in its infancy, and "investigative journalism" was almost unknown. I think he'd be a shoo-in for Congress. Getting elected to statewide office (Senator or Governor) would have been more difficult for Michael, but with his father's money and labor muscle, Michael probably could have won. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in '46, Senate in '52 and Presidency in '60 despite his father's high profile as a stock manipulator, Hitler-appeaser and (some said) having ties to OC.
