The Watchman Waketh: A recursive TL.

Hi, I'm shiftygiant, and I would like to present a very strange scenario (and my first in fact). It is a recursive TL of sorts, the subject matter of which will become clear in a moment...


November 22nd, 1963
Dallas, Texas
Early afternoon on a Tuesday. The Texas sun of late November hangs lazily overhead and The President, sitting next to his wife and with the Governor, is riding in a motorcade, having just turned of Houston and about to turn into Elm, waving to passer-byes sitting on grassy knolls in the Dealey Plaza [1].

Meanwhile, sat in a window of the Dallas Book Depository and overlooking the street, a young man is slowly taking aim of the President. Lee Oswald [2], a worker at the book depository, having come in this morning with a bag he said was wire hangers, has his finger on the trigger of a rifle he got in the mail, cheek resting on it's butt, eye down the scope and sights on the President.

The President smiles as he waves to the crowd, a camera filming the event silently from one of the concrete pedestals along Elm Street.

A thousand faces line the street, smiling and waving, camera's flashing as they try and capture history.

With bated breathe, Lee squeezes the trigger.

The first round slams into Kennedy’s chest, a shot echoing in the arid sky. Folding, the President pushed a clenched first to his chest, his wife, in confusion, propping him up as he goes to fall. Bringing his head back, Kennedy screams in anguish as blood comes from between his knuckles.

A second shot rings out, missing Kennedy but striking Governor Connolly. As Connolly grasps at his neck, slipping into shock with blood trickling between his fingers, Secret Service agents dash to the car to secure the President.

Lee sighs and pulls the bolt back, a shell spitting out. Slamming it back, he locks the next round and squeezes. The third shot hits the President in the head, just above the eye. Matter explodes from behind him as the Agents jump onto the limo, which quickly drives off, speeding down towards the Elm Street overpass. Lee dashes from the room, down the corridor and out the building as people evacuate out of fear of the gunman. Walking away, he heads home.

The Limo makes its way to Parkland, the closest Hospital en-route. The President is declared DOA. Vice-President Johnson, who had been riding in the convoy, is rushed to a small room with the Press Sectary Kilduff and Kennedy’s traumatized wife, along with his own wife. With the body of the President to stay in Dallas for the Dallas Coroner[3], Johnson requests that Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes[4] is brought to Parkland for his inauguration. The press is given access to a classroom, where they are addressed by Kilfuff, who informs them of the Presidents assassination. Hughes arrives shortly thereafter with a photographer where, after being briefed of what’s happened, swears Vice-President Johnson in as President of the United States.


1-Kennedy is on his way to the Trade Mart in Dallas, where he delivered his famous speech 'The Watchman Waketh' on November 22nd, 1963.
2-A fairly obscure figure outside of Texas, Lee Oswald was a former Marine who had lived for some years in the Soviet Union. Arrested whilst preparing to shoot the President, he was convicted of conspiracy to murder Kennedy, as well as his earlier attempted murder of General Edwin Walker, given life imprisonment. It’s conceivable that had he made it to the sixth floor, he would have had the perfect position to fire on the President. A designated Sharpshooter, it’s not hard to imagine what kind of damage he could have done.
3-Shooting the President would have been considered a state crime, therefore would have been subject to a Dallas based investigation.
4-A future Associate Justice, Hughes was a friend of Johnson, as well as one of the few judges he liked in Dallas. It's not hard to see why he would turn to her for such a job.

Hmm, not too sure where the divergence quite is, but go on.

I'm guessing Lee Oswald might miss his appointment with Jack Ruby, but that's just speculation.

While Oswald may be obscure, at least two people who knew him worked him into various works. His friend, Kerry Thornley wrote a novel about him ("The Idle Warriors") before he shot JFK. A guy who disliked him, Donald Belisario, went on to be a TV producer and writer.

Tom Colton said:

Hmm, not too sure where the divergence quite is, but go on.

I'm guessing Lee Oswald might miss his appointment with Jack Ruby, but that's just speculation.

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The divergence will become more obvious. Next update will have the beginning of the more obvious divergences (Let's say it's going to get very different very quickly).

What happens to Oswald will be covered in a future update (a far future update)- all I'm gonna say right now is that's got a southerly feel to it. And will involve Cubans.

Apologies if this update is a bit messy, brief or seems rushed, if it is a mess I'll edit when I can (it's half past midnight where I am, at time of writing), and don't worry, the next update will cover everything up to (but not including) the 1968 election. So, last time we where here, Kennedy had just lost his mind and Johnson had become president.


An overview of 1964
Kennedy is dead. Connolly is alive; however it’s unlikely he’ll ever wake up. Oswald is on the loose, heading to Mexico with his family. The nation is in mourning, and Johnson is President.

One of Johnson’s first acts in office was a revision of New Frontier- as Idealistic as Kennedy’s program was, for too many it was a failure. Targeting the original pivots of the New Frontier, this new program was far more extensive, Johnson finding ways to practically work them. Controversial among Republicans and Conservative Democrats, one of the first pivots of the New Frontier was a combination of operations and programs in what would later become known as the ‘War on Poverty’[1].

However, the single most important, and most controversial, of Johnson's implements would be the radical ‘Civil Rights Act’, originally penned and proposed by the late Kennedy, who built upon the previous 1957 Civil Rights Act. Johnson, using his influence and intimidation tactics to get the late Kennedy’s bill through government, refused to remove the more dangerous and provocative passages[2]; by doing this Johnson ignited anger amongst the more conservative members of the Democratic Party. Led by senator Storm Thurmond, this group formed to oppose the passages regarding the involvement of the Attorney General in lawsuits against state governments and the ending of segregation, believing these to be infringement’s on state rights. In spite of facing volatile opposition from their own party, up to including a month long filibuster session, with the assistance of bill manager and Democratic Whip Senator Humphrey Hubert, the opposition soon crumbled and the bill was passed[3]. The Act was seen as a major success amongst many; however Civil Rights activist, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., noted at the time that the act does not go far enough in protecting voting rights and the black community against police violence[4], a sentiment that would gain traction in the following years. The Act would also go on to damage the Democrats themselves in the long term, Senator Thurmond and Governor George Wallace leading a schism that would effectively split the Conservative branch of the democrats off of the mainstream[5].

1964 Presidential Election
By the time of the Act’s passing, Johnson was facing a new opponent; the people of America, and Arizonan Senator Barry Goldwater. Having secured nomination following the collapse of conventional opposition[6], Goldwater rallied American’s dissatisfied and disenfranchised by Johnson’s radical social changes, such as his poverty initiative and the Civil Rights act. Previously Democratic stomping grounds switched to Republican control and vise versa as the party’s seemed to switch positions. Despite running against the successor of the publicly canonized Kennedy, Goldwater’s main route of attack was the alleged corruption in Johnson’s administration[7], such as his involvement in the Booby Baker Scandal. Goldwater was however ultimately on the losing side, despite endorsement from the popular Richard Nixon and actor Ronald Reagan, committing a series of publicity gaffes that alienated voters and even the Republicans themselves[8], as well as an aggressive and unflattering campaign from Johnson that painted Goldwater as a right wing extremist[9]. Goldwater lost the election by a wide margin, the Presidency won by Johnson and his running mate, the previously mentioned Hubert[10].

Johnson is now the president in his own right. Robert Kennedy, famous in his rivalry and adversity to Johnson, leaves the post of Attorney General and goes to become a senator[11]. However, as soon as Johnson can rest easy, his attention is taken by a small little town in Alabama, a town named Montgomery…


1-Johnson grew up in rural Texas and had taught a schoolhouse, witnessing poverty first hand. During the redrafting of the New Frontier in 1964, he convinced Kennedy to include heavy education reform.
2-Johnson famously defended the Act, threatening to pull out of the ’64 election if any of the passages were removed.
3-Johnson was well connected in the senate, and would be able to use his influence and infamous imitation tactics to his advantage. Unlike Kennedy, who faced a yearlong fight to get the bill passed, it’s easy to see Johnson pulling strings to end the filibustering early.
4-Like our timeline this would likely be rectified, most likely in an event similar to the Montgomery Massacre.
5-Like in our timeline.
6-Much of the machinery that led to Rockefeller pulling out was already in place. Lodge decided against running, so it’s not too hard to see him decide to decide against running again.
7-Much of this can be leveled to the Bobby Baker scandal, which had been cleared up a month before Kennedy’s assassination. This point was also brought up during Goldwater’s famously long triad against Kennedy’s administration that almost won him the election in our timeline.
8-Goldwater’s campaign was ear marked by gaffes, such as insulting Eisenhower for not endorsing him, alienating the East Coast by wishing them to fall into the sea, and personal insults aimed at Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline. It’s likely he’ll repeat these, even with a dead Kennedy.
9-Much like Kennedy’s campaign team, Johnson’s team would not miss a chance to pick up on Goldwater‘s questionable aspects, such as his association with the KKK and advocacy of nuclear weapons in Vietnam.
10-Johnson would have chosen Humphrey Hubert over Robert Kennedy, despite the latter’s popularity, due to former's involvement with the passage of the Civil Rights act.
11-Unlike in our world, where Robert Kennedy stayed with his brother and work as Attorney General, a position in which he would vehemently exercise his new power granted by the Civil Rights Act, Kennedy and Johnson would inevitably split due to their personal feuds. Kennedy would likely go to New York, where he can make the biggest changes, winning due to his connection with his late brother and his promises of radical social programs.

I love this TL. (Okay, fine, I love any TL with LBJ in it, unless the writer is insulting him. )

I'm getting sort of a The Grasshopper Lies Heavy meets If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg vibe.

I'm partially confused and yet I'm hooked on this timeline. Bravo sir.

Okay, so before we get to Vietnam, I felt an overview of Johnson's second term would be needed. Whilst not as extensive as what is planned for his successor, it should cover the bases. My main issue is that the obvious departure from OTL has not arrived yet, however it should by next update, which will be Vietnam and the Six Day War. Again, post publishing editing stuff will happen. Do feel free to suggest future events; I do have a general idea of where I'm going, however I'm happy to see what there is I would otherwise miss.


An overview of 1965-1967
After the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Johnson had free range to continue the New Frontiers program. Whilst large swaths of legislation was committed to expanding or rectifying the mistakes in both Kennedy and Johnson’s previous legislation, Johnson continued to fulfill the New Frontier, turning his attention to Healthcare[1]. The National Health Insurance bill was the brainchild of previous democratic President Harry Truman, and had for some time been stuck in the legislative machine. With a Democrat majority, Johnson and Hubert began to push the Bill through the system, igniting further controversy with the Dixicrats and Conservative Republicans, however finding unlikely support among Rockefeller Republicans. The Bill, dubbed ‘Medicare’, guarantees healthcare to retirees and the poor; it narrowly passed.

One of Johnson’s often criticized programs was that on the space program, to which he was a patron of. Pumping what seemed like unlimited funding into the program[2], at times out his own pocket, Johnson defended the program against critics and congress, allowing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration[3] to continue despite the failings of Apollo 1, barring Congress from investigation[4]. Whilst controversial at the time, the fruits of this labor would be most sweet, as would be seen in the last few years of the decade.

On the Civil Rights Act, Johnson sought to amend the mistake regarding voter rights following violence in Alabama; In protest of Governor Wallace’s restriction on voting rights, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marched alongside his followers through Alabama, meeting violence at every turn[5]. The Police, under Wallace’s orders, shot tear gas into the crowds, State Troopers firing into the protesters and engaging them one on one, resulting in several deaths, such as Deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson and organizer Amelia Boynton[6]. News footage of Police attacking unarmed protesters, as well as the much published photograph of Boynton’s dead body, led to the passing of the Voters Rights Act in 1965, the Act prohibiting racial discrimination in voting as well as allowing for the Attorney General to step in on cases of police brutality[7]. Johnson would also implement Immigration reforms, as well as continue his War on Poverty with housing, further education, and economic reform. However, despite the vast progress made under the New Frontier, everyday American’s soon saw the program under an antagonistic light. The major issue of Johnson’s New Frontier was the price tag, Johnson raising taxes in order to fund the projects[8], resulting in many felt disenfranchised in putting their money into programs they did not directly benefit from, or the perceived inefficiency of the programs costing more than what they would need, or simply wasting money on pipe dreams (most notably the Space Agency). Protests against taxation soon became frequent, Johnson even earning the nickname ‘Comrade Lyndon’, one he detested but never shook until his death.

However despite this nickname, Johnson would become an entrenched figure in the fight against Communist expansion in Latin America and South East-Asia. Like his domestic policies, Johnson’s foreign policies can be said to be at best an extension of Kennedy’s Flexible Response policy, and at worst neo-imperialist. Taking a confrontational approach to Communist and Socialist groups, Johnson passed a Monroe document of the 20th century, which called for interventions in countries that fall to the communist scourge. In practice, this led to armed interventions across Latin America against government’s sporting a left leaning leader, supplying violent and repressive regimes with weapons and intelligence. The most famous of the Latin American interventions under Johnson was the Dominican War, a brief but bloody confrontation in the Caribbean between a coalition of America, Brazil and Central America, against the Dominican Government[9].

Back on the home front, tensions were rising. Protests were launched through the south and in major cities against segregated holdouts and social inequalities, whilst existing tensions bubbled over in a cacophony of violence. These riots exposed to many that for all the new legislation, the Government was in no rush to step in and help directly. Brutality during these riots was often swept under the rug, and the beginnings of what would become known as ‘ghettoization’ emerged in major cities. Black Nationalist organisations became the police for the community, the most prominent of which being the Black Panther Party, a party noted for their socialist leanings. Amongst white’s, fears of the riots and seeing black nationalism as a threat to America led to the rise of reactionary groups[10], such as Virginia based American National Socialist Party, or ‘White Shirts’[11]. Formed under the pretense of combating black violence, they were however at many times the cause of conflict[12]. Due to the socialist leanings to the Black Panthers, surveillance focused heavily on the Black Panthers and not the White Shirts, an attitude that would change following the assassination of Luther King in the late 60's by white supremacists. King’s assassination would also splinter the Civil Rights movement, as well as spark week long riots across the nation[13].

As protests against taxation and the state of race relations grow, so do protests against foreign interventions, although not as prominent as the former. However, events in a small nation's across South East Asia and the Middle East would soon change that all.


1-Kennedy would find more success than Johnson here, using the ill health of his youth and early senator ship, as well as private revelations regarding Addison’s disease, to pass Medicare with more groups covered.
2-Johnson's support of the program would have seen far more funding going into it, unlike in our world in which the program received barely half of its promised funds.
3-NASA was the original name of the ‘American Space, Aerodynamic and Technological Institute’, before the renaming following the Anderson Commission.
4-Johnson and Kennedy clashed over Kennedy’s decision to allow a congressional investigation, and was one of the reasons Johnson never ran in ’68. The investigation resulted in a renaming and fund redistribution, moving NASA to a more military agenda, as well as rendering the proposed Skylab stillborn. With Johnson in charge, it’s very likely we will see Skylab’s existence and a more peaceful Space Race.
5-Unlike our world, the Alabama march would not be in response to the stalling of the Civil Rights Act but instead the bases the Act does not cover, such as voting rights. Additionally, whilst violent, it would not become as violent as the Montgomery Massacre.
6-Both were killed as in our world, their deaths resulting in support for the Act. Their deaths would still likely occur.
7-After the passing of the Act, Kennedy almost immediately started making amendments. It’s very likely Johnson would make these too.
8-Like Kennedy, this is what would kill Johnson’s administration.
9-It’s hard to tell what Johnson would have done really, so for the time being I must assume he’d follow the same path as Kennedy.
10-Much of this simply repeats what happened in our world, however not to the same extent as under Kennedy.
11-The White Shirts were a reactionary group led by former Naval Commander George Lincoln Rockwell, so called for their ceremonial white shirts.
12-The White Shirts were infamous for provoking black riots to shed negative light on the Civil Rights Movement. During George Wallace’s nomination debate, he infamously called the black rioters in California “Barbarians who should have never been given the rights of men”. It’s likely he’ll react in a similar way, and like in our world, his association with the White Shirt’s, as well as his involvement in he Montgomery Massacre, will destroy him.
13-King’s death was an inevitable part of his position; at times, he would often comment on the possibility of his own assassination. In his seminal speech, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”, he ended questioning becoming a martyr for his cause, which has led to conspiracy theories that King was killed by Civil Rights Activists.

Why isn't it called the Great Society like OTL? Btw that picture is SO sad. He looks so broken from whatever he's hearing from his son-in-laws who were fighting in Nam. (I am such a nerd. ) MOAR LBJ, DAMN IT! (Haha, sorry, don't mind me. ) Wait, why hasn't he given anyone the Johnson Treatment? How can you have a TL without the Treatment?! I'm enjoying this TL, even though I can tell Nam is going to ruin him...again.

So...this is a TL written from the perspective of someone living in a world where Kennedy wasn't assassinated, and while the TL shares some similarities with OTL it's still "off".

Okay, if I can explain the gimmick to readers--assuming I'm correct, and my apologies to the writer if I'm not--this is a TL written from a world where Kennedy didn't die, positing more or less our TL where he did. Now, as the TL begins, it will probably be quite close to ours, as the fictional writer is a knowledgeable figure dealing with a bunch of reasonably predictable outcomes. But as it goes on, it will diverge quite a bit, as the writer, standing from an endpoint that is quite different from ours, becomes increasingly incapable of imagining our world.

During all of which, we will get a good idea of his.

BonnieBlue85 said:

Why isn't it called the Great Society like OTL? Btw that picture is SO sad. He looks so broken from whatever he's hearing from his son-in-laws who were fighting in Nam. (I am such a nerd. ) MOAR LBJ, DAMN IT! (Haha, sorry, don't mind me. ) Wait, why hasn't he given anyone the Johnson Treatment? How can you have a TL without the Treatment?! I'm enjoying this TL, even though I can tell Nam is going to ruin him...again.

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To answer your questions, the person writing this is very unimaginative when it comes to naming things. I was considering using a photo of him giving Truman the treatment, however I felt this one to be more appropriate. On Vietnam, all I can say right now is that whilst it will ruin him, it's going to be very different to what we know.

Kung Fucious said:

So...this is a TL written from the perspective of someone living in a world where Kennedy wasn't assassinated, and while the TL shares some similarities with OTL it's still "off".

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Pretty much.

Space Oddity said:

Okay, if I can explain the gimmick to readers--assuming I'm correct, and my apologies to the writer if I'm not--this is a TL written from a world where Kennedy didn't die, positing more or less our TL where he did. Now, as the TL begins, it will probably be quite close to ours, as the fictional writer is a knowledgeable figure dealing with a bunch of reasonably predictable outcomes. But as it goes on, it will diverge quite a bit, as the writer, standing from an endpoint that is quite different from ours, becomes increasingly incapable of imagining our world.

During all of which, we will get a good idea of his.

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You've hit the nail on the head with the scenario. My main reason for writing this was as a response to the sudden influx of DBWI's. I felt if we have those, we should have some Double Blind timelines.

Thank you for your responses

Space Oddity said:

Okay, if I can explain the gimmick to readers--assuming I'm correct, and my apologies to the writer if I'm not--this is a TL written from a world where Kennedy didn't die, positing more or less our TL where he did. Now, as the TL begins, it will probably be quite close to ours, as the fictional writer is a knowledgeable figure dealing with a bunch of reasonably predictable outcomes. But as it goes on, it will diverge quite a bit, as the writer, standing from an endpoint that is quite different from ours, becomes increasingly incapable of imagining our world.

During all of which, we will get a good idea of his.

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shiftygiant said:

You've hit the nail on the head with the scenario. My main reason for writing this was as a response to the sudden influx of DBWI's. I felt if we have those, we should have some Double Blind timelines.

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Like I said, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (TTL tries to imagine OTL, but doesn't quite get it right) meets If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg (the original DBWI).

shiftygiant said:

News footage of Police attacking unarmed protesters, as well as the much published photograph of Boynton’s dead body, led to the Civil Rights Act of 1965, the Act prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and allowing for the Attorney General to step in on cases of police brutality.

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Um, the VOTING Rights Act was passed in 1965, not the Civil Rights Act. I KNOW this is a DBWI, but still.

BonnieBlue85 said:

Um, the VOTING Rights Act was passed in 1965, not the Civil Rights Act. I KNOW this is a DBWI, but still.

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Crap, I missed that. Thanks, chalk that up to British Education being weird when it comes to Civil Rights.

VariantAberrant said:

Like I said, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (TTL tries to imagine OTL, but doesn't quite get it right) meets If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg (the original DBWI).

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Grasshopper was a major inspiration, and although I admit I haven't had a chance to read If Lee Had Not Won the idea of an academic style reverberates clearly.

shiftygiant said:

Grasshopper was a major inspiration, and although I admit I haven't had a chance to read If Lee Had Not Won the idea of an academic style reverberates clearly.

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You should. The only regard in which it fails at making OTL sound less plausible than TTL is Churchill's blithe assumption that of course the brown Americans would realize that, being brown, they were incapable of self-governance just like they are over in Injah don't you know. I suspect Ken Hite to have had Lee in mind when he wrote a certain passage in GURPS Infinite Worlds:

History said:

One trick that sometimes works, for those of an academic cast of mind anyhow, is to put on your snootiest History Channel documentary voice and say something like "In retrospect, German victory in 1918 was inevitable." Then list all the things that (if you didn't know how World War I wound up) would make German victory indeed seem inevitable...

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This part will change the most depending on how it goes down, so do expect revisions. I'm no expert in Vietnam, so if you have criticisms on how the war pans out, do feel free to point them out so I can make changes. Expect the usual post-publication fiddling. Next time, 1968 and the election.


Vietnam and Laos
Through Woodrow Wilson to Lyndon Johnson, Vietnam had always been in a state of struggle. Following the vicious Indochina War of the mid-century, America had maintained an advisory force in the South to teach the government how to fight the spreading of Communism; however, these advisers were often put into combat, and soon it became clear a withdrawal would be necessary. After the CIA led 1963 coup against President Diệm and the establishment of a junta government, Johnson began the long process of withdrawing from Indochina, his main goal in ending the war as quickly as possible[1].

The process of withdrawal, laid out by the late Kennedy and Defense Secretary McNamara, involved the slow phasing out military advisers with their Vietnamese counterparts, whilst assisting the AVRN through intelligence and support roles until such a time came where Saigon could take these responsibilities; the only American forces that would remain would be a contingency group on the DMZ. However, the plan never took off- an attack on the Bien Hoa Air Base[2] by the Vietcong irregulars led to the phasing out being delayed until further notice. In response, Johnson authorized airstrikes in industrial areas of North Vietnam. Whilst a strong believer in the Domino Theory and Containment, Johnson believed a boots on the ground approach to the situation would be seen as a further escalation by Moscow and Beijing. Support for the airstrikes also came for a need to boost morale in Saigon, which, due to a near monthly cycle of coups, was seen as unstable and on the brink of collapse. Bombings began by the middle of 1965, however succeeded in doing little to disrupt the Vietcong; a more drastic approach would be needed. The advisers began to officially operate as combat troops, an intense bombing campaign beginning in neighboring Laos, under hopes of disrupting the Ho Chi Minh Trail that was supplying the Vietcong. This would prove ineffective, in spite of the controversial use of mixed ordnance, napalm and chemical weapons, the trail surviving until the end of the war. In Laos, military advisers were secretly brought in to assist the Hmong Militia against the Vietminh; this would prove important in the long run, as American trained Hmong continue their insurgency to this day[3].

By the mid-point of Johnson’s term, Saigon had begun running extensive and brutal search and destroy missions across the countryside, a zero tolerance policy against those who were considered sympathetic to the Vietcong; when in practice this led to entire villages and hamlets being destroyed, turning more people to Hanoi and the Vietcong. By the elections of 1968, Vietnam was still far from over, protests against American support of the Saigon Regime, the bombings in the North and Laos, advisers being turned into combat troops and the brutality of fighting captured on film and in pictures, as well as the seemingly impossible determination of the Vietcong, led to a collapse in support of Johnson’s already fragile leadership. Attacks would soon emerge from the Democrats themselves, Senator Robert Kennedy challenging the administration’s ability in handling the war[4], comments that the Dixicrats and Republicans would reverberate. Overall, by 1968, the war was seen by the most optimistic people as a stalemate, and by pessimists the end of America on the world stage.

The June War (1967)
Something was rotten in the Middle East. Since 1948, there had been a sense of an uneasy peace in the region. However, following an Israeli attack in Jordan, the Arab League began preparing for another war against the tiny state. The attack itself, retaliation against Palestinian terrorists operating out of Jordanian territory, had been condemned by Johnson who, whilst standing by Israel, was known to be privately disgusted by Israel’s actions[5]. Following border skirmishes between Israel and Syria in Golan, Gamal Abdel Nasser, as part of a defensive pact with Syria, began to amass troops for an attack, closing the straits of Tiran to Israeli merchant ships. The armies of the Arab states began to amass, poised to strike at any moment; the result was a spectacular Blitzkrieg across the desert, Israel capturing the Sinai Peninsula by the weeks end[6]. Of course, this was not limited to the Sinai Peninsula, as Gaza, the West bank and Golan Heights were captured after brief but brutal fighting. By the time ceasefire was declared, Israel had doubled in size, stretching from the Suez Canal to Mount Hermon.

Relations between Israel and the world soon became frosty. The Soviet Union and Communist Bloc, supporters of the Arab States, broke diplomatic ties with Israel. Attempts at peace talks from Israel were refused by the embarrassed Egypt and Syria. Johnson and his Soviet counterpart, Premier Kosygin, met to discuss the June War and Indochina[7]. Whilst an agreement on Indochina was never met, an agreement regarding the Middle East was sanctions to be imposed on both sides of the conflict for the rest of the year[8]. This meeting and the agreement would in the future be seen as a step up in Soviet-American relations[9]. However, events in 1968 would test this newly kindled relationship.


1-Johnson was supportive of Kennedy’s withdrawal strategy, however believed a strong American presence would still be needed.
2-This event occurs like in our world, the attack due to the sites statues as being a training ground for the Vietnamese Air force by the American Air force.
3-Many of these events unfurl like in our world- due to Johnson’s support of McNamara’s war plan, it’s unlikely that much would change. Unlike Kennedy, however, Johnson’s has publicly spread the war, whilst Kennedy did his best to keep involvement in Laos as secretive as possible.
4-By the end of his Brothers presidency, Robert Kennedy had denounced the war as an “unwinnable farce”. RFK’s general anti-war stance, combined with his hatred for Johnson, would undoubtable lead him to attack the Administration.
5-Johnson and Kennedy were in agreement regarding this; however Robert was supportive of the strike, seeing it as self-defense. It wouldn't be until the USS Liberty incident that Robert began to doubt Israel's conduct.
6-Unlike our world, the Egyptian Army are broken by the blitz, allowing for an earlier end to the war. With this earlier end, we would also see no USS Liberty incident, the sanctions Johnson's imposed not as harsh as Kennedy's.
7-Kennedy also held talks with Kosygin in the aftermath of the war, however traveled to Romania. This reversal would come from Johnson wanting to engage his opponent on the home field.
8-In our world, Kennedy would introduce a limit period of sanctions, however was unable to convince Kosygin to partake in them. It’s agreed that during the conference Kennedy had taken the wrong dosage of testosterone, leading to his more aggressive pursuit of Soviet copulation.
9-Whilst Kennedy failed to achieve the goals he set out on, the talks led to a rekindling of Soviet-American relations. Johnson, who is not on medication that would alter his abilities, would have been able to secure an agreement. As difficult as Kosygin was, he was also a liberal leader who wanted many of the same goals as America- peace.

I do have certain critiques concerning some of what is hinted at for the ATL in this DBTL. However, it's an interesting concept and a worthy effort. Ya done good.