An American Dream: A Kennedy Survives Wikibox TL

Hello everybody!

This right here is going to be a collaborative timeline between myself and Capitalist Hippie. The focus is on Kennedy surviving and the political consequences of it, but with a few twists.

I'm hoping for a semi-regular release schedule for this, but I don't think we can offer any promises as of yet! Hope everybody enjoys it as much as we do!
 
Part 1
Here's part 1. Hope everyone enjoys!
Part 1-A Death in Dallas
The presidency of John F. Kennedy was historic for a number of reasons. Kennedy was the youngest man elected to the office of the presidency and the second youngest ever to hold that office. In addition, he was the first Roman Catholic elected to the position, a fact which was a source of resentment in some corridors of society. Beyond that, Kennedy was among the first telegenic presidents—his wife Jackie was often treated as though she were a celebrity and the two often were regarded as glamorous and elegant. Kennedy’s charisma helped him go against the general grain in his first midterm elections in 1962, where the Democrats actually managed to gain seats. His first term saw him deal with the stationing of Soviet missiles in the neighboring nation of Cuba and he luckily avoided escalating the situation into a nuclear exchange between the two superpowers. He also supported shoring up the welfare state built by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and backed civil rights legislation. It seemed for now that the good times would not stop for Jack Kennedy.

The beginning of the end of this sunny phase of Kennedy’s presidency would be the events of November 22nd, 1963. On that day, Kennedy was paying a visit to Texas Governor John Connally in Dallas, as part a trip designed to smooth over political tensions between factions of the Democratic Party in the state. Connally had earlier been targeted for assassination by a disgruntled communist ex-Marine named Lee Harvey Oswald at his home. This attempt would end up failing, however, the would-be assassin refused to be dissuaded. On November 22nd, Oswald would take a position in the Texas Book Depository and got in position several stories up. Down below, a motorcade containing a limo carrying President Kennedy, Governor Connally and the First Ladies of both the United States and the State of Texas, as well as three vehicles utilized by members of the Secret Service and Dallas Police, was on its way through Dealey Plaza down below. As the limo made its way through the plaza, Oswald would fire his shots. He would fire three shots at the motorcade: the first one would strike Governor Connally in the head, killing him instantly. The second one would hit President Kennedy in the shoulder, slightly wounding him. The third one would miss the car altogether, injuring a bystander. There has been some historical debate as to whether Governor Connally was in fact Oswald’s target or if Kennedy was the intended victim. However, this debate remains unresolved, as Oswald would be killed by Dallas police officers shortly after fleeing the Book Depository.

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In the aftermath of Connally’s assassination, Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith would be sworn in as the new Governor of Texas. Governor Smith’s first official duty as Governor was to attend the state funeral of his predecessor. He was joined by President Kennedy,who delayed his return to Washington both to recover from his injuries, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, and even Connally’s liberal Texan rivals Ralph and Don Yarborough. Smith, as Connally’s successor, was among those tasked with giving a eulogy. He expressed the view that “I would give up this office forever if it meant bringing Connally back.” However, Smith’s eulogy would quickly be overshadowed, but surprisingly not by the charismatic Kennedy. Instead, the most noteworthy eulogy would be given by his mentor and political ally, Vice President Johnson. He eulogized the late Texan as “the finest men produced by our state since Sam Houston” and, in a rare show of emotion, shed tears by the end of his speech. The strong-willed Texan had been close to Governor Connally and his death greatly shook him.

Kennedy too was shaken by Connally’s death, especially given how easily it could have been him who perished that day in Dallas. The result of this close call was twofold: Kennedy developed a newfound drive to pursue his policies and he gained more of the political capital needed to do it. One of Kennedy’s first new initiatives was to expand access to healthcare. The Social Security Expansion Act of 1964 was the result. The legislation created the new Medicare program to provide health insurance to those over the age of 1965. This legislation bore remarkable resemblance to healthcare legislation pursued unsuccessfully by the Truman Administration. Indeed, the now-elderly Former President was among the first to be enrolled in the program. Next, Kennedy would shift his focus to civil rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be far trickier to pass than Medicare had been and was not nearly as far-reaching as many liberals activists hoped. The CRA banned poll taxes, school segregation, and discrimination in access to government facilities on the basis of race or gender, though notably not in private ones or in hiring, despite most of these things already technically being the case under existing Supreme Court decisions.

A lot of the success in passing these bills can be attributed to the role of Vice President Johnson. Johnson had been (in)famous in the Senate for the Johnson Treatment, where he sweet-talked, strong-armed, or intimated people into doing as he wanted and voting as he wanted. These tactics prevented too many Southern Democrats from voting against the legislation. Some, led by Senator Strom Thurmond, filibustered and then voted it down on, but their numbers were too few to do much but delay. However, Johnson’s efforts were not nearly as focused as they had been when he was Majority Leader. It was clear to both his friends in the Senate and in the Kennedy administration that he was still grieving over Connally’s death. Kennedy never had a particularly warm relationship with Vice President Johnson and his grief hampering his ability to lobby Congress was something that greatly irked Kennedy. It was for this reason and others that Kennedy decided to drop Johnson as Vice President. Johnson himself was at least to somewhat aware of this. When Kennedy informed him, the usually stubborn, proud Texan did not offer so much as a whimper of protest. He simply said “Very well. It has been an honor.” to Kennedy before walking away. He would spend the months between then and the inauguration of his successor more often than not aimlessly wandering the White House and the Capitol and counting the days to his retirement. Kennedy had long known who he would replace the Texan. Johnson had been put on the ticket with the goal of helping the Northern Catholic Kennedy with Southern Democratic voters and his replacement would have to do the same. That man would be Senator George Smathers from Florida, Kennedy's close friend and fellow Senator. Smathers was seen as relatively moderate despite support for Segregation and having been a signer of the Southern Manifesto. He was not a firebrand like Thurmond or Alabama Governor George Wallace. Northern liberals begrudgingly accept him on the ticket, but saw this as Kennedy stepping away from their causes. Johnson had notably not signed the Southern Manifesto.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party viewed 1964 as a potentially winnable race. Connally’s Assassination and Kennedy's injuries had drawn significant national sympathies, but Kennedy had spent that political capital on the Civil Rights Act and his decision to dump Johnson. Multiple Republicans would enter the primaries, with the liberal Nelson Rockefeller and conservative Barry Goldwater being the obvious leaders. By the time of the convention, the delegates and Republican voters had converged around a moderate figure: Governor William Scranton from Pennsylvania. Scranton had managed to become the favorite of the GOP’s liberal wing, seeking to stop Goldwater and abandoning Rockefeller over his unsightly divorce. Rockefeller continued to compete long after his popularity and finances had worn dry and endorsed Scranton a week before the convention. Scranton’s narrow win over Goldwater in California was seen as the end of the Arizona Senator's run. Seeking to win over the wing of the party he just defeated, Scranton would pick a conservative, Iowa Senator Jack Miller, for his running mate. This move came with Goldwater’s endorsement and, with a united party behind him, Scranton began the campaign to unseat President Kennedy. The race was close from the start, much like 1960. And indeed, it would stay that way to the end. The narrow difference in the popular vote between the two candidates proved the polling accurate. However, in the Electoral College it would be a run away, with a decisive win for President Kennedy. Once again, Kennedy had triumphed over a moderate Republican and won himself a second term as President of the United States.
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