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A random thought popped into my head today, thought I'd ask the board's resident Kennedy experts before skipping a study session and checking out even more books from the library.

LBJ wasn't the healthiest of guys, he died shortly after he left office, what if he'd kicked the bucket a decade earlier? Some kind of heart attack, nasty fall down the stairs, pick your poison. Only thing is it's after LBJ's been inaugurated as VPOTUS.

Anyways, I was wondering who JFK would pick to replace him as VP. I assume if LBJ dies early enough (sometime in 61?), JFK would have to make a selection sooner or later. Here are my thoughts on possible selections in no particular order. Feel free to critique them or add your own.

Hubert Humphrey: A fairly big figure in the party, main problem I see is the fact that there's nobody to draw the south into voting democrat with two Northern Liberals on the ticket.

Stuart Symington: Supposedly he's one of the guys Kennedy originally wanted as his running mate. Again support of civil rights is going to hurt his chances in the South. Furthermore Missouri doesn't carry that many votes in the electoral college.

Henry Jackson: Same as Symington. Nothing to draw the south in, Washington's a small state in the grand scheme of things.

Orval Faubus: A staunch segregationist in the 50's this former governor of Arkansas moderated considerably in the 1960's where he won 81% of the black vote in 1964. He might be a choice to keep the Southern Democrats onboard.

George Smathers: Senator from Florida, close friend of JFK, ran his 1960 campaign in the Southeast. Seems like a good choice to replace LBJ thoughts?

Ralph Yarborough: Liberal Texan senator not sure if he had the moxie to win the South...

Others?
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