Careers Outside Politics For OTL Presidents?

I've been developing a timeline where JFK becomes an actor. He was certainly handsome enough to make a living and should have little trouble performing in front of the camera or on stage. Of course this happens after JPK Jr. breaks his arm or gets vd from a bargirl and he becomes President. From what I've read about the film version of the Manchurian Candidate, Laurence Harvey was picked to play Raymond because he seemeed a lot like JFK.

Another one (the story with Groucho becoming POTUS) has Truman as a PI, frequently working with the FBI against communists and dealers in a prohibition against narcotics.

Warren Harding...town drunk?
Reagan- sports newcaster
Bush41- player for the Yankees with Fidel castro
TR- Indiana Jones
Carter- perhaps Rickover's successor
Wilson- pastor, bigwig in KKK or John Birch society
Lincoln- writer, inventor, college president
 
I've been developing a timeline where JFK becomes an actor. He was certainly handsome enough to make a living and should have little trouble performing in front of the camera or on stage. Of course this happens after JPK Jr. breaks his arm or gets vd from a bargirl and he becomes President. From what I've read about the film version of the Manchurian Candidate, Laurence Harvey was picked to play Raymond because he seemeed a lot like JFK.

I was going to bring up this idea. Given Joe Sr.'s early dealings in Hollywood, and his reportedly considerable influence over his son, as well as Jack's reported infatuation with the Hollywood circles, JFK the actor seems vaguely possible if all the right circumstances work out. He seems to have been more suited for it than either Bobby or Joe Jr.
 
JFK as an actor: I like it. :cool: Remember that Peter and Pat Lawford were essentially the Gosselins of the 1960s (with the same marital/personal collapse into drugs and drink), except that they were wealthy before becoming actors. Peter Lawford was an English toff, and Pat was arguably the best-looking of the Kennedy sisters.

Joe Jr.: Businessman.

Ted: NFL player.

Bobby: foreign correspondent, lawyer, or Summer Olympian.
 
Hey thanks for the compliments. As I said I'm developing but I've got a good feeling about "JFK: Acting President"

Here are some others:

FDR: a novelist like his son Elliot, hospital administrator
Jefferson: scientist, wine maker, architect
Jackson: gun-for-hire, explorer (like Lewis or Clark)
William Harrison: doctor (like he originally planned)
Taft: Chef?
 
If you need any help with that TL, feel free to PM me. I can also advise you on alternate career tracks for other family members. ;)
 
Hey thanks for the compliments. As I said I'm developing but I've got a good feeling about "JFK: Acting President"

Here are some others:

FDR: a novelist like his son Elliot, hospital administrator
Jefferson: scientist, wine maker, architect
Jackson: gun-for-hire, explorer (like Lewis or Clark)
William Harrison: doctor (like he originally planned)
Taft: Chef?

WHH always wanted to be a soldier. His father wanted him to be a doctor. None the less, it's an interesting WI. Perhaps he could have become an army surgeon.
 
In 1937 (I think), a young Richard Nixon applied to the FBI. It would appear that the FBI wasn't hiring at the time. However, had they been hiring, I think Nixon would have found a niche very rapidly. I could see him rising through the bureau, and becoming Hoover's successor in the late '60s/early '70s.

Herbert Hoover could well have gone back to large-scale civil engineering projects, owning and managing his own firm after World War I. It's not out of the question that Hoover Associates (I made that up for easy reference) could wind up with contracts to design and manage construction on such projects as the Pennsylvania Railroad's electrification, the Delaware River bridge in Philadelphia (now known as the Ben Franklin bridge), and so on. Hoover might not be known much apart from his name being found on plaques dedicating such major projects, but he would have contributed materially to day-to-day life as we know it.

Kind of difficult to imagine what Calvin Coolidge might have done, since he was in public service of one form or another rather early on. About the best I can suggest would be the practice of law in/around Amherst, MA leading to a professorship of law or political science. In the former instance, I could see him as a taciturn Yankee version of Professor Kingsfield (see John Houseman in The Paper Chase). He'd have probably earned a reputation as a won't-give-an-inch rigorous professor who honed very sharp legal minds.

Apparently Warren Harding had a deep interest in baseball. Perhaps he might have been involved with minor league ball in Ohio (say, the Columbus Senators of the American Association) and moved up to a front office position in the majors (say, general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, working for Powel Crosley). From that point, it's conceivable he could have moved on to the National League front office, and perhaps even a brief tenure as commissioner, had he lived long enough.

Taft is a no-brainer: he'd have been one of the best-known and well-thought-of judicial minds of the first third of the twentieth century.
 

Xen

Banned
Dwight Eisenhower - A career military man, retires in obscurity and dies quietly in 1965
Richard Nixon - World Class Pianist
JFK - Editor in Chief for the New York Times and a playboy
RFK - Became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Jimmy Carter - The vocal and recognized leader of the Christian Left
Ronald Reagan - Remains an actor best known for portraying the POTUS in a 1970's West Wing-like television drama, the Oval Office
George W. Bush - The Commissioner of Major League Baseball
Barrack Obama - Kidnapped by his father as a small child and raised in Kenya, Obama eventually becomes President of the Republic of Kenya.
 
Clinton seems unique in the post WWII in being a pure political employee for the bulk of his adult life, though JFK and to a certain extent Truman also qualify. Hmm but now that I'm going through the list, LBJ as well as Ford.

Truman - ?
Eisenhower - Army /
Kennedy - I definitely could buy the actor / hollywood personality
Johnson - ?
Nixon - Lawyer / Pepsi
Ford - ?
Reagan - Actor / commentator
Bush 41 - Oil business
Clinton - ?
Bush 43 - Baseball or oil
Obama - Academic / community organizer


I'm imagine the questions (Truman, LBJ, Ford, Clinton) end up in a scattering of business / marketing / lawyers of varying success.
 
LBJ: Media magnate, Lady Bird was IOTL.
Ford: NFL player
Clinton: jazz musician, lawyer
Truman: no idea, he failed at everything except politics.
 
As far as hobbies go, Truman was a very good piano player and enjoyed poker. He was also quite a swimmer, if I am remembering correctly.

Perhaps he could do something related to those. I realize that a hobby and a career are two completely different things, but at least this is a start.
 
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