DBWI: JFK Killed in 1963
- Thread starter JMT
- Start date
It wasn't a crazy guy, there really was concern that some arch-segregationists would attempt something. This is why the motorcade was cancelled.
Obviously the entire Civil Rights movement would have taken a different direction if the segregationists actually killed the President. Especially if the VP at the time had been a southern Senator.
Obviously the entire Civil Rights movement would have taken a different direction if the segregationists actually killed the President. Especially if the VP at the time had been a southern Senator.
He was, Lyndon Johnson was VP.
(OOC: The POD is that someone found Oswald out before he killed JFK)
The Civil Rights Act would've passed earlier, in perhaps '64 or '65 (LBJ was pretty good at twisting people's arms to get what he wanted in the Senate, and he would continue to do that as President). LBJ would've probably continued to send advisors to Vietnam instead of withdrawing them as JFK had planned at the end of 1963.
Hmm, do you think that the Vietnam advisors would have escalated into war? LBJ wasn't the most placid guy.
No, but that having been said, I can't imagine losing South Vietnam even if it turns into all-out war. It would have been a similar border to what we have now with the US likely putting in another stooge to replace Diem. Thankfully South Vietnam has blossomed into a wonderful destination, sort of a more humid and typhoon-prone Hawaii, and unlike the two Koreas, the two Vietnams are at least on good terms. That soccer field at the border is always hoppin with kids playing.
I wonder what a Nixon presidency would have been like. After he lost in '68 he just disappeared.
I think he was referring to some fellow killed by police in early 1964, who apparently talked about killing the President in Dallas before the motorcade was cancelled. Apparently, he was a Marine who had defected to the Soviet Union a few years earlier. Can't remember his name though.
Wallet
Banned
I don't think we would have gotten Universal Healthcare though. It took LBJ dying in office for Humphrey to get it though and strengthening the civil rights acts.
Another interesting thing would be possibly Regan getting elected sooner then 1976. But at the same time I see Bobby running sooner with his brother dead, instead of beating Reagan in 1980
1964: JFK/LBJ
1968: LBJ/HHH
1972: HHH/Gore
1976: Regan/Rockefeller
1980: RFK/Carter
True. Boy did we have A LOT of One Term Presidents after JFK. It wasn't until Howard Baker (1985-1993) that we got a two term President.
If you're talking about Lee Harvey Oswald, I don't see how he could pull it off. The reason radical segregationists were considered a threat was because they were well-organized enough in East Texas to put together a conspiracy and (allegedly) had some pretty deep connections with local law enforcement. For Oswald to kill Kennedy as a lone gunman, there'd need to be a serious lapse in security. The story sounds so incredible I dunno how readily people would believe it. So I'm sure you'd get some entertaining conspiracy theories ITTL.
Yeah, not even sure how JFK made it to the end of his second term. He looked like death warmed over in January 1969, just two months before his death.
He served a year and a half of Johnson's term (Johnson died of a heart attack in July of '71), but was still only elected once. Had it not been for the cancer though, I do think he could've narrowly beaten Reagan in '76. McGovern proved to be a disaster, it still baffles me Gore lost the nomination to him.
Wallet
Banned
Gore had baggage of a history of not completely supporting civil rights. He was a senator from a southern state, the reason Humphrey chose him.
Reagan picking Edward Brooke was a real good choice getting moderates over to the GOP, especially after 16 years of democratic rule.
Still. It's amazing that Reagan was the only living President from 1978-1981, when RFK took over.
I suspect that JFK's historic reputation would be a lot better than it currently is. If he had died in 1963 he would likely have been remembered as a liberal icon martyred before his time.
I would t say he did that good, okay but not good enough to get a second term. Baker crushed him in '84 when the economy failed to recover from the '82 recession.