DBWI: John F. Kennedy Elected President in 1960 (instead of 1968)

There have been several timelines on the site about the question of whether John F. Kennedy had been defeated in the 1968 Presidential Election by George Romney - and many threads about the subject, but there have been few of either about the question of whether Kennedy had defeated Richard Nixon eight years earlier during his first attempt at the Presidency in 1960.

So, what would be the ramifications of John F. Kennedy being sworn in as the 35th President of the United States on January 20, 1961 instead of Richard Nixon?

I also ask another side question, could Nixon have performed the same kind of political comeback that Kennedy did if he lost in 1960?

OOC: This is loosely based on the Camelot Deferred RP Game in Shared Worlds, where Kennedy pulling a Nixon happens in 1968.
 
One important consideration is Kennedy's health problems. If he took office at the age of 43, he would have been stronger and could have lived through two terms and not die in office as he did OTL.
 
It would be interesting to see what Lee Harvey Oswald might do instead of assassinating Vice President Lodge. Maybe Johnson gets the bullet (unless he isn't Kennedy's Vice Presidential Nominee as per OTL).

I definitely think Nixon could make a comeback, though. He's too damn good a politician, and he wanted it too badly. Depending on how close the election is and whether or not Kennedy's first term is good, he might even pull a comeback in 1964.

I wonder what Lodge might do, given the chance to live longer, though... Maybe he wins the GOP nomination in 1964? He could be a pretty tough challenger for Kennedy to beat, especially if it was a foreign policy election. I'm not sure Kennedy could handle Cuba quite like Nixon. Or the USSR for that matter.
 
I heard Nixon had a back-up plan of running for California governor in 1962. If he could defeat Brown, and win 1966 as well, that could set the stage for a political comeback.
 
One important consideration is Kennedy's health problems. If he took office at the age of 43, he would have been stronger and could have lived through two terms and not die in office as he did OTL.

That is true, Kennedy took office in OTL at the age of 50, and by that point his Addison's has progressed further, which when combined with the stress of the Presidency led to his fatal stroke in April 1974.

At the same time through, it's possible his health may have deteriorated in a similar manner at an earlier age anyway; through maybe not at the rate it did in OTL.

It would be interesting to see what Lee Harvey Oswald might do instead of assassinating Vice President Lodge. Maybe Johnson gets the bullet (unless he isn't Kennedy's Vice Presidential Nominee as per OTL).

I definitely think Nixon could make a comeback, though. He's too damn good a politician, and he wanted it too badly. Depending on how close the election is and whether or not Kennedy's first term is good, he might even pull a comeback in 1964.

I wonder what Lodge might do, given the chance to live longer, though... Maybe he wins the GOP nomination in 1964? He could be a pretty tough challenger for Kennedy to beat, especially if it was a foreign policy election. I'm not sure Kennedy could handle Cuba quite like Nixon. Or the USSR for that matter.

Oswald might not come into the picture ITTL at all, unless he feels the need to attack Senator (or then Vice President) Johnson or Kennedy for their policies towards Cuba or the Soviet Union; depends through; that's a situation that could easily be butterflied and likely would be by a Kennedy presidency.

The election itself in OTL was fairly close, so it's likely a Kennedy victory would be close as well; which would give Nixon some room to try for a comeback in 1964 or 68.

As for Lodge himself, it depends on how Kennedy handles foreign policy, it's possible that with eight years less experience in the Senate the latter could end up screwing up in regards to the Cuba situation, maybe Khrushchev feels he is weak and can be trampled over, and puts missiles in Cuba or something?
 
I heard Nixon had a back-up plan of running for California governor in 1962. If he could defeat Brown, and win 1966 as well, that could set the stage for a political comeback.

That's always a possibility, through I am not sure Nixon could defeat Brown in 1962, he was a very popular Governor, and easily crushed his two opponents in those years in OTL; through Nixon wouldn't be just any opponent.
 
I'd have been a bit leery of Kennedy in the 1960s strange as it is to say. I know, lefty supporting Mr. Silent Majority, but hear me out.

His inexperience plus his tendency to play harder with communists would've been a volatile combination in the early sixties. Nixon did a damn good job with handling the Cuban Revolution and did much to defrost relations between the USSR and the US. Kennedy would've likely mucked up the former and earned the enmity of that country, and the latter elements would've lead to a tenser 1960s overall. Heck, we probably wouldn't have had the International Landing on the moon for example.

I would say that the other big thing during Nixon's term, the Three Week War, would've likely remained similar. Arab leadership was still balls, and the Israelis still had a good plan in place.

Khrushchev would've definitely taken advantage of Kennedy if he could get away with it too. He kept Nixon on his toes in between doing things like visiting Disneyland and purging Stalinists from the party.
 
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