DBWI Oswald Killed Kennedy

The Assassination of John Connally by Lee Oswald is one of those interesting historical moments even if its mainly remembered today for the accidental wounding of President John Kennedy. There is no need to go on about the crack pot theories that Oswald intended to kill the President the evidence speaks for itself Oswald killed Connally angry at the reject of Oswald`s request for an upgrade for his discharge from the marines.

So had Kennedy die what would have been different? also if its fun may think that Connally lives
 
No Thaw with Russia. Rapprochement with Cuba may be delayed until the 1970s ("Only Kennedy can go to Cuba"), which has major economic impact on the American Southeast and Cuba. No rapprochement and no Thaw therefore weakens the American position for arbitration in Southeast Asia with the Soviet Union. There is the potential for the military strikes against North Vietnam under Jackson being moved up to the 1960s, which has the potential for danger as the situation was much more chaotic in the 1960s than in the 1970s. Civil Rights under Johnson are debatable. He would have the Liberal surge in 1964 just as Kennedy did, but this was also the man who weakened the 1957 Civil Rights Act to appeal to the South. It may well be a situation of division between a President Lyndon Johnson and the Liberals in Congress over Civil Rights and other features of the OTL New Frontier, which could rip the Democratic party in two. As it was, the division sent many in the South to Goldwater in 1964, which is the reason he received any electoral votes, and lead to George Wallace running as a third party in 1968 and 1972.
 
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No Thaw with Russia. Rapprochement with Cuba may be delayed until the 1970s ("Only Kennedy can go to Cuba"), which has major economic impact on the American Southeast and Cuba. No rapprochement and no Thaw therefore weakens the American position for arbitration in Southeast Asia with the Soviet Union. There is the potential for the military strikes against North Vietnam under Jackson being moved up to the 1960s, which has the potential for danger as the situation was much more chaotic in the 1960s than in the 1970s.
OOC: You do realize that JFK was an ardent Cold Warrior?
 
OOC: You do realize that JFK was an ardent Cold Warrior?

OOC: You should realize that Kennedy was in back channel negotiations to reestablish relations with Castro, that Castro was tired of the Soviets (feeling they had not lived up to expectations), the Soviets were tired of Castro (feeling he was a demanding loose canon), the Americans were tired to Southeast Asia, and the Soviets were wary of North Vietnam. OTL, both the Soviets and China put pressure on North Vietnam to simply negotiate at different times. In Hanoi, there was a faction, Ho Chi Minh among its members, who were fine letting South Vietnam exist and would have accepted an end to the war. And there was a proposal to offer neutralization of Vietnam in exchange for neutralization of Cuba. Kennedy avoided war in Laos, Berlin and Cuba. There's a difference between Cold Warrior and Hawk. Any sane person was a Cold Warrior. The people that wanted to turn Havana into a crater, and would have West Berlin and Miami as a crater in return were the Hawks. The JCS, who were left over from Eisenhower, were Hawks, and Kennedy regularly locked horns with them.
 
OOC: You should realize that Kennedy was in back channel negotiations to reestablish relations with Castro, that Castro was tired of the Soviets (feeling they had not lived up to expectations), the Soviets were tired of Castro (feeling he was a demanding loose canon), the Americans were tired to Southeast Asia, and the Soviets were wary of North Vietnam. OTL, both the Soviets and China put pressure on North Vietnam to simply negotiate at different times. In Hanoi, there was a faction, Ho Chi Minh among its members, who were fine letting South Vietnam exist and would have accepted an end to the war. And there was a proposal to offer neutralization of Vietnam in exchange for neutralization of Cuba. Kennedy avoided war in Laos, Berlin and Cuba. There's a difference between Cold Warrior and Hawk. Any sane person was a Cold Warrior. The people that wanted to turn Havana into a crater, and would have West Berlin and Miami as a crater in return were the Hawks. The JCS, who were left over from Eisenhower, were Hawks, and Kennedy regularly locked horns with them.
OOC: Point taken. I still don't see Kennedy initiating a thaw with Moscow.
 
OOC: Point taken. I still don't see Kennedy initiating a thaw with Moscow.

OOC: Kennedy was attempting to achieve what would later be referred to as detente by the time he was assassinated. Khrushchev's bombastic attitude was the problem with that, but if anything the Cuban Missile Crisis served as a wake up call for the Premier. Kennedy was a pragmatist, and was trying to craft a better course for the Cold War from day one, an example of which is the revision of the Eisenhower policy towards nuclear exchange. Another example of that is his proposal to cooperate with the Soviets on a moon landing. Which, by the way, is one thing some people pick up here and run with. The problem being that Congress passed legislation in reaction to his statements in that regard where NASA's funding would be slashed if it actually happened. So it is not going to happen.

Khrushchev's attitude is why Vienna was what it was, because Kennedy went in looking to discuss actual affairs, and Khrushchev went in looking to pick a fight, which he did. It was a terrific waste of a substantive discussion on Khrushchev's part, and not Kennedy's fault. The big question is how well detente would go if Khrushchev were ousted as he was in the OTL. Kennedy had something of a working relationship with him at that point. Detente was a possibility, among many possibilities which Johnson fumbled or ignored because he did not properly understand or focus on foreign policy. But I do not know how things would go between Kennedy and Brezhnev. However, I also do not know if it might serve Khrushchev well in surviving the forces against him if there are overtures and a thawing which he could present to the Communist party and the Soviet people.
 
Would Johnson have even run for reelection? I know LBJ probably wouldn't have resigned like he did in February 64 OTL, but wouldn't he be damaged goods? I have to imagine the Life magazine investigation into his finances would have taken even more urgency if he were President.
 
Regardless, it's hard to imagine anyone doing as well as JFK in 64, that campaign was a machine.

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