DBWI: The Kennedy family is more successful in politics?

The New York Times recently reviewed the book The Kennedys: An American Soap Opera by Harvard University history professor Newton Gingrich. Much of the book is devoted to scandals and tragedies of the children and grandchildren of Joseph P. Kennedy and the unfulfilled dream that one of his sons would be elected the first Roman Catholic President of the Unites States.

The only member of that family that had some semblance of a political career was John F. Kennedy who served two terms in the US House of Representatives and died in 1950 from complications of Addison's Disease. Kennedy, who had a reputation as a playboy and libertine, planned to run for the US Senate against incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge in 1952. Whether or not he would have been able to defeat Lodge that year, we will never know.

Then, there was that serial drunkard and washed up former football player Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy who was frequently in trouble with the law. He had an undistinguished career as an assistant DA when he drove his car of a bridge and died from his injuries in 1969.

Then, there was Robert F. Kennedy who worked as an FBI agent for a few years before quitting in 1957. Bobby, his wife Ethel and their growing family moved to New York City. His unsuccessful attempts at running for elected office included New York Attorney General, state Assembly, President of the New York City Council, a race for Congress (he lost to incumbent Rep. John Lindsay) and for US Senate in 1962 (he finished third in the Democratic State convention and Jacob Javits was reelected). Bobby suffered from diabetes and died from cardiac arrest in 1968. Bobby's own kids never amounted to anything and were often in trouble with the law. One of his sons, Joseph P. Kennedy II, served 10 years in prison for vehicular manslaughter.

In light of these tragedies, is there any way that the Kennedy family could have had any success in politics? What impact would such a political dynasty have on Massachusetts, New York and federal politics?
 
I can't see how the Kennedys could have shaken off the rumors of corruption and treachery that have always surrounded them. You'd have to butterfly away Joseph Kennedy's dismissal from the State Department and his appearance in front of the Shipstead Commission - and given his track record of insubordination and openly pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic statements, that would be hard to do.

Joseph's reputation never recovered, and his son John was tainted by association in both his electoral campaigns and was forced by the press to denounce his own father. Gingrich's book rightly points out that the family began to fall apart shortly after John's first Congressional victory, and the pressure likely drove Edward to grow up a drunk.

Even if one member of the family was able to overcome all these hangups, I'm not sure America would be ready for a Catholic president until after the shift in social mores during the 60s. Even President Muskie came under fire over his religion - remember George Wallace's allegation during the '72 primaries that he was driving the world to nuclear war by being too hung up on the persecution of his church in Poland?
 
So you're speaking of having a new dynasty in US politics? I don't know if the Kennedys could become real competitors to the Rockefellers, given how many Presidents these ones gave.
 
So you're speaking of having a new dynasty in US politics? I don't know if the Kennedys could become real competitors to the Rockefellers, given how many Presidents these ones gave.
Now John Kennedy might eke out a narrow victory over Lodge, but LBJ had the nomination locked up in 1964. John Kennedy can't beat LBJ then, because LBJ was the nominee in 1960, the Majority Leader and de facto party leader.

Do you want four Kennedy Presidents, like the Rockefellers? Because the only one with the same talent as Nelson, Winthrop, and Jay was Bobby Kennedy (I'd say John was on Winthrop Paul's level, but that level isn't enough to succeed to the Presidency without the help of your cousin the President at the convention :rolleyes:), but he was such a douchebag that he alienated everyone who could have supported him. I don't see him as a good President either. Too impulsive. However, he could alter the convention results so Muskie doesn't end up the compromise nominee, but that can be done with several PODs. If the nominee runs a worse campaign than Muskie (hard to imagine!) then Gruenther might win a term in his own right, which would butterfly away Winthrop from the Oval Office until 1976 at least. But that doesn't help the Kennedys, it only hurts the Rockefellers, and even then it's only a four-year delay.

It's hard to imagine any family having as much clout as the Rockefellers in politics. The only Republican Presidents since Eisenhower who weren't a Rockefeller were Gruenther and Kasich. They only got the job because a Rockefeller died, and were never elected. The saying goes that (R) stands for Rockefeller, and it's very accurate in Presidents.
 
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Well, suppose that Joe Kennedy Jr. doesn't get killed in his Liberator Bomber in 1944.

Joe Sr. wanted his eldest son to take the political mantle. Let's assume that he gets a shot in Massachusetts politics; he would be the most "honed" of the Kennedy kids.

Joe Kennedy Jr. takes his brother's OTL spot. If he can defeat Cabot Lodge, he can make it to the Senate; It might be fanboyism, but I'm not unsure that he can't run and win the Vice Presidency in 1960, and if that Red Lee Harvey Oswald shoots President Johnson in New Orleans, that's PotUS JK Jr.

The two other members of the Kennedy to explore would be Sargent Shriver, a man who in OTL did a lot of good work in US Bureaucratic functions and in this case would rise higher, perhaps to being a cabinet secretary or other important government role. And of course, Robert F. Kennedy would probably do better if Joe. Jr. did as well. If we go with the idea of Kerfauer being shot in 1963 and VP Joe Kennedy Jr, the Kennedy Name will reach the highest office in the land.
 
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