alternatehistory.com

We know that John F. Kennedy was one of the longest-serving senators in history, serving until 1995, when he was succeeded by Mitt Romney for the 1994 election, and that he also lost a close election in 1960 to Richard Nixon.

What many people consider the key reason he lost in 1960 was the fact that he had voted against the resolution censuring Joe McCarthy, and did so in a very public speech. The resulting ill feelings lead to Eleanor Roosevelt running as a third-party candidate, and throwing Illinois and New York to Nixon (although it could be argued New York would have gone Nixon anyhow due to the selection of Nelson Rockefeller as VP).

Nixon served one term (1960-1964) and signed a civil rights law, but lost to LBJ in 1964. Nixon would return in 1968 after the Vietnam War heated up, and he was seen as having mishandled it. Eugene McCarthy ultimately beat LBJ in the primaries, and that was when Kennedy killed the Democrats that year, blasting not only LBJ and McNamara, but also taking on the anti-war movement in the keynote speech in the 1968 Republican convention, and all but announced that in 1970, he would be running for re-election as a Republican: "By embracing radical anti-war views, and vowing to allow South Vietnam to fall into the hands of communism, it's time for me to speak out. I'm not leaving the Democratic party; by refusing to pay any price and bear any burden to defend freedom, the Democratic party has left me."

Would things be different if JFK had missed that vote or would Nixon have won in 1960 anyway?
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