Jackie Dies, JFK Lives

I always love it when people say ‘If JFK had lived there wouldn’t have been a Vietnam War.’
:D

Sure, the guy who increased the number of US troops and aid to Vietnam, and who made his entire US foreign policy an anti-communist crusade, would somehow balk as heavy involvement in Vietnam.

I think the major piece of evidence for the 'No Vietnam' thing is NSAM 263, which was suppose to withdraw 1000 US Advisers. Due to his dying about a week later, we cannot really determine his exact aims. He gave conflicting signals about his objectives regarding Southeast Asia.

There was a documentary about this exact topic produced recently. It's been a while but I believe its conclusion was that Kennedy would have avoided direct conflict or at the very least not have supported the "all-out" police action that happened under the Johnson administration. He would not have totally abandoned South Vietnam but I think the filmmakers argue that he would have fallen back on a policy of aid and military supply.
 
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