11 December 1960: While vacationing in Palm Beach, Florida, President-elect John F. Kennedy's life was threatened by Richard Paul Pavlick, a 73-year-old former postal worker. Pavlick's plan was to serve as a suicide bomber by crashing his dynamite-laden 1950 Buick into Kennedy's vehicle, but the plan was disrupted when Pavlick saw Kennedy's wife and daughter bidding him goodbye.That attack of conscience foiled the opportunity, with Pavlick's arrest by the Secret Service coming three days later after he was stopped for a driving violation, with the dynamite still in his car. Pavlick spent the next six years in both federal prison and mental institutions before being released in December 1966.
So What If Pavlick was not struck by that of attack of conscience and went through with his suicide bombing attack, killing President-elect John F. Kennedy, and his family in the process? How does the nation and Vice-President-elect LBJ react to this tragedy? What would an earlier Johnson administration look like? Who does Johnson pick as his VP? How might the Texan handle the bay of pigs, Cuban Missle Crisis, Civil Rights and Vietnam? Might Goldwater or Rockefeller actually be able to pull off a victory against LBJ in '64? What other ripples may be caused by an earlier JFK assassination attempt.