WI: JFK dies in PT-109?

What would happen if John F. Kennedy had died in PT-109? (Joe Kennedy Jr, still dies as well ATL.) JPK Sr. would obviously be terribly grief-stricken, but how much would he push for Robert to become involved in politics? RFK, was always his mother's child after all. It's also been stated that that RFK wasn't into politics really until JFK's campaign for Congress. I can see RFK wanting to be on the Supreme Court.
Ted Kennedy, still very young, could have an entirely different career maybe he decides to become a journalist, like JFK originally wanted to do.

Now in terms of butterflies, they won't really become substantial until 1960. Johnson ends up being the Democratic nominee and chooses Hubert Humphrey as his running mate. Nixon narrowly wins in 1960, and that's where everything states to diverge from OTL.

I also wonder who Jacqueline Bouvier ends up marrying, but that's not important.
 
RFK was Rose Kennedy's son more than Joe Kennedy's. Perhaps there would be an awkward family dynamic where RFK is skipped over like Fredo Corleone for Ted Kennedy.
 
A totally broken Joe Kennedy does not push his sons anywhere, but quietly separates from Rose and goes to California to live in sin with Gloria Swanson.
Bobby becomes a famous lawyer, noted for defending O.J Simpson and Teddy goes into movies as a director/producer, eventually getting slugged by Richard Zanuck for diddling with actresses.
 
But Joe, Jr.'s death may have been butterflied away by JFK's earlier demise. One train of thought is Joe only volunteered for such a dangerous mission in an attempt to one up his younger brother.
 
But Joe, Jr.'s death may have been butterflied away by JFK's earlier demise. One train of thought is Joe only volunteered for such a dangerous mission in an attempt to one up his younger brother.

There's also the possibility that Joe, Sr. quietly manages to ensure that Joe is sent somewhere where he is out of harm's way. Before his fatal accident, he had already completed enough ASW combat missions to be sent home.
 
Would Jr have pushed through in politics in the long run? Any guesses who he might have married?
 
I'm unsure of the source(s) but I seem to recall that Jr's personality wasn't all that well suited for politics. If that were indeed the case, he might hit a ceiling with either a Senate seat or the governorship of Massachusetts. Extrapolating, he would have tried for the presidency but failed to get the nomination in, say, 1960, and would have been considered shopworn / damaged goods in 1964, assuming Nixon were Ike's successor. If the latter were not true and a Democrat won in '60, he'd probably be a loyal soldier and try again in '68, but likely similar results. Bobby would probably have wound up a judge (perhaps the federal bench), and Ted...hard to say. Probably the family black sheep / ne'er do well.
 
A totally broken Joe Kennedy does not push his sons anywhere, but quietly separates from Rose and goes to California to live in sin with Gloria Swanson.

Nope. Just nope. Joe Kennedy totally broken? Maybe. Living with Gloria Swanson? Not happening. The two had already become too estranged.

He doesn't strike me as the type to give on his families political ambitions. He'll be devastated, that's for sure. More than double what happened IOTL because JFK was very much so his son. JPK Sr. was the one that took care of JFK when we was young and sickly. But that doesn't change the fact that he feels like he's always been on the outside and had that kind of fierce hunger to want to be on the inside of things.

RFK is still in school when JFK dies, and that's plenty of time for Joe Kennedy to make an impact. Bobby would still be expected to take up the mantle of the family's political ambitions. He's younger than JFK by about eight years, which gives Joe plenty of time to get himself back together, but I don't think it would take eight years.

Joe wanted Joe Jr. to run for Congress or Lt. Governor in 1946, and his decision was made for him when there was an opening in the Congressional Races that year. Without it, Bobby is likely going to become Lt. Governor of Massachusetts - I'd say elected in 1958 after getting a law degree and working for McCarthy some as per OTL. He's 32 on Election Day in 1958, and that was a Democratic year. Not much question about his winning.

Elected Governor in 1962, he's in a great position to succeed Nixon* in 1968 (assuming Tricky Dick is serving two terms in the White House, which is reasonable to assume). I know 1968 for Robert Kennedy is a bit OTL, but he's 42 on Election Day (and 43 upon taking office), so it's kind of the earliest he can do it, and after two terms of Nixon Joe Kennedy (and Bobby) would likely see it as his best potential opportunity - because the other choice could involve waiting eight years of a Democratic President and either trying to succeed him or another eight years after that of a Republican, which puts his election off to 1984 - and he's nearly sixty then...

*Something to note about Nixon, he picked Henry Cabot Lodge as VP to try and counter JFK in Massachusetts. If his opponent is LBJ, he might be more inclined to pick a Texan like Robert B. Anderson or even convince Rocky to run with him to capitalize on LBJ's poor support in cities. (This, not to mention Henry Cabot Lodge might be in the Senate still ITTL, because it was JFK who beat him in 1952 while he campaigned for Ike.)
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Kathleen Kennedy married the eldest son of the then-Duke of Devonshire in 1944; she was 24 and he was 27 (And as KIA in Belgium later the same year). Along with a younger brother, there were three younger Cavendish sisters, one - Mary - was only two years younger than Kathleen. Joe Jr. was the only member of the Kennedy family able to attend, so Joe would have been 29 and Mary would have been 22. Wartime London, American pilot, young Englishwoman - not exactly outside the realm of possibility. If they did connect, and he survived the war, be interesting example of a mixed marriage (for the time) and a "war bride."

Best,
 
Lee Harvey Oswald wins a gold medal in the 1968 Olympics as a member of the US shooting team. Sorry, had to put something light hearted in...
 
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