WI: John F Kennedy dies during World War II?

During the Second World War, John F Kennedy was in command of a patrol torpedo boat designated as PT-109 during the Solomon Islands campaign. During said campaign, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri rammed the boat, slicing it in half, causing the death of two crewmen. The surviving crew made their way to Plum Pudding Island, where after six days of surviving on coconuts, they were rescued by Allied scouts.

But what if Kennedy had died during the sinking?
 
Well, JFK's older brother did actually die in WW2 IOTL. He was the one their father had originally "planned" to become President, so I see one of two things happening: Option A, Joe Kennedy Sr. just passes the buck, once again, to Robert Kennedy (although he apparently didn't think much of him when he was younger, but this may change things). RFK then may or may not become President down the road, hard to say for sure. Or Option B, (assuming his first born son dies as IOTL) he simply abandons that dream, with his "original" AND "backup" both having died.
 
Bobby replaces Jack. Unfortunately OTL didn't allow us to find out if Bobby would have been as skilled a campaigner. He also stayed in the Navy past the end of the end of the war and didn't graduate from Harvard until 1948. That keeps him from being part of the group of WW2 vets elected to Congress in 1946.

He likely runs for Congress at some point in the early to mid 1950s and is too green to make a presidential run in 1960. JFK isn't there to call Coretta Scott King which boosts Nixon's chances.

If Nixon takes Barnett and Wallace's defiance as a personal affront (which I think is likely) we would remember Nixon as an aggressive supporter of civil rights. RFK and Humphrey eventually take the Democratic party away from the Dixiecrats, especially when Southerners realize a few years sooner that integration isn't the end of the world, but we don't see 85-90% of the black vote going to the Democrats.
 
One of the reasons Joe Kennedy volunteered for such a dangerous mission was because his younger brother was getting a Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits against Japan.

I think the reasoning was you can't run for President when its the Younger brother coming back as the war hero.

So if JFK dies then the older brother doesn't get himself killed and barring incident becomes his father's candidate.
 
I am puzzled by the way that some people here seem to assume that if JFK didn't become president, one of his brothers would have. JFK's own path to the presidency was full of contingencies and close calls, and it hardly follows that because he ultimately became president in OTL, Joe, Jr. (had he survived) or Bobby would have in 1960. The brothers were not clones, and each had his own strengths and weaknesses.

On Joe, Jr., I'll repeat an old post of mine:

***
The late William G. Carleton, a University of Florida historian and political scientist (and occasional speechwriter for Joseph Kennedy, Sr.) expressed some doubt that Joe, Jr. would ever have become president: "If Joe, Jr. had lived, John would not have gone into politics at all. This is not to say that Joe, Jr. would have 'made the grade' in high politics, as believers in the Kennedy magic now assume. Joe, Jr. was an extrovert; he was obviously the politcal 'type'. John's mind was more penetrating and dispassionate, and he did not fit the stereotype of the politician, particularly the Irish politician. What endeared John to the status-seeking minorities was that he appeared more the scion of an old aristocratic Yankee family than the authentic scions themselves. Had Joe, Jr. lived, the Kennedy family in all probability would never have had a President at all. (In part, this evaluation of Joe, Jr. and John is derived from personal observation. I recall vividly an evening, April 4, 1941, when I was a guest at the Kennedy home in Palm Beach. Following dinner, the entire family, including the younger children, assembled in the drawing-room for a discussion of public affairs...Mr. Kennedy, John, and I were the chief participants, although Mrs. Kennedy and Joe, Jr. often broke in with comments. It was clear to me that John had a far better historical and political mind than his father or his elder brother; indeed, that John's capacity for seeing current events in historical perspective and projecting historical trends into the future was unusual..."

https://books.google.com/books?id=nrFlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA203

The fact that Jack was more bookish (no doubt illness gave him more time to read) and Joe, Jr. more extroverted and closer to the stereotype of the Irish politician may explain why Jack appealed more than Joe, Jr. ever could to intellectuals like Carleton, but it hardly proves that Joe would have been less attractive to the electorate as a whole. I think one reason for Carleton's admiration for Jack is that Jack, unlike Joe, Jr., was edging away from his father's isolationism at an early stage. Yet Joe, Jr., too might eventually have disassociated himself from some of his father's more controversial positions had he lived. Joe, Jr. might have been tempted, for example, if he were elected to the Senate, to oppose the censure of Joe McCarthy (a hero both to his father and to many of his Boston Irish constituents) but he would have to realize that this would wreck his chance of getting the Democratic presidential nomination. (Jack of course managed to avoid the vote due to back surgery, an option which presumably would not be available to Joe...) If Robert F. Kennedy could morph from a McCarthy aide to a liberal Senator from New York, one should not assume Joe, Jr. would always retain his America-First politics of the early 1940's.

***

I would add to this that even if one assumes that Joe, Jr. would be ideologically acceptable to Democrats in 1960, it doesn't necessarily follow that he would have won the presidency. JFK once remarked that Joe, unlike him, would have succeeded in becoming Stevenson's running mate in 1956. But then, JFK added, Ike-Nixon would have overwhelmingly defeated Stevenson-Kennedy--"And today Joe's political career would be in shambles..." http://books.google.com/books?id=nsOlkJ7yVhMC&pg=PA182

Instead of assuming that some Kennedy, any Kennedy, was bound to win in 1960, we should look at other alternatives like Adlai Stevenson (if the Democrats could nominate Bryan a third time, we can't rule out that they would do the same with Adlai), Lyndon Johnson, Stuart Symington, or maybe even the man who came very close to winning in 1960 in OTL--Richard Nixon...
 
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Problem people forget with Bobby is that he was born in November 20, 1925 meaning he couldn’t stand for:
Representative until 1952 (doesn’t turn 25 until after the 11/8/1950)
Senate until 1956
Presidency until the 1964 (or do they allow people to be eligible if they will be 35 by the inaugural date? If so he could stand in 1960)
However he wouldn’t be as experienced as other members. I doubt anyone else would place him as Attorney General in 1960.
 
Bobby could theoretically run for president in 1960, since he will be 35 by Inauguration Day (indeed, by the time the Electoral College votes). But in practice he is way too young; many people even thought the 43 year old JFK was too young in OTL...
 
There's one other option: the old man himself could go into politics. Sure, he was a former ambassador to the UK who had a reputation for defeatism but if an isolationist like Arthur Vandenberg could change, so could Joe Kennedy Sr.--or so he would have you believe. He could have made some sort of rapprochement with the Roosevelt administration after resigning as ambassador, and volunteered for some sort of post (he had genuine management skills, by the way). So...Joe Sr. runs for the Senate (let's say) in 1946 and wins. He would likely have allied himself, however loosely, with McCarthy (keeping it loose to maintain ties with as many camps as possible)--and as a means of de-fusing the accusations against him as being soft on communism, Stevenson somewhat reluctantly chooses Kennedy as his running mate in 1952. But there's no stopping Ike, and Joe Sr.'s political career comes to a hiatus, since he didn't run for re-election to the Senate. I could see him trying again in 1954, and perhaps succeeding, given the usual trends of mid-term elections. That sets the stage for a run for the presidency himself in 1960, but he's hamstrung by his age and hints of past anti-Semitism, and doesn't get more than a handful of delegates. The 1960 election goes to Richard Nixon over Hubert Humphrey, and in the wake of the Republican victory, Kennedy is not re-elected. Thus, the story of the Kennedys in politics ends in November 1960.
 
There's one other option: the old man himself could go into politics. Sure, he was a former ambassador to the UK who had a reputation for defeatism but if an isolationist like Arthur Vandenberg could change, so could Joe Kennedy Sr.--or so he would have you believe. He could have made some sort of rapprochement with the Roosevelt administration after resigning as ambassador, and volunteered for some sort of post (he had genuine management skills, by the way). So...Joe Sr. runs for the Senate (let's say) in 1946 and wins. He would likely have allied himself, however loosely, with McCarthy (keeping it loose to maintain ties with as many camps as possible)--and as a means of de-fusing the accusations against him as being soft on communism, Stevenson somewhat reluctantly chooses Kennedy as his running mate in 1952. But there's no stopping Ike, and Joe Sr.'s political career comes to a hiatus, since he didn't run for re-election to the Senate. I could see him trying again in 1954, and perhaps succeeding, given the usual trends of mid-term elections. That sets the stage for a run for the presidency himself in 1960, but he's hamstrung by his age and hints of past anti-Semitism, and doesn't get more than a handful of delegates. The 1960 election goes to Richard Nixon over Hubert Humphrey, and in the wake of the Republican victory, Kennedy is not re-elected. Thus, the story of the Kennedys in politics ends in November 1960.
In the Book “Fatherland” Joe Sr. Was the President in 1964 America.

If both of his oldest sons are killed in WWII I think Joseph Kennedy would withdraw from public life and instead becomes a behind the scenes player in the Democratic Party.

Robert Kennedy will become the Ted Kennedy of this ATL, the long time Senator of Massachusetts. Robert might make a run in the seventies or eighties for President or might just fade away. Maybe Ted becomes Governor of Massachusetts at some point. The brothers could just go into the business world and the Kennedys remain a business dynasty.
 
In the Book “Fatherland” Joe Sr. Was the President in 1964 America.

If both of his oldest sons are killed in WWII I think Joseph Kennedy would withdraw from public life and instead becomes a behind the scenes player in the Democratic Party.

Robert Kennedy will become the Ted Kennedy of this ATL, the long time Senator of Massachusetts. Robert might make a run in the seventies or eighties for President or might just fade away. Maybe Ted becomes Governor of Massachusetts at some point. The brothers could just go into the business world and the Kennedys remain a business dynasty.

Yeah, I remember that: in that book he apparently didn't have the stroke that he suffered IOTL. He'd have set a record for the oldest incumbent in the Oval Office, that's for sure: 72 at election and 76 at that point.
 
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