WI: Kennedy took Adlai Stevenson's advice (And wasn't assassinated)

If you are unaware of and can't bother to look up such things as number of weapons of every class ordered by JFK as opposed to Reagan or Eisenhower, or number of American ICBMs in service in 1960 compared to Soviet ICBMS in service then I'm wasting my time.
Why can't you bother to look as well, and why should I take all the burden of research? You have equally vested as much as I. If you have a resource, post it so I can look. That's all I ask. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm right, I'm right.

Then again, since you stand by your opinion that JFK would pull troops out of South Vietnam based on the assumption that Diem's death would improve the situation in South Vietnam, continuing to operate under those assumptions after they were proven to be entirely wrong...:rolleyes:
It was not on the assumption that the situation would improve in Vietnam. Withdrawal in the memorandum was to prod the Republic of Vietnam to build up on its own rather than forcing the US to support it in total, and to send a message that the US was not pleased with Diem's authoritarian nature. The assassination, which came after the memorandum as the memorandum addressed withdrawal of 1,000 troops as a sign to Diem in part, was because the US felt Diem was too corrupt and despotic and that he should no longer continue to rule, and therefore the US did not act to stop the coup. The plan to withdraw in 1964 was in the belief that the Vietnamese should fight the war, not that the situation was going to get better from Diem's death. The US only wanted the same situation as under Diem save the dictatorial actions he took such as imprisonment of dissidents.
 
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JFK would very likely have won reelection in 64 regardless who the Republican candidate might be. Unless Lodge changes his mind and decides to seek the Republican nomination it will go to Goldwater on the 2nd or 3rd ballot. With JFK alive it will likely butterfly away NY congressman Bill Miller as VP pick. Goldwater picked Miller precisely because he one that pissed LBJ the most. This leads to the question of who would Goldwater pick as running mate in these circumstances? I think its safe to say he would not pick Rockefeller. Congressman John Lindsey? That would probably doom his chances of being elected Mayor of NYC in 65. Governor Scranton Pennsylvannia? Jim Rhodes of Ohio?
President Kennedy is assured of renomination and has only opposition from Alabama Governor George Wallace. Prior the Democratic Convention there is talk JFK might dump Johnson as VP in favor of his brother Bobby or Hubert Humphrey. But he decides to stay the course and stick with LBJ. The Convention was still bitter and divisive with regards the civil rights issue and the placing of the Mississippi delegation. Kennedy and Goldwater agree to a series of three town-hall debates and one nationally televised debate. But at Election Day JFK beats Goldwater in a landslide very similiar to what it was in OTL. Kennedy got a popular vote of over 57% with Goldwater almost 42%, The electoral vote was 456 (40 states + D.C) for Kennedy and 82(10 states) for Goldwater (he got 4 more states than in OTL, Idaho, Nebraska, Kansas and a narrow upset in Florida). With this clear and overwhelming mandate JFK could now get his agenda underway i.e civil rights legislation and the Great Society.
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President Kennedy initially proposed the Civil Rights Bill to Congress on June 19, 1963, but it would take nearly 18 months for it to finally pass as law. By the end of 63 it came up short of 50 signatures and was finally passed the House on March 26, 1964. However getting passed in the Senate would prove to be much harder. The "Southern Bloc" a group of southern senators led by Richard Russell of Georgia initiated a filibuster when the Bill came before the full Senate for debate in early May 1964, and this filibuster would continue on for several more months until September 16th when the Senate was able to muster a vote of 70-30 for cloture to end the filibuster. Shortly afterwards the Bill was passed through the House-Senate Conference Committee which adopted the Senate version of the Bill. The Conference Bill was passed by both Houses of Congress on October 5th and 7th respectively. President Kennedy signed the Bill into law on October 8 1964. As a result, JFK got over 85% of the black vote in the presidential elections a few weeks later and was one of the contributing factors for his landslide victory over Goldwater. A few months later Kennedy brought forth the Voting Rights Bill before Congress on March 11, 1965 during the Civil Rights march in Selma, Alabama. The Bill passed in the Senate in May and in the House in late July. It was worked out in the Conference Committee during August which it was then passed by both Houses and the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Kennedy on August 28th 1965, exactly two years to the very day Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's historic March on Washington. President Kennedy would cap his civil rights legacy by passing into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968 in his final year in office. From a Senator who was indifferent to the issue of civil rights to a president who started out as very reluctant to take on this issue, he was done more this cause than any president since Andrew Johnson. His legacy in this area cannot be overstated.
 
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