If JFK had survived ...

[No Offence Alan]

I remember reading an article once on this alternative proposition.

All I can recall is:

Conspiracy theorists said that he really died and was replaced by a doppelganger.

At the time of the article, the USA would have President Perot.



Any thoughts on how thing might have panned out, in regard to Vietnam etc. ?

[thirdchill]

An episode of Red Dward (in Series 7) did the exact scenario of JFK surviving, albeit all very comical.

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2014 17:37:28 GMT thirdchill said:

An episode of Red Dward (in Series 7) did the exact scenario of JFK surviving, albeit all very comical.

President Kennedy was impeached in 1964 for sharing a mistress with Mafia boss, Sam Giancana. It was the biggest scandal in American history. Kennedy was sentenced to three years in an open prison in July, '65. J. Edgar Hoover became president; he was forced to run by the mob, who had pictures of him at a transvestite orgy...Soon after his election, the USSR were allowed to install a nuclear base in Cuba in return for Mafia cocaine trafficking between Cuba and the States. With a Soviet nuclear base 30 miles from the US mainland, people fled from all the major cities.

[Richard Cromwell]

Sad as it is to say, John Kennedy was, for the majority of his time in office, a dead man walking. The CIA wanted him dead and J. Edgar Hoover was more than happy to ignore all the evidence, in 1963, pointing an imminent attempt on the President's life.

The best course of action, assuming he'd even realise what had really happened, for Kennedy to have taken if he'd have survived the initial attempt is as follows; declare a national state of emergency, limit all public appearances, replace the Secret Service with an Army or National Guard detachment, get rid of Hoover as soon as possible, cut the CIA down to size and build a new organisation tasked, specifically, with keeping tabs on those sorts of agencies.

As for 1964; drop LBJ from the ticket, run on an anti-Mafia platform (link, as subtly as is warranted, these organised crime families to the assassination attempt) and hope he scrapes through on a sympathy vote (his actual record isn't that great, much as he tried and had noble intentions, even before you consider all the dubious steps he'd had to have taken to keep himself alive).

64-68; stamp out the Mafia with extreme prejudice, track down and deal with the ex-CIA leadership and then try to work in some good foreign policy (Kennedy's real aspiration) based around Russian-American cooperation to, somewhat, mend his legacy.

 

[johnloony]

Not quite in answer to the question, but an interesting minor fact about the assassination of JFK is that his health (and immune system) were so poor that he would probably have died from the bullet wound through his lower neck and chest, even if he had not also been hit in the head.

[slon]

There is an interesting documentary on Vietnam on Yesterday .... sort of repeats every day or so.

There are transcripts of private discussions and thoughts by LBJ and McNamara as well as the public utterances. Also the military command view but probably this will only ever be one dimensional.
The general picture was of full realization by LBJ and McNamara of the folly and probable outcome but a lack of options.

Could be JFK would have had the vision, courage and political strength to change direction and survive in office but I doubt it.

[neilm]

McNamara is a possible contender for the 'didn't reach full potential' thread. Could have been president under other circumstances.

[mrhell]

Would Nixon have made his political reappearance four years earlier?

[neilm]

Unlikely I think, his loss in California would count against him.

[mrhell]

Yes. I know the "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference" line. However, Nixon might have been able to unite the wings of the Republican party which didn't happen.