I'm watching the Discovery Channel and the segment is the one with the never ending question, "Who killed JFK?"... Gosh, I've spent most of my life hearing this question. But, I have a different question. WHAT IF he had only been wounded, never killed? For me, this only brings questions that will never be answered.
How would the world be different? or would it be different?
What would have been the lineage of Presidents?
Would Nixon have become president? If not, then probably, no Watergate.
Reagan, Bush? And of course, this Bush....
Of course, there is the whole Viet Nam war... Would it have lasted longer? Or would Kennedy have nipped it in the bud before it went on as full force as it did?
We will never know the answers to this questions, but you have to admit, would have put a different spin on it all... All of our lives would be different in some way...
What do you think would have happened?
3 comments:
Kennedy narrowly averted war during his administtation. We were "eyeball to eyeball" and the Rusians blinked...whew. And it was he who sent "military advsors" to Viet Nam.
I think the history of the nation is bigger than any of its individuals, so I expect things might have been much the same.
I think the assassination of Robert Kennedy changed history even more. He was almost sure to have been elected president on a "Get out of viet Nam" platform. And yet, once in, the course of the nation might have carried him along, as it does everyone.
Here's a switch for me. I think Bush acted properly and with restraint after 9/11. What if the 9/11 attacks had happened when Lyndon Johnson were president? Speculate on THAT for a while.
Thanks for getting my thinker going.
Kennedy would have gotten into Vietnaim.He was the ultimate cold war demogod
Boy, I had to come back to this one. These kinds of questions are fun to think about... but you've found a toughie.
I hate to say this, but things could have turned out worse for us if Kennedy had survived, because
1) we probably still would have suffered through the bad ordeal of Vietnam, because it was Kennedy's people (Rusk, McNamara and others) who started and carried through the war through the Johnson years and all the way up to Nixon, but
2) we may not have reaped the benefits of the Great Society programs that Johnson rammed through Congress with his legislative skill and trading on the sympathies toward the fallen Kennedy.
That means things would still be a mess in 1968 and Nixon would still have his shot, leading to escalation of the war, the opening to China, and yes, Watergate.
The civil rights movement, hm. That might have been the same.
So basically I'm saying we would have suffered Vietnam, without deriving the benefit of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs we now rely upon.
Does that even make sense? My brain hurts!
You have a great weekend, Jackie,
Abe
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