Imagine where wed be today if JFK and RFK had lived. No Nixon, Reagan or Trump

[NewsCenter28]

FDR/Truman governed for 20 years. So, JFK, RFK, and EMK had an excellent shot of governing for 2 terms each, 24 years in total. Reagan had Alzheimer’s by ‘84 so would likely not win and then be too old. No Chappaqudick either.

Sooo sad what might have been.

[brush]

1. Don't forget no W either...no Iraq, no housing bust, not great recession.

[RKP5637]

2. Now, the majority of citizens are headed straight for a dystopian society, but many still

can't seem to figure out what is going on as they love to be duped by a con artist. What really pisses me off is they are taking the nation down with them.

[NewsCenter28]

3. I believe those who want to take down America

Knew they had to get rid of the Kennedys first to achieve their goals.

[RKP5637]

4. Yep!!! I'm not a CT type individual, but I believe there is way more behind their deaths than

we are led to believe.

[NewsCenter28]

5. Right no CT for me either

But it just seems like they represented something that evil forces had to get rid of.

[RKP5637]

6. Definitely! Same thoughts! n/t

[onethatcares]

17. and they are still out there

the ones that democracy is just a jingle to. They want it all. The land, the wealth, the everything this country has to offer and they don't want the riff raff to have anything except a hard time getting anything.

We know their names, Koch, Mercer, Walton,

They can't stand the thought of "we the people" standing togeter.

[zipplewrath]

7. Why he was in Dallas

Careful. The reason JFK was in Dallas was because there were concerns about re-election.
Remember, he had his own "Green Party" in the whole Dixiecrat thing.
And after 8 years of JFK, it isn't clear Bobby would have been nearly as popular.
Nixon still could have happened because he was sort of the near the beginning of the conservative shift of the GOP.
Worse, Goldwater could have run in '68 instead of when he did, and won.
Of course, without Nixon, there is no Carter, so I'm not sure where things would have gone in the '70s. Remember, presidents are roughly "chosen" by their times, they don't necessarily "make" their times.

[regnaD kciN]

14. Very true...

Those who weren't alive in the early '60s may not realize it, but JFK only became St. Jack after his secular-martyr death. Until then, despite the credit he received for handling the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was widely considered by many adults I knew (not all Republican) as a nice enough guy with charisma, but a "do-nothing" president more concerned with being a celebrity than accomplishing much. While I'm pretty sure Goldwater wouldn't have stood a chance against him, a moderate Republican like Scranton would have provided a formidable opponent. For that matter, if Nelson Rockefeller hadn't torpedoed his chances by the then-scandalous act of divorcing his first wife and remarrying, he could easily have been the Republican nominee and prevailed.

But, even if we look at the past through rose-colored glasses and assume an unprecedented run of unending success for JFK and any successors, do you really think voters would have gone for six straight terms for members of the same family? Just as with JFK, Bobby's reputation grew immensely after his death; beforehand, he was seen by many as the ruthless, unscrupulous family "enforcer." In the 1968 primaries, it was even unclear he could defeat Eugene McCarthy until the very end.

Plus, voters have a long track record of tiring on a party, no matter how successful, after two or three terms at most. I remember, in the heady glow of 2008 and 2012, some people here predicting a decades-long Democratic control of the White House. Hillary would easily win her two terms, followed by eight years each of Michelle, Chelsea, Malia, and Sasha. As we all see, it didn't work out that way...

[zipplewrath]

15. 1968 would have been a strange primary

You could have had LBJ and RFK both trying for office, although LBJ may not have tried considering his health. But I'm sure there were plenty of others, as well as various southern Dixiecrats that may have tried. Remember, after Kennedy, about the only democrat that could get elected was someone from a southern state.

[marlakay]

8. Makes me think of the Stephen King book

1963. This guy goes back in time over and over until he finally stops the killing only to come back to our time and fallout from nuclear war. So he goes back again to leave it as it was.

The old, you never know what could happen if you change history.

[RandomAccess]

9. Ugh, sheer torture

to contemplate what might have been where these 2 are concerned.

[dembotoz]

10. Nice fantasy..

Civil rights? Johnson
War on poverty mostly Johnson tho jack did the peace Corp thing.
Nam intro by jack...

[ucrdem]

11. JFK sent the 1964 Civil Rights act legislation to Congress

in 1963. Here he is on June 11 announcing it on the same day he sent the National Guard to Birmingham:

[dembotoz]

18. There is a difference between introduction and passage

[IluvPitties]

12. Who knows what would've happened!

Maybe we wouldn't have had Clinton or Obama, two wonderful presidents.

[jalan48]

13. The Military/Industrial Complex probably wouldn't be as rich and powerful which is interesting.

[shenmue]

16. True

[erpowers]

19. Prefer To Believe 11/22/63

I prefer to believe the theory put forward by Steven King's book 11/22/63. In that book our time was horrible because JFK was not able to get Civil Rights passed and other things went horribly wrong. I think too many people romanticize what would have happened if JFK had not been killed. It is very possible that the United States would have eventually gotten involved in Vietnam if JFK had not been killed and had been re-elected. It is also very possible that Civil Rights would not have passed in that Kennedy was having trouble dealing with the Southern Democrats who controlled Congress at the time. Kennedy is not really rated as a very successful President. He may have been very influential, but he was blocked on many occasions by Southern Democrats. Lyndon Johnson deserves much more credit for getting the Civil Rights Act passed. He used Kennedy's death to push members of Congress to pass the legislation. If Kennedy had not died that legislation might not have passed.

If Kennedy had not died RFK might not have run for any public office. He might have served out his time as an aide to his brother and then went on to do something else. EMK might have had the Chappaquiddick incident anyway because he had some real problems and those problems might have predated his brothers death. Therefore, even if JFK had not died we may never have had a JFK, RFK, EMK trilogy. The American people might have ended up feeling the same way about the Kennedys as they feel about the Clintons and the Bushs.