Could the USA have headed in a different direction had JFK not been assassinated?

[Browncaps]

I've been watching Youtube investigations about JFKs murder and how some findings were not disclosed in the interest of the public.

Most people remember him fondly.

Could the US have been a force for good on a global scale had he lived on?

 

[Slog]

no he was establishment person anyway

 

[Robert]

I've been watching Youtube investigations about JFKs murder and how some findings were not disclosed in the interest of the public.

Most people remember him fondly.

Could the US have been a force for good on a global scale had he lived on?

How do you mean?

He would have been President until 1968, maybe. I think the he would have been forced into Vietnam. He would have got the Civil Rights Act through like LBJ. The Cold War would have rumbled on. I am not sure what would have been different.

 

[Browncaps]

I read that he was anti-war and intended to stop certain powers from acquiring nukes. Thanks for sharing your opinion, especially as you were around back when the assassination occurred.

 

[amvbfm]

I've been watching Youtube investigations about JFKs murder and how some findings were not disclosed in the interest of the public.

Most people remember him fondly.

Could the US have been a force for good on a global scale had he lived on?

Difficult to say what would have happened exactly but yes things could've been different. As for US or any superpower for that matter, being a "force for good" (regardless of who is leading), it is and will remain a pipe dream.

Would recommend David Talbot's Devil's Chessboard if you are interested in the subject.

 

[bones]

Politicians are puppets. Those who control the money have decision making power. He like most who have come since him just do what they’re told.

 

[Robert]

Politicians are puppets. Those who control the money have decision making power. He like most who have come since him just do what they’re told.

Not all of it. They have an influence. As do the big labour unions and the intelligence agencies and the churches and the press barons and the mob. This collectively is a great big horse which the POTUS can only half-control, to quote Oliver Stone. He can steer it a bit, slow it up or speed it up. But in the end none of these entities could start or prevent a nuclear war, and the POTUS can.

 

[Markhor]

How do you mean?

He would have been President until 1968, maybe. I think the he would have been forced into Vietnam. He would have got the Civil Rights Act through like LBJ. The Cold War would have rumbled on. I am not sure what would have been different.

Disagree, JFK did not have the legislative skills or the crucial experience that LBJ possessed as Senate Majority Leader, hence why Civil Rights stalled under JFK.

Few can match LBJ's ability to cajole, coax, bribe and persuade Congress to do his bidding. JFK did not have the relationships with Southern Democrats in Congress as LBJ did. LBJ was also able to pass Civil Rights partly drawing on JFK's memory post-assassination.

 

[Markhor]

JFK was not a peacenik. In his inauguration, he pledged to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe" in the Cold War.

He increased the number of US forces in Vietnam from a few hundred to 16000.

The real question is what would've happened if his brother RFK wasn't assassinated in June 1968 ?

RFK opposed the war. He was very popular amongst African-Americans and young people, and would've drawn upon the memory of JFK. He undoubtedly would've beaten Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 Democratic Primaries, and could've beaten Richard Nixon in the general election of 1968 unlike establishment pick Hubert Humphrey.

Then you may never have had a Nixon Presidency or Watergate, or the Vietnam War senselessly extended by a few years when the Nixon team knew the war was unwinnable.

 

[The Viper]

JFK would have not passed down as much legislature as Johnson did.

 

[Robert]

JFK was not a peacenik. In his inauguration, he pledged to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe" in the Cold War.

He increased the number of US forces in Vietnam from a few hundred to 16000.

The real question is what would've happened if his brother RFK wasn't assassinated in June 1968 ?

RFK opposed the war. He was very popular amongst African-Americans and young people, and would've drawn upon the memory of JFK. He undoubtedly would've beaten Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 Democratic Primaries, and could've beaten Richard Nixon in the general election of 1968 unlike establishment pick Hubert Humphrey.

Then you may never have had a Nixon Presidency or Watergate, or the Vietnam War senselessly extended by a few years when the Nixon team knew the war was unwinnable.

LBJ upped that by an order of magnitude.