50th anniversary of the Kennedy assasination

[renard_ruse]

It will be 50 years this fall since JFK was murdered. Some people have suggested this was possibly the most pivotal moment in US history (or at least the 20th century).

There's no question American society changed radically in the years after Kennedy was killed; would America have been different if he had lived or did it really make that much of a difference?

http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx

 

[Wrong Element]

It will be 50 years this fall since JFK was murdered. Some people have suggested this was possibly the most pivotal moment in US history (or at least the 20th century).

There's no question American society changed radically in the years after Kennedy was killed; would America have been different if he had lived or did it really make that much of a difference?

http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx

No one with any sense would have ever said such a thing. That's baby boomer myopia talking.

As for the last question, it clearly made a difference, but exactly how much isn't easy to gauge.

 

[MNGuy]

I don't think it would have made much of a difference.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Beyond the Peace Corps and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Kennedy accomplished very little in his three years as President.

As the third Cold War President, he was far more reactionary than proactive and a good argument can be made that his mishandling of the Bay of Pigs and his poor performance at the Vienna summit led Kruschev to believe that the USSR's introduction of intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba would be met with nothing more than empty protests from the United States.

Kennedy's "vision" of going to the moon was little more than a long-term propaganda battle with the Soviets that the U. S. could only hope to win by virtue of the finish line being set nine years into the future.

Kennedy's "New Frontier" package of domestic initiatives was stalled in Congress and would only be eventually passed by LBJ's appeal to Congress to provide a legislative memorial to the late President.

People who suggest that the world would have been significantly different had JFK lived rarely have any specific idea how it would be different and those who try and speculate on matters of substance are usually full of more baloney than Oscar Mayer.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I doubt there would have been much difference, but that's only speculation. With his charisma and the way he was adored by the news media, he would have won reelection easily, maybe against George Romney or William Scranton. I mention those two because no other leading Rep. man would have challenged him, because it would have been a loss of epic proportions. JFK may have lacked talent but he was young, loaded with charisma and had a friendly press.

Maybe Margaret Chase Smith would have been nominated as a dark horse. She did throw her hat into the ring, but the Rep. convention in 1964 was all Goldwater.

JFK was nothing special as a president, so he might have done something spectacular in his second term. Possibly this would have been something macho, such as going all out to win in Viet Nam, even if it meant bombing North Viet Nam into a pile of rubble. He got us involved, and I think he would have wanted a success to crown his presidency.

This is all speculation, of course, and it's more likely that, after the Bay of Pigs, debacle, JFK would have coasted through his eight years without doing much of consequence.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

JFK always said that he needed to wait for a 2nd term to get anything done.

JFKs assassination is a line tween old America and new America. After his death all the old barriers came down tho we failed to heed Chesterton's counsel about barriers: BEFORE YOU REMOVE A BARRIER LEARN WHAT IT WAS BUILT FOR.

I say this: BEFORE JFK DIED IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR A KID BORN IN A LOG CABIN TO BE PRESIDENT, BUT NOT POSSIBLE AFTER HE DIED.

 

[kbate]

The real impact of the Kennedy presidency had little to do with Kennedy, but more to do with Jackie Onassis.

She literally changed the way women (and men in later years) think about clothing, dress and style and her example led to the great revolution in the average person's closet - going from a Sunday dress and two weekday dresses to a line of dresses stretching around the whole room and a full line of pantsuits, and accessories.

 

[ChinaBandit]

I think there is an argument to be made that JFK's demise expedited civil rights. He had no where near the influence or clout on the Hill as did LBJ. The "Great Society", whether you like or not, would not have happened under JFK in my opinion.

RFK's assassination actually had more of an impact on future events.

1968 was an EPIC election year and one that would, perhaps, have been unequaled if Nixon-Kennedy-Wallace were the options.

My presumption is that RFK would have won. Now THAT would have really changed America past and present.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think there is an argument to be made that JFK's demise expedited civil rights. He had no where near the influence or clout on the Hill as did LBJ. The "Great Society", whether you like or not, would not have happened under JFK in my opinion.

RFK's assassination actually had more of an impact on future events.

1968 was an EPIC election year and one that would, perhaps, have been unequaled if Nixon-Kennedy-Wallace were the options.

My presumption is that RFK would have won. Now THAT would have really changed America past and present.

I agree. JFK was virtually a card carrying conservative, for all intents and purposes. The essential difference between JFK and LBJ was: LBJ longed to be great, and JFK wanted to be useful.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Busybody]

Obama did it

and


Clinton helped

 

[BotanyBoy]

The real impact of the Kennedy presidency had little to do with Kennedy, but more to do with Jackie Onassis.
.

She never did gangbang or fisting porn....I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one.

 

[StephenHawking]

yeah, now we have a clinton continuation or a bush renewal as possibilities. translated, the system is still shit.