President John F Kennedy is one of the
most famous presidents in United States
history he was young and charismatic and
while JFK was quite a special figure in
American politics he was far more famous
in death the story of this man struck
down so sudden in a public setting both
horrified and captivated the world lots
of people now ask the question one that
I'll try to answer as well what if JFK
was never assassinated what if he
continued to be president throughout
most of the 1960s what would be the
effects on American society and maybe
even the world looking back on the
events of his presidency and historical
facts I'll try to predict how this
alternate timeline may look if JFK
indeed survived when people imagine a
world where JFK lived it's basically a
world where Lyndon Johnson was not
president when Kennedy was killed LBJ
was put into the presidency while both
shared similar domestic views their
qualities as politicians would create
much different results for the u.s. so
in this scenario the most accurate thing
to do is ask what Kennedy could have
done differently that Johnson wanted
have while also looking at the
significance Johnson played to shape
America today the 1960s was dominated
with racial violence and the rapid
growth of the civil rights movement
leaders like Martin Luther King jr. had
been advocating for an end to
segregation and other unfair practices
since the 1950s
JFK sympathized with the struggle of the
black population even calling the wife
of MLK after his arrest and then
pressuring for his release however
Kennedy was never truly vocal about it
until the last few months of his
presidency why was this he was worried
about losing the support of white
Southern Democrats focused on the
upcoming 1964 election when he did
eventually speak up for civil rights he
argued the debate as a moral one
stressing that if America truly was free
we would treat every American as equal
public segregation was still in effect
across the United States ten years after
Brown versus Board of Education banned
it in public schools whites from both
the north and south didn't want to
integrate his legislation the Civil
Rights Act was not only to ban
segregation in public but to use the
federal government to protect the rights
of all races genders etc
however he never got to see his bill
pass as he was killed Wells in committee
it wasn't until LBJ's presidency the
following year where the bill was
finally passed so in this alternate
timeline where JFK never dies what
happens the civil rights movement might
have actually been set back why is this
JFK's relationship with Congress was
rough to begin with he beat out Nixon by
the slimmest of margins in the election
he hardly related to the age in Congress
and by his death his Civil Rights Act
was in limbo in the Rules Committee
where it was basically held hostage
planned to never move forward however
Kennedy's death changed all that it
removed a northern Democrat from the
office and replaced him with a southern
Democrat LBJ this fundamental shift
ironically saved Kennedy's Bill Johnson
carried the torch left by Kennedy and he
was much more vocal about minority
rights than even JFK was he doesn't care
about stepping on toast to do it just
five days after JFK's death
LBJ rallied for the passing of the Civil
Rights Act saying that by not doing so
would disrespect Kennedy's memory LBJ
had one thing Kennedy didn't influence
he had history inside Congress and knew
how it worked he navigated around the
tricks they would use he used his famous
Johnson treatment standing over to
convince or straight-up intimidate to
get those on his side even telling one
opponent of the bill if you get in the
way I'm going to run you down and even
after all the political games
navigations and techniques by the
Johnson administration the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 barely passed after 83 days
of filibuster in this alternate timeline
Kennedy would not have the political
influence for power to push such a bill
through it took all the skill of a
well-connected southern Democrat to pass
it a dislike northerner wouldn't have
had a chance the Act would have either
taken much longer died while in
committee or be considerably weaker than
in our timeline because of this MLK and
other civil rights leaders would still
rally for reform against segregation
without the federal power to force the
states to stop Jim Crow laws protests
and racial violence would be more
drawn-out we would see more police
crackdown fire bombings assassinations
basically just a bloodier path for
ending segregation that would have been
passed quicker
in our timeline in this alternate
timeline without the Civil Rights Act
bills like the Voting Rights Act in
title 9 would arrive later than in our
timeline they would still occur however
if candy was still alive the civil
rights movement would have taken a step
back simply because JFK didn't have the
influence Johnson had speaking of
Johnson's influence in Congress LBJ's
presidency brought on a lot of immense
change to the United States he used the
same tactics for his new legislation
reforms declaring the war on poverty and
creating programs for his Great Society
very similar to FDR with the New Deal
Johnson's administration directly led to
Medicaid Medicare PBS expanded Social
Security created the National Endowment
of the Arts and numerous conservation
and housing projects in this alternate
timeline Kennedy would call for a war on
poverty as well he planned to do the
same efforts as Johnson once he was
reelected Johnson's policies were
actually just continued plans of JFK's
however candy never would have expanded
his reforms as drastically as LBJ had
Kennedy would have easily defeated the
Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964
election this is without a doubt
goldwater's Cold War attitude scared
many in the US and in our timeline
it led Johnson to win in one of the most
lopsided victories in United States
history Kennedy would have won as well
and stayed president until 1968 you
can't talk about JFK without how he
would have handled Vietnam would the war
have even happened or would he have fell
into the same trap Johnson did and sent
American troops in the Southeast Asia
well let's look at Kennedy's mindset
during the presidency Kennedy never
wanted to get into Vietnam he never
wanted to involve American troops in a
direct war against the north but JFK
wasn't a pushover either he was a
hard-line anti-communist but a realist
in return he knew not every situation
resulted in an American victory but
would go through the best efforts to
prevent communist expansion in the
process it cannot be understated how
much Kennedy distrusted his military
advisors he often went against their
opinions aiming for more peaceful routes
this can be seen in Laos and Cuba where
he didn't escalate the situation to war
each time JFK did his own thing in this
alternate timeline since John F Kennedy
lives to face the greater Channel
Vietnam the u.s. never gets itself
completely involved in the war
JFK distrusted his generals and their
over-optimism in conflict
he saw the dangers such a political
quagmire would bring Kennedy tried his
hardest to downplay the situation in
Vietnam he knew that the public would
quickly call for a war if the Communists
got the upper hand he was right today we
forget how fast Americans rallied for
war in Vietnam the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution the document that started
American involvement passed
overwhelmingly in Congress good thing we
don't have that rash thinking anymore it
just wasn't in Kennedy's personality as
a leader to escalate the situation so
far that Lyndon Johnson did of course he
was a believer in the domino theory and
saw the threat North Vietnam posed but
if the war still came it would have been
different
the massive bombing runs
search-and-destroy body counts that was
Johnson's solution not Kennedy's even
with full American effort to deter North
Vietnam the South would have fell anyway
JFK would have been the president that
lost South Vietnam I imagine on this
alternate timeline it would be a hot
debate today whether America should have
gotten involved from a simple human cost
over 60,000 American soldiers and
countless Vietnamese don't die in the
fighting of course conservative
Vietnamese still die but not at the
level as in our timeline without the
Vietnam War the relationship between US
citizens and the government is different
the images that they saw every night
were not supporting the story of a
successful war the Johnson
administration boasted the hippie
movement or more accurately
counterculture of the 1960s
would still have existed counterculture
was created by many different factors
from civil rights feminism a simple
rebellion against the Leave It to Beaver
family of the 1950s sorry Nixon hippie
still would've existed
however the anti-war movement against
Vietnam expanded counterculture to
college kids and young people those
personally affected by the draft without
the war this counterculture would have
taken much longer to appear in American
society in this alternate timeline it's
likely Johnson and Nixon would both run
for the presidency however it's
difficult to predict who would win much
of the scenario becomes extremely
complex too much for the size of this
video I'll leave the rest to your
imagination
why was Kennedy so significant he only
served around two years in office how
leaves such a lasting impact I believe
it was because candy embodied the
hopeful future of America resilient
clever his dream was America's dream by
his sudden tragic end put an end to that
and brought on the reality following
JFK's death there was certainly a change
the race riots culture shift Americans
bogged down overseas the 60s and 70s
were tough decades for the United States
and so looking back it's not difficult
to see JFK as that last glimmering hope
of what could have been there certainly
was lots of progress after his death but
there was also certainly lots of
distrust tension and rebellion as well
maybe things would have been different
had JFK lived we'll never truly know
this is just one scenario out of the
countless possibilities like on Facebook
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this is Cody from the alternate history
hub hey guys I'm Chris and here is my
list of the top 10 deadliest assassins
now for the record I'm talking about
actual contract killers whose profession
is killing discreetly it's as much about
the style and success of the killing as
it is how many people they actually
killed
you