What if John F Kennedy wasn't assassinated?

This is my second project for the English 101 course I am taking. It still needs some polishing, but I'm proud of what I wrote so far. :)

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The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

On November 22, 1963, at approximately 12:30 pm in Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy was assassinated (“November 22, 1963: Death of the President”). After his death, the nation and the world went into shock. But what if JFK’s assassination never happened? I believe there are three major things that would’ve happened. First, the civil rights movement would have had a lot more obstacles in their way. Second, the end of the Cold War would’ve had potential to end a lot sooner. And third, many historians theorize that the conflict in Vietnam would never have escalated to the all-out war if JFK was still president. Often when people talk about the assassination of JFK, they view it as the loss of the innocence of our nation, but that isn’t the full story.

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Although Kennedy was talking with civil rights leaders and activists and was for the civil rights movement, there were several factors that would have made him delay action. One of the key factors that would have slowed his momentum in supporting the civil rights movement was the elections in 1964 that were coming up soon. As a result of him being so openly for the civil rights movement, he “triggered a furious reaction in the South, and in September of 1963, a Gallup Poll showed that in the 11 states of the former Confederacy, Barry Goldwater was beating JFK by a 59-41 margin.” (Greenfield) The chances of him winning the next election were not looking good. In order to combat that, he would have back some of his most controversial policies until he was reelected. 

On top of the unrest about the civil rights movement, Kennedy had some dirty secrets regarding infidelity that were on the cusp of coming out. “In June 1963, Bobby Kennedy had confronted two reporters for the New York Journal-American who’d published a story linking a British prostitute to a “high elected American official” — clearly meaning the president” (Greenfeild). According to Greenfeild, “one of the most fearsome investigative reporters in Washington,” Clark Mollenhoff, was determined to digg up the story. He wrote in October of 1963, “evidence is likely to include identification of several high executive branch officials.” (Mollenhoff) He was alluded to prostitution being involved. His opponents definitely would have used that against him and paid to get that scandal revealed. In the wake of JFK’s assassination, no information was published.

Unfortunately or fortunately, his death made him a martyr, and his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, used that to his advantage. Johnson declared the “civil rights bill should be passed to honour Kennedy’s memory.” (“What if JFK was never assassinated?”) Besides that, “Johnson’s forceful negotiation skills,

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along with the Democratic majority, saw the new president push the bill through to law without much compromise.” (“What if JFK was never assassinated?”) JFK was a media darling and very charismatic, but Johnson had a lot of political influence, and that affected how quickly the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was put into place. Besides this example, almost all of the other repercussions of JFK’s death were extremely negative to the US.

It was only a year previous, in October of 1962, that the 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and the US occurred. Afterwards, it was dubbed the Cuban Missle Crisis, and JFK was praised for how he handled the whole mess. As a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, “there was a shift in Kennedy’s attitude. Having come so close to obliterating the world at the push of a button, Kennedy looked to work with the Soviets more than ever before.” (“What if JFK was never assassinated?”) By opening a line of communication with some of the officials in the Soviet Union, he created a relationship that he felt we could grow upon. 

In late 1963, he proposed a limited ban on nuclear weapon creation and started to suggest “a joint space program” (Oskin). It was only on September 20th, 1963, that a “proposal for broader cooperation between the United States and the USSR in outer space, including cooperation in lunar landing programs was made by John F Kennedy.” (Kennedy) Just 10 days before his death, John F Kennedy sent a letter to NASA and

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the heads to most of the space programs reminding them of this proposal and asking for an “interim report on the progress of our planning by December 15” (Kennedy). After John F Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, the progress ground to a halt. “Although the Johnson administration made a similar offer for joint manned spaceflights early in 1964, the Russians were too suspicious of the new administration” (Sietzen). With the distrust of the new administration came the prolongation of the Cold War until 1991. Another conflict that we might have avoided was the Vietnam War.

There has been so much speculation surrounding the war in Vietnam and the different choices JFK would have made if he were still president. In 2005, there was a conference discussing this theory. A group of “academics, officials, and experts on the region” were brought together “to debate that single question of what would JFK have done with Vietnam” (Greenfield). The conclusion, while not unanimous, was that JFK wouldn’t have escalated the war. This would’ve altered history in the US dramatically. There was a huge anti-war movement that led to a lot of bitterness and hate. The US was so divided about joining the Vietnam War in the first place that when we eventually lost the war, it “pierced the myth of American invincibility and had bitterly divided the nation.” (Onion) It left countless people with a greater distrust of the government and allowed people to rationalize shunning traumatized soldiers. “Many returning veterans

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faced negative reactions from both opponents of the war (who viewed them as having killed innocent civilians) and its supporters (who saw them as having lost the war).” (Onion) There was so much shame and turmoil as a result of the Vietnam War. When JFK was in his presidency, there was “indisputable proof that the Kennedy administration undertook a sustained and systematic effort to schedule the removal of American servicemen from South Vietnam and turn the war over to the government in Saigon.” (“If Kennedy Had Lived | Miller Center”). The repercussions of removing the US military from Vietnam would have been immense and uncountable.

 JFK’s death had so many lasting consequences for the nation. His successor used him as a martyr to make necessary progress in the civil rights movement, and he had the potential to end the Cold War decades earlier. There was also a severe ripple effect he could have caused by not escalating the war in Vietnam. It really makes me look at his assassination with new sorrow at the loss of a great leader. His story also made me reconsider the legacy I am leaving on the world and the impact I want to make. John F. Kennedy lived a short, full, and prosperous life. Take his life and death as a message to treat every moment as precious and be the change you want to see.

Sources

“What if JFK was never assassinated?” Sky HISTORY TV Channel, www.history.co.uk/articles/what-if-jfk-was-never-shot. 

Greenfield, Jeff. “60 Years After JFK’s Assassination: What Might Have Happened Had He Lived - POLITICO.” POLITICO, 22 Nov. 2023, www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/22/jfk-assassination-60-anniversary-00128153. 

Oskin, Becky. “If JFK Lived: 5 Ways History Would Change.” livescience.com, 14 Oct. 2022, www.livescience.com/41412-jfk-best-alternate-histories.html. 

“If Kennedy Had Lived | Miller Center.” Miller Center, Sept. 2022, millercenter.org/Kennedy-withdrawal/if-kennedy-had-lived. 

“November 22, 1963: Death of the President.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 7 Nov. 2024, www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president. 

Sietzen, Frank. “Soviets Planned to Accept JFK�S Joint Lunar Mission Offer.” Space Daily, 2 Oct. 1997, www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html. 

Kennedy, John F. “410. National Security Action Memorandum No. 271.” Office of the Historian, 12 Nov. 1963, history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v25/d410.  

Onion, Amanda. “Vietnam War: Causes, Facts and Impact | HISTORY.” HISTORY, 16 May 2024, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history.