Meet the Alternative History: What If JFK Had Lived?

A superb second episode of Chuck Todd's Meet the Alternative History podcast, in part because Todd's conversation was with Michael Beschloss, the de facto Historian Laureate, and  in part because their main topic was what if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated, pretty much the gold standard or apex of time travel objectives (see my Loose Ends) and alternate history speculation, informed and otherwise.

My two favorite consequences of JFK surviving in this highly informed conversation were

• JFK ends the Vietnam War in 1966, after being elected to a second term (a sure thing) and after it was clear that the U. S. was fighting a losing battle over there.  Beschloss explains that Kennedy didn't have the do-or-die commitment to not backing down in a military confrontation that Lyndon Johnson and his closest advisors in Texas had in their bones, and Kennedy also would have been better at explaining what was happening in Vietnam to the American people. A wonderful scenario to consider.
• RFK (also not assassinated) wins the election in 1968 (after first beating Johnson in the primaries) and appoints his brother JFK as Secretary of State.  The very thought is what makes Beschloss so effective as an historian of the real world -- he has a way of mixing the personal with the international that puts life on this planet in a relatable, comprehensible tableau.

One point I wish Todd and Beschloss had considered is what would have to the U. S. space program if JFK had survived?  I always thought that we got to the Moon in 1969 because everyone working on this challenge were determined to fulfill the slain President's commitment to landing a person on the Moon by the end of the decade.  (See my The Missing Ingredient for my thoughts and feelings about the real progress and lack of in the effort to get off this planet.)

Prior to discussing JFK, Todd and Beschloss also briefly considered what would have happened had Lincoln survived.  Their discussion provided an astute political dimension to the many alternate histories about the Civil War, and is well worth listening to in its own right.

Listen to Meet the Alternative History on Spotify or Goodpods or Podchaser

See also Meet the Alternative History: What If Bill Clinton Had No Resigned? ... Meet the Alternative History: What If Hillary Clinton Had Run for President in 2004?

                                 The Loose Ends Saga