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John F. Kennedy surviving his character assassination has always been an irresistible wrench for authors of alternate histories . Some of the upright writers of the past 50 class have tackled this secret plan twist since that fateful sidereal day in Dallas on Nov. 22 , 1963 . Some are imaginary , such as the 1992 curt story collection " Alternate Kennedys , " which sent the tribe to Hollywood . Others take a serious turn , reversing the 1960s ' amazing progress in civil rights .
Here are five intriguing ways history may have changed if Kennedy had live theassassination effort , or if gunman Lee Harvey Oswald had never use up the dead reckoning .
Nikita Khrushchev with John F. Kennedy
1 . The 1964 election
What if JFK had subsist through the character assassination attempt on Nov. 22 , 1963 ? There may never have been a Warren Commission to inquire the criminal offence , and the riches ofconspiracy theoriesthat followed may have never arisen . But there would have still been investigating . [ 20 of the best confederacy possibility ]
And in the alternate history demo in Bryce Zabel ’s novel , " Surrounded by Enemies : What If Kennedy hold out Dallas ? " ( Publish Green , 2013 ) , those investigations endanger Kennedy ’s power to advance re - election by unveil his personal and political secrets . Those let in his social occasion and tie to the crime syndicate . In Zabel ’s novel , the Book of Revelation trigger an impeachment fight .
2 . Vietnam
tension were already escalating in Vietnam in 1963 . Just a few month before Kennedy was pop , he supported a coup that cease with the death of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem . In the docudrama film undertaking " practical JFK , " historians suggest Kennedy would have pulled out of Vietnam , refuse pressing to step up the war .
Even so , after Kennedy ’s death , his brother Robert separate reporters that JFK had no design of pulling out of Vietnam ; historiographer , as well , are n’t indisputable how the Vietnam War would have close with Kennedy in charge .
3 . civic right
historiographer describe the hassle Kennedy would have faced in building consensus in Congress had he continued on for another term . Rather , Lyndon B. Johnson get credit rating for pushing through the landmark civic rights and poverty - busting lawmaking of the 1960s . In the novel " 2024-12-21 " ( Gallery Books , 2012 ) , by Stephen King , a high - school day English teacher travels through a prison term portal to thwart Lee Harvey Oswald ’s assassination attempt . When the time traveler returns to the present , he find the 1964 Civil Rights Act never put across .
4 . The Cold War
John F. Kennedy gain ground election by preying on fears of nuclear war , some have argue . But just before his dying , the United States President pushed for a limited ban on nuclear weapons . In the book " If Kennedy Lived : An Alternate History " ( Putnam Adult , 2013 ) , by Jeff Greenfield , the author propose Kennedy would have worked with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to melt off the man ’s nuclear weapons arsenal .
5 . The blank program
Would there be people on Mars by now ifKennedyhad lived beyond 1963 ? In the science fable novel " Voyage " ( Harper Collins , 2011 ) , by Stephen Baxter , the United States lands people on Mars in 1986 , after Kennedy survive his blackwash attempt . But JFK only serves as inspiration — it ’s Nixon who approve the Mars missionary post . Another twist : All of the Apollo mission beyond Apollo 14 were cancelled . Historians have focalise more on the termination of the lunar program than a possible Mars launch had Kennedy live . A few think the budding détente between Kennedy and Khrushchev could have even lead to a joint space program .
