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JFK's second term

Over the years there has been a lot of speculation from scholars and biographers about what John F. Kennedy's second term may have looked like. Unfortunately there is not a lot of concrete evidence that explicitly spells out what Kennedy's plans were for his second term, so it has really been up to researchers to draw their own conclusions.

In his book A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, Arthur Schlesinger (a special assistant to the President) wrote a little bit about Kennedy's plans for a second term. He claimed that “after the election, he could not only complete his present program but move forward to new problems – tax evasion was one, an attack on the structure of government subsidies was another, the rationalization of the city, the promotion of the arts and the protection of the natural environment, others. In foreign affairs he looked forward particularly to the possibility, if the détente held, of a journey to the Soviet Union,”.

Another suggestion would be If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy: An Alternate History by Jeff Greenfield. Although much of the content is just Greenfield's own conclusions, he does include sources which would be a good starting point for further research into the topic.

For a more succinct look at the possibilities of Kennedy's second term, I would recommend looking at the article "JFK's Second Term," in The Atlantic.
 
Well we're not going to pull out of Vietnam. So he's going to send more men in. He might not micromanage the war like LBJ but he also believed in a real cult of spy craft and Special Forces so we could wind up with some things going better and other things going much worse. The AH Cliché that he would invade the North could go either way.

Domestically his ideas of rationalization probably works better then some Great Society programs but worse then others, hard to imagine for example they he'd be willing to fight a war on poverty.
 
Where did the idea that JFK was a radical come from (J Edgar in 1995's Nixon: "We've already had one radical in the White House - I don't think it could stand another!")?


Baby Boomers, Bobby and Ted, the Lefts disdain for LBJ, and his interview with Cronkite about Vietnam.
 
Well we're not going to pull out of Vietnam. So he's going to send more men in. He might not micromanage the war like LBJ but he also believed in a real cult of spy craft and Special Forces so we could wind up with some things going better and other things going much worse. The AH Cliché that he would invade the North could go either way.

Domestically his ideas of rationalization probably works better then some Great Society programs but worse then others, hard to imagine for example they he'd be willing to fight a war on poverty.

If the Vietnam War stills ends up the same way, I can see JFK being castigated by the Right for halfassing the war like "if we had sent an army and not a bunch of James Bonds, we would've won." and the Left would see him as an uncaring aristocrat that is ignoring massive problems in the country.
 
The Democratic Party will still split into multiple factions and turn on JFK. Wonder how JFK (now owner of The Boston Globe) reacts to Watergate?

What?

If the Vietnam War stills ends up the same way, I can see JFK being castigated by the Right for halfassing the war like "if we had sent an army and not a bunch of James Bonds, we would've won." and the Left would see him as an uncaring aristocrat that is ignoring massive problems in the country.

Well thats the thing, he will toss the CIA and the Green Berets at things, probably more so then LBJ, but there's still going to be a lot of regular troops sent over too. Remember the only difference between his advisors and LBJs was who was sitting in the big chair.
 
How bad was Kennedy's health? I've seen people claim everything from "he was already on the verge of death before Oswald shot him" to "he would probably be alive today".
 
How bad was Kennedy's health? I've seen people claim everything from "he was already on the verge of death before Oswald shot him" to "he would probably be alive today".
His health was terrible. Kennedy suffered from a litany of illness, most serious of which were Addison's Disease (which nearly killed him twice), hypothyroidism, and debilitating back pain (he underwent four surgeries for it, one of which caused him to slip into a coma and nearly die). He also was on a ton of drugs, including antibiotics, corticosteroids, painkillers, anti-diarrheal drugs (including an opioid tincture), testosterone, barbiturates, and amphetamines. Basically if he doesn't die during his second term, he'll die shortly after leaving office.
 
I've always felt that 1972 give or take a year was a good natural death date for him. Having him live to 1980 or so is well past viable. But, short of another surgery snafu I tend to think he'd live though a second term.
 
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His health was terrible. Kennedy suffered from a litany of illness, most serious of which were Addison's Disease (which nearly killed him twice), hypothyroidism, and debilitating back pain (he underwent four surgeries for it, one of which caused him to slip into a coma and nearly die). He also was on a ton of drugs, including antibiotics, corticosteroids, painkillers, anti-diarrheal drugs (including an opioid tincture), testosterone, barbiturates, and amphetamines. Basically if he doesn't die during his second term, he'll die shortly after leaving office.
Of course, he’s got Dr. Feelgood supplying him all sorts of nonsense.
 
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