Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DeepPurple
...What would have been if JFK wasn't killed. That morning he had asked his Joint Chief of Staff to plan an exit stragedy for Vietnam. At the time we only had about 10,000 advisers in country. Had there been no Vietnam War 58,000 lives wouldn't of been cut short. Another 300,000 wouldn't of been disabled or wounded, marijuana wouldn't of been as prevalant, there would probably be almost no Vietnamese living here. Kennedy would of been elected to a second term, another Democrat might of followed, Nixon would of been a longshot, meaning no Watergate, no resignation, and so on.
|
That is something to think about. This country would be a considerably different place. No way to know if that's better or worse, but assuredly different if you were to remove Vietnam, LBJ, and Nixon from the mix, and adjust course on Civil Rights, space exploration, the Soviets, etc. Who knows?
I'm not saying that JFK was perfect, either, because after 8 years the nation may have tired of him, and we tend to view his presidency and Lincoln's as well in a more deified light simply due to the timing and circumstances of their deaths.