If JFK had not been assassinated, would America be a better country today?

Question

Many people I know who were alive during that time say that when JFK died, things changed in America, and not for the better. If he had lived, would America be fundamentially different than it is today?

Answer 1

Jason, your question is a haunting one.
I truly believe that only those who lived through that time are able, or have any right, to try to provide an answer.

In these last six years of horror, of political and religious megalomania, it's sometimes difficult to remember the America that existed in the early 1960's. A generation had fought a war against, what was believed to be then, the absolute depths of the depravity of those who must dominate, must control. And they seemed to have triumphed. Those who came home from that war set about the business of Life - creating and nurturing the next, more blessed generation. There was an atmosphere in this country that was thick with the desire, and the confidence, to CHANGE. Change everything. The way we lived, the way we thought, the way all the world was structured. John Kennedy's generation weren't WAITING for the future to come - they were DEMANDING it come. They could MAKE it arrive, and it would be secure and new and based not on the fear of old men but on the confidence...the arrogance...of the young.
When Kennedy took office, his entire generation came of age. You've heard that cliche phrase a thousand times - "The torch has been passed..."

When Kennedy died, all that confidence, all that fierce optimism, began to die. We didn't realize it at the time. We thought we were carrying on, making progress. We sped into the late '60's believing that momentum would carry us through to that future we'd been taught to expect, that was just beyond the reach of our fingertips.

But all the dark things that eat away at a civilization were already at work. And what once seemed to be treasure now seems like a refuse heap.

Jason, look around you.

The definition of "hope" changed, in 1963.

And for those whose beliefs are so shallow that their only comment can be a sarcastic dismissal...
Well, that's the way of the world.
Now.

Answer 2

Debatable. Johnson carried on with much of Kennedy's projected New Frontier legislation as part of the Great Society, actually with more success - he drew on the sentiment that arose after Kennedy's assassination.

However, Kennedy was beginning to withdraw American support from the Vietnam War just before he died, a policy that Johnson clearly reversed. Had Kennedy lived, would the U.S. have become so deeply involved in Vietnam? Probably not. Considering the incredible impact Vietnam had on the nation both domestically and internationally, the United States would certainly be a different place - whether better or worse, who knows?

Answer 3

I notice that at least one person has tried to perpetrate the ludicrous myth that Kennedy intended to get us of of Viet Nam.

This is an insupportable lie that has been cooked up by the left who have tried to turn Kennedy into a saint.

Funny too since he "cut taxes for the rich" and argued that America ought to intervene militarily to force our values on other countries. They seem to forget that his number one campaign issue was that America needed a bigger military and more nuclear armed missiles while Nixon argued for reduced military spending and diplomacy.

Answer 4

We cant actually tell! You never know how things move on and a lot of the times people change!
I myself believe that if Robert Kennedy had survived things would have definitely been better!

Answer 5

Probably not, he did a lot of things that most people don't know about, and he probably would have gotten assisinated later anyway,the country wasn't quite ready for some of the programs he was trying to promote.

Answer 6

the best thing JFK ever did for the USA was drive through Dallas with the top down

Answer 7

he would have been one of the first, besides good ol' washington himself, that would have been a true servant to the people... that's why jr didn't fly commercially, ever wonder how his plane with his immediate kin failed in mid flight?

he was going to abolish the CIA and that would have destroyed the established order...plus he was against creating chaos to create a hero... i.e. george bush

he was our true, loyal, leader/public servant... if he was around today, he would have been the center of morality for our current president

he was our "neo" in the "matrix"

Answer 8

Or similarly, if George Bush were shot tomorrow, would the world be better off? We can only speculate.

Answer 9

Yes,the Vietnam war wouldn't have lasted as long as it did.There wouldn't haven't been inflation, or the gulf war.A lot of things that occurred after he died wouldn't have happened.

Answer 10

i think it could possibly be a better place but like da other guy said bush would have just put a end to the good anyway