For one brief,shining moment.....

Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief, shining moment
That was known as Camelot.

Hard to believe it was 40 years ago. What if........

Ted Sorensen (Kennedy's speechwriter) said on CNN today that if Kennedy had lived he would have been re-elected and America would be much different today.....Also he said Kennedy, working with Kruschev, would have ended the cold war long before it actually ended.....He said instead of the billions spent on unnecessary armaments, there would have been investment in health and schools etc..

He is the Number 1 fan of the man.

I am not so sure about his claims. Khruschev had his own politics to deal with, and there was no way those guys were gonna let up. Kennedy, if he suggested any real thaw would have been shot another time, or impeached.

The thing was already so intrenched that NO mainstream, go-along, back-slapping politician could have stopped it.

First of all, "Camelot" was another absurd creation of the mainstream media. Unless you consider Secret Service agents bodily lifting hookers onto bad-backed Jack in the White House bathroom to be "one brief, shining moment."

But let us consider "one possible future---I don't know tech stuff."
JFK wins again in '64. He gets us out of Vietnam by '68, in time for LBJ to win that year. Hence, no '68 Chicago. No Nixon. LBJ's body is spent by '72 anyway (he died the next year, a broken old man), so he doesn't run again. RFK runs in '72 and wins. (Because RFK wasn't killed in '68---although MLK? He's still dead. Hoover saw to that). So RFK wins in '72 and, in any case, there's no Nixon, so there's no Watergate. No Ford. Subsequently, no Carter. And hence, no Reagan in '80. And thus no GHW Bush. Uness he runs on his own. But that sad preppy couldn't win on his own without the Reagan years, so forget about that. And it goes on from there. No "Shrub"---that's practically guaranteed.

The down-side? Some classic Hunter Thompson prose never gets written. The up-side? Jim Morrison lives! Sure, because JFK and Morrison formed a firm (but decidedly unhealthy) friendship in about '68 (They both hated their authoritarian asshole fathers with the same passion), and they end up starring in a movie together in '75. They don't really give a shit about the movie (Billy Friedkin directs---it's his follow-up to "The Exorcist"), but the gorgeous girls go on forever, and they have backs like butter... (I stole this last phrase from genius-writer David Thomson. All apologies.)

We're Knights of the Round Table.
We dance whene'er we're able.
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot.
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
We're Knights of the Round Table.
Our shows are formidable,
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable.
We're opera mad in Camelot.
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.
In war we're tough and able,
Quite indefatigable.
Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable.
It's a busy life in Camelot.
I have to push the pram a lot.

But I send it with love and affection...

But I send it with love and affection...

Um, sorry for the double-BLATT!!! I've got the winds something terrible...

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

After the assassination, White was granted a rare interview with Jacqueline Kennedy, the president's widow. In it, she said:

"`When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical, but I'm so ashamed of myself — all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy.

"`At night, before we'd go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.' ...

Indeed. "For one brief shining moment there was Camelot."

...Secret Service agents bodily lifting hookers onto bad-backed Jack in the White House bathroom to be "one brief, shining moment."

Well, if it was in fact Marilyn Monroe, then, well, yeah. Shiny as hell...Blindingly shiny...where are my shades?...

As for your alternate history, you forgot the part where Jack watches with regret from his Hyannisport retreat as Teddy is rowed out to the center of the bay for a 'fishing' trip. There is a single audible shot, Jack's head drops in guilt, and he thinks back to the day, Joe Senior's birthday in fact, when he first told everyone he had enlisted...