Double Tragedy: The Deaths of JFK & LBJ

[Captain Chaos]

November 21, 1963: Walter Cronkite looked and felt like a man who'd just been handed a death sentence. All morning he'd been praying that the bulletin out of Dallas would be wrong, that in those last few seconds before he went on the air some intern would breathlessly rush up to him to deliver the word that it had all been a mistake, that Air Force One had in fact safely reached Texas and President Kennedy's visit to Dallas would proceed as scheduled.

But no such reprieve would be forthcoming, he realized now, and with a maximum effort at self-control he faced the camera to read the bulletin he knew would plunge an entire nation into grief: "We have received confirmation within the last few minutes that Air Force One, carrying President Kennedy and the First Family along with Vice-President and Mrs. Johnson, has crashed in the Gulf of Mexico... While the full details of the accident are still not yet known, it has already been verified that no one survived the impact."

"Son of a bitch." whispered a shocked Barry Goldwater to no one in particular as he watched Cronkite's newscast on a black-and-white TV in his office. The idea of a sitting President dying before his term of office had ended was disturbing enough, but for one to be killed in a plane crash was unthinkable.

A few doors down, Speaker of the House John McCormack wept not noticing or caring whether anybody heard him.

At the Kremlin, Nikita Khrushchev gaped at the images on his television screen and wondered if the world were coming to an end. Never in a million years would it have occurred to him even in his wildest imagination that the President of the United States could perish in such a horrific fashion. Whatever one might think of the Americans' political philosophy, the CPSU First Secretary thought, one certainly had to admire their engineering skill; it simply wasn't possible this could have happened by mere chance. Either Kennedy's plane had been sabotaged in some fashion or it had been fired on.

[Captain Chaos]

The First Term of President John McCormack



November 21, 1963: At 4PM, a Joint Session of Congress was convened in the House chamber where Chief Justice Earl Warren swore in John McCormack as the 36th President of the United States. McCormack was less than one month shy of his 72nd birthday and the oldest man ever to serve as president.

In his first speech as President, McCormack expressed his sorrow over the deaths of Kennedy and Johnson, and vowed to live up to the great duty he had been called to undertake.

“On the 20th day of January, in 1961, John F. Kennedy told his countrymen that our national work would not be finished "in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But," he said, "let us begin."

Today, in this moment of new resolve, I would say to all my fellow Americans, let us continue. I profoundly hope that the tragedy and the torment of these terrible days will bind us together in new fellowship, making us one people in our hour of sorrow. So let us here highly resolve that John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson did not live--or die--in vain. And this coming Thanksgiving, as we gather together to ask the Lord's blessing, and give Him our thanks, let us unite in those familiar and cherished words:

America, America, God shed His grace on thee.
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.”

November 25, 1963: A day after the funeral for Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson in Texas, John and Jacqueline Kennedy are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In a moment that becomes an emotional and iconic image of the 1960s, an orphaned three year old JFK, Jr. steps forward and renders a final salute as the flag-draped caskets holding his parents are carried out from St. Matthew's Cathedral. The photo, taken by UPI photographer Stan Stearns, would win the Pulitzer Prize. He and his sister Caroline will be raised by their uncle and aunt, Robert and Ethel Kennedy. Bobby eulogizes him with the words: "Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass through all the world."

Kennedy concludes his eulogy, paraphrasing his deceased brother Robert by quoting George Bernard Shaw: "As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him, some men see things as they are and say 'Why?' I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?'"

November 28, 1963: In his first Cabinet meeting, President McCormack announces that he will not seek a term of his own in 1964 but will serve out the remainder of his term until January 1965. He asks the Cabinet that he inherited from the Kennedy administration to stay on.

After the meeting, RFK meets with President McCormack in the Oval Office to announce that he is resigning as Attorney General effective upon the confirmation of his successor. McCormack reluctantly accepts. By Christmas, the Senate confirms Nicholas Katzenbach as Attorney General while the Kennedy family will spend several months in seclusion at the family compound in Massachusetts.

July 2, 1964: Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark piece of legislation that outlaws racial segregation in schools, public places and employment.

July 3, 1964: On the eve of Independence Day, President McCormack signs the Civil Rights Act into law at the Rose Garden and gives pens to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Senator Hubert Humphrey and Robert Kennedy in his first public appearance since leaving the Cabinet.

July 8, 1964: Both houses of Congress pass the 25th Amendment which is presented to the states for ratification. Section 2 of the amendment allows the President to nominate a Vice President if there is a vacancy in that office who will be confirmed by the House and Senate.

July 16, 1964: Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona is officially nominated by the Republicans at their National Convention at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Goldwater selects Congressman William Miller as his running mate. Privately, Goldwater noted that Miller “drives McCormack nuts.”

August 4, 1964: President McCormack is told by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara that an incident took place in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam. Apparently, two U.S. ships were fired upon by North Vietnamese ships. "Get confirmation on that," McCormack tells him. "If it's true, it means the situation in Southeast Asia has just become a war. But let's be sure it's true first.

August 7, 1964: Secretary McNamara can now confirm it: There was no shooting on U.S. ships by North Vietnamese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. "That was a close one," President McCormack tells him. "I didn't want to have to go to war and have Barry Goldwater criticize me for sending American boys to do what Asian boys should be doing for themselves."

August 24, 1964: The Democratic National Convention opens at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Having clinched the majority of delegates, Senator Hubert Humphrey selects Governor Terry Sanford of North Carolina, a southern moderate, as his running mate.

August 27, 1964: Governor John Conally of Texas introduces a short film in honor of the late Vice President Lyndon Johnson. This is followed by Robert Kennedy’s introduction of a short film in honor of his brother’s memory. Kennedy  receives 22 minutes of uninterrupted applause,causing him to nearly break into tears. Speaking about JFK’s vision for the country, Kennedy famously quotes from Romeo and Juliet:

[...] and when [he] shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

November 3, 1964: The election is a landslide for the Democrats as Hubert Humphrey is elected President of the United States.

Hubert Humphrey/Terry Sanford (D) 61.3%, 486 EV
Barry Goldwater/William Miller (R) 38.0%, 52 EV

Humphrey’s coattails help Democrats increase their majorities in the House and Senate. In New York, Robert Kennedy defeats incumbent Senator Kenneth Keating despite moving to the state just before Labor Day. California Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown defeats Republican actor George Murphy for the Senate seat held by Clair Engle until his death earlier in the year.

In Massachusetts, Governor Endicott Peabody is reelected by just 1 percent over former Governor John Volpe. Lieutenant Governor Francis Bellotti wanted to challenge him in the primary, but President McCormack intervened to put a stop to it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

November 3, 1964: The election is a landslide for the Democrats as Hubert Humphrey is elected President of the United States.

Hubert Humphrey/Terry Sanford (D) 61.3%, 486 EV
Barry Goldwater/William Miller (R) 38.0%, 52 EV

Very original map...

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Well, In such political climate LBJ-esque victory is seems possible

[Captain Chaos]

I edited my previous entry to add the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the timeline.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well, In such political climate LBJ-esque victory is seems possible

But it would never be exactly the same map. Scientifically impossible.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

But surely would go Democratic, esspecially after LBJ death.

I looking forward Humphrey administration

[Psychic Octopus]

please continue, this is excellent.

[Historico]

Nice Way to start off this timeline GZ...However, I do have a problem with Goldwater picking William Miller, as he only really picked him due to LBJ personal dislike of him. If Barry know's he's going to loose, why not go out in a Mondalesque way and make history while doing. Progressive Senator Margert Chase of Maine was a strong supporter of Barry's campaign in OTL 1964 and I think would do a much better job balancing the ticket.

Also, McKormack even having the clout of being Speaker of the House, won't have the same Southern cajoling ability that LBJ. No having a slain president, instead of something that is just deemed as a freak accident, might make it alot tougher to get the Civil Rights passed. I think it still probably would but it might get pushed back to being signed into law until fall of '64. Here is how I think the map between HHH and Goldwater would look like, with Chase at the Bottom of the ticket.

Hubert H. Humphrey/Terry Sanford: 404 Electoral Votes
Barry Goldwater/Margaret Chase Smith: 134 Electoral Votes

With all that aside...This timeline is fantastic...Keep it comming

[pogo stick]

Sad way for one of America's greatest presidents to die. But amazing timeline so far. Keep Writing.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sad way for one of America's greatest presidents to die. But amazing timeline so far. Keep Writing.

You are a fan of LBJ ?

[Historico]

Come on Hubert!!!

[Captain Chaos]

I appreciate the comments in response to this TL. I should be able to add events from HHH's first term by this weekend.

Margaret Chase Smith would be an interesting pick for a VP. She is from the Northeast and is more moderate than Goldwater. I have no idea if she would have accepted being Goldwater's running mate. Would the country be ready in 1964 to accept a woman being a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

There may be at least one surprise in store for this TL and that is all I have to say about that. So stay tuned.

[Historico]

I think the nation, an especially proto-feminist groups would see her as a Important Progressive step, and an effective sacrifical lamb candidate due to her age...Plus she's got plenty of expeirence as she's been in the Senate for 15 years up untill this point...But if she's picked the dynamics of the race will shift significantly.

[Captain Chaos]

I apologize for the delay in continuing this timeline. I live in an apartment where I am fortunate to have free wifi (which is 80 percent of the time). This past weekend, I was unable to connect to the internet.

Now for the HHH presidency.

[Captain Chaos]

The First Term of Hubert Horatio Humphrey



January 20, 1965: Hubert H. Humphrey is sworn in as the 37th President of the United States. In an Inaugural Address, HHH says, "It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

January 24, 1965: In a meeting with executives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, President Humphrey tells them that America should accelerate its space program: "If we don't put a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth soon, the Soviets will get there first, and we don't want that." They tell HHH that a manned Moon landing is at least seven years away. "Not good enough," he tells them. "We might have a Red Moon by '72. You've already got two-man crews on Project Gemini. I know you're working on an escape-velocity rocket system. Can you put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade?" They say they will try.

August 14, 1965: In the wake of the Watts riots in Los Angeles, President Hubert Humphrey says, "This Administration declares an unconditional war on poverty. We can not allow the conditions that created the riot to continue."

November 8, 1965: President Hubert Humphrey signs a bill creating the Office of Economic Opportunity, legislation authored by Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

November 9, 1965: Much of the northeastern United States is hit with a blackout, the largest power failure in the nation's history. Despite the power loss, New York City, hit harder by the blackout than any other city, experiences the lowest number of total crimes committed on any night in its measured history.

November 10, 1965: Former Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee for President in 1960, attacks President Humphrey's "war on poverty." "It is not poverty that causes crime," Nixon says. "The blackout in New York yesterday proved that. A city with so many of the poor people the President claims to befriend had the fewest crimes in its history. What causes crime is criminal behavior. What this nation needs is more law and order."

January 29, 1966: President Hubert Humphrey delivers the State of the Union Address. In the face of criticism from conservative Republicans, who say that crime is caused by criminal behavior rather than poverty, and more law enforcement is needed, HHH says that he will expand the Equal Opportunity Act to aid minority hiring in urban police departments. "A young black man thinking of committing a crime might react with hatred for a white policeman threatening to arrest or shoot him," he says, "but he might react with more respect for a black policeman. The armed forces have integrated well. We should assist police departments with such an integration." Appointed to give the Republican response, Richard Nixon, now the front-runner for the 1968 Presidential nomination, talks about "big government" and "the situation in Vietnam," but not crime, poverty or racism.

March 18, 1966: Republican leaders in Congress ask President Humphey for a meeting at the White House. They tell him that the American military mission in Vietnam needs to be stepped up. "We've had five thousand men killed there," says Minority Leader Everett Dirksen. "What are they dying for? If we don't mount a major offensive, and soon, we might lose." HHH considers their recommendations, but later scoffs at them. He has his own ideas.

April 14, 1966: President Hubert Humphrey meets with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev at Glassboro State College in southern New Jersey (now Rowan University). Brezhnev gives HHH what he wants: Assurance that the Soviet Union will not aid Arab nations should war break out between those nations and Israel; nor will the Soviets aid the Vietcong should the U.S. step up its role in Vietnam. In return, HHH agrees to withhold aid to anti-Communist dictators in Latin America and Africa, and to not attack Cuba during his Administration. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina calls this "appeasement" and "an American Munich."

December 24, 1966: Gemini XI makes the first voyage to the moon. A specially developed "Trans stage" rockets Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon into a figure 8 loop around the moon beating the Russians who had planned to do so the following month. The 1st live transmissions from space show views around the world pictures from the moon for 20 minutes. Conrad and Gordon read from the Book of Genesis during the transmission and wish all the people of “the good earth “a Merry Christmas and peace on earth for all mankind".

January 27, 1967: During a "full up" rehearsal of the launch of Apollo 1, Mission Commander Gus Grissom gets fed up with communications problems and notes the smell of "foul milk" in the spacecraft's environmental system. Grissom's patience is exhausted and orders the test be cancelled. The launch pad team opens the hatches to Apollo 1 and Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee completes exiting the spacecraft at 6:24 pm. At 6:31pm as the Astronauts were preparing to leave the gantry, an electrical short causes a fire aboard Apollo 1. The Astronauts are evacuated and the fire is extinguished by the pad team. Due to the brief period of time of the fire, investigators are able to pinpoint the cause of the electrical short. The crews' narrow escape and terse comments at a press conference causes NASA to declare no Block 1 Apollo missions will be flown. The Block 2 Apollo spacecraft is ready in June 1968 and Grissom and his crew fly a flawless 14 day mission.

June 5, 1967: Israel launches pre-emptive attacks on its Arab neighbors, who had been massing troops on its borders. President Hubert Humphrey announces that he will not send aid to Israel as long as it is on the offensive, but will do so if Israel appears to be falling on the defensive. This proves unnecessary, as the Israelis win what becomes known as the Six-Day War.

October 2, 1967: Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, appointed by President Hubert Humphrey to replace the retiring Justice Tom Clark.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think HHH has many chances for 1968...

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I think HHH has many chances for 1968...

Sweet

[Historico]

IDK, if Hubert still might be inline for reelection doesn't seem things haven't got nearly as nasty as the late '60's in OTL. Can't wait for the '68 election though GZ...Keep it comming.

[Captain Chaos]

Thank you all for the encouragement. I am still having trouble connecting wirelessly to the internet from my apartment. It is more likely I will have to go to an internet cafe and shell out my three bucks. This TL is still alive and well.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Thank you all for the encouragement. I am still having trouble connecting wirelessly to the internet from my apartment. It is more likely I will have to go to an internet cafe and shell out my three bucks. This TL is still alive and well.

I got the same problem. Keep posting I really dying to see 1968 election

[Captain Chaos]

Good news. I was able to find a wi-fi spot by moving my laptop to the living room. Once I have 1968 fleshed out, I should be able to continue this timeline.

[Captain Chaos]

There is a saying that good things come to those who wait. I finally have the events of 1968 for your reading pleasure.

January 27, 1968: President Hubert Humphrey is informed that a Vietcong attack is expected soon in Vietnam. He orders an attack on the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. "Let's end this thing for once and for all," he says. "We'll deal with the Russians and the Chinese if we have to later."

January 28, 1968: U.S. troops attack the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, two days before the scheduled offensive the Vietcong had planned for the Vietnamese New Year, or "Tet."

January 31, 1968: President Hubert Humphrey announces that the Vietnam War has been won. North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh has been shot and killed, and General Vo Nguyen Giap, in U.S. custody, has surrendered.

March 16, 1968: President Hubert Humphrey makes it official: He's running for re-election.

March 31, 1968: President Hubert Humphrey announces the signing of the Treaty of Paris, ending the Vietnam War. Reunification of a free Vietnam is scheduled for September 30.

April 4, 1968: Dr. Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis. President Hubert Humphrey gives an impassioned speech from the Oval Office, asking that anger over the killing be directed toward achieving King's goals rather than tearing down society.
Upon learning of King's death during a visit to a public school in Harlem, Senator Robert F. Kennedy gives a heartfelt, impromptu speech in which Kennedy called for reconciliation between the races.

“For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times...What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.”
The riots are few, and in New York City, there are no riots and no deaths are recorded, a fact many attribute to the effect of this speech.

June 5, 1968: After speaking to his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in celebrating of his victory in the California Republican primary (and clinching the nomination for President), former Vice President Richard Nixon is shot as he is walking through the kitchen. Sirhan Sirhan is immediately caught by police. During questioning, Sirhan, a Jordanian Arab, claims he was taking revenge on Nixon for his pro-Israel, anti-Arab stance during last year's Six-Day War.

June 6, 1968: Doctors are unable to save Richard Nixon’s life as he succumbs to his injuries. He was 55.

Meanwhile, former Governor George Wallace of Alabama gives a campaign speech at the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi without mentioning the death of Nixon. He will be criticized in the press for it.

June 9, 1968: A state funeral is held in Washington for the assassinated former Vice President Richard Nixon. Eulogies are given at the National Cathedral by President Humphrey, Speaker of the House Carl Albert, House Minority Leader Gerald Ford, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Nixon’s former running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, and even Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was one of the pallbearers of Nixon’s coffin. Nixon’s body is then flown to Los Angeles where it is buried at his hometown of Whittier.

June 26, 1968: Chief Justice Earl Warren retires from the Supreme Court. President Humphrey promotes Associate Justice Byron White to be Chief Justice, and federal Appellate Judge and fellow Minnesotan Harry Blackmun to White’s seat as Associate Justice.

August 8, 1968: With the assassination of Richard Nixon throwing the Republican National Convention at Miami Beach open, several Republicans declare their candidacies hoping to win over Nixon’s delegates including Rep. John Ashbrook, Governor Ronald Reagan of California, and Governor George Romney of Michigan.

August 10, 1968: Governor Nelson Rockefeller clinches the Republican nomination for President on the third ballot. To win over support from the conservative and Southern delegates, Rockefeller reluctantly agrees to select John Ashbrook as his running mate. Rockefeller has his work cut out for him as he trails President Humphrey by 20 points.

August 29, 1968: The Democratic National Convention in Chicago goes off without incident as President Humphrey and Vice President Sanford are re-nominated by acclamation.

September 30, 1968: With President Hubert Humphrey and Secretary of State Dean Rusk in attendance, the Vietnam reunification ceremony is held in Saigon. Nguyen Van Thieu, President of South Vietnam, is now President of a united nation, at peace sine January 31.

November 5, 1968: President Hubert Humphrey is easily reelected to a second term as President of the United States.

Hubert Humphrey/Terry Sanford (D): 52%, 355 EV
Nelson Rockefeller/John Ashbrook (R): 33%, 130 EV
George Wallace/Curtis LeMay (AI): 14%, 53 EV

In the final analysis, it was evident that Americans voted to continue the peace and prosperity of the Humphrey administration. Rockefeller’s liberalism on civil rights and other social issues hurt the Republicans in the South and enabled George Wallace to win 6 states. While Rockefeller was able to win back some traditional Republican states, he lost his home state to Humphrey by 400 votes and could not even carry his running mate’s home state of Ohio.

The Democrats score modest gains in Congressional races. In Oregon, Senator Wayne Morse survives a strong challenge from state legislator Bob Packwood. In Pennsylvania, Senator Joseph Clark turns back a challenge from Congressman Richard Schweiker.

Newly elected Senators include Democrats Leroy Collins in Florida, James Allen in Alabama, Alan Cranston in California, Harold Hughes in Iowa; and Republicans William Saxbe in Ohio, Charles Matthias in Maryland, and Marlow Cook in Kentucky.

November 7, 1968: Dean Rusk announces that he will resign as Secretary of State at the end of the year. President Humphrey nominates UN Ambassador and former New York Governor Averell Harriman as Rusk’s successor. Humphrey also nominates Labor Secretary Daniel Patrick Moynihan as the new Ambassador to the United Nations.

[Historico]

Hmm...I really wasn't expecting a Nixon Assasination by Sirhain Sirhan, I don't think it's ever been done by a TL that way. Anyways, It definatley gives Bobby a shot at the nomination in '72 if he decides to challenge Vice President Sanford...More likely hell have the nod handed to him in '76 or 80. Btw, I like the Harriman pick for SoS, but I think he'd been damn near 80 at this time lol...Bobby might decide to go with the postion in a Hillarian way, but being Senator of New York will probably give him more autonomy. Can't wait to see how the HHH 2nd term turns out.

[Historico]

How's the Humprhey Second Term coming along?