What if?

Yesterday not only marked Thanksgiving in the US, but was the 49th anniversary of the event that, IMO, set the demarcation line for nearly everything bad that would happen in my country for the rest of the 20th century.  On 22 November 1963, John F. Kennedy, the youthful and charismatic 35th President of my country, was assassinated, supposedly by a lone and disgruntled ex-Marine ex-defector to the then-Soviet Union.  President Kennedy had barely completed his first 1000 days in office.

One of the smaller tragedies relating to this horrific event was that Lee Harvey Oswald, described by the Warren Commission as acting alone, did not live long enough to be thoroughly questioned about the "how" and "why" of his action.  Oswald himself was shot and killed two days later by a nightclub owner named Jack Ruby who had ties to organized crime figures.  Oswald's shooting took place while he was being transferred from one holding area to another.  TV cameras recorded the event live.  Those images were seared into my consciousness, along with others from those truly nightmarish days.

Many - perhaps even most - Americans have never accepted the Warren Commission's official conclusions.  There have been several documentaries and feature films advocating alternative theories.  There will most likely continue to be more such productions.  But none has provided proof found that would support any one of those theories persuasively enough over the findings of the Warren Commission for the Commission's conclusions to change in any significant way.  Like many Americans, I have my own conjecture as to what transpired, why and who was behind it.  Like all others, I have no proof that my conclusions are true.  So my thoughts will remain my own - unless some day I am able to articulate them plausibly enough - at least for a fictional treatment.

In November 1963, I was a college senior in my birth state of Montana.  Even at the time, I knew that I would enter the Peace Corps immediately after graduation.  As I did.  The Peace Corps was created in the early years of the Kennedy Administration and was just one of the "liberal" ideas that the US right-wing hated about Kennedy.  Here is a YouTube video that gives one idea of the depth of right-wing hatred toward Kennedy during the Kennedy era.

The rabid right-wing in those days was a distinct minority.  In a state as sparsely populated as Montana, such figures stood out starkly, however.  We knew them for who and what they were.  Then they were recognized by mainstream elements in both major political parties, Republicans and Democrats alike, as nut cases.  Unfortunately, what I have seen over the years is that these certifiable nut cases have gradually and firmly carved themselves a very powerful niche in today's Republican Party.  So much so that hatred and vituperation towards political figures, especially those who are Democrats, have become commonplace among Republicans.

During the second Clinton Administration, for example, these wingnuts impeached President Clinton for not coming clean about receiving a blow job.  While I concur that the whole episode was sordid and certainly wish that it had never happened at all, it was a private transgression that was no one's business other than those directly concerned.  The act took place between consenting adults after all.  It certainly did not rise to the level of what the US Constitution defines as impeachable offenses: "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."  Nor did the majority of the US public consider it so.

But the right-wing nut jobs (RWNJs) put the whole country through this very expensive ordeal, when the President's attention should have been on other matters, most notably the rising growth of global terrorism.  Ultimately, the Senate did not vote for impeachment.   The moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth from the President's RW enemies raised a stink throughout the land.   But that hullaballoo was nothing compared to the reactions of the RWNJs when President Obama was elected.  And now re-elected.

What if the Kennedy assassination had never happened?  Would we have ceased our war in Vietnam much earlier, avoided two more assassinations of major charismatic figures: Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, JFK's younger brother?  Would we have avoided the anguish of Watergate and the Reagan foreign policy follies (e.g., arming the most radical of Islamic elements who were later responsible for the worst single tragedy on US soil), RW social policies that began dismantling the social safety net and insane trickle-down economic policies that laid the basis for the global economic crisis?

Unfortunately, we will never know.  But I will always wonder, "What if?"

If only.