60 Years Ago Today President John F. Kennedy Left Us
Exactly 60 years ago, I was an eighth-grade student at Ezekiel?Cullen Junior High School in Houston. At 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, I finished lunch and reported to my algebra class. My teacher, Mr. Raul Munoz, looked very sad and shocked. He told us that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and had died. I responded that he must be joking. He got upset at me. He assured me that he was deathly serious.
? ? Somehow a television was found. We spent the rest of the afternoon glued to television screens in school and when I got home. The whole country went into shock. Everyone stayed home and was sad. It got worse when the alleged assassin?Lee Harvey Oswald was shot dead by Jack Ruby at the Dallas County Jail. Monday was a very sad holiday. We all were in fear that it was the first step in a massive Soviet attack. That did not materialize.
? ? Thanksgiving came the following week. As was a family custom, we drove from Houston to Galveston in our 1959 Pontiac Catalina. The Gulf Freeway was almost empty. We went to our beloved John's Oyster Resort for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The restaurant was not crowded that sad Thursday afternoon.
? ? Many years later I made an astounding discovery. President John F. Kennedy should not have died that afternoon in Dallas. A first bullet hit him and wounded him. If it had been any of us, we would have been knocked over in the car. There would be no possibility of the fatal headshot that killed Kennedy. Kennedy had the bad luck to have serious back problems. He was wearing a back brace to help him with the pain. The back brace left him sitting erect. The shooter had a perfect target for his second fatal shot.
? ?In 2012, Elena and I were in Boston for a big medical conference. I drove to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. It was an awesome experience. It touched my heart. I ended up in the gift shop and encountered a surprising book with the title: "Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived." For those of you curious, here is a link:
? ?When I got back to San Francisco, I started to dig into the book with great interest. This book is a serious academic book. It is not an easy read. You have to work at it and stay focused.? Each year a large group of academics and government officials meet in Georgia. They analyze the question-"Would the Vietnam War have happened had Kennedy lived."
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? ?That question has troubled me for decades. 4 of my friends were killed in Vietnam. I earned a Purple Heart for being wounded. Over 58,000 American military personnel died in this war. 4,500 South Korean military personnel died. 500 Australian military personnel died. An estimated 3,250,000 Vietnamese civilians and military personnel died in this awful war. An additional 20,000 Vietnamese died after the war ended due to stepping on land mines. Even today 20% of Vietnam's land area is "a no-go zone" due to land mines.
? ?A lot of scholars have said that the late President Kennedy looked at Vietnam as one of many states seeking independence and its proper place in the world. He questioned whether the U.S. should insert itself into the middle of an Asian civil war.
? ? ?These same scholars believed that Kennedy would have let the U.S. help for South?Vietnam continue until after the 1964 election. In 1965, he would have started a drawdown of troops and let nature take its course. Kennedy would have placated the?military and public opinion by increasing military?budgets. The book does not definitely say that it would happen. They hinted that this was what was most probable.
? ? Let your imagination run wild. What would life have been like in the US from 1965 to 1973 had this war not happened?
? ? ?There is also a discussion about what would have happened after Kennedy got out of the hospital from one bullet wound. In 1964, he would have fired Lyndon Johnson as vice president. It is unclear who his new running mate would have been. He would have faced right-wing extremist Barry Goldwater in the presidential?election. He would have been reelected. His bad health would continue to deteriorate. He would have had to step down as president due to disability sometime in 1966. With luck, he might have lived to be 50 years of age.
? ? ?One man or woman can make a giant difference.
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