How would this country be different if JFK, RK, and MLK had not been

[chelsea0011]

assassinated? Would MLK had gone into politics? If JFK had won a second term would Vietnam and civil rights be different? I think Bobby Kennedy would have affected more progressive change. I think about this as we have forced to think back to Nixon, Vietnam, and the takeover by the far right. I just can't see Nixon ever being elected and don't think Reagan would have happened with Jimmy Carter to kick around. Anyone zoned in enough with these three to figure out what we would be thinking about now?

[CBHagman]

1. I suspect Cambodia would have never been invaded.

We would know Watergate only as a building.

There would possibly be no right-wing media behemoth, at least in its current form.

I'm not certain race relations would have progressed smoothly in general, but we certainly might have missed out on the rioting and destruction and similar.

[SteppingRazor]

2. It's a HUGELY hypothetical question...

predicting the future is all but impossible. To play devil's advocate, would MLK lose the mainstream relevance he enjoyed during the civil rights movement, to find himself preaching primarily to the left, the way Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do?

Would JFK get caught up in a Clintonian "scandal," thus facilitating Nixon's rise to power in any case?

And would RFK had gone as far without the sympathy afforded him by the tragic loss of his brother?

But personally, I'd like to believe we would have remained in an advisory capacity in Vietnam until finally pulling out to avoid bloodloss (no Johnson, no Gulf of Tonkin). I highly doubt MLK would've gone into elected politics, but he'd still be a force to this day, I think.

[EVDebs]

3. It could have been even worse. Operation Northwoods bears that out.

"Nothing new under the sun..."