What if John Kennedy Jr. had lived?
The news that members of the QAnon cult have been gathered on the Grassy Knoll in Dallas awaiting the second coming of John Kennedy Jr. is one of the most bizarre and entertaining developments in an era in which most news is depressing and aggravating. Why JFK Jr. and not someone else? Who knows? A group whose public face is that of a weird dude in leather pants and a horned helmet is capable of anything.
Most people in the second decade of the 21st century do not remember JFK the Younger. The most popular image of him is that of a young boy who was photographed saluting his father’s casket as it was being taken to its last resting place. Later, as a young man, he proved to be one of the less obnoxious Kennedys of his generation, avoiding scandal, proving to be friendly to all. He even founded a modestly successful magazine called George that married politics with pop culture and had an eclectic staff of writers that included Ann Coulter and Paul Begala.
Sadly, JFK Jr. went into the Atlantic Ocean at the controls of a Piper Saratoga along with his wife and sister-in-law on July 16, 1999. He and his companions died on impact. Thus, a life that might have been well led was cut short.
Alternate history stories that depict President Kennedy surviving the event in Dallas are legion. Thus far, no one has speculated on what might have happened had John Kennedy the Younger not gone into the drink that summer night. The altered timeline would have been interesting, to say the least.
One could imagine John Jr. getting into politics had his life not been cut short. Interestingly, a United States Senate seat in New York was open in 2000 thanks to the retirement of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The seat would have been a natural fit for JFK Jr., and he would have won it easily. Incidentally, he would have cut short the political career of one Hillary Rodham Clinton, which some might consider a positive development.
John Jr. was reasonably intelligent and, thanks to his time at George, had friends on both sides of the political divide. He was also handsome, stylish, and would have had the media worshiping him thanks to his pedigree. Thus, he likely would have been a successful senator.
Fast forward eight years and we find that the presidency is open, thanks to George W. Bush having served two terms. The temptation to fulfill his father’s legacy might have been too powerful for John Kennedy the Younger to resist. He might have won that race as well, beating out a fellow senator named Barack Hussein Obama.
A second Kennedy presidency would likely have been more successful than the real-world Obama one. Obama had a haughty, arrogant attitude that turned a lot of people off. Plus, President Obama always gave the impression that he did not much like the country he was elected twice to govern but felt that the United States was lucky to have him.
JFK Jr. had charisma to burn, and his easy, friendly manner would have attracted people from a wide swath of the political spectrum. He could have avoided some of the more obnoxious policies of the Obama presidency, such as Obamacare and the cancellation of the Constellation program to return to the moon. He might even have taken an example from his father’s presidency and pushed for a tax cut. “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
By 2016, at the end of the second Kennedy presidency, the United States would have been a lot more prosperous and a lot less angry. Thus, whoever followed John Jr., Republican or Democrat, would not have been obliged to cater to voter resentments. Thus, Donald Trump Jr. would have remained a real estate magnate and reality show star.
Just for the prospect of heading off three controversial political careers, the death of JFK Jr. has to be seen as a national as well as personal tragedy.
Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently, Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, among other venues.
