Another Way to Look at JFK

John Kennedy continues to fascinate us even though it's been over four decades since his assassination. One of the guessing games that's been played during that time is the "what-if?" about what would have happened had JFK lived. The rosiest version, of course, is that a Kennedy as a survivor never gets us bogged down in Vietnam and, because we aren't disillusioned by his death and Vietnam, then even Watergate wouldn't have happened.

While this is all valid conjecture, the last decade has seen a lot of blemishes added to the JFK mystique. And that leads to a book project known as WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT: THE IMPEACHMENT AND TRIAL OF JOHN F. KENNEDY. It's a project I've been working on for several years now with alternative history novelist Harry Turtledove. We're both Democrats, so it's not a political attack piece, but we've come to the conclusion that if Kennedy had been shot at in Dallas and the gunman (gunmen?) had missed, then a chain of events would have been set in motion that would have made Kennedy the first president to face impeachment since Andrew Johnson -- instead of Richard Nixon who had the honor in our reality.

It's a controversial tale, but there's a web-site devoted to this concept now where Harry and I propose to post the first sections of the book piece-by-piece. If it generates a following and some (potential) controversy, then we'll probably get a book deal to finish it. If it doesn't, well, that's the way it breaks, and we'll get on with our lives.

You can CLICK HERE to check it out, or on the BANNER ABOVE.

Here's the INSTANT HISTORY connection. We've made the two lead characters reporters who are the Kennedy year's equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein. New installments will be posted weekly.