If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy: an Alternate History
Written by Jeff Greenfield
Narrated by Tom Stechschulte
4/5
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About this audiobook
November 22, 1963: JFK does not die. What would happen to his life, his presidency, his country, his world?
In Then Everything Changed, Jeff Greenfield created an "utterly compelling" (Joe Klein), "riveting" (The New York Times), "eye-opening" (Peggy Noonan), "captivating" (Doris Kearns Goodwin) exploration of three modern alternate histories, "with the kind of political insight and imagination only he possesses" (David Gregory). Based on memoirs, histories, oral histories, fresh reporting, and his own knowledge of the players, the book looked at the tiny hinges of history—and the extraordinary changes that would have resulted if they had gone another way.
Now he presents his most compelling narrative of all about the historical event that has riveted us for fifty years. What if Kennedy were not killed that fateful day? What would the 1964 campaign have looked like? Would changes have been made to the ticket? How would Kennedy, in his second term, have approached Vietnam, civil rights, the Cold War? With Hoover as an enemy, would his indiscreet private life finally have become public? Would his health issues have become so severe as to literally cripple his presidency? And what small turns of fate in the days and years before Dallas might have kept him from ever reaching the White House in the first place?
As with Then Everything Changed, the answers Greenfield provides and the scenarios he develops are startlingly realistic, rich in detail, shocking in their projections, but always deeply, remarkably plausible. It is a tour de force of American political history.
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Greenfield (b. 1943) is one of the most prominent political writers in the United States. Born in New York City, he went to college in Wisconsin, and received a law degree from Yale. He entered politics in the late 1960s, as a speechwriter for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and has covered the beltway ever since, contributing to Time,the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and, in a lighter vein, National Lampoon. His first novel, The People’s Choice, was released in 1995, and ruthlessly satirized the foibles of the Clinton era. His most recent book, Then Everything Changed, is a series of novellas looking at how American history might have been different if small political events had turned out differently. Greenfield divides his time between New York and Connecticut.
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Reviews for If Kennedy Lived
28 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I was surprised to see this listed as a four star rating. This is, as the title states, a look at what possibly could have happened had JFK survived the assignation attempt. The book begins with the trip to Dallas on a rainy day. The bubble shield is on the limo. As the car makes the turn past the book depository, shots ring out and the bubble top explodes in pieces. A bullet hits Kennedy in the spine. A hurried drive to Parkland Hospital with an invasive surgery, allow the polls to increase, and a temporary hero is back in the White House.Kennedy's injuries add to his already compromised spinal health, but he can walk. From there on we see a president who is physically, emotionally weak. Kennedy pays a high price in lack of southern support because of his pro-civil rights legislation.Living with the fact that his terrible mistake in the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba is a thorn in his side when he seeks another term. His ensuing decisions not to take pro- active stances regarding war label him a soft candidate when he runs for his second term.Kennedy's meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna showed him as an ill-prepared weakling resulting in the Berlin wall. As Kennedy's personal life spins out of control his sexual liaison are now fodder for the a media no longer willing to look the other way.Overall, I can't recommend this book. It was dry, pedantic and uninteresting.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed reading this book. I've been a fan of alternate history books (the books by Turtledove are a favorite) for some time, and am glad that I've had the opportunity to add this book to my library. The direction this topic went was very plausible and it was fun to consider the "what if's". I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in JFK or in alternative history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As with his previous work of alternate history, Then Everything Changed (Putnam, 2013), Jeff Greenfield delivers here a wonderfully plausible and completely absorbing history of the 1960s as they might have been, had one tiny meteorological detail been different. Great fun to read closely for all the little details that Greenfield includes.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a book based on an alternate history. It is very interesting to think about what the world would be really like if JFK had really lived. Was JFK the peace keeper portrayed or would he have gone to war. Would he have ended the Cuban embargo earlier? Would he have met with China and come to an agreement with the communist leaders around the world? Would he have pushed for civil rights? It is a unique idea that the war in Vietnam might never have happened. It has me wondering personally that if the Vietnam war never happened, what other changes might have been and how might the world be different today. It is a very interesting book and one that made me think of all the changes that might have been if Kennedy had lived and since I grew up with the Vietnam war, and can remember the televised events surrounding the Kennedy assignation, it had me intrigued with what might have been.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love a good, plausible alternate political history and thoroughly enjoyed Greenfield's trio of novellas, Then Everything Changed, as well as his Kindle single about Al Gore beating George W. Bush. As a result, I thought I'd love his alternate history about how JFK survived the November 22, 1963 assassination attempt and lived to have a second term. Alas, I liked it, but did not love it.The book takes a look at such key events as whether JFK would've won a second term, what we would've done in Vietnam had JFK lived, what might've happened with civil rights/voting rights, and whether the hippies and other countercultural events might've happened.One thing I like about Greenfield's books is that they are plausible and he cites sources for the positions he takes. They are not "out there" and, with a few minor twists or turns, they could've happened.As I say, I'd liked this book, but didn't love it. He doesn't go out on many limbs and, in fact, is awfully cautious in his predictions. This is quite a limited alternate political history. Very policy-oriented and, unfortunately, somewhat dry at times.I think the novella or Kindle single is actually a better format for alternate political history. To me, it felt like he was stretching things to try to create an entire book. By the end of the book, by the end of JFK's second term, it seems like he was really stretching things to keep the book going. I wish he'd put his political focus aside a bit more and gone more into greater detail about how our society might be different had JFK lived.Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting, thought-provoking book and I admit that I did not see the ending coming. I just think that he might've done more with it. It's a bit skimpier than I would've expected. Very good, but not great.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brilliant, fun, informative book. It was very believable and intriguing. Definitely worth picking up and reading, and I am proud to add it to my library.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a very readable book. Written in the style of a history book, and including tweaked historical events and speeches, I found it very believable. The author tries to take what could have actually happened, and tries to keep it plausible. It was not a Stephen King type book... but it starts off with the small facts, and the author tries to keep it fact-based. He obviously put a lot of thought into this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is my first foray into alternate history, I enjoyed it very much. The author didn't tweak things too much, and this made it very believable. It was fun while reading this book to think, "wow, what if". Things may have have been drastically different if Kennedy had survived, the cold war probably would not drug on like it did, we would have had normal relations with Cuba, and Vietnam probably would not have happened. I highly recommend this book for your reading pleasure.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If Kennedy Lived by Jeff Greenfield pretty much answers the question posed at the top of the book jacket: "November 22, 1963: JFK does not die. What would happen to his life, his presidency, his country, his world?" Early in the book Greenfield sets up the invented by detailing the actual, as well as throughout the book, referring back to actual events to ground the invented events.This books touches on such subjects as whether or not LBJ would have been dropped from the ticket when JFK ran for re-election, what his relationship with Jackie might have been after the White House years, how involved the USA would have been in Vietnam, would the Cuban embargo have remained, what would the USA's relationship with Russia have been and many other fascinating topics. A well-written, compelling book as one would expect from Greenfield, an accomplished writer and man of many talents. If you are interested in JFK and the days of Camelot and Alternative History, you'll like this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As someone who loves reading alternate histories, I really enjoyed this book. It looks at how the remainder of JFK’s term and his second term could have realistically played out had he survived the assassination attempt at Dallas. The author builds this alternate history based on facts. This book takes into consideration the various political, social, and economic factors that were at play in the 1960s and considers how JFK and others would have believably reacted them. He also discusses how the political landscape might have been altered had JFK survived, leading to a very different future. This book is well-written and fast-paced. It’s relatively short, but manages to cover an array of topics. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in political history or alternate history.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The story begins on the morning of November 22, 1963, with the assumption that all events prior to that date happened just as they did in history. However, one fateful decision would be made this day, a change that would alter the course of history. It was something that very possibly could have happened: The bubble top was left on Kennedy’s limousine and he survived the assassination attempt in Dallas, similar to what happened to Ronald Reagan years later in the actual historical timeline.The author goes on to imagine the Kennedy presidency maintaining plausibility by using real events and actual quotes from history. I was hoping for a fictionalized story about an alternate America, but that is not what this book is about. It is written as if it were non-fiction, in a news documentary style. The focus is on political issues and predictions, on how they would have turned out had a Kennedy Administration been making the decisions. For example, knowing that Kennedy wanted to avoid an all out war in Vietnam, how would that have affected his relationship with Congress and the ability to pass other legislation such as the Civil Rights Act.To become truly immersed in this book the reader needs a good foundation in the history of the era. Political junkies will appreciate the detail and the research that went into this novel. The casual reader may not catch a lot of twists in history and I’m sure I missed a few of them myself. I liked the author’s use of actual quotes from real historical figures and attributing them to other people, times or places. For example a joke told by Johnny Carson about Nixon was attributed to Johnson in the alternate time line. It’s been fifty years since John Kennedy’s assassination but the topic is as fascinating and timely as ever. If Kennedy Lived will be appreciated most by political buffs but you don’t have to be a historian to enjoy this speculative tale.