i'm pretty firmly in the lincoln camp but i can see the argument for kennedy
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in reply to @a-new-low's post:
I don't know if things would improve if Kennedy lives, but I am willing to hear that argument.
To me, it basically boils down to "how would Lincoln have handled the Reconstruction?" Maybe he could have put it on more secure founding. Or maybe not. Or maybe, it doesn't matter because the forces of history would have ensured the world remain basically the same. I'm not smart or knowledgeable enough to know.
It's a similar question in both cases, would Lincoln have led a substantively better reconstruction (I'm inclined to say yes, although the extent could be widely debated) and would Kennedy have led the US to a considerably less aggressive standing in the cold war (I'm also inclined to say yes, but with a bit less conviction). Ultimately I think the gap in politics between Lincoln and Johnson was wider than the gap between Kennedy and Johnson, I think the occupant of the presidency held more personal sway in the direct aftermath of the civil war, and I think even a moderate improvement in the social and economic standing of Black people in the US would have very considerable effects on the next century and a half of US history.
lincoln no contest. reconstruction would’ve been more complete even if not perfect. i’m not really sure what kennedy living even achieves besides pissing off the CIA, which is fine but not on the same level.
The argument for Kennedy is essentially that he had plans for withdrawal of the (relatively limited) US presence in Vietnam (which is true but it can be debated how sure it was that those plans would be followed through) and that he had a substantively more conciliatory posture in foreign politics, particularly toward the non-aligned movement and third world anti-colonial movements. Essentially if Kennedy leads a substantively less interventionist US policy in southeast asia and Latin America the history of the late 20th century could turn out pretty differently