If Kennedy Wasn't President --Madeleine Norton, 4th period

As an interesting topic of discussion, I found an article that in itself works as both analysis and synthesis! Dealing with the presidency of JFK, Thom Patterson noted how different our country might've been had Nixon, rather than Kennedy, won. There are some pros and cons, but overall the article really gets one thinking! The following changes include Cuba possibly becoming our 51st state, JFK possibly being caught for his affairs, no Watergate scandal would have occurred, the first landing on the moon might not have ever happened, and possibly no election of many to-be presidents down the line (ultimately changing the course of history forever, as is any election that ends up boiling down to the chosen president).

For the example of landing on the moon, Patterson writes, "It's hard to imagine a universe where Neil Armstrong did not walk on the moon. Would Nixon have called for a moon landing, as JFK did?

In May 1961, Kennedy urged Congress to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade -- something he wouldn't live long enough to see happen. Nixon had become president in 1969 when the Apollo 11 mission put Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Nixon continued to support the lunar program during much of his presidency, which spanned all six moon landings. But eventually, as federal belt-tightening became an issue, Nixon supported a budget that included canceling the final three Apollo missions in favor of developing the space shuttle.

President Nixon greets Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and "Buzz" Aldrin.

'Under Nixon, NASA became just another domestic program, and the agency's budget decreased even as it retained ambitious goals,' writes former NASA consultant Jason Callahan of the Planetary Society. So, Nixon probably wouldn't have urged the United States to put a man on the moon if he had won in 1960. 'Instead of sending men to the moon by the end of the decade as President Kennedy had wanted... President Nixon likely would have focused on the construction of a small, staffed space station that could have been serviced by the shuttle-like vehicle,' wrote NASA historian James Hansen in his 1995 book 'Spaceflight Revolution'.''

And in describing future presidencies, he explains, "If Nixon had won in 1960, there would of course have been no President Lyndon B. Johnson. Given that, would conservative Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater have even tried for -- much less succeeded in winning -- the GOP nomination in 1964?

During his campaign, Goldwater green-lighted a national TV speech by a former actor named Ronald Reagan that's credited with helping to spark the American conservative movement and spur Reagan's political career. No, we're not saying that a Nixon victory in 1960 would have meant no President Reagan. But that year does provide a powerful reminder: Votes and elections can change the course of history." 

Article and further information/videos here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/nixon-versus-kennedy-what-if-nixon-won/index.html