I'll give Kennedy credit - winning as a Catholic at the time he did was HUGE. The fact that he was able to garner so much support is amazing.

His ideas for civil rights legislation were groundbreaking, and his foreign policy decisions included some solid ones (besides the Bay of Pigs fiasco).

I would have liked to have found out what happened if Kennedy stuck around and wasn't assasinated. I think he could have been an extremely solid President in time. However, I think he is a tad overrated by many.

What is the proof of that?

No question that Joe, Sr. was a manipulator and was following his own agenda -- but I've never seen anything proving vote fraud. That's not that I don't think he was capable of it, but had it been conclusively proven, I think it would be considered a much bigger deal.

Allegations of voter fraud during the 1960 presidential election were reported in the Chicago area, but quickly died out. As DeltAlum mentioned in his post, it couldn't be successfully proven.

Had Kennedy not been assassinated that fateful Friday afternoon in Dallas in 1963, who knows what could have happened? It's definitely been many the subject of a 'what if?' alternate history essay or book.

The allegations of voter fraud were investigated by the Department of Justice under the supervision of Bobby Kennedy, the Attorney General. That would be like letting Richard Nixon investigate Watergate himself. But what does it matter now, other than a footnote in history.

Or perhaps like letting the Florida Secretary of State, who was also the head of the Bush campaign in Florida make the decisions in terms of vote count, etc., and potentially the final outcome.

No wonder that one ended up in court.

With all of the scrutiny of the Kennedy presidency over the years, had there been anything provable (new word) about voter fraud, you can be sure it would have been investigated ad nauseum.

There is a really interesting article on the subject from the Washington Post if anyone is interested.

Article

The similarities between the elections are striking, aren't they?

From: http://www.americanpresident.org/history/johnfkennedy/

"At a gridiron dinner in 1958, Jack was secure enough to make a crack about it. "I have just received the following wire from my generous daddy," he quipped. "Dear Jack-Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary- I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide." As it turned out it would be one of the closest elections in American history."

From: http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=5989

"Crushing Victory?

John F. Kennedy's father, Joseph, was a prominent banker and industrialist. JFK once received a curious telegram from the older man during one of his election campaigns: "Don't buy a single vote more than necessary," it read. "I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide."

[This was one of Kennedy's favorite stories. (On another occasion, the elder Kennedy remarked, "We're going to sell Jack like soap flakes.")]"