1964: JFK is the accidential president

[President Johnson]

November 22, 1963: President Lyndon Johnson is assassinated in Dallas. Vice President John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the new president. He now holds the office he sought in 1960, until he was beaten by Johnson at the Democratic convention. The LBJ/JFK-ticket then went on to defeat Richard Nixon by a very close margin. During his term, Johnson signed the civil rights act into law and implemented several great society programs. A voting rights bill is already underway; Johnson wanted it to pass in 1964; now it's up to JFK to get it done. Foreign policy and developments remain the same as in real life. After he takes office, JFK states that he wants to continue the policies of the fallen president.

In 1964, President Kennedy is nominated for reelection without opposition.

What happens? JFK's running mate? Is Goldwater the GOP nominee?

[Kingpoleon]

462: Pres. John F. Kennedy(D-MA)/Fmr. Gov. Coke Stevenson(D-TX)
76: Sen. Barry Goldwater(R-AZ)/Rep. Walter Judd(R-MN)

[Mr. Smith]

JFK/Sanford
Goldwater/Miller

JFK manages to do even better in the popular vote by completely shoring up the liberal and urban areas, bringing in the Catholic vote, and by natural charisma swaying a lot of moderates.

He does however lose support in the rural areas and The South.

[Sir Mohamed]

The PV remains rougly the same. JFK does better in the northeast and the west (CA) but underperforms LBJ in the South. He wins TX by ~5%.

President John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Senator Stuart Symington (D-MO): 476 EV. (61.1%)
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)/Representative William E. Miller (R-NY): 62 EV. (38.5%)