The irony is that, had they not cheated in Cook County, JFK would have not been assassinated in Dallas. He may well have outlived his fat slug of a younger brother, the Chappaquiddick Lifeguard.
One enduring myth is that Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley went to the wall to secure the presidency for JFK. Daley had other concerns during the same election which were most closer to home. The incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney (a former Democratic state legislator who switched to the Republican party) Benjamin Adamowski had been conducting a lengthy probe into the close working relations between Daley’s Democrats and organized crime in Chicago. In Cook County, Adamowski was narrowly defeated by a smaller margin than Nixon. He wanted to seek a recount, but Nixon declined. The investigation stalled.