Getting shot was the best thing to happen for his image. The same people advising LBJ were advising Kennedy. Robert McNamara, for example, would have the same strategy for Vietnam regardless of JFK or LBJ. J. Edgar Hoover was still head of the FBI. If there was never an attempt on JFK's life at all, it's likely he would have been as unpopular as LBJ by the end of his second term. God help him if a scandal about his constant affairs ever became public.
Getting shot was the best thing to happen for his image. The same people advising LBJ were advising Kennedy. Robert McNamara, for example, would have the same strategy for Vietnam regardless of JFK or LBJ. J. Edgar Hoover was still head of the FBI. If there was never an attempt on JFK's life at all, it's likely he would have been as unpopular as LBJ by the end of his second term. God help him if a scandal about his constant affairs ever became public.
No one would ever dare to write an alt-history like that
Though, I did come up for a funny idea where Oswald nails Jackie instead of John and JFK becomes a vengeful vigilante ala the Punisher
Still a better love story than Twilight, but points lost for Fridging.