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A simple act of international goodwill during a U.S. president’s state visit to Ottawa might have cost John F. Kennedy his life,Andrew Kingwrites.

Throughout our lives we often reflect upon certain outcomes that might have ended differently had events transpired in an alternate way. What if we hadn’t gone to that party where we met our future spouse? What if we had taken a different route home the night of a car crash? How would history be different if the Titanic had never hit that iceberg? Our lives and world history constantly evolve based on the detours of fate, and one of the greatest alterations in history happened one sunny day in 1963 when a country lost its president in a tragedy that continues to reverberate.

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The day John F. Kennedy was assassinated is surrounded by a number of theories and what ifs. The death of JFK on Nov. 22, 1963, can be attributed to so many factors of fate that it is hard to fathom all the occurrences that could have played out differently. But looking at these what ifs, there is one element closely connected to the city of Ottawa that might have played a role on the dreadful day in Dallas.