Glad you like the outside the lines stuff, I've always loved history and in fact am in a game on yahoo groups right now that others might enjoy, too - SHWI-ISOT (also the name of the yahoo grou.) We're in 1825 right now, and the game is picking up speed.
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Originally Posted by Big Six
You're very welcome. I enjoy your comments on the history outside the foul lines very much. I've had fun creating a "world" where the evils of the twentieth century--the racism, poverty, discrimination, and greed--haven't had as much room to operate as they did in reality. That way, I can enjoy a baseball world with Oscar Charleston, Satchel Paige, and some Japanese stars. I'll get a chance to see how adding a few prime seasons to the careers of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Warren Spahn, Bob Feller, and other players will affect their careers.
In Pat's world, Joe Wood didn't hurt his arm, and he won 350 games. Hopefully Pete Reiser will be more careful as he chases fly balls to the wall. I'm praying that Harry Agganis doesn't get sick, and that Tony Conigliaro gets out of the way of Jack Hamilton's fastball. And I hope I'll be able to announce that Lyman Bostock and Danny Thompson are retiring from baseball, sometime in the late 1980s.
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That would be great. And, of course, Lou Gehrig probably doesn't come down with ALS, either.
Perhaps the lack of a Depression is the best, as it would also likely keep that other great menace, Communism, at bay in all but Soviet Russia; if there's just a recession (let's say as much of one as caused Bush to lose in '92) then workers of the world can't be antagonized into acting as much.
It really can't be stopped with this point of departure, but it can be weakened. Ukraise was independent for a while, at least part of it; perhaps it remains so in this TL. That takes away the Soviet breadbasket, and Stalin may well just purge his country till he really can't do anything; and in OTL they had immense trouble in Finland as it was. Then, finally, it'll fall in about 1989 or so as in OTL.
The lack of Communist scares might also help the Civil Rights movement - nobody can accuse supporters of being allied with Communists.
My suggestion is, FDR over Hoover in '32 (a la our '92), then Wilkie over someone in 1940; he was originally a Republican. When he dies in office (he died in '44 in OTL, pressures of the office can make it late '43) Truman takes over. He'd be a good VP choice, and since he integrated the mliitary in OTL you can have that happen a few years early, say after the '44 election. Then the gradual move toward integration with a Republican winning in '48, probably Dewey, and winning 2 terms. Not sure about '56, but Lyndon Johnson would be good. That way, you have a Southerner supporting it, and it'll be more likely to go through, with him supporting it, as he was a real wheeler-dealer. So, We get Civil Rights passed in 1960 or so.
No Vietnam is going to make things very interesting. Probably not much need for a New Deal, so I'm not sure about Social Security and such, but that's why LBJ is a good man to have in the White House. Then, some Republican years, as I think the country would tire of one party for so long, and it would shift back over, though not with Nixon. Without his platform for the Checkers speech he might never make it to the national stage. Not sure who I'd say wins, though a modified Goldwater would be interesting. Either way, perhaps we get Reagen 4 years early. (JFK in '72, hurt by scandals, may lose reelection in '76, I'll have to think about that, but that's a long way away.)
So, if that's okay, we can just figure that'll be the ouside the lines history for this TL :-) BTW, Wilkie was an internationalist, so so we might see a U.N. anyway, or at least a stronger League of Nations. And, it would be nice of the Italians could be beaten in Abyssinia again in 1936. Maybe like this:
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Mar. 19, 1936:
“We interrupt this broadcast from Spring Training to bring you a live Special Bulletin. We go now to our correspondent in London:
“British forces are claiming victory tonight in reports wired from the fields of Abyssinia. A major breakthrough has occurred in the Empire’s operation to protect that nation from Italian aggression. Sir Winston Churchill made the announcement from the steps of the Parliament building moments ago, at 7:12 PM local time.
“’As the sun sets softly over the Thames, the Empire has succeeded once more in preventing the dark forces of tyranny from enveloping a poor, helpless nation. It is with great thanks that we look at our partners in the League of Nations, and celebrate this joint effort which shall go down in the annals of history. For should our Christian civilization persist yet another one thousand years, they shall still say, this was our finest hour. For rarely have nations so diverse as Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and many others joined forces to protect another, when it would have been so much easier to allow such tyranny to continue. Like the Good Samaritan, we have put aside our philosophical differences, and helped the one which needed it, though it should be noted that the Abyssinians themselves worked alongside us with great bravery and valor and expertise. Their presence in the family of nations is indeed a welcome one.’
“Churchill went on to say that this joint League of Nations effort was one of a kind, and that it would not be undertaken unless no other alternative existed. The victory, which was total, is expected to possibly topple the Mussolini regime, though that is less than certain. He also praised the United States for their efforts in selling weapons to the British over the last few years, helping to build up the Empire. He remarked that such sales may have helped jump start the U.S. economy, mired in a recession from 1929 through 1933, but also has helped keep the world safe, even though the U.S. continues to refuse to join the League.
“This has been a Special Report. We now return you to your regular programming.”
The Italian government did indeed fall weeks later, and was replaced by a democracy with a succession of Prime Ministers. Meanwhile, this action also made the Soviets pause with concern over what could happen. Whether or not Mussolini tried to invade too early, it was clear that the Soviets would face severe problems if they tried anything. After a sound thrashing in Finland in 1939, the nation faced inward for the next 40 years till it fell, while the nations of Easter Europe breathed freely. There were many purges in the Soviet Union, but news of atrocities leaked out in the ‘40s, and eventually led to the formation of the State of Israel, as a number of the victims were Jewish.
The American recession as with the rest of the world, had lifted by 936. it was said that Hoover implemented some good plans, such as federal deposit insurance, but they didn’t come fast enough.
With Mussolini out of the way, and the Soviets held in check except for that ill-fated invasion of Finland that was also met with League resistance, all would be quiet in the world throughout the next few decades. The quietness of things led not only to the United States granting the Phillippines independence several years earlier than they might have, the British were able to reach an agreement with India for peaceful departure – the Dominion of India was formed in 1942, completely self-governintg.
The work of the Abyssinians in defeating the Italians in 1896, then here working alongside Europeans, would also cause many to consider that the races might be able to work together, leading to te integrating of the mlitary in the U.S. 9 years later.