substitute history , long popular with fiction author , has also been explored by historians and journalists . Here are some of their intriguing close .
1. What if the South won the Civil War?
Effect : America becomes one nation again … in 1960 .
Explanation : In a 1960 clause print inLookmagazine , generator and Civil War buff MacKinlay Kantor envisioned a story in which the Confederate effect succeed the Civil War in 1863 , forcing the despised President Lincoln into exile . The Southern forces annex Washington , DC — rename it the District of Dixie . The USA ( or what ’s left of it ) moves its capital to Columbus , Ohio — now called Columbia — but can no longer afford to purchase Alaska from the Russians . Texas , unhappy with the new arrangement , declare its independence in 1878 . Under international pressure , the southerly states gradually abolish slavery . After fighting together in two world wars , the three nations are reunified in 1960 – a one C after South Carolina ’s secession had led to the Civil War in the first place .
2. What if Charles Lindbergh were elected President in 1940?
impression : America joins the Nazis .
Explanation : Philip Roth ’s bestselling novel , The Plot Against America(2002 ) , give us an alternating history in which Charles Lindbergh , trans - Atlantic pilot and all - American hero , becomes the Republican presidential candidate in 1940 , defeating the incumbent Franklin Roosevelt . President Lindbergh , a white supremacist and anti - Semite , hold martial jurisprudence , throws his opponents in prison , and allies with Nazi Germany in World War II . Lindbergh is remembered as a national scoundrel – in Roth ’s sentiment , the reputation he merit .
3. What if Hitler successfully invaded Russia?
outcome : The Fuhrer is revered in history as a great leader .
Explanation : In Robert Harris ’ novelFatherland(the basis for a 1994 television receiver motion-picture show ) , Nazi Germany successfully invades Russia in 1942 . see that Britain has break theEnigma codification , however , the Nazis trifle it safe and make peace with the west . Through the magic of propaganda , Hitler is revered 20 years subsequently as a beloved drawing card . It ’s an alternating story , of class , but Harris was drawing a parallel with actual chronicle : this was Stalin ’s Russia with the names change .
4. What if James Dean had survived his car crash?
Effect : Robert Kennedy survives his character assassination attempt .
Explanation : Jack Dann ’s 2004 novelThe Rebelportrays a account in which film star James Dean survives his fatal elevator car crash in 1955 . “ I just changed that one matter , ” say Dann , who copiously search his book , making it “ as actual as I could … By search Dean as he matures , I ’m able to cast light on the Dean that we know . ” If Dean had live on , Dann suggested , he would have inspired one of his fans , Elvis Presley , to leave rock ’ n ’ roll and become a serious actor ( which was always his ambition ) . Dean would by and by become the popular Governor of California , consigning his opposition Ronald Reagan to the dustbin of history . In the 1968 presidential election , he would be Robert Kennedy ’s running play checkmate , eventually deliver him from the assassin ’s slug .
5. What if President Kennedy had survived the assassination attempt?
upshot : Republicans come through every election for the next 30 age .
account : The 1963 Kennedy blackwash is a democratic event of alternate history , inspiring novels , point plays and short story compendium . In an essay in the bookWhat Ifs ? of American History(2003 ) , Robert Dallek , a Kennedy biographer , suggested that Kennedy would have successfully pulled out of Vietnam , and that he would be democratic enough at the ending of his second terminal figure to be succeeded by his brother , the Attorney - General Robert Kennedy . resultant role : no Watergate , more internal optimism , and less elector cynicism .
Other writers have been less kind , envisioning that JFK would evoke wild anti - war marches , incidentally start World War III , or continue his liaison with Marilyn Monroe ( who also survives her other death ) for another 30 years .
One of the more unusual theories was written in 1993 , on the thirtieth day of remembrance of President Kennedy ’s death . London Daily Expressjournalist Peter Hitchens wrote a fictitious obituary , in which Kennedy survives , and goes on to become one of America ’s most unpopular presidents before finally dying at age 75 , mourned by almost nobody . His presidency , the clause think over , would be so disastrous that Democrats would n’t occupy the White House for at least another 25 years . Even Bush ’s vice - president , Dan Quayle , would be impel to the presidency after winning a debate against Bill Clinton .
Hitchens did n’t explain how Nixon would keep off the Watergate scandal , or where Quayle would obtain his debating skills . Like everything else in this list , it ’s all supposition .
6. What if Christianity missed the West?
Effect : The Enlightenment starts too soon – and lasts a thousand years .
Explanation : Gallic philosopher Charles Renouvier ’s bookUchronie(1876 ) paint a picture a chronicle in which Christianity did n’t come to the Rebecca West through the Roman Empire , due to a small alteration of events after the sovereignty of Marcus Aurelius . In this history , while the word of Christ still spreads throughout the east , Europe enjoys an superfluous millennium of classical culture . When Christianity finally goes West , it is take in harmlessly into the multi - religious society . Naturally , this view of history was discolour by Renouvier ’s own worldview : while not stringently an atheist , he was no fan of organized religion .
7. What if The Beatles had broken up in 1966?
Effect : Ronald Reagan is assassinated in 1985 ( patently ) .
Explanation : Edward Morris ’s story " Imagine " ( published in the magazineInterzonein 2005 ) is written as an article by the fabled rock journalist Lester Bangs , which reminisces about Beatlemania – and the Beatles being banned in California after John Lennon polemically states that they are “ more democratic than Jesus . " This leads the Fab Four to disband . Almost 20 years later on , Lennon , now an embittered has - been , assassinates Reagan , whose actions – as the conservative Governor of California – had played their part in the break - up .
In this chronicle , while Reagan give-up the ghost 19 eld early , other people are deed over extensive lives . Lennon ’s abstruseness , of path , see that he is not kill by a fan in 1980 . Bangs also hold out the fate he lose in reality , where he died of an accidental overdose in 1982 , aged 33 .
