Points of Decision

July 16th, 2007

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The Announcement

Co-historian's note: Mr Taylor is temporarily out of commission and may provide an intriguing story from this timeline tomorrow by way of explanation.

In 1945, at 5.30am the world's first and last atomic bomb exploded at the Alamogordo air base, New Mexico. Power equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT was generated and the surface of the desert surrounding the point of the bomb's detonation was fused to glass for a radius of 800 yards. Horrified, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer added his name to the list of seventy scientists who would submit a petition to President Truman the very next day. The petition urged Truman not to use bomb unless the terms of surrender had been published and refused. Understanding that conventional bombing could kill 125,000 people in Tokyo, they believed Truman's horror logic was self-defeating. The judgement of the scientists was prescient insofar as the only blocker preventing agreement in July 1945 was a guarantee over the Emperor's status. Oppenheimer had been committed to the democratic left ever since the Spanish Civil War. As soon as Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, he started work on separating uranium-235, the fissionable component of an atomic bomb, from natural uranium. However his conviction had been stolen in a moment of utter destruction. By way of explanation, Oppenheimer also added a small note beneath his signature "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". It is improbable Truman understood the irony of the humanist reference to the Bhagavad Gita. Oppenheimer had redefined the democratic party philosophy to embrace the people of Asia, excluded most famously by Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference.

~ entry from Steve Payne

Peter Tsouras	"On 15 April 1942, King George VI awarded Malta the George Cross, the highest civilian award for gallantry in the Commonwealth, normally awarded to individuals: "to honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history". President Franklin Roosevelt, describing the wartime period, called Malta "one tiny bright flame expunged in the darkness" ~ King George VI and President Roosevelt
Analyst

Tsouras, a senior analyst of the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center brought together a number of experts in the Mediterranean war to show how the fall of Malta in 1942 and the consequences that followed which forced Halifax to make peace with Hitler. The review of this alternate historical masterpiece is available at Amazon.com Review

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1999, in Center Lovell, Maine driver Bryan Smith was distracted by an unrestrained Rottweiler named Bullet, moving in the back of his 1985 Dodge Caravan. As a result, he struck the author Stephen King who was walking on the right shoulder of Route 5. As the dying author slips into unconsciousness, he hallucinates he is climbing to the top of a Dark Tower. Reaching a door marked "Stephen" he realizes to his horror he has reached the Tower countless times before. He is sucked through the door only to be teleported back in time to his birth in Portland Maine 1947. Before he does, he seizes the Horn of Eld. Perhaps this cycle of King's journey will present him the opportunity to make different decisions and possibly break the cycle and find salvation. After all, Ka is a circle.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2009, TV networks ran episode seven of So What If?. Following Diana's withering attack on the Heir to the Throne, British Agents assassinate the Queen of Hearts in Paris. Charles still manages to terminate the monarchy by marrying Camilla Parker-Bowles. This spit in the eye for Diana's memory turns the British Public against him disastrously. In 2009 the perennially upbeat lawyer Anthony Blair became the first elected President of the United Republic of Great Britain.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Bill Clinton	In 1998, on National Woman's Day President Bill Clinton is repeatedly asked about allegations that he had sex with a woman, Monica Lewinsky. Standing alongside the First Man Albert Gore, Clinton repeated his denial - “I have not had sex with that, or any other woman”. Public opinion was torn on whether to believe the President, ..
.. and the long national nightmare known as Womangate continued.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2186, post graduate students used the Sadat-Hussein time dilation device to affect a most odd social science project. The principals from the original series of Star Trek were sent to "The City on the Edge of Forever" and hypnotised to act out the scenes featured in episode 28. DeForest Kelley saved Joan Collins ..	Joan Collins
.. from dying, sparking a chain of events throughout the time line, changing history. In the altered time line, Collins, a passionate believer in peace, spearheaded a movement which delayed the entry of the United States into World War II, would have set into motion a chain of events which ultimately would have led to a Nazi victory in World War II. Torn between Nazi Victory and the love of Joan Collins, William Shatner chose the latter.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

George IV	In 1783, grants of land in Canada to American United Empire Loyalists are announced. A grateful King George IV was pleased to offer rewards for the suppression of the troubles in the Colonies.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, the Atomic Cold War began when the United States successfully detonated a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The secrets of the Manhattan Project were well known to the Nazis. The reaching of parity between the two hostile nations ensured that the hot war petered ..	Trinity Test
.. out to be replaced by a long Cold War. The reality of Mutually assured destruction frustrated Hitler from his favour first strike stratagem.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Halloween

October 31st, 2004

in 1070, Druid and Christian priests meet at the Stonehenge and battle for the soul of England. The Christians call upon the power of Christ and the forces of all the saints, while the Druids use the proximity of Samhain and the closeness of their dark gods to reinforce their power. While the Christians drive away the Druids, they were only banished temporarily; and each Samhain, when the walls between their world and ours are the thinnest, they return to renew their battle until the day comes when they might emerge victorious.

in 1846, the Donner party became trapped in a pass in the Sierra Mountains. They made their winter camp at Truckee Lake. They had plenty of supplies to get them through the winter, and were prepared to wait. What they were unprepared for was the hideous beast that waited in the lake to feed upon their flesh…

in 1902, sensors within the solar system detect something that distorts space and time around it approaching the earth. Powerless to stop it, they watch as it descends on the Mlosh colony ship and gathered Mlosh in the Sahara Desert; its formless and unspeakable horror driving both men and Mlosh mad at the sight. For a long day and night, the Mlosh battle this hideous demon from beyond the stars; humanity prays that its allies win the struggle.

in 1926, famed escape artist Harry Houdini fell ill after a mysterious woman visited him back stage prior to performing his act in Detroit, Michigan. After a couple of days, he recovered, but seemed to have developed some sort of skin condition; he grew very pale, and would only perform or make public appearances at night. His act became even more daring, though; he escaped from traps as if he could turn into a wisp of smoke.

in 1961, Stalin’s body is removed from Lenin’s Tomb, only to bring its foul curse upon all of Russia. It creeps across the streets of Moscow, draining the essence from unfortunate comrades, using their energy to fuel its undead existence. It is finally stopped when an Egyptologist, a spunky Red Army soldier and a beautiful young nurse from Moscow People’s Hospital destroy the ankh that was keeping it alive.

in 1963, during a “Holiday on Ice” show in Indiana, young skater Missy Black tumbles during a number, sending the audience into howls of laughter. Unfortunately for them, the young Miss Black had horrible telekinetic powers, and she didn’t like being laughed at. Her rage exploded a propane tank in the rink, engulfing the crowd in flames. Black supposedly perished in the blaze, but her body was never found.

in 1987, Joseph Campbell, explorer of ancient myths, dies and is buried in Honolulu, Hawaii. That night, he appears in a dream to George Lucas, who conceives a new trilogy for his Star Wars saga based on the tales that Campbell brings to him from the other side; but, he has to tone down the Gungan that Campbell speaks of, because its horror is too much for an audience to take.

in 2003, the dead rise from their graves and walk the land as the Holy British Empire hears the 6th trumpet. The walking dead cry for the living to repent before the final trumpet sounds, that they may not suffer the fate of the damned.

Small Panic At The Dow; Chandler's Horror

October 24th, 2005

in 1648, negotiators at Westphalia fail to come to an agreement to end the Central European war between Protestants and Catholics. It has already lasted 30 years, outliving many of the nobles who started it. They continue to struggle until the war finally peters out with no formal declaration in 1682.

in 1890, one of Charles Brigman's wives escapes to federal troops in Salt Lake City and offers her information in exchange for passage back east. Colonel Beauregard T. Jackson agrees, and is rewarded with a wealth of intelligence on Brigman's movements and bases in the area surrounding Salt Lake City.

in 1929, a small panic took the Dow Jones average down a few points, but cooler heads prevailed at the end of the day. There was some concern among the more bearish economists that most of the stock being traded was highly overvalued, but there seemed to be a gentleman's agreement among the traders to ignore these naysayers. They kept the U.S. economy humming along through the 1930's in the longest period of expansion in American history.

in 1943, the first elements of the Semitic-African Resistance organize themselves around clandestine ham radio operators in eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. The S.A.R. were the heirs to the legacy of the Greater Zionist Resistance, attempting to protect their people after the G.Z.R. dream of conquest had been defeated.

in 1944, Nazis killed automaker Louis Renault as they retreated from France. Renault, a fierce patriot who had made tanks and troop transports for the French army in World War I, had encouraged the Germans to use his factories after their invasion so that he could sabotage their efforts. The tanks that came out of the Renault factories were so shoddy that they often didn't make it far from the factory. Renault is lionized today as a leader of the French Resistance.

in 1958, famed mystery novelist Raymond Chandler begins his last novel, The Horror of Poodle Springs, a departure from his regular detective fare. He had been having nightmares, and told his agent that the novel was based on those strange dreams. The agent becomes increasingly agitated by the excerpts Chandler forwards, and is almost relieved when Chandler dies before completing the novel. He burns the manuscript when nightmares begin visiting him.

in 1970, Salvador Allende, a perennial candidate for Chile's presidency, finally wins when the Chilean Congress decides in his favor. President Robert Kennedy, as fiercely anti-communist as his brother before him, warns the fiery Allende not to push Chile's democracy too far to the left, and Allende proves to be both pragmatic and skilled at running the small South American nation. He and Kennedy forge closer ties between their two countries.

in 1987, the Senate, in a rebuke to Comrade President Ann Richards, denies her nominee for the Supreme People’s Court, fellow Texas Socialist James Hightower. The Senate felt that Comrade Richards was attempting to concentrate too many of her old Texas Soviet cronies into high office with her. This was probably what led her to choose a New Hampshire native, David Souter, for her next judicial nominee.

in 1991, Star Trek producer/creator Bob Wesley dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. His vision of the future started not only his own career but those of Emmy and Oscar winners William Shatner, Martin Landau, Will Wheaton and Patrick Stewart. Wesley will always be remembered with great affection by the millions who followed that vision.

in 2003, after a 5th trumpet sounds throughout the Holy British Empire, millions see Estelle Gerard in the sky over London; many even see her at the head of a choir of angels. Priests who had been faithful to Pope Righteous I begin to develop diseases, and die in great numbers over the next few days.


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In order to give us a tad more time for Halloween, Today In Alternate History is sponsoring its first contest - email us up to 3 alternate history entries for October 31st, 2005. The best 10 entries will make up the entire content of the post on October 31st, Halloween day. Entries must be received by October 25th! Boring Legal Info - By entering the contest, you grant TIAH the right to electronically print your writing on October 31st, 2005, maintain your writing in our archives, and reprint your entry should we decide to reuse it in the future. TIAH only maintains full copyright over material it has originated that has been used by contestants in writing their own entries. Enter early and often!

Also, we still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

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Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com

Still wishing...

As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!

Travesties

Northwoods	In 1964, even as US Marines stormed Havana the casus belli for the Cuban invasion was being challenged - by one of their own. Compelling evidence was emerging that the wave of terrorism that struck America in late 1963 was the result of false-flag operations executed by the US Government itself. Sensationally, a former US marine Lee Harvey Oswald was claiming that he had assassinated John F Kennedy under hypnotic suggestion from the CIA. This lone gunman conspiracy theory shook the credibility of the Warren Commission's report, which placed the blame on a Cuban hit squad known as the three Hobos.
Memorandum

The previously secret document for Operation Northwoods was finally made public on November 18, 1997, by the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board, a U.S. federal agency overseeing the release of government records related to John F. Kennedy's assassination. A total 1521 pages of once-secret military records covering 1962 to 1964 were concomitantly declassified by said Review Board. Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a 1962 plan by the US Department of Defense to stage acts of simulated or real terrorism on US soil and against US interests and then put the blame of these acts on Cuba, so as to generate U.S. public support for military action against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. As part of the U.S. government's Operation Mongoose anti-Castro initiative, the plan called for various false flag actions, including simulated or real state-sponsored acts of terrorism on U.S. and Cuban soil. The plan was proposed by senior U.S. Department of Defense leaders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Louis Lemnitzer.

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Robert Mugabe	In 1980, Rhodesia opposition leader Robert Mugabe made a triumphant return to his home country after five years in exile. Cheering crowds greeted Mr Mugabe's arrival in the capital, Salisbury, from Mozambique where he has been gathering support for his Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) or Zanu (PF) party. The Rhodesian black nationalist leader, who spearheaded a guerrilla war against the Salisbury government, told a tumultuous rally of supporters there would be no more injustice based on race and colour.

Mugabe had his own plans for justice. In April 1980, Mugabe summoned Smith to Government House and Smith was surprised to be greeted with a warm handshake and a broad smile; after all, the country's new Marxist leader had promised his people that, come liberation, he would have Smith publicly hanged in Harare's main square. At that meeting, Mugabe told Smith he was acutely aware that he had inherited from his old adversaries, the whites, a jewel of a country, and he praised its superb infrastructure, its efficient modern economy, and promised to keep it that way. Smith, completely disarmed, rushed home in a state of excitement. He would, over lunch, tell his wife, Janet, that perhaps he had been wrong about a black government being incapable of running his beloved Rhodesia. Smith never made it past the first road block. Alternate Historian's note, this story explores a scenario where history played out as planned, and is not specifically designed to demonize Robert Mugabe.

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In 1994, the Ames dossier included the X Commmittee Minutes. A radically altered Malcom X had returned from the Hajj about to preach a new message of incredible power. The top brass had not been so terrified since they lost China. The picture of X holding a rifle by the window said it all (his closest minder was a security agent).

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In 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson suffered the most dreadful nightmare in which in the Nunna daul Isunyi known as the Trail of Tears was revealed to him. In the Western United States, 17,000 native Americans were to be forced to relocate, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Cherokees. Emerson awoke to write a powerful and compelling letter to President Martin Van Buren, urging him not to inflict 'so vast an outrage upon the Cherokee Nation.'

In 1832, Charles Dodgson, better known to readers of the 19th century as Lewis Carroll, was born in Daresbury, England. His novels Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass delighted children in his century until it was revealed that his prose held a confession to the most heinous crimes of the century; Dodgson, to the horror of parents across the world, was also the madman known as Jack the Ripper.

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In 1967, a fire erupts inside the Apollo 1 command module as tests are being conducted prior to allowing the astronauts inside. Although the astronauts escape unharmed, Apollo 1 is destroyed, and America's lunar exploration program is set back 6 months trying to find out why the fire happened. It was eventually discovered to be faulty wiring inside the command module.

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	In 1916, combat tension created a new and frightening level of intensity for Second Lieutenant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Serving in the eleventh battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, Tolkien's imagination was over-stimulated by the horror of the Somme. Tolkien turned to escapist fantasy writing to explore the dissapation of his own life force. Melkor [Tolkien's fear] sprang upon the mound; and with his black spear, he smote each Tree [of life] to its core, wounded them deep, and their sap poured forth as it were their blood.. the poison of Death .. went into their tissues and withered them, root, brand and leaf; and they died. ~ 'Of the Darkening of Valinor'

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In 1969, in the State of California the Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse rated at 100,000KVA was completed and placed in operation. More attention should have been paid to Albert Einsteins unified field theory. Just seventeen seconds after power-on multidimensional energies fold space and time. An area bounded by California State Route 49 and California State Route 120 is transported into a parallel Lovecraftian universe of the damned.

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In 1975, Senator Frank Church of Idaho is killed in a car crash just as he was to begin a Senate investigation into possibily illegal activities by the FBI and CIA. Fortunately, Senator John Smith of Michigan was able to step into the leadership role and clear the two intelligence agencies of any and all wrongdoing. He was later named head of the CIA.

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In 1369, Somali chieftain Muhamed Siyad Barre flees before a combined Islamic force invading the nation to bring order out of the chaos he has led his small nation into. The success of the Somalian venture leads many of the larger nations under Allah to form an organization that will allow them to intervene in nations that have spun out of control; this organization is now known as The United Caliphates.

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In 1785, James McGill, a Scottish businessman who had thrown in with the Canadian nationalists during their war for independence, establishes McGill College in Montreal. The newly formed Canadian government helps him fund it, creating the first governmentally-assisted insitution of higher learning in the Canadian democracy.

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In 1980, Rhodesia opposition leader Robert Mugabe made a triumphant return to his home country after five years in exile. Military planners sought to terminate his leadership. At the forthcoming election, Prime Minister Ian Smith had been assured that Mugabe could not defeat Bishop Muzorewa's government, and in case a contingency plan was in place. In fact two plans. Although the full details of Operation Quartz have never been made public, some aspects of the plan have been revealed by former members of the security forces. It was divided into two parts: Operation Quartz, an overt strike against the terrorists, and Operation Hectic, a covert strike to kill Mugabe and his key personnel

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In 1915, United States Marines occupy Haiti, imposing a constitution written by Franklin D. Roosevelt and applying an old system of compulsory corvee labor to everyone. Celebrating crowds at New York Harbour celebrate the return of the Marines, unaware that the troop ships are full of zombies who quickly overrun the nation.

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Apollo One	In 1967, three American astronauts died after fire swept through the Apollo spacecraft designed for a manned flight to the Moon during rehearsals at Cape Kennedy. It is thought an electrical spark started in the area holding oxygen supplies and other support systems. The fire spread quickly in the oxygen-filled atmosphere of the capsule, killing the crew within seconds. The space crew, flight commander Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee, were taking part in a test run for the launch of the first Apollo mission. Navy Lieutenant Commander Chaffee, aged 31, had never flown in space before.
Doomed Crew

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Grissom, 39, was the first American to make two flights. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel White, 35, made America's first space walk. It was feared the disaster on launch pad 34 could delay America's plans to put a man on the Moon by as much as a year. There was no need to worry, contingency plans were in place - for a faked moon landing. The three men were in the command module, mounted on the Saturn rocket as if ready for launch, but Saturn was not loaded with fuel. At 1831 hours one of the astronauts was heard to say, 'Fire, I smell fire.' Two seconds later, another astronaut, probably Lt Col White said, 'Fire in the cockpit.' The fire spread through the cabin rapidly. The last communication from the crew was heard just 17 seconds later. The pressurised atmosphere inside the capsule meant the astronauts would not have had time to open the hatch. Under ideal conditions, the process takes about 90 seconds. It involves venting the cabin to relieve the interior pressure which helps hold the door closed. It took technicians on the outside about five minutes after the fire had started to open the hatch. There was a full investigation into what caused the fire, with questions being asked about whether safety corners were cut in the race to be first to the Moon. The astronauts knew there were risks involved. Lt Col Grissom became the second American in space in the Liberty Bell 7. On splashdown, the space capsule filled with water and sank and he almost drowned. A few weeks before the launch pad tragedy, he wrote: 'There will be risks, as there are in any experimental programme, and sooner or later, we're going to run head-on into the law of averages and lose somebody. I hope this never happens, and... perhaps it never will, but if it does, I hope the American people won't think it's too high a price to pay for our space programme.' The Apollo mission's maiden flight was due to blast off into space on 21 February.

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