Only Anderson Could Go To Brazil

The state of TIAH

February 21st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1972, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, sets down in Air Force One on the tarmac of the Beijing Airport. Denounced by his opponents back home as a campaign stunt, the trip resulted in little real progress between the two giant nations because of the intransigence of the two ideological leaders – Mao refused to even entertain the notion of rapprochement with the US, and Nixon wouldn't bend without some kind of economic reform in China. Nixon came back to the US without any agreements, and privately lamented that the trip had been a failure. He lost the presidential election in the fall, and wags made up a new phrase about the trip: “Nixon can't go to China.”

in 1978, Comrade President John Anderson arrives in Brasilia, the capitalist super-city built in the previous decade to thumb its nose at the communist bloc control of the Americas. Comrade Anderson, one of the staunchest anti-capitalists of the Soviet States of America, was the only one capable of making that historic first step of approaching the western hemisphere's only capitalist power, because his socialist credentials were so impeccable. It even became a catchphrase - “Only Anderson could go to Brazil.”

Anthony Eden	In 1996 Harry Turtledove published the counter-history novel East of Eden in which he posed the Suez Question – what would have ..
.. happened if British Prime Minister Anthony Eden had weakened in the face of US opposition to the occupation of the Canal Zone? The outcome would be the loss of Anglo-French authority in the Middle East at a crucial time for the Western World as it sought to maintain a grip on oil supplies.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2026 a consortium of open source developers buy the controlling shares of Microsoft, Inc for a nominal $1. The once great incorporation had collapsed as its business model had proven unsustainable at a time when Internet resources were universally considered free. The obsolescence of ..	Free Internet
.. fat client computers that were superseded by network-centric computing was the final nail in the coffin. George Bush had said as much when he announced the Communications Age in 1990, proving that perhaps he had 'the vision thing' after all.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Ross Perot	In 1992 Ross Perot was assassinated by agents of the profiteering military-industrial complex after announcing his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live. His promise to get under the hood and fix the engine would have been an end to their racket ..
.. and they had firmly warned Perot that such an announcement would shorten his lifespan considerably.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City agents of the Nation of Islam including Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson attempt to assassinate Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz formerly known by the various names Malcolm Little, Detroit Red and Malcolm X. They fail, and Brother Malcolm ..	Malcolm X
.. developed the new strategy of inclusiveness he had embarked upon since the Hajj in April 1964. The trip proved to be life-altering. Malcolm met many devout Muslims of a number of different races, whose faith and practice of Islam he came to respect. He believed that racial barriers could potentially be overcome, and that Islam was the one religion that conceivably could erase all racial problems. Today America is no longer a country at war with itself, mostly due to the giant known as Little.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Botany Bay

The state of TIAH

April 9th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Dropping out of the Alternate Historian persona here for a minute. Today, I start my first new job in 11 years. I need to be rested and ready to make a good impression and let them know they did well by hiring me, so naturally, my lovely daughter decides that last night is the worst night ever in the history of any world. She let me sleep for maybe 2 ½ hours – maybe – and since about 12:30 has been up and down every 30 minutes. I think she's finally given up and succumbed to the Sandman's magic dust, but I am utterly exhausted, and very grateful to Guest Historian Stephen that he has content for me today. I should just go ahead and call him the Co-Historian, since he provides so much of our work here these days.

Anyway, I will get back to the regular stuff tomorrow, after I've had some sleep. Till then, here's Stephen's excellent material...

Captain Cook	In 1770 Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay in the Dream time (Australia) but the Mesh prevented him from approaching land. First world explorers and navigators had by now accepted that the melancholy of exclusion emanating from the group consciousness of First Nations rendered armed incursion impossible. Some other ..
.. tactic was required to gain access to the abundant resources outside the Eurasian continent.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1983 lacking agreement from fellow historians Lawrence Stone and Christopher Hill, Hugh Trevor-Roper followed his training. He would investigate the primary sources.  Especially  the murders.	Martin Bormann
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Washington Loca..	In 1867 blocked by a single vote, the United States Senate failed to ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska. The significance of this fateful decision became apparent in 1945 with the deterioration in US-Soviet relations that led to the outbreak of the Cold War. In particular, Truman's inclination to drop ..
.. the bomb on Hiroshima was driven by an urge to 'fire a shot across Stalin's bows'. However it was pointed out that an escalation could end in such super-weapons being based on the North American continent in Alaska, and consequently he was forced to take a conventional path and proceed with Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. With Soviet forces taking Hokkaidō and partitioning Japan, the US and Soviet Union faced each other across numerous potential flashpoints on all continents.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1992 John Major's Conservative Party narrowly fail in their attempt to win an unprecedented fourth general election victory in the United Kingdom. Six months later, they were no longer worried, the election result was to prove a pyrrhic victory for the Labour Party. Neil Kinnock's government was in desperate trouble over ..	John Major
.. the ejection from the ERM and the economic competence of the labour party was ruined. Honest John won the 2007 election and continued the Conservative Century, blaming the short interregnum of labour rule on the poll tax and other late 80s mistakes, a sidewise reference to his former boss Lady Thatcher.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Common Sense Published; Truman's Last State Of The Union

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January 9th, 2006

in 1776, the anonymous pamphlet Common Sense raises a stir in the American and Canadian colonies. Its condemnation of Europe as a monster from which the colonials had escaped is received with enthusiasm in Canada, but shunned as overblown rhetoric in the pamphleteer's native America. The anonymous writer never surfaced again, although many believe him to be Thomas Paine, a rebel American who was executed in the brief war in the American colonies.

in 1861, the Star of the West, the North American Confederation’s deep-space exploratory vessel, reaches the Tau Ceti solar system, and encounters its first hostiles.

in 1889, Mikhail von Heflin reaches New Orleans. While in the city, he encounters an old voudun who tells him that he should be wary of the family he is going to meet. She thinks that they will become something that he will fear, in time.

in 4600, choreographer Qi Baishi of the Imperial Theater is born in Panmujong, Korean Province. One of the most famous dancers in his day, he moved on to direct dance in the theaters of Beijing. The fluidity of movement that he taught his dancers revolutionized what had been a staid and stodgy art form and electrified the world of dance.

in 1913, 3-term president Richard M. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. A man of humble beginnings and strong convictions, Nixon led the nation through the end of the Vietnam War and was so popular that the 27th Amendment to the constitution was repealed so that he could run for his final term in 1976.

in 1914, Seattle evangelist Rose Hovick was born. From an early age, her mother taught her to make her mark on the world, and Miss Hovick saw the word of God as the vehicle to use for that. Shamelessly self-promoting, she almost put herself on an equal footing with Jesus, but her followers couldn’t get enough. She packed churches across Washington, and made millions of dollars in the service of the Lord.

in 1952, in his last State of the Union address, U.S. President Harry Truman informs Congress and the nation that the threat of Communism has been vastly overrated, and that, though American is still “moving through a perilous time,” he is canceling the projects that he instigated at the behest of the anti-Communists, such as the CIA and some of the more draconian secrecy acts. With this new openness in government, America faces the future with a clear head and open eyes, and faces down the minor threat that leftist governments presented.

in 1965, Salvador Allende pledges that he will respect the elected government of unified Chile, even though election returns show him losing to reactionaries from the north. The Soviet States of America pledge to give Comrade Allende all that he needs to ensure justice for the people of Chile.

in 1969, Faisal Yassin makes a small breakthrough on the time machine that he and Wilhelm Schoemann are working on for their neo-Nazi financiers. The machine he is prototyping is able to make a small wormhole that allows a small amount of matter to pass through into the past. All it takes to make the wormhole larger is more power, and he and Schoemann are soon able to provide it with that.

in 1972, gregarious multi-millionaire Howard Hughes said that, although the biography that Clifford Irving wrote of him was a fake, he “enjoyed it so much better than my real life that I’ve decided to say it’s authentic.” Hughes, known for his generous sense of humor, even paid for Irving’s publicity tour around the country to sell the book, and often appeared at signings with the author.

Timelines in today's post: Canadian Independence, the Mlosh, von Heflin, the Chinese Empire, the GZR, and Communist America.


Yet another AHN - today's post has something a little different about it. There are links to the real timeline source of 4 alternate entries as well as a long-form entry, and at the bottom of the post you will find links to the ongoing timelines that are written about in this post. This is extraordinarily time-consuming, so give us some comments about it to let us know if you would like us to continue doing that. Also, we are holding another contest! Please send us entries for an Alternate Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2006. You may send us up to three entries for the day, and we will choose the best 10 to appear on February 14th. Enter now - deadline will be February 10th!

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! And don't forget to nominate us for a Bloggie.

The Forum lives again! My esteemed Co-Historian has brought the forum back to life, and in spite of the issues we've had with the forum in the past, we think that this time, it'll stay up!
Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?

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

Help the Alternate Historian get a better day job!
My email address for contacting me with your good news, or for more direct goodness, go to the web site and leave a comment, buy a book, or leave a Paypal donation! Remember, it's only 6 degrees of separation between you and anyone else - and thanks again!

The Secret Of Life

The state of TIAH

February 28th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, suggested that it was time for a contest, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1844, President John Tyler, who had himself been raised to the presidency by the death of his predecessor William Harrison, is killed by the explosion of an experimental cannon aboard the USS Princeton. Tyler had no vice-president to succeed him, so the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Virginian John Winston Jones, assumed the high office. President Jones, who had been planning on retiring, found that the power of the presidency was quite intoxicating, and used the influence he had as the incumbent to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for the 1844 elections. He won against the Whig candidate, Senator Henry Clay, in a hotly contested and close election. His stridently pro-Southern policies rubbed the northern states the wrong way, and Henry Clay, although a Southerner himself, used this disaffection to hobble Jones' power. The conflict between them is widely attributed to the shortening of Jones' life, something Clay expressed little remorse over in later years. When President Jones died in 1847, his vice-president, James K. Polk, assumed office in the middle of a war with Mexico and widespread dissatisfaction with the government. Polk's mismanagement of the Mexican War led to a wave of secessions from states bordering Mexico, and the diminishment of the once-bright shining star of the US.

in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick announced to a pub crowd in Cambridge, England, that they had discovered the secret to life. Their drunken tales of strange shapes in the deoxyribonucleic acid that they claimed was the building blocks for all life on earth made for an entertaining evening to the pub crowd. After closing time, though, they stumbled into the street and were never heard from again. One of the scientists who had listened to them in the pub was curious as to why they disappeared, and looked into their offices at King's College a couple of days later. He found their bodies – they had each been shot through the head – and all of their research notes were gone. The police were baffled as to why this innocuous pair might be slain – they had no enemies who were that passionate about them. The scientist who had found them, William Hughes, thought that looking into the research they had bragged about might yield some results, but with their notes gone, the police were a little stymied in that area. Hughes began a private investigation of his own.

Oswald Mosley	In 1931 the New Party is founded in Great Britain by Oswald Mosley. The Axis powers of Anglo-America take a huge leap forward on the road to fascism.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1900 the 118-day Siege of Ladysmith is lifted at a cost of 3,000 British deaths as Imperial Troops defeat the Boers and their German allies. The Kaiser cynically intervened in the Second Boer War to claim a share of the mineral wealth of South Africa for the Second Reich.	Irregular Boer ..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Anwar Sadat	In 1974 the United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after eighteen years. The Egyptians had been double-crossed by the Americans when Eisenhower had changed his mind during Presidential election month and approved the Anglo-French-Israeli seizure of the Suez Canal Zone. ..
.. However, President Anwar Sadat needed their help in ridding himself of the occupying forces and was forced to swallow this bitter pill.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2001 an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hit the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington. Confederate President William Jefferson Clinton promised massive aid to his northern neighbour, as US/CS relations continued to thaw.	Bill Clinton
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Leaders

	In 2008, West Wing fans were stunned by the uncanny similarity between the fictional presidential contest that dominated the final seasons of the acclaimed TV show and the real-life drama of this year's US Presidential election. In fact, the similiarity was no coincidence at all. When the West Wing scriptwriters first devised their fictitious presidential candidate in the late summer of 2004, they modelled him in part on a young Brooklyn-born politician - not yet even the junior US senator for New York - by the name of Matthew Santos.

I drew inspiration from him in drawing the character of Barack Obama,' West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie told the Guardian. 'When I had to write, Santos was just appearing on the national scene. He had done a great speech at the convention and people were beginning to talk about him.' Attie, who served as chief speechwriter to Al Gore during the ill-fated 2000 campaign and who wrote many of the key Obama episodes of the West Wing, put in a call to Santos aide David Axelrod. 'I said, Tell me about this guy Matthew Santos.' The result is a bizarre case of art imitating life - only for life to imitate art back again. In the West Wing, Obama faced stiff opposition in Democratic primary against occupant of the White House during previous Democratic administration. Rivals attack him as inexperienced after just six years in Congress, but triumphs through grassroots support, inspiring speeches and message of change. Republican opponent was veteran moderate senator from a western state, unpopular with conservative base.

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	In 1974, the United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after eighteen years. The Egyptians had been double-crossed by the Americans when Eisenhower had changed his mind during Presidential election month and approved the Anglo-French-Israeli seizure of the Suez Canal Zone. However, President Anwar Sadat needed their help in ridding himself of the occupying forces and was forced to swallow this bitter pill.

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In 2001, an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hit the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington. Confederate President William Jefferson Clinton promised massive aid to his northern neighbour, as US/CS relations continued to thaw.

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In 1844, President John Tyler, who had himself been raised to the presidency by the death of his predecessor William Harrison, is killed by the explosion of an experimental cannon aboard the USS Princeton. Tyler had no vice-president to succeed him, so the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Virginian John Winston Jones, assumed the high office. President Jones, who had been planning on retiring, found that the power of the presidency was quite intoxicating, and used the influence he had as the incumbent to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for the 1844 elections. He won against the Whig candidate, Senator Henry Clay, in a hotly contested and close election. His stridently pro-Southern policies rubbed the northern states the wrong way, and Henry Clay, although a Southerner himself, used this disaffection to hobble Jones' power. The conflict between them is widely attributed to the shortening of Jones' life, something Clay expressed little remorse over in later years. When President Jones died in 1847, his vice-president, James K. Polk, assumed office in the middle of a war with Mexico and widespread dissatisfaction with the government. Polk's mismanagement of the Mexican War led to a wave of secessions from states bordering Mexico, and the diminishment of the once-bright shining star of the US.

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In 1966, Liverpool's Cavern Club, where superstar Pete Best had gotten his start, closes for the final time. Best regretted the closing, saying, 'I had some cool times in there,' but did little to help. Some think that he resented the club's owner because he had continued booking Best's old band, The Silver Beatles, and that's why he refused to assist them in staying open.

In 1900, the 118-day Siege of Ladysmith is lifted at a cost of 3,000 British deaths as Imperial Troops defeat the Boers and their German allies. The Kaiser cynically intervened in the Second Boer War to claim a share of the mineral wealth of South Africa for the Second Reich.

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	In 1931, Sir Oswald Mosley, disappointed by the two main parties in British politics, founds the New Party. Arguing for elections based on class lines rather than geographical location, the New Party is unpopular until the full effects of the Great Depression hit England. Mosley's ranks swell with the unemployed, and he is elected Prime Minister in 1932. He makes common cause with continental fascists Mussolini of Italy, Franco of Spain and Hitler of Germany during his premiership, but where they are all gone by the end of the decade, Mosley's rule of Britain has only begun.

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In 1708, a slave revolt begins in Newton, Long Island, New York colony. The Africans at the heart of the revolt make contact with Algonquin in the area and convince them that every slave in the colony will come over to their side if they attack. This successful strategy drives the British from New York in the 7-year long Algonquin war.

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In 1993, FBI agents and agents for the Texas Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms seize cult leader David Koresh as he jogs in Waco, Texas. He had been accused of stockpiling weapons and abusing the children of several of his cult members at his compound in Mt. Carmel, Texas. When his followers learn of this, they think that Armageddon has arrived and storm into Waco to retrieve their master; in the horrific gun battle, over 60 of the cult members, as well as 23 law enforcement agents and 17 bystanders, are killed in the Waco streets. Dozens more are wounded before order is restored.

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Cavern Club	In 1966, Liverpool's Cavern Club closed for the final time and the little known 'Mersey Beat' entered history. Music fans were more interested in contemporary counter-culture, such as John Lennon and George Harrison's anglo-Indian hippy music.
Liverpool

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Olof Palme	In 1986, on this day BBC News reported - Swedish prime minister assassinated: The Swedish prime minister has died after being shot in a street ambush in central Stockholm. His wife was wounded. Olof and Lisbeth Palme were attacked as they were leaving a cinema at about 2330 local time. Mr Palme was shot twice in the stomach, his wife was shot in the back. Police say a taxi-driver used his mobile radio to raise the alarm. Two young girls sitting in a car close to the scene of the shooting tried to help the Prime Minister. He was rushed to hospital but was dead on arrival. Mrs Palme is being treated for her injury, but it is not thought to be life threatening.
Pacifist

Mr Palme, 59, and a social democrat, was serving his second term as leader. He believed in open government and shunned tight security. He had two bodyguards to protect him on official functions but frequently walked unattended through the Swedish capital and went on holidays unescorted to his summer cottage on the island of Gotland. His assassination will come as a shock to the Swedes. They have always taken great pride in the fact their prime minister could walk openly in the streets without the security which accompanies other heads of state. Mr Palme will be remembered as a campaigner for the working classes and Third World causes. He was first elected as prime minister in 1969. He became a leading advocate of peace and non violence and campaigned for an end to the war in Vietnam. It was unfinished business for the CIA.

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In 1931, the New Party is founded in Great Britain by Oswald Mosley and Europe of the Dictators approaches its final shape.

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	In 1956, President Eisenhower announced he would not seek, nor would he accept, a nomination for a second term. Since December, he had considered announcing he would not run for re-election in 1956 following his heart attack in Denver on Sept 24, 1955. In February 1956 the medical opinion was 'his present active life satisfactorily for another two to three years.'

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