AHC/WI: Gearhart get's his way and the US has a 49th state sooner

According to this, an enterprising Representative by the name of Bud Gearhart proposed (and wrote a bill inviting them to apply for statehood, I can't find a record of said bill though) Icelandic statehood in the mid-40s (probably 1945 or 1946).

What if this struck Iceland's fancy, and, they applied for Statehood or to be a US territory till they could become the former to an eager US? What butterflies would this have if other than it's electoral votes in elections?

What are the odds???

It would make bit problematic that people of Iceland speaks Icelandic not English and I doubt highly that they even would want be part of the Union.

vega said:

According to this, an enterprising Representative by the name of Bud Gearhart proposed (and wrote a bill inviting them to apply for statehood, I can't find a record of said bill though) Icelandic statehood in the mid-40s (probably 1945 or 1946).

What if this struck Iceland's fancy, and, they applied for Statehood or to be a US territory till they could become the former to an eager US? What butterflies would this have if other than it's electoral votes in elections?

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They'd drop the application when they sobered up.

Iceland got a good deal out of Keflavik AFB. It made money out of fishing, and more out of cheap hydro- or geothermal electricity for bauxite smelting.

Joining the US would mean a terrible deal in comparison, given the lack of commonality with other states, the lack of influence from a small population with a concomitantly small economy, the need to send money to the Treasury for federal taxes, and barriers to European trade. The Icelandic economy is export driven (aluminum and fish products) and Icelanders are reliant on imports (cement, but also... everything else that isn't aluminum, fish, or volcanoes) - and joining the US instead of the EU is just a costly idea - the bulk of both imports and exports are with the EU.

Iceland as the world's oldest Democracy could teach the Americans one or two lessons.

Besides, I guess that Icelands as part of the US would lead to a Major emphasis on the discovery of America by the Vikings (regardless how inconsequential it was).

GarethC said:

Joining the US would mean a terrible deal in comparison, given the lack of commonality with other states, the lack of influence from a small population with a concomitantly small economy, the need to send money to the Treasury for federal taxes, and barriers to European trade. The Icelandic economy is export driven (aluminum and fish products) and Icelanders are reliant on imports (cement, but also... everything else that isn't aluminum, fish, or volcanoes) - and joining the US instead of the EU is just a costly idea - the bulk of both imports and exports are with the EU.

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I don't think Iceland had a ton of exports or imports in 1945. It certainly didn't have the modern aluminum industry. I suspect that if Iceland had joined the United States, its trade relations would have evolved differently and it would have ended up doing much more trade with the rest of the United States than with the EU. After all, it would be greatly advantaged.

senate seats.

I hink the democrats would have a lock on the senate sears. It would be harder for the republicans to control the senate,

edvardas said:

I hink the democrats would have a lock on the senate sears. It would be harder for the republicans to control the senate,

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Iceland isn't that lefty. It was historically dominated by the Independence Party, a conservative one. I can see it being a safe Republican state.

Turquoise Blue said:

Iceland isn't that lefty. It was historically dominated by the Independence Party, a conservative one. I can see it being a safe Republican state.

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It elected the first lesbian Prime Ministers in 2009. At best it'd be a swing state for the Republicans.

vega said:

It elected the first lesbian Prime Ministers in 2009. At best it'd be a swing state for the Republicans.

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...also, it is pretty Feminist in General. Introducing female suffrage already in 1915, and having a Feminist Party continously represented in the national parliament from 1983 onwards.

Especially since the Mid-1990s, one cannot translate "European" Conservative into "American" Conservative any more. Unless mentality and political landscape of Iceland got thoroughly Americanized, I'd assume that they send "Independent", centrist-conservative candidates to Congress to preserve their rights, and rather vote Democratic in Presidential Elections since 1996.