AH challenge: make America a 3rd world nation... post WWII

your challenge is this how after WWII has ended can the USA be made into one of the weakest poorest nations on Earth, there are two rules: one no Nukes ever and two no starting WWIII right after WWII, WWII is OTL all the way, so the POD must be after September 2, 1945

go!
 
4 key points to total collapse

1 Mgovern elected in 72, Carter style dimpomacy times 10
2 Labour takes power in Uk in 1983, withdrawl from Nato, disarmenent
3 Deng, doesn;t take power in prc, mao style gang of four continues
4 No John Paul II, no help for democracy from Catholic church
 
Without nuclear war, this is basically impossible. Consider how much wealth the U.S. has in resource extraction alone. The only way is for the U.S. to have another civil war that ends not only in division, but leaving only a small rump state that calls itself the United States. That or a disaster that is not really any different from nuclear war, Yellowstone eruption, asteroid strike, magic pandemic that only affects Americans, etc.
 
Cue the usual suspects:

Random 2nd Civil War Starting
Yellowstone Erupting
Aliens melting New York City into slag
Dystopian Political Leadership destroys the country.
Global Pandemic against Americans
Asteroid hits North America.

Blah Blah Blah...
 
Cue the usual suspects:

Random 2nd Civil War Starting
Yellowstone Erupting
Aliens melting New York City into slag
Dystopian Political Leadership destroys the country.
Global Pandemic against Americans
Asteroid hits North America.

Blah Blah Blah...

I agree. Not even a 3rd Reagan or G W Bush term could achieve that so rapidly. You need ASB incompetent or intervention.

Steve
 
You need some really malevolent ASBs

With the wealth, resources, territory, infrastructure, technology, population and existing alliances of the USA in '45, even deliberate squandering of the above is going to take enormous decades.

America is guaranteed a place in the top 10 just by virtue of location and numbers, whatever other factors may exist. This is a challenge too great for my alt-hist-fu.
 
Give it time yet, boys... This financial crisis may continue. :D

What about something relating to the oil crisis in the seventies? Make it a hell of a lot worse -- oil-producers decide to strongarm the US even more, and the matter is diplomatized out. The US was already in a recession because of Vietnam, was it not?

A way to get towards that might be a series of Soviet diplomatic coups in the Middle East; a version of the Warsaw Pact. Unfortunately, there's not too much impetus, since the Soviet Union already produced a lot of oil...
 
your challenge is this how after WWII has ended can the USA be made into one of the weakest poorest nations on Earth, there are two rules: one no Nukes ever and two no starting WWIII right after WWII, WWII is OTL all the way, so the POD must be after September 2, 1945

go!

OP is self contradicting.

No use of nukes ever is in contradiction of the use of nukes in August '45.

But, assuming you mean no post Hiroshima and Nagasaki nukes, you've got an ASB scenario.
 
OP is self contradicting.

No use of nukes ever is in contradiction of the use of nukes in August '45.

But, assuming you mean no post Hiroshima and Nagasaki nukes, you've got an ASB scenario.

the POD must be after September 2, September is after Auguest,
 
your challenge is this how after WWII has ended can the USA be made into one of the weakest poorest nations on Earth, there are two rules: one no Nukes ever and two no starting WWIII right after WWII, WWII is OTL all the way, so the POD must be after September 2, 1945

go!

Some sort of mega-natural disaster occurs. Otherwise, without nukes this is ASB.
 

wormyguy

Banned
Presidents -

Truman 45-53
MacArthur 53-61
Johnson 61-65
Wallace 65-69
Johnson 69-73
Nixon 73-81
Carter 81-89
Dukakis 89-97
Dole 97-05


That should screw up America pretty good.
 
Henry Wallace 1945-1949
George Patton 1949-1952
Joseph McCarthy 1952-1961
Hubert Humphery 1961-1965
Barry Goldwater 1965-1973
George McGovern 1973-1981
James Carter 1981-1985
John Poindexter 1985-1989
Michael Dukakis 1989-1993
Dan Quayle 1993-1997
Al Sharpton 1997-2001
Pat Buchanan 2001-2009
Tom Tancredo 2009-

If the US survives by 2009, it should be a dystopian third world country.
 
Henry Wallace 1945-1949
George Patton 1949-1952
Joseph McCarthy 1952-1961
Hubert Humphery 1961-1965
Barry Goldwater 1965-1973
George McGovern 1973-1981
James Carter 1981-1985
John Poindexter 1985-1989
Michael Dukakis 1989-1993
Dan Quayle 1993-1997
Al Sharpton 1997-2001
Pat Buchanan 2001-2009
Tom Tancredo 2009-

If the US survives by 2009, it should be a dystopian third world country.

Dear god... with that succession of Presidents I'd dang well be moving to Canada... or picking up a gun for Texan Independence. ;)
 
Henry Wallace 1945-1949
George Patton 1949-1952
Joseph McCarthy 1952-1961
Hubert Humphery 1961-1965
Barry Goldwater 1965-1973
George McGovern 1973-1981
James Carter 1981-1985
John Poindexter 1985-1989
Michael Dukakis 1989-1993
Dan Quayle 1993-1997
Al Sharpton 1997-2001
Pat Buchanan 2001-2009
Tom Tancredo 2009-

If the US survives by 2009, it should be a dystopian third world country.

Alternatively, we can use this list, as provided by General Beans himself:

What if this was the list of US presidents up to today and describe the TL

Ronald Reagan 1981 (assassinated)
George Bush 1981-1989
Michael Dukakis 1989-1993
Dan Quayle 1993-1997
Joe Biden 1997-2001
Pat Buchanan 2001-2009
Ann Coulter 2009-

I would assume the nuclear attack of 1993 that killed President Dukakis moved the United States into the totally insane category.
 
We might have the biological weapon/unexpected plague hitting the US, and the government managing to sucessfully lock it down before it leaves the country. But that is probably not going to happen as it will either be too late, or the lockdown only prevents much spread anywhere.

Unless the Soviets did it and innoculated their entire population ages before, which is likely to not hapen- imagine how much it costs to fund such a large innoculation program.

How exactly is anyone's selection of unpopular presidents going to ruin the country? Please explain...
 
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