AHC: Best USA possible with post-1900 POD

Best USA possible with post-1900 POD.

Bonus points the later the POD is, unless it's in the 90s or later.
 
No [insert political party you dislike here] control of [insert part of the government here], no introduction of [insert sociological movement you dislike here], make sure people continue to [belief on which you were raised and which has led you to prosperity here] and an earlier acceptance of [insert social norm here].

Something like that, I'd imagine, covers most answers.
 
No [insert political party you dislike here] control of [insert part of the government here], no introduction of [insert sociological movement you dislike here], make sure people continue to [belief on which you were raised and which has led you to prosperity here] and an earlier acceptance of [insert social norm here].

Something like that, I'd imagine, covers most answers.

And you contributed nothing.

To the OP, how about if Wilson doesn't have his stroke and the US joins the League of Nations immediately after WWI? If that body had some teeth, perhaps we could have avoided WWII and the Cold War. Imagine that.
 
And you contributed nothing.

It's all subjective. There is no "best". I contributed exactly what everyone else would contribute under the limited guidelines of the original position.

Also, I think you can tell my leanings pretty well by the way I phrased that.
 
A few POD's, and they are some ways back. OTL did well for the US, so there are just some mistakes that could have been fixed.

Internally: Do not amend the constitution for prohibition. Perhaps congress can outlaw whiskey for a time, the way it regulates food and drugs. But different liquor control means maybe the Mafia does not infiltrate American society for two generations.

Worldwide best: As the Treaty of Versailles is formed, have President Woodrow Wilson insist Germany be punished less with war payments, so their economy does not go into ruin and the OTL result.

US relative good, but not so much for the US today or the world: The Cold War goes hot in the late fifties, perhaps as late as 1962. US/NATO bombers inflict decisive damage to the Soviets, but the Russians will rely on missiles with much less accuracy and only punch holes in cities, probably not in the most critical spots. No more cold war. No space race means slower IC-microelectronic technology, slowing technology into today.
 
Yeah, one man's utopia is another man's dystopia.
Absically this. I know what I'd like, but it may be hell for someone else.

Anywho, maybe TR runs in 1908 could shift America leftward and avoid the far rightism in the republican party today. That should be better. Or get rid of Reagan.
 

Jasen777

Donor
No [insert political party you dislike here] control of [insert part of the government here], no introduction of [insert sociological movement you dislike here], make sure people continue to [belief on which you were raised and which has led you to prosperity here] and an earlier acceptance of [insert social norm here].

[Social norm] is a disgrace to the country, [political party] is the best thing the country has going for it, and if anything [sociological movement] should be greatly expanded. [Belief] is ok though, for the most part...
 
I think everyone can agree that the more well off and to a lesser extent, the more powerful, a country is, the better it is.

I don't care if it's a libertarian, socialist, whatever. As long as people are more well off, and the country is more powerful, it's better.

And you contributed nothing.

To the OP, how about if Wilson doesn't have his stroke and the US joins the League of Nations immediately after WWI? If that body had some teeth, perhaps we could have avoided WWII and the Cold War. Imagine that.
Ah but WWII and the Cold War led to the US becoming a power.

A few POD's, and they are some ways back. OTL did well for the US, so there are just some mistakes that could have been fixed.

Internally: Do not amend the constitution for prohibition. Perhaps congress can outlaw whiskey for a time, the way it regulates food and drugs. But different liquor control means maybe the Mafia does not infiltrate American society for two generations.

Worldwide best: As the Treaty of Versailles is formed, have President Woodrow Wilson insist Germany be punished less with war payments, so their economy does not go into ruin and the OTL result.

US relative good, but not so much for the US today or the world: The Cold War goes hot in the late fifties, perhaps as late as 1962. US/NATO bombers inflict decisive damage to the Soviets, but the Russians will rely on missiles with much less accuracy and only punch holes in cities, probably not in the most critical spots. No more cold war. No space race means slower IC-microelectronic technology, slowing technology into today.

Horrible for Europe, good for Asia and Africa, good for US: Germans instead of Russians are the Cold War enemy, leading to the US's intervention worldwide being less imperialist and more democratic. Meanwhile, civil rights come earlier because the enemy superpower is the Nazis.
 
[Social norm] is a disgrace to the country, [political party] is the best thing the country has going for it, and if anything [sociological movement] should be greatly expanded. [Belief] is ok though, for the most part...

Oh pah-lease, [Belief] is what is driven the United States into the [negative adjective and noun] it is in today. If not for [Political party that you don't like], then [perceived problem] would not exist. Hell, if anything it was [Straw man] that contributed to [over-arching problem that both sides agree exist but blame opposition for]. TBH [Leader of the opposition]'s policies towards [aforementioned issue] scream that [he/she] is a [follower of a social or political ideology ending with "ist"].
 
US stays out of WWI, saves 115,000 dead, 22 Billion dollars

Germany wins and Europe tears itself to pieces again on schedule in the 40's, US stays out once more, acquires some small islands in exchange for money to pay for US weapons, ends up in a peace of exhaustion where no country can afford to become a superpower

Japan gets bogged down in China and attrits itself to death without fighting the US, China collapses into prolonged civil war once it leaves that ends up balkanizing the place

Decolonization is a longer, more brutal affair, India has worse problems than OTL and balkanizes, same with rest of former colonies

Ends up with the US probably staying the largest economy for the foreseeable future and having the highest GDP/capita in 2012
 
Hmm...Britain and France transfer all New World possessions to the U.S. in exchange for war monies to fight the Germans at some point prior to or instead of US entry into the war.

Germany is beaten in such a way (significant defeats of German army on German territory, probably involving the use of tanks) that the "stab in the back" myth is impossible but isn't dismembered after some warnings from the Allies' biggest creditor about "self-determination."

U.S. territorial aggrandizement and no Nazism. Europe can handle the USSR on its own.
 
-Cuba annexed early in 20th century

-US much more aggressive in actual annexation of territories occupied in Latin America in early 20th century, including Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama, and Nicaragua

-Veracruz and Villa inspire more than a punitive raid into Mexico and our focus remains there instead of Germany for World War I, war between the two countries ends with the US taking Sonora, Chiahuahua, and Baja California

-Britain and France offer land leases in exchange for additional monies from the US with options to buy territory if payments are defaulted or not made

-Europe tears itself apart with both sides on the point of collapse by early 1919 and a negotiated settlement declared. USSR gets off the ground but never unites the country, instead Russia descends into seemingly endless civil war

-Decolonization efforts begin earlier with little success but the intellectual groundwork is laid in the 1920s

-Quebec dreams of separation earlier and begins efforts to seperate from Canada a generation earlier

-US and Japan maintain close ties resulting in further exchange of officers who come to share Yamamoto's assessments of American industrial capacities

-Depression occurs but with less impact in the US leading to somewhat of a faster recovery

-Keisuke Okada dies in the 2-2-6 incident in Japan in 1936 and becomes a martyr favoring peaceful relations with the West, the incident is still crushed but this combined with sentiments in some parts of the Japanese military result in Manchuria being kept with militarism growing much more slowly

-European, Japanese, and American interests play the Chinese warring factions off of one another and eventually recognize 7 distinct nations within China - Tibet, Xijiang, Xibei Ma San, the Republic of China, Communist China, Guangxi, and Yunnan. China remains divided into over half a dozen states (not counting Japanese Manchuria or Taiwan) into the 21st century

-Europe descends again into warfare in 1939-1940 with Communist (European) Russia, Germany, and France/UK all involved. By war's end most of Europe is laid to waste with Russia getting some of the worst of it, though Russia is reunited under the monarchist faction from Asia that turns the tide of the overall war. Ukraine, the Baltic States, Byelorussia, and much of central Asia avoid Russian control in the postwar years

*Technology does not develop nearly as fast, especially as the US mostly works on better models of weapons and uses other developments more towards civilian applications. Much of the war material is built for export and while is does not result in full employment is still enough to offset the lingering effects of a less severe Depression

-Decolonization contiues during the war and US acquires territory and mineral rights in exchange for money and munitions. The independence of India is particularly difficult with the old Raj separating into over a dozen countries, each with their own language and traditions

-US acquires Newfoundland, British Guiana, Jamaica, and British Honduras during this time. It will also make puppets of much of the remainder of the Caribbean and Central America through election manipulation and in some cases outright fraud, but effectively the continent minus Canada is under American control by the last 1950s

-Much of the European intelligencia moves to the US where relative peace and calm are in place, US has approximately 55% of world industry at this point

-Rocket technology from Germany inspires exploration of space with Russia deciding that such a program might unify the country, space race begins in mid 60s with American moon landing in 1982

-Transistors discovered in mid 60s with personal electronics revolution underway by mid-late 70s. Civil rights movement results in notable social changes in the US though the counterculture movement, and as a result much of the alternate medicine / New Age / Environmental movement, is not as strong as OTL without Vietnam as a catalyst. Great Society is introduced but in much less strength resulting in far fewer entitlements.

-Quebec secession movements turn violent resulting in military actions and martial law, inflamming the local populace. British Columbians sympathize following percieved slights over the last 40 years. Quebec will eventually vote to secede but this will be a disaster with the Atlantic provinces joining the US in 1985 following the complete separation of Ottawa from the Atlantic without going through Quebecois waters

-Canada begins negotiations with the US + puppets, Costa Rica, and Mexico for free trade zone, unified currency, and eventual unified passports. The resulting Amero becomes the premier world currency, and by 2012 the continent of North America is unified economically

*Technology equal to OTL 1985 or so, there is no atomic bomb
*China and India remain collections of states and are never unified, if anything they are trending towards even more entrenched separation
*Europe is fragmented though at peace, talk of a more united system is common but differences remain
*US Debt at $1.8 trillion but slowly shrinking, there is no Medicare here and much of the Biotech (and even Telecom) revolution is a generation or two away
*Space program remains active, there was a Mars landing in 2000 here and several nations have space stations in orbit. US has a true colony on the moon while half a dozen other nations have large stations
*Resembles 2001 from the Kubrick movie in 1968 except the Russians are monarchists and the Japanese are a strong 2nd-tier or lower 1st-tier power
 
I’m not sure it is in the best interest of the US to be controllers of the world. Imperial America would need to divert more resources to the military, including conscripted soldiers. America (with the Bomb in view) could have ruled the world in 1945 and didn’t.

In many ways, the first three quarters of the twentieth century are already close to a best case scenario for the United States. Consider standard of living, international influence as it is, and the lack of foreign attack in a sometimes hostile world. Consider the Cold War as the driver of rocket science and electronic technology. Let’s keep the changes at home.

Scenario 1

Suppose in 1976, President Ford doesn’t gaffe in his debate, Carter comes across as lame, and the Ford-Dole ticket wins. Carter and Ford shared the same position on the Panama Canal and the same deal is signed, but now the onus is on the Republicans. Reactionary conservatives have one less grudge against the Democrats.

Inflation rages, as international market forces remain out of US control and petroleum prices climb. Inflation and the Iran crisis make a Republican president unelectable in 1980. I won’t name a Democratic winner, but I can tell you that the president will not attack big government, not lower taxes on the wealthy and not propagate the illusion of supply-side economics.

Rising prices in petroleum and real estate will come to a grinding halt around 1983, ending double digit inflation and assuring the president’s re-election. The biggest benefit here is that the public will still have confidence that the Democrats can run the economy. Reaganomics will not exist for any future president to evoke. Hopefully, health care reform will come in the eighties.

We can also imagine that the religious right will not latch on to the GOP. If George H.W. Bush never changes his pro-choice stand, abortion does not become a campaign issue. If Bush Sr. becomes president, he will govern more like Nixon and Ford than like Reagan.

Scenario 2

Fix the ballot confusion in the 2000 election and allow Al Gore to become president. No Bush tax cuts; the budget remains balanced for a while. No tax rebates in 2001. No invasion of Iraq. Insert two more PODs: Have the FBI intercept and foil the 9/11 plot, hopefully avoiding a war in Afghanistan. Also, put restraints on Wall Street to control the practices that produced the housing bubble. The restraints are actually a tall order because the troublesome dealings were not immediately obvious.



In short, the best situation for America (and the world) is to prevent the mistakes after the seventies.
 
Hughes wins in 1916, Republicans get blame for the war,

Conservative Democrats dominate the 20s, progressives leave Dems and join Republicians

FDR elected as a Republican in 1932, we get the New Deal plus action on Southern racism
 
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