AHC: Weaken the USA as Much as Possible

Reagan assassinated by John Hinkley during Presidential campaign. Carter wins re-election over George Bush despite the bad economy because Bush didn't have a positive vision.

Carter disarms in the wake of Soviet expansionism. Radical Islam is subverted by the Soviets as the Vietcong was to the North Vietnamese militarism. The Middle East falls to Islamic-Socalists movements, and the U.S. can't obtain oil from the region.

U.S. Oil production blocked by radicalized anti-growth groups in and out of the administration. U.S. defense funding cut. Authoritarian Left takes over do deal with economic collapse. Republican Party suppressed. Carter makes move to suspend 1984 elections. U.S. Military attempts to defend Constitution results in Soviet Army forces invited into U.S. to prop up Carter Regime. Carter ouster for more radical Mondale-Hart Administration.

Okay, thanks for your Red Dawn paranoid fantasies. I agree that Mad Bad Rabbit's scenario would make the most sense for a weakened USA. The other scenarios don't really harm the USA so much as lift up other powers.
 
Reagan assassinated by John Hinkley during Presidential campaign. Carter wins re-election over George Bush despite the bad economy because Bush didn't have a positive vision.

Carter disarms in the wake of Soviet expansionism. Radical Islam is subverted by the Soviets as the Vietcong was to the North Vietnamese militarism. The Middle East falls to Islamic-Socalists movements, and the U.S. can't obtain oil from the region.

U.S. Oil production blocked by radicalized anti-growth groups in and out of the administration. U.S. defense funding cut. Authoritarian Left takes over do deal with economic collapse. Republican Party suppressed. Carter makes move to suspend 1984 elections. U.S. Military attempts to defend Constitution results in Soviet Army forces invited into U.S. to prop up Carter Regime. Carter ouster for more radical Mondale-Hart Administration.
I...don't think that all of that would have happened if Reagan had died, even if he was one of our greatest presidents. As for the OP, I think that had Roosevelt died from polio before becoming President, without the New Deal, the Great Depression lasts longer and gets worse, resulting in a much weaker USA, made worse by WWII.
 
A good classic PoD is to have FDR assassinated in 1933, then keep the Depression spiraling so that by the 1940's, the US is in no economic position to give the needed economic/military aid to defeat the Axis.

Avoiding WWI would also do the trick, if you could pull it off*

*I'm of the opinion that it's actually trickier than it appears, though I realize others here say "just stop the assassination" -- but that's a whole other kettle of fish...
 

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You can allways not have wwI, or have just a minor conflict that deflates rapidly. This butterflies the soviet Union and could lead to some kind of EU in the '30s. This would marginalize the US somewhat.

Edit:Ninjaed. Yeah it's nontrivial, you need a POD as soon as possible in 1900 that butterflies the OTL alliance set ups (Prussia and Britain allied perhaps?)
 
What about the USA not going to war against the Spanish in 1898? in such a case the USA would remain in its isoaltion policy and don't bother the rest of the world. It would also not become a colonial empire herself (Philippines), so no conflict of interest with the rest of the world either.

In terms of military, the USA would not expand its fleet in such a case, as there would be no reason to do so, due to the absence of an empire. There would be no army either, at least not a standing one. An Army is expensiove to maintain and money can better be used for other social and economical purposes.

In terms of state, the USA could become the sort of federation it originally was designed to become, with the various states more or less free to do their own things, with an almost non existant federal government. (A bit like the former Dutch Republic of the Seven United Provinces in the Netherlands (1581 - 1795), though on a larger scale.
 
Have the British keep everything east of the Proclamation Line after independence. The country would become something like a collection of Venice/Genoa type statelets under a common government, roughly like the Hellenic League, perhaps.
 
Have the British keep everything east of the Proclamation Line after independence. The country would become something like a collection of Venice/Genoa type statelets under a common government, roughly like the Hellenic League, perhaps.
I'm pretty sure that the POD has to be close to or after 1900. Otherwise, it would be too easy
 
There will be immediate demands for unilateral disarmament (the Soviets might disarm as well, fearing such an accident on their soil). At a minimum, it will be politically impossible to put Pershing-II missiles in Europe. All Titan-II's at home will need to be taken offline as well (while a committe headed by Richard Feynman tries to figure out how the hell this happened).

While there might be a modestly-sized segment of the US population who will scream for disarmament and the Pershing-II would definitely die in an instant, either the Soviets or the US actually going through with nuclear disarmament is not going to happen.

There is probably a massive overhaul and re-examination of the safety measures for the nuclear arsenals, though. The Soviets will feel they are on safer ground here, since a lot of their missiles are located in the metaphorical boonies, and will therefore be less then the Americans might be.

Also, consider the boost for Soviet propaganda: "Inferior Capitalist American nuclear missiles lay waste to their farm land while great Socialist Soviet nuclear missiles remain ready to defend the motherland and not destroy it!"

Or something like that.


:rolleyes:

Wrong forum, the Alien Space Bats threads are another few links down on the main page.
 
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