Alternative 1950's Scenarios....

-American hyrdogen bomb test fails

-No Korean War-but America becomes involved in the Vietnam War right after the French leave (Eisenhower was opposed to this IOTL).

-The Interstate Highway System is never built, leaving the railroads as the major means of cross-country transportation

-EC Comics is allowed to continue publishing horror comics, thus no MAD Magazine?
 
The plane on which Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper are due to travel develops engine trouble before takeoff, canceling that flight.
Better Yet the Greyhound Bus doesn't develop engine Trouble, so the three Headliners never try to fly ahead.
Ike receives intel that Castro is in bed with the Reds and sends US Troops in to bolster Fulgencia Battista or the UN Votes to send in troops to aid as well...
Castro is Called up from the Minor Leagues, and becomes a Major League Ball Player.
-The Interstate Highway System is never built, leaving the railroads as the major means of cross-country transportation
As Ike was the biggest supporter of the Interstate Defense Highway bill, Having Ike have a heart attack in 1956, and not run again, would probably kill the bill- At least for several years.
 
March 1956: The accident which claimed the life of Alfonso, brother of Juan Carlos (present king of Spain), kills Juan Carlos instead.

Alfonso was the younger, smarter brother of the two (so much so, Juan Carlos was referred to as "Juanito" -"Little John"-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Alfonso_of_Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I#Early_life

So, Alfonso becomes heir, later King of Spain as Alfonso XIV.

A smarter king of Spain might turn out being a good thing for Spain and a bad thing for the Spanish monarchy... IMHO a good part of the popularity and success Juan Carlos has arises from personal charisma, rather than political savoir faire.

Another alternative: in OTL, when that happened, Juan Carlos allegedly wanted to give it all up and become a monk. Let's assume he does so and renounces his rights publicly. He was 18 and a couple of months at the time.

He would have royally screwed the succession, since he's got only sisters left... and while Salic law would not apply, I don't think a Queen would have been as popular in male-dominated Spain of the time...

Granted, this last would require a big personality change. But it was a very traumatic event. To quote the works of expert in Royal House history, David Joseph D'Anjou Medici-Coburg(1):

"Little Fonz yesterday got killed
Franky Frank made a gift of the piece
black gift that did the black deed
Jay Kay held the cursed steel:
fools play with things that kill.

Hammerfall: a prince in exile
is news and a chalk outline
"Dear John" from the C.S.I...
photo flashes and a crown dies.

Jay Kay with a 186
bailing out of Estoril Beach
crimson blue on the palace floor
Must atone, be a king no more..."

(1) DJ D'Anjou MC, "Death in Sou'wesside" from the album "Bourbon House Represent!", edited by Gotha Records, 1985, Iberian Massive(2)
(2) I know, I know, I'm weird for a first post.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Nice lyrics.

I'd have to go with the Arrow. It's cliched, I know, but God damn it, it was WAY better than anything else the USAF had at the time. The RCAF could've run rings around the Delta Dart and they just threw it away.
 
-The Interstate Highway System is never built, leaving the railroads as the major means of cross-country transportation
Better yet, the Interstate Highway Syatem is accompanied by public takeover of the railroads (just the tracks and other nailed-down infrastructure, not the operating companies) and a big program to construct subways in metro areas greater than 1 million and build trolleys/streetcars (now light rail) in smaller cities as well as the larger ones.:D
 
WC
Nice lyrics.

I'd have to go with the Arrow. It's cliched, I know, but God damn it, it was WAY better than anything else the USAF had at the time. The RCAF could've run rings around the Delta Dart and they just threw it away.

Amen, AMEN, AMEN!! And maybe the USAF bought some instead of RCAF buying worn-out F-101s?

ANd for my 2 cents worth, in International Motorsports:

1958: Stirling Moss wins the WC in a Vanwall
1959: Rich playboy Lance Reventlow hires Colin Chapman (who's struggling to keep his Lotus afloat) to design & build a rear-engined Formula 1 car. And Lou Meyer gets the engine right . . . Car comes in third at Monte Carlo that year, finishes 4th in the Constructor's championship.

Bobbo
 
I'd have to go with the Arrow. It's cliched, I know, but God damn it, it was WAY better than anything else the USAF had at the time. The RCAF could've run rings around the Delta Dart and they just threw it away.
Word. And killed the Canadian aerospace industry.
1958: Stirling Moss wins the WC in a Vanwall
Nice thought, but wasn't the Vanwall too slow? Could Stirling have signed with Cooper? And could the Cooper have done it? (Offhand, I'm not sure.)
1959: Rich playboy Lance Reventlow hires Colin Chapman (who's struggling to keep his Lotus afloat) to design & build a rear-engined Formula 1 car. And Lou Meyer gets the engine right . . . Car comes in third at Monte Carlo that year, finishes 4th in the Constructor's championship.
Very interesting...:cool: Using a 215 Buick block, in the fashion of the Repco? (Too early?) Or an Ardun hemi & Hillborn FI on a Ford flatty block? (Too retro?:p) An Ardun-style hemi & Hillborn FI on the OHV Cad block?

How about another? 1952 (IIRC), "Minister of Stupidity" C.D. Howe demanded Canadair drop the C.102 to build obsolete CF-100s that would be too late to see action in Korea. Meanwhile, TCA (Trans Canada Airways, now Air Canada) rejected it because it didn't have AJ.65s (Avons), which hadn't been released for civil use (& wouldn't be for years, IIRC). So, WI either doesn't happen. Canadair persuades some small, desperate airline to take a chance on the radical aircraft. Canadair could've owned the SR/MR jetliner market (727, Caravelle: sales total over 3000!), & maybe RAF, RAAF, USAF tankers, too.
 
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