You would need to go back to 1929 and get some radical isolationist politicians in after the crash. Of course, that likely butterflys away U.S. involvement in WW2 in the first place.
With no Gulf War, 9/11 doesn’t happen
Good point. That being said in a world where the U.S. is issolationist, operation Nickel Grass in 1973 probably won't be able to happen (or would be very different). The U.S. / Israeli relationship would likely be very different. Perhaps Israel has to come to terms with the Arabs in the 1970's ?Note the World Trade Center Bombing in 1993 was over the US supporting Israel.
It will still be a target for Islamic Radicals
Only way the terms would be, would be with the Jews driven into the Sea. That was the goal, Israel gone. There's no 'meet on the middle ground' with thatPerhaps Israel has to come to terms with the Arabs in the 1970's ?
Perhaps in this alternate time line the Israelis use or threaten to use nuclear weapons in an attempt to get better terms ?Only way the terms would be, would be with the Jews driven into the Sea. That was the goal, Israel gone. There's no 'meet on the middle ground' with that
How much money did the USA really spend in military expenditures and Marshall Plan aid in Western Europe in the 1940s and 1950s? I had the impression that the USA seriously reduced its conventional forces, or at least the army, because the Americans were going to rely on nukes and conventional bombers. ...
Maybe not, the post-Soviet states aren't fans of Russia at all and with the Atlantic in the way perhaps there'd just be fifty years of awkward staring before the Soviet systems falls under its own weight. It's not like the US will be at a greater risk of nuclear destruction than it already was.
Perhaps in this alternate time line the Israelis use or threaten to use nuclear weapons in an attempt to get better terms ?
In any event I see the various Arab Israeli conflicts playing out a bit differently if there is an issolationist U.S.
I also see some issues for the U.S. as even if they are ambivalent to the fate of Israel I suspect there would be some impact on the world oil supply which won't be good for the U.S.
Perhaps. Or perhaps the exploited European economies are able to fuel the lumbering Soviet system which, while inefficient, has seen no need for the dislocating reforms of perestroika and glasnost and is not about to collapse. Or perhaps the USSR and China duke it out in the 70s or 80s and that causes it's own sort of implosion. Once your that far out, things become harder to predict.
In my view it is by non means a foregone conclusion that the Soviets would have taken control of Western Europe against their will if the U.S. completely disengaged form Euorpe post ww2. That being said the possiblity can't be discounted either.
If I remember correctly, Italy and France both had quite a strong socialist parties at the time. When Richard Nixon visited Europe as a Congressman, his main concern and reason to support the Marshall Plan was the fact that there was a threat of Italian/Greek socialists becoming increasingly popular. And France arguably nearly had a revolution far after the economic issues of WW2 had subsided in May 68’.Well, at the minimum, they’d probably pick up Western Germany. Stalin rather specifically informed a group of East German communists in ‘46 that he anticipated the Americans would withdraw the last of their troops from their zone by early-‘47 and thus allow the Red Army to seize the former American occupation zones without even having to fire a shot. He would then concentrate on undermining the Anglo-French sectors, which he anticipated would be easy enough with the Americans gone.
He was rather unsurprisingly put off when ‘47 rolled around and the US still had a hundred thousand people policing their sector.
Fair enough. That makes senseWell, at the minimum, they’d probably pick up Western Germany. Stalin rather specifically informed a group of East German communists in ‘46 that he anticipated the Americans would withdraw the last of their troops from their zone by early-‘47 and thus allow the Red Army to seize the former American occupation zones without even having to fire a shot. He would then concentrate on undermining the Anglo-French sectors, which he anticipated would be easy enough with the Americans gone.
He was rather unsurprisingly put off when ‘47 rolled around and the US still had a hundred thousand people policing their sector.
This is pure nonsense. There are many scenarios that could derail the Manhattan Project and prevent an atomic bomb being ready by 1945. Atomic scientists being bleeding heart pacifists who only worked on a bomb because of scary Germans isn’t one of them.
Finally, the huge budget for the Project could become a target for Congressional budget cutters and the "conventional" armed forces.
What post-war activities? The idea that Oppenheimer opposed nuclear expansion on moral grounds is a myth. He simply thought that the hydrogen bomb was impractical and research into it was a waste of money.Given the Szílard Petition, and the post-war activities of Szílard, Einstein, Bethe, Urey, Oppenheimer, and others, I don't see this as unreasonable.
Anyone on the team who suddenly quits or acts in a suspicious manner will be visited by the FBI.Also, of course, there were a number of outright Communists in the Project, secretly reporting to Soviet intelligence (such as Klaus Fuchs). If the war in Europe was over, the Soviets might direct these people to obstruct the Project; they might also leverage their influence against the Bomb.
Suggesting defense cuts before the US Army is parading in Tokyo is a great way to get chased out of Washington by a lynch mob.Finally, the huge budget for the Project could become a target for Congressional budget cutters and the "conventional" armed forces.
So Oppenheimer didn't call on Stimson in August 1945 to deliver a letter calling for nuclear weapons to be banned,What post-war activities? The idea that Oppenheimer opposed nuclear expansion on moral grounds is a myth.
Suggesting defense cuts before the US Army is parading in Tokyo is a great way to get chased out of Washington by a lynch mob.
And my suggestion included the "conventional" armed forces lobbying for redirection of the MP budget to conventional arms.
Problem was, MP was so secret, most of the Army and Navy (and most every congresscritter on an appropriations committee) had no idea that the MP was even being funded, and that included Truman, who was doing a pretty good job and finding waste and mismanagement.
By time they found out, Nagasaki had already got glassed, and the War all but won.