Cultural What-if: No Vietnam War

JJohnson

Banned
Let's say for whatever reason we have the following WW2 scenario:

Germany stabilized after WW1 and got milder treatment, angering France. Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine, but kept Posen-West Prussia. France instead is part of the instigator of WW2; fast forward a few years and France gets defeated, and it loses its colonies, including Vietnam to one of the victorious powers - the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and not the USA. Fast forward a few more years, and the US decides not to intervene in Southeast Asia because the United Kingdom has it well under control.

Without this Vietnam War, what do the baby-boomers do with themselves? Are they still going to experiment with drugs? Find something else to protest? What kind of 60s/70s do we see in the USA without the anti-war movement, and what effects does that have on the Democrats and Republicans?
 
Let's say for whatever reason we have the following WW2 scenario:

Germany stabilized after WW1 and got milder treatment, angering France. Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine, but kept Posen-West Prussia. France instead is part of the instigator of WW2; fast forward a few years and France gets defeated, and it loses its colonies, including Vietnam to one of the victorious powers - the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and not the USA. Fast forward a few more years, and the US decides not to intervene in Southeast Asia because the United Kingdom has it well under control.

Without this Vietnam War, what do the baby-boomers do with themselves? Are they still going to experiment with drugs? Find something else to protest? What kind of 60s/70s do we see in the USA without the anti-war movement, and what effects does that have on the Democrats and Republicans?

Canada will be less leftist since the Hippies and Draft Dodgers fleeing north did shift our politics left-ward.
 

JJohnson

Banned
I wasn't aware of the effect they had on Canadian politics. What was it like there before the draft dodgers ran across the border?

For Civil Rights, maybe that becomes the overriding cause, which either major party will by the mid to late 60s will want to be seen as the one on the right side of history, resulting in both jockeying for position. I wonder which party will actually bring in minority Senators and Representatives at the state and local level faster and more widespread and into leadership positions?
 
For Civil Rights, maybe that becomes the overriding cause, which either major party will by the mid to late 60s will want to be seen as the one on the right side of history, resulting in both jockeying for position. I wonder which party will actually bring in minority Senators and Representatives at the state and local level faster and more widespread and into leadership positions?
No Vietnam won't stop the 1965-1966 race riots and the Republican shift to ahem "law and order" Goldwater positions on civil rights.
 
JJohnson said:
Germany stabilized after WW1 and got milder treatment, angering France.
You really don't have to go back that far. France placing greater reliance on her colonies in WW2, or the U.S. putting more pressure on France to free them afterward, would do nicely.
JJohnson said:
what do the baby-boomers do with themselves? Are they still going to experiment with drugs?
I'm really, really not seeing how there's any connection...:confused::confused:
JJohnson said:
Find something else to protest?
Very probably. More "green" protests?

Stronger & earlier opposition to the "drug war"?:cool::cool:
 
Let's say for whatever reason we have the following WW2 scenario:

Germany stabilized after WW1 and got milder treatment, angering France. Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine, but kept Posen-West Prussia. France instead is part of the instigator of WW2; fast forward a few years and France gets defeated, and it loses its colonies, including Vietnam to one of the victorious powers - the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and not the USA. Fast forward a few more years, and the US decides not to intervene in Southeast Asia because the United Kingdom has it well under control.

Without this Vietnam War, what do the baby-boomers do with themselves? Are they still going to experiment with drugs? Find something else to protest? What kind of 60s/70s do we see in the USA without the anti-war movement, and what effects does that have on the Democrats and Republicans?

Vietnam was ONE factor in the turbulence of the 60s. You still have all the others.

These includes Civil Rights, the Pill, widespread use of the car, increased prosperity, Drugs, Rock and Roll, and of course the Cold War/fear of communism.


You could end up with a less radical "Counter Culture", more focused on cultural issues such as a more relaxed altitude towards sex, and racial issues.
 
Its pointless to ask the cultural what-ifs of "No Vietnam War" if your proposed POD goes well beyond. No WW2 as we know it, no Holocaust, likely a very different Great Depression, et cetera. The world would be almost unrecognizable by the time OTL's Vietnam War occurred.
 
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