Joe Steele's Legacy

Polish Eagle

Harry Turtledove's short story and novel (both of the same name) depict an America where Stalin and his closest associates are born to immigrant parents and take over the US. Following his death, J. Edgar Hoover takes over and is apparently even more severe (purging the government of former Steele administration members to solidify his own control), and the US is locked in a Cold War against Trotsky's USSR. Britain is still basically as OTL, with Churchill openly distasteful of Steele's America. The atomic arms race starts late due to Einstein refusing to tell Steele about the possibility of bombs, and presumably the US is at a slight disadvantage compared to OTL due to general purges of the intellectuals.

So what happens after 1953? Does the world go into a 3-way Cold War between the Soviet Bloc, the American Bloc, and Britain-France-whoever-else-they-can-get? How does Hoover's America look? What is Steele's legacy?
 

m0585

They'll definitely be some de-Steelization. Congress was already looking to pin his crimes on John Nance Garner, so Congress definitely has no love lost for him. Not sure how J. Edgar Hoover would play into his legacy. He clearly wanted to keep Steele's policies enacted. I don't see the state of affairs getting better in the U.S. until at least Hoover dies/gets pushed from power. I still see a Cold War happening as the U.S. and USSR will still be at loggerheads. The U.S. will (reluctantly) support Western Europe. Not sure if we'll see a NATO come about though.
 

Coley

I thought Mr Turtledove was lazy on this idea,the CCC as gulags was clever,but he couldn't come up with American henchmen for Stalin? All the cronies ended up in California? While I could see MacArthur,Kimmel...being executed,the show trials were far fetched to me. I would have liked to see Joe Steele as the big boss in California,defying Hoover and Roosevelt during the Depression and see what would butterfly off of that
 
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