How can we get a much, much more multipolar world then in OTL after WWII?
Gotta keep the USA not only neutral, but non-involved.
Here goes:
1937 - Roosevelt dies. Wallace takes over.
1939 - Under orders from Moscow, Wallace keeps the US firmly neutral. No lend-lease, no issues with the Japanese in China. The US is navel-gazing. Japan continues into China.
1940 (March) - the British and French - with no prospect of US Aid and a virtual communist in the Oval Office (and terrified of a potential Nazi-USSR-USA Alliance against them - even though that's a fantasy) - tenatively negotiate with Hitler. Hitler agrees to a cease-fire and a Plebicite in Poland. A secret codecil is that the WAllies will not object to further German expansion in Eastern Europe in exchange for a German leash on Mussolini.
1941 - Germany invades the USSR. Again, under orders from Moscow, the US begins massive aid to the USSR. Germany recieves economic aid from Britain and France. Wallace tries for a DoW against Germany, but is shouted down in Congress.
1942 - 1944 - Massive battles of material in Russia. The Nazis and Soviets batter each other. The USA and WAllies glower at each other across the Atlantic. US ships to Murmansk are shadowed by German U-Boats, but they do not attack.
1944 - Wallace overwhelmingly defeated - loosing all 48 states (how he won in 1940 is left as a thought exercise for the reader) in the election. Thomas Dewey becomes President.
1945 - US curtails aid to the USSR. Military build-up commences.
1946 - Hitler dies from chewing on some bad carpet. Nazi-Soviet negotiated peace.
1947 - Several power groups. 1. The Axis - Germany, Italy and Satellites. 2. The WAllies - Britain, France, and Empires, plus white dominions. 3. Japan and conquered provinces. 4. The USSR. 5. The USA.
The USA is still strongest, but isolationist and militarily weak. Deep distrust between all power groups. USA and WAllies natural friends, but Wallace's pro-moscow legacy keeps them apart.
Mike Turcotte