Random post 1900 small what ifs thread!

[The Militant One]

I have always had half a dozen what ifs running through my head, for example today its:

What would happen if McCarthyism didn't exist?

What would be the long term implications of no Disney?

What if we tried to get the UN involved in Vietnam?

What if we pushed further after the liberation of Kuwait?

How different would have Clinton's presidency have been without Monica Lewinski?

What are your short answers and what are your random what ifs?

 

[Krall]

What if we pushed further after the liberation of Kuwait?

As I understand it, the US was being extremely careful to not to cause another Vietnam during the Gulf War, hence why the war stopped when it did instead of pushing for total victory.

If the US decided to push for total occupation and regime change then the war itself would have been much like the Iraq War, with the more advanced western armies easily defeating the Iraqi forces. The occupation after the war may have been different, though, as many Arab countries were involved in the war effort against Iraq during the Gulf War, most notably Saudi Arabia. It may be that Arab troops would make up a large portion of the occupying forces, or that an Arab nation would be given command over an occupation zone.

I'm not sure what the outcome of such an occupation might be, as I don't know enough about the capabilities of the militaries involved, or how the population of Iraq would react to Arab occupying forces as opposed to western forces.

If the US army suffered a lot of casualties during the invasion and occupation then it may be that Iraq would be perceived as a "second Vietnam" by the American public. After OTL's Gulf War George H. W. Bush's approval ratings skyrocketed, but ITTL it may be that his popularity falls and Clinton wins the 1992 election in a landslide.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Regarding Clinton I doubt it would be much different, he recovered from it politically and was in a strong position by 2000 if he had been able to run again.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

 

[Swan Station]

What would happen if McCarthyism didn't exist?

My feeling is that not much will change, except culturally: basically, The Crucible never gets written. It could be argued that it set an example of a 'witch hunt' that future politicians would be careful to avoid, but I can't think of anything that this would effect.

What would be the long term implications of no Disney?

Different movies and cartoons get made. Some other early cartoonist (Iwerks? Fleischer? Lantz?) or group of cartoonists starts working on feature length cartoons. Some other character besides Mickey becomes a dominant trademark representing U.S. culture in the world. Everything goes pretty much as OTL.

These are good questions, though, and I would be interested in well-researched and well written timelines on them.

 

[Crazed Victorian]

WI: Mackenzie King hadn't asked his dead dog for advice and had just stuck with asking dead humans?