The Past 70 Years: A Collaborative Timeline

I'm fairly certain that the contents of Hunter's post are considered retconned, so what would you like to add?

September 21, 1947 - John F. Kennedy collapses in Claridge's, a London hotel. He breaks his neck during the fall, and is pronounced dead at the scene.

May 26, 1948 - Jan Smuts leads his United Party into a victory, defeating the RNP and the possibility of Apartheid for now. The UP also initiates a program of renting passenger vessels, and offering free transportation to skilled European workers who will settle in South Africa.

July 12, 1948 - Southern Democrats successfully block an attempt by the party's Liberals to adopt a more progressive civil rights plank in the campaign platform. This prevents a Dixiecrat split, but causes several defections to Wallace's third party bid and gives the Republicans an opening with Black voters in the Midwest.

July 14, 1948 - Communist leader Palmiro Togliatti is assassinated by a right-wing Sicilian student, provoking the "Summer Crisis" in Italy requiring the new Post-war government and army to suppress a Red insurgency for the duration of the year.

July 29, 1948 - Having received a good report from its field agents, the Ford Motor Company accepts the offer of absorbing the entirety of the Volkswagen words in Wolfsburg, West Germany for free.

September 17, 1948 - The West German government votes upon which city to establish their new capital, with the winner being the city of Frankfurt am Main.
 
April 1, 1947: President Harry Truman gets word of the Taft-Hartley Act while it is in committee. He contacts Lyndon Johnson (a Representative from Texas) to organize a meeting with several House Democrats and tells them in no uncertain terms that he will veto the act. He has a similar discussion with several Democratic Senators later that day.

April 17, 1947: After weeks of debate on the House Floor, the Taft-Hartley Act passes by 288-127. Among those for the bill were Representatives Nixon and Johnson - whose unexpected turn against President Truman endeared him to the conservative wing of the party.

April 18, 1947: Harry Truman has a rather intense private meeting with Representative Johnson, informing him "if this is the hill I die on, so be it". This stance trickles out to the rest of the Congressional Democrats and will later feature in a few political ads.

May 13, 1947: The Taft-Hartley Act passes the Senate 62-30, to the disappointment of President Truman.

May 14, 1947: The Taft-Hartley Act is vetoed the moment it hits President Truman's desk, returned to the House with a strong message from President Truman.

July 12, 1948: "As it has been made clear to me that I do not have the support of the Democratic Party, I hereby renounce my candidacy for President" - Harry Truman after an exhausting few years of dealing with a more and more obstructionist Congress (frustratingly including his own party) decides that he will not seek re-election. Multiple candidates pop up as potential replacements, including war hero James Roosevelt and popular conservative Democrat Lyndon Johnson.

July 14, 1948: Eventually the Democratic Party agrees on James Roosevelt as their candidate for President. Son of a President, War Hero, Movie Star, and with little political baggage (unlike Truman) Roosevelt appears to be a good candidate for President. The only concern is his lack of direct political experience, but the Democrats are sure that they can guide him.

November 20, 1948: James Roosevelt narrowly beats Dewey and becomes the 34th President of the United States.

November 20, 1952: James Roosevelt loses to Earl Warren, the latter becoming the 35th President of the United States. This happened because of discontent over Roosevelt's perceived incompetence in actually running a country (reasonable since he is a political newbie).
 
February 14th 1956: Toho Studios releases the second sequel to their 1954 hit Gojira: Bride of Godzilla. A mad scientist/ robot maker leads an expedition to the center of the Earth and discover dozens of giant prehistoric animals, including several Godzillas! Some of the monsters make it to the surface and attack the home island of Kyushu, wiping out the token resistance that the military offers. The scientist finishes a 50 meter android (strangely in the image of his twenty year old daughter) and sends it into battle; killing all the kaiju but a lone Godzilla, which even stranger, falls in love with the android. The two return to where the "invasion" began and descend just before a hidden H-bomb detonates and destroys the android, the Godzilla, and the entrance. The odd film is a hit financially, but the more conservative film goers and critics are baffled. BoG will play in art houses across the pacific for some time, but it won't be released officially until 1960. The film will become even more a cult favorite as the baby boomers age, and the fact that Akira Kurosawa directed will also help the reputation...

August 16th 1956: Actor Bela Lugosi narrowly survives a heart attack.

March 4th 1961: Billy Wilder's A Day at the United Nations, starring the Marx brothers, premieres. The film has Groucho, Chico, and Harpo as mobsters, who take advantage of protests at the UN to try a diamond heist, but are instead mistaken for foreign diplomats and Harpo is invited to speak, leading to much hilarity and confusion. The film is a great success, unfortunately Chico would pass shortly after the release. He would earn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar along with Billy Wilder taking Best Director.
 
May 20 1954: Clement Attlee Secures a record third term securing a stable majority of 45
January 3 1956: Clement Attlee announces his retirement on his 73rd birthday after over ten years in office and over 20 has Labour leader
March 23 1956: George Brown is elected Labour leader and becomes Prime Minister
May 29 1957: Denmark,Sweden and Norway join the recently renamed European Fellowship
April 17 1958: UK elects a hung parliament, with the Conservatives as the largest party with Duncan Sandy as there leader and now Prime Minister and form a supply and confidence a agreement with Liberals (7 seats)
September 22 1959: Egypt Nationalizes the Suez canal.Sandy's failure to secure British interests in the Suez crisis and his allowing it to be peaceful nationlised led him to be nicknamed 'White Flag Sandy
July 03 1961: North Sea Oil begins to arrive in Britain
March 8 1962: Anthony Crosland secures Labour a 63 seat majority. It is noted that his was the last election where the Liberal Party was a national force.
July 30 1962: The North Sea Oil sovereign wealth fund was founded
March 01 1963: The so called 'Modern Britain Proposals' are first announced and later pass in Parliament which included the legalisation of homosexuality,abortion and bans on discrimination based on race,sex and disablity
 
July 17, 1955: Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California. While Opening Day is rocky, the park goes on to become a cultural icon of the American Dream.
 
October 1st 1948 : After the perceived failure of his film adaptation of MacBeth, Orson Welles intends to return to Europe, however an agent from Columbia pictures manages to acquire his attention...

May 26th 1949: Columbia releases Orson Welles' The Bat-Man to cinemas nation wide. Although producers thought they knew what they were getting into with Welles, there were concerns over budget and casting that were fought over. So instead of Bruce Wayne and the Batman being played by Gregory Peck, newcomer Charlton Heston was given the role over Montgomery Clift. Welles also compromised with the role of Selina Kyle/ Catwoman and Vicki Vale, who would end being played by Columbia contract player Marilyn Monroe and B-western actress Betty May Adams respectively. For the villains, Welles scored the big time: Humphrey Bogart as Harvey Dent/ Two Face, James Cagney as the Riddler, and Basil Rathbone as the Joker. The plot follows Wayne's first year of crime fighting as he struggles to fight the good fight and understand the meaning of justice. By the climax: Catwoman is in exile, the Riddler is badly beaten and in prison, Harvey Dent is near death from an acid attack courtesy of the Joker, whom is thought to be dead, and Vicki Vale confronts Bruce about his secret identity. The audiences love the dark drama and Welles and Columbia share in the success.
 
June 27th, 1950: Destination Moon, produced by George Pal with a screenplay by Robert Heinlein, is released. Among the advisers for the film is Werhner von Braun, one of the rocket scientist brought from Germany under Operation Paperclip. Heinlein and von Braun become good friends, and collaborate along with several other scientists and science fiction writers to publish a series of articles showing the plausibility of space travel.

November 19th, 1952: Albert Einstein accepts an offer to become the second President of Israel.

March 9th, 1955: Man in Space, an episode of the Disneyland television show, is aired on American television, introducing many Americans to plausible space exploration. One of those viewers is President Warren, who gathers several important military and scientific figures to discuss a potential space mission.
 
I would like this to keep going. What is everyone's intention for the TL?

What I've tried to achieve so far is a vastly reduced Cold War with delayed Soviet nukes and a more isolationist USA (due to a United Korea voting them out).
 
I would like this to keep going. What is everyone's intention for the TL?

What I've tried to achieve so far is a vastly reduced Cold War with delayed Soviet nukes and a more isolationist USA (due to a United Korea voting them out).

I am seeking to change the US and UK political scene.
 
Well, an earlier American Space program was kind of my goal with this.
It will indeed develop much differently without an equivalent Soviet Space Programme. However, a good compromise could be a slower burn but in exchange the programme never dies. So for example like we wouldn't get to the moon until 1980, but by 2000 we are preparing the first Mars landing.

There will of course be a rivalry between the USA and USSR in general, and the USSR will have nukes at some point and probably won't waste money on space. So beyond that I'm wondering what the USSR will be doing without the Cold War. Invest in it's citizens? ... (*sigh* we could only hope)

My impression is that Malenkov won't last long, but I thought it wouldn't be a stretch to have him be the leader at least for a little bit. He's still antagonistic to the USA but he's at least smart enough to not start all that Brinksmanship. He will likely get deposed at some point and then a Soviet nuclear programme can probably come to fruition in the mid to late 50s.
 
It will indeed develop much differently without an equivalent Soviet Space Programme. However, a good compromise could be a slower burn but in exchange the programme never dies. So for example like we wouldn't get to the moon until 1980, but by 2000 we are preparing the first Mars landing.

There will of course be a rivalry between the USA and USSR in general, and the USSR will have nukes at some point and probably won't waste money on space. So beyond that I'm wondering what the USSR will be doing without the Cold War. Invest in it's citizens? ... (*sigh* we could only hope)
Actually, my plan was to have a Sputnik like satellite in the 60's, after the start of the Soviet nuclear program.
 
Actually, my plan was to have a Sputnik like satellite in the 60's, after the start of the Soviet nuclear program.
My only thing is that with a straight up competition between the two countries the incentive dies down as soon as one country gives in. Whereas if it's started for scientific reasons then it can chug along no matter what.
 
My only thing is that with a straight up competition between the two countries the incentive dies down as soon as one country gives in. Whereas if it's started for scientific reasons then it can chug along no matter what.
Well, not really a competition. It will be, to the Soviet government, just a science experiment meant for demonstration to other scientists, much as Sputnik was initially viewed by the USSR before the panic.
 
I would like this to keep going. What is everyone's intention for the TL?

What I've tried to achieve so far is a vastly reduced Cold War with delayed Soviet nukes and a more isolationist USA (due to a United Korea voting them out).
Well my plan is a slightly more Left wing UK (Labour is government default but has only had leaders from its moderate wing) its responding to American islonastism by throwing themselves into Europe while keeping traditional links goings. They lost Suez but there was no War so didn't loose as much presitge as they did historically. I see a gracefull decline with a steady declonisation while keeping there core interests as theres less pressure from the states. France might go down a similar path and copy Britain
 
If we could find a better path for Africa ITTL that would be nice. For example maybe Algeria could unite with France?
 
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