Indeed, I am still thinking what should take the Statue of Liberty's place. There are dance competitions but nothing like what we would see on So You Think You Can Dance.
The Union Forever: A TL
- Thread starter Mac Gregor
- Start date
Indeed, I am still thinking what should take the Statue of Liberty's place. There are dance competitions but nothing like what we would see on So You Think You Can Dance.
Profile: Porfirio Diaz
Lalli, thanks for the submission but I felt that I needed to make some changes. Keep the suggestions coming. Cheers.
Porfirio Díaz (1830 - 1863)
Born José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori to an Indian mother and a father of Spanish decent, Daiz joined the Mexican Army when war broke out with the United States in 1846. By the time the French invaded Mexico in December of 1861 in order to force Mexico to pay its debts Diaz had risen to the rank of Brigadier General. Diaz and his brigade were commended for their bravery at the Battle of Puebla. On June 17, 1863 Diaz was captured by French forces. Two weeks later Diaz attempted to escape and was mortally wounded in the process. Diaz is most remembered today for his last words “Nothing is so sweet as to die for one’s country.” When the French withdrew the following year Mexican President Benito Juarez pronounced him a national hero. 46 years later when Mexico joined the war against France in 1909, the division that Mexico sent to fight in Europe would be christened Profirio Propio “Profirio’s Own” in Diaz’s honor.
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MasterSanders, so glad you have enjoyed the TL. I was wondering how long it would take someone to identify whose picture I have been using for President Conner. Cheers!
1959: Domestic Developments
1959
Domestic Developments
In March, the Professional Baseball League (PBL) announced its first new expansion teams since 1939. Two new franchises were sanctioned, the Denver Grizzlies and the Panama Canaliers joining the Star and Liberty Leagues respectively. The addition of these two teams brought the number of professional baseball franchises to thirty.
On May 15, Shane Bayard opened the first Dreamworld Amusement Park. Although several locations were considered, Bayard settled on St. Louis, Missouri due to its central location. Over the years it would become one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country. Bayard considered the park to be one of his greatest successes and remarked “that America deserves a place where its citizens, no matter their age, can feel the joy of letting their guard drop and their imaginations run wild.”
In September, President Anderson signed into law the National Highway Sysem (NHS) Act passed by Congress earlier that year with bipartisan support. The NHS authorized the construction of a massive system of limited access highways that would crisscross the nation and, at President Anderson's insistence, be completely toll free . These “inter-states” would in time greatly improve the ease of long distance auto travel in the United States. The NHS was not without its detractors however such as the powerful railroad lobby that feared the act would erode their market share.
A section of the National Highway System under construction
1959
1959
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Glad to see the Highway system finally taking root (took long enough, considering how much more popular auto racing is ITTL 
), here's hoping it works out well. Would there be a greater incidence of roundabouts as in Europe, or will the crossroads still be predominant in road infrastructure like IOTL?
Another (off-topic) observation WRT the United States here; what is the status of German in the US? I seem to remember reading that the Upper Midwest had a rather large and thriving German-speaking population throughout the latter half of the 19th. century, and that it was due overwhelmingly to anti-German sentiment during the Great War that led to it being smothered and slandered as "unpatriotic" to speak the language.
Consider these two things;
1) The United States ITTL is waaay more accepting of multilingualism due to the inclusion of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Polynesia, et al. as states in the Union, albeit in conjunction with English as a co-official language, and
2) Relations between America and Germany are WAY better ITTL than OTL, as they were not only NOT enemies but fought together on the same side for years against the French, which I imagine would butterfly away all that anti-German sentiment which forced the language into moribundity in America
In other words, I think there'd be a healthy Germanophone population within great swaths of the US proper, not to mention greater borrowings and adoptions of German words into American English (as with Spanish both in OTL and TTL). What do you think?
Keep up the good work!
), here's hoping it works out well. Would there be a greater incidence of roundabouts as in Europe, or will the crossroads still be predominant in road infrastructure like IOTL?Another (off-topic) observation WRT the United States here; what is the status of German in the US? I seem to remember reading that the Upper Midwest had a rather large and thriving German-speaking population throughout the latter half of the 19th. century, and that it was due overwhelmingly to anti-German sentiment during the Great War that led to it being smothered and slandered as "unpatriotic" to speak the language.
Consider these two things;
1) The United States ITTL is waaay more accepting of multilingualism due to the inclusion of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Polynesia, et al. as states in the Union, albeit in conjunction with English as a co-official language, and
2) Relations between America and Germany are WAY better ITTL than OTL, as they were not only NOT enemies but fought together on the same side for years against the French, which I imagine would butterfly away all that anti-German sentiment which forced the language into moribundity in America
In other words, I think there'd be a healthy Germanophone population within great swaths of the US proper, not to mention greater borrowings and adoptions of German words into American English (as with Spanish both in OTL and TTL). What do you think?
Keep up the good work!
I think when the routes get decided at the city level the philosophy might be to put highways away from city cores and so allow for the existence of rail to continue, since passenger light rail would allow for visitors to come off a highway, park near a hotel, and then ride into the city.
Glad to see the Highway system finally taking root (took long enough, considering how much more popular auto racing is ITTL
Another (off-topic) observation WRT the United States here; what is the status of German in the US? I seem to remember reading that the Upper Midwest had a rather large and thriving German-speaking population throughout the latter half of the 19th. century, and that it was due overwhelmingly to anti-German sentiment during the Great War that led to it being smothered and slandered as "unpatriotic" to speak the language.
Consider these two things;
1) The United States ITTL is waaay more accepting of multilingualism due to the inclusion of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Polynesia, et al. as states in the Union, albeit in conjunction with English as a co-official language, and
2) Relations between America and Germany are WAY better ITTL than OTL, as they were not only NOT enemies but fought together on the same side for years against the French, which I imagine would butterfly away all that anti-German sentiment which forced the language into moribundity in America
In other words, I think there'd be a healthy Germanophone population within great swaths of the US proper, not to mention greater borrowings and adoptions of German words into American English (as with Spanish both in OTL and TTL). What do you think?
Keep up the good work!
Indeed, German is far more popular ITTL than OTL due to the reasons you mentioned. It is the third most spoken language in America after English and Spanish. As such there are still some German language media being printed in the U.S. As far as German loan words go, cars ITTL are known as auto's as in OLT Germany. (What other ones could we use?)
Concerning multilingualism ITTL's America, unless you are in Cuba, Panama, G&M, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, or the Pacific territories non-English speakers could very well face hostility for not knowing the national language. Luckily most people speak passable English. The exception is usually the older generations.
Sounds interesting, but I think people would want to drive right into the cities wouldn't they?
Hmm. Well, engineers and city designers could opt for local consultation about routing highways; they're big and they're disruptive. So some cities might opt for "loop" like structures, while others would be happy to bulldoze 'em on through the downtown core.
Not necessarily, judging from the OTL interstates' courses. If you look at I-55's route through Illinois, for instance, you'll find that it runs exactly parallel to Old Route 66, except around cities, where the old road continues straight through them and the interstate turns to go around them.
Hey everyone, over the next week or so I will be in the process of leaving Afghanistan and heading back to the States. As such updates may be spotty over the next week or two. Questions and suggestions are always welcome and I will respond to them when I can. Cheers.
Congratulations on finishing your tour. I hope you haven't had it too rough out there (judging from how often you managed to update, I'd say you haven't, but then again I know very little about post-WWI military life).
