US buys Greenland

WI when the US bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 it also bought Greenland? I figure Canadians would feel surrounded, anything else?
 
Ther'd be US flagged hotel franchises, McDonalds, & other detritus. Frontier fantasists would go there to build a new life in the pristine wilderness, & probably fail the first summer. A larger tourist industry with arctic adventure packages. In the 1950s & 60s Project Ploughshares proposals would include melting off the glacial icecap with nuclear tools. Now in the 20th Century we'd have reality TV shows about people in Greenland.
 
Shortly after purchase, probably most of the island is declared a nature preserve of some kind or another.

It would probably have played host to a couple large airbases in the 50s and 60s, and maybe a naval base as well.

Aside from that, it probably becomes a giant North Alaska. Some mining occurs, though the ice cap makes it uneconomical for most things.

Nuuk probably grows, but as a combination mining town and military town, it's not going to be anyone's idea of a nice place to live.

I'm not sure whether or not the Greenlander natives will get special consideration under the law.

Later, as ecotourism becomes a thing, the economy will get a shot in the arm, though I doubt that Greenland will ever become a state.
 
Ther'd be US flagged hotel franchises, McDonalds, & other detritus. Frontier fantasists would go there to build a new life in the pristine wilderness, & probably fail the first summer. A larger tourist industry with arctic adventure packages. In the 1950s & 60s Project Ploughshares proposals would include melting off the glacial icecap with nuclear tools. Now in the 20th Century we'd have reality TV shows about people in Greenland.
You forgot the terrible treatment of the native inuit.
 

CalBear

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Ther'd be US flagged hotel franchises, McDonalds, & other detritus. Frontier fantasists would go there to build a new life in the pristine wilderness, & probably fail the first summer. A larger tourist industry with arctic adventure packages. In the 1950s & 60s Project Ploughshares proposals would include melting off the glacial icecap with nuclear tools. Now in the 20th Century we'd have reality TV shows about people in Greenland.
Not necessarily. The U.S. have a few possessions that are more or less non commercialized. Possibly the best example is American Samoa. There are exactly three fast food location in the entire territory (two Micky D's and one Carl's Jr.) and ZERO "name brand" hotel chains. American Samoa is like Hawaii in the 1930s, both in the good and bad. Relaxing, great weather, but expensive to travel to, and pretty much nothing to do except sit on the beach, swim, or fish.

You would possibly get a bit more on Greenland since it is closer to the U.S. mainland, but inhospitable doesn't begin to describe the place's climate. Adventure tourism is a possibility, but the reality is that Adventure tourists won't go to a place where there are a bunch of Motel 6 locations.
 
Denmark has never shown the slightest willingness to sell Greenland; see my post at https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-us-buys-greenland-in-1948.329637/#post-9752836 on how the idea was indignantly rejected by all political parties when there were rumors the US was interested in buying it after World War II. (US Secretary of State James Byrnes had in fact privately indicated his interest in such a sale.) Indeed, part of the deal for the sale of the Danish West Indies in 1917 was that the US recognize Danish sovereignty over Greenland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_West_Indian_Islands_sale_referendum,_1916 (That was understandable, given that Norway was challenging Denmark's rights there, and Denmark obviously wanted all the international recognition it could get.)
 
Denmark has never shown the slightest willingness to sell Greenland; see my post at https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-us-buys-greenland-in-1948.329637/#post-9752836 on how the idea was indignantly rejected by all political parties when there were rumors the US was interested in buying it after World War II. (US Secretary of State James Byrnes had in fact privately indicated his interest in such a sale.) Indeed, part of the deal for the sale of the Danish West Indies in 1917 was that the US recognize Danish sovereignty over Greenland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_West_Indian_Islands_sale_referendum,_1916 (That was understandable, given that Norway was challenging Denmark's rights there, and Denmark obviously wanted all the international recognition it could get.)
US supports Norway's claim to Greenland during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, on account of Norway selling the place to the US. When Denmark protests, the US tells them to shove it and keep polishing Nazi jackboots.

By 1945, it's already too late for Denmark to do anything about it any more.

:p
 

Anderman

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US supports Norway's claim to Greenland during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, on account of Norway selling the place to the US. When Denmark protests, the US tells them to shove it and keep polishing Nazi jackboots.

By 1945, it's already too late for Denmark to do anything about it any more.

:p

You have forgotten that Norway was Nazi occupied too ;):p
 
Great so New Hampshire and Northern Maine would have Greenland to aid in there Rednecking of New England. (Greenland would be considered part of New England)
 
The most plausible POD for US acquisition that I have seen was in a thread in soc.history.what-if a few years ago: "If the Danish king and government had fled the country and gone to London, instead of staying and conducting passive resistance against the occupation, perhaps the exile government would have been willing to sell Greenland for needed cash." I replied at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/njge9xCMzpg/zpXHTwEX04UJ

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I really doubt this. It would just feed into Nazi propaganda in Denmark: "the Anglo-American puppet government in London is selling out Danish territory for American dollars." Anyway, the US AFAIK showed no interest in acquiring Greenland during the war; it was simply interested in keeping the Germans out and in using the island for meteorological and other war-related purposes. (And also in preventing a British or Canadian occupation. [1]) It was always assumed that the island would revert to de facto as well as de jure Danish sovereignty after the war. Only the Cold War led to any serious talk about acquiring the island.

In the decades before World War II, Denmark had gone to considerable lengths to get world recognition of its sovereignty over all of Greenland (not just the parts it had colonized). It had gotten such a recognition by the US as a condition for the sale of the Danish West Indies, and subsequently went to the World Court to (successfully) establish its claim to all of the island against Norway, which was trying to occupy part of the east coast. It is not something that Denmark would want to give up without necessity, and I don't see the US pressing the Danes on this.


[1] "In 1920 the Danish government asked the UK to recognize its right to extend its political and economic interest in the whole of Greenland--a claim to sovereignty already acknowledged by the US as a condition of the cession of the Danish West Indies four years earlier. The British goverernment replied that it would agree to this proposition only if granted the right of pre-emptive purchase in case Denmark should consider disposing of Greenland. When word of the British demand reached Washington, Secretary of State Colby strongly objected, and in deference to the US objection, the UK softened its conditions.

"Even in 1940, when one might think after Hitler's occupation of Denmark, the US might welcome a British or Canadian occupation of Greenland, instead the US was anxious to prevent precisely this event, while not yet ready to dispatch troops itself. (Eventually it did, of course, but only after keeping the question in suspense for a year.) This was partly out of a desire to deny Japan an excuse for a 'protective' occupation of the Dutch East Indies should Hitler make his expected assault on Holland. But it was also a product of the US belief that Greenland was part of the Western Hemisphere, and that the Monroe Doctrine (including the no-transfer policy) applied. Hull specifically reminded Lord Lothian of Colby's 1920 note, which Hull called an 'express application of the Monroe Doctrine by the United States.'"

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.history.what-if/msg/7e06b89fb2c0843d

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One other possibility: There have been plenty of what-ifs about Eisenhower driving toward Berlin in 1945 instead of stopping at the Elbe but has there been anything about the Soviets in that event capturing Lubeck and proceeding on to what would then become the Danish People's Republic? "An incidental advantage, mentioned by Eisenhower at the time, was that it would keep the Russians out of Denmark, which of course had not been assigned to any of the allies for occupation purposes..." https://books.google.com/books?id=cseazHx2jdsC&pg=PA69 I think it's very unlikely the Soviets would try to Sovietize Denmark, but if they did, I think the US would not hesitate to seize Greenland...
 
Not necessarily. The U.S. have a few possessions that are more or less non commercialized. Possibly the best example is American Samoa. There are exactly three fast food location in the entire territory (two Micky D's and one Carl's Jr.) and ZERO "name brand" hotel chains. American Samoa is like Hawaii in the 1930s, both in the good and bad. Relaxing, great weather, but expensive to travel to, and pretty much nothing to do except sit on the beach, swim, or fish.

You would possibly get a bit more on Greenland since it is closer to the U.S. mainland, but inhospitable doesn't begin to describe the place's climate. Adventure tourism is a possibility, but the reality is that Adventure tourists won't go to a place where there are a bunch of Motel 6 locations.

I think three McDonalds & two Hilton Garden Inns would be fairly dense for Greenland. The Adventure tourists would be elsewhere out on the ice cap & see them only in passing, or when the adventure became too real.
 
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