(This is work in progress) Hope you enjoy inventive timelines ;)
The Heir Apparent: The Legacy of Henry Wallace
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US and Soviet Leaders
Cold War Circa 2016
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 1st Man on the Moon
July 19-21, 1944: Under pressure from FDR, and the re-energized Left in the party, the DNC relents and Henry Wallace is renominated as Roosevelt’s VP for 1944 General Election.
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July 21, 1944 - The United States military begins to retake the island of Guam after Japanese troops had occupied the island during World War II. The battle would end on August 10.
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November 6, 1944 - The last campaign speech of Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking his fourth term in office, is broadcast from his Hyde Park, New York home. One day later, Roosevelt would gain that fourth term by a significant, but smaller margin than any of his previous elections, especially in the popular vote where Thomas Dewey lost by only three and one half million votes. The Electoral College margin, however, at 399 to 132, ensured Roosevelt good footing in the final prosecution of World War II.
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December 18, 1944 - The United States Supreme Court rules in the case of Korematsu vs. the United States, the wartime internment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast was valid during a time of war.
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1945
February 4-11, 1945 - President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Premier Josef Stalin hold the Yalta Conference in the Soviet Union to discuss post-war Europe. Stalin meets with VP Henry Wallace many times during the conference, with FDR's health clearly failing, Stalin comes to believe that Wallace is someone that will be just as accomodating as FDR, if not more. FDR & Wallace want to prioritize the Pacific Theater and agree with Stalin to halt at the Wessen River in exchange for full Soviet commitment to routing the Japanese from the Asian mainland. This works out greatly to the benefit of the Soviet post-war position.
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February 19, 1945 - Thirty thousand United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.
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March 1, 1945 - American troops cross the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany. Two weeks later, on March 18, twelve hundred and fifty U.S. bombers attack Berlin, causing Adolf Hitler to announce the destruction of his own industries and military installations one day later in preparation for invasion. US forces advance eastward until they halted at the Wesser River as agreed at Yalta.
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April 1, 1945 - American troops invade Okinawa, beginning the Battle of Okinawa, which would continue until June 21.
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April 12, 1945 - President Roosevelt dies suddenly; Vice President Henry Wallace assumes the presidency and role as commander in chief for the duration of World War II.
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May 2, 1945 – The Red Army captures Berlin following the suicide of Hitler and other Nazi leaders in a secret bunker. The Werhmacht continues fighting the Red Army east of the Wesser River.
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May 17, 1945 - Wehrmacht High Command surrenders after their lines collapse allowing the Soviets to advance to the River Wesser. Soviet and US allies meet at Wilhelm Kaisen bridge in Bremen and fraternize with each other in celebration.
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May 21, 1945 - The unconditional surrender of Germany at Reims, France concludes the military engagements of World War II in Europe. It is accepted by General Dwight D. Eisenhower in his role as the commander of Allied troops in the European theater of the war.
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July 5, 1945 - In a surpise landslide, Labor wins the UK election. Despite the popularity of Churchill as a leader, the electorate did not want the Tories in charge of the recovery as they were for the previous depression recovery. President Wallace reaffirms America's special relationship with the UK and welcomes the renewed shift to the left.
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July 16, 1945 - The first atomic bomb, the Trinity Test, is exploded at Alamogordo, New Mexico, after its production at Los Alamos.
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August 2, 1945 - The Potsdam Conference concludes with the UK rather sidelined and the US, represented by Wallace, largely indifferent to Soviet expansion. The biggest change from Yalta, was the the abandonment of seperate zones of control for Berlin and Vienna while retaining the zones for Germany as a whole. Wallace was mosty focused on ensuring full Soviet cooperation with other allies regarding empowering the Allied Control Commission to make systemic changes in Germany. Within 5 years Germany would become more agrarian and lose most heavy manfucaturing capacity in favor of light manufacturing. Most significantly Potsdam established Denazification and the War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremburg.
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August 6, 1945 - After much debate with the top brass, President Henry Wallace refuses to give the go-ahead for the use of the atomic bomb, citing such devastation would only harden the Japanese will to resist. He is also keen to keep the Soviets from discovering America’s atomic weapons project for both diplomatic and national security reasons. Operation Downfall is initiated instead as the official war plan to force the Japanese surrender by invasion of their home islands.
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September 4, 1945 – Soviet forces capture Sakhalin and Kuril Islands, and then commit their forces to pushing remnant Japanese forces out of Manchuria. Communist movements greatly benefit from Soviet patronage in Korea and China.
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September 19, 1945 - Thomas G. Corcoran is narrowly confirmed a justice of the Supreme Court by the Senate.
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October 4, 1945 - The Soviets begin a secret atomic weapons program of their own after discovering the success of the US atomic bomb project through the spy operation of Julius Rosenberg, Klaus Fuchs and David Greenglass. It would be decades before knowledge of the spy ring in the US would come to light.
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October 30, 1945 - Soviets recruit Wernher von Braun and nearly a thousand other engineers and scientists into the Soviet rocket program greatly benefiting their long-sustained lead in the future Space Race.
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November 14, 1945 – Operation Olympic begins with the invasion of Kyushu from the south coast by forces staged in Okinawa. Despite massive preparatory bombardment, the landings becomes the most deadly battle yet for American forces in WW2. Near total casualty rate is reported for the first wave of American troops.
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1946
January 3, 1946 – Second Phase of Olympic is executed with a smaller invasion of the island of Shikoku. Aerial bombardment, staged from Kyushu and the fleet, intensifies across Japan.
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January 10, 1946 - The first meeting of the United Nations general assembly occurs after its founding on October 24, 1945 by fifty-one nations, including the Security Council nations of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.A.
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March 18, 1946 – Operation Coronet begins with the amphibious invasion of the Kanto plain and setting the Siege of Tokyo. Concurrently, US forces invade the Honshu coast from Kyushu and Shikoku.
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June 6, 1946 - The Basketball Association of America, known as the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 1949 after its merger with the rival National Basketball League, is founded.
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June 12, 1946 – Tokyo falls to US forces. Soviet forces invade Hokkaido as US forces fight northward against hold-outs.
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June 20, 1946 - Wallace's second appointment to the Supreme Court, Fred M. Vinson, enjoyed more support in the Senate, thanks to majority leader Harry S. Truman for appealing to the center of the Democratic Party.
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July 4, 1946 - The island nation of the Philippines is given their independence by the United States. This ends four hundred and twenty-five years of dominance by the west.
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1947
February 24, 1947 – Japan surrenders to the US by order of Emperor Hirohito, in return for protection, fearing Soviet control of a Post-War Japan. Days later US and Soviet forces meet at the 38th parallel and exchange diplomatic courtesies. Japan is divided by two occupation governments, Soviet-occupied "North Japan" (called the Democratic Republic of Japan) and US-Occupied "South" Japan.
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190,000 Americans died in the battle. Millions of Japanese died during the fighting and resulting famines and guerilla insurgency during the post-war occupation.
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March 1, 1947 - The Atomic Energy Commission is established.
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March 12, 1947 - The Wallace Doctrine is announced to the U.S. Congress. When passed it would grant $700 million in humanitarian aid to liberal or socialist democracies. President Henry Wallace implements the act on May 22. During the bill signing ceremony, President Wallace argued for cooperation—not cold war—with the Soviet Union, setting the future course of US-Soviet diplomatic relations.
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April 15, 1947 - Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball's barrier against colored players when he debuts at first base for Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers.
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June 5, 1947 - Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposes aid extension to all European nations for war recovery, known as the Marshall Plan, which would lead to Congressional approval of $14 billion over the following four years.
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June 20, 1947 – Democrats in Congress, rallied by President Wallace, vote down the Taft-Hartley Labor Act that would have curbed strikes and sectoral collective bargaining.
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December 30, 1947 - King Michael I, a westernized monarch, was forced to abdicate his throne at gunpoint by communist partisans. Romania was thereafter declared a socialist republic.
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1948
January 1, 1948 - Five hundred thousand mine workers begin to strike, with other industries following their lead in solidarity, particularly the Railroad. This was a result of built up grievances that were suppressed by the wartime “No-Strike Pledge”. Wallace responds days later with an order to nationalize the nation’s iron and coal mines and then implement worker demands.
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April 1, 1948 - US convinced UK to make assurances that the decision to replace the Reichsmark would be quashed after a diplomatic row erupted with the USSR that threatened the post-war cooperative order. The German debt crisis will remain acute for the next decade. Despite earlier threats by the Soviets the West-East German border remains open.
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April 30, 1948 - The Organization of American States is founded by twenty-one nations to provide a mutual development pact after World War II. Founding nations were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
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May 15, 1948 - Arab-Israeli War commence after the declaration of independece by Israel.
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June 2, 1948 - President Wallaces decision to nationalize coal and iron mines is ruled legal by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision, Peabody Coal Co vs US, expanding eminent domain power for "national security" purposes.
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June 19, 1948 - Josip Broz Tito breaks with Moscow over growing Soviet interference over the Yugoslavian Communist Party. This tests the post-war unity amongst socialist nations and the USSR by starting the Non-Aligned Movement.
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July 26, 1948 - Executive Order 9976, ending segregation in the United States military and federal civil service, is signed into effect by President Henry Wallace to the anger of many Southern Democrats.
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August 12, 1948 - Infighting between Irgun and Soviet-backed partisans collapses the Ben-Guirion coaltion, and divides the IDF forces into separate militia factions. This causes the Israelis much delay in countering the Arab incursion.
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November 2, 1948 - President Henry Wallace, and his VP Rexford Tugwell, rallies from behind, capturing his first president election from the presumptive winner Thomas E. Dewey, the governor of New York. Headlines in national newspapers had overtly announced a Dewey victory, only to be proven wrong. Wallace won the Electoral College vote with 283 to Dewey's 200, with Strom Thurmond, running as the States' Rights candidate, receiving 48 Electoral votes. Wallace won the election with 50.1% of the popular votes.
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Wallace, in contrast to Dewey, saw unchecked private wealth as a threat to liberty. The “common man,” he argued, must “have the opportunity to form unions and bargain through them collectively.” Citing “Herr Thyssen, the wealthy German steel man” who “gave Hitler enough money to enable him to play on the minds of the German people,” Wallace warned of “wealthy men who sincerely believe that their wealth is likely to be safer if they can hire tyrants who lure the people back into slavery.”
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Much throughout his campaign Wallace resisted Dewey's call for an American dominated post-war world order to counter the communist philosophy of the Soviet Union. Wallace's election was a rebuke to the concept of "American Exceptionalism". The implication was that global progress would flow from a partnership of nations, each of which boasted traditions of liberty, rather than domination by an America that would, as Wallace put it, “mold the world for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see fit.”
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“Some have spoken of the ‘American century,’” he noted in his victory speech, but “I say that the century on which we are entering—the century which will come into being after this war—can be and must be the Century of the Common Man.”
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December 15, 1948 - Alger Hiss, former State Department official, is indicted for perjury in connection to denials of passing state secrets to a communist spy ring. He would later be found not guilty in January 1950. It was perceived by the general public to be a partisan swipe at the Wallace administration.
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1949
January 5, 1949 - The 1st Indo-Pakistani War concludes in a stalemate with Kasmir divided along the Line of Control.
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January 8, 1949 - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance is founded by the Soviet Union to aid European nations still recovering from World War II to develop infrastructure, this is the Soviet response to the Marshall plan and generates much support among left-wing parties in Western Europe.
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February 9, 1949 - The last confirmed resistance militia in Japan was defeated after a battle with US soldiers. This ends the small insurgency by Shintaisei diehards against US forces occupying Japan.
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March 2, 1949 - Captain James Gallagher lands the B-50 Lucky Lady II in Texas after completing the first around-the-world non-stop airplane flight. It was refueled four times in flight.
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April 2, 1949 - The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves the trusteeship of Pacific Islands formerly controlled by Japan to the United States.
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April 4, 1949 - ETO, the European Treaty Organization, is formed by the ten Western European nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal). The treaty stated that any attack against one nation would be considered an attack against them all. Henry Wallace refuses to commit the US to a “post-war, Eurocentric, military alliance” and denounces it as a unnecessary provocation toward our Soviet allies.
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May 8, 1949 - A stalemate ends the Arab-Israeli War, despite an energenic Israeli counter-offensive that regained control over most of the Jewish Mandate borders and the Gaza Strip. Much of Arab Palastine including the entire West Bank is annexed by Trans-Jordan and Lebanon. The USSR has gained much clout with both nations due to its generous aid during the war.
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August 18, 1949 - Due to his impressive record at Nuremburg, and commitment to desegregation and racial justice as Attorney General, the Senate soundly confirms Henry Wallace's 3rd nominee, Francis Biddle, to the Supreme Court.
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August 29, 1949 - the Soviet Union secretly conducted its first successful atomic weapon test in Kazahkstan. Stalin decides that this must be kept a secret to ensure good diplomatic relations with the United States.
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September 22, 1949 - Mao Zedong's Communists are victorious over the Koumintang in the Chinese Civil War and the People's Republic of China is founded on October 1st. The US, UK and France refuse to recognize the People's Republic, and despite Soviet protest, the Republic of China will retain its seat on the UN Security Council indefinitely.
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October 4, 1949 - Earl Warren is appointed to Supreme Court by President Wallace after the death of Justice Rutledge.
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October 7, 1949 - Tokyo Rose, the femme fatale of Japanese war broadcasts, is sentenced to ten years in prison. She would be paroled in 1956 and pardoned in 1977.
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October 14, 1949 - Eleven leaders of the United States Communist party are convicted of advocating a violent insurrection and overthrow of the U.S. government. The Supreme Court would overturn the convictions 6-3 on June 4, 1951.
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October 16, 1949 - In a stunning reversal of fortunes, thanks to generous aid and support by the Soviet Army, the Communist Party of Greece wins the Greek Civil War. Markos Vafeiadis establishes the Democratic Hellenic Republic and purges the monarchy and royal family. This encourages Turkey to pursue closer ties with the West and actively surpress communist influence at home.
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November 1, 1949 – President Wallace signs into law a program, modeled after the Montgomery G.I. Bill, to provide college tuition to any person who has been accepted to an accredited public university or trade school.
World of 1950
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1950
January 14, 1950 - The United States recalls all consular officials from China after the seizure of the American consul general in Peking by communists. The Soviet Union intervenes diplomatically on behalf of the US to guarantee the safety of US citizens.
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January 17, 1950 - The Brinks robbery in Boston occurs when eleven masked bandits steal $2.8 million from an armored car outside their express office.
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April 1, 1950 – After President Wallace signed the Medicare Act into law, the US began implementing its first national health insurance program guaranteeing medical coverage for all Americans, subject to added premiums for wealthier citizens.
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June 8, 1950 - Swedish scientists detect abnormal radioactivity in air samples, when shared with US government scientists the DOD begins to suspect that the USSR has been actively testing atomic weapons. This assessment is made Top Secret by the president and not released to the public until decades later.
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1951
February 28, 1951 - Preliminary report from the Senator Estes Kefauver investigation that had begun in May 1950 into organized crime is issued, stating that gambling take was in excess of $20 billion per year. Estes Kefauver spurred a renewed effort at combating the Mafia by passing new federal racketeering and forfeiture laws.
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April 16, 1951 - The Fair Labor Standards Act is expanded by congress to require overtime pay for work performed on federal holidays and also establishes election day as a paid federal holiday.
September 6, 1951 – President Wallace hosts Josef Stalin at the White House for the first ever state visit by a Soviet leader to the United States. The meeting was heavily criticized by Republicans as a tacit acceptance of global communism.
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October 25, 1951 - Labor holds their majority in the UK parliment after snap elections, President Wallace made a public endorsement for Clement Attlee and his Labor Party and their platform of economic justice. Labor will hold this majority until 1970.
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1952
February 14, 1952 - The 1952 Winter Olympics open in Helsinki, Finland with thirty participating nations. During these games, the first triple jump in figure skating history is performed by Dick Button, who won one of the four gold medals gained by U.S. athletes.
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April 8, 1952 - President Wallace authorizes the nationalization of US steel mills in order to avert economic disruption by a another strike. Opponents deride Wallace as a “Socialist Tyrant”.
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July 18, 1952 - Congress founds the National Airlines as a public-owned monopoly on commercial air service. Smaller air companies can still contract with the National Airlines to fill gaps in essential services between small airports. Air traffic control and airport ownership also fall under federal ownership.
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September 4, 1952 - The inauguration of trans-continental television occurs with the broadcast of President Wallace's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco. The treaty would be signed on September 8 by the U.S., Japan, and forty-seven other nations. The conditions of the treaty allow the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy to continue within limits as counterweight to the Japanese People’s Army (JPA). The parties also sign the US-Japan Mutual Defense Pact assuring South Japan that the US will provide a defense gaurentee against any agression by the Communist North. It also preserves the Imperial Family’s role in government.
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November 1, 1952 - At Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, a larger atomic bomb, named Able, is exploded. US atomic weapons continue to remain a secret to the general public and the vast majority of nations.
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November 4, 1952 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower, popular due to his role in winning World War II as European commander, turns down an offer to be the Republican nominee. President Wallace announces that he will run for a third and final term in office, as the recently passed 25th amendment doesn't apply to the current president. Henry Wallace remains as extremely popular as his predecessor and eventually trounces Robert A Taft, securing an mandate for a third expansion of the New Deal and continued peace with the Soviet Union. The Electoral College vote was 349 to 182.
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1953
June 5, 1953 – The first federal public education funding program is passed and signed into law. The Act will create block grants to support poor primary and secondary schools and provides extensive funding for science education.
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June 17, 1953 - Food shortages, pay cuts and tensions over Soviet occupation lead to riots across East Germany. The uprising is swiftly put down by Soviet troops.
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July 23, 1953 - Gamal Abdel Nasser takes power in a coup in Egypt and his Pan-Arab movement aligns itself with the Soviet Union after accepting foreign aid.
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July 24, 1953 – The Atoms for Peace initiative begins to improve atomic power technology for civilian use by researching powerful atomic batteries, developing an emission-free nuclear energy economy, and improving agriculture through radiation-based gene manipulation. Henry Wallace successfully lobbied Congress to fund his initiative and to pass a law to indemnify atomic power plants leading to the Atomic Industrial Revolution in America.
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August 19, 1953 - Operation Ajax is presented to Wallace and he admonishes the intelligence community for even suggesting something so damaging to US foreign policy. Mossadegh is not overthrown and continues to rule Iran on a social-democratic platform.
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October 30, 1953 - President Henry Wallace approves a bill to reduce the size of the US military by 30% and to reduce naval tonnage in half. President Wallace also decided to secretly end US atomic weapons production by executive order. US stockpile was about 430 warheads.
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December 30, 1953 - The first color televisions go on sale.
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1954
January 26, 1954 - Bell Labs discontinues research into transistors in favor of miniturizing vacuum tubes and developing atomic-derived portable power sources.
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February 23, 1954 - The first large scale vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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March 4, 1954 - Henry Wallace appoints Senator Estes Kefauver as Justice to replace the late Justice Vinson, and is confirmed by his colleagues.
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May 17, 1954 - Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education. The ruling of the court stated that racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment's clause that guaranteed equal protection. The Monroe School in Topeka, Kansas had segregated Linda Brown in its classes.
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July 18, 1954 - After protracted legal disputes with medical providers threatening to undermine the Medicare system, Henry Wallace rallies Congress to give him the power to nationalize for-profit hospitals under the National Health System.
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August 19, 1954 - Another series of protracted disputes resulting from the Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Wisconsin case, which upheld federal price controls on oil and gas producers, the oil companies collude to restrict production and instigate lock-outs. This was met with an Act of Congress authorizing President Wallace to nationalize the oil and gas industry.
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September 8, 1954 - In Bangkok, Thailand, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is formed by the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand, creating a mutual defense pact against Red China.
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In 1954, Ray Kroc founds the idea for the McDonald's corporation, agreeing to franchise the idea of Dick and Mac McDonald, who had started the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940 and had eight restaurants by 1954. Kroc would incorporate the entity on March 2, 1955 and open his first franchise on April 15 in Des Plaines, Illinois. He would buy out the McDonald's brothers in 1961.