If You Could Change One Historical Event, What Would It Be?

1940LaSalle

Ten in no particular order that may or may not be earth-shattering

Convince Taft to accept appointment to the Supreme Court in 1902
Sneak up silently behind Gavrilo Princip and drop an ice cube down his collar about a quarter second before the otherwise-critical moment
Tip off all three major networks plus key newspapers to watch for wholesale voter fraud in Cook County, IL in the November 1960 election
Convince the Russian monarchy to embrace Catholicism instead of the Byzantine faith
Convince Henry Ford that his true life's calling is the manufacture of agricultural equipment in 1938, and that he needs to sell the automotive business to Studebaker as he planned
Prevent the formation of National City Lines by major civil / antitrust lawsuits
Have VP Charles Dawes spearhead enactment of far more stringent investment and securities trading rules in, say, 1926
Get Captain McSorley to have the helmsman of the Edmund Fitzgerald steer a few degrees more to port when passing Manitoulin Island
Persuade Hillary to start go-for-the-throat divorce proceedings against Billy in, say, 1997, if for nothing more than entertainment
Get Nixon's inner circle to realize that going after the DNC headquarters won't gain a damn thing of practical value and that the election is essentially in the bag as it is
 

Corned Beef Renegade

Banned
I'd stop 9/11. Get a whole team of time travelers together who would each be assigned to find a different group of hijackers the day before the attacks and jump them before they can get to the airport. That would save not only three thousand American lives but the hundreds of thousands of innocents who died in the wars which were sold as a result of the attack. We wouldn't live in a country where things which would never have been tolerated before like remote control killings, "signature strikes," torture, and the erosion of our civil liberties along with casual racism against Arab-Americans and immigrants in general becoming more socially acceptable.

There are certainly bigger things I'd like to prevent also, but that's one I could change and not erase myself from history and come back to a fairly recognizable world. Maybe it's because I was in tenth grade when the attacks happened and it seems like everything's been downhill since then. It's for my generation what the Kennedy assassination was for the early boomers.
 
jpj1421

jpj1421

1940LaSalle said:
Convince Taft to accept appointment to the Supreme Court in 1902
Sneak up silently behind Gavrilo Princip and drop an ice cube down his collar about a quarter second before the otherwise-critical moment
Tip off all three major networks plus key newspapers to watch for wholesale voter fraud in Cook County, IL in the November 1960 election
Convince the Russian monarchy to embrace Catholicism instead of the Byzantine faith
Convince Henry Ford that his true life's calling is the manufacture of agricultural equipment in 1938, and that he needs to sell the automotive business to Studebaker as he planned
Prevent the formation of National City Lines by major civil / antitrust lawsuits
Have VP Charles Dawes spearhead enactment of far more stringent investment and securities trading rules in, say, 1926
Get Captain McSorley to have the helmsman of the Edmund Fitzgerald steer a few degrees more to port when passing Manitoulin Island
Persuade Hillary to start go-for-the-throat divorce proceedings against Billy in, say, 1997, if for nothing more than entertainment
Get Nixon's inner circle to realize that going after the DNC headquarters won't gain a damn thing of practical value and that the election is essentially in the bag as it is
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Your third one seems like a bit of a waste if you want to tip the 1960 election. Kennedy wins the election without Illinois.

If I limit myself to events after the births of everyone I'd care about, that requires going back in time no earlier than March 16, 1998 to ensure my sister is born. I suppose I would try and convince Al Gore to pick Bob Graham for Vice President or not run away from the Clinton connection and get the party to stop using those butterfly ballots. I'd have to bring evidence of the future to try and convince him of the need for these things.
 

06294086

Provided I have the power to change REALLY big things and to DEFINITELY convince the person responsible to; I would teleport myself somewhere in September 1424 to not only convince Hongxi Emperor that cancelling Zhenghe's expedition would be among the biggest mistakes that any dynasties in China could ever do and to also expand the expedition into a full-fledged maritime trade network, including establishing overseas Chinese colonies around the world and modernizing Chinese fleet in the process.
 
perfectgeneral

perfectgeneral

Donor
Monthly Donor
Spitfiremk1 said:
Perhaps 1945-1951 was an inoculation to much...
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1979+ was a cure worse than the ailment.
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UncleDynamite said:
Go back to 1966, sleep with Dianne Chandler in her prime.

History? Feh. One assassination either way isn't going matter, might as well have some fun.
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Context:

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10/10 for presentation, but you can have smoke without fire. Especially in show business.
Benjamin Franklin
To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends.
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I'd kiil Churchill as a spy while in Boer custody.
 
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Peter Parker

Banned
I would convince the Western Allied Leaders that Stalin can't be trusted, and that the world would be better off with out the Cold War

Operation Unthinkable must now be.... Thinkable

Or tell Bill Clinton to let that Cuban Boy stay. Al Gore would then win Florida and the election. Also prevent 9/11. Imagine how much better we would be now.
 

clintonforever

Banned
clintonforever said:
Here's real food for thought...

Go back to Nov 22, 1963 with a few firecrackers to Dealey Plaza, light them and throw them on JFK's limo just as he's turning into Dealey Plaza.

The loud bangs will immediately startle Agent Greer and other Agents into believing the President is being shot at and the motorcade will then speed up and head away.

What net effect on history this has is debatable....

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=242249
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My initial thoughts,

Shaken from the attempt on his life as well as increasing pain from back problems, JFK announces in early December 1963 that he will not seek a second term. Beside preventing Nuclear Armageddon in 1962, the civil rights bill of 1964 will be his biggest accomplishment....

JFK becomes a best-selling author after leaving in January 1965; however his marriage to Jackie fails after he develops a passionate affair with a nurse who, as a result of his deteriorating health, assists in his day-to-day life...

With better medical technology becoming available, JFK lives to see Bill Clinton whom he met briefly during his presidency elected in 1992, then dies in Feb 1993 shortly after Clinton's inauguration.

With dim prospects for the 1964 nomination VP Johnson announces in January that he will not seek the nomination either. He resigns to become CEO of a major corporation based in Texas.

Best match-up for 1964: Humphrey vs Goldwater.... Humphrey wins in a squeaker?
 
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birdboy2000

Banned
Stopping neoliberalism in its cradle is hard, because the mixed economies of the postwar period weren't socialist enough to prevent rich people from having an outsized political influence, or prevent from trying to push an ideology that makes giving them all the money and power seem like a good idea.

That said, a well-placed bomb at the Mont Pelerin society in its early years, obliterating much of the membership, would go a long way towards alleviating the problems of today.
 
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Fxgentleman

Donor
I would be worried about changing anything before the year I was born for obvious reasons. That being said I can think of two things since which come to mind I would want to change.

I would go back to December 1976 and visit Jimmy Carter after he is elected President of the US but before he is sworn in. I would bring with me a modern laptop loaded with historical books, videos, and documents about what happens during his administration and afterwards.

I would explain the bad choices he made and the effect it had on the country and the world. I would emphasize preventing Iran from becoming a theocracy, responding better to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, repairing the economy, and addressing the energy problem before the 1979 oil crisis among other things. I would also make it clear how his failures helped lead to the 1980 victory of Ronald Reagan and how that screwed up the country. Whether Carter would make the same mistakes I can't say, but maybe if he was forewarned he could make things better.

The second event would be to prevent the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986. I would go back to a few weeks before the accident and give a copy of the videos of the disaster and the official accident report to the head of NASA and explain the major impact the tragedy had. At the same time I would also give them materials as well about the 2003 loss of the Columbia so they could do something about alleviating that issue as well. To be on the safe side, I would also drop copies of this info with key journalists and scientists just in case NASA should try and cover it up.
 

alspug

So long as assassination is what your going to do I think killing of the Mufti of Jerusalem and making it look like the Nazi's did it would have a good effect . Imagine no Muslim Brotherhood , no Fascist Arab quasi religious organization .
 

birdboy2000

Banned
alspug said:
So long as assassination is what your going to do I think killing of the Mufti of Jerusalem and making it look like the Nazi's did it would have a good effect . Imagine no Muslim Brotherhood , no Fascist Arab quasi religious organization .
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You want to whack Qutb for that. Or al-Banna.

Amin al-Husseini certainly played a role in inflaming religious tensions in mandatory Palestine, which certainly got a lot of Jews killed (both in Palestine, and in the rest of Europe by leading to the white paper) and arguably caused the Nakba in response once the Jews were in a position to be the ones doing the cleansing.

But he is not responsible for the Muslim Brotherhood, which had existed in Egypt for years before he joined, nor did he depend on it for his political power, nor was he its primary ideologue.
 

DPKdebator

Go back to the 1500s with modern American weapons, teach the native Irish to use it, and get the English out. Let the good times roll... ;)

vYJwjVx.png
 

Ryan

Donor
DPKdebator said:
Go back to the 1500s with modern American weapons, teach the native Irish to use it, and get the English out. Let the good times roll... ;)

vYJwjVx.png
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that's not changing one historical event.

and what do you mean by "Let the good times roll... ;)"?
 
pieman97405

pieman97405

Convince Nixon he doesn't need to campaign in all fifty states and to focus on states that will be key to winning the 1960 election. Failing that, get TR to run in 1908.
 
jpj1421

jpj1421

pieman97405 said:
Convince Nixon he doesn't need to campaign in all fifty states and to focus on states that will be key to winning the 1960 election. Failing that, get TR to run in 1908.
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For that last one, all you have to do is cause a distraction when TR stupidly vowed to not run for another term Election Night 1904. Perhaps you could pop some champagne just as he starts talking.
 
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