“What ifs” Alternate Histories
What if Hitler won the war? What if the South triumphed at Gettysburg? What if things went a bit wrong in
October 1962? In many of our classes, I think, students tend to look at history as just the learning of facts
that are set in stone and almost as destined to be. Through a “What if?” exercise, I think students can gain a
greater grasp of the fragility, interconnections and imponderables that we confronted in our past and will
face in our future.
Task: You are to identify one specific point in history for which you are interested in changing the outcome.
Once you have identified your point of divergence, you will need to consider both the immediate changes
and the long-term impacts that divergence would have on modern society. Once you have done this, you
will complete the following questions:
1. What topic did you choose?
2. Why did you choose this topic?
3. What prior knowledge do you have of the topic?
4. What has been the impact of this event on modern society?
5. Now for the fun part, what is your point of divergence (or “what if”?)? See flip-side for examples.
6. What message or story are you hoping to communicate with your alternate history?
7. How did this exercise change the way you think about history?
What if…
John Foster Dulles had an early onset of colon cancer and never became Secretary of State?
The Lewis & Clark expedition had never met Sacagawea?
There was a thunderstorm on October 14, 1962, and the U-2 spy plane did not see nuclear activity in
Cuba?
Henry Clay contracted pneumonia and therefore could not propose the Compromise of 1850?
The Soviet Union had kept their "3 month promise" to the US in 1945?
Robert E. Lee had decided to accept Gen. Winfield Scott's offer from President Lincoln to command the
Union army?
Charles Crocker never attended Theodore Judah's presentation about a transcontinental railroad in
1860?
Jerry Parr had not taken the place of his deputy, Johnny Guy, on the morning of March 30, 1981?
Dr. Robert W. Lovett hadn't diagnosed FDR with polio in the summer of 1921?
Secretary of State John Marshall had remembered to mail the commissions for Adams's appointments
in 1801?
Secretary of State Dean Rusk had supported the provision of Air Force aid during the Bay of Pigs
invasion?
Upton Sinclair never wrote "The Jungle?"
Benjamin Franklin had been blamed for external taxes after the repeal of the Stamp Act?
John Hancock and Samuel Adams decided against ratification of the Constitution?
Margaret Sanger's mother hadn't died of cervical cancer in 1909?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton had taken her husband's advice in not publishing the Declaration of
Sentiments?
Claudette Colvin had not gotten pregnant in 1955?
The burglars at Watergate had re-taped the latch of the door vertically, hiding it from the security
guard?
The Army-McCarthy hearings had never been televised?
Bill Gates gave up computers for good in High School?
Europeans were devastated by Native American disease in the early 1600s?
The woman handcuffed during the Stonewall Inn raid hadn't yelled at the crowd to do something?
Albert Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt was intercepted by the Soviet Union in 1939?
Andrew Volstead was never appointed to the judiciary committee in 1919?
Betty Friedan missed her college reunion?
Allen Pinkerton had been sick and unable to protect Abraham Lincoln on his way to the 1861
inauguration?
James Monroe & Robert Livingston had followed Jefferson's orders and bought only the port of New
Orleans?
John F. Kennedy had listened to McGeorge Bundy and supplied air support for the Bay of Pigs invasion?
Both of Richard Lawrence's pistols hadn't malfunctioned?
The weather had prevented Franklin D. Roosevelt from attending the Boy Scout Jamboree?
A storm had prevented the troop carriers from landing on the beaches on June 6, 1944?
Doctors were able to save the life of John Brown's mother, Ruth Mills Brown?
Japanese militarism died down substantially before Dec 7, 1941 and the US never joined WW2?
What if the Beatles had broken up in 1966?
What if the Protestant Reformation never happened?