Almost History

history: Almost History

• Introduction PLANNING FOR THE WORST
• If D-Day Had Stood for Disaster---1944
• Operation Unthinkable and World War III---1945
• When Bomb Shelters Were In: The ABCs of
• Surviving an A-Bomb Attack---1954,
• Pricing Quemoy and Matsu---1958
• Predelegating Nuclear Terror---1959
• Not an Extraterrestrial---1962
• Losing the Astronauts---1969
• FORKS IN THE ROAD
• A Road Not Taken to Harper's Ferry---1859
• Powell's Choice---1869
• The Ascension of ``His Fraudulency'': John
• Reid and the Victory of Rutherford B. Hayes---1876
• A Bombing Order Away from Doomsday:
• Cuba---1962
• A Federal-State Showdown in Mississippi---1962
• To Indict a President?---1974 FORTUITOUS OCCURRENCES
• Manifest Destiny or Lucky Circumstance:
• Jefferson and Louisiana---1802
• The Five-Spot Would Have Looked Different:
• The Story of Lincoln's Beard---1860
• How a Cigar Wrapper Smoked the
• Confederates---1862
• Saved by a Speech---1912
• ``Don't Forget to Be a Good Boy'': A
• Tennessee Legislator Listens to His Mother
• and Saves the Vote for Women---1920
• Einstein's Modest Suggestion---1939
• Code Maker's Dream, Enemy's Nightmare---1942
• Informing on the Veep: The Kickback
• Revelations that Brought Down Agnew---1973
• CLOSE CALLS
• General Washington Under Fire---1783
• The ``Firebell in the Night'' Nearly Rang Early: The Tallmadge Amendment and the
• Missouri Compromise---1819
• Declining an Invitation to Ford's Theatre---1865
• How a Taxicab Accident Nearly Changed World History---1931
• Others Didn't Make It---JFK Did---1943
• Wernher von Braun: The Soviet Union's
• Loss---1945
• A Heartbeat Away---1955
• If the Heat Shield Had Blown---1962
• What the Public Didn't Know About Three Mile
• Island---1979
• TWISTS OF IRONY
• Revolt Not Revolution: Washington Denies
• Seeking Independence---1774
• James Whistler, Failed Soldier and Bureaucrat---1855
• More than Mischief: The Cartoon That Did in Boss Tweed---1875
• But for Metal Mattress Coils---1881
• Letter from a Dayton Bicycle Shop---1899
• Richard Nixon, FBI Agent---1937
• The DAR Loses a Member---1939
• LBJ: Vietnam Dove---1954
• To Assure Nonviolence: King on Trial---1968
• Deporting John Lennon---1972
• If I Were in Your Shoes...---1987 PLANS THWARTED
• Dousing Confederate Fire: A Conspiracy Foiled---1864
• Jefferson Davis, Guerrilla Fighter---1865
• A Different Path to Reconciliation---1865
• Trashing Diplomacy: Japan Rebuffs a Peace Plan---1941
• Avoiding the Quagmire---1963
• Planning for Cuban Rapprochement---1963
• A Speech Undelivered---1963
• Trying to Take Down the Cuban Roadrunner---1967
• OPPORTUNITIES MISSED; WARNINGS UNHEEDED
• A Young Illinois Congressman Challenges U.S.
• Imperialism---1847
• A Georgian Olive Branch Rejected---1863
• ``Ma Bell Beats ``Ma Gray by a Nose---1876
• No Hurricane Can Make a Left Turn: How a
• Killer Storm Defied the Rules and Detroyed a
• City---1900
• Ice Warnings and the Unsinkable Titanic---1912
• Advertised in Advance: The Lusitania
• Disaster---1915
• Eleven Months' Warning---1941
• Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, and Ho Chi
• Minh---1945
• A Ripsnorting Chance to ``Give 'Em Hell''
• Missed---1950
• Left at the Space Race Starting Gate---1957
• Genocide Alert Ignored---1994
• For Lack of a Ferret: Aldrich Ames and the
• CIA Fiasco---1985--94 VAGARIES OF WAR
• British Frustration and the Saratoga
• Debacle---1777
• Establishing a Second Europe: The American Revolution Truce Plan---1781
• SOS from the Alamo---1836
• Some Thought It Lunacy: Pickett's Charge Questioned---1863
• A Question of Guilt: Custer and His Orders---1876
• Japanese Americans: Evidence to the
• Contrary---1941
• CODE-BREAKING CONSEQUENCES
• A Decoded Note and the End of Neutrality---1917
• Herbert Yardley's American Black Chamber and
• the Arms Conference---1921
• Breaking the Code and Winning Midway---1942 SLIPPERY TRUTH
• Plots, Forgeries, and the Assassination of
• Jefferson Davis---1864
• Horror Concealed: Vignettes of an American Army Nurse---1916
• Harry Truman's Puzzling Diary Entry---1945
• Human Guinea Pig Research and the Tragic
• Death of Dr. Frank Olson---1963
• URBAN LEGENDS
• Milking Chicago's Urban Cow Legend: Mrs.
• O'Leary's Cow or a Terrorist?---1871
• Giving the Country a Bath---1917
• The Advent of the Bambino's Curse---1920 LOUSY PREDICTIONS
• What About Radial Tires?---1909
• Who Is This Guy, Jules Verne?---1920
• Some Got It Right---1948
• A Laptop for a Large Lap---1949
• Document Sources

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