Reply #36: Yes Derbeppo

[Yupster]

A good what if story really takes a lot of research and thought. It's easy to be lazy and just follow lines.

A very good and funny short story I read once was called "Southern Strategy" and was based in the south in the 1950's.

The USA never joined WWI and therefore the war ended with a negotiated stalemate which caused the League of Nations to be formed and run as an important world body run by the chief European Powers Germany, France and England.

This story takes place in occupied southern USA where the League of Nations has sent an occupying force to protect the African-American minority which was being abused in the 1950's south.

League of Nations General Erwin Rommel was in charge of occupied Alabama where Governor Tallulah Bankhead (memory?) was having a tough time keeping order between the occupying powers and the white resistance forces led by George Wallace, and the black resistance forces led by Martin Luther King.

The plot is when Adlai Stephenson is sent down south to try to get the two parts of the Democratic Party voting bloc to stop fighting each other sso the party could be united for the upcoming presidential election.

There's a sinister hand trying to keep the two sides fighting each other who's only known as "Tricky Dick"

The story takes a bad turn when General Rommel is killed by a terrorist attack. The Germans are told Stephenson was the culprit and where to find him. Meanwhile Stephenson has ben lured to the place by a teenaged messenger who delivers him a message while telling him that Rommel's murder had the Germans, "all shook up."

An awful lot of thought put into that story. Was a fun read.