Johnsonverse World History/Historical events

== 2020 election ==
Former Johnson CEO Sheldon Johnson, Jr. became the 46th President of the United States instead of Joe Biden, though Biden still became the Chief of Staff, with Val Demings as vice president. Also, because he brought renewed energy to the party after the Democrats' surprise loss in the 2016 election, Johnson ended up winning by a landslide, winning almost all the swing states including Texas and Florida, and the Democrats regained the Senate majority, as well as some additional House seats.
== 2024 election ==
Due to being much younger than Joe Biden, Sheldon Johnson Jr. had a much better first debate on June 28, 2024, running circles around Donald Trump. Consequently, he did not drop out of the 2024 presidential race in favor of Kamala Harris, and won the election handily, winning all swing states and even managing to flip Iowa, as well as regaining the House majority and widening the Senate majority.
== 2022 rail strikes ==
Due to Continental (a more liberal/progressive company with better pay) having a near-monopoly on passenger and freight rail, and also giving workers sick pay, the 2022 rail strikes never happened. A minority of some more communist-leaning workers threatened to strike, but were quickly fired due to not disclosing themselves as Communist sympathizers when they were hired.
== Korean War ==
The Korean War began at the same time as OTL, but ended in February 1951. Communist China attacked South Korea, and General MacArthur drew up a plan to use 50 atomic bombs against both North Korea and North China. In our timeline, President Truman dismissed MacArthur for trying to go behind his back to implement this plan, but in the Johnsonverse, Truman realized this was the only way they could break the stalemate.
On February 23, 1951, Operation Hudson Harbor was executed, and all North Korean positions were wiped off the map by Mark 4 nuclear bombs carried by B-29 bombers. Over 50 bombs were dropped along the Yalu River to create a death zone that the North Chinese could not send any forces or supplies through. The Yalu Radiation Zone was declared terra nullius until the International Atomic Energy Agency declared it habitable again in 2012, a full sixty years after the operation was carried out. North Korea immediately surrendered, and North China pulled back. The Soviet Union, which had bomber and submarine forces in the area, was intimdated into pulling all forces out of the area, as they had very few nuclear weapons of their own compared to the United States. In a controversial move, Kim Il-sung was granted amnesty on the grounds that he never get involved in politics again. He went on to become Korea's most-prolific restauranteur, a legacy carried on by his son Kim Jong-il and his grandson Kim Jong-un. This also means that the 2014 Sony hacking incident never happened.
To this day, Operation Hudson Harbor is a topic of debate and controversy, with historians questioning if the United States was justified in carrying out the bombings (which were done with the permission of South Korea), or if the United States should have settled for an armistice. Proponents of Hudson Harbor state that an armistice would create an increasingly-unstable situation on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate into World War III at any time, while opponents stated that the operation was unethical and created an ecological disaster that only ended in 2012. As for international opinion, nuclear weaponry was still in its infancy, and to the United States' credit, the lowest-possible yield on the Mark 4 bomb was used against North Korean positions, and only airbursts were used on the Korean Peninsula, both factors limiting the damage and ensuring radioactive fallout wouldn't hinder Korea's postwar recovery. North Chinese and American authorities also worked together to keep fallout from the Yalu groundbursts from drifting into Korea. In addition, no future wars saw nuclear weapons used, despite several close calls.
== Roe v. Wade ==
One of the first acts Sheldon Johnson made when becoming President was to officially codify Roe v. Wade into law, meaning it wasn't repealed in June 2022.
== RMS Titanic ==
In this timeline, when Titanic's stern broke off, it was a clean break, detaching the stern entirely from the bottom keel and B deck. As a result, while the bow sunk, the stern quickly stabilized and remained afloat. Survivors still on the stern gradually came to the realization that it wouldn't sink. Five minutes after the stern stabilized, Second Officer Charles Lightoller managed to locate a loudhailer, and ordered the lifeboats to return and rescue survivors from the water. When the Cunard ship RMS Carpathia and Continental Shipping Lines ship SS Raleigh arrived, they were met with the bizarre sight of the rear half of a ship still afloat with hundreds still aboard.
In all, 200-300 died in the sinking instead of 1,500. Hours after Carpathia and Raleigh departed, the RMS Olympic arrived on the scene. Several crew members from Olympic boarded Titanic's stern to determined its seaworthiness. Despite extensive damage, the stern was deemed stable enough to be towed, and Olympic briefly became the world's-largest tugboat. Despite the constant threat of further structural failure on Titanic's stern, Olympic arrived safely to Harland & Wolff in Belfast on April 21, 1912. Upon arrival in Belfast, a more comprehensive inspection was conducted, and the decision was made to rebuild the ship.
On May 6, 1912, Titanic's stern arrived at drydock, where work began to fully stabilize it and remove the damaged sections. A new bow with enhanced safety features (such as higher watertight compartments) was constructed. On May 22, 1914, the new bow was launched to much fanfare, and by mid-June, the two sections were joined together, completing the rebirth of the Titanic.
Following a new round of sea trials, the reborn Titanic, under the command of now-Captain Lightoller, set sail on her second maiden voyage on July 22, 1914, this time completing the voyage without issue. Following the loss of Titanic's first bow, new international maritime regulations were implemented, such as having enough lifeboats for all passengers, abolishing the "women and children first" policy, and establishing an International Ice Patrol to provide better warnings of icebergs.
Upon arrival in New York, however, World War I had begun. Throughout the war, Titanic served as a hospital ship alongside RMS Gigantic; while Gigantic suffered the same fate as IOTL, Titanic survived the war, and reentered service as a liner in 1919.
Titanic and Olympic both remained popular throughout the 1920s, but by the 1930s, both were showing their age. The two liners passed into CSL ownership in 1935, along with many older Cunard and White Star ships. While Olympic is still in service today (with numerous modernizations such as oil-fired boilers and modernized accomodations), Titanic was torpedoed by a German U-Boat on June 17, 1941, shortly after another CSL ship, the RMS Majestic, had been sunk by a U-Boat. The torpedo struck Boiler #4, causing it to explode and creating a chain reaction that caused further explosions, ripping the ship apart. The 84 survivors were rescued by a British destroyer.
The fact that two CSL ships had violently exploded after a U-Boat attack did not go unnoticed, and testimony by the highest-ranked surviving crew member revealed that the boilers were operating at a higher pressure than they were designed for, in order for the ship to go faster and hopefully outrun any U-Boats. This higher pressure was determined to be the cause of the explosions.
As a result of Titanic's partial survival in 1912, movies about the sinking tend to have a happier ending. The 1997 James Cameron film, in particular, was based around the 1941 total sinking instead of the 1912 partial sinking, but was still the second-highest grossing film behind EarthBound.
Category:Johnsonverse