Noting that today, not Tuesday, is the 230th anniversary of Continental Congress' vote for independence, the New York Times' Adam Goodheart comes up with this list of 10 days that changed American history.

Take this one.

FEB. 15, 1933: The Wobbly Chair

It should have been an easy shot: five rounds at 25 feet. But the gunman, Giuseppe Zangara, an anarchist, lost his balance atop a wobbly chair, and instead of hitting President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, he fatally wounded the mayor of Chicago, who was shaking hands with F.D.R.

Had Roosevelt been assassinated, his conservative Texas running mate, John Nance Garner, would most likely have come to power. "The New Deal, the move toward internationalism — these would never have happened," says Alan Brinkley of Columbia University. "It would have changed the history of the world in the 20th century. I don't think the Kennedy assassination changed things as much as Roosevelt's would have."

I've often wondered about that one myself -- seems like an interesting point of departure for an alternate history novel.

As a whole, the dates selected are an interesting bunch. -- and not all based upon politics, which I think is often a failing of such lists.

Posted by: Greg at 06:10 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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