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News, History & Ephemera · NBC

Stroke of Fate

October 4, 1953 – December 27, 1953 · 13 broadcasts

NBC's answer to You Are There, but turned inside out: instead of reporting history as it happened, Stroke of Fate asked what might have followed if a single pivotal moment had gone the other way. Across thirteen half-hours in the autumn of 1953, a repertory of New York radio actors -- Santos Ortega, Ed Begley, Alexander Scourby, Edgar Stehli, Patricia Wheel and others -- played out the altered worlds: Robert E. Lee in Union blue, Hamilton walking away from the duel, France stopping Hitler at the Rhineland, Russia keeping Alaska. Written by Mort Lewis and George Faulkner and directed by Fred Weihe, the series was unusual for its scholarly backing -- professional historians, among them Allan Nevins, supported it and the Society of American Historians supplied background, an academic endorsement of counterfactual history remarkable for its day. It ran sustained on Sunday nights from October to December 1953 and closed after its thirteen-week cycle. All thirteen episodes survive.

Collection status: 13 of 13 held (100% complete)
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Episode Spine

1953

October 4, 1953 Robert E. Lee Listen (MP3)
What if Robert E. Lee had taken Lincoln's offer to command the Union Army instead of leading the Confederacy?
October 11, 1953 Earl of Essex Listen (MP3)
What if the Earl of Essex's plot to depose Queen Elizabeth I had succeeded?
October 18, 1953 The Burr Hamilton Duel Listen (MP3)
What if it was Hamilton who walked away from the duel, having killed Aaron Burr?
October 25, 1953 Escape of Marie Antoinette Listen (MP3)
What if Marie Antoinette had slipped past the guillotine and lived?
November 1, 1953 Lincoln's Consular Service Listen (MP3)
What if the young Lincoln had won the 1841 consular post he wanted, and left for a life abroad instead of the presidency?
November 8, 1953 Benedict Arnold Listen (MP3)
What if Benedict Arnold's plot to hand West Point to the British had come off?
November 15, 1953 Caesar and Cleopatra Listen (MP3)
What if Julius Caesar had married Cleopatra and joined Rome to Egypt?
November 22, 1953 Germany Invades the Rhineland Listen (MP3)
What if France had met Hitler's 1936 march into the Rhineland with force rather than acquiescence?
November 29, 1953 Battle of Quebec Listen (MP3)
What if the French had beaten the British at Quebec in 1759 and kept North America?
December 6, 1953 Our Neighbor in Alaska Listen (MP3)
What if Russia had never sold Alaska, leaving a Russian territory as America's northwestern neighbor?
December 13, 1953 Alexander the Great Listen (MP3)
What if Alexander the Great had lived to carry his conquests on into the West?
December 20, 1953 America's First Secret Weapon Listen (MP3)
What if America's Revolutionary-War secret weapon, the one-man submarine, had actually worked?
December 27, 1953 Norman Conquest of England Listen (MP3)
What if fate had turned William back in 1066 and spared England the Norman Conquest?
The Story

NBC's answer to You Are There, but turned inside out: instead of reporting history as it happened, Stroke of Fate asked what might have followed if a single pivotal moment had gone the other way. Across thirteen half-hours in the autumn of 1953, a repertory of New York radio actors -- Santos Ortega, Ed Begley, Alexander Scourby, Edgar Stehli, Patricia Wheel and others -- played out the altered worlds: Robert E. Lee in Union blue, Hamilton walking away from the duel, France stopping Hitler at the Rhineland, Russia keeping Alaska. Written by Mort Lewis and George Faulkner and directed by Fred Weihe, the series was unusual for its scholarly backing -- professional historians, among them Allan Nevins, supported it and the Society of American Historians supplied background, an academic endorsement of counterfactual history remarkable for its day. It ran sustained on Sunday nights from October to December 1953 and closed after its thirteen-week cycle. All thirteen episodes survive.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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