What would life be like if America emerged victorious in Vietnam?
It's an interesting thought to consider, not least because it would have fundamentally altered the course of the country during the 1970s, a decade most associate with the its ostensible decline under presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter.
It's a reality the world of Watchmen occupies, however, with the Comedian having instigated the Gulf of Tonkin incident (echoing familiar conspiracy theories surrounding the events of the USA's entry into the conflict) - a course that propelled President Johnson to authorise the deployment of Doctor Manhattan that would later ensure the defeat of Ho Chi Minh's forces. The defeat resulted in the United States absorbing Vietnam as its 51st state, although with that level of imperialism ruling the Watchmen White House, you have to wonder why others didn't follow.
As far as alternate histories go, this one hast to be among the most interesting.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
