The Assassination of Charlie Chaplin

[Alberto Knox]

I suppose that a reasonable number of us are familiar with the May 15 Incident of 1932 and that a significant subset thereof are aware that the assassins originally intended to murder Charlie Chaplin as part of this plot.

Their subsequent justification for this was as follows:

'Chaplin is a popular figure in the United States and the darling
of the capitalist class. We believed that killing him would cause a war
with America, and thus we could kill two birds with a single stone.'

While their intended outcome was unlikely, suppose that the original plot had been followed through upon. What follows?

 

[Alex1guy]

...seriously Japan? THAT'S how you would want to start a war?

 

[Emperor Norton I]

'Chaplin is a popular figure in the United States and the darling
of the capitalist class. We believed that killing him would cause a war
with America, and thus we could kill two birds with a single stone.'

​

Be a Champ for the Tramp

Buy War Bonds!

Strange, by the way, that while these radicals were calling him a darling of the capitalist class, said class came to think Chaplin was a lefty who supported the Soviets and kicked him out of the United States in a right-wing hissy fit for it.
​

 

[Alberto Knox]

...seriously Japan? THAT'S how you would want to start a war?

These men were perhaps not the most clear-thinking citizens of their nation.

In any case, they might get half of the way. Such an incident will probably see something of a cooling of relations with the USA, particularly if the plotters are dealt with as leniently as IOTL.

Be a Champ for the Tramp​

Buy War Bonds!​

Strange, by the way, that while these radicals were calling him a darling of the capitalist class, said class came to think Chaplin was a lefty who supported the Soviets and kicked him out of the United States in a right-wing hissy fit for it.​

Humans are strange creatures, that's my understanding of the matter.

Love the slogan. While I doubt a war would immediately result, this event will not drop from memory quickly and in any Pacific War analogue I could easily see Chaplin's memory being exploited for the purposes of propaganda.

 

[Admiral Matt]

I'm actually working on precisely this scenario. My take on it is similar - large scale political effects would not follow quickly. It's a POD with knock-ons more toward the cultural end. It'd certainly have a dramatic outcome on popular culture, for one, and the personal lives of a lot of interesting people would take very different courses.

 

[Thande]

Only OTL can be so bizarre.

While it wasn't so true anymore by 1932, Chaplin was resented in his native Britain for not being part of the war effort in WW1 to the point where he received death threats...I wonder what the reaction would be to this.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

Only OTL can be so bizarre.

While it wasn't so true anymore by 1932, Chaplin was resented in his native Britain for not being part of the war effort in WW1 to the point where he received death threats...I wonder what the reaction would be to this.

Is that really true, or just from the film, because Chaplin was a big part of the war bond drives.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

p

Strange, by the way, that while these radicals were calling him a darling of the capitalist class, said class came to think Chaplin was a lefty who supported the Soviets and kicked him out of the United States in a right-wing hissy fit for it.
​

[/CENTER]

Hey, in the seventies, there were posters splattered around campus denouncing Trudeau as an agent, of us imperialism. Pierre Trudeau?!?!

Radicals dont exactly have a clear view of the center, nor a good grip on reality.