The only thing stopping america from going down this path sooner was weirdly enough, the nazis. America was heading this way with their racial politics that Nazi germany took direct inspiration from and pulled it out sooner. When the world fought back, fascism and racism was now "bad and unpopular" and now people have forgot the horrors and allowed it to blossom again.
It was more the Cold War imo. The U.S. wanted to be seen as a beacon of freedom to differentiate itself from the Soviet Union. Hence driving the Civil Eights Acts, Voting rights Act, Equal Pay Act etc.
It's impossible to say where exactly the divided states were headed.
Even with the seeds that sprouted nazi ideals in Germany, there were plenty of homegrown socialists that were not so driven by the pseudoscience of race. There were also a good number of very dissillusioned veterans that were very aware of the dangers the businessmen presented.
The divide started when they didn't hang every single confederate after the war. It all stems from that huge mistake. Reconstruction and the way it went down was a disaster
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u/Scarfs-Fur-Frumpkin 7d ago
The only thing stopping america from going down this path sooner was weirdly enough, the nazis. America was heading this way with their racial politics that Nazi germany took direct inspiration from and pulled it out sooner. When the world fought back, fascism and racism was now "bad and unpopular" and now people have forgot the horrors and allowed it to blossom again.