On this alternate timeline about Janury 28, 1967, after a hippie revolt in the congress, former singer of the Beatles, Jhon Lennon takes the presidence of the United States.
On that era dramatic changes succeded in the world:
the Vietnam War ended in 1968 due to the peace efforts of Lennon, who was able to stop this war with his influence and Beatle’s popularity. The year after, the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstien died of drug overdose. After that event Jhon broke up with Ono and married Mia Farrow for a time before divorcing her too (her sister Prudence also contributed) . In 1970 he divorced Cynthia Schmidt as well; during 1969-70 period there were events from his life influenced by drugs like “The Bed Peace” which begins an era called “Lennonist hippie revolution”. His politics in drugs and hippie revolution made him disregard the Law, and he even smoked marijuana in front of congress.
He lost a presidential election to Richard Nixon during 1972; he died on 1980 from a drug overdose that was covered up with his death by assassination. During this time period many things were done: first is the legalization of drugs (Jhon Lennon´s wish) which started an era called “Lennonist Hippie Revolution” or simply The Movement where young people took over universities and other places like New York’s Central Park South, protesting against the government for their freedom rights but also because they wanted change in politics too, giving rise to political groups such as Yippies (Youth International Party) led by Jerry Rubin who attended the first Earth Day.
During this time period and several years later, The Movement was supported by Jhon Lennon as well as many other popular singers like Bob Dylan or Joan Baez (by them a music album called “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” is released with songs talking about peace, drugs and protest against Vietnam War). However after his death The Movement has been under riot control until 1980 when they get their freedom rights but on condition of not protesting anymore. That was the end to that era which began in 1967; however it’s important to mention that during John F Kennedy government there were already civil protests for racial equality and against the war in Vietnam.
The assassination of John Lennon is never mentioned as such, it’s simply refered to an “accident” (it happened on 1980) and also that his death made him a martyr for The Movement; there’s no explanation about what kind or how this “accident” happened. There seems to be no justice either if we keep into account that Mark David Chapman was released from jail by 1985 (his sentence was fifteen years); he still lives today under a new identity which only very few know who he is because of the protection given by FBI.[1] However, Jhon Lennon remains one hippie hero alongside other influential musicians like Bob Dylan or Joan Baez.
There is no information about the Beatles during this time period, although it’s possible that their music has been politicized due to a special law or regulation as well; we do not know if they have ceased activity in 1970 or if they continued until 1980 when John died (there are several songs talking about hippie revolution and drugs like “The Bed Peace”, but nothing is said of his death). There seems to be no pictures of The Beatles anywhere on-line nor mentions whatsoever either[2]. It’s also unclear what happened with George Harrison after the 70s because he had legal problems regarding immigration issues.[3] Also there are other musicians which seem to have disappeared like Roy Orbson and Jim Morrisson.[4]
On this timeline, the United Kingdom is in a very bad state since their economy has been weakened by The Movement. As a result of that there’s an independence movement happening on Wales which actually succeeds during 1982-84; due to it Northern Ireland also declares its independence from UK as well (this leads to war). During 1985 Scotland tries for autonomy however they are rejected because “it will make them weaker”. In 1991 England dissolves into smaller countries such as Lancashire, Yorkshire or Cornwall (there was no mention if London had any problems with autonomy), although this time period seems so unstable that even regions like Cumbria, Lake District and Scotland (who declared independence in 1984) seem to be independent again.[2]
There is a reference on-line about the Beatles during this time period saying that they “disappeared” together with the Rolling Stones and other bands of that era; however there’s no explanation if it was an accident or something like John Lennon´s death. It’s not even clear whether The Movement really influenced them or not since all info has been erased from history.[5]
There are also references about the popularity of Beatles and other bands during this time period. For example, it’s mentioned that Paul McCartney is more popular than Jesus Christ, although there aren’t any explanation on why or how he became so important to replace Christianity.[6] It seems like The Movement never ceased its protest against religion either (especially christianity) since they have formed a group called “The Freethinkers” which hasn’t been heard from until 2003 when they begin protesting again in front of White House asking for freedom rights; however many people do not agree with their point-of-view because there was only one mention about them in history books.[7]
Origins and fake stories on Internet Edit
Many information about this alternate timeline come from a lot of websites using “the Beatles as president” tag. However, it’s also very common in them to use several fakes or prank videos (or even pictures), which are usually taken off the internet for being false content; although lots of people believed it was real due to their ignorance. Some others seem to be just joke pages where there are no references at all about The Movement, John Lennon or Beatle´s popularity.[8]
But in other websites which are more serious there are some references about John Lennon, although they’re not clear too. One of them is an article on biblioteca.org, a site where you can also find several pictures and details about this alternate timeline (it’s called “Petition to the President: HELP US STOP THE DRUGS”)[9] . There it says that The Movement started with a group called Yippies led by Jerry Rubin who attended the first Earth Day; however we don’t know if those people were real or just names invented for this website.[10] It’s unclear if Jhon Lennon was involved with them since what appears here doesn’t make much sense. That site also contains a fake picture of Jhon Lennon wearing a t-shirt with the term “Catcher in the Rye” on it and holding some books; that’s not real because he never wore such shirt (there is only one photo showing him with glasses which says “Imagine”, another one where he has long hair, but nothing else).[11]
There are several other websites containing both Beatle´s images as well John Lennon during this time period. Unfortunately they do not explain if these photos were really taken by press or simply faked by fans to make people believe that The Movement was true[12]; however there aren’t any videos nor news reports either