1961 H-Bomb that would have hanged the state

[Urbanity]

Apparently a Hydrogen bomb "260 times more powerful than the device that flattened Hiroshima" almost detonated over/in/around Goldsboro in 1961.  (Source: Washington Post) which makes me toy with a alternate history guessing game.

 

If that had happened. Would NC in general be a much smaller state population wise today?  (I'm talking people's unwillingness to move here for decades after).

Would the State Capital have stayed in Raleigh or would it move to the Triad or Charlotte?  

 

As we were the major producer of Tobacco products of the time - what would (perception alone) of the bomb in the state done to Americas smoking habits and our economy?

 

Would Charlotte in current form ever have happened?  

 

 

Just random questions running through my mind based on this incredible almost accident!

 

MOD NOTE:  I meant to write "changed" not "hanged" in the subject line - but I can't seem to correct it.  Though it seems to be an apt Freudian slip...

[kdub1]

Apparently a Hydrogen bomb "260 times more powerful than the device that flattened Hiroshima" almost detonated over/in/around Goldsboro in 1961.  (Source: Washington Post) which makes me toy with a alternate history guessing game.

 

If that had happened. Would NC in general be a much smaller state population wise today?  (I'm talking people's unwillingness to move here for decades after).

Would the State Capital have stayed in Raleigh or would it move to the Triad or Charlotte?  

 

As we were the major producer of Tobacco products of the time - what would (perception alone) of the bomb in the state done to Americas smoking habits and our economy?

 

Would Charlotte in current form ever have happened?  

 

 

Just random questions running through my mind based on this incredible almost accident!

 

MOD NOTE:  I meant to write "changed" not "hanged" in the subject line - but I can't seem to correct it.  Though it seems to be an apt Freudian slip...

 

The population would have been significantly smaller. The capital would have been moved to Charlotte based on the mentality that it "should be as far away from Goldsboro as possible."  As a result, there is no Triad, just three cities of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point that function without any sense of regionalism. The nuke ensures that Raleigh is the only state capital in the Lower 48 without an interstate. RTP is scuttled as survival is the only thing state leaders think of.

 

When it comes to tobacco, the hydrogen bomb obliterates the industry overnight, making it easier for the anti-smoking backlash that happened in 1964. As a result, Big Tobacco waves the white flag, and nicotine smoking goes out of style by the late 1970s. The cigarette companies then focus on legalizing marijuana to make up for lost revenue. 

 

Charlotte would be the political city Raleigh is and the big corporations are located further south in Atlanta and Birmingham. Population wise, Charlotte would likely have 10% of its current population.

[Guest]

I wouldn't have been born, as my parents would have surely perished.

[kdub1]

But, wait, it gets worse: TWO bombs missed us

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/us/north-carolina-nuclear-bomb-drop/index.html

[kdub1]

The nuke ensures that Raleigh is the only state capital in the Lower 48 without an interstate. RTP is scuttled as survival is the only thing state leaders think of.

 

And now, a retraction of sorts: I-95 would have been rerouted via Raleigh to avoid the eastern part of the state but there would be no Beltline--at least not the southern portion anyway.

[kickazzz2000]

And now, a retraction of sorts: I-95 would have been rerouted via Raleigh to avoid the eastern part of the state but there would be no Beltline--at least not the southern portion anyway.

It also would not have been a state capital under your scenario.