counterfactual

In a blog thread I was reading where people discussed various "what if" moments of history theorising what might have turned out differently, my favourite addition to the thread was this:

Alistair Cooke in one of his Letters from America recalled the story of a commentator, I think Edgar Snow, who during an interview asked Chairman Mao what would have happened if, in 1963, Mr Khrushchev had been assassinated rather than President Kennedy. Mao, after thinking it over, replied “Of one thing only can we be certain: Mr Onassis would not have married Mrs Khrushchev.”