Originally posted by Don Lights:
Tom Hagen is Irish, not even Italian. It broke tradition that Don Vito Corleone choose Tom Hagen, as in the past the consligere has always been of Italian descent....
Tom Hagen was taken in as a boy by Vito and his wife and was raised as their son. It's a little different than Vito simply breaking tradition by going out and getting himself an Irish consiligere. (German/Irish - to be exact)
Additionally, I do not think Vito would have 'picked' Michael over Sonny as Don. He wouldn't do that to Santino. He hadn't even wanted Michael involved in the Family Business; his aspirations for his youngest son went far beyone that (Senator Corleone...Governor Corleone...).
No, if Sonny had survived until Michael returned home from Italy he would have continued to serve as Acting Don, and as someone wisely posted Vito might have had more time to offer him some guidance before taking over completely.
But again...Sonny could not have survived much longer even without the hit on the Causeway. He would have been eliminated sooner or later, it was just a matter of time.
Apple