The Michael of Godfather III is a man far removed than anyone Vito Corleone could relate to. He knew of such types - the uncaring cold 'white' businessmen who viewed themselves as morally superior to him, but he probably looked at them in disdain. These were corporate men who put their accountants before their blood.

Michael, like any good white American corporate man, shed any sense of an Italian-American, much less Sicilian or ethnic identity. He looks down on gangsters. He goes out of his way to say he's NOT a gangster, even though the man runs the goddamn Commission. He views the men on the streets - the kind of men his father depended on and trusted - as street thuggery, enforcers. He runs his legal enterprises through foundations, which he says in the film his father hated.

He sold the Olive Oil business which Vito and Genco built, and carelessly allowed the neighborhood to fall to crime, dirt and drugs. He's pretty apathetic when Connie appeals to him about just how badly the neighborhood has fallen since the days of Frank Pentangelli just 20 short years prior.

Even though by 1945 Vito had moved the administrative functions of the Family to Long Island, there's no implication that he let the 'old neighborhood' fall to the wayside. Genco was still family run and operated as of his death.

Vito seemed to be about the Family. Michael said he was, but I feel like Michael's conception of "The Family" was not so much the community, the underlings, the blood family, but that HE, himself, was the Family personified, and that his interests were the interests of The Family. Those things which lay outside his personal interest, even as of III, were of no value.

Whereas Vito, for example, although he saw no personal interest in the affair, took care of the widow Colombo because his wife asked him to. Vito is clearly a beloved neighborhood figure within a few years of murdering Fanucci. A lot of the upper class gents we see visit at Connie's wedding asking for favors - the ones whom respect him - seem to me to be those who probably knew Vito and his family and Family when they were local to the old neighborhood.

For Vito, The Family - both his blood family and his organization - is what defined him, not the opposite. For Michael, he was The Family, and his interests and his interests alone were what mattered to the Family.

As such, if Vito had lived to see his son as of 1979, would he have ben ashamed of the man he became? Forget the issue of Fredo, I am specifically speaking of thes.

There's much logic in what you posted. But, I think Vito would have taken a more tolerant attitude toward Michael:

The "legitimacy" Vito wanted for Michael was "Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone..." He knew this could never be because Michael became part of the criminal enterprise in order to help save Vito, then became head because of Sonny's murder. So, in Vito's reckoning, that path to "legitimacy" was closed to Michael because of the need to preserve Vito's family--physically and business.

The novel also tells us that Vito believed "a man has only one destiny." Vito said that of Sonny's choice of the Olive Oil business over law school (imagine: Sonny as a lawyer!). He'd probably take the same attitude with Michael. He might see Michael's abandonment of the Olive Oil business for wider horizons in the West and in Europe as a natural progression. He'd probably be proud of Michael's being knighted by the Church, and might see his selling the casinos and attempting to control Immobiliare as the best kind of "legitimacy" Michael could achieve under the circumstances. He'd also see Michael, despite his coldness, as a good family man, in that he apparently didn't philander, and tried to be close to his children. He'd have abhorred the divorce, but would have tempered his feelings because Kay had had an abortion.

I think Vito would have been very proud of Mike. At the beginning of III,he gets the Church Knighthood. As the story progresses,we learn more about Mike divesting the Family of all illegitimate business,and also the legal (and lucrative) Casino operations. The Vito Andolini Foundation and the role of Mary in administering it would have certainly touched Vito. And seeing Mike poised to become one of the richest legitimate businessmen in the world through the Immobilare deal would have been icing on the cake. Don't forget,in his heyday,Vito's "legitimacy" was very self-delusional. As we see in the headlines,both when Vito gets shot,and when he comes home from the hospital,the outside world knows full well who Vito Corleone really is. He is referred to as a "gambling boss,gang leader,and syndicate bigshot"

Yes and No. Or rather no and yes. For the reasons outlined above, Vito would probably have been proud of Michael for where he took The Family. But he would have almost certainly been deeply ashamed of what he allowed to happen to the family - a marriage break-up and the murder of his own brother, Vito's son.

In keeping with the hypothetical scenario of this thread,my opinion is that Fredo would not have been killed.
With Vito alive, Mike would never have given the order.. I think an interesting question is what Fredo's status would have become under those circumstances.
Assuming that Mike would be compelled to follow Vito's advice in this matter,what would be the outcome?
Would Fredo be permanently banished from the family,or punished in some other way. Would Vito forgive him since Mike survived the hit?
Naturally Fredo would be finished as a Mob guy,even the wannabe one that he was.
And just to stir it up,would Fredo have gone along with Ola and Roth in the first place?
Since his main beef was being relegated to errand boy status,would he have gone to Vito first to ask for more responsibility?
Just throwing out some random ideas.
Any thoughts?

If Vito were still alive, would Fredo have been involved in the hit. Would there even have been a hit? It's an interesting topic. Fredo was sent to Vegas in '46 and Vito died in '55. That's nine years. Was he on Vito's "shit list" the whole time? From the novel:

Hagen shook his head. Freddie had greeted him much less affectionately than Michael, but Hagen understood. Freddie was on his father’s shit list and Freddie naturally blamed the Consigliere for not straightening things out. Hagen would gladly have done so, but he didn’t know why Freddie was in his father’s bad graces. The Don did not give voice to specific grievances. He just made his displeasure felt.

And then later:

Hagen saw that this had caught Michael by surprise. They looked at each other. This was perhaps the real reason the Don was displeased with Freddie. The Don was straitlaced about sex. He would consider such cavorting by his son Freddie, two girls at a time, as degeneracy. Allowing himself to be physically humiliated by a man like Moe Greene would decrease respect for the Corleone Family. That too would be part of the reason for being in his father’s bad books.

Why didn't Vito find a way to bring him back into the fold? Nine years is a long time. And Fredo's resentment would have festered the whole time. So, in a way, Vito's disapproval of Fredo's somewhat dissolute lifestyle was the source of all the family's (small f) future catastrophes.

What about the other main player:

Vito died in '55, and the Tahoe hit occurred in '58. Three years. I reckon - and these are purely my thoughts - that Vito would have been a calming influence on Michael. But with his death, Michael was unleashed and all his expansionist plans would come to the fore. Let's not forget that he was an alpha male in excelsis, and a bit of a control freak. There was absolutely no-one to slow him down. So Roth (c. 1946-55) might well have welcomed the Corleone's investments in Nevada, especially with Vito's steady hand counselling Michael. But Roth (c. 1955-58) was probably horrified at Michael's true expansion plans. And so he hatched his plan. I've made my thoughts on this plan known in other threads, but it happened. It needed an inside man, and ironically perhaps, Fredo being on the outer made him the obvious choice.

So, Vito's dying, Fredo's resentment and Michael's thirst for power made things sort of inevitable.

In conjunction with Success?

I too believe Vito would be very proud of Michael's “legitimacy” achievements but also could be feeling guilt and regret among others -

• leaving a murderous legacy for “I never wanted this for you” son
• placing the impossible, unrealistic burden of the “legitimacy” “obsession” on Michael “the source of his lifelong frustration:”

For Vito, his crime organization family is what defined him Vito was a ruthless, murderous Don
It was Carmela who took care of and kept their blood family together

If Michael's wife Kay was like Vito's wife Carmela, Michael too would have had it all!

Also Michael could not “provide fellow immigrants with favors and protection” like Vito as Michael was a “legitimate” businessman

My take, if Vito was alive, there would have been no approach from Roth and Ola because Roth and Ola would have known “something in it for me -- on my own” would not have worked ie: swayed Fredo

And I want everyone here to know -- there's not gonna be no trouble from Fredo! as long as Vito was alive

Vito was instrumental, contributed and caused, among others - Thanks! Pop indeed
1. Sonny's death
2. Fredo's betrayal
3. Michael's misery
4. Connie's widowhood

I think Killing Fredo would have been The last straw for Vito. He could probably understand Mike’s other ruthless acts but the Fredo thing would have been too much for Vito

Vito would be very proud of Michael's “legitimacy” achievements but I reckon no guilt and regret
And American wife -- well – American wife was -- well --