WWII: The Not So Good War America’s public view of the second world war has deemed it as the “Good War” because of it’s plausible cause and the Allies’ victory. However, it’s easy to twist a tragedy into a conquest for justice, with the help of selective memory. In a letter to Congress, President Roosevelt declared “It is so clear cut that it is difficult to oppose in any major particular without automatically admitting a willingness to accept compromise with nazism….no society of the world organized under the announced principles could survive without these freedoms which are a part of the whole freedom for which we survive.” To put an end fascism and spread freedoms of all assortments sounds like a good and glorious goal. Such a goal was
…show more content…
With the development of the military and advanced technology, America took the components of war to a whole new level with the atomic bomb. Ted Grimsurd sums up our country’s moral downfall in one statement: “I will suggest that what World War II did for the United States was decisively empower the forces of militarism in the country that have since 1945 led the U.S. into foreign policy disaster after foreign disaster and visited so much violence and destruction on major sections of the world that the term “American holocaust” may not in actuality not be much of a hyperbole.” If blowing fascism out of our immediate orbit is tied with blowing innocent Japanese cities out of existence, it’s difficult to see ourselves as any model of morality in comparison to the enemy. A board of Government experts further concluded the unnecessity of the atomic bomb. “The atomic bomb was used at a time when Japan’s navy was sunk, her air force virtually destroyed, her homeland surrounded, her supplies cut off, and our forces poised for the final stroke. Recognition of her imminent defeat could be read between the lines of every Japanese communique.” America, without warning, decided to beat what was already down merely for shock value.
The moral conclusion of the second world war is all about weighing the impact of your choices. How far are you willing to go--- how “bad” are you willing to be for the “greater good”? Congratulations America, we won our war. But we need to take some time to step away from our censored celebrations and check the damage that will always be right behind us. Good intentions and big picture elements don’t compensate for the disregarded evils of the Allies, therefore making the title “The Good War” an undeserved
With the development of the military and advanced technology, America took the components of war to a whole new level with the atomic bomb. Ted Grimsurd sums up our country’s moral downfall in one statement: “I will suggest that what World War II did for the United States was decisively empower the forces of militarism in the country that have since 1945 led the U.S. into foreign policy disaster after foreign disaster and visited so much violence and destruction on major sections of the world that the term “American holocaust” may not in actuality not be much of a hyperbole.” If blowing fascism out of our immediate orbit is tied with blowing innocent Japanese cities out of existence, it’s difficult to see ourselves as any model of morality in comparison to the enemy. A board of Government experts further concluded the unnecessity of the atomic bomb. “The atomic bomb was used at a time when Japan’s navy was sunk, her air force virtually destroyed, her homeland surrounded, her supplies cut off, and our forces poised for the final stroke. Recognition of her imminent defeat could be read between the lines of every Japanese communique.” America, without warning, decided to beat what was already down merely for shock value.
The moral conclusion of the second world war is all about weighing the impact of your choices. How far are you willing to go--- how “bad” are you willing to be for the “greater good”? Congratulations America, we won our war. But we need to take some time to step away from our censored celebrations and check the damage that will always be right behind us. Good intentions and big picture elements don’t compensate for the disregarded evils of the Allies, therefore making the title “The Good War” an undeserved