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May 17, 2005
History Lesson
I hadn't realized this: The time from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan was 1,346 days. This Thursday is the 1,346th day since 9/11.
For those of you not up on your WW2 history, here's how it went down. Right after Pearl Harbor was attacked, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech where he coined the term "Axis of Evil", saying Japan, Romania and Italy were the gravest threats to world peace. Then he went on to say that intelligence had learned that Italy was making powerful weapons of mass destruction, and called Benito Mussolini the most terrifying dictator on the planet.
FDR made a couple of controversial moves: he decided to hold the 1944 Democratic Convention right beside the watery grave of the U.S.S. Arizona. And immediately after D-Day, just before Allied troops began a long slog into the heart of Europe, FDR posed for his infamous "Mission Accomplished" photo.
While keeping a skeleton force in Japan, occassionally knocking on a door to see if anyone was hiding Emperor Hirohito, the US made triumph after triumph in Italy: the Leaning Tower of Pisa was toppled, Mussolini was captured, put on trial and forgotten about, and a school in Sorrento got a fresh coat of paint. Although Italian militants controlled much of the countryside, the road between Ravenna and Bologna was pretty much secure in Allied hands.
On the homefront, the nation was divided over whether devoting so much effort and manpower into occupying Italy was worth it. (Although there was no direct evidence tying Mussolini to Pearl Harbor, FDR's stern warning - "you're either with us or against us" - made it clear that the occupation of Italy would continue until the perpetrators of the 1941 attack were subdued.) And while much of the nation's economy shifted into wartime production, a good living could still be made by printing magnetic ribbons with patriotic slogans such as "God Bless FDR" and "Benito, Hirohito - Finito!"
Some stateside wondered whether FDR had forgotten about Germany -- Japan's chief ally and the nation that was causing untold grief in Europe. Suprisingly, FDR never even mentioned the Third Reich as an enemy, and was even photographed holding hands with foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. This was widely criticized in the alternative press (which were known as Benevolent Ledgers/Observant Gazettes, or B.L.O.G.s), but none of the mainstream press (the New York Times, LIFE, the Saturday Evening Post) was able or willing to question the President's financial and social ties with the Germans.
When Japan finally surrendered in 1945, it was assumed that it was because the U.S. Congress had brought pressure to bear on the situation by threatening to ram through every one of Harry Truman's judicial nominees without debate or filibuster. This was known by Truman as the "nuclear option", and Tokyo quickly bowed to the pressure.
I hope history is as kind to our modern era.
Filed Under: Life in Bushistan, Made Up Stuff | Permanent Link, Comments (2) | Linking Blogs
Comments
I think the most important lesson to be learned from this little history lesson is that if we just leave everything alone it will all work out in the end like it did back then...
Posted by: MDC | May 17, 2005 09:37 AM
Wow. You are an impressive thinker and writer. The leadership we have is just scary. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: GreenieGirl | May 17, 2005 10:23 AM
