Source: Narrated by Zach Lamb
[MUSIC PLAYING] Historians often find it useful to begin with the interpretation that World War II was a good or just war. Veterans like Howard and Walter, having already endured the Great Depression, represented the best that America had to offer when they enlisted following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Their sacrifices helped the United States achieve its wartime objectives.
By the fall of 1945, the Axis Powers had surrendered. And the United States emerged as the leader of the free world. Many Americans continue to embrace this responsibility today.
The idea of World War II as a good war provides a starting point for historians to apply one of the five C's, complexity. For instance, the United States was not completely unprepared for World War II before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, even though the attack convinced Americans like Howard and Walter to enlist in the army.
By 1940, one year before the attack, the United States had implemented a peacetime draft to begin building up its military forces. And by 1941, President Roosevelt actively supported Great Britain's fight against Nazi Germany through measures like Cash and Carry and the Lend and Lease Act.
Historians can also test the interpretation of World War II as a good war when they investigate the home front. By applying an economic lens, historians can argue that the federal government gained greater influence over the economy by issuing defense contracts to corporations and using deficit spending to stimulate industrial production. Both strategies played a key role in ending the Great Depression.
Using the lens of race, however, historians can challenge the concept that World War II was a good war by examining Japanese-American internment, where the US unjustly imprisoned over 120,000 Japanese-Americans under false suspicions of disloyalty. Applying the lens of race also lets historians uncover the Double V Campaign and other examples of the early African-American civil rights movement during World War II.
During his conversation with Walter, Howard says, it's interesting to think about us young kids, just out of high school, halfway across the world, and all of the folks back at home dealing with all of those changes. Given that it was such a profound period of global reordering, historians continue to investigate the changes associated with World War II today. You can too by using the skills and knowledge you've gained in this course. One way you can try is by asking a family member about how they remember a historical event. As how in Walter's conversation about World War II shows, memories are a valuable starting point for examining US history.
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