Akira Kawasaki wrote:
November 22, 2005
Vortex,
Interesting OT.
I will not go into the long historical events between Japan, the U.S., and
international interacting scenes of empires that lead up to WWII. It is too
involved to write about here. But the history of the period from the time
Japan opened up and to the current day is interesting because my family
moved back and forth between the two nations and became deeply affected by
the war, as were countless millions on earth. And I did have some trauma
about it.
In 2000 and 2001 a Touchstone publication by Robert B. Stinnet came out
which documents Roosevelt leading events in "diplomacy" and strategies
which lead to entry into the European war through the "back door"
shenanigans with
Japan. Stinnet sees Roosevelt acting in a patriotic manner. Everybody will
have their own take on Roosevelt and on the war.
Even many of us in America can see him from more than one side at the
same time, and I was taught to see WWII from two points of view when I
was growing up.
My parents were America Firsters, and there was a strong feeling in my
family that it might have been better had we not entered the war. The
optimistic scenario which was imagined was that Germany and Russia would
have fought each other to a standstill. The result of that seems a bit
hazy, but it certainly would have led to a weaker Russia after the war,
which seemed like a Really Great Idea back during the peak of the Cold
War. And they certainly didn't feel there had been any reason to jump
into the mess in the Orient.
America First, for those who are not aware of it, was an anti-war
organization whose best-known spokesman was Charles Lindberg.
Interestingly, I understand that the leaders of the organization
actually destroyed the membership records shortly after the United
States declared war, on the assumption that it was going to be bad news
for anyone to be associated with such an organization in the
hyper-patriotic hawk-like atmosphere which would inevitably prevail
during the war. In other words, they did it to protect the members.
My father viewed Roosevelt as a war-mongering Spendocrat who prolonged
the depression for an extra 6 years or so with his terrible financial
policies. (I can still hear my father saying, "Roosevelt _never_ ended
the depression -- the depression was ended by Adolf Hitler!") My
viewpoint is rather different; my reading has included a description of
the goings-on at Nanking, which makes Roosevelt's apparent eagerness to
mix it up with Japan seem a little less outrageous, and my take on such
diabolical inventions of Roosevelt as Social Security is that this
country is better for having them.
Like the war with Germany, the war with Japan was a war with the
Japanese government which was in power at that time, not a war with the
Japanese people (wartime propaganda aside). Is that a meaningful
distinction? You betcha -- look at the Balkans, look at the Middle
East, look at Rwanda, look at Hitler's lopsided "war" against the Jews,
and you'll see what I mean.
Like nearly everyone (except George W. Bush) Roosevelt was a mixed bag.
He had some good points, but he made some mistakes too, and when you're
President your mistakes tend to carry a high cost for everybody.
