After reading the article, “World War Two Was Not a Just War”, I was sort of surprised. In my past history classes, it was made out that the United States was the hero of the war because it seemed like they saved jewish people from concentration camps and defeated the horrible Nazis. Everyone fails to mention all the negatives of this war, like the trauma that this caused soldiers, or the innocent civilians that were killed. This is obviously a big part of any war but it is often failed to be mentioned because people would rather highlight the victories. The United States as a whole also feels no remorse for taking as much credit as possible for defeat of Nazi Germany, when in reality the Soviet Union did a majority of the work, “The party that did most of the killing and dying for the winning side, was the communist Soviet Union” (Swanson). This idea takes away from the idea of the “United States Heroes”.
World War II is most known for trying to defeat the Nazis and save the jews from major oppression, but as Swanson exposes in the article, the United States was nowhere near doing all they could to help them. “The war was not humanitarian and was not even marketed as such until after it was over. There was no poster asking you to help Uncle Sam save the Jews… The U.S. engaged in no diplomatic or military effort to save the victims in the Nazi concentration camps” (Swanson). This factor brings up the idea of America’s need to “save the world”. It feels like the United States entered this war so that they could get the praise after they helped to defeat the enemy. It is sad to think that a main reason for entering this war was for recognition, and not the population of jewish people that were being severely abused and oppressed. Reading this article makes me question many of the United States choices and now I wonder if they were made morally or just so that the United States could remain the heroes be seen as “the greatest nation” always there to save the day.
I also starred the quote you mentioned in your 2nd paragraph. I always thought the US intervened in hopes of saving the Jewish populations that were being decimated in Germany and other parts of Europe. In addition, not only did the US fail to emphasize the reason for the war, but they also refused to accept Jewish refugees into the country that were able to escape the Nazis.
Reading Swansons article I was equally surprised and saddened by the realities of the US in WWII. Hearing how most of the things we were told about our involvement in the war were actually lies (like how we really didn’t do anything to help the Jews) to make ourselves look good is something that seems to be a common theme is US politics throughout history. The leaders and most powerful people soften the realities of things or make up motives, which is disturbing to think about.
I was also surprised when reading Swanson’s article because it exposed the truth behind America’s role in World War II. It is sad that the main reasons for the intervention in the war was for America’s own benefit and for positive recognition throughout the world. I also thought that the quote you mentioned was very eye opening and showed how the U.S was not involved for the good reasons of saving people and stopping the actions of the Nazis.