The arguments presented in Swanson’s “World War Two Was Not a Just War” caused me to stop and pause. I was always taught that World War II was America’s shining moment. Many times my school would go visit the National World War II Museum that was located just down town. Throughout the museum examples of America’s greatness were all over the wall. I remember my teacher telling me that if you went to a WWII museum in the UK, they paint themselves as the hero of the war, but no matter where you go this war was always presented as the fight against fascism and to protect the Jewish communities.
Therefore, when I read that the war wasn’t marketed as a humanitarian war until after I was surprised. I was taken aback that the United States did not accept many Jewish refugees and that the public was in agreement with this policy. Many of my close friends from home had grandparents that emigrated from Germany and other parts of Europe because they were Jewish and feared Hitlers rule. I don’t know how their lives would have been different had they not been allowed into the United States. Moreover, I found it horrific that the main reason citied was that it would be too difficult to transfer that many people to the United States. This whole ordeal made me wonder how much of our history has been reshaped to paint us in a better light.
I also was always taught the heroic role of the U.S played a major role in the defeat of the Nazi party. It was surprising to learn how the U.S refused Jewish refugees and also how a large number of the population agreed with this. There also was no diplomatic or military effort to save the victims in the concentration camps. The theme of portraying the U.S in a positive light and hiding the negative actions is concerning and I also wonder how much more will be kept hidden.
You bringing up the National World War II museum that portrayed America as the heroes of WWII just comes to prove that museums and other memorials are tools for telling a certain narrative of our nation’s fabricated history that silences our faults.
It is crazy to look back and see the real truth and what the so-called “truth” they tell us. In typical fashion the truth being altered to what we want to hear.