American History of the 20th Century by Richard Rubin

American History of the 20th Century by Richard Rubin

Author:Richard Rubin [Rubin, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ibooks
Published: 2009-12-03T05:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER 6

THE FORTIES

U.S. POPULATION:

131,669,275

IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES, IT WAS

THE WORST OF TIMES

The year 1940 was not exactly a great one for America. The country was still caught in the viselike grip of the Great Depression, and the war that was raging throughout Europe and Asia was scaring the heck out of just about everybody here. Then again, we definitely had it better than, say, western and central Europe, most of which had been overrun and occupied by the Nazis, and China, much of which had been overrun and occupied by the Japanese. (Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s Italy, which had flexed its muscle against Ethiopia in the previous decade, was the third party to the Berlin-Tokyo-Rome Axis, but couldn’t lend the Axis’ war effort much more than warm bodies and moral support. Italy occupied Albania in 1939, but when Mussolini’s army tried to invade Greece the following year, it took a serious beating from the Greek army and had to be bailed out by Hitler’s Wehrmacht.)

And, as if being conquered just for the sake of acquiring more territory, natural resources, and power wasn’t bad enough, the defeated suffered a great deal at the hands of the German Army and Nazi officials, who did evil things like deport and execute large segments of the population, used innocent civilians as guinea pigs in grotesque “medical experiments,” and destroyed ancient national treasures and landmarks just for the fun of it. The Holocaust, Hitler’s attempt to systematically annihilate the Jewish people, would not begin in earnest until late 1941 and early 1942, more than two years into the war; nevertheless, in a little more than three years, Hitler and his killing machine would manage to murder 6 million Jews, roughly 86 percent of Europe’s Jewish population.

In some wars, it is possible to respect and even admire your opponent. This was not one of those wars. By 1940, it had become obvious to most Americans that the United States was going to get involved sooner or later. Many Americans were in favor of U.S. intervention on the side of the Allies; the most important advocate of this position was the president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Before we deal with that, though, let’s take a quick look at the folks on the other side of the issue.



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