December 7th
Like virtually every other kid in the public - and private, I'm sure - schools, I was taught how the evil Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and killed a whole lot of American soldiers and citizens. They did. However, seldom has any history leading up to the attacks been taught. Pat Buchanan writes an interesting article dealing with that very history, and you can read it here.
Super patriots are still convinced it was all Japan's fault. Many libertarians, though, want to blame the U.S. totally for putting Japan in the fix they were in and saying Roosevelt was praying for a way to get us in the war. I think that FDR did want us in, and that is the main point behind Buchanan's article, which is based on a book of Herbert Hoover's notes.
But like most things, there is more than one side to the story, usually many. After all, Japan was already on a mission to score more land and resources. FDR certainly gave them an extra push, a reason to lash back at us for freezing assets and other actions and backing them into a corner.
In any event, a lot of good men and women died that day. And regardless of whoever at the upper levels of both governments screwed up - or deliberately pushed - us into that war, those dead need to be remembered with honor. Their government, like so many other times, put its citizens in harms way, whether with good intentions or bad. They still were there to defend their country and risk there lives - and sometimes pay the ultimate price - and that is a debt we can never forget nor ignore.
Comments