Posted on 12/04/2015 10:12:53 AM PST by Kaslin
In my youth, Dec. 7 was always a big deal, as we remembered Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Today, most of those alive on that fateful day in 1941 are no longer with us, and the collective memory of the event has faded. Subsequent generations have other powerful dates to remember. Nov. 22, the day President Kennedy was assassinated, loomed large in the lives of Baby Boomers. More recently, Sept. 11 has become the day we must never forget.
This is the natural course of history moving on. In a generation or two, even Sept. 11 will become just another day in America. But each of these events changes our nation in ways that last far beyond memories of the events themselves.
Pearl Harbor fundamentally changed America by shifting more power and authority to the federal government than had ever previously been imagined. The change happened almost immediately, as documented in a great book by Craig Shirley, "December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World."
To give a sense of scale, Americans today can't imagine a world where any other nation has a bigger or more powerful military. But as World War II began, "The Army Air Corps had only 51,000 trained flyers," according to Shirley's research. But "The Royal Air Force had 500,000 pilots, and the German Luftwaffe had a million pilots." Not only that, "The U.S. planes were inferior."
By the end of that war, the U.S. stood alone as the premier military power in the world. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Something even bigger had happened to America during those years. By organizing the entire country to fight and defeat the evil of Hitler's Germany, the federal government earned trust and goodwill such as it had never enjoyed before or since.
Congress used those positive feelings to formally commit the federal government to managing the U.S. economy. At the time, most economists and most Americans assumed that the country would slip back into a Depression following the war. Instead, America enjoyed an enormous post-War economic boom to become the most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
The World War II generation had more faith in the federal government than any other Americans ever. Who could blame them? The federal government won the war and appeared to be guiding the nation's economy to smooth and never-ending growth. Later, it put a man on the moon and returned him safely to earth.
But the success did not last. The wars in Korea and Vietnam did not end well. The economy spiraled out of control in the late '60s and struggled for more than a decade. The bank bailouts of this century and other events eroded public confidence in the federal government. For those who grew up during World War II, this lack of trust was hard to understand. They still remembered the government that saved the world after Pearl Harbor.
In retrospect, that generation's extraordinary faith in the federal government was a temporary aberration brought about by unique circumstances. Their world no longer exists, and the political system it created is collapsing around us. Our challenge now is to rebuild a political system that recognizes the inability of the federal government to lead our nation.
Damned Germanz...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hy%C5%ABga-class_helicopter_destroyer
Japan again has carriers as large as some involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
And countries in the region other than China are happy about it.
We may have had a small weak military prior to Pearl Harbor, but at least we were nominally one people.
Compared to now.
When traditional Americans have difficulty understand why everyone doesn’t understand the nature of the threats that now face this country, they need to consider that there are hundreds of thousands - millions - of people here now who hate their host.
Hate it, and outside of their little circle, want to see it destroyed.
It had some real leaders that reflected U.S. ingenuity and Christian values.
And they named them after hybrid battleship-carriers of WWII.
Can’t wait to see what their fleet carriers will look like.
Poor phrasing.
The federal government can lead the nation. The federal government cannot control the nation. This is a critical difference.
A metastasized cancer won’t go willingly into remission.
It’s going to take watering the Tree of Liberty. That’s
why we have a Second Amendment, and why the left is so
dead set against an armed citizenry. I’m beginning to
think we have passed the point where there is enough
resolve to save our nation, which may be a good thing.
Events often turn for the better when the bottom is reached.
These numbers seem wildly inflated to me.
A million pilots? for how many planes?
You nailed it! The “American” people are spoiled and in general mindless of anything but their little wants, far removed from the God fearing, morally sound, strongly individualistic men and women of the war years. Socialism had not yet strangled us and we were PROUD to BE AMERICAN.
<Trumpet blare>
<Giant amplified voice> "Enter the Bilderbergers! All hail the New World Order!!"
<Kettle drums and fanfares>
"All hail Oceania!" <Anthem begins>
I can hardly wait.
What people tend to overlook is that Europe was a wreck after WWII, with the U.S.A. intact. The feds did win the war. But the economy was a wreck and the feds were responsible for that. We supplied the world with goods and rebuilt Europe, essentially a monopoly enjoyed by our economy until Europe and Japan got back on their feet. The feds took credit for the growth, but much of it wasn't due to their policies, just good fortune. Dems got drunk with power and the feds stuck their nose into everything thinking they had "solved" everything. Sigh...
Yep. Wildly inflated. For the Germans that million figure is probably overstated by a factor of twenty. The RAF had about 8,000 pilots of all types.
“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL” ...
GOD BLESS AMERICA THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!
Thanks.
It shows really poor research. While the Luftwaffe had about 2.2 million in its ranks in 1941, certainly half of them were not pilots.
The British number was wildly off too, which you addressed.
The German Air Force had a bit over 1,000,000 total personnel in 1940. I’m guessing the author used a shortcut by saying “pilots” when he meant total personnel, although the USAAF had about 100,000 at that time.
Yeah, they're called Democrats.
“By the end of that war, the U.S. stood alone as the premier military power in the world”
Nonsense. The Soviet Union had more and better tanks, more troops and an Airforce that was comparable. It was all built largely due to the benefits of lend lease manufacturing equipment, but you can’t say their military might wasn’t a force to be reckoned with. If they had kept coming east things would have been very bad. At least until they starved because lend lease was also providing most of their food.
Democrats were ardently patriotic during WWII. Not any longer. Not since Hubert H Humphrey...The New Left (Communists) took the party over, and the Clintons and Obama are what we all got out of that.
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