Forgetting Pearl Harbor

The Claremont Institute ^ | December 7, 2005 | Ken Masugi

[Stoat]

The Japanese weren't the only ones locked up during WW2. The way my father describes it, nearly all of the butchers in Jersey City (who had been sending their kids off to American Bund camps in upstate New York and were at the infamous Madison Square Garden rally a few years earler) disappeared not long after the start of the war because they were rounded up. Italians were rounded up, too.

The fact that such essential points as what you bring forth are intentionally overlooked by modern 'historians' is a perfect illustration of the truth of President Bush's recent speech where he spoke of those who want to rewrite history.  It happens every day and regarding most any and all subjects and concepts.....thank GOD for the internet, talk radio and alternative news sources, without which the Left could continue to steamroll over the truth without impediment.

[RightWinger]

And the older he gets, the more liberal he becomes. I'm baffled.

My dad is a WWII vet (Guadalcanal) and a 30 year Air Force retiree and he is getting more & more liberal every year.

Is this me in 25 years?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Thanks also to Elvis Presley for helping to get this built. He could have probably footed the whole bill himself, but he wanted to get public support so people didn't forget.

Here's a site with a rare picture of the Arizona Memorial being built.

http://www.arizonamemorial.org/locations/arizona-memorial-creating.html

[LS]

I don't know if you've seen this particular video, but Rudy Guliani is featured prominently, and at one point he says something like, "People need to see these images so they remember the horror to keep it from happening again. If we have too many euphomisms, we forget what really happened."

[Paul Ross]

Thanks!

[Turret Gunner A20]

And these idiot schools today can't even teach kids where Pearl Harbor is on the map :-(

A couple of weeks ago I ws reading about a study of seniors in high school about 1/4 of whom could not find the United States on a glove. And almost 3/4 of didn't know where Iraq is.

[Castlebar]

And these idiot schools today can't even teach kids where Pearl Harbor is on the map :-( A couple of weeks ago I ws reading about a study of seniors in high school about 1/4 of whom could not find the United States on a glove. And almost 3/4 of didn't know where Iraq is

I personally believe, that many U.S. Americans, may not have maps....

[Turret Gunner A20]

re: 26

glove = globe

Sorry. I personally believe, that many U.S. Americans, may not have maps.... Could be, but I'm more inclined to believe that they took one look and decided not to lay it out flat, for fear of not being able to figure out how to get it folded back up.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I personally believe, that many U.S. Americans, may not have maps....

They do have maps, but they look like this.

[Turret Gunner A20]

Looks pretty up to date to me.

[hanamizu]

I won’t disagree with you about history being much better learned 100 years ago than now. But I’d like to point out that as time marches on, events that were key to one generation start fading in importance to succeeding ones. I grew up in the 50s and reminders of WWII were everywhere. When the fleet was “in” and filled Long Beach harbor most of the ships and many of their crew had seen action. Crippled vets were selling pencils downtown and every adult, veteran or not, had memories of the war. Old World War II movies were about half the movies shown on TV. As kids, especially boys, we knew all of the planes, ships, and most of the battles fought.

The Civil War was just leaving living memory. That was the big unit in the history books. We rarely got up to WW II in history class and we already knew more than the history books had to tell us.

Today kids see WWII as something that happened an unbelievably long time ago. Many blend WWI and WWII in their minds so I’ll have students ask if the Kaiser was Hitler. Few have living relatives who can or will share memories of the event. I do my best to present as much information about the war as I can in the time I have to cover it. I’ll take a couple of weeks, but my text covers the war in just 5 one day lessons. I could spend a week on the Battle of Britain alone.

Time flies. My 6th graders don’t really remember 9-11. They’ll be in high school in just a couple of years!

[Constantine XIII]

Most people are going to be offended if they decide you’re calling them ignorant. ;)

[Constantine XIII]

I lol’d :)

[Turret Gunner A20]

,i.Most people are going to be offended if they decide you’re calling them ignorant. ;)

Sad to say, but with the situation as it is -- with the public schools failing to put any emphasis of it, and even several major universities not requiring any American History courses, it is fair to say that a goodly percentage of our population is ignorant. Too bad if that offends them.

[Stoat]

Most people are going to be offended if they decide you’re calling them ignorant. ;)

Too bad.  :-)  If it makes some of them even think for a moment about turning off their Playstations and picking up a book that's about something other than programming then I'd say I've done quite a service for humanity.  The day that I begin to worry about offending someone because I dared speak the obvious truth is the day that I need to log off of Free Republic permanently.

[Chiltepe]

Even before Beard, there were writings (pro-Southern and secessionist) that made Abraham Lincoln a less than noble figure. The Lincoln as tyrant image is even repeated in some libertarian literature today. Leftists aren't the only bad historians.

Lincoln was pure as the driven snow? He didn't take any tyrannical actions, like arresting members of the Maryland legislature BEFORE they could vote on whether to secede or not? He didn't carve West Virginia out of Virginia by a rigged election at the same time as he was fighting a brutal war against states that wanted to leave the Union? He didn't shut down hundreds of newspapers and jail dozens of their editors for disagreeing with his war? Lincoln didn't suspend habeas corpus, then IGNORE the courts when they overturned his suspension and declared it unConstitutional!? Lincoln didn't, also in violation of the Constitution, try peace activists in military courts for fear that a civilian court wouldn't convict them? I suppose next we'll be told that FDR is likewise beyond reproach, and that any criticism of him has also impugned his sacred honor. Let's try to simply be honest, and leave the "bad historians" double-speak to the left, please!