The Rewriting of History

On this day, December 7th, I want to thank all WWII veterans for your service to this country; you truly did save the world.

The history of WWII and other eras is slowly and quietly being rewritten by academia. Pick up of your kids history books and see what is now said about Pearl Harbor and other major events of the 20th Century. I have gathered a few links below that address different aspects of this troubling trend.

I happen across a discussion on one of the cable news networks, I forget which because I fell out of my seat at what was being said about Pearl Harbor. The guest speaker put forth the theory that Pearl Harbor really was America's fault in large part to the economic policies of FDR. Pick your self off the floor and read that again if needed, we will wait for you. Ok, so the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was our fault much in the same way certain groups want to blame 911 on us.

Here's the theory, which I think is pure BS. 1) The Japanese were forced to expand their military due to the military build up of Britain and the United States. 2) Japan only wanted free trade and the US and other countries placed unfair tariffs on Japanese goods. 3) Because of the previously mentioned military buildups and tariffs, the Japanese had no choice but to expand their economy through territorial expansion. 4) Since the US was seen as the major player in the Pacific, the Japanese starting planning for armed conflict with the US as early as 1920. 5) FDR’s economic polices led the Japanese to be in direct conflict with the US on many resources including rubber, oil, various foodstuffs and metals. 6) The Japanese had no choice but to attack us since there were secret plans for the US to hinder the Japanese expansion by any means necessary.

I am no historian, my main interest in history actually lies with the Civil War but that's for another time. I do know enough from history in school and my grandparents that this guy is smoking crack. Allow me to shoot down his revisionist history point by point. 1) It is true that the US and Britain were expanding their militaries but only to catch up the years of buildup that Germany and Japan had already undergone. 2) The US in the late 30's placed tariffs on just about every country that sold goods to the US. Our economic policy was one of isolationism. 3) The Japanese choose to expand their territory through military might and not economics, had they followed the other path, we might have only had to fight Germany. 4) The 3 major universities of Japan held a meeting in 1920 regarding the US and the title of the meeting was "Shall Japan Fight the US". Many of those attending went on to large roles in the either the Japanese government or military. 5) The fact of the matter on the economic competition between the US and Japan in the late 1930's is simply that we had a larger economy and could buy those aforementioned resources at a lower price and in larger quantities then a fledgling Japanese economy could. 6) FDR’s foreign policy was clearly stated many times leading up to the Second World War. No greater example of his desire to stay out of international affairs was his refusal to let the US join the League of Nations. He had a clear policy of isolationism and there were simply no plans to attack or prevent a Japanese expansion in the Pacific.

On this day of remembrance, I think it is very disrespectful that historians try to rewrite WWII as a device of US foreign policy. On a side note, the first link is to the latest example of what a scumbag Terry McAuliffe is and continues to be. Unfortunately this seems to be an example of the new democrat policy that nothing is off limits and they will fight on every issue. I wonder what Terry's relatives that served in WWII would say of his assine remarks.

Sorry for going long on this one, seems to be a habit of mine lately. I would encourage every parent to take a look at how your children are being taught American History and challenge the schools not to buy in to the politically motivated rewriting of history. If any teachers pass through, please let me know if this is happening to your school. Thanks to all who read and comment, enjoy the links below.
Later...................

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/

http://slate.msn.com/id/94663/

http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/pearl.html

http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/vol46no3/

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/

http://www.milnet.com/opinion/more-lib.htm

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/pf/p-j052101.html