Analysis: Today we celebrate the war as a feel-good moment of unity. The truth is, the country had harsh divisions we’d recognize today
When Allied forces launched a dramatic air and sea assault on German-occupied France 75 years ago Thursday, the very scale and audacity of the operation were awe-inspiring. In the early-morning hours of June 6, hordes of planes dropped over 10,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines; hundreds of warships and thousands more landing craft would soon deliver 130,000 troops to the beaches of Normandy—most of them British or American—on the first day of the assault.
The war almost tore America apart. And yet, it didn’t. The country ultimately rallied behind its popular but controversial wartime president to transform itself into the “arsenal of democracy.” Even the most respectable opponents of Roosevelt’s mobilization policy verged on extremism. In an editorial entitled “A Plea for Realism,” theargued in 1940 that “our job today is not to stop Hitler,” who had “already determined the broad lines of our national life at least for another generation.” Instead, Americans would better direct their focus to “modernize our thinking and our national planning,” a none-too-subtle nod to Nazi state planning and central power.
Roosevelt won his third term, but even after the United States formally entered the war, political culture remained coarse. It wasn’t always clear that Americans would achieve the necessary unity to mobilize and win.ended with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. By a unanimous vote in the Senate and with the lone opposition of Rep. Jeanette Rankin in the House, Congress declared war on the Axis powers, and most Americans quickly rallied behind the war effort.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
D-Day vet beating Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift in the charts with World War II tributeD-Day veteran beating Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift in the charts with World War II tribute 'Shores of Normandy'
Read more »
Donald Trump visits Normandy on 75-year anniversary of D-Day'You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You are the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.' Pres. Trump thanks veterans at D-Day 75th anniversary event.
Read more »
Trump, Macron mark D-Day 75th anniversary at NormandyThe casket of World War II veteran Carl Mann is carried to its final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Mann was among the troops who stormed Omaha Beach at Normandy.
Read more »