A History Lesson
The following statements appeared in a major American weekly news magazine, no the statements are not taken out of context.
The troops returning home are worried. “We’ve lost the peace,” men tell you. “We can’t make it stick.”
A tour of the beaten-up cities . . . . six months after victory is a mighty sobering experience for anyone. . . . .Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American.
Never has American prestige in Europe been lower. People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops
Wherever the people have endured . . . the American armies . . . . hopes have been bitterly disappointed. The British have won a slightly better reputation.
But instead of coming in with a bold plan of relief and reconstruction we came in full of evasions and apologies.
The taste of victory had gone sour in the mouth of every thoughtful American I met.
The time has come, for our own future security, to give the best we have to the world instead of the worst.
A tour of the beaten-up cities . . . . six months after victory is a mighty sobering experience for anyone. . . . .Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American.
Never has American prestige in Europe been lower. People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops
Wherever the people have endured . . . the American armies . . . . hopes have been bitterly disappointed. The British have won a slightly better reputation.
But instead of coming in with a bold plan of relief and reconstruction we came in full of evasions and apologies.
The taste of victory had gone sour in the mouth of every thoughtful American I met.
The time has come, for our own future security, to give the best we have to the world instead of the worst.
Was this written about:
The Iraq war? 2003
Balkans War Mid-1990s
Gulf War 1990
Vietnam?
Korea?
World War 2?
World War 1?
The above appeared in January 7, 1946 in Life Magazine and was written by John Dos Passos. To read the article, go Jessica Well's blog here
The Europeans accuse Americans of having a short memory. This is probably a blessing for them. If we remembered what both Americans and Europeans thought in 1946, instead of the success that came afterwards, we would have written off the continent instead of investing in it. Is the rebuilding Iraq a failure? Well if we stop now, it will be, otherwise, ask us again in a year or 5 and if we treat the Iraqis as well as we treated the Germans or Japanese after World War 2 (remember, neither country had a history of democratic government before the war) we should see the country succeed.
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