Reading Gets Me All Worked Up

Lately I've been obsessed with FDR and WWII.

WWII is given a lot of lip service in the public education system of our country,
and there are lots of books and accounts of personal experiences, like the Ken
Burns documentary airing on PBS now. But I'm not watching PBS.

But all of a sudden, I'm not interested in these tidy, empty summaries and
emotional recollections anymore. I find myself asking, Just exactly HOW did
FDR and Stalin get together? WHAT was our relationship to China? Why did
Molotov reject the Marshall Plan, and what, exactly, WAS the Marshall Plan
anyway? Isn't it ATROCIOUS that I haven't picked this up by now?

And today I realized why I suddenly wish I knew: because under the FDR
administration, half the world came together to rise up out of a dark time. And
all our current administration has done is plunged us into one. And since
nothing in the present seems to be going right, I'm trying to learn, FOR REAL,
how our leaders did it back then--how did they fight a war while stabilizing
countries, instead of ruining them!?! What were the compromises, the
strategies, the mistakes? It's amazing to me that I went for years and years
without caring to understand!

Today on the NYTimes website, 2 articles on the "most popular" list (Paul
Krugman's "Gore Derangement Syndrome" and Frank Rich's "The 'Good
Germans' Among Us") referenced FDR and WWII, respectively. It seems to me
that journalists may be moving beyond comparing Iraq with the embarassment
of Vietnam and instead are beginning to contrast it with the relative successes
of WWII.

And I begin to think our leaders don't fully appreciate history.

At the age of fourteen, I can remember sitting solemnly at my grandparent's
kitchen table opposite my grandfather while he tearfully told me how his
colleagues--mostly chemists--had tested various chemical warfare agents on
themselves before sending them out into the field. From this story (and others
I heard over the years), it was quite clear to me that this was a war no one
wanted, but felt they had to fight and win, and furthermore, had to do as
humanely as possible. The actions of our government seemed not so
bloodthirsty, not so ignorant of the costs that both sides had to pay, and not
afraid to show everyone at home that war was tragic, and hurt both the winners
and the losers.

Oh, FDR. Oh, Dorothy Thompson. Oh Mr. Hull, General Marshall, Mr. Hopkins...
why do you still seem to be the smartest people in the room? I think some
Americans still support the war in Iraq because they mistakenly believe that our
leaders have the same motivations that led, after WWII, to institutions like the
United Nations. But as I begin to scratch the surface of what happened only
half a century ago, I can see that this war in the Middle East is grossly, horribly
different. Nothing good can come of it for anyone, ever. What's more, I don't
see anyone stepping forward in our presidential race who could lead us out of it
(but maybe that's only because I'm a little depressed). Anyway, back to the
books I go...

Posted by jvoris at October 15, 2007 01:48 PM