Dower’s book, “War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War”, is an intelligently crafted review of the racial aspects that were integral to the incredible violence of the Pacific theater. Dower explains that the often overlooked component of racial hatred and propaganda was a driving force in the “kill or be killed” atmosphere of “no surrender”, in the Pacific compared to the European theater (Dower 12). Dower crafts his argument using a variety of scholarly sources. I believe Dower used these sources to present a shocking and accurate assessment of why battles in the Pacific were often ones of extermination between the US and Japanese forces. His sources supplement his arguments, none more so than John Toland’s “The Rising Sun: the …show more content…
Yes, the Japanese established a more honorable idea behind a “cult of death” but Americans considered those men who fought bitterly in Corregidor as heroes. The American people would become completely enraged at the atrocity of the Bataan Death March after these troops surrendered. One point where Dower differed here was, whereas Costello did not, Dower elaborated on atrocities committed by both sides during the war. The Japanese did do terrible things but that was not unique. US forces were responsible for heinous acts towards the Japanese in war as well, which further drove the deep hatred of racial conflict (Dower 11-12). This source helped to outline the idea that Japanese and US forces did share some similarities during the war, maybe not good ones, but the commitment to fight to the death and the committing of atrocities by both sides marked the entirety of the Pacific …show more content…
The supremely embarrassing reversals in China for the British and in the Philippines for the US reflected just how unprepared for war in the East the Allies were and just how much the Allies underestimated Japan. Toland explains that the US citizens were responding to the apparently unstoppable tide of Japan by supporting the President to remove 127,000 Japanese-Americans from the west coast in racial based hysteria. Nazi’s and Japanese had a propaganda field day with that information and throughout the war, as the US grappled with its domestic racism (Toland 285-292 & Dower 4-6). Toland also includes something Dower does not; the build-up to Germany's declaration of war on the United States. He shows that the Nazi's had similar racial superiority complexes to the Japanese and saw the US along racial lines as well. Hitler said the US was, "built by the dollar… half Judaized and half Negro" and that "there is no way the country could work together," (Toland 278). Germans thought the Americans were incapable of winning the war. Dower did not include the German side as his effort was to focus on the brutality of the Pacific war which was at a much higher intensity than in Europe. Something that they both agreed on, however, was the US and Japan did have similar ideas about sacrifice and fighting until the end. Dower points out that, culturally, Americans are very
Throughout the book, Dower discusses the different aspects of a war based on race and nationalities. Dower covered the steps that take place in a war of race and devastating results that occur. He used the events of the war in the Pacific and specifically, the actions of the Americans and Japanese against each other. The main thesis of his work is best summarized in this, there is great positivity for humanity that can occur as a result of putting racial and nationalistic differences aside, however, there are still many looming possible results that can occur when there is a sense of focusing on negatives of differences one of these results could be a brutal war.
The Pacific War could have ended if both sides were willing to cooperate with each other. I feel that if they made some sort of act they could have come to terms on what they both agree on and agree on some sort of neutrality. Putting an embargo on Japanese oil could have avoided as well. America with the hypothetical "act" they could have put a tax on oil. Even if this act only last a few years it could have changed the entire out come of the actual war and may of actually prevented the war itself.
In this paper, I will discuss the signing of Executive Order 9066, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, regarding the Japanese relocation and connecting back to the Pearl Harbor attack, thus, resulting in further negative opinions of both the first generation Japanese and the second generation of Japanese Americans. Event Description: Internment was brought about by a justifiable fear for the security of the nation. Japan had figured out how to pull off the assault on Pearl Harbor, which nobody had thought was conceivable. The possibility that they may assault the West Coast while the US military was still in shock was on everyone’s mind. Secondly, it was caused by racism.
The first major theme in Tojo’s speech is Imperial Japan’s desire for an unconditional Allied surrender. Tojo makes these desires extremely clear in his speech. For example, Tojo declares that “[Imperial Japanese forces] will never cease fighting until the enemy is crushed,” whilst also stating that Imperial Japanese forces should unite to “eradicate and destroy American and British power,” in the Pacific. Tojo’s words betray his desire to see Allied forces in the Pacific to be completely crushed and subjugated. These statements are extremely relevant in understanding Imperial Japan’s relationship with the concept of Total War.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans were fearful of further Japanese attacks on the West Coast and also of Japanese Americans. In response to this fear, President Roosevelt passed an executive order relocating all people of Japanese descent from the West Coast inland. Similar to the fear of the American people, the witch hunts in the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller led people to believe that girls in the town were being bewitched. Mass hysteria caused multiple arrests for accusations and even death for the so called “witches”. The theme of fear in both the Crucible and the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII caused people to be easily persuaded with the use of pathos and logos.
And America caused many Japanese deaths. In the end we had to drop the world's most dangerous weapon in order to stop American soldiers from dying at the expense of Japanese soldiers. In document
Name: Course Instructor: Class: Date: Critical Book Review: Prompt and Utter Destruction Introduction Within weeks, word on the US dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki began to spread that the main reason behind the bombs was to save the lives of Americans (Bernard). It was put that hundreds of thousands of American military causalities were saved through the bombings.
Farewell to Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki and her husband James D. Houston, brings the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor to life through the the reimaging of the hardships and discrimination that Jeanne and her family endured while stationed at Manzanar. After the events of Pearl Harbor, seven year-old Jeanne is evacuated with family to an internment camp in which the family will be forced to adapt to a life in containment. Through the writings of Jeanne herself, readers are able to see Jeanne’s world through her words and experience the hardships and sacrifices that the Wakatsuki family had to go through. Farewell to Manzanar takes the reader on a journey through the eyes of a young American-Japanese girl struggling to be accepted by society.
Comparative Essay In World War II, there are many differences and similarities between the European Theater and the Pacific Theater. The European Theater involved many countries, including Germany, The Soviet Union and many more smaller countries. While the Pacific Theater mainly focused on Japan and The United States. The differences span from government styles to types of warfare, while similarities did arise between the two theaters.
Tolerance turned to distrust and irrational fear. The hundred year old tradition of anti-Asian sentiment on the West Coast resurfaced, more vicious than eve. (Houston, p. 15). Three years of wartime propaganda funded racist headlines, atrocity movies, hate slogans, and fright-mask posters turned Japanese faces into something despicable and grotesque. The American Legion and The Native Sons of the Golden West were racist organizations agitating against the West Coast Japanese for decades (Houston, p. 115).
Japanese Internment Camps - Persuasive Argument On December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base located near Pearl Harbor at Honolulu, Hawaii. After the bombing, Japanese Americans were sent off to internment camps due to President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision on releasing Executive Order 9066. Even though the U.S government’s decision was meant to benefit the country’s safety from more attacks by the Japanese, my strong belief is that Executive Order 9066 was not justifiable towards Americans.
The United States and Japan fought in World War II during 1941 to 1945. Japan planned to expand their land and gain resources- which led them to invade China whom was an ally of the U.S. In result, the United States cut off the supply of oil to Japan. On December 7th 1941, Japan’s air force did a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor because that is where their military base is located.
“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.
Thesis statement: Though many speculate that the act of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) while not doing so on Europe (Germany and Italy) was racially motivated, racism played little to no role in these bombings. The United States of America and her allies were willing to end World War II at any cost, had the atomic bombs been available they would have been deployed in Europe. In the 1940’s there is no doubt that the United States of America was engulfed by mass anti-Japanese hysteria which inevitably bled over into America’s foreign policy. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human.
As a result, all Japanese were discriminated in the U.S.A. as biased perceptions were already set in their minds. They were judging the Japanese as the whole, just because the attack of a small part of the