Hoover Essays
1 total work
This essay presents reflections by a historian on the meaning of the Pacific war on the fiftieth anniversary of its termination. It opens with a review of the military and political importance of the war and moves on to discuss its apparent lessons. Because the war stood near the midpoint of the twentieth century, its significance is related to the preceding and succeeding half centuries. Regarding the four decades that led up to the war, four elements have come to be accepted as paving the road to war: the failure of collective action, the collapse of economic internationalism, the volatility of international conflict, and the dangers of racial antagonism. In the second half of this century, however, Japan and the United States hold widely divergent views as to the conduct of national strategies and purpose. The essay closes with historical reflections on the two most dramatic occasions of the war: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that opened the war and the atomic bombing of Japan that marked its end. The essay concludes with the thought that apologies by either side for the initiation of these events are less important than making them part of the public memory of Japanese and Americans.