U.S. UNITS POISED TO ENTER TOKYO (9/3/45)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 9/3/45 | George E. Jones, Julius Ochs Adler, Robert Trumbull, W.H. Lawrence

[henkster]

Senior Thesis; “What I learned in Homer’s Class” (or, “Why I didn’t spend the time to look at my file more closely, Your Honor. I was posting on Homer’s Daily Thread. Again.”)

I learned a number of things reading the history of World War 2 day by day “as it happened” and it gave me some new perspectives as well. I know I will miss a few things that made me say “huh; I didn’t know that” but I can give a partial list here.

1. Nuclear physics and atomic research were widely reported as news items in the late 1930s. I was surprised at the depth of scientific reporting into atomic research, and the NYT was reporting on potential military applications of atomic energy. The tailgunner on Enola Gay knew enough to ask Col. Tibbetts “Sir, are we splitting atoms today?” The atomic bombs should not have been a surprise to the critical reader of the Times.

2. The reporting of the military situation on the Eastern Front was much more comprehensive than I had thought. It’s no secret to readers here that I have always been fascinated by the titanic death match between Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union, but I had always assumed this was an “unknown war” to most Americans. Instead, Ralph Parker did a fine job of conveying the scale of operations in his reporting. There was no doubt that he was under a number of restrictions by the Soviet censors, but they didn’t appear to be any more rigorous than the restrictions by Eisenhower’s SHAEF. If the war in the east was an unknown war, it was because the American public forgot about it very quickly once the Cold War began.

3. Speaking of the Cold War, it’s pretty clear that began before World War 2 ended. I now put the official start of the Cold War in 1944 when Stalin established his puppet Lublin Committee as the official government of Poland. That showed how things were going to go in Eastern Europe..

3. Life went on. It was evident in the ads you saw, and I appreciate Homer’s inclusion of the regular ads from the NYT. I’m sure he could have easily clipped them out, but their inclusion gave a perspective to American life during the war. There were no automobiles, tires, large appliances or electronics available because of the war effort, but life in the United States was not bad, and far better than any other place in the world. The British were starving, the Japanese, Germans and Italians lived in rubble, and the Russians lived in holes in the ground. Think of the things we saw in the daily ads that could only be had on the black market at a staggering price, or could not be had at all, by the average citizen of the world.

4. Which gets me to next point, which is just how incredible our victory was, and the position it left the United States at the end of this war. We entered the war with the world’s largest economy, and when the war was over, we had over half of the world’s GDP. Even in the heyday of the Roman Empire, I do not believe any other country ever loomed so large over the entire world as did the United States in 1945. And no other country did so in anyways near a benevolent manner.

My dad, my uncles, the neighborhood dads, my male teachers and little league coaches all lived what we’ve been reading these past six or seven years. Because of what they did my life was so much better in material terms than any other generation at any time in the history of the world, ever. I marvel that God chose for me to be born in 1959 in the United States of America.

And that gets me to where we are today, and where we are going. Because much of the perspective in what I learned about this war has to do with its lasting legacy.

5. Was World War 2 the end of large scale armed conflict? I ask it as a question, because the “end of war” was predicted in 1910, too. But none has happened during the “Long Peace” of 70 years. Conflict will not end, it’s just going to be fought differently with different weapons. Today’s weapons are intellect, political will, and the human womb. Mass armies with rifles could well be obsolete.

6. European civilization is dead. The one-two punch of World War 1 and World War 2 killed it. The real men of Europe all died at Verdun, the Somme and Stalingrad. While Europe could have recovered from World War 1, given another fifty years of peace, it didn’t get the chance. It could not recover from World War 2. By about 2050, white ethnic Europeans will be in the same boat as the Copts in Egypt; an insular minority in countries they once called their own, they will hold no political power, and very little economic power. By 2100, there will be very few unassimilated white ethnic Europeans living in Europe. They just don’t have it in them to defend themselves and it’s all because of the destruction of World War 2.

There are a lot more things I learned in this class, and I look forward to reading what other posters/class members have to add.

[henkster]

In preparing the distribution list for this post, I know I left some people off who should not have been, but I wanted to say thank you to every one who made comments and engaged in the discussion on these threads. Everyone’s contributions in the comments to Homer’s posts made this exercise so enjoyable. As much as I’ve studied about World War 2 there is so much that I still don’t know, and all of you helped me learn more, and challenged me to question and re-examine previous notions I’d had. And the discussion, while lively at times, rarely descended to personal attack. It was the most enjoyable prolonged intellectual exercise in which I have ever participated.

Of course, I can’t say enough about Homer’s work here, to have taken the time to assemble the posts and to make them every day without fail for what...seven years, was it? The effort he put into this project was simply amazing. Without his dedication none of this would have been possible. Thanks again. And again.

And I am very thankful that Free Republic hosted this forum.

[EternalVigilance]

Henkster, as far as I’m concerned, your contributions to this wonderful project were more like those of a professor than a student. Thank you.

[alfa6]

RE: #6 I might add the Nazi efforts to exterminate the Jews has had a lasting impact on Europe as well. Many of the leading minds of Jewish heritage either fled Europe prior to the war or were snuffed out. This did not bode well for European civilization going forward.

There was on article on the net a while back lamenting the destruction of the Jews and it’s effect on Europe post WW-II. Perhaps one of the sharper folks here can find it as I need to get back to work :-(

My only regret is that I wa snot able to contribute more to the threads.

And for Homer a hearty WELL DONE!!! for the postings. I have some idea of the time it took from my doing occasional postings for the Freeper Foxhole back in the day.

Assuming an average time of 3 hours, a conservative guess I might add, a posting times 365 day that works out to 1095 Homer hours of effort per year!

Best Regards to all the denizens of Homer’s threads

alfa6 ;>}

[bert]

amen

[henkster]

My only regret is that I wa snot able to contribute more to the threads.

Gross... Actually, what you lacked in quantity you more than made up in quality.

[Ditto]

Thank you so much for all your hard work on these threads Homer.

[untenured]

As my last post on these threads I will leave everyone with the above famous image. I think it says a lot. This is MacArthur with Hirohito at the US embassy on 9/27/1945. I am not qualified to engage in the debate on these threads over MacArthur as a military leader. But as essentially the king of Japan during the occupation I think we must rate him highly.

This picture was apparently taken at the US embassy, MacArthur having refused to deign to visit the emperor in the palace. In addition, he wears no necktie, even as Hirohito seems to have dressed up. Throughout to this point the general has let there be no doubt that he, with the power of the US at his back, is in charge.

But I have learned from reading these daily reports that he behaved both to the Japanese envoys who had flown to Manila last week and to Japanese officials on the Missouri with a remarkable decency, and an expressed desire to build a future in East Asia that could go beyond war as the arbiter of national relations.

That's just talk of course, but it might be talk that the victorious superpower America was more willing to engage in (and mean it) than the powers that have long bellowed out the nationalist, triumphalist rhetoric -- the rhetoric of overcoming humiliation or militarily triumphing over inferior social systems -- that has been so common before and after the war.

In 2015 it is unimaginable to most people outside of Korea and China (and even to some within) that a Japan where pacifism is now deeply ingrained in the people's psyche would again travel the road of conquest. Japan is a peaceful nation whose triumphs are all commercial, and to the rest of the world presents both the beauty of its ancient culture and the wonderful quirkiness of the current popular version.

Seventy years of great-power peace is not unprecedented, but it is not easy to do. That we have had it is vivid testimony to the era of American hegemony, and MacArthur for whatever flaws he had can claim a fair amount of the credit for that, as on the whole can U.S. conduct of international affairs. It could've been a lot worse.

[Colonel_Flagg]

These threads have been a masterpiece of historical discussion, a feast for the eye, and a true accomplishment for you.

Thank you for all you have done. This is a backbreaking amount of work and though I’ve mostly lurked these threads rather than post on them, they have been required reading.

A tip of the cap to you, sir!

[Homer_J_Simpson]

You can buy a ride in a B-25 this weekend here in Watsonville.

http://cityofwatsonville.org/municipal-airport/wings-over-watsonville-fly-in-2/ride-a-b-25-wow

[bus man]

Dear Professor Simpson,

Though I have not participated in the class discussions, I have avidly attended your lectures and marveled at the voluminous study materials you have provided. I dearly hope that this series will be archived in an easy-to-find way so that future students can relive America’s finest hour, and never forget the brave men and women who made it possible.

Sincerely, your grateful student

[colorado tanker]

Well, Homer, the word “boner” had a rather different common meaning in 1945. Does anyone remember Merkle’s Boner and if so just what he did, or failed to do?

[henkster]

Without doing an internet search, I recall Merkle’s Boner as a baseball play, the details of which escape me. But I’ll bet it was an error.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Was World War 2 the end of large scale armed conflict?

You mean, until Armageddon?

[chajin]

"Was World War 2 the end of large scale armed conflict?"
You mean, until Armageddon?

The next great war has to be the last one; MacArthur referred to this in his address on the Missouri. Until then, we will keep nibbling at the edges, as we have since 1945.

The day will come when the world will truly go mad, and that will be the end. If those of us who trust in Christ are right, He will end it; if we are not, it will be the end of humanity. The roaches, however, will survive.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Fred Merkle was a young player on the NY Giants, who were battling the Cubbies in the pennant race in '08--back when henkster was still just a gleam in his granddad's eye. In a mid-September game at the Polo Grounds in NY, before a packed house, the game was tied in the last of the 9th, with two out and runners on 1st and 3rd--Merkle on 1st. That's the setup.

But there's one more thing you must understand before it makes sense. The Polo Grounds grandstand backed into Coogan's Bluff, so that the spectators were obliged to exit across the field and out through the center field wall. The next time you see Willie Mays' historic back-to-the-infield catch in the '54 World Serious, look to his left and you'll notice the outfield wall (480' from home plate!) just disappears--that's where the spectators exited and where many a batted ball rolled forever.

So the batter hits a single to the outfield, scoring the winning run. But Merkle, not wanting to be enveloped by the onrushing crowd, headed straight to the dugout instead of touching 2nd base. Johnny Evers (of "Tinker-to-Evers-to Chance" fame), the Cubs' second baseman, noticed, found a ball somewhere, went to retrieve a departing umpire, dragged him through the milling, celebrating crowd, and touched second base, forcing out Merkle and sending the game into extra innings.

The game was finished at a later date, the Cubs won the game, then won the pennant and the World Serious, and haven't won one in the 107 years since. That was Merkle's Boner.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Canadian Boner

Where's that fellow who always wants to be pinged to Canadian topics?

[central_va]

War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth.

--Ernie Pyle

Homer, thanks again for documenting these "giant creatures" from Americas glory days.

[Hebrews 11:6]

September 3, 2015:

VHSJ DAY!

Homer, you are hereby awarded the WW2 Medal of Homer, for meritorious service far above and beyond the call of duty. You:
* conceived the project, including daily table of contents, atlas, and Graybook, along with periodic literary excerpts
* created and maintained a ping list
* posted faithfully, day-after-day, year-after-year.

Your efforts are in the best traditions of western democracy and free inquiry, and hundreds of readers are forever in your debt.

Sleep in tomorrow.

[colorado tanker]

IIRC, there is footage or at least photographs of Merkle’s Boner in the Ken Burns Baseball series.