Scott Shang
ESL 100 D&E
Ms. Chocos
4/12/2012
Blessing in Disguise
There is a well-known saying: “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no
matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good”. In many ways, the biggest
evil in the human history should be World War II. During this most massive war,
about 70 millions people died in total. The flame of the war spread in Africa,
European and Asian. Over 60 countries, including the United States, were involved in
this large-scaled war. The United States played an important role in the Pacific Ocean
battlefield. The United States’ process of World War II started with the Pearl Harbor
Incident at December 7th, 1941. And end up with the Atomic bombing of Japan at
August 8th, 1945. During the period, America lost more than 400 thousands soldiers.
Some of them lied in the cemetery, but most of them died without a burial place.
Many families are impacted by the war and broken. Because of this incredible damage
caused by the war the criticism of participate the war has never stopped. From the
beginning to the end, there are people who believe that the war America experienced
is imprinted, perhaps indelibly. Until today, the some of the critics still consider that
there is no way to compensate American people who suffered during the World War
II. However, if people count in the benefits and gains, America actually did
undoubtedly benefit from World War II. In the cases of economy, discrimination,
America made noticeable improvement and significant progress after World war II.
Admittedly, World War II did much harm to civilians. From ancient times, the
wars claimed the number of valuable lives and destroy plenty of beautiful hometowns
of civilians. The evaluations of the war always are negative rather than positive.
However, the wars of human never stop because the appraisements. In 1940s, World
War II, the most massive war in human history, also caused a lot of nightmares to
American people. In the book “The Good War”, the journalist Studs Terkel
interviewed many survivors in the World War II. They described the horrors they
experienced, both on the battlefield and at home. His perception of the World War II
is obviously negative. There are many people agree with him. Nevertheless, it is not
an overall and objective judgment to focus on the only what the war destroyed.
Instead of being one-sided, people should consider what did World War II help
America.
First and foremost, World War II helped America to get rid of the economic
crisis completely. Before World War II broke up, the American government was
making the nation get away from the influence of the Great Depression. Because of
the financial pressures caused by Great Depression, various measures already initially
carried out. From 1933 to 1940, Roosevelt’s New Deal mitigated some impacts of
Great Depression. However, many facts indicated that the America did not completely
break away from the shadow of the Great Depression. In “The Annual Real and
Nominal GDP for the United States, 1789-Present”, Samuel Williamson and Johnston
Louis wrote that “after 1929 the American gross domestic product declined for four
straight years, then slowly and haltingly climbed back to its 1929 level, which was
finally exceeded again in 1936.” According to their description, the American’s
economy did restore during that period. However, the restoration is “haltingly” and
sluggish. This phenomenon can be an evidence to prove that the Roosevelt’s New
Deal only alleviated the Great Depression, not eradicated it. Then, what helped
America completely riddled the economic crisis? The answer would be World War II.
One year after World War II broke out in Europe, President Roosevelt
announced that the American economy will need to transform into “the Arsenal of
Democracy”. In “the Great Arsenal of Democracy”, President Roosevelt claimed that
“this nation is making a great effort to produce everything that is necessary in this
emergency, and with all possible speed.” By announcing “the Great Arsenal of
Democracy”, President Roosevelt showed his determination of against the Nazi Army
and mobilized the nation industry to convert to military production. Under the
pressure from the government, many industries started to transform to military
production. For example, many car assembly lines started to product the fight planes’
spare part; warship start to anchor in fishing wharfs; more and more abounded
American factory resume production. After the Battle of Britain in 1941, the
Lend-Lease Program was enacted. America exported the military material which
worth 32 billions dollars to British and Soviet Union. Then, after the Pearl Harbor
Incident, America declares war on The Axis, which further promoted the development
of industry. In the mean time, because of the recovery of the industry, more and more
opportunities of work were provided. As a result, the rate of unemployment was
reduced. Generally, during the World War II, America maintained a very high growth
rate in terms of GDP. And after World War II, America became a world’s top
economic power. Thus, the World War II helped America greatly. Without World
War II, America can never gain the world’s dominant economy.
Moreover, World Wars II contributed in removing the discrimination in America.
Since the beginning of the twentieth, some movement aimed at eliminate the
discrimination against black people had been underway. However, before the World
War II, all of the movements got little effect. In the Great Depression, the blacks’ rate
of unemployment is twice higher than the whites. Even in the people who had a job,
blacks receive was only over one-third income of that for whites. Blacks only can get
some low-paid jobs. It is much harder for Africa American to get same position than
Whites.
This situation was not stop until A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porter met with President Roosevelt in mid-June 1941. He urged that the
government should put an end to the discrimination and segregation. Although
President Roosevelt would rather to focus on the war than the racial discrimination,
considering the contribution did by the blacks in the army, he had to give them a reply.
As a result of this meeting, President Roosevelt declared that “that there shall be no
discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries because of race,
creed, color or national origin.” He established the Fair Employment Practices
Committee (FEPC) to ensure there is no discrimination in the employment.
Besides the racial discrimination, sexual discrimination also reduced during the
World War II. Before World War II, women were without question second-class in
the society. Women were rejected by a number of jobs especially the labor. Similarly
with Africa American, in those jobs women did hold, usually the service jobs, they
got less salary than that for men. At the beginning of the war, million of men entered
the military services. Both the government and the industry realized that they need
women to work outside the home. Instead of simply reject, women were invited to
take charge the labor work in the industry. There was an advertisement in Seattle
noted that “An American homemaker with the strength and ability to run a house and
raise a family has the strength and ability to take her place in a vital War industry.”
This advertisement demonstrates that how the attitude of society changed with the
women---from outright rejection to acceptance. Furthermore, with the process of the
war, some women even joined the military services. Many institutions for women
were founded, such as the Women’s Army auxiliary Corps (WAAC), Women
Accepted of Volunteer Emergency service (WAVES) and Women Air Force Pilots
(WASPs). All of these phenomenons proved that the World Wars II helped America
decrease the discrimination.
For many families of the martyrs, World War II may be the worst war in their
life. Every piece of wars was written by the blood of common people, so was World
War II. However, when it comes to the national level, it will be a different question.
Besides the similarities, what makes World War II different with other wars is the real
problem which is essential when measuring the contribution to this nation. World War
II helped America on both boosting economy and reducing discrimination. In general,
World War II is a beneficial war to America.