Many events are hidden beyond two particular documents, President Franklin Roosevelt’s Speech to Congress on December 8, 1941 called the Declaration of War of Japan and journalist report on Nazi massacres of Jews. Being devoted the period of the World War II, these two events are closely connected and have significant value for the history of the USA even though they seem to be devoted to various events from the first sight.
The declaration of war of Japan led to the declaration of war of all Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy on the United States and the country had nothing to do but to declare the war in return. All the further events including the Nazi massacres of Jews on the territory of the USA connected to the war were the outcomes of that declaration.
The first document under consideration is the President Franklin Roosevelt’s Speech to Congress on December 8, 1941 called the Declaration of War of Japan. The main idea of this document is the relationships between Japan and the USA and the reasons for the war declaration. The importance of this speech is in the statement of the reasons of the war, the development of the USA before its intrusion in the war and the betrayal of Japan which attacked the USA without any visible aggression.
The document just states the position of the ISA, its desire but inability to remain isolated from the war events. The most striking phrase in the speech is the first paragraph where Franklin Roosevelt said the following “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” (Johnson 187).
The infamy of the USA is explained by the inability of such great country to protect themselves. It showed how unprepared the USA was to the war as being captured by unawares, they could not react. The speech was extremely important in the historic content of the USA as the government recognized their mistakes.
The second considered document is the journalist report on Nazi massacres of Jews. The importance of this document is not in the facts of the horrible aspects of the war as it is possible to read about them in many different sources, the document is crucial for the desire of the USA to make the information silent or the lack of desire to do anything to protect Jews. The journalist is shocked with the actions which were done and the inability of the soldiers to protect their citizens.
Reading the reports about violence it becomes obvious why the modern world is that cruel, why the police forces are unable to maintain discipline, they just cannot control the aggression, even though they have all the means for this. Moreover, trying to hide the information about the Nazi massacres of Jews during the World War II the government does not give an opportunity to battle for their rights for those who suffered from those events.
The document is concluded with the words which sum up the whole discussion and point at the difficulties the USA is to face, “the little country of Switzerland will contribute more to the cause of humanity than the great and wealthy United States, its loud declamations about the rights of the people and the defense of liberty notwithstanding” (Johnson 196). Thus, the USA can do a lot but due to the politics of information protection they do nothing.
Works Cited
Johnson, Michael. Reading the American past: Selected historical documents: Volume II: From 1865. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.