U.S. History module 5

5.01 World War Again
1. The U.S. favored neutrality even before World War I. It wanted to have nothing to do with war, but things happen. Ideas about neutrality changed with three-fourths of the population expected war, and Roosevelt initiated intervention with foreign warring countries. As Roosevelt began supporting democratic countries and he mistrust peace from totalitarian countries, neutrality acts altered, thus convincing Americans to reconsider normalcy as they foresee the inevitable spiral of incidents.
2. The point where U.S. turned down its isolationist nation and defied normalcy was when the neutrality act was passed by Congress. Although the First Neutrality Act with its Cash and Carry policy (hinting the beginning of a series of conflicting interferences) was subtle, it was undeniable that the slightest involvement pushed the U.S. off its edge of neutrality. U.S. was no longer neutral was Roosevelt and Churchill made agreements in Newfoundland. Evidence of the States' fading neutrality revealed through isolationists' preferences to help Allied nations, even when it means having a war.
3. First Neutrality Act- This act opposes the idea of the nation's wish to return to normalcy. It disrupts normalcy, and the Nye Committee had every right to investigate whether or not America was pushed into World War I in favor of profits. The First Neutrality Act was proof that although Americans wanted to keep themselves apart from warring nations, they sure sought after profits. Egotism therefore drifted the states from its prior aim----- isolationism.
Cash and Carry- cash and carry policy shattered the very meaning of isolationism. Even if the warring nations had to support themselves to and fro to gain supplies, and America was being paid in cash, it would only be the first chapter of America's impulse to intensify its actions with international intervention. The only exception for the cash and carry policy is that it supports the U.S. economy as it dived into the Great Depression.
U.S. aid to China- Yes, this is also defying the concept of isolationism, but since China is halfway across the world, and two countries alone in its imperialist conflict doesn't have much to intertwine with Europe and its pre-World War II tangling tummbleweed. It is more tolerable for the U.S. to sympathize with China. U.S. just wanted to help and in 1937 until today, China hasn't forgotten that. U.S. and China has always been good partners, aiding in imports, presumably since defending China and isolating it from Japan. It might anger Japan, who is tied to Germany and Italy, but one of Europe's treaties were weak without the United States, so these countries know and have learned during World War I that the U.S. is strong.
Lend-Lease Act- The Lend-Lease Act is so biased, it almost eliminates the idea of isolationism. First, the cash and carry policy is intervening with foreign nations, but the lend-lease act suggests that the U.S. could aid any nations involved in a war, casting the notion that the hopes for normalcy is lost as U.S. interests in warring nations surpass the former.

5.04 Holocaust
My name is Hannah Kaplan. My world, my life, and the very ground I stood on was almost flawless. If there were mistakes, it was only to drive perfection into my destiny. I was born in Poland to an extended family of affluent Jews. I myself am also one, as the cliche goes, "the apple does not fall far fro the tree." My family owned a business selling apparel of every kind and elegant sheets of fabric. Several friends of mine were loyal, as they saw my mother as their benefactress. Even the neighbors who disliked us would not dare to oppose us. But that was then; a long while back I was a seven-teen year old girl who was often lost in her books, skilled in strings, and enjoyed finding herself in a catch. What were others' grandeur delusion was my reality. Then that evening came. I was in the boutique founded by my grand parent, and while painting a gown that I intended to sew out of intrinsic motivation, I was aware ere the glass windows shattered. I ran to the corner of the room as my arms were scraped, to a corner where I cowered behind a line of coats. A chill ran through my spine and fear penetrated my mind. It was the moment when I felt as though my dignity had evaporated. Alas, I was soon discovered as my concealment served to be only temporary. One of what I recognized to be a Nazi took me by my arm and threw me in to the back of a truck covered in mud and dried blood.  The attack came so harshly that I convinced myself that wherever I was being sent to, it wasn't going to be pleasant. It was then that I was told that I was going to be sent to a labor camp, which didn't sound anywhere near destinations I would otherwise eagerly look forward to, and not being fond of the Nazis, much less the truck I was thrown in, I found it difficult to believe that it was a labor camp that I was heading to. My mother, father, and  other relatives were also in the truck. They all acted like they tolerate this acrid situation. I couldn't. I won't. As much as I wanted to speak my thoughts, none of my people did, so neither did I, lest we would get shot by the armed Nazis. After a while, I was led to a concentration camp. I think their discrimination has gone too far. My family members were separated into different groups. My life was spiraling down. The whole scenario was is amiss. I was thrown into a place where people surrounding me appeared half-dead and I wondered what will become of me. Indeed, escape was not an option because barbed wire encircled us. I haven't heard of my family ever since we were separated. I knew that I wanted to be idealistically slim, but being starved wasn't part of the plan. I counted the nights since arrival and after the fourteenth night, which turned to daylight, my camp was liberated. The Nazis were out of sight, and unfortunately, so was my family. Having studied English in school, I understood what the armed men were saying. We were given some bread and water, then told to go anywhere we could find refuge. Unquestionably, my imprisoned peers were frightened to leave the area, holding with them the possibility that the Nazis would find them again and they will be shot. I couldn't bear the stench of dead corpses right around my imprisonment about a mile away, so I occasionally inhaled when necessary and dashed across the field, looking to the sky, to avoid what remained of their untimely deaths. While hiding in a forest and surviving with berries, I thanked God for my liberation. I was soon founded by Eisenhower, and sent on a ship. Many months later, land come into sight. It was America. The War Industries Board initiated aiding me. I will strive to regain the social standing that I once lost. My world has changed in that I will never take the belongings I have for granted. I ought to patronize others no longer as i faced worse consequences following Hitler's theory.

5.06 War Ends
The United States and Allied forces had to use the bombs on Japan because they believed that it was the only way to end the war quickly. Many military leaders knew that fighting the Japanese would cost multiple lives, as evidenced by the 82-day battle of Okinawa when approximately 50,000 Allied troops were deceased or injured. Despite the fact that more than twice the Allied troops were Japanese and killed, they weren't prepared to surrender. Not even when Tokyo was attacked and engulfed in flames. The obvious way to victory was to further bomb Japan, thus saving effort and lives of Americans. This way meant that the Japanese weren't prepared to die nor fight, but unexpectedly lost their lives.
    These bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an absolute tragedy of the 1940s. Americans decided to save their own lives and the lives of their people, but destroying humanity on the other side of the world would contradict what they attempt. If the scenario was seen from the Pacific side, the Japanese would like to save their people, too. Even thought they were ready to fight to their deaths, they were ready to fight and die, not just die or suffer all of a sudden. Like General Dwight Eisenhower said, Japan was close to defeat, so it unnecessary. Admiral William Leahy, an adviser to both Roosevelt and Truman during World War II, said that bombing Japan with mass murder weapons would make Americans like the barbarians of the Dark Ages. Bombs should have not been dropped on these cities because in a way, it was like cheating; having your people saved and others die when some aren't even in battle. Even if the Americans fought the Japanese, which would be the alternative, the Japanese would have outnumbered in deaths.
     The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not as necessary as President Truman thought. Americans should have believed the rumors of the Holocaust and rescued all the Jews, then gather all the Nazis that have tortured and still intend to, and have them bombed. The root of evil, once gone, shall prevent more sinister deeds to come. If that seems unjust, consider what America has done to Japan. We have done something of similar equivalency to what Hitler had done. Eisenhower was right in thinking about what the world would think of us. What would they think? To have innocent lives killed and many survivors dying from the radiation, their businesses destroyed like during Kristallnacht. This terror could have been prevented, if isolationism returned and some treaty was made to divide the Allied regions from Japan.