"Let all the souls here rest in peace; for we shall not repeat the evil." -- the inscription on the Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph, pledging that war would not be repeated. The attack on Pearl Harbor eighty four years ago today unleashed a terrible war in the Pacific, taking hundreds of thousands of U.S., Japanese, and allied forces' lives. Four bloody years later, the war ended after the horrific atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945.
In the decades since, Japan has become a close friend and ally of the U.S. and a prosperous beacon of democracy to Asia and the world. The enlightened policy of assistance and rehabilitation toward Japan after the war sped their recovery as an advanced democratic nation and strong ally, and showed former enemies could transform into friends and partners. We hope we've learned that lesson.
> The enlightened policy of assistance and rehabilitation toward Japan after the war sped their recovery as an advanced democratic nation and strong ally, and showed former enemies could transform into friends and partners.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pity that this approach didn't work in the case of the American Civil War.