We knew we couldn't lose. We couldn't afford to lose because he had been winning every battle
and he had plans already to conquer the world, and, as you know, they finally
unconditionally surrendered with my message.
World War II is the largest global conflict in human history.
World War II was an argument about the future of democracy and the nature of
the state. World War II was also a time where our own national
values and our committment to our foundational principles were tested.
What kind of obligations do we have as Americans to commemorate this
war, that clearly is a war fought for moral good to fight facism and then
genocide. But also a war that did not end all inequalities and build a better,
though hardly perfect world.
We had three-and-a-half, four million Americans only. Two-and-a-half, three million
British, Canadians, Sikhs from India, and the Australians and New Zealanders.
The sheer number. You see we had a million men in the Pacific, island hopping,
capturing islands from the Japanese, and it was harsh.
You have to teach World War II because it changed everything.
It had dramatic impacts on culture. It absolutely changed the economy.
I think that World War II is a catalyst for an enormous array of
developments. It is a catalyst for the Cold War, of course. It's the catalyst for
reinventing, reimagining democracies in Europe.
The National WW II Museum has an incredible number of artifacts,
and resources. Studying online allows us to digitize a lot of those resources
and it allows people to access things that they wouldn't even see if they
went to the physical museum.
They have artillery, they have airplanes, guns, personal artifacts, letters – I mean,
just to dive into this very, very rich collection is fantastic.
But in addition to expertise, in addition to their material collection,
the museum is a wonderful repository of stories.
They sent a guy with a message from General Eisenhower.
"Who's the youngest on duty?"
Greg Melikian, age 20. He said,
"Tell Melikian to send this so that he can spend the rest of his life talking about this moment."
Dididi Da Dididi Da Da De Da
Seventy-four words saying, German land, sea and air forces have unconditionally surrendered.
War is historically interesting because war typically reflects larger changes
that are happening in society, and also catalyze changes.
So oftentimes wars are pivot points in historical development.
One place where we want to expand and question and challenge students a little bit
is precisely in this kind of global approach to understanding the war.
How this is a story of liberation. How this is a story of genocide.
But how this is also a story of where we did not quite end all
inequalities. Neither in the countries the United States liberated nor in the United States itself.