#post wwii america

[contemplatingoutlander]

Trump’s anti-Ukraine view dates to the 1930s. America rejected it then. Will we now?

(Illustration: Brian Stauffer for The Washington Post)

This opinion column by Robert Kagan reminds us that history appears to be repeating itself. Trump's America First movement is an echo of the 1930s/1940s isolationist, neo-fascist America First movement that tried to keep the U.S. out of WWII. This is a gift🎁link, so you can read the entire article, even if you don't subscribe to The Washington Post. Below are some excerpts:

Many Americans seem shocked that Republicans would oppose helping Ukraine at this critical juncture in history....Clearly, people have not been taking Donald Trump’s resurrection of America First seriously. It’s time they did. The original America First Committee was founded in September 1940. Consider the global circumstances at the time. Two years earlier, Hitler had annexed Austria and invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia. One year earlier, he had invaded and conquered Poland. In the first months of 1940, he invaded and occupied Norway, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. In early June 1940, British troops evacuated from Dunkirk, and France was overrun by the Nazi blitzkrieg. In September, the very month of the committee’s formation, German troops were in Paris and Edward R. Murrow was reporting from London under bombardment by the Luftwaffe. That was the moment the America First movement launched itself into the battle to block aid to Britain. [...] This “realism” meshed well with anti-interventionism. Americans had to respect “the right of an able and virile nation [i.e. Nazi Germany] to expand,” aviator Charles Lindbergh argued. [...] Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has called for the immediate reduction of U.S. force levels in Europe and the abrogation of America’s common-defense Article 5 commitments. He wants the United States to declare publicly that in the event of a “direct conflict” between Russia and a NATO ally, America will “withhold forces.” The Europeans need to know they can no longer “count on us like they used to.”  [...] Can Republicans really be returning to a 1930s worldview in our 21st-century world? The answer is yes. Trump’s Republican Party wants to take the United States back to the triad of interwar conservatism: high tariffs, anti-immigrant xenophobia, isolationism. According to Russ Vought, who is often touted as Trump’s likely chief of staff in a second term, it is precisely this “older definition of conservatism,” the conservatism of the interwar years, that they hope to impose on the nation when Trump regains power. [...] Like those of their 1930s forbears, today’s Republicans’ views of foreign policy are heavily shaped by what they consider the more important domestic battle against liberalism. Foreign policy issues are primarily weapons to be wielded against domestic enemies. [...] The GOP devotion to America First is merely the flip side of Trump’s “poison the blood” campaign. It is about the ascendancy of White Christian America and the various un-American ethnic and racial groups allegedly conspiring against it. [emphasis added]  

Use the gift link above to read the entire article. It is worth reading.

____________ Illustration: The above illustration by Brian Stauffer originally drew me to this article. It does a great job of succinctly illustrating the Trump GOP's rightward march towards isolationism (and Putin-style dictatorship). [edited]

#america first #wwii era #republicans #trump #ukraine #history repeating itself #american history #robert kagan #the washington post

[stirringwinds]

Do you think Alfred is insecure about being young? Like I know that there’s countries younger or closer to age to Alfred, but the people Alfred hangs out with the most, has more economic ties, and has military alliances with are way older than Alfred (ex literally all of Europe and Asia). So I was wondering if you think Alfred, being always around people with way more experience than him, feels insecure about being so young and ‘inexperienced’ maybe that’s why he wears glasseS

Interesting question! As I see it, yes and no. 

Yes—in the 18th century, when he was much younger, and rebelling against Arthur. Going hat in hand to the other Old World empires and nations like Francis and Antonio for money was a pretty intimidating experience. So it was with Gilbert, coming to whip his ass into shape in Valley Forge. Even with other nations where he wasn't asking for major favours to fund his rebellion but more like 'hey recognise me? please? can my ships come to your ports?' like Morocco or Yao, during the Old China Trade (uhhhhh ive been banned from all the usual trading posts all across my father's empire...and I heard you guys like otter pelt and ginseng?).

No, because from the 19th century onwards, he's very much growing into a world power. I see Alfred as being quite a zealous idealist who sees potential for improving the world (not always in the best way, but from his POV it is), and this is the period where his mindset is increasingly one of brazen, youthful self-confidence. To him, his age is an asset. He's casting a pretty jaundiced eye on the Old World as a whole—perceiving them as being full of religious feuds, outdated monarchies and straitjacketed by nonsensical traditions: they’re ossified fucks who ought to realise the glory of republican civilisation and everything else he's got grand ideas about. Like, one contrast is really how much more intimidated I see him being going to China during the Old China Trade in the late 1700s—versus the brazen gunboat diplomacy of the Perry expedition to Japan in 1853. Like, the contrast with how the Americans behaved themselves when they had no navy and their ships were so small the Chinese traders thought they were tenders from larger vessels and not ocean going ships (lmao) and the Perry expedition is huge. 18th century Alfred would’ve been more intimidated around a nation who beheaded Kublai Khan’s emissaries and fought in more battles long before he was born—19th century Alfred isn’t. 

And even less so in the 20th century—especially during WWII. There’s no victory unless he puts his thumb on the scale, and even Sir Lord Arthur Kirkland is openly begging for it. If people had any remaining thought of him as the young, ambitious crown prince somewhat walking in the shadow of his father, all that is gone in WWII. He steals the fire of the gods and literally makes it shine brighter than a thousand suns in all its terror and awe. Other nations can get under his skin, especially in the dynamics of a rivalry (Arthur, in their power struggle over influence, Kiku, as a duelling Pacific empire in the late 1800s—1945 and then also Ivan). But older Alfred is far less likely to be insecure solely on account of them being older than him. It’s more if he perceives they’re challenging his dominance and hegemony—or if they’re questioning his idealism and principles. Like Antonio at the end of the Spanish-American War—oh, you really are your father’s son. I can see moments of vulnerability where his youth and inexperience shines through (such as the American Civil War), but older Alfred’s insecurities tend to dig on faultlines regarding: challenges to his hegemony and principles because unlike Lord Father (tm), I think he’s far more of an idealist. He wants to be great and good, but greatness often is in direct conflict with the latter. 

#hetalia #hetalia headcanons #hws america #alfred f jones #aph america #long post #i dont really do him with glasses mainly bc I see him as a pilot #during WWII and no lasik then #you'd have to have good vision

[racefortheironthrone]

Just read that the reason the US boomed post wwii wasn't because of fdr/domestic policy but because the US had little international competition since Europe was destroyed. China closed off etc, soviet union was communist and only the usa had the infrastructure and was in a league of its own and that even if this had continued under reagan and onwards we would still have the inequality and other economic problems we have today. Is this true?

This is a common misconception, confusing an entirely temporary dominance in production with national prosperity. It's wrong on both foreign and domestic levels.

I'll start with the foreign: it is true that the U.S had (relatively) little international competition to start with after WWII, but it was also true that the U.S had (relatively) little international customers either. Europe, formerly the richest region in the world, had been utterly devastated. The Soviet Union and China were out of the question due to Cold War concerns. In Central and South America, Africa, and Asia, trade was limited by lower incomes and the increasing popularity of import-substitution industrial policies.

This is why, after WWII, the United States pursued a policy of fostering international competition and giving these countries access to the U.S' massive domestic market in order to spur economic recovery in Europe and Japan and prevent those countries (and Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia) from going over to Communism. Hence the Marshall Plan, hence Bretton Woods, hence GATT, the World Bank, the IMF, and on and on. Here, I recommend Judith Stein's Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance.

On to the domestic: the main reason why the argument that the U.S economy was prosperous after WWII because of international dominance is stupid is that trade just wasn't that big a part of the U.S economy: U.S exports and imports together were less than 10% of U.S GDP throughout the 1940s (with a brief exception for the war), the 1950s, and the 1960s. The U.S had industrialized behind massive tariff walls in the 19th century, and even after the Underwood Tariff of 1913 that shifted Federal policy from tariffs to income taxes, the economic habits of generations remained.

When it comes to the major sources of post-war economic prosperity, you really do need to look at the New Deal, WWII economic policy - especially bond policy that saw 85 million Americans buy a combined $185 billion in war bonds that would be released into the post-war economy, and the GI Bill which generated $33 billion in home loans (unfortunately, almost entirely for white veterans only).

#history #u.s history #economic history #wwii #new deal #post war america

[sukimas]

there's a fun type of category error i see a lot where the premise is "because this person/institution did a good thing one time, they are definitionally good" no matter what they've done since then. you see the opposite- "because this person/institution did a bad thing one time, they are definitionally bad"- fairly often, and people have developed defenses against it, but i think that people have a difficult time with both still and that's why you get things like "JKR has always been exactly as much of a virulent transphobe and antisemite as she is currently and it's obvious to anyone who reads the books" for a negative example or "the only reason why anyone on earth is free is because of the U.S. military" (courtesy of prager u).

the common sense way to go about analyzing both of these things is "well JKR is funding hate groups right now, but at the time she wrote her books she was not and donating much of her money to actually positive institutions. we don't need to say that she always had the power and did the harm that she currently does in order to mitigate the harm she is causing right now." and "the U.S. military (or at minimum U.S. government bonds and military production donating to the soviets through lend-lease) won wwii, and things would have been quite bad for the residents of the majority of western countries for a while had they not done that, but before and after that event they did a lot of war crimes (and even during that event they did a lot of war crimes, though i'd argue on net the least crimes against humanity of any of the major powers of that war) and they generally aren't a force for peace right now, so their past helpful deeds are not something we need to address at the moment."

but there's a missing mood for both of these things! that's weird! it's like acknowledging that someone can do both good and bad things and that we need to address the things, not the person, is a common sense concept we all accept in psychology class, but once we go out into the world we all forget it. i also don't think that this is an internet culture thing- it's common among irl social groups too- so i have to wonder if it's just a quirk of human psychology that we can't grapple with

#i mostly wanted to make this post so i could use the dril tweet unironically #but i think it is funny nonetheless #Ampersand the Baby-Eater can have saved a cat from a tree once. the baby eating doesn't mean he didn't save that cat #but the cat saving also doesn't mean that he's a good person now #“what did britain and france do during wwii that was worse than what america did” you may ask #well ignoring the firebombing that they did about equally there was the whole vichy thing and The Entire Thing With India #firebombing tokyo and fission bombing are horrific. it speaks volumes that that is nowhere near the worst stuff that happened in wwii

[troythecatfish]

#usa #united states #united states of america #important #social justice #human rights #current events #history #history posting #history tumblr #history side of tumblr #video essay #political #political posting #politics #american history #united states history #world history #wwii #world war ii #ww2 #ww2 history #world war 2 #us imperialism #western imperialism #american imperialism #imperialism #colonialism #settler colonialism #youtube

[musingsofahistorymajor]

I highly recommend that everyone go watch this!!! The National World War II Museum in New Orleans is doing a scholarly symposium in honor of Women’s History Month featuring topics expanding upon their newest exhibit titled Our War Too: Women in Service. They kicked it off with withy this lecture by keynote speaker Retired Col. Edna Cummings who spoke about the African American women who served in the Army during World War II and their legacy.

I've studied quite a bit about both the 6888th Central Postal Battalion and the 404th WAC Band but no where near the level that this amazing woman has. I learned so much more just from watching this lecture.

Please, give it a watch. You'll learn some really important and fascinating history. I can't wait to see what else the program has to offer. I personally know the woman presenting the lecture on the WAAC training program so I already know that will be fantastic. Check out the schedule here

#wwii #women in wwii #wac #women's army corps #women's history #women's history month #WWII history #african america history #6888th central postal battalion #six triple eight #mod post

[steve-rogers-new-york]

Recipe Advent Calendar - Day 1

Happy Holidays!

To celebrate the season, I am doing 12-days of seasonal recipes from the 14th to the 25th December. These are recipes published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper during the period that Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes lived in Brooklyn in the early 20th century.

Christmas Cake Tips

Christmas cake recipes are many and varied. Some of them have been handed down from mother to daughter for generations. It is worth noting that many of these old standbys contain brandy, not so much for flavoring, since most of the taste is lost in the cooking, but because brand added to the keeping quality of the cake. Slow cooking is the rule for success in all fruit cakes. Tried and true recipes would have you steam the cake first and then bake them to a cake texture. You may cook the cake in almost any shape and any size tin—coffee or baking powder tins, loaf or square pans. Whichever type you use, follow the method of topping the tins with heavy wax paper. Leave this covering on during the steaming and all but the last half hour of the baking. In this way the cake will not become too brown. After the cakes are cooled, wrap them in wax paper and store them in the tins in which they were baked. A neat and easy trick that makes for successful storage is to top the tin a sheet of heavily-waxed paper. Put this package in a moderate oven until the wax on the paper has melted. Remove it from the oven and press the waxed paper around the edge of the container. As the pan cools, the melted wax will harden and make a perfect seal over your cakes. This wax paper may be removed every week or so, while you add an additional spoonful of grape juice or wine for additional flavor, and reseal until the next time.

Early American Fruit Cake

2 tablespoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cloves 1 teaspoon nutmeg 4 cups sifted flour 2 cups shortening 2 cups sugar 1 tablespoon grated orange ring 12 eggs, well beaten 1 pound of seeded raisins 2 pounds currents 1 pound pitted dates, chopped 1 pound citron, shredded 3/4 cup brandy or sherry 3/4 cup rose water Prepare the fruit the day before mixing the cake. The next day mix and sift the flour and spices; mix with the prepared fruits. Cream the shortening until soft and smooth, gradually add sugar, creaming until fluffy; beat in orange rind and eggs. Gradually stir in flour and fruit mixture alternately with the combined brandy and rose water. Turn into greased loaf pans lined with waxed paper and gain greased. Fill the pans three-quarters full. Cover the tops with waxed paper and steam one hour, then bake at 250 degrees about three hours, depending on the size of the baking pan. The one-pound loaf takes three hours, while the two-pound will take about four and a half. Remove the wax paper the last half hour of baking. The recipe yields ten pounds of fruit cake.

The recipe appeared in the Monday 24 November 1941 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Advent Calendar Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12

[ Support SRNY through Patreon and Ko-Fi ] And join us on Discord for fun conversation! I also have an Etsy with up-cycled nerdy crafts

#Steve Rogers #Bucky Barnes #recipes #Christmas Recipes #Holidays #Advent #Vintage #Vintage food #Vintage Recipes #1940s #Post-WWII #Wartime #early 20th century #20th Century #captain america #Captain America: The First Avenger #ca:tfa #CAPTAIN AMERICA REFERENCE #fanfic writing #Fanfic references #fanfic research #writing resources #writing reference #fan fic writing #historic new york #historically accurate #historically accurate steve rogers #historically accurate bucky barnes

[daydreamerdrew]

generally speaking, I do take Golden Age comics seriously and engage with them in a way as to extrapolate about the characters’ personalities, and don’t just assume that 40s comics don’t have anything to say. so far I have not really been doing this with 40s Captain America comics, which I think is partially because I’ve already read later-published comics that portrayed the characters with different personalities during this time period, and established a relationship between them and these comics as in-universe fictional portrayals. and then it’s partially because so far it really hasn’t felt like there has been much to work with on this front. but I am still only in Captain America’s first year of publication, so it may be that Steve and Bucky come across as having more depth later on. it just feels like I’ve read more and gone further than I have, relative to their publication history, because they started out in an anthology book with multiple stories starring them per issue, rather than the usual situation of starting out with one story in an anthology book and gaining a starring book later on.

#like I’m 33 stories in and have yet to reach when the United States joined WWII #compare to Captain Marvel where 33 stories in would have taken me from December 1939 to March 1941 #and Captain America started publication in December 1940 #my posts

[thief-of-eggs]

your honor- there is simply something about WWII era Stucky that, as they say, ‘hits different’

#WWII era is simply my favorite flavor of stucky #like- post serum cap?? pre winter soldier bucky?? #yes please i will eat this up for dinner #steve rogers x bucky barnes #stucky #bucky barnes #stevebucky #steve rogers #james bucky barnes #wwii era stucky #till the end of the line #the winter soldier #captain america #steve and bucky

[lilithism1848]

#anti capitalism #rip twitter #tweet #socialism #communism #twitter post #leftism #twitter x #anarchy #xitter #ww2 art #ww2 #ww2 germany #second world war #ww2 history #wwii #world war two #post ww2 #world war ii #south america #american history #americans #american #us politics #american politics #biden #america #political #laws

[sreegs]

I reblogged it earlier but I'm glad the Something Awful Forums 9/11 thread was archived because it's an incredibly important slice of internet history. For the record I think 9/11 was thousands of personal tragedies for the direct victims of the attacks but one big national farce that led to America's ongoing slide into fascism, and the nationalism and remembrance around it is a joke especially in the wake of the same amount of deaths every fucking day in the US during the height of coronavirus.

Nevertheless I think it's important that if you do not remember because you were too young or just didn't exist on Sept 11, 2001 to read the Something Awful 9/11 forums to get an idea of what the internet was like at the moment when America changed to 24 hour news cycles and renewed hyper-nationalism not seen since WWII.

This all happened before Twitter, Facebook, before Discord. Before smart phones. Before most people had cell phones. When a lot of people still had dial-up internet, even. Some people in the thread were relying on radio because internet and TV weren't keeping up.

It was a live event of internet denizens reacting to the biggest national event (and among the biggest international events) of the past 25 years. It was also a slice of what the internet was like at the turn of the millennium. Not only that, but people accurately calling out who was responsible, and what would result before the attacks even finished.

Keep in mind that the links that follow contain images of the event, lots of Islamophobia, people calling for the Middle East to be nuked, people blaming Palestine, casual racist and homophobic language (this was Something Awful after all), etc etc. They preserved the first 17 pages which spanned about 24 hours during the events. It's the origin of the "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR" screenshot.

Links under the fold. I've also annotated the pages with notes regarding the timeline and any posts of interest. Note the thread was preserved in Pacific Time even though the page says times are Eastern. That's incorrect. Post timestamps are 3 hours behind Eastern Time, which is the time zone where the attacks occurred:

Page 1 - Note the first post was edited to include images of the second attack. The thread started after the first plane hit. Second plane hitting the WTC happens here too.

Page 2 - Poster accurately calling out Bin Laden was responsible at 9:14 AM EST

Page 3 - "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR"

Page 4

Page 5 - First official acknowledgement it was a terrorist attack.

Page 6 - Pentagon hit

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9 - Commercial flights grounded by FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

Page 10 - First mention of towers collapsing at end of page

Page 11 - More reactions to collapse of first tower. People thinking it was a bomb or yet another plane. Rumors about a fourth plane just missing the White House (these are false and predate the actual 4th plane crash by minutes)

Page 12

Page 13 - By this point there's just rampant speculation about more bombs at the WTC, the US Capitol building being hit, etc (all false). Remember this is all just people reacting to TV news and radio and the rumor mill via phone, AIM, IRC, and maybe text messages.

Page 14 - By this point internet news sites are overwhelmed

Page 15 - Second tower collapses. First acknowledgement of the fourth plane that crashed in PA.

Page 16 - There's an abrupt time jump in the threads, I think it was the result of admins pruning the activity or the SA forums going down. This page starts on 9/12 even though it is page 16. American flag signatures and ribbons start appearing.

Page 17

#9/11 #something awful

[pinkumiilku]

American “Jap Hunting License” Propaganda, ca. 1941-1945.

#wwii #japan #america #history #starcloud posts #world war 2

[summerhighlandfalls]

more of my ocs in the interwar period. they're madly in love and very inconspicuous i promise

#this one goes out to everyione ive seen jeeveswooster posting #and my early obessesion with fred astaire makign me obessed with interwar-wwii era menswear #oc tag #my art #reynard #henry #h/a #the main story is set in boston but theyre londoners in this because i do not want to think about the capital I implications of henry #living in america in the WWII period #not that there wasnt horrible racism in england back then too. there was for sure but there werent internment camps which were horrific #and not talked about nearly enough in american schools

[grandwretch]

do you ever think about how if they hadn't blamed world war one on germany alone then there might not have ever been a world war two. like without the reparations germany was forced to pay, then there wouldn't have been as much of a foothold for hitler's bullshit. it's something i think about. a lot. actually.

#shut up az #germany post wwi but pre wwii reminds me a lot of current america actually. unfortunately.

[wanderingandfound]

So on one hand rereading all this MCU fic does make me wanna finish, edit, and publish the fic I had so much inspiration for back in, oh, summer of 2016. On the other hand, it turns out I just completely forgot about some characters from AoS, which is fine because I don't need them in my fic, but like this is just reminding me of how I don't really wanna rewatch that show.

#Problem: My fic is a crossover from the Iron Man movies (love the bots) and the Thor movies (love all the non-fridging parts) but there's a #side fic that is a Howlies family reunion. Which means Captain America movies‚ Agent Carter show and short‚ like two seasons of AoS (Tripp #lives‚ duh) and the Iron Man movies. #Like..... #I wish I was innately good at voice so I didn't feel the need to study. #Forever mad that the MCU did NOTHING about all the 90 year olds Steve would have known in the 2010s except to make us cry over Peggy Carter #and then kill her. #_MY_ grandfather was a WWII vet and he didn't die until COVID at the end of 2020. #Anyways there's Antoine Triplett and Sharon Carter and apparently Morita's grandkid is the principal of Peter Parker's school but I haven't #seen those movies and because I say so there's Rebecca Barnes and Ana Jarvis and of course Peggy Carter. #My fic contradicts itself on if Angie (Peggy's romantic partner of course) is still alive. At first she wasn't and we had a Widows Corner #but then later I wrote she and Peggy being cute. #Anyways the character I forgot existed in the MCU was Bobbi. And I also forgot about Lance and Lincoln. #personal #liveblogging stories #kinda sorta not really #Tony hasn't been to the reunion for decades and Sharon is going to hold him to some promises he made as a kid. #There's a tag that is showing when I edit this post but not the post on mobile about how my grandfather was a WWII vet and he only died #at the very end of 2020 due to COVID.

[stone-cold-groove]

Post-war plans... for your car.

#vintage advertising #vintage illustration #quaker state motor oil #ww2 #wwii #post war america