This week in class we went over the fascinating and rather important but often overlooked section of the What If? of WWII. This form of study is useful, because not only does it force you to know events and possible deviations that may have occurred but didn't, and also to analyze the effects that said events and their alternatives may have had. As has been mentioned, so many events in WWII shaped policy, economy, and society for many years to come. I believe we still feel the echoes of the larger decisions made, especially towards the end of the war.
As for Roosevelt, I wonder how everything may have turned out if he had survived to the end of negotiations with the victors, specifically the Soviets. As it was, he has been accused of going too soft on what was an obvious threat to postwar freedom throughout the world. But knowing that FDR always played his cards close to his chest, I wonder if he didn't have something in the works that he went to his grave with before he could start of complete it. For sure he never shared such sentiments with Truman, but then again he didn't share much at all with his vice. What if ...
Friday, April 25, 2008
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