World War II and Racism

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses three literary works that illustrate issues of race and racism during World war II. The paper reviews "Double Victory" written by Ronald T. Takaki, explaining the Selective Service Act, the epitome of segregation in the U.S. army. "War Without Mercy" by John Dower is outlined, illustrating the fact that the American people despised Japan more than they despised Germany during the Second World War. The paper contends that this was partially due to racism. The paper also describes the 1937 Japanese slaughter of more than 300,000 Chinese in Nanking, China, through a review of the book "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang.

From the Paper:

"According to Double Victory, the U.S. Army was segregated during WWII, due to President Franklin Roosevelt's refusal to integrate the armed forces. He had signed into law the Selective Service Act, which basically, according to Takaki, "prohibited the inter-mingling of 'colored and white' army personnel in the same regiments" (p. 23). This policy angered civil rights and black advocacy organizations, as it seemed to be putting forth the notion that Uncle Sam needed black soldiers to fight for freedom, which is symbolized by the U.S. Constitution (which states that "all men are created equal"), but there would be racial segregation among the military fighting forces because blacks aren't as good as whites."

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