The Good War Analysis

One usually associate war with slaughter and envy. War is a serious commitment and places financial burdens on the countries involved. In Studs Terkel’s book, The Good War, he reveals first hand accounts of war veterans and people involved in World War II. Most of these interviewers share their tortuous times at war, but enjoy talking about the good times they had. This gives light to personal development and positive gains that came from war. In my paper, I will focus on how some good came out of the bloodbath of World War II. Pre-World War II, the United States was suffering from a depression, Roosevelt’s New Deal was making decent progress, but as the war began the country shifted gears, it boosted the economy. There was an increase in
The black soldiers were segregated at all the army bases, and didn’t get much respect from their fellow white soldiers. Lowell Stward, part of the Army Air Corps, used the discrimination to his advantage. Due to the Jim Crow laws in the Air Force, it made it almost impossible for African Americans to learn to fly or become high ranked officers. Because it was so tough it created an elite group of pilots who were better than the white soldiers. One of which was Lowell Stward. Because they so an ample amount of training and had the best record, they were in high demand. Additionally, Lowell Stward and other black soldiers contributed to integration and getting rid of Jim Crow laws in the army. The black community didn’t make a lot of progress in society during the war, but found more work. Even though blacks had difficult times, some black soldiers were able to surpass white soldiers in technical skill. Likewise, majority of the people at home did well during the
As told by Lee Oremont, the war helped bring money to the businesses and the working people. Lee Oremont may sound like a war profiteer, but he gave back more to his employees in order to avoid taxes. However, most families had more discretionary income so they did not suffer. A point Lee Oremont made regarding increase in demand was: “you could sell anything you got, it just walked off the shelves” (Terkel 1997, 314). This says those at home were not experience the true horrors of war. With US businesses booming and the American civilians employed, they loved the