i read some howard zinn and now i'm always depressed
Zinn v. Norton
Although he states that it was the “most popular war the United States has ever fought,” Howard Zinn, in A People’s War? does not show his own approval for the either WWII or the Cold War that followed it. In this chapter, Zinn shows America’s desire to spread its own ideas globally, as well as how United States government became corrupt and hypocritical in trying to do so during what became known as the Cold War.
According to Zinn, one of the main ideas that America was trying to spread throughout the world was democracy. In order to spread this, the American government made an attempt to contain communism where it already existed and stop it from spreading to where it had not yet gone. The United States and the way of life that had existed in this country since its inception were strongly based on democracy. Also, as Zinn mentions, Communist regimes coming to power in other countries “were all portrayed to the [American] public as signs of a world Communist conspiracy (429). Thus, when Americans began seeing any expansion of Communism, a natural sense of fear set in and they acted in opposition to such movements. For instance, in countries such as Greece and Turkey, Americans financially supported democratic governments fighting Communist revolutionists. However, as Zinn notes, while America was pushing for democracy in other countries, there were some aspects of the United States political system that were not entirely democratic themselves. Zinn shows America’s undemocratic tendencies though such examples as the military. He states, “It is hard to know how much resentment there was against authority, against having to fight in a war whose aims were unclear, inside a military machine whose lack of democracy was very clear. No one recorded the bitterness of enlisted men against the special privileges of officers in the army of a country known as a democracy (418). Zinn uses military example such as the fact that “there were even two mess halls…the enlisted men’s food was different - worse - than the officers’” to display the hypocrisy of the American government (418). How could the United States claim to be fighting for democracy through a system that itself was the antithesis of democracy?
Another fault in American ways during the Cold War was the blatant racism directed toward people of color in the United States. From the days of slavery, to the Jim Crow laws, to the segregation of schools and other public places, America had a long history of racism. During the Cold War, when troops were sent oversees on ships, “the blacks were stowed down in the depths of the ship near the engine room, as far as possible from the fresh air of he deck, in a bizarre reminder of the slave voyages of the old.”(410). Furthermore, when Charles Drew, a black man, developed the blood bank system, “The Red Cross, with government approval, separated the blood donations of black and white” (415). Despite the racism within their own borders, Americans claimed that their government was trying to stop racist actions in foreign lands during WWII and the Cold War. As Zinn notes, “The plight of Jews in German-occupied Europe, which many people thought was the heart of the war against the Axis, was not a chief concern of Roosevelt…Was the war being fought to establish that Hitler was wrong in his ideas of white Nordic supremacy over ‘inferior’ races? The Unites States armed forces were segregated by race” (415). Through his argument, Zinn seems to emphasizing America’s hypocrisy. How could Americans display such racism at home, yet claim to be fighting it abroad?
In Norton’s “A People and a Nation,” she also outlines and analyzes American policies and actions during WWII and the Cold War while agreeing with Zinn that, during the mid- to late-1900’s, Americans set out to spread their ideas of democracy and anti-communism. However, in contrast to Zinn, Norton’s beliefs on why America engaged in the Cold War differ from those of Zinn’s. Also, in regards to the end of the Cold War, Norton and Zinn disagree as to what extent the situation was a failure for America.
While many reasons can be cited as causes of the Cold War, Norton seems to focus on patriotism and pride while Zinn emphasizes the economy as the primary cause. According to Norton, “Postwar America was proud and boastful. From 1945 to the 1960’s, the American people were in the grip of “victory culture”- that is, the belief that unending triumph was the nation’s birthright and destiny. From the classroom, the pulpit, and the town hall, as well as from popular culture, came self-congratulatory rhetoric about America’s invincibility. Americans believe that their nation was the greatest in the world, not only the most powerful but the most righteous. And, Americans agreed, it was getting better all the time” (812). In Norton’s opinion, America engaged in the Cold War to spread their political and social ideas globally because they were patriotic, took pride in who they were as a country, and believed themselves to be the best. On the other hand, Zinn argues that Americas took part in the Cold War for economic reasons by claiming “The war [WWII] not only put the United States in a position to dominate much of the world; it created conditions for effective control at home. The unemployment, the economic distress and the consequent turmoil…had been pacified, overcome buy the greater turmoil of the war (425). According to Zinn, Americans engaged in the cold war to “rejuvenate American capitalism” and save their economy from downfall (425). Zinn further argues that the government created a problem - the Cold War - to distract from and solve economic troubles. As Zinn notes, “When, right after the war, the American public, war-weary, seemed to favor demobilization and disarmament, the Truman administration worked to create an atmosphere of crisis and cold war” (425). Although Norton and Zinn have varying beliefs on the conditions that led to the Cold War, both attribute an American fear of communism to playing a major role in bringing about crisis. According to both, the Truman administration used propaganda and scare-tactics to create the Red Scare- a fear of Communism and desired to annihilate it. Norton shows how Senator Vandenberg advice to Truman to “scare hell out of the American people,” led the president to claim “that communism, feeding on economic dislocations, imperiled the world” (845). Zinn aggress by saying “In a series of moves abroad and at home, it established a climate of fear- a hysteria about Communism- which would steeply escalate the military budget and stimulate the economy with war-related orders.” Whatever they believe to be the main cause of the Cold War, both Zinn and Norton agree that anti-communism played a role in America’s decision.
In addition,although to varying degrees, Norton and Zinn agree that the entire Cold War was a failure for the United States. While Norton does see some success, she states that it was generally it was a failure. By citing the fact that “a large arms industry secured a firm hold on the American economy, and hundreds of thousands of workers owed their jobs t defense contracts,” Norton claims the Cold War had some success in the fact that it boosted the economy (881). However, Norton points out numerous problems that still existed in America after the Cold War, claiming that “Americans seemed better equipped to fight war than to improve their troubled educational system or to make their cities inhabitable and safe” (881). According to Norton, the negative outweighed the positive and the Cold War ultimately was a failure. Zinn agrees with Norton on the claim that the America generally failed in its Cold War policies, but his text differs from Norton’s, as he ultimately seems to believe that the Cold War had no success whatsoever. In regards to the end of the Cold War, Zinn notes that “Nothing had to be done for blacks. Nothing had to be done to change the economic structure. An aggressive foreign policy could continue. The country seemed under control. And then, in the 1960’s, came a series of explosive rebellions in every area of American life, which showed that all the system’s estimates of security and success were wrong”(442). Because the nation had not changed for the better or done anything to solve its problems, Zinn considers the Cold war a total failure for America.
Throughout both Zinn and Norton’s text, there is in depth analysis of America’s Cold War policies. Although these analyses differ in some aspects, they generally convey they same idea: During the Cold War, America set out to spread democracy and stop communism, but in doing so, met with great failure at home.