{"id":9165,"date":"2011-10-27T14:11:16","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T18:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=9165"},"modified":"2011-10-31T16:24:45","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T20:24:45","slug":"peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article courtesy Bluffton University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

BLUFFTON, Ohio\u2014The necessity of World War II isn\u2019t as clear-cut as widely believed, Bluffton University\u2019s Keeney Peace Lecturer told a campus audience Oct. 25.<\/p>\n

\"EMU<\/a>
EMU Professor Ted Grimsrud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reasons often given for American involvement in the war raise complicated questions, said Ted Grimsrud<\/a>, PhD, professor of theology and peace studies at Eastern Mennonite University. But unjust means were certainly used to wage the war, he asserted, citing bombing of civilians that inflated the conflict\u2019s tremendous cost in lives lost. And it continues to cast \u201ca long shadow\u201d in terms of consequences for the United States, he said.<\/p>\n

Providing an alternative narrative, though, are the roughly 12,000 conscientious objectors who performed alternative service during the war, noted Grimsrud. As servants\u2014and, in some cases, transformers who later addressed social change\u2014they strengthened organizations such as Mennonite Central Committee<\/a>, the American Friends Service Committee<\/a> and the Catholic Worker Movement<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n

Pointing to a death toll estimated at up to 80 million, most of them civilians, Grimsrud called World War II \u201cthe biggest catastrophe to ever befall humanity.\u201d But the war has generally been viewed as necessary, a conclusion he disputed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people insist this is just a no-brainer,\u201d said the former Mennonite pastor. Others see moral complexity but, all things\u2014particularly the Holocaust\u2014considered, believe it had to be fought, he added.<\/p>\n

Grimsrud argued, however, that facts don\u2019t necessarily support reasons put forth for going to war at the time, namely to maintain national autonomy, protect democracy against totalitarianism and save the Jews.<\/p>\n

Neither Germany nor Japan was interested in invading and trying to conquer the U.S., according to the professor. Both countries knew the difficulty of such an undertaking and wanted to dominate only their respective regions of the world, he maintained.<\/p>\n

The notion of the need to protect democracy was complicated in large part by America\u2019s alliance with England, which ruled a colonial empire in opposition to people\u2019s right to self-determination, and with the communist Soviet Union, which, under Stalin, was \u201cas far from democracy\u201d as any nation, Grimsrud said.<\/p>\n

The Holocaust question was complex as well, he continued, explaining that while then-Gen. Dwight Eisenhower said that was why the U.S. was fighting, his war policies ignored it. \u201cNothing was done to stop the Holocaust as it was happening,\u201d said Grimsrud. And demanding unconditional surrender by the Nazis delayed the war\u2019s end, allowing them to continue the genocide for months, he added.<\/p>\n

Although acknowledging the explanation may be \u201csimplistic,\u201d he suggested the war effort was sustained by other factors, including U.S.-Japanese imperialist conflict over the Far East, German undermining of American corporate interests and growing U.S. awareness of its potential for world economic and military dominance.<\/p>\n

Early in the war, the U.S. urged noncombatant immunity\u2014one standard for judging if the means used in warfare are just, Grimsrud noted. That changed, though, by 1943, when air attacks intentionally incinerated everything in their path for the first time, he said. Hamburg, Germany, was hit that July, sending displaced residents to work in suburban weapons plants where they helped the German war effort by alleviating a labor shortage, he pointed out.<\/p>\n

All reluctance to strike civilians was gone, he continued, by early 1945, when Dresden, Germany, was bombed in February and Tokyo in March. A bombing campaign ensued across Japan over the next five months before the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. \u201cDebate continues about the military necessity of those bombs,\u201d which killed, whether immediately or eventually, hundreds of thousands of Japanese, Grimsrud said. \u201cHowever, they clearly violated the \u2018just means\u2019 criteria of proportionality and noncombatant immunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surge in wide-scale bombing\u2014considered a war crime by some\u2014had a major impact on warfare in following years, he added. Total tonnage of bombs dropped by the U.S. rose to about 6.7 million tons during the Vietnam War, nearly double the 3.4 million tons unleashed during World War II, he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too easy to say, \u2018We won, so it\u2019s worth it,\u2019\u201d said Grimsrud, recounting not only the death toll but also the \u201ctens of millions\u201d injured and driven from their homes, and the environmental damage wrought.<\/p>\n

The war\u2019s legacy went much further, however. Among the Allies\u2019 goals, as stated in the Atlantic Charter of 1941, were postwar disarmament and expansion of the right of self-determination to all people. Grimsrud said. But the result, he said, was \u201cabject failure\u201d in central Europe, where communism spread rather than democracy, and even in the U.S., where President Franklin Roosevelt, feeling constrained by the Constitution, had taken war action without congressional consent or public knowledge. After the war, the nation didn\u2019t demobilize, as it had following previous wars, but instead became \u201ca national security state\u201d with the Pentagon at the center of power in the federal government, according to Grimsrud.<\/p>\n

Both a small military and congressional declarations of war were \u201cgone forever\u201d by 1945, the professor said, and two years later, the U.S. was locked into the Cold War by the Truman Doctrine. \u201cThe past 65 years are a litany of one Truman Doctrine-inspired intervention after another,\u201d including the 1991 Gulf War, which could have been avoided diplomatically but instead represented a lost chance for ongoing peace after the Soviet empire dissolved, he said.<\/p>\n

Grimsrud concluded with an allusion to the visions of the Beast and the Lamb in Revelation 13 and 14. \u201cThe beastly power of militarism seems an overwhelming legacy of World War II,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we may draw hope from the Lamb-like witness of those who opposed that war and whose inspiration has rippled down through the years and empowered an alternative legacy of nonviolent peacemaking.”<\/p>\n

Bluffton\u2019s Keeney Peace Lectureship was established in 1978 by the family of William Sr. and Kathryn Keeney to express appreciation for Bluffton\u2019s influence and to strengthen the continuing peace witness among the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article courtesy Bluffton University BLUFFTON, Ohio\u2014The necessity of World War II isn\u2019t as clear-cut as widely believed, Bluffton University\u2019s Keeney Peace Lecturer told a campus audience Oct. 25. The reasons ... read more about Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5589,5642,5623],"tags":[6100,5690,8739],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-9165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-bible-and-religion","category-faculty-and-staff","category-special-programs","tag-mennonite-central-committee","tag-peacebuilding","tag-ted-grimsrud"],"yoast_head":"\nPeace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Article courtesy Bluffton University BLUFFTON, Ohio\u2014The necessity of World War II isn\u2019t as clear-cut as widely believed, Bluffton University\u2019s Keeney Peace Lecturer told a campus audience Oct. 25. The reasons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-27T18:11:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-31T20:24:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/\",\"name\":\"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-27T18:11:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-31T20:24:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II - EMU News","og_description":"Article courtesy Bluffton University BLUFFTON, Ohio\u2014The necessity of World War II isn\u2019t as clear-cut as widely believed, Bluffton University\u2019s Keeney Peace Lecturer told a campus audience Oct. 25. The reasons","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2011-10-27T18:11:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-10-31T20:24:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/","name":"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg","datePublished":"2011-10-27T18:11:16+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-31T20:24:45+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2011\/10\/grimsrud.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/peace-lecturer-questions-need-of-world-war-ii\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Peace Lecturer Questions Need of World War II"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9165"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9236,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions\/9236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9165"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=9165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}