Inside Wolrd Ward II: Opposing Viewpoints

4. Synopsis
World War II was responsible for the deaths of seventeen million members of the armed forces including 322,000 Americans. Additional millions of civilians died from bombing raids, famine, epidemics and other war-related causes. The United Stated suffered relatively little destruction from the War. The number of American casualties was small compared to the rest of the world. Before and after the United States entered the War, a wide diversity of viewpoints existed amongst the people of the United States. In 1940 Germany was a serious threat to the future of the democratic world. Although most Americans agreed that a German victory would be disastrous to the United States, many opposed the system of a military draft. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the United States declared war. War had been inevitable for a while, however, it was not until the United States was directly attacked that full public support for war was present. During the War,...