Assignment
What are we fighting for? Why do we bury our sons and brothers in lonely graves far from home? Our men are dying to preserve a way of life. These privileges, these rights, if precious enough to fight for, are precious enough to die for.
--George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, United States Army
1. The Japanese attack upon American naval forces and air defenses at Pearl Harbor gave Franklin Roosevelt the justification he needed to involve the United States in the Second World War. Using specific examples from the propaganda film, Why We Fight, what other motivations existed to rationalize America's entrance into World War II?
2. Discuss the ways the United States attempted to remain neutral once war was officially underway in the Pacific and European theaters. In your response, describe how American neutrality could be described as "unbalanced" in the years leading up to America's official entry into the Second World War in December 1941?
3. The film series Why We Fight is admittedly a piece of government propaganda to promote continued American involvement in the Second World War. Given our unfettered access to various information systems, how susceptible are the American people to government or media propaganda today? (Please use specific examples to defend your position).
Additional Rules:
1. In three pages, please answer the following questions as completely as possible.
2. Ideal papers will use several examples from the film, PowerPoint lectures, and textbook to defend their perspectives or to support their arguments. Additional outside resources may be used in preparing your paper. If using outside resources, proper citation is required (any citation format is acceptable).
3. Papers will be graded according to content, accuracy, and the degree of knowledge and analytical insight produced in your responses. Proper grammar and spelling are expected!