Our recognition of past wars comes with a dose of ambivalence

This Memorial Day was an unintended reminder of how Americans have been ambivalent or even indifferent to how past wars have been recognized and treated, well after each has concluded.

Despite the presumption of right always being on America’s side in going to war, the record does not support that conclusion, especially in the period since 1945. 

The Civil War was a disaster for all. Fortunately, the Union persevered. 

The Spanish-American War of 1898 was manufactured, in large part, by “yellow journalists.” The U.S. entered World War I late and remained divided over who the enemy was. And that war meant to end all wars tragically led to a second global conflict.

The U.S. and its allies won the greatest conflicts of the 20th century: World War II and the Cold War. But in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the results were not good. In lesser conflicts, from Grenada to Beirut to the Balkans, the U.S. has not fared so well. The uneven record may explain why the U.S. has also been uneven in designating holidays and creating memorials over wars.

Last weekend marked the three-day celebration of Memorial Day, a holiday to recognize and pay tribute to those Americans who died in service to their country. It was originally called Decoration Day to commemorate the Civil War. It was not until 1968 that Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, and the name was changed to Memorial Day.  

Nov. 11 was memorialized first as Armistice Day, Remembrance Day in Europe, to record the silencing of the Guns of August on the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour of 1918. In the U.S., it is now called Veteran’s Day.

While both the last Monday in May and the Nov. 11 were established after the Civil War and World War I, there was no official holiday commemorating the end of World War II, or for that matter the ending of the Cold War (or the Korean, Vietnamese, Iraqi and Afghan Wars).   

So, aside from granting an additional national holiday, are any distinctions between Memorial and Veteran’s Day to be drawn aside from the wars each was meant to honor — or those wars that have not been honored? And do Americans care about what may be selective amnesia?

Americans tend to glorify World War II. It was fought by the so-called “greatest generation” even though few compare that cohort with the Founding Fathers, who may have been the truly greatest generation.

The enemy in that war was villainous Nazism and perfidious Japanese who ignored the law of war in attacking the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor without warning. And Hitler and his lot made for perfect caricatures, as did the Japanese generals responsible for war crimes and death marches. Yet the World War II memorial was not dedicated until nearly 50 years after that war ended.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial is a handful of statues near the Lincoln Memorial.

Perhaps the most stunning of memorials, dedicated to the Vietnam War is a half-hidden, buried granite wall listing all the Americans who died in that conflict.

There are only two holidays to commemorate all of those conflicts — Memorial Day and Veterans Day. What does this say about American culture and society, as both reflect on sacrifice?  And why did the Civil War and World War I appear to have a greater impact on the nation in terms of recognition than the other wars we have fought and won or lost?

One can understand why the Korean, Vietnamese, Iraqi and Afghan Wars did not seem worthy of recognition, as we tied one and lost the rest. But that does not explain the reluctance to acknowledge the Second World War, in which democracy and freedom were indeed rescued from authoritarianism and its perverted ideological assertions, or why it took until 1968 to change Decoration Day to Memorial Day.

Few Americans would regard using these memorials as insights into America’s psyche and possible ambivalence towards war. 

Isolationism began with the formation of the republic, and it lasted because the republic had two huge oceans to protect it. George Washington warned “to steer clear of permanent alliances.” The U.S. was reluctant to enter both world wars at first, and then it was unduly motivated by Sept. 11, the threat of weapons of mass destruction and the urgency of promoting democracy to change the strategic landscape of the Middle East — which it did for the wrong reasons.

How America treats holidays and memorials to war indicates ambivalence toward them. And that is an interesting observation.

Harlan Ullman is a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council and the prime author of the “shock and awe” military doctrine. His 12th book, “The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD:  How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large,” is available on Amazon.