Monday, May 09, 2005

VE Day
The world is commemorating the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and President Bush has used to occasion to lament the Yalta Conference and the decisions made by the Big Three of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. According to President Bush, the Yalta Conference resulted in, "one of the greatest wrongs of history." He faults them for effectively selling out Eastern Europe and allowing the Soviet occupation that followed. Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. suggests that President Bush may be overlooking the facts on the ground as they existed at the time, which would have made any diplomatic effort to counter Soviet expansion rather futile. Is President Bush presenting an accurate view of the U.S. role in ending WWII or is he engaging in a bit of historical revisionism inspired by his own foreign policy?