Remembering America: Obama's D-Day Speech and Two Days in June

President Barack Obama commemorated the 65th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France.

There's no question that timing is, as it were, of the essence in politics. Consider the timing of President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world, coming as it did just two days before the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

Most focus simply on the Cairo speech. But that speech exists in a larger context, alongside the speech over the weekend in Normandy which bookended it on Obama's second big international tour.

On Thursday in Cairo, Obama gave his rhetorical best to reposition a mostly peaceful America in the future of the Muslim world. On Saturday in Normandy, he reminded of America's glittering, and far more martial, past.

One is a speech about peace; the other, a speech about war. In this case, war which was necessary to secure the civilization we have today.

The invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944.

Obama's tour, and his big speeches in Egypt and France, came as he is seeking to redefine America's relationship with the Muslim and, particularly, Arab worlds, and to deal with what may be the most right-wing Israeli government in history.

In Cairo, Obama spoke of what can be, a world in which the zealotry and extremism which fuels jihadism is dialed back. In Normandy, he spoke of what has been, reminding that American power, wisely and decisively employed, can ensure that Western civilization endures. Including in Israel.

Absent America, or perhaps better put, absent the action of America in the 1940s, the world would be a far worse place today.

Nazi Germany and fascist Japan would have ended that pivotal decade astride the world, with the lunatic ideologues of Nazism in possession of nuclear weapons and the advanced rocketry needed to deliver them. Britain and the Soviet Union may or may not have been able to hold out. Probably the latter, without supplies from America and its own participation in the war. Isolationist America would have had to cut a deal. Nazi death camps, which came perilously close to eradicating judaism as it was, would likely have finished the job. And so on, in a festival of horror.

The Nazis were a fringe political movement come to power in a time of chaos in Germany. Taking advantage of the underlying strength of Germany within Europe,the Nazi movement -- a fundamentally evil brand of politics which turned an historically tragic anti-semitism into something incredibly monstrous -- spread across the continent, taking territory right and left through force of arms.

Then President Ronald Reagan commemorated the 40th anniversary of D-Day in 1984.

D-Day reminds that diplomacy, while always a hopeful option, isn't always the right option. Though we would prefer it to be otherwise, there are circumstances in which there is simply no substitute for force, relentlessly and ruthlessly applied.

Had force been applied sooner against Nazism, the Holocaust which claimed six million lives might have been averted. Of course, FDR had to deal with hardcore isolationists in both parties, especially the Republican Party.

Obama is confronting Israel's very right-wing new government on its continued settlement of the West Bank. With his tour of Buchenwald, which his great-uncle helped liberate, and his D-Day speech, Obama showed that he knows full well the unspeakable tragedy of history which gave rise to Israel, and that he supports Israel.

But Israel will have to chart a different course if war which would quite likely not end well for it or anyone else is to be averted.

Obama toured the infamous Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel, who survived Buchenwald.

Invoking both his great-uncle, who was on hand in Normandy for the 65th anniversary commemoration, and his late grandfather, who also fought his way across Europe after D-Day, Obama showed that -- as exotic as he is for an American politician -- he is part of the American tradition.

D-Day was one of the great hinges of history. While the war would not have been won without Russia decimating the Nazi empire in the East, not only was this this the moment in which America became the world's greatest military power, much of what we've known as the modern era was made possible by what transpired there on June 6th, 1944.

As Obama put it: "It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the twentieth century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only six miles long and two miles wide."

That would be Omaha Beach, the most savagely contested of the landing areas. Or "Obama Beach" as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, caught up like much of Europe in Obamamania, mistakenly called it in his own speech.

The opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan.

But there was another day in June, another day last week, another of those hinges of history that turned 67 years ago. And relatively few remembered this day. But had it not occurred, D-Day would probably have been impossible, as America would have been decidedly on the wrong end of the war in the Pacific with Japan.

This battle took place some 3000 miles west of San Francisco, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, around a place called Midway Atoll, a set of three tiny islands claimed for America in the 1850s as a source of guano, the seabird excrement so useful in fertilizer. Unlike France, nobody much goes there, aside from the native gooney birds.

America, not to put too fine a point on it, was getting its butt kicked by Japan in the six months after Pearl Harbor. With the fall of the Philippines, and pretty much everything but Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, many Americans were fearful of a Japanese invasion of the West Coast that could sweep clear to Chicago.

On June 4th, through a combination of fortune and daring -- unlike today, there were no satellites or rapid communications, radar was rudimentary, and information about the location of the enemy and disposition of its forces came from scout planes -- that all changed as the outgunned US Navy shattered the striking power of Japan, sinking four aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway.

John Ford's The Battle of Midway, about another day in June on which the hinge of history turned, won an Oscar for best documentary.

John Ford, who a year earlier had won an Oscar for The Grapes of Wrath, was on Midway during the battle and filmed much of it, and was wounded in the process. His documentary, The Battle of Midway, won the Oscar. The film plays as corny and rather frantic today, and really doesn't explain what happened, but all film is a product of its circumstance.

Two years later, Ford was on Omaha Beach on D-Day, directing a crew of Coast Guard cameramen filming the battle commemorated again this past weekend.

But unlike the Midway footage, the Omaha Beach footage was not released to a war-weary public. It was deemed by the War Department as too horrifying.

Over 50 years later, Steven Spielberg recreated Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan. The movie's star Tom Hanks, an early Obama backer, was prominently on hand for the 65th anniversary festivities, visible on screen talking with the president and first lady and other world leaders. Hanks went on to produce Band of Brothers, the highly-regarded HBO miniseries about a company of paratroopers in Europe and is producing the upcoming miniseries The Pacific, about the Marines and the even more savage fighting that took place there.

And so history is passed on, in film as in speeches like Obama's, as we affirm our success and seek to set aside our stubbornness.

You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.

Comments

[LizM]

A common thread running through all of President Obama’s speeches on this international tour is the importance of a balanced and smart foreign policy and the recognition that the totality of America’s strength and leadership is demonstrated not just through the example of its power but also through the power of its example. Or, at least, that’s what the Vice President always says. It still sounds good to me.

Speaking of which...and, of whom... I may have grossly underestimated President Obama’s ability to navigate his way around the recent meeting at the White House with Prime Minister Netanyahu. It seems that I misread Netanyahu’s relaxed demeanor in front of the press Let’s just say that the speech the Israeli leader is gearing up to give should be very interesting and tell us a lot about the long-term and wide-ranging impact of the Cairo speech.

[SparkyDash]

As was mentioned before, Mr. Obama is outstanding in placing our nation in a more positive light just with words. He's also quick at educating himself on world issues and actions are beginning to impress.

That said:

Biden meets Af-Pak envoy
By ALEXANDER BURNS | 06/10/09 11:12 AM
"One key meeting Wednesday morning: a breakfast at the Naval Observatory between Vice President Joe Biden and Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan"
Wonder what's up?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

As I mentioned on New West Notes, Holbrooke is reporting on his recent trip to Pakistan and they're going over the situation with regard to the offensive against the Taliban and terrorist retaliations.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes, things are rather different with Israel and Obama than you supposed ...

[Winning09]

Obama made opposition to the Israeli settlements policy a big part of his speech.

[LizM]

Speeches are easy...meetings with Netanyahu, not so much.

[jhamm1]

SInce we're covering both theatres of the war, let's not forget Imperial Japan's own genocidal conquests, fueled by a similar master race mentality, which likewise, had the United States failed to intervene, would claimed a far greater toll of Chinese civilians than the 32 million who actually perished.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't recall the casualty numbers offhand, and that number sounds very high, but it's certainly true that Japan pursued extremely ruthless policies.

[Winning09]

That's a total exaggeration. It was more like 20 million.

[hglassberg]

Would it be possible to make historical movies BEFORE the event takes place? Take Shindler's List or Saving Private Ryan or any other historical movie. So much had to happen before Steven Spielberg could go to work. Why not let him work without historical precedent? Think of how much the world might have been spared if Tom Hanks had played Hitler rather than Hitler. Let's let our creative Hollywood minds invent our wars for us and give us the on screen satisfaction of winning them without having to shed real blood. Think of the enormous savings to our national exchequer, not to mention the financial gain to the companies which would make these surrogates, if Tom Hanks had overseen both Iraq wars.

Yours sincerely,

The Playdo Institute
Handel Glassberg, President

[Winning09]

I see where you're going with this. And...I like it!

[LizM]

Me, too. And...it could work!

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

The "Playdo Institute?"

[pirx]

It's called Battle Star Galactica. Let us work to keep it in the realm of fiction.

[Winning09]

Heh.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Great show.

This has all happened before and it will all happen again ...

[Winning09]

It's fascinating to see our forebears back in 1942. And I kinda like that Ford's "Battle of Midway" is a little hokey. It's charming.

Is that Henry Fonda who's one of the voices in the movie?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

That is Henry Fonda.

He recorded that not just before he joined the Navy and served as an intelligence officer in the Pacific.

[Winning09]

I didn't know Henry Fonda was in World War II. Wasn't he a little old for that?

[Winning09]

"Saving Private Ryan" is a great movie. The D-Day scenes are amazing.

But here's what I don't get.

The old guy with his family at the cemetery (the one Obama was at Saturday) at the start of the movie who thinks back to the landing on Omaha Beach is the older version of Matt Damon's character, Private Ryan, right?

And Damon's character was a paratrooper.

He didn't land on the beach. He parachuted in the night before with the 101st Airborne Division.

So how can he think back to the landing on Omaha Beach?!

How can he do that, Steven Spielberg? :)

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

A paradox ...

[Shawn0965]

I don't think the D-Day footage is "Ryan" thinking back to D-Day.

I think, the title 'Saving Private Ryan" makes the movie more about Capt. Miller (Hanks) and his men and what they went through to actually save Private Ryan, not so much about Private Ryan himself. The D-Day footage is the start of Capt. Miller and his mens story, not Private Ryans story.

[Winning09]

The way the movie is edited makes the audience think Ryan is thinking back to the beach landing it turns out he wasn't part of.

[Winning09]

Obama was brilliant to tour Buchenwald with Elie Wiesel the day after saying no more West Bank settlements in the Cairo speech.

Those are powerful video images.

[jhamm1]

Nothing's brilliant about touring anywhere with Elie Wiesel, the proverbial s,c,u,m of the earth who routinely exploits his own status as a Holocaust survivor as an excuse to become a hateful and vindictive person.

And before anybody starts with contemplations over how any reprehensble human being could possibly receive a "Nobel Peace Prize", bear in mind that George W. received a significant number of nominations for this status himself, so don't be fooled. Nobel Prizes, like so many other saught after statures, are rewarded on a variety of basis pertaining to popularity and other attributes that differ significantly from actual merit.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I personally approved your comment, which uses rather hateful language, as I'm sure you'll agree, in order to engage your contention.

Wiesel is a very fine writer and a gentleman whom I've met. And if you imagine that GW Bush came anywhere within hailing distance of the Nobel, you have a very large imagination indeed.

It was certainly smart politics for Obama to appear with Wiesel at Buchenwald. Period.

[Winning09]

I know Reagan's speech there is famous and all that.

But I don't think it's all that good. He sounds like he's reading.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I remember Reagan getting rave reviews for that speech.

I think one difference is that he is reading, but not from a teleprompter.

[Winning09]

For an actor, Reagan should be a better reader.

[Winning09]

The History Channel footage on D-Day is amazing. I guess John Ford's footage was found.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

It was misplaced, supposedly, but much of it was found. I think Spielberg reviewed some of it before making his movie. It's even more gruesome than Saving Private Ryan, which a lot of people found jarring when it came out in 1998.

[Winning09]

It's sad watching the AP news clip to realize Obama is right, people do need to be reminded of one of the most important days in history so they don't forget.

Nobody twittered on D-Day. lol

[Winning09]

Obama did a fantastic job with these speeches. He represents the future and reminds of the past, with America an essential nation in both.

[bogues]

President Obama's speeches were remarkable and well received by most people. Those who have found it necessary to comment negatively are in my opinion doing it so they can hinder the good work that is being done around the world. They do not want President Obama to succeed so they are doing all they can to make him fail. How can anyone accept such destructive behavior as that?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

There's a big strain of reflexive negativity in the culture.

[Winning09]

There's a lot of angry people around, venting on the Internets and talk radios.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

That's for sure.

[oxi]

"They do not want President Obama to succeed so they are doing all they can to make him fail."

The electoral college President has only himself to blame! The political party he belongs to also has a majority in both houses, so again he deserves the blame.

I say blame because he has done nothing to prosecute those who allowed torture to have happened, he has done nothing to reverse warrentless wiretapping, both are crimes against the Constitution or have we forgotten that vital document?

Scaling back the Patriot Act and easing the powers of The Department of Homeland Security and asserting some control over the National Security Agency would help preserve the Bill of Rights which was created to protect us from the federal government.

The Pentagon budget continues to grow and bailing out the Federal Reserve and failed banks was more important than saving the average home owner, even with a democratic majority!!!

I am also worried about House Resolution 645 which mentions FEMA detention camps being created under the control of the Homeland Security secretary. Read into this. Their is a myth that Obama was about change where in reality he has embraced the status quo left by Bush.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Considering that your long post has little if anything to do with the Normandy speech or the Cairo speech, I think the theory that a lot of folks are venting is something you're demonstrating.

If a real lefty had been elected in November, your disappointment would be very justified.

[Winning09]

What does this have to do with the piece? Enough of this paranoia that Obama is the same as Bush. It makes no sense.