Then as now, whatever disagreements over policies existed among Americans - and there were many such bitter policy disputes - the purposes and goals for which Americans fought were clearly understood.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When our interests matched, the Americans have been good to us, and when the interests differed, they wanted us to mold ourselves to them, which we refused.
The world of American politics is more contentious than it has ever been in my lifetime.
I remember the 1940s as a time when we were united in a way known only to that generation. We belonged to a common cause-the war.
The first phase of American political history was characterized by the conflict between the Federalists and the Republicans, and it resulted in the complete triumph of the latter.
During the Cold War, America took sides not only in disputes between Arab countries, but also in debates within them.
Our differences are policies; our agreements, principles.
I think most Americans understand that we went through a period in which American leadership was judged quite critically internationally.
The Americans invaded a country without understanding what eight years of a war with Iran had meant, how that traumatized Iraq. They didn't appreciate what they support for a decade of sanctions in Iraq had done to Iraq and the bitterness that it created and that it wiped out the middle class.
In dealing with the China problem, the British and American side, which had particularly strong interests in China, should have based its judgments about the origins of the problem on direct observation of the actual circumstances at the time.
We thought that whatever we wanted to do was right and good, simply because we were Americans, and we would succeed at it because we were Americans.