World War II was as close as any conflict in human history to a war of good against evil.

“World War II in my view World War II is as close as you get in human things to a war that actually kind of is good against evil”

World War II was a clear battle of good versus evil that remains the defining event of the 20th century.

“Perhaps no event defined the 20th century more than World War II. A battle of good versus evil. A story of atrocities we hope will never happen again.”

It is a common misconception that the United States enjoyed immediate success after Pearl Harbor.

“everybody thinks that the United States after Pearl Harbor, everything we to we had the mightest touch. Everything we touched turned to gold. And I always say or I like to say in my very crude and crass way is that more often than not, especially in the early part of the war, we had the brown touch”

The United States was not prepared for World War II and the initial war effort was not as successful as the general public believes.

“we got caught with our pants down, you know, I mean, we knew World War was coming for a while and we were neutral technically, but it was coming. We knew and we weren't ready.”

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki served as a deterrent by demonstrating the horrific reality of nuclear weapons, potentially preventing their use in subsequent conflicts.

“I feel the same way about the atomic bombings I I don't know if Humanity ever collectively learns lessons but if we do I often think it comes with the equivalent of us you know touching history's hot stove and in this case in 1945 maybe the hot stove was an atomically heated one”

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified because they ended the war and prevented a significantly bloodier and longer invasion of Japan.

“and the reason why we didn't do Japan because it would have been a 10-year war going in there and you know Americans were so tired of the war so many of our sons and daughters sons mainly um we're dying and those two bombs stopped the war completely Japan surrendered”