Babylon Comes to Sparta

Earlier this year, the history faculty on a Maryland campus met to hear a young colleague discuss a paper he was writing. The author hoped to receive feedback and eventually publish his work in a scholarly journal. His topic was the invasion of Iwo Jima in 1945. The junior professor argued that the battle, in which nearly 7,000 Marines lost their lives, was a strategic mistake. Moreover, he said, it was predicated on racial hatred: American forces struck at the island not because it was home to an important air base, but because they wanted to kill a bunch of Nips.

This was nonsense. Iwo Jima was a necessary target whose capture served U.S. interests if only because it became a vital landing strip for B-29 bombers. The fact that a professor would make such a claim should startle nobody, however. The modem academy places a premium on revisionism and believes that much of American history should be viewed through the distorted lens of race. The surprising part is that this paper was delivered at the U.S. Naval Academy, and its author was a captain in the Marines.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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Earlier this year, the history faculty on a Maryland campus met to hear a young colleague discuss a paper he was writing. The author hoped to receive feedback and eventually publish his work in a scholarly journal. His topic was the invasion of Iwo Jima in 1945. The junior professor argued that the battle, in which nearly 7,000 Marines lost their lives, was a strategic mistake. Moreover, he said, it was predicated on racial hatred: American forces struck at the island not because it was home to an important air base, but because they wanted to kill a bunch of Nips.

This was nonsense. Iwo Jima was a necessary target whose capture served U.S. interests if only because it became a vital landing strip for B-29 bombers. The fact that a professor would make such a claim should startle nobody, however. The modem academy places a premium on revisionism and believes that much of American history should be viewed through the distorted lens of race. The surprising part is that this paper was delivered at the U.S. Naval Academy, and its author was a captain in the Marines.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.