Letter offers misinformation on the demise of Nazism and communism

Besides a few platitudes (terrorism is bad, people must respect each other) the letter by P. Sanchez in the Friday Wildcat contains a piece of misinformation. For some reason he gives credit for the fall of both Nazism and communism (presumably in Eastern Europe), to the United States.

It is a common knowledge that the Allies' victory in World War II was a joint effort by Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. However, the US had not launched their first major offensive (against Italy) until the fall of 1943. By that time Germany was largely drained of its resources because of the actions on the Eastern front where the scales of war were leaning in favor of the Soviets. The USSR ultimately played the most important role in defeating Germany by the spring of 1945.

The United States has been known to combat Communism in Korea, with marginal success, and in Vietnam, where they were defeated. The collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe was caused by reforms in Russia in the late '80s, admittedly started by the government, but carried on by its people. As the Union was weakend, former socialist countries and Soviet republics quickly seized this opportunity to topple their governments and install democracies during 1989-1991. The US provided political support but that was about it. To this day, Communists still rule in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and Albania but there is nothing that the US can do about it.

It's always a pleasure to set an undergraduate straight in his tracks even though history is not on the list of my favorite subjects.

By Vladimir Florinski (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 2, 1997