And it certainly has been controversial at different times. And so therefore, unless someone can actually get an act of the legislature passed to get rid of it, it stays in place. Nesi: I also think, like a lot of things in American politics and government, some of it is just dependence. It sounds like a similar thing in Rhode Island, having to do with the size and the geography. Rath: It's interesting hearing that because, I was talking about England, and that's a place where the smallest town has lost people in the war. And then some people a little more cynically say, “hey, who doesn't want a day off in August?” I do think there's always been a lot of pushback at the idea of getting rid of it from World War II veterans, from traditionalists. But the only other states that actually did was Arkansas, and they got rid of it in the 1970s. It was a big deal.Īnd then, of course, the fact that it was created, which happened in 1948 - I think at the time the state lawmakers thought there would be more states creating similar observances to mark the end of World War II. And the manufacturing industry in Rhode Island really went into overdrive building ships and equipment and material and everything. presidents trained at the bases around Rhode Island for the Navy. But if you think of what a small state Rhode Island is - about one in 10 of Rhode Islanders in the 1940s served in the war. Fundamentally, World War II was a very big deal in Rhode Island, as it was everywhere. Ted Nesi: I think any time you have a quirky or unusual observance in any state, it's always a mix of history and happenstance. To discuss why the state still commemorates Victory Day, Arun Rath was joined on All Things Considered by Ted Nesi, political and business editor and investigative reporter at WPRI television in Providence.Īrun Rath: So tell us, why is it just Rhode Island? Is history more alive in Rhode Island for some reason? ![]() Despite its significance, the holiday is only commemorated by one state: Rhode Island. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.V-J Day, August 14, 1945, is the day the Japanese surrendered, ending World War II. Window.FB.Event.subscribe('xfbml.render', function() (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')) For now, though, let us all agree that the celebration of V-J Day every September 2 is not a thing to be taken lightly, considering the true costs of war, and yet it should be a source of positive pride and the relief brought by the end of a trying labor, passed down through generations. ![]() The famous scene of a sailor sweeping a Navy nurse into his arms and kissing her during the Times Square public celebration of V-J Day, as it happens, is actually two very similar photographs taken of the same couple by two different photographers who had their work published in two different national periodicals. The iconic images, too, are unforgettable. We think it’s a safe assumption that our readers have a basic working knowledge of the United States’ entry into the war following the kamikaze Japanese (conventional explosive) bombing of Pearl Harbor, forward in time through the American landing on the beaches of Europe, sacrificing life and limb to fetter the Nazi animal and gradually gaining more ground, on through to the bitter end. Today, the History Channel and other popular TV broadcasting, plus many Hollywood films, and a ton of printed fiction and nonfiction popular literature, all still frequently feature the events of the European and Pacific Theaters of WWII as story material. However, the nation and the western world were united. This is to say that the average Joe or Jane back then was indeed spontaneously overcome with joy and emotion on the day of declared victory, even to the point where some of the V-J Day celebrations around the world resembled riots, and cost lives in their own right. The First World War was, until that point, considered “the war to end all wars,” but in terms of death tolls, WWII saw the demise of around three times more than its predecessor (50-80 million souls lost in WWII, around three percent of the world population). In much the same way as a statement like, “I’m not a hero, I just did what anyone would have done,” has come to sound trite, we’re sure that in the mid-20th century, the phrase “ultimate sacrifice” held a power that was more raw and personal than it may hold now.
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