President Bush is not generally known for his firm grasp of history. But this has not stopped him from using history to justify his policies — most recently in a speech to US veterans in which he defended his aim to “stay the course” in Iraq by pointing out the consequences of the American withdrawal from the war in Vietnam. But lost in the criticism of that analogy was Bush’s mention of the Korean War and the occupation of Japan after World War II as success stories in America’s efforts to bring freedom to Asia and, by extension, the world.

Was Bush right to boast of the United States’ role in giving Japan, Korea and other places in Asia under American protection their freedom? As he put it to the veterans: “Will today’s generation of Americans resist the allure of retreat, and will we do in the Middle East what the veterans in this room did in Asia?”

What exactly did the US do in Asia? The first few years of the occupation of Japan were indeed a remarkable success for democracy. Instead of helping Japanese of the old school restore an authoritarian system, General Douglas MacArthur’s administration helped Japanese liberals restore and improve their pre-war democratic institutions. Trade unions were given more clout. Women got the vote. Civil liberties were boosted. And the semi-divine Japanese emperor was brought down to earth. Much of the credit for this goes to the Japanese themselves and the idealistic, left-leaning New Dealers in MacArthur’s government who supported them.

... contd.