H. L. Mencken

The fact that all polls run heavily against American participation in the threatening European war is not to be taken seriously. A secret poll taken in any of the countries principally concerned would show the same result precisely. The overwhelming majority of Englishmen don't want war, and hope that it will never come again, and the same thing is true of the majority of Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Poles, Russians, Roumanians and Serbs. It was true of the same people down to August 2, 1914 and of Americans down to April 6, 1917.

But wars are not made by common folk, scratching for livings in the heat of day; they are made by demagogues infesting palaces. It is not necessary for these demagogues to complete the sale of war before they send the goods home, as a storekeeper must complete the sale of, say a suit of clothes. They send the goods home first, and then convince the customer that he wants them. History teaches that this is always very easy, for a number of reasons. One is that the very unpopularity of war makes people ready to believe, when they suddenly confront it, that it has been thrust upon them. They can't imagine wanting it themselves; ergo, it must have been willed by the other fellow. But why don't they blame their own demagogues? Because their own demagogues have been pretending, all the while, to be trying to prevent it. This attempt is now being made, and in a large and heroic way, by MM Hitler, Mussolini and Chamberlain. It is also being made by the Hon. Mr. Roosevelt. Thus, when it fails, the other fellow is manifestly to blame.

Another reason why peaceful people are so easily fetched by war is that they fear to be thought cowards. Their very peacefulness is a suspicious fact, even in their own minds, and when they are challenged they try to get rid of it by playing brave. This accounts for the extraordinary bloodthristiness, once war had begun, of pacifists, including especially the rev. clergy. They still dislike war, but they don't want anyone to think that they dislike it because they are afraid of it; so they set up a howl for force without stint, and preach that he who dallies is a dastard and he who doubts is damned.

But the main reason why it is easy to sell war to peaceful people is that the demagogues who act as salesmen quickly acquire a monopoly of both public information and public instruction. They pass laws penalizing anyone who ventures to call them to book, and in a little while no one does it any more. This happened at the time the United States entered the last World War, and it will happen again if the Hon. Mr. Roosevelt manages to whoop up another one. On the day war is declared the Espionage Act will come into effect, and all free discussion will cease. No one will have access to the radio who is not approved by the White House, and no newspaper will be able to dissent without grave risk of denunciation and ruin. Any argument against the war itself, and any criticism of the persons appointed to carry it on, will become aid and comfort to the enemy. The war will not only become moral all over; it will become the touchstone and standard of morality. This impeccability will extend at once to all acts and utterances of the Administration. It will become treason to observe that the Hon. Mr. Wallace has failed to save the farmers, and treason tinged with heresy to argue that the Hon. Mr. Ickes is a jackass.

A few weeks of that razzle-dazzle will suffice to convert most people to the war and to intimidate and silence the stray recalcitrants who hold out. All of us rationalize our necessities in this world, and one of the pressing necessities of war-time is to go along, or at all events, not to fall back. It becomes harder and harder to resist, both socially and psychologically. The dissenter is not only suspected by all his neighbors; he also begins to suspect himself.
Thus the job of demagogy is completed, and a brave and united nation confronts a craven and ignominious foe. It is not until long afterward that anyone ventures to inquire into the matter more particularly, and it is then too late to do anything about it. The dead are still dead, the fellows who lost legs still lack them, war widows go on suffering the orneriness of their second husbands, and taxpayers continue to pay, pay, pay. In the schools children are taught that the war was fought for freedom, the home, and God.

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Excerpt from Nuremberg Diaries, by Gustave Gilbert --- {a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist who was granted free access by the Allies to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. Gilbert kept a journal of his observations of the proceedings and his conversations with the prisoners, which he later published in the book Nuremberg Diary.}


We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."