The goal of this essay is to compare the two opinions of people, both influential and respected in the period of the World War II in the United States, Henry Luce, the well-known publisher, and Justice Robert H. Jackson. Before the two documents are compared it is needed to state that the historical context, the WWII, must be taken into consideration in the examination of these opinions.
What is common in two opinions is the perception of the United States as a great nation with its strong understanding of democracy and corresponding rights and liberties the democratic culture is supposed to protect and facilitate. Henry Luce, a publisher and creator of Time as well as other popular periodicals (Keller) genuinely believed that the second half of the 20th century was to become the ‘American Century’, where the United States could have performed the role of a peacemaker and a democracy preacher around the world, a Good Samaritan of a kind helping those in need (Luce, 170). The U.S. had all the chances to appear at the world’s political arena as a new leader (and to substitute the previously powerful Great Britain in it). Spreading democracy and understanding of human rights and liberties was the country’s intended purpose. In his turn, Justice Jackson also stated in the first part of his Dissent on the Korematsu vs. United States case that it was ineligible to infringe American citizens’ rights and liberties on the basis of their origin and race, as in the abovementioned case. He called for recollecting the Constitution, he named the decision regarding Korematsu’s case unconstitutional, and he vocalized his fear of future law misapplications, had the dangerous precedent been established (Barrett, 60).
The difference between the two opinions is simple. While Luce remains optimistic about the role and mission of the United States as a democratic and liberal society sharing its virtues with the rest of the post-war world, Justice Jackson in the second part of his Dissent sounds as if he had gone with the flow, given up on believing in the ability of the Constitution and the Court (and civil judicial system in general) to confront the enactments and orders of the military forces if they were supported by the well-grounded explanations of the necessities of the war time. Moreover, the precedent possibly established would have allowed future infringements of rights of American citizens on the basis of race (or whatever) if the military saw the need for such. This could potentially turn American nation into a much less democratic one in the future, let alone the example of democracy and a society of civil liberties and freedoms in the world context.
Works Cited:
Barrett, John Q. “A Commander’s Power, A Civilian’s Reason: Justice Jackson’s Korematsu Dissent.” Law and Contemporary Problems, vol. 68, Spring 2005, pp. 57-80.
Keller, Bill. “Henry Luce, the Editor in Chief.” New York Times, 22 April 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/books/review/Keller-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. Accessed 19 August 2016.
Luce, Henry R. “The American Century.” Diplomatic History, vol. 23, no. 2, Spring 1999, pp. 159-171.
