P. G. Wodehouse Quotes
A melancholy-looking man, he had the appearance of one who has searched for the leak in life's gas-pipe with a lighted candle.
Wodehouse, P. G. The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories. Methuen, 1917, p. 118.
The Japanese Government was in the control of ardent militarists intent on expanding the Japanese empire. They invaded Manchuria and had designs on China. The League of Nations was very weak, in large part because the United States had not joined when the Senate refused to ratify the treaty. So peace or war In Asia depended on the fascist, military clique that ruled Japan.
There was much political Japanese opposition to attacking the United States. Most military judgments were that Japan could not win such a war. The militarist hawks in the Japanese leadership argued that while Japan might not be able to defeat the U. S., Japan could not be defeated in the Pacific. And the U. S. would not spend the money to rebuild their navy of the Japanese could destroy most of the capital ships with surprise attack. Therefore starting a war might provide the opportunity to negotiate for more favorable terms and less pressure, boycotting, and castigation of Japan by the United States and they could come out with control of a number of lands of the Pacific. However, the Naval Chief of Staff told the Emperor that war ight be inevitable as America or Great Britain might attack one of the Japanese held territories and force Japan into war. Later, the Japanese conservatives and Militarist hawks, were able to purge opponents of war from the Cabinet, and when they had control of the government, convinced the Emperor to flip flop, and started WWII with the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. Born in Guildford, the third son of a British magistrate based in Hong Kong, Wodehouse spent happy teenage years at Dulwich College, to which he remained devoted all his life. After leaving school he was employed by a bank but disliked the work and turned to writing in his spare time. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular characters who became familiar to the public over the years. They include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls.
