Harry Johnston Quotes
In 1628 came the first English attack on Canada.
Johnston, Harry. Pioneers in Canada. Blackie and Son, 1912.
A few Americans who were too young to remember WWII hav in retrospect questioned the use of the Atomic Bomb against Japan. Young Japanese feel even stronger on this point. This quotation is very important because it comes for a senior Japanese official who knew the conditions at the time.
After the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Stimson drafted the Declaration of War that President Roosevelt would ask Congress to vote for. However, there was a small but very vocal group of extreme Republican conservatives who opposed assisting England against Hitler and saw German and Italian Fascism as positive forces. They would oppose any administration declaration of war against Germany and Italy who had not yet attacked any American facilities. The President realized that German and Italy had a Mutual Defense Treaty with Japan, and when we declared war against Japan, would have to ally with Japan or reneg on their treaty. So FDR removed Germany and Italy from the Declaration and Congress just declared war against Germany. In the next days, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the de facto situation was as Stimson had drafted it, but FDR had not given the right wing American Fascist sympathizers any issue to criticize the administration.
Ironically America bought the Louisiana Territory from the French, and the French traded Canada to England for Guadalupe. These are probably the two worst real estate deals ever made by a nation—and it was the same nation in both cases.
The only soldier ever so honored
Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston GCMG KCB, known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who traveled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He published 40 books on African subjects and was one of the key players in the Scramble for Africa that occurred at the end of the 19th century.
