America has played its part in several different wars over the years. Just a few of the major ones include WWI, WWII, Vietnam and now the War with Iraq. With war, we all know there is much controversy from citizens and people affected by it, in regard to support and whether it is right or wrong. There are always those who strongly oppose war for different particular reasons and those who are actively for it and support all its efforts. This paper is aimed at studying and comparing those different opinions that were held for WWII and the present war with Iraq. The comparison will focus on these two wars not for any particular reason, but just simply because WWII was a war that not many expected or wanted and it brought about the largest amount of deaths from war in our nation's history. And the War with Iraq has brought a whole new perspective on war and much different tactics and weapons then any other wars we've engaged in. With these factors in mind, there are many different opinions that have and currently do emerge from the public and this is where the comparison will take place. Therefore the question at hand is, how do the opinions of Americans over WWII and the present war with Iraq compare with each other and why? Through research, interviews and hearing stories it appears that the opinions of American citizens over WWII and the war today have much similarity, because war is war. It is something that will always bring out similar emotions and attitudes, even as in this case if it involves two wars at very different levels of experience. .
In researching this topic it was very hard to find information which gave exact opinions and polls on how or what Americans were feeling prior to WWII. First off though, we should look at when WWII actually started. On September 1, 1939 Hitler ordered an invasion of Poland. This was more of an issued form of intent rather than a declaration of war.