Shedding Light On American Society's Myths About U.S. History

In "Society Must Be Defended", Michel Foucault wrote that the winners of a social struggle or armed conflict use their political dominance to suppress a defeated adversary's version of historical events in favour of their own propaganda.  It is likely the basis of the expression “history is written by the victor” (which has frequently been attributed to Winston Churchill).  This history is then perpetuated through what is taught in schools and, in the modern era, through portrayals of historical events on TV, in film and the mass media.

One of the countries that has done a remarkable job at writing history from the victor’s perspective is the United States, especially as it concerns the events encompassing the period between World War II and the present -- the period which has seen the creation of the "American Empire".  Some of the popularly held beliefs of history from a U.S. perspective are that: the Americans have been the “good guys” in any international conflict; atom bombs had to be dropped on Japan to save American lives; and the U.S. is an example to the world of a free and democratic society that values civil liberties and human rights.

Lifting the veil from many of these and other popularly held beliefs about U.S. actions in the historical events of the past 70 years seems to be the intent of a new documentary by Academy Award-winning film-maker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick.  The 10-part series called Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States is being broadcast by the U.S. cable channel Showtime.  The series challenges the basic narrative about the place of the U.S. in the world that have come to be accepted by most Americans.

Drawing on archival findings, old movie clips and recently declassified documents, the film-makers critically examine U.S. history, from the atomic bombing of Japan to the Cold War, to the fall of communism, and continuing all the way through to the Obama administration.  Much of what is challenged is regularly taught in American schools and has become part of the national mythology of the United States.  During the making of the series the film-makers discovered that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were militarily unnecessary and morally indefensible.  They also propose that the Soviet Union, not the U.S., was ultimately responsible for defeating the Germans in World War II.  And, they assert that the United States, not the Soviet Union, bore the lion’s share of responsibility for perpetuating the Cold War.  In addition, the documentary found that U.S. presidents have frequently trampled on the Constitution and international law, especially in wartime, and they note the United States has brought the world dangerously close to nuclear war repeatedly by brandishing nuclear threats.

In addition, Stone and Kuznick produced a 750-page book, The Untold History of the United States as a companion to the documentary.  Together, the two works are meant to "challenge the basic and commonly held narratives about U.S. history . . . of American altruism, benevolence, devotion to liberty and justice."  All myths which, Stone says, are comforting to most Americans but are actually "harmful, noxious and polluted", and leave Americans in the dark about the truth of their nation’s history and its place in the world. 

Reaction to the documentary has been mixed.  Glen Greenwald, a journalist with The Guardian highly recommended the series and book describing it as "riveting", "provocative" and "worthwhile".  Former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev wrote approvingly of the book stating that, “Such a perspective is indispensable at a time when decisions are being taken that will shape America's role in the global world of the twenty-first century. At stake is whether the United States will choose to be the policeman of a "Pax Americana", which is a recipe for disaster, or partner with other nations on the way to a safer, more just and sustainable future." 

In November 2012 Ronald Radosh, an adjunct fellow historian with the conservative Hudson Institute, lambasted the documentary as "mendacious" Cold War revisionism and "mindless recycling of Stalin's propaganda.”  And journalist Michael C. Moynihan criticized the book for "moral equivalence between the policies of the psychotically brutal Soviet Union and the frequently flawed policy of the United States."

The first three episodes of the documentary series premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 6, 2012.   The series premiered on the Showtime cable channel on November 12, 2012.

For anyone who does not accept the sanitized, censored and rosy version of America's role in the key historical events of the last 70+ years, a version that has been constantly presented to the U.S. population through the American school system, by the corporate media, Hollywood, and the U.S. government, then this is a documentary that comes highly recommended.

To watch an interview about the series with the Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, click here.

Related Articles & References:
*  Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space (Video)
* Oliver Stone: America is an “outlaw nation”
* The End of Pax Americana: How Western Decline Became Inevitable
* A People's History of the United States
* The sun never sets on the American Empire
* Goodbye, Pax Americana
* Preserving Pax Americana: Defence Reform for the Unipolar Moment
* The Story of American Revisionism (Excerpted from Why American History Is Not What They Say: An Introduction to Revisionism)
* The American Empire Project
* Could Oliver Stone's Exposé of the American Empire Help Press the UN to End Haiti Cholera?
* How America Became an Empire
* 7 Chomsky quotes that expose the American empire
* 8 striking parallels between the U.S. and the Roman Empire

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