By James Bovard

September 1 is the anniversary of the start of World War II in Europe. On that date in 1939, Nazi Germany launched an invasion of Poland from the west and a few weeks later, the Soviet Union invaded from the east. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact shortly before they carved up Poland but that ceasefire didn’t last beyond June 1941.

World War II has been heralded for more than fifty years as the “Good War”—in contrast to subsequent U.S. military debacles in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. But World War II cannot be glorified without hiding a heap of lies and millions of corpses.

Less than six months before the war started in Europe, H.L. Mencken warned in The Baltimore Sun, “The main reason why it is easy to sell war to peaceful people is that the demagogues who act as salesmen quickly acquire a monopoly of both public information and public instruction.” Looking at the peril of another world war, Mencken predicted, “On the day war is declared, the Espionage Act will come into effect, and all free discussion will cease…Any argument against the war itself, and any criticism of the persons appointed to carry it on, will become aid and comfort to the enemy.” Mencken wrote, “A few weeks of [pro-war] razzle-dazzle will suffice to convert most people to the war and to intimidate and silence the stray recalcitrant who holds out.” Thanks to massive pressure to conform and submit, “The dissenter is not only suspected by all his neighbors; he also begins to suspect himself.” Unfortunately, the U.S. government vindicated Mencken’s worst fears on censorship during the war and far beyond.