Grand old conspiracy theorists

While many Americans do not recognise today’s Republican Party, the bigots have been waiting in the wings for 80 years.

In the summer of 1945, the Allied policy of demanding unconditional surrender in World War II became the subject of intense debate in the United States. In a way, it has remained so ever since, tracking with Americans’ changing attitudes about the Cold War and post-Cold War interventions in the Middle East. In fact, the Republican Party’s own shifting positions on the issue of unconditional surrender during WWII offer a revealing glimpse of the party’s internal divisions and collective character.