Videos

World War II scholars Gerhard Weinberg and Michael Neiberg talk about the important role smaller battlefronts outside of the European and the Pacific Theaters played in outcome of the war, p…

On July 26,1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces.  Prior to the order, African Americans suffered various forms of discrimination, includ…

The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II. Authors Saul David and Rana Mitter recounted the events leading up to the battle and the role it played in ending the war. Th…

Journalist Liza Mundy talked about her book, Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II. She discussed the once clandestine role of women who were recru…

World War II scholar Hiroyuki Shindo explored a key turning point of the war in Asia, a Japanese defeat largely at the hands of British and Indian forces. The fighting took place in eastern …

Many people think of commanders like Eisenhower and soldiers storming the beaches of France when they think of D-Day. However, the full picture of the massive operation is much larger than t…

Historians James Holland and Richard Frank discussed two grim events that took place in June and July of 1944; a Hitler Youth division’s execution of Canadian POW’s at an 11th century Abbey …

Historians Tami Davis Biddle and Alexandra Richie talked about two lesser known World War II U.S. Army Air Force initiatives: Operation Matterhorn, which targeted mainland Japan and Japanese…

Historians discussed two wartime efforts to plan for the post-World War II economy: the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and the 1945 proposal put forth by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgant…

The May to November 1944 Marianas Campaign played a major role in ensuring a U.S. victory in the World War II Pacific theater. Two historians who are authors of books on the Pacific war gave…

Historian Alex Kershaw talked about his book, The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II. Using images, he described the first round of Allied soldiers, in…

This session from the National World War II Museum’s annual conference in New Orleans focused on the Italian Campaign in 1943 and 1944. Rob Citino, the museum’s senior historian, talked abou…

Two historians presented talks in a National World War II Museum annual conference program titled, “Supremacy in the Skies: Allied Air Domination in Europe.” Donald Miller discussed the stra…

Historians David Stahel and Reina Pennington presented talks on two aspects of what the 1944 Soviet summer offensive called “Operation Bagration.” In June of 1944, the Red Army launched a ma…

Howard Blum talked about the life of Betty Pack, a Washington, D.C., debutante who worked as a spy for both the British and Americans during World War II. Mr. Blum described her ability to s…

Peter Maguire talked about the legacy of the Nuremberg trials and described how, in the 1950s, the Germans questioned the validity of the sentences, which often resulted in pardons or parole…

Richard Frank talked about America’s post-World War II occupation of Japan. Mr. Frank spoke about General Douglas MacArthur’s relationship with Emperor Hirohito, and efforts to set up food d…

Mark Riebling talked about Pope Pius the Twelfth and the Catholic Church’s secret actions against the Nazis. He argued that, contrary to previous scholarship, the pope was involved in effort…

Two authors and a POW/MIA historian discussed efforts to locate and return the remains of deceased American service members in the aftermath of World War II. “Those Left Behind” was part …

Historians talked about the ways Germany, China, Japan, and the United States remember and commemorate their involvement in World War II. This roundtable discussion was part of the multi…