You make a number of valid observations. One of the sad facts about America’s understanding of WW II is that the Cold War prevented American historians from giving anywhere near enough credit for both the suffering the Soviets endured during the war and the Red Army’s major role in defeating Nazi Germany. You are right about the somewhat “creative” history France tells itself about the extent of the Resistance. With reference to the issue of the American contribution to fascist thought, you should really point out that many icons of the Left did not always have lofty goals. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, pursued her goal because of eugenics. The goal was to eliminate those she found unworthy. The great Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes upheld a forced sterilization because “three generations of imbeciles is enough.” The record of President Woodrow Wilson has recently been filleted by academia during this period of protest. Even the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt, while he may have been “a traitor to his class,” certainly stood with them when it came to European Jews. From refusing to accept Jewish refugees who escaped from Germany on a ship before the war to refusing to bomb the railroad tracks leading to the death camps during the war, he certainly had the prejudices of his background. One final point: I refuse to allow to pass what has become a ritual on the Left of calling Israel a fascist state. From the time of the first European Jews joining the Jews who had never stopped living in Israel, through the settlement period, then the War of Independence, the subsequent wars and almost continuous terrorism, Israel never stopped trying to reach a peace, to be a democracy, to respect civil liberties, and to protect the lives of its citizens. Anti-Semitism didn’t die in Hitler’s bunker. I have been a Democrat for over 50 years, but I see the truth as it is-not as if I desire it to be.