" H. L. Mencken, recalling the travesties of 1917–1918, warned his colleagues that it was their duty, in wartime even more than in peace, “to keep a wary eye on the gentlemen who operate this great nation, and only too often slip into the assumption that they own it. "

― Ian W. Toll , Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945