Rohr-Clark 1

Griffen Rohr-Clark
Mrs. Sauer
American Literature
22 October 2015
Losing Is Not Acceptable In This Household
Before the United States entered World War Two in 1941, Europe and Asia had been
ruthlessly dominated by the Axis powers. Hitlers reign in Germany strived toward expanding
Germanys borders through invasion of neighboring countries in Eastern Europe. Japan had been
building towards a Pacific empire by dominating any land they ran into in the Pacific Ocean.
During this time, the United States had been attempting to stay neutral. It took the Japanese
attacks on Pearl Harbor to change their minds. Once the United States was in, the Axis powers
were forced to the defensive. As the Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamotos states, "I fear all we
have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve," Japan eventually
had regrets about attacking Pearl Harbor and allowing the United States to enter the war.
"America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and
will never, lose a war, stated General George Patton. And that is exactly how it turned out. Pearl
Harbor had motivated the United States to the point of the country experiencing a massive
increase in industrialization, enlistment, and support for the war. With the United States
essentially going all in on the war efforts, it helped fuel the Allied powers to victory. Americas
entrance into the war proved to help support the struggling countries of France, Great Britain,
China, and the Soviet Union, as well as help change the tide of the war. Their merciless drive
towards Berlin and Tokyo effectively ended in the collapse of the Third Reich and the
imperialistic Japanese government. Pattons quote effectively expresses the American

Rohr-Clark 2

personality towards victory by showing how powerful and passionate the country is in its
love affair with sports, warfare and teenagers trying to get into college.
Pattons message emphasises how the United States believes it had and always will
have enough economic strength and manpower to refuse defeat in any conflict it comes
across. The nature of competition is that eventually there has to be a winner, no matter how fair
or how hard each side had worked for it. There also has to be the acceptance that one has been
defeated. Pattons quote has an arrogant sense that the United States has enough power to never
have to accept defeat (The Official Website of General George S. Patton, Jr.). The country has
too many resources and too little patience to accept anything less than a victory. One funny fact
is that, even to this day, Americans still believe we won the War of 1812 based on the fact of how
it ended in the Battle of New Orleans, with Andrew Jackson leading a miraculous victory over
the British. Yet, ultimately, the British had had their way with the Americans from start to finish
of that war. We were just an upstart country still full of pride from our win in the Revolutionary
War. The same could be said with the Korean and Vietnam wars. The countrys ego seemingly
doubled in size following the victory of World War Two. It is strange that a country seemingly so
proud of its abilities to win managed a stalemate and an eventual defeat over in those two Asian
countries.
Despite being originally directed towards soldiers to try and motivate them, Pattons
message also fits into a typical teenagers lifestyle in high school. Me being a Junior, grades
are extremely important in this stage of the game. They determine the college I will end up
attending, the job I will end up getting, and the amount of money I will end up earning. This
moment in time has the potential to influence my entire life, which is why my mom is always on
top of my grades. Scholarships are extremely important for me to receive due to my family not

Rohr-Clark 3

being exactly the richest people in town. So when Patton states that America loves a winner and
will not tolerate a loser, I focus all of that energy into my school work (The Official Website of
General George S. Patton, Jr.). I need scholarships to be able to choose which colleges best fit
me, without worrying about the cost as much. That way, I know I could go to the perfect place
for me.
Patton speech presents Americas passion for competition and hatred for losing in
anything that victory is associated with. America has a notable love of sports and will not
tolerate a losing team (The Official Website of General George S. Patton, Jr.). Time and time
again, you see teams changing their lineup in an attempt to win games. Coaches get fired, players
get traded, facilities get updated, anything to change their losing ways. Even though I believe
winning teams is more cyclical than anything else, fans just go ballistic if their team is not doing
as well as they would have liked. Ticket and merchandise sales decline just because their team is
losing. Michigans football program had had the best attendance at their games for a very long
time until recently. Their fans were experiencing a downward shift in their teams success, which
in turn caused Michigan to move to around fourth best in the nation, behind their hated rival
Ohio State. Protests even happen if a favorite team is not doing as well as people would have
liked! For example: Michigan State couch burnings whenever their team loses a big game. The
United States has a plethora of passionate sports fans. Despite them being a very strange breed,
they are all American and embody American ideals to the tee.
The United States attitude towards victory in war, sports, and in a teenagers
efforts to get into college was effectively expressed in Pattons quote by showing how the
country loves competition. We as Americans can not accept defeat. There is enough
infrastructure in the country to be able to not tolerate loss in anything, whether it be in sports,

Rohr-Clark 4

war, business, or school. There are means to effectively change losing ways. Do you believe the
attitude to never be defeated has led to a sort of arrogance that we are the best country in the
world?