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There is no claim that this is a universal perspective, rather it is a viewpoint shared by many in the Italian American ethnic community that will provide additional insight into this seminal period in our nation’s history.
Hopefully a number of vital questions will be considered in the course of this journey, among which are: How does an ethnic minority deal with its near enemy status and conversely how does a nation deal with this minority? How did Italian Americans wrestle with a bi-furcated background? Was an extra measure of demonstrated loyalty required of the Italian ethnic group? Did expending themselves for American victory take its toll? Did native-born Americans really accept Italian Americans as full equal citizens? What were the political consequences of the ambiguous status? Does the wartime history of the Italian ethnic group offer meaningful insights for the treatment of other groups?
Pozzetta ended his essay on Italian Americans during World War II by correctly noting that the war’s impact on the Italian ethnic group and the group’s influence on mainstream society was a complex process that awaited further elucidation.6 Hopefully this monograph will contribute to the search for an understanding of the dynamics that interacted between the larger culture and Italian identity in America.