Why was World War 2 commonly called the good war?

Answer 1

Well, it wasn't called that while it was going on. "The Good War" is the title of a book by Studs Terkel. The book is a collection of oral histories. Terkel interviewed people about their WWII experiences and collected these interviews into a book. Terkel was working on this in the 60s and 70s and his book was published just after the Vietnam War was finally, at long last, over. So, in contrast to Korea and Vietnam, by that time WWII looked like a "good war". The people of the US had been completely united behind the war effort in WWII, they were animated by a spirit of sacrifice, society was completely mobilized and every effort was directed toward the single goal of winning the war so they boys could come home. Ten per cent of the US population was in uniform for WWII. In contrast Korea was a real let down - we did not win, for the first time ever in a US war, but we also did not lose. It was a "limited" and very unsatisfying war. Vietnam became completely divisive of the people in America and was finally ended because the American people turned overwhelmingly against continuing an endless war for the benefit of a tinhorn crook of a South Vietnamese dictator, whose own people would not fight for him.