This editorial piece was written by William Hodding Carter II shortly after V-J Day in 1946. It tells of the hardworking and courageous nature of the Japanese-Americans, or Nisei, in Company D of the 168th regiment stationed in Leghorn, Italy. The title of the editorial comes from the motto of this regiment, seen in the picture above, which was printed on their banner.
The editorial presents an outward challenge to white Americans to treat these Japanese-American soldiers with the same respect and equality as the white soldiers. Carter was a proponent of racial tolerance for Blacks as well.
"Go For Broke" won the 1946 Pulitzer Prize and is one of the most frequently quoted Pulitzer Prize editorials in the award's history. It is one among a series that Carter wrote for the Delta Democrat-Times of Greenville, Miss. that focused on building respect between races.
I had been protesting editorially against racial and religious injustices for a long time before our editorials won a Pulitzer Prize. But the Pulitzer Prize induced more people at home to concede that there might be some merit in what we were saying. --Hodding Carter, in his Pulitzer Prize acceptance speech
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