As World War II came to a close, Americans were exhausted, numbed by four long years of war, but at the same time most were optimistic, and the country was remarkably united. A general agreement prevailed that the struggle against the Axis had been just. Germany, Japan, Italy, and their allies represented the forces of evil, and the United States had to intervene to save itself and mankind in general. As a result of this consensus, America was spared the isolationist backlash that had overwhelmed the Treaty of Versailles following World War I; nor was there a Red Scare similar to that which had swept the United States in 1919. Except for treatment of the nisei, Japanese Americans, and some 11,000 German aliens – unjustly interned by a government that confused ethnicity and nationality with treachery – violations of civil liberties did not compare with those committed during previous conflicts. Convinced that the struggle for democracy abroad would translate into equity under the law and nondiscrimination, African Americans experienced a rising level of expectations. Similar expectations arose among American women who had entered the workplace in droves during the war and who wanted the freedom to choose between a career inside and a career outside the home (although most, like returning male veterans, dreamed of marriage and children). The dawn of the atomic age created widespread anxiety, but for the time being, only the United States possessed the bomb.