On December 7, 1941 the American public was shocked to hear of the events of a Japanese attack on American soil in which a total of three thousand Americans were either killed or wounded (Stinnett 4). Looking back on this disaster, people have found it just as shocking that the United States government, as well as the Army and Navy Intelligence units, could have been so taken by surprise at a time when they should have been most vigilant. In view of how tensions had increased between Japan and the U.S. leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, historians have speculated as to whether the United States government knew of the attack, yet allowed it to happen so as to manipulate the public opinion and increase pro-war sentiments. Due to public opposition …show more content…
to U.S. involvement in World War II, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was provoked and known by the U.S. government, namely President Roosevelt, so as to give a convincing rationale to bring the U.S. into the war. During the approximate two decades between World Wars I and II, the United States practiced isolationist policies in response to disillusionment over the outcome of World War I. The American public had witnessed the devastation of the war and supported a return to the traditional American practice of neutrality. This concept of American neutrality had been encouraged since George Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796 which warned the nation against becoming entangled in foreign alliances. For the most part, the U.S. had followed Washington’s advice by avoiding European conflicts. In fact, when World War I had first broken out in 1914, the U.S. stayed neutral in the conflict and did not enter until 1917. After the devastation witnessed by Americans after U.S. entry into World War I, the American public had a renewed appreciation for the practice of neutrality. For this reason, at the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the majority of Americans strongly supported neutrality in the conflict. A poll taken in September 1940 showed that eighty-eight percent of Americans supported isolationist practices (Wohlstetter 17). It took the severe event of the Pearl Harbor attack to sway the American public to support war, which leads to the question of whether the government played a role in prompting the attack. President Roosevelt was strongly motivated to bring the United States into World War II and therefore was seeking a reason, such as the Pearl Harbor attack, to declare war.
Despite the strong opposition to war amongst the American public, government leaders including Roosevelt agreed that “a victorious Nazi Germany would threaten the national security of the United States” (Stinnett 7). If Nazi Germany were able to triumph over Great Britain, as it already controlled almost all of continental Europe, Nazi forces would advance toward the Western Hemisphere and the United States (Stinnett 26). The Nazis would have seized control of Canada and British territories in the Caribbean and South and Central America, thus posing an imminent threat to the United States. Roosevelt therefore was a strong proponent of helping Great Britain and the Allies to defeat Germany before they were a direct threat to the U.S. This is evident in how Roosevelt supported actions such as Cash and Carry policies, the Lend Lease Act, and even started a peacetime draft. All in all, Roosevelt had been skirting around directly declaring war so as to not lose public support. An event such as Pearl Harbor that increased pro-war sentiment would have been very helpful to Roosevelt by allowing him to further his aid to Great Britain. Therefore, to serve his own motives, Roosevelt would have been willing to permit an attack such as the attack on Pearl …show more content…
Harbor. United States policies in regard to Japan seemed to provoke an attack as well as overlook signs showing the prospect of an attack. Beginning in early 1941, the U.S. began implementing harsher policies on Japan. At the same time, the U.S. government neglected to read signs indicating Japan was consolidating its military forces as though an attack was being planned. In July of 1941, the U.S. established an oil, steel, and iron embargo on Japan in response to Japan’s aggressive policies in China and other Southeast Asian regions (Wirtz). Due to Japan’s reliance on importing foreign oil and metals in order to maintain both its industries and military, this heightened tensions exponentially between the U.S. and Japan. It has been interpreted that these severe economic sanctions placed in Japan posed as an ultimatum where “Japan could see no way of getting out except by going to war” (Stinnett 121). In this way, the U.S. government compelled the Japanese to attack America. Also, it has been noted that President Roosevelt was informed of the Japanese reaction to the economic sanctions which clearly indicate that Japan was preparing to attack (Stinnett 120). Almost immediately after the U.S. embargo, Japan conscripted 500,000 more men and recalled warships and aviation units from Japanese bases around Southeast Asia (Stinnett 121). These military actions signal the Japanese were consolidating their military forces in efforts to organize an attack. The fact that the U.S. imposed harsh sanctions on Japan, a nation with heavy reliance on foreign imports, all while neglecting signs foreshadowing an attack, makes it seem as though the U.S. was in support of a Japanese attack. Some historians would argue that the government did not have prior knowledge of the attack due to the fact that radios were very unsophisticated at the time.
These critics would argue that U.S. Intelligence units actually had no prior knowledge of the attack since they did not have the most accurate technology to observe the Japanese military. Admittedly, it has been documented that on Oahu, “communication between the radio operators and the information center from the outlying islands was by radio and ‘unsatisfactory’” (Wohlstetter 8). However, the suspicious ways in which the relentless radio codes from Japan were documented and disposed of demonstrate that people had knowledge of a potential attack, yet withheld such knowledge. An original radio log documenting the location of Japanese warships in the Pacific was confiscated shortly after the attack and disappeared. The Navy has since said there was “no record of such a log, although a withdrawal slip in the National Archives exists” (Stinnett 197). If there truly was inaccurate or inconclusive data that the U.S. obtained from radio codes, then they would not have been destroyed or hidden after the attack. On the contrary actually, the radio codes were able to attain enough viable information to send reports to the government. Recent research has shown that the “most conclusive evidence of the upcoming Japanese attack did reach the White House but has been withheld from public discussion” (Burtness and Ober). Therefore
it is apparent that U.S. radios did obtain enough knowledge to predict the attacks since reports of the radio data have been mysteriously destroyed or withheld from the public. There are several reasons that support the notion that the United States government had some knowledge to predict the events that occurred on December 7, 1941. After analyzing sources documenting government actions in supporting Great Britain while antagonizing Japan, it seems apparent that the Pearl Harbor attack could have easily been predicted. Inhibited by the American public’s support for neutrality, it is plausible that the U.S. provoked the Japanese and withheld knowledge of the attack so as to have a basis for entering the war on the Allied side. Therefore it seems highly likely that although it was a surprise attack to the American public, the Pearl Harbor attack was actually prompted by the U.S. government in order to sway the public opinion to support entering into World War II.
Previous to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941, tensions had been forming between the USA and Japan in the pacific. The US had cut of most supplies to Japan with the fear of Japanese expansion. The conflict that had been escalating between Japan and China since 1937 had the US treating Japan with great cautiousness. They had been monitoring Japanese Americans in anticipation of a surprise attack. However the attack on Pearl Harbour still shocked and outraged the American nation and affected the American psyche. After being assured that “a Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world”(1), the sudden mass destruction of the U.S Navy’s Pacific fleet and deaths of roughly 2400 U.S soldiers and civilians as a result of such an attack undoubtedly lead to confusion and racial hatred amongst many US citizens. The assumption on the War Department’s behalf that Japan’s Navy were incapable of launching a full scale assault on the US Navy’s chief Pacific base was more than inaccurate. As a result, the US Naval base was unprepared and was quickly taken out. A hidden bias would soon become evident in both average civilians and higher positioned government officials. This bias against Japan aided in the formation of the Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) on February 19th 1942.
The Battle of Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious events that happened in U.S. history. On December 7, 1941, Japan made a surprise aerial attack on the United States naval base and airfields at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than two thousand Americans died and a thousand two hundred were wounded. Eighteen ships were badly damaged, including five battleships. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt with the support of the Congress, declared war on Japan. It led United States’ official involvement in World War II. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of a deteriorating relationship with the U. S. The “New World Order”, expansion and resources, and economic sanctions were factors that conducted to another disaster on the Second World War.
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence. The film and book present the Japanese side, the American side, the events that lead up to the attack, and the aftermath.
people wanted (Doc 1a). Wilson wasn’t very strict on his neutrality though. As WWI continued exports to Germany decreased as they greatly increased for Great Britain (Doc 1b). The U.S. still favored Great Britain and its allies and were not very neutral in trade. It raises the question if Germany was wrong to sink merchant ships. In response to the destruction of passenger and merchant ships Wilson wrote notes to the German leadership and made strong protests against their actions (Doc 2). Germany promised to stop the attacks, but later broke their promise leading to the U.S. entering the war. As stated before Roosevelt also supported neutrality. His actions before the war (WWII) were more drastic then Wilson’s. He put trade embargo’s on Japan fearing their increasing aggressiveness toward other nations and their possible threat to the United States and stationed the U.S. fleet at Hawaii (Doc 7). Roosevelt believed the best way to help European nations was to act as a beacon of liberty and restr...
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened on American soil, starting with disagreement on the Potsdam declaration. Japan’s greed for more land and industrial materials led the Japanese to make a plan to keep the United States out of the war, which consisted the use of kamikaze pilots and bombs to destroy our aircraft carriers and boats in an attempt to control the Pacific. While leaving the drowning, and dead bodies of thousands of American seamen and battleships at the bottom of the sea, seemed to be a good idea to the Japanese; America joined World War II and introduced the first nuclear weapons as reprisal for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and end to militarism during the agreement on the Potsdam declaration, the introduction to nuclear weapons and the death count wouldn’t have been so high and devastating on both the American and Japanese sides.
Year’s prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor the United States Government intercepted and decoded secret messages from the Japanese Islands and the Japanese Government. During that time the relationship with the Japanese Government and the rest of the world, especially the United States, was extremely tenuous. To avoid a war, which had begun to loom in the waters of the Pacific, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands, a territory of the United States, Great Britain, the United States and other countries of the world called for all trade to the Japanese Islands be halted and assets to be frozen, which ultimately caused a near collapse of the Japanese economy. In the early Fall of 1941 the U.S. Government, knowing a possible war approached, secretly requested that those Japanese immigrants and the large population of Japanese- Americans (those born in the United States) be questioned as to their loyalty. “The President of the United States ordered a special intelligence finding investigation to be conducted” (Armor and Wright, 13-14).
World War II was an exceptional war for the United States. The United States emerged from the war as a world superpower and protector of all other nations. There were many reasons why the United States entered World War II, however President Franklin Roosevelt was in some way directly connected to every reason. Roosevelt wanted to enter World War II as soon as it started for political and economic needs. However, the American people did not want to enter in another war, such as World War I, that costs so many lives and money. Therefore, Roosevelt schemed a plan to enter the United States into World War II that would change the minds of the American people, including the direct aiding of Great Britain, the German bombing of a United States warship, and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Surprisingly, almost the same amount of the population polled didn’t know the President of the United States and the Emperor of Japan in the year 1941. 53.19% for the former and 51.06% for the latter. The percentage of people quizzed that didn’t know Pearl Harbor had been attacked from the air and sea was 48.94%. A low score of 31.91% of people polled didn’t know that some Americans had known that a Japanese attack against the United States was going to take place. Also, 6.38% more people knew one of the ships damaged, compared to what day the attack took place.
“It was very apparent to everyone who had carefully followed the course of events that we would sooner or later have to meet the threat to civilization which these aggressor nations were presenting to the world…and that we would ultimately be left to face the onslaught alone…” are words from then Secretary of War Henry Stimson. America knew she was headed for war, her people though, not directly feeling the effects of the conflicts going on half a world away would not support the loss of American lives for a foreign war. The government knew about the planned attacks on Pearl Harbor, kept the information from the military leaders that needed it the most, and used the tragedy to rally the nation toward war.
December 7th, 1941 was the date of a horrific attack on a United States naval base in a harbor in Hawaii. On that day the harbor was attacked by both the air and sea. As about 350 Japanese aircraft flew over the naval harbor, out of their planes dropped bombs (Pearl Harbor day of infamy, 2013). With the help of Japanese submarines, they both would damage 8 battle ships, with 4 of them sunk in the harbor. On that day about 2,403 Americans were tallied up in the casualties, and over 1,178 navy and civilians were wounded. As people say the bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack from the Japanese — or was it? Some people believe that the United States provoked the attack on Pearl Harbor so that the U.S. could get into the war and jump-start their economy again, and not only do they believe that the U.S. provoked the attack, but these people also believe that FDR and his administration knew about the attack and just sat back in their chairs and watched the whole event unfold. I would have to agree with the account that the United States provoked Japan into the attack; I would also have to agree that FDR sat back and let it happen.
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
The United States government knew well of Japan’s intent to attack Pearl Harbor well before the occurred. The attack may have been a surprise to Pearl Harbor, but it sure wasn’t to Franklin D. Roosevelt and few select top armed forces advisors of his. An investigation after the attack revealed that the intercepting station received at least forty-three different decoded messages that had clues to the attack. The president had at least four intelligence officers under direct orders from Roosevelt. They had decoded the Japanese code and had been monitoring their communications before the attack. They knew all about news of the planned attack. In 48 hours before the attack, LTC Clifford M. Andrew, was told to burn forty file cabinets of top secret information on Pearl Harbor so no investigation could seek out the truth which was labeled top secret and destroyed.
It was a Sunday morning, on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor, US naval base located on Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese. They caught unguarded the whole nation, and for that, this attack is considered one of the top ten failures of the US intelligence. The Japanese were able to attack Pearl Harbor by surprise because of the mindset of US officials, whom they saw Japanese as a weak enemy, who wouldn’t risk attacking US territory, caused by a supremacy factor; As well as the not good enough US intelligence efficiency to encrypt Japanese codes, and the handling of such information. After the negotiations between the Japanese and the United States ended, there was no doubt that they would make an attack, but they didn’t know the target of it.
At almost eight o’clock in the morning in the island of Oahu, Hawaii the day of Infamy began. December 7th, 1941 was one of the most devastating attacks on American soil. The day of Infamy, or more commonly known as Pearl Harbor, was an attack on American soil from the Imperial Army. This attack was the final burst of the tension that had been built up between the United States and Japan. To understand the tragic attack it is important to understand the events leading up to it. The United States unrest with Japan started in 1937 through the invasion of Manchuria which began the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japan launched a full scale invasion of the Republic of China. The tension between Franklin D Roosevelt and Japan was initiated with
Would you want a negative prize? No, surprises are supposed to make you jump up and down. Well America received this no so good gift on December 7th, 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America declared war on Japan and became heavily involved in World War 2. America was more concerned with Germany, so they were not looking out for Japan. WIth Japan having a smaller population than America, it really was a dangerous risk for Japan. With such a big risk, why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for many reasons, some reasons including the idea of American expansion, embargoes, as well America being resentful of the New Order.