December 7, 1941, was on of the worst attacks ever on the United States. Out of that day, 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Through the misjudgments of numerous U.S. armed forces personnel, the Japanese were able to carry out this terrible attack, which crippled the United States’ Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan…As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense…With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.” –President Franklin D. Roosevelt Since the middle of the 19th century Japan had looked to transform itself from a closed, feudal society into a modern industrial and military powered country. In the early 1930’s, the Japanese army engaged in battles with the Chinese in Manchuria and in doing so had prevailed. Since Manchuria had lost these battles, they became a part of the Japanese political system. In 1939, World War II began with a string of German victories. Germany defeated Poland, France, and England. Many European nations that Germany had control of were of great interest to Japan due to the natural resources of tin, rubber, and petroleum, and Japan desperately needed these resources (Duiker and Spielvogel, 540-544). If Japan could seize these territories and incorporate them into their empire, it could become the most dominant power in the Pacific Ocean (Encyclopedia Britannica). A year after general European war began, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with ... ... middle of paper ... .... New York: Longman, 1987. La Forte, Robert S., and Ronald E. Marcello, eds. Remembering Pearl Harbor: Eyewitness Accounts by U.S. Military Men and Women. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Books, 1991. Laurie, Clayton D. "Pearl Harbor." In Jeffries, John W., and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945, Revised Edition (Volume VIII). New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2010.American History Online. Facts on File. Love, Robert W., Jr., ed. Pearl Harbor Revisited. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995 “Pearl Harbor attack.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 2011. Web. 03 Feb. 2011 Prange, Gordon. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1981. Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1962.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to December 7, 1941- the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor- as “a date which will live in infamy.” This description has continued to be accurate, nearly 70 years after the attack on American soil. However, not many people have the same emotional connection to the events at Pearl Harbor, as does the former Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, the man who was in the position of “Commander-in-Chief” at Pearl Harbor. The events of this day caused his rank of “Admiral” to be removed.
Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. 1991 (Penguin Books, New York, NY 1981, 1982, 1991),725-738.
“Now It’s the Japanese Who Will ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’.” Daily Boston Globe 7 June 1942: D1 ProQuest. Web. 13 March 2014.
Stinnett, Robert B.. Day of deceit: the truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor. New York, NY: Free Press, 2000. Print.
America’s initial response to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was that of disbelief and shock. This attack took place on a Sunday morning and what surprised many was the fact that a tiny island nation situated in the Asian mainland could bring out that kind of a feat thousands of miles away from its actual homeland. A major part of this shock and disbelief was based mainly on the stereotypical view that the Americans had on the Japanese people – short people with oriental features that appeared exaggerated.
The surprise attack from the Japanese forces on December 7, otherwise known as ‘The Day of Infamy’, brought the United States into World War Two. A film that shows the moments leading up towards the attack is shown in the film, ‘TORA! TORA! TORA!’. In this essay, I will use the film as my historical source to reconstruct the events leading to the attack on the Pearl Harbour and the attack itself.
Zimm, Alan D. "The Pearl Harbor Myth." World War II 26, no. 4 (November 2011): 34. MasterFILE Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 18, 2014).
Prange, Gordon W., Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. New York: Penguin Books, 1981. Print.
Zimm, Alan D. Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions / Alan D. Zimm ; Graphics by Matt Baughman. Philadelphia, [Pa.: Casemate, 2011. Print.
Allen, Thomas B. Remember Pearl Harbor: American and Japanese Survivors Tell Their Stories. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001. Print.
Marston, Daniel. The Pacific War Companion From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Oxford: Osprey, 2007. .
"Full Text of "Pearl Harbor Attack : Hearings before the Joint Committee..."" Internet Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
At approximately 8 o’clock in the morning on the 7th of Dec 1941, the United States of America faced for the first time in history, an attack on US soil. The Empire of Japan had strategically planned and executed a swift blow to the state of Hawaii, located in the mid-Pacific Ocean. Hawaii was our first line of defense from any westerly attack of an Asian country. By the end of the almost 2 hour ordeal, our Naval and Air Corps assets’ were brutally crippled preventing the ability of the US to conduct an immediate retaliation. In this study we will cover many of the events that led up to that moment in time, the actual attack and show the result that were to follow.
The intelligence failures of Pearl Harbor led to the biggest war disaster in the United States history. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the United States Naval Base in Pearl Harbor was “surprised” attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese launched an all out offensive. For two hours, 21 American Naval Ships were damaged or sunk, more than 2,400 Americans were killed, and 188 United States aircrafts were destroyed. The following day, the United States disregarded their policy of isolationism with Japan and declared war against them .
The author of this essay is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was the president of the United States at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. The purpose of this speech was to inform the entire United States about what had happened the day before at Pearl Harbor. The nation was to be warned that the United States was going to declare war against Japan. The intended audience is everyone in the United States. President Roosevelt ef...