Pearl Harbor was the point at which America decided to go into war. There has been many arguments on whether America would have went into war regardless to help their allies in Europe. This debate came from Franklin D. Roosevelt's inclination to want to go into war. FDR saw a need for American involvement as the Allies was slowly losing more and more ground to the Axis power. The possibility of a loss was made very evident with the fall of France to Germany. Although FDR was inclined towards helping the Allies, the American people were not aligned with this view. The American people were against going into war after their involvement in the first World War. The first World War gave Americans some common views. One of the common views of the people was that America does not need Allies because security is held up through the protection of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Their belief led to foreign affairs policy of isolationism. The policy of isolation and neutral stance in foreign affair came crashing down with the Imperial Army's attack on Pearl Harbor. The day of December 7th, 1941 is when America began its journey to the position it still holds in the world today‒ a superpower. A superpower is a country with a strong military, economy, and international political power. After the second World War, America had created the largest military force it has every had. World War II required
For the attack itself, Japan had 2.4 million trained ground groups. The first wave of planes took off at 6 o’clock in the morning. “There were approximately fifty or more planes coming towards Pearl Harbor,” (Pearl Harbor, Oahu). However, the first set of planes hit Oahu, Hawaii at 7:40 a.m., and the second wave of Japanese planes came in at 8:54 a.m. Several ships had been blown up to pieces by bombs and torpedoes, and turned upside down. With about 2,390 American people dead, the attack ended at one o’clock in the afternoon. America went silent. People were shocked at what had happened.
December 17th, 1941 was a day that will forever “live in infamy”, as it was the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a US naval base in Hawaii. After two waves of attacks on Pearl Harbor, more than two thousand American soldiers and sailors, and another one thousand were wounded. The Japanese destroyed about twenty American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. It has commonly been wondered whether this attack could’ve been prevented, and after much examination, it is clear that this attack could’ve never occurred. In his “Day of Infamy speech”, Roosevelt himself said, “It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago.” There were many causes for the attack on Pearl Harbor, stemming from bad relations between Japan and the United States. Prior to the attack, the United States treated Japan disrespectfully in many ways, creating tension and discomfort between the two countries. Countless warnings and clues were interpreted of an upcoming attack, but were not taken as serious of a threat as they were, and weren’t sent to any naval bases. On the day of the assault, no one was prepared to defend themselves or fight. There were many events that provoked Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, and the whole event could have been prevented, if it hadn’t been for many actions of the US.
World War II was undoubtedly the biggest war of the 20th century. It was fought in the Pacific and in Europe. Early in the war the United States, which consisted of 48 states at the time, was not involved. Suddenly all that changed on the fateful morning of December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. This changed the course of the entire war. Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed Congress to inform them of Japan's attacks on the United States, to get them to declare war, and to rally the American people against the evil powers that were threatening freedom.
“Yesterday, December 7th, 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.” These words were spoken the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bombing of Pearl Harbor cost more than 2,000 lives and nearly destroyed 20 naval vessels. Eight of these ships happened to be battleships, but luckily no aircraft carriers were in the area. On December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt gave his address to the nation. He ended this address with, “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire,” thus beginning the United States role in WWII.
Did you know that plans for the surprise attack against the United States began as early as January 1941? Did you know Japan also chose specifically to attack on a Sunday because they believed the Americans would be less alert? By December of 1941, the Japanese Army consisted of 2,400,000 trained ground troops and an air force of 7,500 planes in December 1941. The U.S., however, was obligated to produce a large portion of war equipment for Europe. Therefore, the U.S. only had 1,500,000 ground troops, 1,157 combat aircraft, and 347 war ships. Only 500,000 of the ground troops were combat ready. The U.S. Pacific Fleet was fairly large and Japan believed it posed a threat. A surprise air attack would be just what Japan needed to nullify the fleet.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) described Pearl Harbor as “a day that will live in infamy”. On the morning of December 7th, 1941, over 350 Japanese attack planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two different waves took off from several different battle ships in the Pacific Ocean, all with the same destination: Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. Since most American Soldiers were off-duty for the current day, it would be a relatively easy task for the Japanese Attackers. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States. There were simultaneous Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. All eight U.S. Navy Battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. All but one was later raised, and six of the eight battleships returned to service and fought in the war. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. The attack forced America into joining World War II and FDR into carrying out Executive Order 9066.
December 7, 1941, Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, a day that will live in infamy. Mrs. Augspurger remembers feeling shocked. There had been reports of the Japanese becoming stronger, but she had no idea they were strong enough to attack us and hurt us like they did. At first, people did not believe we were attacked; they thought it was a drill. We were a strong nation and weaker nations would not dare attack us on our own soil. Because of the events at Pearl Harbor, the United States joined WWII.
On the morning of December 7th 1941 at 7:55am (Hawaiian time) the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft began their attack on the stationary U.S Pacific fleet moored at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. This first wave of 183 planes, launched from the north of Oahu on Japanese aircraft carriers was an all out attack of the Fleet and military not specifically aiming for one certain type of vessel. Although a U.S radar base detected the incoming planes on the north of the island this post
After World War II began in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the neutrality of the United States. Many people in the United States thought that their country should stay out of the war. The people wanted the Allied Forces to have the victory. President Roosevelt also wanted an Allied victory because an Axis victory might endanger democracies everywhere. The United States equipped nations fighting the Axis with ships, tanks, aircraft, and other war materials. The Axis did not like this. Japan wanted to take over China, but China refused. China was led by Chiang Kai-Shek at the time. Japan wanted the United States to stop sending China supplies, but the United States refused. The United States opposed the expansion of Japan in Asia, so they cut off important exports to Japan.
“ Yesterday, December 7,1941- a date which will live in infamy- the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Naval and Air Forces of the Empire of Japan.” - President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor got attacked, why did they get attacked, who led the attacks, and how did the United States respond. Japan made a bad decision attacking the U.S. because the united States is going to come back and hurt them worse then they hurt us.
December 7, 1941 was a day of great tragedy. At 07:48 in the morning the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. This attacked caused the destruction of seventeen ships and one hundred and eighty eight aircraft as well as killing two thousand four hundred and three Americans. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt took to the microphone to address congress and the American people. This speech by President Roosevelt was effective in convincing congress to declare war on Japan by using ethos, pathos, and also logos.
At this point Japan thought themselves undefeatable. The US therefore had to plan an attack that would remind the Japanese that they were not the only ones capable of a surprise air attack. They sent eighty men in sixteen B-25 Bombers across the Pacific to bomb strategic targets over Tokyo and then land in the safe airfields of China. The mission was extremely risky and it was doubtful that all would make it out alive. The crews and aircrafts were taken by ship through the pacific until they were discovered and had to launch of the aircraft carrier sooner than planned. Because of the early takeoff there was a chance they wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it to China. But onward they flew and the bombing of Tokyo itself lasted less than a minute. The civilians were completely oblivious, in fact, “the planes were cheered by civilians who thought they were Japanese.” Some of the men involved in the attack, expectedly, did not return alive. (Schweikart, 594) “Although the raid was materially but a pin prick, its psychological impact was monumental. It elevated the flagging American moral and destroyed the Japanese conviction that they were invulnerable to air attack.”(Eye Witness
The main goal of the attack was to weaken the United States Navy so that Japan could further expand and gain more providers of resources. In order to do this they needed to almost completely take out the Pacific fleet. Japan’s main target was the aircraft carriers. If they destroyed them, they would not have to worry about the United States retaliating for at least a few months. Many of the Japanese military officers thought that this was going to be an easy task. It was thought that after Pearl Harbor was bombed the United States would either be too broken to retaliate or just not be willing to join the war. The United States had sat back and watched Britain get beaten for the first few months of the war so it was not expected for them to want to join the fight. In Japan’s view, if the American Pacific carriers at Pearl Harbor were destroyed, America would not be able to stop their advance into the Pacific. The Japanese hoped that the defeat at Pearl Harbor would be so devastating, that Americans would lose their will to fight and immediately give up (pearlharboroahu.com). They believed that they were going to almost completely destroy the Pacific fleet, and even if America was planning to stop them they thought it could not be in the immediate
On December 7, 1941, aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. About half the United States fleet was at Pearl Harbor at the time. More than 2,400 American servicemen and civilians were killed. Another 1,200 were wounded. Eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet were damaged or sunk, though the fleet's aircraft carriers were at sea. Hundreds of aircraft were destroyed. The same day, or shortly thereafter, the Japanese launched attacks against Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Guam and Wake Island. Because of the swift advances of the Japanese military, many Americans concluded that an invasion, either of Hawaii or the West Coast, was inevitable. (Leitich 1)