Franklin Roosevelt: The Bombing Of Pearl Harbor

Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States, called the onslaught of Pearl Harbor "a date which will live in infamy," as he declared war on the Japanese Empire. To this date, it has remained one the most infamous days in our history. The location of Pearl Harbor was a massive tactical advantage for the United States in World War II. It is a harbor on the Hawaiian, Island, of Oakland, just a short distance from the capital city of Honolulu. In WWII, Pearl Harbor was a place where American planes and ships could fuel up to make the journey across the Pacific in a day and age when planes could not make such long flights. In wartime, having a way to get enough fuel to fly across oceans to enemy territory was crucial. If the Japanese could

The bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred during the morning of December 7, 1941. The Japanese attacked the Americans, killing over 3,500 soldiers, citizens, and sailors. This attack was nicknamed the "Pearl Harbor Sneak Attack" and was headed by Vice Admiral Charles Neil. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, just 6 miles west of Honolulu, starting at 8 o'clock in the morning. The Americans were doomed from the start. According to the Dictionary of American History: Volume V, "The disposition of troops, airplanes, and anti aircraft guns made effective defense nearly impossible" (239). This was evident as all U.S. planes on the base were either disabled or destroyed. Although Japan obliterated the United State's aircraft, according to Fact Cite, the attack was "only partially successful from a tactical viewpoint." The Japanese only used planes to attack and were unable to destroy power plants, repair facilities, and oil storage. The Japanese may not have been able to destroy key resources, but they were able to destroy stationary planes and ships. There was so much pandemonium that only about 12 U.S. planes got in the air to fight. The Japanese expected a great loss of aircraft, but of 360 planes, they only lost 29 planes and 64 lives. In all of the madness, the Field Barracks, another U.S. base in Hawaii, was also attacked. The attack on Pearl

In 1940, the Manhattan Project was started, a top secret organization that produced materials for atomic bombs. Franklin Roosevelt had this project prepared in case of the need to use such destructive weapons in WWII. On July 16, 1945, the Manhattan Project had its first successful test. At the Trinity Test Site in Alamo, New Mexico, they conducted the first detonation of a Plutonium bomb. As it turned out, the Manhattan Project's bombs were need to end the war. Harry Truman, who had only been told about the Manhattan Project a few months before because of Franklin Roosevelt's death, dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Hiroshima was and still is a transportation center and one of Japan's largest cities. After the Eagle, Gray dropped the Uranium fueled bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima, only 10% of the large city remained. Even with the bomb missing its target by over a kilometer, 30% of the population, over 80,000 people, were killed. Even more citizens died from radiation after the immediate bombing. After this bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan's emperor did not surrender, and Harry Truman had to drop another bomb. On August 9, just three days later, another bomb, nicknamed Fat Man was dropped on the port city of Nagasaki. Fat Man