Pearl Harbor: Before, During, and After

Pearl Harbor is easily one of the most disastrous events that occurred on American soil. It was a deliberate attack against the United States from Japan. Before December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, America had decided not to get involved in European affairs, which included the beginning of World War II. However, once the United States saw how much Britain and the Soviet Union were suffering from fighting with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), America felt obligated to help in some way to help without actually entering the war. Weapons, money, and food were sent over seas to help aid them in any way it could. It was very obvious that if America had entered the war, we would join the side of the Allies (Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union). The day after Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt approached congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan. Pearl Harbor affected many events that occurred in World War II. Not only the United States, but the world was affected that day.

It had been decided that after World War I, that the United States did not want to get involved in any more foreign affairs. America had become an isolationist country which was unusual for us. Even as the first few invasions of World War II took place, the United States still did not jump in on the action mainly for the reason on how devastating the results were from the First World War.

To make apparent the fact that America was an isolationist country, several policies came into effect. The first of these policies was known as the Good Neighbor Policy. This policy was first initiated by Herbert Hoover but formalized by Roosevelt. It stated that the United States rejected the right to intervene militarily in the...

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...ng the night, continuous flashlights were shone on them to keep watch on them. The Japanese-Americans did not receive any privacy and the internment camps hardly every had medical facilities. The camps also had no court hearings, no due process, and no writs of habeas corpus. Living in these internment camps took away almost all of their rights as citizens. (Foner 870)

December 7, 1941, the day of the infamous Pearl Harbor, changed the American life as they knew it. Almost nothing had been the same after that day. It entered the United States into World War II and affected the Japanese-Americans way of life. The United States want to be an isolationist country did not last long which contributed to the attack of Pearl Harbor and the peace negotiations between Japan and the United States did not help at all and were instead used as a devious plan for the Japanese.