Tora! Tora! Tora!

Tora! Tora! Tora! Essay "Mankind must put an end to war before war puts and end to mankind." ~John F. Kennedy. The attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to be a preventive strike by the Japanese. They had thought it would stop the U.S from taking over the "islands" once again. In a way, the Americans helped the Japanese in their attack and knew when it was too late. Although the Japanese sent a formal declaration of war, the U.S. did not receive the whole letter until the day after the attack. Even though it was a good plan, it did not have the effect that the Japanese thought it would have. Instead of the Americans backing from the war, the attack just gave them the push they needed to join the war. According to the movie, Pearl Harbor was "Japan's only hope" if they were ever forced into a war with the United States but unfortunately backfired. Lt. Commander Fuchida had lead the attack of Pearl Harbor while Commander Genda had helped create the plan of attack. The Japanese had hoped for the element of surprise which they had achieved since the U.S did not receive the beginning of the Declaration of War Letter until 30 minutes before the initial attack. In the end, the Japanese won the battle, walked away with barely a "scratch". The Americans made some rather questionable choices when it comes to having a better chance of fighting back. They were more worried about sabotage than the actual possibility of a raid from the Japanese and because of this, they moved their fighter planes to the center of their bases and were grouped together. This action made it easy for the Japanese to destroy or lessen any chance of them fighting back. According to the movie, there were a couple of things that the American Commanders could have done to avoid their defeat. First, was where the fighter planes were placed. They were placed in the middle of the Military bases because of fear of sabotage from the Japanese if they were set on the outer boundaries of the base. If