Nicholas Hulsey Mr. Bowers American History Pearl harbor “ A date which will live in infamy”(President Franklin D. Roosevelt). Could the attack on Pearl Harbor been prevented??? To find that out you have to look back at the past. The attack on Pearl Harbor could have been prevented if the United States opened foreign communication with Japan, improved military defense, and recognized the importance of the intelligence reports on Japan.…
These anxious thoughts began to transform into a desperation to attack the U.S. as soon as possible, thus turning Pearl Harbor into a disheveled and rushed attack. In fact, it was so rushed that Yamamoto did not realize that American decoding intelligence had already heavily compromised his operations. (SOURCE 2) Along with a compromised attack, Yamamoto also misjudged American character. He assumed that the attack on Pearl Harbor would cause the U.S. to give in to Japanese demands.…
The attack on Pearl Harbor has been known to be a complete surprise. Whenever one thinks about it, they consider that it was. They may think that it was a total surprise except for a few small warning signs that our government seems to have ignored. Children are taught that Pearl Harbor is the "Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor" in school. It has gone into history as this. Even the president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said in a speech soon after the attacks it was, but he was lying. Franklin D. Roosevelt, in fact, and a few select top armed forces advisors working closely with him are directly responsible for the "surprise" of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many opportunities to prevent and defend the attacks upon Pearl Harbor were never taken.…
These two facts were that the United States was very overconfident and Pearl Harbor was in no shape to become in battle. It was very evident to the rest of the world that the United States was a very powerful country at the time of world war two. Other than the Axis powers, almost every country wanted Americans on their side. But the bad part about this was that even the United States knew how powerful they were. It was almost as if the United States really didn’t care if anybody hated them because they “knew” that nobody would really attempt to attack them. And this conceited attitude of the United States was the main cause of the second fact of how the United States was unprepared for a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This second reason was the state that the naval fleet of Pearl Harbor was in. Yes Pearl Harbor was a very strong military base, but it was over 2,200 miles of ocean away from any other source of United States military aid. And this fact was very enlightening for the very great Japanese Admiral, Isoroku Yamamoto, who was eager for a war with the United States. Yamamoto had realized that in order for Pearl Harbor to have full military strength, it would take over a year due to the fact of the United States neglecting their own defense system at Pearl Harbor. Even though he did acknowledge the power of a full strength United States military, he knew the…
The prevention of Pearl Harbor abroad should have began months before the initial attack. With the growing monster of Japan raging on, the United States should have been wary of attack since the war’s infancy. In 1937, Japan embarks on…
Grew, who was the United States ambassador to Japan, warned Washington D.C. about this surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. No one believed anything about this information. Everyone thought our nation was “safe”. No February of 1941 the Japanese were conducting preliminary planning for the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel who was the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet, and Lieutenant General Walter C. Short commanded that General of the Hawaiian Department prepared Hawaii for the potential attack on Pearl Harbor. In March of 1941 Nagao Kita arrives on Oahu with Takeo Yoshikawa who is a trained spy. Takeo Yoshikawa needed to see how well the United States planned for this war. The United States knew that there was an extraordinary amount of intelligent Japanese officers in Hawaii. The United States wanted to do something, but could not because of our constitutional rights. The Japanese found out important information including the locations of major ships and the movement of…
Not only did the success of Pearl Harbour depend completely on the strategic element of surprise, the Japanese attack was formulated for Pearl Harbour to surprise the enemy and expose the vulnerability of the West, thus portraying Japan’s notions of nationalism and superiority. The Japanese implemented the element of surprise by deceiving the US government. They achieved this by convincing the US government that Japan would not attack, whilst the Japanese Navy steamed towards Hawaii. Although most officials believed this peace claim, others were hesitant. There was also no warning of the attack because the…
In Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War by Akira Iriye, the author explores the events and circumstances that ended in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an American naval base. Iriye assembles a myriad of primary documents, such as proposals and imperial conferences, as well as essays that offer different perspectives of the Pacific War. Not only is the material in Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War informative of the situation between Japan and the United States, but it also provides a global context that allows for the readers to interpret Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it how they may. Ultimately, both Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Pacific War between Japan and the U.S. were unavoidable due to the fact that neither nation was willing to bow down to the demands of the other.…
In the late 1930’s, the United States was pulling itself out of the Great Depression and living with the devastating drought of the Dust Bowl. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs had offered financial relief and aid for many United States citizens; by 1941 the country was on a slow path to recovery. (Hamen, 2009) War had been raging in Europe since September 1939; World War II set Germany and Italy against France and Great Britain. In June 1940, France had fallen to Adolf Hitler’s German troops. Soon after Great Britain was the only country in Europe that was able to fend off German invasion; Germany had already taken over Poland, Denmark, and Norway. Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, looked for help from the United States. President Roosevelt sent aid to Great Britain in war materials through the LendLease act, but the United States was not eager to become involved with a war that leaders believed did not concern them. However, that would all change (December 7, 1941). (Hamen, 2009) Japan struggled economically after World War I. With very few natural resources, Japan had to rely on other countries for imports of items like iron, oil, natural gas, and rubber. The neighboring Asian countries had these resources in abundance;…
While the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, America had some prior thought that Japan was going to attack. But the government did not know when or where. Not even the Japanese ambassadors that met with US Secretary of State, knew what would happen to their enemies. They had even met 30 minutes after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At 7:00am a switchboard operator noticed a large formation of aircraft approaching the island of Oahu. Thinking it was planes that they were expecting from California, they had…
One of the conspiracy theories that rose around the events of Pearl Harbour was that the military section of the U.S and have foreknowledge of the attacks and didn’t do anything to prevent it, so Franklin D. Roosevelt could declare war on the Japanese and join WWII.…
Japan is smaller than California, with half of the population, why did japan attack Pearl Harbor? Pearl Harbor is an American naval base that is located in Hawaii. Japan had felt that the United States wanted to keep the world divided into two halves, America and Europe against the Japanese and East Asia. Due to several major events that happened between the United States and Japan, on December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked an American naval base. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of the League of Nations, the stop of their oil supply, and Japan wanted to expand.…
Jan. 27: Joseph C. Grew, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, wires Washington that he has learned that Japan is planning a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. No one in Washington believes the information. Most senior American military experts believe the Japanese would attack Manila in the Philippine Islands if war broke out.…
On December 7, 1941 one of the worst attacks ever on the United States occurred. More than 3,000 people lost their lives or were injured that morning, and the attack propelled us into war against the Axis Alliance. Through the misjudgment 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.…
Pearl Harbor was a day that ultimately changed history by causing Americans to join together in the war effort. It was a day that united the whole country in the war effort. Before this attack, there were small rumors, and few signs of war support.…