Preview

Pearl Harbor Not a Surprise Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1144 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Pearl Harbor Not a Surprise Essay Example
Introduction – Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack because of the obstruction of defense and warning.

I. Signs of Japan's intent to attack
II. Politics involvement
A. War support
B. Eight-step plan
III. Neglected warning signs near Pearl Harbor soon before the attack
A. Midget subs
B. Radar detecting

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.
The United States government knew well of Japan's intent to attack Pearl Harbor well before the occurred. The attack may have been a surprise to Pearl Harbor, but it sure wasn't to Franklin D. Roosevelt and few select top armed forces advisors of his. An investigation after the attack revealed that the intercepting station received at least forty-three different decoded messages that had clues to the attack. The president had at least four intelligence officers under direct orders from Roosevelt. They had decoded the Japanese code and had been monitoring their communications before the attack. They knew all about news of the planned attack. In 48 hours before the attack, LTC Clifford M. Andrew, was told to burn forty file cabinets of top secret information on Pearl Harbor so no investigation could seek out the truth which was labeled top secret and destroyed.
Why did Franklin D. Roosevelt hinder any warnings to go

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    There were numerous elements that had extraordinary influence in the decimation of Pearl Harbor that could have been avoided with a basic request. Practically no safeguards were put forth in defense there was an assault. Despite the fact that the U.S.A. was expecting an assault on Pearl Harbor. Straightforward arrangements were turned around the U.S.A., which irritated the Japanese government. Likewise wellbeing insurances were not utilized as a result of absence of assets.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    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.…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pearl Harbor Dbq Analysis

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The attack on Pearl Harbor struck the United States of America by surprise, no declaration of war was made by one nation against the other one, but still Japan sent Bombers from distant aircraft carriers in order to attack the American Naval base that served as the western military outpost for the US.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    False Flags Research Paper

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages

    President Franklin D Roosevelt called it “a day of infamy.” Rising data that is now available shows that Pearl Harbor was not only known about prior to it taking place, it was wanted. Roosevelt’s family has been in the banking business since the 18th century, and his uncle Fredrik was on the original Federal Reserve board. In a journal entry by Roosevelt wrote: “The call into question was how should we channelize them into firing the first shot, it was desirable to make sure the Japanese be the first to do this, so that there would be no doubt as to who were the aggressors.” In the months prior the attack, Roosevelt tried everything to cause anger to the Japanese. He blocked all of Japans import of American petroleum, he froze Japanese assets, he made public loans to China and provided military aid to the British. Providing military aid to the British was in violation of international war rules, for they were enemies to Japan in the war. Three days prior to the assault on Pearl Harbor, Australian intelligence informed Roosevelt about a Japanese fleet moving toward Pearl Harbor, this was of course ignored. On Dec 7th 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,400 soldiers. Before Pearl Harbor, 83% of the American people wanted nothing to do with the war. After Pearl Harbor, 1 million men volunteered for the war. As we can see, false flags are a very good way to get the people to agree to war. Nazi Germany was mostly supported by two organizations; one of the more important organizations to remember is IG Farben. IG Farben supplied 84% of Germany’s explosives and even Zyklon B used in the concentration camps to kill millions. A partner of IG Farben was JD Rockefeller’s Stand Oil Company. The bombing of London by the Nazi’s was made possible by a $20,000,000 sale of fuel to IG Farben by the Rockefeller Company. This is only a small example of how these corrupt…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The evidence can be easily refuted with one alternate hypothesis: the intelligence given to the naval forces was mixed with far too many other threats to determine which the true threat was. With the gift of hindsight, we can easily focus on the memos and details which show the threat of an imminent attack without focussing on the bogus false threats which were also shared by the Japanese. In order to confuse the US, the Japanese intelligence sent messages out to the US. They spoke of threats to various locations; as the memo stated above mentioned, the West Coast, Panama Canal and Hawaii were all included. The Japanese purposely included Hawaii (their real target) in order to encourage the US to dismiss Hawaii as another false threat. US Intelligence at the time believed the threat was most likely directed towards either Thailand or Malaysia. It is shown that the confusion which came as a result to scrambled, intentional Japanese intelligence, led to US insecurity as to the true threat of the imminent Japanese attack. Claims involving the lack of response to Japanese airplanes and Japanese submarines being detected can also be explained by a lack of communication amongst military personal. It was only following the attack that Admiral Kimmel was alerted to the sinking of a Japanese submarine and told of a threat to Pearl Harbour as being imminent.(3) This shows that it was…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The attack on Pearl Harbor was an effort by the Japanese government to deal a decisive blow to the U.S in order that the Japanese could invade the Southern Pacific Islands and Australia, to capture and have access to the materials they needed to continue to power their war efforts, because with our fleet destroyed in that region, it would have cleared the way for them to get what they…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was severely unprepared for the attack and was caught off guard by the Japanese. The United States was receiving intelligence that Japan might enforce a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, but America did not believe Japan was capable. Since there America was so unprepared “there was a complete lack of cooperation between the Army and Navy and no one in authority believed in the dangers to which Pearl Harbor was exposed, and they saw no need for Hawaii to be ready for a large-scale attack” (“Why was the US Unprepared?”). Weeks before the attack, Washington intercepted two warnings that an attack would come, but was ignored. The morning of the attack “Washington received another message from Japan threatening…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    people were extremely scared of follow up attacks. After the attacks on Pearl Harbor people in…

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    of the air base were in the air; the Japanese were rubbing their eyes in disbelief. After this attack, the Japanese was the unchallenged master of the Pacific and Indian oceans. If Pearl Harbor was informed, they would have been able to take down all of the Japanese aircraft…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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.…

    • 1748 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii believe that it could have been prevented. We now see that there were many intelligence fragments that pointed to Japanese plans to conduct a raid on Pearl Harbor- there was American’s embargo on Japan which was used to cripple the Japanese economy. This alone could have been seen as a war threat. There were secret cryptic messages sent from Japanese operatives to naval intelligence which were then decrypted by American forces. “A pearl Harbor Timeline,” written by the NPR organization discusses that on the night of December 6th leading into the morning of December 7th U.S. intelligence decoded a message which pinpointed Sunday morning as a deadline for some sort of Japanese militant action.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Even though Pearl Harbor will always be a dark and devastating time in American history, it will always mark a good time for change. The causes for the attack drove the American people together in patriotism and their thirst for revenge. The effects made America what it is today. It changed the American mindset of invisibility and policy of getting involved in foreign affairs. The attack marked the moment the United States entered World War one and the opportunity women had to help with the war cause and join the American work force. Pearl Harbor is one of the biggest turning point in American…

    • 1467 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the fall of Hong Kong led to the declaration of war between Canada and Japan. The sacrifice of 2,000 Canadian soldiers in the invasion of Hong Kong raised fear and rage against Japanese on the west coast. Along with several government policies which provide room for the entrenched racism, rationality is dissolved into violence and repression which pressures the government for the final detention. Japan was allied with Britain in the First World War, thus the attack on Pearl Harbor was undoubtedly a huge shock to Canadian people. What they found behind the attack is sneaking and treacherous, which they believe as the trait embedded in the Japanese descent. Therefore, the Japantown seems to be the nest…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The attack on Pearl Harbor was a hard time for the U.S. to realize what Japan had done. The attack happened on December 7, 1941 which it was a surprise attack in which the americans had no idea. The news spread from coast to coast that Japan had attack Pearl Harbor and killed many lives. The radios were spreading the information on what happened in Pearl Harbor more quickly than anyone could suggest. The Americans had a hard time focusing on what Japan did, which for most americans they remember for the rest of their lives. Thoughts went through the americans minds like Who Could be to blame? How could it have happened?, the americans were in such dismay they had no idea what to think. They wanted to blame the President for Japan had done,…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays