preview

A Summary Of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Attack On Pearl Harbor

Decent Essays

In December of 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt hears about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He is struck by this message, because the Japanese ambassador delivered a message that there was no threat or hint of armed attack on the US. The air raid from Japan left 4 battleships sunk, 4 battleships damaged, 3 cruisers damaged, 3 destroyers damaged, 188 aircrafts destroyed, and 159 aircrafts damaged. Based upon historical records, it recorded over 2,300 civilians and servicemen died in this raid: “ In the 110 minutes it took for the Japanese attackers to swarm the skies over Oahu and spray American bases below with bombs, there were 2,335 U.S. servicemen and civilians dead”(Brett). The morale of the Americans were at a record low at this point. America had …show more content…

America needed a strong leader that would lead America back to it’s feet. This person would be Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Roosevelt took immediate action and viewed this attack on Pearl Harbor as a declaration of war from Japan. Roosevelt was enraged by the attack and wanted to wage war with Japan. Roosevelt knows that in order to wage war with Japan: it was necessary to persuade the Congress in voting to open war. Therefore he gave “Speech on Pearl Harbor” in persuasion to have Congress vote for war. The other reason for the speech was to allow Americans to know that no one will ever attack America or they will pay the price of war. Through the use of the speech, he raises the citizen’s morale and shows the Americans that America is still the greatest country in the world.
At the point of the attack, America was very reluctant to be part of the World War because they had stayed out of it for 2 years already. This meant Roosevelt

Get Access