Historical Significance Of Pearl Harbor Essay

On 7 December 1941, the Japan Naval fleet launched a precise and devastating bombing of Pearl Harbor, which stunned the United States. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Naval Fleet, so they could advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies to access natural resources to further their war effort. However, the Pearl Harbor bombing became an everlasting memory to Americans. Two little known contributors to this event had a profound effect on the planning and execution of the attack. This paper will explore the actions of Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn and Takeo Yoshikawa, two spies who initially went undetected to collect intelligence on the U.S. Naval fleet, and how their actions affected the U.S.

December 7, 1941, was one of the worst attacks on the United States in U.S. history. Of that day 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Numerous U.S. armed forces personnel were misjudged, which allowed the Japanese to carry out this terrible attack. Not only did the Japanese hit the U.S. where they knew it would hurt the most, but it crippled the United States’ entire Pacific Fleet.

December 7th, 1941. This was the date of one of the most important attacks on the United States in the history of America. This was the date of the Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor was the last straw that led to the United States joining World War II as part of the Allied Power. The bombing was in reaction to many economic sanctions that were placed on Japan, so the bombing was not just to make the United States mad. We can see many reasons as to why Japan would bomb Pearl Harbor.

The United States was a powerful country, but Japan felt they were superior to the United States. Initially, Japan took over China for raw goods and resources. Japan and took control over China (Pearl Harbor Timeline). In 1939, World War II began between England, Germany, and Japan. America had not join the war in the beginning (Pearl Harbor Timeline). “The tensions between Japan and the United States escalated until the United States decided to place an embargo on Japan” (Jason, Justin, Randy, etc.). “The United States made new trade sanctions that limited how Japan could trade their goods. This was because of Japan’s actions in war” (Pearl Harbor Timeline). Because of the Japanese Empire need for oil, the embargo caused a breakdown of negotiations between the United States and Japan (Pearl Harbor

“A date which will live in infamy” . This is a quote said to congress by the Commander- in- Chief Franklin Roosevelt. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan. Pearl Harbor was a surprise to the United States, a great plan to the Japanese Empire, and a gateway to World War II. The attack on Pearl Harbor took a toll on countries all over the world. That day in 1941 has been and forever will be the most infamous act of the Japanese Empire.

During the early 1940’s, World War II was upon the United States of America. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was ready to go to war with The Empire of Japan. During this time, many U.S. citizens grew great hatred toward anyone of Japanese ancestry. People began to become paranoid and treated any Japanese person with great disrespect. All of this started with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, many Japanese people were sent to concentration camps. Many of them were either put in jail because of their race, or just because they refused to go to the concentration camps. This also happened in David Guterson’s fiction book, Snow Falling on Cedars. After the attack on Pearl Harbor,

Richard Collier wrote The Road to Pearl Harbor: 1941 to talk about how the actions of individuals and governments brought the United States into World War II, as a result of the Pearl Harbor massacre caused by the Japanese.

"How secret is secret in a country where years of censorship have trained an inquisitive, alert population in the discreet whisper and the fine art of putting two and two together? And how secret is secret when one's ideas are no longer exclusively one's own?" (At Dawn We Slept, Prange 30) The tragic attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 has many events connected to it that lead people to believe that it was no surprise to the United States government. "The attack marked the entrance of Japan into World War II on the side of Germany and Italy, and the entrance of the United States on the allied side." (Microsoft Encyclopedia)

Many events have changed the history of our nation and other nations. In 1941, Japan attacked American soil in Pearl Harbor. Many lives were lost that morning. However many questions were left behind. Whose fault was it, could the attack have been prevented. In few, articles, it 's said President Roosevelt knew about the attack. On the other hand, what could have caused the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor? Many questions remain, but all we know these events endlessly changed America and Japan.

"Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." Exactly as Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed in his speech to Congress, December 7th would indeed live in infamy. Pearl Harbor was the most pivotal foreign affairs incident for the United States since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Not only was it significant domestically, it had resounding consequences across the globe. It has lived on as one of the single most tragic events on United States soil.

The attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941 will forever be immortalized in the words of President Roosevelt as “a date which will live in infamy”, yet the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were far more deadly and carried greater geo-political implications. Many persons in the United States carried the burden of assisting in designing, deploying and eventually dropping the first and only nuclear weapons used in an act of war, yet Paul Tibbets’s experience is unique. As a Lieutenant Coronel in the U.S. Army, Tibbets was tasked with the organizing, planning, staging and flying the mission to drop the bombs. His orders lead him and to face many personal sacrifices, and living with the responsibility for killing

One of the most recognizable dates in American history is December, 7th, 1941. This is the day that Japan attacked the United States Navy at Pearl Harbor, located at Hawaii. Relations had been strained with Japan since its involvement with the Germans. The Japanese will carry out a plan that contained few flaws and devastated the United States Pacific Fleet during this highly successful surprise attack. The result will be the entrance of the United States into World War II. History has clearly shown that the United States was not prepared for or considered such an event could take place. What happened at Pearl Harbor has become a focal point in military strategy and preparation since the event happened.

On Sunday Morning, 7 December 1941, the course of the United States (U.S.) was forever changed. At approximately 07:48 Hawaiian Time the morning calm was broken as the first of two waves consisting of 353 Imperial Japanese fighter aircraft, bombers, and torpedo planes originating from six Japanese aircraft carriers, stationed strategically 230 miles north of the Island of Oahu, commenced the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air Base, Wheeler Field, and Naval Air Stations Barbers Point and Kaneohe Bay. The onslaught continued for almost 90 minutes. In jeopardy, was a majority of the Pacific Fleet that had recently been moved there earlier in the year from the Naval Base at San Diego, California as part of a power projection plan instituted by the Roosevelt administration to deter Japanese expansion in the Pacific. At the end of the attack, the U.S. Pacific Fleet lay crippled almost pier side as they were moored at the time of the attack. As a result of the attack the U.S. incurred the loss of 2403 American lives with an additional 1178 being wounded. The U.S. had sustained extensive damage to all eight of her battleships with four being sunk, and three cruisers, three destroyers, one anti-aircraft training vessel, and a minesweeper were severely damaged. The U.S. Army Air Corps and naval aircraft losses were just as dramatic with the loss of 188 aircraft of all types. Miraculously, the U.S. Carriers the USS Lexington, USS Saratoga and the USS Enterprise were at sea at the

2,403 dead and 1,177 wounded. December 7, 1941 at approximately 8 a.m. the world’s history changed forever (History.com). The Japanese Navy launched an attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. These calamitous events that occurred at Pearl Harbor will never be forgotten. President Roosevelt stated that Pearl Harbor will be “A date which will live in infamy”.

7:55am, December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked. The Japanese surprise attacked Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. At the time that Pearl Harbor was attacked Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was high up on the chain of command. He and the other people that were part of the government had decided to attack Pearl Harbor. They wanted to be the strongest naval and America was standing in the was of them gaining that title. Another reason as to why they attacked America was because they cut of trade with them. America wasn’t happy that Japan was invading China so they stopped trading with them. Since the Japanese couldn’t get oil, steel, and scrap iron from America they gave a big set bad to Japan’s economy and their military was adversely affected.