Is It A Right Or Wrong?

The famous speech, Pearl Harbor address to the nation by Franklin D. Roosevelt (president at the time) shows us a vast amount of rhetorical appeals: Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to the nation. This speech announced to us that the intended audience and the persuasion used in order to change the peoples’ minds to defend our nation. The Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation speech was given to tell the U.S. that Japan has initiated war by attacking Oahu, Hawaii; while also attacking islands on the Pacific coast. Roosevelt addressed to the nation the stance we must take in order to protect ourselves from Japan and from attacks in the future. It was also revealed that Japan deliberately planned and attacked Hawaii do to the distance between each other. The Japanese ambush caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. It was then that America made a move to attack the Japanese Empire on December 8, 1941.

Not only did the United States freeze all Japanese assets under U.S. control but it halted all sales of oil to Japan as well. The United States tried to resolve the issues with Japan over these differences, but a resolution could not be reached and war was inevitable (Borg). Why didn’t the U.S. suspect Pearl Harbor of being the place of attack? Since the United States halted all exports to Japan, Japan declared war on the United States. Due to the lack of information, lack of technology, and talks of peace by Japan, the United States had no idea where Japan was going to hit.

It was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland at the Island of Kyushu, scheduled for November of 1945, would be even worse. The entire Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death. American casualties for just the initial invasion to get a foothold on the island of Japan would have taken up to an estimated two months and would have resulted in up to 75,000 to 100,000 casualties and potentially up to 20,000 dead. And that was just to secure the beginning of the invasion. "If we were to go ahead with the plans for a conventional invasion with ground and naval forces, I believe the Japanese thought that they could inflict very heavy casualties on us and possibly as a result get better surrender terms.” said General Carl Spaatz who was in charge of the Air Force operations in the Pacific. He expresses in his words that he strongly believes that the Japanese knew they had a good chance of overcoming this invasion due to their potential to cause mass destruction in terms of outnumbering the American troops. Thus, due to the undesirable costs the alternative of invasion presented, the USA was justified in using the atomic bomb on Japan as the more ideal alternative.

The Japanese secretly attacked Pearl Harbor without the United States knowing; therefore, the United States secretly launched an atomic bomb on Japan. As Harry Truman states on a radio address, “We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor” (Document H). In response to Japan’s attack towards us, Harry Truman ended the war with a destructive bomb.

This thought brings me to my next motive of why Truman might have dropped the bomb. I do not think Truman was unaware of the lasting effects of the atom bomb, but by the time these facts were presented to him, piled upon facts about the actual bomb and the projects supporting them, it was to late to change his decision. He needed to save face for America (which brings me to the next motive of pressure) even if it public opinion was not his main concern. Truman did not want to look soft upon the Japanese, something further consideration and negation of the plan to bomb would have caused in some officials eye's. Also, Truman and much of the rest of the nation did not like seeing the U.S. as moral failures like many other nations. Who knows what the reaction to the President's decision would have been like if he had decided to let an invasion with hundreds and thousands of our men involved take place.

Throughout the speech FDR presented facts and evidence to prove that the attack was a surprise and to demonstrate that he was familiar with the events that took place. One of the reasons why FDR was declaring war against Japan was because the attack on Pearl Harbor was deliberately planned. He stated that the distance from Hawaii to Japan made it obvious that the attack was planned many days or even weeks in advance. He gave details about the time leading up to the attack when the Japanese government misled the United States by giving false statements of hope for continued peace. By presenting these facts in his speech, FDR proved to his audience that the attack was intentional. Many people would believe that someone knew about the attack, and the President clarified that the attack was a surprise by giving information on the events that took place leading up to the attack. Parts of his speech were logic driven to provide evidence for why the United States was declaring war.

They had also issued radar equipment able to detect planes up to 100 miles away, in darkness, storm or daylight and advised that war was imminent and reconnaissance should be undertaken. They had no idea the war had already begun and in 11 days time America would be on the forefront of a Japanese attack.

In July 1940, the U.S. placed an embargo on Japan, hoping they would restrain Japan 's military aggression in China. Japan, a proud nation, would not hear of being dictated to by the United States and began to prepare for the attack on Pearl Harbor in early 1941. Meanwhile, there was some warning of the attack on America, but it went without being duly acknowledged. The day before the attack occurred, a code-breaker intercepted a message from the Japanese concerning the movement of ships at Pearl Harbor. The operator relayed the message to the superior officers who said they would get back to the radioman on Monday, December 8, 1941 (Socolow 43). Also, on the morning of the attack, a radar operator saw a large group of airplanes on the radar screen, and when he reported this, the senior officer said it was probably just some US Bombers and not to worry about them (HistoryNet.Com). The Japanese planes flew under the radar by flying through a pass in the mountains called Kolekole Pass. This maneuver added to the surprise of the attack. The frantic attack began on Sunday at 7:55 in the morning. A little before ten the entire attack was over (Pearl Harbor, Attack On). The men of Pearl Harbor fought with valor.

“Yesterday, December 7th, 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…It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.” (Senate Document No. 148) This speech would echo through history as the moment the United States officially entered the most costly five year period in all of human history. President Roosevelt continued stating multiple islands and American

Based on the evidence and arguments I believe that FDR had knowledge of an attack in the Pacific, but not specific to Pearl Harbor. There was evidence that implied that it could have been Pearl Harbor but that assumption could be tainted by hindsight bias. The memo FDR received days before the Pearl Harbor attack gave FDR the information of an attack that would cause war, but FDR wanted this to happen so America could get involved. So it is uncertain that FDR took no ordered no defensive actions to be taken because he did not know where or he wanted the attack to be as extreme as possible.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, on the island of Hawaii suffered one of the major attacks in our country. The empire of Japan bombed the Pearl Harbor base. Before the bombing, the Japanese were spotted in the radar, but it was belief to be American B-17 since it was coming from the west coast. The surprised Pearl Harbor attack killed more than 2,300 Americans. The attack also destroyed about 12 ships and 160 aircrafts; it was a devastating day for our nation. The following day president Roosevelt declared war against The Empire of Japan. One of the questions that remains is, did president Roosevelt know that this attack was coming? Yes, Roosevelt knew war was coming, because he had rejected the Japanese final offer.

Many see the bombings of Japan as a mistake while others still believe that it was the best course of action available to the military leaders. Despite this, it is not truly a matter of serious contention whether or not it was the necessary option. The public has been told that it saved thousands of American soldiers by making it unnecessary for the army to invade Japan. However, this is simply untrue, as explained by the commander in chief of the U.S. Fleet and chief of Naval Operations during the war, Ernest J. King. “The President in giving his approval for these [atomic] attacks appeared to believe that many thousands of American troops would be

War between Japan and the US was inevitable around the time of the attack. Everyone knew that sooner or later we would be in a conflict with The Japanese Empire for some reason or another since the 1920’s. It all started when the Japanese

Then again, second, our 'natural right ' conflicts with other people 's common right. When in doubt, on the off chance that I have a privilege, someone else has a commitment. Hobbes would state, “ The liberty each an hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature, that is to say, of his own life, and consequently of doing anything which, in his own judgment and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto.” (Hobbes, p.79) Case in point, if I have the benefit to life, everyone has the commitment not to butcher me; if I have the benefit to what I have, everyone has the commitment not to take from me. However since in the state of nature, no one has the ability to say how or how not to

Facts are facts; they are irrefutable. Therefore, how can two people in the same field disagree when they are able to view the same facts? This brings to mind two questions. If two people disagree over the facts, then what are facts? If facts are blameless, then to what extent is one an expert based on their knowledge in contrast to their experience? This year I realized that facts and experts may be ambiguous terms as the country prepared for an election. Specifically, I entered into domestic discussions with my own parents. Though I had learned many of my values from them, we disagreed politically. I decided that though my parents and I could see the same facts, we had different experiences and emotions that allowed us to be on different