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The Attack On Pearl Harbor

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Introduction
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 was a day that all Americans will remember. It was a day that showed us we were not invincible, we could be struck on our home soil and it scared and demoralized the people of the United States. In an effort to combat that loss of moral and show the Japanese people that they were just as susceptible, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a directive to attack Japan as soon as possible.1 Of the options presented the course of action decided upon would use the Army Air Force and the Navy. Their mission would be to deliver bombers modified to take off from carrier vessels within striking distance of Japan. Then the bombers would launch, fly to, and bomb the cities of Tokyo and Nagoya.2 This mission would come to be known as the Doolittle raid, named for Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, who planned the mission.3 He was selected by Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Army Air Forces.4
The selection of Doolittle to lead this nearly suicidal mission was a natural one, Arnold later explained. He was fearless, technically brilliant, a leader who not only could be counted upon to do a task himself if it were humanly possible, but could impart that spirit to others.5

History The global political and military climates were turbulent in the year’s prior leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent American attack on Tokyo. That turbulence was World War II which had

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