The Pearl Harbor Myth : Rethinking The Unthinkable

On December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. The lives of more than 2,400 naval and military personnel were lost that day. The next day, President Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on japan and without hesitation, congress approved his request. It took nearly 2 years before America had finally joined World War II. So why did I choose this account, well back in 2011 there was an article written by Tim Kelly, Titled “FDRS NOBLE LIE.” In this article, Kelly talks about “how FDR and his top advisors deliberately provoked the attack and deliberately looked the other way before it came.” After years of investigations by journalist and scholars a solid case was presented

After the Japanese attack on pearl harbor president, Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech to Congress and the American people that uses repetition, diction, and pathos to build his claim on why Congress should declare war on Japan.

Many have researched that the U.S did provoke Japan into bombing Pearl Harbor. Japan had no intentions on declaring war on the United States. The majority of Americans, and even servicemen, were unaware of what was going on behind the scenes, but not all were. According to Robert Higgs, “Franklin D. Roosevelt was charged in engaging into war since 1939.” Without Franklin Roosevelt hostility towards the Japanese, Congress and the Americans would have never allowed him to declare war on Japan or Germany. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, the U.S. government fell under the control of a man who disliked the Japanese and had a long lasting relationship with the Chinese. Roosevelt also disliked the Germans, and tended to favor the British in his personal relation and world affairs. In anticipation of U.S. entering WWII, the British and U.S. military staffs secretly made

On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked America at Pearl Harbor. In less than two hours America’s pacific fleet was shattered and 2500 service members were dead. The surprise attack on American soil was something our young country had never felt before, and the country was awash in fear, anger and wanting revenge. There was already a strong anti-Japanese sentiment around the country, especially on the west coast and this event escalated those feelings Korematsu v. United States). While the attack on Pearl Harbor was a brutal attack on America, the contradictions of evidence pointing to espionage and sabotage did not justify the internment of over 100,000 Japanese people, 60,000 of them American citizens. There was no verifiable reason why

Japanese messages giving information about the attack. Some other historians also claim that the United States government, including the president at the time Franklin D. Roosevelt, knew five days in advance that there would be an attack on Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. “Toland concluded that Roosevelt must have known that an attack was forthcoming and that he allowed it to occur in the belief that a surprise attack would arouse the nation. But like the many other writers who have made the same argument, Toland was unable to produce any direct evidence of Roosevelt's knowledge of the planned attack.”

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.

According to the book The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable, the author says the President Roosevelt surprised his advisers twelve days before the attack, by saying the war on Japan was about to begin. So, if Roosevelt knew, why didn’t keep the caution in

Pearl Harbor came unexpected across Pacific against the U.S. and British territories--Hong Kong, Guam, Wake, Midway, the Philippines, and Malaya. On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes attacked a U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. More than 2,400 Americans were killed, as well as destroying or damaging more than 100 planes and eight Navy battleships. The immediate national anger against the nature of the treachery slowly gave way to the deeper realization that Pearl Harbor was a turning point in national history. The first realization struck immediately that the safety and security of the country behind two oceans was a thing of the past.

One Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes had the goal to destroy.(Brennen) We lost over 300 planes and over 200 ships to this terrifying strike against us that the U.S. government will never forget.(Prage) The Navy took this as a huge tole on the economy for replacing naval equipment and anything else that was destroyed in the bombings.(Wholstetter) The Japanese had over 400 fighter planes trying to destroy all U.S. equipment as possible so they can attack other across sea countries.(Wholstetter) Pearl Harbor is one of the most tragic event in U.S. history.(Wholstetter)

The attack on Pearl Harbor struck fear and anger into the people of the U.S. Almost immediately after the attack, Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Suddenly, our national security was questioned and chaos erupted on the West Coast. Citizens in the continental United States thought that the Japanese would attack them next. Focused on revenge, racial tensions mounted towards Japanese-Americans. The unprovoked attack united the American people so intensely that over the next several years, the rest of the world watched as the U.S. became a global superpower. The remarkable transformation came at a tremendous cost; one that we should never forget.

Seventy-five years ago, in the early morning of December 7, 1941, “the Japanese launched hundreds of attack planes off warships, 230 miles off the coast of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.” 2 The United States had no indication that an attack was about to occur. These planes were “heading straight to Oahu, the home of Pearl Harbor and the Unites States Pacific Fleet.” 2 It was one of the most massive attacks in world history. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to take out all of their Pacific Fleet, so the Japanese could attack other countries and the US would not be able to help the other countries,” such as Guam, the Midway, the Far East, the Philippines and possessions of the British” 2 that the Japanese were aiming to attack after the Pearl Harbor attack. This would remove all the obstacles for the Japanese in their expansion of the South Pacific. The Japanese purposely deceived the United States the “days leading up to the attacks by continued expression in support of peace” 3 Over twenty United States vessels were destroyed and around 3,500 United States, men and women lost their lives. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt was debating about the United States involvement in the war or to continue for the United States to provide assistance to the allies, such a Great Britain, and stay out of the

As dawn broke on a Sunday morning of December 7, 1941 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu where Pearl Harbor was home to a giant US Navy and Army. There were more than one hundred warships which included eight massive battleships. The US was suffering from the Great Depression, which made Americans think that they would stay out of World War II. As tensions grew between Japan and America, American sailors and airmen were training just in case the US were to join World War II. Americans had not realized that Japan and America were becoming enemies because the main enemy was Adolf Hitler; his goal was to conquer all the democracies of Europe. In 1940, Netherlands and France fell, leaving England to stand alone against the Germans. President Franklin Roosevelt shipped arms, tanks, and planes to help the British but not America soldiers. June of 1940, Japan invaded Vietnam and Cambodia, Roosevelt then took action. He moved the US Pacific Fleet from California to Pearl Harbor to stand guard in the Pacific against further Japanese advances. Three hundred Japanese bombers and fighters were launched in two waves before and after dawn. Back in Hawaii everyone was following their normal duties, thinking that the waves of bombers were US pilots doing drills. The planes kept coming directly over the harbor lower than usual. Minutes later, bombs fell. (Demuth 1-5)

Within the horrible tragedies of pearl harbor over 1,177 people died because of the attacks. many students here today would tell you they do not care about the events that took place on this day but just because we weren’t there doesn’t mean we can’t just know happened on that day. December 7, 2011 marks the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in which over 2,400 members of the United States military were killed. Picture taken December 7, 1941. The USS Arizona, pictured here, sunk after being bombed. 1,177 service members on board were killed.

George Morgenstern, a revisionist historian argued in his book Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War; the attack or Pearl Harbor was not unexpected, it was triggered by the administration and Roosevelt to save his presidency as a “Backdoor to the War”. The attack of Pearl Harbor gave Roosevelt a reason to enter the war and save the economy from dying. The attack solved Roosevelt big problem by achieving support from the opposition American public for involvement in the War.

“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” (Roosevelt). Japan surprise attacked the Hawaiian naval base, Pearl Harbor, approximately at 7:55 am. The intent of the Japanese strike was to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with plans to seize overseas territories belonging to United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States.