Two Tragic Events In American History

On December 7, 1941 an attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. The japanese navy air service surprisingly attacked the United States naval base located on Hawaiian Territory. As a result, the united states entered world war 2. The US and Japan had been in conflict with each other for a while now. Japan then decided to attack pearl harbor for multiple reasons. Some reasons were due to the oil embargo, the us fleet expansion, and Japan's desire for a new world order.

A year before the US placed the embargo of aircraft and aircraft parts against Japan, the US Pacific Fleet was in California but a year after we placed the embargo against Japan President Roosevelt ordered the fleet to be moved to Pearl Harbor as a show of American power (Doc C). When Japan seized southern French Indo-China in July of 1941, Roosevelt responded by freezing Japanese assets in the United States and ending sales of oil to Japan. Japan chose to continue its diplomatic talks with the United States while at the same time secretly preparing for a coordinated assault throughout the Pacific. Japan’s leaders hoped that a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor would destroy American resolve and cripple the American navy for at least six months, giving Japan time to consolidate its new empire

Day of Infamy This paper will discuss similarities between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor and describe the Presidential responses to the attacks, as well as examine the roles that class, culture, religion, and notions of superiority played in these attacks on the United States. Similarities/Differences The attacks on September 11 ,2001 compared to those on December 7,1941(pearl harbor) in many ways. For instance 9/11 and Pearl Harbor were both terrorist attacks.

9/11 and Pearl Harbor were two national disasters that affected the United States greatly. The Pearl Harbor attack was located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and happened on December 7,1941 at 7:00 am when the air force was out doing drills. The 9/11 attack then was in Manhattan, New york on September 11, 2001 at about 8:00 am. These two attacks on our nation happened years apart, yet are so similar.

In 1776 the British colonies commonly referred to as the “Thirteen Colonies” broke away from their motherland of Great Britain with Declaration of Independence. From Treaty of Paris in 1793 and onward the colonies were known as the United States of America. The 19th and 20th centuries brought the inclusion of 37 states into the Union as the country expanded from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific across the North American landscape. During that same time, two pivotal events in American History took place. The first event being the Civil War (1861-1865) in which the Union, comprised of northern states crushed a secessionist rebellion of eleven southern states to preserve their “peculiar institution” of slavery. The other event was the Great Depression,

On September 11th 2001, the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out terrorist attacks against the United States. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center twin towers. The third hit the Pentagon outside Washington, and the final plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed as a result, and this tragic event defined the presidency of George W. Bush (History.com Staff). Shortly after the attacks, President Bush delivered a powerful speech that helped unify the American people, defy the terrorists, and call the citizens to action. In his 9/11 speech, President Bush successfully uses rhetorical devices to address the terrorism, unite people, and give hope to his audience.

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy . . .” These famous lines were spoken the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave this speech to the U.S. Congress on December 8, 1941. Many criticized the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but the decision to attack America was wisely made. The Americans were going to enter the war sooner or later, and on the allies’ side. The attack on Pearl Harbor would hurt the United States’ strongest defense and kill many Americans. This was the first terrorist attack on the United States, by another country, which came as a total shock to many people.

The day of December 7, 1941, makes most Americans cringe. As said by Franklin D. Roosevelt or FDR, “a date which will live in infamy.” On this day, Japanese fighter planes bombed the Pearl Harbor Navy base and demolished 20 navy vessels, 8 battleships, and 300 planes. 2,000 American soldiers and sailors were killed along with 1,000 that were wounded. Every American was appalled after the disaster. The bombing was devastating, however, it led to a change in America. The next day, December 8, 1941, FDR spoke about the incident and declared war on Japan, officially becoming a part of World War 2. During his speech, he said,

September 11, 2001 was a tragic part of  history for the United States of America. On September 11,  four planes crashed down by hijackers at the Pentagon, the Twin Towers, and a Pennsylvania field. The Pentagon and World Trade Center were the primary buildings where the Al Qaeda wanted to attack. The White House was another target, however they never made it. Later that night, President George W. Bush gave a speech about 9/11 in the Oval Office. George W. Bush inspired America of their safety and security of his confident tone, religious beliefs,word choice.

On December 7th, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was the target of an unannounced military attack by the Japanese Navy. This resulted in the United States entry into World War II. After almost 4 years of war, 400,000 US casualties, 6 months of air strikes on Japanese cities and an impending defeat of Japan, an ultimatum was delivered to Japan by the United States: surrender or be destroyed.

Beginning of the year in 1941, FDR decided that the Pacific Fleet would move to Hawaii from San Diego in the hopes of discouraging the invasion of the Japanese. Negotiations between Washington and Tokyo had been going on for several months without a resolution. On July 2, 1941, the Imperial High Command was tired of negotiations with the United States and needed to proceed with their development within Asia even with the embargo in place and meaning it would be at a high risk of war with the US. [4] Therefore, the Japanese had deceived the United States, ignored the arbitration, and moved forward with their plans. The United States had hoped that this restrictive embargo would halt Japan’s assault as negotiations had continued well into November.

The event that brought forth the Idea to attack japan and destroy the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was Pearl Harbor. Japan had a history of executing surprise attacks before declaring war; one main example is when japan invaded Port Arthur in the Russo- Japanese war which would prove to be very successful . Many books were written prior to 1941 predicting an invasion of the Hawaiian Islands to gain access to the United States mainland including ‘The conflict of nations’, and ‘The valor of ignorance’ . The United States saw the military base on Hawaii as a point of power in the pacific and a last defense of their home land. Japan saw Hawaii as at point of expansion and an easy way for the United States to launch an attack on them. Attacking Pearl Harbor was not the original plan for japan. Japan wanted to bring the United States to them, but Japanese commander- in –Chief Isoroku Yamomoto pushed for an attack on the United States .pearl harbor was the home to the United States naval fleet and many fuel reserves. One of the main objects of japan was to destroy aircraft carriers and sink battle ships to put the United States fleet out of action and to discourage the people of the United States to not join the World War. The Japanese army spent over a year planning the attack and training pilots. The Japanese even created special torpedoes to operate in pear harbors shallow waters .

On September 11, 2001 and on December 7, 1941 the United States of America was attacked by foreigners. These two events are very important things that have influenced our country and days that will never be forgotten in history. On December 7, 1941 the United States of America was attacked by the Japanese and on September 11, 2001 the United States of America was attacked by islamic terrorists both events were a national disaster. In both events thousands of innocent lives were taken by foreign attackers that entered our country. In the attack on Pearl Harbor around 2,400 people died within a matter of hours and on 9/11 around 3,000 people died. Both events were “sneak attacks” both Pearl Harbor and 9/11 were surprises to the nation. In both events planes were used to attack us the only difference was the location of the attack and date of the attack. In Pearl Harbor japanese planes attacked the battleships on battleship row and in new york city on 9/11, planes were hijacked to crash into the world trade center and also other locations like the pentagon.

As conflict increased, the Japanese Prime Minister urged to make an agreement with America, but the Japanese army and navy believed that the time had come to go to war to end American power in East Asia. American military officials captured secret messages from Japan during this time. They learned that Tokyo was planning some type of attack unless the United States suddenly changed its policies. However, the American officials could not discover exactly where or how the attack would be made. The attack, took place on the morning of December 7, 1941 on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

On December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed the United States Army, Air Force, and Naval Bases, in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. The next day on December 8th, 1941, the U.S. entered World War II declaring war on Japan as they provoked us to do so with their sneaky aerial attack. Behind the scenes of the extensive fighting, American