The Attack on Pearl Harbor from the Perspective of Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Attack on Pearl Harbor from the Perspective of Franklin D. Roosevelt

            The Pearl Harbor Attack is one of the landmark events in U.S history, especially concerning the country’s foreign policy, its entry into WWII, and the complete end of America’s isolationism. While this attack was both a surprise and terrible to the Americans, it influenced global acknowledgment of the U.S as a Superpower country. This paper explores the entire event from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s standpoint and how the congress’ avowal of warfare against the Japanese Empire confirmed America’s superiority on military capabilities. Also, this paper examines the motivators on the Japanese Naval and Air forces to attack all the pacific islands and especially the U.S Hawaiian military and naval base, Pearl Harbor. Thus, this paper focuses on the President’s Roosevelt’s view of this deadly and historic attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

The attack of the Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor attack concerns the historical invasion of the U.S military and naval base in the Hawaii islands by the Japanese army. This deadly attack happened on the Sunday morning of Dec. 7, 1941, at about 8.00 am.   President Roosevelt observed the event as a surprise because the Japanese and the U.S were at peace before the attack. After the attack, the President gave a sad speech to congress. In his statement, President Roosevelt admitted the surprise by saying, “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” According to Roosevelt, the two nations were in constant negotiations to bring peace in the region because the United States had not been involved in WWII. While passing his composed message and making the congress to understand the need to act mercilessly, the President acclaims “The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific” (Nelson, 2017).

Although Japan and the United States had not fully agreed on the implementation of Modus Vivendi or the peace agreement, the United States did not see anything that could lead to an attack of such magnitude. For this reason, President Roosevelt describes this day of the Pearl Harbor attack as a “date which will live in infamy” in his congressional speech. Since President Roosevelt’s congressional speech on the attack, everyone, including the historians, researchers, and the Americans, refer to the attack as “date which will live in infamy.”

President Roosevelt argues that immediately after the Japanese squadrons bombed Oahu Island of the U.S, the empire went on to destroy the Pearl Harbor (Korr, 2016).  Notably, the attack on Pearl Harbor was only one of the various offenses that the Japanese empire had raided in the Pacific. The empire had attacked other territories, including Malaya, Wake Islands, Hong Kong, Guam, Philippines, and Midway. Roosevelt also points out that the Japanese ambassador to the United States had just replied to the U.S secretary of State concerning the message of peace the U.S had given earlier. Even if the reply stated that there was no need for further negotiations, it obscured any hint to the Americans on a possible attack by the Japanese.

Therefore, Roosevelt claims that all the previous letters by the Japanese empire concerning peace agreement were letters of deception and that the Pearl Harbor attack was intentional and well-calculated but unprovoked move. The distance between Japan and Hawaii explains why the attack must have been deliberate, disregarding the amount of time they might have spent in planning. Maybe, the Japanese strategized to adopt the false and deceptive statements of hope and the likely peace agreement within the pacific to ensure that America did not get any clue about their plans to attack Pearl Harbor.

Usually, most of the presidents or heads of states across the world hesitate to inform the nation about the actual status on the ground after an attack. However, President Roosevelt decided to break the ice by openly addressing the congress, stating that the bombing of the Hawaiian Islands’ Pearl Harbor “caused severe damage to the American naval and military force.” President continued to say, “I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. Besides, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu” (Korr, 2016). Besides, Roosevelt stated that he could not give the actual figure of the number of U.S military personnel who lost their lives in the attack because the name was increasing in the hospitals as he was giving the speech (Parmar, 2005). To awaken the emotions among the Congress members by showing the Japanese provocation, President Roosevelt linked Pearl Harbor attack to other bombings across the Pacific during the same period. Majorly, President intended to paint a clear picture of the Japanese offense to guarantee American’s reiteration.

Roosevelt claimed that all Americans understood the consequences of any reiteration and emphasized on the need to assure the safety of the Americans and the entire country (Nelson, 2017). President Roosevelt understood that a considerable majority of the Americans could wish that the Americans continue with the isolationism foreign policy. However, he argued that President Woodrow engaged Americans in WWI, and maintaining silent after such an attack of Pearl Harbor may expose the Americans in danger. Roosevelt told the congress “I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us” (Burtness & Ober, 2017).

Notably, Roosevelt admitted that the Japanese had committed a remarkable offense and acknowledges that “our interests, our territory, and our people are in grave danger” (Korr, 2016). However, he determines to win the fight regardless of the duration it may take to restore the peace and safety of the Americans. In light of this, President Roosevelt says, “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.” Because the Japanese were allied to Germans, the Americans joined the United Kingdom and France. Roosevelt sought for God’s help for victory against the rivals.  The Pearl Harbor attack played a significant role in influencing America to join WWII and demonstrating the US was a superpower nation.

Plans and objectives for the attack

The research by Feis (2015) establishes that the principal aim of the Pearl Harbor attack was for the Japanese to create warfare against the Americans. The study also notes that the Japanese Empire’s leader during the attack General Hideki Tojo had decided to engage in combat with the U.K and the United States because he projected considerable battle among nations, mainly due to the oil embargoes. Through their chief mastermind Yamamoto Isoroku, the Japanese military strategized actions with the U.S for a couple of reasons. On the one hand, the principal planner of warfare cited oil resources within the British Dutch Pacific islands as a cause for war (Chappell et al., 2018).

On the other hand, the masterminds claimed that Japan was not in an excellent position to endure if the war broke with the Americans. In light of this, the masterminds decided to take the first move in the attacks to the U.S and negotiate for peace afterward. Notably, the Pearl Harbor attack was not only intense but had significant impacts on America and the entire world.

As such, the attackers identified Pearl Harbor as one of the most critical military bases for the United States. Besides, the Japanese attacked the U.S warships so that they may access extra guns and other war equipment (Chappell et al., 2018). Of importance, President Roosevelt could not assume the attack and hence displaying its military abilities to Japanese and the entire world. While using his forces, Roosevelt went for the attackers and killed the chief planner, Hideki Tojo.

It is worth noting that Japanese forces’ plans were against U.S overseas territories, U.K, and the Netherlands. As such, the Japanese used the Pearl Harbor attack as a preventive strategy to ensure that the American fleet along the pacific did not interrupt the Japanese plans. In this attack, the Japanese military managed to sink at least four warships and destroyed eight others. They also sunk and destroyed three cruisers, and three destroyers of the U.S. Japanese also destroyed an aircraft training ship and a minelayer (Korr, 2016). Although the attack did not take so long, the Japanese continued with the fight and damaged about 190 U.S aircraft. In this historical attack, the Japanese military killed more than 2,395 American citizens, and other 1,193 Americans sustained severe injuries. Nonetheless, the Japanese did not damage other critical military installations, including dry docks, torpedo storage zones, submarine piers, and power stations. Also, maintenance facilities, fuel zones, and the headquarters remained untouched.

Conclusion

This research establishes that the Pearl Harbor attack was a surprise to the President of the United States and the entire U.S intelligence. As such, the Japanese strategy to use deceptive statements was successful because the U.S President and the military were caught unawares. While the U.S believed in the letters and peace agreement messages from Japan, Japanese forces were planning on how to attack the U.S and the pacific. However, the Pearl Harbor attack changed America’s foreign policy from isolationism to engaging in international affairs. As such, the U.S joined the U.K and France against Germany, Japan, and Italy, among others. The U.S emerged a superpower from the entire event and World War II.

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References

Nelson, C. (2017). Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness. Simon and Schuster.

Burtness, P. S., & Ober, W. U. (2017). Provocation and Angst: FDR, Japan, Pearl Harbor, and the Entry into War in the Pacific. Hawaiian Journal of History, 51, 91-114.

Chappell, S., Hart, H., Pruitt, W., Linneman, C., Vermillion, A., Belcher, C., & Ernst, J. (2018). Japanese Intentions for the Pearl Harbor Bombing.

Parmar, I. (2005). Catalyzing events, think tanks, and American foreign policy shifts: A comparative analysis of the impacts of Pearl Harbor 1941 and Sept. 11, 2001. Government and Opposition, 40(1), 1-25.

Feis, H. (2015). Road to Pearl Harbor: The Coming of the War between the United States and Japan. Princeton University Press.

Korr, M. (2016). Dec. 7, 1941: 75 years ago, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. Rhode Island Medical Journal, 99(12), 82.