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December 7, 1941: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches an attack...

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December 7, 1941: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches an attack on Pearl Harbor.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, the Japanese military spread across Asia, declaring war on China in 1937, invading French Indochina in 1940, and moving into the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya in pursuit of raw materials. The U.S. government, in response to Japanese expansion, issued the Export Control Act, which would help to limit the amount of war material exported to Japan during this period. In August of 1941, the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan, which probably only increased the Empire’s desperation for resources. Not only were Americans outraged at the perceived moral failings of the Japanese, but the Japanese Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a “bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers” arguably comparable to America’s own Monroe Doctrine and its Roosevelt Corollary, would eventually seek to overthrow American control over the Philippines. The United States, by the end of its negotiations with Japan, fully expected an attack on the Philippines, or perhaps Malaya or the Indies, and, shortly before the attack, a majority of the American public believed that war with Japan was imminent (according to a Gallup poll).

Instead, however, Japan struck at Hawaii, at the naval base of Pearl Harbor, where a significant portion of the American navy was stationed. The goal of the Japanese was to incapacitate the American fleet so that it would be unable to interfere with Japan’s planned takeover of Southeast Asia. Only a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan began its invasion of the Philippines.  

Originally, Japan had intended to declare war on the United States (or hint at it) before the attack, but it commenced long before the message could be delivered and published. It was a long-held belief that this delay in message delivery was the result of “fateful accidents and plain bumbling”, but papers discovered in 1999 hint otherwise. Whatever the case, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shocked Americans. Several battleships were heavily damaged; the USS Arizona exploded and then sunk completely, killing 1,177 people. A total of 2,402 people were killed, including 57 civilians. But the “date which will live in infamy” was not without its heroes. One of these was Doris Miller, a Navy cook who had had little experience with machine guns but manned one during the attacks to shoot down several Japanese planes. He became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross, a medal recognizing great valor in combat. Fifty-one Navy Crosses and fifteen Medals of Honor were awarded in the aftermath of the attack. During the war, Pearl Harbor was an important part of recruitment and war bond propaganda.

On December 8, President Roosevelt delivered his famous “Infamy Speech” to a joint session of Congress who, only an hour later, passed a formal declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, marking the beginning of the United States’ official involvement in World War II. On December 11, Germany and Italy each declared war on the United States. 


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