Getting to California

• Japanese Embargos – While the U.S. lent and leased military supplies to the Allies, they cut off the sale of fuel and scrap iron to Japan who needed these supplies to run its Navy.

• December 7th, 1941 – Japan sends two waves of airplane attacks from aircraft carriers in the Pacific. 21 US ships were sank or damaged, 188 airplanes are destroyed and 2,400 Americans were killed (1,200 more injured).

• Declarations of War – Following the Pearl Harbor attack, FDR asks for a declaration of war on Japan (Senate approves 82-0). Germany and Italy follow up with a declaration of war against America.

Ch 19 Sec 4: Pearl Harbor

Intro 5

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

Chapter ObjectivesSection 4: America Enters the War

• Trace the events that led to increasing tensions, and ultimately war, between the United States and Japan.

Japan Attacks the United States


• When Britain began moving its warships from Southeast Asia to the Atlantic, Roosevelt introduced policies to discourage the Japanese from attacking the British Empire.

• In July 1940, Congress passed the Export Control Act, giving Roosevelt the power to restrict the sale of strategic materials–materials important for fighting a war–to other countries.

• Roosevelt immediately blocked the sale of airplane fuel and scrap iron to Japan.

• The Japanese signed an alliance with Germany and Italy.


Japan Attacks the United States (cont.)

(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

• By July 1941, Japanese aircraft posed a direct threat to the British Empire.

• Roosevelt responded to the threat by freezing all Japanese assets in the United States and reducing the amount of oil shipped to Japan.

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(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/MacArthur_Manila.jpg

• The Japanese decided to attack resource-rich British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines, and attack Pearl Harbor.



(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

• Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, sinking or damaging 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, killing 2,403 Americans, and injuring hundreds more.



(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

FYI 1-1a

Beginning in 1931, ten years before Japan attacked, every graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy had to answer the following question as part of their final examination:

The question remained on the cadets’ exam every year until the beginning of the war in the Pacific. It is not known if the Japanese high command used any of the answers from the ten-year period while planning the real attack.

Final Exam: Essay Question

“How would you carry out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?”

• The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.



(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/0000016b.htm

“Yesterday, December 7, 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 . . . I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense . . . No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

December 8, 1941



(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

• On December 11, 1941, Japan’s allies – Germany and Italy–declared war on the United States.


• According to the Axis treaty, Hitler did not have to declare war on the U.S. (only if Japan was attacked)

• Hitler grew frustrated with the U.S. Navy’s attacks on German subs in the Atlantic and the Lend-Lease Act

Pearl Harbor Conspiracy? Both a Top Secret Army Board Report and a Joint Congressional

Committee concluded in 1945 that there was in fact a cover-up in U.S. intelligence toward Pearl Harbor

- not made public because of what it would do to moral

ARMY BOARD, 1944 "everything that the Japanese were planning to do was known to the United States…."

Why would FDR let Pearl Harbor be attacked?

Needed to look unprovoked

• he had actually cut off the Japanese through a trade embargo

• the U.S. was the only military threat to Japan in Asia

The attack had to be HUGE

• just firing between the Germans and U.S. in Atlantic was not enough to cause war

• the U.S. had to look weak and beatable in order for Germany and Italy to join Japan

• it had to outrage the American public

How could the U.S. of known of the attack?

U.S. intelligence had been able to decode all Japanese radio transmissions

• they were taped in the Pacific, radioed to Washington, and then sent back de-coded to Hawaii

• The U.S. had received warnings from the Soviet Union, British, Netherlands, Australia, Peru, and Korea that an attack was coming

By November 29th, U.S. knew where and whenU.S. interception of a phone conversation from the Japanese

embassy in D.C.

• Embassy Worker: "Tell me, what zero hour is. Otherwise, I won't be able to carry on diplomacy."

• Voice from Tokyo: "Well then, I will tell you. Zero hour is December 8th at Pearl Harbor" (Tokyo time which is Dec 7th Washington time)

Argument Against a Conspiracy Many historians argue that the Japanese just pulled off a brilliant

surprise with everything going right for them.

With the attack coming from the Northeast, American radar operatives thought it was American B-17s coming in from the mainland with a delivery.

Concern in Hawaii was sabotage Any attack on Hawaii by the

Japanese was thought to be coming from acts of sabotage operatives.

At Pearl Harbor the ships were lined up on “Battleship Row” with smaller ships in front to protect from these attacks.

At their airfield the planes were lined up wingtip to wingtip outside to protect against attacks of sabotage.

Both of these make them easy targets for the Japanese.

Conspiracy, Miscommunication or Overconfidence? It is hard to believe that FDR or

the military had any clue about the magnitude of the possible attack that would cripple the US Navy in the Pacific and lose 2400 men.

Similar to 9/11, although some people in the military knew of the possibility of an attack, there were lapses in communication

Many expected an attack to happen in the Philippines. They also felt the Japanese were inferior pilots and any attack in Hawaii would be easily defeated.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Section 4-22

What series of events led to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.



(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

Section 4-22a

The United States Congress passed the Export Control Act that restricted the sale of strategic materials to other nations. Roosevelt immediately blocked the sale of airplane fuel and scrap iron to Japan. This angered Japan, which then signed an alliance with Germany and Italy. The Japanese invasion of southern Indochina caused Roosevelt to freeze all Japanese assets in the United States and reduce the amount of oil shipped to Japan. He also sent General MacArthur to the Philippines to build up American defenses there. The Japanese military, lacking oil and other resources, decided to attack the resource-rich British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines, and attack Pearl Harbor.


(pages 604–606)(pages 604–606)

Section 4-25

Critical Thinking



Interpreting Why was the United States unprepared for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor?

The United States was still negotiating with Japan and had failed to collect sufficient information. The U.S. military had not shared information among the various branches.

Getting to California

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