18 Days Of Christmas Research Papers

18 Days Of Christmas

On December 7, 1941 two large squadrons of Japanese planes appeared in the skies north of Oahu, Hawaii (Sheehan 6). The attack, which was totally unexpected and planned by a mastermind by the name of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was a perfect success. On this heroic day, thousands of heroes were born. According to Ed Sheehan in his book Days of ’41, the final toll was, 1,143 wounded and 2,341 Americans killed (6). The attack on Pearl Harbor was an unforgettable day in history directly affecting the United States involvement in World War II and the patriotism of the United States’ citizens (Sheehan 7). Taking a closer look at the significance of this day it is important to examine why Japan attacked the United States, how

It also arose out of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration's belief that it could check Japan's bid for an Asian empire through economic sanctions, U.S. force redeployments in the Pacific and other measures short of war. The Japanese sought to free themselves from what they saw as a humiliating economic dependence on the United States, including an almost total addiction to imported American oil, whereas the United States sought to exploit that dependence to thwart Japanese imperial ambitions

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor ignited a spark of indignation among Americans and served as a battle cry for U.S. citizens to serve our country in retaliation. Within a matter of hours of the attack, America moved quickly to get on a war footing (Sheehan 167) In Thurston Clarke’s book, Pearl Harbor Ghosts: A Journey To Hawaii Then and Now Clarke states, “When the last Japanese planes had finally returned to their carriers, almost everyone was gripped by an intense anger, that in some cases, lasted a lifetime (301). Americans now carried “A deep, powerful thirst for revenge” (Clarke 301). Following the attack of Pearl Harbor, young men of all races left from Hawai’i to fight front row in every battle around around the world, most of them loosing their lives. World War II was triggered and as Simpson reveals, “Once congress declared war against Japan on December 8, Germany made the astonishing decision to declare war on the United States” (201). Although Germany was only to make a move if Japan were attacked, this immediately left the U.S to concentrate on rescuing England and defeating Germany, essentially treating the war in the pacific, less important (201). Simpson points out, “Once Japan’s ‘unbreakable’ Naval Code was broken, a few months into the war, the U.S. had an enormous tactical advantage, which it parlayed into victories in the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway”