Pearl Harbor Infamy Speech Analysis

One of the most commonly expressed phrases in response to conflict is “violence is never the answer”. There are always other ways to solve issues while also avoiding adding fuel to a fire that will blow up in your face, literally. If only someone had told this to Prime Minister and War Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo before he decided to attack the United States’ military naval force, Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941. On this date, Japanese planes and submarines traveled 3,400 miles across the Pacific to surprise attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Immediately following that day, President Roosevelt gave a speech known as “The Infamy Speech”, and Congress soon officially declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. This would be America’s first direct

The Japanese Ministry of Education explained that “the ideals of Japan...are represented by the principle that the benevolent rule of the Emperor may be extended so as to embrace the whole world” (The Way of the Subjects), this meant that Japan wanted to extend their rule across the entire world, and they wanted to eventually “rule the world”. They wanted everyone to follow the same guidelines as them, to “be loyal to the Emperor in disregard of self” (The Way of the Subjects) and put the Imperial Throne on a pedestal similar to that of Heaven and Hell. The Japanese had previously considered a surprise attack on the United States as early as January of 1941 but never went through with it seeing as they relied on the US for up to eighty percent of their oil resources. The main target of the Pearl Harbor attack was the United States aircraft carriers, but because they were not at the base at the time, the Japanese canceled a second planned attack. Japan did not attack Pearl Harbor to invade the United States, in fact, it was to distract them so they could invade the Philippines for the same reasons its neighbouring countries were attacked, in order to obtain its resources, strategic location, and territory. The reason why the Philippines was not attacked right away was most likely due to the fact that it was American territory, and Japan had a much smaller military force than the United States. But, the Japanese knew that if they decided to invade the Philippines before destroying Pearl Harbor, the American Navy could have easily outnumbered Japanese forces, thus keeping them from achieving their goal. This is why they first tried to distract the United States so they could easily invade the Philippines and declare it as their own. Another reason why they wanted the Philippines was simply that they had already obtained Manchuria and