Pearl Harbor Research Paper

December 7, 1941 is a day that is remembered by Americans across the nation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the day, “a date which will live in infamy.” Pearl Harbor is known as a moment of betrayal as well as a moment of horrific surprise for the American people. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to changes in the lives of most Americans and even the Japanese. The attack is known as the only time in history where warfare had spread to the whole world. The strained relations between Japan and the United States can be traced back to their first meeting, and the events that followed.

On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry fired upon Japan thus opening them to American merchants and missionaries. Mortified by their defeat, Japan modernized

Tokyo wanted to negotiate their victory in China, while Washington wanted to negotiate Japan’s withdrawal. When Japan seized northern bases in Vietnam, Roosevelt froze Japanese assets, and placed an embargo on trade of oil, steel, machinery, and other goods. This embargo hurt Japan greatly considering the United States provided them with more than half of their goods. This helped Yamamoto to convince the high command to set an attack on Pearl Harbor on December 8th, according to the Japanese calendar. While this was approved, Japan’s Foreign Ministry wanted to make a final effort for peace in Washington. Both sides could not find a compromise, and negotiations were terminated. Following the termination, the United States War Department sent out a “war warning” to Hawaii as well as other outposts. Since the warning was not specific to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii’s commander Lieutenant General Walter Short parked the aircrafts together and kept ammunition locked up. Also in 1941, the United States military deciphered Japan’s diplomatic code. Although this was a triumph, the United States intelligence officials were required to look through an enormous amount of information failing to react to the important messages such as the exact locations of Pearl Harbor ships. The Nazis had warned the Japanese that their codes had possibly been broken by the United States, but Japan believed

The message was taken to the War Department, but arrived late in Hawaii. Headed to Pearl Harbor, Japanese bombers listened to a Hawaiian radio station to learn the weather in Honolulu. The Japanese Commander gave the signal, and the bombers struck at the cruisers, destroyers, supply ships, and Hawaii’s military airfields. The surprise attack only lasted for thirty minutes, but after a short break, the second wave came in and Americans were on high alert. Two army pilots took off in P-40 fighters looking for Japanese planes. They shot down seven planes, close to one-quarter of the total of Japan’s losses at Pearl Harbor. By noon the attack was over, and all of the Japanese ships had returned