USS Shaw's Attack On Pearl Harbor
Rahul Bagga Mr.Campbell US History, Period 0 16 December 2015 Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? One day that will always be remembered by America is the date of December 7, 1941, which changed American history forever. December 7, 1941 was the day the Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) which stationed many of American ships and airfields. Immediately after the bombings, United States President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan, leading to a direct involvement into World War ll. Japan had many reason to do so but Japan attacked Pearl harbor for three reasons which were that they had a plan for a new world order, United States were expanding their number of naval ships rapidly, and an oil embargo was placed upon Japan
One detail that supports the claim is in “Forgetting the Constitution”. “In addition, the Japanese in America face a special problem. It is an old problem. It is racism” (Hakim). This detail supports the claim because it showed that the Americans disliked the Japanese (and Japanese Americans) before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
However, too much credit is given to that defense. One of the largest factors was a jingoistic pride spurred by racism, the Pearl Harbor attacks, and a presidential ego. In J. Samuel Walker’s book Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan, Americans of the time are said to have viewed the Japanese as “subhuman” and as “vermin” and “apes” (Walker 21). Even the White House released a statement that Japan had been “repaid many fold” with the bombs (Walker 76). While he was a product of the same society and time in America, Truman’s mirrored racism should not be overlooked.
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? If you were threatened by an individual, would you throw the first punch or wait for the attack. This is how Japan felt when they were trying to dominate Asia. On Sunday December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the United State’s biggest naval base, Pearl Harbor. This attack was a turning point for the United States because this was one factor that brought them into World War II to fight against the Axis Powers.
On December 11, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese, more than 360 Japanese warplanes. They came and bombed our harbor killing more than 5,000 people. After the bombing America had a suspicion that maybe there was a spy, so they put more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans in an internment camps. I feel that internment camps were not necessary though because of that action we were thought of as racist, harsh, and dis loyal. I feel that because of those internment camps we were looked at as racist because we put humans in a internment camp just because they were of a different race.
Furthermore, the United States should do more to compensate the families of those impacted by internment because the recompense provided initially was minimal and should be considered an affront to the memory of the victims. Prior to World War II, the 127,000 Japanese-Americans along America’s west coast (Japanese American Relocation and Internment Camps) were considered just another immigrant group coming to America searching for a better life. However, with the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, this perception soon saw a drastic change. The attack on the US Naval base on December 7th, 1941 left many casualties in its wake.
From the Pearl Harbor incident, Americans has developed a very negative attitude towards all Japanese people including the Japanese-Americans who have nothing to do with the attack. The
Throughout the history of our country hatred has been common, as Immigrants enter our homeland they are looked down upon and thought of people who are “destroying” this nation. All these new people coming in are only seeking new opportunities but are discouraged by other because of their ancestry. Humanity’s unjust behaviors can be seen in two different aspects of America 's history, we first see it in the internment of the Japanese Americans during WWII and the period of the Salem Witch trials. Arthur Miller’s dramatized play, The Crucible can be correlated to the event of Pearl Harbor because of the similarities between the Japanese Americans and the characters in the play; they both demonstrate the lives of civilians being ruined, a mass hysteria caused by fear of their neighbors, and lack of a just court system. To being with, it was the year of 1692 when the “witch hunts” had officially began, fellow citizens were being accused of being involved in witchcraft.
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor is by far one of America’s most remembered events in history. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese dropped bombs on the American base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This attack is what persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to join World War 2 and fight on two fronts. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for many reasons. They attacked because they believed they would create a New World Order, they felt threatened by America and because of the oil embargo.
The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941 shook the United States to its very core. Fear and suspicion quickly began to spread, which led to a growing tension about the nearly 160,000 Americans of Japanese descent living in Hawaii, and the 120,000 living on the U.S. mainland. There were rumors that enemy agents of Japan had already infiltrated the United States in preparation to aid Japanese military forces in an attack on the West Coast. Imperial sympathizers were also believed to reside among the Japanese American farming community, and that they could launch sabotage missions to blow up oil and gas lines under their fields in central California at any time. Behind these rumors and suspicions resided the
“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.
Thesis statement: Though many speculate that the act of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) while not doing so on Europe (Germany and Italy) was racially motivated, racism played little to no role in these bombings. The United States of America and her allies were willing to end World War II at any cost, had the atomic bombs been available they would have been deployed in Europe. In the 1940’s there is no doubt that the United States of America was engulfed by mass anti-Japanese hysteria which inevitably bled over into America’s foreign policy. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human.
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 have caused many debates over the years since they occurred back in 2001. Two American planes were hijacked and ran into the twin tower buildings, another was hijacked and headed for the pentagon, but thankfully never made it. Thousands of Americans lost their lives on the days of the attacks and to this day the sorrow hangs with us. Security was a huge debate of the time because America is supposed to be the safest nation there is, so how did this happen? America had lots of changes to make the attacks on September 11, 2001.
The “small island nation” Japanese have always had very strong values that they pass down to their generations (Kanagy,2013). They teach their children to place others before them, respect their elders, and to always be honest. The country of Japan remained mostly isolated until whale hunters wanted to hunt, and dock in the Japanese territory in 1825 (Japan: Memories). The culture of Japan before World War II, was one of a deep history of knowing one’s place, keeping traditions, and honor. That was something that America had to understand when it came to intergrading with Japan after the war.
According to an official survey of 1940 approximately 127,000 people of Japanese ancestry lived in the United States, the majority of which living on the West Coast and a third being born in Japan. Some of these people could not own land, become American citizens or vote. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, rumors started to spread which was fueled by race discrimination, of a plot among Japanese Americans to sabotage the war effort. In the early 1942, the Roosevelt administration was pressured to remove Japanese people from the West Coast by seeking to eliminate Japanese competition, politicians hoping to gain something for standing against an unpopular group and military
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