Walter Short And Husband Kimmel's Attack On Pearl Harbor

World War II, lasting six years, was a brutal war in which the US joined. In fact, this was the most widespread war in history, In other words, this war affected over 30 countries and death tolls were as high as 85 million. Disputes began when Poland was invaded by Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party. As a result, Britain, and France saw the action as a threat and wanted answers. Germany, along with Hitler, said that their invasion of Poland was an act of defense. However, this was not enough. Both, France and Britain, declared war on Germany in 1939. This was enough to spark World War II (Staff). Even after these chains of events, the United States had stayed out of the situation. The United States were following their Neutrality Acts.

Even though this attack was seen as unexpected, two men, Walter Short and Husband Kimmel, could have stopped this tragedy from occurring. The two men were assigned to defend the naval base and protect ships that were stationed there. However, they failed their duty of protecting the base. While there is little doubt that they were unsuccessful, looking back into important warnings are crucial. As Issues and Controversies in American History states, “Those critics also pointed out that Kimmel and Short had received numerous warnings from their superiors about a possible Japanese attack, which they largely ignored. They further accused the two men of failing to develop a proper working relationship with each other which would presumably have helped them to organize a more effective, joint Army and Naval defense of Pearl Harbor” (Davenport). In this quote, Davenport is arguing that the two men are guilty in the situation. They had the opportunity to stop a major tragedy from occurring, but they thought it was a fluke. For example, the United States was able to decode a message sent by the Japanese Naval communications, in which an attack was probable. However, when Walter Short and Husband Kimmel received the messages, they did not understand. The message, in their opinion, was too vague and they

However, it all changed during Pearl Harbor. Starting on December 7, 1941, Japanese air raids dropped bombs on battleships. The bombing did not stop, even after four hours, the bombing had not finished. Throughout the time, Japanese aircraft completely dominated the skies and caused terror to Americans. The damage had caused five of the eight battleships to be destroyed and sunk, 21 American ships to be sunk, and the death of thousands (Chen). This evidence of the attack shows the amount of damage done to American soil. The US could not bear the consequences, and after seeing the deaths of many, something had to be done. For example, the day after the attack. President Roosevelt gave a speech, “The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu” (Roosevelt). FDR is briefly describing the damage done by the Japanese. While he talks about the damage done to the military and the damage done to American ships, he makes the lives lost in the attack stand out. Roosevelt uses the word “I regret to tell you”. From this one can tell that America cares about its people. At the end of the day, anything can happen, buildings can be destroyed,