It is important to United States History as it marks the first time war had been brought to the country’s shores. It ended the belief that the United States was untouchable because of its distance from other worldly powers and it propelled the country into the spotlight as a world power to be reckoned with. In the early morning hours of December 7th 1941 an intelligence report was obtained by United States government officials indicating that an attack on a United States port by the Japanese was imminent. But the information was not passed on to officials at Pearl Harbor until after the attack was already in progress. The attack came in two waves, the first of which consisted of 183 planes and the second of which consisted of 167 additional planes.
This was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. They did this without warning and without a formal declaration of war. As a result of this attack, more than 2000 Americans were killed, along with over a thousand being wounded. The attack was meant to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Japanese were planning in Southeast Asia. This led to the U.S. to abandon their support for non-interventionism, declaring war on Japan and entering World War II.
There were reports that some Japanese people were spying and developing a plan to sabotage the West Coast, however none of these claims were ever proven (Powell, page 135). The United States government became increasingly paranoid about this new problem and demanded action. On Thursday, February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066, which called for mass evacuation of Japanese Americans on the west coast with the excuse of a “military necessity,” and that the Japanese “loyalties were unknown.” (Powell, page 132). Efforts were made to limit espionage or sabotage by the Japanese for national security. The government’s quick implementation of Executive Order 9066 in reaction to the public’s panic, not only was unconstitutional and violated Japanese American rights, but also resulted in needless effort and attention towards the internment camps, making this an act of racism, not a military necessity.
The relationship between the Americans and the Japanese thawed further during the outbreak of World War I. The Japanese had entered into a treaty with Germany where it got concessions China and issued a list of demands on China. This aggression by Japan received strong opposition within the US administration that foothold on China by the Japanese would nullify the Open Door Policy. The American then secretary assistant
Model Essay Student’s Name Section Number Why the Atomic Bombs Saved Japan. The decision to use nuclear weapons to stop the War in the Pacific by President Harry S. Truman in August, 1945 remains controversial to this day. Most of Truman’s critics, the so-called revisionist historians, argue that Japan wanted to surrender and had already been defeated, making the use of atomic bombs unnecessary. They say the bombs were used mainly to demonstrate America’s power to intimidate the Soviet Union. The historians who support Truman, sometimes called the traditionalists, agree that Japan had been defeated but argue that Japan was not ready to surrender and was, in fact, preparing for one last great battle that would have cost millions of lives.
Germany, Italy, and in the beginning Russia were the only Axis powers that were present until Japan entered the war in 1940 joining that side. The Allied powers in the war included France, Great Britain, and in later years Russia and the United States. The United States did not get involved until 1941 with some stress as well as the continuing war in Europe; the United States had no other choice than to enter war against Germany and Japan. On December 7, 1941, the country of Japan, an Axis power of World War II, sent 353 kamikaze torpedo bombers to attack the United States Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese attacked at the morning where most of the soldiers were still asleep and not prepared for anything.
Japan had always relied on a strong military, and in the 1930's Japan's leaders turned to military power to solve problems such as a growing population, lack of resources and perceived racist policies of the Western world. Meanwhile, the US was seeking to advance themselves by isolating their country from external affairs: this meant they were isolating themselves from the conflict of World War 2 in Europe by only supplying arms (to Britain and China) but refusing to send American men to the front lines. This policy of isolationism was threatened when Japan's idea of a self-sufficient Asian area, the Co-Prosperity Sphere, was introduced. As these two strong forces grew, a collision course transpired. While Japan wanted to expand in Asia-Pacific and build an Empire.
At this conference, the Soviet Union promised to begin helping in the battle in the Pacific Theater three months after the defeat of Germany. At that time, there was no knowledge of whether an atom bomb was even possible, and especially possible to create in time for the use as an offensive tool in the war. The way the date was set up for this bombing, merely 2 days before the Red Army was to join in the war, would seem to indicate that the US dropped the bomb to end the war without the need of help from the Soviets. Japan at the time of the bombing in Hiroshima was a country in shambles. The bombing runs of the Allies had destroyed over 2 million homes, and much of the Japanese industry had already been destroyed (Document B).
Japan was preparing for war as it was negotiating peace. In November 1941, an aircraft carrier air strike force secretly set sail toward the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The incident, which shocked the U.S. Pacific Fleet, confirmed that the United States would turn out to be a major trouper in the war. On November 29, the Japan government and the military chief met, and discussed the cause and effect of the war. They decided to attack the pearl harbor.
After spring 1945, with Japan in an extremely weak position, the United States was considering the following ways of bringing the long war to an end: invade the Japanese mainland in November 1945, ask the Soviet Union to join the war against Japan, assure continuation of the emperor system, or use the atomic bomb. The U.S. believed that if the atomic bomb could end the war, Soviet influence after the war would be restricted and domestically the tremendous cost of development would be justified. (1) After Germany's surrender, tension mounted between the U.S. and the Soviet Union regarding the disposition of postwar Europe. The U.S. began worrying about the increased influence the Soviets would obtain if they joined the war against Japan in mid-August as planned. The U.S. believed that if the atomic bomb ended the war, the U.S. would establish postwar supremacy over the Soviets.