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Pearl Harbor Dbq

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Pearl Harbor Dbq
The attack on Pearl Harbor is an event in United States history that had a massive effect on the American people and the actions of the country. It is referred to as the event that directly caused the U.S. to get involved in World War II, and is arguably one of the biggest events in U.S. history for this reason. The attack resulted in thousands of unsuspecting American people injured and killed. These Americans were unprepared and unable to prevent the devastating attack from happening. However, many believe that president Roosevelt, on the other hand, could very well have prevented the attack, but chose to allow it instead. It is a conspiracy that many people have believed since the attack first occurred, and since then, the amount of belief …show more content…
After all, it makes no sense for someone to go so far to keep a secret hidden when there is no secret to be found. If the attack was in fact unavoidable and there was nothing that could be done, there would be no information to be hidden, and no conspiracy to be had. Roosevelt’s administration was in charge of taking several affirmative actions that directly contributed to the Pearl Harbor attack succeeding, many of which involved hiding information to allow the attack to succeed. One such action was that commanders in Hawaii were denied requests to search for Japanese ships. This, as a result, supported Roosevelt in his plan. There were also several other instances of cover ups that acted as a way of leading the public to believe a certain way. Admiral James Richardson, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. fleet, was relieved of his duty after refusing to place his sailors and ships in deliberate danger. He was then replaced with a vague naval officer, Admiral Kimmel, who was then put in charge of commanding the fleet in Hawaii. On the night before the attack, the heads of the Navy and Army were conveniently …show more content…
did not know what the Japanese were planning is a false statement. Several of the various warnings they received indicated, or at the very least, suggested, what their plans were. On July 10, the US military attaché in Tokyo reported that the Japanese Navy were secretly practicing airborne torpedo attacks on targets secured in Ariake Bay-a bay closely resembling Pearl Harbor. In Mexico, the US military attaché revealed that the Japanese were building submarines with plans to tow them to Hawaii for an attack on Pearl Harbor. Then, on September 24, a message from Japanese Naval Intelligence headquarters in Tokyo to the Japanese consul general in Honolulu was interpreted. It requested the precise whereabouts of all US Navy ships in Pearl Harbor. Two months later, another message was intercepted. It ordered for more routines, one such involving attacks on capital ships at anchor in preparation to 'ambush and completely destroy the US enemy.' The only American fleet within reach was at Pearl Harbor. These select few warnings alone suggested what the plans of the Japanese were, so it would be foolish to say that the U.S. was not expecting an attack. If the plan foreknowledge were not enough, the U.S. government also received various warnings about specifically when the attack would occur. The information received from numerous sources collectively stated that December 7 would be the day of the attack. Additionally, on November 29, US Secretary of State Cordell

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