Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor
According to an article in the website History, the causes of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are far from few. The country clearly had imperial objectives. In 1937 for example, the country invaded China beginning a war that did nothing but help the United States begin to consider Japan a threat in Asia. In 1941, Japan occupied French Indochina and controlled the Philippines. The United States imposed an oil embargo to Japan with the objective to weaken its economic strength. The embargo itself can be considered one of the reasons why Japan surprised the entire defense of the United States bombarding the Hawaiian Harbor (Pearl). The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on a Sunday morning, the seventh of December of 1941. It was one of the biggest
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surprise attacks in history, as Japan came and destroyed most of the boats that were in the harbor and killed a lot of people. The day after, December 8th, the United States declared that they were officially in war with Japan (Pearl Harbor Attack).
According to Patrick Buchanan, Konoye, Japan’s prime minister at the time, sent Franklin D. Roosevelt a letter begging him to meet so that they could talk things out. This was before Japan had attacked the United States. Konoye then had a meeting with U.S. ambassador Joseph Grew saying that Japan agreed with the policies that the United States had “as a basis for peace”. That offer was declined. He also stated that Japan offered the United States two more ideas: one that planned on ending the Japan China war, and a second plan stating that if the first idea didn’t work, both countries would agree to not make any moves to start a war. Both of these ideas were discarded by Roosevelt. At a meeting with Roosevelt about the war, Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War’s notes stated “The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves”. Frank Knox, a Navy Secretary wrote, “We can wipe the Japanese off the map in three months”. This shows that the U.S. did in fact provoke the Pearl Harbor attack so that they could officially start a war with Japan, as well as beat
Germany.
Part III: Counter-Argument According to David Adesnik, who graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in history, the U. S. sanctions had a limited impact on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the U.S. in 1941. David Adesnik also worked for the U.S. department of defense, with adds value to his opinion. One limitation is that he sounds biased towards the American side. According to this source, the United States had nothing to do with Japan attacking Pearl Harbor, and that Japan’s “aggression” started way before those attacks. The author also states that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because they could not have the United States standing in their way of conquering the Eastern part of Asia. He believes that there’s little evidence that the U.S. provoked the attack and actually that Japan was determined to dominate East Asia and had to take America out of its way. He enlists a series of acts takes by Japan that emphasize how the country had a clear objective, that is, to go into war against the U.S. One example is the occupation of Manchuria and invasion of central China in the 1930’s. The oil embargo, for example, which is mentioned as a reason for the Japanese attack, restricted only the export of high-octane aviation fuels. The embargo is considered to be ineffective by the author. Japan kept trying to rule the countries around its nation and the United States considered it very dangerous, so they wanted the Asian country to commit to avoid hostilities in the Pacific. America wanted a pledge that Japan would not keep trying to expand in Southeast Asia, and it was the invasion of Indochina that made the American president furious. Thus, according to the author, historical record makes it clear that embargos were a response to the Japanese behavior and not a provocative action to make Japan attack Pearl Harbor (Adesnik).
Part IV: Argument
Although David Adesnik has a few valid points as to why the attacks were not caused by the U.S., this next article is correct as to whose fault it is. The author of this article is Robert Dallek. He is arguing that the Pearl Harbor attacks were indeed provoked by Franklin D. Roosevelt and the rest of America. His intentions are to convince the readers that Japan played little part in this, and that the attacks were not their fault. Robert Dallek is a famous and well recognized American historian specialized in the American presidents with a focus on the nature of leadership. According to his biography in the website of the American Program Bureau Speakers, not only is he an acclaimed author but he is also a frequent commentator on many radio and television shows, including CNN and NBC, speaking of many subjects about foreign policy and current events. Him working for CNN, NBC and being a historian makes him a very reliable author, as he knows exactly what happened in the events of the attacks. Additionally, him writing FDR’s biography shows that he has great information on how Roosevelt was as a person and president. According to Dallek, FDR had the 1935 Neutrality Act revised by congress, which “prohibited loans and arms sales to belligerent nations, in order to allow the two countries to purchase arms on a cash and carry basis”. The only condition for this was that the country payed for the arms as soon as they got them, and that they found a way to transport it themselves. As per the theory “Backdoor to war” found in an article in the Britannica website written by Dallek, the United States manipulated events in the Pacific with the objective of provoking Japan to attack the United States naval base Pearl Harbor. Since he is American, and not Japanese, he is not biased. This article does not have many limitations as it provides a lot of information about specific events and things that Roosevelt did that provoked Japan. For example, Dallek states that Roosevelt negotiated with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to transfer destroyers to Britain in exchange of leases on naval and air bases in the Western Hemisphere. He declared that this was a defense measure, and by doing that, he ended the American neutrality in the war. In 1940, Roosevelt was re-elected and that gave him more confidence to move forward with his plan to “be the great arsenal of democracy”. He made sure that the United Stated provided Britain with all the got the war materials they needed. Another fact that sheds light over the intention of the US to enter war is that, because the American people still supported America’s neutrality to the war, he knew that the only reason to get the support was if the country were attacked by another nation (Dallek).
surprise attacks in history, as Japan came and destroyed most of the boats that were in the harbor and killed a lot of people. The day after, December 8th, the United States declared that they were officially in war with Japan (Pearl Harbor Attack).
According to Patrick Buchanan, Konoye, Japan’s prime minister at the time, sent Franklin D. Roosevelt a letter begging him to meet so that they could talk things out. This was before Japan had attacked the United States. Konoye then had a meeting with U.S. ambassador Joseph Grew saying that Japan agreed with the policies that the United States had “as a basis for peace”. That offer was declined. He also stated that Japan offered the United States two more ideas: one that planned on ending the Japan China war, and a second plan stating that if the first idea didn’t work, both countries would agree to not make any moves to start a war. Both of these ideas were discarded by Roosevelt. At a meeting with Roosevelt about the war, Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War’s notes stated “The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves”. Frank Knox, a Navy Secretary wrote, “We can wipe the Japanese off the map in three months”. This shows that the U.S. did in fact provoke the Pearl Harbor attack so that they could officially start a war with Japan, as well as beat
Germany.
Part III: Counter-Argument According to David Adesnik, who graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in history, the U. S. sanctions had a limited impact on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the U.S. in 1941. David Adesnik also worked for the U.S. department of defense, with adds value to his opinion. One limitation is that he sounds biased towards the American side. According to this source, the United States had nothing to do with Japan attacking Pearl Harbor, and that Japan’s “aggression” started way before those attacks. The author also states that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because they could not have the United States standing in their way of conquering the Eastern part of Asia. He believes that there’s little evidence that the U.S. provoked the attack and actually that Japan was determined to dominate East Asia and had to take America out of its way. He enlists a series of acts takes by Japan that emphasize how the country had a clear objective, that is, to go into war against the U.S. One example is the occupation of Manchuria and invasion of central China in the 1930’s. The oil embargo, for example, which is mentioned as a reason for the Japanese attack, restricted only the export of high-octane aviation fuels. The embargo is considered to be ineffective by the author. Japan kept trying to rule the countries around its nation and the United States considered it very dangerous, so they wanted the Asian country to commit to avoid hostilities in the Pacific. America wanted a pledge that Japan would not keep trying to expand in Southeast Asia, and it was the invasion of Indochina that made the American president furious. Thus, according to the author, historical record makes it clear that embargos were a response to the Japanese behavior and not a provocative action to make Japan attack Pearl Harbor (Adesnik).
Part IV: Argument
Although David Adesnik has a few valid points as to why the attacks were not caused by the U.S., this next article is correct as to whose fault it is. The author of this article is Robert Dallek. He is arguing that the Pearl Harbor attacks were indeed provoked by Franklin D. Roosevelt and the rest of America. His intentions are to convince the readers that Japan played little part in this, and that the attacks were not their fault. Robert Dallek is a famous and well recognized American historian specialized in the American presidents with a focus on the nature of leadership. According to his biography in the website of the American Program Bureau Speakers, not only is he an acclaimed author but he is also a frequent commentator on many radio and television shows, including CNN and NBC, speaking of many subjects about foreign policy and current events. Him working for CNN, NBC and being a historian makes him a very reliable author, as he knows exactly what happened in the events of the attacks. Additionally, him writing FDR’s biography shows that he has great information on how Roosevelt was as a person and president. According to Dallek, FDR had the 1935 Neutrality Act revised by congress, which “prohibited loans and arms sales to belligerent nations, in order to allow the two countries to purchase arms on a cash and carry basis”. The only condition for this was that the country payed for the arms as soon as they got them, and that they found a way to transport it themselves. As per the theory “Backdoor to war” found in an article in the Britannica website written by Dallek, the United States manipulated events in the Pacific with the objective of provoking Japan to attack the United States naval base Pearl Harbor. Since he is American, and not Japanese, he is not biased. This article does not have many limitations as it provides a lot of information about specific events and things that Roosevelt did that provoked Japan. For example, Dallek states that Roosevelt negotiated with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to transfer destroyers to Britain in exchange of leases on naval and air bases in the Western Hemisphere. He declared that this was a defense measure, and by doing that, he ended the American neutrality in the war. In 1940, Roosevelt was re-elected and that gave him more confidence to move forward with his plan to “be the great arsenal of democracy”. He made sure that the United Stated provided Britain with all the got the war materials they needed. Another fact that sheds light over the intention of the US to enter war is that, because the American people still supported America’s neutrality to the war, he knew that the only reason to get the support was if the country were attacked by another nation (Dallek).