Why Pearl Harbor Attacked The Sleeping Giant

“A day which will live in infamy.” This quote was delivered by President Roosevelt after the attack that devastated the country. December 7th, 1941, the US Naval base called Pearl Harbor, was bombed by the Japanese. This attack had “awakened the sleeping giant” known as the United States. Pearl Harbor was a large turning point in WWI because it brought the US into war. Japan began to prepare for the attack. Japan was taking over countries, and the US didn’t like their growing power. The US sanctioned Japan and stopped selling them oil, but it just angered them further. Japan sent about 6 loaded aircraft carriers overseas to Pearl Harbor. The names of the 6 were: Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku (Pierce 27). Each Japanese
bomb, over 1,000 pounds each, were assigned to a certain American ship or an area of the island. For example, a 1,760 pound bomb was dropped on the USS Arizona (Izadi 18). The Pacific Islands being so close to Japan, and so vulnerable to an attack, made it irresistible for Japan to miss such a rare opportunity. December 7th, 1941, the Japanese dropped bombs over Pearl Harbor and Ford Island (World Book Online 1).
Since Pearl Harbor was a popular naval base, it was packed tight with weaponry. Japanese destroyed 20 American naval vessels, eight enormous battle ships, and almost 200 airplanes (History.com Staff 1). The Pearl Harbor attack “awakens the Sleeping Giant” known as the US (History.com Staff 8). The US did not want to enter the war, but they couldn’t ignore the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Because of the surprise attack, the US had a huge debate whether they should or shouldn’t enter World War I. Congress declares war on Japan Decemeber 8th, 1941 (World Book Online 6). After the attack, President Roosevelt made a passionate speech in which the famous quote, “a day which will live in infamy” came from (World Book Online
6).

After this tragic event, many died and even more were wounded. The USS Arizona was bombed. Alone, this one ship has brought about the deaths of 1,177 Marines and sailors (Izadi 18). After the Oklahoma was bombed, they went on board in a search for bodies. A total of 429 bodies were found dead in the ruins of the once beautiful vessel (Dougherty 51). Many, many unfortunate veterans were killed that day. At least 1,000 were wounded, and more than 2,000 were killed (History.com Staff 1). A memorial was built at the USS Arizona site, thanks in part to Elvis Presley (Maranzani 9). The world had been changed forever since the immense war.
A few days before the attack, the USS Arizona reloaded on fuel – a total of 1.5 million gallons (Maranzani 6). Fuel continues to leak from the wreckage today, a pool of black oil surrounding the ship (Maranzani 6). All of the damaged ships from the bombing were eventually repaired. Well, all except for the USS Arizona, and the USS Utah (History.com Staff 5). Some soldiers, who lost their lives in Pearl Harbor, received Navy ships named in their honor. Bennion, Flaherty, Frederick, Herbert, Hill, Kidd, Reeves, Scott, Tomich, and Van Valkenburg were all the ships named for them (Pierce 44). So many families lost loved ones that day, and for that, we will never forget the day of
infamy. Pearl Harbor was a large turning point in WWI because it brought the US into war. Pearl Harbor, the US Naval base, was bombed by the Japanese. Awakening the United States was a large price, in which the Japanese had to pay. These people’s deaths will forever live in our history books, our minds, and our hearts.