December 7, 1941
The world was in a perilous place in December 1941. Hitler’s Nazi armies were marching across Europe. Imperialist Japan was expanding its empire across China and much of the Pacific. With little desire to become involved in a global conflict, the United States was not directly involved in the war. That all changed one Sunday morning in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Japan was a country with great ambition but few natural resources. To make up for these shortages, Japan attacked its neighbors in China and other parts of Southeast Asia. In response, the United States cut off oil and other raw materials to Japan, believing this would reign in Japanese expansionism. The two countries tried to negotiate, but these talks made little progress. War became a growing possibility.
Military leaders in the United States believed if Japan were to attack, it would be against U.S. interests in the South Pacific. The thought of an attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor garnered little contemplation.
The U.S.S. Arizona as it lies today
However, Japan did plan to attack Pearl Harbor. Japan believed a decisive blow against the U.S. Pacific Fleet would cripple America’s ability to stop Japan’s plans of conquest in the Pacific. After months of meticulous preparation, Japan sent a group of six aircraft carriers, submarines, and support vessels toward Hawaii. At about 8 a.m., on December 7, Japan began the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States was caught by surprise.
The attack lasted about two hours, with several waves of Japanese planes hitting multiple targets. Although heroism was common that morning, Americans on the ground could not mount much of a sustainable response. Twenty-one American ships were sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft were destroyed, and another 159 were damaged. American dead numbered 2,403, a figure that included 68 civilians. There were 1,178 military and civilians wounded. Of those killed, 1,177 men died on the U.S.S. Arizona after a bomb landed in her forward ammunition magazine. The attack took a heavy toll.
Despite the destruction and loss of life, the attack could have been worse. The Japanese failed to destroy important onshore facilities such as oil storage depots, repair shops, and shipyard and submarine docks. There were no aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor that morning, a development that proved a vital bit of fortune as carriers would become the most important vessels in the war in the Pacific. Of the eight battleships sunk or badly damaged, only the Arizona and Utah were not raised and repaired.
America responded by uniting around the attack and committing itself to total victory. President Franklin Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941, saying, “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”
It was the commander of the Japanese fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a man who had graduated from Harvard with an economics degree, who uttered the now-famous words, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Yamamoto’s words proved true. The attack led directly to the defeat of both Japan and Germany in World War II, victories that would not have occurred without the heroism and sacrifice of a generation of American patriots.
“A date which will live in infamy”
Footnotes of Interest:
The only vote cast against the declaration of war on Japan came from Jeannette Rankin of Montana. Rankin was a pacifist who had also voted against America going to war in World War I. “As a woman, I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else,” she said.
The original vote to go to war was only against Japan. On December 11, 1941, Japan’s allies Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The United States Congress reciprocated in kind.