Yamamoto's Attack On Pearl Harbor

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Thesis- December 7, 1941, just before 8 a.m. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes bomb the U.S. Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii. The bombing lasts only 2 hours. But the base is devastated. What happens in response? The “Sleeping Giant” is awakened. America declares war on Japan the next day, putting America in WWII. Who- Yamamoto Isoroku was the mastermind behind the Pearl Harbor attack. Yamamoto worked in Washington D.C. at the Japanese Embassy after graduating from the naval academy. He was promoted until he eventually became commander and chief of Japans combined fleet in August 1941. He did not support going to war with America. He feared that if conflict happened, it would end badly for Japan. Once Japan decided to go…show more content…
“I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Where- Congress authorized the building of a naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1908. Expansion of the base was controversial though. Many Native Hawaiians did not want the docks to be built because they believed that it was angering their shark god Ka’ahupahau. The docks collapsed a few times due to “seismic disturbances”. The Hawaiians believed that this was the shark god trying to push out the engineers. In 1917, Ford Island was purchased and made into an aviation base. As Japan’s power began to grow, the U.S. began to put more ships in Pearl Harbor, also the army’s presence grew in Pearl Harbor. At the cost of 15 million dollars, the construction of Hickam Field began. It was an Army Air Corps station that needed constructed due to the fact that the Navy took full control of Ford Island. When the tensions between the U.S. and Japan began to grow, the decision was made…show more content…
The sanctions only made the Japanese more determined to stand up to the U.S. Months of negotiations followed and neither side would budge. The U.S. suspected an attack, but not in Pearl Harbor. For one reason Hawaii was far from Japan, intelligence officials suspected an attack on European colonies in the South Pacific. American Military leaders were not expecting an attack on Pearl Harbor, so it was left pretty much undefended. The Whole fleet was bunched together, leaving the Japanese with their mouths watering. How- The attack had one goal, to disable the Pacific Fleet, leaving the rest of the Pacific for Japan to take over. They were very able to do this because the Japanese warriors were known to be ruthless and loyal to their country. The Japanese pilots would even crash their planes into targets, sacrificing themselves for pride and honor. They were able to disable the fleet by flying over the fleet and dropping bombs on ships. After months of practice, the Japanese became pretty proficient at attacking. Conclusion- Nothing can make us forget what happened on December 7th, 1941 at 8 am. The only thing that we could do in response was fight back. That is the real America. We don’t let
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