pearl harbor definition us history

pearl harbor definition us history

The Significance of Pearl Harbor in U.S. History

1. Introduction to Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. It was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, which it did by an almost unanimous vote. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of war on December 11. Germany and Italy declared war on America later that same day. Pearl Harbor was the first foreign attack on the American mainland in nearly 200 years, and the surprise of the attack forced the United States to enter the war, at a time when many Americans sought an isolationist policy. The event influenced the future cooperation with other nations through the United Nations in 1945. In 1990, Congress designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, which is usually observed with a ceremony at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and a moment of silence.

2. Events Leading Up to the Attack

Should the Pearl Harbor attack have been anticipated? In-depth foreknowledge can be debated endlessly, but substantial information indicated to both the military and to others that war was imminent. President Roosevelt had a succinct evaluation in his report to Congress on December 8, 1941. He stated that the United States had been at peace with Japan and that last night “Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong” and the Philippine Islands, and Thai forces were about to attack Malaysia. U.S. military authorities had been warned of the possibility of a Japanese attack. The ten-part message was very specific in describing Japanese plans to take military action in Southeast Asia and the Pacific when they felt that negotiation failed. In the days immediately preceding the attack, Washington had firmly warned Japan that any further movement outward from Indochina would result in retaliatory action. This might lead to war. Jumily intercepted and Tokyo interpreted made it clear that Japanese military leaders wished to attack the American fleet in the Pacific. Family diplomacy did not ease the crisis. All this should have occurred to American intelligence.

The destruction of the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, was a major shock to the American people and changed their outlook on the world. The realization that the United States was immune from attack only when the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were not merely an academic or rhetorical fact. The panic was great, the reaction of the military was dramatic, and the sense of unity was impressive.

3. The Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941

The battleships that were in port that day were obsolete. In their place, aircraft carriers had become the principal weapons of naval warfare. Because ships of this type operated away from their base of Pearl Harbor, all of the carriers were at sea at the time of the attack and survived to fight another day. Japan had made a serious miscalculation. Instead of reducing American morale, the bombing of Pearl Harbor united the people of the United States as nothing else had since the War of 1812. After four long years of war, the United States emerged from the conflict as a worldwide superpower. At the conclusion of the war at the end of 1945, the United States was the only major power still undamaged and the only one to possess nuclear weapons. Today, it is virtually impossible to imagine that this nation was once as unprepared for war as it was on the bright morning of December 7, 1941.

On December 7, 1941, airplanes and submarines of the Japanese Navy launched a vicious attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Within two hours, the United States naval fleet was devastated. Eight battleships, three cruisers, four destroyers, and five auxiliaries were either sunk or severely damaged. Two thousand four hundred and three soldiers, sailors, and marines were killed. British, Canadian, and Australian forces had also suffered heavy casualties. The Japanese Forces lost fewer than sixty men and only twenty-nine planes. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt asked the Congress to declare war on Japan. The United States was at war!

4. Immediate Aftermath and U.S. Entry into World War II

In their enthusiasm to concentrate blame on a “surprised, unready” Washington, Phillips and G. J. Holmes exaggerated the administrative difficulties of decryption, re-encipherment, re-decryption, final translation procedures of the Joint Services Plan No. 7 and cabled incorrectly in reflecting such difficulties “Not Decipherable” to give intelligence personnel the impression that no messages were to be expected until duly decrypted in Washington. So convinced were they that the Japanese were ready to move that CAPTRAID and WPL-46 were discarded as described above with the previously tragic results. Far more complex cabling systems than those which only reflected Phillips’s mistaken interpretation of US Navy operating instructions have been broken in two or three hours by Ellsberg and Macabe—the P Systems for Italy and Germany are two such examples.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, various agencies and branches of the government participated in a conspiracy to paint a picture of complete surprise and military unreadiness because of Washington’s failure to deliver the war warning message of November 27 in a proper manner. So great has been the public acceptance of the above canard that the inquiry which Franklin D. Roosevelt immediately ordered upon his return to the White House on the afternoon of December 7 was made so secret and the record of its proceedings kept so well concealed that the inquiry itself seemed to have disappeared from the record. It is true that the report was finally found by Admiral Walter C. Calhoun just a few years ago, and it is now on deposit in the National Archives. However, the press did not even refer to Calhoun’s discovery; hence a further need for another inquiry, particularly in light of recent sincere efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and memorandums such as the important documentary evidence contained in the investigations and reports by Simon and Morgenstern, Rosenberg, and Safford to lay at least part of the blame for the success of the Japanese attack on Safford and the SRHF detachment which succeeded in not decrypting a crucial batch of JN-25 intercepts on the eve of the raid.

5. Legacy and Impact on U.S. History

This great world event during the 20th century has also served as a present-day reminder to the citizens of our country of the cost and importance of protecting our country’s semi-free society. While there is some doubt that the residents of the U.S. can work together to combat modern threats to their freedom, such as terrorism and government rule, it is necessary for the U.S. people to strive to meet and end the challenges and to maintain their ability to protect their freedom, and the Japanese attack has been a spur in making sure that the U.S. would continue to have this freedom. The attack on Pearl Harbor inspired the people of a free country to be united in thinking that victory could be reached and that a shared future and freedom deserved to be fought for. And as a result, over the half-century, the U.S. has not forgotten its desire to accomplish great achievements. Resources of the U.S. forces have continued to solve problems and demand that the U.S. become a leader in the world’s affairs. And today is another time. How will the present world run in a free society, while countries want to return to their old ways of dominance or authority?

The attack on Pearl Harbor did not only have negative consequences. The U.S., as a result of its participation in World War II, transformed into a great world power and with her Allies, created a world order that allowed greater respect for freedom. During the war period and after, citizens banded together to promote societal improvements, such as ending Jim Crow laws, which were the height of segregation between whites and blacks in the Southern states (the opposite of that being called integration, where the races would come together in certain places). The influence of this patriotic and great period in American history has greatly shaped the following period in U.S. history and has motivated 21st-century citizens as well to face and accomplish life’s challenges unafraid. The U.S. never was the same, and neither was the world as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.