Download Japan and the Road to Pearl Harbor

Economics in Japan collapsed because Japan
had to import the majority of their resources
 Japanese military officers blamed the
problems on corrupt politicians
 Believed that democracy was
un-Japanese and bad for the country

Japanese officers invade resource rich Manchuria
without government permission
 When the Japanese Prime Minister tried to
negotiate a peace, he was assassinated.
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 Japan viewed themselves as the future of Asia

League of Nations condemned the
action.
Japan leaves the League.
Hoover wanted no part in an American military action
in the Far East.
• US would not recognize any territorial
acquisitions that were achieved by force.
• Japan was infuriated because the US had
conquered new
territories a few
decades earlier.
• Japan bombed
Shanghai in
1932  massive
casualties.
When the President proclaimed the existence of a
foreign war, certain restrictions would automatically
go into effect:
Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations.
Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations.
Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at
war [in contrast to WW I].
Non-military goods must be purchased on a “cash-andcarry” basis  pay when goods are picked up.
Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
This limited the options of the President in a crisis.
America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces!
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1936 - Hitler and Mussolini signed a treaty
pledging cooperation on international issues
1936 – Japan aligned itself with Germany and
Italy with the Anti-Comintern Pact
Became known as the Axis Powers
1937 – the Japanese attack China from Manchuria
The Japanese armed forces were surprised by the
level of Chinese resistance that preceded the fall of
Shanghai and took out their frustration on the
civilians and soldiers who surrendered the city of
Nanking in December of 1937.
Realistic estimates indicate that 300,000 Chinese
civilians and soldiers were killed and that Japanese
soldiers raped tens of thousands of the city’s
women.
5 December 12, 1937.
5 Japan bombed USS
Panay gunboat & three
Standard Oil tankers on
the Yangtze River.
5 The river was an
international waterway.
5 Japan was testing US resolve!
5 Japan apologized, paid US an indemnity, and promised no
further attacks.
5 Most Americans were satisfied with the apology.
5 Results  Japanese interpreted US tone as a license for
further aggression against US interests.
In response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
FDR persuades Congress in special session to allow
the US to aid European democracies in a limited way:
The US could sell weapons to the European
democracies on a “cash-and-carry” basis.
FDR was authorized to proclaim danger zones which
US ships and citizens could not enter.
Results of the 1939 Neutrality Act:
Aggressors could not send ships to buy US munitions.
The US economy improved as European demands for
war goods helped bring the country out of the
1937-38 recession.
America becomes the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
British forces had been driven from the
continent.
Worse yet, they had been forced to leave
their weapons and tanks behind.
Britain turned to the United States for help.
President Roosevelt responded to the
Dunkirk disaster by ordering U.S. military
arsenals to send all available war materiel to
Britain to replace the lost equipment.
Charles Lindbergh
The Isolationist Debate
• President Roosevelt ran for
an unprecedented third
term as president in the
election of 1940.
• B
Republican candidate,
Wendell Willkie, said they
would keep the United
States neutral but assist
the Allied forces.
(pages 602–603)
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The Isolationist Debate
• Roosevelt won by a large margin.
(pages 602–603)
"Suppose my neighbor's home catches fire, and I
have a length of garden hose four or five hundred
feet away. If he can take my garden hose and
connect it up with his hydrant, I may help him to put
out his fire...I don't say to him before that operation,
"Neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15; you have
to pay me $15 for it."... I don't want $15--I want my
garden hose back after the fire is over. "
- Franklin Roosevelt (March 1941)
In support of the Lend-Lease Act
Great Britain.........................$31 billion
Soviet Union...........................$11 billion
France......................................$ 3 billion
China.......................................$1.5 billion
Other European.................$500 million
South America...................$400 million
The amount totaled: $48,601,365,000
Pearl Harbor
Japan Attacks the United States
• When Britain began moving its warships
from Southeast Asia to the Atlantic,
Roosevelt introduced policies to
discourage the Japanese from attacking
the British Empire.
Japan Attacks the United States
• In July 1940, Congress passed
the Export Control Act, giving
Roosevelt the power to restrict
the sale of strategic materials–
materials important for fighting a
war–to other countries.
• Roosevelt immediately
blocked the sale of airplane
fuel and scrap iron to
Japan.
• The Japanese signed an
alliance with Germany and
Italy.
Japan Attacks the United States
(cont.)
• By July 1941, Japanese
aircraft posed a direct threat to
the British Empire.
• Roosevelt responded to the
threat by freezing all
Japanese assets in the
United States and reducing
the amount of oil shipped to
Japan.
.
Japan Attacks the United States
• The Japanese decided to attack resource-rich British and
Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines, and
attack Pearl Harbor.
Japan Attacks the United States
(cont.)
• Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, sinking
or damaging 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, killing 2,403
Americans, and injuring hundreds more.
Final Exam: Essay Question
Beginning in 1931, ten years before Japan attacked, every
graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy had to answer the
following question as part of their final examination:
“How would you carry out a surprise attack on
Pearl Harbor?”
The question remained on the cadets’ exam every year until
the beginning of the war in the Pacific. It is not known if the
Japanese high command used any of the answers from the
ten-year period while planning the real attack.
Japan Attacks the United States
(cont.)
• The next day, President Roosevelt
asked Congress to declare war on
Japan.
Japan Attacks the United States
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date
which will live in infamy – the United
States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked by naval and air
forces of the Empire of Japan . . . I have
directed that all measures be taken for
our defense . . . 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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
December 8, 1941
Japan Attacks the United States
• On December 11, 1941, Japan’s allies – Germany and Italy–
declared war on the United States.
• According to the Axis treaty, Hitler did not have to declare war
on the U.S. (only if Japan was attacked)
• Hitler grew frustrated with the U.S. Navy’s attacks on German
subs in the Atlantic and the Lend-Lease Act
By November 29th, U.S. knew where and when
U.S. interception of a phone conversation from the Japanese
embassy in D.C.
•
Embassy Worker: "Tell me, what zero hour is. Otherwise, I won't be
able to carry on diplomacy."
•
Voice from Tokyo: "Well then, I will tell you. Zero hour is December 8th
at Pearl Harbor" (Tokyo time which is Dec 7th Washington time)
Argument Against a Conspiracy
Many historians argue that the Japanese just pulled off a brilliant
surprise with everything going right for them.
With the attack coming from the Northeast, American radar
operatives thought it was American B-17s coming in from the
mainland with a delivery.
Concern in Hawaii was sabotage
Any attack on Hawaii by the
Japanese was thought to
be coming from acts of
sabotage operatives.
At Pearl Harbor the ships
were lined up on
“Battleship Row” with
smaller ships in front to
protect from these attacks.
At their airfield the planes
were lined up wingtip to
wingtip outside to protect
against attacks of
sabotage.
Both of these make them easy
targets for the Japanese.
Remembering Pearl Harbor
Remembering Pearl Harbor
Remembering Pearl Harbor