12/2015

The Most Significant

Event in Modern
American History

PEARL HARBOR, DEC 7, 1941

GORDON PORTER

Introduction to a Legacy of Isolationism

America before Pearl Harbor, was a neutral country, it had no perception of peacekeeping
for Europe. Largely America was separatist and against getting involved in European affairs.
This made America largely on the sidelines, today however America is known for being the
world police and is involved in nearly every disagreement. It was since also involved in much
more installations of puppet governments. At the time of World War 2 being waged Europe
was in trouble, the US took a neutral supply role, but did not enter the war directly, until Pearl
Harbor. The United States watched the activities of Germany, Italy and Japan; due to the nature
of the conflict Japan, was what made the President FDR nervous. On December 7, 1941 America
was attacked, one of the worst attacks in US history. (McClellan, Source 1) Overnight the
Empire of Japan became a sworn enemy of the United States. Before the event the US was
neutral and isolationist, the majority of citizens wanted nothing to do with European affairs.
(McClellan, Source 12, 2000) How did this change? Why? Questions that must be asked for the
purpose of understanding one of the single most influential events in modern history.

Before Pearl Harbor

The majority of America would not have believed that it was Americas war1, if the
Pacific fleet had not been attacked. America sent aid to its close allies, but for the most part
America remained neutral, people did not understand that even though the war was far away, it
could still hurt the United States. People had no reason to fear being invaded or attacked before
this point. Examine the other countries, they believed it was their war because they had
bombings in their territory from their enemy. From air raids, to attempting acquisition of oil
fields, this was their fight. Their very homes were destroyed or in great danger. That makes it
their war, the United States did not have that problem. America did not have any fear until our
base in Hawaii was nearly completely destroyed. Before the attack people did not want to go to
war2 in fact it states in source 14, changing interpretations, paragraph 2: The week before
Pearl Harbor, the polls showed 75 per cent of the people against going into the war. (McClellan,
Source 12, 2000) America had largely been an isolationist up to this point, this single event was
what made America have its stance on global security it has today. After Pearl Harbor, Germany
and Italy declared war on the US, something that the legislature and the American people would
have opposed entirely and scarcely believed weeks before. (McClellan, Source 12, 2000) It says
in source 12, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, : This time the vote in the Senate
was 88 to 0 for war with Germany; in the House 393 to 0 in the Senate; 399 to 0 in the House.3
This unprecedented unanimity was in part a recognition of the fact that war had already come; an
answer to Pearl Harbor.4 Later in 1945 8/10 people believed that Roosevelt should have tried to
make peace and not enter the war, it further states in Source 12: One can only surmise what the
disunity would have been if the perpetrators of Pearl Harbor had not electrified the nation.
(McClellan, Source 12, 2000) This shows more than anything if the Hawaii Pacific fleet in Pearl
Harbor had not been attacked, America would never have entered the war. Perhaps America
1

Pg. 290-291, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 12, Pearl Harbor
Pg. 299-300, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 14, Pearl Harbor
3
Pg. 298, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 12, Pearl Harbor
4
Pg. 298, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 12, Pearl Harbor
2

would never have helped stop the genocide of millions and millions of people, by making a war
on the axis powers. It is regrettable that the United States did not take a human responsibility to
prevent genocide, before WW2.

The Attack
America was not on an alert status, America did not think an attack was imminent, during
our continuing negotiations with Japan. Not attacked on such a strong military base as our
Hawaii Pacific Fleet. This lead to the destruction of 2403 Americans, 149 aircraft, 2 battleships
totally lost, 2 battleships sunk and 3 battleships damaged 1 battleship grounded and many other
ships and planes damaged. (Source 11, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past) Defending
the base only destroyed 29 Japanese planes5, marking this one of the worst military defeats in
history. Such a devastating blow to the military strength that the Empire of Japan knew it could
take months or years for the United States to retaliate. (McClellan, Source 11, 2000)

How did this attack happen and why was it successful?

America was warned a week in advance that the Japanese were planning a huge military
offensive. Source 11, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past states: The government of the
United States knew that Japan was preparing to launch a military offensive. A warning had been
sent to all American commands in the Pacific a week before the attack on Pearl Harbor, urging
vigilance in anticipation of an attack. (McClellan, Source 11, 2000) This horrible defeat allowed
the Japanese time to dig in their islands and waters so that it became an impossible
undertaking, to defeat their navy or ground forces. To further illustrate that the attack should not
have been a surprise, was the American involvement in China and the halting of oil exports to
Japan. To quote from source 11 (paragraph 14) American oil exports to Japan were cut off
despite the fact that Japan depended upon America to supply 80 percent of its petroleum needs.
And when Japan began to contemplate seizing the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies, the United
States warned that such a move could lead to war.6 (McClellan, Source 11, 2000) In addition in
Ch 18, source 20 of Changing interpretations, it is noted by the VFW 99th national convention
that the military knew about the attack a day before, and did not notify Admiral Kimmel or
General Short. (McClellan, Source 20, 2000) To quote a passage from Source 20: With the use
of a cryptic machine known as Magic the military was able to decipher the Japanese
diplomatic code known as Purple and the military code known as JN-25.7 The final part of the
diplomatic message that told of the attack on Pearl Harbor was received on December 6, 1941.
With this vital information in hand, no warning was dispatched to Admiral Kimmel and General
Short to provide sufficient time to defend Pearl Harbor in the proper manner.8 To state the
obvious, oil is important, enough to fight over. If America was cut off from 80% of our oil
supply, it would declare war. This does not mean we could have avoided war if we allowed the
Japanese to continue trading with the United States. Axis powers were still a threat and so were
the Japanese even before this event, as they had been seeking the oil reserves from the Dutch
5

Pg. 295-298, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 11, Pearl Harbor
Pg. 295-298, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 11, Pearl Harbor
7
Pg. 303 Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 20, Pearl Harbor
8
Pg. 303 Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 20, Pearl Harbor
6

East Indies, which would have provoked war. But this shows, without any doubt, the United
States military should have been completely prepared to receive a completely violent response,
even without using any intelligence on the Japanese military activity. To sum up, Pearl Harbor
was the single most influential event, it put America in WW2, from being nearly completely
against the war and preferring isolation at 75% popularity.9 This created an opportunity for
America to become the most prominent superpower in the world. This event also influenced and
perhaps dictated Americas approach to foreign policy throughout the globe from 1941-present
day. A diplomatic role in the politics of the world for even the foreseeable future. To quote a
passage with further proof of this: Emerging from World War II as the most powerful economic
power on Earth, the United States changed its foreign policy dramatically. It took the lead in
founding the United Nations. It invested billions of dollars through the Marshall Plan to help
strengthen war-devastated European democracies. It created a system of alliances, including the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). (War and International Law, Americas Foreign
Policy: A Brief History, 2015) To state the obvious, a complete change in the American public
perception of the world. Their entire role changed in relation to the world, a change that usually
takes decades, changed overnight December 7, 1941, the day that will live in infamy forever.

Reflection
Relevance to Today? How Does This Relate to Concepts and Ideas in History?
Repeating, America was attacked, the influence of the attack led America out of an
isolationist role, and into WW2. Because of this, since America has taken a diplomatic stance of
Never Again. America has since decided largely that it is a moral responsibility to stop
dictatorships and genocide of innocence. This has led America into a virtual policing role, to stop
what we deem morally wrong. These events are still influencing the United States in decision
making, the military has looked to WWII as a pattern for involvement in the rest of the world.
Diplomatic/Military Bases in nearly every country and involvement in nearly every dispute,
between other countries. The Pearl Harbor attack was what paved the way for modern foreign
policy, America has since been involved in nearly everything in the world. A superpower and
peacekeeper, but morally this can be a problem. America since WW2 has had a mission against
totalitarian dictators, usually with specific communist ties. Sometimes this can be a grey area, as
communism itself is much like a religion, people have a right to self-govern, but this was not
Americas mission. America was opposing regimes that had a possible threat from Communism,
largely perceived from the Red Scare officials believed in stopping Communism at all costs.
This has led clandestine intelligence services to use their role in manipulating certain
governments in the last half centurys history. Something that without WW2 involvement,
probably would never have been a singular goal of the US. An example of this is the joint CIA,
MI6 1953 Iranian coup d'tat when the CIA wanted to overthrow the prime minister of Iran
and mount a puppet regime. CIA and MI6 feared that the nationalization of the oil industry in
Iran would later pose a great threat. (Roosevelt, 1979)
Other examples of how this event changed American involvement are: Guatemala 1954 (Nick
Cullathe The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 2006), Indonesia 1958
both involved the CIA to install a new government, President Kennedy had to send reparations to
9

Pg. 298, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 12, Pearl Harbor

Indonesia when our involvement was recognized. (Gutenberg.org, 2015) The more famous
accounts are The Bay of Pigs 1959 (JFK Presidential library, 2015) , November 1963 Iraqi coup
d'tat (Coughlin, 2005) , Dominican Republic 1961, South Vietnam 1963, Brazil 1964, Ghana
1966, Chile 197073 (Theoharis, 2006) , Afghanistan 197989. (Harvey, 2003) Afghanistan was
one of the most expensive operations by the CIA, we actively gave munitions to a terrorist
organization in the amounts of billions of dollars in arms/financing. (Meher, 2004) The list goes
on and on in the last decade, from Iraq, Benghazi, Libya, to Syria. (Gutenberg.org, 2015)
The point of argument, is that the US has since changed its isolationist stance,10 has been
much more involved in global politics. One could surmise with a list this big, that it has been out
of control. The US is concerned with wellbeing and independence in many of these cases, it was
to destabilize Communist governments. Because of the fear of a Communist government being
allied with the USSR, or Red (China), which may not have their best interests in mind. Indeed
even though before WW2 the US had some involvement in global revolutionary activities, it
seems after Pearl Harbor, the US appropriated a much more active role as a superpower. Indeed
it seems that Americas mission changed to support a more active cooperation in the world and
to support modern ideas of Humanities. This was first recognized when the United States
realized the true enemy was Nazi Germany, which posed the greatest moral threat to the world.
Part of the efforts of the United States and the United Nations has been to prevent mass
genocide, supporting the idea of: Never Again.11 A struggle that repeats Again and Again
despite efforts of US and UN intervention. (Power, 2010) Something that could not have
happened without the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

10

Pg. 298, Changing Interpretations of Americas Past, Jim R. McClellan, Ch. 18, Source 12, Pearl Harbor

11

Samantha Power, Confronting Genocide.

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