Haverson 1

Kylie Haverson
Mr. Conrad
ERWC Period 5
24 August 2016
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor...what do you think of when you hear these significant words? Do you
think of a harbor that is painted in a pearl color, or a calm ocean port settling against the
oceanside? When I hear these two simple, harmless words; I think of the Japanese military
killing hundreds of innocent men and women and destroying many of our country's weapons,
ships, aircraft and supplies. The United States was not going to be involved in World War 2
because we were an isolationist country and many Americans did not want to go back to war
after the tragic event of World War 1. However, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the
United States had no other excuse to stay out of the war. I fear we have awakened a sleeping
giant and filled him with a terrible resolve (Crosby Day), says Japanese General Yamamoto
about the United States after the attack. The effects of this outrageous attack affected many
individuals, the United States and World War 2.
Before the second World War started and after the first one ended, America was going
through harsh conditions, specifically the dreaded Great Depression. It was the deepest and
longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world (The
Great Depression). Many people were living in poverty, a large amount of banks went out of
business, and the stock market crashing, resulting in leaving many people losing all of their
money and income. Franklin D. Roosevelt won the overwhelming presidential election in 1932.
Roosevelt did all he could to help the Depression by announcing a bank holiday, passed

Haverson 2
legislation that stabilized production of agriculture and industries and created the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation to protect people for depositing money in banks. Through the relief and
reform measures put into place by President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped lessen the worst
effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s (The Great Depression). World War 2 helped the
Depression the most from providing more jobs in industries.
World War 2 started by Germany invading Poland in September 1939. Germany was one
of the biggest powers besides the United States during the war. Germany took over: Finland,
Denmark, Norway, North Africa and nearly all of Europe. Germany wanted control and to spread
socialism but many countries were not in favor of that. On September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy
and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact and become the Axis Power (World War II: Timeline). The
countries that were against the socialist inflation were known as the Allied Powers which
included, United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union. During the course of many months,
many other nations joined the allies and axis powers, resulting in many nations being invaded. A
main battle that took place was the Battle of Britain where a German air raid took place over
England to attack Britain. The purpose was to knock out the Royal Air Force in preparation for
Operation Sealion, the proposed naval invasion of Britain, or force Churchill to seek a negotiated
peace (World War II). Hitler was confident he was going to win, but was blindsided and had to
abandon his plans for invasion. The Japanese always had their eye on the United States and made
a decision that affected the war tremendously.
Pearl Harbor is where the United States has a naval base on the south side of the
Hawaiian Island, Oahu. This base was originally naval, but over the years it expanded to military
and stored aircraft. The United States base had ammunition dumps, machine shops, radio
towers, fuel oil storage facilities, and bar racks for the military and naval personnel stationed

Haverson 3
there (Shirer), and is big enough to accommodate the whole entire United States fleet in the
Pacific Ocean. It was a very crucial defense spot for Hawaii and the United States. While
everyone was distracted by Germany taking over many countries in Europe, Japan was hiding in
the background aggressively attacking Indochina; threatening Thailand, Singapore, Burma, the
Philippines and expanding into China all during the summer of 1941. Unites States knew that
Japan was growing into Asia, however, were more concerned about Germany in Europe. They
ultimately decided to stay away from Japan and try to avoid a two-ocean war (Shirer). The
United States then tried to do economic sanctions in Japan, which imposed a ban of trading of
fuel, scrap iron and steel with Japan in August and September of 1940. Over the following year
during the War, Japan and the United States diplomatic efforts began to diminish. Japan had two
optionspeace or war. During the course of these events, the United States were being very
sneaky. The United States intelligence found small amounts of evidence exemplifying that the
Japanese were planning a surprise attack against, proven when diplomatic efforts failed between
the two countries. Diplomacy diminished when on November 10, 1941, Japanese presented a
final plan that the United States perceived to be unacceptable. Both countries were now
preparing for the attack. Japanese, earlier that year, started beginning tactical preparation on
Pearl Harbor, which the United States did not know where this attack will be held. Pilots, suicide
pilots, wooden torpedoes and new methods of delivery were in store for the powerhouse country.
The location of the attack was kept a secret and the movements of major U.S. Pacific fleet's were
announced. November of 1941, while distracting the United States, Japanese placed thirty-one
vessels, a total of six aircraft carriers and four hundred thirty two airplanes in the southern Kurile
Islands northeast of Japan. The Japanese courageous plan was confirmed and the fleet started to

Haverson 4
proceed towards Pearl Harbor on December 2, 1941. In five days...the sleeping giant will
awaken.
On December 7, 1941, two waves of Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, at 7:55 am
and 8:50 am. The first wave specifically targeted the United States airfields, Pacific fleet and
battleships. The second wave of Japanese bombers directed themselves attacking on the harbor,
the airfields and show installations. The Japanese methodical plan was a success. they waited till
the right moment when the entire U.S. Pacific fleet, ninety-four vessels, were anchored at Pearl
Harbor, including eight huge and resourceful battleships. Because of the attack being a surprise,
the United States were so unprepared and startled that from the many weapons they could have
used to defend themselves were unprepared, that they became useless, made it impossible for
effective defense and resulted in the United States suffering drastically. The damage was horrific.
Casualties were 2,403 dead and 1,178 wounded an article written by Frank Shirer, Pearl
Harbor states. While out of a total of eight battleships, three sank, one capsized and four were
brutally damaged. Many smaller sized warships sank or crippled and all but a few aircraft were
damaged or destroyed. President Roosevelt, the day after the surprise attack declared war against
the Axis Powers. The United States was confronted with the war on two oceans that it had so
hoped to avoid (Shirer).

Haverson 5

Haverson 6
December 7, 1941, is a date that every United States citizen will always remember.
Citizens will always remember the details of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but also the
effects that it had on the United States. After a matter of hours, America was on the move
towards the preparation of being included in World War 2 and citizens attitudes were changed
radically about war. The war is not part of the culture; the war is the culture. Everything is
viewed through the prism of the war effort (Fox) states the forty-fourth President of the United
States, Barack Obama. Men, women and children are helping the war effort. Men were drafted
into the war to fight for their country, women were going to work building weapons and aircrafts
and ammunition. Children were also helping by collecting scrap, paper, and metal to give to the
war effort. War bonds were key in the effect by alone generated $1 billion for military needs
and also helped to restrain inflation by diverting excess funds (Research/Publications).The
attack also helped end the Great Depression by The Gross National Product double[ing] from
1940 to 1945, and thousands of new jobs were created to produce the weapons, aircraft and other
needs to support the war effort (Research/Publications). However not all the effects were
geared positively towards war. From the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor, it negatively impacted
Japanese-American citizens when the Executive Order 9066 was signed. This order declared
areas of the country off limits to all ethnicities to prevent espionage. In result, Japanese and
Korean populated areas were sentenced to migrate toward relocation camps for the rest of the
war; ...therefore the confinement of roughly 110,000 people for the duration of the war
(Military). January 1945 is when residents of relocation camps were permitted to return to their
original homes. President Gerald Ford issued a Proclamation that ended the Executive Order
9066 which was called the Proclamation 4417. An experiment was commenced in 1980, to study
the effects of the Japanese being forced to move to relocation camps. The study resulted that the

Haverson 7
relocation camps were unjustifiable and that survivors were entitled to $20,000 apiece as
compensation (Military) and were only issued to citizens of the United States that were
Japanese-American.

Haverson 8

Works Cited
Fox, Lauren. "Barack Obama Commemorates Pearl Harbor Attack." US News. U.S.News &
World
Report, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
History.com Staff. "The Great Depression." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan.
2009.
Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
JEFFRIES, JOHN W. "World War II and the Ending of the Depression." Encyclopedia of the
Great
Depression. Ed. Robert S. McElvaine. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA,
2004.
1069-1073. U.S. History in Context. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
"Military." Results Of The Attack On Pearl Harbor -. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
"Research/Publications." Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Shirer, Frank R. "Pearl Harbor." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed.
Vol.
6. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 271-273. U.S. History in Context. Web. 25
Apr. 2016.
"World War II | HistoryNet." HistoryNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016
"World War II: Timeline." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust
Memorial Council, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Haverson 9