Despite its neutrality, the US was a target because of its military power as well as the role it had played in helping to end World War I. The Pacific theatre of the war was of longer duration than in Europe, starting in 1937 with the Second Sino-Japanese War. Despite its earlier beginnings, the pace and intensity of the war in the Pacific picked up in 1941.
Prior to the attack, the US placed economic embargos on Japan, which made it difficult for Japan to continue to fight with China and expand its empire. On November 20, Japan gave the US an ultimatum: halt trade with China and renew economic trade and there would be no war in the South Pacific. The US refused. The Japanese decided it could easily end the US threat in the South Pacific by bombing Pearl Harbor since the Pacific fleet was stationed in Hawaii.
At 7:48am, Pearl Harbor was attacked by about 350 Japanese fighter planes, bombers and torpedo planes. All of the US Navy battleships were damaged but only four of the eight were sunk. The USS Arizona was one of the ships that sank. Along with ships and aircraft being destroyed, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 were injured.
Photo: olive-drab.com
The next day, December 8, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech to the Joint Session of Congress. Roosevelt advocated the end of non-interventionism and pushed for a declaration of war, arguing that the US was the victim of unprovoked aggression because the two countries had been trying to maintain peace. Roosevelt tapped into the patriotism of Congress and the American people by urging them to remember December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy."
Photo: archives.gov
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